Grandma was crying at the end of the kitchen table, and hate was too mild of a word to describe the feelings the two sisters-in-law had for one another.

Unfortunately, there is no magic recipe that will guarantee the preservation of your family relationships and the perpetuation of the dairy. There are, however, five key ingredients that if not planned for will almost assuredly lead to blackened heartache, tasteless family dynamics and burned chances of the dairy succeeding generationally.

For a lot of farm families, the in-laws quickly become the outlaws due to factors you’d never consider.

After a decade of sorting out the direst farm succession and farm debt cases, I have found that dysfunctional in-law relationships are often a key underlying ingredient to these problems. Really good families are hit by landmines of the in-law kind, and everything explodes. If these families knew what those landmines were before they stepped into them, they would have been able to avoid them.

There are a lot of farmers in their 30s and 40s who don’t know what their future looks like.  The truth be told: 77% of farms don't have a succession plan. And this obviously has a lot to do with why only 12% of farms pass onto the third generation!

For fourth-generation dairy producer Jared Kurtz, managing the income-generating capabilities of a dairy herd and farm are important for the future, but investing energy in family is foundational to building a dairy legacy.

Transition/succession/estate planning can be intimidating, but here are four points that I hope ease some fears, answer questions and light a fire under you to stop procrastinating.

When we hear the word “burnout,” we likely conjure up a bunch of images in our head: someone that has fallen asleep at their desk, a person that looks overly tired and seems a little too disorganized, the ever-popular rubbing of the temples with a deep sigh.

Growing up, the only way she could get time with dad was by being in the barn. The only way she could gain his attention was by working hard on the farm and “being of use.”

Just last month, Paul’s 9-year-old son held a knife to his throat, screaming he was going to commit suicide. This wasn’t the first time this had happened either – it was the fourth time in just a few months.