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Minnesota Senate Agriculture, Broadband and Rural Development Committee Chairman Aric Putnam is in his second term in the Legislature and his rst term on the ag committee. During the rst hearing of the session, Putnam said he understood the committee is historically very bipartisan. “While I hold this gavel, that’s not good enough; we need to be better than bipartisan, we need to be non-partisan,” Putnam said. “I am disinclined to hear any bill from anyone that has ve signers of the same party. We need to work better and do better.”
Vang oversees rst ag committee hearing
Farm Bureau delegates complete policy book
American Farm Bureau Federation Vice President Scott VanderWal oversaw the resolution process at the group’s annual convention.
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In the rst hearing of the year, Minnesota House Agriculture Committee Chair Samantha Vang said she looks forward to this session. “Farmers represent less than 2% of the Minnesota population, yet 100% of us eat or have benetted from the work of our farmers,” Vang said. “Farmers are truly the backbone of Minnesota, and I am very excited about what this committee can do. I look forward to working with each and every one of you.” Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen was asked about last year’s drought relief package. Approximately 3,000 farmers applied for the assistance. “People got on the average 42% so I think $2,700 was the top payment that people got,” Petersen said. “Like I tried to say all along, it was going to help pay a bill or two, maybe help buy a load of hay or make a payment on something.”
‘One Minnesota’ theme reiterated
In his inaugural address, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said gridlock is over and it is time to get things done. Walz said this includes serving the needs of farmers and rural communities. “We can make sure prosperity extends across the state,” Walz said. “Let’s make sure communities all across Minnesota have equal access to healthcare, childcare, high-speed internet and educational opportunities.”
Governor signs tax conformity law
Walz has signed the tax conformity bill. This bill updates several parts of the state’s tax code, putting it in compliance with the federal tax code.
“Our delegates voted to modernize the farm bill by expanding baseline funding and developing more exible disaster relief programs,” VanderWal said. “They also voted for more transparency for the federal milk marketing pricing system.” VanderWal, who also serves as the South Dakota Farm Bureau president, said labor shortages were addressed at the convention. “Right at the top of the list is labor issues and immigration, specically, xing our H2A system,” he said.
Right-to-repair MOU signed
By Don Wick Columnist
The American Farm Bureau Federation and John Deere have signed a memorandum of understanding, giving farmers the right to repair their own equipment. Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall made the announcement at the organization’s convention in Puerto Rico. “This agreement will enable you and your independent mechanics to identify and x problems,” Duvall said. “You will have access to the diagnostic tools and information that you need, and you’ll get it all at a fair and reasonable price.” It took years of negotiations to secure this agreement. Discussions with other equipment manufacturers have already begun.
Ag economy challenged by macro conditions
Rabobank global strategist Stephen Nicholson said agriculture is suddenly getting much more complicated. “We’ve got complicated markets, but you have these macro-economic things that are coming in,” Nicholson said. “I look at the money supply situation and realize it is no wonder ination is where it is with so much money in the system; you have the classic situation of more buyers than sellers.” Higher interest rates will likely be a reality for some time.
Climate politics, monetary policy do not mix
Environmental groups have asked the Federal Reserve to actively address climate change. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell responded in a panel discussion with other central bank ofcials, saying the Fed must avoid drifting into political issues that aren’t directly involved with its work on economic policy. Powell said the Fed is not, and will not be, a “climate policy maker.”
MN represented on Ways and Means Committee
Minnesota Rep. Michelle Fischbach has been appointed to the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. This is the chief taxwriting committee in Congress. In a statement, Fischbach emphasized “the importance of a competitive tax code and robust market access” for agriculture. The lawmaker, who is in her second term, said the Ways and Means Committee provides the strongest platform to work on these important goals for agriculture.
No reelection bid for Stabenow
Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow does not plan to run for reelection in 2024. The Michigan lawmaker said she will help guide passage of the next farm bill. Stabenow chaired the ag committee from 2011 to 2015 and took over the job again in 2021.
MN native moves to Finstad staff
John Altendorf has joined the staff of Minnesota Rep. Brad Finstad as a legislative assistant with a focus on agriculture. Previously, Altendorf worked for North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven
Fuess named senior dairy analyst
Lucas Fuess has joined the RaboResearch Food and Agribusiness team as a dairy industry research analyst and economist. Previously, Fuess was the director of dairy market intelligence at HighGround Dairy.
Glessing reelected
During the American Farm Bureau Federation convention, Minnesota Farm Bureau President Dan Glessing was reelected to the board of directors.
Fire damages AMPI plant
The cleanup continues following a re at Associated Milk Producers Inc.’s cheese packaging plant in Portage, Wisconsin, Jan. 2. Packaging in the natural cheese department is expected to resume in the coming weeks. The processed cheese operations will take longer to come back online. As a cheese packaging plant, milk is not received at the Portage plant.
Seeking a bigger piece of the budget pie
Vang is hopeful the state’s budget surplus will mean more money for the agriculture. “Usually, the agriculture committee has one of the smallest budgets compared to bigger committees, like education and public safety,” Vang said. “With the larger needs, I will advocate a higher budget for our committee to meet the needs of Minnesota’s ag industry.”
House ag committee passes RFA funding bill
The Minnesota House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee approved two identical bills that would appropriate $50 million from state bond proceeds for the Rural Finance Authority. HF103 is sponsored by Badger Republican John Burkel and HF463 is sponsored by Brooklyn Center DFL’er Vang. RFA funds can be used for beginning farmer loans, loan restructuring, ag improvement and livestock expansion loans. The House Capital Investment Committee is the next step for these bills.
IDFA names chief economist
Mike Brown is the new chief economist for the International Dairy Foods Association. Previously, Brown was the director of the dairy supply chain for the Kroger supermarket chain.
Peterson to consult for IDFA
The IDFA has added three dairy policy consultants. The trio includes former House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, who now leads The Peterson Group. In addition, Chip English of the Davis Wright Tremaine LLP law rm, and Steven Rosenbaum of the Covington law rm, have signed on with IDFA. Both have experience with Federal Milk Marketing Orders.
Trivia challenge
Caseiculture is the craft of making cheese. That answers our last trivia question. For this week’s trivia, what is the dish featuring fries, cheese and gravy? We will have the answer in the next edition of Dairy Star.
Don Wick is owner/broadcaster for the Red River Farm Network, based in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Wick has been recognized as the National Farm Broadcaster of the Year and served as president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Don and his wife, Kolleen, have two adult sons, Tony and Sam, and ve grandchildren, Aiden, Piper, Adrienne, Aurora and Sterling.
Field Silo & Equipment, Inc. 1310 Bus. Hwy. 18-151
Horeb, WI. 53572
Field Silo & Equipment, Inc. 1310 Springdale St. Mount Horeb, WI 53572 608-437-5561 gotofields.com
DeVelder’s entire career has been in dairy.
“After graduating from the University of Northern Iowa with a bachelor’s degree, I knew I wanted to be in the dairy business,” he said. “I began my career with AMPI as a eld representative near Alexandria.”
By the end of his career 38 years later, DeVelder was leading AMPI, which today annually markets about 5 billion pounds of milk and generates nearly $2 billion in sales.
AMPI is headquartered in New Ulm and owned by dairy farm families from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota. It markets cheese, butter and powdered dairy products to food service, retail and food ingredient customers.
In his roles at AMPI, DeVelder had a front-row seat in the industry, seeing many changes take place over time.
“The biggest changes I have seen in the dairy industry through the years include the consolidation of farms and manufacturing plants and the increased value of whey,” DeVelder said. “When I began, whey was a byproduct of the cheesemaking process, and it was disposed of on land or fed to farm animals. Now, thanks to innovation and changes in manufacturing, it’s a principal contributor to dairy farmers’ milk checks.”
Throughout his experiences, DeVelder said his respect for dairy farmers has been a constant.
“What hasn’t changed is the ability of dairy farmers to adapt to changing times,” DeVelder said.
“They remain deeply committed to caring for their cows, the land and their families. They are truly experts at what they do.”
Through AMPI, DeVelder has formed relationships with many of those dairy farmers.
“I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to work with three generations of AMPI farm families,” DeVelder said. “I know grandpa and grandma, mom and dad, sons and daughters, and the spouses who joined the farm along the way. Seeing the transition from one generation to the next, and how they continue to improve and adapt, has been amazing and truly impressive.”
DeVelder said it is important that farmers realize their value and power.
“A continual challenge for the dairy industry and cooperatives is access to capital,” DeVelder said. “It takes capital – on your farms and in your plants – to keep your infrastructure strong. Be proud of who you are and what you own. Ownership of manufacturing assets ensures better control of your dairy farming destiny. There is a reason about 80% of the milk in the U.S. ows through cooperatives.”
DeVelder has advice about how to maintain dairy infrastructure.
“Be at the table and involved in the decision-making process,” DeVelder said. … “This region has the resources and reputation for making fantastic cheese. Your goal should be to make perfect milk for cheesemaking.”
Cheese and butter are the money makers right now, DeVelder said.
“Demand for the products we make in the Midwest, particularly cheese and butter, continues to grow,” DeVelder said. “Per capita cheese consumption in the U.S. has increased by 13% in the past 10 years and butter 18% during that same time.”
He said he sees these products lling the gap from reduced sales in other areas.
“Sales of uid milk, however, have continued to decline,” DeVelder said. “The continued loss of these sales is a missing piece on farmer’s milk checks. We must continue to try and make up for that gap by realizing more value from other dairy products.”
Even though DeVelder has been an active advocate for the dairy industry, he said he is ready to enjoy retirement.
“My wife and I have been married for 42 years and have four grown children and ve grandsons,” DeVelder said. “Our retirement plans include spending lots of time at hockey rinks and soccer elds and volunteering and giving back to the community.”
As DeVelder steps more to the sidelines of the industry through his retirement, he said he sees a bright future for dairy in the Upper Midwest.
“If you consider the dairy products that are really in demand, which is cheese, butter and whey, the cheese basket of the U.S. is here in the Midwest,” DeVelder said. “The infrastructure here in the Upper Midwest has always been strong, and it’s done nothing but get stronger.”
“I chair the cookie fundraiser at our kids’ school, which is one of the biggest fundraisers for the school,” Amanda said.
The Zigans hosted the 2015 Todd County Breakfast on the Farm and recently hosted the cooperative’s summer picnic.
“I believe fellowship in a community is important,” Amanda said. “I love being involved with other people and hearing their stories.”
Their children are also active in 4-H, and Jax joined FFA as a seventh grader at Long Prairie-Grey Eagle High School.
The kids are involved on the farm and help with chores by feeding the calves, cleaning pens and sorting cattle. Derek’s dad helps full time on the farm as well. Their farm is entirely run by family as they have no employees.
“We are super lucky that both sides of our family are helpful whether it is
PHOTO SUBMITTED helping on the farm or helping with the kids,” Amanda said.
The Zigan family – Chloe (from le ), Derek, Amanda, Jax, Jovi and Alec – received a canvas cow pain ng for being named First District Associaon’s Young Cooperator of the Year Jan. 7 in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The Zigans milk 130 cows near Long Prairie, Minnesota.
Together, the Zigans went from milking 80 cows in a 55-cow tiestall barn to milking 130 cows with two robotic milking systems in 2015.
“We strive for full potential on our farm,” Amanda said. “We want our calves to start strong and grow to be healthy cows.”
They are always thinking ahead and willing to try new things to improve their cows and their farm.
“I am the type of person who wants to learn it all,” Amanda said. “I want to learn to A.I. and someday drive semi.”
To continue to improve efciency, the Zigans are planning to build a calf barn and heifer shed.
“We want to do well,” Amanda said. “We want to be good stewards of the land. We want healthy cows, which is what all farmers strive for.”
Scott and Darlys have been milking together for 34 years. They do most of the dairy work themselves while Dallas mixes feed for all of the animals and is the go-to person for xing things. Dallas, along with his partner, Callie Murphy, and their children, Reed and Myles, live on the farm as well.
At 61 years old, Scott has lived on the farm his whole life as the second generation to milk cows, but the transition from father to son was not typical.
“My dad sold the dairy cows when I was around 7 years old,” Scott said. “My mother bought me a heifer calf when I turned 11, and I raised her. I’ve been milking cows ever since I was about 13 years old.”
Scott bought a few more heifers until he had enough to have milk picked up at the farm.
“By the time I was 16, I had 13 cows, and I nally had two buckets to milk with,” Scott said. “I milked in my dad’s old barn, the old hip-roof barn. That’s when I started getting (the milk) picked up.”
The Albrechts now milk 90 cows in a double-10 parabone parlor. They bed with sawdust because it is readily available in their area.
The Albrechts’ milk was shipped to Thief River Falls until the plant there closed. Today, the family’s milk is hauled to Land O’Lakes in Perham. Milk is picked up every three days.
“When I rst got on the milk route, the truck picked up 46 of us in the area on the one route,” Scott said. “I’m the last one of them still milking cows.”
However, having milk picked up in Koochiching County is not a given.
“Land O’Lakes will keep coming to this farm as long as I am milking, but if I were to move from this farm, or a new dairy moved in this area, they won’t haul their milk,” Scott said. “That’d be the end, and the sad thing is there would never be another milk truck coming to this county again.”
The conviction to retain the dairy industry in their county is one of the reasons the Albrechts persist in milking.
“I’ve been threatening to quit the last couple years, but I don’t know,” Scott said. “You just don’t give up.”
Although Darlys did not grow up on a dairy farm, Scott said she likes the cows even more than he does. When he has considered selling the milking herd, Darlys has held him back.
“When we think about selling the cows, I think, ‘What am I going to do to fulll that time?’” Darlys said. “I haven’t had to drive to work in 34 years.”
Darlys said she nds milking peaceful.
“You go out there, and it’s kind of my quiet time,” she said. “Nobody bothers you when you’re out there because you’re busy.”
Darlys said there have been benets from marrying a dairy farmer and raising a family on the farm.
“When we started our own family, it was nice to work at home and be with our children,” Darlys said. “You turn around, and here they are raising families of their own, and you think, ‘Wow, where did the time go?’”
Now, the next generation is experiencing the farm and the lifestyle that parallels it.
“One of the special things is that the grandkids enjoy being here too,” Darlys said. “You get that connection being with your grandparents. Now, Dallas gets to see his kids during the day, and we get to see them too.”
Although farming can be tough in the area because of a shortened growing season and the lack of available resources, the Albrechts have found ways to persevere.
The Albrechts own spare equip- stands in the saw mill Jan. 18 on his farm near Mizpah, Minnesota. In his spare me, Albrecht works in the mill and saws his own lumber. ment in case of breakdowns.
“We’ve got three round balers and two big square balers, but we’ll only run one round baler and one square baler,” Scott said. “The others are always ready to go. If we need parts or equipment work done for the dairy, we’re just so far away from everybody.”
Tractors and other equipment are of the same make and model so they have interchangeable parts.
The nearest location for equipment service is more than 130 miles away, so the farm is stocked with an inventory to ensure needed parts and supplies are on the farm.
“We get a lot of people coming in and out of our yard because if they need something, they can always come here and get it – whether it’s a tool, a bale of hay, a piece of equipment or whatever,” Scott said.
Other decisions are made with distance factored in as well.
“If you have a cull cow to go to the sale barn, and it’s 130 miles to take her, you just don’t take one cow,” Scott said. “We generally go to (Winger Livestock Sales). The beef cattle go to (Bagley Livestock Exchange). That’s a little closer, only 100 miles.”
The Albrechts also purchase supplies in bulk.
When they need help during calving or with eldwork, their oldest son will step in or other family members. The Albrechts said there are not people nearby who they can hire for help.
Besides dairy farming, the Albrechts raise 250 beef cattle and farm about 1,200 acres of land across the area. They raise corn, soybean and hay. Through trial and error, they have worked to get the best yields possible.
“We use an 80-day variety (of corn),” Scott said. “As for the hay, if you take really good care of your al- falfa, it does well. I’ve gotten four cuts, but you can generally always get three.”
The Albrecht farm began with one barn and has grown to include 15 buildings. The calving barn has a viewing room and is used for housing cattle during bad weather. The former milkhouse is now where laying hens are kept, and another building is used as a mill where Scott saws his own lumber to sell. Scott built the building himself, using lumber he produced.
“That’s my hobby,” he said.
The farm’s feedlot, with cement aprons on both sides, allows for driveby feeding. The Albrechts feed a total mixed ration to the milking herd.
Raising calves in Koochiching County can be complex.
“It’s a real challenge here to raise a calf because of the weather, so you try to make your cows last as long as you can,” Scott said. “If you pushed them hard, you’d burn them up that much quicker.”
Scott said he has respect for his cows.
“A cow gives so much,” he said. “A good cow is a good cow. We’ve never pushed our cows for a lot of milk, but we’ve always had good butterfat and protein.”
All hardships aside, Scott said he likes where the farm is located. He said there are good shing lakes in the area and plentiful wildlife, and he likes the scenery the farm offers.
“I own some ground that is 160 acres in one eld,” Scott said. “If I showed it to you, it’s the most unique ground up here. You step off the north edge of that eld, and it’s 70 miles to the Canadian border. It’s a beautiful eld.”
Mark Klaphake contributed to this article.
Scabbling makes a groove 2-1/2” wide and 3/16” deep which is wide enough for a cow to get her toe in. It is rough on the bottom and both sides, which gives your cow traction at ALL times!
