Ahlgren Dairy Awarded Form-A-Feed Outstanding Dairy Award
Posted: January 27, 2021
Ahlgren Dairy of Darwin, MN was awarded the 2020 Form-A-Feed Outstanding Dairy of the Year Award at the Form-A-Feed Professional Dairy Conference which was held virtually on January 14, 2021.
This is the 11th year Form-A-Feed has awarded an Outstanding Dairy of the Year Award. To qualify for this award, a Form-A-Feed representative must nominate a recipient for their commitment and involvement in the dairy industry, community, and country. The Ahlgren family consists of the owners, Rick and Sarah and their children: Philip (13), Matthew (12), Jacob (9), Olivia (7), Henry (6), and Norah (4).
“These last few years have been a rollercoaster of events with expansion and changes. We are extremely honored and blessed to receive this award this year,” said Rick Ahlgren during the 2021 virtual Form-A-Feed Dairy Conference.
ABOUT AHLGREN DAIRY
Rick and Sarah Ahlgren are the 4th generation in their family to farm. Rick’s father David and two of Rick’s uncles operated Ahlgren Brothers Inc. from 1982 to 2018. They milked around 170 cows in a double-12 parlor with a freestall barn. Rick and Sarah moved to the farm 2013 to raise their family and take over the family farm one day. In 2017, Rick’s father David was killed in a farm accident. In 2018, Rick and Sarah purchased the dairy assets from Ahlgren Brothers Inc. and started Ahlgren Dairy LLC. In 2019, the Ahlgren’s started construction of a new freestall barn equipped with three milking robots, three robotic manure collectors and a robotic feeding system.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AND PROMOTING THE DAIRY INDUSTRY
The Ahlgren’s are active in their church and community including partnering with Midwest Dairy to purchase a cooler to be used for dairy products at the Meeker County Food Shelf, delivering school staff appreciation gifts, and giving out dairy promotional products.
The Ahlgren’s welcome visitors on their dairy to educate consumers, in-person and virtually. They have hosted many tours on their farm, and in December, they put on a live Christmas nativity for the community. They also hosted an online tour of their robotic dairy barn for over 1,000 students where they were able to answer students’ questions about where milk and dairy products come from. The Ahlgren’s were also involved in a dairy promotion ad called “Nourishing What’s Next” with U.S. Olympian Morolake Akinosun. It has over 793,000 views on Facebook alone. Ahlgren Dairy is active on social media, including a YouTube channel with a goal of educating the public about dairy farming.
WAYNE QUINN AWARD
Each year, the Form-A-Feed Outstanding Dairy Award winner selects a person or organization from their community to be awarded with the Wayne Quinn monetary award. This year, the Ahlgren’s chose the Dassel Fire & Rescue Department for the Wayne Quinn Award to help purchase a new grain bin rescue system.
The Wayne Quinn Award is not only a monetary award designed to give back to the community, but it is also an award to honor the memory of the late Waynn Quinn, a former Form-A-Feed employee who lost his life to cancer in August 2010.