October 15, 2022 Dairy Star - 1st section - Zone 2

DAIRY ST R

Footloose takes center stage

Holstein is named World Dairy Expo Supreme Champion

By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com

MADISON, Wis. – For the past 52 years, only one cow is etched in the annals of dairy cattle history as the reigning World Dairy Expo Supreme Champion. The cow to accomplish the feat at the 2022 WDE was Oakeld Solom Footloose-ET EX-94.

Footloose captivated the audience at the International Holstein Show Oct. 7 in Madison. She won the 5-year-old cow class on her way to being named senior and grand champion of the show before being named Expo’s supreme champion.

“What a tremendous 5-year-old class,” said judge Pierre Boulet. “If you don’t know what a dairy cow is, you check this cow ... lots of dairy-

ness, bone quality, a great texture in the udder. The rst one is for me an easy winner today with so much balance and so

much length and width in the body.”

Boulet, of Montmagny, Quebec, Canada, was the of-

cial judge of the International Holstein Show.

Footloose is owned by the partnership of Mike and Julie

Duckett of Rudolph, Vierra Dairy of Hilmar, California, and Tim and Sharyn Abbott, of Enosburg, Vermont. Footloose is housed at Duckett Holsteins. Footloose was bred by Jonathan and Alicia Lamb of Oakeld Corners Dairy in Oakeld, New York.

Footloose rst caught the attention of the Ducketts as a 2-year-old in 2019, when she placed fourth in her class at WDE and garnered an All-American nomination. A granddaughter of the Ducketts’ beloved Harvue Roy Frosty EX97-3E-GMD, who herself was a two-time WDE Supreme Champion, the Ducketts had an interest in the young cow.

“I remember seeing Footloose as a 2-year-old,” Mike Duckett said. “I’d like to say I could see what she would become. I liked her, but I wasn’t 100% certain she would ever get to the next level.”

Staying true to their vision

Kohlweys add maternity, pregnant heifer barns

By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com

ADELL, Wis. – The Kohlweys are careful planners who never build on a whim. With an eye on the future, their choices are deliberate and made in a way that will lead the family successfully into the next phase of their operation.

“Every time we build, we try to think and plan for the future,” Doug Kohlwey said. “We want everything to be simple, practical, user friendly and efcient. We have moved a lot of ground in the past 13 years to get us where we are today.”

Doug and Betty Kohlwey farm with their son, Jesse, and their daughter, Jolene, milking 510 cows and running 1,400 acres near Adell. The rolling herd average for their all-reg-

istered herd is 31,703 pounds of milk. In 2016, the four family members formed Kohlwey Farms LLC.

This year, the Kohlweys built two barns simultaneously – a maternity barn and a barn for pregnant heifers and far-off dry cows. The buildings work in harmony, with close-up animals relocating to the maternity barn one month before calving. More than 230 calves have been born since the rst animals moved into the maternity barn during the rst week of May.

“I am not an impulse buyer,” Jesse said. “I analyze every possible scenario I can think of before building. Over the years, we have accumulated numerous drawings for buildings.”

“All dairy, all the time”™

Jolene LeClair, holding Bryson, Doug and Jesse Kohlwey stand in the new maternity barn at their farm near Adell, Wisconsin. The Kohlweys milk 510 cows and farm 1,400 acres.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KYLE SCHAFER FROM DAIRY AGENDA TODAY David Dyment escorts Oakeld Solom Footloose-ET under the spotlights during the World Dairy Expo Supreme Champion ceremony Oct. 7 in Madison, Wisconsin.

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Dairy Prole brought to you by your North America dealers.NMPF responds to infant formula legislation

Congress passed the Bulk Infant Formula to Retail Shelves Act, temporarily lifting tariffs on imported milk powder. National Milk Producers Federation President and CEO Jim Mulhern said the organization is not opposed to ending these restrictions on a shortterm basis to address the infant formula shortages. However, “NMPF emphatically opposes efforts that would create long-term dependence on foreign suppliers for a critical nutritional food,” Mulhern said. He said overseas milk production does not meet the same stringent regulations facing U.S. dairy producers.

Farm prots could see record highs in 2022

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service forecast U.S. net cash farm income to increase 8.7% from 2021-22. This is the highestlevel forecast since 2012. Both cash receipts and expenses are forecast to increase. Cash receipts for farm commodities are projected to rise 14.4% from the previous year, their highest level on record. Production expenses are expected to see a 11.3% increase. Direct government payments to farmers are projected to fall by 14.3 billion from 2021 to 2022.

Ag economy depends on off-farm income

Of U.S. farm household income, 82% now comes from off the farm. A study conducted by the University of Missouri and commissioned by CoBank identied reliable income as the top reason for off-farm employment. Health and retirement benets were also cited. The research said off-farm jobs are especially important for young and beginning farmers.

UN reacts to ination threat

The Federal Reserve had an unscheduled closed-door meeting early this month. This session coincided with the release of a report from the United Nations that said the rapidly rising interest rates puts the global economy at risk for recession. The Fed raised interest rates ve times in the past year, moving the benchmark rate to 3%-3.5%. The UN agency said the Fed’s action may be “too drastic.”

A port slowdown

Ag Insider

By Don Wick Columnist

A labor dispute between dockworkers and employers at third busiest port in the U.S. is slowing cargo shipments into and out of the port of Oakland, California. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union started limiting access to workers needed to maintain operations. The disruptions come as negotiations for a new contract enter their fourth month. The ILWU represents more than 22,000 dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports.

Biden addresses UN general assembly

The United States is investing nearly $3 billion to help address global food insecurity. President Joe Biden also spoke about the importance of providing relief to those in need. “We’re calling on all countries to refrain from banning food exports or hoarding grain while so many people are suffering,” Biden said. “Because in every country in the world, no matter what else divides us, if parents cannot feed their children, nothing, nothing else matters.” Biden praised the UN for its work in creating a humanitarian route for exports out of the Black Sea. The President also criticized Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. “Let me be perfectly clear about something; our sanctions explicitly allow Russia the ability to export food and fertilizer; no limitation,” Biden said. The president blamed the Russian war for worsening food insecurity worldwide.

White House hosts hunger conference

President Joe Biden wants to end hunger by 2030. That benchmark was announced during the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. The administration wants an additional 9 million school children to receive free school meals.

Dairy consumption rising

U.S. per capita dairy consumption this past year was at 667 pounds. That’s a dramatic uptick from 655 pounds per person in 2020. USDA indicates uid milk consumption continues to decline, but American-style cheese consumption is at record levels. Butter consumption is also trending higher.

CBB passes beef checkoff budget

The Cattlemen’s Beef Board will invest $38.5 million in beef checkoff activities in the 2023 scal year. That’s down from nearly $39 million this past year. The budget, which is subject to USDA approval, includes $9.4 million for promotion. There’s $9 million for research and $7.5 million for consumer information.

Meatless no more

After two years in operation, JBS USA is shutting down its U.S. plantbased food business. The meatpacking company will put its focus on its plant-based business in Brazil and Europe.

Foremost Farms to shut down two plants

Foremost Farms USA will close its processing plants in Plover and Milan in December. A spokesperson for the Baraboo, Wisconsin-based coop cited rising costs and aging infrastructure as reasons for the decision.

Hebrink successor named

Jase Wagner has been selected as Compeer Financial’s next president and CEO. Wagner will succeed Rod Hebrink when he retires in January. Wagner is the cooperative’s current chief nancial ofcer.

National Dairy Shrine honorees

During the National Dairy Shrine banquet, John Schouten was honored as the guest of honor. Schouten spent his career with World Wide Sires, including time as CEO. The Distinguished Dairy Cattle Breeder Award was presented to Maryland Holstein and Jersey breeder Ernest Kueffner. The National Dairy Shrine also honored four dairy industry pioneers. They are veterinarian Scott Armbrust, purebred dairy sales manager Tom Morris and sire analyst Charlie Will. The family of Virginia dairy farmer Jack Hardesty accepted the award posthumously.

Trivia challenge

Irish physician Hans Sloane is credited with chocolate milk during his time in Jamaica in the late 1600s.

That answers our last trivia question. For this week’s trivia, what country consumes the most chocolate? We will have the answer in the next edition of Dairy Star.

Don Wick is owner/broadcaster for the Red River Farm Network, based in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Wick has been recognized as the National Farm Broadcaster of the Year and served as president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Don and his wife, Kolleen, have two adult sons, Tony and Sam, and ve grandchildren, Aiden, Piper, Adrienne, Aurora and Sterling.

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Duckett continued to watch Footloose as she developed into a 3-yearold. She won the junior 3-year-old class at the North American Open Show in Circleville, Ohio, and was named the reserve intermediate champion. She was named the 2020 All-American junior 3-year-old.

“I was impressed with how she had developed, but I still wasn’t convinced she would be great,” Duckett said.

The following spring, Footloose began to earn his respect and admiration when the Ducketts stopped at Oakeld Corners following the New York Spring Show.

“Julie and I stopped in planning on trying to get another high-prole cow for our sale that summer,” Duckett said. “Footloose was dry, and when I saw her, I just looked at Julie and said, ‘This is the one we want.’ She had changed so much in her frame in that dry period. She was on her way to the next level.”

After Footloose calved, Duckett asked the Abbotts to look at the cow.

The Ducketts and Abbotts purchased Footloose that spring and then consigned her to sell in the Summer Selections sale. At that sale, Vierra Dairy entered the partnership by purchasing half interest in the cow.

Footloose went on to win the 4-year-old class at WDE for her new owners and was tapped as the reserve senior and reserve grand champion cow. She completed the 2021 show season being the unanimous All-American selection in the 4-year-old cow cla ss.

“Footloose is just an easy cow,” Duckett said. “She just does it all on her own. She just stands back and does her own thing, and likes her own space. She doesn’t like to be messed with.”

Sired by the popular Walnutlawn Soloman, Footloose is a daughter of Duckett-SA Braxtn Frisco-ET EX-94, a Regancrest S Braxton daughter of Frosty.

Footloose calved in June to become a fourth-calf 5-year-old. According to Duckett, she has been conrmed preg-

nant to Mr Danielle Devour-ET and is due back in early June 2023.

“If you painted Footloose black, you’d almost think it was Frosty standing back in the barn,” Duckett said.

“There is so much about Footloose that reminds me of Frosty. The biggest difference is that Footloose is better from the rear view. She has such a tremendous rear udder. Frosty was a no-fuss kind of cow, and Footloose is the same.”

Duckett expressed his admiration of the breeding program at Oakeld Corners that created the cow he has come to love.

“Jonathan and Alicia have such a strong and diverse breeding program,” Duckett said. “They breed for the commercial dairy aspect, the genomic aspect and the type aspect. The success they have had in all three areas is impressive on its own, but they have been able to blend the three to make such complete cows.”

With her storied pedigree and her own outstanding phenotype, there is a growing demand for Footloose’s genetics.

“She has two really cool sons,” Duckett said. “When you combine cows that excel in the udder like Delta Missy and Treasure with a cow like Footloose, I think the possibilities are endless.”

One son, Oakeld Tstrk Footprint, sired by OCD Thunder Struck-ET, is available and being marketed by AG3. Another son, sired by Duckett Crush Tatoo-ET, was born at Duckett Holsteins and will be entering stud soon.

While Footloose’s accomplishments are not the rst time the Ducketts have watched one of their cows claim victory under the spotlight, they said this victory was extraordinarily special because of the connection to their own breeding program.

“It has been so special to bring this cow into our herd with us being the breeder of her dam,” Duckett said. “She is a dairy cow, no question. Out there under the lights, walking down the center of the Coliseum, she looked unreal. It was something I will never forget.”

“She just does it all on her own. She just stands back and does her own thing, and likes her own space. She doesn’t like to be messed with.”

MIKE DUCKETT

Doug and Betty purchased the farm in 1981 when they moved from Saukville with 70 cows and 35 bred heifers. Guided by the vision of building a new setup, the Kohlweys started building for the future in 2009 with the rst of several additions to their main freestall barn. In 2012, the family started planning for and building a milking parlor when Jolene returned home two years after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

In February 2013, the Kohlweys retired the old milking barn which consisted of 30 stanchions and upgraded to a double-12 parallel basementstyle parlor milking 215 cows. In April of that year, they began milking three times a day. In January 2020, they expanded the parlor to a double-16.

Jolene’s husband, Chad LeClair, also works on the farm, and the couple has two boys –Bryson and Karson. Jesse and his wife, Lisa, who works at Masters Gallery Foods, have three children – Tori, Taylor and Aliyah. The Kohlweys’ other daughter, Jenny, works at the Farm Service Agency in Plymouth. She and her husband, Garett Rortvedt, a mechanic at Mike Burkart Ford, have two children, Lydia and Kole.

The family’s new 2-row maternity barn measuring 57 feet wide by 193 feet long contains 48 sand-bedded free stalls, two group calving pens, and one individual calving pen that could cater to difcult calvings and be used for cesarean sections or other veterinary work. Each pen is bedded with straw and fea-

tures a headlock. A post and rail feed alley throughout the barn provides unrestricted access to feed. The freestall area has two waterers, and waterers are also located in each calving pen.

“It’s a really quiet barn and a very relaxed environment,” Jolene said. “We also like its location next to the parlor and front ofce – that’s been very convenient. It’s easy to keep an eye on the cows.”

Doug also appreciates the barn’s proximity to the milking parlor.

“You can see cows calving right from the parlor, and that pays big dividends,” he said. “It’s much better if calves are born in straw. The maternity pen used to be in the far back corner

of the big freestall barn, and too many calves got missed.”

Jolene said the barn’s location next to the road also makes it easy for the Kohlweys to stop in and check for fresh cows when going in and out of the farm. The barn also features a warming room for newborn calves located off one of the calving pens as well as a vet room.

“We’re looking forward to using the warming room this winter,” Jolene said.

A breezeway connection was built to connect the barn to the milking parlor. Following calving, fresh animals are sent to the parlor for milking and then moved to the fresh cow group in the main barn.

Moving in the rst week of April, the new 5-row freestall barn for heifers and dry cows replaced an old freestall barn previously used to house bred heifers. In the old barn, heifers were housed in a single group of 120. In the new barn, pregnant heifers are split into two groups of 60. Close-up heifers are on the west side, and conrmed pregnant heifers are on the east side. Both groups have headlocks, making it easy to sort and give shots – a feature not found in the old facility.

“We needed to replace our old heifer barn,” Jolene said. “It was dark, had low sides and no headlocks. It was difcult to sort heifers or give shots. The new

barn has helped us manage pregnant heifers better.”

The heifer barn measures 200 feet long by 110 feet wide and contains 202 sand-bedded free stalls. The heifer side has headlocks, while the other side is post and rail. More than 30 dry cows are also housed here along with 40 steers due to extra space. The Kohlweys nish 150 steers per year.

The family dries off cows every Wednesday, and dry cows spend 20 to 30 days in the barn before moving onto the maternity barn. Every two to three weeks, a new batch of animals is brought up to the maternity barn. The barns are not located next to each other; however, a gate system makes transferring animals quick and painless.

Located on a hillside, the naturally ventilated barns feature curtains as well as fans for additional air movement. The center ridge in the roof of both barns contains solar panels and cupola fans that remove old air from the building.

By devoting separate space to maternity and dry cow housing, the facilities have also made more room for milk cows in the main barn.

“We were overcrowded and wanted to devote that space to a milk cow group,” Jolene said.

Helping ensure future success through growth and opportunity, both new barns t the vision of where the Kohlwey farm is heading.

“At the end of the day, you always have to see where you’re headed,” Jesse said. “That’s how we got here.”

SHE’S GIVING YOU HER BEST

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out how to get a whole herd like her, visit DiamondV.com/NutriTek

There’s nothing special about this cow—except everything. She navigates calving, pregnancy, and dry off with ease, producing high-quality milk along the way. She’s a NutriTek cow, leading the pack and built to withstand anything thrown at her— by us or Mother Nature.

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

The maternity barn at Kohlwey Farms features 48 sand-bedded free stalls, two group calving pens, one individual calving pen along with a vet room and a warming room for newborn calves.

A comparison of parlors

Two farmers share insights on rotary, herringbone systems

By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com

WEST BEND, Wis. –

When the Roden family red up their rotary parlor for its rst milking March 8, they did not anticipate how quickly cows would adjust to a different system. By the fourth day, Rick Roden told his extra help to stay home because cows had the hang of it.

“I was really surprised how fast our cows adapted to the rotary,” said Roden, part owner of Roden Echo Valley Farm. “The rst morning was tough. However, I was shocked by day two when three-quarters of the cows or better had it gured out. They are so calm riding on there. Cows chew their cud and look totally relaxed.”

Roden farms with his parents, Bob and Cindy, near West Bend where they milk 850 cows three times a day in a 40-stall rotary parlor. Roden

was part of a producer panel on the PDPW Dairy Signal discussing milk parlor management. Joining him was Zoey Nelson, chief operative ofcer of Brooks Farms near Waupaca, who farms with her dad, Ron. The Brooks family milks 600 cows twice a day in a double-16 herringbone parlor built in 2017.

“We’ve seen a lot of rotaries going in, and we liked the consistency of the rotary from an employ-ee standpoint,” Roden said.

Moving from a double-8 herringbone built in 1969 into the rotary was a dream come true for both cows and

employees. The parlor allowed the Rodens to return to milking three times a day – a practice they abandoned due to not getting cows through their old parlor fast enough.

“We had nice scheduled shifts for employees because we were milking around the clock in the old parlor,” Roden said. “In the new parlor, we’re getting a little creative with scheduling because we’re not nearly to the capacity of a 40-stall rotary.”

Three employees handle milking – one prepping, one attaching and one bringing cows up to the parlor. Cost and maintenance steered the

family away from doing a fully automated rotary.

“We felt we could put a body in there and maybe have a little less maintenance,” Roden said. “We wanted to have the most technology possible yet keep it somewhat simplistic.”

When a cow enters the parlor, the rst person’s job is to prep her. The milker stands in the same spot to do their work as cows come in. A second person stands a few stalls over to put milk ma-chines on, which allows for a 60- to 90-second stimulation time. A spray robot does the post dipping.

“Ensuring employees stay put gives a cow consistency as she’s going around the rotary,” Roden said.

In the new parlor, each milking takes about 4.5 hours. Every shift is about six hours, which in-cludes milking and cleanup. The Rodens continue to run their herringbone parlor for fresh cows and treated cows, which is where employees begin their shift. The morning crew milks six morn-ings while the night crew milks six nights, and everybody milks three afternoons.

“Employees are still getting approximately the same number of hours as in the old parlor; it’s just that one day is short, and one day is long,” Roden said. “Until we get more cows to make a long-er milking shift, this is how we have to do it.”

Brooks Farms has 13 employees, eight of which are on the milking crew. Prior to building their new parlor, the family milked 200 cows in a double-6 herringbone built in the early 1970s. Nelson said they spent three years putting pen to paper and touring farms before deciding on the type of parlor they wanted.

ON-FARM

Roden Echo Valley Farm began milking in this 40-stall rotary parlor March 8 near West Bend, Wisconsin. The Roden family milks 850 cows three mes a day.

Hurricane Ian devastates dairy

Florida farm loses more than 200 head, freestall barns

By Tiffany Klaphake tiffany.k@dairystar.com

MYAKKA CITY, Fla. – Every day, for ve days, Jerry Dakin walked his property through the mud and debris left by Hurricane Ian to pick up deceased animals. He continues to gather pieces of debris where his freestall barns once stood.

“Never in my life have I seen this many dead animals,” Dakin said.

Dakin Dairy Farm received 19 inches of rain in a 12hour span Sept. 28-29. The sustained winds of 150 mph plummeted the area as the Category 4 hurricane made landfall. As the day turned into night, the pouring rain and winds continued.

Dakin Dairy Farm lost more than 200 animals, both cows and youngstock, and six 800-foot freestall barns were scattered across the property after the storm subsided.

“As bad as I got, it is humbling to see that others have it much worse” Dakin said. “Some lost everything.”

In 2004, Hurricane Charley hit southwestern Florida but changed course as it neared Dakin’s area and left the dairy in one piece.

“All the way up to about 12 hours before the Hurricane Ian hit, we thought it was going to miss us,” Dakin said.

Dakin milks 2,000 cows near Myakka City, which is 50 miles inland off the west coast of Florida. The dairy farm processes its own milk and delivers to local grocery stores and homes. They also have an on-farm café and give farm tours.

With the roads under water and bridges washed away, Dakin Dairy Farm could not deliver its milk; even if they could, the grocery stores could not have taken the milk as they did not have power. With no other option, Dakin had to dump multiple days’ worth of milk. The dairy itself was without power for four days, and Dakin has had to bring in two generators to get by.

Dakin said the high winds ruined a eld of sorghum. The wind stripped the leaves and ruined what was left in the eld to harvest for this year.

“For me, it’s realizing that we are not that strong; Mother Nature is stronger,” Dakin said. “I don’t think it has really hit me yet about everything. I’ve cried a couple times, but it hasn’t fully hit me yet.”

To prepare for the storm, Dakin lled water tanks and water trucks to have water available after the storm. They parked the trucks around the parlor and around the milk processing facility to protect the buildings. The plan worked as the parlor and processing facility remained intact.

They milked until 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 then shut down to retreat to safety.

“That’s when pieces of metal started ooding into the parlor,” he said.

Dakin went to his brother’s house nearby because of a generator being at that location. Dakin said his brother lost over 300 animals from the storm.

The next day, as Dakin returned home to assess his farm, he did not know what to expect.

Though the silage bags survived, the roof was torn off the commodity shed, leaving feed exposed.

Due to the warm climate of Florida, most of Dakin’s animals were outside and were able to nd high ground to survive the storm. Otherwise, Dakin said the dairy might have lost even more animals had they all been indoors.

“I was able to go in the house and recuperate; the animals could not,” Dakin said. “(They) had to stay out there and take it.”

Dakin has since sold a couple of loads of injured cows and sorted the remaining livestock into the remaining outdoor pens and barns. Dakin said the stress on the cows has affected the farm’s pregnancy rate.

“This is the biggest devastation I have ever seen,” Dakin said. “It has been a challenge, and we are just taking it one step at a time.”

The day after the storm passed, the surrounding community rallied together to help Dakin clean up. The farm even became a donation center, with the on-farm café serving as headquarters. People came from miles around to drop off food, water, diapers and other household supplies for those in the wider community.

“It was great to see the community support,” Dakin said. “So many of our employees had lost everything at home and needed to stay home and take care of things there. The biggest thing I’ve learned is that it’s OK to ask for help. People want to help. People want to see local farms survive.”

Dakin plans to rebuild the dairy farm and put Hurricane Ian behind him.

“I don’t want to go anywhere else or do anything else,” Dakin said. “I love what I do.”

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Pieces of freestall barns at Dakin Dairy Farm lie sca ered Oct. 1 in Myakka City, Florida. The dairy received 19 inches of rain in a 12-hour span and experienced 100 mph winds during Hurricane Ian Sept. 28-29.

More cheese, please

Portesi Pizza, Wisconsin

dairy a great relationship

By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com

STEVENS POINT, Wis. – Rusty Mitch is not a dairy farmer, but his connection to the dairy industry is strong. Mitch is the president of Portesi Italian Foods Inc., which is home to Portesi frozen pizza, a central Wisconsin tradition.

Mitch is the third generation of his family to make pizzas in Stevens Point; he follows in the footsteps of his grandfather, George Portesi, who immigrated from Altopascio, Italy, and his father, Joe Mitch.

“We put a lot of emphasis on the whole quality of our pizzas,” Mitch said. “Wisconsin dairy farmers take a lot of pride in the cheese they produce, and we are proud to use that cheese to make a quality product.”

Portesi Italian Foods operates from a stateinspected facility in Portage County. That licensure limits the distribution of Portesi Pizzas containing meat to within the state of Wisconsin. The company currently markets their pizzas primarily in the central and northeastern areas of the state and are working with distributors to bring their pizzas to all corners of the state.

“We are starting to get our pizzas into some markets in southeastern Wisconsin,” Mitch said. “We really don’t have a presence in western Wisconsin yet, but that is something we would like to change.”

Because they lack a meat component, Portesi can market its cheese fries across state lines, and the fries are available in Minnesota as well as in Wisconsin.

Portesi produces their original style pizza with ve variations of toppings; a thin crust pizza with six variations of toppings and a line that features three variations with extra-thick toppings and cheese.

In addition to the pizzas, Portesi produces two styles of cheese fries, high-rise and thin crust. Mitch describes the popular cheese fries, which were launched in 1980, as pizza dough with garlic butter and topped with mozzarella cheese and Portesi’s spices. Basically, garlic bread with cheese in a pizza form.

“We don’t make frozen pizzas; we make fresh pizzas frozen,” Mitch said of what sets Portesi Pizzas apart from the rest. “There are

many kinds of pizzas out there, but there is only one Portesi.”

Mitch said that what makes Portesi original style pizza different is that the pizzas are partially baked in a 600-degree oven before being frozen.

“By pre-baking the pizza, we are able to seal in the avor that you lose when you freeze an unbaked pizza,” Mitch said. “That is what separates us from frozen pizza.”

All pizzas and cheese fries are hand-made.

“The way we do things, it is hard to bring in a lot of automation,” Mitch said. “But that individual attention to detail is part of what sets us apart.”

Portesi Italian Foods ties their brand to the well-known reputation of Wisconsin cheese and proudly display’s the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin’s Wisconsin Cheese logo on their products. Cheese fries and pizzas are each topped with 5-8 ounces of Wisconsin-made mozzarella.

“It’s a whole quality thing,” Mitch said. “Wisconsin takes great pride in the cheese made here. We are thrilled to be a part of that legacy.”

Each week, Portesi utilizes over 6,000 pounds of cheese.

Working at Portesi has some good fringe benets, said Mitch.

“Pizza gets made for lunch pretty much every day,” Mitch said. “You always hear about people that work in the food industry don’t like to eat the product they make, but that is not the case here. Our employees love our pizza. No one gets tired of it.”

Mitch can attest to living a life of eating Portesi Pizza.

“I grew up on this stuff,” Mitch said. “I have our pizza almost every day for lunch, and we have it at home for dinner at least once a week. It is good, and people enjoy it immensely, myself included.”

Portesi Pizza is a healthy food choice, said Mitch.

“There are no preservatives or additives,” Mitch said. “It is all natural.”

Portesi Italian Foods is a part of the local school lunch program, and Mitch said Italian atbread – the foodservice version of Portesi’s cheese fries – is one of the most-requested items on the school district’s menu.

In addition to working with schools, Portesi is the ofcial frozen pizza of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

Rusty Mitch displays several varie es of pizza and cheese fries that Portesi Italian Foods markets in Wisconsin. Mitch is the third genera on to operate the company based in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

Like many Wisconsin dairy farms, Portesi Pizza is a small, family-owned business and employees around 20 people to operate the enterprise.

“I started working here myself when I was a kid, starting when I was 11 or 12 years old,” Mitch said. “At some point in time, I have pretty much done every single job here. I was able to learn the business well from that point of view.”

That long-standing involve-

ment in the family’s business allowed Mitch to grow up with a great deal of respect for what his grandfather and father built before his time.

“As a family-owned business with more than 65 years under our belt, we take a lot of pride in what we do,” Mitch said. “That same sentiment carries through for dairy farmers in the product they produce. All our businesses benet from that commitment of the other.

They ended up choosing the same style they had before – a herringbone.

“That may seem a little stagnant or like a lateral move, but our old parlor was also a Germania, and you can’t beat the quality and durability of that equipment,” Nelson said.

“The service the company offers was also a factor for us. Furthermore, we like the side prole for milking.”

Nelson and her dad discussed options with employees, who completely ruled out a parallel par-lor.

“Don’t just think of the cows when building a parlor the people make up a big part of it too,” Nel-son said. “We ensured our employees have a nice place to work and a place they can be proud to work at.”

To meet goals of cleanliness and quietness, Brooks

Farms decided to put in a basement-style parlor.

“We wanted the cleanest, quietest parlor for both cows and employees,” Nelson said.

“The way to do that was a basement, which a lot of builders don’t like to do nowadays. Our parlor guy told us there are two types of basement parlors – the ones that leak and the ones that don’t leak yet. But we’re ve years in and haven’t had any leaks. It’s built very well.”

Nelson said the basement-style parlor reduced their maintenance costs. The parlor’s meters and electronics are located in the basement where they stay dry and clean.

“We’ve only had to replace maybe two units at most,” Nelson said. “The parlor requires very little maintenance and is easy for our

maintenance guys to work on even when we’re milking. The basement has also been a benet for testing milk.”

Nelson said they have no regrets when it comes to the basement.

“You do have to take steps to ensure it won’t leak,” she said. “We spent the extra money upfront for special epoxy coatings and seals, etc. When you walk into the parlor, it’s a very calm envi-ronment and a welcoming place for cows. It also has great ventilation and stays nice and cool in the summer and warm in the winter, unlike our old parlor.”

Roden said their new parlor is also much more inviting than their previous parlor.

“Our old parlor was dark and small, but in the new parlor, the work environment is top notch,” he said. “There’s good ventilation, LED lights, and everything is white and bright.”

Nelson’s favorite feature of her parlor is the camera system.

“Cameras have been invaluable to us, especially in the form of employee training,” she said.

Roden is also a fan of having cameras in the parlor. Eight cameras inside and

outside are the extra eyes providing peace of mind to the Rodens.

“Cameras are a great feature to have on a farm,” Roden said. “We can use that footage to show employees if they’re making mistakes, and we can also highlight what they’re doing right.”

Brooks Farms started out with a two-man shift – one person milked while another pushed up cows. It was a tactic they tried for nearly two years, but employee turnover was high.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Employees at Roden Echo Valley Farm prepare cows and a ach milkers in the 40-stall rotary parlor near West Bend, Wisconsin.

PHOTO SUBMITTED Brooks Farms near Waupaca, Wisconsin, installed this basement-style milking parlor to meet their goals of cleanliness and quietness. Meters and electronics are located in the basement where they stay dry and clean.

“We were constantly hiring new people,” Nelson said. “So now we have two people in the parlor and one person pushing up cows.”

Brooks Farms runs a seven-day on, one-day off schedule with the day off rotating throughout the week and weekend. Employees maintain a ninehour workday.

On the cow side, Brooks Farms continues to netune procedures in order to get the level of milk the family envisioned. When moving 200 cows into a new barn designed for 600 animals, Nelson and her dad were convinced cows would take off production-wise.

“When we moved our cows from an outdated facility where they were almost 200% overcrowded into the new facility, we thought it was the Taj Mahal,” Nelson said. “But we actually dropped in milk, and it’s been ve years of trying to gure out why.”

Stray voltage was one issue they resolved. Another was being more selective about the cows that stayed in the herd. In late 2020, the family also experimented with three-times-a-day milking.

“It’s kind of an anomaly for a herd our size to still be milking twice

a day,” Nelson said. “We tried milking three times a day simply because it was one of the boxes we hadn’t checked off in gur-ing out where the milk was.”

The goal was to see a 5-pound increase in milk per cow to pay for the extra labor, utilities and chemical expenses of adding another milking. After running the numbers at the close of a year, cows were up about 3 pounds, and Brooks Farms concluded milking three times was not the solution. The family saw burnout with employees and also found that twice-a-day milking is better for their cows.

“Cows are healthier, our somatic cell count went back down, we have better foot and leg health, and cows are just able to be cows,” Nelson said. “They’re not standing in the holding area for an extra shift each day. Instead, they can eat and lay down.”

The parlors at Roden Echo Valley Farm and Brooks Farms are working well for each farm’s indi-vidual needs and offer the capacity for growth.

“We built this parlor for the future,” Nelson said. “If we ever exceed the amount of cows that can go through it, the parlor can be turned into a double-32 parallel.”

PHOTO SUBMITTED

This double-16 herringbone parlor was built in 2017 at Brooks Farms near Waupaca, Wisconsin. The Brooks family milks 600 cows twice a day.

F r o m O u r S i d eFrom Our Side O f T h e F e n c eOf The Fence From World Dairy Expo

What were growing conditions like in your area?

Duane Copenhaver

Lebanon, Pennsylvania

300 cows

Describe your farm. We are milking in a swing-22 parlor; however, we are in the process of transitioning to robots and expanding the herd to about 500 cows. Our cows are housed in a freestall barn, and as we are transitioning to the new facility and renovating the old one, we are looking to use recycled manure solids. We grow silage, earlage, shelled corn and soybean.

What are growing conditions like in your area? We generally have great growing conditions. This year, we had extremely good growing conditions through the end of July, and then, we dried up all the way to the end of September. But, our crops were mature enough, so we managed good yields.

How was your harvest? We had good yields this year. It’s spotty with who had a successful harvest. Some places had the best yields ever, and there were people who had barely any grain to harvest.

What was the biggest challenge facing your dairy this year? Finding labor is always a challenge, but having a large family helps. We also had some cattle health issues this year we were not anticipating.

What has been the highlight of your farm this year? Taking steps toward the robotic facility and transitioning our farm.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of dairying in your area? An advantage is the good crop land and good rain. A disadvantage is that we have a lot of dairy in our area so we are competing for cropland. However, that can also be seen as an advantage because our community has the infrastructure to support dairy. We have creameries and feed cooperatives nearby.

What do you enjoy about dairy farming? I enjoy that we get to do it as a family. While it ties us down, it allows us the exibility to work together as a family-run operation.

Mary and Patrick Maddox Riverdale, California 4,700 cows

Describe your farm. We have two dairies. Maddox Dairy has 3,500 cows and RuAnn Dairy has 1,200 cows. We run 8,500 acres. We diversify by selling beef, semen and breeding bulls. We have a separate barn for our show cows.

What are growing conditions like in your area? We get about 10 inches of rain a year from November through March so everything is irrigated. The water from the mountains supplements the irrigation. We grow corn in the summer and wheat in the winter.

How was your harvest? We are about threequarter of the way through our corn harvest. We will make hay through October and haylage through November. We also grow almonds and wine grapes for cash crops.

What was the biggest challenge facing your dairy this year? Weather. There was a drought due to lack of water from the mountains which stressed the crops.

What has been the highlight of your farm this year? We have had one of the highest years for milk price. We also had a mild winter. It was a good year for milk production. We hit high production and price at the same time.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of dairying in your area? The advantages are the weather. The cows can be outside year-round and facilities require low input because of this. The quality of feed is high, and we can produce a lot per acre of alfalfa. The disadvantages are all of the environmental regulations on labor. We also know water rights are coming.

What do you enjoy about dairy farming?

I love the cows. I have a passion for show cows and breeding. I like all aspects of it.

Andy Gray Storypoint, North Carolina 1,100 cows

Describe your farm. My brother, Jimmy, and I milk 1,100 cows three times a day in a double-20 parallel parlor that we built four years ago. We milk mostly Holsteins, a few jerseys and some Brown Swiss. We farm about 1,100 acres.

What are growing conditions like in your area? We have a lot of red clay. With our limited acres, we mainly grow corn for silage and shell some. We had a pretty good growing season this year.

How was your harvest? We had a smooth harvest with limited break downs and a good crop.

What was the biggest challenge facing your dairy this year? We have had some challenges sourcing feeds because of trucking and increased prices. We have also had difculty accessing parts for equipment.

What has been the highlight of your farm this year? My brother applied for the 2022 Outstanding Dairy Farm Sustainability Award, and our farm received it. We are the rst farm in the North Carolina to ever receive it.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of dairying in your area? The advantage is that there are a lot of dairies in our area, but that is also the disadvantage. Property prices are more expensive because we are relatively close to the Charlotte area, and we have a lot more neighbors than you would like around a dairy.

What do you enjoy about dairy farming? I enjoy that I am working with my family. My daughter recently graduated from college, and she has returned to the farm. It is great to be able to work with her every day.

Dwight Rokey

Sabetha, Kansas

125 cows

Describe your farm. We milk 125 Holsteins and crop 450 acres. We are the only tiestall dairy in Kansas. We started our rst-generation farm in 1999. I farm with my wife, Anita, and our seven children.

What are growing conditions like in your area? With rain, the conditions are really good. We have nice, rolling land. The humidity is higher in the summer which is not good for the cows, but it is good for the crops. We have readily available feed.

How was your harvest? Very good. We had good yields with 200-bushel corn and six crops of hay.

What was the biggest challenge facing your dairy this year? Weather events were challenging with a lot of heat and humidity. Last winter, we had a lot of cold spells with extreme temperature uctuations. At times, it went from 100 degrees to 60 in the same day.

What has been the highlight of your farm this year? Production has been the highlight this year with our cows averaging over 100 pounds of milk per cow per day.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of dairying in your area? The advantage is that our feed is good quality and available. The disadvantage is the uctuation in weather.

What do you enjoy about dairy farming? I enjoy working with the cows and interacting with people within the dairy industry.

Joel and Lauren Albright Willard, Ohio 600 cows

Describe your farm. We milk 600 Jerseys with robots and crop 800 acres. I farm with my parents.

What are growing conditions like in your area? It was a wet start so corn was planted toward the middle to end of June which is late for us.

How was your harvest? Our hay crop was fabulous. We have not cut corn yet. We will start on corn in the middle of October.

What was the biggest challenge facing your dairy this year? Even though we ended up with a good harvest, we were stressed about the uncertainty of the weather. Input costs were up, and it is challenging to constantly track the budgets.

What has been the highlight of your farm this year? It was a pretty quiet year which was nice. It allowed us to have the opportunity for the kids to show cattle this year.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of dairying in your area? The advantages are that we have abundant water. The disadvantages are that there are not a lot of dairies in our area. We are able to produce our own feed, but there are a lot of crop farmers in our area. If we could not grow our own feed, it would be a challenge.

What do you enjoy about dairy farming? I enjoy the challenge as crazy as that sounds. I also enjoy being part of a multiple-generation farm.

Daniel Crain Center, Kentucky 40 cows

Describe your farm. We milk 40 cows and crop 400 acres. I help my grandpa, Danny Crain. I have been helping all my life and farming full time for 15 years.

What are growing conditions like in your area? Growing conditions are good. We have clay-like conditions. Some of our land is low swamp ground. We do not grow corn silage, just alfalfa hay and grass hay.

How was your harvest? It was a dry year so not as good as usual.

What was the biggest challenge facing your dairy this year? It was a drought year so we are going to be short on feed. This will also lead to high feed costs that we will have to pay to make up for what we did not yield.

What has been the highlight of your farm this year? Milk price has been good.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of dairying in your area? The advantages are that we have a good climate for cattle with mild winters and usually enough rain. The disadvantages are that we are all small farms, and most farmers are 60 years or older and starting to retire. We worry about being able to get our milk picked up.

What do you enjoy about dairy farming? I enjoy taking care of the cattle and raising calves from birth through the end.

Breeding Prole

John Schaller

Morning Star Dairy

Onalaska, Wisconsin

500 cows

Describe your facilities and list your breeding management team. Our cows are milked in a double-10 parallel parlor that we built three years ago. The cows are housed in 4-row, sand-bedded freestall barns. Our breeding management team includes Judd Hanson, who does the mating, and Brad Gollnik, who does the arm service and the ovsynch.

What is your current pregnancy rate? Our current pregnancy rate is 25%.

What is your reproduction program? We do herd health on Mondays and breed cows on Thursdays. 93% of our cows are bred from ovsynch. Our cows are bred using A.I.

Describe your breeding philosophy. I never use young sires. We use proven bulls and usually the top bulls. We have not purchased an animal in 30 years.

What guidelines do you follow to reach the goals for your breeding program? We breed cows to Holstein bulls up to four times, and if they do not get pregnant, then we use beef semen. We have done this for many years. A lot of our heifers only get bred

to Holstein twice before trying with beef. By doing this, we breed out the problem breeders. We do take into consideration the time of year and the effect it may have on cows settling. We do matings three times a year.

What are the top traits you look for in breeding your dairy herd and how has this changed since you started farming? We always look at feet and legs and udder composites. This has continued to change over the years. We are getting toward shorter-statured animals.

What are certain traits you try to avoid? Tall animals, poor feet, poor udders and cows that are too narrow.

Describe the ideal cow for your herd. Not too tall, good feet and legs, and not too set or straight-legged but a happy medium.

What role does genetics have in reaching the goals of your farm? Breeding plays a big role in reaching the goals of our farm. Our main things are excellent quality feed, comfortable cows and good genetics.

What percentage of your herd is bred to sexed, conventional and beef semen? We just started using sexed semen a few months ago, but we use very little. We prefer to use conventional semen because we have plenty of cows. We use approximately 93% Holstein conventional semen, 2% sexed Holstein semen and 7% Angus.

PHOTO BY ABBY WIEDMEYER

John and Cameron Schaller milk 500 cows at Morning Star Dairy near Onalaska, Wisconsin. The herd is milked in a double-10 parallel parlor and housed in sand-bedded freestall barns.

We want to congratulate Mark Comfort, co-founder of Udder Comfort, on the award of 2022 World Dairy Expo International Person of the Year.

The Comfort Team is proud to be associated with such a humble, visionary leader. His dedication to dairy and passion for progress has led to contributions over four decades with international impact in dairy genetics, market access, products and practices. A prime example was the launch of Udder ComfortTM to have global impact as the gold standard in preventive udder care with sales in 30 countries on virtually every continent, worldwide.

and Bev Comfort Scan QR code

go

TILLAGE

story:

Mark saw the need for a natural tool for udder quality in an international environment that emphasizes preventive management.

He worked with a scientist who created the unique formula, gained insights from dairy producers, and built a team to advance tools for a variety of dairy environments.

In the 1980s, Mark’s longstanding passion for genetic improvement fueled a mission to see “great sires go everywhere.”

Mark built cross-border relationships through his company Transfer Genetics, which became known as TransCanada Select Sires and was sold to Select Sires in 2000.

Heifers eat at the feedbunk at Morning Star Dairy. They are bred at 15 months of age.

What is your conception rate?

How does this differ with different types of semen? Our conception rate is 50%. Overall, there are two services per conception. It does not vary by much between conventional, sexed or beef semen.

What is the greatest lesson you have learned through your breeding program? It pays to use good bulls. When I rst started milking cows in 1986, I had jumper bulls. I had a really good cow that made 21,000 pounds of milk. Back then, that was a big deal. That’s when I realized the importance of genetics and went to A.I.

What is the age of your heifers at rst service? 15 months.

How does your heifer inventory affect your breeding program?

We usually have too many heifers so we need to start using more beef.

Tell us about your farm. My grandparents moved here in the 1930s. My dad took over in 1947. I started renting the farm in 1984 and bought the buildings and 20 acres in 1986. We now own 620 tillable acres and rent a couple hundred more. We milk three times a day and are proud of a tremendously low somatic cell count with an average below 50,000. Our cows average 95 pounds per day. My youngest son, Cameron, farms with me full time.

PHOTO BY ABBY WIEDMEYER

TAKE COW-FLOW TO ANOTHER LEVEL

IOWA

Kramer Bros. Monticello, IA 319-465-5931

Prairie Land Ag Supply Inc. Rock Valley, IA 712-476-9290

United Dairy Systems, Inc. West Union, IA 563-422-5355

WISCONSIN

Advanced Dairy/Bob’s Dairy Supply Spring Valley, WI 715-772-3201

Ederer Dairy Supply Plain, WI 608-546-3713

The next phase in life

Aug. 16 was a life-changing day for my family as it was the day my husband and I moved our rstborn child off to college. It was a moment I had been dreading since she was 2 days old when we brought her home from the hospital. I knew that someday she would grow up and leave us and that was way too much for a new mother’s heart to bear. Fast forward nearly 19 years, and that day was upon us before we knew it.

It was a bittersweet occasion. On the one hand, we were excited for her to start this new adventure. But on the other hand, the bigger hand I might add, we were sad our baby girl was leaving home. It is 10.5 hours from our doorstep to Felicity’s dorm in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

She is a Razorback attending the University of Arkansas, a school where the mascot is a wild hog and “Wooo Pig Sooie!” is the chant recited at games; probably the most unique in all of college sports.

By Stacey Smart Staff Writer

From the time Felicity walked across the stage to receive her high school diploma May 27 until the day we packed the car for college, the summer ew by. I found myself wondering, where did Felicity’s childhood go?

My mom always said, “You can only give your kids two things – roots and wings.” We gave Felicity the best possible roots we could, providing her a solid foundation in life, and now it was time to give her wings to start her own life.

I have shed many tears since the day we said goodbye. Returning home without her was hard, to say the least. Seeing her bedroom without her in it made my heart ache and still does. Our home dynamic has forever changed. There is one less person at the dinner table every night and one less person in our pew in church on Sunday. It has been a difcult transition, and I miss her like crazy.

She is at a distance where a quick trip home for the weekend is not possible. We only see her if we go down there for a visit or if she comes home for a planned break. Luckily, we have several of those visits on the itinerary. It will be nice to have a warm place to go when it is cold up here.

In the middle of September, we got to see Felicity again for family weekend at the university. My heart was bursting with joy the day we arrived in Fayetteville. After a month, our close-knit family of four was back together again. It was a beautiful reunion.

Watching our daughter grow and make adult decisions is rewarding. We look forward to the great things she will do and the people she will meet as we all try to embrace this next phase in life. In the meantime, I am happy to have one child at home.

Time away gives a person a deeper appreciation for the place they call home. Felicity has dealt with her share of homesickness and is convinced she will be returning to Waukesha when she is done with college. She already knows from a short time away that she wants to live near family again someday. Of course, nothing would make me happier than the four of us living in the same town again when both my kids are grown.

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 608-635-0267

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

Advanced Dairy of Mora Mora, MN 320-679-1029

Farm Systems Melrose, MN 320-256-3276 Brookings, SD 800-636-5581

Advanced Dairy Systems St. Charles, MN 507-932-4288

Professional Dairy Systems Wadena, MN 218-632-5416

My son, on the other hand, who is a sophomore in high school, does not plan to make Wisconsin his home after college. Like his sister, he wants to attend college in the south and eventually make a southern state his permanent residence. He hates the cold and cannot wait to live in warm weather year-round. But, who knows? After spending some time away, he may decide Wisconsin really is the best place to live after all. And maybe the tables will turn and Felicity will be the one to stay in the south after getting swept off her feet by a southern boy.

When I visit farms where the children have returned home to farm with their parents, I always pause to think of how lucky those families are. What a blessing to see and work with your kids on a daily basis. The family farm provides that opportunity. Oftentimes, there are grandchildren running around the farm too. So not only do these parents have the luxury of having their children close, they also have the good fortune of being an integral part of their grandchildren’s lives as well.

Oftentimes, that next generation lives on the farm or very close by. To work alongside your children and continue to be a part of their everyday adult lives must be extremely gratifying. I have been fortunate to meet families where one child or two children or three or more have returned to farm with their mom and dad. In some cases, all the children made the family farm their career. For the families living this dream, I hope you appreciate this special gift you have been given.

To me, there is nothing more precious than time spent with family. I do not have a family business my kids can return to, so no one knows yet where their careers will ultimately take them. As with all things, time will tell. Only God knows where life will lead them. For now, Arkansas is far enough.

Life in the great outdoors Nordahl offers

insight to successful hunting

By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com

OSSEO, Wis. – Ryan Nordahl has turned his love of hunting whitetail deer into a full-time business.

In 2017, Nordahl quit his job as a full-time breeder and started his own habitat consulting business, called Epic Whitetail Habitat LLC. His main objective is to help landowners attract and hold more deer on their properties. It is something he has been practicing on his family’s land for his whole life.

The process involves redesigning properties to cater to deer’s natural instincts. It can involve food plots and suggestions for logging and utilizing connections in the forestry industry to do so.

“I’m not a logger or forester by any means, but I can tell, especially from a deer standpoint, if a property needs to be logged or thinned,” Nordahl said. “Basically, it’s a whole property makeover.”

Nordahl began the work after more than a decade of running a dairy farm with his brother and working as a breed-

er for a couple years. While he stays involved in the show cattle scene, his focus is on consulting.

“If it’s not farming, it’s deer,” Nordahl said. “I have a big vision for my life and where I want my legacy to be at the end of it.”

Nordahl, along with his three sons, own a small string of show cattle that are housed at a friend’s dairy nearby. Along with herdsman duties, Nordahl does all the breeding for the farm where his cattle are housed. His son also works at the farm assisting with chores. While he is passionate about quality show cows and farming, Nordahl said his true passion is hunting.

“I’ve spent almost 40 years of my life wondering how to get into the outdoor industry because this is what I wanted to do,” Nordahl said. “When I was milking cows, this took priority.”

One of the main things Nordahl notices when working with clients is many people do not realize they are over hunting their properties. Nordahl said while hunters are in the woods trying to pattern the deer, those deer are trying to pattern the people.

“Deer are an animal of survival,” Nordahl said. “They are very predictable in the late season.”

Nordahl focuses on the sur-

vival of deer. He said deer are going to be found where the most abundant and ample food supplies are. Nordahl said farmers become frustrated when they see deer on their properties all summer long and then are nowhere to be found after harvest when it is time to hunt.

“If you don’t have food surrounding your property, they’re shifting,” Nordahl said.

The process for hiring Nordahl begins with a consultation. Nordahl walks the property with the landowner and discusses the depth of the need. Once a plan is formed, the management can be as involved as the landowner wants. If someone wants to do most of the work themselves, then Nordahl serves as a consultant. Sometimes there is a case of an absentee landowner,

in which case Nordahl manages the property for the person. Management can include, but is not limited to, hinge cutting, mowing access paths, hanging tree stands, tree planting, and planting and maintaining food plots. Nordahl said he travels to wherever whitetail deer roam.

ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR Ryan Nordahl stands outside the woods Sept. 26 at his home near Osseo, Wisconsin. Nordahl owns a small string of show cows and also runs an outdoor consul ng business, Epic Whitetail Habitat LLC, to help others a ract and hold deer on their proper es.

One of Nordahl’s most exciting deer harvests was in 2013 when he shot a nontypical buck with a vertical bow. He started hunting that specic deer December 2012 after seeing the buck in the woods one night. The following year, Nordahl started using trail cameras and realized the buck was unique with a drop tine.

He discovered the deer had a nocturnal pattern and also gured out where he was bedding. Nordahl’s rst approach was to try to get in the

woods early enough and catch the deer on his way back to his bedding spot. At the beginning of November, and right before the rut of the year, Nordahl went to a tree stand near the spot where he gured the deer was bedding. After several days of hunting and not even sighting the animal, Nordahl nally caught sight of the animal but did not get a shot because the buck would not come out of the brush.

Finally at the end of a long week of hunting, he managed

ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR

to shoot the buck on a Sunday afternoon.

“Right out in front of me at 20 yards I got him to stop, and as soon as I pulled the trigger, he took a step toward me,” Nordahl said. “I caught him in the last rib, and it came out his ank.”

It is a shot known to most hunters as a gut shot. It would be a successful kill, but it would take a long time for the deer to bleed out. If chased too soon, they would surely lose the blood trail and possibly never nd the deer. Nordahl said a common mistake with gut shots

is to track them too soon.

He decided to wait until the morning to track the animal when the chances were good that if left alone, the deer would not go as far. It proved to be a wise decision. Nordahl and a friend tracked and found the deer the next day. The deer is now mounted on the wall of Nordahl’s home.

Nordahl said his hope is to help other hunters achieve victories in the outdoors as well as give back to causes that are important to him. Nordahl would like his business to be able to afford a scholarship to someone

going to school for wildlife biology or management. Another cause he works toward is giving 10% of his proceeds to the family of a business partner who passed away in an accident last year.

Nordahl is also hoping to hire interns in the coming year to help spread the enthusiasm and knowledge he has for the outdoors.

“I want people to understand that I’m not in this just for me,” Nordahl said. “I have things that I want to be able to give to because they were a big impact on my life.”

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Ryan Nordahl poses with a buck he shot in 2013 a er hun ng the buck for two years. Nordahl is an avid hunter.

Ryan Nordahl works on a property design for a client of his habitat consul ng business. Nordahl also works with a local farm as herdsman and breeder where he houses his show cows.

Jerseys come out on top at World Dairy Expo junior show

Annette, Colby

Jack win supreme champion honors

By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com

MADISON, Wis. – During the nal moments of the 55th World Dairy Expo in Madison, spotlights shone on two Jerseys that stood out above the rest.

Homeridge T Annette, the grand champion of the International Junior Jersey Show, was named supreme champion of the junior show Oct.7 during Expo’s parade of champions. Joining her at the top as supreme champion heifer of the junior show was Rivendale Venue Colby Jack-ET, the junior champion of the International Junior Jersey Show.

Annette is owned by partners Budjon, Vail, Cunningham, Powers and K. and D. Nickels of Lomira. Kylie Nickels led the 4-year-old cow to success the week of Expo.

“This is a dream that nally came true,” said 21-yearold Nickels. “Winning supreme champion is like having all of your blood, sweat and tears fullled in one night. It’s not something you ever expect is going to happen, but it proves that hard work does pay off in time.”

This was not the rst time Nickels and Annette have walked

in the parade of champions. Last year, the pair also took the famed walk when Annette won reserve supreme champion honors. But this year, there would be no animal standing ahead of her.

“I was shocked when Annette was selected for supreme champion,” Nickels said. “I really wasn’t expecting that. I don’t ever like to go into a show expecting a certain outcome, and I was denitely taken by surprise.”

Annette placed third in her class in the open show and was rst-place junior.

“The Jersey 4-year-old class was kind of a difcult class,” Nickels said. “Last year’s intermediate champion at Expo was in that class, and I was nervous for Annette going into it.”

Nickels has been a part of Annette’s life since she was a calf. Nickels and her brother, Dawson, run a heifer boarding business near Watertown and housed Annette at their farm while Nickels showed the Jersey at major shows. After calving in as a 2-year-old, the Nickels siblings bought in on Annette. Annette is now housed at Budjon Farms near Lomira.

Sired by Tower-Vue Prime Tequila, Annette is scored EX-91 and is backed by nine generations of Very Good and Excellent cows. Annette has back-to-back grand champion wins of the junior show at Expo, earning the title last year as a senior 3-yearold as well. She also won the National Jersey Jug Futurity and

was named intermediate champion at the All-American Jersey Show in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2021.

Nickels is the daughter of Tom and Penni Nickels and has been showing at Expo since 2011. She also showed a Holstein summer yearling this year that placed fourth in the junior show.

Nickels owns six animals –

three of which are Annette’s offspring. A senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Nickels is majoring in dairy science with a certicate in agricultural business and also works at Budjon Farms.

On the halter of the supreme champion heifer, Colby Jack, was 21-year-old Sarah Fitzgerald of Belvidere, Illinois.

“The whole experience was breathtaking,” Fitzgerald said. “I couldn’t believe I was actually walking under the lights on the colored shavings in the parade of champions.”

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Kylie Nickels gives Anne e a hear elt hug a er the 4-year-old Jersey was selected supreme champion of the junior show Oct. 7 at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin.

Fitzgerald cried tears of joy when Colby Jack was selected supreme champion heifer.

“At rst, I was speechless,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it when they said the Jersey for supreme champion. I was so happy I could not stop smiling.”

This was Fitzgerald’s rst time walking in the parade of champions and only her second time exhibiting at Expo.

“I have attended Expo pretty much every year since I was born though,” Fitzgerald said.

The fall calf, Colby Jack, won it all at this year’s World Dairy Expo. She placed rst in her class in both the open show and the junior show and was named junior grand champion of both shows as well before reigning supreme over all other breeds.

“That was crazy because for the junior show, a few people were telling me, ‘Be ready, I think you won that one,’ but for the open show they said there’s no way because you’ll be standing there with all the big guys,” Fitzgerald said. “So when the judge came and gave me the high ve, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe that just happened.’”

Colby Jack is owned by Fitzgerald, Trace Johnson and Ty Johnson. The trio purchased the heifer in April at the Midwest National Spring Jersey Show.

“She has a pretty cool pedigree,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s the reason we bought her.”

Colby Jack’s dam is Chilli Premier Cinema EX-93, and her granddam is Pleasant Nook F Prize Circus EX-97. Colby Jack is sired by Pleasant Nook Wr Hg Venue.

“What intrigued me about Colby Jack was her pedigree,” Trace Johnson said. “We always look for Excellent cows in a pedigree, and whenever you have a 93-point cow backed by a 97-point cow, you should be able to breed on.”

Earlier this year, Colby Jack was rst place fall calf and honorable mention grand champion at the Midwest National Spring Jersey Show. She was also rst place fall calf in the open show and reserve junior champion of the Jersey show at the Illinois State Fair.

Colby Jack is now residing at the Johnsons’ family farm – Johnson-Five Holsteins and Jerseys – near Poplar Grove, Illinois. Johnson farms with his two brothers, Cole and Ty, his dad, Thad, and his grandpa, Jim. The Johnsons milk 180 cows.

“Seeing Colby Jack selected for su-

preme champion heifer was pretty awesome,” Johnson said. “There are not a lot of words to describe something you work so hard toward. We just got into Jerseys early in 2021, so we haven’t been in the Jersey game very long.”

Fitzgerald is the daughter of Dale and Lisa Fitzgerald and is interning at Budjon Farms. She graduated from Highland Community College in Freeport, Illinois, in May with an associate degree in applied science in agriculture management with an emphasis in animal science. She aspires to own a dairy farm one day.

“We used to live on a dairy farm, but we had to move,” Fitzgerald said. “It would be nice to buy another farm and start over someday. I am the rst generation in my family to show.”

Fitzgerald owns around 15 head of heifers and cows. She houses the heifers at her place and her show cows at the Johnsons’.

Fitzgerald also showed a Holstein senior 2-year-old that placed rst in the junior show, a Jersey junior 2-year-old that placed rst in the junior show and a Red and White summer yearling that was second in the junior show.

“It was an amazing week,” Fitzgerald said.

Johnson agreed.

“We had a really good week,” he said. “The best I had ever done at Expo before this was placing sixth a couple times.”

Reserve supreme champion of the junior show honors were awarded to Northkill Creek Groovy, the grand champion of the International Junior Brown Swiss Show. Groovy is owned by Hannah and Mark Balthaser of Bernville, Pennsylvania. The reserve supreme champion heifer of the junior show was W-Brook HottestRed, the junior champion of the International Junior Red and White Show. Hottest was exhibited by K. Hawvermale, N. and C. Spreng, and H. and T. Hinz of Wooster, Ohio.

This year’s show marked the last time both Nickels and Fitzgerald would be eligible to exhibit in the junior show at Expo. By earning the highest achievement in the ring, both showmen nished their junior show careers on a strong note.

“I used to joke that I’m going to go out with a bang, which I did,” Fitzgerald said. “I was hoping it would happen but really didn’t think it would. It was a dream come true as I have dreamed about being in the parade of champions ever since I was a little girl.”

Easy

Q-Catch

Lorilee Schultz

Orangeville, Illinois Stephenson County 55 cows

Family: My partner Chris and daughter Lucy. Aside from helping on the agronomy side, Chris is busy with his own farm, custom spraying and carpentry businesses and is not involved in day-to-day operations. The farm is owned by my grandparents, Bob and Kaye Miller. My aunt, Kathy Miller, is our calf feeder. My eldest two brothers operate a custom harvesting business, and I am able to hire them to make our feed and for some other eldwork. I am lucky to also have three sisters-in-law and a few cousins nearby who can help in a pinch.

Tell us about your farm. My grandparents started Mil-R-Mor Farm in 1962. They relocated the farm from a Chicago suburb to Orangeville in 2006. The main farm is 285 acres, including about 50 acres of grass and pasture. The milking barn has 34 tie stalls and 22 box pens. Calves are raised in individual pens in a converted corn crib with curtains on the sides. Heifers are in groups of 4-6 from 10 weeks to breeding age. Bred heifers and dry cows are housed in a freestall with access to pasture. Our breeding goal is to develop strong cow families with high type and longevity. Our herd received the Holstein Association Progressive Breeder Registry Award in 2021. Since taking over management of the crop ground in 2015, I have worked to incorporate environmental practices such as growing cover crops, creating pollinator and wildlife habitat, planting native tree species and managing soil for micronutrients, all while growing corn, alfalfa and wheat. In addition to myself and my aunt, we have one full-time employee along with some part-time employees. We enjoy being an integral part of our community and economy.

What is a typical day like for you on the dairy? My role on the dairy is constantly evolving depending on the time of the year and our employee situation. I am lucky and grateful to have an amazing employee who has been my right-hand lady through it all and makes it easier to run a farm while caring for

an infant. She generally arrives rst and gets the cows in and starts milking while I get organized to make it to the barn. I help bring in the second group of cows to milk, then put out feed while Lucy naps in the barn. This time of year, the cows go back out to pasture, and we clean the barn for the day. Then it’s project and errand time. Occasionally, I use this time to clean my house or get groceries. By mid-afternoon, I start mixing feed again for the day. Ideally, Lucy will take a nap in her stroller during this time, or she will ride with me. Then, we put cows in for evening milking. Most nights, I have a high schooler who milks while I put feed out again and feed hay to heifers. On days that I don’t have help in the barn, I call Grandma for help with the baby and plan to spend most of my day in the barn. After chores, we do our nighttime routine of super, bath time and not doing the dishes, and I prop my eyes open until I can get the baby to sleep.

What decision have you made in the last year that has beneted your farm? I decided not to breed anything to calve in January-February and JulyAugust any more. Winter time chores with 22 box pens is a ridiculous amount of work, so it is worth having a few empty pens at that time, even if it means I have to double up in the spring when the cows are back on pasture. Try as we might to keep them cool, calving in the middle of summer inevitably leads to fresh cow problems that also take up time. Without the ability to make major changes to the facility, anything I can do to streamline labor makes a big difference. As a bonus, I have been able to maintain better pre-fresh nutrition and protocols when I calve in bigger groups together.

Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. Every summer, we compete at our local district show. My grandparents now have 23 great-grandchildren, and last year, we had 11 of them participate in the show. We bring a bunch of March calves that they all work with ahead of time. It takes a lot of effort, but the kids have so much fun together, and it is amazing to see their progress each year as they learn. The connection with

animals, teamwork with each other and work ethic they learn means at least as much as any banners or trophies we might bring home.

What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the dairy industry? The dairy industry has taken me some amazing places, and I’ve met many interesting people. I’ve been all over the country for Holstein conventions and conferences. I went to Australia and visited many farms with my grandparents when my grandpa was invited to judge an on-farm competition in Victoria. I’ve been to the incredible Swiss Expo in Lausanne, Switzerland, and visited dairy farms in China and New Zealand through internship and study abroad experiences. There is also a great network of supportive dairy farmers at my ngertips on social media.

What is your biggest accomplishment in your dairy career? I’ve had my share of highs and lows on the farm and had neat experiences, but I am most proud of the quality product that leaves the driveway every day. It represents the consistent effort we put in to maintain exceptional milk quality, keep our cows healthy and grow high-quality forages.

What are things you do to promote your farm or the dairy industry? We donate to local fundraisers and host tours when we can. I also did a collaboration with Midwest Dairy to thank teachers for their efforts during the pandemic. We participated in the adopt-acalf program for three years and were able to help reach over 200,000 students with information from our farm. This included farm tours on YouTube. I also host a farm Facebook page with over 4,000 followers.

What advice would you give another woman in the dairy industry? It’s hard to leave the farm, but try to do something for yourself to gain perspective and grow your skills. Each year, I participate in at least one conference or program. In the past, I have completed the Young Dairy Leaders Institute, gone to meetings such as the annual PDPW or the Dairy Girl Network conferences, and this year, I am excited to go to the National Milk Producers Federation Young Cooperators meeting. Sure, I’ve been underestimated and discriminated against, but at the end of the day, it’s true that those who matter don’t mind, and those who mind don’t matter.

When you get a spare moment, what do you do? Spend time with family and friends.

Insights on farm sustainability metrics from the Minnesota Nutrition Conference

By Isaac J. Salfer

I recently attended the Minnesota Nutrition Conference in Mankato, Minnesota. We had a great group of speakers focusing on hot topics related to nutrition of dairy, beef, swine and poultry.

The open session focused on opportunities and challenges associated with improving sustainability of livestock operations. Although my lab does a fair amount of research measuring impacts of dairy nutrition on methane and nitrogen emissions, I consider myself somewhat of a novice when it comes to understanding sustainability as a broad concept.

While it is extremely important that everyone, including us in the dairy industry, focus on how we can reduce our environmental impact, I always considered the term sustainability more of a buzzword that made for good marketing material instead of something easily denable from a practical or even scientic standpoint. During the conference, I found several valuable insights worth sharing.

The general session kicked off with Dr. Erin Cortus, a professor in the University of Minnesota Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering Department, who provided denitions and metrics used for livestock sustainability. She claried that sustainability is not a single metric

but rather a set of attitudes, practices and systems that reduce the environmental burden and waste from a system. Because of this, the way in which the term is applied is often context dependent and specic to a certain operation or industry’s goals. Factors including greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water use, water quality and promotion of biodiversity are important to consider when determining the sustainability of a livestock operation.

Typically, assessments of the sustainability of any system are determined using a modeling approach called a lifecycle assessment. This approach considers the entire environmental impact of a product at all stages of development. For dairy farms, this means the environmental costs of raising livestock, raising and/ or transporting feed, and harvesting and transporting cattle and milk are all considered.

One of the challenges with a life-cycle assessment is that like with any model, they are completely dependent on the inputs. Because of this, factors such as the time scale, geographic scale, and inputs and outputs can all impact the calculated carbon footprint as a system. Cortus stressed the importance of understanding what environmental footprint values mean and making sure that producers and the allied industry clearly communicate

with scientists and policy makers to ensure our goals and contributions are being appropriately reected.

Terry Ward, the global director for sustainability at Zinpro Corp., and Lara Moody, the executive director of the Institute for Feed Education and Research, provided an update about market and policy factors driving decisions related to sustainability.

I was surprised to hear about how much of the decisions related to sustainability were driven by nancial investors. Most investors essentially require that a company makes a sustainability claim before they are willing to provide nancial backing. This requirement is largely market driven and done because companies that make sustainability claims have been shown to be six times more protable than those without those claims. We, as a dairy industry, have a huge marketing opportunity available to tout the ways in which we contribute to global environmental sustainability. Across the country, several state and national commodity groups have already begun setting sustainability goals to capitalize on this market trend, and I only continue to see this happening into the future. Moody also said policy is being discussed within the U.S. Securities and Exchange Com-

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

Joleen Hadrich jhadrich@umn.edu 612-626-5620

Les Hansen hanse009@umn.edu 612-624-2277

mission that would require companies claiming to have a sustainability goal to be able to provide proof that these goals were met.

Moody also did an excellent job outlining the crucial role animal agriculture plays within the context of a circular agricultural economy. Briey, a circular economy is one where products are able to be used, reused, recycled and inputted back into the system. A great selling point of the livestock industry within this circular economy is the fact that a large percentage (approximately 40%) of the feed inputs are byproducts, and animals act as a way to recycle waste from other food industries. There are additional opportunities to continue to work animal agriculture into a circular economy including things like the use of methane digesters to produce renewable natural gas and potentially feeding unique byproduct feeds like grocery waste.

Overall, all the speakers highlighted that the train has left the station so-tospeak in regards to an increased focus on sustainability within livestock operations. The dairy industry has to both promote the strides is has made in improving environmental sustainability and continue to make improvements in this area.

Brad Heins hein0106@umn.edu 320-589-1711

Nathan Hulinsky huli0013@umn.edu 320-203-6104

Kevin Janni kjanni@umn.edu 612-625-3108

Karen Johnson ande9495@umn.edu 320-484-4334

Emily Krekelberg krek0033@umn.edu 507-280-2863

Claire LaCanne lacanne@umn.edu 507-332-6109

Brenda Miller nels4220@umn.edu 320-732-4435

Erin Royster royster@umn.edu

Isaac Salfer ijsalfer@umn.edu 320-296-1357

Jim Salfer salfe001@umn.edu 320-203-6093

Mike Schutz mschutz@umn.edu 612-624-1205

Growing for the next generation

Gries family builds robot barn, triples herd size

By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com

VALDERS, Wis. – After milking 100 cows three times a day for 30 years in a stanchion barn, the Gries family was ready for a change. Well into their 70s, Harlan and Judy Gries, who farm with their son, Greg, and his daughter and son-inlaw, Rachel and Zak Kenneke, were hoping to slow down a bit. Not only that, their old barn had little life left.

“We needed to do something,” Harlan said. “The barn was worn out, and the stalls needed to be replaced. I told Greg either we have to get out of cows and do cash cropping or build a new facility. It was his choice.”

Getting rid of the cows was not an option for Greg. And, knowing the next generation was interested in farming also made the decision to build and grow an easy one. The family built a robotic facility and milked cows in the new barn for the rst time Feb. 21, 2021. The Gries family is hosting an open house from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 22 to showcase the facility.

Three generations of Grieses run Libertyland Farms near

Valders. The family milks 320 cows with ve Lely A5 robots and farms 1,025 acres. The fourgeneration farm was purchased by Harlan’s parents, Elmer and Marie, in 1940 and given the name Libertyland Farms in 1948. In 1970, Harlan and Judy took over. They milked 60 cows until Greg joined his parents full time in 1985 after graduating from high school. The trio formed a partnership, and an addition to their stanchion barn allowed them to increase cow numbers to 90.

In their 88-stall stanchion barn, the Gries family milked at 6 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Judy milked mornings and afternoons with either Greg or Harlan, and Harlan always did the night shift.

“I liked milking,” Harlan said.

The Gries family purchased cows to ll their new barn, tripling the size of their herd. Cows are grouped according to age with one pen consisting of two robots for rst-lactation heifers, another pen containing two robots for cows in their second through fourth lactations, while one pen for aged cows contains one robot. Cows average 2.7 milkings per day.

“With the A5 robot, we only

had to get rid of one cow due to teat placement,” Harlan said.

“The robot is really good at nding the teats and attaching, even on older cows that don’t have the best placement.”

In the robot, cows are fed a grain mix with molasses instead of a pellet.

“It’s cheaper than feeding a pellet,” Greg said. “We have our own grain – soybeans and corn – to use, so it just makes sense. We eliminated the cost of pellets

or the cost to haul feed and have it pelleted.”

The tunnel ventilated barn is designed for optimal cow comfort. Cows moved from mattresses and straw with metal partitions in the stanchion barn to sand-bedded, movable ex stalls in the new barn.

“Cow longevity has improved,” Rachel said. “We never have injuries because of stalls. Cows can get up and down and move around a lot easier without

banging themselves. The stall moves with them. The new barn made our old cows more youthful. They thrive here.”

The 386-stall barn also houses the farm’s dry cows and features three maternity pens equipped with cameras. The new facility includes a vet room, an ofce with a view of one of the robots, a conference room, bathroom with washer

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

The Gries family – Greg (from le ), Rachel, Harlan and Judy – milk 320 cows with ve robo c milking systems and run 1,025 acres near Valders, Wisconsin. The Grieses began milking in their new robo c facility Feb. 21, 2021.

and dryer, milkhouse that houses the farms two 6,000-gallon bulk tanks, and a room for prepping pasteurized milk for feeding to calves, which are housed in outdoor hutches. A complete walkaround runs the perimeter of the barn in front of the cows.

“I believe it’s the rst one Fox Cities Builders ever did,” Judy said. “It’s really nice because you can check the cows without having to change your shoes. It’s worked great for Greg coming home from his kids’ sporting events, etc. There are no crosswalks to go through.”

Now 80 and 76, respectively, Harlan and Judy are active on the farm, but Greg and Rachel handle much of the day-today work. Assisting them in the barn is a full-time person who

helps feed calves, give vaccinations, dry up cows and do other chores, while Zak is the farm’s feeder and maintenance man. In addition to her role on the farm, Rachel also works full time for Quality Liquid Feeds. Heading up the calf area, she feeds calves at night and lls in on weekends in the barn.

“Robots give me the exibility to get morning chores done early so I can be back for night chores,” Rachel said.

The family is enjoying the conveniences and features of their barn, such as the automatic alley scrapers and feed pusher. In addition, the activity collars that work in tandem with the robotic milking system have boosted cow health and improved the farm’s reproduction

program.

“The collars ag mastitis early on; therefore, very rarely do we have a hard, red, inamed quarter,” Rachel said. “We catch mastitis earlier and have a quicker turnaround. Same with ketosis and DA cases.”

Greg agreed.

“The collars are a huge asset,” he said.

The farm now breeds most of its cows off natural heats versus an ovsynch program.

“Now, we’re utilizing a better breeding window and breeding cows at a more precise time,” Rachel said. “A lot more are being bred off natural heats. It reduces the labor and money of giving shots.”

Allowing cows to operate on their own schedules, the robotic milking facility that incorporates automated monitoring features has increased efciency in the barn at every level.

“We let cows be unless we get a list of cows needing attention,” Rachel said. “We don’t walk fresh cow pens or do any checks unless a cow pops up on our list. This saves a lot of time. We’re also not locking cows up or getting them out of their routine.”

Anticipating growth, the facility was built to accommodate eight robots. The family built a barn to lead them far into the future and deeper into the Gries family farming tradition to pro-

vide opportunities for future generations. Greg’s daughter, Jenna, is a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison majoring in dairy science and has also expressed interest in returning to the farm one day. Greg’s oldest daughter, Anna – a registered nurse – is having her rst child in October, and Harlan and Judy are looking forward to becoming great-grandparents.

“Judy and I have enjoyed watching the farm evolve over the years,” Harlan said. “It’s changed a lot since my parents bought the place, and I’m really happy my family has wanted to keep it going. It’s great to have three generations working together.”

You

Farming,

STACEY SMART/DAIRY

Cows at the Gries family farm are grouped according to age. They milk 320 cows near Valders,

Stephanie Hughes

that you cannot live without? First would be my husband and my kids; they are the reason I get up in the morning. I work hard for them, and they work hard with me. They support my passion to dairy farm. Second would be our cows. They are the income-earning asset, and I love developing good cows.

How did you get into farming? My husband and I began renting his father’s farm in 2007. We purchased our own registered dairy cows.

What are your thoughts and concerns about the dairy industry for the next year? Input prices to plant our crops is an extremely huge concern.

What is a recent change you made on your farm and the reason for it? We have started direct marketing our nished Jersey steers to consumers. We also opened an on-farm store, Sunsett Farmstead Market.

Tell us about a skill you possess that makes dairy farming easier for you. Being knowledgeable about animal care and being able to diagnose and treat cattle, therefore saving vet costs. Also, being able to articially inseminate my own cattle is a huge cost savings.

What is the best decision you have made on your farm? Putting in a stationary mixer was great. Our cows are healthier on a total mixed ration, we have good milk production, and we are able to better manage feed inventory. What are three things on the farm

Third would be the skid loader. We use the skid loader every day to help us feed and clean. It makes our lives easier.

What strategies do you use to withstand the volatile milk prices? Every day we focus on efciency. We try to do many things ourselves with the cows, machinery, improvements and repairs. Direct marketing our meat has helped cash ow as well.

How do you retain a good working relationship with your employees?

We have one or two part-time employees every year. They are typically young people. I am fortunate to have very good help the last few years, and we can get away from time to time. I enjoy working with them and teaching them about farming, because it isn’t just a job.

What do you enjoy most about dairy farming? What I enjoy most about farming is raising my kids on the farm.

The experiences and life lessons are second to none. We have good days and bad. We celebrate our success and dust each other off when we need to. They see life, and they see death. We work hard and play hard. I love this life and love doing it with them.

DC-1125 DUMP CART

- 1125 Series Dump Carts

What advice would you give other dairy farmers? Try to do as many things as you can yourself. Be open to learning and education. Listen to learn, ask questions and participate in trainings. Never take anyone for granted. Be humble and kind.

What are your plans for your dairy in the next year and ve years? This year, we would like to continue to grow

our direct marketing business and continue to raise and develop good-quality registered dairy cattle for my kids to show. In the next ve years, we would like to start planning the construction of a heifer and steer facility.

How do you or your family like to spend time when you are not doing chores? We like to show our registered dairy cattle. We like to sh, canoe and kayak. We also like to attend local car, truck and tractor shows.

h co ha

Series carts

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high

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with husband, Alan, and sons, Bryce, Gavin and Derek)

Dairy

Wisconsin

County

cows

Creamery business gives back

Bongards employees Bob Grinsell (from le ), Ranjeeth Swagatha and Jus n Rudd assemble nutrious meals Sept. 20 at Feed My Starving Children in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The meals are sent to organiza ons across 70 countries.

Bongards employees pack meals for those in need

By Jan Lefebvre jan.l@star-pub.com

CHANHASSEN, Minn. – A group of 15 employees from Bongards spent several hours assembling and packing food boxes Sept. 20 for the nonprot organization, Feed My Starving Children.

FMSC donates meals to schools, orphanages, clinics and other programs across 70 countries. The Bongards team of volunteers was organized by their corporate employee engagement committee.

The volunteers worked at a FMSC site in Chanhassen, which is also where Bongards’ corporate ofces are located.

The group assembled nutritionally-fortied rice meals designed to travel well and to meet the needs of children around the world who are severely malnourished.

When groups volunteer at a FMSC location, they can pack many meals at once to make a dent in the large task of helping end hunger. The meals go to a network of missions and humanitarian organizations who work hard to get the food to those who need it most Katie Simons, credit and sales analyst for Bongards, served with the volunteer team.

“Feed My Starving Children was a great event for Bongards,” Simons said. “We like to give back to the community and help those less fortunate. We can’t thank them enough for allowing us to help package.”

The volunteer event was part of a team-building exercise for Bongards employees that allowed them to give back. Another Bongards team had done this three years ago, but the coronavirus pandemic delayed a return. Employees were glad for the chance to do help again this fall.

FMSC staff makes the environment fun for groups who volunteer, Simons said.

“The employees and volunteers were very welcoming and helpful,” Simons said. “They also had great music.”

Bongards has been a market for Minnesota dairy farmers for over a century. The name comes from the small, unincorporated Carver County town of Bongards in which the rst creamery site was built in 1908. The business now has three production facilities and several retail locations. Its products are available in grocery stores across the globe.

Simons said Bongards is hoping to do a similar event next spring at FMSC or another humanitarian organization.

“The team was very animated and felt very good about what we did,” Simons said. “Many said that they would do this again.”

The company is also planning a food drive for a local food shelf in autumn 2023. The camaraderie shared at such volunteer events helps both the nonprots and Bongards employees.

“We enjoyed working as a team and knowing that we were helping out people in other parts of the world,” Simons said.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

The many mice on our farm

Here come the Mus musculus, better known as mice.

All the corn silage is in and also a

fth cutting of hay, so our bunkers are full. We always seem to

ish

lling the bunker silos right before a rain storm or as the daylight is leaving, and we work in the dark with tractor lights to pull the tarps tight and put on the sidewall tires. We try to work safely when the rain makes the plastic slippery. We also try to keep everyone safe when the wind picks up the tarp. We all hold tight so it doesn’t ip back. It always seems to be the case that we don’t have enough helpers when it is time to start throwing tires on the tarp. Everyone comes on the bunkers to help, even the dogs, Bonnie and Bebe.

Our dealer has recommended we put mothballs in the robotic feed pushers and behind the robots. The mothballs are commonly made of naphthalene or para-dichlorobenzene, both are toxic to humans. These chemicals are solids at room temperature and are made into round balls, akes or cakes that slowly change to a gas and become fumes.

We have used mothballs for the past couple of years to keep mice away, but they need to be changed out when the smell lessens over time and the gas becomes weak. I don’t like the smell of mothballs.

I have done a little looking into other mouse repellents such as peppermint oil, cloves or cayenne pepper. I will try to nd what will be a good smell for us but not for mice over the next few days. If none of these natural repellents work, I will see what my professional exterminator can provide.

Tina Hinchley, her husband Duane and daughter Anna milk 240 registered Holsteins with robots. They also farm 2,300 acres of crops near Cambridge, Wisconsin. The Hinchleys have been hosting farm tour for over 25 years.

By Tina Hinchley Farmer & Columnist

We have a tool attached to the loader tractor that is called the tire shooter. When it was purchased, we all thought it would shoot the tires just like a kid’s Nerf gun. Well, it is more like the tire plopper. As the tires are removed off the top of the bunkers throughout the seasons, they are stacked in rows next to each other so the long arm can get right in the hole of the tires and pick up many at once.

As soon as the tires are lifted, Bonnie and Bebe are right there chasing after mice that have started to make their winter homes. Bebe is a mini Jack Russell terrier, and Bonnie is a border col-lie. These two make a very good team and can take on more than one mouse at a time. If the mouse has a burrow, Bebe can shove her nose right in and sniff if the mouse is in the hole. She will rip the sod out with her teeth and dig ferociously to get to her target. The dogs will stay focused on the mice the whole time we are covering the bunker.

Similarly, when we go to the pumpkin patch, the dogs are in hunting mode. Noses to the ground, the dogs push the pumpkins away to nd the mouse house. Dirt will y as Bebe is digging like a badger, and she will growl and spit out the hunks of grass and soil. Bonnie will often wait for the mouse that tries to escape. They are live action exterminators.

As the season progresses and the corn and soybeans are harvested, mice will make their way into the robot barn. We do have plenty of food for the mice to be drawn in for the never-ending feast of cow chow. The mouse live traps are checked by a professional monthly, but the dogs will let us know when a mouse is trapped because they’ll inspect the light weight metal boxes many times a day. Bonnie will carry the box over to us or try to paw it open. The box is an easy-open aluminum trap that can sometimes drop and pop open. With two mouse crazy dogs, the mice don’t have a chance.

There are other areas the dogs are not able to patrol. The robotic manure scrapers that push the manure through the slatted oor allow the varmints to sneak inside, and the dogs have no way to pursue them. The mice will take advantage when the robot is at the charging station and will crawl down the wall and right into the inside to make a nest by the battery box.

Inside the robots, where the pellets drop into the feed bowls, is another spot where we nd mouse nests. This is located behind the cabinet that holds all of the electrical wires and pneumatic hoses that operate the milking. The area is full of dust from the pellets and, once again, an all you can eat buffet for a mouse family.

Shield Her From The Cold.

Autumn is for appreciation

I turned the calendar this morning to October. How did that happen? The leaves are turning their brilliant array of colors. The tasty potpourri of squash soup and applesauce are lling my house. It must be fall.

We have made it through the rst month of school with only minor chaos and minimal crying before the bus comes in the morning and never from Cora. She runs gleefully to the bus and doesn’t look back. Her biggest complaints regarding school thus far are that they make her keep her shoes and clothes on all day, and that there is no nap time. She may be the only child ever to wish for a nap time. The boys are pros at this whole school thing, but Ira has denitely hit the age where the complaints about homework and things at school are starting to become more frequent. Dane and Henry have minimal out of class work, so they are living the easy life of young scholars.

The second corn silage bunker is covered. We harvested more days and put up more tonnage than ever before. Overall, corn silage harvest went quite smoothly. Only minor breakdowns – at tire on the hill with a straight truck, chopper plugged up a few times – set us back hours instead of days. That tantalizing smell of fresh chopped corn could be smelled across the whole farm, making me wish I could bottle it up and replicate it in the form of a candle. That lovely scent is now replaced by the odor of nature’s fertilizer. Dad and Ira have been planting rye as fast as the corn comes off. They are followed by the manure trucks to soak the ground and promote fast germination of the rye.

We are using the new maternity pens for our laboring cows. I am suspicious they have that new barn smell yet, and that scares some of the mothers. It is rare that a rst calf heifer will lay down and be calm, and even some of the older girls prefer to walk in circles

and reach their necks as far over the gate as their body allows. I keep hoping as it cools down and we get the curtains closed and a door on the end they will feel safer and calm down faster. For now, I give them a while to decide if it’s OK there, then I move them to the old calving pen if they make it clear they have zero desire to lay down.

After all, my goal is to have a live healthy calf that I don’t have to deliver.

So if moving the mother is what I have to do, I will do it.

from the Ridge

By Jacqui Davison Columnist

With the children back in school, our main skid loader driving work force isn’t available in the middle of the day to bed the calf barn. Jaime and I are thinking we may have to promote ourselves to skid loader operators sooner than later. While the kids are perfectly capable of helping after school to run the straw bedder attachment on the skid loader, it makes for some very long days for us when we wait for them. This weekend we managed to get all the weaned calves moved around and the pens cleaned out in the calf barn. The sunshine and warmer weather helped motivate all involved, and the barn feels brighter.

I am overwhelmed, humbled, astounded, surprised and, best of all, grinning with a happy heart after the incredible party last week. OK, it was a benet, but thinking of it as a party is much easier. It was part class reunion, family reunion, friend reunion and completely joyful. There were smiles and hugs happening everywhere. Not a single complaint about the long walk after parking stretched along the highway. The live auction was a fast-paced event peppered with tears, laughs, hugs and pictures as a record number of pies, quilts, lefse and frozen chickens made their way through the generous crowd. The tears falling were those of joy, love and amazement of our fellow humans. The hugs were given freely and frequently. New friends journeyed from Michigan after reading about the benet in this very newspaper, and those we had lost track of for a few years came to support us and enjoy the party. People were generous, so incredibly generous. It was a mind-blowing experience while also being a restorative one. There is that tendency to focus on the misery in the world or in one’s own life. On that day, there was no excuse for not seeing the good people can bring to one another. In our small corner of rural Wisconsin, we were reminded that there are amazing, giving, unbelievably good people in this world.

Thank you, all of you. Those who ew in to party with us, those who drove miles and those who have been sending prayers to the heavens. Those who donated; those who helped orchestrate. Those who helped in any way whatsoever. We are so lucky to have all of you in our lives. Thank you.

Gracious in receiving. Generous in giving. These were the words that came to me as I drove home. This is also how I hope I live life. Being on the receiving end of something of such magnitude was not and is not easy, but if I remind myself how good it feels to give and how I need to allow others that feeling, it becomes easier to accept. I know I will forever smile about that day. Thank you.

Jacqui and her family milk 800 cows and run 1,200 acres of crops in the northeastern corner of Vernon County, Wisconsin. Her children, Ira, Dane, Henry and Cora, help her 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.

Parlor miracles

any way to disinfect dirty teats. It is difcult to disinfect signicant amounts of organic matter, such as found in straw or manure.

Veterinary Wisdom

By Jim Bennett Columnist

While it sometimes might seem to be a miracle that we managed to get all the cows milked and through the parlor three times in 24 hours, in reality, no miracles happen in parlors. This fact does not stop us humans from thinking differently, however, and hoping that one or more do happen. Here are three examples. The rst commonly expected miracle is disinfecting dirty teats with a 30-second application of a pre-dip. Sure, the label might say it kills 99.9% of everything in 30 seconds, but in reality, no teat dip is made to work on dirty teats.

According to Dr. Pamela Ruegg of Michigan State University, teat dip products should have efcacy data based on National Mastitis Council testing protocols. Effective products will usually have at least a 3-5 log score reduction in the number of bacteria on teat skin. However, all teat dip testing protocols used by the National Mastitis Council are designed to be used on clean teats. There are no testing protocols for use on dirty teats, and thus, no products are designed or certied in

It is also difcult to disinfect all the surfaces of granules of sand because of the myriad or surfaces containing many small cracks or holes. We see a similar problem with dirty colostrum or calf milk, where we expect a pasteurizer to kill 95% of pathogens, but the pathogen load is so high that even a 95% reduction leaves way too many viable organisms to ensure good calf health.

In short, disinfected manure is still manure and is not actually disinfected. We expect this miracle to happen in parlors because the protocol in the vast majority of parlors is to use a pre-dip as an udder wash. This is great if the teats are clean, either because they came in clean or the teats were wiped or washed before. As we know, that is not always the case, so dipped dirty teats are still dirty teats. That is true until the liners do a great job of washing everything off into the milk or into the streak canal of the teats, which of course creates the problems we were trying to avoid by using the pre-dip.

The second miracle is expecting gloves to keep manure off the teats when shells, claws and hoses are covered with manure. Gloves are important in the milking process, and studies have shown that gloves can reduce new mastitis infections by up to 50% or achieve a reduction of bacteria on milkers’ hands by over 90%. However, if the equipment is covered in manure, and

the milkers do not wash and wipe their gloves every time after attaching a unit, those gloves are very well contaminated with organisms which will transfer to anything that is touched, including teat skin, towels and dip cups.

Yes, it can be difcult to keep units clean in a busy parlor, but if everything is clean when the shift starts, periodic spraying with water is usually all one needs to do. If you have some of those new, ultralight plastic shells, and nobody takes time to scrub them after milking, after a few shifts, they often have a thick, brown lm, which is loaded with just about all the environmental organisms your cows are exposed to in the barn. If everything is kept clean, units, claws and shells will not be appreciably dirtier at the end of milking than at the beginning.

The third miracle is expecting humans to behave like robots and consistently do the same procedure over and over, day after day, without some sort of feedback. If you own the dairy, the negative feedback you receive to changes in procedures might be more cases of mastitis, higher somatic cell counts, lower production or a smaller milk check. For parlor employees though, none of these may be visible, or at least not visible enough to ensure compliance.

Anyone who spends much time evaluating parlor performance will say there are almost always some failures of compliance with milking protocols in every parlor. They might be minor failures with no visible bad results, or

they could be major failures resulting in signicant reduction in milk harvested, reduced milk quality or impaired udder health.

Humans like to try different ways to accomplish tasks. There must always be a method that is better, easier, faster or sometimes just different enough to be attractive to try. Because one might do tasks in a parlor thousands and thousands of times in a year, and the temptation to try something different is pretty much unavoidable for most humans. Sooner or later the actual procedure has drifted to something entirely different. If nobody in management notices and offers to help correct the procedure, do not expect the procedure to magically drift back to where it is supposed to be and be prepared to accept the negative consequences. That would be a miracle.

Removing the expectation that one or more of these miracles will occur in the parlor does not involve anything fancy or high tech. No expensive equipment is needed. All one needs to do is observe what is taking place and make necessary corrections promptly. It does not cost much either. Miracles may indeed happen, just not in the parlor.

Bennett is one of four dairy veterinarians at Northern Valley Dairy Production Medicine Center in Plainview, Minnesota. He also consults on dairy farms in other states. He and his wife, Pam, have four children. Jim can be reached at bennettnvac@gmail.com with comments or questions.

Road trip

Our family doesn’t do many multistate road trips. We love traveling whenever we get a chance to get away from the farm, but it’s usually destinations we can get to in half a day. Maybe once every couple years we get in the car and do a drive that takes more than a day to complete. I’m reminded why we didn’t do it much in the past talking with my siblings with young children about how much extra time it takes to travel with young kids. Our youngest is still not beyond asking, at obnoxious times like when I’m trying not to slide off the side of a sheer cliff on an icy mountain pass, “Are we there yet?” But, we can now drive for as long as a cup of coffee lasts without having to stop for a bathroom break or fratricide prevention when someone won’t stop humming a bit too loudly.

My brother married a wonderful girl from Colorado a couple weeks ago, and they had the wedding on a ranch in the mountains by Marble, Colorado. A fun fact I learned was that the marble quarry there was the source of marble for many monuments, like the Lincoln Memorial, and sculptures you’ll nd throughout the country. I’m told one of the waterfalls by the town is the one pictured on Coors beer cans. Marble is about 17 hours away from Elko, Minnesota, if you drive continuously only stopping for gas.We made it there in about that many hours thanks to our oldest son being able to take shifts driving now that he has a driving permit and a lot of excitement to get there pushing us along like a strong tailwind.

We took the route Google said was most fuel

From the Zweber Farm

By Tim Zweber Farmer & Columnist

efcient, zigzagging through Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado on mostly backroads. Gas isn’t cheap and Ford Explorers aren’t exactly known as a fuel economy vehicle. Also, the interstate from Minnesota to Colorado is possibly the most boring stretch of driving in the entire United States. Taking the backroads also afforded me the option to do a lot of one of my favorite activities while driving which is looking at other people’s farms. This is usually a cause of annoyance to my wife Emily as I don’t always drive quite as straight when looking around at cows and crops. Thankfully with Emily and Erik taking over every 2-3 hours, I had plenty of time to look at all the beef cattle grazing and corn being chopped.

We all agreed that unlike past road trips this one, although long, was not so bad and maybe we’d all be up for an even longer one in the future to Canada.

You are possibly wondering how our whole family left the farm for a family wedding. The answer is we have a lot of great part-time and past employees who stepped up and ran things for ve days without us. We had all our neighbors, repair services and friends on call in case anything happened. Turns out we had a very convenient lack of calves born or equipment breakdowns while gone. Kind of makes me wonder if we could do such a thing again and actually all have a family vacation together instead of half of us at a time while the other half run the farm.

We are so grateful to have gotten the chance to celebrate a wedding and do a few activities in Colorado. We even got to accomplish a family goal of ours which was to climb a mountain. We hiked up to the summit of Mount Sopris after the wedding. I can’t say it was any harder to climb a mountain than it is to walk over a layer of badly stacked small square bales except you have to do it for a couple miles and the views when you get to the top of the stack of rock are spectacular. Also, there’s the whole elevation thing. Anyway, I’d suggest you try it some time. It was worth the walk.

Until next time, keep living the dream and climbing whatever literal or gurative mountain you are currently on because it feels pretty good when you get to the top and look around at the views.

Tim Zweber farms with his wife, Emily, their three children and his parents, Jon and Lisa, by Elko, Minnesota.

It’s a calf’s life

concept merits consideration in my calf care.

As you can see , some of the techniques, tools and products used in calf care uctuate through the years.

Come Full Dairy Circle

By Jean Annexstad Columnist

After three decades of taking care of calves, and having them right outside my window, I can tell the source of the bellering. I can tell the difference at night between a calf just talking with a cow strolling by on the pasture, if it is frightened or in trouble, or if it is one of those calves that is persistently hungry and wants everyone to know. Our calf care story started with my mother-inlaw, Lois. She was the original calf expert at our dairy farm starting in the 1950s and held that role for many decades. She is now retired but has passed down all of her expertise and skills to me. I will always be extremely grateful for her patience in showing and teaching what is needed in calf care. There’s no way to surpass Lois’ amazing efciency and multi-tasking abilities in her work with calves.

The key to calf care is not a secret. Consistency, cleanliness, quality of feeding and nutrition, observation, quick action if there is a problem and love of baby animals are all of top importance. I have learned to focus on these.

Colostrum fed quickly, in correct amounts, high in quality and clean is the single most important thing a calf care person needs to tend to.

These basic colostrum rules have remained the same for at least 40 years.

Wh h l d

I grew up offering hay to the calves on our farm. Then, several research studies determined hay in a young ruminant diet is not utilized and may deter starter feed consumption. Calf starter was shown to enhance rumen function, so getting calves to consume that sooner was better. Now if you ask dairy nutritionists or calf experts about hay, they often hedge, pointing out what works for some farms doesn’t work as well for others. I like to start offering just a little grass hay only when I start to wean our calves off of milk, usually at 2 months of age.

At my home farm in the ‘60s and ‘70s, we stirred up milk replacer for calves. Here at An-nexstad Dairy, we feed whole milk and now batch-pasteurize treated and fresh milk if available for feeding calves. On most days, I haul several pails of whole milk from our bulk tank to the pasteuriz-er. It isn’t bad if there are 20 or fewer calves, but there are often upward of 30 calves. That is a lot to haul. I often wish for a more efcient way to ll the pasteurizer.

I notice when I plan to be gone for more than a calf feeding at a time, my calf barn routine is somewhat complicated. It’s simply the nature of taking care of calves. Each one needs attention and to be observed each feeding. If they are off, then there is a reason that needs to be investigated. The calf might need treatment for scours, navel infection or a respiratory problem. I take tem-peratures and decide whether to treat with a nutraceutical, electrolyte, antibiotic or give other special attention.

When helpers do my chores, I write a complete set of feeding, care and clean up instructions for the calf feeding crew to refer to. They often text with questions. Advising when I am not there is tricky, but I do my best. When I receive word that the calves are full and happy, I know all is well.

Yet there is much research and new technology to measure calf absorption of immunoglobins, systems to manage co-lostrum with ease, different feeding techniques and most recently an article about a research study that supports the use of colostrum as an early treatment of scours in young calves. The article states that scours is a challenge that causes 56% of illness and 32% of deaths in calves. Though I don’t keep the stats in our calves, it is a main challenge I face. Recovering from scours has long-term negative effects as the calf matures and joins the milking herd as well. The colostrum as a treatment

During the past summer, I hired three part-time calf helpers in the calf barn. Typically, our kids have helped, but they spent this summer working off the farm. The helpers were quick learn-ers and tremendous help with all calf-related tasks. Now, they are back in school, but they help when they can. I appreciate the workload break.

Thank goodness for help in raising the future of our herd. Now, it’s time for chores.

Jean dairy farms with her husband, Rolf, and brother-in-law, Mike, and children Emily, Matthias and Leif. They farm near St. Peter, Minnesota, in Norseland, where she is still trying to t in with the Norwegians and Swedes. They milk 200 cows and farm 650 acres. She can be reached at jeanannexstad@gmail.com.

Silo

Lillian, MN

Hartung Sales & Service Freeport, MN 320-836-2697

Imp. Melrose, MN 320-256-4253

Anibas Silo & Eq. Arkansaw, WI 715-285-5317

Brubacker Ag Equipment LLC Curtiss, WI Edgar, WI Bagley, WI 715-613-7308

When helpers do my chores, I write a complete set of feeding, care and clean up instructions for the calf feeding crew to refer to.

Save money without sacrificing udder health

The Udder Mister automatically sprays pre and/or post dip on the front or back side of a rotary parlor. The system is compatible with a wide array of GEA teat dips, and interchangable spray tips allow you to increase or decrease dip usage. Now you can reallocate labor to more important tasks, while maintaining milk quality.

Contact Your Local GEA Milking Equipment Dealer:

Central Ag Supply, Inc.

Centre Dairy Equipment and Supply Inc. Sauk Centre, MN 320-352-5762 • 800-342-2697

Centre Dairy Equipment and Supply Inc.

Sauk Centre, MN

Fuller’s Milker Center, LLC Lancaster, WI • 800-887-4634 Richland Center, WI • 608-647-4488

Fuller’s Milker Center, Inc.

Midwest Livestock Systems, LLC Zumbrota, MN • 800-233-8937 Menomonie, WI • 715-235-5144 Renner, SD • 800-705-1447

J Gile Dairy Equipment, Inc.

Kozlovsky Dairy Equipment

Leedstone, Inc. Melrose, MN 320-256-3303 • 800-996-3303 Glencoe, MN 320-864-5575 • 877-864-5575 Plainview, MN • 800-548-5240 Menomonie, WI • 715.231.8090

Leedstone, Inc. Melrose, MN

Glencoe, MN

Sioux Dairy Equipment, Inc. Rock Valley, IA 712-476-5608 • 800-962-4346 Colton, SD Service 800-944-1217 Edgerton, MN Chemical Sales 507-920-8626

Sioux Dairy Equipment, Inc.

Rock Valley, IA

J Gile Dairy Equipment Cuba City, WI • (608) 744-2661

Kozlovsky Dairy Equipment Kaukauna, WI •920-759-9223 Weston, WI • 715-298-6256

Monroe WestfaliaSurge Monroe, WI • 608-325-2772

Midwest Livestock Systems, LLC

Central Ag Supply Inc. Juneau, WI • 920-386-2611 Baraboo, WI • 608-356-8384

Preston Dairy Equipment Sparta, WI • (608) 269-3830

Stanley Schmitz, Inc

Stanley Schmitz, Inc. Chilton, WI • 920-849-4209

Eastern Iowa Dairy Systems Epworth, IA • (563) 876-3087

Monroe Westfalia Surge

Preston Dairy Equipment

Supply

Tri-County Dairy Supply Janesville, WI • (608) 757-2697