Farm Stapels is a creative twist on the name of the Stapel family’s on-farm store and brand-new creamery. Brothers Brody and Jory Stapel and their families launched the creamery the last week of May. Bottled milk from the creamery joins the family’s line of other farm-fresh products – meat, honey and eggs.
The COVID-19 pandemic played a big part in the creation of Farm Stapels, Brody Stapel said. Disruptions and shortages throughout the food chain drove a significant number of consumers to seek more locally produced food, including products at on-farm stores.
At the same time, the Stapels were milking 230 cows at their farm, Double Dutch Dairy. They were weighing the pros and cons of expanding their herd or doing something else. That “something else” was diversification, Stapel said.
First they purchased a neighboring feedlot, Hand Creek Cattle, with a capacity of 500 head. The Stapels also began raising their own beef cattle in addition to maintaining their dairy farm. They currently raise about 100 head of Simmental-Holstein- and Wagyu-Holstein-cross cattle. And they farm 900 acres – growing corn, soybeans, wheat, rye and a forage mix comprised of both cool- and warm-season grasses. They also provide custom-farming services.
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