WANT TO WIN $100 CASH? See page 4 of this section for details!
25
C E L E B R A T I N G
2 5
Y E A R S
DAIRY ST R 25
January 13, 2024
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 25, No. 22
Mutually benecial Middendorf nds value in using two milking systems By Jan Lefebvre jan.l@star-pub.com
FREEPORT, Minn. — When Chris Middendorf added a robotic milking system to his freestall barn a year ago, he intended to use the facility in tandem with his already existing double-8 parallel parlor. “It was either this or build another parlor because we had outgrown our parlor,” Middendorf said. “It was taking too long to milk cows in it.” At rst, he thought about building a rotary parlor, Middendorf said. But after talking with technicians at Leedstone in Melrose, he decided to install robots and then visited a few farms to learn more. On Dec. 1, 2022, six Lely 5 Astronaut robotic milking units were installed in Middendorf’s extended freestall
MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
Nahum Duran (from leŌ), Chris Middendorf and Adan Duran stand together Jan. 5 in a freestall barn at Middendorf’s farm near Freeport, Minnesota. Middendorf milks in a roboƟc milking system and a double-8 parallel parlor. barn on his farm near Freeport. Currently, 390 cows are milked with the robots and 240
Minnesota says goodbye to 146 dairy farms 2023 saw continuation of trends, challenges By Jan Lefebvre jan.l@star-pub.com
ST. PAUL, Minn. — With milk prices dropping last spring, followed by drought conditions arriving in many areas, 2023 gave Minnesota dairy farmers steep challenges. Added to that were higher costs of production and ination in general, affecting already tight prot margins. In part due to these chal-
lenges, the year also saw the continued decline in the number of dairy farms. Data collected by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture shows how those numbers shifted each month per county during 2023 and veries that the trend contributed to the steady loss of dairies across the state. Nicole Neeser, DVM, MPH, director of MDA’s Department of Dairy and Meat Inspection, said dairy farmers faced several tough surprises in 2023.
Turn to MN INDUSTRY | Page 2
cows are milked in the parlor. Cows are milked by the system of which they are best suited.
Milk is shipped to First District Association in Litcheld. Middendorf farms 1,800 acres
to feed his herd and sells extra corn as a cash crop. The plan to use two milking systems is working well, Middendorf said. However, he and his employees experienced an initial learning curve. “Another guy with robots told me it would take a whole year before you nally get settled in with them, and he wasn’t wrong,” Middendorf said. “I’d say the last three months we’ve been settled in with them.” Cows in the freestall barn now average 2.8 daily visits to the robots. In the parlor, two daily milking shifts take four hours each to complete, shifts that are far shorter than when the entire herd was milked in the parlor. “Each shift was taking eight hours to milk, and it was so hard on labor and keeping people here milking eight hours straight,” Middendorf said. Turn to MIDDENDORFS | Page 6
Carrying tradiƟon forward Seedorfs named farm family of Otter Tail County By Emily Breth
emily.b@star-pub.com
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Carter (from leŌ), Caylee, Paul, Amanda and Clayton Seedorf stand together Jan. 7 at their farm near Perham, Minnesota. The Seedorfs were named the 2023 OƩer Tail County Farm Family of the Year.
PERHAM, Minn. — The work of four generations of the Seedorf family was rewarded when Seedorf Dairy was named the 2023 Otter Tail County Farm Family of the Year. “We didn’t really know we were even considered for it until they told us,” Amanda Seedorf said. Paul, who is the third generation to own the farm which Turn to SEEDORFS | Page 8
Page 2 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024
DAIRY ST R www.dairystar.com
ISSN Print: 2834-619X • Online: 2834-6203
522 Sinclair Lewis Ave. Sauk Centre, MN 56378 Phone: 320-352-6303 Fax: 320-352-5647 Published by Star Publications LLC General Manager/Editor Mark Klaphake - mark.k@dairystar.com 320-352-6303 (ofce) 320-248-3196 (cell) 320-352-0062 (home) Ad Composition - 320-352-6303 Nancy Powell • nancy.p@dairystar.com Karen Knoblach • karen.k@star-pub.com Annika Gunderson • annika@star-pub.com Editorial Staff Maria Bichler - Assistant Editor maria.b@dairystar.com Stacey Smart - Assistant Editor 262-442-6666 • stacey.s@dairystar.com Danielle Nauman - Staff Writer 608-487-1101 • danielle.n@dairystar.com Abby Wiedmeyer - Staff Writer 608-487-4812 • abby.w@dairystar.com Tiffany Klaphake - Staff Writer 320-352-6303 • tiffany.k@dairystar.com Jan Lefebvre - Staff Writer jan.l@star-pub.com Amy Kyllo - Staff Writer amy.k@star-pub.com Emily Breth - Staff Writer emily.b@star-pub.com Consultant Jerry Jennissen 320-346-2292 Advertising Sales Main Ofce: 320-352-6303 Fax: 320-352-5647 Deadline is 5 p.m. of the Friday the week before publication Sales Manager - Joyce Frericks 320-352-6303 • joyce@saukherald.com National Sales Manager - Laura Seljan (National Advertising, SE MN) 507-250-2217 • fax: 507-634-4413 laura.s@dairystar.com Assistant Sales Manager - Kati Schafer (Northeast WI and Upper MI) 920-979-5284 • kati.s@dairystar.com Jerry Nelson (SW MN, NW Iowa, South Dakota) 605-690-6260 • jerry.n@dairystar.com Mike Schafer (Central, South Central MN) 320-894-7825 • mike.s@dairystar.com Megan Stuessel (Western Wisconsin) 608-387-1202 • megan.s@dairystar.com Julia Merten (Southeast MN and Northeast IA) 507-438-7739 • julia.m@star-pub.com Bob Leukam (Northern MN, East Central MN) 320-260-1248 (cell) bob.l@star-pub.com Mark Klaphake (Western MN) 320-352-6303 (ofce) • 320-248-3196 (cell)
Deadlines The deadline for news and advertising in the Dairy Star is 5 p.m. Friday the week before publication. Subscriptions One year subscription $40.00, outside the U.S. $200.00. Send check along with mailing address to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378. Advertising Our ad takers have no authority to bind this newspaper and only publication of an advertisement shall constitute nal acceptance of the advertiser's order. Letters Letters and articles of opinion are welcomed. Letters must be signed and include address and phone number. We reserve the right to edit lengthy letters.
ConƟnued from MN INDUSTRY | Page 1 “The low prices in the spring, along with a very large volume of milk on the market, was a bit of a surprise as things seemed to be a bit more settled than they ended up being,” Neeser said. “Many producers found themselves in a difcult marketing situation, with either a loss of a buyer for their milk, being asked to dump milk or very low prices. Things recovered a bit later in the year.” A spreadsheet provided by MDA shows the month-to-month tally of dairy herds per county in 2023. The numbers for December are not yet conclusive as they were recorded Dec. 1, 2023, but the data to date shows a year-over-year loss of 146 dairy farms in Minnesota. “The November losses are deceptive and represent an annual trend of large losses in November and December due to goat herds going off the market due to seasonal dry-offs,” Neeser said. “We did have a loss of 25 Grade A farms in November. This is a more accurate number of farms that truly quit dairying.” Although Stearns, Todd and Morrison remained the top counties for the number of dairy farms last year, ending with 356, 140 and 124 dairy farms, respectively, by December, Stearns County had lost 27 dairy herds, and Morrison County had lost 21. Todd County’s total increased by one. The tallies specically count the number of existing dairy herds in each county, not the total number of milk cows. For instance, Winona County is in fourth place with 99 dairy herds, but it has more total milk cows than Todd County. This is because Winona County cows are dis-
persed across fewer, larger farms. There are bright spots within MDA’s data. Becker County gained two dairy herds last year, and six other counties gained one each. Many counties maintained the same number. However, 43 of the 80 counties that had at least one dairy herd at the beginning of the year lost at least one dairy farm. When a county already has few dairy farms, losing one or two can create a big dent. For example, although Mille Lacs County began 2023 with 14 dairy operations, it lost three during the year, which is 21% in one year. Goodhue County began the year with 76 dairy herds but closed the year with 67, a loss of nearly 12%. Beltrami County lost one of its two dairy herds last year and became a member of the group of counties with only one dairy operation. 2023 was not unique in its decline of dairy herds as the trend has existed in Minnesota for decades. This is attributed to factors like urban spread and rising land prices, which inhibit the purchase of farmland. Also, increasing sizes of farms and herds in recent decades has led to many smaller dairies closing shop. “Trends for 2024 will be similar to past years with our continuing to see dairy herds going out of business,” Neeser said. “However, processing and manufacturing has generally been strong in the state, and we expect to see this continue.” Data recorded by MDA is used to formulate ways to provide support to dairy farms and supply resources.
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The views and opinions expressed by Dairy Star columnists and writers are not necessarily those of the Dairy Star / Star Publications LLC.
The Dairy Star is published semi-monthly by Star Publications LLC, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246. Periodicals Postage Paid at Sauk Centre, MN and additional mailing ofces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246. © 2023 Star Publications LLC
“MDA is always watching and monitoring trends, and the reduction in farm numbers continues to be of concern,” Neeser said. MDA does not track the reasons dairy farms leave the marketplace. “We know that there are many, many different reasons as things like workforce, changing markets, input costs, age of owners/retirement, prices and other factors inuence those decisions,” Neeser said. “We work to support farms of all sizes, especially with resources related to mental health, expanding markets, transition planning, protability and other areas through the direct work of MDA and partnerships with other organizations.” The farming challenges of 2023 did not lead to a peak year in dairy farm closures. The decline in Minnesota dairy farm numbers in 2023 was less than in 2022 when the state saw a loss of 175 dairy operations. Even greater were the losses in 2018 when 262 dairy farms closed and in 2019 when 268 closed. One-hundred fourteen dairies were lost in 2020 and 115 in 2021. The last remaining dairy in Koochiching County closed this year; however, other dairy farms that were the last ones in their counties in 2023 are still milking cows into 2024. Even though MDA data from the rst months of 2023 indicated that Aitkin County had lost its one remaining dairy herd, later data revealed that, by April, the herd was back to producing milk.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 3
Freeport, MN
Perham, MN
Middendorf nds value in using two milking systems First Section: Pages 1, 6 - 7
Seedorfs named farm family of Otter Tail County First Section: Pages 1, 8
Holdingford, MN
Sauk Centre, MN
Hopkins, MN
Freeman, SD
Youngs continue career for 155 years First Section: Pages 23, 25
Multi-sport star Vogt earns local hall of fame nod First Section: Pages 26 - 27
The Day That Went Awry Second Section: Pages 14 - 15
Dirk launches ChunkChunk Ice Cream dessert line Second Section: Pages 3 - 4
FROM OUR SIDE OF THE FENCE: What are the benets of the mild weather for you and your farm? First Section: Pages 15 -16
Rose Creek, MN
Top Performers: Chad Felten First Section: Pages 18, 20
Sleepy Eye, MN
Women in Dairy: Stacy Tauer First Section: Page 29
Albany, MN
Kids Corner:
The Hemmesch family Third Section: Pages 8 - 9
For additional stories from our other zone, log on to www.dairystar.com
Zone 1
Zone 2
Columnists Ag Insider Page 10 First F Section
Dea County Dear Ag Agent Guy P Page 36 First Firs Section
Vet Veterinary W Wisdom P Pa a 37 Page Fir F irs Section n First
From the F Zwe Zweber Farm P Page 38 Firs Section First
The NexGen Page 39 First Section
The “Mielke” Market Weekly Pages 5 - 6 Second Section
Country C C Cooking Page 18 P Second Section
Page 4 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024
DAIRY ST25R C E L E B R A T I N G
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Page 6 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024
ConƟnued from MIDDENDORFS | Page 1
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Now he has one full-time employee managing the parlor and another overseeing the robotic milking. Four other employees work during the day and three work at night. There are 11 employees in all. Middendorf’s wife, Deana, handles all bookwork for the farm, and their three children — two in high school and one in college — help when needed. “We have the same number of employees as before, but it seems they put in fewer hours now,” Middendorf said. The biggest benet of the robots, Middendorf said, is their contribution to better herd temperament. He noticed immediately that the cows using the robots became calmer. “It was like you ipped a light switch; I couldn’t believe it,” Middendorf said. “You can tell the cows are going to last longer because they are so much calmer and can come and go and do what they want when they want. When I walk through the parlor group of cows, it’s different. They start to run around and are jumpier.” The robots give useful data for keeping track of cows such as how many times they have been through the robots and how long it takes them to be milked. Robots also collect information on milk conductivity and somatic cell count. The system includes a separation pen with an air-operated gate that can be controlled by the robots. This is used to sort cows into the separation pen without employees having to fetch them. “We set criteria with the computer, and you can adjust it for how sensitive you want it,” Middendorf said. “The way we have it set up now, if a cow comes through the robot and she
isn’t feeling well or coming down with something, the robot will automatically route her to the separation pen in the back so that you don’t have to go nd her. It has really helped us stay on top of mastitis issues.” The robots are also set to sense cows in heat and route them to the separation pen. Herd health checks are now faster because the robots can separate the group of cows to be checked. “Before when we did herd health, it was taking us four hours twice a month; now we do it in under four hours for the whole month,” Middendorf said. “We basically cut our time the vet was here in half.” The parlor built in 1992 is in good shape, Middendorf said. Cows milked in the parlor are housed in two smaller barns. Parlor cows are selected because they have teat issues, are slow milkers or have other characteristics that do not mesh well with the robotic milking system. Sick cows are milked in the parlor because a robot must go through a 10-minute cleaning after a treated cow is milked, slowing down access for other cows. “You could milk two cows in that time,” Middendorf said. “A lot of cows average seven minutes (per robot use). When you get some of these cows that are only giving 70 or 80 pounds of milk and are taking 12 minutes to milk, they aren’t worth having up here (on robots).” Middendorf raises his heifers and trains all of them on robots for their rst lactations. Heifers that do not work well in the robots during their rst lactation may do well in their second lactation. Turn to MIDDENDORFS | Page 7
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Adan Duran checks on data provided by the roboƟc milking system Jan. 5 on Chris Middendorf’s farm near Freeport, Minnesota. Duran is one of 11 employees at the farm where they milk 630 cows.
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The double-8 parallel parlor awaits the next milking Jan. 5 at the Middendorf family’s farm near Freeport, Minnesota. Currently, 390 cows are milked with the roboƟc milking system and 240 cows are milked in the parlor. Though they are milked in the parlor the rst time, Middendorf gives them another chance with the robots for their second lactation. Sometimes there is success the second time around because the cow has been exposed to the robots and is larger in her second lactation. “It’s a lot easier to train them as heifers than when they are older,” Middendorf said. Fast milking speed and good connectivity, he said, are the main factors that determine a cow’s success with the robots. But other variables matter as well. Data retrieved by the robots helps Middendorf discover those variables. For instance, Middendorf and his nutritionist tried to determine why they were struggling to get adequate amounts of milk from some of the heifers. By evaluating bodyweight data collected by the robots, it was discovered that lighter heifers struggled the most. “We adjusted how old heifers are
when we breed them,” Middendorf said. “We just try to get them a little bigger when they come in now. We never would have been able to gure that out if the robots didn’t have scales.” They will evaluate the production of rst-lactation heifers to determine if the adjustment worked. Middendorf said his decision to use both systems is one that other farmers are making as well. No one wants to sell good milking cows just because they have an unusual udder or do not adjust well to robots. “That’s just heartbreaking to have to sell a cow like that, but the idea used to be, if you got robots, you shut down your parlor and walked away from it,” Middendorf said. “They started singing a different tune the last number of years. … The parlor and robots kind of complement each other.” Mark Klaphake contributed to this article.
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Page 8 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024
ConƟnued from SEEDORFS | Page 1
was established in 1905, and his wife, Amanda, and their children — Carter, Clayton and Caylee — milk 55 cows in a single-8 parallel parlor near Perham. The family farms 240 acres of land between corn and hay to provide feed for their cows, chickens, goats, turkeys and a rabbit. “It’s just me, my wife and kids,” Paul said. “It’s just the family that keeps (the farm) going.” Like many farm families, the Seedorfs face many difculties throughout any particular day. “There are a lot of different challenges, like keeping the cows as healthy and happy as they can be and trying to gure out how to keep the farm operating at the current milk prices,” Paul said. Amanda said trying to balance her time between the farm and her career as a lab technician as well as their children’s school and 4-H activities can be hard at times but is worth it. “It gets hard, but I also have the mindset of when I’m at work, it’s my time away from the farm, and when I’m home, it’s my time away from work,” Amanda said. “I just think of it as a vacation from the other.” Through all the variations of operating a dairy farm, many things make the farm special to Paul and his family. “The memories I have here from my childhood and how long the farm has been here with being a small dairy makes it special,” Paul said. Amanda agreed. “The animals make it rewarding because their personalities are all different, and they are like pets to us,” Amanda said. “We have one Jersey that follows us around like a dog. Also, we appreciate being able to build the farm up to where it’s at now.” The family is involved with many organizations within the community.
EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR
Paul Seedorf feeds heifers grain Jan. 4 at his farm near Perham, Minnesota. Seedorf and his family milk 55 cows in a single-8 parallel parlor that was installed in 2008. “I help with 4-H from time to time,” Amanda said. “I also help with rearm safety and am a eld-certied trainer for it.” Paul has been a member of the Lakes Community Cooperative Board for a decade. “At the time they asked me to join, it was an older group of guys, so I joined,” Paul said. All three of the Seedorf children are or were active in 4-H. Caylee has
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been the most active. She took home the title of champion overall crossbred cow for the last two years in a row at the Minnesota State Fair. “I have friends in 4-H, and they come from farms and understand me,” Caylee said. “It’s more than just my school friends.” Paul and Amanda started getting involved with 4-H when the kids wanted to join six years ago, and they continued to become more involved every year. “Having cows that compete at the state fair is exciting,” Paul said. “Caylee always keeps pushing me to breed for better cows.” The Seedorfs have been bringing their animals to their local breakfast on the farm for the last three years. Their 4-H club manages the animals there for others to interact with and learn about. “It keeps us active in the community, and we get to see new people all the time,” Amanda said. “It also gets us off the farm.” Paul agreed. “We are giving back to the community,” Paul said. “Somebody has to do
it. If nobody volunteers their time, a lot of the activities wouldn’t pull through.” The Seedorfs are happy to be involved with the community while also keeping their farm operational. “Being able to stick the highs and lows out, from drought to economic changes and even the longevity of the farm is special, along with being able to raise a family on a farm,” Paul said. “There aren’t a lot of people who can say they raised their kids on a farm.” Amanda also grew up on a farm and never thought she would marry a farmer. But she is grateful that she was wrong and glad she can be involved in the dairy community. Farming runs deep through Paul’s blood, going back to when his ancestors rst came to America. Paul intends to keep that tradition alive. “I just hope to be able to keep farming,” Paul said. “Like everything, sometimes you’re going to win and sometimes you’re going to lose. I like working with cows. I’ve always liked cows, and I love doing what I’m doing.”
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The goats stand in a pen Jan. 4 at the Seedorf family’s farm near Perham, Minnesota. The Seedorf family raises cows, goats, chickens, turkeys and a rabbit.
Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 9
Dairy Star’s year in review
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South Dakota’s dairy industry continued to grow both in the number of cows in the state and in pounds of milk production. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, total milk production in South Dakota in November 2022 was pegged at 348 million pounds, up 11% from November 2021. There were an estimated 186,000 dairy cows in the Mount Rushmore State, an increase of 19,000 head from the previous year.
A trio of northwestern Iowa dairy operations teamed up to install a pair or anaerobic digesters that would make methane from their cows’ manure. The three dairy farms include Maassen Dairy, which is milking about 2,000 head; Brian Roorda Dairy, which is home to about 1,500 head; and Hoogland Dairy, an operation that has about 3,000 head. They planned to start producing renewable natural gas by mid-2024.
Vander Kooi aids motorists stranded in blizzard
Keller survives near-fatal accident
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Joe Vander Kooi snapped a photo from the cab of his tractor of two young people he had driven to the hospital Dec. 23, 2022, aŌer they were stranded near his farm in blizzard condiƟons near Worthington, Minnesota. Both passengers were reported to be in good health aŌer their ordeal. When Joe Vander Kooi set out in his tractor the afternoon of Dec. 23, 2022, during a blizzard to the clear the road, he did not expect to escort two young people to the hospital. Vander Kooi and his wife, Rita, are in partnership with his father, Dave, at Ocheda Dairy near Worthington, Minnesota. Amid the 3040 mph winds and a temperature of 15 degrees below zero, when Vander Kooi came across a stranded vehicle, he drove the pair of friends to the local emergency room with his tractor where they later made a full recovery.
Peggy Keller stands in the calf barn March 7, 2023, on her dairy farm near Lake City, Minnesota. Keller survived an accident with a cow in the stanchion barn that leŌ her needing 35 units of blood. Peggy Keller was given a 1% chance of living after a cow crushed her chest. Yet, she is alive today. Peggy and her husband, Fred, milk 125 cows and farm 320 acres with their son, Brian, on their farm near Lake City, Minnesota. Peggy sustained life-threatening injuries in an accident with a cow in their stanchion barn Oct. 8, 2022. Her injuries included all of her ribs being broken except the top two, a collapses right lung and a centimeter-sized hole in the right ventricle of her heart.
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DMC, DRP offering a lifeline
Dairy Margin Coverage and Dairy Revenue Pro- Carbon neutral by 2050 The dairy checkoff has established a goal for the tection programs have blunted the pain of $15 Class III milk. Ever.Ag President Phil Plourd said these dairy industry to be carbon neutral by 2050. Dairy programs have had a major impact. “The bottom line Management Inc. board member Charles Krause said dairy farmers are taking steps to beis that the steady stream of DMC paycome more efcient with 75% of milk ments this year has been a lifeline for a Ag Insider produced committed to the dairy stewlot of small- to medium-size producers,” ardship. “Every year, farmers become Plourd said. “And, if you look at the DRP program on top of that, it paid out more more efcient in what we do and more than $400 million through Q3 in net ininnovative,” Krause said. “We’re not all demnities. For producers using that proexpected to make the big change and put gram, that’s also been a big help.” U.S. digesters in, but it’s the little things we dairy export demand is stagnant. Domesdo every day that add up.” Krause farms tic demand is also at. “If you look at the near Buffalo, Minnesota. three big pizza chains that report publicly, none of them had a good quarter in FAFSA change impacts farmers, small Q3,” Plourd said. “Consumer credit card businesses debt is at all-time record levels so while An attempt to simplify the governBy Don Wick things aren’t terrible, the consumer has ment’s student aid process could make Columnist gotten a little more conservative in this college more costly for farm families, economic climate.” In Plourd’s view, all thanks to an omnibus bill that passed segments of the dairy industry struggled in 2023. this past year which included a change in the Free The export outlook has the potential to improve, of- Application for Federal Student Aid. Previously, fering optimism as we get into 2024. there was an exemption for families who owned farms or small businesses. American Farm Bureau Planning for the next 20 Years or next 12 months Federation Director of Government Affairs Dustin Minnesota Milk Producers Association Execu- Sherer said that exemption is now gone. “The extive Director Lucas Sjostrom said the price received ample that’s been given is for a farm that’s valued by dairy farmers is more variable than ever. “We’ve at about $1 million under the old rules that family been in a weird spot over the past 24 months where would have been expected to pay about $7,600 toyou may have a $5 variance from one farm to the ward the education under the old rules,” Sherer said. next, which is unprecedented,” Sjostrom said. “It is “Under the new rules, that same family would be reall due to market conditions and the processor you sponsible for more than $41,000, which essentially send to.” Minnesota lost 58 dairy herds during De- would take you out of the Pell Grant and federal and cember 2023, which is one of the worst months on state aid programs and force most people to take out record. “Dairy is really in a spot today where farm- student loans.” The FAFSA change takes effect for ers are making plans for the next 20 years or just the 2024-25 school year. Legislation has been introplanning on how they make it through the next 12 duced in both chambers of Congress to reinstate this months,” Sjostrom said. The farms in the middle, exemption. with 300 to 1,000 cows, may be having the biggest issue with the low milk prices. Sjostrom said the Risk management training for the underserved most successful dairies in the mid-range have found The USDA is making up to $3 million available a niche. That may include dairy beef production or to provide risk management training to underserved, custom harvesting. small-scale and organic farmers. Nonprot groups and land grant universities can apply for these grants. Farm income down from 2022 record high The deadline for applications is March 4. As farmers close the books on 2023, many of those spreadsheets are showing farm income came Rural Finance Authority supports beginning down signicantly from the record highs of one farmers year ago. U.S. Department of Agriculture Chief The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is Economist Seth Meyer said net farm income will now accepting applications for its Beginning Farmer total $158 billion this year, a 21% drop from 2022. Tax Credit. For this year, the state has $4 million “That’s still well above the average of the last couple available, and the tax credits are funded on a rst of decades,” Meyer said. come, rst served basis. In addition, beginning farmers are eligible for a tax credit of up to $1,500 for What a difference a year makes tuition in the Farm Business Management program. Those differences can be seen as farmers close out the books for 2023. “If we just look year-over- New ownership for Horizon Organic year, it was tax planning to no end last year and what A private equity rm, Platinum Equity, is acquirare we going to do with the protability and how ing Horizon Organic. Horizon Organic is a USDAdo we manage that,” said Keith Olander, executive certied organic dairy brand that is now owned by director of AgCentric. “This year, we’re certainly Danone. Terms of the deal were not announced. going to see a reduction in income. I think USDA is looking at 15% down.” 2023 can be considered an Mortenson takes new role with Minnesota FFA average year for many grain farmers. The animal agNatasha Mortenson is the new Minnesota FFA riculture sector took a bigger hit, especially the dairy career development and alumni coordinator. For the and swine sectors. past nine years, Mortenson worked for Riverview LLP in community outreach, communications and Federal order reform hearing to resume project management. Previously, Mortenson was an The USDA will reconvene its public hearing agriculture education instructor and FFA advisor at to consider changes to the Federal Milk Marketing Morris Area High School. Mortenson is a member of Orders Jan. 16. This hearing process began in late the Minnesota FFA Hall of Fame. August 2023 near Indianapolis, Indiana. Signicant changes have not been made to the federal orders in Trivia challenge more than 20 years. Grade AA is the highest quality grade for butter. That answers our last trivia question. For this week’s Optimism for milk pricing reform trivia, what is the No. 1 pizza chain in the United Menahga, Minnesota, dairy farmer Kristine States? We will have the answer in our next edition Spadgenske testied during the Federal Milk Mar- of Dairy Star. Don Wick is owner/broadcaster for the Red River keting Order hearing in September 2023 and is excited about the continued interest in this process. “It Farm Network of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Wick means that people care,” Spadgenske said. “We’ve has been recognized as the National Farm Broadhad a record number of dairy farmers who have caster of the Year and served as president of the Natestied. The USDA is listening to these proposed tional Association of Farm Broadcasting. Don and changes, and that’s a good thing.” Compromises will his wife, Kolleen, have two sons, Tony and Sam, and be necessary, but Spadgenske is optimistic about po- ve grandchildren, Aiden, Piper, Adrienne, Aurora and Sterling. tential improvements in federal orders.
Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 11
ConƟnued from YEAR IN REVIEW | Page 9 county’s animal unit cap, moving it from 2,000 to 4,000. The board unanimously approved the decision Feb. 28, 2023, at its meeting in Preston, Minnesota, after receiving the recommendation from the Fillmore County Planning Commission. Fillmore County Commissioner Duane Bakke said one of the reasons for increasing the cap was to give freedom to family farms to expand.
Marschall survives internal decapitation to return to the farm
Dairy product consumption on the rise
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Rebeckah Marschall smiles with her dad, Dan Schroeder, in the milking parlor April 25, 2023, on their farm near Caledonia, Minnesota. One of Marschall’s rst concerns when she woke up aŌer a near-fatal accident was if the milk tester had been called because they were supposed to test the day aŌer her accident. Rebeckah Marschall was struck on the driver’s side of her car in the late afternoon in snowy weather conditions Dec. 16, 2022, on her way to work on her family’s dairy farm near Caledonia, Minnesota. Marschall was airlifted to
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“The milk pregnancy test is convenient and inexpensive.”
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How long have you been testing with DHIA?
Our family has used DHIA as far back as I can remember. I think my grandpa may have started testing in the 1950’s. What tests do you use and what do like about those tests? We use the SCC and pregnancy tests each month, and have occasionally tested for Johnes and Leukosis. I wouldn’t want to go without testing for somatic cell. Each month I can identify any problem cows and which ones are contributing the most to the bulk tank SCC. The milk pregnancy test is convenient and inexpensive compared to having regular vet checks for a smaller herd. Which is your favorite and why? The SCC is the most important test. It’s the Àrst thing I look at each month. Cows that are showing signs of mastitis, we all know about. But, sometimes a cow that you would never expect to be a problem may have a very high cell count. Now that she has been identiÀed, there is an opportunity to do something about it. How does testing with DHIA beneÀt your dairy operation? DHIA provides us with a large amount of data each month with the various reports that are generated. Reproduction, SCC, action lists, and the other reports are all great tools to help with the management of the herd and to make culling decisions. It’s nice to have this information all available on your phone. Tell us about your farm. My wife, Teresa, and I have a 150 acre farm that has been in my family for over 100 years. We raise corn and alfalfa. Our milk is sold to Plainview Coop and is shipped 30 miles to the Kwik Trip plant in La Crosse, WI. Adam Stoehr and Sam Koeller provide part time milking help. Our daughter and son in law, Adriana and Josh Roger Aldinger Herricks and their son Lincoln live on the farm Winona, Minnesota and lend a hand when needed. We also have a Winona County • 110 cows daughter Hannah, that lives in La Crosse.
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Page 12 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024
ConƟnued from YEAR IN REVIEW | Page 11 Madison, Wisconsin, where a medical team worked to stabilize her head and neck which had suffered what the medical team called internal decapitation. When Marschall returned to the farm Jan. 19, 2023, the rst thing she did was to visit the cows. She, and her husband, Andrew, are the fth generation on her family’s farm.
Emma Kuball, of Rice County, was crowned at the culmination of the evening’s events. Kuball is the daughter of dairy farmers Nate and Shannon Kuball of Waterville, Minnesota.
Hastings Creamery suffers major re Sept. 23, 2023
TIFFANY KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
Bill Uter shows a guest how the guided-ow system works in the freestall barn Aug. 1, 2023, at Merryville Farm near Waverly, Minnesota. The Uters milk 285 cows with four DeLaval roboƟc milking units and bed the cows using the only Valmetal automated bedding system in Minnesota. summer eld day Aug. 1, 2023, at the Uter family’s farm near Waverly, Minnesota. Bill and Steve Uter, along with Bill’s son, Mike, milk 285 cows using a DeLaval robotic milking system. Robotic feeders are used in the calf facility, and a Valmetal automatic bedding system was installed in 2023, the rst one installed in Minnesota.
Dry days of spring carry into summer June 24, 2023 When the calendar ipped to May 2023, farmers across Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and Iowa were concerned about the dry conditions plaguing the growing season. After the winter snow and early spring rains, precipitation all but stopped and temperatures rose across the four-state region, affecting feed inventories and crop growth. Minnesota assistant state climatologist Pete Boulay called the spring’s sudden drought a ash drought.
Kuball crowned 70th Princess Kay of the Milky Way
Modern technology on Merryville Farm
Aug. 26, 2023
Excitement matched the heat index the evening of Aug. 23, 2023, as the Minnesota dairy industry gathered to crown the 70th Princess Kay of the Milky Way at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.
Aug.12, 2023
Modern technology was on full display at Merryville Farm during a University of Minnesota Extension
ALEX MIDDENDORF/DAIRY STAR
Emma Kuball, of Rice County, is crowned the 70th Princess Kay of the Milky Way Aug. 23, 2023, at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Makenzie Alberts (center), of Dodge County, and Megan Ratka, of Stearns County, were selected as runners-up.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MIKE BREMER, HASTINGS COMMUNITY TV
This aerial view of HasƟngs Creamery was taken Sept. 14, 2023, following a four-alarm re that broke out at the creamery on the evening of Sept. 13 in HasƟngs, Minnesota. The creamery, which had closed Aug. 21, 2023, suffered a roof collapse and a signicant amount of re damage.
Iowa, ND legalize sales of raw milk
Less than one month after the 110-year-old Hastings Creamery closed its doors, a re broke out the evening of Sept. 13, 2023. Fire crews from at least 10 departments fought the blaze which caused a roof collapse and a signicant amount of damage. The four-alarm re was a challenge to put out because of the construction of the building and the conned spaces where the re was located. The creamery was not in operation; therefore, no one was on-site, and no injuries occurred during the re. The creamery was forced to close Aug. 21, 2023, after failing to meet waste discharge requirements.
Sept. 9, 2023 After nearly two decades of trying to legalize the sale of raw milk in Iowa, supporters of this legislation nally saw success July 1, 2023. On that day, farm-to-consumer sales of raw milk in liquid form became legal in the Hawkeye State. On Aug. 1, 2023, on-farm raw milk sales became legal in North Dakota as well. There, farms are free to sell milk directly to the customer for his or her own personal consumption. In both states, raw milk cannot be sold at the retail level.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 13
Dairy Star’s digital review We compiled our most popular stories that were published on Facebook in 2023
1.
Prospering from challenges Total reach: 745,556
Patrick Plante, of Little Falls, Minnesota, never intended to buy a farm. But when Plante purchased a farm in 1989 without seeing it rst, he had his work cut out for him. After improving nearly every facet of the property, Plante moved his rst herd of 20 cows into the barn in 1991. Today, a herd of 50 can be found in the tiestall barn. Plante said he enjoys his life and never has a day where he wakes up complaining about his job.
2.
Fully immersed in dairy Total reach: 198,841
The Vine family of Neillsville, Wisconsin, has been immersed in the dairy industry for many years. They used to produce milk as dairy farmers, and now they are on the other side of the indus-try as haulers and processors. Brian and his daughter, Emma, haul milk while Brian’s daughter, Laura, rides along and helps with mechanics. Brian’s two older daughters, McKenzie and Samantha, work in the processing department at Grassland Dairy.
3.
Selling happiness
Total reach: 38,647
Jamieson Lindquist and Kevin Korbel, who both grew up in generational farm families, launched Udder Buddies, a premium ice cream brand in southern Minnesota. Udder Buddies sources its milk from the University of Minnesota dairy herd, but the partners hope to use milk from the 40-cow herd operated by Korbel’s family. In August 2023, Udder Buddies made and sold its rst ofcial batch of product.
4.
Fresh milk is served
Total reach: 23,386
Students at Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa High School live in the heart of Minnesota’s dairy country, so most are familiar with the pleasure of drinking fresh milk. On Oct. 24, 2023, two milk dispensing machines were added to the school’s cafeteria, providing a local, fresh product. A few weeks later, a third milk machine became available to students using the weight room.
5.
Value-added products provide additional revenue Total reach: 23,098
Tucked away in the rolling hills of Rusk County sits Maple Hill Farm, the home of Brian and Tammy Michielson where they milk 70 dairy sheep, primarily East Friesian with a few Lacaune mixed in. The Michielsons also raise beef, sheep and poultry for direct market sales from their on-farm store along with a variety of value-added products made from milk produced by their sheep.
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Efciently caring for the future
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Located 3 miles from Pagel’s Ponderosa Dairy is the facility where all of the farm’s youngstock are raised. At this specialized site, heifers spend their rst year of life. These animals are the future of Pagel’s Ponderosa Dairy, which milks 6,000 cows on three sites near Kewaunee, Wisconsin. The calf facility houses 3,650 heifers — from 1 day old to 11.5 months — in 23 calf barns, ve bed-pack barns and two freestall barns. There are 900 calves on milk.
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The new barn constructed on Nathan Lund’s 10-acre farm near Brandon, Minnesota, is not like most barns being built today. It is not a parlor, and there are no robotic milking systems. In-stead, Lund went the traditional route, choosing a tiestall design. On Sept. 27, 2023, Lund began milking his herd of 40 cows in his 58- by 160-foot tiestall barn that has room for 60 milking cows plus dry cows. Lund designed the barn to allow him to do all necessary chores on his own.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 15
from our side OF THE FENCE What are the benefits of the mild weather for you and your farm?
Jason Sperfslage, pictured with Hillary Morarend Greeley, Iowa Delaware County 40 cows
Tyler Brockphaler Sebeka, Minnesota Wadena County 60 cows
What projects have you been doing during the abnormally warm fall and winter? With the warmer weather, I have been catching up on cleaning around the farmyard as well as xing fences, doing equipment repairs and taking care of general maintenance. What are the biggest benets of the mild weather for you and your farm? The biggest benets are feeding the cows hay in the pasture, which is saving on bedding and creating less manure to haul. It has been dry as well, so the cows are staying a lot cleaner. What challenges do you face on your farm and with your cattle because of mild weather? When it is warm, we have more mud and slop. Normally keeping the cows clean would be a big challenge this time of year when it is this warm, but this year, that has not been much of a problem because of how dry we are. Tell us about the mildest winter you have experienced. This has been the mildest winter I have experienced, so far. On Christmas morning, I milked cows in a T-shirt. It was 50 degrees outside, and having the barn all closed up for winter made it a stuffy 70 degrees in the barn. That was a rst for me. Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy this year. I milk 40 cows and farm on 80 acres that was my grandpa’s. This July will be four years since I started. I do most of the work myself with some help from my parents. I milk in a 20-stall stanchion barn and pasture the cows in the summer. I have free stalls and a bedded pack in the winter. So far, it has all worked very well. I recently started selling milk to Scenic Central Milk Producers with the Cows First program and have been very happy with them. Overall, I am hoping we see some rain or snow to get us out of the drought we have been in all summer. If we can get that, 2024 will be a good year.
Borst Family Dairy Larry (from left), Luann, Kyle, Heather, Lindsey, Kevin, Julie and Matt Borst Rochester, Minnesota Olmsted County 240 cows What projects have you been doing during the abnormally warm fall and winter? We have been able to accomplish extra clean-up projects since things are not buried in snow. What are the biggest benets of the mild weather for you and your farm? The biggest benet of the mild weather has been that equipment starts easier with the weather. We haven’t had any days where we have had to spend hours moving snow. We also haven’t had to worry about the automatic waterers freezing up. The mild temperature has also made providing water to calves in hutches an easier task. What challenges do you face on your farm and with your cattle because of mild weather? The mild temperatures along with lots of moisture in the air have made keeping cattle healthy and dry a bigger challenge. We've been trying to stay ahead of it by bedding our heifer sheds very frequently — about every other day. We also keep a closer eye out for animals who maybe need extra attention or a treatment. Tell us about the mildest winter you have experienced. This winter has been the mildest in recent memory. Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy this year. Borst Family Dairy is a partnership between Matt, Larry, Kevin and Kyle Borst near Rochester, Minnesota. We grow alfalfa, corn, soybeans, sweet corn and peas. We also nish our male dairy-beef crossbreds. We milk about 240 Holsteins twice a day in a double-10 herringbone parlor and sell our milk to Associated Milk Producers Inc. As of right now, we do not have any concrete, big plans for the dairy this next year.
W h a t projects have you been doing during the abnormally warm fall and winter? I got some more sheds built than I normally would have in the fall since the ground stayed thawed. We did about the same amount of fall tillage as usual, because the moisture made it hard to get the corn straw off, which we like to do before we till it under. What are the biggest benets of the mild weather for you and your farm? It’s saved a lot of time, headache and fuel not having to deal with the cold and snow. We haven’t had to push any snow yet this season, and that was pretty much what half of the time was spent on the last two winters. What challenges do you face on your farm and with your cattle because of mild weather? The mild weather is actually worse for the barn because of the wetness. There have been pneumonia issues because of the damp air. As of now, it’s been curable, but it’s more than we would have on a nor-mal year — if we have any. We had sick calves because of the same type of deal. Tell us about the mildest winter you have experienced. I would say this winter is the mildest I have seen, or at least remember. In 2010, it stayed nice into December, but I’ve never seen it stay this nice this long into the winter season. Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy this year. We milk 60 cows in a tiestall barn. We raise our heifers and make pretty much all of our own feed. There are no expansion plans as of now. I farm with my father-in-law, John Malone, and we ship our milk to First District Association. My kids — Izzy, Henry, Kenna and Tommy — help with feeding calves.
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Page 16 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024
ConƟnued from OUR SIDE | Page 15 Bill and Raynelle Mueller Big Stone City, South Dakota Grant County 45 cows
Pam and Joe Glisczinski Belle Plaine, Minnesota Scott County 50 cows
What projects have you been doing during the abnormally warm fall and winter? The mild weather has enabled us to haul manure and clean all of our lots. We have also been able to haul our corn instead of waiting until spring. It has been a lot easier to get things done.
What projects have you been doing during the abnormally warm fall and winter? With the continued cooperation of the weather, we are in the process of completing a new shop which will be very useful for working on equipment when it gets cold.
What are the biggest benets of the mild weather for you and your farm? Chores have been a lot easier. We are using less bedding and not as much feed. We usually start using winter fuel in December but are just making the switch now. The milk truck driver also likes this mild weather. What challenges do you face on your farm and with your cattle because of mild weather? We have had sick calves due to the rollercoaster temperatures. The cattle eat more when it suddenly turns colder. We are dealing with ruts that we should have leveled out before they froze. Tell us about the mildest winter you have experienced. The winter of 1994, when we built our barn, was very mild. Our family came over for Thanksgiving and helped us put up the perimeter walls. Two weeks later, it was 50 degrees, and we were able to install the rafters. We were pouring concrete inside the barn in January. Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy this year. We milk in a tiestall barn and sell our milk to Valley Queen Cheese. Our son, Eric, and his wife, Melissa, live nearby. They both work off the farm, and Eric helps us as much as he can. Eric and Melissa have three children, Devon, Mackenzie and Braden. Our daughter, Stacy, and her husband, Tony Campbell, work at Agropur in Lake Norden, South Dakota. They have ve children, Sydney, Greyson, Ava, Aspen and Kye. Our daughter Jenna, and her husband, Jeff Buyck, live near Balaton, Minnesota, and have four children, Elizabeth, Clara, Evelyn and William. Our grandkids choose cattle from our herd to use as 4-H projects, so we see a lot of our grandchildren in the summer. Our plans for the dairy this year include working toward getting more butterfat from our cows.
What are the biggest benets of the mild weather for you and your farm? Our greatest benet from this mild weather has been getting chores done more quickly and easily with less layers of winter clothing and not having to deal with the snow and ice. What challenges do you face on your farm and with your cattle because of mild weather? Luckily, this weather has proven to be more benecial than problematic for us. Tell us about the mildest winter you have experienced. If our memory serves us right, this winter has for sure been the easiest one so far. Hopefully the good luck continues. Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy this year. We milk in a double-5 herringbone pit parlor. We are blessed to have two daughters, Megan and Mallory, who are always around to help with chores, hauling hay and other fun things happening on the farm. We are happy to be able to ship our milk through Bongards, thanks to our hauler, the Klingbergs. We hope to continue milking until the time feels right for us to call it quits. Chad Thielen Melrose, Minnesota Stearns County 68 cows What projects have you been doing during the abnormally warm fall and winter? I have been working on cleaning up tree lines on eld edges. We also purchased a 10,000-gallon fuel tank so that we can get fuel by the transport load. We've been working on a containment system for it. What are the biggest benets of the mild weather for you and your farm? We have been able to get in the elds when we need to spread manure without having to ght our way through the snow. We are also able to use our silos yet, being things aren't frozen real hard. What challenges do you face on your farm and with your cattle because of mild weather? The uctuation of the temperature is a challenge. We make sure the cows stay healthy and don't come down with pneumonia. Tell us about the mildest winter you have experienced. I would have to say this winter. There's been years where we haven't had much snow, but it's been cold. Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy this year. Myself, my wife, Jacki, and our two kids along with my parents operate the farm. We have 297 acres and also rent land. We grow corn, alfalfa and oats. We ship our milk to Land O’Lakes.
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Page 18 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024
TOP PERFORMERS Chad Felten, of Twin Spruce | Rose Creek, Minnesota | Mower County | 72 cows
How many times a day do you milk, and what is your current herd average, butterfat and protein? We milk twice a day at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Our current herd average is 31,135 pounds, and our butterfat and protein are 3.3% and 4.4%, respectively.
60 days using Spectramast and ORBESEAL. I should go back to Quartermaster, but I don’t like the slaughter withhold if you have an incident with a cow aborting. Once they are dried off, they go into a pen with the pregnant heifers with a loose housing cornstalk bedding pack. Their ration is corn silage, straw and baleage. They stay there until about three weeks pre-calving, and then, I have a pre-fresh pen I put them in. After calving, the cows return to the tie stalls, but heifers are put in a pen at the end of the barn for a week or two until I have a strap on them and/or there is room in the stalls.
Describe your housing and milking facility. We have a tiestall barn. We just switched to bedding with shavings. We put this on top of waterbeds and pasture mats, which we have had for a long time. We graded the gutter about a month ago. We milk with six units in the tiestall. Who is part of your farm team, and what are their roles? My older brother, Ryan, works with the crops mostly. My dad does the feeding. My wife, Heather, milks and feeds calves as well as other needed tasks. My stepson, Greg Crumb, helps us with everything. He milks, feeds calves and makes it possible to get chores done when one of us wants to leave. I work on everything in general. I help milk, I am in charge of herd health, and I will mix feed when my dad is gone.
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PHOTO SUBMITTED
Ryan Felten (from leŌ), Deb Felten, Tom Felten, Heather Felten, Greg Crumb and Chad Felten smile in the barn at Twin Spruce near Rose Creek, Minnesota. Their 72-cow herd average is 31,135 pounds with 3.3% buƩerfat and 4.4% protein.
What is your herd health program? We preg check and ultrasound once a month. We give our cows Bovi-Shield 50 days after calving. At dry off, we give our cows Alpha-7,
Endovac and SRP. Calves are tubed a gallon of frozen colostrum at birth. At weaning, they are given CORID for ve days. Calves are given Inforce or Nasalgen when I
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What is the composition of your ration, and how has that changed in recent years? Our ration has powdered corn, cottonseed, soybean meal, molasses, brown midrib corn silage, haylage, baleage and barlage. I normally run in the range of 22 pounds of dry matter corn silage. I started putting in molasses in about two years ago. I probably started doing baleage two or three years ago. I Turn to TOP PERFORMERS | Page 20
Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 19
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Page 20 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024
ConƟnued from TOP PERFORMERS | Page 18 like the baleage because you bud. We cut and then merge it have more exibility. I would a day or two later. For hay, we not do it, however, if I didn’t keep the harvester full and the have a crop cutter and the rest of it is made into baleage. baler. What is your average soTell us about the forages matic cell count and how you plant and detail your does that affect your proharvest strategies. We har- duction? Our somatic cell vest all our forage ourselves count is around 100,000. It because I do not like to have has gone higher the more and to wait for the custom har- more milk I’ve been getting. vesters. My brother and I farm I used to be able to keep it about 450 acres rented from down at the 60,000 range, but our dad and other farmers. I it’s been higher for the last usually have 50-55 acres of few years. It could be because corn silage and 80-100 acres their udders are fuller or beof hay. We cut our hay at cause of dirty straw. I want about 28 days when we start to see what happens with our to get a little purple and are new shavings bedding, bejust starting to see the alfalfa cause the barn stays cleaner.
AMY KYLLO/DAIRY STAR
A cow lies in the barn Jan. 5 at Twin Spruce near Rose Creek, Minnesota. Cows are bedded with shavings on top of waterbeds and pasture mats.
What change has created the biggest improvement in your herd average? Heather coming to work full time on the farm has helped me be more consistent on time. Everything is probably getting done a little quicker and chores are not dragging out all day long. We also switched our ration to have better feed as well as changed the professional who helped with our ration to nd someone who better t our farm’s vision. What technology do you use to monitor your herd? We use DHIA to track our herd, but no specic technology. What is your breeding program, and what role does genetics play in your production level? We use ovsynch or G6G ovsynch on our entire herd. However, if we see a heat, we will also breed off of that, but it can be kind of tricky. We started using G6G ovsynch about nine months ago, and it seems like it is going to work better than ovsynch. We try to have our rst service after calving at 75 days. When I was breeding sooner, I noticed that they seemed like they were milking too much when I needed to dry them up. When choosing bulls, I look for milk,
AMY KYLLO/DAIRY STAR
Chad Felten uses the pill gun on a heifer Jan. 5 at Twin Spruce near Rose Creek, Minnesota. Felten is in charge of herd health.
components and type. I do not pay attention to productive life. I generally will not use a bull with under 1,000 pounds of milk. List three management strategies that have helped you attain your production and component level. Having the right quality of feed and consistency of milking and feeding times. Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy in the next year. I do not have plans for the year. Last year,
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we put in a new electricity system on the farm and solar panels. I have had a blueprint made up for putting in robots, but I am going to wait a little bit. We ship our milk to Associated Milk Producers Inc. I rent ground for what feed I will need for the cows, and my brother rents the remainder of the ground for cash crops. We rotate the ground so the crops get changed and the manure goes different places.
Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 21
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Page 22 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024
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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 23
Colorful history weaves farm together Youngs continue career for 155 years By Tiffany Klaphake tiffany.k@dairystar.com
HOLDINGFORD, Minn. — Kevin Young can list the date when each building on his farm was built. “It’s a great feeling knowing all this history,” Young said. “Knowing that my ancestors have walked the same paths and raised their family where I walked and raised my family makes me appreciate what they did to help make this farm what it is today.” Along with having a dairy farm in the heart of Stearns County for 155 years comes a colorful history with tales of homesteading, the Prohibition, the Great Depression and the farm crisis of the 1980s. Young and his wife, Beth, milk 62 cows in a tiestall barn that was built in 1933 at Arban Farm near Holdingford. The original barn was a 34by 60-foot barn built by Edward Young during the Great Depression. “There was no running water then and that barn was closer to the creek than the old barn, so the cows could
go outside every day and get water,” Young said. “He built it for $700, and the banker told him he was nuts.” The barn was eventually expanded so more cows could be milked. Running water was installed along with a pipeline. Then, in 1988, Young and his dad, Jerome, put in an automatic feeding system. The system, which is used today, is a series of elevators that bring silage, haylage and high-moisture corn from three silos to a conveyor belt that hovers above the mangers on each side of the tiestall barn. “I don’t have a (total mixed ration), but my cows are fed a mixed ration from my silos,” Young said. “I feed my cows with the ip of a few switches. Then, I just top dress a protein mix.” The Youngs also nish their steers and raise their replacements. They farm 350 acres of corn and alfalfa, with an occasional rotation of soybeans. Assisting on the farm as needed are the Youngs’ daughters, Samantha and Katie. Young’s brother helps
PHOTO SUBMITTED
The Youngs — Kevin (from leŌ), Beth, Samantha and KaƟe — milk 62 cows at their farm near Holdingford, Minnesota. They conƟnue the farm that has been in the family for 155 years.
during harvest as well. Young has only ever known dairy farming, as he joined the farm after completing high school. “I never minded the work,” Young said. “When I was in second grade, I got chicken pox and had to stay home for two weeks. Dad made me help with milking
every morning and evening since then.” Young can trace his family’s lineage to when Franz Young and his family made their way from Germany to Holdingford. Franz homesteaded 160 acres in 1869. At one point, 20 acres near the growing settlement of Arban were do-
nated for the construction of a church that was named Arban Church. According to the Youngs, Arban is attributed to Pope Urban VIII. However, because the German “U” is pronounced similarly to the English “A,” the name was changed to Arban. Turn to YOUNGS | Page 25
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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 25
ConƟnued from YOUNGS | Page 23
The farm has been passed through four generations of sons, from Franz to Joseph to Edward and to Jerome. “Dad and I focused on cow health and getting good components,” Young said. “We don’t have any new fancy tractors, but we get just as good corn as the guys that do.” Once Young began farming full time with his dad, they ofcially named the farm Arban Farm as recognition of the church their ancestor helped establish. The original church had to be torn down so a bigger church could be built to accommodate a growing population. Soon after, a tornado damaged the church and another new church was built on the ground near the Youngs’ farm. That church, built in 1904, has since been relocated to the Stearns County Pioneer Club, which hosts the annual Albany Pioneer Days Threshing Show. The house in which Young raised his family and continues to live was built in 1947 by his grandfather after the original house burned down. “Growing up, whenever it would rain, we would walk around outside and nd all sorts of old nails, cups, plates, you name it, from that old house,” Young said. “When
TIFFANY KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
A sign idenƟes the farm Jan. 3 at Arban Farm near Holdingford, Minnesota. The Young family’s farm began in 1869.
TIFFANY KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
Kevin Young holds an aerial photograph of his farm Jan. 3 at his family’s farm near Holdingford, Minnesota. Young can trace his family’s history to immigrants from Germany.
the new house was built, there was no electricity, but Grandpa knew it was coming to the area so he had the house wired right away.” The Youngs have since added on to the house. However, the main part of the house is original to match the rich history of their farm.
Samantha has expressed interest in taking over the farm someday. Until then, Young will keep doing what he does best — farming. “I like that I can pick and choose what I get to do each day,” Young said. “I am outside and am not doing the same thing every single day.”
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Page 26 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024
Dedicated athlete’s skills born on the farm
Multi-sport star Vogt earns local hall of fame nod By Evan Michealson evan.m@star-pub.com
SAUK CENTRE, Minn. — Growing up, there was not a lot of time in Ethan Vogt’s life that did not revolve around either athletics or agriculture. And whether it was attending to chores around his family’s farm or in the midst of competition, Vogt gave everything he had to whatever task was put in front of him. That work ethic carried him not only into a collegiate career in athletics but also a spot in the Sauk Centre Athletics Hall of Fame, as Vogt is one of six members of the class of 2023. “My dad’s (Ken) in, my uncle’s (Lee) in, and now I get to go in,” Vogt said. “It’s really cool for me.” Vogt, his dad and brother, Aaron, milk 300 cows near Sauk Centre. His dad was inducted into the Sauk Centre Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015 and was given the Lifetime Service to Wrestling Award from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in
2021. Vogt put his name in the state record books with an improbable run at the Minnesota State High School League Class AA Wrestling State Tournament in 2002, winning the 171-pound state champion-ship as a sophomore. “If you want to be good at wrestling, it’s a lifestyle,” Vogt said. “It’s constantly keeping your weight in control, not splurging and eating a terrible meal, and getting your extra workouts in. You wake up thinking about it and go to bed thinking about it. It’s a different animal.” Vogt did not take rst place at state again, but he was regularly in contention for the top spot. He fought through a hand injury during his junior season to make it to the Xcel Energy Center again and capped off his career with a fth-place nish at 189 pounds in 2004. Overall, he won 159 matches, tied for the most in program history. While Vogt came from a distinguished wrestling background, he was also passionate about an-other sport:
MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
Ethan Vogt stands at his family’s farm Jan. 2 near Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Vogt will be inducted into the Sauk Centre AthleƟcs Hall of Fame Jan. 27.
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These impressive achievements on a national scale were the result of years of fostering a desire to win. It was not so much the idea of winning that captivated Vogt as much as the idea of not losing. “It drives me a lot,” he said. “I hate losing. I absolutely hate it.” But while competitiveness is at the core of Vogt’s identity, he was not selsh in his pursuit for greatness. He understood that being a part of a bigger picture was essential to reaching goals, and he is grateful for the lifelong relationship he has had the chance to build through athletics. “I love winning, but the guys, your teammates, the friends you have for life, the people you meet and get to know, that’s the PHOTO SUBMITTED huge thing,” Vogt Ethan Vogt pitches for the University of Minnesota Gosaid. pher baseball team during a game at Indiana in 2007. Teamwork was Vogt was a three-sport athlete for Sauk Centre, Minnemaybe never more sota, and went on to compete in college in both wrespresent for the well- tling and baseball. rounded Streeter than in football, where he played linebacker but also have it and you know you can’t be lined up at quarterback, tight end and touched, that’s fun.” even punter. Vogt may not be the physical And even now, nearly 20 years af- specimen that dominated in several ter graduating from high school, Vogt sports anymore, but the experiences and athletic performance go hand-in- he has gained through a prolic cahand, as he pitches during the amateur reer of activity participation help him baseball season. to be what he is now: a leader. “I still love it, and that’s why I’m “I had great guys to look up to still playing,” he said. “That feeling all the way through, and I want to be of knowing you could almost single- one of those guys that these guys are handedly win a game, it’s a different looking up to, whatever they need,” feeling, it’s a high. When you just he said.
Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 27
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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 29
women
IN DAIRY
Tell us about your farm and family. My husband, Ron, and I dairy farm with my parents, Gary and Rosie Hillesheim, and children, Sidney and Nick. We milk cows and raise our heifers on-site. We have a compost barn that houses our dairy cows. We grow our own feed. What is a typical day like for you on the dairy? I arrive to milk cows at 5 a.m. with my parents. After milking, I eat breakfast and get the kids up for school. Then, we head back out to feed, scrape manure, grind feed and bed heifers. Depending on time of year, we make hay, do other eldwork or x whatever needs to be xed, treat cows or move heifers, etc., after chores. When I get done at the dairy, I head to where I live (4.5 miles away) and tend to the animals there (beef calves and steers). I then return to the dairy around 4 p.m. to milk, feed, etc. What decision have you made in the last year that has beneted your farm? Planting cover crops, winter rye, sorghum and oats after sweet corn. It’s benecial to the soil and to the feed inventory. Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. In July, when my nephew, Kyle, was 3 or 4, he decided he needed to bring me and my dad a popsicle in the 40foot silo we were setting together to get raised up to get lled. He crawled up the silo, with no one knowing, with two popsicles, both in his pocket, and appeared in the open door all smiles and said, “Hi,” and offered us the now mostly melted popsicles. What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the dairy industry? I was born and
Stacy Tauer
Sleepy Eye, Minnesota Brown County 75 cows
raised on a dairy farm. I have worked alongside my parents, my biggest role models. They literally showed me most everything that I stand for. They are the best parents, in my eyes. Working next to my siblings as I grew up made cherished memories I still hold with me. Now as a mother to two wonderful 15-year-olds, it really tops the cake. The love we all have for what we do shows daily. Then we throw in my siblings and their families that still show up (almost daily for some) and work alongside us. I am a part of their lives, and no other occupation would allow me this opportunity. Don’t get me wrong, we have had mountains to climb, but at the end of the day, we cherish what we have. There is something to be said when there are little square bales of straw to be made in the heat of July and August and my nephew says, “You better let me know when we will be unloading.” When we are nished for the night, we all look at each other, drained, and say, “That felt good.” What is your biggest accomplishment in your dairy career? Being able to be the fourth generation to carry on the dairy torch. Milking cows is my favorite task on the farm, just like my dad who still milks morning and night at the age of 78. I cannot predict the future, but I can dream that someday there will be a fth generation, God willing. What are things you do to promote your farm or the dairy industry? I am, and have been for the last two years, the Brown County Dairy Princess Coordinator. I organize events for the four ambassadors and ve princesses that the county is so fortunate to have. We do anything from nursing home, day care and school visits to
parades and farm tours and a visit to the Sleepy Eye Auction Market. What advice would you give another woman in the dairy industry? Woman or man, makes no difference in the dairy industry in my eyes. Its exible, versatile and very accepting.
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To register for this Learn with Lely event, scan the QR code or visit www.lely.com/tour. Please note that times listed above account only for on-farm tours and not for traveling to and from the region. If you have any questions please contact Jordan Beyler at jbeyler@moe.lelycenter.com or 888-927-4450. The information given in this publication is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute an oƪer for sale. Certain products may not be available in individual countries and products supplied may diƪer from those illustrated. No part of this publication may be copied or published by means of printing, photocopying, microƬlm or any other process whatsoever without prior permission in writing by Lely Holding B.V. Although the contents of this publication have been compiled with the greatest possible care, Lely cannot accept liability for any damage that might arise from errors or omissions in this publication. For more information on the right on exclusive use please refer to our trademark notice on www.lely.com. Copyright © 2024 Lely Holding B.V. All rights reserved. 0918_0124_US
Page 30 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024
www.extension.umn.edu/dairy
Making those New Year’s resolutions stick It is 2024, and the ritual of making in the third element, a reward. A simple New Year’s resolutions is upon us. Sur- example is when paying for fuel, you see veys show that nearly half of all Ameri- and smell the donuts, chips and candy cans make resolutions. Research also bars (a cue). Your automatic response shows that about 80% of people aban- is to purchase a candy bar (a behavior). don their resolutions by March. Your reward is the brief feeling Why is that? We all have good of satisfaction that the candy intentions, and most resolubar generates. tions are to improve ourselves Habits are very hard to or improve our business. Here change because the cure solicits are a couple of the main reaan almost automatic response. sons why resolutions may fail. It also explains why new habits Resolutions or goals fail are difcult to develop. All habbecause they are not that imits, even bad habits, provide us portant to us in the rst place with reward. The cue of seeing or not well thought out. What By Jim Salfer the candy when paying for fuel are we trying to accomplish University of triggers the (automatic) behavby setting a particular goal? Minnesota ior of buying that candy bar at How would achieving these the gas station that tastes great goals improve your life or business? If and gives us a feeling of satisfaction, you cannot answer these questions eas- even though we know it is empty caloily, you may need to consider clarifying ries. Developing new habits re-quires a your goals prior to setting them. It is im- new routine or behavior followed by a portant to begin with the end in mind. new reward for the good habit. The goal Have a clear vision of where you are go- is to replace the old behavior (purchasing ing and how you are going to get there. candy bars) with a new behavior (purGoals that are written down with an end chasing an apple), and the reward is that in mind are more likely to be achieved. you feel better for eating healthier. Another reason is that we do not Even though many goals are difcult take the necessary time for our goals to stick with, it is not impossible, and it is to develop into habits. Charles Duhigg, the best way to propel yourself and busiwho wrote “The Power of Habit,” ex- ness forward. Here are some ideas on plains there are three common elements how to make your resolutions become in habit formation. reality. The rst element is a cue. The cue — Identify the reason that the resotriggers the second element, an automat- lution matters. What is the value of makic response or behavior, which results ing the change? Trying to change more
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than a couple of items at a time can be overwhelming. Identify items you or your farm team are motivated to change. Success at a few goals will increase condence and motivation to make further changes. If it is a farm goal, get everyone on board. — Make a detailed action plan. Just hoping and wanting improvement will not make it happen. Developing a well thought-out plan with specic actions and key metrics to monitor progress will greatly increase the chances of success. — Turn it into a new habit. It is important to reward yourself or your farm team for small steps toward reaching the goal. This will keep the momentum going. We all like to celebrate successes and feel we are part of a winning team. — Do not get discouraged by setbacks. Progress is often not as fast as we expect. Most research indicates that it takes about 60 to 90 days for a new habit to become automatic. The difference between people who are successful and unsuccessful is often resilience. We all have setbacks in our personal lives and businesses, but people who have a good plan and continue to move forward despite setbacks are more successful. Do not give up.
It can be challenging to think about setting personal or business goals and looking forward to the future after a year like 2023. Many farmers are struggling to stay current on bills and will lose net worth in 2023. However, it is always easier to manage through difcult times if we can change our focus to the positive, non-economic advantages of farming. I am surely not trying to minimize the economic pain that many people are facing. However, we can give gratitude for the good in our lives. It makes living through tough times a little easier. There are many advantages of living and working in rural areas. We have neighbors we know, and we help each other. We have views out our windows that people living in large cities only see on vacations. Try to remain positive and think about the advantages in life. There are many things we cannot control, but the one thing that we can control is our attitude. Set personal goals that help you appreciate your friends and families. Just remember: How we earn our living does not count for nearly as much as how we do our living.
Dana Adams, adam1744@umn.edu 320-204-2968
Brad Heins hein0106@umn.edu 320-589-1711
Isaac Salfer ijsalfer@umn.edu 320-296-1357
Joe Armstrong armst225@umn.edu 612.624.3610
Nathan Hulinsky huli0013@umn.edu 320-203-6104
Jim Salfer salfe001@umn.edu 320-203-6093
Luciano Caixeta lcaixeta@umn.edu 612-625-3130
Karen Johnson ande9495@umn.edu 320-484-4334
Mike Schutz mschutz@umn.edu 612-624-1205
Gerard Cramer gcramer@umn.edu 612-625-8184
Emily Krekelberg krek0033@umn.edu 507-280-2863
Melissa Wilson mlw@umn.edu 612-625-4276
Marcia Endres miendres@umn.edu 612-624-5391
Claire LaCanne lacanne@umn.edu 507-332-6109
Isaac Haagen hagge041@umn.edu 612-624-7455
Les Hansen hanse009@umn.edu 612-624-2277
Brenda Miller nels4220@umn.edu 320-732-4435
Michael Boland boland@umn.edu 612-625-3013
TUESDAY, JAN. 30, 2024 | BROOKINGS, SD
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Guest Speaker William (Will) Loux, Vice President of Global Economic Affairs for the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF).
2:45 Adjourn and break leading into SDDP Annual Meeting 3:00 – 5:00pm SD DAIRY PRODUCERS Annual Business Meeting • Financial Report and 2024 Proposed Budget • 2023 Review and 2024 plans • Election of Directors • SD Annual Meeting Adjourn • Board Restructure 5:00 – 6pm Social/Reception
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Heat stress effects on dairy cows during 2023
Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 31
By Bas Josten and Brad Heins University of Minnesota
During 2023, we had unprecedented drought as well as high temperatures during the summer. No doubt all cows experienced some sort of heat stress. So, we set out to evaluate heat stress in our dairy cows at the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center dairy in Morris, Minnesota, during the summer of 2023. Heat stress occurs when a cow gains more heat from the environment and metabolism than it can lose through radiation, convection, evaporation and conduction, and negatively affects rumination time. Due to genetic selection and prolonged periods of heat, heat stress is not limited to tropical regions, but also applies to animals in countries in more temperate zones. In addition to reduced rumination, heat stress may prompt other physiological and behavioral responses, leading to disorders that negatively affect a cow’s productive and reproductive performance and general health and well-being. Therefore, reducing heat stress is essential not only from a welfare standpoint but also for economic reasons. However, the effect of heat stress is often solely based on a reduction in milk yield, neglecting its effect on the cow’s wellbeing. In recent years, consumers have become increasingly concerned about farm animals’ welfare, health and living conditions. Wearable sensors for animals have improved agricultural conditions and
farm management since the introduction of precision livestock farming by aiding the farmer in early disease detection and preventive health measures. An emerging precision technology company, smaXtec, has recently launched a bolus which is able to measure data on various parameters such as body temperature, rumination behavior and activity levels. To ensure the usefulness and usability of this technology for farmers and scientists, it is necessary to validate this system independently. Therefore, data on daily total rumination time derived from the smaXtec system was validated by determining its agreement with rumination data acquired by Rumi-Watch noseband sensors, which are seen as a golden standard in monitoring rumination. This study was conducted at the WCROC from April 24 to Aug. 17, 2023. The rumination data measured by the sensor was found to have a high correlation and agreement with the rumination data. We concluded that the smaXtec system is a reliable tool for measuring rumination time on a large scale. Many practices and standards in the dairy industry are based on a cow’s productivity, which raises the question of whether this is in line with the increasing concern for animal welfare. Therefore, the effect of heat stress on the rumination of cows was investigated. In addition, the herd was divided into three groups to substantiate results found in the literature on factors affecting rumination. These cows were grouped as young conventional,
old conventional and young organic cows. As the smaXtec system has proven to give accurate data on rumination, a large portion of each group was equipped with a bolus. The mean rumination time for the three groups was calculated for each day during the study. Daily heat stress was estimated through a mean Temperature Humidity Index, which was calculated using data acquired by a weather station on the farm. The rumination time was matched with the corresponding THI for the three groups. The results indicate that the current classications for heat stress are outdated, as cows show signs of heat stress at lower THI values. The gure shows the mean daily rumination time for the groups by heat stress classications. In the absence of heat stress, higher levels of rumination are detected in the organic herd. This can be ex-plained due to their diet having a higher forage neutral detergent ber content. Heat stress negatively inuences the rumination time of all cows, as the cows change their rumination behavior af-
ter a certain THI threshold. This study showed THI thresholds of around 64 for both conventional groups and 58 for the organic group, with the daily total rumination time decreasing by about 5.6 minutes for every in-creasing unit of THI in all groups. Daily rumination time seems to be a usable tool to detect heat stress in dairy cows. With the rise of commercial sensors able to monitor rumination and an increasing interest in improving the welfare of dairy cows, monitoring rumination may play an essential role in assisting the dairy farmer to get the best out of their herd. However, the primary intent of this study was not to predict the daily rumination time of an individual cow with accuracy, but to give a clearer picture of how heat stress affects a cow’s behavior, both visible or subclinical, and if this is in line with older classications of heat stress levels that are often based on reduction in milk yield. These results indicate that the current classications for heat stress are outdated, as cows showed subclinical signs of heat stress at lower THI values.
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Page 32 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024
Working alongside Mother Nature Managing cover crops in harsh conditions proves to be a learning experience By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com
WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. — With the exceptionally dry season that the Midwest experienced in the 2023 growing season, producers are looking at data to determine what worked and what they need to improve for 2024. Producers and industry professionals gathered Dec. 7-8, 2023, at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells for the Wisconsin Water and Soil Health Conference, which was a combination of the Wisconsin Cover Crop Conference and the Discovery Farms Conference. A farmer panel Dec. 7 included Brad Clark from Clarkview Farms near Prairie du Chien, Brent Petersen from the Brown County Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation and Andy Bensend of Dallas. Bensend farms 4,000 acres in northwest Wisconsin and said that cover crops were a natural progression from no-till farming. He uses a predominantly corn and soybean rotation on most of his acres. He has utilized a variety of cover crops including cereal rye, winter wheat, clovers and several varieties of brassicas. While planting conditions were nearly normal for Bensend, rainfall ceased by the middle of May 2023. The
ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR
Three panelists — Brad Clark (from leŌ), Andy Bensend and Brent Peterson — discuss their experiences in managing cover crops through the harsh drought condiƟons that the Midwest experienced in the 2023 growing season at the Wisconsin Water and Soil Health Conference Dec. 7-8, 2023, in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. Clark, of Clarkview Farms, lives near Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin; Petersen is from the Brown County Wisconsin Land and Water ConservaƟon; and Bensend is from Dallas, Wisconsin. rst signicant rainfall thereafter did not come until October. Without that rain, Bensend was convinced his crop would be poor. “When we got to the end of the season and we did our harvest and looked at our yields, it was nothing short of miraculous that we raised the crop that we raised on how little water we had to use,” Bensend said. “It was just incredible.” Bensend said he was creative with how he managed the crops in the extreme conditions. One of his elds was not planted with soybeans until June 30, which was much later than his typical planting date. He had used rye as a cover crop and decided to roller crimp it down when planting the soybeans to see if he could achieve broad leaf weed control
without herbicides. He was successful. “We live in an area where we struggle with giant ragweed, and that eld was clean,” Bensend said. “To me, that’s proof of concept.” Bensend said it was benecial to increase the planting population when putting seed in the ground so late. Clark said that timing is critical when dealing with extreme weather conditions. In one case, he terminated the rye before manure was applied in preemptive measure, in case it did rain after the manure was applied. “In extreme conditions, if Mother Nature came in after the manure was applied, that rye would explode,” Clark said. “It would be hard to terminate.” Because of the dry conditions, Clark also discovered that the residual herbi-
cide did not work on the main crop. Instead, it was tied up in the cover crop. For this year, he said that, depending on the type of spring he has, he may not use residual herbicide at all and will instead terminate with the cover crop. Peterson agreed that timing will be even more critical going into 2024. “We’re going to be shorter on moisture next year than we were this year,” Peterson said. “We really pulled a lot from deep down this year. It’s going to be pretty important to pay attention this spring to the weather, of course, but also the timing of getting rid of that cover crop early might be benecial this year. I don’t have a crystal ball, but we really have to be paying attention to that.” For Bensend, the one exception to terminating cover crops early is when he plants clover because it is planted with the intent to increase nitrogen. He tends to let clover grow as long as possible with the understanding that it is drawing moisture and he is risking a penalty in yield. Peterson said that when encouraging farmers to start experimenting with cover crops, he tries to get them to try a little bit at a time and hold themselves accountable so they can see the results. Once they see the benets of added nutrients and water retention, they tend to want to plant more cover crops. Bensend agreed. “It takes a change in the way you think in order to realize what’s happening,” Bensend said. “That’s the beauty of what we’re doing. If you’re willing to learn from what you do, you will have no alternative but to continue to practice and nd more things that are going to be hugely benecial.”
DAIRY PROFILE
Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 33
DuWayne Badtke of Ripon, Wisconsin | Fond du Lac County | 80 cows How did you get into farming? I was born into it. This has been the home family farm since 1848. I am the sixth generation on this farm, and my son, Ethan, is the seventh generation. I worked for my dad after high school and went 50/50 with him on cows starting in 1997. I have been milking cows for 40 years and bought the farm from my parents three years ago. My dad helps with eldwork when we need him.
How do you maintain family relationships while also working together? There are struggles some days, and things aren’t always great, but for the most part, we work well together. We try to give each other time away from work and a day off if you need it. When unexpected things happen, we work through them together as a family. What do you enjoy most about dairy farming? I love being my own boss and creating my own schedule. I can start when I want and nish when I want. I was born into farming, and it’s all I know. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have any cows.
What are your thoughts and concerns about the dairy industry for the next year? I hear a lot of people say that milk prices are down, but in November, I was getting $19 per hundredweight, so I’m not complaining. The problem is a farmer can’t jump ship because nobody else will take your milk. The little guys are stuck where they are. Milk prices are not stressing me. I feel pretty optimistic going into 2024. What is a recent change you made on your farm and the reason for it? In February 2020, we bought SCR collars for monitoring heat detection and health in our cows. It has been a great investment that we should have done sooner. We are able to get cows bred earlier and save more cows. Before the collars, we had a hard time catching them in heat, and we were having problems keeping cows around. We didn’t have enough to ll the barn. The collar tells us if something is off, and as a result, we are catching sick cows quicker as well, which has saved us money on vet bills. The collar tells me more than what I can visually see. We’re only culling now if a cow can’t get pregnant or to make room for better cows by culling lower-end animals. Tell us about a skill you possess that makes dairy farming easier for you. We barely have any mastitis because I am diligent about making sure cows are milked out all the way. I try to solve mastitis problems on my own without the use of drugs. I don’t treat any cows for mastitis or give any vaccines for mastitis. All cows get a teat sealant which seems to make a difference in preventing bacteria from entering the udder. Cows with a high somatic cell count of over 100,000 receive Quartermaster. We also try to do our own repairs and mechanical work on the farm to save money. Ethan does welding for us.
What advice would you give other dairy farmers? Don’t overspend. Don’t buy something just because you think you need it. Prioritize, and keep debt low. When I was deciding between purchasing a milking parlor or a combine, we chose the parlor because it is something we use every day. We would only use a combine four to six weeks per year. Therefore, the parlor was a better investment for our farm at the time.
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
The Badtke family — Izzy (from leŌ), DuWayne, Amy and Ethan — break for a photo Jan. 3 in their milking parlor near Ripon, Wisconsin. The Badtkes milk 80 cows on their farm. What is the best decision you have made on your farm? Building a milking parlor in 2012 was one of the best decisions I have ever made on the farm. It has made milking much easier, especially handling rst-time heifers. My wife wouldn’t milk in the stanchion barn, but she has learned how to milk in the parlor. The SCR collars were another great decision. What are three things on the farm that you cannot live without? Our skid loader, milking parlor and SCR collars. The skid loader is handy, and we do a lot of things with it. We used to do a lot of shoveling and pitching, but we don’t do that much anymore. With the skid loader, we’re working smarter not harder, and we get done twice as fast. Instead of one little shovel full, we can t hundreds in the skid loader bucket. The parlor reduces time spent milking, and it’s easier to hire someone if we need to take a day off. Last year, we took a week off as a
family to attend a wedding in Montana. It would have been more work for someone if they had to milk in a stanchion barn. The SCR collars have allowed us to retain more cows, and they make breeding easier. The system sends us a text when a cow comes into heat. The breeder gets the same text, so we don’t even have to call him. What strategies do you use to withstand the volatile milk prices? I don’t know what to say about that because it hasn’t been a problem for us. Pretty much everything is paid for on the farm, which helps a lot. I’m making farm payments, but we don’t have much debt and have no problem making ends meet. We’re not rich, but we’re making a go of it. Amy works off the farm for insurance reasons, and we also sell corn. We are not relying on milk. It helps to have diversity.
What are your plans for your dairy in the next year and ve years? In the next year, we would like to achieve higher milk production and attain a stronger rolling herd average. We believe we can do this through better genetics and improvements in feeding. We switched milk replacers ve years ago and are getting better calves. In the barnyard, we used to feed heifers ground corn with everything in it — the same as what the cows were eating. Heifers were getting fat and not breeding well. Now, we’re feeding protein and minerals, and our heifers are taller and growing better. Heifers are currently bred by a bull, but someday we would like to breed them via A.I. In the next ve years, I would like Ethan to come into a leadership role and handle more of the chores so I can cut back. How do you or your family like to spend time when you are not doing chores? I like to go bowling, and I am on a bowling league every Thursday. My wife and I like to play cards and have supper with friends. It’s also nice to go out to eat. I would like to try to get away a little more and do traveling. I like history and would like to see historical places out east.
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Cows at Badtke Family Farms eat in the freestall barn Jan. 3 near Ripon, Wisconsin. The farm has been in the Badtke family since 1848.
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It’s the middle of January, but Christmas is alive and well at my house. The Christmas trees — one for the living room, another for the basement and one in each bedroom — are fully decorated and aglow with lights. The Nativity remains a xture in our home, while Christmas villages add a special coziness to the living and dining rooms. The outside of our house is equally festive so that anyone driving by at night By Stacey Smart will nd it glowing with Christmas cheer. Staff Writer I know we are the exception. I see occasional trees lit up in windows I pass by, but for the most part, Christmas trees have been stripped of their lights and decorations and now line the city boulevards waiting to be taken away. I always feel sad for those trees. Some have the misfortune of being tossed out the day after Christmas, while others might be lucky enough to hang on until New Year’s Day. You’ll be hard-pressed to nd a Christmas song on the radio once the clock strikes mid-night, signifying the end of Christmas Day. In so many areas, Christmas is gone once a new calendar year begins. Of course, retailers are already on to Valentine’s Day and Easter and have been since Dec. 26. Actually, in one store, I saw these holidays competing with Christmas. I have never understood the urgency of dismantling Christmas so soon after the 25th of December. What’s the hurry, people? Is January that glamorous on its own that it doesn’t need twinkling lights to brighten gray days? Maybe in more tropical areas it is, but not here in the Midwest. Nightfall comes early during this month, begging for a little extra light. Add some snow, and the Christmas lights dazzle even more. Decorating for Christmas can be a lot of work. For me, it often takes weeks to complete, so I’m certainly not going to turn around and take it all down a few weeks later. Because our trees are articial, perhaps we can leave them up a little longer than most. I realize a real tree becomes a re hazard after a while, but even if the tree has to come down, can’t some of the other decor and lights stay up? I often have more time to sit and appreciate all the decorations after the busyness of the holiday season is behind me. Once the cards are mailed, the gifts are gifted, the cookies are baked and the celebrations are in the past, I have more moments to soak up the beauty of the season. The lights of Christmas can lift a person out of those post-holiday blues. Christmas is a season — it’s not just one day — which means saying “Merry Christmas” in January is perfectly acceptable. The Feast of the Three Kings, also known as the Epiphany, is celebrated Jan. 6 on the 12th day of Christmas. The 12 days of Christmas actually begin Dec. 25. Therefore, in the popular carol with the same name, the 12 drummers are drumming in January rather than in December. I am happy to report that I have noticed Christmas lights lingering longer in recent years. I love looking at people’s light displays. It makes me smile and lls my heart with gladness. Something as simple as Christmas lights can do that. When you hang lights, think of the joy you’re bringing not only to your own family but to others who pass by. During my Dairy Star travels the rst week of January, I was delighted to see beautiful displays of Christmas lights. It’s clear I’m not the only one spreading Christmas cheer into January. While it may be hard to beat the anticipation of the holidays, there is a lot to be loved about what comes after as well. If Christmas really is the best time of the year, why not make it last a little bit longer? MATHER’S
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Happy moo year Happy New Year, everyone. As we look back on 2023, let’s remember all of the amazing things that happened and look toward future opportunities. My year with all of you started in August, and so far, my adventures have included visiting dairy farms and schools. I’ve been in parades and visited with leaders in the agriculture community. Last month, I had two events that helped put myself and the local communities in the holiday spirit. I am excited to reect on last month as Princess Kay and look toward my goals for the rest of the On the Road with year. Princess Kay My rst event in December was Santa on the Farm at Bremer Farms in Hastings, Minnesota. I was excited to do this event because 69th Princess Kay of the Milky Way Rachel Rynda spoke highly of the event and how much fun it was. She had so much fun that she joined By Emma Kuball 70th Princess Kay of the us again this year. It was Milky Way nice to have her there. She made sure to take lots of great pictures and checked in with me here and there to make sure I didn’t need help. Santa on the Farm is a drive-thru light show. Mr. and Mrs. Claus were in attendance, and there was also an elf that popped down from the North Pole to help. Every car received recipes and informational resources on the dairy community. Each child in the car got a bag lled with Undeniably Dairy goodies, like coloring books, dget spinners and crayons. Santa and Mrs. Claus gifted each child a stuffed cow also. At the last stop, there was milk and cookies for every person in the car. Not only did this event help the community get into the Christmas spirit, but it also served as some of the visitors’ rst time on a dairy farm. It was the perfect balance between informational and fun. There were posters with facts posted on all the barns, and I, along with a calf, greeted everyone so that I was able to talk with the visitors and answer any questions they had. It was a well-done event that was rounded off with a cozy cup of hot chocolate with the snow falling out-side. The second event was a live Nativity at the Ahlgren family’s dairy farm near Darwin, Minnesota. It was fun to see all of the volunteers who were at the event. They were dressed up to look like they were right out of the Bible story. From children to adults, everyone came out to celebrate. On their way out, the visitors would walk through the freestall barn with robotic milkers. It was a creative way to celebrate the Christmas season while also showing what modern dairy farming can look like. I was joined by several dairy princesses and dairy ambassadors from Meeker County. I enjoyed meeting these girls and talking with them about how they are able to share their dairy story. We were stationed in the freestall barn where we handed out dairy recipes, coloring books, dget spinners, sunglasses, cow hats and lots of other Undeniably Dairy goodies.
Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 35
Both events were great examples of how we can share about the dairy industry in many different ways. In a season where we can get so busy trying to prepare for the holidays, it’s also a time where we should slow down and enjoy coming together to celebrate. As we begin the year, I am going to carry this spirit of slowing down and enjoying the simple things around me and sharing my life as a dairy farmer in my everyday activities. I hope you can do the same. Princess Kay of the Milky Way, Emma Kuball, serves as the Minnesota dairy community’s
goodwill ambassador. Kuball grew up in Waterville, Minnesota, working on her family’s sixthgeneration dairy farm. She attends the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, studying agriculture education, and looks forward to becoming an FFA advisor. She enjoys reading, crocheting and baking. Her parents are Nate and Shannon Kuball. Princess Kay is active doing school visits, representing dairy farmers and sharing the importance of dairy farming and dairy foods at appearances across Minnesota.
Editorial disclaimer: The views expressed by our columnists are the opinions and thoughts of the author and do not reect the opinions and views of Dairy Star staff and ownership.
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Cow cuddling questions Page 36 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024
There are a lot of creative ways to generate extra income on a farm. For instance, when my sister, Diann, and I were grade schoolers, we decided to open a sweetcorn stand at the end of our dairy farm’s driveway. Our budding enterprise saw little success due to the fact that our prospective customers consisted entirely of our mail carrier and our milk truck driver. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in rural America. I recently learned of an outside-the-box business idea that involved cuddling with cows. I at rst thought that cow cuddling was some sort of joke. “Who would want to cuddle with a hairy creature that has questionable bathing habits and is known to have extremely bad breath?” I asked my wife. “That’s a good question,” she replied, looking at me meaningfully. A modicum of Googling proved that cow cud-
dling is indeed a thing. In an effort to learn more, I phoned Jess Hoffman. Jess and her husband, Jeremy, operate Sunset View Creamery, a 40-cow dairy farm located near Odessa, New York. I always pose the most important question rst, so I asked Jess about the breed composition of their herd. “About 80% of our cows are Holsteins and the other 20% are Brown Swiss,” Jess replied. “And we have one Ayrshire cow.” Tell me about your operation. “We have 348 acres, and Jeremy is the fth generation of his family to operate this farm. Our 2-year-old daughter, Lainey, represents the sixth generation.” So, how did this whole cow cuddling thing come about? “We have been making cheese on our farm for several years. We sell our cheeses in our farm store
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and at local farmers markets. I was on maternity leave prior to giving birth to Lainey when my friend, Lisa, mentioned that she had seen something online about cow cuddling. I wasn’t working in the barn or making cheese at the time, so I decided to give it a try. “One of our rst cow cuddlers was Lisa’s Dear County Agent Guy daughter, AnnaMay, who is on the autism spectrum. It was almost as if AnnaMay became a different girl when she cuddled with one of our calves. She opened up and really seemed to connect with the calf.” What sort of people are willing to pay to snuggle up to a bovine? By Jerry Nelson “When we started Columnist to offer cow cuddling, we decided to make it affordable for families. We have had a large variety of people come out to our farm to cuddle with our cattle. I think our oldest was a 98-year-old lady who was bound and determined to cuddle with one of our calves. A wellknown Broadway singer came out here once. We were also visited by a very famous Major League Baseball player, but I’m not at liberty to divulge his name. “Some of my most memorable experiences involve watching as kids who have disabilities cuddle with our animals. It’s really neat to see how the kids smile and open up when they pet a calf. It’s very rewarding when that happens.” What has cow cuddling meant to you and your dairy farm? “Being a dairy farmer can be a lonesome occupation. You have to milk the cows twice a day every day, and the constant work makes it difcult to get away. I crave social interaction, and offering cow cuddling has helped me ll that need. It also gives me opportunities to educate the public regarding where their milk comes from. Plus, it brings more trafc to our farm store. That’s always a good thing.” How did you get the word out when you decided to offer cow cuddling? “Mostly through social media. I’m very active on Instagram and Facebook. We have also done some advertising in paper media such as the shopping guides that folks can pick up at gas stations or grocery stores.” I see that you have something called Learn to Milk a Cow. Tell me about that. “We offer visitors the full dairy farm experience. We start the hour-long class by taking our visitors through the process of feeding and bedding our cows. We cap off the experience by showing our guests how to milk a cow both by hand and with a machine. They basically pay me to help me do chores and milk our cows.” I just slapped my forehead due to a sudden realization. During all those years when I was a dairy farmer, I had to pay people to help me. I’m beginning to think that I had it backward. “Maybe you should have offered cow cuddling,” Jess replied. “As they say, if you build it they will come.” Jerry Nelson is a recovering dairy farmer from Volga, South Dakota. He and his wife, Julie, have two sons and live on the farm where Jerry’s great-grandfather homesteaded over 110 years ago. Jerry works for Dairy Star as a staff writer and ad salesman. Feel free to email him at jerry.n@dairystar.com.
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Treatment of gram-negative clinical mastitis
Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 37
Many dairy farms practice culture-based treatment of clinical mastitis. This is great, because judicious use of antibiotics requires us to use antibiotics only on animals that are likely to benet from anti-biotic treatment, and on most farms, less than 50% of cows with mild or moderate clinical mastiVeterinary Wisdom tis meet this criterion. It is also great because it saves a whole bunch of money. Most of the available veterinary literature suggests that treatment of grade one and grade two clinical mastitis caused by the most gram-negative organisms is of little value. This is because the spontaneous cure rate is about the same as the cure By Jim Bennett rate following treatment, Columnist and other outcomes, culling, for example, are similar for treatment or no treatment as well. Most farms that practice culture-based treatment do not treat grade one and grade two clinical mastitis caused by gram-negative organisms. A recent paper in the Journal of Dairy Science (2023 Bruno, et. al.) might make us think a little differently. For this study, causative organisms were rst identied as gram-positive, gram-negative or no growth by on-farm culture, and then conrmed by MALDI-TOF. MALDI-TOF is a new system that offers increased capabilities to correctly identify organisms. Cows with any gram-negative organism conrmed by MALDI-TOF were then allocated to one of three groups: no treatment, treatment with Spectramast LC for two days and treatment with Spectramast LC for ve days.
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Mastitis cases were scored as grade one: mild, with only abnormal milk, grade two: abnormal milk plus changes in the udder, and grade three: severe. Only grade one and grade two cases were used in the study. A total of 423 quarters were enrolled in the nal analysis. Of these, 135 were not treated (CON), 133 were treated for two days (SP2) and 155 were treated for ve days (SP5). E. coli was isolated in 87% of the gram-negative cases, Klebsiella was isolated in 7%, and the remainder classied as other. Out-comes measured were bacteriologic cure on days 14, 21 and 28 post treatment by assigning a clinical score based on clinical signs at multiple days post treatment, mastitis recurrence and by looking at culling and death rates. Bacterial cure rate was higher for treated groups, both for two and ve days than for controls. However, if results were sorted by clinical score at enrollment, almost all of the improvement in treated groups was due to increased cure rates in cases of moderate mastitis. The differences in cure rates for grade one cases between controls and treated cows were not signicant. Clinical scores were better for cows in both treated groups compared to control cows. The return of milk to normal appearance was no different between treated groups and the control group. Since treated and non-treated both resolved by day ve, there was no difference in the number of days of discarded milk for the control group versus the SP2 group, though milk was discarded for eight days in the SP5 group. The proportion of quarters with recurrence of clinical mastitis was greater in the control group as compared to the SP2 and SP5 groups, but there was no difference in recurrence between SP2 and SP5 groups. Treatment also reduced culling. Culling within 14 days after diagnosis and through 30-, 60- and 90-days post diagnosis was less in both the SP2 and SP5 groups compared to the control group.
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Thus overall, treatment with Spectramast LC for either two or ve days had better outcomes than not treating. It would have been valuable to be able to compare outcomes for cases caused by E. coli versus Klebsiella, but the small number of Klebsiella cases did not allow for that analysis. There has only been one other peer-reviewed study that showed benet from treating non-severe gram-negative mastitis. In that study, the benets were mostly reduced culling. Thus, this is really the rst study suggesting that treating non-severe E. coli mastitis infections makes economic sense on a dairy. It is particularly interesting that there was no difference in the required milk discard between the control group and the SP2 group. There were few benets for extending the treatment to ve days, and the increase milk discard with extended treatment would be expected to easily outweigh the benets of ve-day treatment. While bacteriologic cure rates were improved by treating moderate cases and not mild cases, clinical scores were better for treated mild cases versus the controls. In addition, the authors point out that in a non-research setting, farms may have difculty correctly characterizing cases as mild or moderate and suggest that it would be advantageous to treat both mild and moderate cases for two days. Science is always changing, but on the other hand, one study does not necessarily mean one needs to change any particular practice. If you think you may benet from changing your current treatment protocols, you should discuss this with your herd veterinarian. Jim Bennett is one of four dairy veterinarians at Northern Valley Dairy Production Medicine Center in Plainview, Minnesota. He consults on dairy farms in other states. He and his wife, Pam, have four children. Jim can be reached at bennettnvac@gmail.com.
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Page 38 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024
Those jobs
There is a lot of time to listen to music, podcasts and audiobooks while doing eldwork and running skid loaders to take care of the cows. I recently read a great book, “The Dawn of Everything” by David Graeber and David Wengrow. In the book, the authors explored present and past social and nancial inequality, agriculture vs. hunter gatherer societies, and a number of other topics related to how our society ended up the way it is, or could be different if we chose. I enjoyed the book enough that when my cousin suggested another of Graeber’s books, I immediately borrowed it from the library. I gured the topic of the book wouldn’t be too far from what interested me in his previous book. I wasn’t disappointed. According to Graeber, our world is full of completely useless jobs with people carrying them out every day at varying degrees of peace with that fact.
The author had written an opinion piece about worthless jobs which resulted in him receiving many stories from people about their experiences working jobs they felt had no value whatsoever. This would have been a completely unbelievable concept to me when I was growing up as everyone I interacted with had a job that at minimum, was a positive contribution to society even if they maybe didn’t enjoy doing it that much. Being surrounded by people in agriculture, the trades and education, it never occurred to me that there are literally jobs where you just show up and do busywork so a manager has someone to manage, thus justifying their own job. Around the end of high school, and denitely in college, I started to run into people whose employment’s impacts on society, positive or negative, were nebulous at best. You know who you are, and good for you on scoring a minimal responsibility
gig. If someone is willing to pay you to sit around and learn how to crochet or whatever, then you my friend have won the occupational lottery. I’ve been trying to gure out a way to get paid the most I can for the least amount of effort for years and have yet to succeed even moderately. A question brought up at the beginning of the book is that with all of our technological im- From the Zweber Farm provements making tasks super-efcient, why aren’t we all working something like 15 hours a week and spending the rest of our time on leisure activities? A famous economist, John Maynard Keynes, suggested in By Tim Zweber 1930 that the 15-hour Farmer & Columnist work week could be a reality by 2030. Society as a whole is far from that mark, and in agriculture, we’re not even in the same zip code. It seems instead of settling for less stuff and more leisure time, people increased their desire for more possessions and also created whole lines of so-called work to do which does not actually provide much value to society. I have heard lots of people in agriculture, including myself, brag about how many hours they work as if that’s something to be commended on. Working hard and getting an important job done in the amount of time it takes — even if that’s well past Keynes’ three or most people’s eight hours — is commendable, but working more than 16 hours in a day for the glory of working 16 hours seems silly. Perhaps some of those hours are spent on jobs that, if you assigned them to someone else, would be seen as breeding stock excrement. Until next time, keep living the dream, and remember that the most precious resource any of us has besides our health is time. It’s impossible to know how much you have, so place a high value on it and spend it on people and things worthy of the investment. Tim Zweber farms with his wife, Emily, their three children and his parents, Jon and Lisa, near Elko, Minnesota.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 39
Forging forward with focus A new year. A new start. After the challenging year we have experienced, we are ready to close the chapter on 2023 and forge forward into 2024. The year arrives as a welcome nale to the busy harvest and holiday seasons, bringing with it a period of much-needed rest. As such, these next few weeks are a great time to reect on the previous year, reassess where we are currently and develop a vision for where we want to go. Setting intentions and goals for the upcoming year is crucial to the success of our dairy and is one thing that we are intentional about each January.
The NexGen: Adventures of two dairy daughters
By Megan Schrupp & Ellen Stenger Columnists Spending time identifying and reecting on the previous year’s bottlenecks and missed opportunities is important. Setting goals for the future of our dairy is the direction we give our team to steer our operation in the upcoming year. There are a few important keys to the process of goal-setting. First, a positive and open mindset for all involved is crucial during this time. It’s easy to come up with a list of all the things that went wrong. We must remember in this process to be grateful for what we have and where we are while discussing our opportunities for improvement this next year. Focusing on things that kept us from achieving the next level of success is where we need to place our attention. Gather the key employees together and facilitate a discussion. Start by listing everything that went well. Then, create a list of what kept the dairy from being better. A positive, open mindset that allows for free thinking is crucial. After the team has listed things they believe should be improved in the upcoming year, identify which item on that list is the one, specic limitation to the increased success of the operation. Identifying that bottleneck in the dairy is the key. There will be other issues that could be addressed, but they may not be the factor limiting progress. If you are new to this process, we
suggest selecting one item from the list to focus on and use it to create your goal. Goals should be clearly dened and specic. A goal we are focusing on this year is eliminating pneumonia in our post-weaning calves. In our example, we have chosen a specic group of animals, a specic disease process and a specic level to which we would like to reduce the incidence. If this process seems challenging, another great place to start is to ask those closest advisors to your operation for their thoughts. A nutritionist, veterinarian or other consultant are great people to include in this process. Once a goal has been set, write it down. Hang it up. Post it in the ofce, the vet room and the calf room. Hang it up wherever involved team members spend their time. Our goals are posted in our ofce as well as at face level above the counter in our veterinary room, so team members see them and remind themselves every day of where we need to focus our efforts. Earl Nightingale wisely put it decades ago in “The Strangest Secret” where he said, “You are now, and you do become what you think about.” Choose your goal, and post it up for all to see and think about every day. We like to take an additional step in our goal-setting process. After we have identied a bottleneck and set the goal we would like to achieve in the upcoming year, we then brainstorm a list of daily action steps that would allow us to move toward our goal. These do not need to be big action items. Steve Jobs hit the nail on the head when he said, “Start small, think big. Don’t worry about too many things at once. Take a handful of simple things to begin with, and then progress to more complex ones.” Brainstorm simple action items that can be implemented every day for a month or two, and then review them. Do not try to do all the things at once. Choose one or two things, and do them well. In a month or two, the team can review the progress toward the goal and add more action items or pivot in a new direction if the results have been minimal. The key to success at the end of the year comes down to this: daily, small steps that make your dairy better today than it was yesterday. That’s it. These small, daily wins will add up to a year of improvement and success. The goal sets the direction. It’s the North Star, the guiding light for the team. Join us in setting the course for a new year, a new adventure and the next generation of success. Megan Schrupp and Ellen Stenger are sisters and co-owners of both NexGen Dairy and NexGen Market in Eden Valley, Minnesota. They can be reached at Nexgendairy@gmail.com.
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Page 40 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024
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