When Matt Redetzke worked over the road welding stainless, people couldn’t believe he wanted to leave the company to milk cows. He would tell them, “It’s no joke.” Thus, the name was born, Redetzkes’ No Joke Dairy.
Redetzkes’ No Joke Dairy is family owned by Matt and Brittany Redetzke and brother Sam Redetzke. Matt and Sam are the fifth generation on the farm. Four generations of family and one employee operate the farm. It’s been in the family since 1911.
Matt and Sam’s parents, Doug and Darla, sold their cows in 2011. Matt was ready to be home and get back into farming, so Matt and Brittany started crop farming in 2012. In 2013 they began buying calves. That’s when the family brought Sam in to take care of the animals while Matt was away working. They grew a herd with those calves and began milking in 2015.
Past herds were Holstein, but the current milking herd of 200 is mainly Jersey with some cross breeding. There are 400 head on site including youngstock. The family currently milks with 20 ATO’s in the original tie stall barn. The Redetzke’s are looking to expand to a new robot barn starting with six robots.
“We have already begun working on our future plans by prepping the pad area for the robot barn that will be a new building. Also, in preparation for the robots to arrive, we built a new 5-million-gallon manure lagoon. Plus, an addition to the side of the original barn has just been completed to provide for our freshening/special needs cows,” Matt Redetzke proudly states.
The Redetzke’s say they don’t want to do things ‘how they’ve always done it.’ Rather, they want to explore new ideas and use the wisdom from past experiences.
“Wisconsin Farm Technology Days is excited to work with this young family operation to bring new ideas and innovation to dairy farmers across the state,” says WFTD General Manager Anna Maenner.
The 72nd Wisconsin Farm Technology Days will be July 14-16, 2026 at Redetzkes’ No Joke Dairy in Stratford.
