Kipp Hinz of Hinz Registered Holsteins has always been an active member on social media, especially Facebook. But recently Kipp has been going through similar challenges to most dairy farmers in this tough dairy economy. But Kipp’s most recent comments on Facebook and the troubling decisions have stirred a great deal of reaction. In fact in under 8 hours Kipp’s post (found following) had over 1,000 reactions, 300 shares and over 150 comments. While this is certainly troubling times, its great to see social media is allowing us to support our members who are having a really rough go at it.
The word omission, is defined as a failure to do something, especially something one has a moral to do so. Failure, other than “to fail something” is the omission of expected or required action. In the last two weeks these words have been ringing in my head. Because two weeks ago I experienced the biggest failure of my life to date losing my beautiful herd of black and white bovines and my best friends. I lost my farm.
Iv reflected a lot since saying goodbye. Defeated, heartbroken, overwhelmed losing a dream of a 10 year old boy that prayed every night to one day have his own dairy farm. I let myself down, my family down, an industry down being a fairy tale of inspiration that came to a bad ending. My goal in pursuit was never to milk cows and just have a “farm”. But instead provide an opportunity for a son or daughter that I myself never had. An opportunity of passing down a herd that shared love and passion for cows in hopes that they too would love them like their father does with the morals of hard work, honesty, and integrity. All while being raised with the best most rewarding lifestyle anyone could ask for.
However for my 27th birthday I watched a trailer leave the driveway with cows I had raised from birth and they were never coming back. 6 years, I fought the endless fight. When I shared the news with someone they replied “Oh you gave up huh”. Umm no. I did not just give up. If someone is tied to an anchor and thrown in a lake. Did they give up breathing? No. They drown. And that being said this is how I describe this experience drowning in a financial, physical, and mental lake of hell. Constantly fighting to swim to the top reaching for air. But only to go deeper where the pressure grew tighter, darkness surrounded me, and finally I could not breathe anymore. The worst part was making the decision. The 10 days following the decision before the cows left I had to go through the everyday actions like nothing was wrong. Looking at my cows in the eye feeling like I was a walking lie knowing their lives were about to change, or end. You can not describe that kind of pain to someone. Pain that that makes you feel numb. Where you’re unable to concentrate, unable to eat without throwing up, unable to sleep without frantically waking up constantly through the night in disgust. And when the day came and the cows were gone the worst sound on the farm was silence. Silence that echoed the end of an era.
Now I face starting life completely over. Starting my farm from scratch I rose from what I called the bottom. Built up what I had visioned from day one. I made accomplishments I never imagined in my short time. But one thing never changed no matter how good or bad it was. The cows always came first. People say “Kipp went broke because he spent too much money” “Kipp went broke because he had a hired man” “Kipp went broke because of… you name it” You know what, they’re right. Kipp Hinz went broke not because he did not take care of his cows, but because he took EXCELLENT care for his cows. And was determined to do so every single day of those 6 years. Never let them suffer, never let them parish because of what he could not control. Every single decision was made with confidence and was thought out. I love the people who will judge that don’t even have the balls to even try something of their own. If I hadn’t worked, improvised, experimented, or risked it all like I did starting on day one I wouldn’t have made it as far as I did. I would not trade anything I did to settle for mediocre. And I would go back and make the same decisions every time. Show me someone who risked it all and never failed somewhere along the way. I have no regrets.
In fact I have ZERO regrets! None. I exploited and exhausted every single option or opportunity God provided me to a pulp trying to succeed. A friend has repeatedly told me “The dairy industry is the only industry where you can do everything right, and still fail.” That a corrupted industry filled with greed, selfishness, and lust for more doesn’t allow superior effort and skill to always win. I was finally at a dead end road and refused to put myself and my cows in the position I was forced into.
I am no stranger to failure. God has majestically had me experience many failures leading up to this. I have failed to clinch a state powerlifting title, missed the record breaking lifts, and have already been through a failed marriage to name only a few. But I know these failures were all part of Gods plan. And through those failures the experience gained helped me coop with this one. Tattooed on my arm is Psalm 56:3 that says “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you”. It is there for a reason. This is Gods plan and I have full trust in that plan. And it was put there to look at everyday and remember just that. On the other arm is “Live in vision, not circumstance”. It too is there for a reason. I know I have shared this many times and I’m here to say it again! I refuse to let my vision be determined by the damn circumstances I have to endure such as this. The greatest part about failures is the opportunity to learn. Without failure you would not gain experience. Wisdom would not be a word. And patience would not have the same meaning. With every one one of my failures I never ever woke up the next day and said that was it. I have always kept going. “The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart”. This will be no exception.
For now Hinz Registered Holsteins is gone. But the experience, wisdom, and patience I learned and the character Iv built for myself can not be taken away from me. “It is not how hard you get it, but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” My work is not finished and I swear HRH will be back someday. When that time comes it will be bigger and better than ever before. God has a plan for me and it will take more than this to knock me out. It’s going to take some time, and I’m still looking for the next opportunity to present itself in my next chapter. But rest assured, Hinz Registered Holsteins will be back.
Feel free to share the shit out of this so everyone will know. If I have the balls to tell the world about my stories of success you bet your ass everyone will know I failed and own up to it
