WEST BEND, Wis. — After his day job as a heavy equipment operator for Ozaukee County wraps up, Bob Nash goes to work at the Golden E Dairy Farm in West Bend.

His first task is to get feed for the farm animals.

“For the cows, it will be corn silage that they are going to eat tomorrow morning so it goes in this bay so that when they feed them in the morning, it’s all right there and he can mix the batches fast and get all of the cows fed right away,” said Nash.

But he’s doing more than just feeding the cows — he’s also helped many in the farming community.

When a fire struck a dairy farm nearby, Nash organized a debris clean-up and relocated the cattle that survived the blaze.

It’s a big reason why Nash, also the current Ozaukee County Farm Bureau president, was selected as this year’s Wisconsin Farm Bureau Hero of Hope. The award recognizes someone that has helped others through a tough time.

“I don’t consider myself a hero. I’m just doing what you are supposed to do, doing what all the farmers that I grew up learning from that were my heroes growing up,” said Nash. “Helping out at that barn fire — that got instilled in me from day one of farming. Someone needs help no matter what it is, whatever you are doing; you drop what you are doing and go help them.”

Nash said he appreciates the recognition for the job he’s always enjoyed. He said his daily routine on the farm reminds him of how important the agriculture is.

“Farms, big or small, anywhere around the state are working so hard to make a quality product and that sense of pride when you see it at the store like cheese or whatever it is. I know how hard everyone has to work and to be the dairy state and to be Wisconsin. It’s just really cool,” said Nash.

Nash said there’s nothing quite like working on a farm because it offers something new every day. It’s why he doesn’t have a problem extending his workday a few extra hours to help out the Golden E Dairy Farm.

Nash said continuing to promote agriculture in the community is important.

“We are farming more and more urban now with people moving out into the country, so I think promotion is the biggest thing that we are doing right now, just kind of educating people of what’s going on around them,” said Nash. “Why we are in the fields late or why they have to put manure on the fields and stuff like that so that those complaints, people will kinda understand more of where their food comes from and how hard we have to work to do it.”