Granton Dairy Breakfast on June 4th
Monday, May 22nd, 2017 -- 10:14 AM
-It is that time of year again and the Granton FFA Alumni is busy finishing the final details for their annual dairy breakfast.This year’s breakfast is being hosted by Schilling Farms, owned and operated by Luke and Stacy Schilling. The breakfast is Sunday, June 4. Food will be served from 7 AM to 12:30 PM at W3514 Tree Road, Granton. It is important to note that parking will be at Granton School at 217 N. Main Street in Granton. Five buses will run regularly to and from the farm with an easy drop-off and pick-up spot only 100 yards from the shed, with a nice driveway to walk on. Parking for handicapped individuals is available on the farmstead.
Luke and Stacy purchased the land where the breakfast will be held in 1996. Their original purchase was 56 acres of farmland that was previously farmed by Stacy’s father and grandfather. Their development of the property has resulted in the third generation farming the land. 27 acres of that initial land purchase were tillable, and they originally rented it to a local farmer. Luke and Stacy began planting trees and doing other management practices on the woodland parts of the acreage. In 1998, they built their home on the property and have since expanded.
In 2008, Luke and Stacy decided to pursue crop farming. Stacy jokingly said “He just really wanted to buy tractors.” But, they first began with the original 27 tillable acres they owned, and worked up to renting 79 additional acres. 50 of those rented acres belong to Luke’s Dad, Phil Schilling in Chili. Luke is also the third generation to farm his family’s land. This past fall they purchased another 12 acres and are in the process of logging off another area of about 15 acres which will be converted to farm land.
The Schillings plant corn, soybeans and small amounts of hay on the property and everything is sold as harvested crops. Luke does all of the work associated with the crop production. At harvest time they have help from their neighbor Tom Paun who drives the Schillings’ semi to transport the grain to market. Luke made sure to tell me that Stacy is very important in the operation as well, as “she is in charge of field lunches”.
Luke and Stacy have acquired the equipment needed to farm over the past 10 years and built a new shed in 2012 to house all of the machinery. The shed is 104 x 50, which is where the breakfast will be held. There is an additional shed on the property that was built initially when their home was built and serves as Luke’s race shop at home.
Luke worked on a farm as a young teenager for local farmer Lavern Meissner. He also did some custom milking for other area farmers. He loved farming, but as a young man, choosing his professional career, he originally avoided farming as his choice because he was concerned about the demands of working seven days a week, 24 hours a day. While in high school Luke attended Mid-State Technical College and earned a degree as an Auto Body Technician. He worked as an Auto Body Technician at Mid-State Truck for a year and a half before deciding to open his own shop. Luke has been self-employed since 1989 in his own business, Schilling Racing Auto body, in downtown Chili. He noted that the shop is generally open from 9 to 5 weekdays, but it is closed during farming times.
Luke and Stacy met at the Clark County fair while in high school through a mutual friend. They both graduated from high school in 1987, Luke from Marshfield and Stacy from Granton. They dated throughout college and married on June 1, 1991. They said they thought it would be fun to celebrate their anniversary with the community while hosting the breakfast this year. Stacy graduated from UW-Oshkosh with a Bachelors’ degree in Business Administration just a few weeks before they married. She began working at Marshfield Clinic right after that, in the area of insurance. After a few months in that position, she began working in the Information Systems department and held that position for 20 years. In the fall of 2011, she became Marshfield Clinic’s Privacy Officer in the Corporate Compliance department, where she remains employed today.
Luke and Stacy have two dogs, Rex, who was adopted from the Clark County Humane Society and Hershey who came from the Columbus Rescue program. Their spare time is spent racing Luke’s IMCA modified dirt car. Luke previously drove weekly at numerous local race tracks, up to 55 races per year. Since they began farming, he has reduced the racing program to 12 to 15 races per year. Luke and Stacy’s current favorite tracks are in Princeton and Brainerd, Minnesota where Luke races with his brother, Lance.
The other area of special noteworthiness is their volunteerism with the area Christmas Angel Tree project for which Stacy serves as the coordinator. For about two months prior to Christmas, Stacy spends an extensive amount of time coordinating volunteers and organizing the collection project which serves residents in Neillsville, Granton, Chili and Humbird. This past year 306 children of 104 families were provided for at the holidays with groceries and gifts generously donated by local community members and businesses. Luke helps out with the project, as well, and can be seen on many occasions “playing elf” delivering these items to the families. Luke and Stacy are always planning for the event and shop throughout the year, watching the sales and clearance aisles for the best prices.
Luke and Stacy are extremely excited to host the breakfast and hope that people will come out to join them. There will be live music, an antique tractor display, racing display, and kid’s activities, including a sanctioned youth pedal pull at 11:00 AM. Featured on the menu again will be the FFA Alumni special egg recipe, pancakes, sausage, real maple syrup, butter, cheese curds, applesauce, ice cream, milk, juice and coffee. The cost is $ 7.00 middle school students through adults, $ 3.50 for students in kindergarten to grade five, and preschoolers eat free. The first bus will leave Granton schools at 6:45 AM and run very regularly after that.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.