Mybrook Farm | Middlebury, Indiana
Mike Oesch and daughter, Laura Yoder work like a well-oiled machine together on their family dairy: MyBrook Farms. Along side of them are Mike’s wife Judy, who is in charge of the bookkeeping, Laura’s husband Ryan,who teaches at the local middle school, and Laura’s three children.
Laura’s daughter Hadley said, “My favorite part is the cows. I’ve been growing up with cows my whole life and I just love the cows! My calf that grew up to be a cow is about to have a baby. I can’t wait!”
MyBrook Farms is a multigenerational family farm just four miles from Heritage Ridge Creamery. They milk 120 Holstein, Jersey and Brown Swiss cows twice a day in their parlor. To feed their cows and young stock, they farm 375 acres of corn, soybeans and hay. Everyone works hard to make sure the animals and land are well taken care of. The Oesch’s have been dairy farmers in Middlebury since 1896 and have been focusing on being good neighbors in their community, environmental stewards of the land and of course, treating their cows with lots of TLC.
“I have always loved the farm and the cows since I was a little girl! When I was really young, I spent most of my time with my dad outside. When my mom would tell me that it was time to come inside, I would go inside, stand at the back door and watch the cows, waiting to go back out to the farm. When my mom would go to a different room in the house, I would sneak back out to help my dad and see my cows. Now I’m seeing Hadley doing the same thing. I love to watch her eat her meals quickly in order to get back out to the cows and get back to work! Dairy farming is truly not just a job to us, it is a lifestyle,” said Laura.
–Krista Schrock
