Brickstead Dairy has been in the family since the mid-1800s when Michael Brick came from Ireland. Dan's father Eugene Brick took over the farm in 1962. Together, Dan and Eugene started the expansion process in 1996, growing each year to the current here size and 1,000 acres of owned and rented land in addition to about 400 acres contracted from other farmers for feed and manure. Dan officially took over in 2002 and still gets help from Eugene who resides at the farm.

As a demonstration farm for the Great Lakes Initiative, Brickstead Dairy - and Dan - are pioneering and testing new ways to approach nutrient application. Patterned after the UW-Discovery Farms model, their study includes cover crop species, rates and seeding methods and allows the dairy to transition to incorporating no-till into their operation. He also participates in the Fox River Watershed Phosphorus-Trading Pilot Project with the Great Lakes Commission and Brown County Land and Water Conservation Department. Phosphorus trading allows industries that produce a lot of phosphorus to buy credits from farmers who are reducing their phosphorus contribution to the watershed.

"We're all working on solving problems, not pointing fingers," Brick said. "If we don't take charge of these issues, EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) will come in and regulate what we can do. Our industry is very threatened."

Brickstead Dairy has in-barn manure reception pits and a two-stage primary pit. The first stage is concrete with a ramp for easier clean-out of sand, and the pit has storage capacity for 14 months. Dan has been looking at systems that recycle water and is considering a sand-separation system in the future.

The Bricks have been members of PDPW since 1998;  Dan has participated in media training, milk-contracting classes and technology tours, and has attended PDPW Managers Academy twice. Brickstead employees have attended herdsman training, calf care training and other workshops.

"My number-one priority is to continue to develop employees. If we hope to grow our dairy we need to get employees into more management roles. PDPW is a great resource for learning how to do that," said Dan. "In running a farm this size, three-quarters of my time is spent managing people - the PDPW trainings have been helpful."

Because farms like Brickstead are in the public eye and consumers want to know animals are cared for properly, employees are trained on animal-husbandry skills. In addition, the dairy routinely hosts neighborhood gatherings, numerous school tours and other events, including  the Brown County Dairy Breakfast.

Dan's wife Melanie works off the farm. Their three children, Sawyer (8) and twins Ian and Elijah (5) are still too young to know if they will follow in their family's footsteps on the farm, but Dan is committed to operating the farm in a way that it will be a viable option in the future if they so choose.