BURLINGTON, Wis. — “Farming is a bigger gamble than Vegas," Jean Greuenert said.
But for more than 120 years, Gruenert’s family has been beating the house. Jean and her husband Rich own Four T Acres in Burlington.
It's a small family-owned farm that sells a special breed of cattle called Scottish Highland Cattle. It's a fluffy and hairy type of beef cattle.
“I love (cattle farming) because it’s my grandpa's home farm, and we’re doing something that he taught me to do," Gruenert said.
According to Gruenert, the farm opened in the late 1800s. Four T Acres started as a dairy before transitioning to a cattle farm. There are about 70 Highland cattle on their farm.
Four T Acres' cattle sell for $2.25 per pound of live weight. That means each Highland is put on a scale while still alive versus being weighed after being butchered. The farm only sells to local individuals.
“I grew up milking cows by hand," Gruenert said.
During a time when family farms are struggling, the Four T Acres business keeps rolling in.
“Word of mouth really. It's just doing - I’ve got more customers than I’ve got beef, and it’s hard because I want to keep everybody happy, and it’s a struggle," Gruenert said.
It's a good problem to have. However, that doesn't mean things have been easy for the Gruenert family farm.
According to Jean Gruenert, there was a tornado that destroyed part of the farm in 1957. Prices continue to increase and as the Gruenerts get older, it's unclear how much longer they will keep on farming.
"It's hard at my age knowing how everything is encroaching on us and how the family - small family farm is disappearing," she said.
Gruenert hopes that future generations will be inspired to farm and hopefully save the small farm industry. There are a few programs that teach high school students and college students how to run a farm; however, Four T Acres is hoping to influence even younger students.
That's why they invite groups of elementary and middle school students on field trips to the farm. Boy Scout troops also make visits to Four T Acres.
"We love the kids coming out, and we love trying to get - associate different things with their food because most kids don’t realize where their food comes from," Gruenert said.
On May 4, a group of 6th graders visited from the University of Chicago Laboratory School. For many of them, they had never seen a farm.
“It’s also one of the only cows that I’ve ever seen because I’ve never really been up close to a cow because I live in Lincoln Park in Chicago," 6th grader Henry Haffner said.
Gruenert hopes that if she can help kids appreciate what she does, it will help keep small farms alive. Students learn what it takes to run a farm, lift hay bales, and pet cattle.
“Well, the tractors were pretty cool, and the cows were also pretty cool, and also we got to keep some corn," 6th grader George Kawashima said.
Four T Acres is one of the oldest farms in the area and the Gruenerts hope it stays that way for a long time.
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