“If it weren’t for him,” were the words mustered by both Chad Foster and his father-in-law, Ben Coleman simultaneously. The two men stated those words about one another, as they discussed their cattle operation in Hickory County.
“If it weren’t for Ben, we wouldn’t have what we have here today,” Chad explained as he described the combined family operation that includes a total of 528 acres and 100 cow-calf pairs of Gelbvieh.
“If it weren’t for Chad,” Ben added, “my sister and I would be in bad shape. We don’t have any hired help.”
“All hands on deck on this farm are family,” Chad described the family farm. Chad grew up around dairy cattle. In 1968, his parents, Richard and Sandra Foster started Rich-Sand Registered Holsteins. Their herd included Rich-Sand Bell Ella who broke the state record in milk production in 1991. Today, his brother, Brent, his wife Julie and their children have taken over their grandfather’s place where they run cow-calf pairs and Holstein heifers.
In addition to the farm, Chad works for the Hickory County Health Department as an Environmental Health Inspector. His wife, Traci is a high school science teacher at Wheatland R-2 and together the couple is raising the next farm generation, 7-year-old Ethan. “It’s good for Ethan to learn the work ethic and the responsibility of the farm and enjoy it – all at the same time. Not everybody has that opportunity,” Chad explained.
Ethan and his two cousins, Treyton and Jadyn have been showing Holstein heifers at several local county fairs the last 2 years. “But, for him to be able to afford, land, equipment or cattle; something is going to have to change. Inputs have skyrocketed – feed, fertilizer, fuel, seed costs – but the price for the product has stayed the same. At times, Grandpa was receiving similar prices back in the 1970s, but none of the input costs are the same.”
Chad explained that in 1970 his father attended artificial insemination (AI) school and he and his brother followed in the late 1990s. “It was a good deal because you got the money you paid for the schooling back in semen. Brent and I would like to sell more registered and balancer bulls in the near future,” he said. “Balancer bulls are any combination of 75 percent Gelbvieh or Angus with the other 25 percent Gelbvieh or Angus. The farm received their first Dam of Merit from the American Gelbvieh Association this year, which Chad said that only about 5 percent of the cows in the breed qualify for this award.
The farm family has had many trials to overcome the last few years that could have set them back, but instead made them stronger. The last day of March in 2008 a tornado caused quite a bit of destruction around the farm, but it wasn’t the first time. “It was just 5 years after the last one hit,” Chad said. “The first one took the top off the barn, and the second one took it all. We had 150 big round bales, so we had loose hay around here that was nearly waist deep.” Chad explained they encountered $40,000 worth of damage to the houses alone and the barn was totaled. “We had thousands more lost in corrals, cattle, feeders, a truck, tractor damage, fence – you name it,” he said. “We are lucky that everyone is still here though.”
The Foster-Coleman farm might have had its share of trials, but have learned through the years that it’s the family and neighbors that keep all hands on deck. “The good news is that we had 15 or 20 family members here for days to clean up the mess afterwards,” Chad said. “We had friends and neighbors who were right there as well to help – not everybody has that.”
