Dawn and Grant Breitkreutz’s journey into regenerative agriculture started nearly 25 years ago on their cattle and farming operation, Stoney Creek Farm, located near Redwood Falls, Minnesota. Their use of regenerative practices has lowered their costs and improved their profitability, but its also shaped their faith journey.
Regenerative Journey at Stoney Creek Started With Cattle
Grant Breitkreutz says their first leap of faith into regenerative farming started with their cow herd. “We were going for more grass, more grazing days, and we really didn’t even think about it being regenerative at that time.”
They transitioned to rotational grazing, plus utilization of crop residue and cover crops. So, their herd is grazing at least nine, but weather dependent, up to 11 months a year, which Grant says has lowered their feed costs. “If the cows can be out here doing it on their own and we can provide them cover crops and stalks and crop residues and let them feed themselves. It’s money in the bank.”
Thankful for Record Cattle Prices in 2025
While 2025 has offered cattle prices they never thought they’d see in their lifetime, Grant says these practices allowed them to be profitable when cattle prices were low. “The cattle operation on our farm has pulled us through the lows. To be honest the cattle operation is subsidizing the crop production right now,” he remarks.
So, they have a lot to be thankful for, especially as they can now use some of their profits to build for the future including some long overdue infrastructure upgrades, including new fences and additional water facilities. “Yeah, they pulled us through the bad times, but there was never enough profit there to spend money on machinery. I mean, you did what you had to do. You bought feed wagons, you bought loaders, you did that kind of thing. Now we can actually take the profits from these cattle and really do some stuff that we should have been doing all along.”
Cattle Help Improve Soil Health
The cattle are also helping them improve the soil health on their farm says Grant. “We firmly believe that a cow can speed up the rebuilding of biology and a soil by about two years.” And the cattle are part of their regenerative cropping system.
Dawn describes the breadth of their regenerative operation, which follows the basic soil health principles. “We are a hundred percent no till operation so that we promote the biology and the soil. Adding diversity back into it in seed and in cows and livestock and all that sort of thing is bringing that health back.,” she says.
Cutting Costs
As a result they’ve been able to cut fertilizer and pesticide cost, which is a tall order as Stoney Creek farm is located in central Minnesota and the heart of row crop country. Grant says, “I’d say we’re saving about $140 to $160 an acre on, say, for example, a corn crop. We’ve figured out how to spoon feed the crop.”
Getting Back to Mother Nature
Dawn says another goal was to raise cattle and crops the way Mother Nature intended. “So, our soil health is vital to our livestock, to the crops that we grow, to the food that we grow, and to the humans that we’re growing.”
And she says that has led to their own branded products. “We’re selling chickens and eggs and beef and pork.
All of our stock that we finish or feed on our farm are raised on grains that are only produced here on our land.”
Regenerative Farming Shaped Faith Journey
However, their regenerative farming journey also provided an unexpected blessing as it made the Breitkreutz’s more aware of their spiritual connection to Mother Nature and the land.
Dawn says she never realized how much the Bible has to do with farming. “But you can’t be out here and pay attention to all the details and all the complications and chaos that’s in perfect harmony and not believe in a higher power that put this all together.”
On the office wall of Stoney Creek Farm are several bible verses and Dawn’s favorite is listed at the top. “I think I have three boards now that have Bible verses on them that, you know, they seem to appear at just the right time. And I’ll stop what I’m doing and I’ll find a place on the board to add to it.”
So on Thanksgiving and every day she says they feel blessed to be able to farm the way nature intended. “I’m just thankful for the opportunity to be able to take care of God’s creation.” And to bring their kids back into the operation to keep that legacy alive.
