October 12, 2024 Dairy Star - 1st section - Zone 2
Secretary of agriculture visits World Dairy Expo
Vilsack discusses opportunities, challenges in industry
By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com
Editor’s Note: This article is part one of a two-part series covering the Global Dairy Summit that took place at this year’s World Dairy Expo.
MADISON, Wis. — Dairy enthusiasts from across the world gathered for the industry’s largest show of the year Oct. 1-4 in Madison. World Dairy Expo attracted political gures as well, including Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
Vilsack Secretary of Agriculture
Vilsack visited Expo grounds Oct. 4 to provide closing remarks at the Global Dairy Summit — an event hosted by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. The purpose of the summit was to offer insight into the dairy economy, provide an industry outlook and highlight potential marketing opportunities.
“I know two things about farmers,” Vilsack said. “You love what you do, and you want the opportunity to pass your operation onto the next generation. At (the U.S. Department of Agriculture), we’re committed to making that happen. I appreciate everything dairy farmers do for this country.”
Vilsack expressed optimism about the all-milk price, which stands at $23.05 and is forecasted to reach $23.45 by 2025.
“That will make it the third highest milk price ever,” he said.
Furthermore, the milk-to-feed price ratio is 1.67, which Vilsack said is the best in over a decade.
Celebrating June Dairy Month in September
Rain delays Trempealeau County breakfast by 3 months
By Dan Wacker dan.w@dairystar.com
OSSEO, Wis. — Graham Giese and Erica Lundberg welcomed visitors to BertMar Farms Sept. 21 for the Trempealeau County Dairy Breakfast. On top of the traditional breakfast, visitors could explore the farm, from watching the 100 cows being milked in a tiestall barn to self-guided farm tours to entertainment for children, including inatables and a
Farmers reect on devastation in hurricane aftermath
By Meghan Kropp and Mark Klaphake
WAYNESVILLE, N.C.
When Hurricane Helene stormed its way through North Carolina and Tennessee, it caused casualties, extensive damage and washed away people’s livelihoods. Brothers Dan and Steve Ross own and operate Triple R Dairy Inc. of Waynesville, roughly 30 miles west of Asheville. Dan’s children, John and Miranda, and Steve’s sons, Phillip and Mark, also work on the farm.
Tom
DAN WACKER/DAIRY STAR
Graham Giese and Erica Lundberg stand outside their barn Sept. 23 near Osseo, Wisconsin. Bert-Mar Farms hosted the Trempealeau County Dairy Breakfast two days earlier.
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DAN WACKER/DAIRY STAR
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People visit Bert-Mar Farms Sept. 21 for the Trempealeau County Dairy Breakfast near Osseo, Wisconsin. The event was held three months a er it was originally scheduled due to bad weather.
The event was held three months after it was originally scheduled due to rough weather in the Osseo area in June.
Less than a week away from the original June date for opening their doors to the community, Giese and Lundberg of Bert-Mar Farms saw a storm cell approaching. When the storm passed, 6 inches of rain had fallen, the driveway had washouts up and down, the oncewhitewashed walls of the barn were a hazy yellow, and trees and branches were scattered across the yard.
It did not end there as rain was in the forecast for the rest of the week.
They called Brad Gopling, president of the dairy promotion committee, to see what their options were.
“Brad came out and saw the damage
and even he hadn’t seen a situation quite like this,” Lundberg said. “We talked about our options after that. He was very understanding, and we gured out a time that would work best for everyone.”
June Dairy Month has been celebrated nationally for more than 85 years, so holding the annual event outside of its traditional month had its own hurdles.
After June, it was county fair season in July and August, followed by the start of the school year and Labor Day. It was decided the third weekend in September would be best.
That provided Giese and Lundberg three months of time to get everything back in order at Bert-Mar Farms.
“It was great to have a longer runway leading up to the weekend,” Lundberg said. “But we had everything ready to go
for the rst time, so we tried to keep the shop clean.”
This included temporary storage of Giese’s tools in a trailer.
“We thought we were going to use the trailer for a week, but we were in there for four months,” Giese said. “It’s kind of like living out of a suitcase.”
Giese and the crew rebuilt the driveway that washed out with the June rain. It took 10 truckloads of gravel and three truckloads of lime screenings to get everything back in shape.
Along with the challenges that come with running a dairy farm, they said hosting the county’s dairy breakfasts
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“It’s important to stay on task,” Giese said. “You always have to have the dairy breakfast in the back of your mind and always keep working to get things done in time for it. It was nice to have some extra time, but we also know that if we keep pushing things off, the next thing you know, the day is going to come and you’re going to need to have everything taken care of.”
Getting preparations complete was a challenge in June before the storm hit. The wet weather did not allow for the usual preparation for the originally scheduled breakfast.
Eve (le ) and Anna Leblanc of Li le Falls, Minnesota, crouch next to the pe ng zoo Sept. 21 at Bert-Mar Farms near Osseo, Wisconsin. Among other children’s ac vi es, the Trempealeau Country Dairy Breakfast featured inatables, a corn pit and a pe ng zoo.
“June was tough because of how wet the spring was,” Giese said. “We were still in the middle of planting; we didn’t have hay off. It was terrible.”
Not having the hay off would have posed a different kind of challenge as they used the 10-acre hay eld just south of the farm for parking for the breakfast.
“Even this week was difcult,” Lundberg said. “I don’t think Graham slept twice this week as he was doing baleage bales, wrapping bales. We were multi-tasking, that’s for sure.”
They said the long nights and battling through the weather was worth it.
“Seeing all the people that come out to our farm is the fastest ve hours of your life,” Giese said. “We had 1,700 people here and I realized after that, we only got to talk to 25 of them.”
Lundberg agreed.
“That’s denitely the most rewarding part, seeing all the people that were out here,” she said. “I didn’t think the barn was going to be as full as it was, but it was steady. The barn was full, the yard was full, the tent was full. It was really nice to put in all that work and see so many people come out and see our farm.”
Representing dairy is an honor Giese and Lundberg said they are proud of.
“It gives you some extra motivation to get everything cleaned up and looking nice,” Giese said. “Today’s public is so far detached from the dairy industry that we try to make it nice and informative
and help them understand what we’re doing here and how it affects their lives.”
The family usually spends their June weekends traveling to dairy breakfasts across the state. Their experiences helped them tailor their approach to opening their own farm to the public.
“There’s not many tie stalls left operating,” Lundberg said. “That’s where we came up with the idea to milk during the breakfast. We wanted to show people how milking is done in a tie stall. We had people come in and ask where the parlor was, and we’re like, ‘You’re in it.’”
Giese said it was cool having people get “up close and personal” with their animals.
“We work with them a lot, so they’re used to people,” he said. “It’s amazing to talk to people who see our herd for the rst time and they’re impressed by just how big our cows are.”
Big, older cows is the goal for BertMar Farms. One of the main attractions in the milking barn was their 17-year-old cow.
“We want all of our cows to hit teenager age,” Giese said. “That’s just the way we are, good bad or indifferent.”
They said they are willing to open their farm again.
“Whenever they ask us, we’ll host it again,” Lundberg said. “It’s a lot of work, but we love it. We love bringing people to our farm to see our animals and to see how much we love our cows.”
DAN WACKER/DAIRY STAR
“There are cattle lost, lives lost, and homes lost,” Dan Ross said. “It’s just overwhelming.”
Across the area, rain gauges read between 14 and 30-plus inches of rain Steve said.
Dan said rain from a few days before the hurricane hit combined to create the devastating ooding.
“What hurt us so badly was the ground and creeks were so saturated because it rained ve or six inches before the hurricane came,” Dan said. “Most of the time, the ground doesn’t get wet until the hurricane comes.”
As the hurricane thundered down on the mountains, Dan, Steve and others worked to bring gasoline, feed, thousands of gallons of diesel fuel and equipment out of the areas they thought would ood. The animals also were fed at higher ground.
“I had the feed wagons on the other side of the eld,” Dan said. “I have pictures where the feed wagons were. The water was not very deep at all out there.”
Had the cows stayed near the feed wagons, they would have been ne, Dan said. But, as he watched, a group of roughly 70 heifers and steers instead ran toward lower ground.
“Something came down the creek and spooked them, then they ran back towards the highway where the
water was deeper,” Dan said. “They got in deeper water, then they turned their heads the other way towards the creek. It kind of just lifted them off. It was just like a whirlpool and they were ghting for their lives.”
Within seconds, the cows were gone.
“That’s something you never want to see,” he said.
Neighbors and community members have been calling the Rosses and sending texts to let them know where some of the cows have turned up. After almost two weeks, Triple R Dairy is still missing 35 cows.
“They found a cow, found two cows, found four cows,” Dan said. “You go here and you go there, and you’re so glad to see them. They are ne other than they’ve been in shock and scared. They are alright.”
Triple R Dairy cows have been found 2-5 miles away from home, Dan said.
“We’ve had a lot of neighbors call in saying they found our cows,” he said. “They will look after them until we can get there.”
Now, fencing needs to be put back into place to keep the cattle on the property.
Turn to HURRICANE | Page 7
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Bales lie par ally submerged at Triple R Dairy near Waynesville, North Carolina. The Rosses were able to cut roughly 130 acres, but there are more crops s ll in their elds.
“We’ve had to relocate and move a lot of cattle out, like the dry cows,” he said. “We had to relocate heifers and calves out of the barns. I was wading in water up to my knee, but I was able to save them. We’ve had to relocate all the smaller calves anywhere we could.”
Steve and Dan milk around 380 cows at Triple R Dairy and farm more than 300 acres of owned and leased ground. They grow silage corn, wheat, haylage and dry wheat.
“We had already cut some silage, around 130-140 acres,” Dan said. “There’s still a lot more. Some land we haven’t had a chance to see it to check on it. We’ve been busy.”
Along with crops that weren’t cut, Dan said haylage that had been wrapped up also received water damage, and topsoil has been washed away.
“This is not a 3- to 4-day problem,” he said. “This is an ongoing problem. It will take a year or two to get all the elds straightened out.”
Dan and Steve’s story is not the only one of its kind in the area.
“There’s been some mudslides,” Dan said. “I’ve got a good friend who had a mudslide come down by his house. It didn’t hit his house, but he heard it coming.”
While talking with com-
munity members and an older uncle, Dan said no one had witnessed anything like the ooding and devastation that followed.
“It’s overwhelming,” he said. “We’ll make it, but I feel for the families that lost lives. There is one family that lost all 11.”
Steve also spoke about the situation in the area.
“Cattle are up on rooftops,” Steve said. “There are caskets going down the river. We’ve seen them. It’s indescribable. The Commissioner of Agriculture of North Carolina (Steve Troxler) was here. He is absolutely overwhelmed.”
Steve said a family member’s dairy barn, commodity shed, calf hutches, new milk tank and more were washed away.
“Luckily, he got all the cows and calves out,” he said. “He got them up to high ground. He had to move them to one of his cousin’s barns. He has now sold all his cows because he can’t build back. There is nothing to build back, it’s all gone. He lost 1,000 tons of silage he’d already cut and piled up. It washed it away.”
Hank Ross of Ross Dairy Inc., a cousin to Dan and Steve, said his farm is sideby-side with Triple R Dairy. It was damaged in the hurricane too.
“Good Lord willing,
we’ll be able to get those crop yields back, but it’s going to affect yields for years to come,” he said. “It’s very much an economic impact to the dairy industry, to the community, and to North Carolina.”
Multiple farms in the area are using their tankers to send water to the milk processing plant to keep the facility running, Hank said.
“We’re ne where we’re at,” he said. “There are people who have lost everything. Words can’t even describe what people are dealing with down here.”
Both Triple R Dairy and Ross Dairy receive their feed from Athens, Tennessee. With road closures and bridges out due to ooding and mudslides, what would normally be a less than 3-hour trip is now taking approximately eight hours.
The dairies use grain from breweries to feed their cows. Due to the ooding and lack of clean water, the brewery was closed for a while.
“That has really affected our milk production,” Dan said. “The production is down and the change of rations has affected the cows on both dairies.”
Dan said putting the wreckage into words is hard.
“It’s just devastating,” he said. “But we will just keep working.”
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Cows that Dan and Steve Ross recovered a er being washed away walk down the road near Waynesville, North Carolina. The brothers milk around 380 cows.
Cheese exports are also the highest they have been in 10 years. Highprotein whey exports are also going up, and Vilsack said he expects this year to be the third highest export year for dairy products.
“The future of exports for dairy is bright,” he said. “(U.S. Dairy Export Council) is looking beyond our traditional trading partners, and I think we’re going to see less reliance on some of the traditional export markets with an array of opportunities for high value-added products going into places like Vietnam and the Philippines.”
Kenya and other African nations and Latin America are places where tariffs are coming down and opportunities are expanding, Vilsack said.
Vilsack made a point of addressing a comment made by former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue during a visit to Expo in 2019, when he spoke about the status of small and mid-sized dairy operations.
“At the time, he was very truthful and challenged all of us,” Vilsack said. “Perdue said, ‘The way this is set up, unfortunately you have to get big or oftentimes you have to get out.’ We took this as a challenge and asked, ‘Is there a way we can create a different model?’”
Vilsack made the case for smalltown rural America and its connection to agriculture.
“Small and mid-size operations are not only important to agriculture, they’re really important to rural communities,” Vilsack said. “If you lose farms, you lose the farm family. And when you lose the farm family, you lose students in schools, and schools have to merge. Businesses that surround those people close, and that impacts the economies of those small towns. You under-
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cut an important part and capacity of America.”
Creating opportunities to prot small and mid-size operations is the goal Vilsack said. He said this cannot be in the form of support programs, but rather, what is needed is a new and creative model in which farm families can have more than one source of income on their operation. He said the USDA has attempted to create income sources beyond milk.
“Can we pay farmers not only for what they produce but also how they produce it?” Vilsack said. “We’ve invested and will continue to invest in resources under our climate-smart agriculture commodity initiative which started with the dairy industry.”
The idea behind Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities is that farmers should be paid to participate in climate-smart agricultural activities and be rewarded for that with a market premium. The USDA has such projects with Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative and Organic Valley.
“They are helping pay farmers to embrace climate-smart agriculture and in turn create opportunities for that prot margin to be a little bit wider,” Vilsack said.
More than 100 contracts have been signed involving all 50 states and every major livestock and commodity produced in the U.S., helping to incentivize 200 climate-smart practices.
“We’re measuring and monitoring the environmental results of those practices which has set up the opportunity for those farmers to benet from ecosystem markets,” Vilsack said.
The USDA has invested resources under its Rural Energy for America Program to help producers create an
energy source through renewable natural gas projects. Utilizing a digester or other strategies to convert manure into something more valuable is the premise behind this program.
Instead of one income source, farm families could now have several income sources under this new model, Vilsack said.
Through the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the USDA has provided $2.5 billion to the industry to help smaller and midsize producers adopt conservation practices as part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. EQIP contracts currently number 3,700.
There is also an $85 million investment to expand opportunities in the organic market.
In addition, the USDA is encouraging the development of local and regional food systems, which Vilsack said is a better deal for farmers. When selling a product commercially, farmers get anywhere from 15-20 cents of that food dollar. But when they sell directly to the consumer, such as at a farmers’ market or to a school, the farmer can potentially generate 50%-75% of that food dollar, Vilsack said.
“We’re investing in expanding these systems through a producer value-added grant program and local food purchasing agreements,” he said. “We’re directing a portion of that money be spent with local and regional food opportunities so that small and medium-sized operations get a bigger bang for the buck.”
An investment of $1.7 billion across 50 states was recently announced for the program.
The USDA has been heavily involved in procurement of dairy prod-
ucts, Vilsack said, and is purchasing food for schools and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. From 202124, they invested about $12.5 billion in these programs to purchase dairy products.
Vilsack also spoke about the farm bill. He said there is a focus and desire on the part of some to increase reference prices for producers. These prices impact about 22 commodities out of over 100 grown and raised in the U.S.
“Within those commodities are about half a dozen that would actually benet what’s gone through the ag house committee,” Vilsack said.
This has not been put up for a vote because it probably would have failed, he said.
“When you look at the farm bill, there isn’t enough money in the way in which the bill was crafted to pay for all the increases,” Vilsack said. “There’s a decit, and when you have a decit, you lose votes.”
The secretary stressed urgency in getting a new farm bill passed.
“If it doesn’t get done now and rolls past Jan. 1, you have major challenges because you have to start all over again with a new administration and a new Congress,” Vilsack said. “The goal is to try and get this done.”
Vilsack concluded by again speaking on the USDA’s efforts to save the family farm.
“We are betting on and believe in this industry and the importance of this industry,” Vilsack said. “We believe if we can continue to do this over time, we begin the process of reversing the decline of small and mid-size dairy operations in this country.”
decades, Calf-Tel
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Sharing her sustainability story
Brossard connects with consumers, legislators in Washington
By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com
BEAVER DAM, Wis. — Andrea Brossard has a passion for educating consumers about the dairy industry. It started two decades ago when she got involved in Farm Bureau. Brossard helped promote agriculture through committees in which she was involved and became hooked on being a voice for the dairy industry.
“I enjoy sharing the story of agriculture and the dairy industry,” Brossard said. “Relating with consumers and telling them what we do is so important.”
Brossard and her brother, Anthony, milk around 500 cows and farm about 800 acres near Beaver Dam. The siblings are third-generation farmers on their family’s farm, following in the footsteps of their parents, Dennis and Carol Brossard. Originally purchased by their maternal grandfather, Brossard Dairy Farm has been in the family for nearly a century.
On May 7-8, Brossard was in Washington, D.C., representing the dairy industry with the American Farm Bureau Federation at Ag on the
Mall — a biannual event coordinated by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. The theme was sustainability, and joining Brossard were three farmers from other parts of the U.S. representing sheep, beef and specialty crop farming.
“A lot of school groups and legislators stopped to talk to us, and we told them what’s going on in agriculture and explained the importance of agriculture,” Brossard said. “I met people from all over the world and did a lot of consumer engagement.”
Ag-related companies and organizations such as the National Pork Producers Council, American Soybean Association, National Corn Growers Association, Case IH, John Deere and many others set up equipment and booths on the National Mall as part of the event.
“To be out in the mall and see the ag equipment in the middle of D.C. was pretty cool,” Brossard said. “It was such a great opportunity.”
Focused on outreach and education, Ag on the Mall provides an opportunity for people to meet a farmer and gave Brossard and other farmers the
as the third genera on on their family’s farm.
chance to share the story of agriculture and sustainability.
“It was so neat to be able to talk to consumers, youth and legislators from everywhere,” Brossard said. “I enjoyed hearing about peoples’ different experiences in agriculture.”
More than 15,000 people
attended the event, which included visitors to Washington from many states and countries. Attendees came from areas close to Brossard’s hometown in Wisconsin and as far away as Sweden.
When discussing sustainability, Brossard speaks from
experience. She and her brother operate their dairy farm with a sustainable mindset, and messages Brossard shared focused on how they ensure care of their land and animals for future generations.
“We want to make sure we’re taking care of and preserving what we have for the next generation,” she said. “My brother has young children, and we’re hoping we’ll have a fourth generation here.”
Protecting natural resources and the environment is at the forefront Brossard said as reusing resources is a priority for her family. The Brossards plant cover crops and practice crop rotation while being conscious of nutrient management planning and water usage.
“We work within the land and scope that we have while being mindful of not growing our dairy to outgrow that land,” Brossard said. “We make sure we’re caring for the land and all it has to offer. We want to leave it better than we got it.”
The Brossards also consider ways they can reuse water for cooling milk, watering cows or cleaning the barns and parlor. Cows are milked twice a day in a double-12 parallel parlor. The Brossards use a monitoring system to track rumination, health and milk yields in their herd.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Andrea Brossard takes a break in the calf barn at Brossard Dairy Farm near Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Brossard and her brother, Anthony, milk around 500 cows and farm about 800 acres
Majority of Wisconsin dairy farms plan to still be in business in ve years
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has released the results of its annual dairy producer survey. Ninety-nine percent of the responding dairy farms are family owned and more than 80% expect to still be in dairy farming in ve years. Over half of the respondents have identied a successor to take over the farm. The leading challenges cited in the survey were regulation, the balancing of milk supply and demand, aging facilities and an inability to nd labor. DATCP sent the survey to 5,400 dairy farms and 30% of those farms responded.
Seasonal strength in Class III milk
Vilsack makes announcement during World Dairy Expo
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $11 million in funding for the Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives grant program. This effort supports small and medium-sized dairy operations in the development, production, marketing and distribution of dairy products. The Dairy Business Innovation Alliance in Wisconsin will receive $3.45 million for grants and technical assistance to expand market opportunities and support value-added dairy product innovation. This year’s funding was also awarded to initiatives in California, Tennessee and Vermont.
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Despite a recent drop-off in cheese markets, the Class III milk market has been very resilient. At World Dairy Expo, Ever.Ag Principal Mike North credited seasonal tendencies. “We’ve got lower components as we’ve come through the summer. Production has been lower because the cows just aren’t there. We’ve been stressed with some of this bird u in key geographies around the United States and, by the way, now, we sent a bunch of kids back to school sucking milk back into the bottling realm, college kids back to their pizza diet and football launching at the same time.” North said that is why milk prices typically have these peaks in late September into early November. In the past, $20-plus milk prices would have a dramatic impact on production. Strong beef prices, an absence of heifers and an aging cow herd have changed that scenario during the current cycle.
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The Voice of Milk
By Don Wick Columnist Ag Insider
Relief for organic dairies
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is making $58 million available to organic dairy farmers to help offset market volatility, transportation costs and an unstable feed supply. Organic dairy farmers will be able to apply for this assistance through the Farm Service Agency.
Settlement made over manure contamination
A settlement has been made between a Merrill dairy farm and the state of Wisconsin. In 2021, a leaky valve on a manure storage facility on Morning View Dairy Farm contaminated a nearby creek. The farm will pay $70,000 due to a sh kill related to the contamination.
After tough times in the dairy sector, Associated Milk Producers Inc. Vice President of Marketing Sarah Schmidt said this year has been a good change. Demand is strong for all product segments. “This year it seems like cheese was put on promotion more at retail grocery stores. More consumers were grabbing that two-for-$5 deal and it’s really showing up in our milk price.” Schmidt also noted increased exports of U.S. dairy products because of a downturn in supply in other major dairy-producing countries.
A new collaboration is in place for three Midwest dairy organizations. The Minnesota Milk Producers Association, Dairy Business Association and Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative will work together on dairy policy issues. The collaboration is being branded as the “Voice of Milk.” The umbrella brand represents dairy farmers in nine states including Minnesota and South Dakota.
Election year impacts
The lame-duck session after the election is bound to be busy, making it more difcult to pass a farm bill. Jim Callan, president, James Callan Associates, believes House and Senate Agriculture Committee leadership sincerely want a new farm bill. The election also has ramications. “Some folks think if Vice President (Kamala) Harris is elected, Democrats will want to wait until next year,” Callan said. “If President (Donald) Trump is elected again, Democrats may have a desire to pass the farm bill this year. Politics aside, folks want to get it done by the end of this year. Democrats and Republicans, that’s the desire.”
Incentives proposed to move away from largescale animal agriculture
A group of East Coast Democratic lawmakers has introduced legislation that would pay large-scale livestock farms to transition into specialty crop production or pasture-based livestock operations. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, North Carolina Representative Alma Adams and Massachusetts Representative Jim McGovern want to use existing funds from the Ination Reduction Act for this proposal. Climate-smart agriculture policies supported by the environment and animal welfare sectors are the foundation of this bill.
Deere and DeLaval partner on dairy data platform John Deere and DeLaval have launched a new digital platform called the Milk Sustainability Center. Dairy farmers will be able to track data from their crops and dairy herds in one system. In the future, this program will allow farmers to benchmark nutrient efciency and a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. The Milk Sustainability Center is now available to a small group of dairy farmers in the U.S., Netherlands and Germany with plans to expand to other countries.
OptiHarv launched at World Dairy Expo
During World Dairy Expo, Renovo Seed introduced a new forage mix called OptiHarv. The mix is a blend of millets, peas, beans, barley and brassicas and produces more tonnage for baleage, haylage or grazing. The Brookings-based Renovo Seed said OptiHarv is designed for cattle producers looking for a high-quality feed, such as dairy farmers.
National Association of State Departments of Agriculture tribute honors Northey
The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture honored former USDA Undersecretary Bill Northey with its Ambassador’s Circle Award. Northey also served as Iowa’s secretary of agriculture from 2007 to 2018. The award will now be known as the Bill Northey Legacy Award. Northey passed away this past February.
Ruak takes new role
Mark Ruak is the new faculty director for the Dairy Innovation Hub. Ruak is an extension specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a faculty advisor for the Discovery Farms program. Ruark has been a member of the Dairy Innovation Hub steering committee since its inception in 2019.
Trivia challenge
The colored shavings on the Coliseum oor of this year’s World Dairy Expo were pink. That answers our last trivia question. For this week’s trivia, what is the largest dairy cooperative in the United States? We’ll have the answer in our next edition of the Dairy Star.
Don Wick is owner/broadcaster for the Red River Farm Network of 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 sons, Tony and Sam, and ve grandchildren, Aiden, Piper, Adrienne, Aurora and Sterling.
“The use of technology offers ways that we can be more sustainable, and in turn, do better for our cows in the long run,” Brossard said.
The Brossards breed 80%-90% of their animals to beef semen and nish out about 100 steers per year. Virgin heifers and top-production cows are bred to sexed semen for replacements.
“It’s just me and my brother, so we don’t want to get bigger, and that’s why we breed a lot of beef,” Brossard said. “We’re also at capacity with the land we run.”
The Brossards receive help from approximately 10 full-time and parttime employees.
“We have great employees,” Brossard said. “Some have been with us for many years, and they help things go round.”
Implementing sustainable farming values is important to Brossard and her family as they build a farm with staying power. In the future, Brossard and her brother would like to look for ways in which they can reuse sand bedding.
“Being able to reuse what we have and be more efcient is helpful to us,” Brossard said.
Before she returned to the farm full time, Brossard worked in the nutrition eld and also did public relations and marketing for the dairy checkoff program.
“I helped farmers learn how to talk to the consumer,” Brossard said. “I also worked on social media platforms promoting farm tours and dairy breakfasts, and my involvement took off from there.”
As an advocate for agriculture, Brossard is active in Farm Bureau on the county, state and national levels. She served as chair of the Young Farmer & Agriculturist Program committee and
the education and promotion committee for Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. Brossard also served on Farm Bureau’s national promotion and education committee for four years, with two years spent as vice chair.
“Serving on the national committee was the highlight of my Farm Bureau career,” Brossard said. “I did a lot of consumer outreach in that role.”
Future goals for Brossard include running for the state Farm Bureau board. Brossard also currently serves as the vice president of the Insight FS board for Wisconsin.
Cow care and calf care were central to conversations she had in Washington as consumers asked many questions about how Brossard cares for her animals.
“They wanted to know our practices and how we care for calves,” Brossard said. “I’ve received those questions many times — how we raise them, why we take them away from their mother. As consumers learn, they start to respect what you do and realize how much you care for your animals and land. They start to see things differently.”
Whether in her own community or in the nation’s capital, Brossard is committed to spreading the message about dairy and helping consumers better understand the industry.
“We sometimes forget that we’re all in this together,” Brossard said. “We need consumers, and they need us. Consumers don’t always realize that farmers are consumers, too. We want what’s best for our families, and we want to take care of our animals so they take care of us. This is more than a business, and by seeing the families and faces behind ag, consumers can relate to us better.”
“It gives me the information I need when I’m looking for it.”
How long have you been testing with DHIA? I have been testing with DHIA for 44 years.
What tests do you use and what do you like about those tests? We use the somatic cell count and pregnancy check test. I like the SCC test to gauge the cows history on SCC. We’ve been using the SCC test since the 1980’s. I like the pregnancy check test to get early results. It’s also less stress on the cows because you don’t have to catch and palpate the cows.
Which is your favorite and why? The SCC. We rank the cows according to SCC then we take care of the issues.
How does testing with DHIA bene t your dairy operation? It gives me the information I need when I’m looking for it.
Tell us about your farm. Our dairy cows are on a rented farm. We farm no land and purchase all of our feed. We are unconventional the way we feed our cows. We use balage, and beet pulp along with ground corn and a custom protein mix. We feed with a TMR in a free stall barn.
Duane Holker Paynesville Minn. Stearns County • 80 cows
Promoting football, agriculture
Feltz’s Dairy Store features NFL Draftthemed corn maze
By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
PLOVER, Wis. — Running a corn maze is not a new undertaking for the Feltz family. But running a corn maze connected with a major national event is something outside of their normal playbook.
Feltz’s Dairy Store has joined forces with the Green Bay Packers and the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation to help promote not only the 2025 NFL Draft, which will take place in Green Bay in April, but also Wisconsin agriculture and the dairy industry.
“People from the Farm Bureau were here last winter for something else and they mentioned that the Packers wanted some fall activities to tie in Wisconsin and agriculture to their organization, to advertise the draft,” Jake Feltz said.
The Packers are working with three other Wisconsin farms to create mazes promoting the draft. Jake said each created their own maze design, using the draft logo, ensuring each would be unique.
The Feltz family — Ken and Jackie and their three children, Jared, Jake and Taryn, along with Jared’s wife, Jenna, and Jake’s wife, Amanda — operate Feltz Family Farm and Feltz’s Dairy Store outside of Plover, in Portage County. They milk 650 cows. The Feltzes have 10 DeLaval robotic milking machines that milk most of the herd, with another 100
efforts.
cows typically going through their parlor.
While the farm has been operated by the Feltz family since 1913, their store is a more recent addition.
“The store is something my mom had wanted to do for over 20 years,” Feltz said. “It just never t in right, nancially or otherwise.”
The Feltzes focus their agritourism efforts on making the farm a family attraction, with a play area for the kids. The annual corn maze plays a role in that effort.
“We had our rst corn maze that rst year the store was open, but it was really just a path through the corneld,” Feltz
said. “This year will be our seventh year doing a corn maze. The rst few years were pretty low-key.”
In 2019, the Feltzes began working with Culver’s, which had designed other mazes around the country through their afliation with FFA. That was the Feltz family’s rst year using GPS to create a more planned design instead of something random.
An engineer who attended college with Feltz has worked with the family to create the last several corn mazes. This year they are working with a professional maze company called MazePlay.
“My friend did a nice job, but being
it’s a bigger thing this year with more people seeing it — this is the most media attention we’ve ever had — we wanted it to be a little more crisp and clean,” Feltz said. “MazePlay has designed thousands of mazes.”
Having the increased visibility with their newly gained Packers connection is exciting Feltz said. It is bringing a new level to their agritourism efforts, which the family has come to rely on as a diversication for their business.
AirFLE for strea soy e efficie mak s sooybea
ciency with fewer components, making it simpler to maintain. The harvest window is short for soybeans. You want to get them off the ground fast and into your bins where they’ll be warm, dry and safe.
“Overall, I’m going to say that the header is above anything that I have run personally. It’s simple yet it does exactly what you want it to do. It’s not a complicated head; it’s not complicated electronically or mechanically. They’ve done a good job of keeping it simple so its maintenance over time is going to be easy. I don’t think that’s going to be an expensive header to keep operating.” - Bruce Baldwin, Kalvesta, Kansas
PHOTO SUBMITTED
A Green Bay Packers NFL Dra� theme is carved into a corn eld crea�ng a maze at Feltz Family Farm and Feltz’s Dairy Store near Plover, Wisconsin. This year marks the seventh year the Feltzes have used a corn maze in their agritourism
Jackie (from le ), Jake and Ken Feltz accept a proclama on wri en by Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers Sept. 27 near Plover, Wisconsin. The Feltzes are working with the Green Bay Packers to promote the 2025 NFL Dra along with Wisconsin agriculture.
“You see it happening a lot throughout the state,” Feltz said. “When my parents took over, the farm was pretty diversied. Then for about 20 years it was just cows. Now we’re coming full-circle, coming back to diversication, this time through the ag tourism and direct-marketing.”
Ken and Jackie took over the farm in 1995.
“It was a typical farm — 50 cows, cover crops, cash crops, pigs, chickens, a little of everything,” Feltz said. “The industry at the time mandated more of a focus on the cows, so that’s what they did, growing the herd.”
While the Feltz children grew up, nearby Plover was growing, too.
“When I was a kid, it was all farm elds around us,” Feltz said. “I can remember baling hay where Walmart sits. The shopping center and apartments kept moving towards us, and essentially put a cap on any farm expansion. There was really no land left for us.”
Jared decided he wanted to come home and join the farm, with an interest in the cows. Taryn left her nursing job to join the family farm, too.
“Growing up I didn’t really want anything to do with the farm until my senior year of high school,” Feltz said. “I was trying to decide what to do, but nothing really interested me, so I kind of ipped, deciding I wanted to come back.”
With two of their children coming
home to join the farm, Jackie seized the opportunity to make her dream of the farm store a reality in 2017.
“Jared’s transitioning on the cowside of things, and Taryn and I work with the store and everything on that end,” Feltz said. “This was a way for us to keep expanding our business without taking up any more of a footprint.”
With the store, the Feltzes process about 1%-2% of their daily milk production into fresh cheese curds on the farm. The remainder of their milk is shipped to Wisconsin Dairy State Cheese Company in Rudolph.
Creating agritourism experiences went hand-in-hand with attracting people to the store.
“With the community growing out, education is important to us,” Feltz said. “We had two options. We could either put up a fence and block everyone out or do what we did and kind of open everything up. People can come in. We’ve got windows, we don’t hide anything.”
Creating that connection is vital Feltz said given their close proximity to Plover.
“We need to make a positive community connection, building that good relationship with the community,” Feltz said. “It’s important for people, especially kids, to come out and see what happens on a farm. Twenty-ve years ago, everyone had an uncle or grandparent on the farm, then all of the sudden, it seems like no one has that connection anymore.”
DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
from our side our side OF THE
What are the advantages and disadvantages of dairy farming in your area?
Joe Rocha
Tillamook, Oregon
1,400 cows
Tell us about this year’s growing season. We had favorable spring conditions, but it was a very cool growing season on the coast. Grass crops did extremely well. We plant 71-day corn in a typical year, but this year we had very few warm days, so it struggled to mature. We farm about 1,200 acres, split between grazing, grass crops and corn. We typically only plant around 300 acres of shortday corn due to our cool summer season.
What management practices keep your farm sustainable? We are members of the Tillamook County Creamery Association and get high premiums for quality. We keep our somatic cell count under 100 and our bacteria counts low to get into the top tier premiums. We sell some replacements every year and some genetics (semen and embryos). We also tend to sell some higher-end heifers in a few sales every year.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of dairy farming in your area? Tillamook County Creamery Association is a growing brand of dairy products that is entirely owned by the 54 memberowners in Tillamook County. It allows the dairy industry to survive in an area that has many cost disadvantages. We also have integrated hauling of our own feed and do all the crops ourselves.
What is a growing industry trend in your area? Tillamook has a natural resource economy. It is mostly dairy, forest and sawmills. There is a little tourism on the beach, so without dairy, our county would be much worse off.
Why is dairy farming the career for you? I couldn’t imagine another career. I love working with cows and the land every day. It’s an incredible way to raise a family.
Tell us about your farm. Our farm has been in Tillamook for 32 years. The farm is family-owned and operated. There are three generations involved on the farm in some way. Our cows and heifers are all housed in freestall barns. The cows are milked in a double-24 parlor. We try to continue to invest in cow comfort projects regularly. We also do some seasonal grazing.
Lisa Leach Linwood, Kansas 35 cows
Tell us about this year’s growing season. We have about 200 acres. We planted about 85 acres of soybeans and about 85 acres of corn. It was a little wet when it was time to plant, but we have had a drought for several years, so we were thankful for the moisture.
What management practices keep your farm sustainable? We sell a lot of seed stock and sell some of our lower-end cows to homesteaders.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of dairy farming in your area? The biggest disadvantage is there are no other dairy farms in the area. We are not able to go to town and get farm necessities. Most of our supplies need to be ordered. Vets are getting few and far be-tween. Our vet is roughly 40 miles away and nearing retirement, so we are doing a lot of stuff ourselves. Our milk goes south to Tulsa right now to Blue Belle Creameries for ice cream.
What is a growing industry trend in your area? There really are not any.
Why is dairy farming the career for you? Mainly because we have always enjoyed genetics and show cows. Raising and breeding some really good cows is something we enjoy.
Tell us about your farm. Our dairy is called Lincrest Farm. My husband, Rob, and I are involved daily. My three daughters — Taylor Hildebrandt, Erin Leach and Sophie Leach — maintain an interest in the farm. My husband’s mother also helps, and my sister helps in the evenings. Our parlor is a retrotted semi-trailer that is a single-7 herringbone parlor. This is the fourth year that we have been milking in this setup. We sell our milk to Dairy Farmers of America.
Hank Van Exel Lodi, California
2,200 cows
Tell us about this year’s growing season. We planted 2,100 acres of corn and 500 acres of alfalfa. We also have a winter forage crop. We irrigate all of our land for moisture. We had extreme hot conditions. We have never been this warm this long.
What management practices keep your farm sustainable? We sell a lot of cattle. We are kind of known for our herd so we sell a lot of heifers and some fresh cows. We also sold some feed this year and put in solar panels. We also farm about 170 acres of grapes.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of dairy farming? We have a wonderful climate for dairy farming. We have a nice Delta Breeze and nice fertile ground which gives us good crops. There are a lot of people that are moving into the area and they are more inclined to have grapes or almond trees. We have a lot of constraints on our water.
What is a growing industry trend in your area? There isn’t any. Agriculture is as bad as it has been.
Why is dairy farming the career for you? My mom and dad started in it and our area is one of the best for dairy farming. I love cattle and I got involved with the genetics of it.
Tell us about your farm. We sell our milk to Hilmar Cheese Company Inc. We have two different facilities; one milks the Jerseys and elite genetics while the other milks the rest of the cattle. All of our cattle are housed in a freestall barn. The farm consists of myself, my wife and my son and daughter-in-law.
Austin Schwartzbeck
Peace and Plenty Farm LLC
Union Bridge, Maryland
250 milking cows
Tell us about this year’s growing season. It was a good start to the year planting-wise. We were able to get everything in the ground without too much turmoil. It was not a very wet spring. We were able to make triticale on time, which is around the second week of May. Following the triticale, we plant about half (200 acres) of our corn. Summer started with some nice rains. Once we hit late June to early July it started drying up. We had around 20 days of no rain, which hurt the yields. There was a lot of 4- to 5-foot corn, which is way less than average. There was a hurricane that came through the middle of August, which gave us about eight inches of rain in three days. The ground soaked all of it up and in about 2-3 days after that, we were able to haul manure and do regular things in the eld. That rain did help with the hay and pushed our corn yield from about 50-60 bushels to about 100-110 bushels.
What management practices keep your farm sustainable? In Maryland, we are unique with our access to the Atlantic Ocean. We are very close to the Chesapeake Bay, so the state of Maryland offers a lot of grant money to help with manure management. They provide an opportunity to haul manure and will give us an incentive to inject it into the soil. We pretty much strictly no-till our crops. We also compost on our farm. We use a squeezer so we can use that for bedding and will bring the rest out to the farmland and will inject it there.
Delbert and Heather Yoder
West Salem, Ohio
40 cows and 50 youngstock
Tell us about this year’s growing season. While we don’t grow crops, we do buy all our feed from neighboring farms. This growing season has been challenging and very dry. We have only had around four inches of rain total during this year’s season.
What management practices keep your farm sustainable? We only milk a small group of cows because we are more focused on showing and genetics, so we rely on off-farm income to stay sustainable. Delbert is a full-time hoof trimmer. I work for Golden Link Microbial Supplements, sell Blondin sires and Kilgus sires, and travel to work a few shows and sales throughout the year. We also house around 10 donor cows and raise in vitro fertilization calves to help market for ourselves as well as others.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of dairy farming in your area? We are located in one of the largest dairy areas in our state, so we are fortunate that we can still market our milk. Many smaller family farms are not
The compost barns are also assisted by the state of Maryland. In Maryland, we are not able to haul manure from December until March due to runoff into the waterways.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of dairy farming in your area? We have decent weather, and the winters aren’t too harsh. We can get into the ground at a decent time and aren’t in a locked-down window to plant. We usually don’t get a killing frost until December. The state of Maryland really helps dairy farmers. They want to keep dairy in Maryland and keep us sustainable and environmentally friendly. We are about an hour from Baltimore, a little over an hour from Washington D.C. and a little under an hour from Philadelphia, so really the people base of where we are at is good. We have a lot of people in our area to feed. We are also really close to the port of Baltimore for shipping products.
What is a growing industry trend in your area? One of the growing trends is injecting manure and the benets it offers. There is also a lot of niche marketing in the area, such as producers making their own cheese or ice cream.
Why is dairy farming the career for you? It’s something new every day. I like working with cattle, doing eldwork and just about every part of this business. It gives you a drive every day to do better with your cattle and your crops and try to be as protable as you can.
Tell us about your farm. Everybody — my grandparents, my uncle, my parents, my sister, my brother, my wife, and I — is very involved with different aspects of the farm. We all have diverse roles and it is pretty much all family. We have a couple of hired hands who are basically family for milking and help with feeding. We ship our milk to Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association.
as fortunate and have lost their milk market or hauling. One of the challenges in our area is the cost of land. It makes it hard for any farms to expand. It is upwards of $15,000 per acre. Also, the cost of construction and materials have more than doubled in the last 10 years.
What is a growing industry trend in your area? A growing trend in our area is farmers marketing their own product. They are selling raw milk, cheese, ice cream and meat products.
Why is dairy farming the career for you? We both have a love for animals. Delbert‘s family grew up dairy farming. I started working on a dairy farm my sophomore year of high school. Both of us have shown cows in 4-H and FFA where we grew a passion for developing and showing cows with great genetics. Delbert was a tter of show cattle for over 25 years and after meeting me, we both travelled to shows and sales together. This only ignited our passion for the industry more.
Tell us about your farm. Our farm was ofcially established in 1998 with the start of the prex Brook Hollow farm. The rst cow we bought together was a Guernsey named Jastes Ben Joy. She was intermediate champion and reserve grand champion at World Dairy Expo in 1995. We were mainly Holstein breeders. In 2004 we bought our rst and only Brown Swiss cow named Top Acres Pre Para. She has produced over 110 offspring with the Brook Hollow prex. Our milk is shipped to Borden Dairy in Oberlin, Ohio.
How many times a day do you milk and what is your rolling herd average? We milk twice a day and our rolling herd average is 27,448 pounds of milk, 1,275 pounds of butterfat and 885 pounds of protein.
Describe your housing and milking facility: Our cows are housed in a three-row freestall barn. The stalls have waterbeds and are bedded with sawdust daily. We milk our cows in a double-6 stepup parlor.
Who is part of your farm team and what are their roles? Rich does most of the feeding, manure scraping and crop management. Michael is employed full time on the farm and does the milking, all the calf care and handles all the breeding. Makayla helps with eldwork, milking and calf chores. Tyler does milking shifts, eldwork and much of the maintenance on the farm. Both Makayla and Tyler have full-time jobs off the farm.
What is your herd health program? We do herd health every Monday morning. The
TOP PERFORMERS
vet comes and we do pregnancy checks and general herd health. We vaccinate every spring with J-5 for mastitis. At dry off, cows receive a booster of Ultrabac 7 and Scour Bos and are dry treat-
ed with Quartermaster and a teat sealer. After they freshen, they get Bova-Shield Gold HB booster and another Bova-Shield Gold HB booster after they are conrmed pregnant.
What does your dry cow and transition program consist of? Dry cows are in a dry cow lot with free stalls in a lean-to on the old tie-stall barn. The ration consists of straw, corn silage, dry cow
concentrate and haylage.
What is the composition of your ration, and how has that changed in recent years? Our rations consist of corn silage, haylage, high moisture corn and custom supplements. We have continued to supply more nutrients (lysine, methionine and a proper balance of trans fatty acids) as the herd has progressed.
Tell us about the forages you plant and detail your harvest strategies. We grow HarvXtra alfalfa, which allows us to cut every 30-35 days without losing forage quality. We cut four crops with the last cutting shortly after Labor Day. Our corn silage is regular eld corn. Our feed is stored in upright stave and Harvestore silos. Any excess feed is stored in bags.
What is your average somatic cell count and how does that affect your production? Our SCC average runs between 80,000150,000.
• Zero Maintenance, zero electricity, no chemicals
• Observations have shown greater resistance and reduced losses due to salmonella and avian influenza.
• Reduction and in many cases elimination of bacteria load in water.
• Improves medication performance in water, when used.
• Helping to improve profitability in these narrow margins
“Our waterers are cleaner than they have ever been with the peroxide system saving labor in daily cleaning, keeping excess water out of the lagoon which saves in manure hauling expense.”
“Water tank was clean in just a week, didn’t lose any measurable milk in last year’s heat.” David Wohlt Dairy, 220 cows, Northeast, WI
Norswiss Dairy, 4000 cows, Northeast WI
Richview
Lambrecht, Michael Lambrecht (son), Makayla and Tyler Morlock (daughter and son-in-law) | Belle Plaine, Minnesota | Scott County | 110 cows
EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR
Michael (le ) and Rich Lambrecht stand Oct. 8 at Richview Dairy near Belle Plaine, Minnesota.
The Lambrechts milk 110 cows in a step-up parlor.
Bongards’ Creameries
Has been a quality market for MN dairy farmers for over 100 years. MN producers provide one of the country’s most distinctive brands of cheese that is still made using the same Old World craftsmanship and has been combined with cutting-edge technology to produce cheese that delivers unforgettable taste with unparalleled quality. MN Dairy farmers and Bongards, quality that stands the test of time. We offer a competitive base price, premiums, and the best eld representatives in the industry.
“We’ve used Udder Comfort™ over 10 years: Blue spray on fresh animals and lotion with massage for any flareups. We tried others but always came back to this product because it works,” says Staci Sexton. In 2013, she started Schoene Kuh Dairy, today milking 60 registered Holsteins and Jerseys with a genetic focus on production, health traits, and components. Along with the Irish Ridge herd of her parents and brother, where she helps with herd work, 125 cows are milked at the Millville, Minnesota dairy farm that has been in the family over 160 years.
Schoene Kuh is German for ‘beautiful cow.’ Staci loves working with cows and genetics, earning progressive breeder and milk quality awards. Her 9th AI bull in 10 years is a homozygous polled, high cheese merit bull named King Kong.
“It’s exciting to breed, flush, and wait nine months hoping to get something great,” she says, and when it comes to first calvers “we use Udder Comfort to reduce swelling. Fresh heifers are comfortable with better, faster milkout. It’s easy to use and helps keep our SCC low.”
— Staci Sexton
Staci Sexton (left) with Virginia Magyar at WDE.
What change has created the biggest improvement in your herd average? The implementation of G6G and CowManager have given us a higher pregnancy rate and fewer average days in milk. In turn, we are getting more milk out of the cows.
What technology do you use to monitor your herd? We have used CowManager for a year and that has helped Michael nd cows in heat along with nding sick cows sooner. This in turn, has brought the pregnancy rate up 6% in the past year and allowed us to treat cows earlier for illness.
What is your breeding program and what role do genetics play in your production level? We enroll all rst service cows in G6G at 45 days and rebreeds get put on ovsync along with heifers if they didn’t get picked up by the CowManager system. We believe that getting our average days in milk to 150-165 keeps the averages up. Additionally, Michael has taken over all breeding and works closely with Select Sires to try and keep a competitive edge on generations to come. That has shown on our rst lactation heifers.
List three management strategies that have helped you attain your production and component level. Selective breeding. Working closely with our nutritionist to keep a balanced ration with on- and off-farm feed stuffs. Milking and feeding times stay consistent.
Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy in the next year. We are a multi-generation farm. Rich is fth generation and our
children are the sixth generation. We are very family oriented, and we wish to pass the farm down to the next generations. We have looked into other ways to expand and become more efcient due to our very fast-growing family. It’s not easy in today’s times, but we are trying to make it work because it is not very often nowadays that you get the opportunity to pass on the family farm to the next generation.
EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR
A cow with a CowManager tag eats total mixed ra on Oct. 8 at Richview Dairy near Belle Plaine, Minnesota. The rolling herd average is 27,448 pounds of milk, 1,275 pounds of bu erfat and 885 pounds of protein.
Rich Lambrecht holds a handful of feed Oct. 8 at Richview Dairy near Belle Plaine, Minnesota. The cows’ ra on consists of corn silage, haylage, high moisture corn and a custom supplement.
Contact one of the following dealers to learn more:
IOWA
Prairie Land Ag Supply Inc. Rock Valley, IA 712-476-9290
United Dairy Systems, Inc. West Union, IA 563-422-5355
Monticello, IA 319-465-5931
WISCONSIN
Advanced Dairy Spring Valley, WI
715-772-3201
Bob’s Dairy Supply Dorchester, WI
715-654-5252
Ederer Dairy Supply Plain, WI
608-546-3713
DeLaval Dairy Service Kaukauna, WI 866-335-2825
Joe’s Refrigeration Inc. Withee, WI 715-229-2321
Mlsna Dairy Supply Inc. Cashton, WI 608-654-5106
Professional Dairy Services Arlington, WI 608-635-0268
Redeker Dairy Equipment Brandon, WI 920-346-5579
The Scharine Group Inc. Whitewater, WI 800 472-2880 Mt Horeb, WI
800-872-3470
MINNESOTA & SOUTH
DAKOTA Farm Systems
Melrose, MN
320-256-3276 Brookings, SD 800-636-5581
Advanced Dairy Mora, MN
320-679-1029 Pierz, MN
320-468-2494
St. Charles, MN 507-932-4288 Wadena, MN 218-632-5416
Milk hauling, farming are cornerstones for Lepp
By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com
RANDOM LAKE, Wis.
Producing milk and hauling milk have kept Irv Lepp busy for much of his life. When he was not in the barn, he was on the road. Making his livelihood as a milkman and a dairyman, Lepp’s overlapping careers have enticed him to work well past retirement age.
At 80 years old, Lepp continues to farm alongside his sons, Mel and John, and his grandson, Rodney. His grandson, Bobby, helps on the farm as well.
“If it wouldn’t be for my sons and grandchildren here, why would I still be working?” Lepp said.
The Lepps milk between 500-600 cows three times a day in a double-10 parallel parlor and farm 1,260 acres near Random Lake on a farm that has been in the family for well over 100 years. Lepp and
Leaving a legacy
to his
over a million miles — Sept. 26 near Random Lake, Wisconsin. Lepp, who started Irv Lepp Milk Transit in 1973, milks between 500-600 cows and farms 1,260 acres with his sons and grandsons.
his wife, June, own the farm in partnership with their sons. Lepp and June raised ve children on the farm they purchased from her parents approximately 40 years ago. They were milking nearly 80 cows in a 25-stall stanchion barn down the road at Lepp’s uncle’s farm, which they also purchased around the same time. It was not long before they built a new facility that included a milking parlor and freestall barn.
“We built a new system, and I was glad everything was up to par,” Lepp said.
Over the years, the Lepps added onto the barn several times to accommodate a growing herd.
“We’ve been adding and building, but some of our facilities are aging now,” Lepp said.
Simultaneous to his career as a farmer, Lepp drove milk truck for 54 years. He hauled for ve years before buying a milk hauling business in 1973 that he named Irv Lepp Milk Transit.
“I grew into this business slowly,” Lepp said. “I started out hauling for other guys and bought the business from someone I worked for.”
Lepp began by hauling to Sealtest Dairy in Milwaukee. When they closed, he took milk to Gehl’s in Germantown.
“That milk business was leased to Cedarburg Dairy, and we’re in there yet today,” Lepp said. “It’s now Dairy Farmers of America.”
Lepp hauled milk seven days a week for up to 14 farms at one point.
“June and I would start the morning milking, and then she and my daughter would nish up so I could get going on the route,” Lepp said. “I was always home for the evening milking.”
Lepp said his favorite thing about hauling milk was
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
Irv Lepp stands next
spare milk truck — a 1978 Mack with
from LEPP | Page 23 meeting and greeting people.
“I like working with people,” he said. “Before I hauled milk, I worked at a factory, and I couldn’t wait to get out. I started hauling milk and made less money, but I was much happier. There are really nice people on the route.”
Lepp remembers the kindness of fellow farmers, including one who saved the day in a snowstorm.
“We had heavy storms one year, and one day, I never got all the milk picked up,” Lepp said. “The road was blocked and I couldn’t get through, but a neighbor helped me out. He got his tractor and loader and plowed a path to his garage so I could pull my truck in.”
Lepp took his load in the next morning, but before he left, he repaid the farmer’s generosity and pumped some of his milk into the truck because his bulk tank was overowing.
“He shipped to Borden’s, but his milk man couldn’t make it because of the weather, so I took some of his milk,” Lepp said. “The milk plants were good about it.”
The compassion Lepp experienced hauling milk was not the same as what he experienced at the factory.
“If you had a problem in the factory, people didn’t always want to help,” Lepp said. “Whereas if you have a problem hauling milk, a farmer will come give you a hand right away.”
One by one, the farmers on Lepp’s route retired, so he bought out Cedarburg Transit, which had about a dozen farms. He appreciates the loyalty of farmers on his route.
“We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them,” he said. “The milk plants don’t care who hauls the milk, but when a route changes hands, the farmer
Cows eat a total mixed ra on Sept. 26 at Irv Lepp’s farm near Random Lake, Wisconsin. The freestall barn and
parlor were built nearly 40 years ago.
will stick with the milk man versus the dairy. When we changed dairies, the farmers all stayed with us. We appreciate that to no end.”
Lepp’s grandson, Michael Petersen, has taken over the route. Petersen has been hauling milk for about ve years and is now the sole driver for the business, picking up milk at 11 farms. Up until last year, Lepp helped his grandson on the weekends.
“I’ve since turned all the driving over to Mike, and now he’s been hauling straight through,” Lepp said. “He’s training a new guy though to help with relief driving. We plan to sell the busi-
ness to Mike.”
Lepp has two trucks for hauling milk. The truck on the road is a 2014 Western Star with a 5,800-gallon tank that Petersen drives daily. Lepp also has a spare milk truck — a 1978 Mack with over a million miles on it.
“I bought that truck brand new,” Lepp said. “It’s been through a lot of snowbanks, but it still runs well to this day. I couldn’t be hauling milk without a spare truck. Another hauler could maybe help us in a bind, but when we need a spare, we need it now, not tomorrow.”
Lepp keeps his trucks in good con-
dition. The spare truck has a new frame and a new cab, but it is not needed often.
“If something ever happens to the milk business, we can use those trucks on our farms,” Lepp said. “The money I spent on the frame won’t be a loss. I’m one to x up the old stuff, including farm machinery.”
Irv Lepp Milk Transit remains in the family with a new generation at the wheel while Lepp remains focused on the farm.
“I miss getting around hauling milk, but I keep plenty busy around here,” Lepp said.
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
milking
Doubling down Schilling brothers expand after Bollant retires
By Dan Wacker dan.w@dairystar.com
FENNIMORE, Wis. — Finding a place to expand their dairy farm was a journey lled with twists and turns for Andy and Brian Schilling.
Schilling Brothers Dairy Farm is owned by Andy and Sarah and Brian and Bridget Schilling. Together, they milk 2,200 cows near Fennimore. They purchased their farm in 2021.
The Schillings were originally dairy farming near Darlington. When they tried to buy a neighboring dairy to expand, negotiations fell through and they were sent back to the drawing board.
Because of these negotiations, they had their money and banking in place. Their next opportunity came when the brothers heard about Steve Bollant’s farm near Fennimore being up for sale. Initially, Bollant was looking for a buyer to purchase the entire farm, but the Schillings were only interested in a portion of the farm.
However, when Bollant changed course and put up his 1,600-cow dairy facility for auction in parcels instead of the entire farm, the Schillings made a spur-of-the-moment decision to
attend the auction.
“When we got there, the realtor came over and gave us a number for the auction,” Andy said. “I told him we didn’t ll out the registration form completely online. He told us we were good to go.”
Quick decisions at the auction sent the brothers home as owners of the dairy, which was a 40-minute drive from their homestead.
Bridget did not know her husband was out buying a farm.
“I thought he was going to an implement auction,” she said.
Andy said his sister-in-law was not the only person unaware of their location.
“The banker didn’t know we were going either,” Andy said. “They sold the property in parcels, and this place was what we were really interested in. We were happy to get it.”
Bollant said he is happy the farm went to Brian and Andy too.
“I had been down to their place in Darlington before and knew it was well kept,” Bollant said. “They have pride in their place and that came with them to this farm.”
The dream of the new Schilling Brothers Dairy Farm was beginning to come to life. The next issue the brothers faced was
lling the barn.
“We bought from three herds to ll it out,” Brian said. “We bought from one herd that was about ve miles away that
“We were really lucky with when we were buying cattle,” Brian said. “Six months later, the price went back up and cattle would have been $500 more a head.”
Andy agreed.
“Things would have been a lot different if that scenario happened 3-4 months later,” he said. “As the markets took off, it looked like a godsend.”
Along with the new cattle from the three other farms, the brothers brought some of their own from Schilling Farms in Darlington. They now had a herd with a home. Keeping the staff the Bollants employed was the next step.
“At rst no one lived up there,” Andy said. “Sarah and I lived in a camper on the property for a little bit while Brian drove back and forth from home. Moises Ramos, our feeder, and Jake Yelnick, one of our herdsmen, were super important to us in our transition.”
Due to transportation issues, the Bollants barn was not empty until Dec. 17, 2021, 10 days before the Schillings were due to start milking. In those 10 days, Andy and Brian had re-modeling plans to undertake.
They worked with Wolf Construction LLC out of Lancaster.
was raising our youngstock, (and) then we bought from two other places.”
The Schilling brothers said the timing worked well.
DAN WACKER/DAIRY STAR
Brian (le ) and Andy stand in front of a truck they use to haul milk and feed Oct. 1 near Fennimore, Wisconsin. Doing their own trucking was a key point for the Schillings when expanding their dairy.
and Carter — stand outside the farm office of Schilling Brothers Dairy Farm Oct. 1 near Fennimore, Wisconsin. The family purchased the facility in 2021.
“We didn’t know Todd (Wolf) before we got here,” Andy said. We always want to work with people we know. But he has a great crew, and they did a really great job.”
The job they were tasked with was expanding the holding area from 80 to 300 cows. They did a great job the Schillings said. They continue to use them in their farm upgrades today.
“Having a relationship with who we’re working with is so important to us,” Andy said. “That’s another way Steve helped us out so much. He gave us his list of contractors who he worked with in the community. Working in the community is something that is important to us.”
The Schillings had a new farm, new cattle and new land to tend to. One hundred ten acres came with the property, and the brothers rented 1,800 more on a long-term lease from the Bollants.
“We added about 2,500 acres with this farm, running mostly corn and alfalfa,” Andy said. “Two weeks before we bought this place, we added 500 acres in Darlington.”
“There were some learning curves that rst season,” Brian said. “We had to gure out the timing better. Making the alfalfa through the weather that rst year was probably our biggest struggle.”
The Schillings do their own trucking, which helps with transportation of forages during chopping season and milk hauling.
“We’ll hire Dan Dannenberg of Triple D Farms to help us with chopping,” Andy said. “We’ll run our own chop-
per and use Dan’s along with all of our trucks.”
With the inux in acreage and the need for feed, the addition of extra labor was needed. Rising to the challenge were Brian and Andy’s families.
“The boys have really stepped up with the crops,” Andy said. “Brian’s daughter, Kylie, works with the cows. That’s been one of the most rewarding parts of adding this farm, seeing our kids step up, and working with my wife.”
Bridget used to be a full-time nurse before Brian and Andy bought the place. Now she works on the farm, handling the human resources and helping with employees.
The brothers and their families are establishing a new culture of their own, a culture that helps set up future generations.
“We want to be remembered by the quality of our farm, and the passion we farm with,” Brian said. “We want to take care of this for the next generations.”
Brian serves as president of the Lafayette Ag Stewardship Alliance. LASA’s vision is to be a community where farmers and friends of agriculture work together to protect and improve water quality and the environment.
“We’ve become better stewards over the years, adapting to new practices,” Brian said.
The brothers continue to evolve their approach to take care of the buildings, the animals and improve the land they manage for future generations.
New Silver Star Products!
DAN WACKER/DAIRY STAR
The Schillings family — Kameron (from le�), Kylie, Bridget, Brian, Andy, Sarah, Bailey
Like father, like daughter
Doug, Abby
Fairbanks dairy side by side
By Amy Kyllo amy.k@star-pub.com
ANAMOSA, Iowa — Abby Fairbanks has always known she wanted to dairy farm. Her dad, Doug, remembers her at 3 years old dashing barefoot down the driveway in pursuit as he drove to the dairy farm.
“I had no choice but to stop and pick her up,” Doug said. “She just always wanted to be on the farm with me. … She’d be out playing with the calves, or walking in her bare feet out in the cow pies and doing little farm girl things.”
The Fairbanks family milks 400 cows and farms 600 acres on their farm near Anamosa. Doug is assisted by Abby, his wife, Jody, his nephew, Josh, and two full-time employees. Abby has been working full time on the farm for a year and a half since college.
“(When) you have a passion for something, it doesn’t need to be about the job or the lifestyle, it’s just everything in general,” Abby said. “I like working seven days a week. I love the cows. … I always wanted to do it.”
Doug said he encouraged Abby to look at other things before she made a decision to farm.
“I don’t want them to come home unless they’re interested in coming home,” he said. “You can’t farm with part of a heart.”
Abby remained settled in her decision. She is the third generation of the Fairbanks family to farm the land.
“I’m proud of the farm as a whole,” she said. “It’s crazy to see how far it has progressed.”
Doug and Jody started dairy farming in the early ‘90s.
“Jody has been an awesome supporter of what I do,” Doug said. “I couldn’t have done it without her.”
The couple purchased cattle,
Jody (from le ), Doug and Abby Fairbanks pause Sept. 14 on their farm near Anamosa, Iowa. The Fairbanks family milks 400 cows and farms 600 acres.
equipment and feed from Doug’s parents, Charles and Carol. His parents had farmed the land as renters for 35 years. Challenges of the ‘80s farming crisis and more had prevented them from owning the farm. Doug said he is grateful their legacy helped him dairy.
One of the things Doug credits for enabling the farm to grow from zero acres to 600 acres in 30 some years is having good loan ofcers that allowed him to have input.
In the ‘90s his loan ofcer wanted him to spend $80,000 to buy equipment to reduce custom work bills. Doug made him a counter offer. Instead, he used the $80,000 to build a step-up parlor to replace the 18-stall stanchion, doubled his herd to 120 cows and built a hoop barn for housing.
“I paid that loan really fast,” Doug said. “That gave me the cash ow to go ahead and purchase the farm.”
In 1999, he bought his 180-acre home farm. Since then, he and Jody have made seven land purchases to increase the farmland to what it is to-
KERNEL PROCESSORS
day. All land is within manure hauling distance.
Doug’s philosophy on investment has remained constant over the decades: cows over equipment. He does not own a corn planter, combine or chopper. He said he does not want to invest money in something that predominantly sits and depreciates.
“It takes labor to run them, which I don’t have, and it takes knowledge and cost to x them, which I don’t
have,” Doug said. “I’m a dairyman. I love cows, and I want to spend every second I can with cattle.”
In 2014, Doug again made a facilities upgrade. Taking a eld across the road from his farm site, he built a 450-stall, sand bedded freestall barn and a manure pit. The building houses milking and dry cows, a double-12 rapid exit parlor and a holding pen.
“I felt like I had to do that to attract the next generation,” Doug said. “I wouldn’t want them to milk 180 cows three times a day in my step-up parlor.”
Doug and Abby combine to milk every cow at least one of the three milkings.
“I get up at 2:45 a.m. seven days a week,” Doug said. “I just feel like (milking) gives me an advantage, because I can keep such a handle on my herd.”
The herd has three strings of registered cattle: 240 Holsteins, 80 Brown Swiss and 80 Jerseys. Doug uses the colored breeds to augment components and protability without increasing herd size.
“I want to send a semi load of milk every other day,” Fairbanks said. “Once the tank gets full of milk, the next way to make it more protable is to make it heavier.”
He said shipping a semi load makes him competitive with any dairy.
“It can only leave (anywhere) one truck at a time,” Doug said.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIELLE BURKLE
The University of Minnesota Department of Animal Science hosted the Minnesota Nutrition Conference Sept. 18-19 at the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center in Mankato, Minnesota. The dairy program covered a wide range of applied nutrition topics, from calf nutrition to transition cow health.
I kicked off the dairy session by presenting updates on my team’s research, which focuses on the relationship between circadian rhythms and feed efciency of dairy cows. I shared recent ndings from our lab on the impacts of automated mixing and feeding robots on feed bunk nutrient variability and bulk tank milk fatty acid proles. We observed that herds using automated feeding robots showed lower variation in dry matter and ber concentrations at the feed bunk, as well as higher bulk tank de novo fatty acid concentrations, which suggests more stable rumen fermentation.
moderate ber in calf starters or offering limited amounts of alfalfa hay can enhance rumen development, starter intake and overall calf performance at weaning. He also discussed the benets of gradually reducing milk replacer starting at around 4-5 weeks of age to ease the transition from milk to solid feed and reduce weaningrelated health and performance issues.
By Isaac Salfer University of Minnesota
Dr. Jim Drackley from the University of Illinois was our second speaker. He presented research focused on pre-weaning nutrition in dairy calves, emphasizing strategies to promote high starter intake before weaning to minimize post-weaning declines in performance and efciency. The key, he stressed, is ensuring sufcient starter intake to support proper rumen development. He suggested that feeding
Dr. Kirby Krogstad, a newly hired professor at Ohio State University, summarized research on the impacts of feeding Enogen corn silage, conducted by his group and others. Enogen is a genetically engineered corn hybrid that produces higher levels of a-amylase, leading to greater starch breakdown during ensiling. His research showed modest increases in neutral detergent ber and starch digestibility when feeding Enogen corn silage but found no signicant effects on dry matter intake, milk production or feed efciency. However, they did observe reduced milk urea nitrogen, indicating improved nitrogen use efciency due to enhanced starch digestibility. In contrast, research from Pennsylvania State University showed increased milk protein and improved feed efciency with Enogen corn silage, though both studies reported no signicant impacts on energy-corrected milk yield.
Our fourth presenter was Dr. Isaac
TRUST THE EXPERTS
Haagen from UMN. He reviewed the genetic factors associated with feed efciency in dairy cows and calves, specically discussing the implementation of the “feed saved” trait in dairy genetic evaluations and its potential to improve herd protability. He shared recent estimates from the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding, which show that the heritability of the “feed saved” trait is approximately 0.19 — higher than several health traits. He also presented his team’s research showing that the heritability of gross feed efciency (gain per unit of feed) in heifers is approximately 0.25 and suggested that crossbred calves have better feed conversion ratios than purebreds. Overall, he highlighted the signicant potential for improving feed efciency through genetic selection.
Dr. MaryGrace Erickson, a recent University of Wisconsin graduate and current postdoctoral researcher in the UMN biosystems and bioproducts engineering department, presented her work on feeding low-protein diets and oscillating protein strategies. She discussed how environmental pressures to reduce nitrogen emissions, particularly ammonia and nitrous oxide, have led to a push for lower dietary crude protein levels in dairy cow diets to improve nitrogen use efciency. However, their research showed that dietary CP levels below 14.5%, even in late-lactation cows, can severely impair ber digestion,
Dana Adams adam1744@umn.edu 320-204-2968
Joe Armstrong armst225@umn.edu 612.624.3610
Luciano Caixeta lcaixeta@umn.edu 612-625-3130
Gerard Cramer gcramer@umn.edu 612-625-8184
Marcia Endres miendres@umn.edu 612-624-5391
Les Hansen hanse009@umn.edu
612-624-2277
Brad Heins hein0106@umn.edu 320-589-1711
Nathan Hulinsky huli0013@umn.edu 320-203-6104
Karen Johnson ande9495@umn.edu 320-484-4334
Emily Krekelberg krek0033@umn.edu 507-280-2863
cow performance and body weight without signicantly improving nitrogen use efciency. She also presented ndings from a study using an oscillating protein feeding strategy, where cows alternated between diets with 15.5% and 13.8% CP every 48 hours. This approach resulted in reduced nitrogen outputs (urine, manure, and milk urea nitrogen) without major impacts on milk production, indicating cows’ resilience to alternating between proteinadequate and protein-decient diets.
The nal presenter of the day was Dr. Luciano Caixeta from the UMN College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Caixeta discussed their research on hyperketonemia in postpartum cows, exploring why some cows with this condition maintain milk production while others do not. Their research showed that cows diagnosed with hyperketonemia in the rst week postpartum were far more likely to experience low milk production, poor reproductive performance and early culling compared to those diagnosed in the second week. He also presented ndings suggesting that cows with high rumination times and hyperketonemia produced more milk than non-hyperketonemic cows.
Overall, the 2024 Minnesota Nutrition Conference featured an excellent lineup of speakers and topics. We hope you can join us for the 2025 conference next September.
Claire LaCanne lacanne@umn.edu 507-332-6109
Brenda Miller nels4220@umn.edu 320-732-4435
Isaac Salfer ijsalfer@umn.edu 320-296-1357
Jim Salfer salfe001@umn.edu 320-203-6093
Mike Schutz mschutz@umn.edu 612-624-1205
Melissa Wilson mlw@umn.edu 612-625-4276
Isaac Haagen hagge041@umn.edu 612-624-7455
Michael Boland boland@umn.edu 612-625-3013
Sabrina Florentino slpore@umn.edu 507-441-1765
Thousands of manure samples tell us we need to continue to test
By Erin Cortus, Nancy Bohl Bormann, Melissa Wilson
ManureDB is a new web-based portal that aggregates and summarizes manure composition data for over half a million samples from 1998 to the present. Having current values of U.S. manure nutrients gives an improved baseline of values for farmers, consultants, regulators and researchers when accounting for manure nutrients. ManureDB can be found at http://manuredb.umn.edu/, where options to view summary statistics and download data are available to the public.
While annual manure sample analysis remains a best management practice for livestock farms for nutrient management planning, there are instances where we rely on approximations. For example, manure nutrient value estimations are needed to determine the land base for manure spreading before new livestock farms are permitted. Most published manure nutrient concentration approximations — book values — used today were pulled from narrow U.S. regions with limited samples decades ago. A common reference is the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering D384 Standard on Manure Production and Characteristics. This reference prescribes a typical fertilizer content, expressed as nitrogen – phosphate – potassium oxide, of 6-311 pounds per 1,000 gallons for dairy lagoon efuent and 25-25-40 pounds per 1,000 gallons for dairy slurry and approximately 13-9-13 pounds per ton for solid manure scraped from lots.
What can over 70,000 dairy manure samples tell us about dairy manure in the last decade? The graphs display dairy manure fertilizer nutrient values for solid and liquid samples in ManureDB. Solid manure includes samples with more than 10% solids and liquid represents samples with solids content less than 10%. The graphs represent data from 2012 to 2022, for regions of the U.S. with more than 500 manure samples in the database for the time range and region. The Midwest region includes Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana and Illinois. The Northeast combines data for Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and West Virginia. The Southeast region covers Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The graphs demonstrate the medians and the 25th to 75th quartiles. This means that for all the concentration data in the database, 50% of samples have a concentration within the bars in the graphs. This also means that 50% of samples fall outside these bars.
For solid manure, the Southeast region had greater total nitrogen, phosphate (P2O5), and potassium oxide (K2O) compared to the Midwest or Northeast regions. However, the ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N) was lower in the Southeast. Unfortunately, the database cannot tell us all the particulars behind every sample that inuences manure composition, like bedding and storage types. However, we can suppose that warmer conditions in the Southeast promote ammonia loss from stored manure. For all regions, the median fertilizer nutrient content was less than the D384 Standard.
Median manure concentra ons for solid manure samples. The ver cal bars represent the 25th and 75th quar les, meaning 50% of the sample data falls within the range of the bars. [Total N = total nitrogen; NH4-N = ammonium nitrogen; P2O5 = phosphate; K2O = potassium oxide].
For liquid manure, there were small differences in the medians for the Midwest and Northeast samples, likely because of similar storage and climates across the two regions. The median fertilizer nutrient content is less than the book value from the D384 Standard for slurry, especially for phosphate and potassium oxide. The concentrations in liquid samples were considerably lower in the Southeast and are not very different from the D384 Standard. In warmer climates, lagoons with larger volumes and more dilution are more prevalent, in addition to warmer weather promoting ammonia emissions.
Median manure concentra ons for liquid manure samples. The ver cal bars represent the 25th and 75th quar les, meaning 50% of the sample data falls within the range of the bars. [Total N = total nitrogen; NH4-N = ammonium nitrogen; P2O5 = phosphate; K2O = potassium oxide].
Variation between regions is understandable. It is also important to recognize the variability for any of the manure analytes within a region. For example, while the median total nitrogen concentration for Midwest manure samples is 18 pounds per 1,000 gallons, 50% of samples fall within the range of 13-22 pounds per 1,000 gallons. Minnesota’s Manure Application Rate Guide for sweep injection of liquid dairy manure and 195 pounds per acre of plant available nitrogen for corn recommends application rates of 15,000-28,000 gallons per acre for that 50% sample range. The risk of underapplying nutrients could shortchange the crop and overapplication could lose nutrients to the environment. These graphs are a snapshot. With annual additions to the database of more samples, ManureDB can track changes over time as well. These numbers tell a history and express the variability in manure within and between regions. Ultimately, these data are a reminder that we need to regularly sample and analyze manure nutrients to make safe and efcient use of them.
The World’s Best TMR Processor
The Fairbanks family beds with sand that is 90% recycled using their sand settling lanes. The lanes paid for themselves in 10 months. Josh is in charge of the lanes.
The Fairbanks family has diversied their income stream. They only raise the heifers they need and sell beef cross animals from the lower portion of the herd. They also sell about 120 herd bulls each year.
Doug and Abby each have their own roles on the dairy. The father-daughter pair said they work well together, do not argue and keep things light-hearted.
“We have fun,” Doug said. “There just is no tension. … We think so much alike that it’s livestock rst. I think we both enjoy the farm so much. Our goals really align.”
Abby agreed.
“I can’t think of a time in my whole life where we didn’t really get along, especially with the farm,” she said. “We’ve just grown to appreciate each other and realize our own strengths and weaknesses, and made it work. We complement each other.”
Taking time off is one of Doug’s goals.
“I’ve been better at taking care of the cattle than I have taking care of
myself,” he said. “I love what I do. … I just know that I can’t probably continue to work at this pace for a long time without some sacrices.”
In the future, Doug wants to transition the farm.
“I don’t really see myself retiring,” Doug said. “I’m doing what I want to do. … At some point in time I want to not have all the management decisions.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIELLE BURKLE
Abby Fairbanks gives grain to calves Sept. 14 on her family’s farm near Anamosa, Iowa. Fairbanks has been working full me on her family’s farm for a year and a half since college.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIELLE BURKLE
Doug Fairbanks runs out a total mixed ra on Sept. 14 at his farm near Anamosa, Iowa. Fairbanks started dairy farming in the early ‘90s on rented land and has since increased his farm to 600 acres.
How did you get into farming? Growing up I always wanted to be a farmer. I started working on a farm when I was 12 years old and it never stopped.
What are the most signicant ways your farm has changed since you started farming? The technology, genetics and nutritional components for my cattle.
What was a challenge you faced in your dairy farming career and how did you overcome it? The overall change in the dairy industry. I overcame it by watching the market and making decisions with my wife on what changes would best suit our farm.
What is the best decision you have made on your farm? I purchased the farm that I grew up working on and have made changes to herd size, genetics and overall nutrition for the cattle and have also made upgrades to the barn and equipment.
What three things on the farm can you not live without? The skid loader, which is undeniably the most important piece of equipment that is used for a wide number of daily tasks. Constant support of my family allows me to continue in this business. My wife and the outside resources that make our success possible, including the bank, Grassland Dairy, the veterinarian, etc.
What are your thoughts and concerns about the dairy industry for the next year? The concern on milk prices dropping lower than what they have been.
DAIRY PROFILE
What strategies do you use to withstand the volatile milk prices? We try to budget what we spend on things for the farm and extra things we may want or need.
How do you retain a good working relationship with your employee(s)? Or how do you maintain family relationships while also working together? Trust and a partnership with the understanding that the decisions made are for the good of the farm. It can be very difcult at times, but being able to discuss things with my wife is helpful for our relationship at running our farm.
What do you nd most rewarding about dairy farming? Being self-employed and the caretaker of the land and our livestock. Giving our children the chance to grow up learning the responsibility and privilege of the farm life and working together on this farm as a family that my wife and I created.
Tell us something special about your farm. It is the place I was able to learn to love farming as a teenager and was able to purchase that farm to now raise my family on.
What are your plans for your dairy in the next year and ve years? Undergoing construction on the farm to allow us to purchase more cows and land to expand our operation.
How do you or your family like to spend time when you are not doing chores? We enjoy visits with family and friends and just spending time as a family with our kids, Joel and Jaycee. We also enjoy our Sunday ice cream dates and a drive around the ridge with the kids.
Dalton and Sophie Gnewikow Wilton, Wisconsin
PHOTO SUBMITTED
The Gnewikow family — Joel (front); (back, from le ) Dalton holding Jaycee, and Sophie — gather in their barn near Wilton, Wisconsin. The Gnewikows milk 45 cows.
The most interesting grass-fed farmer
In the Midwest, it’s well known that most people are polite. If they see something odd or something they don’t like, they won’t say how they feel about it. They’ll just say, “That’s interesting.” I was told the other day by a friend that I am the most interesting grass-fed dairy farmer he knows. I think it was a compliment, but he’s a born and bred Midwesterner so I might just be odd.
From the Zweber Farm
The conversation in which I was deemed as either the most interesting or eccentric farmer came when I told him I was going on a trip with a friend to climb mountains in Colorado. It’s a pretty low bar for me to be the most interesting grass-fed dairy farmer he knows as I’m the only one he knows. I’m also possibly the only person he knows who climbs rocks and mountains for fun. It’s not the typical activity for a farmer, although I do know a few people in agriculture who are also avid hikers and climbers of rocks and mountains. I’ve met many more farmers who love skiing, probably because winter is an easier time for farmers to vacation and that is very much a winter sport.
mountains for part of a week and forgot I had an article deadline approaching. Thankfully, there’s pretty decent cell reception when you get to the top of a mountain, and I checked my texts and emails and saw a reminder that I better get the Dairy Star staff an article before I headed home if I’d like it to be printed. A beautiful alpine lake with Longs Peak as the backdrop, the smell of pine trees and a thunderstorm that just rolled through is probably a better setting for painting a picture or writing a poem, but it’ll do as inspiration for a Dairy Star article too.
By Tim Zweber Farmer & Columnist
I started writing this article by a lake in the mountains of Rocky Mountain National Park while eating a dinner of rehydrated chicken and ramen noodles with some vegetables, one of my favorite backpacking meals, second to grits with ham and parmesan cheese. I got busy getting things around the farm ready for me to disappear into the
If you’ve never been to Rocky Mountain National Park, you should consider going. Colorado is remarkably cheap to y to and rent a car. You can also drive there in a day from Minnesota, but it’s a very long day of driving. The park is only a couple hours from Denver and has a town right outside for food and other supplies or experiences you might want while visiting the park. As far as where to sleep, I’m cheap and nd forest land to camp for free, so I don’t have much advice for you on that. If you want to know of a beautiful spot next to a creek at the base of some mountains to camp on forest service land though, I can give you the coordinates.
I know I’ve said it before in an article or two, but get out there and enjoy nature. As farmers we are outside every day, sometimes enjoying the outdoor work and sometimes
wishing we had one of those ofce jobs that are warm and dry. Farming is a stressful job. Going somewhere beautiful, whether that’s a beach or mountain, and being outside because you want to be and where you want to be is great for mental health.
Until next time keep living the dream and get outside. First, get corn silage and other time-sensitive harvest tasks done, but then get out there and relax in nature. You’ll be glad you did and problems that seemed really big before may seem much more manageable.
Tim Zweber farms with his wife, Emily, their three children and his parents, Jon and Lisa, near Elko, Minnesota.
OFFERING PARTS & SERVICE ON BADGER FARM EQUIPMENT
Golden kernels
By Tina Hinchley Farmer & Columnist
October has arrived with a buzz of excitement. This year, we volunteered to host collegiate dairy judging teams to practice for World Dairy Expo. Phil and Richard put together four strings to judge and had a good turnout. Students hung around after to visit and network and enjoyed some cookies and milk. We then hosted various organizations through the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and international travel groups to tour our farm. Our tours highlighted our dairy facility, environmental sustainability, feeding practices and general everyday operations. All these groups also got to enjoy cookies and milk.
Also mixed into the rst week, we had some rst graders from a school in Madison. They were off the buses and into the shed in a ash, patiently listening to directions on farm safety, keeping their ears open to listen for running and moving tractors and where the bathrooms are located. The most important part of the conversation is about what not to touch or pick up. Since all farm animals poop on the ground, we don’t want any children picking up rocks or feathers. We stress the importance of sanitizer and hand washing throughout the farm visit.
This day on the farm started off with Daisy greeting the kids as they left the shed. She is a very sweet farm cat who can steal the attention away from any conversation. She laid at out while the kids got to pet her just twice, otherwise we would not see anything else on the farm. Like I said before, she can steal away attention even from the baby calves.
Walking over by the loang shed, the children were amazed to see two white turkey hens and a bronze hen walking up to see them. The hens said, “Tuck, tuck, tuck,” and the two white males followed behind strutting and making their gobble sounds. These are full-grown broad-breasted turkeys and are about chest high to most of these students. I was so impressed that the kids thought it was great and didn’t feel threatened as they followed us past the heifers and over to the milk house. Eventually, the kids were each able to shuck kernels off of their own cob of corn to feed the turkeys. The turkeys had been anticipating this treat.
It is hard work for little ngers to push or pull off the kernels, so a cob will last for many animals. Many of the kids peeled the kernels and put them in their hoody pockets so they could feed the next animals faster. The chickens were waiting for the brave kid to hold out a handful for them to peck off their palm. The others tossed in two or three kernels at a time, working their way through the chicken barn that has seven pens. The feeding stopped to gather eggs, but then it was back to work to feed more chickens. The turkeys were waiting outside to have a snack.
Up next, the pigs were snorting and pushing up against the wire panels to receive kernels and in some cases, the kids threw in their whole corn cob. The pigs love this and can work the kernels off the cob with their teeth much faster than the children can shuck. This is usually where the kids use up the rest of their corn. But in some cases, kids will make their cobs last and carry them into the calf barn where they leave a trail of golden kernels from their busy ngers to mark where they have walked.
After four classes of kids leaving corn trails in the calf barn, it becomes quite a littered mess, which I nd satisfying to sweep up at the end of the day. After the calf barn, we took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch to pick a sugar pie pumpkin and milk a cow in the dairy barn. By the time we got done with all of that it had been two hours and the children were ravenous. We headed to the tour shed to wash our hands like farmers, which is washing our hands in a bucket of warm water and antibacterial soap. We all sat down in the tour shed to enjoy our lunch before loading up the bus with pumpkins
in tow. Daisy said goodbye and tempted the kids to pet her one last time while she was trying to sneak on the bus with them. The kids were counted on the bus and waving farewell as they pulled out of the driveway. Anna and I look, smirking, at each other as we wave them off knowing that the oor of the bus is going to be covered in golden corn kernels. Tina Hinchley, her husband Duane and daughter Anna milk 240 registered Holsteins with robots. They also farm 2,300 acres near Cambridge, Wisconsin. The Hinchleys have been hosting farm tours for over 25 years.
Hugs. Squeezes. Embraces. Cuddles. They are such a simple way to show emotion. Affection. Appreciation. Love. Excitement. Comfort. Joy.
Hugs can be used in the place of words, in those moments when you nd that your arms move easier than your mouth.
I’m sorry. I love you. It will get better. I missed you. I am so glad you are alive.
Much like the benets of homemade chicken noodle soup, science has proven what every grandmother has known since the dawn of time. Hugs are good for your health. The act of hugging lowers your blood pressure, heart rate and decreases the amount of stress hormones released. Hugs also increase the levels of oxytocin, “the hug hormone,” which lowers your stress level as well. Scientists have found that hugging gets your thymus gland working, helping to give your immune system a boost. In case you need the important people to tell you, hugs help you sleep better as well. So, make sure to squeeze a couple in before bedtime.
I like to imagine a room full of white-coat-clad scientists with glasses perched precariously on the edges of their noses hugging one another for the recommended 20 seconds, then turning around and measuring all these respective levels within themselves. Since any Google search about hugs pops up a long list of life benets, it is no wonder that people within the agricultural industry have managed to pair this with some of our very huggable animals. There are working farms that offer reservations to cuddle a cow (which is typically a calf) for 30-minute blocks. There are places that offer cuddling goat kids to help with your stress relief, and of course, there is always goat yoga if that is not your cup of tea.
This past week was lled with an abundance of hugging for a multitude of reasons. My friend, Julie, and I loaded up two vans of very, very excited girls and headed off to World Dairy Expo. Between the girls hugging each other with anticipation and the hugs from friends I hadn’t seen in a year, the day was hug-lled. We even witnessed a young lady giving her beautiful Brown Swiss a celebratory hug as the judge placed them near the top. Marion was spending
her last full day in the U.S. with us at Expo, and the weather, sights and sounds of Expo did not disappoint. Our posse of eight girls, Julie, and I walked Marion up to her hotel room where the hug and cry line began in earnest. They say yawning is contagious, but I think crying might be as well. All it took was one look at the crocodile tears on Brynn’s cheeks and two more girls, Marion and I, were done for. We all had to squeeze Marion at least twice. France is more than a hop, skip and jump away from Wisconsin after all. We discussed how grateful we all were that we got to have Marion spend a summer with us, and how amazing it is that we now know someone in France.
By
The route home from Expo managed to steer my dear friend Sadie and her three awesome kids to Hotel Ocooch (our farmhouse) for a Friday night stay. If you have ever met Sadie, you know that she gives incredible hugs. Her hugs are like having a boa constrictor squeeze you — in the best of ways. They are strong, loving hugs that are an entire conversation, without actual words. They also always last more than the 20-second health guideline minimum, making them amazing on so many levels. We caught up a bit, and I got to learn just how cool her kids are growing up to be. Saturday morning brought everyone nding a pair of overalls to throw on and wandering up to the barn to help nish chores so we could enjoy a late breakfast together. After a tour of our farm and my gardens, hugs were shared all around and they headed back to the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
Saturday evening was a Mlsna wedding reception. My cousin, Barb, and Jake said “I do” at last. It met all the requirements for a great party — dancing music that never stopped, fabulous meal and fun humans. As I was replaying the night’s events over in my head, I realized that I didn’t have many long conversations with people, but I gave and received many, many hugs. In truth, that is where the idea for this column came from. I was in a great mood on Sunday. Was it the energy high from dancing for four hours straight? Was it the hugs from so many wonderful family members I haven’t seen since deer season last year? Perhaps both, but the hugs were so great. The sweet, tiny squeezes from the littlest of my second cousins, already counting down the days until our annual Thanksgiving weekend of fun. The bear hugs from the teens anxious to show how they are growing up as I coerced them into learning how to two-step around the oor. The loving embraces of my rst cousins, their hugs full of love and sincere caring about me and my health. The sweet hugs from my aunts, and scruffy face snuggles from my uncles that seem to be aging more than I am ready for them to. It was a night full of love, and it made many new memories.
Family therapist Virginia Satir said, “We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth.”
I like the thought that a hug can help you grow.
Sometimes in our busy days of farming with our families, we forget that hugs are important. We may be more inclined to want to wrap our arms around a cow than a family member. In the age of talking about the mental health of farmers, and also the age of cuddling cows, perhaps we as farmers should put more effort into hugging the humans that would benet from the connection, instead of the cattle. Unless there are scientists out there that are researching the effects of human to cow hugs on milk production. If that is the case, hug away.
Jacqui Davison and her family milk 800 cows and farm 1,200 acres in northeastern Vernon County, Wisconsin. Her children, Ira, Dane, Henry and Cora, help on the farm while her husband, Keith, works on a grain farm. If she’s not in the barn, she’s probably in the kitchen, trailing after little ones or sharing her passion of reading with someone. Her life is best described as organized chaos, and if it wasn’t, she’d be bored.
Jacqui Davison Columnist
Ramblings from the Ridge
Salmonella Dublin: A big deal
Salmonella has reared its ugly head in our area in late summer and early fall. Particularly, our clinic has experienced more cases of Salmonella Dublin in dairy calves. While we see it on farms year round, there always seems to be an increase of cases as summer comes to an end. I’m not sure why, though I suspect it is related to heat and humidity. It also appears that S. Dublin is on the rise in the Midwest. In a 2022 summary of salmonella isolates at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, there were more cases of S. Dublin in cattle than any other type, a trend observed at other labs.
By Megan Weisenbeck Veterinary Wisdom Veterinary Wisdom
So what does S. Dublin look like and why is it a big deal? S. Dublin is host adapted, meaning it can hide in carrier animals that appear normal for long periods of time. In my experience, there are two “typical” presentations of S. Dublin infections in dairy herds. The rst is in pregnant heifers and cows, causing late term abortions. The second is in pre-weaned and weaned calves, where the disease presents as pneumonia with high fevers and the calves do not respond well to treatment. Occasionally calves will also have joint infections. In some instances, the mortality rates can be high despite treatment. Also, S. Dublin is nearly always multi-drug resistant, leaving few options for antibiotic treatment.
There are some specic challenges when dealing with S. Dublin outbreaks. First, the disease is zoonotic, meaning people can get infected. Second, diagnostic testing requires good sample and test selection. Third, control of S. Dublin relies on several management factors, not just on vaccination or treatment. Though I won’t touch on it in this article, adequate calf nutrition is also very important in preventing and controlling S. Dublin outbreaks.
S. Dublin can be shed in manure, milk, saliva, urine, semen and vaginal secretions of infected and carrier animals. Therefore, hygiene and sanitation are key to reduce new infections. Though I have not experienced human infections with S. Dublin in the herds I work with, I always caution farm staff to take extra care with wearing gloves and handwashing when working with sick calves or suspected abortions. Additionally, cleanliness of people, clothing and equipment are important to reduce spread across the farm. I would encourage producers to think about how they might “walk” salmonella around the farm or even to their homes. Can employees change into street clothes and wash work clothing at the farm? Is anyone consuming raw milk or other raw dairy products on farm? Do all employees wash their boots or change their gloves before entering maternity or calf areas after working in cow pens? Is there unnecessary foot trafc in calf areas that increases calf exposure to manure? Is machinery or equipment shared between cow pens and calves? Are cows and calves hauled in the same trailers without cleaning in between? Diagnosis is usually made through a combination of sick calf presentation and necropsies of calves that have died. Though we believe it is shed in feces, it can be hard for diagnostic laboratories to detect in fecal samples therefore fecal testing can be unreliable. I would highly recommend necropsying calves that die of unknown causes, especially if there is an increase in pneumonia cases or calf deaths on the farm. I recommend the same strategy if abortions have increased. There are other testing methods for blood, bulk tank milk and environmental samples, but I have had the most success with testing tissues from necropsies. Work with your veterinarian or diagnostic lab to create a testing strategy that works best for your farm.
Control factors that should be considered include pasteurization of colostrum and waste milk (if used), regular cleaning and disinfection of maternity pens, newborn calf areas, calf pens and other calf feeding or moving equipment. Rinsing with water is not the same as disinfection. Use proper cleaning methods that include hot water and soap followed by a disinfectant. The University of Wisconsin Veterinary Di-
agnostic Lab website has specic salmonellosis disinfection protocols that are feasible to implement for on farm use and could be used to control any disease. Finally, colostrum management for passive transfer in calves is paramount in controlling disease. Holes in the farm’s colostrum program will inevitably lead to further disease despite other control methods. Our clinic has used vaccination of dry cows with commercial and autogenous vaccines to aid in the control of disease in calves, in which we rely on colostrum and passive transfer to help protect the calf until she is old enough to be safely vaccinated.
With good calf husbandry, cleaning protocols, proper nutrition, and a solid colostrum program, you can help mitigate the risks of a S. Dublin outbreak on your farm.
Megan Weisenbeck is one of six veterinarians at Northern Valley Livestock Services in Plainview, Minnesota. She practices primarily dairy production medicine in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Megan can be reached at meganweisenbeck.dvm@gmail.com.
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Vicky Foley (le ) watches as judge Brandon Ferry congratulates her sister, Bianca Foley, for exhibi ng their homebred cows, who were named grand and reserve grand champion of the Interna onal Ayrshire Show Oct. 1 at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin. The Foleys, from Piopolis, Quebec, exhibited two cows at Expo — grand champion Vieux Village Gentleman Joy and reserve grand Champion Vieux Village G Montana.
Looking back to last week, if there was one way to describe the 57th edition of World Dairy Expo, it might be: expect the unexpected.
The event lived up to its theme — The Golden Age of Dairy — in every way imaginable. From the beautifully-appointed show ring, to the successes celebrated on the shavings, to the glitz and glamour of supreme champion ceremonies, to the throngs of international visitors visiting the dairy mecca, to the latest and greatest on display in the trade show, the entire week was dedicated to the Golden Age of Dairy.
Those fortunate enough to be in the Coliseum on Friday afternoon — or tuned into ExpoTV — saw an epic clash of the Titans. In a class where the average classication score was a 96 points, Footloose and Shakira met yet again, with Footloose coming out on top this time. Then moments later, a dark horse came from the far end of the Coliseum, when judge Jamie Black offered his championship handshake to the leadsperson holding the halter of the winning four-year-old.
That handshake was noteworthy in a variety of
ways. First off, the cow — Jeffrey-Way Hard Rock Twigs — captured the attention of a worldwide audience in what was her own backyard. Twigs was bred by the Hendrickson family of Jeffrey-Way Holsteins, located just a half-hour south of the Alliant Energy Center.
While Twigs, owned by the partnership of Kevin Doeberiener, Lindsey Bowen and Pat Conroy, claimed the senior and grand champion banners for her owners, she was merely following in line, making history with her herdmates. Earlier in the show, the winning senior three-year-old, RJR Discjockey 7509-ET, was named the intermediate champion for the partnership of Doeberiener, Conroy and Butlerview Farm. (Discjockey 7509 is now owned by the partnership of Ferme Blondin, Fairbanks Cattle Company and Butlerview.) The evening before, the winning spring yearling —Genesee Altitude Leah — was named junior champion of the International Holstein Show before going on to be named the supreme junior champion for Doeberiener, Bowen and Conroy, along with partners Clarkvalley and Osinga.
By Danielle Nauman Staff Writer
Another interesting note for showing enthusiasts, Twigs won her banners wearing a Phantom cable halter — a move that may become trendsetting in the dairy show arena. Another bit of excitement to tuck away for the years to come — a beautiful, youthful Tatoo daughter of Footloose topped the milking yearling class. What will her future bring?
The Holstein show was not the only place where exciting and notable occurrences happened. In the International Guernsey Show’s spring yearling class, ve ushmates placed in the top six of the class. A group of James Dean daughters from the recently departed show ring superstar Pond N Pines Beau Nutter Butter — including judge Lynn Harbaugh’s eventual junior champion — ooded the top of the class, locking in the premier breeder of the heifer show banner for their breeders, the Haag and Dorn families.
On Tuesday night, as the Ayrshire Show wrapped up, two sisters hailing from Quebec had the thrill of a lifetime, as two of their homebred cows stood in the nal lineup for champion. Bianca Foley watched in awe as her sister, Vicky, received the rst congratulatory highve from judge Brandon Ferry, for their winning veyear-old, Vieux Village Gentleman Joy, being named senior and grand champion. The excitement built as Vicky witnessed Bianca on the receiving end of the second handshake as their four-year-old, Vieux Village G Montana, was named reserve senior and reserve champion.
What made the night even more special for the pair of sisters was that exactly 10 years prior, to the day, with their father on the halter, another homebred cow, Vieux Village C Diamond, captured the same banner.
The golden moments of World Dairy Expo did not only happen on the Coliseum oor. Throughout the grounds, it is the people who are truly the foundation for everything Expo is. Cattle exhibitors, trade show exhibitors and a variety of industry enthusiasts from around the globe ock to the center of the dairy universe each and every fall. It is the connections made among industry enthusiasts that make Expo the place to be.
I had the fortune of meeting members of a delegation from Kazakhstan and being able to hear about not only the dairy industry but life in their country. What really struck me was the biggest takeaway they had from their experience — that despite everything dairy farmers are facing globally, they realized that everyone at Expo was wearing a smile, all happy to just be there, gathered in the one place in the world completely focused on everything golden and wonderful about the industry that is more a way of life than a career choice.
A world-class event like Expo does not just happen. Countless hours go in behind the scenes to make each and every Expo the best one yet. The many hours toiled over the past 57 years, the blood, sweat and sometimes tears that ow are often unseen, but each droplet has been shed in an effort to commemorate the dairy industry in the most remarkable fashion. For that, we all should be grateful.
Harbaugh, who donned a tuxedo and walked to the center of the Coliseum oor for the 10th time on Oct. 2 — nine as an ofcial judge and once as an associate — to place the International Guernsey Show, summed up the heart of the event.
“This thing is a well-oiled machine,” Harbaugh said. “The people inside this institution bleed Ayrshire and Brown Swiss, they bleed Guernsey, Jersey, Holstein, Milking Shorthorn, Red & White and they bleed youth — this is the greatest show on earth, regardless of breed.”
PHOTO COURTESY
TODAY
Cows at the chiropractor
The protability of a dairy farm hinges on the health of its entire herd. To achieve a healthy and protable dairy, it is crucial to focus on individual cow health.
At NexGen, our goal is to optimize the lactation curve for every cow in the herd by priori-tizing the health of each individual cow. We want to ensure that the resources we invest in getting each heifer and cow into a new lactation are maximized by keeping cows healthy and productive. This is crucial to maintain culls at an appropriate level as a cow culled from
The NexGen: Adventures of two dairy daughters
We also come across cows that appear to be slightly slow/stiff and are identied for hoof trimming. Subsequent examination by the hoof trimmer yields no signicant ndings, and the cow remains unchanged. We are informed that the reason for her lameness is related to her shoul-der or hip. All these groups of cows we are discovering have a common denominator: they re-quire chiropractic care. We have started providing chiropractic care to these cows and have found the results, based on objective data from their sensors and milk weights, to be quite signif-icant.
By Megan Schrupp & Ellen Stenger Columnists
the herd means an additional heifer needs to be raised to ll her spot.
Therefore, our goal is to assist individual cows in achieving their highest health and lacta-tion performance by focusing on their health through the transition period. To aid in that process, all our cows are tted with an individual automated cow monitoring neck tag powered by Alta Cow Watch. The neck sensor reports data that aids in the early identication of potential illness as well as data to help objectively determine the outcome of any interventions that are administered.
In the pursuit of our goal, we have slowly and continually taken a deep dive into the sub-sets of cows on the dairy, looking to identify limitations to maximal health and, subsequently, production. We have found that there seems to be a subset of animals that struggle to thrive af-ter common traditional veterinary approaches are utilized. We also have a second subset of cows that are productive but report less than one hour of daily eating time. Although they appear to be doing well, we are curious as to what is stopping them from eating additional minutes each day and producing more milk.
Chiropractic therapy for cattle is not commonly performed on dairy farms. It tends to be reserved for elite beef and dairy show stock. However, the basis remains the same, regardless of the species — feline, canine, equine or bovine. The foundation of chiropractic is essentially that subluxated joints lead to a decrease in the normal range of motion. This results in de-creased nerve function and the nervous system’s ability to operate the body at optimal function.
In chiropractic manipulation, we apply a very specic, low-amplitude, high-velocity thrust into the affected joint, restoring a normal range of motion and nerve function. Through this pro-cess, the nervous system can direct and aid the body in healing itself. Recall, that the nervous system is responsible for relaying information to and from the brain, directing all things, including movement, nutrition of tissues, and ultimately, proper organ function. Therefore, by utilizing chi-ropractic therapy, we can assist our cows in not only increasing mobility but also improving the optimal functioning of their body systems, leading to improved health outcomes.
Our statements here are not intended to suggest that chiropractic is the one-stop shop for treating all diseases and curing every cow. However, after initial traditional veterinary and hoof care modalities have been implemented, chiropractic is another tool in our toolkit that we can call upon to keep our cows comfortable, productive and in the herd.
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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