Mad Dog & Merrill: Fired up for 15th season
Oconto Falls development is on the rise
July 28, 2025
DENMARK – Family-owned and operated, the history of Kellner Back Acre, LLC – 5561 Cooperstown Road in Denmark – dates back a quarter of a century, when it exclusively focused on produce.
Decades later, third-generation farmer Robert Kellner is running operations, along with his siblings and their parents, Nancy and Thomas.
Though the farm continues to focus on using sustainable methods, today its focus is on providing high-quality, organic poultry and eggs.
“We are mostly a poultry farm now,” Nancy said. “We stepped away from the produce business for economic reasons.”
The shift from the farm’s heavy focus on produce to that of organic poultry and eggs, Nancy said, was prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We supported local farming, namely community-supported agriculture (CSA), which we were heavily involved in until the pandemic,” she said. “At that time, we had about 150 families who were members of the CSA. And at the time, we only had about 100 birds.”
When Robert took over operations four years ago, Nancy said they added 100 turkeys, more than 2,000 egg-producing chickens, 200 meat chickens and 600 ducks.
“We will be getting more turkeys, about 150 of them, at the end of July for the November Thanksgiving season,” she said. “At that time, we send the bird off to a certified butcher and they winter them. Then, we sell fresh turkey for Thanksgiving during that holiday week.”
Nancy said the larger emphasis society places on eating healthy today has served their business well.
“People really want to know where their food comes from,” she said. “Those are the customers who are buying our eggs and poultry. We are certified organic.”
Poultry farming is no yolk
Nancy said she and Tom live in the home his parents built 50 years ago, while Robert lives one property over from the farm.
Though Robert was working full-time off the farm up until four years ago when he took over operations at Kellner Back Acre, Nancy said he was “religious about coming every morning and night to help.”
“He is working full-time in the business now,” she said.
Nancy said they also donate to one of the local VFW veteran rehabilitation homes.
“We donate the eggs there once a week, too,” she said.
Each person in her family, Nancy said, has different skills and pitches in on the farm whenever and wherever they can.
“Robert was previously a diesel refrigeration mechanic, a skill that comes in very handy when leading the farming business,” she said. “Our older daughter is an attorney and does all the legal work for us. She also does all the books for the business. Our older son was in the military and is a nuclear operator at one of the power plants. He helps with a lot of the heavy lifting, specifically after we have butchered. Our youngest daughter brings her marketing skills to the business.”
Nancy said even their nine-year-old granddaughter pitches in at Kellner Back Acre – often putting her creative talents to work making flyers for local restaurants and grocery stores.
Nancy said in addition to herself, Robert, Thomas and their other children, the farm only has one full-time employee – “so there really is no backup if anyone is absent.”
“The rest are volunteers who come to us from the VFW,” she said. “My husband is a veteran, so we have two veterans who come and volunteer their time in exchange for donations of eggs for their meetings. They help out for three or four hours twice a week, and then, in return, we donate the eggs to the VFW for those guys to enjoy the eggs on Fridays. Somebody makes eggs for the members of that post.”
Gradual growth
Currently, Nancy said the egg, chicken, duck and turkey sides of the business keep them quite busy during the week.
“We have a refrigeration truck that is on the road twice, sometimes three times a week, servicing grocery stores, restaurants, as well as trips to a commission center that distributes them for us as far south as Milwaukee and north to Sturgeon Bay,” she said.
However, Nancy said they have plans to expand the business.
“We would like to grow by selling organic pork and beef, along with the chickens, ducks and the turkey,” she said.
Focused on raising the best poultry possible, Nancy said they only use a feed mix from an organic plant out of Wausau.
“Our chickens are hatched on the farm and stay in a brooder home for about four weeks,” she said. “We then move them to the outdoors where they [are free to] roam around the farm. The chickens are brought indoors at night, protecting them from predators.”
Harvesting the eggs, Nancy said, is delicate business and retrieving them requires great care.
“We will never use eggs that have been laid outside and exposed to the elements,” she said. “The chickens lay their eggs indoors, where the temperature is controlled. You never want to risk not knowing how long it was [lying] there.”
Earning the designation of a certified organic farm, Nancy said, is challenging.
“When the USDA certifies a farm, you have to go through different programs and work with the certifiers on an ongoing basis – the work never stops,” she said. “[The consumer] should truly trust the work of the farmer who works that hard to get the designation.”
Some of the farm’s customers, Nancy said, have been purchasing – which can be done in-person or online – from Kellner Back Acre for more than a decade-plus.
“It is a self-serve operation, unless a customer wants a meat or poultry item,” she said. “We have canned and seasonal items [available], too, including rhubarb jam and other pickled products.”
Over the years, Nancy said it’s been a priority at Kellner Back Acre to give back to the community as much as possible.
“Over the years, the family has given back to the community on many levels,” she said.
Building the farm’s five greenhouses himself, Nancy said Thomas has used his greenhouse-building skills to help the local school.
“He would build little greenhouses for them to grow and learn,” she said. “I‘ve spent time in the classrooms, too, talking about farming.”
As she looks to the future of the farm and her children taking full ownership of its continued legacy, Nancy said she can’t help but look back and reflect.
“I wonder how we did it with all the kids,” she said. “We went from being a CSA, and now we’re a poultry farm and still growing with big plans and hard work ahead for the future.”
For more, head to kellnerbackacregarden.com.
