OUR STORY
Milk-n-More Farms and Harvesting is a family owned operation located in Cecil, WI. Ron and Nicolle Wussow, along with their children Kaila and Colin, run the farm that has been in Nicolle’s family since 1893. The family also owns a custom harvesting business which travels throughout Northeast Wisconsin harvesting forages for other farmers.
The family’s farm was homesteaded by Nicolle’s great grandfather, August, and his wife, Ella, in 1893. They raised a wide array of animals such as dairy cattle, horses, swine, and chickens. They raised their children on the farm and in 1947 they sold the farm to Nicolle’s grandfather, Paul. Paul and his wife, Emma, raised their family of six on the land. They milked dairy cows, sold wood, and various other produce from their farm with the help of their family.
In 1971, Nicolle’s parents, Roy and Mary Ellen Fischer, purchased the farm from Roy’s parents. They later got rid of the swine and chickens and decided to focus on the milking herd. Roy also worked as a milk man for a number of years. Roy and Mary Ellen’s children, Michelle, Noelle, Nicolle, Melissa, and Ross, grew up helping on the farm. However, Nicolle decided that she wanted to return to the family farm after college.
Nicolle attended the University of WI – River Falls where she graduated in 1994 with a major in Dairy Science. She married her husband, Ron Wussow, in 1993 after meeting him through 4-H. While in the River Falls area, Ron worked for a prominent Holstein breeder, then came back to Shawano County and worked at Mid-County Cooperative as a millworker, sprayer, and mill manager before taking over the Fischer Family Farm. Nicolle also worked off the farm for a few years before coming back. She worked as a nutritionist, working with a number of farms in the area to increase milk production and profitability.
In May of 1999, Ron and Nicolle officially purchased the farm from her parents, Roy and Mary Ellen. They started out milking mainly Holstein cattle, but when they bought Kaila her first Jersey calf the family became hooked on the breed. Today, there are a total of 175 cows, consisting of 50 percent registered Jerseys and 50 percent registered and grade Holsteins. Cows are milked three times each day and the calves are fed with pasteurized milk before each milking. The family takes pride in their animals and have strived to breed animals with excellent genetics, type, and production traits. For many years, they have been nationally recognized for their milking herds. They farm a total of 500 acres, 180 of which was purchased a few years ago.
In 2000, Ron stated a custom harvesting operation for a few neighbors which turned into parts of Northeast Wisconsin. They harvest 12,000 acres of alfalfa each year along with 6000 acres of corn silage. Ron works with his father and cousin to run the operation along with great employees.
Today, Ron spends most of his time managing and running the custom harvesting crew. They are busy year-round doing miscellaneous repairs and maintenance on the machinery and meeting with customers. Colin has become more active on the harvesting crew and is looking forward to playing a bigger role. Nicole runs the family’s farm and makes all of the decisions concerning the cows. Kaila helps Nicolle on the farm when she is home from college at UW – River Falls.