The Peterson Family Dairy hosted this year’s Pierce County Dairy Breakfast Saturday, June 14, which drew hundreds of people despite cool, rainy weather. 

The breakfast has been an annual event in the county since its inception in 2009. With pancakes, sausage, Ellsworth cheese curds, Culver's custard and Kwik Trip milk, the event allows people to enjoy a meal while seeing a farm in action and receiving educational opportunities. People from all over the area attend the breakfasts, some who have never experienced what the farm life is like.

“It’s a good way to get the community to come see a dairy farm, walk through, ask questions,” Michelle Reuter, who grew up on the Peterson Farm, said. “People don’t have family members now that are farming. Back, even when we were little, it seemed like everybody had some sort of connection to a farm.”

This year the Peterson family hosted for the third time on their farm at W10322 State Road 29. The family is in its fourth generation of owners, as Michelle’s great grandfather Oscar passed it to her grandfather Leroy, who then passed it to the third generation, Roger and Bev. Now, siblings Michelle, Brad and Kevin run the show. In 2009, the farm increased from 80 cows to just under 300, allowing the trio to put their full focus into the farm.

“In order to bring the family back, you have to add more animals,” Michelle said. “My grandpa, he’s 98 years old and he still likes to know what’s going on in the farm. My husband goes ‘It must be in the blood,’ and I’m like farming is in the blood I think.”

Michelle said sometimes it does not even feel like going to work because it has been ingrained in the family for so long.

“It’s fun to see how much it evolved,” Michelle said. “My grandpa goes ‘I remember farming with horses and now we’re farming with tractors that drive themselves.’”

Michelle’s priority is showing people how much the family cares about the farm as well as the products that come out of it.

“It’s just a lifestyle. It’s just caring about the animals and caring about the land,” Michelle said. “Making sure that you’re producing the best quality milk and meat for the market.”

Freewill donations supported the   Pierce County Dairy Promotion Committee.