LAKE CITY — Josh Moechnig Jr. was a husband and father. He was a man of faith. He was the latest in a long line of farmers. He was a man connected to the community through bonds of school, wrestling, friendship and common values.
So his tragic death from a farming accident on June 24, 2025, in Wabasha County left in its wake a numbing pain and grief and bewildering sense of incomprehension that has reverberated through the close-knit family and surrounding communities.
Mike Harvey, a teacher and coach to Moechnig and also an uncle to Moechnig’s wife, Heather, said Moechnig sought a balance between fatherhood and farming. Once he was done milking the cows, he made a point of getting back home in the evening, so he could read to his oldest daughter, and spend time with his kids, three of whom are still in diapers and one a mere month old, before they went to bed.
“You’re just kind of numb,” Harvey said. “Every day, you’re just sort of like, this is a bad dream. When is it over? And it isn’t.”
“You’re just so grateful for the family and friends, though, and all the support,” he said.
It will be a void impossible to fill. But people and friends are trying. And with no respite from the responsibilities of running a 130-cow organic dairy farm roughly 7 miles south of Lake City, friends and family are stepping forward to do what they can. Cousins are helping with the milking. There is no life insurance. A gift card drive sponsored by a local Lake City business is being held. Friends have launched a GoFundMe campaign that has raised more than $149,000 as of Monday, June 30, 2025, from 1,700 individual donations.
Some of the gifts have originated from perfect strangers. They didn’t know the family, but they knew someone who knew the Moechnigs, or they knew the story. So they have donated $300, $500 apiece.
“It’s unbelievable that people will do that,” Harvey said.
Moechnig, 34, was working on a tire when it exploded.
Moechnig and his dad, Josh Moechnig Sr., were attempting to inflate a tire from a bale wagon that had gone flat. The tire was lying on the ground. When the bead of the tire slipped off the rim on the bottom side, the tire shot straight into the air and exploded, killing Moechnig and injuring his dad, who remains hospitalized with multiple facial fractures, Harvey said. The tire left a two-foot dent at the top of the shed.
Harvey described Moechnig as quiet, a person with a lively sense of humor who carried a good-natured smirk on his face. Even at a young age, he was mature beyond his years and always fun to chat with.
“He was a quiet, humble, hard-working family man,” said Doug Vaith, a former Lake City wrestling coach who coached Moechnig.
The Moechnigs have deep roots in the community. Harvey described the bonds between Josh Moechnig Jr and his dad as particularly close. Working on a farm together — one passed down from one generation to the next — was in a way the fulfillment of a dream: “The ability to work with your son, to farm with your son.”
Wes Moechnig, Josh Moechnig Jr’s grandpa, also helped out on the farm, as did an extended family of cousins and relatives.
“And so you’re not only co-workers, you’re best friends as well,” Harvey said. “And now it’s just many layers of pain that you have to suffer all at once.”
“Just knowing him for as long as I knew him and knowing the family, I knew he would be a great man and awesome husband and a tremendous father and dad,” Harvey said. “So just proud and glad to be able to know him, and we’re all better for knowing him."