Some stories begin at birth. Lorilee Schultz’s dairy story began in seventh grade, when her summers included packing her bags and heading to her grandparents’ farm, about an hour away. This dairy farm became the place where her values took root, shaped by early mornings, long days, and a family mentor whose quiet grit defined what leadership could look like without ever needing the spotlight.  

Beyond summers, Lorilee spent the rest of the year on her parent’s livestock farm, where there was a bit of everything: beef cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, even a donkey. But, no Holstein dairy cows. “My grandparents farm was just the place that I wanted to spend all my free time.” Every summer, she would head to the dairy farm for the season, and it would become her classroom; a place where lessons were not taught through lectures, but through example. Lorilee said, “I have to give my mom a lot of credit. I think she instilled in me to pursue the things that I’m passionate about without fear.” Dairy farming was becoming one of those things.