PULASKI (NBC26) — Heather Jauquet is Results Broadcasting's 2021 Farm Woman of the year.
“I feel like I’m accepting it on behalf of all the dairy women out there," said Jauquet. “No matter what our role is on the farm, we all play a very important piece in the puzzle on our dairies, and I'm just really honored to be representing that group.“
She was nominated by one of her good friends, Tammy Nygren.
“I said, ‘What? What did you do?,'" said Jauquet, laughing. "And she said, ‘Well, I just nominated somebody that I felt like was a really hard worker and a great dairyman and someone really deserving of the award.’“
Jauqet owns Synergy Family Dairy with her husband, Jay. They purchased the farm in 2004 with Jauquet’s parents, and their three sons all play a role on the farm too.
“Heather and I both grew up on a farm," said Jay Jauquet. "And we have that farming blood in you.“
They focus on high-genetic merit, merchandising cow embryos around the world. and have even hosted international visitors at the farm.
“That makes what we do every day and producing milk, obviously high-quality product," said Heather Jauquet. "But it also just keeps things really interesting.”
Just one unique thing about Synergy’s cows is their ears. Every cow has a fitness tracker in their ear; like a Fitbit for cows, it tells the Jauquets about the animals' health.
“We have this responsibility to our animals," said Jauquet. "We have this responsibility to our land and the environment.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit Wisconsin, it was a scary time, she said. But luckily, the company Synergy sells its milk to was able to divert more of it to mozzarella cheese production, as the frozen pizza market boomed.
“We did not have to dump any milk, we felt extremely fortunate for that," said Jauquet. But as far as day-to-day, we still have to take care of the animals just like we do every other day. So even though there was a lot of uncertainty out there, we just went about our daily routine like we always do.“
Being a farmer is hard work, but it’s extremely rewarding, she said.
“I still enjoy the newborn calves, probably as much as anything," said Jauquet. "I still feed calves every single day, and I still just really enjoy that promise and hope with every new arrival.“
Jauqet will receive an engraved plaque as well as 500 dollars for winning farm woman of the year.
