Meet the Ansells: A Butler Farm Show family shows winning takes work
Every morning at 3 a.m., while most of Butler County is still sleeping, Jeff Ansell begins the first of two daily milkings with his father-in-law, Lou Boyle, and a farmhand at the dairy farm he and his wife, Nicole, lease near Evans City.
The farm is five minutes from the Ansells’ home in Renfrew.
The morning milking, feeding and other chores continue until about 7 a.m. The work includes caring for the farm’s 60 milking cows and another 70 heifers and calves. The family’s care for the herd changes with the weather, but it never lets up.
“We ensure at our place that the animals are getting the best care,” Lily Ansell, 19, the oldest of Jeff and Nicole’s four children, said. “Whenever it gets hot, we spray them off with water. Whenever it gets cold, we make sure they’ve got extra bedding to keep them warm.”
There are barns to clean, equipment to maintain, and crops to plant, harvest and store for feed. The work does not stop for weekends or special occasions.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a holiday, anniversary or birthday,” said Lily. “The cows don’t really care.”
That devotion to their animals, their family and the Butler Farm Show community was recognized when the Ansells received the Eagle Bowl. Sponsored and presented by the Butler Eagle since 1955, the yearly award recognizes an entire family for its involvement, service and sportsmanship at the Farm Show.
For the Ansells, the Eagle Bowl also celebrated a way of life that has been passed down through four generations of their family.
A year after receiving the honor, their days remain much the same: early mornings, long hours, two daily milkings and countless chores shared by family members.
Lily Ansell said her parents took her to her first farm show when she was 11 months old.
“We grew up with the show and the people at the Butler Farm Show are our family, so to be blessed with that award really shows the community what we have built and the true power of the agriculture industry in Butler County and across the country,” she said.
Her parents grew up on dairy farms and hoped their children could experience the same kind of childhood. That dream became a reality when the couple began leasing the dairy facility formerly operated by Marburger Farm Dairy where Jeff had worked as farm manager for about 10 years.
Nicole Ansell spoke about the award after her family was named the 2025 winners last year:
“When we talked about the opportunity to have cattle at the dairy, for us there was no better way to raise kids,” she said. “It’s really cool as a parent to see the kids make memories that we made as kids and then to reminisce about those memories with people who are our age.”
Some of those memories have already become family stories the children love to share.
One of the family’s cows, Shannon, was born on St. Patrick’s Day. She later gave birth to two calves, Shari and Shenanigans, who also arrived on St. Patrick’s Day.
“For a mom to have two calves and all be born on the same day — we just thought it was unique that that happened,” Lily Ansell said.
The Ansells’ dairy farm is only one part of the family’s busy schedule.
After the morning milking and chores are finished, Jeff Ansell reports to his job as a crop consultant for Nutrien Ag Solutions. His wife is a first-grade teacher in the Pine-Richland School District.
Their four children balance school and other activities with responsibilities at the farm. Each has found a place in the family operation.
Lily Ansell is a sophomore at Penn State University, where she is majoring in public relations. She also serves on the Butler Farm Show’s junior board of directors, giving her another way to remain involved in the agricultural community while shadowing members of the 17-member senior board.
Luke Ansell, 18, is a senior at Seneca Valley Senior High School. He helps feed the calves in the afternoon and is affectionately known in the family as the “chocolate milk taster.”
Liam Ansell, 11, is an incoming sixth-grader at Ehrman Crest Elementary School. He is drawn to tractors and the work of growing crops to feed the animals. He also enjoys working with the family’s show cattle.
Lincoln Ansell, 9, is an incoming fourth-grader. He often joins his mother and sister in the milking parlor, enjoys helping with the show animals and will show Shenanigans at the Butler Farm Show.
Their interests may differ, but each child has a role in the rhythm of the farm — a rhythm Jeff and Nicole Ansell knew during their own childhoods and dreamed of passing along to their children.
As family members return from work and school, they help with the 3 p.m. milking and with feeding, cleaning and caring for the animals. By the time the evening chores are finished, it is often around 6:30 p.m. Then comes dinner and preparation to begin the routine again the next morning.
This summer, the family plans to enter 20 cows in the Butler Farm Show. Preparing the show animals adds another layer to days already filled with work. The process includes halter training, washing, clipping and grooming the cattle, and teaching them to walk and stand calmly in the show ring.
“It’s like a beauty contest for animals,” Lily Ansell said.
In addition to the Butler Farm Show, the Ansells participate in several other Pennsylvania and national competitions.
Farming is difficult and demanding work, but for the Ansells, it is also a way of life built around family, animals and shared memories.
“Farming’s not easy. The work, the dedication, learning how to win, learning how to lose — all of those are things that we deal with every day,” Nicole Ansell said. “It’s not all sunshine and roses. There are really tough days that beat you down.”
But the tough days build character, her daughter said.
“Your lows are going to be what teach you your lessons, teach you how to be a better person and what to change next,” she said.
Nicole Ansell said even if the children choose not to remain involved in agriculture when they are older, their experiences at the dairy farm will have taught them valuable life lessons.
The Farm Show is part competition, part tradition and part reunion for the families who return each year. The cattle and other animals they bring are more than entries in a show. Lily Ansell said they are like pets the family has raised, trained and cared for every day.
For her, that connection remains strong even while she is away at college. She is not yet sure where her public relations career will take her, but she hopes agriculture — whether at her family’s dairy farm or elsewhere — will remain part of her future.
As a fourth-generation member of a farming family, life among the cows may be difficult to leave behind.
“People get homesick when they go to college,” she joked. “I like to say I get cow sick.”
