Family goes big with rebuild of Wisconsin farm after devastating fire

OSCEOLA, Wisconsin (FOX 9) - A Wisconsin family is back in business after a large fire gutted its small dairy farm last year. But, as dairy farms struggle as a whole, the family is back bigger than ever before.

Troy and his wife Barb DeRosier were more than happy to show off their new, state-of-the-art farm on Thursday. The family has come so far in the last 15 months.

In March of 2018, a fire devastated Crystal Ball Farms. Quickly, their loving community around Osceola rushed in to help save the precious cows. However, several cows were killed in the initial blaze, and a couple dozen more were eventually lost to health-related issues from all the smoke and the flames.

The couple was forced to make a difficult choice in the days that followed. With small dairies struggling all across the Midwest, instead of folding, they went big, doubling the number of cows to 200 and giving the animals a comfortable new home where they can flourish.

“This barn was built for the cows,” said Troy. “They love it. A comfortable cow is a good producing cow.”

This week, the DeRosiers re-opened their creamery with their milk and cheese curds back on sale. The new farm includes a public viewing space for customers to watch the cows get milked.

The hope is to have a grand, re-opening event to say “thank you” and welcome back friends and customers next month.

The farm is located along State Road 35, south of 55th Avenue, in Osceola. You can track the farm's progress on Facebook.