Medford grad’s app wins Big Ideas competition

Zach Finholdt has an unruly cow to thank for what looks like a very bright future.

The 2020 graduate of Medford High School is a rising senior at Minnesota State University, Mankato – and the winner of the school’s Big Ideas Challenge for an app he designed.

Called Fin’s Finest Labs, it specializes in diagnosing diseases in animals, big and small, with an eye toward offering solutions to treat the diseases. The service would also offer prevention education and treatments for the animals.

The goal is to provide a customized, local, reliable resource for animal owners.

The win in April included a $5,000 check for first place; Finholdt also won $3,000 for taking first in the food/ag/beverage division. Judging in the state-level Big Ideas MN Cup will be held Aug. 8-10, with the final awards ceremony set for Sept. 18.

Big Ideas is sponsored by the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, designed for both established companies and entrepreneurial students.

Students are judged on their business and marketing plans, as well as how their pitches come across.

“I’ve had the idea for a while now,” Finholdt said, “just with my own animals: what I wish there was, and what could help my animals.”

He’s the owner of Boer Goat Central, a 300-head goat farm just north of Medford.

“Why goats? Everybody always asks me that,” Finholdt said.

“We used to have ‘Oreo’ cows and I got drug by one – and I didn’t really like that too much,” he said of his family’s herd of Belted Galloway cattle. “So I thought, ‘I’m going to get an animal I can just hold on to, and control with my bare hands.’ And I decided, ‘let’s do some goats,’ and it just kind of took off.”

He started with one pregnant goat he bought as a sixth grader.

“She had babies, and one thing led to another, and … yeah, 300 goats,” Finholdt said.

With that background, and his interest in furthering the health and genetics of his own herd, he’s majoring in an ag-related field, right?

Nope.

“I want to be an accountant,” Finholdt said. He’s had an internship with Ernst and Young and is planning to get his CPA certificate. “That way, I can manage my own money and farm, and help other people manage their money.”

His initial goal was to be a veterinarian.

“I started (college) at Gustavus (Adolphus College in St. Peter) in veterinary medicine, and did not like organic chemistry one bit,” he said with a laugh.

“Then I came to the realization that if I was a vet … well, nobody asks a vet to come out and see healthy animals,” Finholdt said. “They’re always sick – and then I have the possibility of bringing that disease to my farm, and that just did not sound like a good idea to me.”

So accounting it was – and inventing something that seems practical, pragmatic, and important.

“When I was doing my actual presentation, I saw a lot of people come to the realization that it actually could be needed,” he said. “All the judges thought it was a great idea, and if I pursued it, it would be a big moneymaker in addition to helping out farms in need of recordkeeping, as well.”

In a perfect world, “I’d have the goat farm and be an accountant and try to run this business on the side.”

The winning idea is an app, which Finholdt is “pretty sure” he can create himself.

To create the lab for the diagnostic and treatment work, he would need an investor.

“We already kind of started some portions of the lab,” Finholdt said. “We’re doing pregnancy testing and have reproductive services come to our farm. They bring blood samples to our farm to test for pregnancy, and we give them a result.”

As part of the service, he has technologists from Indiana and Iowa do embryo transfers and artificial inseminations.

As Finholdt refines his materials for the state competition, he is “slowly doing the research parts, and on top of that, just taking care of my goats and working on the farm.”

The word isn’t really out yet about the app and its potential, he said.

“More people would be excited if I did develop an app that allows people to track their (animal) records,” something he also plans to do.

Finholdt credits his years in 4-H and FFA for “shaping me into the person I am today.”

As far as creativity goes, he returns to the old adage that necessity is the mother of invention.

“I’m definitely creative, but I just want to make my herd better,” Finholdt said. “I’m always looking for alternatives to make everything better.”

There are no plans to grow the herd, though.

“I’m pretty happy where it is,” he said. “It’s dang-near a full-time job as it is.”