A Legacy That Keeps Growing: Meet the 2026 Farm Family of the Year

Howe Family Named 2026 Farm Family of the Year

There is something different about a place that has been in the same family for more than 150 years.

At Howe Family Dairy near Sherman, South Dakota, cows still need to be fed and milked, calves need care and crops need to be planted and harvested. The work has changed over the generations, but family remains at the center of it all.

The farm was homesteaded by Brian Howe’s great-grandparents in 1874. His grandmother and her husband, followed by his mother and her husband, continued the operation. Today, Brian represents the fourth generation on the farm, while his sons, Nathan and Ryan, represent the fifth.

For Brian, there was never much question about where he belonged.

“I knew when I was in kindergarten I wanted to milk cows,” he said.

After growing up in the barn and milking cows in high school, Brian returned to the farm after college in 1977. He bought cattle and began working alongside his father and brother. The dairy grew from about 70 head to approximately 250 by the early 2000s, where it remains today.

Brian focuses on the dairy cattle, Nathan handles custom chopping and mechanical work and Ryan cares for calves and steers while helping maintain machinery. Each has a specialty, but everyone pitches in when needed. It is what Brian calls a “true family farm.”

For the Howes, the greatest measure of success isn’t the size of the operation. It’s having family close by. Brian and Heather’s children and grandchildren all live within a mile and a half of them.

On Sunday mornings, the family gathers at Brian and Heather’s house for breakfast before church. There is no set time. Everyone simply shows up, eats and visits.

For Brian, those mornings are part of what makes the life they have built feel special. The farm is more than the work they do. It is a place that has kept their family close, generation after generation.

A farm built on generations

Generations leave their mark on a family farm in ways that become part of everyday life. At Howe Dairy, those marks can be found throughout the farm, in the stories the family shares, the traditions they continue and the things that have become part of the farm over the years.

Brian’s father served in the National Guard and flew jets. When an aircraft once displayed at Dennis the Menace Park in Sioux Falls became available, he purchased it and brought it home, returning a piece of his time in the National Guard to the place where he had built his life and raised his family.

Today, the jet is still part of the farm. Now, Brian’s grandchildren get to climb on it and play on the same aircraft their great-grandfather once flew.

The family also carries stories from the earliest days of the farm. Brian remembers hearing his grandmother talk about when electricity finally reached the property. She was excited because it meant the family could buy a refrigerator and have a reliable way to cool the milk.

Brian has his own childhood memory tied to the farm. One evening, his father was going to be late getting home. His mother told Brian he needed to go try to milk the cows. He was not very old, but he figured it out. And that was the beginning of his milking career.

The farm has come a long way since then. In 1976, an improved water supply eliminated the need to haul in additional water for the cattle.

Today, precision agriculture, autosteer tractors, variable-rate fertilizer and advances in cattle genetics have transformed the operation. While the technology looks different from one generation to the next, the farm continues to build on the foundation those before them established.

Growing without losing what matters

While dairy cattle remain at the heart of the farm, the operation has continued to evolve. The family added custom chopping as a way to work more acres without having to purchase additional land to support more cattle. What began with local beef producers eventually grew to include a large regional dairy.

Growth brought opportunity and risk, especially as land prices rose. Brian keeps a practical approach to expansion.

“Be careful not to overextend,” Brian said. “You have to work hard but also have fun.”

That approach extends throughout the operation. The family grows corn, soybeans and hay for feed, while cornstalks and soybean stubble provide bedding. The crop and dairy operations support one another and help the family make the most of the farm’s resources.

Still, no amount of planning can prevent every challenge. They learned that lesson in a particularly difficult way during the winter of 1996.

A major ice storm followed by a blizzard left the farm without power for four days. The family ran a generator off a tractor, prioritizing essential tasks like milking the cows and cooling the milk while carefully managing their limited power and fuel. It was a difficult reminder that dairy farming doesn’t stop when challenges arise.

That is simply part of life on a farm. The days are not always easy, and some years bring challenges the family could never have anticipated. But there are rewards, too, from watching calves grow into cows to this year’s especially memorable surprise: the birth of triplets — a rare occurrence. For Brian, seeing the next generation of cattle grow alongside the next generation of the family makes the work worthwhile.

More Than a Farm

For the Howe family, agriculture has always been about more than producing milk, raising cattle or growing crops. It is about responsibility, appreciating what you have and caring for the land and animals entrusted to you.

“The goal is to leave it better than you found it,” Brian said.

That philosophy extends into the community. Brian and Heather are active at First Lutheran Church in Sherman, where Brian serves as a trustee and Heather as treasurer. Brian also serves as treasurer of the Minnehaha Community Water Corporation, sits on the county USDA/FSA committee and is a member of the Minnehaha County Farm Bureau. Heather has served for many years on the Midwest Dairy Association District 9 board.

Brian’s commitment to helping others enter agriculture began with an opportunity of his own. In high school, he received a bred sow through an FFA program and was expected to pass the opportunity on by giving two bred gilts to the next participant. He later used the proceeds from selling the hogs to purchase heifers for his dairy operation.

Brian hopes to pass down a strong work ethic, an appreciation for family and the opportunity to farm if the next generation chooses. Heather shares that belief.

“Farming can be incredibly rewarding, but it requires dedication and a willingness to put in the time,” she said. “You just have to find the part of agriculture that interests you and be willing to commit to it.”

Built to Carry On

More than 150 years after Brian’s great-grandparents homesteaded the land, Howe Family Dairy continues to build on their legacy.

The cows are still in the barn. The crops grow in the fields. The machinery rolls into the shop, and grandchildren climb onto an old jet that connects them to their family history.

For the Howe family, farming is a way of life. It is work, responsibility, tradition and family all wrapped together.

And after five generations, the Howe family is still doing what they have always done: working the land, caring for the animals and building something to pass on.