Meet Dairyland Seeds' Back Office Wrangler

The women in agriculture are often the unsung heroes on many operations. Dairyland Seed is proud to have its own cowgirl, working quietly and effectively to lead back-office operations.

Deb Backhaus is Dairyland Seed’s proud Administrative and IT Leader. She works closely with the Customer Service and IT teams to ensure dealer and customer success from placing orders and invoicing, to account maintenance and pricing. In her IT management role, she collaborates with the reporting and software teams to launch powerful sales and analytics tools.

“I’m confident and proud of my team at Dairyland. We have the right people in place to help customers succeed,” Deb says.

Debbie and Dennis Backhaus

Deb has seen her fair share of success. She’s got more than 40 years of experience with Dairyland Seed to prove it. She’s worked a variety of roles from order taking, sales, distribution, accounts payable and office management. That experience enables her to share a wealth of knowledge with her staff.

What makes Deb excited to come to the office? Happy customers!

“I genuinely enjoy seeing our staff create a good experience for our customers,” says Deb.

Agriculture has always been a major part of Backhaus’ life. Growing up on her family’s dairy farm in rural Kewaskum, WI meant creating special memories with family and neighbors on sweltering summer days baling hay and harvesting corn in the fall. Deb and her brother Dave knew they would be working hard, but the reward of food, fun and laughter afterwards made those days special. She drove combine as needed and dedicated labor-intensive hours after school shucking corn on headlands to allow for picking. Although willing to do whatever asked of her, she dreaded the hot hay mow that often resulted in terrifying snake sightings peeping out of hay bales.

“I truly care about farming,” she acknowledges. “My passion is to stay current on markets, technology and future changes expected in farming.”

After obtaining her degree in data programming from Moraine Park Technical College, she married her husband, Dennis. Together, they operated a dairy farm with 70 milking cows and around 500 acres of corn, soybeans and alfalfa. Two years ago, they made the difficult decision to sell the milking cows and transitioned to raising 120-head of cattle. They continue to farm around 400 acres of corn and soybeans in addition to soybean production for Dairyland Seed.

“Farming has taught me so many skills both personally and professionally. I’m constantly using management skills I learned in the field and the milking parlor at Dairyland,” Deb said.

Sharing her love for agriculture is as important to her now as it has ever been. Her 10-year involvement with 4-H began with Cloverbud leadership and evolved to a co-leadership position for the Kewaskum 4-Hers. She volunteers at the local Washington County Fair Farm Bureau stand and is working closely with the Fond du Lac County Fair to promote volunteer participation.

“4-H taught me so much. Now, I get the opportunity to work with the kids in my town and I see the same excitement,” says Deb.

Relaxing for Deb means hitting the road in their Honda Goldwing or Harley Davidson motorcycle. Before they started a family, Deb and Dennis explored the west coast, and as their family grew, they added a side car to switch the solo rides to family adventures. With their recent RV purchase, they are now exploring local campgrounds with their grandchildren.

“We recently had the chance to take a few weeks off, take the RV and the motorcycle, and explore Texas. What a great trip! We are already planning our next adventure,” added Deb.

Deb and Dennis live in Kewaskum, WI with Boss, their 7-year-old heeler mix. Together, they have three adult children, all married, and four grandchildren ranging from three months to five years old. Summer weekends are now spent enjoying her vegetable and flower gardens and fulfilling sewing and alteration projects from her family.

Besides assisting on the farm, agriculture is in the hearts of their children. Their daughter, Abby, works at Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin. Their son, Jesse, raises Wagyu, sells meat and is involved in showing dairy. Garrett, their youngest son, has a hobby farm with a Shetland pony, lamb, and chickens. The family love for agriculture continues with the third generation as their 6-year-old granddaughter is now showing calves at various Wisconsin shows.

“I feel so happy and blessed. I am looking forward to seeing what the future has in store.”