Staff photo by Fritz Busch From left, Ruby, Angie, David and Adam Tauer stand near their new dairy barn with skylights in Albin Township, several miles west of Hanska. The Tauers were honored Aug. 4 at Farmfest as the Brown County 2022 Farm Family of the Year.

BROWN COUNTY — David Tauer said he likes to keep busy.

Indeed. He’s up at 4:45 a.m. daily to milk his dairy herd. He milks it again at 5 p.m. Dairy cows need milking twice a day, every day.

“We’re very fortunate to have the great help we do,” he added. “What makes me happy is everybody working together to get things done.”

“We range in age from 16 to 65, but we get along well,” Angie Tauer said.

Recently honored at Farmfest as the 2022 University of Minnesota Extension Brown County Farm Family of the Year, the Tauers have a couple hundred head in a free stall and parlor setup. Last year, they added a state-of-the-art heifer-raising facility.

All of the Tauers’ crops — corn, alfalfa and cover — are used to feed livestock. They also use manure for fertilizer.

“It’s been a good year,” Dave said. “Brown County still has a lot of dairy farms.”

The Tauers sell milk to the Agropur Cooperative in Le Sueur, which supplies products, including cheeses for the industrial, retail and food-service sectors in addition to its own consumer brands and products.

Ruby and Adam Tauer help with farm chores. David’s mother, Arlene, helps milk, feeds calves and has a large vegetable garden. David’s dad, Robert, cares for the yard and makes parts runs. David’s brother, Ron, helps on weekends.

Tauer Dairy is a University of Minnesota MAST training farm that has hosted a few dozen student interns from countries in South America, Africa, Europe, plus India, Ukraine and Russia. This fall, they’ll host interns from Japan.

Not all the MAST students study agriculture. Angie Tauer said some of them apply for the program for the change to experience living on a farm in the U.S. for up to one year. Training and internship programs include agriculture and horticulture.

“We learned about the MAST International program from other farmers who tried it and liked it, so we did too,” said Angie.

The Tauers have also hosted Penn State University interns.

Tauer Dairy was established nearly a century ago by Michael and Margaret Tauer. Robert and Darlene Tauer owned and operated the farm in the late 1960s. David and Angie bought the farm in 2008.

Besides farming, Angie teaches science at Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s School.

The Tauers are involved in the community beyond their own farm, including the Brown County Dairy Princess program. They’ve served as the host farm for St. Mary’s School Ag Enrichment, hosted Twilite dairy meetings and participate in the Discover Dairy Adopt-a-Cow program.

Angie created and managed the Brown County Ag Literacy program, working with area libraries and schools to make books related to agriculture available to students.

(Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).