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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
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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.”
Major philosophical differences
Agriculture has big issues on the docket in Washington. That list includes the use of farm program dollars versus conservation spending. “The administration is still pushing their 30×30 plan where they want to see 30% parked off over to the side into conservation initiatives,” said Jay Truitt, president, Policy Solutions. “Those things are real philosophical battles.” Other issues that will be addressed include packer ownership of animals, foreign ownership of land and crop insurance. Truitt expects all of these issues to be addressed within the context of the farm bill.
Farm Bureau delegates complete policy book
American Farm Bureau Federation Vice President
Right-to-repair MOU signed
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.
Turn to
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A supply-demand tug of war
The used machinery market remains hot. BigIron Auctions territory manager Eric Kaczmarski said tight supply will continue to keep used machinery prices high. “Prices will remain strong as long as customers still struggle to get equipment at dealerships,” Kaczmarski said. He said BigIron Auctions is coming off a record year. “Our sales were through the roof, and we were constantly breaking records every week,” he said.
DBA highlights policy priorities
The Dairy Business Association has outlined its 2023 budget and legislative priorities. The Wisconsin dairy group supports clean water initiatives, improving the Conned Animal Feeding Operation program, rural road funding, updating the farmland preservation tax credit and updating the commercial driver’s license-Schedule F. “DBA rmly believes in commonsense policy that moves Wisconsin forward,” said Amy Penterman, president. “Starting a new budget cycle presents opportunities to improve programs that work for dairy farmers.”
Nitrogen optimization grants available
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection will accept applications for its commercial nitrogen optimization research grants until the end of the month. There is $1.6 million in funding available for this round. Farmers applying for the grant must agree to collaborate with the University of Wisconsin on this project and voluntarily conduct commercial nitrogen optimization eld studies for at least two years.
Buhr appointed to natural resources board
Viroqua dairy farmer Paul Buhr has been appointed to the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board. Buhr replaces William Bruins, who resigned from the board at the end of 2022. In a statement, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said Buhr is “a strong advocate and champion for land and water conservation and understands that protecting our environment and family farms is a priority for Wisconsin’s future.”
AFBF honors Moore
Former American Farm Bureau Federation Executive Vice President Dale Moore was presented the group’s Distinguished Service Award. Moore served in that role from 2018 to 2022. Moore was chief of staff for four agriculture secretaries and was the staff of former Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts
WFBF adds Mugnaini to staff
The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation has hired Jason Mugnaini as its executive director of governmental relations. Most recently, Mugnaini was chief of staff for Wisconsin Sen. Robert Cowles
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.
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.
New CEO for Organic Valley
Organic Valley has named Jeff Frank as its new CEO. Bob Kirchoff is retiring, and his last day with the coop is Jan. 31. Frank has had a 25-year career with Hormel Foods.
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.
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.” take over the reins, and his cousins have chosen other career paths.
“It’s a shame to think our family’s dairy farm will cease to exist when Pam and I are done,” Pierce said. “We’ve had the conversation, but right now, we’re planning to continue to milk as long as we have a milk truck that will pull into the drive. That might be another month, or it might be several more years. The one thing we know for certain is it is not certain.”
The Pierces have struggled to nd a market for their milk. They, as a small producer, were one of 15 dropped by their processor four years ago and were forced to procure a new market for their milk in a short timeframe.
“In my mind, there isn’t a lot of space left in the dairy industry for farms like ours without the ability to have some sort of niche marketing,” Pierce said. “I really think having the option to market raw milk would create a place for small farms like ours in the dairy industry.”
While there are seasoned veterans wondering about the feasibility of continuing to operate their dairy farms, the other side of the coin is the unbridled optimism of the next generation of those wanting to turn on the milk pump twice a day, every day.
Ben Anderson is one of those young dairy farmers who is guring out how to make his chosen career path work.
“It has been going pretty well, but I have to admit that the help and support I have from my dad plays a large role in that,” Anderson said.
“If I were trying to do everything on my own, it would be pretty challenging.”
Anderson embarked on his dairying career in 2020 while he was nishing his schooling at Chippewa Valley Technical College. He was milking around 20 cows.
He has since graduated and is dairy farming full time, milking 40 cows in the 42-stall barn that used to house his father’s milking herd in Spring Valley, Wisconsin.
Anderson feels one key to his early success is that he owns no machinery and works cooperatively with his father to produce the feed needed for the herd. He also lives on the farm with his parents while funneling any prot made from his herd back into the operation.
“From a protability standpoint, it isn’t enough to live off right now, but because of the support of my parents, I am able to continue to lay the foundation for the future,” Anderson said.
His two years of being a dairy producer have been fraught with challenges but have also had some high spots that Anderson is proud of. Those continue to fuel his re.
“It was gratifying to have my cows up to an 88-pound per day average,” Anderson said. “I had a large group of older cows that calved in together as a group and performed really well. The other piece I am proud of is being able to ll up the barn with my own cows without needing to take out a loan to do so.”
Being somewhat landlocked and limited by the size of his facilities, Anderson is looking for options to continue to grow his herd. He is investigating nearby facilities that might become available.
Anderson has advice for others in his age group.
“If this is your dream, consider just going for it,” Anderson said. “Someday down the road, you’ll kick yourself if you don’t at least try. Just keep your debt as low as possible and your in-
“We then expanded the rye into the cows’ diet too,” Keller said. “When you’re at 100 pounds of milk, how do you get that next pound? Rye was the answer for us. Winter rye was a good source to eliminate wheat straw. Rye is very digestible ber and makes great feed for cattle.”
Shotliff’s journey into cover cropping arose from a need to come up with more feed for his herd. However, this former dairy farmer sold his cows in 2022 after a long battle with stray voltage. Shotliff, who farms 440 acres near Oregon, continues to raise dairy heifers and steers. In 2022, he put up fence to start grazing cattle on his interseeding and cover crops.
“I began double cropping with rye,” Shotliff said. “Cover cropping and interseeding mixes became a distraction from the stray voltage, and I got carried away with it.”
Faessler stopped dairying in 2001 but continues to farm about 400 acres near Juda with his brother. All of their acres are in no-till and cover crops.
“Most of our land is on the rough side, and we see a lot of strips in the area,” Faessler said. “Back in the 1980s and 1990s when we were chopping corn silage and looking at all that bare ground out there, we decided to start putting in oats as a cover crop. We did that for many years and then expanded into wheat.”
Faessler puts in rye and triticale every fall except where he grows wheat. After wheat, he puts in an eight-way species mix. Faessler started no-tilling around 2005.
“We see a lot less erosion with notill and kept expanding each year to save soil and time,” he said.
When he began farming on his own, Shotliff did not have any tillage equipment nor did he want to spend time driving the tractor across the eld; therefore, he turned to no-till as well.
“I don’t get as much yield as my neighbor, but I don’t spend that much time in the tractor or money on fuel,” Shotliff said. “I also don’t have all that money invested in equipment. I’m at about 85% no-till as there are a few elds we do full tillage on each year.”
About half of Keller’s acres are in no-till.
“The economics is that we’re taking less trips across the eld,” Keller said. “Why do you want to see your soil going down the river? That’s money.”
In 2009, the Kellers discontinued purchasing phosphorous fertilizer and instead relied on manure as their main fertilizer source, saving the farm $18,000 per year. Their soil was high in phosphorous, and they felt they could go without it. In 2017, the Kellers won the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Award for outstanding achievement in resources stewardship.
After introductions, panelists were asked the following questions:
What are the most important things to do to an existing planter to make it work in a no-till eld?
Keller: That depends on how old your planter is. Old ones don’t have the down pressure. The one we bought was a 1780 6-row planter with interplant designed for no-till that had everything on it. We added closing wheels over the years. You also need to make sure the seat placement is correct.
Shotliff: I hired my dad to plant my corn in the beginning with a 6-row John Deere with heavy-duty down pressure springs and no-till coulters. The planter I bought this year also has those same features. Other than that, keep your planter properly maintained.
Faessler: You need a pretty good amount of down pressure to get seed in the ground. I have a conservation planter that came with no-till coulters, but I took them off. The advantage to that is I push less iron in the ground. Keep a good set of discs on your planter. Make sure they are sharp and adjusted right to get that seed in the ground deep enough. I have a closing wheel on it now, and that works pretty good. It has fairly heavy down pressure springs with four settings.
What are the most overlooked parts of the planter when trying to obtain proper planting depth?
Keller: Seed tubes. We developed a wear spot on the front side of the tube where the seed actually drops. It cre- ated a hole, and the seed would come down that hole and not achieve the proper seed placement. In the last couple years, we’ve been concentrating on any tube that looks like it’s about to get a hole. We replace it, and I think that’s improved our population.
Shotliff: Bushings and depth wheels. You need to do all the same maintenance whether you no-till or conventional till.
Faessler: The depth wheels. They have to be adjusted fairly snug to the seal in the disc so you don’t pack in dirt. Maintenance on the planter is important. You also need to keep chains in decent shape. Our chains were kinked, but we xed that and got better spacing.
What modications have you made to your planter?
Keller: The biggest thing we did was to change all the closing wheels to a copper head. It’s a very hard plastic and fairly economical to redo the entire planter. As a result, we gained 3%-5% on seed emergence.
Shotliff: I bought my 6-row John Deere planter from a neighbor who was doing conventional tillage. I put heavyduty down pressure springs on it. We also added a tank on the main bar that we lled with water for more weight. For the next planting season, I plan on putting fertilizer in that tank to apply fertilizer in the furrow. Before we go to the eld in spring, we’ll also be buying cast iron spiked closing wheels.
Faessler: We took the no-till coulters off, added a row cleaner and put closing wheels on the back.
What is the easiest crop for a beginner to no-till and what crop should they plant?
Keller: Planting corn into soybeans is a no-brainer as the soil is already loose. We’ve been following up on corn silage acres with barley for a nice cover crop in the fall. In winter, we get manure out there which makes a blanket on top. In spring, we no-till 15-inch row corn for next year’s corn silage right into that ground. It’s amazing how much water you save because you’re not disturbing the soil. There’s a thick coat of mulch on top when the manure goes on, which helps hold things in place. There is also residue from the cornstalks, which works nice no-tilling into.
Shotliff: No-till corn into rye or soybeans is pretty successful. I had a stand of rye and hairy vetch planted September 2021 that I grazed milk cows on last spring for a couple weeks. I took the cows off and let it regrow and then no-tilled corn right through it June 14. I took samples on the standing cover crop the day we planted, and there were 370 units of nitrogen. I interseeded a diverse mix July 10. We got 180-bushel corn off that eld, and no commercial fertilizer was added.
Faessler: Planting corn into soybeans is a good place to start. We’re planting into soybean stubble, and the land is pretty mellow. Therefore, we can plant corn into that quite easily. We’ve planted alfalfa into soybean stubble, too, but you have to get some of that residue off rst. We took the soybean crop off and planted a winter cover crop like rye or triticale. In spring, we took a drill and drilled right into that stubble. The rye or triticale was very short at the time, so we didn’t kill it off. We harvested it for heifers, and that worked well.
What cover crops are easiest and which ones are you dabbling in?
Keller: We’ve been growing winter rye since 2007. We had 230-bushel corn where we no-tilled into the cover crop and got 26 tons per acre this year. We’ve had times where we’re pushing 30 tons per acre. When we take off rye in springtime, it gives us a place to hold manure for a month and a half which helps us deal with the challenge of daily manure hauling.
Shotliff: After we combine soybeans, we broadcast rye on everything. Rye will grow almost anywhere, so if it’s just a cover crop that we’re not trying to harvest for feed, we use a fertilizer buggy. If we’re combining rye for grain, I’ll use a no-till drill. The last couple years, we’ve been relay cropping rye and soybeans. I’ll block off rows in the grain drill and come back with the planter and plant soybeans between rows of rye. I combine the rye, spread the straw out, come back and combine the soybeans later in the fall. For seeding mix, I get pretty out there and try to grow just about everything.
Faessler: I like to cover everything with a cover crop. Anything going into alfalfa, I lean into going with triticale. It’s a higher digestible ber you can take off earlier, but you don’t have to take it off as early as rye, and it makes a better forage for heifers. Rye is a great cover crop to use all around.
In the article, “The perfect pair: Blum wins Dairy Star’s calf giveaway,” in the Dec. 24, 2022, issue of Dairy Star, the name of the business where the winning registration slip was drawn was omitted. John Blum registered his daughter, Johnna Blum, at Top Notch Feed & Pet Supply in New Glarus, Wisconsin. Dairy Star staff regrets this error.
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!
