Recession ends dairy farmer's dream

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (MCT) - They moved down the frozen barnyard, past feeders, a skid loader and a big red tractor, the auctioneer calling for bids, farmers shuffling against the wind.

Artie Klemme III stood off to the side and watched it all, watched neighbors and strangers bid on the things that made his life worthwhile, metal, machinery and dairy cattle.

At 22, he learned the hard lesson that farming can break your heart.

"It's going," Klemme said last month, tucking his big arms inside his black overalls.

He wasn't the first farmer to shut his operation during this recession, and he won't be the last. Milk prices are down, feed prices are up. The math doesn't work.

So, there is the farm auction, timeless and painful, averted gazes, soft pats, a condolence call in which items are hauled away.

It was Washington County, Wis., in winter.

A hamburger truck pulled into the barnyard. Farmers parked their pickup trucks on farm fields. The auctioneer's voice came over the loudspeaker like a call to prayer.

Klemme, bearded and stoic, took it in.

He tried to overcome all the odds, didn't come from a family of farmers, didn't have land and equipment passed down through the generations.

"When I was 9, my cousin picked me up and gave me a ride on a tractor," Klemme said. "I thought that was the greatest thing, and I had my heart set on farming ever since."

He worked for neighbors, before and after school, and during summers, too. On his last half-day of high school in 2004, he raced away from the campus to a barn.

In the autumn of 2007, he struck out on his own, got a big six-figure loan, purchased his equipment, started with 68 head of dairy cattle, and rented a barn at the Klink family farm.

"I started November 11, 2007," Klemme said. "When I started, the price of milk was around $20 per 100 pounds of weight. Now, it's around $10 per hundred."

Farmers can make a profit when milk is above $15 per 100 pounds, but not at $10. At that price, milk and money flow out the door.

"I didn't want to be in a position where it would take 10 years to pay that debt," Klemme said.

So he made the final decision, called the auctioneer.

This is the time of year for sales, snow still on the ground, the promise of spring. Some sell out because of debt, others for health. Tacked to the side of a barn were notices for six other auctions in the coming weeks.

It was quiet and warm in the barn before the bidding began. On a small refrigerator was written, "Welcome to Artie's and Amanda's Auction."

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Klemme's fiancee is Amanda Kirchner, a wide-eyed, hardworking 34-year-old with five children.

Klemme and Kirchner tried to make a go of it on the farm during the past year. They got help from Kirchner's older kids, Paige and Bobbi Schultz.

Paige, 14, and Bobbi, 12, helped bring the cattle into the auction ring and snapped photos of all the animals, including kittens that played in the hay.

Klemme's parents were there, too.

"I always said that if anyone could make a go of it in farming it was Artie," said Diane Klemme, Artie's mom. "He is such a hard worker. He tried to work at his dream. He's a strong kid. He's going to pick himself up. He's young enough to start over."

Hard work couldn't overcome a hard economy.

Denise and Steve Klink came out from the farmhouse to watch the auction. It's their barn, their land. They liked Klemme's grit, charged only modest rent for the barn, wanted to see a young man succeed in an industry desperate for an infusion of younger farmers.

"The price of milk went down to nothing," Steve Klink said.

Steve Klink is a third-generation dairyman who farms with his two brothers. With 200 cattle and roots dug deep in the industry, Klink and his brothers are probably big enough to survive the recession.

"A young guy like that just can't do it," Steve Klink said, watching Klemme observe the auction.

The cattle were paraded in a small pen, the bids came in and the prices were low.

"It's hard to see another farmer go out of business," Denise Klink said.

Steve Klink made sure the 30-year-old milking equipment inside the barn was auctioned, the piping and 600-gallon stainless cooler going for $250, probably less than scrap.

"We don't want to see anyone go through this misery again," Steve Klink said.

He'll use the barn for storage.

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© 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.