Growing Their Network

[Link]Two dairy farms, just over 2,000 miles apart.

Kat Peper grew up on a dairy farm in California's Central Valley where she was active in FFA, showed dairy cows and served as a dairy princess for two years. Her passion for dairy cattle ran deep.

What led the 2024 WFBF YFA Committee Chair to Wisconsin? A job with dairy cattle at Accelerated Genetics. A week after moving, Kat met her now husband, Brady.

Brady Peper was raised on his family's dairy farm in southwestern Wisconsin, where they milked 45 cows until 2010. After selling the cows, Brady continued cash cropping until he completed welding school in 2012. However, he couldn't stay away from livestock for long.

"I began accumulating beef cows, and here we are," he shared.

Together Kat and Brady farm on what was Brady's grandparents' farm, which they purchased from his grandma in 2019. They own and operate a start-to-finish cow/calf operation with cash cropping of corn and soybeans.

Additionally, Kat works full-time as the technical services manager for CRV, a dairy cattle genetics company. She is responsible for the company's genomic testing program, matings, activity monitoring system and AI technicians in California. Brady works full-time off the farm, as well, as the owner of a welding and fabrication business, Pep's Metalworks LLC.

Like many farmers, Kat and Brady have faced challenges such as succession planning and dealing with unfavorable weather conditions. They are also learning the intricacies of their farm. Brady said that since this wasn't the farm he grew up on, there was a learning curve for them both.

"Getting our feet under ourselves was the initial challenge for us getting started," Brady said. "That and logistics of the farm itself throughout the seasons have taken time for us to learn and understand."[Link]

Both Kat and Brady enjoy connecting with consumers and getting them out to the farm. Kat has always been an advocate for agriculture and enjoys finding new ways to encourage people to learn where their food comes from.

"Through Sauk County Farm Bureau, we hosted Zumba on the Farm and saw great community interest in that," Kat said. "It is exciting to share our farm story with others who don't otherwise have the opportunity."

The couple recently started direct-to-consumer beef sales and obtained a license to sell at farmers markets. They plan to expand the farm and continue to diversify in the future.

The couple's involvement in Farm Bureau has been an opportunity for the couple to meet new people and learn from other young farmers along the way.

"I was in a new state and didn't know anyone yet. I figured I could meet like-minded ag people by joining Farm Bureau," shared Kat.

After joining Sauk County Farm Bureau, Kat was placed on the board as a co-chair for YFA, and then became chair. Being able to be a voice for Wisconsin farmers is important to her. Kat and Brady joined the State YFA Committee as District Representatives in 2021 after a recommendation from past District 2 Representative, Emily DeLong.

"You get to see all different kinds of agriculture across the state," Brady shared about one of his favorite parts of the State YFA Committee.

"You become family by the end of it, with all the stuff you do together," Kat added.

When asked why she wanted to serve as State YFA Chair, Kat explained that "helping to grow the YFA in the state and also helping all the districts to grow the YFA program in their areas" were her main reasons.

In addition to her role as State YFA Chair, Kat is the Sauk County Farm Bureau Secretary and has participated in the AFBF Women's Communications Boot Camp. She is also a graduate of the WFBF Leadership Institute.

[Link]The Pepers are finding many opportunities to stay involved as their term on the YFA Committee comes to a close.

Kat plans to serve and stay active in policy development and legislative opportunities through Wisconsin Farm Bureau. She also wants to be part of American Farm Bureau's Partners in Advocacy Leadership program to further develop her advocacy skills.

She shared, "Advocating for agriculture is a big thing for me."

Brady still has time left in YFA and plans to get more involved with the Discussion Meet contest.

"That's the question: Once you're out of YFA, what do you do? Where do you go?" Brady said. "They still want to be involved in something … and Farm Bureau offers an opportunity to do that while staying connected with the people you have met along the way."

Story by Lashawna Vogel and originally appeared in the August | September 2024 Rural Route.

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