Geert & Wiesje Kruiter farm with their sons Marco and Gert-Jan, and daughter Rianne and her husband Elias in Wyandot and Crawford counties. Together they care for 2,000 dairy cows and 1,400 acres on two farms, and pride themselves on their commitment to excellent cow care and environmental stewardship.

Tell us about the history of your farm?

Rianne: My parents came up with the name Three Flags Dairy. They started farming in the Netherlands when they were younger, then moved to Germany for about 10 years before coming to the States. So, the three flags represent the three countries! We started milking here in 2010 with about 400 cows. After my siblings and I graduated high school, we all stuck around the farm and have been here since, slowly expanding the farm. We recently added another farm, Milestone Dairy, where we also milk cows.

The entire family works on the farm. What does that look like?

Rianne: Working with family is hard, but also very nice! My dad oversees everything on the farm, and my mom is the glue that holds it all together. She does the office work, my older brother Marco is a great mechanic, who spends his time fixing broken equipment and working in the fields. My younger brother Gert-Jan is an amazing welder, so anything else that breaks he fixes for us. He also helps with the fieldwork and at the dairy as needed.

Elias and I are more of the cow people and take care of them with our team of about 20 employees. And we can’t forget the girls – Marco’s wife, Dora, and Gert-Jan’s girlfriend, Danica, help in the office and in the fields, driving semis or tractors, making parts runs or whatever we need.   

You recently built a tunnel-ventilated freestall barn for your cows? Why did you choose this barn set up and how does it help cow comfort?

Elias: We have a tunnel ventilated freestall barn, which has fans at one end to pull fresh air through the barn constantly. The air blows at 7-8 mph all the time, so we have great ventilation for the cows, and no flies. That air flow works with our sprinkler system to cool the cows when it’s hot out and is one of the most important things that we have for the cows. It’s very important to keep them cool because after about 55°F cows start to get hot. The fans turn on automatically depending on the temperature outside.

Rianne: The sprinkler system really helps cool the cows. The water wets the cow’s body, then, when the fans blow air over her, it causes evaporative cooling to take place on her skin and hair coat. We think it’s very important to keep the cows cool.

You do a lot with cover crops and no-till farming. How do you prevent manure run-off when growing the crops you feed your cows?

Geert: We definitely try to do the right thing because we also live here. Our cows drink well water, and we do too.

We always want to apply manure to a growing crop. In the fall, we plant a cover crop, usually cereal rye or triticale, and then wait until it comes up to apply manure to it. This gives it the nutrients it needs to continue growing and helps prevent runoff because the cover crop will capture the nutrients in its root system – so even if you have a rain event, it shouldn’t leach. In the spring, we do it all over again, applying the manure to the corn when it comes up and utilizing all of the nutrients in the manure. We also have buffer strips – a 60-foot grass strip – just as another safeguard for catching any potential run-off.

Learn more about Rianne & Elias or meet more Ohio and West Virginia dairy farmers.