Tyler Baudhuin named WI Young Farmer of the Year

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

February 23, 2026

STURGEON BAY – Fourth-generation dairy farmer Tyler Baudhuin said when he first began following the Wisconsin Outstanding Young Farmer (WI OYF) program, he never imagined he would one day win its Young Farmer of the Year Award. 

Now, that recognition is his, as he was recently named the WI OYF’s 2025 recipient.

“It was an honor, and I felt super privileged to have had that opportunity in life,” he said. “Being picked out of a group of individuals and to be able to represent not just myself, but my farm at a state level, was pretty incredible.”

Building awareness, community

Aware of previous WI Young Farmer of the Year honorees, Baudhuin said it was surreal to learn someone had nominated him for the award.

“I’ve always followed [the WI OYF] on Facebook and read the articles I’ve seen in the Ag Review and other newspapers and thought to myself, ‘God, how cool would that be?’” he said. “So, when they reached out and said, ‘Hey, someone nominated you,’ I was like, ‘No way.’”

Laura Finger – a WI OYF representative and previous award recipient – said the program honors Wisconsin producers aged 21-40 who excel in technology, production, sustainability, community engagement and career growth.

At the WI OYF’s annual conference and awards banquet, Finger said previous recipients, organization members and agribusiness owner-operators from across the state gather to not only celebrate the most recent honoree, but to discuss best practices, attend educational seminars and be in community with one another.

“It was cool getting to know these people, their story and getting to see what they had to offer – what kind of cool stuff they’re doing as family farms as well,” Baudhuin said of the 2025 gathering. “Everybody’s got a story to tell.”

Though it “couldn’t have been a colder weekend” outside, Baudhuin said the atmosphere of the conference was incredibly warm and inviting.

“The people that were involved were just incredible to hang out with and talk to, and I already [have my award] mounted above my desk,” he said. “I’m really proud to look at that every single day.”

Embracing agri-tech

Baudhuin said his “multi-generational” dairy farm is located in Sturgeon Bay on the original acreage first cultivated by his great-grandfather in 1948.

“Believe it or not, we actually used to be in the bar business,” he said. “My great-grandfather owned a tavern, [and] that’s where my grandpa grew up.”

When his grandfather was roughly eight years old, Baudhuin said his great-grandfather chose to forgo the family business and purchased their farm.

“He decided it was no place to raise a kid, so he sold the tavern, bought the current farm we’re on today from a bank foreclosure and he moved here,” he said. “We’ve been here ever since.”

Prior to buying the farm, Baudhuin said his grandfather had no agricultural experience.

“He just ran it because it was here,” he said. “But I’m glad he did it, because if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity.”

Baudhuin said, today, Baudhuin Farms LLC wholesales its dairy product to Land O’Lakes, Inc., while raising beef cattle for personal use.

“We do our best to produce as high-quality a product as possible for our buyers,” he said. “[Then] there’s a handful of Angus beef cattle we raise for ourselves.”

Though the operation used to harvest row crops, after building their dairy and introducing cattle, Baudhuin said they needed to “use the land for feeding.”

“It just seemed to work out better for us that way,” he said. “We raise between eight and 10 [Angus cattle] a year, and I think we only consume about three, but I have three other siblings, we all have kids, my mom and dad [and] I have an aunt who comes and dips in the freezer – so we have a lot of mouths to feed. Why not give that back to the whole family?”

Though “everyday is a challenge” in the agriculture industry – where “for everybody who’s rooting for you, you’ve got five other people who don’t understand it” – Baudhuin said he’s inspired by everyone “doing their best” anyway, particularly in dairy farming.

For example, though milk prices “haven’t always been ideal” for the producer, he said dairy farms adapted by increasing their efficiency.

“By improving our facilities, we were able to get more milk out of our cows without adding any labor,” he said. “So, we just increased efficiency…, [and] it made the lower milk prices seem a little less stressful.”

Growing his stock over time, Baudhuin said managing his current 350 head of cattle now requires about the same amount of labor as caring for 200 head did just a couple years ago.

That efficiency, he said, is largely due to the technology they’ve adopted, which has reduced the manpower typically needed to maintain a healthy, productive herd.

“I’m a millennial, and we’ve always learned to work smarter, not harder,” he said. “My dad and my grandfather were always of the mindset that if you work harder, it’ll pay for itself, and we’re not in that age anymore. You can’t just work harder and expect to make your problems go away.”

Implementing agri-tech – such as remote cattle-monitoring collars – Baudhuin said, is one way he’s worked smarter since taking over operations of the family farm.

“We can literally track this data from just what the collars are telling us, and by doing so, we saved foot time in the barn [and] our conception rates went up,” he said. “It comes with a price, but at the same time, so does wasting time walking your barn. It’s allowed us to do more things outside of the barn.”

Baudhuin said he believes embracing “the technology curve” in agriculture is essential to being “efficient or successful.”

“Every dairy I’ve toured the last five years alone, that’s what they’ve emphasized, was technology, and they couldn’t have been any more right,” he said.

A welcoming spirit

Though Baudhuin said he, his grandfather and his father – who owned the farm before him – each worked off-farm jobs at some point, every generation has ultimately returned to run the operation full-time.

“Once I graduated high school, I got a job working in a factory and I made it five months, literally to the day,” he said. “I had a bad day, walked out, came home and I told Dad, ‘Either we do something together or I’m going to go somewhere else…, [but] I’m going to be a farmer whether you like it or not.’ And that was kind of the end of it. I’ve been here ever since.”

Though his father often encouraged him to explore other professional opportunities and industries, Baudhuin said he always knew he’d return to the farm.

“I have a lot of respect for him wanting me to try something else, because then I knew,” he said. “I knew this was where I wanted to be.”

Baudhuin said he “couldn’t think of a better place in the Upper Midwest” to not only own a farm, but raise his family than Sturgeon Bay.

“Door County is a beautiful place to be,” he said.

Baudhuin said that in non-rural communities, his work as a farmer is frequently misunderstood and reduced to the stereotype of simply “working in [cow manure].”

Though, “yes, we do,” he said at the same time, his generation has worked to present itself differently – not as just another farmer, but as individuals striving to do their best for their communities, their farms, the land and their families as a whole.

“We’ve evolved,” he said. “We’re a lot different now than we were 100 years ago.”

That is why Baudhuin said he hopes to further collaborate with the WI OYF and support their mission of raising agri-awareness.

“If I have the opportunity to have more involvement in that, I’m going to do it,” he said. “It gives me that much more of an opportunity to meet more people just like me throughout the upcoming years.”

Above all, Baudhuin said he’s most grateful for the Young Farmer of the Year award, the WI OYF and, especially, his family.

“It takes a lot to maintain a fourth-generation farm, and if it wasn’t for the three generations before me, obviously none of this would be possible,” he said. “Those people are your biggest fans, [and] whether you realize it or not, they’re secretly rooting for you. It might not always seem like it, but they’re there – wishing you nothing but the best – [and] it’s cool to see the fruits of your labor pay off.”

Encouraging young farmers

Finger said Baudhuin’s experiences reflect the larger goals of the Wisconsin Outstanding Young Farmer program.

Now in its 72nd year, she said the purpose of the program is to inspire agribusiness owners to engage in community outreach – in turn, increasing urban awareness of their work and impact – and adapt to future-forward practices.

Less than 1% of farmers across the country, she said, are considered “under retirement age” – making programs like WI OYF increasingly important.

This year, Finger said they received six nominations for the WI OYF award.

“All of them were positive, radiant and doing so many neat, intricate and forward-thinking [things] on their operations,” she said. “They have the talent to farm – it’s not just because this is all they can do, it’s way beyond that. They are choosing to farm because they are driven, they are talented, they are bright [and] they have the skills.”

From a farming family herself, Finger said she became involved with the WI OYF in 2020 after she and her husband won the Young Farmer of the Year before going on to win the 2021 National Outstanding Young Farmer award.

However, beyond the recognition, the experiential and educational opportunities the WI OYF offers, Finger said the organization helps Wisconsin’s farming industry build community.

“Farming can be a lonely task,” she said. “It’s very draining, and there can be negativity, [but] I want young farmers to keep going, to keep being inspired, to not give up and to network with others. I felt like [the WI OYF] was really a place where my husband and I could do that.”

Visit wi-oyf.org and Baudhuin Farms LLC’s Facebook page for more.