The easy way isn’t their way at Union-Champ Dairy

By Joel Penhorwood, Ohio’s Country Journal

Mike and Maile Plotner know dairy farming is not the easy route in 2026, but they have never seemed interested in the easy route.

The young couple near West Mansfield milks Brown Swiss cows at Union-Champ Dairy while balancing off-farm careers, raising their young son, Jim, and steadily improving a farm they have largely rebuilt themselves since moving there in 2020.

“We’re currently first-generation dairy farmers starting out, and we milk Brown Swiss and a variety of other breeds here,” Mike said. “When we started, we were milking 18 cows with a 35-pound bucket milker. It was taking about four hours twice a day to milk 18 cows.”

Things have improved since then, though the dairy continues to take its own unique approach. The Plotners installed a glass pipeline last spring and a new bulk tank in the fall. Today, the herd includes around 30 head, including heifers.… Continue reading