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“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 27, No. 2
March 8, 2025
Expanding for four families Mullikins grow to support next generation By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
WALDO, Wis. — Sometimes, children come back to the farm after working other jobs or having other careers. Sometimes though they never leave, as is the case with the Mullikins. The desire to farm was strong in siblings, Cody, Jessica and Brett. From the time they were young, the third-generation trio wanted to follow in their parents’ footsteps and pursue careers on the farm. Today, each one specializes in an area of their family’s dairy as they work alongside their parents, Dan and Shelly Mullikin. The farm is owned in partnership between the ve Mullikins who milk 480 cows and farm 1,200 acres near Waldo. “Our kids are very dedicated, and Shelly and I are very proud of them,” Dan said. In August 2023, the family moved into new facilities while
nearly tripling the size of their herd. The growth at Sunrise Acres of Waldo LLP was done to support the new generation. “All three of our kids got married in a two-year timespan, so we went from one family to four families within two years,” Dan said. “We’re in it for the long haul, and this sets us up for the future.” Jessica is the herd manager, Brett is in charge of tech and maintenance, Cody handles feeding and crops, Shelly takes care of calves and bookwork, and Dan oversees the entire operation. Cody and his wife, Katie, have a daughter, Evalynn, and also run a trucking business. Jessica is married to Dylan Heimerl, and Brett is married to Brittany. The Mullikins’ spouses do not work on the farm. Instead, the ve family members are assisted by several part-time employees.
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STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
The Mullikin family — Jessica (from leŌ), BreƩ, Dan and Cody — gathers in their new robot barn Feb. 25 on their farm near Waldo, Wisconsin. The Mullikins milk 480 cows with eight Lely A5 robots and farm 1,200 acres. Not pictured is Dan’s wife, Shelly.
New, improved cheese plant
within six weeks, while Portage facility enters nal tion others came online later in rebuild phase following re 2023.“Once cleanup followBy Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
PORTAGE, Wis. — The nal steps in restoring production at the Associated Milk Producers Inc. cheese processing and packaging plant in Portage are underway following a January 2023 re. While improving upon the original design, the revamped facility will feature additional space for packaging and production, and upgrades to heating, ventilation, air conditioning and ooring.
Improvements in plant design will increase production efciency, process ow and product quality. The plant is organized in two main production areas — natural cheese packaging and processed cheese production and packaging. The area of the plant primarily impacted by the re was the processed cheese operations. Tyler Banks, AMPI Portage division manager, said the rst step was getting the plant back up and running following the re. Some production lines were back in ac-
ing the re was complete, the natural department came back online to full production relatively quickly,” Banks said. The rebuild is being completed in phases with production capacity growing upon completion of each phase. The project is slated for completion in late fall, at which point the plant will return to full production.
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Air handling units for the processed cheese porƟon of the Associated Milk Producers Inc. plant glisten on the roof mezzanine as part of the rebuild process Feb. 7 in Portage, Wisconsin. AMPI is in the nal steps of restoring producƟon at the Portage cheese processing and packaging plant following a re in 2023.