Sustainability is a buzzword in agriculture and beyond, but many practices that help farms to be more sustainable are nothing new. Some have been a part of farm operations for decades, and for many farms, they are a guiding light into a future that blends conservation with profitability.
This is certainly the case for dairy producer David Trimner and Miltrim Farms in Athens, Wis. It’s in their farm’s vision statement: “To sustainably raise the bar in producing nature’s most powerful nutrition.” And it’s part of their mission to build upon a legacy of sustainability to better their land, water, cattle, and community.
Trimner and co-owner Andy Miller purchased the dairy a few years ago from the previous generation, where Trimner’s parents and grandparents had been dairy farming for decades in northern Wisconsin. Today the farm consists of 5,200 acres and a 3,000-cow dairy herd. They milk 1,800 of those cows with 30 automated milking systems, which makes them the largest robotic dairy in the state.
Trimner talked about some of the conservation practices they’ve tried on their farm, what’s worked – and what has not – and future plans at the most recent Wisconsin Water and Soil Health Conference.
Sustainability in stages
Trimner said conservation has always been part of their legacy. His grandfather incorporated practices like strip-till into his field management years ago. He was also one of the first farmers in Wisconsin to put in a manure storage pit to collect manure over winter so nutrients could be applied when they would be best utilized.
Over the years, the family embraced different practices, but they fully embarked on the next leg of their sustainability journey about 15 years ago. “For our family, we knew that, particularly in our area, surface waters are continuing to be impaired,” Trimner explained. “We wanted to be part of that solution rather than the problem.”
They made some adjustments, starting with less fall tillage. Previously, they plowed everything they could in the fall to save time in the spring. Trimner said they always felt it was necessary in their heavy clay soils, but they shifted gears and experimented with reduced tillage. They also tried some cover crops, planting some rye and oats post-corn silage harvest.
After a few years of trying some new practices here and there, Trimner said they got to what he called a “building up confidence and thinking outside the box” stage. They purchased a no-till corn planter and started small, only using it in conditions where they thought it would really fit. They also started interseeding a variety of species between corn rows to bring variety and better health to the soil.
Next, they entered what Trimner called the “conservation at all costs” stage.
“We learned a lot through this timeline,” Trimner shared. They expanded their no-till efforts and planted into some very wet and rough conditions.
“We made it happen, even if it didn’t always work,” he said. “But again, the focus was conservation at all costs.” They also began interseeding between corn rows on every acre they could.
They put in some buffer strips and worked with Pheasants Forever to plant some pollinator plots. This took some cropable land out of action, but Trimner said the land was very poor. They planted a 10-acre single pollinator and managed it for seven years. Now it is fairly self-sufficient and is a beautiful site throughout the year.
Trimner said the pollinator plots are something they would do again if there were opportunities in other fields. If placed in an area that loses money more years than not, converting it to something different brings value. Their neighbor near the pollinator plot has beehives, so it’s providing value to the bees and the dairy.
Manure as an asset
The Trimners do about 80% of their own manure hauling, and during this sustainability journey, they switched to minimal disturbance manure application. They also introduced a dribble bar system to apply manure on the soil’s surface between hay crops.
“The way we handle our manure is critical. We have a lot of it, and we see it as an asset,” he noted. “Because we see it as an asset, we want to make sure we utilize it as such.”
They focus on applying at the right place at the right time at the right rate. “That’s going to bring us success, both on the conservation side, but also the soil fertility side,” Trimner noted.
Another valuable investment for the dairy was building almost a year’s worth of manure storage.
“That allows us to apply the manure when we want to, not when we have to,” Trimner explained. He feels it was the right move for them, even if it was a hard investment to make.
“Digging a hole in the ground never makes you money,” he recognized. “But it’s just something we had to do to reach the goals we want to reach.”
Trial and error
Trimner was quick to acknowledge that not everything they did worked well. While they tried to no-till as many fields as possible, they came to realize that they have to be more strategic with their heavy clay soils. Attempting to no-till as much as possible became a hindrance at times, diminishing yield.
They also stepped back on interseeding between corn rows. In 2023, it was too dry to seed the covers, and then 2024 and 2025 were extremely wet. “We haven’t given up on that,” Trimner emphasized. “But it’s not going to be a whole farm tool. It’s going to be a strategic tool.”
After experiencing severe winter kill in their alfalfa a few years earlier, they didn’t want to put themselves in that situation ever again. So, they diversified their hay mix with seven species, including chicory and plantain. Although the mix grew fine in the fields, they found that chicory and plantain didn’t dry down like other plants because of their thick stalks.
The mix also didn’t work as well for feeding the dairy herd. “We want our cows to be healthy but also very productive, Trimner noted. “That species of mix didn’t quite fit with the goals that we had in mind.”
They’ve come back to middle ground with their forage mix, which now includes alfalfa, one or two types of grass, and some clover. “Those three to four plants are going to provide some diversity in the soil. They’re going to take up manure, and they’re going to thrive if it’s dry or wet,“ Trimner explained. “Also very importantly, it’s going to provide high-quality protein and good feed digestibility for our cows.”
They tried using rye as a cover crop to help remove compaction because of its deep root system. They were hopeful that would be successful but found there were areas where they needed to use a chisel plow or even a deep ripper to break up the subsoil before they could plant in the spring.
A few other changes along the way yielded positive results. The edges of certain fields or areas that did not perform well for corn have been planted to permanent grass and are harvested for heifers. “It’s good forage for them,” he noted.
They more recently transitioned to shorter-day corn as it allows for a wider window of opportunity for fall field activities. “One of the main goals of the dairy is that we have a living cover all year long, Trimner explained, “so we knew we needed to change our strategy a bit.”
With shorter-day corn, they can harvest sooner and get more growing days for their cover crops. It also gives more time to apply manure. “Those are two critical things we want,” Trimner emphasized. They want the cover crop out there so it can start taking up the manure nutrients that can be utilized and held there through the winter.
Finding extra value
Miltrim Farms sustainability journey led them to some opportunities and projects. The option to sell carbon credits has been a worthy income source. “It’s been a very good place of opportunity,” Trimner said. “For one, it helps pay for some of the mistakes we’ve made, of course, but also helps just to be a profitable dairy, be a profitable farm, which is awesome.”
Phosphorus credits are another one. They’ve worked with a local municipality to help manage their sewer costs for the residents. Credits are generated when they stay under a certain GMBO load, and those credits can be sold to municipalities when they need them. It costs a municipality $10,000 to reduce one pound of carbon, and for a farm, it costs about $100.
“There’s really a great opportunity there for both sides,” he noted.
They are proud members of their local watershed group, and they find great value in talking and sharing ideas with other farmers. They also participate in University of Wisconsin’s Discovery Farms program and have been doing edge-of-field water monitoring for a few years now.
They are also finding value in water collection. As a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO), they must capture all the rainwater from their main feed area. They collect that rainwater, mix it with other collected rainwater, and put it in a storage pond. That water is used to wash sand on the dairy as part of their recycled bedding system. Through this process, they can save millions of gallons of water a year. Eventually, Trimner would like to enhance their water collection so that they can save one million gallons of well water a month, preserving that precious resource.
They participate in “Your Farm, Your Footprint” through the Professional Dairy Producers (PDP). It takes all sorts of data from the farm, runs it through different models, and gives a carbon score of the dairy.
“We wanted to know, as a farm, how are we doing on the carbon front,” Trimner said. “Right now, we don’t need that information, but if the time ever comes when we do, we have that opportunity. We have that data.” Participation also helped them understand where they were doing well and what could be done to improve the farm’s carbon footprint. It fits well with their conservation-minded philosophy.
Looking ahead
Future goals for Miltrim Farms include improved soil health with more focus on micronutrients and better nutrient utilization by crops.
“If you just keep putting more and more nitrogen, or more and more of this or that on the field and getting fewer and fewer results, that’s not the right way to go,” he noted. “We want to continue to get more from our fields and utilize inputs less.” Rather than investing so much money in those three primary nutrients, they now focus on the microbes to improve soil balance and achieve their goals of great soil health and great feed that supports healthy cows.
The family also wants to continue having conversations with other farmers to learn from their successes, and Trimner encourages others to do the same. “Keep your mind open to other ideas. It’s such a great way to keep everyone honest and keep everyone improving. Remember, every farm is different.”
They plan to keep taking managed risks. “Sometimes you’re going to fail, and that’s okay if you manage risk,” he said. “If you want to try something, it doesn’t have to be the whole farm. It can be 5 acres, or 10 acres, or 40, depending on your scale and what risk you can tolerate.”
And then, there’s the long-term resilience of the dairy.
“I am very honored to be able to continue my family’s legacy,” Trimner said, and he shared his hope that their farming practices today will create long-term resilience so that one day, the next generation can take over the farm like he did.
Trimner believes that “Conservation is green in both ways that matter. What I mean by that is it can help water quality, soil health, and so forth. But it can also improve your bottom line.” He believes these many benefits of conservation will help propel Miltrim Farms into the future.
This article appeared in theMay 2026 issue of Journal of Nutrient Management on pages 14 to 17.
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