Teenage Leanne Casner, a dairy farm kid from Montgomery County, wasn’t sure what to do with her life, but she knew she wanted to do something different.
“I wanted to see the world outside of the farm,” she says.
With this determination, Casner graduated from Pana High School in 2003 and enlisted in the U.S. Army.
During her three years of service, Casner served in Germany and piloted unmanned aerial vehicles in Iraq. As she climbed the ranks, Casner, the only woman in her platoon, led other soldiers and channeled her farm experiences and work ethic to help her persevere while overseas.
But she missed her family. And Christmases. And all the holidays in between. She even missed the birth of her nephew.
“Coming back to the farm was the obvious choice for me at the time and that’s all I wanted was to be back home,” she says.
In 2006, Casner returned to the United States and enrolled at the University of Illinois Springfield. After graduation in 2009, she joined her dad, Matthew Clavin, to work full-time on their family farm.
Clavin Dairy Farm was established by Casner’s grandpa in 1957. The farm has grown and now has approximately 200 Holstein cows.
It’s truly a family affair. Casner and her dad handle the day-to-day operations, while her mom handles the financial records. Casner’s sister, Annette, is the farm’s veterinarian, and her other sister, Elizabeth, maintains the cows’ records. Her brother, Joseph, helps maintain the corn, beans, wheat, rye and alfalfa grown on the farm’s 1,000 acres.
Hours on the farm are long, but Casner is happy to work alongside family. Even her husband, Drew, who works off the farm at the local hospital, lends a hand. Casner’s nieces, nephews and two daughters, Mia and Mabry, also help.
“My daughters are 8 and 9 and can already milk,” Casner says.
Mabry was helping a new teenage farmworker in the milking parlor. Although she was hesitant to milk the antsy cow, Mabry was not.
“My then 7-year-old looks at her and says, ‘You want me to do that for you?’” Casner says. “And she just took over.”
While she would love for her daughters to one day take over the farm, Casner is simply happy that her daughters have a positive understanding of agriculture.
“By working on the farm they already have a strong work ethic that will aid them in whatever direction they choose for their lives,” she says.
Casner is an active agriculture advocate at the state and national levels. She recently traveled to Washington, D.C., for IL Corn’s Grassroots to Washington (GROW) program.
Locally, Casner welcomes visitors to their farm, providing insight into dairy farming. She also runs the Facebook page Daily Dose of Dairy to reach a broader audience and address common misconceptions about topics such as animal care, antibiotic use and hormones.
The family’s collective efforts have not gone unnoticed. Last year, the family received the Illinois Soybean Association’s Farm Family of the Year award. Additionally, Casner herself received the 2020 Dairy Industry Service Award from the Illinois Milk Producers Association.
Casner says she believes that her experiences on the family dairy farm have equipped her to tackle any obstacle.
“After you do dairy, you can do anything,” she says.
This content is part of the Cultivating Our Communities series, a collaboration among Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Specialty Growers Association. It strives to raise awareness of Illinois’ diverse farmers, farms, and the food, animal feed and fuel they produce.
