(Decatur County, IN) – America truly is the “land of opportunity” for so many people—including one family who moved to Indiana from Belgium nearly 20 years ago and are now among the largest dairy producers in the state!
“It all started with my parents, Mary and Dominic, in 1987 with about 18 cows,” according to Wim Hulsbosch, co-owner of Hulsbosch Dairy south of Greensburg in Decatur County. He says his parents had a fast-growing dairy operation in their home country of Belgium.
“They grew the herd to about 80 cows. However, due to government restrictions or the quota system the Belgium government had in place at the time, my parents were not allowed to grow the dairy operation anymore. My two younger brothers and I had expressed a lot of interest in dairy farming and agriculture as kids, so they wanted to make sure that for our future they could provide us with an opportunity to enter into agriculture. That was going to be very tough at an 80 cow dairy, so they started looking for opportunity elsewhere,” he says.
In searching for those opportunities, Dominic and Mary were drawn not just to the United States, but to Southeastern Indiana.
“[The area] is very similar in landscape to Belgium but with many more opportunities for growth here in the states,” says Hulsbosch. “We settled in Decatur County and then we just found some crop farmers initially that were willing to help produce crops for our cows, and off we went.”
The Hulsbosch family moved to the U.S. on December 24, 2005. Less than three years later, they started their dairy farm near the small town of Letts, Indiana, and milked their first cow on August 1, 2008. At the time, their farm consisted of 2.5 six-row barns to house 2,100 cows.
Today, their family farm has more than 80 employees and about 6,600 milking cows and a total of 8,000 cows housed on site.
Chances are if you live south of Indianapolis and shop at Kroger and buy their brand of milk, it likely came from Hulsbosch Dairy.
It’s estimated that Hulsbosch Dairy currently has an annual impact of $9 million on the local ag economy in Southeastern Indiana.
Wim adds that the family is expanding their operation and will open a second dairy farm near Milroy in Rush County over the next several weeks. He says he wants to provide additional opportunities for his family, much like the opportunities that his mom and dad sought for him and his brothers when they first moved to the U.S. nearly 19 years ago.
“It just creates opportunity for not just my kids or my brother’s kids, but the kids of our employees and employees who want to take on more responsibility or are looking for a career path within our organization,” he says. “We’re extremely blessed to be able to have this opportunity and excited about it.”
The new Milroy dairy production facility will house 6,500 additional cows, a 120-stall rotary parlor, and will add 45 new employees to the company. The facility will also include a tunnel vent designed for cow comfort, as well as a Methane Digester. All the feed given to the dairy cattle will be locally-sourced from nearby grain farmers.
Wim adds that his family’s success wouldn’t have been possible without the opportunities afforded to them here in the U.S.
“America is the definitely number one place to be. There are opportunities everywhere you look. You just have to put your mind to it and work at it,” he says.
(Story by C.J. Miller with our newsgathering partners at Hoosier Ag Today)
