By Krisann McElvain
You wouldn’t know from Dan Zuehlke’s family history that he is considered a beginning farmer. For four generations, two plots of farmland just a mile apart in Kewaskum, Wisconsin, which spans the county line between Fond du Lac and Washington County, have been owned and operated by Dan’s family, starting with his great grandfather's Washington County farm purchased in 1925. In the 1950s, Dan’s grandfather had dubbed the Fond du Lac County farm “the Hills of Rye,” doubting that any other crop would be able to grow in its sandy soil. When they would disc the field, Dan remembers it sounding like a box of silverware because of all the stone and gravel in the soil. To combat the poor soil quality, Dan’s father, Norman Zuehlke, focused on spreading manure, concentrating it on the hills to account for the natural runoff and accepting that the best of the corn crop would inevitably grow in the valleys of those hills.
Dan comes from a long line of farmers who were taught traditional farming methods from the generations before. “I’ve always had an interest in farming, but I watched my dad farm, and to be honest, I'm way too lazy for the way he farmed,” Dan laughed, even though he also worked a full-time job as an electrician in the Milwaukee area while regularly helping his father on the farm. One evening while walking the family dog along their lane near the Milwaukee River, Dan glanced over at a nearby field and noticed the light brown color of the recently tilled soil. He remembered helping plow that same field around 25 years ago and vividly recalled the rich, black soil left in the wake of the plow. This observation became the catalyst for his personal research into soil health, discovering what’s in the soil, and almost more importantly, what's not in the soil.
Dan began an internet deep dive on soil health, binging podcasts and watching YouTube series featuring renowned soil health experts and regenerative agriculture farming professionals. His curiosity led him to reach out to local conservation organizations mentioned in the resources he had binged. After meeting Conservation Specialist Stephanie Egner with the Wisconsin Land + Water Washington County Land Resources Division, Dan was introduced to technical and financial assistance opportunities offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Wisconsin. In 2017, Dan purchased his great grandfather’s 41-acre Washington County farm, about a mile down the road from his parents’ 76 acre Fond du Lac County farm and enrolled in the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), kickstarting his journey with grazing.
Growing up as his father’s casual farmhand, Dan had always accepted the mechanically minded way Norman ran the family farm. However, as time went on, he began questioning traditional methods, weighing the differences between what was considered the “best” ways to farm, the “hardest” ways to farm, and the most financially beneficial. He also started to realize that many of his favorite parts about farming were falling into two categories: things he can't do and things he shouldn't do. During his off-hours back on the farm, Dan began building single strand pasture fences intended for his future herd of Angus cattle and set up a water line the only way he could configure himself and afford at the time—a 3000-foot garden hose. Norman observed each step of his son’s modern approach with skepticism, but by 2018, Dan successfully tested his finished pasture fences with live cattle. Through his new local conservation connections, Dan was introduced to NRCS affiliate Mike Gehl, a grazing planner with Glacierland Resource Conservation and Development, Inc., who played a pivotal role in the development and implementation of a prescribed grazing plan, taking his operation to the next level.
One of Dan’s goals as he applied all of this newly acquired knowledge to his own farm was to teach his father, now in his 80s, what to look for on the land. The opportunity presented itself as the two took a drive around a back field rented to a neighboring farmer. “I can't tell you exactly how much dirt is no longer on your field, but I can tell you that a paper thickness over an acre is a ton of topsoil,” Dan explained to Norman, pointing out various points of runoff. As they continued their tour, they came upon a kitchen table-size area of stones, gravel, and sand where no vegetation or crops would grow. About 10 feet away, Dan picked a spot of thick mulch covered from 2 years of crop residue and peeled back the cover to reveal the soil forming underneath. That was the moment Dan pinpoints as a breakthrough with his father, recalling Norman’s reaction “Daniel, this is it! This is how people need to farm. This is amazing!”
In the following years, both of Dan’s parents passed away and he was able to acquire their Fond du Lac farmland. Managing both farm properties while continuing to work full time with an hour commute, Dan knew he wouldn’t be able to financially support the hired help and equipment rental cost needed to maintain the large existing operation. For a fresh start, he reached back out to NRCS affiliate, Mike Gehl, who recommended applying for financial and technical assistance through the NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), which leverages localized partnership capabilities and resources, and offers both financial and technical assistance. The RCPP Land Management and Rental (LMR) program offers rental payments calculated by acre to the landowner for implementing conservation activities that address natural resource concerns on their land. The rental payments help eliminate some financial barriers and offset initial costs for beginning farmers like Dan.
In 2022, Dan was awarded a RCPP LMR contract that put him in collaboration with the Milwaukee River Watershed Conservation Partnership (MRWCP), a coalition coordinated by the Milwaukee River Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) and NRCS Wisconsin, where he worked with Michael Patin, NRCS District Conservationist at the West Bend USDA Service Center. The MRWCP’s RCPP works to address agricultural water quality, habitat, long-term protection of farmland, and weather resiliency in Fond du Lac, Ozaukee, Sheboygan, and Washington Counties in the Milwaukee River Watershed.
The MRWCP project utilizes RCPP LMR producer contracts to protect over 1,500 acres through farmland easements, providing assistance for implementing conservation practices like no-till farming, grassed waterways, cover crops, and vegetated buffers to build soils that hold nutrients, reduce sediment runoff, and help improve water quality and infiltration. According to Michael Patin, some of the partnership’s project highlights include implementing 32 acres of field borders, almost 90 acres of pollinator habitat, and 146 acres of prescribed grazing pasture/hayland planting, which includes Dan’s farm.
“Nobody had really brought it together into a big picture until Kevin Shafer [Executive Director of MMSD] got on board and really started looking at RCPP. I think that's the greatest part of this story: an organization whose brick-and-mortar facility is 50-some miles and two counties away is really the driving partner that brought everybody together to make his all happen. That's what RCPP is all about,” said Josh Odekirk, NRCS Wisconsin Assistant State Conservationist for Field Operations.
Kristin Schultheis, Senior Project Planner for MMSD, has spent years working alongside NRCS and understands better than most, that the health of Wisconsin’s watersheds relies strongly on conservation partnerships. “RCPP really put that framework together,” she explained. “[MMSD] is just one cog in the wheel of this whole watershed collaboration. Everything that occurs in the upper regions of the Milwaukee Watershed affects us down here. We're at the terminus of this massive watershed and we have to work as a watershed to address all these issues.”
Between Dan’s two farms, he has successfully transitioned 56 acres in Fond du Lac County and 27 acres in Washington County of conventionally tilled corn and soybean fields into rotational grazing land for his beef cattle. He has also installed a livestock pipeline, watering facilities, fencing, and additional pasture seeding, bringing the total acreage dedicated to grazing and grass-based practices to 83 acres.
Growing up on the “coattails” of his dad, Dan acknowledged his experience working with MRWCP challenged his understanding of agriculture. “I thought I knew something about farming, I really did. [But] I’ve found I really have a lot to learn.” Aware of the impact agriculture has on local waterways, Dan, now known jokingly as “Farmer Dan” at his electrician job, has committed to minimizing runoff and diversifying his approach. His focus now is on balancing production with sustainability, ensuring that the land remains healthy for future generations. “I'm not afraid to do what is right for the soil, and for the long-term benefits of the system,” Dan said. “I want to maximize my production of the farm while maintaining a healthy conscience of the soil health. If I destroy the soil health, I have just negated everything that I've done and believed in.”
In March 2025, the Zuehlke family commemorated 100 years in operation of their Washington County farm. Dan takes pride that his farmland is now a sea of green. “I'm watching it come to life, and I love what I see. I get to see more diversity between the bugs, plants, and animals—I wish my dad was here to see it.”
Source : usda.gov