Keeping the Family Farm and Rural Community Alive with an Innovative Mindset
Innovation doesn’t always look flashy in agriculture. Sometimes it’s simply a willingness to try something new if it makes the operation stronger for the next generation. For one Indiana cattle family, that mindset has been the key to keeping both the cattle operation and their rural community moving forward.
“My grandpa’s grandpa stepped off the boat the day Abraham Lincoln was killed,” says Andrew Bredeweg. “Our farm started as more of a self-sustaining farm with a little of everything until my dad turned it more into a business.”
Today, the Bredeweg family has their hands in the cow-calf sector, feeding cattle, farming and managing a seasonal sale barn. At the heart of all they do is ensuring the business remains generational while also supporting the rural community around them.
“Everybody in agriculture pretty much has goals to pass it on to the next generation. It’ll be multi-generational,” Bredeweg says.
The Bredewegs have been able to keep the operation in the family for generations because they’ve maintained a mindset of innovation. That willingness to adapt didn’t start with Andrew. It goes back several generations.
“My grandpa was big into Harvestore systems in the ’60s — he was one of the first guys around here to put that system in,” shares Bredeweg. “That allowed him to feed a lot more cattle in a lot shorter time, which freed him up to farm more or run more cattle.”
That same thinking continues today. The family was among the first in their area to feed cattle using a TMR mixer with drive-along bunks. More recently, they’ve adopted digital recordkeeping through Performance Beef to better track feed, performance and costs.
“Just knowing everything is there and everything is correct is worth its weight in gold,” says Bredeweg. “Our performance on the cattle really showed when we started using it because what we thought we were doing wasn’t actually what we were doing.”
Having accurate numbers has also improved decision making. Instead of guessing at cost of gain or performance, Bredeweg now has real-time data to guide purchases and management decisions.
Innovation on the Bredeweg operation isn’t just about technology, though. It’s also about strengthening the broader agricultural community.
Bredeweg also manages the local White River Valley Cattlemen’s Association sale barn, a cooperative marketing facility started decades ago by local producers. The sale barn hosts a handful of sales each year and provides an important marketing outlet for cattle producers in the region.
For Bredeweg, involvement in multiple segments of the cattle industry reinforces something he appreciates about the business.
“There’s a little more of a team aspect in the cattle business,” he explains. “For us to prosper, somebody else doesn’t have to lose.”
That mindset extends beyond cattle markets and into investing in the next generation. Bredeweg has partnered with a local high school internship program that allows juniors and seniors to leave school early and gain real-world work experience with area businesses.
Students spend part of their day learning hands-on skills and exploring potential careers while still in high school. Bredeweg has hosted several students on the ranch and sees the program as a valuable tool for keeping young people connected to rural communities.
“You’re developing them on the school side and then they get plugged right back into the business side,” he says.
For Bredeweg, keeping family operations alive requires more than just maintaining a profitable business. It requires investing in people and community as well.
“I’d rather ask how we grow and keep these young people busy instead of how we contract,” he says.
Because at the end of the day, innovation in agriculture isn’t just about improving efficiency—it’s about ensuring there are still families, ranches and communities thriving for generations to come.
Listen to the full conversation on the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast.
