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December 15, 2025
LENA – As Jagiello Dairy Farm transitions to its fifth generation of ownership, the family behind the 3,500-acre, 800-cow operation said it is focused on honoring the past while positioning the Lena farm for long-term competitiveness.
Today, Marlena Wagner oversees the herd, Tyler Wagner manages feed and Donnie Jagiello is in charge of crops – siblings and cousins who said they grew up in the business under the guidance of fourth-generation owners Troy and Marla Wagner and Bruce and Duane Jagiello.
The transition of ownership and responsibilities from the fourth to the fifth generation, Marla – who continues to serve as co-owner, financial manager and chief cook – said, has been a multiyear effort.
“The good news is we’ve had good farmers all the way through [the farm’s ownership],” she said. “We grew up here, and this has been life. Now, these three are setting us up to continue to be successful and keep up with the times.”
Investing in the future
One of the most visible signs of that forward-looking mindset, Marlena said, is the new 116-by-256-foot freestall barn, which was completed in February.
The barn, she said, includes sand-bedded freestalls, a sprinkler system for hot-weather cooling, circulation and ridge fans for year-round comfort and a heated breezeway connecting it to the existing milking facility.
Marlena said the new barn – the farm’s fifth built by Keller, Inc. – was constructed to meet herd needs, while also supporting long-term planning.
“It was about maximizing the facilities we had, as we were busting at the seams,” she said. “We have a lot of the systems and protocols in place – it was about how can we maximize our cows’ potential.”
Marlena and Donnie said the project was a turning point for Jagiello Dairy Farm’s new generation of leadership.
“It was really the first stepping stone that Donnie and I designed, start to finish – a small step to lay out the future,” she said. “We considered what we needed, knowing we could ease into it and maximize what we have in the current parlor. It’s the first project we did that really got our feet wet.”
Marlena said the barn is just one component of a broader effort to modernize operations. Several years ago, she said the farm adopted activity-monitoring collars – which are fitness tracker-like devices that help identify health issues, track behavior and improve breeding decisions.
“That revolutionized how we care for cows, look for sick animals and how we breed,” she said. “It’s crazy how much those collars drive decisions now and make those decisions easier as the herd size grows.”
Marlena said the team also shifted its breeding strategy, using cohort groups to focus on producing the most efficient cattle possible.
On the feed side, Tyler said he incorporated software tools to standardize and optimize rations.
“When I started, we had a piece of paper with a few numbers on it, and we did the math – but this is a huge help,” he said.
Marlena said the farm has also expanded its use of precision agriculture.
Yield maps and variable-rate fertilizer trials, she said, are helping the team adjust nutrients field by field – recognizing that soil conditions can vary dramatically within a single acreage.
Marlena said the results have been promising across the farm’s crops, which include wheat, alfalfa, soybeans, grain corn and roughly 20,000 tons of corn silage per year.
The fifth-generation owners said they work closely with the fourth and with consultants on nutrition, agronomy and business strategy.
“It’s constant,” Marlena said. “We work with some really good consultants, and we are gaining a lot from their help. It’s constant planning, asking, ‘If we do this, where does this take us?’”
Marla said the fifth generation approaches decisions with an eye toward sustaining not only the business but the families it supports.
“Obviously, we were three families and now we’re six families, and we need to look ahead to what we need to sustain us for the future,” Marlena said. “We have to grow, not just because we want to get bigger but to sustain the family.”
Rooted in family, decades of experience
Returning to the farm, Marlena, Tyler and Donnie said, was always likely in the cards for them, even if their journeys took them across the country.
Tyler returned in 2014 after graduating from Central Washington University, Marlena in 2017 after earning her degree from California Polytechnic and Donnie in 2012 after completing the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Farm and Industry Short Course and attending Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.
“My time away cemented [my return],” Marlena said.
Marla said their return involved some growing pains, but also marked a period of progress.
“They brought new information and ways of doing things,” she said. “At first, some of it was met with resistance – whether it was breeding cattle or simple technology – but we realized this is really good stuff. Our production went up, and we stepped back and said, ‘You guys are clearly running the show.’”
Marlena said they are all “really ingrained in doing the daily work – not just managing or overseeing.”
That, she said, provided them a great vantage point to understand what is or isn’t working on the farm.
“If I have a problem in the barn, I can call my brother and work hand in hand [with him], because we are the ones doing the jobs,” she said. “And it’s fun that way.”
Marlena said the Jagiello Dairy Farm team includes nine milkers, a calf feeder and an employee who does a little bit of everything.
Collectively, she said they, along with other family members, ensure they can milk around the clock, milking three times a day in a double-12 parlor.
“We have enough time to do a wash and then they restart the process,” she said.
In a given month, Marlena said they generate more than two million pounds of milk.
Marlena said they all recognize that each day presents an opportunity to improve their operations.
“It’s stressful, and as we grow, it’s more work, and we need more people on the team,” she said, “but we’re proud that we’re still doing the work even as we grow.”
Through thick and thin
Marla said the fifth-generation leaders fully acknowledge that running a growing and evolving dairy farm is no easy task.
“My dad had a saying: ‘Pull together and you’ll get through it,’” she said. “You can’t do anything if you don’t have the resolution to stick with it.”
Marla said that set the stage for the fourth generation – and now the fifth – and serves as a reminder that persistence is often key to sustaining the business through challenging times.
“It’s been a tough couple of years, with the weather being bad last year, hurting our inventories a lot,” Tyler said. “All we could do is to keep planning to make up for it and work at it and hope each year gets better.”
Weather isn’t the sole challenge, he said, with milk prices and expanding during the ownership transition bringing their own set of challenges.
When making decisions, Tyler said they turn to their consultants, banker, accountant and other trusted team members, ensuring strategy guides their choices rather than emotion.
“There are differing opinions, but we keep having discussions and plucking away because we’re on the same page,” he said.
The farmhouse at the center
Modeled after generations before them, Marla said their all-in approach extends to the broader family, with relatives and friends pitching in as needed.
Though no one has lived on the homestead full-time since their grandmother’s passing in 2019, Marla said the farmhouse remains the center of farm life and family activity.
“We have a lot of out-of-state relatives, with family coming in from Texas for Thanksgiving and several other weeks of the year [and staying there],” she said.
Marla said the legacy carries special meaning for her, whose great-grandfather emigrated from Poland, cleared the land and established the farmstead.
Marlena said the farm’s motto – “Remembering the Past, Moo’ving Toward the Future” – serves as a bridge between honoring their history and looking ahead to what’s next.
“It’s a tribute to what they did right in the past so we can take the reins and move things forward,” she said.
Looking ahead
Marla said she fondly remembers Marlena, Tyler and Donnie playing on the farm’s sand piles as children, as she now watches their children enjoying the same playful moments.
“I’m excited to think about how much fun these cousins will have growing up together like we all did, and then keeping [the farm] in the family so it can continue to be our place,” she said.
For the fifth generation leading the business today, Marlena said the challenge ahead is steep but also deeply motivating.
“A goal of mine is to see it go to the next generation,” she said. “That’s a huge struggle in the industry, but we are determined to succeed.”
