Herald Times Reporter January 3, 2006
MANITOWOC — Ben Meyer's story kind of sounds like one of those about the ambitious youth with a big dream who leaves the comforts of home to try and make it on his own in the big city.
Meyer left his family and friends behind in Gainesville, Texas, a 17,000-person city north of Dallas-Fort Worth, to pursue his dream of being a dairy farmer in Wisconsin. He enrolled in the dairy herd management program at Lakeshore Technical College in Cleveland last January and graduated in December.
The 20-year-old is certainly determined. In her 25 years as a dairy herd management instructor at LTC, Sheryl Nehls says she has seen few with as much gusto as Meyer.
"He has a can-do-it attitude," she said. "You have to convince him he can't do it because you're not going to get him to believe you otherwise."
It's hard to say where Meyer got his motivation, but it would be easy to blame it on his dwarfism, a genetic condition resulting in short stature. At 4 feet 2 inches tall, he doesn't want to hear anybody tell him he can't do something because of his height. He has made it his life ambition to be a dairy farmer and intends for nothing to get in his way.
He is working on Larry Carstens' farm south of Manitowoc and has plans to own the dairy portion over the next 10 years.
Early interest
Nehls remembers getting a call from Meyer when he was a high school freshman because he wanted to apply to LTC as soon as he could. He learned about LTC's one-year dairy herd management program from the Hoard's Dairyman, the national dairy farm magazine.
"It's something I have always wanted to do," Meyer said. "All my high school years, I was the only one who wanted to go into farming. Period."
Texas has its fair share of farms, but Meyer was certain he would be more successful in a state known for its dairy production, even if it was about 1,100 miles from home.
Meyer is no stranger to farm life, having grown up on a small animal farm, but he wanted to work with cows. The Holsteins at Carstens' are a mere two to three inches taller than he is, but they outweigh him and any averaged-height employee at the farm. Each cow is about 1,500 pounds.
"There are just more dairy farms in Wisconsin overall than other states," he said. "I wanted to go somewhere where the community supported them (dairy farmers)."
Nehls said the LTC program is demanding of its students, requiring 30 hours of class time and at least 21 hours of work on a local dairy farm per week. But its intensive nature is attractive to students from all over the country and even the world.
"It asks a lot of students, but it gives them an idea of what it will be like in the industry," she said. "It is a way for them to take what we cover in class and apply it right away."
Meyer couldn't agree more. He spent the first semester at the Ben and Amy Voss farm near Maribel and second semester with Carstens.
"You're learning something at school then go home and do it on the farm," he said. "It gives you a better understanding."
Challenges
Meyer was born with achondroplasia. It is the most common skeletal dysplasia, one of the genetic diseases in which the skeleton is abnormally formed during development. According to the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, the disorder affects about one in every 25,000 births and occurs in all races and both sexes.
Someone with achondroplasia has disproportionately short arms and legs. Compared to people who do not have it or any other type of skeletal dysplasia, the arms and legs of a person with achondroplasia are short, but completely appropriate for someone with the condition, according to Little People of America.
The LPA says the average height of adults with achondroplasia is 48 inches.
"Anyone in this industry is going to have challenges," Nehls said. "But I think modern advancements may make things easier for him."
Carstens farm has a pit parlor for milking so the milker stands lower than the cow, making it easier for someone of Meyer's size to attach the equipment to the udders.
Meyer admitted the job was tough initially, but once he got used to everything and the routine of working before and after school every day, he learned to work around anything that stood in his way of getting the job done.
"It really doesn't bother me because I don't know what it's like to be tall," he said.
No adjustments have been made at Carstens for him, but as he gains more responsibility on the farm, he expects some machines to be modified. His car is customized so he can reach the pedals.
Amy Weaver: 920-686-2968 or aweaver@htrnews.com