Visitors ‘stirrup’ scenic views, wildlife sightings at Jewelview Drafts

Rich Palzewic

Staff

August 18, 2025

WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN – Taking advantage of their 269 acres and natural landscapes, Melissa and Tom Schaub, owners of Jewelview Drafts Country Tours (JDCT) in West Central Wisconsin, said they wanted to give visitors a taste of what the area has to offer.

The couple said they are accomplishing this by offering tours of the property with the help of their two teams of horses and a pair of wagons. 

Located 20 miles east of La Crosse and 10 miles west of Cashton at W415 State Road 33, Melissa Schaub said JDCT offers horse and wagon rides across their fields and through the woods, providing visitors with stunning views and possible glimpses of wildlife.

“We’ve been told the views are very nice,” she said. “We’re on a ridge top, but we’re one of the flattest farms in La Crosse County.”

Schaub said visitors can expect about an hour-long wagon ride, and they are working on adding even more routes to their repertoire.

“We have land on both sides of the state highway, but we don’t have a lot of wooded trails right now,” she said. “Also, anything on our property that’s wooded sometimes has too much of a grade. If the land is flatter, it’s being farmed or pastured. We have a couple of different routes, and we’ll stop and let people take pictures.”

Schaub said a favorite spot to stop on the tour has St. Peter’s Catholic Church – the “Jewel on the Hill” – as a backdrop.

“We love talking with the people, seeing where they’re from and educating them on the farm and our draft horses,” she said.

Schaub said their typical season runs from early May through early November.

“We have several people who come here to hunt, and November is hunting time,” she said. “We don’t go through the winter because we don’t have a sleigh, and I don’t like the cold. People ask if we’re going to get to that point, and yes, maybe we will someday.”

Schaub said they’d also like to add a smaller wagon for more intimate rides.

“Maybe a smaller wagon that holds four people,” she said. “For smaller groups, it doesn’t make sense to use the bigger wagon. Our goal is to eventually utilize a Robert Carriage – it’s a bit smaller and can be pulled by one horse.”

Schaub said there are no real set hours for the tours, but they ask visitors to set things up ahead of time.

“We are a working dairy farm, and that’s the priority, so it works out better if the tours can be set up ahead of time,” she said. “Having said that, we are very flexible. Also, if we have a bigger group, we can bring in another team and wagon. My sister and brother-in-law actually got me into doing this, and they have a couple of teams. They live about 30 miles away.”

Meet the teams

Schaub said her horses Jake and Jeb are Belgians, while Levi and Mae are American Brabants.

“The American Brabant breed came into existence in the last 20 years,” she said. “I was on a waiting list for three years to get Levi. I purchased him when he was six months old – he’s now four. I got his sister, Mae, the next year – she’s three. Those two are basically the culmination of American and European Belgian breeding.”

Schaub said her daughter also keeps a draft horse on the property, but they currently don’t have a teammate for him.

“I think Jake and Jeb weigh close to 1,800 pounds, while Levi and Mae tip the scales at about 1,600 pounds,” she said. “When I asked the trainer how Levi and Mae were doing, he said, ‘They are really good… at eating.’ Levi is about as wide as he is tall, but he’s a big goof – he’s my class clown.”

Schaub said draft horses can live into their 30s.

“It really depends on what they’re used for, their breed and how they’re treated,” she said. “They’re just like people – they need to eat well and get exercise. If you think of a racehorse, when they’re younger, they’re used hard and fast for the first couple of years, and then they retire when most people think they’re in their prime… but that’s because they have worked hard early in their lives.”

Bred for labor, Schaub said their draft horses “love to work.”

“That’s what they’re bred for, and that’s what they want to do,” she said. “For a draft horse, pulling a wagon full of people is nothing. They’re getting out and seeing the countryside, too. When a deer runs by, they get pretty excited. When it’s been a bit of time between a scheduled ride, Levi will get antsy and say, ‘Let’s go – I need to get outside.’”

In the offseason, Schaub said the horses have some time off, too.

“There is a reason they call them hay burners,” she laughed. “We also do a little bit of farm work with them – rake hay, spread manure, etc. Tom jokes that they have to earn their keep.”

More than three decades ago

Schaub said Tom bought the 269 acres right out of high school in 1989, and the couple got married six years later in 1995.

“Everybody thought he was crazy,” she laughed. “Tom’s home farm, where he grew up, is the next one over, so this is where he’s always lived. The neighbors took a liking to him and said, ‘When you’re ready, we’ll sell you our farm.’ When Tom was 13, his dad got sick, so he pretty much ran [his home] farm from a young age.”

In the beginning, Schaub said they eventually began organic farming on the 269 acres.

“We used to raise organic produce, but now we are a dairy farm,” she said. “We milk about 70 cows and have that many youngstock as well.”

With a plethora of land and a great location, Schaub said the launch of JDCT seemed like a natural progression.

“We’re in a very good location, and we have this land, so we figured we might as well give others a taste of what we see daily on the farm,” she said. 

Schaub said JDCT officially began operations on the farm a year ago in May, but the foundations of the business go back about a dozen years.

“Over the years, we used to get hired out to do this type of thing, but we finally realized it was a lot of work to travel to other locations,” she said. “We’d have two vehicles – one for the wagon and one for the team – so now people can come to us.”

Though most of the business is now centered at the farm, Schaub said they still travel on a limited basis.

“We’ll go to Caroline [in Shawano County] this October for the [Caroline Lions] Colorama,” she said. “It’s a big horse event, and we’ve done horse and wagon rides there for many years. They bring in more than 1,000 horses. People camp with their horses, and they have miles of trails. For the people who don’t have riding horses, they’ll ride on the wagons.”

Schaub said she will also be taking Levi and Mae to the American Brabant Association (ABA) Fall Rendezvous Sept. 27 in Medford. 

“The event has taken place in several different states in the past – Iowa, West Virginia, Wyoming,” she said. “This year, it is on the farm of the ABA President, Jason Julian. I will have Levi and Mae there giving rides to spectators of the event.” 

Find out more on Jewelview Draft Country Tours at jewelviewdraftscountrytours.com or find it on Facebook.