Ushering the next generation into the healthcare pipeline
Green and gold + gelato: Sara’s Artisan Gelato partners with Packers
February 24, 2025
ALGOMA – Though Kiley Heim spent her entire childhood living and helping out on her family’s dairy farm in Algoma – Heim Hillcrest Dairy – and participating in 4H and other agriculturally focused programs, she said she had no intentions of staying on the farm in adulthood.
“I never wanted to stay on the farm,” she said. “For the longest time, I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher. In a way I did but with baby calves, not humans.”
And though she didn’t originally plan to stay on the farm after high school, Kiley said growing up on the farm “instilled great work ethic, responsibility and the value of teamwork.”
“I always loved moving cattle with my aunt growing up,” she said. “She taught me how to move with the animals and how not to spook them. That job continues to be one of my favorite things to do twice a month.”
The value of teamwork and responsibility, Kiley said, spilled over into other aspects of her life growing up, and into adulthood – more specifically, sports.
Active in sports herself – “I was involved in many sports growing up, working hard with many great teammates and earning three straight trips to the championship games in basketball” – Kiley said after high school, she began coaching, which provided her not only an opportunity to help mentor local athletes but also a chance to be a leader.
“Right out of high school, I worked on the farm full-time and started to coach basketball for a youth program and then into the high school level as well,” she said. “Being able to coach has taught me different values and leadership that I carry over to working on the farm.”
‘The future of our dairy’
Even from a young age, Kiley said she knew the importance of the health and welfare of the cows and calves – a task she now dedicates all her time to.
“In 2012, we started raising calves on our home site, which is when I found my love and passion to continue to work on our dairy farm,” she said.
Today, Kiley said her role at Heim Hillcrest Dairy is calve management.
“A typical day for me starts with feeding our calves every morning, as well as checking for anyone that might be a little off,” she said.
From there, Kiley said every day is a bit different – however, many are similar, just not always done in the same order.
“I usually go around the yard, feed the cats, fill the refrigerators with soda and water, grab any of the shop paperwork to go into the computer, put orders items away, look at our cow and youngstock tracking systems, cut the lawn, move heifers, make lunch for the crew daily, do paperwork for billing and paperwork for the shop maintenance monitoring system, order supplies, work on projects that pop up and much more,” she said.
Kiley said “by far,” her favorite part of farming is the calves.
“They are adorable, and they are the future of our dairy,” she said. “I feel like it is one of the most important aspects of a farm. If you don’t focus on the youngstock in your herd, how do you have a future in farming?”
With that being said, Kiley said she believes calves are one of the more challenging parts of the farm.
“They are easily susceptible to all bugs that might come through, especially in group housing on automatic feeders like we use,” she said. “Our farm overcomes these challenges by setting up protocols and keeping everything as clean as possible. We have a great team to lean on if anything gets out of whack and need some advice as well.”
Evolving with change
Over the years, Kiley said there have been many changes in the farming industry – with the most recent ones coming in the form of technology.
“I have seen the farming industry change a lot over the last couple of years with how much technology is implemented into just about everything you can think of,” she said. “We have the automatic feeders that tell us how much the calf drinks each time it comes to drink, the drinking speed of the calf and whether or not the calf is drinking when she comes to drink.”
Kiley said Heim Hillcrest Dairy has collars on its herd to track its rumination, activity and even breathing.
“The barns have sensors that raise or lower side curtains, fans to keep the air moving out of the barn and we have pusher fans throughout the barn to keep a consistent temperature in the barn,” she said.
The family farm’s machinery, Kiley said, also has some of the highest technology as well.
“Our farm works closely with John Deere corporate to help them continue to grow their technology to be the best,” she said. “All of these technologies help us learn and keep us efficient. Also, the tractors that basically drive themselves, which is pretty crazy.”
The most surprising change she’s seen, Kiley said, is probably being able to track calves.
“I was always told calves don’t ruminate, and they will never be able to make something to track calves due to all the variabilities that they have,” she said.
Today, Kiley said there are tracking tags for youngstock for group-housed calves.
Some of the other advancements/improvements made on the farm over the years, Heim said, include:
- Acquiring another farm just south of Heim Hillcrest Dairy and moving its youngstock there to free up space for 450 cows at the home farm (2003)
- Constructing an addition to the main barn, giving space for 640 cows (2008)
- Entering into a long-term lease with a neighboring farm as a new maternity area was built at the home farm (2017)
- Investing in an Allflex Collar System – a system that helps the herd team monitor each individual cow and allows them to catch illnesses earlier, ensuring a healthy herd (2020)
- Expanding the shop to accommodate the farm’s equipment, maintenance needs (2021)
- Hauling manure from the farm to the NEW digester in Denmark, in an effort to become carbon neutral (2021)
- Building a Tunnel Ventilated Barn that uses the latest technology to control all systems in the barn to provide the cows with the best climate and environment (2022)
Carrying on a legacy
As a multi-generational farm, Kiley said at Heim’s Hillcrest Dairy, family is a cornerstone for all they do.
Kiley said her great-grandparents, Ray and Florence Heim, originally started in 1963 with her great-grandparents, milking 30 cows.
She said her grandparents, Lloyd and Joyce, took over the farm in 1976 – with their sons Jeremy (Kiley’s father) and Scott joining the farm full-time in 2000.
Today, Kiley said Heim Hillcrest Dairy, which milks more than 800 cows daily – as well as sister company Heim Brothers Custom, which assists fellow farmers with crop harvesting, manure transportation and other trucking needs – remains a family operation with many family members working on the farm in some capacity, including her brother, Ben, and her cousin, Sam.
“Family farms are important to me because families are able to build something special together and share successes together,” she said. “I feel like they put their whole hearts into their work.”
Though her family’s legacy has always been important to her, Kiley said it continues to grow in importance the older she gets.
“I want to be able to make the older generations proud of what the farm becomes after they are gone, and of course doing the right thing to continue positivity to our name in the community,” she said. “Our community truly continues all our family farms in our area. It is a special place to live and be able to farm together.”
Being a female farmer, Kiley said is equally important to her.
“Having women in farming is extremely important because women bring a diverse perspective, tend to bring a nurturing and caring approach to the table and they have many different values to bring to a dairy business.”
Promoting the cause
Kiley said her family’s involvement in the farming industry doesn’t stop at their farm but rather extends into the community and beyond.
She said her family has always been proud supporters of dairy – promoting its products and its farmers, evening hosting Breakfast on the Farm last year.
Kiley said Heim Hillcrest Dairy also hosts tours and field trips.
Taking industry awareness one step further, Kiley said she was recently appointed vice president of the Kewaunee County Dairy Promotion Committee – a cause near and dear to her heart and her passion for the dairy industry.
“(Being in the role) allows me to influence others to support our local dairy industry,” she said. “I can help promote dairy products, support local farmers and educate the community about the benefits of dairy.”
The vice president position, Kiley said, also provides her with a platform to develop leadership skills, network with other dairies, help organize events that connect the community with local dairy farmers and continue to support other events in the area using dairy products.
“I would love to get more dairy farmers involved in our dairy promotion group to allow us to create more events and new ideas to promote the dairy industry,” she said.
A step above
Though proud to be family owned and operated, Kiley said as Heim Hillcrest Dairy has grown, its workforce has also increased – with many of its workers becoming extended members of the Heim family.
With that, she said, comes the responsibility of taking care of the farm’s dedicated crew.
“Here at Heim’s Hillcrest Dairy, we are special by providing lunch for our guys,” she said. “They receive a warm meal, and as long as they are not in the fields they get to come together and eat at one table to make it feel as family style as possible.”
Though it may seem like a simple thing, Kiley said she believes it elevates the Heim Hillcrest Dairy team to the next level.
“They have respect for each other when they learn more about their personal lives,” she said. “Another thing that the owners/managers do every day is work side by side with our employees. We don’t give out jobs that we wouldn’t do.”
Kiley said Heim Hillcrest Dairy’s multi-generational family values, coupled with its ability to adapt and grow with industry changes, positions the farm for continued growth in the future.
“I believe there will be expansions and continued growth to provide our cows the most comfort and our employees opportunities to exceed their job expectations,” she said. “The more technology advances in the dairy industry will continue to amaze many and keep us on the cutting edge.”
