For forty-four years, Monroe County has celebrated National Dairy Month with the most important meal of the day, which, here in Wisconsin, is a hearty breakfast featuring Nature’s Touch milk from Kwik Trip.
This year, on June 7th, 2025, event sponsors (Monroe County Dairy Breakfast Committee and Monroe County Dairy Promotions) partnered with Chapman Farms, located at 21509 Gladeview Avenue Tomah, and welcomed the community for a morning of healthy food, fun for the family, and farm education.
After 137 years of success and five generations of dairy farming, Chapman Farms, originally owned by brothers Gail and Duane, opened its 1,100-head Holstein milking parlor operation to the community. Chapman Farm has demonstrated years of perseverance and economic growth for the surrounding community while increasing production through modernization and the adoption of sustainable practices.
137 years of Chapman’s legacy
Chapman Farms traces its roots back to 1888 when Frederick and Catherine (Hilliker) Chapman established the family’s original homestead in Monroe County. What began as a modest operation has evolved over five generations into a thriving dairy farm built on persistence, partnership, and a deep commitment to the land.
During an interview with the Herald, Duane Chapman reminisced, “Times changed, but we are still going.”
In the 1930s, their son Oscar and his wife, Dorothy (Dettinger), took the reins of the farm, carrying forward the family tradition until 1955, when a battle with polio suddenly sidelined Oscar. “Gail was 15 at the time, so he got thrust into the management and labor of the farm at that time,” explained Duane Chapman. “Dad [Oscar] recovered quite well from the polio, but Dad had a limp all the time. Polio paralyzed Oscar on his left side, but he and Gail farmed together until 1972.”
According to Gail Chapman, despite having to take over the farm, he was able to earn a high school diploma. “There were certain teachers I always admired,” Gail Chapman said. “My algebra teacher really helped me.” In 1972, Duane Chapman returned to the family farm, and he, along with his brother Gail, formed the Chapman Brothers. This partnership not only kept the dairy thriving but also nurtured their growing families. Gail married Ellen Peterson, and Duane wed Peggy Bednar.
Years later, their sons David (Gail) and John (Duane) joined the operation, working alongside their fathers in what became a four-man team. This partnership was later formalized into a Limited Liability Company (LLC.)
Today, three great-grandsons make up the heart of Chapman Brothers LLC, marking the fourth generation to keep the family dairy thriving.
Duane Chapman summarized, “There is pride that Gail and I are the third generation here; and the fourth, Gail’s son, David, and my sons, John and Peter, are the fourth generation; and David’s daughter, Sienna, is the fifth generation that is here working. There is a lot of pride here.”
From Hooves to High-Tech
The farm began as a horse farm, and it was Gail and Duane who introduced the Holsteins. “Grandpa had more horses than cows, I am sure,” Duane Chapman laughed. “We don’t know for sure how many, but we are quite certain that was the case.”
In 2025, Chapman Farm has expanded to a double 15 parallel parlor miking facility, milking 1,100 cows three times a day, and is using technology to maintain the herd’s health and productivity.
With no use of the nostalgic bulk tank, milk at Chapman Farms is cooled and pumped directly into a milk tanker truck. “The milk is really high quality: always enclosed and cooled instantly. It is a great product,” Duane Chapman emphasized.
According to Duane Chapman, advancements in milking technology and computerized data tracking have significantly improved farm productivity by accurately identifying which cows are producing efficiently and which are falling short. “Every time a cow is milked, her milk is weighed. The butter, fat, and protein content are calculated. That cow gets credit for it. She has a leg band which identifies her in the parlor.”
The leg band not only tracks each cow’s milk production and composition but also monitors their overall health status. Duane Chapman elaborated, “Being on the leg [of the cow,] it also serves as a pedometer, so each cow has a ‘Fitbit.’ It gauges their activity against themselves. It tells us that if they are not as active, they are probably not feeling well.”
Breeding by Nature, guided by Tech
Not only do pedometers help monitor movement for cow health, but they also reduce Champman’s reliance on hormone shots by supporting more natural breeding decisions. “If the cow’s activity spikes suddenly, we can look at it on a graph, then it tells us that they are in heat,” Champman explained. “We use very little hormone shots for inducing heat for pregnancy. Some farmers are on a routine where they give cows shots right away after they calve to get bred again. We do very little of that. We are very selective. I don’t think the public wants to know you [farmers] give cows shots all the time, whatever it [the shot] is. So, we do more of an enhanced natural way.”
Chapman Farm utilizes artificial insemination and closely monitors pregnancies. During the Herald’s tour of the farm, David Chapman shared how ultrasounds are used on the farm. “Cows are too big, so ultrasounds are used internally,” David Chapman explained. “I can see if there are one or two, and at certain times, I can see if it is male or female.”
Duane Chapman explained the importance of pregnancy monitoring for better production. “If she is pregnant, that gives her a ride for another year,” Duane Champman said. “If a cow is bred six or eight times, they generally change careers at that point and become a beef animal. We sell those that are not financially sound.”
About a day after their birth, calves are moved to a specialized building on the farm, where they are given an ear tag and closely monitored. Calves will remain here until they are around 10 months old. “It has about 250 calves in there that are on self-feeders,” Duane Chapman explained. “When they go into a stall, it identifies who they are and feeds them accordingly.”
Heifers are brought back to the main site, and steers move across the road at the feedlot. Steers are fed to a finished weight and around 95% is sold as prime or choice beef.
Feeding the herd, fueling the land
All the silage feed is grown off 2,700 acres of cropland on Chapman Farms.
The crops are stored in fourteen concrete bunkers. “Now we put the silage horizontally,” Duane Chapman explained. “Unload it with a wagon and push it in with a tractor blade to pack it. It is much better feed, and you are able to get at it with a loader and get a lot of feed in a hurry.”
Manure from the cattle is collected into one of two pits. The milking cow waste is stored in a 6 million gallon storage, and the steer and feed pad collection goes to a 2 million gallon storage. At least twice a year, the pits are emptied on the cropland, providing an N-K-K of approximately 12-8-20 fertilizer per 1000 gallons.
At Chapman Farm, the evolution of planting practices reflects both a respect for the land and a readiness to embrace innovation. Over the past 137 years, the approach to crop production has shifted dramatically, striking a balance between efficiency and environmental care.
Duane Chapman tells the Herald he has witnessed significant shifts in fieldwork technology. According to Duane Chapman, moldboard plowing played a crucial role in opening up the Midwest to crop farming; however, its intensive soil disturbance also significantly contributed to land degradation, a practice that Chapman Farm has since abandoned. “We went to chisel plowing, which was a less invasive thing,” Duane Chapman said. “And now, we do a no till or vertical till, which is a very shallow working of the soil. So, we have gone to a real minimum tillage process for putting in the crops saving soil.”
From cooling to cleaning, Chapman reuse every drop
Highlighting their commitment to conservation, Duane Chapman outlined several ways the farm utilizes water and energy resources efficiently.
Well water is used to cool the milk before pumping it into the tanker. That water also provides drinking water for the cows. “Well water is about 55 degrees [Fahrenheit,] so it takes the heat off the milk,” Duane Chapman said. “After that, water goes by a chiller to cool the milk; it goes into a tank that goes out to water the cows. So, it is used to cool the milk and provide the water.”
The next chamber of the milk chiller is a free heater. According to Duane Chapman, “It gathers some of the heat off of the milk and heats the water. That feeds our hot water heater, so they are not taking well water at 55 degrees [Fahrenheit] to heat to 175 degrees, they are taking 120 degree water to heat to 175 degrees.”
Chapman Farms also uses wash water from cleaning the milking system to clean the parlor cow decks. “That wash water goes into a separate tank” Chapman explained. “It is dirty and has chemicals in it, but it can be used to wash the milk parlor decks, where the cows stand.”
Celebrating the hands that feed us
After over a century of family-driven farming, Chapman Farms is a testament to resilience and innovation, combining deep-rooted tradition with forward-thinking practices that promote both economic vitality and environmental sustainability in Monroe County.
To all other stewards of sustainability, nutrition, and tradition in Monroe County, thank you, and Happy National Dairy Month.
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