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February 22, 2025
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 27, No. 1
Partnership, barn developed to last Czechs, Elliotts build 100-stall rotary parlor By Sarah Middendorf sarah.m@star-pub.com
SARAH MIDDENDORF/DAIRY STAR
Jim Czech (from leŌ), Rodney EllioƩ and David EllioƩ gather Feb. 7 at County Line Dairy near Watertown, South Dakota. The Czech and EllioƩ families have a partnership operaƟng County Line Dairy.
WATERTOWN, S.D. — Near the Hamlin and Codington county lines, two families have come together to build a new dairy farm aptly named County Line Dairy. The barn includes a 100-stall rotary parlor which they started milking in Dec. 26, 2024, near Watertown. County Line Dairy is operated by two families, the Czechs — Jim and Angela along with their three sons, Theo, Sam and Andrew — and the Elliotts — David and his dad, Rodney.
A farm love story Dahls’ romance began with online match 15 years ago By Amy Kyllo
amy.k@star-pub.com
RUSHFORD, Minn. — After a conversation-lled rst date to a Minnesota Twins game in July 2010, Steph Dahl felt good about her date, Josh. “On my way home, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I could see myself spending the rest of my life with him,’” she said. “I knew what I wanted. … I had a feeling that he was the one, like I could totally marry him.” Marriage, three kids and nearly 15 years together have
proven her intuition correct. The Dahls dairy farm together near Rushford with Josh’s brother, Jon, and three employees. They milk 300 cows and farm 500 acres. The couple’s story started with each of the now spouses looking for love on FarmersOnly.com. Though Steph did not grow up on a farm she had hobby farmed with her rst husband of 10 years before he passed away in a farming accident. When she was ready to date, FarmersOnly.com was the only online dating she tried. “I’d never been on a dating website ever in my life,”
Steph said. “When I found out about this one, I was like, ‘Yep, that’s what I want, because I knew I wanted a farmer.’” For Josh, rarely leaving the farm meant online dating was a good option to meet people. The couple matched quickly. Josh had been on the platform a few months and Steph less than a month before they connected in May 2010. The only complication was Steph was living four hours north of Josh in Pine City. Soon, Steph was driving down for weekends to help Josh farm. “It wasn’t like we really went on dates,” Steph said. Turn to DAHLS | Page 2 PHOTO SUBMITTED
Josh and Steph Dahl pause with one of their favorite cows on their farm near Rushford, Minnesota. The Dahls, who milk 300 cows, met on FarmersOnly.com almost 15 years ago.
“There’s a great sense of accomplishment … getting them in and seeing the parlor going,” David Elliott said. “Seeing how the cows interact in the barn (and) getting the barn full of cows is always a rewarding feeling.” The dairy is milking 2,500 cows with hopes to be up to 4,200 by June. The process started when the Czech family received their permit on the land for 5,000 cows. During that time Elliott said Valley Queen Cheese was looking for more farmers due to their expansion, which interested Rodney. Rodney had seen that the Czech family had received the permit and approached them about potentially having a partnership dairy on the site. Turn to COUNTY LINE | Page 7