Granton breakfast to kick off June Dairy Month
The annual Granton FFA Alumni Dairy Breakfast will be held on the farm again this year, being hosted by the Mark and Julie Kayhart family farm on Sunday, June 4. Breakfast will be served from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at W1225 Granton Road, located just off Highway 10 west of Chili. The Kayhart farm is a true representation of the traditional family farm. Mark and Julie purchased the farm from his parents, Lyle and Debbie, in 2004, to begin their married life and raise a family on the farm.
This breakfast site farmstead on Granton Road was originally purchased in 1998 by Lyle and Debbie after what is described by Lyle as “a miracle of farming.” After leaving high school, Lyle began working for a farmer and saved up enough money to purchase 1.5 acres of land and seven cows. In 1986, he and Debbie were at an auction on Highway W and the auctioneer pointed to him and said, “You should bid on this; this is your place.” They had no intention of buying the farm that day, but they were moved by what the auctioneer said. Both Lyle and Debbie said a prayer for guidance, and soon after they placed one bid and ended up getting the farm. And so began a nervous adventure, as they had not arranged any financing or anything, but everything fell into place. They intended to keep farming at that location, but in 1998 they were approached by an Amish family to purchase that farm. At the same time, the farm on Granton Road came up for sale, so they saw that as another sign to make the move. Lyle and Debbie farmed until the transitional sale to Mark and Julie. The family suffered the sad loss of Debbie, when she passed in 2021. Lyle remains actively engaged on the farm as the “retired” helper living next door.
Mark and Julie, who were high school sweethearts, have a strong history of being involved in agriculture and FFA, including both having served as the Granton FFA chapter president while in high school. They have four children: Anna — 11th grade, Peter — ninth grade, Phillip — eighth grade and Andrew — fourth grade. The three oldest have all gotten involved in the FFA chapter. Anna is on the way to following in the family footsteps as she was just elected to serve as the 2023-24 chapter president.
The farm has seen significant changes with an addition to the barn, a heifer shed, a free stall lean-to facility, two silos and house renovation to include a covered porch. Over the years, the farm has all experienced significant growth, going from 27 to 94 cows and 210 acres to 660 acres, with an additional 140 rented acres. This includes two additional Breakfast, from page 1
houses, which the Kayharts currently rent out, hoping that someday some of their children may choose to join in the farm. They raise all of their own replacement calves at one of those farms and pigs at the other farm. Anna is primarily responsible for all of the calf care. Peter and Phillip own and manage the hogs, which currently includes four sows, one boar and 31 feeder pigs. The children also raise some steers for the fair and Anna has some fair sheep on the main farm as well. In addition, the family has four horses, a donkey, two dogs and two cats. Many of these farm animals, along with others brought in by fellow FFA members, will be featured on the farm during the breakfast at the FFA chapter petting zoo.
The Kayharts primarily raise corn for corn silage, high moisture and dry corn and triticale/alfalfa grasses which are chopped and baled. Everyone helps with all of the cropping from tilling and planting to mowing and harvesting. In addition, they practice rotational grazing where they have gated fencing that requires everyone’s help in moving the cattle from pasture to pasture. The typical day begins at 5 a.m. for Mark and Julie and the children are right behind at 5:30 a.m., doing their various chores and responsibilities before getting cleaned up and ready to catch the bus at 7:25 a.m. Lyle is there most of the days to assist with cleaning the barn and hauling manure, and remains there to help Mark and Julie as needed. The children get home from school and again have assigned chores ranging from feeding and watering to bedding, scraping and milking. The farm utilizes 10 units in a pipeline operation with automatic take-offs in a tie-stall system, so everyone is engaged at milking time.
During the late winter/early spring months, all hands are on deck for the family maple syrup operation. They tap the trees on their farm and work together with family friends to collect the sap. They sell some of the sap and cook some for themselves, down in the shanty by the woods. This year they cooked over 200 gallons and are excited to share their syrup with everyone who attends the dairy breakfast. On an interesting side note, the family shared that they often feed syrup to the cows once they freshen, which is the beginning of milk production right after calving. They said it is all natural and really helps prevent ketosis from developing in the fresh cows.
The entire family, including Lyle, takes turns helping each other so that
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The Kayhart family of (from left) Lyle, Mark, Andrew, Phillip, Peter, Anna and Julie will host the Granton Dairy Breakfast on June 4.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
the children can still remain involved in FFA and other school and church activities. Besides serving as FFA president next year, Anna is being recognized as a state gold-rated Dairy Production Proficiency Award winner, plays volleyball and basketball, and runs track. Peter is receiving a state gold-rated swine Production Proficiency Award and plays basketball. Peter and Phillip are also involved in trap shooting. The older children are involved with church youth group activities on Sunday evenings and Andrew participates in the AWANA Club on Wednesday nights, at Calvary Bible Church in Marshfield. Mark serves on the church board and Julie and Anna teach Sunday School and help out with children’s church. Julie runs the AWANA program and the older three volunteer as leaders. Though he is not quite old enough to participate in school activities, Andrew looks forward to playing Little League and Sunday night fishing with Grandpa Lyle.
All of the children exhibit animals and other items at the Clark County Fair each summer. In her spare time, Julie serves as a substitute teacher for Granton school and is an accompanist for the music department as needed. She coaches Little League and works at elections each year. Mark and Julie share in the responsibilities of managing the farm, including the accounting, but Mark says, “She’s the boss!” Mark and Julie are also both lifetime members of the Granton FFA Alumni and assist as needed with the Athletic Boosters, PTO and Music Boosters. They both served on the Granton school strategic planning committee, Mark on facilities and Julie on marketing. Fall hunting season is another huge family tradition they all love, as they host Kayhart Deer Camp for themselves, Mark’s brothers’ families and friends. The cousins love to come hang out to help get chores done so they can hunt, eat and tell stories. In the summer, the family loves to go swimming, kayaking, biking, fishing and tubing, many of the fun traditions that fit into the busy schedule of farming.
Mark and Julie were married on the farm July 3, 2004. They spent the next two years with Julie being a full-time college student at Menomonie, where she earned an early childhood education degree. She stayed in Menomonie during the week and traveled home on the weekends. She was able to do her student teaching in the area at Loyal and Neillsville, so she could then stay at home. Mark and Julie plan to replicate that same wedding site setting for the breakfast. They have rented a 40foot by 160-foot tent from Hiller’s in Marshfield, with an attached tent for cooking the food.
The breakfast will be held in the hay field just north of the farm driveway. There will be parking just to the northwest of the farm. In the event of rain, the tent would be set up on the main driveway. There will be handicap access parking provided. The menu for the breakfast includes pancakes (catered by Princess Pancakes), special eggs, sausage, cheese curds, applesauce, ice cream, Kayhart maple syrup, butter, milk, juice and coffee. The cost is $8 for adults, $4 for children (K-5) and preschool free.
