Schilling Farms Host Granton Dairy Breakfast 2017

This year’s Granton FFA Alumni Dairy Breakfast will be hosted by Schilling Farms,
W3514 Tree Road, Granton, Sunday, June 4, serving from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
General parking will be at the Granton schools with shuttle buses running a regular schedule beginning at 6:45 a.m.
Handicapped parking is available on the farmstead.
Luke and Stacy Schilling are excited to spend their anniversary weekend with the community while hosting the breakfast this year.
(Contributed photo)

Once again, Granton FFA Alumni is busy finishing the final details for their annual diary breakfast. This year’s breakfast is being hosted by Schilling Farms, owned and operated by Luke and Stacy Schilling.

The breakfast is Sunday, June 4. Food will be served from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at W3514 Tree Road, Granton.

It is important to note that parking will be at the Granton School, 217 N. Main Street, Granton. Five buses will run regularly to and from the farm with an easy drop-off and pick-up spot only 100 yards from the shed, with a nice driveway to walk on. The first bus will leave Granton schools at 6:45 a.m. and run very regularly after that.

Parking for handicapped individuals is available on the farmstead.

The Schillings purchased the land where the breakfast will be held in 1996. The original purchase was 56 acres of farmland that was previously farmed by Stacy’s father and grandfather.

Their development of the property has resulted in the third generation farming the land. Twenty-seven acres of the initial land purchase was tillable, which was originally rented to a local farmer.

Luke and Stacy began planting trees and doing other management practices on the woodland parts of the acreage. In 1998, they built their home on the property, which they have since expanded.

In 2008, the Schillings decided to pursue crop farming. Stacy jokingly said, “He just really wanted to buy tractors.”

They began with the original 27 tillable acres they owned, and worked up to renting 79 additional acres. Fifty of those rented acres belong to Luke’s father, Phil Schilling in Chili, Luke is also the third generation to farm his family’s land.

This past fall, they purchased another 12 acres and are in the process of logging off another area of about 15 acres, which will be converted to farmland.

The Schillings plant corn, soybeans, and small amounts of hay on the property, and everything is sold as harvested crops.

Luke does all the work associated with the crop production. At harvest time, they have help from their neighbor Tom Paun, who drives the Schillings’ semi to transport the grain to market. Luke clarified, “Stacy is very important in the operation as well, as ‘she is in charge of field lunches.”

The Schillings have acquired the equipment needed to farm over the past 10 years, and built a new shed in 2012 to house all of the machinery.

The shed is 104 ft. x 50 ft., which is where the breakfast will be held. An additional shed was built on the property to serve as Luke’s race shop.

Luke worked on a farm as a young teenager for local farmer Lavern Meissner. He also did some custom milking for other area farmers.

He loved farming, but as a young man, choosing his professional career, he originally avoided farming as his choice, because, he was concerned about the demands of working seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

While in high school, Luke attended Mid-State Technical College, and earned a degree as an auto body technician. He worked as an auto-body technician at Mid-State Truck for a year and a-half before decided to start his own business, Schilling Racing Auto Body, in downtown Chili. The shop is generally open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, but is closed during farming times.

While in high school, Luke and Stacy met through a mutual friend at the Clark County Fair. They both graduated in 1987, Luke from Marshfield and Stacy from Granton.

They dated throughout college and married June 1, 1991. They said they thought it would be fun to celebrate their anniversary with the community while hosting the breakfast this year.

Stacy graduated from UW-Oshkosh with a Bachelor’s degree in business administration just a few weeks before they married. She began working at Marshfield Clinic right after that, in the area of insurance.

After a few months in that position, she began working in the information systems department and held that position for 20 years.

In the fall of 2011, she became Marshfield Clinic’s privacy officer in the Corporate Compliance department, where she remains employed today.

Luke and Stacy have two dogs, Rex, who was adopted from the Clark County Humane Society, and Hershey, who came from the Columbus Rescue program.

Their spare time is spent racing Luke’s IMCA modified dirt car. Luke previously drove weekly at numerous local racetracks, up to 55 races per year.

Since they began farming, he has reduced the racing program to 12 to 15 races per year. Luke and Stacy’s current favorite tracks are in Princeton, MN, and Brainerd, MN, where Luke races with his brother, Lance.

The other area of special noteworthiness is their volunteerism with the area Christmas Angel Tree project for which Stacy serves as the coordinator.

For about two months prior to Christmas, Stacy spends an extensive amount of time coordinating volunteers and organizing the collection project, which serves residents in Neillsville, Granton, Chili, and Humbird.

Luke helps out with the project as well and can be seen on many occasions “playing elf” delivering these items to the families.

Luke and Stacy are always planning for the event and shop throughout the year, watching the sales and clearance aisles for the best prices.

The Schillings ae extremely excited to host the breakfast and hope that people will come out to join them.

There will be live music, and antique tractor display, racing display and kid’s activities, including a sanctioned youth pedal pull at 11 a.m.

Featured on the menu again will be the FFA Alumni special egg recipe, pancakes, sausage, real maple syrup, butter, cheese curds, applesauce, ice cream, milk, juice, and coffee.

The cost is $7 for middle school students through adults, $3.50 for students in kindergarten to grade five, and preschoolers eat free.