Kuehn Family Hosts Granton Dairy Breakfast 2018

The Kuehn Family – from left; Londa, Dennis, Lluvy, Troy and Pat –
will host the Granton FFA Alumni Dairy Breakfast June 3 at their farm south of Granton.
The breakfast is designated as this year’s Clark County Dairy Breakfast.
(Contributed photo)

By Scott Schultz

This year’s Granton FFA Alumni Dairy Breakfast will have the traditional dairy breakfast fare, along with a special twist of family entertainment.

The breakfast, which this year carries the Clark County Dairy Breakfast designation, will be hosted 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. June 3 at the Maple Bee Acres, LLC.

The Kuehns – Troy, Pat and Lluvy, Dennis and Londa, and family operate Maple Bee Acres at W2762 Starr Road south of Granton, a half-mile east of Highway 10.

Troy and his family acquired the farm in May of 2017 and have begun an array of organic production.

With the farm having already been an organic operation for three years, it seemed a simple transition for the Kuehns to continue.

The farm features 158 acres – 90 of cropland, 10 of pasture and 58 of hard-maple forest.

The crops all are produced according to organic certification, and the family is raising hay, soybeans and corn.

The pasture is being used for beef and hogs.

Troy and Dennis this spring tapped 3,000 maple trees and the family participated in cooking all of the sap, using reverse osmosis. They are pursuing the steps to become a licensed distributor.

Dennis and Troy began raising beef cattle in 2006 at the family’s sawmill. They moved those to the farm and have 15 head of crossbred beef cattle. They also added crossbred hogs to the operation and have farrowing sows and a boar.

The beef and hogs are being raised under organic specifications and are marketed accordingly.

Troy holds a retail meat license, which requires butchering to be done at a state-licensed facility, but he may market the processed meat. The meat is sold by word-of-mouth, but plans are being developed for a web site and other marketing in the future.

He also has a goal of getting a food license by 2019.

Other animals can be found on Maple Bee Acres. The Kuehns also are developing a flock of layer chickens for egg production and the family has 24 chickens and plan to expand.

They also have tried raising bees having some success with honey production in four hives they had near their woods and fields. But winter caused some stress on the hives, so they are looking to reinvest in more bees soon.

The farm also includes a few cats.

The farm needed some repair and improvements when the Kuehns purchased it, and the first project is refurbishing the barn to help accommodate their expansion plans.

The breakfast will be service in the farm’s 40-by-96-foot metal shed, and there also will be tents.

The dairy breakfast will be filled with family events. A highlight includes the DLW Timberworks Lumberjack Shows presenting three performances throughout the event.

The show features Olympics of the Forest, including; log rolling, crosscut sawing, hot sawing, axe throwing, chainsaw carving, chopping, speed pole climbing and cant hook choker races with a touch of comedy.

The shows will be at 8:30 a.m., 10 a.m. and noon. Each show lasts about 35 minutes.

Because the Kuehn family has a traditional history of forestry, they decided they wanted to bring the lumberjack show as something special. The show is being sponsored by Donna Kuehn, Kuehns’ Forest Products and Comfort Grooming by Pat.

More information about the show can be found at www.timberworkslumberjackshow.com.

The menu for the day includes pancakes catered and tossed onto your plate if you choose for added family fun. The Granton FFA alumni’s special eggs will also be served, along with cheese curds, sausage, ice cream, applesauce, maple sy6rup, butter, milk, juice and coffee.

There will also be music provided by The Balsam Road Ramblers, sponsored by Carol Hubing.

Parking will be provided on-site.

Proceeds from the event are used to help sponsor Granton FFA students to workshops, conventions and other events.

The Granton FFA Alumni contributed to this story.