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See pages 24 and 25 of this section for details!
2 DAIRY ST 5R C E L E B R A T I N G
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November 11, 2023
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 25, No. 18
Back to work again Miron recovers from heart surgery, is not cutting back on farming By Amy Kyllo
amy.k@star-pub.com
AMY KYLLO/DAIRY STAR
Fran Miron smiles in his freestall barn Oct. 31 at his farm near Hugo, Minnesota. Miron underwent open heart surgery in July to receive a triple bypass and an aorƟc valve replacement.
HUGO, Minn. — When dairy farmer Fran Miron was recovering from triple bypass and aortic valve replacement open-heart surgery, he played a lot of card games with the grandkids, possibly orchestrated by their parents to help keep him from going outside and farming. Miron and his wife, Mary Ann, milk 150 cows alongside two of their sons, Paul and Andrew, who are in charge of the day-to-day operations on the farm. Miron said his grandchildren helped monitor him
to make sure that he was not overdoing it. “It was a blend of caring and bossing me around,” Miron said. Thanks to the surgery, today Miron is feeling healthy. Instead of cutting back as he had planned to do, he is back to working long hours on the dairy farm near Hugo. “I really haven’t felt this good for a long time,” Miron said. “I have my ambition back; I’m not as lethargic.” The journey to open-heart surgery and Miron’s subsequent recovery started two and a half years ago when he experienced chest pain on both a Saturday and Sunday while walking to the barn. Miron
had previously been diagnosed with a heart murmur, so on Monday, he called a cardiologist and set up an appointment. “He chastised me for not dialing 911,” Miron said. “He said, ‘When you’re having chest pains, you dial 911; you don’t make an appointment.’” That Tuesday, they discovered two partially blocked arteries and put in stints that same day. The cardiologist also noticed that Miron’s aortic valve was going to need to be replaced sometime in the next ve years but was currently doing ne. Fast-forward to the fall of 2022, and Miron began to feel unwell again. He had a lack of energy and experienced shortness of breath, but he had no chest pain. Turn to MIRON | Page 7
Global industry gathers on American soil IDF World Dairy Summit convenes in Chicago By Maria Bichler
maria.b@dairystar.com
CHICAGO, Ill. — More than 1,200 dairy industry leaders from dozens of countries, including processing experts, dairy farmers, suppliers, government representatives and more, gathered in Chicago to discuss the latest issues facing the global dairy sector.
The International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit took place Oct. 16-19 at the McCormick Place conference center in Chicago, the rst summit held in the U.S. since 1993. The theme of the summit, “Be Dairy — Boundless Potential, Endless Possibilities,” showcased the challenges and opportunities represented
around the world with a focus on a more sustainable global food system. First District Association, of Litcheld, Minnesota, sent four dairy farmers to attend the event.
Turn to SUMMIT | Page 6 PHOTO SUBMITTED
Marty Shay (from leŌ), Paƫ Schaefer, director of milk marketing and member services at First District AssociaƟon, Megan Schrupp, and Heather and Carl Olson pause for a group photo Oct. 18 at the InternaƟonal Dairy FederaƟon World Dairy Summit in Chicago. Dairy farmers Shay, Schrupp and the Olsons attended the summit with support from First District AssociaƟon as members of its Young Cooperator program.
MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
The sun sets over a freestall barn Nov. 1 at Deters Dairy near Sauk Centre, Minnesota. The family milks 650 cows.
Page 2 • Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023
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522 Sinclair Lewis Ave. Sauk Centre, MN 56378 Phone: 320-352-6303 Fax: 320-352-5647 Published by Star Publications LLC General Manager/Editor Mark Klaphake - mark.k@dairystar.com 320-352-6303 (ofce) 320-248-3196 (cell) 320-352-0062 (home) Ad Composition - 320-352-6303 Nancy Powell • nancy.p@dairystar.com Karen Knoblach • karen.k@star-pub.com Annika Gunderson • annika@star-pub.com Editorial Staff Jan Lefebvre - Assistant Editor 320-290-5980 • jan.l@star-pub.com Maria Bichler - Assistant Editor maria.b@dairystar.com • 320-352-6303 Stacey Smart - Assistant Editor 262-442-6666 • stacey.s@dairystar.com Danielle Nauman - Staff Writer 608-487-1101 • danielle.n@dairystar.com Abby Wiedmeyer - Staff Writer 608-487-4812 • abby.w@dairystar.com Tiffany Klaphake - Staff Writer 320-352-6303 • tiffany.k@dairystar.com Amy Kyllo - Staff Writer amy.k@star-pub.com Emily Breth - Staff Writer emily.b@star-pub.com Consultant Jerry Jennissen 320-346-2292 Advertising Sales Main Ofce: 320-352-6303 Fax: 320-352-5647 Deadline is 5 p.m. of the Friday the week before publication Sales Manager - Joyce Frericks 320-352-6303 • joyce@dairystar.com National Sales Manager - Laura Seljan (National Advertising, SE MN) 507-250-2217 • fax: 507-634-4413 laura.s@dairystar.com Jerry Nelson (SW MN, NW Iowa, South Dakota) 605-690-6260 • jerry.n@dairystar.com Mike Schafer (Central, South Central MN) 320-894-7825 • mike.s@dairystar.com Amanda Hoeer (Eastern Iowa, Southwest Wisconsin) 320-250-2884 • amanda.h@dairystar.com Megan Stuessel (Western Wisconsin) 608-387-1202 • megan.s@dairystar.com Kati Kindschuh (Northeast WI and Upper MI) 920-979-5284 • kati.k@dairystar.com Julia Mullenbach (Southeast MN and Northeast IA) 507-438-7739 • julia.m@star-pub.com Bob Leukam (Northern MN, East Central MN) 320-260-1248 (cell) bob.l@star-pub.com Mark Klaphake (Western MN) 320-352-6303 (ofce) • 320-248-3196 (cell) Deadlines The deadline for news and advertising in the Dairy Star is 5 p.m. Friday the week before publication. Subscriptions One year subscription $40.00, outside the U.S. $200.00. Send check along with mailing address to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378. Advertising Our ad takers have no authority to bind this newspaper and only publication of an advertisement shall constitute nal acceptance of the advertiser's order. Letters Letters and articles of opinion are welcomed. Letters must be signed and include address and phone number. We reserve the right to edit lengthy letters. The views and opinions expressed by Dairy Star columnists and writers are not necessarily those of the Dairy Star / Star Publications LLC.
The Dairy Star is published semi-monthly by Star Publications LLC, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246. Periodicals Postage Paid at Sauk Centre, MN and additional mailing ofces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246. © 2023 Star Publications LLC
dealers. Dairy holds the key to farmNorth billAmerica decision
Dairy Prole brought to you by your The farm bill process was put on a shelf when Congress was trying to elect a new speaker. With a full legislative agenda, lawmakers will have a difcult time completing the farm bill before the end of the year. If the farm bill isn’t completed before the end of the year, it reverts to permanent law with a parity price based on the market from 1910 to 1914. “If you ask a farmer if they would like $50 per hundredweight milk instead of $15 milk, they would like that for about three days until the markets are gone because that’s what will happen,” said Lucas Sjostrom, executive director, Minnesota Milk Producers Association. “The dairy cliff will make the farm bill get done in some way, shape or form.” MMPA would rather have a good farm bill rather than just an extension, Sjostrom said. Policy priorities include updates to Dairy Margin Coverage.
Johnson calls for December farm bill action In a letter to his fellow Republicans, House Speaker Mike Johnson said his plan is to pass a new farm bill in December. Before that, Johnson wants Congress to pass all 12 appropriations bills, including the ag spending bill, during the week of Nov. 13. The Agriculture, Rural Development and Food and Drug Administration appropriations bill was on the oor a month ago and voted down in a dispute over budget cuts and language dealing with the availability of an abortion pill. Johnson plans to appoint a new working group to address those concerns. GOP lawmakers seek timely farm bill passage Minnesota Congressman Brad Finstad sent a letter to Johnson seeking swift passage of the farm bill. Sixty House Republicans joined Finstad in the letter including North Dakota Rep. Kelly Armstrong, South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson, Minnesota Rep. Michelle Fischbach and Minnesota Rep. Pete Stauber. The letter said more than 92% of planted U.S. acres are represented by Republican members and “the farm bill is a critical agenda item that must be addressed in this Congress.”
Johnson has a connection to agriculture Combest Sell and Associates Managing Partner Tom Sell is excited to see Congress get back to work with Louisiana Ag Insider Congressman Johnson on the job as speaker. “After 20-some odd days of not having a speaker, we’re back to the way the Constitution designed it,” Sell said. Sell is optimistic about what Johnson will do for agriculture. “Even in his initial rollout of priorities, the farm bill was among the six, and that’s a great sign,” Sell said. Johnson represents many rural Louisianans. Sell said Johnson is also well conBy Don Wick nected to Republican lawmakers Columnist from other agricultural districts. Stabenow calls for farm bill extension Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow is now calling for an extension of the 2018 farm bill. In comments made on the Senate oor, Stabenow said the delays in the House made it impossible to pass the farm bill on a timely basis. In January, the farm program reverts to permanent law, and Stabenow said that would be “irresponsible.” Help for organic dairies A bill has been introduced in the Senate that would extend disaster assistance to organic farmers who had net income decline of at least 10% due to organic feed shortages and increased input costs. This proposal would also call on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to collect more information about organic
Turn to AG INSIDER | Page 5
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Rochester, MN
Hugo, MN
Glencoe, MN
Miron recovers from heart surgery, is not cutting back on farming First Section: Pages 1, 7
Grifn remembers service in 1970s Japan First Section: Pages 12 - 13
Donnay offers a calf for Dairy Star’s annual giveaway First Section: Page 23
Edgerton, MN
Avon, MN
Houston, MN
Women in Dairy: Morgan Lubben Frist Section: Page 29
Delivering conservation assistance in west central MN First Section: Page 33
Goodhue, MN
Earlville, IA
Inside the Emblem: Goodhue FFA Chapter Third Section: Pages 6 - 7
A day in the life of the Burkles Second Section: Pages 15 - 17
FROM OUR SIDE OF THE FENCE: What was the biggest challenge with the growing season in your area? First Section: Pages 15 -16
Carlson cares for, shows dairy goats Second Section: Pages 6 - 7
Dodge Center, MN
Kids Corner: The Eipers Third Section: Pages 8 - 9
For additional stories from our other zone, log on to www.dairystar.com
Zone 1
Zone 2
Columnists Ag Insider Pages 2, 5 F Section First
Dea County Dear Ag Agent Guy P Page 36 First Firs Section
From the F Zwe Zweber Farm P Page 38 Firs Section First
Vet Veterinary W Wisdom P Pa a 37 Page Fir F irs Section n First
The NexGen Page 39 First Section
The “Mielke” Market Weekly Pages 8 - 9 Second Section
Country C Cooking C P Page 30 Second Section
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ConƟnued from AG INSIDER | Page 2 dairy production, such as what is available for convention production. Virginia Sen. Peter Welch introduced this bill with support from Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. Animal welfare standards included in USDA organic rule USDA’s new standards for organic livestock and poultry production include strong language dealing with animal welfare. To qualify for the organic label, poultry must have access to the outdoors and pigs must have adequate space to move freely. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said this is a big step forward, supporting “an industry that is incredibly important to American agriculture.” While these standards only cover animals raised in the National Organic Program, Humane Society of the United States President and CEO Kitty Block said this is the rst time farmers will be required to honor animal welfare standards in the care, treatment and handling of animals within a government program. Biden highlights his rural agenda on a MN farm Dutch Creek Farms, south of the Twin Cities, hosted President Joe Biden as he kicked off his focus on rural issues. Biden said the economics of agriculture told farmers they had to get big or get out. “Over the past four decades, we lost over 400,000 farms in America and over 141 million acres of farmland,” Biden said. “That’s roughly equal to the size of Minnesota, North and South Dakota combined.” Faced with higher costs, Biden said family farms have struggled to make the math work, “and the promise of keeping the farm in the family is slipping out of reach for so many across America.” To support farmers and rural communities, the White House announced over $5 billion for rural infrastructure and climatesmart agriculture projects. More time sought for feedback on H-2A reform A bipartisan group of senators is asking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Labor for a 60-day extension for public comment on reforms to the H-2A ag worker program. There is concern the DHS and DOL will nalize rules before they can fully determine the impact on agricultural employers. Volatility in butter markets Butter prices have moderated after reaching record highs. DairyVisor President Joe Spader said holiday demand has
Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 5
been the biggest support for the market. “There may be a shift in consumer buying patterns for butter, but it has denitely created some volatility,” Spader said. He also said he is somewhat disappointed in the recent activity. “Given the fact that we are in that pre-Thanksgiving window, you’d like to see the front end of the market performing better than it is,” Spader said. “We also have expectations of that milk (production) surge coming back, and that’s also having a negative impact.”
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Rural veterinary clinics face uncertain future Labor is hard to nd in the U.S. no matter the industry. Minnesota Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Aric Putnam and Sen. Rob Kupec, from the Moorhead area, recently met with University of Minnesota veterinary medicine students. Rural areas are facing extreme vet shortages because of the huge nancial burden of veterinary school, and that was part of the discussion. “It was a good conversation, but also kind of a scary one,” Kupec said. Large animal and food animal veterinary practices in rural areas are less protable than companion animal practices. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, the average vet med student graduates with over $147,000 in debt. “They just can’t accrue more debt to take over that practice,” Kupec said.
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Otieno to lead MDA Emerging Farmers Ofce The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has named Lillian Otieno as the rst director of the Emerging Farmers Ofce. Otieno has been the coordinator of the MDA Emerging Farmers program since 2021 and has been an MDA employee since 2017. The Emerging Farmers Ofce was established by the state legislature two years ago and is the rst state ofce of its kind in the United States.
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Trivia challenge The National FFA Convention has been held in Kansas City, Louisville, and Indianapolis, Indiana. That answers our last trivia question. For this week’s trivia, what country is the largest producer of butter? We will have the answer in our 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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Patti Schaefer, director of milk marketing and member services at First District Association, said the cooperative’s board of directors was happy to provide the opportunity for its interested memberowners. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Schaefer said. The attendees — Marty Shay, of Albany, Minnesota; Megan Schrupp, of Eden Valley, Minnesota; and Carl and Heather Olson, of Mayer, Minnesota — are all members of First District Association’s Young Cooperator program. Schaefer also partook in the summit. Schrupp, who milks 1,000 cows and is a co-owner of both NexGen Dairy and NexGen Market, said the topics presented at the summit cemented the idea of sustainability as a priority that is not going away and one that is being focused on around the world. “The summit really drove home the point to me that it actually is something that’s happening in our industry and worldwide,” Schrupp said. “It’s not just something we’re hearing. It’s becoming where we’re deciding which business decisions we should make based on sustainability.” Schrupp said she learned that Denmark is aiming to reduce beef and dairy cattle numbers in order to reach its ambitious climate targets. In New Zealand, Schrupp said, focus is being placed on feed additives to reduce the methane production of cattle that are on pasture. In Kenya, the focus is on developing quality electric cutting machines for crops and having quality forages for cattle, she said. Despite the vast differences presented at the summit, coupled with negative national and world news, Schrupp said she left the summit with a positive outlook. “We’re all different, but we all have a lot of things in common,” Schrupp said. “We may have different views on trade and supply management, but we’re focused on providing nutrition for people that is quality nutrition, quality protein and caring for the environment. We forget all the positive things in our day-to-day work and as we go through our lives.” Carl Olson, who milks 130 cows and farms 600 acres, said he and his wife were excited to attend the summit to learn what is happening in the industry. “We need to be involved,” Olson said. “What is coming down the pike to the EU is going to blow these dairy farmers away in the United States, and there’s no stopping it here.” In Holland, Olson said, there are proponents legislating for keeping a calf with the cow for a specic number of days after it is born. “At every meeting we were at, there were some foreign leaders against it, and there were some really on the other side of it for it,” Olson said. “It’s a critical turning point for the dairy farmer to be very involved and informed — not to be upset, but to be very informed about what is going on worldwide.”
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack attended the summit, and Olson said he was pleased with how Vilsack represented the interests of America’s dairy farmers. “He really stood up for the dairy farmer,” Olson said. “I don’t care if you’re Democrat or Republican; I was proud that he was our spokesperson there. He told the audience that we want the right stuff to happen, but forcing it down the farmer’s throat is the wrong approach.” Olson said he most appreciates the relationships he forged while networking with fellow dairy farmers. He now is connected with a diverse group through a digital platform where they can share ideas and challenges facing their respective farms. “It’s going to help us because it’s a network of people, bouncing ideas off of each other,” Olson said. “First District does a very nice job for their young farmers because relationships are huge.” Schaefer said what stood out to her the most was the vast differences in viewpoint relating to animal agriculture. “In the U.S., we’re constantly ghting activism and the vegan mindset that we can’t consume meat, dairy and eggs, and we have these really great products to offer consumers,” Schaefer said. “In third-world countries, they really see dairy and the dairy cow as a means to pull themselves out of poverty.” Schaefer said a woman from Kenya started a cooperative, and 85% of its members are women who own between one and three cows. One cow produced enough income to send a woman’s children to school. Two cows afforded a woman clean water and more. “The dairy cow is literally saving them and saving their people,” Schaefer said. “Also, on top of that, the cow is giving them a nutritious product to consume and improving their overall health within these impoverished nations.” While U.S. dairy farmers may feel as though they are always advocating for themselves and a place for dairy in the marketplace, Schaefer said dairy farmers should not lose sight of the fact that they have a good platform from which to share their story. “It centered us,” she said. “There’s such a need and value for dairy. We have to keep ghting and tell our story.” A highlight for the Minnesota contingent was a roundtable discussion with other young farmers where they shared the challenges in their areas as well as the positive aspects of dairy farming in their part of the world. “Two things that everyone left with was that we’re all on some level ghting the same things when it comes to activism and sustainability,” Schaefer said. … “The end of the story was that we need to do more. We need to keep telling our story across the world. People have such a skewed vision of agriculture. Without telling a story or inviting people on farms, we’re never going to win the battle, and that sentiment was world-wide.”
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Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 7
ConƟnued from MIRON | Page 1 Miron waited, and nally this past summer after rstcrop hay was done, he went to his primary care doctor who sent him on to the cardiologist. In early July, Miron met with his cardiologist and found out that his aortic valve needed to be replaced right away and that he had three blockages close to his heart. “I kind of came home feeling like a walking time bomb,” Miron said. “I quit going out to the barn. I quit helping the boys.” Miron was given two options for an aortic valve replacement: a bovine valve or a mechanical valve. “I decided to go with a bovine valve, which I thought was kind of cool anyway,” Miron said. “Dairy cows have supported me and our family all our lives. ... Being dependent on a bovine valve to extend my life makes me proud as a farmer as I think about it.” On July 21, Miron went through surgery and spent the next six days in the intensive care unit before being transferred to a regular room for one day and then being sent home. Miron’s homecoming came with restrictions. He could not drive or ride in the front seat of a car for ve weeks, and until he reached 12 weeks post-surgery, he also could not do any repetitive motions. There were also weight restrictions. For the rst eight weeks, he had a 5-pound weight limit, which then was raised to 20 pounds
AMY KYLLO/DAIRY STAR
Fran Miron gets milkers ready for evening milking Oct. 31 at his farm near Hugo, Minnesota. Before his open heart surgery, Miron had been planning on slowing down, but now he is feeling so healthy aŌer his recovery that he is once again working long hours. until 12 weeks after surgery. During his absence, Miron’s sons ran the farm without him. Unfortunately, Miron’s time away from the farm did coincide with one of their full-time employees switching to part time. “The boys stepped up to the plate, and they really managed things and got things done,” Miron said. ... “You nd out very quickly that you’re re-
placeable.” Miron gives credit in his recovery to the many prayers made on his behalf. “I was on prayer lists for quite a few different congregations,” Miron said. “There’s no question in my mind that those prayers and that faith helped me persevere through this as well.” Miron is the county commissioner for Washington
County where his farm is located. Three weeks after surgery, he began doing work for the county again. He said this was good because it gave him an outlet since he was not able to do many other things at that time. “After lying around for a week or two, lying around gets really old,” Miron said. “You just have a deep appreciation for your health and your ability
to do work or activity.” Once he was able to drive, Miron was in the tractor chopping fourth-crop hay and corn silage. His 8-year-old grandson James came with him and helped. “He was hooking up my wagons because he knew I shouldn’t do it,” Miron said. Through the whole process, Miron said, he was thankful that he was dealing with heart issues and not something like cancer. Approximately 15 weeks after surgery, Miron felt mostly back to normal. Miron’s story was shared by several news outlets after M Health Fairview put out a press release about his surgery and recovery. “The communication specialists from the hospital had called me, and they said (my) recovery was really pretty remarkable,” Miron said. Miron said he was willing to do the interviews on the condition that the stories emphasized the importance of monitoring heart health symptoms and shared the benets that animal agriculture brings to people. The story was picked up by KSTP-TV and the Pioneer Press. “It’s kind of neat for me to recognize that animals have provided a livelihood for our family all these years and now are extending my life and really making life as a whole good for us,” Miron said.
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Page 8 • Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023
Recycling the highest quality of sand Joneses’ separator reclaims 99% of bedding By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
BERLIN, Wis. — Sand has been the bedding of choice at Trillium Hill Farm since 2014. Therefore, when the Jones family was looking to install a digester, sand was not something they were willing to give up. A separator new to the U.S. would provide the perfect means of sand separation for the Joneses — removing sand from manure while reclaiming nearly all of it for future use. Today, the dairy reclaims 98% to 99% of its sand used for bedding and has gone from buying 14 dump load trucks of sand per week to buying only six loads per year. “It’s a huge dollar savings,” Ben Jones said. “It also saves on wear and tear on the roads. By not hauling so much sand, we’re helping to save the road infrastructure for the community.” Ben and his brother, Mike, farm with their parents, David and Julie, near Berlin. The Jones family milks 1,800 cows three times a day in a dou-
PHOTO SUBMITTED
The Jones family — David (front, from leŌ), Penelope and William; (back, from leŌ) Julie, David, Chelsey, Mike holding Eddie, Ben holding Mikayla, and Samantha — milks 1,800 cows on their farm near Berlin, Wisconsin. The Joneses are recycling sand and manure with a separator and digester combinaƟon that is the rst of its kind in the U.S. ble-24 parallel parlor. Cows average 102 pounds of milk per day with a 100,000 somatic cell count. Longevity is important to the Joneses. The family credits sand bedding as a major source of their success. A Stjernholm sand separator has given the Joneses the ability to reclaim the majority of sand used on their farm.
“It’s amazing,” Mike said. “Achieving 99% sand separation is unreal.” Made in Denmark, Stjernholm guarantees 90% sand retention, but Mike and Ben have pushed the system to new levels. “It’s an extremely efcient system, and we make tweaks to increase efciency,” Ben said.
Sand-laden manure is run through a high-efciency pump where sand is separated from the ber and liquid in the manure. The sand is then washed and reclaimed for future use. The system rotates between four augers, pushing out clean sand into the adjacent collection room. Ben said the system cleans the manure
before it enters the separator and has a macerator to prevent things like hoof blocks and ear tags from entering the system. “This is great for any farm not wanting to accept the status quo,” Ben said. “We didn’t want to bed with manure solids when adding the digester. We like the luxury that sand provides the cows. Sand is a better-quality product that results in healthier, happier cows.” The Joneses are reclaiming 52 tons of sand per day and are using the sand ve days after it comes off the auger. “Bacteria counts are very low, and the sand has no smell,” Mike said. Once the sand is removed from the manure, the manure is processed through a 2.5-million-gallon digester, capturing methane to make renewable natural gas which is cleaned on-site and injected into an Alliant Energy pipeline that connects into Ripon, Wisconsin. Three Petals RNG/Novilla RNG owns and runs the digester, which produces an equivalent in gasoline production upward of 600,000 gallons per year. The digester was built within 12 months of contract signing with Trillium Hill Farm. Turn to JONESES | Page 9
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Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 9
ConƟnued from JONESES | Page 8
The TORENNA® Advantage
“With the old steel stalls, we had a lot of heifers lying in the alley. With TORENNA 40” stalls, that problem was solved” - Matt Bailie, Bailie Farms, Wisconsin Springing Heifer Barn Remodel PHOTO SUBMITTED
The Stjernholm sand separaƟng system at Trillium Hill Farm has been up and running since April near Berlin, Wisconsin. The system, which originates in Denmark, guarantees 90% sand retenƟon. Ben said Trillium Hill Farm is one of only three farms in the U.S. using the Stjernholm sand separating system and the only farm in the country using it with a digester. The Joneses have been reclaiming sand since April and began sending gas to the pipeline in October. “When you pump manure, there’s no sand in it,” Ben said. “There is truly no other system providing clean sand like this in the world.” By utilizing technologies from other industries, Stjernholm invented a system capable of reclaiming unprec-
edented amounts of sand. “The heart of the system is based on a system we’ve been running for 26 years in the wastewater industry,” said Thomas Christiansen, Chief Commercial Ofcer and managing partner of Stjernholm. “From the dairy point of view, we know what’s coming in — sand and manure. But the wastewater industry is more challenging because we don’t know what’s coming in. There is a very high demand for separation ability.” Turn to JONESES | Page 10
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The Jones family uses a ne yet hard sand that has a consistent parƟcle size, making it easy to separate and reclaim. The Joneses nd this type of sand to be a beƩer choice for cow comfort and health than the sand they used previously.
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Page 10 • Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023
Wood
ConƟnued from JONESES | Page 9
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PHOTO SUBMITTED
This photo shows the layout of the sand separaƟon system and manure digester at Trillium Hill Farm near Berlin, Wisconsin. Manure is processed through a 2.5-million-gallon digester owned and run by Three Petals RNG/Novilla RNG to capture methane for making renewable natural gas following the sand separaƟon process which is reclaiming 98% to 99% of the farm’s sand bedding. The result is clean sand that looks like it came straight from the beach. To achieve this outcome, a certain type of sand must be used with the separator. Before installing the sand separator, the Joneses used virgin or generic, quarry-based sand. Now, they use a silicone-based sand that is perfectly round with no abrasive edges to cause wear on pumps or cling to things. The Joneses prefer this sand, citing it as better for cow comfort and health. “The sand is 150 microns,” Mike said. “It’s extremely ne, yet hard. Diamond is a 9 on the hardness scale, and this sand is a 7. It keeps its round particle size and is part of the reason we jumped off the cliff on all of this. Everything is the same particle size, which makes it easy to separate and reclaim.” The sand separation process is a closed, interconnected system that takes place in an enclosed, heated building. “Everything is clean and accessible,” Ben said. “We don’t have to deal with a bunch of manure splashing around. In some sand-separating buildings, there are more gases in the air, but the odor in here is
minimal. It’s a very clean system.” The Joneses like the system’s small footprint. The sand storage area is a compact 80 feet by 60 feet, while the equipment room measures 40 feet by 60 feet. “We don’t have to store a lot of sand because we use it fresh, which helps with the footprint too,” Mike said. The sand separator runs on 48 horsepower, and the entire sand separation room runs off less than 80 amps of power, making electrical costs minimal. There are few moving parts, and maintenance costs are low as well, Mike said. About 30 minutes per day is spent tending to the system, which includes 10 minutes in the processing room and 20 minutes moving sand. This does not count sampling time. Five hand samples are taken per day to test the manure. “We take samples at different points of manure coming in and out,” Mike said. “We weigh it on both sides. This is how we know we are reclaiming 99% of the sand.”
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STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
Cows rest in sand Oct. 10 at Trillium Hill Farm near Berlin, Wisconsin. The Jones family has bedded with sand since 2014 and has seen good results related to somaƟc cell count, milk producƟon and cow longevity.
A man’s man When he left us And got on the bus Fun was all he did He was just a kid He was lean and green He got tough and mean He learned to hate To plan and wait To stay on track And never look back He’s a man’s man He’s a veteran As blood ran down his side His heart was full of pride No matter the cost This battle won’t be lost His best friend laid dead He still went on ahead No if ands or buts That really takes guts That’s what you call love And trust in the one above He’s a man’s man He’s a veteran
Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 11
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Page 12 • Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023
A dairy farmer Marine
Grifn remembers service in 1970s Japan By Amy Kyllo
amy.k@star-pub.com
AMY KYLLO/DAIRY STAR
Dan Griffin holds the Marine ag May 11 on his farm near Rochester, Minnesota. Griffin dairy farmed for 35 years a�er his �me in the Marines. After additional training at Camp Pendleton, also in California, Grifn was sent to a base in Iwakuni, Japan. Grifn said approximately 305 people were stationed at Iwakuni. He lived in Block 8, an old prison, where he shared a room with seven men. During the day, he worked as a les and mail clerk, served as driver for the colonel and did other administrative work. The Iwakuni base was an area orig-
E ISSU R U N A anure M Master
inally purchased by the Japanese government in 1938 and became an air base for training and defense in 1940. The base changed hands after World War II. During the Korean War, it served as a processing center for troops entering Korea. Jets stationed there supported frontline troops daily. It became a solely U.S. base in the early 1950s, and in 1956, the base was enlarged. Though Grifn was in the Marines
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during the Vietnam War, he did not face combat. His only contact with Vietnam was doing courier mail runs there in a C130 airplane and processing military members who were leaving. “You checked them back in and shifted them back home or whatever,” Grifn said. “I saw a lot of messed up guys there.” Turn to GRIFFIN | Page 13
Before Treatment
ES
M
ROCHESTER, Minn. — According to the Selective Service System, in 1971, 94,092 men were drafted into the military. That same year, a young dairy farm boy from Rochester, who had never been farther from home than South Dakota, enlisted with the United States Marine Corp. The dairy farmer was Dan Grifn, and he was ready to see the world. Newly graduated from high school, he knew he wanted to dairy farm, he said, but he told his dad he wanted to travel rst. “He understood that part of it,” Grifn said. “He went through eight years of school here at the schoolhouse — that was his entire (education) — and then he started farming as a 14-year-old with his dad.” Now, years later, Grifn said he wonders how his parents felt about his decision. Shortly before he enlisted, one of his cousins stepped on a land mine in Vietnam and almost died, not a positive endorsement for enlisting in the military. By October 1971, Grifn was whisked away to basic training in San Diego, California, alongside his friend Dennis O’Neill, who had enlisted with him. At basic training, the Marines determined Grifn was to become a Remington Raider, which was slang for an ofce clerk.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 13
Con�nued from GRIFFIN | Page 12
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Dan Griffin’s Marine of the Month le�ers of recogni�on rest May 11 at his home near Rochester, Minnesota. Griffin was named Marine of the Month twice and was awarded two rest and relaxa�on trips to Korea for those honors. Grifn was awarded several honors at Iwakuni. There, he qualied as an expert rie, the highest shooting and marksmanship level he could reach. He also was recognized as Marine of the Month twice during his stint, an honor he modestly attributes to the fact he was working directly with Colonel Donald J. “DJ” McCarthy, a man who would eventually command the entire Iwakuni base from 1983-86. As a reward for being named Marine of the Month, he received two rest and relaxation trips to Korea. Grifn was promoted to corporal in August of 1973, less than two years after going through basic training. In the town of Iwakuni, Grifn found his personal choice for the best BLT sandwiches in the world. On one of the narrow streets lled with the stench of the raw sewage which ran down the roadway, he found an unassuming little restaurant. Inside, the shop was dark, with seating for about 10. At the counter, he ordered a giant number of BLT take-out orders for him and his friends back at the base. From his years in Japan, he still craves fried rice and fried-rice omelets. The Iwakuni base was located approximately 25 miles southwest of Hiroshima, so Grifn had the opportunity to visit. It still looked war-torn, as less than 30 years had passed since the atomic bomb had been dropped there. Skeletons of buildings and destruction stood as a reminder of the world-changing event. “Even at the time I was there, I didn’t feel like it was comfortable to be an American in Japan,” Grifn said. On the base, the farm boy was always keeping himself busy above and beyond his full-time work. He served as a waiter in an on-base restaurant, and he often took a duty shift in exchange for cash from a Marine who wanted to have a night on the town. “I wish I would have gone a lot more places,” Grifn said. “Instead of taking somebody else’s duty, I wish I would have gone and done something myself.” After being honorably discharged in late 1973, Grifn began dairy farming again while also attending Rochester Community College — now Rochester Community and Technical College — for auto mechanics. He met his wife, Faye, through college, and
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Dan Griffin enlisted in the Marines in 1971 and was sta�oned in Japan. His base was located approximately 25 miles southwest of Hiroshima, and Griffin visited the site less than 30 years a�er an atomic bomb had been dropped there. they married in 1975. In the late 1970s into the 1980s, the couple began to establish themselves as they slowly developed and bought into the Grifn family farm. Being a young dairy farmer in the 1980s was not easy. “We were paying 22% interest on an operating note,” Grifn said. “How I did it, I’ll never know.” The Grifns did not go on vacation for about 10 years. For their 10th wedding anniversary, they spent 24 hours in the Twin Cities as their celebration. The Grifns prevailed over the hard times and kept dairy farming, carrying on the legacy of their family farm, which has been in existence since 1883. In 2007, their son Kevin joined the farm, and in 2019, they sold the milk cows and focused on other farming operations. Today, a Marine ag ies off of Grifn’s porch, and, together with Kevin, Grifn farms around 500 acres of corn, soybeans and alfalfa. Kevin has meat and dairy goats, chickens and grass-fed Red Angus. Grifn also owns several Red Angus and has one dairy heifer, a descendant of his dairy herd. As a veteran, Grifn has seen a switch over time in sentiment toward veterans. “There were an awful lot of people who never went in the military who weren’t happy with Vietnam-era veterans,” he said. Today, Grifn said, he sees all veterans being celebrated for their time in the military.
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Page 14 • Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023
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Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 15
from our side OF THE FENCE What was the biggest challenge with the growing season in your area? Andrew Cremer St. Anthony, Minnesota Stearns County 60 cows
Tim Timmons Manager at Columbia Ridge Dairy Castlewood, South Dakota Hamlin County 650 cows
Karl Herzog (pictured with wife, Naomi) Randall, Minnesota Morrison County 130 cows
What crops did you plant on your farm this year? This year we planted corn and oats. We also have some alfalfa ground from past years that we got cuttings from this year as well.
What crops did you plant on your farm this year? We planted 484 acres of corn and seeded down 125 acres of new alfalfa. We also raised 155 acres of older alfalfa. How was the harvest of each and how does that compare to other years? The corn yielded 16 tons per acre of silage; we normally harvest 21-22 tons per acre. The reduced yield forced us to buy an additional 250 acres of corn for silage. We can usually raise enough silage to feed the herd with acres left over to harvest as grain. Our alfalfa yielded only about 30% of normal. What was the biggest challenge with the growing season in your area? We found ourselves in an extremely dry pocket this summer. It was frustrating because there were area farmers who received good amounts of rain. A farmer located about 5 miles away from us got rain whenever he needed it and harvested ve beautiful cuttings of alfalfa. We clipped our new seeding of alfalfa simply to encourage regrowth and harvested two very poor cuttings.
What crops did you plant on your farm this year? We planted corn, soybeans and a new seeding of alfalfa.
How was the harvest of each and how does that compare to other years? The yield was down for all of the crops, but for the year, it was good. Our corn actually surprised me with the year we had, and the alfalfa wasn’t bad but was denitely less than past years. I would say our corn took the drought the best. What was the biggest challenge with the growing season in your area? Mostly it was just the drought. We have mostly low ground, with a few high-ground areas. Having lower ground helped with the drought. On the higher ground, the yield was poor. What is the most recent change you have made in how you harvest your crops that has proved to be benecial? We haven’t really made any recent changes. The last thing was probably switching from haylage to wet baleage. The cows seem to like and eat the long-stem hay better, which is always good. Also, for us, it allowed more silo storage for the silage.
What is the most recent change you have made in how you harvest your crops that has proved to be benecial? We have improved our manure management program and got a better handle on our soil’s levels of potassium and phosphorous. I love to plant cover crops in the fall but didn’t this year because it was too dry. We have to concentrate on conserving What is your favorite aspect of harvest? Just the sense of accomplishment. You put the crop in, and moisture for next year’s corn crop. you watch it grow all year. It’s a good feeling to see What is your favorite aspect of harvest? There is all your work paid off and the crop stored away so nothing better than the sight and the smell of a freshly that you have your feed. Once everything is cleaned cut eld of alfalfa basking in the summer sun. Corn off, you have another year of accomplishment, harvest is fun because it represents an accumulation which is a great feeling. of the year’s efforts. You have to learn to take what you get and live with it and hope to do better next Tell us about your farm and your plans for your year. dairy this winter. We grow alfalfa, corn and oats. We have 60 milk cows, and we raise our youngTell us about your farm and your plans for your stock. We milk in a tiestall barn. Hauling manure is dairy this winter. My wife, Eda, and I have four chil- a job in the winter, as is taking care of the cattle and dren: Addison, Kenton, Emorie and Ava. Our kids doing maintenance on equipment. Hopefully, there help around the farm as much as they can. They are is a little more relaxing and time to spend with the learning about recordkeeping and how things work on the farm. Our kids also enjoy showing dairy and kids. beef cattle at the county fair. We have six full-time employees. Our facilities are older and require a lot of maintenance. Our goal for this winter is to care for our animals as best as we can and begin to prepare for next year.
How was the harvest of each and how does that compare to other years? None of them were spectacular, but the corn was better than we expected it to be. We are not done with soybeans yet, but they were not as tall as normal. We took three cuttings of hay, but we only had one good one. The other two were bad. We were cutting hay that was only a foot tall. I had to merge seven windrows together to get something worth chopping. On average, everything was down signicantly from normal years. What was the biggest challenge with the growing season in your area? The lack of rain. We can do everything right on our end, but if it doesn’t rain, we aren’t going to get a crop. What is the most recent change you have made in how you harvest your crops that has proved to be benecial? We got a new combine last year, and that has made life much easier for us. It is much bigger and in better shape than what we had. We can get a lot more done in a day now. What is your favorite aspect of harvest? Seeing the results for the year and everything we have been working on come together. Seeing how different things you manage or change affect yields. Tell us about your farm and your plans for your dairy this winter. I farm with my dad, Fred, and my brother, Randy. Together we farm 650 acres. We milk 130 cows across two sites. The barn at home is a 58-stall tiestall barn, and the other site that is 2.5 miles away has a 61-stall tiestall barn. I do most of the cow work, Randy does a lot of the xing and odd jobs around the farm, and Dad is in charge of the crops. I live off the farm with my wife and two kids. With the drought the last two years, we do not have plans to make any changes to our current setup.
Turn to OUR SIDE | Page 16
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Page 16 • Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023
ConƟnued from OUR SIDE | Page 15
Konnor Harpestad Dairy herd specialist at Larcrest Holsteins Albert Lea, Minnesota Freeborn County 250 cows
about every rain cell on the radar would split and go around the farm, and the days it did rain, it was hardly enough to settle the dust. What is the most recent change you have made in how you harvest your crops that has proved to be benecial? We started making all the alfalfa into baleage four years ago. Since we have switched over, we have been able to put up hay faster while still holding optimum feed quality. In a way, it also makes mixing feed easier and faster as it’s only one bale and not multiple buckets as if you were using a bag. This year with the lower yield, we made bales a touch smaller to help extend the amount of mixer batches.
What crops did you plant on your farm this year? We raise approximately 170 acres of alfalfa and 430 acres of corn. About 220 acres of the corn goes into corn silage, and the rest is combined and used for feed. How was the harvest of each and how does that compare to other years? Given the conditions we had this year, it went better than expected. The corn yielded about 90% of what we would typically get each year. The corn silage ran a bit dryer than we would have liked but still at a manageable moisture. The corn we harvested was rather poor on high grounds, but we had peat ground that really did well and brought the average up. The alfalfa was roughly 80% of what we would get in a typical year. However, we were able to get our hands on some alfalfa that the neighbors run to make up for it. What was the biggest challenge with the growing season in your area? As for most people in our area, it was the lack of moisture. We recorded about an inch and a half of rain from May 1 to Oct. 1 at the farm. It seemed like just Robert Benisch Hillsboro, Wisconsin Vernon County 45 cows
What is your favorite aspect of harvest? My favorite part of harvest is corn silage. It’s kind of like the nal piece of the puzzle for making enough feed to last the cows all year. There are so many ways that a crop can be ruined without you being able to do anything about it. So, it’s denitely exciting to be able to get the silage in a bag and ease some of the stress that comes with farming. Tell us about your farm and your plans for your dairy this winter. We milk approximately 250 cows, mostly being all Holsteins. We have a 72-stall tiestall barn where 60 cows are housed. The other 12 stalls are used to milk the balance of the cows from loose housing. We are currently getting our milk picked up every day. Over the winter, we are going to be looking into expanding the milkhouse as well as a form of milk-holding due to a recent challenge with milk pricing. up hay because we never had to dodge any rain. The thing that helped us the most was we had over 200 wrapped bales left over from last year. We started feeding that early this year, but we also haven’t tapped into the new hay yet.
What crops did you plant on your farm this year? We planted corn, peas and oats, and then alfalfa. How was the harvest of each and how does that compare to other years? The rst crop was fair. Second crop was a little less than fair, and the third crop was poor. We never took the fourth crop because it never grew back after the third crop. We were able to harvest the hay a lot sooner because of the lack of rain, so we ended up with better quality. Every year you get several days of wet weather which takes its toll on the maturity of the crop. Even though we got less, the quality is better. Corn went 160 bushels to the acre. It was about 30-40 bushels less than last year, which was still a lot better than I thought it would be. We got a couple little tiny showers that was apparently enough moisture to pollinate the corn. What was the biggest challenge with the growing season in your area? The dry weather. We just let it play out. We didn’t have any trouble putting
What is the most recent change you have made in how you harvest your crops that has proved to be benecial? We planted our corn in 30-inch rows this year which helped the corn canopy faster, due to the narrower rows. It kept the moisture where it needed it. We had 38-inch rows all my life, and we decided to try a different planter, which seemed to work very well for us. We got a few inches of rain right when the corn needed it the most, and that’s what saved the day with the corn crop. It was right when the corn canopied. What is your favorite aspect of harvest? My favorite aspect of harvest is watching the corn coming out of the augers. I love to see that. When the crop looks halfway decent and the gravity boxes are full all the time, that is an even bigger plus. Tell us about your farm and your plans for your dairy this winter. We farm 360 acres here and rent another 80. My son and daughter-in-law, Kevin and Kristin, farm with me. They’ve got four children as well. We don’t have big plans for the winter. We will just try to keep the cattle healthy and fed. My wife and I could never do it ourselves anymore, and I’m glad my family is here to do the heavy lifting.
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Page 18 • Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023
TOP PERFORMERS Tom and Gin Kestell; Chris and Jennifer Kestell of Ever-Green-View Dairy Waldo, Wisconsin | Sheboygan County | 96 cows
other than maybe one displaced abomasum per year. First milk weights for heifers average 100 pounds, and cows average 140 to 150 pounds at rst test.
Kestells achieve herd average over 41,000 through smart genetics, quality forages How many times a day do you milk, and what is your current herd average, butterfat and protein? We have milked three times a day for over 30 years. Our current herd average is 41,710 pounds of milk, 1,792 pounds of butterfat at 4.3% and 1,342 pounds of protein at 3.22%. Our combined butterfat and protein is 10.19 pounds per day (5.81 fat and 4.38 protein). We have a lot of young cows milking and are transitioning from an older herd to a younger herd. We have a cow that holds the 2-year-old world milk record at 58,000 pounds. Describe your housing and milking facility. Milk cows are housed in an 87-stall tiestall barn featuring waterbeds and tunnel ventilation. Cows go outside every day for exercise and heat detection. We milk in the barn with an around-the-barn pipeline and automatic takeoffs. We also use a portable teat scrubber. Who is part of your farm team, and what are their roles? My wife, Gin, does all the books, interacts with the bank, does a lot of the nancial planning, and took care of calves for over 30 years. Our son, Chris, is our partner and has been for the past 15 years. He handles maintenance
and crops. His wife, Jennifer, also helps on the farm. Dry ush cows are housed at their place. Celestino is our herdsman and has been with us for 18 years. He is like family and does all the hiring and has several employees who help him with the herd. Celestino’s girlfriend, Cristina, is the calf manager. Everyone on our team is equally important. If you have one bad area, nothing works well. What is your herd health program? We do a weekly herd health check every Monday. We were a very intense embryo transfer farm a few years ago, sending embryos to more than 30 countries. We focus on health and education in our embryo export program. We continue to export embryos and are planning to expand in this area once again. We follow a strict vaccination program for calves and adhere to colostrum specications. As a result, we treat very few calves. We are a closed herd, and cows are usually not vaccinated during pregnancy. What does your dry cow and transition program consist of? Dry cows and pregnant heifers are housed in a freestall barn and eat the same ration consisting mostly of haylage as well as
PHOTO SUBMITTED
The Kestell family — Chris (front); (back, from leŌ) Gin, Jennifer and Tom — milk 96 cows and farm 800 acres near Waldo, Wisconsin. The Kestells’ current herd average is 41,710 pounds of milk, 1,792 pounds of buƩerfat at 4.3% and 1,342 pounds of protein at 3.22%. corn silage. They are not fed any concentrates or grains. Minerals, vitamins and salt are given free choice. Cows are dry for 50 to 60 days. When they are close to calving, they are put on a bedded pack. We basically do not have a transition program. When cows calve, they come in the barn and enter the milk-
ing herd. We feed a one-group total mixed ration and top dress fresh cows with dry baled hay for one week to buffer energy in the diet. Cows are coming from good feed as dry cows and going into good feed as milk cows. We have found it to be an easy transition for cows, and we have virtually no transition problems
What is the composition of your ration, and how has that changed in recent years? We try to feed a high-forage ration (over 60% forage) consisting of 50% corn silage on a dry matter basis and 50% haylage on a dry matter basis. We balance the ration with roasted soybeans, canola meal, minerals, vitamins, cottonseed and molasses. Our ration contains 38% concentrates and 16% proteins. It is a rather simple ration made up by our nutritionist. We’ve been feeding the same ration for a long time. One change we have made in the last ve to six years is that we started high chopping our corn silage at 30+ inches in height. It is 25% higher in starch; therefore, we feed a lot less highmoisture corn since the starch is in the corn silage. This practice has raised our milk production. Tell us about the forages you plant and detail your harvest strategies. We plant pure alfalfa stands that test 24% to 25% for protein. We do some grass elds for our dry and donor cows, but
Turn to TOP PERFORMER | Page 20
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Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 19
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Page 20 • Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023
ConƟnued from TOP PERFORMER | Page 18 I prefer pure alfalfa. In the 2023 has been genetics. Certain bulls World Forage Superbowl at are tremendous production World Dairy Expo, we won rst bulls. It’s not necessarily what place in alfalfa haylage, third his paper says but how he works place in dairy hay and fourth in real life. Our highest producplace in baleage. We plant hy- tion cows have been our lowest brid alfalfa since they came out genomic tested animals. We dewith it and use all Dairyland termine which bulls work on our seed. Our BMR corn silage per- farm, and those are the ones we formed well this year. Our shell use. We have success if we use corn has a shorter maturity than proven bulls from proven cow some peoples’, and we harvest it families. One-hit wonders are early. Cutting corn silage at 30 to just that. We had the rst cow 34 inches high takes a few more to break 70,000 pounds of milk. acres, but not many — maybe We also have many generations 10% more at most. We don’t of Excellent-scored cows with feed a lot of it to heifers. They over 50,000 pounds of milk and get haylage instead because we a ton of butterfat. Short-term, don’t want them to get fat. We our high-chop corn silage and changed our cutting intervals for being selective about what cows heifers because we don’t want eat have created the biggest imextreme protein in their diet ei- provements in our herd average. ther. We allocate the feed that Feed intake is about 127 pounds each group needs. We do a 28- per cow per day (70 pounds of day cutting on hay for cows and dry matter intake). We try to be store all feed in upright silos. very consistent with our feeding. Baleage is stored in bags and fed to heifers and dry cows mainly. What technology do you use to monitor your herd? We don’t What is your average somatic use any technology to monitor cell count and how does that our herd. Rather, we are visual affect your production? Our in our monitoring. Eyes on cattle somatic cell count averages is the most important method. between 80,000 and 90,000. You develop a sense and have I attribute that to our milk- to be able to anticipate things. I ing practices. You have to train have nothing against technology milkers well and hope to main- in large herds. It’s important and tain them for a long time. Some is a benet to them. In smaller older cows are not as affected herds like ours, you have to be as young cows by SCC. Young in tune with the cattle. One techcows are tremendously affected nology we use is PCR mastitis by SCC. You don’t have a high monitoring through DHI to test SCC without having a problem. the DNA of a pathogen. There We never ignore SCC problems are certain pathogens you won’t on young cows. win against, and you have to recognize that. We use this tool What change has created the monthly on individual problem biggest improvement in your cows. herd average? Long term, it
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
This is a sample of the total mixed raƟon fed to cows at Ever-GreenView Dairy owned by the Kestell family near Waldo, Wisconsin. The Kestells feed a highforage raƟon consisƟng of 50% corn silage and 50% haylage balanced with roasted soybeans, canola meal, minerals, vitamins, coƩonseed and molasses.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Ever-Green-View My Gold-ET EX-93 is a previous world producƟon leader that set a 365-day record of 77,480 pounds of milk, 1,992 pounds of buƩerfat and 2,202 pounds of protein in 2016. Her dam, Ever-Green-View My 1326-ET EX-92, was the world milk producƟon leader from 2008 to 2015. What is your breeding program, and what role does genetics play in your production level? We use high genomic bulls, but we also use our own judgment in getting bulls from good cow families that have performed in the past. We have had recent success with bulls like Dante and Delta. We try to nd bulls that we think are going to work here, and then we use them quite heavily. List three management strategies that have helped you attain your production and component level. 1. Feed testing is critical. You need to know your
moisture levels and protein levels in your feed as well as ber, protein and starch levels. Knowing the whole breakdown of your feed is important. Test often because feeds change. Get the right feed to the right animals. For example, milk cows need different feed than dry cows and heifers. 2. BMR corn silage. This is a real asset to us. 3. Genomic testing to a degree when used as a tool only, not a be-all and endall solution. We do not use it to make culling decisions, etc.
farm in 1975, and today we farm with our son, Chris, and his wife, Jennifer. Genetics are important to us, and we strive to balance type with production. We have bred and owned a number of state, national and international production leaders. Our BAA is 110.7, making us fth in the U.S. for our herd size. We farm 800 acres and market 25 bulls per year and also sell a lot of cows. In the next year, we would like to get back into exporting more embryos.
Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy in the next year. Gin and I bought the
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Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 21
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COMBINES
Case IH 8250 2022, 2WD, Duals, 1300 hrs., 1000 Sep. hrs.,#572186......$394,900 Case IH 8250 2022, PRWD, Tracks, 1100 hrs., 800 Sep. hrs.,#572187 .....$489,900 Case IH 8250 2022, PRWD, Duals, 1300 hrs., 1000 Sep. hrs., #572189...$409,900 JD 7720 1982, 2WD, Singles, 4688 hrs., #572029 ....................................... $8,300 JD 8820 1980, PRWD, Duals, 3900 hrs., #570003 ....................................... $9,900 JD 9500 1990, 2WD, Duals, 5324 hrs., 3656 Sep. hrs.,#571037 ................$21,500 JD 9500 1990, 2WD, Singles, 5448 hrs., 3588 Sep. hrs., #571381 .............$21,000 JD 9500 1990, 2WD, Singles, 5602 hrs., 3908 Sep. hrs., #571471 .............$18,800 JD 9550 2002, PRWD, Singles, 5211 hrs., 3600 Sep. hrs., #570006 ...........$43,500 JD 9550 2001, 2WD, Singles, 4976 hrs., 3145 Sep. hrs., #572170 .............$52,500 JD 9600 1991, PRWD, Duals, 5313 hrs., 3614 Sep. hrs., #567724 .............$24,900 JD 9600 1995, 2WD, Singles, 4000 hrs., #568110 .....................................$28,900 JD 9560 STS 2004, 2WD, Duals, 4638 hrs., 2982 Sep. hrs., #567094 .......$52,500 JD 9570 STS 2009, 2WD, Duals, 2367 hrs., 1597 Sep. hrs., #556547.......$104,900 JD 9570 STS 2008, PRWD, Duals, 3464 hrs., 2237 Sep. hrs., #568406 ......$99,500 JD 9570 STS 2009, 2WD, Duals, 2450 hrs., 1600 Sep. hrs., #571894.......$105,900 JD 9650 STS 2003, 2WD, Duals, 3121 hrs., 1973 Sep. hrs., #571360.........$47,900 JD 9650W 2000, 2WD, Duals, 3680 hrs., 2665 Sep. hrs., #568122 ............$45,000 JD 9660W 2004, PRWD, Singles, 6542 hrs., 4267 Sep. hrs., #571552 .......$41,900 JD 9670 STS 2009, PRWD, Duals, 4102 hrs., 2958 Sep. hrs., #568814......$78,400 JD 9750 STS 2003, 2WD, Duals, 5105 hrs., 3367 Sep. hrs., #565004.........$37,500 JD 9750 STS 2001, PRWD, Duals, 5100 hrs., 4800 Sep. hrs., #571375 ......$38,500 JD 9760 STS 2005, 2WD, Singles, 4300 hrs., 2575 Sep. hrs., #571176 ......$79,900 JD 9770 STS 2008, PRWD, Singles, 3480 hrs., 2448 Sep. hrs., #569958 ....$99,900 JD 9770 STS 2011, PRWD, Duals, 2862 hrs., 1990 Sep. hrs., #571840 ....$114,500 JD 9870 STS 2008, PRWD, Duals, 3385 hrs., 2494 Sep. hrs., #566621 ......$97,500 JD 9870 STS 2011, 2WD, Duals, 3809 hrs., 1747 Sep. hrs., #567383.......$109,900 JD 9870 STS 2010, PRWD, Duals, 3558 hrs., 2425 Sep. hrs., #568308 ......$94,500 JD S660 2014, PRWD, Duals, 1824 hrs., 1317 Sep. hrs., #532082............$189,500
JD S670 2012, 2WD, Duals, 3021 hrs., 2019 Sep. hrs., #569358..............$122,500 JD S680 2017, PRWD, Duals, 1516 hrs., 1053 Sep. hrs., #273646............$219,900 JD S680 2014, PRWD, Duals, 2425 hrs., 1668 Sep. hrs., #531966............$195,000 JD S680 2012, 2WD, Duals, 2756 hrs., 2032 Sep. hrs., #552659..............$119,900 JD S680 2013, PRWD, Duals, 2592 hrs., 1906 Sep. hrs., #563909............$160,000 JD S680 2017, PRWD, Duals, 2017 hrs., 1350 Sep. hrs., #570488............$239,500 JD S680 2013, 2WD, Duals, 2186 hrs., 1720 Sep. hrs., #571079..............$146,500 JD S680 2012, PRWD, Duals, 2157 hrs., 1274 Sep. hrs., #572098............$172,500 JD S680 2017, PRWD, Duals, 2787 hrs., 1850 Sep. hrs., #572100............$197,900 JD S690 2017, PRWD, Duals, 2513 hrs., 1605 Sep. hrs., #568113............$239,000 JD S770 2018, PRWD, Duals, 2320 hrs., 1652 Sep. hrs., #549678............$259,900 JD S770 2021, PRWD, Duals, 579 hrs., 486 Sep. hrs., #554050................$405,000 JD S770 2022, PRWD, Floaters, 55 hrs., 20 Sep. hrs., #563704 ................$546,000 JD S770 2022, PRWD, Duals, 337 hrs., 148 Sep. hrs., #567222................$564,900 JD S770 2022, PRWD, Duals, 270 hrs., 91 Sep. hrs., #567225..................$574,900 JD S780 2020, PRWD, Singles, 1640 hrs., 1204 Sep. hrs., #531610 .........$349,000 JD S780 2023, PRWD, Duals, 254 hrs., #545327 .....................................$619,000 JD S780 2020, PRWD, Duals, 1341 hrs., 941 Sep. hrs., #550187..............$369,000 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Duals, 461 hrs., 353 Sep. hrs., #552362................$549,000 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Floaters, 544 hrs., 323 Sep. hrs., #553546 ............$549,900 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Tracks, 361 hrs., 238 Sep. hrs., #554013 ...............$619,000 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Duals, 245 hrs., 183 Sep. hrs., #554094................$565,000 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Floaters, 359 hrs., 170 Sep. hrs., #554623 ............$569,000 JD S780 2018, 2WD, Duals, 1223 hrs., 826 Sep. hrs., #555412................$319,000 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Tracks, 300 hrs., 280 Sep. hrs., #561020 ...............$623,000 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Tracks, 362 hrs., 251 Sep. hrs., #563618 ...............$619,000 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Duals, 717 hrs., 374 Sep. hrs., #563633................$549,000 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Duals, 497 hrs., 347 Sep. hrs., #563635................$549,000 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Tracks, 243 hrs., 192 Sep. hrs., #563701 ...............$619,000 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Duals, 497 hrs., 307 Sep. hrs., #563710................$549,000
JD S780 2018, PRWD, Duals, 2835 hrs., 1901 Sep. hrs., #567178............$234,900 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Duals, 298 hrs., 165 Sep. hrs., #567271................$585,000 JD S780 2021, PRWD, Duals, 519 hrs., 300 Sep. hrs., #567515................$519,900 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Duals, 433 hrs., 262 Sep. hrs., #568072................$569,900 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Duals, 792 hrs., 420 Sep. hrs., #569414................$529,000 JD S780 2018, PRWD, Duals, 1733 hrs., 1200 Sep. hrs., #571593............$283,500 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Duals, 888 hrs., 750 Sep. hrs., #571615................$489,900 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Singles, 676 hrs., 424 Sep. hrs., #571725 .............$533,000 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Singles, 576 hrs., 400 Sep. hrs., #571886 .............$529,000 JD S780 2021, PRWD, Duals, 388 hrs., 285 Sep. hrs., #572205................$529,000 JD S780 2021, PRWD, Duals, 400 hrs., 305 Sep. hrs., #572206................$529,000 JD S790 2021, PRWD, Tracks, 981 hrs., 530 Sep. hrs., #191075 ...............$549,500 JD S790 2019, PRWD, Duals, 1987 hrs., 1426 Sep. hrs., #532032............$299,000 JD S790 2018, PRWD, Duals, 1702 hrs., 1218 Sep. hrs., #549845............$309,000 JD S790 2018, PRWD, Duals, 1571 hrs., 1055 Sep. hrs., #549846............$329,000 JD S790 2022, PRWD, Duals, 487 hrs., 302 Sep. hrs., #552839................$579,500 JD S790 2020, PRWD, Duals, 1404 hrs., 1023 Sep. hrs., #557138............$399,000 JD S790 2022, PRWD, Singles, 264 hrs., 90 Sep. hrs., #557140 ...............$629,900 JD S790 2021, PRWD, Singles, 979 hrs., 770 Sep. hrs., #557277 .............$479,000 JD S790 2022, PRWD, Duals, 284 hrs., 155 Sep. hrs., #563325................$599,900 JD S790 2022, PRWD, Singles, 655 hrs., 314 Sep. hrs., #563815 .............$579,500 JD S790 2021, PRWD, Duals, 926 hrs., 551 Sep. hrs., #565421................$499,900 JD S790 2022, PRWD, Duals, 495 hrs., 368 Sep. hrs., #566460................$624,900 JD S790 2022, PRWD, Duals, 558 hrs., 316 Sep. hrs., #566694................$579,900 JD S790 2020, PRWD, Singles, 732 hrs., 425 Sep. hrs., #568212 .............$501,000 JD S790 2020, PRWD, Floaters, 734 hrs., 485 Sep. hrs., #568213 ............$497,000 JD S790 2021, PRWD, Duals, 1722 hrs., 1500 Sep. hrs., #572086............$364,900 JD X9 1100 2021, PRWD, Tracks, 1095 hrs., 735 Sep. hrs., #552917........$749,000 JD X9 1100 2021, PRWD, Tracks, 1029 hrs., 715 Sep. hrs., #552921........$769,000
Locations throughout minnesota & western wisconsin! CALL TODAY! (320)365-1653 SEE OUR COMPLETE INVENTORY WITH PICTURES AND DESCRIPTIONS AT: www.mmcjd.com
Page 22 • Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023
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Contact one of the following dealers to learn more: IOWA Prairie Land Ag Supply Inc. Rock Valley, IA 712-476-9290 United Dairy Systems, Inc. West Union, IA 563-422-5355 Monticello, IA 319-465-5931 WISCONSIN Advanced Dairy Spring Valley, WI 715-772-3201 Bob’s Dairy Supply Dorchester, WI 715-654-5252 Ederer Dairy Supply Plain, WI 608-546-3713 DeLaval Dairy Service Kaukauna, WI 866-335-2825
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Joe’s Refrigeration Inc. Withee, WI 715-229-2321 Mlsna Dairy Supply Inc. Cashton, WI 608-654-5106 Professional Dairy Services Arlington, WI 608-635-0268 Redeker Dairy Equipment Brandon, WI 920-346-5579 The Scharine Group Inc. Whitewater, WI 800 472-2880 Mt Horeb, WI 800-872-3470
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MINNESOTA & SOUTH DAKOTA Farm Systems Melrose, MN 320-256-3276 Brookings, SD 800-636-5581 Advanced Dairy Mora, MN 320-679-1029 Pierz, MN 320-468-2494 St. Charles, MN 507-932-4288 Wadena, MN 218-632-5416
To find out more about how VMS™ can work your way, visit delaval.com or call your local DeLaval representative.
is a registered trademark of Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A. and “DeLaval” is a registered trade/servicemark of DeLaval Holding AB © 2023 DeLaval Inc. DeLaval, 11100 North Congress Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri 64153-1296. Dairy producer testimonials reflect their real-life experience using DeLaval products. Results in testimonials have not been independently verified and DeLaval does not claim the results are typical. Actual performance and improvement will depend on a number of factors, including prior milking practices, type of cows, farm and herd maintenance practices. Testimonials do not constitute warranties or guaranties of service or performance. www.delaval.com
Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 23
A Red & White for Christmas
Donnays offer a calf for Dairy Star’s annual giveaway By Emily Breth Staff Writer
GLENCOE, Minn. — Spots of red and white can be found all around Sunkist Acres were Nate Donnay raises heifer calves that he shares with youth. Watching a heifer leave Sunkist Acres is nothing new to Donnay, who nds himself raising calves that will hopefully make quality show animals for others to buy. “We have a sale every year for show heifers,” Donnay said. “We try to give a lot of opportunities to the youth and have them purchase their own calf with a good pedigree.” Donnay, of Glencoe, is providing a Red & White Holstein heifer, named Layla, for Dairy Star’s Great Christmas Giveaway. Sunkist Rompen LaylaRed was born Sept. 11 to a long bloodline of show cattle. Sunkist Doorman Lennox is the dam of Layla, and Trent-WayJs Rompen-Red-ET is the sire. Sunkist Airlift Lively EX-95, who is Layla’s great-grandam, was a two-time reserve grand champion at the Minnesota State Holstein Show and was shown at multiple national shows in ad-
dition to being nominated junior All-American in 2019. Lively can still be found on Sunkist Acres along with her daughter Lenin, granddaughter Lennix and great-granddaughter Layla, who is the fourth generation to be born on the farm and registered. “We’ve always been a registered herd going back to when they rst started to register cattle,” Donnay said. However, they did not always have the Red & Whites on the farm. It happened after Donnay’s grandparents and parents used a few bulls that had a dormant red carrier gene in them. “(At rst,) it would always be a surprise when a Red & White one would show up because it would just be from two red carriers,” Donnay said. “When I was younger, I always took a liking to the Red & White ones.” Donnay continues to raise both Holstein and Red & White heifers that they will eventually sell. Throughout the breeding process, Donnay said he tries to have every calf that is born on the farm be a heifer in order to provide more opportunities to the youth. While keeping calves to raise and include back into their herd, Donnay is still able to supply about 25 to 30 heifers for
GRACE JEURISSEN/DAIRY STAR
Nate Donnay kneels by his calf, Sunkist Rompen Layla-Red, Nov. 3 at Sunkist Acres near Glencoe, Minnesota. Donnay and Layla are both fourth-generaƟon at Sunkist Acres. people to buy and nish raising that they are then able to show. Sunkist Acres has been in the Donnay family name since 1900 and was passed down
through the generations until it reached Donnay and his siblings — Alex, Mitchell and Nicole — who are the fourth generation on the farm. Donnay’s parents,
John and Connie, are active on the farm and help with daily tasks. The Donnays milk 50 cows, with a mix of Holsteins, Red & Whites and a few Jerseys. Growing up with cattle, Donnay discovered showing, which he said changed his life’s path. “By showing cattle, I knew exactly where I wanted to go to school,” Donnay said. “Senior year, I missed about 30 days of school, and it was all (because of) dairy things.” Besides working full time on the farm, Donnay also began a full-time job ve months ago. In the past few years on the farm, Donnay has been focusing more on the genetics of the Red & Whites, which includes Layla, because they have become more popular for showing. Donnay said Layla’s sister, who is sired by Mr Blondin Warrior-Red-ET, was named AllMinnesota fall calf. She was also shown at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin, and placed in the middle of the class. Donnay said he knows that Layla has the potential to follow these footsteps. “She’s a strong calf,” Donnay said. “She will make a good show animal.” Donnay also gave words of advice to youth who show cattle. “Find a good mentor and ask questions,” Donnay said. “I am willing to (mentor) whoever gets Layla.”
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Page 24 • Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023
+
DAIRY ST R
THE GREAT
2023 Grand Prize Drawing Will Be Held Wednesday, December 13, 2023 ADULT
THE WINNERS WILL BE POSTED ON WWW.DAIRYSTAR.COM, MILK BREAK NEWSLETTER AND ON FACEBOOK.
“GRAND” PRIZE
2) $500 CASH GIFTS! 17 & UNDER “GRAND” PRIZE
PLUS: 11 DAYS OF
GIVEAWAYS
FOR ADULTS LEADING UP TO GRAND PRIZE DRAWINGS
2) HEIFER CALVES! Gr Calf o and Prize Donn wned by Na ay Sunk comes fr te o is Glen t Acres in m coe, M inn.
“Grand” Prize Heifer Calf:
SUNKIST ROMPEN LAYLA-RED
Born: September 11, 2023 Sire: Trent-Way-Js Rompen-Red-ET Dam: Sunkist Doorman Lennox Nate Donnay is pictured with Sunkist Rompen Layla-Red, the heifer calf that will be given away in the Great Christmas Giveaway drawing.
REGISTER FREE AT ANY OF THE PARTICIPATING BUSINESSES FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN!
Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 25
REGISTER AT THESE PARTICIPATING BUSINESSES:
IOWA
ALLAMAKEE COUNTY • Waukon Veterinary Service Waukon • 563-534-7513 DELAWARE COUNTY • Del-Clay Farm Equipment Edgewood • 563-928-6445 • Edgewood Feed Mill Edgewood • 563-928-6405 DUBUQUE COUNTY • Brunkan Equipment Worthington • 563-855-2434 • CJ Beeps Equipment Farley • 563-744-5010 • Eastern Iowa Dairy Epworth • 563-876-3087 • Helle Farm Equipment Dyersville • 563-875-7154 • New Vienna Ag Automation New Vienna • 563-921-2896 • Rexco Equipment Farley • 563-744-3393 • Roeder Implement Dubuque • 563-557-1184 • Scherrmann’s Implement Dyersville • 563-875-2426 • Skip Breitbach Feeds Balltown • 563-552-2393 • Ungs Shopping Center (IAS) Luxemburg • 563-853-2455 CLAYTON COUNTY Windridge Implement Elkader • 563-245-2636 FAYETTE COUNTY • Baumler Implements Inc. West Union • 563-422-3835 • United Dairy Systems West Union • 563-422-5355 • ViaÀeld Elgin • 563-426-5566 FLOYD COUNTY • Livestock Systems Charles City • 641-220-5257 HOWARD COUNTY • Farmers Win Co-op Cresco West • 563-547-3660 • Windridge Implement Cresco • 563-547-3688 SIOUX COUNTY • Sioux Dairy Equipment, Inc. Rock Valley • 712-476-5608 WINNESHIEK COUNTY • Brynsaas Sales & Service Decorah • 563-382-4484 • Franzen Sales & Service Fort Atkinson • 563-534-2724 • Lang’s Dairy Service Decorah • 563-382-8722 • Windridge Implement Decorah • 563-382-3614
DAKOTA COUNTY • Midwest Machinery NorthÀeld • 507-645-4886 • Werner Implement Vermillion • 651-437-4435 DODGE COUNTY • Concord Store and Locker West Concord • 507-527-2736 DOUGLAS COUNTY • Midwest Machinery Alexandria • 320-763-4220 • Osakis Creamery Assn. 320-859-2146 • Pro Ag Farmers Co-op GarÀeld • 320-834-2271 FILLMORE COUNTY • Farmers Win Co-op Rushford • 507-864-2161 • Hammell Equipment Harmony • 507-886-2255 Rushford • 507-864-2845 • Northern Valley Livestock Service ChatÀeld • 507-534-4356 GOODHUE COUNTY • Ag Partners Farm Store Cannon Falls • 507-263-4651 Goodhue • 651-923-4496 Pine Island • 507-356-8313 • Central Livestock Zumbrota • 507-732-7305 • Midwest Livestock Systems, LLC Zumbrota • 507-732-4673 • Midwest Machinery Cannon Falls • 507-263-4238 Wanamingo • 507-824-2256 • Zumbrota Stockman’s Supply Zumbrota • 507-732-7860
OTTER TAIL COUNTY • Bongards’ Perham • 218-346-4680 • Farmers Elevator of Fergus Falls & Henning 218-736-3301 • PCCA-Country Store Perham • 218-346-7075 • Perham Stockyards Perham • 218-346-3415 • Pro Ag Farmers Co-op in Henning 218-583-2947 • Pro Ag Farmers Co-op in Urbank 218-267-2401 PIPESTONE COUNTY • Gorter’s Clay & Dairy Equipment Pipestone • 507-825-3271 POPE COUNTY • Midwest Machinery Glenwood • 320-634-5151
HOUSTON COUNTY • Caledonia Implement Company Caledonia • 507-725-3386 • Farmers Win Co-op Caledonia • 507-725-3306 Houston • 507-896-3147 • Hammell Equipment Eitzen • 507-495-3326 • Midwest Machinery Caledonia • 507-725-7000
STEARNS COUNTY • A&C Farm Service Paynesville • 320-243-3736 • Albany Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Albany • 320-845-2801 • Arnold’s of Kimball Kimball • 320-398-3800 • Arnold’s of St. Martin St. Martin • 320-548-3285 • Arnzen Construction/St. Rosa Lumber Freeport, In St. Rosa 320-836-2284 or 1-888-276-1751 • Centre Dairy Equipment & Supply Inc. Sauk Centre • 320-352-5762 or 1-800-342-2697 • Dairyland Supply Sauk Centre 320-352-3987 or 1-800-338-6455 • Ecker Feed Service, LLC New Munich • 320-837-5800 • Elrosa Grain & Feed Elrosa • 320-697-5515 • Elrosa Lumber Elrosa • 320-697-5591 • Farm Systems Melrose 1-800-636-5581 • 1-800-247-0012 • Feed Co. Paynesville • 320-243-3938 • Freeport State Bank Freeport • 320-836-2126 Greenwald • 320-987-2265 Melrose • 320-256-7208 • Hartung Sales & Service, Inc. Freeport • 320-836-2697 • Leedstone Melrose • 800-996-3303 • MagniÀ Financial Albany • 888-330-8482 Avon • 888-330-8482 Belgrade • 888-330-8482 Cold Spring • 888-330-8482 Freeport • 888-330-8482 Melrose • 888-330-8482 Paynesville • 888-330-8482 Sauk Centre • 888-330-8482 • Melrose Implement Inc. Melrose • 320-256-4253
ISANTI COUNTY • Midwest Machinery Princeton • 763-263-6000 KANDIYOHI COUNTY • D&D Ag Supply & Construction Pennock • 320-599-4466 • Farm-Rite Equipment Willmar • 877-484-3211 • Midwest Machinery Stewart • 320-562-2630
BENTON COUNTY • Farm-Rite Equipment St. Cloud • 844-262-2281 • First National Bank of MilacaGilman OfÀce • 320-387-2233 • Gilman Co-op Creamery Gilman • 320-387-2770 • Midwest Machinery Sauk Rapids • 320-259-6222
MEEKER COUNTY • Farm-Rite Equipment Dassel • 888-679-4857 • Schlauderaff Implement Co. LitchÀeld • 320-693-7277
CARVER COUNTY • Bongards’ Cologne • 952-466-5521 • Lano Equipment of Norwood Norwood/Young America 952-467-2181 • Storms Welding Cologne • 952-466-3343
OLMSTED COUNTY • Ag Partners Stewartville • 507-533-4222 • Hammell Equipment ChatÀeld • 507-867-4910
RICE COUNTY • Ag Partners - Agronomy Le Center • 507-357-6868
MCLEOD COUNTY • Leedstone Glencoe • 877-864-5575 • Midwest Machinery Glencoe • 320-864-5571
BROWN COUNTY • New Ulm Regional Vet Clinic New Ulm • 507-233-2500
MOWER COUNTY • Midwest Machinery Grand Meadow • 507-754-1100
GRANT COUNTY • Midwest Machinery Elbow Lake • 218-685-4438
MINNESOTA
BECKER COUNTY • Adkins Equipment Inc. Detroit Lakes • 218-847-3131
• Modern Farm Equipment Pierz • 320-468-2161 • Pierz Co-op Pierz • 320-468-6655 • Sunrise Ag Cooperative Buckman • 320-468-6433 Lastrup • 320-468-2543 Little Rock • 320-584-5147
MILLE LACS COUNTY • First National Bank of Milaca Milaca • 320-983-3101 • Foreston Farmer’s Co-op Creamery Foreston • 320-294-5711 MORRISON COUNTY • Elmdale Creamery Association & Locker Bowlus • 320-573-2607 • Litke’s Veterinary Service Pierz • 320-468-6666 • MagniÀ Financial Little Falls • 888-330-8482 • Midwest Machinery Little Falls • 320-632-5469
• Midwest Machinery Paynesville • 320-243-7474 Sauk Centre • 320-352-6511 • Modern Farm Equipment Sauk Centre • 320-352-6543 • Nutrien Ag Solutions 320-352-6564 STEELE COUNTY • Northland Farm Systems Owatonna • 507-451-3131 SWIFT COUNTY • Midwest Machinery Benson • 320-843-2610 Madison • 320-598-7575 Morris • 320-589-2011 TODD COUNTY • MagniÀ Financial Grey Eagle • 888-330-8482 Long Prairie • 888-330-8482 • Farm-Rite Long Prairie • 866-514-0982 • Olson’s Custom Farm Service Staples • 218-894-2474 • Pro-Ag Farmers Co-op in Browerville Browerville • 320-594-2711 • Pro-Ag Farmers Co-op in Clarissa Clarissa • 218-756-2112 • Pro-Ag Farmers Co-op in Eagle Bend Eagle Bend • 218-738-2552 WABASHA COUNTY • Ag Partners Farm Store Plainview • 507-534-2531 • Beck Implement Elgin • 507-876-2122 • Leedstone Plainview • 800-548-2540 • Midwest Machinery Plainview • 507-534-3116 • Wingert Sales & Service Plainview • 507-534-2285 WADENA COUNTY • Dairyland Equipment of Menahga Menahga • 218-564-4958 • Midwest Machinery Wadena • 218-631-2311 • Olson’s Custom Farm Service Verndale • 218-445-5500 Sebeka • 218-837-5749 WINONA COUNTY • Ag Partners Lewiston • 507-523-2188 • Ag Specialists St. Charles • 507-932-4800 • Elba Co-op Creamery Elba • 507-796-6571 • Kalmes Implement Altura • 507-796-6741 • Lang’s Dairy Equipment Lewiston • 507-452-5532 • Lewiston Rentals and Repairs Lewiston • 507-523-3564 • Midwest Machinery St. Charles • 507-932-4030 WRIGHT COUNTY • Hobert Sales Inc. Cokato • 320-286-6284, 1-800-820-6455 • Midwest Machinery Howard Lake • 320-543-2170
SOUTH DAKOTA BROOKINGS COUNTY • W.W. Tire Brookings • 605-696-7400 CODINGTON COUNTY • Glacial Lakes Livestock Watertown • 605-886-5052 MINNEHAHA COUNTY • Central Valley Dairy Supply Garretson • 605-467-0812 • Midwest Livestock Systems Renner • 605-274-3656
ROBERTS COUNTY • Valley Dairy Supply Corona • 605-432-5224
To view a complete list of participating businesses, log on to www.dairystar.com
*Enter as often as you like. One entry per store visit, please. Winners must be 18 years or older and a Grade A or B dairy farmer for adult prize, or 17 years or younger and a son or daughter of a Grade A or B dairy farmer for heifer calf. Winners must also live in the Dairy Star circulation area to be eligible and are responsible for transport of animal.
Page 26 • Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023
You can nd their cows in the city Treschers farm among residents of Cashton By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com
CASHTON, Wis. – Driving through the residential streets of Cashton, people pass houses, children on bikes and perhaps the occasional Amish horse and buggy. Right in the heart of the downtown residential streets, they will also nd a fully operational dairy farm. This is where the Trescher family has farmed since 1909. “With our location, every single load of forage in and manure out is on a residential street, so it can be a little challenging from time to time,” Steve Trescher said. “But, I grew up here, my dad grew up here, and I guess we’re getting by.” Steve and his wife, Annette, have been married for 36 years and have continued the Trescher family’s legacy of farming in town. The Trescher family’s farm was a tour stop June 23 for attendees of the National Jersey Convention. The Treschers milk 70 cows in a 50-stall tiestall barn. The tiestall is bedded with sand and holds mostly Jersey and Jersey-Holstein crossbred cows, while a freestall barn houses the Holsteins. The herd is intermingled during milking time when they switch groups. Their son Derek helps with feeding and hauling manure every day.
ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR
Heifers eat Aug. 4 on the Treschers’ farm in Cashton, Wisconsin. The view from the heifer yard includes the residenƟal streets of town, and just around the corner is the hustle and bustle of Main Street. Running a dairy farm in the residential area of town has presented challenges. The Treschers said they do their best to be as neighborly as possible by not doing eldwork after 10 p.m., keeping baleage plastic contained and keeping the roads clean. They achieve this by having blacktop driveways so the mess cleans off on their property instead of on the residential roads. Steve and Annette said there are benets to living in town such as the cows being on village water and the milkhouse
operating on village sewer. There is also village electric service to the farm, eliminating the need for a backup generator. They also realized that they had fewer solicitors because salesmen never thought to look for a farm down a residential street. AnABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR nette said nobody ever found them AnneƩe and Steve Trescher take a break until they hosted a dairy breakfast June 23 at their farm in Cashton, Wisconsin. in 1998. The couple hosted this year’s tour for the NaƟonal Jersey ConvenƟon. Turn to TRESCHERS | Page 27
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Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 27
ConƟnued from TRESCHERS | Page 26
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AnneƩe Trescher visits a calf June 23 on her farm in Cashton, Wisconsin. AnneƩe and her husband, Steve, have been farming together for 36 years. When Steve’s dad was operating the farm, they had 12 cows and sold all of the milk out of the basement to the people in town until 1969 when pasteurization was made mandatory. “You wouldn’t believe how many people tell me they remember buying milk from my dad,” Steve said. “Everybody in town got milk here. Things have denitely changed.” While their children were growing up, Steve said it was normal for the town kids to ride their bikes right through the barn during milking while making their way around town with friends. “When the kids got older, town kids were here and they had opportunities that other town kids wouldn’t have,” Steve said. “And, my kids had opportunities that other country kids wouldn’t have.” The Treschers were originally an exclusively Holstein herd, but when Annette joined the operation, she brought her beloved Jerseys with her. She traded her beef cows for ve Jersey heifers, which she brought to the Trescher farm. Everyone had to learn how to manage Holsteins and Jerseys side by side. “It was an adjustment for me,” Annette said. “Everyone has had a little bit of a learning curve over the years as to how to manage them.” When she moved her rst group of heifers to the farm, Annette’s dad had told her to wait to breed the Jerseys so they would be big enough to compete
with the Holsteins. The Treschers found out that they did not have to worry about the Jerseys competing. In fact, Annette said the Jerseys tend to boss the Holsteins around. One challenge they have faced has been feeding the two breeds. The cows are fed a total mixed ration, but with them both being milked in the same stanchion barn, feed cannot be separated between the Jerseys and Holsteins. Annette said she thinks the Jerseys could produce a higher fat content if they were fed a separate ration. Even with the current feed, however, the Jerseys ranked seventh in the U.S. in mature equivalent milk production among other registered Jersey herds of a similar size. “I’m pretty proud of how hard they work,” Annette said. “But, I could challenge them if I had a different facility.” Feed is grown on the 300 acres the family farms. The land is a combination of the Trescher home farm and Steve’s mother’s home farm. They grow corn and alfalfa for feed. “We have just as much land here as we would in the country,” Steve said. The Treschers said they also have good neighbors. “Thirty-six years ago, every single neighbor was a retired farmer,” Annette said. “That is no longer the case. We are lucky that we have very understanding neighbors now.”
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Page 28 • Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023
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Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 29
women
IN DAIRY
Tell us about your farm and family. My husband, Chad, and I farm with his parents, Cal and Char Lubben. We have three daughters: Madelyn, Makena and Makayla. Together we milk 420 cows; raise our own replacements; grow alfalfa, soybeans, corn, rye and sorghum; and nish feeder pigs. We milk twice a day in a double-12 parlor. What is a typical day like for you on the dairy? I feed calves, heat detect and breed cows and heifers, enter and analyze DairyComp records, monitor fresh and sick cows, administer vaccines and help wherever help is needed. What decision have you made in the last year that has beneted your farm? In the past year, we have made quite a few changes to the way we raise our calves, and we have seen great results. First, we started using a stationery milk mixer to feed milk replacer. This has saved time lling bottles and has allowed us to just mix one batch instead of multiple. We also switched to a 27:20 milk replacer and feed 1 gallon twice a day. We are pleased with the results we have seen in our calves since we made these changes, and we are excited to see how much better they will perform in their rst lactation. Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. I love watching my girls grow up on the farm. The memories I have made with them is something that I will always cherish. They like to help feed bottle calves, take care of their chickens and go for tractor rides. What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the dairy industry? Dairy farming is in my blood. I grew up on a dairy farm and had always dreamed of farming
Edgerton, Minnesota Rock County 420 cows
as I grew older. Now I am happy that I have the chance to raise my girls on a dairy farm as well. I also like that there is something different going on each day beyond the daily routine. What is a challenge in the dairy industry you have faced and how did you overcome it? We keep a close eye on transition cows. Occasionally, we will run into issues with that group of cows, and we consult closely with our nutritionist and veterinarian to nd the cause and the solution to the problem. I am thankful that we have a great team to work together with when challenges arise. What is your biggest accomplishment in your dairy career? Genetics. Since I started working at the dairy after college, I have made progress with A.I. on cows and heifers. Working part time for Select Sires as a relief technician for a few years helped build my condence and improve my conception rates. Genomic testing has also greatly improved the genetics, health and production of our herd. We started genomic testing about seven years ago, and we have been using the results to make culling and breeding decisions. I enjoy cow records and took the lead in this department. The decisions that we made based on these results played a big role in getting us to where we are today. What are things you do to promote your farm or the dairy industry? We always encourage people who we meet and who are not familiar with dairy farming to come to our farm for a tour. We also help serve ice cream and other dairy products at events in the area and at the county fair.
times, we don’t have control over the challenges and obstacles that we face, but we do have control of our attitude and how we view the situation.
When you get a spare moment, what do you do? Spend time with the kids and the family. We like to bake or work in the garden or simply spend time together outdoors.
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What advice would you give another woman in the dairy industry? Be positive. There are denitely many ups and downs in this industry. Many
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www.extension.umn.edu/dairy
Is strategic hoof trimming an option for your dairy? There are two types of cows that quires weighing the benets and costs benet from hoof trimming: a lame of the procedure. Since hoof trimcow, and a cow that will not become ming involves removing the animal lame because she has been hoof from its usual environment, it leads to corresponding changes in behavior, trimmed. Clearly, any lame animal is an ap- such as alterations in lying time and activity levels. Notably, there propriate candidate for hoof are also changes in cortisol trimming and requires hoof levels and milk production trimming immediately. Howlikely attributable to disrupever, surprisingly, selecting tions in a cow’s daily routine. the right animal for prevenThese costs add to the labor tative hoof trimming is more and equipment expenses ascomplicated. sociated with the procedure. It is commonly recomGiven these considerations mended to trim every cow at least twice per lactation, but By Gerard Cramer, and the fact that the preventative benets of hoof trimthe evidence for this recomDVM ming are not universally apmendation is limited. When University of plicable, selecting the right in lactation hoof trimming Minnesota candidate becomes a strateshould occur is also less gic decision that may vary clear. As herds have grown for each farm. larger, doing whole herd trims is beStrategic hoof trimming involves coming less common. However, some farmers still use this approach. More recognizing that there are four popuherds have been moved to a more lations of animals on most farms that strategic program where all cows are require hoof trimming: never lame, trimmed every 100-180 days. The currently lame, recently lame and hisnext step in the strategic approach is torically lame. These groups are dyto adjust the trimming program based namic, with animals moving between them almost daily. The trimming on a cow’s lameness risk category. When the animal is not lame, program for these groups is likely to choosing the right candidate for hoof differ. For example, within the same trimming becomes a decision that re- herd, the group of never lame cows
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might only be trimmed prior to dryoff, while cows with a history of lameness might be trimmed every three to four months. Lame cows should be promptly trimmed in all herds, and recently lame cows with hoof horn lesions require a recheck at least a month after hoof trimming. A strategic approach to hoof trimming differs from the commonly recommended approach of trimming every cow twice a year and demands a strong focus on detecting lame cows and utilizing appropriate management software to track them. Farms that have successfully implemented this program have a dedicated person who is responsible for detecting
lame cows on a weekly basis. Additionally, these farms either have an in-house hoof trimmer or a hoof trimmer who comes on a weekly basis to ensure lame cows receive prompt care. Lastly, this approach relies on hoof-trimming data from individual cows; therefore, successful herds use software to record trimming data and integrate that with their management software to create the trim list automatically. In conclusion, strategic trimming might be something for a dairy if it does not have a lot of excessive horn growth and if the lameness team is very good at nding lame cows.
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Inbreeding: What can we do about it?
Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 31
“Uncontrolled inbreeding.” This inbreeding level of females within a was the title of a seminar presented breed is 7.9% for Ayrshire, 7.7% for in 2000 by Dr. Ben McDaniel from Brown Swiss, 8.2% for Guernsey, North Carolina State University when 10.1% for Holstein, 8.9% for Jersey I was a young graduate student. and 5.1% for Milking Shorthorn. The McDaniel was a reaverage inbreeding has surnowned dairy cattle genetpassed the recommended ics expert. Even 20 years inbreeding coefcient of ago, McDaniel stated that 6.25% that minimizes the uncontrolled inbreeding crenegative consequences in ated a lot of relatedness of fertility, health and mortality. animals within dairy breeds. During the last 20 years, However, inbreeding levels inbreeding has increased were not as high in 2000 as 5.6 percentage points for they are today. He stated that By Brad Heins Holsteins, and from 2.58 to with modern and future ge3.46 percentage points for University of netic technologies, we would the other breeds. This leads Minnesota probably see an increase in to an increase in inbreeding inbreeding and a decrease in by 0.24 for Holstein, 0.15 for reproductive efciency and survival Brown Swiss, 0.14 for Guernsey and of cows. 0.12 for Jersey across the 20 years. Inbreeding occurs when closely However, one should look at the related sires and dams are mated and change in inbreeding. During the last there is an increase in the probability year, inbreeding has been increasing that the two genes at the same locus at an alarming rate of 0.41 for Holon the chromosome are identical by stein, 0.37 for Brown Swiss, and 0.16 descent. An increase of homozygous for Ayrshire and Jersey. The Guernsey genotypes and a decrease of hetero- and Milking Shorthorn increase was zygous genotypes may lead to higher low, from 0.02 to 0.05. frequency of harmful recessive alleles How do we stop this increase in and animals are subjected to inbreed- inbreeding and potential loss of geing depression. netic diversity within dairy breeds? It So, what does inbreeding look is not an easy answer. John Cole, of like in today’s dairy breeds? The g- Peak Genetics, provided thoughts in ure has the trend in average pedigree a recent research paper on inbreeding. inbreeding in six dairy breeds in the First, we must decide if we are conUnited States. As of 2023, the average cerned about inbreeding or not. Some
are and some are not. We certainly need to act because the data do not lie and show that inbreeding has been increasing at an alarming rate. Recently, articles have stated that outcrossing or selecting lower net merit bulls may provide relief but sacrice genetic gain. Are we willing to sacrice genetic gain to select bulls that help stabilize the inbreeding levels within herd? Another thought would be to make outcrosses between genetic programs at A.I. organizations. Bulls within A.I. organizations are becoming small populations within breeds, and possibly crossing genetic lines across A.I. studs might alleviate short-time inbreeding. Will
crossbreeding of dairy cattle become the norm? Many large dairy herds within the U.S. have all crossbred cows. Dairy cattle will need to be resilient to adapt to the continuous change within the dairy industry. We all need to be good stewards of the dairy breeds. However, we need to have a concerted effort on increasing genetic diversity in breeding programs and in sire selection on farms. We need to continue to make genetic diversity a top goal to improve dairy breeds. Time will tell if McDaniel’s predictions on inbreeding will come true. Some have, and I think more will in the future.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 33
Public-private partnership Delivering conservation assistance in west central MN
owned and operated by Kami Anez, to write and submit a proposal to NRCS for a grant through the public/private partnership effort. Anez Consulting’s business model provides landowners assistance with their agronomic and business goals and By Jan Lefebvre good stewardship of their land. The projan.l@star-pub.com posal submitted by the two companies spelled out how they could help NRCS AVON, Minn. — When the Ina- accelerate delivery and implementation tion Reduction Act was passed, a sig- of technical and nancial assistance to nicant amount of funding became landowners specically located across available through the Natural Resources the West Central Technical Service Area. Conservation Service earmarked for WCTSA includes the twelve counconservation practice adoption by farm- ties of Benton, Big Stone, Chippewa, ers and landowners. However, although Douglas, Kandiyohi, Meeker, Morrison, government agencies handle Pope, Stearns Stevens, Swift applications for that assisand Todd. tance, at times there may not The proposal, called the be enough stafng to service Accelerated Conservation landowners, making it difDelivery and Implementacult to meet applicants’ needs. tion Project, was approved Additionally, navigating how by NRCS, in part due to letto apply for those funds and ters of support for their plan nding the right service prosubmitted by Minnesota viders to implement them can Milk Producers Association, be tricky. Edge Dairy Farmer CoopNate Hylla When NRCS issued a erative and the Minnesota CEO, Kanati Land call to private companies to Department of Agriculture. Management partner with and help them Through their plan, meet those needs, Nate Hylla, Kanati and Anez aim to work side-byCEO at Kanati Land Management in side with NRCS, Soil and Water ConserAvon, responded. Kanati, a conservation vation Districts and other government company, has existed for ve entities whenever appropriyears, but Hylla served from ate to provide comprehen2007 to 2021 as a project cosive conservation plans for ordinator and lead engineer landowners within the desigtechnician through the Steanated area. rns County Soil and Water The two companies can Conservation District where provide design, implementahe gained experience worktion and checkout services ing with landowners to apply for engineering, ecology for nancial and technical asservices and conservation sistance programs. including all aspects of soil Kami Anez “There’s a shortfall of health, crop analysis and Owner operator, capacity, not enough staff sustainability. Through pubAnez Consulting in government agencies, to lic/private partnership, they service landowners at a time can utilize various funding streams and when there is record-level conservation programs. funding through the Ination Reduction Hylla said their plan offers a oneAct over the next three years,” Hylla stop service for farmers and other landsaid. “We’d like to add some capacity to owners in the WCTSA who are regisget more conservation on the ground.” tered or are planning to register with Kanati Land Management teamed Farm Service Agency or are in the U.S. with Anez Consulting in Willmar, Department of Agriculture’s system.
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They can help landowners combine and meet their multi-use land goals through personalized plans. Kanati is able to implement and/or construct a vast variety of conservation practices. “For instance, if there is a dairy farmer who has a river bottom and wants to be able to forever hunt that land, there are programs to protect that where the farmer could also gain an income,” Hylla said. “Plans that combine different types of land uses are not a focus of all government employees where oftentimes wildlife or agriculture are omitted from the conservation. Sometimes, the
Their project aims to help farmers access all funding available. “We are going to leverage all costshare programs — whether it be local, state or federal — to meet the farmer’s or landowner’s goals,” Hylla said. “Engineering costs and conservation planning costs can be covered through our partnership grant. Typically, those costs can be challenging to meet. In a lot of cases, farmers and other landowners can spend $15,000 in just engineering costs alone.” Year one of the three-year opportunity for utilizing increased funding, Hyl-
“The key piece of the puzzle is building relationships with landowners and becoming a trusted advisor for them.” NATE HYLLA, KANATI LAND MANAGEMENT
government agency simply lacks the capacity to deliver the programs. We want to deliver the entire system to land owners.” Kanati Land Management and Anez Consulting, Hylla said, complement each other well with their individual strengths. “Anez will handle all the engineering, wetland services and agronomy,” Hylla said. “Kanati will handle all the consulting, conservation planning and implementing of projects if desired. We are able to actually do all the work, such as conservation reserve program plantings or wetland restorations. We are a full-service land-management company that can do everything from start to nish.” They also plan to address specic needs of farmers. “For farms, we’re looking at economic, social and environmental factors,” Hylla said. “We look at generational or succession planning and a long-term vision for their specic operation. For example, we’re going to do a comprehensive whole-farm plan that may identify ways to improve water quality, gain an income and sustain the land for the next generation to take over.”
la said, will be dedicated by Kanati and Anez to planning with farmers and other landowners. The nal two years will involve further construction, development and implementation of certied conservation plans, ending in September 2026. The rst step in launching the Accelerated Conservation Delivery and Implementation Project, Hylla said, is getting the word out about what can be done for clients. They are reaching out through social media, phone calls, handouts, emails and other ways. They have also scheduled complimentary learning luncheons in 10 cities across their service area as well as two virtual meetings. The rst luncheon will be held Nov. 29 in Little Falls. Details about it and other meetings, as well as information about how to sign up for their program, can be found at Kanati Land Management’s Facebook site. “The key piece of the puzzle is building relationships with landowners and becoming a trusted advisor for them,” Hylla said. “There is a huge need for somebody like us to streamline all the different trainings, entities and information that clients usually have to navigate. We can help them skip all of that, and they can jump right into achieving what is good for their land.”
Page 34 • Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023
From the farm to the page
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Hello readers. I am Emily Breth, What made those moments even daughter of Jerry and Tammy, and I just better was the younger calves that were recently signed on with Dairy Star as nearly too small for their jackets and a part-time reporter. Ever since I was looked like they were wearing capes young, I have always had a passion for since their jackets covered most of their farming, especially legs. dairy farming. Along While in high with my respect for school, I was active the dairy commuin FFA and served as nity, I also grew up chapter president my loving to write and senior year. I enjoyed always knew in the working with the new back of my mind that members and helping I wanted to write for them nd their calla living. Now working within the agriing at Dairy Star, I am cultural community, blessed to be able to or even in leadership. combine my two bigIt was rewarding to gest interests and call see a smile on their it my career. face when they talked By Emily Breth I grew up on a about how their comStaff Writer small family dairy petition went and said farm, Breth Country they were going to Acres, near Albany, Minnesota. My stick with it. family milks 44 Holstein cows with a I am currently a student at Anoka few Jerseys in the mix. The farm has Ramsey Community College, working been in the Breth name for exactly 100 toward my degree in creative writing years and has seen four generations with only a few credits to go. After I grow. graduate this upcoming May, I plan on I have three older siblings — Dil- working full time with Dairy Star. lon, Miranda and Makayla — who also Working for Dairy Star is a dream inherited a passion for the dairy com- come true for me. I get to talk to farmmunity through our parents and the ers about their farm and see the passion cattle themselves. As a kid, I loved to they have for farming. I am excited to go to the barn and play with the calves, grow my skills and am grateful that Jan watch my mom and dad milk the cows, and Tiffany are willing to help me with and see how everything worked. There every question I have. I am very glad wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t my dad agreed to let Mark Klaphake learn something new. take a picture of him harvesting corn Even as I got older, I still enjoyed because that was when we talked about going to the barn, even if it was to do a possible position for me with Dairy chores. My main chore on the farm, once my sister went off to college, was caring for the calves. I loved to watch them grow and see all of their different personalities. A core memory I have from the farm is walking out of the barn with milk for the calves and watching them get so excited that they would pop their heads out of their huts and then run back and forth from front to back. I would watch them do this at least three times before I got their milk poured. j Star andd set me on my new journey off It was funny to see how what one calf S sharing amazing stories from the dairy would do would turn into something that all of them did, despite their per- community. sonalities.
I gett tto ttalk lk tto farmers about their farm and see the passion they have for farming.
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Time to be thankful
Welcome to November. I love fall in general. It’s nally starting to get cooler, and the days are getting shorter. Fall movies and football are just part of what makes fall such a magical time. But the best part of November is Thanksgiving, a time when we can be grateful for all that we have been given in the past year. This year, I have been grateful for the experiences I have had on my family’s dairy farm, the opportunity to serve all of you and share your stories, and all the events that I have been able to attend so far. In October, I attended two events. The rst was at Colony Court Senior Living Solutions in Waseca, Minnesota. I enjoyed this On the Road with event. I did a virtual farm tour with the residents, Princess Kay which can be found on the Midwest Dairy website. They were interested in the robotic milking system and mechanical advancements in dairy production. It was exciting that most of the residents had grown up on farms and had lots of experiences in agriculture. They told me about what they did on their By Emma Kuball 70th Princess Kay of the farms and how those experiences impacted them. Milky Way It was also fun to compare their experiences with my own and see how much agriculture has advanced in the last 50 years. I also brought in four kinds of cheese for them to try. Some of the cheeses were more popular than others. They were interested in the Gouda because they had never tried it before. By far, my favorite part was hearing their stories. It just shows how the experiences that we have in agriculture will always be with us. The other event was a Halloween event at Chickl-A in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. Five years ago, a dairy farm family from Princeton, Minnesota, came to the event. One of their children was given a cow stuffed animal, and from there, the idea was born. From that point on, the family has been bringing a calf to the event to share about dairy farming. I am honored to be the fourth Princess Kay to attend the event. It was amazing to see how many people got so excited to see the calf. Some people even came just to see the calf. There were lots of kids and adults, and even dogs, who came to visit, pet the calf and take pictures.
day before Thanksgiving, my mom and I bake 10 pies and a cheesecake to bring to our family’s Thanksgiving. However, one year as we were leaving to go to my grandma’s house, my dad was carrying out the cheesecake and dropped it on the oor. That was a sad day for the whole family. As we celebrate with our families this year, let’s remember the farmers who have worked hard to produce the food on our tables all year long. Happy Thanksgiving! Princess Kay of the Milky Way, Emma Kuball, serves as the Minnesota dairy community’s goodwill
Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 35
ambassador. Emma grew up in Waterville, Minnesota working on her family’s 6th generation dairy farm assisting with cow milking, cow care, and calf feeding. She attends University of Wisconsin-River Falls, studying agriculture education, and looks forward to also becoming an FFA advisor. In her free time, she enjoys reading, crocheting and baking. Her parents are Nate and Shannon Kuball. Princess Kay is very active doing school visits, representing dairy farmers, and sharing the importance of dairy farming and dairy foods at appearances across Minnesota.
Editorial disclaimer: The views expressed by our columnists are the opinions and thoughts of the author and do not reect the opinions and views of Dairy Star staff and ownership.
It was amazing to see how many people got so excited to see the calf. Some people even came just to see the calf. i d to see how h l had h d so many great I was excited people questions about the calf and dairy farming in general. I also had the amazing opportunity to talk with the dairy farmer who provided the calf. I loved hearing about his dairy farm and story of how the event came to be. This will denitely be one of the highlights of my year. November is also a time when my family has fun traditions, most of them revolving around food — apple picking, pie baking, carving pumpkins and, of course, harvest. My family has a lot of recipes that we make every fall, and dairy products are the central ingredient in many of these recipes. Every year, the
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That old house Page 36 • Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023
My wife and I have two houses on our farm. It’s not that we’re wealthy; it’s more that I’m a victim of my frugal Norwegian ancestry. My great-grandfather Charlie Sveen left Norway in 1886 to homestead a farm in eastern Dakota Territory. Charlie lived in a sod shanty at rst but was soon able to afford a house made of wood. Charlie and his wife, Anna, eked out a living and raised their family on our farm. Their daughter, Elida, eventually married my grandfather, Erwin. Erwin purchased our farm in the 1930s. Erwin and Elida had seven children, one of which was my father. In 1963, Erwin decided to build a new house. He didn’t quite know what to do with Charlie’s old house, so he hired a bulldozer to shove it out into
our shelterbelt. My wife and I purchased our farm and started dairy farming with my parents in 1983. My wife took one look at that old house in our grove and declared it a hazard. I agreed that we should make a bonre of it when conditions were right. I decided to inspect the old house to see if anything valuable had been left behind. Time had exacted a heavy toll. The porch had collapsed, the windows were gone, and the roof was rotting. Upon entering through a window, I got the distinct impression that skunks had resided beneath the oorboards. It was as though I had stumbled into a forgotten attic. I found such things as old calendars, a gunny sack stuffed with moldy clothes and a thermometer
from a grain elevator. But what caught my attention was a cardboard box that overowed with a hodgepodge of papers. The box was a time capsule. I found a 1957 tax return, an aunt’s rst grade report card and a church circular from 1962. I spent a pleasant hour riing through Dear County Agent Guy that box. Glancing around the house, I was astounded that nine people had lived there without plumbing or electricity. Dad once told me that, on cold winter mornings, the pail of water sitting beside the cookstove would be iced over. I began to visit the By Jerry Nelson old house regularly. Columnist Each visit rewarded me with new treasures. The years rolled by and my visits to the old house became less and less frequent. Life became too hectic, and the old house again enjoyed the lonesome solitude of our grove. Dad died of a heart attack one April morning when we were milking. My entire family was shocked and saddened, but none more than me. Dad wasn’t just my father. He was my business partner, my trusted adviser, my friend. And now he was suddenly gone. There are some things that are unexplainable. Why I ventured out to the old house on that day shortly after Dad’s funeral is beyond me. It was as if the old house were calling me. As I stood once again on the ancient linoleum, my eye was drawn to a jumble of papers on the oor. A singular envelope, yellowed with age, lay on top. A blue stamp on the envelope read “Cleared by Military Censors.”
The letter was dated September of 1944. Dad would have been somewhere in the South Pacific at the time and 18 years old. H How had h d I missed i d this hi precious i artifact? if ? D Dad d had served in the Navy during World War II and had written home whenever he could. Grandma had saved his letters only to leave them for me to nd. For the rst time in 50 years, daylight fell upon Dad’s handwriting. The letter was dated September of 1944. Dad would have been somewhere in the South Pacic at the time and 18 years old. I studied the familiar scrawl. Dad wondered how the oat harvest had gone and how his uncle’s new team of horses were working out. He supposed that his youngest brother was starting rst grade. Dad asked Grandma to greet everyone and said that he missed them all. Here was a homesick young man who had spent his entire life dwelling upon a sea of prairie grass. Now he was on a different kind of sea, an ocean that was roiled by the thunder and lightning of a world at war. Dad had grown up nurturing life; now he was a cog in a world-class killing machine. My gaze fell to the bottom of the page. In carefully underlined print, my father had passed on one nal message, sent long before I was born and received only after his death. Tears owed as I read the words that he had emphasized: “All is well here. Please don’t worry. I am doing ne.” I made a fateful decision that day: that old house can stay there until it rots into the earth. Jerry is a recovering dairy farmer from Volga, South Dakota. He and his wife, Julie, have two grown sons and live on the farm where Jerry’s great-grandfather homesteaded over 110 years ago. Jerry works full time for Dairy Star as a staff writer and ad salesman. Feel free to email him at jerry.n@dairystar.com.
Weaning transitions
Most dairy producers now do a great job feeding calves. Colostrum management has improved drastically, and almost everyone feeds some version of an accelerated milk-feeding program. As a result, calves grow much Veterinary Wisdom faster before weaning than in the past, and wet calf mortality is low on most farms. However, there is a dark side to accelerated growth. It is By Jim Bennett often harder Columnist for calves to make the weaning transition. Why is that? Dr. James Drackley presented on this topic at the American Association of Bovine Practitioners annual meeting. Drackley listed six reasons for poor weaning transition: weaning too early, weaning too abruptly, feeding too much forage, poor starter quality, poor water management and stacking stressors at weaning. First, weaning too early — for example, at 6 weeks instead of 8 weeks — can easily cause an energy decit of 50%. Early-weaned calves may experience severe energy decits because they are not eating enough starter when weaning starts. Two pounds of a typical starter will provide only enough energy to meet maintenance for a 180-pound calf. Thus, to maintain growth, calves
need to eat substantially more than 2 pounds per day. In fact, there is a strong relationship between starter intake before weaning and rate of gain after weaning. Indeed, poor starter intake is probably the most common reason for failure to successfully transition to the post-weaning period. Energy decits not only reduce growth but can result in a whole variety of health problems, including pneumonia and diarrhea. Weaning too abruptly can result in a similar energy decit because calves that are fed adequate or large amounts of milk may be reluctant to eat sufcient starter due to the insufcient amount of time for the calf to adjust starter intake. Many producers now do two- or three-step reductions in milk quantity for this reason. Poor starter quality may include too much starch, poor palatability or poor particle size. Textured starters are preferred to pelleted starters because calves tend to eat more of them. Poor starter quality can mean feeding errors, like not removing spoiled feed, for example. Starters with high starch levels, around 40% on a dry matter basis, may result in signicant rumen acidosis. Rumen acidosis can lead to increased intestinal permeability, which has been called leaky gut syndrome. This syndrome often leads to respiratory disease. Acidotic calves often have diarrhea and may also be more susceptible to parasitic and bacterial enteritis. New starter formulations tend to have lower starch, higher sugars, and higher digestible and soluble ber. Water is critical for proper growth after weaning. Milk and milk replac-
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Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 37
ers mostly bypass the rumen. Water is needed in the rumen, however, for microbial growth. For every 2.2 pounds of starter, calves need to consume about 1gallon of water. In fact, if one plots starter intake and water intake on a graph, the intake patterns of starter and water are almost identical. So, if your goal is for your calves to consume
fed to calves after weaning and alfalfa hay be limited up to at least 6 months of age. Stressors mean things we do to calves that may cause stress at weaning time. Stressors can be prevented by avoiding vaccinations or other procedures during roughly the week before and the week after weaning.
Feeding small amounts of forage can increase starter intake and feed efficiency. However, eating too much forage will decrease starter intake. 4.4 pounds of starter at weaning, for example, you need to provide at least 2 gallons of water daily. Limiting water intake will limit starter intake. Dirty water can also reduce intake. Drackley suggested keeping feed and water buckets separated so that calves must pull their heads back through a hole and insert it into a different hole or slot to help reduce feed contamination of the water. Feeding small amounts of forage can increase starter intake and feed efciency. However, eating too much forage will decrease starter intake. If calves are fed free-choice forage, the amount they will eat will depend on what kind of forage is fed. Calves fed free-choice alfalfa hay will eat signicantly more forage than calves fed straw or rye-grass hay, and such excess intake can signicantly reduce starter intake. Drackley recommended that small amounts of grass hay or straw be
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It also means avoiding mixing calves with other calves until after every calf has fully recovered from weaning and is eating starter well. Sometimes we might have to do one stressful procedure around weaning, but stacking just means doing more than one at, or nearly at, the same time. Try to avoid stressors if possible. Successful transitions through weaning are critically important to keep calves healthy and achieve adequate growth in the post-weaning phase. By avoiding these six reasons for failure, you can help your calves do well. 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.
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Steers in the road Page 38 • Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023
“Better slow down a bit. There are cattle on both sides of the road,” I told my brother after we rumbled over a cattle guard and continued down a stretch of paved road in the desert while entering Indian Creek recreational area in Utah. By the time we got nearer the group of cattle, one of the beef steers decided it would be better if it ran across the road to sample the sagebrush or whatever it was munching on that side. We didn’t hit him or even have to tap the brakes, but I always nd it a different kind of concern when I have to watch out for not only deer crossing the road but cows as well in open range lands of the west. On our way out of the park later that weekend, we saw a steer had been hit by some careless driver. I felt bad for the steer and wondered how the rancher dealt with that. I doubt the sheriff in Moab 45 minutes away was made aware of the accident and collected insurance info from the driver.
I had promised our boys that we’d take a camping and rock-climbing trip as a thanks for them helping with putting up hay all summer. Somehow summer passed without any chances for the three of us to get away for a couple days locally. Those teens seem to have some activity or other scheduled every day, and if they weren’t busy, I was. We decided to nd cheap plane tickets and visit my brother in Colorado in the fall when things slowed down instead. You can get three people to and from Denver for less than it costs to take a trip to Duluth if you know how to pack light. Budget airlines charge extra for everything, but if all you need is a seat and spot to put a small backpack, they are cheap. It turned out the weather that ended our nice warm fall at home with 4 inches of snow in Minnesota stretched all the way to Colorado and Utah. We had to travel through the mountain passes to get to Utah, and there was a decent amount of snow blanketing the
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higher elevations. Thankfully, the roads were mostly dry. My brother’s wife had driven through the pass the night before while heading to her parents’ house for the weekend, and it had been nearly a white out. A ski resort was running snow-making equipment on the bunny hill, racing to be the rst to open for the season. It was not snowing in the desert when we got to the spot we planned From the Zweber Farm to camp for three days, but it did rain off and on and got rather windy. My brother had warned us that by the time we would leave the desert, there would be nothing that wasn’t covered in ne red dust. He wasn’t kidding. When we went to crawl in our sleeping bags that night, the wind By Tim Zweber had deposited a layer of sand both on and in our Farmer & Columnist bedding. The overnight rain turned the sandy dust into a crust that kept it from blowing around but was a bad deal for our plans to go climbing. We went hiking instead and enjoyed the beautiful views of Canyonlands National Park. The rock is a type of sandstone which becomes dangerous to climb when wet because it can break off. Sandstone is a sedimentary rock, aged mud, that used to be the bottom of a lake or ocean. Indian Creek is well known because the unique geology there caused the sandstone cliffs all along a wide basin to crack rather uniformly, making for hundreds of feet of rock wall that can be scaled by placing a hand or foot in the crack and torquing it until it sticks there and repeating over and over, occasionally placing a piece of climbing gear called a cam to clip your rope
The overnight rain turned the sandy dust into a crust that kept it from blowing around but was a bad deal g for our plans to ggo climbing. i iin case you ffall. ll W d a dday climbli b into We did get to spend ing the rock and watching the rancher that runs beef cows in the whole basin between the cliffs round up cattle using a horse and cattle dogs. I guess the place is nicknamed beef basin. Makes sense seeing how many cows were in that oddly lush basin for a desert. We are back in Minnesota, and the snow has melted. We can nish the last week or so of grazing we have grass for. Until next time, keep living the dream, and watch out for cows on the road. You never know when they might decide the grass is greener on the other side. Tim Zweber farms with his wife, Emily, their three children and his parents, Jon and Lisa, near Elko, Minnesota. CLIP AND SAVE
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Recently, the 120th World Dairy Summit, an annual global dairy meeting held by the International Dairy Federation, was held in Chicago for the rst time in decades. The IDF is an organization of representatives from 39 member countries, representing 74% of global milk production, that work together to promote and enhance the global dairy sector. Specically, the organization aims to facilitate global conversations on dairy’s mission to provide high-quality and safe nutrition through dairy products, be a united global voice of dairy to intergovernmental organizations, and provide science-based data and advice for dairy standards and reg-
The NexGen: Adventures of two dairy daughters
By Megan Schrupp & Ellen Stenger Columnists ulation settings. It has been 30 years since the summit was held in the United States, showcasing the U.S. dairy industry. Therefore, when an opportunity to attend this world-renowned meeting presented itself, Megan couldn’t pass on the chance to attend the four-day grand gathering of global dairy. The theme of this year’s summit was “Be Dairy. Boundless Potential. Endless Possibilities.” The topics of discussion focused heavily on advancements in innovation, sustainability and the common challenges dairy faces throughout the world. As a participant in the grand event, if there was one big takeaway from the gathering of more than 1,200 attendees that represented 55 countries, it was commonality. Visiting with dairy leaders, farmers and industry persons was fascinating in that it was clear that many of the issues we confront here on our farms in the Midwest are also found in all corners of the world. Even though our dairy farms may look and operate much differently, we seem to be challenged by many of the same issues. The most pressing are climate change and increases in weather extremes, increases in input costs, depressed milk prices and the availability of quality labor. In a current world environment that seems more divided than ever, it was refreshing to sit down with oth-
ers from around the globe and discover how much we truly have in common. Capitalizing on opportunities to have these in-person conversations builds not only personal relationships between dairy farmers and/or industry experts from different countries but also a deeper understanding of each other and an enhanced importance of presenting a united dairy front to the rest of the world. We must remember that as much as we are focused on dairy and the challenges that we are currently facing on our individual dairy farms and in our local communities, we are now also a part of a global community where decisions and events that affect dairy in one part of the world often topple down the line of dominoes to our barn doors. Policy decisions affecting dairy need to be science- and evidence-based. Organizations such as the IDF hope to provide information for these decisions as a united front. It is also critical that dairy farmers are in the room and involved where and when these policy decisions are being made. We are currently seeing the effects of policies developed without the input of the farmers they will ultimately impact play out in the EU’s green agenda. It was extremely interesting to learn directly from the EU producers themselves about the immense challenges that EU dairy farmers will now be faced with in the upcoming decade. It’s critical that we continue to develop these relationships that can allow us to connect directly with those that will be involved in future policy decisions. Taking time away from our farm, even in the busiest season of the year, is time well spent. Time is the most limited resource on our dairy farms, and we must be conscious of how we utilize it. Through these opportunities of listening, sharing information and building understanding by having face-to-face conversations with others across the globe, we not only build relationships and learn from one another, but we tend to return home with optimism and a renewed sense of purpose. This increased drive can enable us to be more prepared to take on challenges as they present themselves. Now more than ever, it is important to provide a common front as the world is rapidly changing, sharing our strengths and stories in regard to sustainability, animal welfare, innovation and high-quality nutrition. In our commonality, we can clearly see dairy’s critical role in enhanced global health and nutrition and being an advantageous climate solution, building a better and brighter future together. Megan Schrupp and Ellen Stenger are sisters and co-owners of both NexGen Dairy and NexGen Market in Eden Valley, Minnesota. They can be reached at Nexgendairy@gmail.com.
Dairy Star • Saturday, November 11, 2023 • Page 39
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