LYNDON STATION, Wis. — At Lyndell Dairy in Juneau County, Wisconsin, success has come from incremental growth, strong family involvement, and a relentless focus on the fundamentals that keep cows comfortable and productive every day.
The Holstein milking herd of just over 500 is housed in a 4-row, sand-bedded freestall facility and milked three times a day in a double-10 herringbone parlor.
According to a recent Dairy Star article “Growing like mad” (Dan Wacker, Dairy Star, May 10, 2025), Troy and Sandy Madland, who oversee the business and day-to-day operation, started with a small herd in a rented facility and gradually built Lyndell Dairy step by step while staying rooted in family labor, practical decision-making, and a long-term view of sustainability.
“We started farming in 1991. Neither of us were from farms so we started on our own on a rented place. Troy always wanted to milk his own cows after working for area farmers,” Sandy said in a 2022 interview published in Agriview. “We’ve liked working together and building our farm to where it is now. That includes having two of our children (Garrett and Theresa) return to the farm after college.” Both are full time on the farm while Garrett’s wife Dominique and Theresa’s husband Mitchell Holloway have careers off the farm.
Management centers on consistency, with family members sharing responsibilities across crop production, youngstock care, and maintenance while raising their own replacements and using performance data to fine-tune feeding and reproduction.
Garrett is the herdsman, responsible for consistent daily cow care, repro, calving and transition. Ask him what matters most, and the answer goes deeper than production numbers.
“I enjoy working with family and working on the land and just being able to kind of be my own boss,” Garrett told Mark Comfort, Udder Comfort co-founder, in an interview at the booth during the 2025 World Dairy Expo.
That mindset reflects how the farm was built, not just as a business, but as a place where generations want to continue.
In a 2024 Top Performer interview by Abby Weidmeyer for Dairy Star, Garrett talked about their roles: Dad does the cropping and machinery. Mom does all the inventories and ordering of feed and supplies, bookkeeping and payroll. His sister Theresa is the dairy’s calf and youngstock manager and milks the hospital cows daily, and Garrett is the main herdsman on the farm, taking over most of the daily operations management.
He is quick to point out the role of the farm’s “dedicated employees who have been with us many years and are invaluable.”
Comfort matters and quality counts
Milk cows are housed in a naturally ventilated, sand-bedded 4-row freestall barn and dry cows are housed in a 3-row freestall barn with sand bedding, 52-inch stalls, and access to pasture in good weather. At 14 days before calving, dry cows go into a bedded pack. “We use just-in-time calving, and cows are moved to an individual pen when labor has started. After calving and cleaning up her calf, a fresh cow goes into our hospital pen for a few days.
The 500-cow herd averages 103 pounds of milk per cow per day (3x) with strong components at 4.4% butterfat and 3.3% protein, while maintaining an exceptionally low somatic cell count near 37,000. The Lyndell Dairy herd has the lowest SCC in their DHIA and milk cooperative.
They credit careful transition-cow management, ration consistency, and attentive daily observation by family members as key factors for consistent high quality and performance in the milking parlor.
Milk quality directly affects the farm’s profitability too. “We do get paid for milk quality,” Garrett said, noting that maintaining those standards requires disciplined routines and attention to details that might seem small but make a big difference over time.
Lyndell Dairy has consistently maintained the lowest SCC in their Dairy Herd Improvement Association and milk cooperative with specific emphasis on cow comfort to help their cows have strong immune systems and a low disease incidence, Garrett explained in the Dairy Star Top Performer interview.
A 15-year routine that stuck
Among the contributing management practices is something they’ve been doing a long time. “For probably close to 15 years we’ve been using Udder Comfort,” Garrett said in the Expo interview about making Udder Comfort part of their standard fresh cow protocol.
“We use it on all of our fresh cows for about the first two to three days after they’re fresh,” he explained. “We also use it on mastitis cases too.”
Garrett prefers the spray formulation because it fits the pace of managing a large herd efficiently. Results that show up in the tank. When milk quality premiums are on the line, results have to be measurable.
“You really see the benefits in milk quality, we’ve seen it come down — just terrific,” he confirmed. “It’s a consistent product, and it just flat-out works.”
Always looking ahead
Regardless of herd size or technology level, comfortable cows produce better milk, and that’s a fundamental at the core as Lyndell Dairy as the Madland family expanded over the years with improved facilities and increased cow numbers. Their focus on cow comfort, observation, and practical management decisions sustain herd performance, cow health and milk quality.
Garrett’s visit to World Dairy Expo reflects the curiosity shared by his generation on family dairy farms everywhere. The Udder Comfort booth had many visitors across the generational spectrum, as young people enjoy the trade show and seminars.
“There’s always something new and exciting… new technology to take in and bring back to the farm,” Garrett observed about building on the combination of innovation and proven practices.
Lyndell Dairy’s story illustrates what happens when growth is guided by discipline. From modest beginnings to a high-performing herd with outstanding milk quality, the Madlands demonstrate that success isn’t about getting bigger. It’s about getting better, and that’s about getting the basics right every day, for every cow.
Sometimes that includes a product you reach for without hesitation, because after years of experience you already know the outcome, as Garrett points out about Udder Comfort: “It just flat-out works.”
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Profiles in comfort and quality 