325 | Farm Forward: Insights from Tommy Oesch on Succession Success
On this episode of the Uplevel Dairy Podcast, we are featuring a throwback interview with Michigan dairyman, Tommy Oesch of Swisslane Farms about generational transition challenges, including older owners holding control, the growing financial scale of dairies, and the need for next-generation members to work elsewhere and succeed before returning. Tommy shares his path from MSU to leaving the farm for a feed sales career, then returning in 2011 for lower pay to help manage growth, including building a 500-cow robot dairy. He describes using consultants, advisors, core values, and buy-sell planning to structure ownership, reduce senior wages to enable management transition, and navigate leadership mistakes.
Join us for the Farm Forward Conference
Friday, March 27, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center
7001 Gass Lake Rd, Manitowoc, WI
Register Here: https://pci.jotform.com/form/260474594709165
00:00 Introduction and Conference Announcement
01:04 Generational Transition Challenges
03:06 Preparing the Next Generation
05:44 Tommy's Early Career Journey
07:03 Learning the Feed Business
08:17 The Hard Decision to Return
10:48 Realizing Career Opportunities
11:51 Senior Generation's Perspective
14:57 Creating the Succession Plan
16:27 Building the Robot Dairy Together
19:45 Developing Core Values
23:27 Structuring the Buyout
25:01 Difficult Ownership Decisions
25:43 Lessons from Leadership Transition
26:39 Farm Forward Conference Details
