Kyle Kuphal | Staff reporter
kkuphal@pipestonestar.com

Cousins JordynBre Schulze and Kady Schulze are this year’s Pipestone County Dairy Ambassadors.

JordynBre, 13, is an eighth grader at Pipestone Area Schools and one of three children of Dean and Kristina Schulze. Kady, 12, is a seventh grader at Russell Tyler Ruthton and one of five children of Devin and Becca Schulze. They both live on farms near Holland, but on opposite sides. JordynBre said her family has horses, chickens and cats at their farm. Kady said her family has pigs and chickens, and her dad and uncle have a dairy. 

Becca, who serves as the Pipestone County Dairy Ambassador coordinator, said ambassadors and princesses don’t necessarily have to have a dairy farm, but can qualify if they show dairy cattle at the fair, which they both do, or work on a dairy.

JordynBre was previously a Pipestone County Dairy Ambassador last year and this is Kady’s first year as an ambassador.  Kady said she was interested in the title because she wanted to help people learn more about the dairy industry.

“I always thought that people don’t really know much about it, so I thought it would be fun if I became a dairy ambassador and helped teach people about the dairy industry,” she said.

The cousins will be doing plenty of that this summer. Their schedule, so far, includes appearances at the Water Tower Festival parade in Pipestone on June 28, Ruthton’s Fourth of July parade, the Dutch Festival parade in Edgerton on July 11, the Aebleskiver Days parade in Tyler on July 26 and the Pipestone County Fair in August.

Dairy ambassadors are similar to dairy princesses in that they promote the dairy industry, but they are younger and can’t compete to become Princess Kay of the Milky Way. Both Kady and JordynBre said they are interested in becoming dairy princesses in the future.

Kyle Kuphal | Staff reporter
kkuphal@pipestonestar.com

Staci’s Bar and Grill in Woodstock was recently crowned grand champion of the 2025 Pipestone County Burger Battle organized by the Pipestone County Cattlemen’s Association. The winning burger, called the “Dubliner,” included a one-third pound burger with grilled corned beef, melted Swiss cheese, “pot of gold” sauce and coleslaw.

Seven restaurants in Pipestone County participated in the burger battle. They included the Tally Ho Koffie/Gray Wolf Saloon in Edgerton; the Hatfield Roadhouse; Kor’s Korner Pub in Holland; the Pipestone Country Club, the Stonehouse & Quarry Lounge, and Bole-Mor Lanes Bar & Grill in Pipestone; and Staci’s Bar and Grill. Each participating business created its own special burger for the burger battle.

“They put some real work into it and it was fun to get the responses in just to see what they came up with,” said Teresa Zeinstra, a member of the Pipestone County Cattlemen’s Association, before the burger battle started. “I think our county residents are going to have fun making it a goal to see if they can get to all seven places.”

Diners were asked to rate the burgers on a scale of one to five, with five being the best, on presentation, creativity and taste during the contest, which lasted from March 7 to April 27. Ballots were available at the restaurants and those who tried the burgers could turn their completed ballots in to their server.

According to the Pipestone County Cattlemen’s Association, 1,487 ballots were cast during the event.  The winners were announced on Friday, May 2. Staci’s Bar and Grill also won best presentation with the “Dubliner.” The Hatfield Roadhouse won first place in the taste category with its burger called the “Prime Dip Burger.” It included a one-third pound patty, thinly sliced prime rib and Swiss cheese with au jus on the side. The Pipestone Country Club won first place for creativity with its burger called “The Morning Meat Monster,” which included a one-third pound hamburger patty between two handmade tater-tot waffles, jelly, peanut butter, American cheese, bacon and a fried egg, topped with maple hot honey syrup.

Zeinstra said burger battles have been popular in other counties in the area and the Pipestone County Cattlemen’s Association thought it seemed fitting to organize one in Pipestone County. She said the group’s goals with the burger battle included promoting beef in partnership with businesses in the county and encouraging people to support local businesses and enjoy what they have to offer. It seems to have accomplished that as the group estimated that the burger battle generated between $25,000 and $35,000 in revenue for the participants, including just the single burger orders.

The Pipestone County Cattlemen’s Association plans to make the burger battle an annual event.

Sirrina Martinez
Multimedia reporter
smartinez@pipestonestar.com

Around five miles south of Pipestone sits the sheep operation owned by Andrew and Kiah Berg. Berg, a native to the area, grew up on a farm with Red Angus, and just down the road, his grandfather, Marlin Berg, raised sheep.  Marlin, who is a retired Ag teacher from the Jasper and Pipestone school system, raised Suffolk sheep, and eventually, Berg bought his first few head from him. The sheep operation he currently runs is around five miles east of his grandfather’s farm. The Berg’s started their sheep adventure around the time they were married, he said.

“My wife and I bought the place in about 2021, I think, then we bought our first ewes that fall,” Berg said. “It was kind of a crazy year, we ended up getting married, buying a place, and buying some sheep all at the same time.”

Currently, Kiah works as a nutritionist at Pipestone Systems, and Andrew is a consultant in the wean-to-finish side of the business. The couple has one daughter, Harper, who is almost two, and another child on the way, who is expected to make an appearance in the next two weeks or so, Berg said.
While he was raised with cattle, Berg decided to start raising sheep because the infrastructure on his farm allowed him to run more head with sheep.

He started with around 50 ewes, which he bought from his grandfather.  He has since grown his flock.
“We are probably at about 120-125 ewes now that we lamb out,” he said. “We started making our own replacements and bought the purebred Suffolks and started selling some rams.”

The majority of what the Bergs raise are white-faced commercial ewes, and the rest are Suffolk ewes. While their herd is sold primarily for meat, the Bergs will sell the majority of their lambs through the Pipestone Lamb and Wool Management Program at Minnesota West. The couple practice accelerated lambing, aiming for around 2-3 lambings a year.

“One group in January-February, one group in April-May, kind of late spring and one group in the fall,” he said. “I had about 30 to 40 head last year that lambed twice.”

One of the biggest challenges of raising any animal, Berg said, is time management and keeping feed costs down.

“My wife and I both work in the pig world and so we try to keep it (their sheep operation) as structured as we can,” he said. “So, at this time we do this and that, we try to keep it repeatable. For us, it is continuing to do time management with both of us having full-time jobs. We also try to reduce feed waste, which is the biggest cost associated with raising any animal.”

In the next few years, Berg hopes to continue to grow his herd of purebred Suffolks and, down the road, work more with club lamb producers (show lambs) on selling “recip”(recipient) ewes. A recipient ewe is one that is chosen to carry an embryo from a donor ewe.

For those who are considering raising sheep, Berg has one piece of advice.

“Find animals that are going to do what you want them to do and find producers that have like-minded goals when purchasing that first set of females,” he said. “I’d say that’s probably the most ideal, and that is what I have tried to do.”