Minich Dairy Farm Hosts Row Crop Tour
Published: Friday, August 1, 2025
The LaPorte County Row Crop Food Producers held their annual Ag Tour and Barbecue at Minich Dairy Farm last Wednesday near LaPorte.
The fourth-generation family dairy and grain farm has been in the Minich family since 1930. Frank and Anna Minich bought it and survived the Depression years. In those early years, their barn had 14 stanchions, and they shipped Grade A milk in cans. The first milking machines came to the farm in 1939, thanks to electricity.
Jim Sr. and his wife Darlene purchased the farm in 1974 and built one of the first milking parlors in the county, a double 3. As the dairy herd grew, so did the parlor, up to a double 4 and, later, to a double 6 herringbone.
Further expansion began when the current owner, Jim Jr., finished college. He and wife Valerie purchased the farm in 1996. They have two sons, Frank and Charlie, who are partners in the operation.
In 2002, the Minichs added a double 12 parallel milking parlor that was completely automated. The parlor can service about 140 cows per hour.
In 2004, the family built a freestall barn using a completely different concept, a Cover-All.
The farm has grown to 2,500 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and alfalfa, as well as 900 Holsteins.
"Right now, they're giving about a 67-pound average," Jim said. "This summer has been really hard on how well they eat. We've probably dropped about 8 pounds, just from the heat alone."
In 2015, Frank graduated from Purdue University and became a partner in the dairy farm. In 2019, he married Stephanie. They have two children, Clark and Molly.
In 2017, Charlie graduated from Purdue and also became a partner in the dairy farm. He married Taylor in 2020.
During the tour, participants visited the milking parlor, calf barns, freestall barn, veterinary area and bunker-silo feed mixing area.
The Minichs use modern technology such as neck collars equipped with Bluetooth that identifies every cow in the herd.
"That not only identifies them, but it has a pedometer in it that counts their steps," Jim said. "When a cow comes in heat, she gets more active. So, if a cow is a lot more active today than yesterday, you know she's in heat. You'll get a report so you know which cows are in heat today."
The neck collar also measures rumination.
"A cow has four stomachs, so they ruminate," he said. "Most of your health problems on a cow are with the fresh cow, which means right after they have a calf. If she quits eating, you'll pick that up with the rumination and then you know to sort that cow off and give her whatever she needs to get back on track."
The evening concluded with dinner and presentation of four scholarships to LaPorte County students. This year's recipients are: Ava Redlin, Lyla Bannwart, Katelyn Hertges and Zoey Parrett-Hock. The scholarships are worth $1,500 apiece.
Return to Top of Page