February 12, 2022 Dairy Star - Zone 2 by Dairy Star

DO YOU LIKE PUZZLES? Check out our puzzle book, inserted into this edition!

DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™

Volume 23, No. 24

February 12, 2022

Focused on production, automation Zwiegs named Wisconsin Outstanding Young Farmer

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Rachel and Kyle Zwieg stand in their roboƟc barn built in 2020 at their farm near Ixonia, Wisconsin. The Zwiegs are this year’s winner of the Wisconsin Outstanding Young Farmer award.

Kyle and Rachel attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison Farm and Industry Short Course. Kyle also worked at a local farm for ve years where he picked up By Stacey Smart helpful techniques related to both dairy stacey.s@dairystar.com and cropping that he would later apply at Zwieg’s Maple Acres. IXONIA, Wis. – Success in the barn When Kyle returned to the family farm and on the elds culminated in Kyle and in 2010, he wasted no time growing the Rachel Zwieg winning the 2022 Wisconsin family’s land base while also increasing Outstanding Young Farmer award Jan. 22 in herd size and optimizing milk production. Neenah. The Zwiegs’ small family farm is On top of that, he got to work implementing run on big ideas with high milk production conservation practices that would better the at the heart of their success. land and make the farm more protable. “I didn’t know how our smaller farm “When I came home, we had 40 cows would fare at the state level, so I was a and 140 acres,” Kyle said. “It was barely little surprised we won,” Kyle said. “A enough for my parents. I had to make a spot lot of excellent agriculturists have won for myself, so I sold the benets sustainable this award in the past, and it is an honor practices have on an owner’s land. It was to be put in their company. It’s really cool popular here as we have many absentee to have earned this recognition and be landowners in the area who are concerned amongst these industry leaders.” about conservation which enabled us to add Kyle and Rachel are the sixth genera- a lot of acres in a short amount of time. We tion on Zwieg’s Maple Acres – a dairy and also doubled the size of our herd.” crop operation near Ixonia where they milk Milk production took off after switchbetween 65 and 70 cows and farm 1,400 ing to a total mixed ration in 2011 and acres of corn, soybean, wheat and alfalfa. continued to climb because of the strong Net income is split evenly between the focus placed on nutrition. Devoted to feeddairy and crop enterprises. ing forages of stringent quality, the Zwiegs Established in 1856, the farm has been follow strict intervals for crops and adhere in the family for more than 150 years. The to tight moisture windows when harvesting Zwiegs are raising their three boys – Theodore, 6, and twins Landon and Logan, 5 – on Turn to ZWIEGS | Page 7 the farm as the seventh generation. Both

Back doing what he loves Prosthetic foot gives new beginning for Hass By Stacey Smart

stacey.s@dairystar.com

EVANSVILLE, Wis. – Aaron Hass faced a life-changing predicament last year. After dealing with a troublesome foot for years, a serious infection made it clear that Hass’ foot had to go. An amputation was scheduled. But the end of his foot would not mean the end of the farm for Hass. He saw the amputation as an opportunity to rebuild and improve his registered herd. Retaining his best pedigreed cows, Hass downsized by selling 90 cows and heifers before losing his right foot. The remaining 60 cows were housed at three other farms temporarily until Hass could get start milking again. When the time to get his prosthetic drew near,

Hass built back up by purchasing cattle rich in good genetics and was back milking nine days before he got his new foot. “It’s been an adventure,” said Hass, who milks 94 cows with plans of getting up to 120. “My goal is to build the herd back better and stronger. We had a good herd of cows before, but we want an even better herd.” Hass runs Hass Acres with his dad, Jack, and a part-time employee, Jim Abey. Holding onto the farm’s foundation cows which included 16 Excellents, the Hasses added onto the herd, buying 19 Jersey heifers and 13 cows. Hass’ goal was to begin milking again Dec. 15, 2021, but he started a day early when two heifers freshened. Hass brought the rest of his cows home Dec. 16. He milked in a shrinker cast until getting his prosthetic foot two days before Christmas. Hass broke his leg 15 years

Turn to HASS | Page 6

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Aaron Hass stands amongst his 94-cow herd of Jerseys and Holsteins that he began milking again Dec. 14 on the farm he runs with his dad, Jack, near Evansville, Wisconsin. Hass’ right foot was amputated Sept. 30, 2021, causing him to downsize and rebuild his herd.

Page 2 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022

DAIRY ST R www.dairystar.com

ISSN 020355 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave. Sauk Centre, MN 56378 Phone: (320) 352-6303 Fax: (320) 352-5647 Published by Dairy Star LLC General Manager/Editor Mark Klaphake - mark.k@dairystar.com 320-352-6303 (ofce) 320-248-3196 (cell) 320-352-0062 (home) Ad Composition Nancy Powell 320-352-6303 nancy.p@dairystar.com Editorial Staff Jennifer Coyne - Assistant Editor (320) 352-6303 • jenn@dairystar.com Danielle Nauman - Staff Writer (608) 487-1101 • danielle.n@dairystar.com Stacey Smart - Staff Writer (262) 442-6666 • stacey.s@dairystar.com Abby Wiedmeyer - Staff Writer 608-487-4812 • abby.w@dairystar.com Kate Rechtzigel - Staff Writer 507-696-9213 • kate.r@dairystar.com Maria Bichler - Copy Editor 320-352-6303 Consultant Jerry Jennissen 320-346-2292 Advertising Sales Main Ofce: 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 Bob Leukam (Northern MN, East Central MN) 320-260-1248 (cell) bob.l@star-pub.com Mark Klaphake (Western MN) 320-352-6303 (ofce) 320-248-3196 (cell) 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 Hoeer (Eastern Iowa) 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 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 ofces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246.

North America dealers. IDFA, Port of Los Angeles addresses supply chain challenge

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A dairy group, the Port of Los Angeles and a global shipping company are creating a Dairy Exports Working Group to tackle the current supply chain issues. This working group is designed to fast-track solutions and streamline the movement of dairy products from the middle of the country to the West Coast. The International Dairy Foods Association said the dairy supply chain needs “greater predictability and reliability.” Congress considers regulatory overhaul for shippers A bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate to update federal regulations for the global shipping industry. This proposal would hold ocean carriers more accountable for anticompetitive behavior. Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin is a co-sponsor. Supreme Court will reconsider WOTUS case This spring, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider a case involving the denition of Waters of the United States. Rinke-Noonan attorney Kale Van Bruggen is surprised the Supreme Court will take up the case at the same time the Environmental Protection Agency is trying to redene WOTUS. “How the Supreme Court’s decision might impact the concurrent rulemaking by the agency will be the key takeaway from the case,” Van Bruggen said. Van Bruggen said it will be interesting to see if the Supreme Court case slows down EPA issuing the new WOTUS rule.

Vilsack: New farm bill needs Ag Insider more exibility Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack would like the next farm bill to have exible programs. “We found in the course of the COVID pandemic and other signicant disasters that different parts of the country have been impacted or affected differently,” Vilsack said. “Sometimes a program designed to be nationwide works well in one part of the country but not as well in another By Don Wick part of the country.” Columnist Vilsack said that is why Congress felt the need to establish the WHIP+ program and increase investments in that program to address the issues. Vilsack said farm program exibility should distinguish between geographical areas and commodities when providing assistance. “We allow the natural resources advantage we have in rural areas to be a value added somewhere other than rural places,” he said. “The challenge for us will be to look at ways in which farm bill programs can encourage a more circular effort where advantages stay in relatively the same location.” Modernization sought for milk marketing orders The International Dairy Foods Association has released Turn to AG INSIDER | Page 5

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 3

It’s all inside... Columnists

Ag Insider

Pages 2, 5 First Section

First Section: Pages 12 - 13

Bayeld

Ashland

hb Dunn

Pierce

Pepin

Page 38 First Section

Come Full Circle

Page 39 First Section

Waushara

Richland

Country Cooking

Madison

Dane

Lafayette Green

Cook addresses bedding type, stall design, feed bunk guidelines

Jo Daviess

Second Section: Pages 8 - 9

Jefferson Waukesha

Rock

ens

ph Ste

Carroll

Zone 1

Green Lake Fond Du Lac

Columbia Dodge

Sauk

Iowa

Grant

Page 22 Second Section

go ba Calumet

e nn Wi

for

First Section: Page 31

Juneau

Vernon

Dairy Prole: Tom Mulrooney

ie am Brown

g uta

Adams

Pages 10 - 11 Second Section

La Crosse

Fennimore

Wood

Monroe

Walworth go

eba

n Win

FROM OUR SIDE OF THE FENCE: Who is your favorite cow in your herd? First Section: Pages 15 - 16

Rock Island Mercer

Hen de

rson

For additional stories from our other zone, log on to www.dairystar.com

Whiteside

Racine Kenosha

Ixonia

Zwiegs named Wisconsin Outstanding Young Farmer First Section: Pages 1, 7

McHenry

Ogle DeKalb

Zone 2

Oconto

Portage Waupaca Jackson

Shawano

Clark

The “Mielke” Market Weekly

Menominee

Marathon

Buffalo

Langlade

Chippewa Eau Claire

Menominee

Wa sh

First Section: Page 23, 26

St. Croix

Handels promote dairy with cheese sales, farmers market

Lincoln

Taylor

Barneveld

From the Zweber Farm

Barron

Forest

Page 37 First Section

Oneida

ett e

Veterinary Wisdom

Polk

ren

Rusk

Trempealeau

Page 36 First Section

Price

Delta

Dickinson

Vilas

Flo

Sawyer

Wa s

Burnett

Iron

Do or

Page 35 First Section

aun ee

Douglas

Ramblings from the Ridge

Second Section: Pages 3 -4

Ke w

Farmer and Columnist

First Section: Page 29

Attending games, practices a favorite pastime for Brick

ton S he bo Milwaukee Ozauk M yg ee an anito wo c

First Section: Page 28

Greenleaf

ing

Costello talks health trends

Mayville

Women in Dairy: Ann Schulz

Redetzkes named runners-up for Wisconsin OYF

Page 34 First Section

Colby

Mondovi

Ma r

From My Perspective

Kane

Lee

Janesville

Hazeltine’s toy collection more than 25 years in the making First Section: Pages 8 - 9

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ConƟnued from AG INSIDER | Page 2 a working paper that makes the case for modernizing the way milk is priced. This paper was put together by University of Minnesota economist Marin Bozic and a dairy market research rm called Blimling and Associates. The Federal Milk Marketing Orders were established in the 1930s, and work is underway within the dairy industry and Congress to overhaul the current system.

‘A difcult stage in the relationship’ Speaking at a Washington International Trade Association virtual forum, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi said the United States is trying to cultivate a stable rapport with China, but the two countries are in a “difcult stage in the relationship.” China did not meet the trade obligations within the Phase One trade agreement, and Bianchi said the Biden administration is considering options to hold China accountable. New dairy option in school The United States Department of Agriculture is making transitional changes to its school nutrition standards. For the school year that begins this fall, schools will also be able to serve avored lowfat milk. The National Milk Producers Federation released a statement, thanking USDA for the change stating, “1% avored milk is not only fully consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, it is also a nutrient-dense, low-fat healthy option kids will choose to drink.” USDA will be proposing long-term changes to the school nutrition standards later this year. Ag Day at the Capitol Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers participated in the Ag Day at the Capitol event Jan. 26. Evers highlighted his support for agriculture in the biennial budget and the investments made for farmers. Nearly 200 farmers and ag stakeholders were in Madison for the program. Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Secretary Randy Romanski encouraged farmers to meet with their legislators. “Go out there and tell your story; it’s an important one,” Romanski said. Ag enterprise areas designated Wisconsin DATCP has designated 61,000 acres in Buffalo and Douglas counties as agricultural enterprise areas. Landowners within designated AEAs are eligible to enter into voluntary farmland

Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 5

preservation agreements committing all or a portion of the farm to agricultural use and maintaining state soil and water conservation standards. In return, these farmers become eligible for the annual farmland preservation tax credit.

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Compeer patronage payments on the way Compeer Financial will distribute more than $202 million in patronage payments to about 32,000 of its members. The member-owners have received the rst payment of $52 million. Last year, Compeer delivered $197 million in patronage payments.

At Famo Feeds, we strive to provide the best support for your operation and work to accommodate your speciﬁc needs.

World Dairy Expo names new GM Laura Herschleb will be taking over as general manager of World Dairy Expo at the end of the month. For the past two years, Herschleb has been the WDE marketing manager and will succeed Scott Bentley, who is retiring. Rozum recognized The Event Service Professionals Association has recognized John Rozum as its Meeting Professional of the Year. Rozum is on the staff of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers and previously worked for World Dairy Expo. Pioneer Award goes to Nigh CentralStar Cooperative has presented Randy Nigh of Viroqua, Wisconsin, with its Pioneer Award. This award recognizes individuals for their service and leadership. Nigh was a member of the CentralStar board for 32 years and served as president for seven years. Nigh operates a registered Holstein dairy herd with his brother. Trivia challenge Kraft introduced Velveeta cheese in 1928. That answers our last trivia question. For this week’s trivia, how much cheese do Americans consume during the Super Bowl? We will have the answer in the next edition of Dairy Star. Don Wick is owner/broadcaster for the Red River Farm Network, based in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Wick has been recognized as the National Farm Broadcaster of the Year and served as president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Don and his wife, Kolleen, have two adult sons, Tony and Sam, and ve grandchildren, Aiden, Piper, Adrienne, Aurora and Sterling.

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ConƟnued from HASS | Page 1

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ago, tearing the main tendon in his ankle. It was an injury that would come back to haunt him. Doctors put it back together with plates and screws, and for 10 years, all was fine. However, his ankle gradually shifted to the point where Hass was walking on his tibia and bula. “I had so much pain,” Hass said. “I used to STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR eat Advil like it was candy. It was Aaron Hass puts a unit on a Jersey cow Jan. 27 in the at-barn painful, but you do parlor near Evansville, Wisconsin. Hass has a prostheƟc foot what you have to that allows him to do the things he has always done. do to keep going.” Focused on genetics, the Hasses have On July 21, 2021, Hass was hospitalized when an infection in his foot went rampant. sent 20 bulls to A.I. stud and had the No.1 He spent a week in the hospital, and when type cow in the Holstein breed – Hass-Acres he returned home, Hass had to take IV Avalanche Daelyn. “Twelve of my Holsteins are out of her,” antibiotics every day for four months. One doctor thought the infection had been there Hass said. “I kept these cows back and also for 15 years in hibernation, eating away at bought some phenomenal pedigrees like the Veronicas and Apples. It’s been kind of fun the tendons, causing his foot to shift. “I put on a different shoe – something a to rebuild.” The herd includes 40 Excellent cows, little wider – and kept milking,” Hass said. Hass was milking 130 cows at the time. with a recent classication resulting in nine The infection signaled that amputating his new Excellent Jerseys and nine new Very foot was the best thing to do, and the proce- Good Holstein 2-year-olds. The Hasses sell dure was done Sept. 30, 2021. Hass learned embryos worldwide and are big into merthat amputation was the simplest way out with chandising cattle. “After I got my foot cut off, I stayed the least amount of side effects, arthritis and off the farm for three weeks so I didn’t do pain. His surgery was performed at University anything stupid,” said Hass, who lives a mile Hospital in Madison. “I have tingling now but not true pain,” away. “I did a morning call with my dad Hass said. “Dr. Doro did the amputation, and every day to keep up on what was going on.” Hass has to take the prosthetic off about he’s fabulous. I wouldn’t go anywhere else. every ve hours and adjusts the t based on It’s phenomenal what they can do.” After the amputation, Hass’ dad and the socks he wears. He has options from onehired hand took care of the calves, feeding and ply through ve-ply that he modies daily. “The socks collect a lot of moisture, but other chores with help from Hass’ nephew, James Hass, who helped with repairs and I have bags of socks all over the place so I more while Hass answered the phone and can change them,” he said. It is not evident that Hass has a proshandled ordering, bill paying, etc. “I didn’t miss a beat,” Hass said. “I got thetic. He walks normal without a limp and out of surgery at 11 a.m., and took my rst can also wear the same shoes and boots he always wore. business call at 11:15.” “The doctor told me, ‘I’m going to creWith the barn empty, Hass and his wife, ate this so nobody ever knows you have a Brianne, a sales manager for Cargill Animal Nutrition, had the chance to get away on a prosthetic foot,’” Hass said. “It looks like a normal foot. Having a prosthetic limb is not belated honeymoon. “I wanted to go to the Royal Winter Fair nice, but it’s not the end of the world. You in Toronto, and she wanted to go to Mexico have to keep going. You have to keep living.” The ag mural on his prosthetic is Hass’ so we compromised and went to Louisville,” Hass said. “I rented a scooter to get around the tribute to America’s veterans. “The technology is amazing, but if it cattle show, and we also toured the Louisville wasn’t for veterans giving their lives, we Slugger Museum and Churchill Downs.” Also in early November, Hass held what wouldn’t have this kind of technology,” Hass he called a build back better party/funeral said. “It’s kind of sad, but their sacrices have made this possible.” for his foot. Hass was told that in three years, he will “It was the celebration of a new beginhave an articial intelligence foot complete ning,” he said. The foot was removed from the front with all of the sensations and feeling of a of the heel going forward, therefore, Hass regular limb. “My foot is never going to be like still has his heel, which is used to taking God made it to be, but this is not a death on pressure. “This type of amputation is a godsend sentence,” Hass said. “My doctor told me I for people because everything else is still can do everything I did before. I could even there,” he said. “It’s way different than a run marathons if I wanted. And if I break the prosthetic, they’ll x it. Knowing those below-the-knee amputation.” Challenges with his new foot include things gives me a lot of condence.” If Hass had decided to keep his foot, he lateral or side-to-side movement and oversaid more procedures would have been in thinking when doing something. “I tend to think about the foot instead of store for him in the future. “If you have a big problem with your just planting it,” Hass said. “It’s a multi-access foot, just cut if off,” he said. “Since I dejoint that moves front-to-front, back-to-back, and side-to-side, so I need to learn to trust it. cided to remove mine, no more surgeries are I’m working with a physical therapist to stop needed. It doesn’t cause me any pain to go thinking about movement. Ninety percent of to the next step. I can just slip this prosthetic off and get a new one.” healing is mental.” Hass’ herd is home, and he is happy to be Hass milks in a at-barn parlor with seven units. Cows are housed on a bedded milking once again. Determined to keep up pack, which Hass said works well for his with the demands of the farm and his 4-yearfarm’s various-sized cows. The milking herd old son, Johnathon, Hass has embraced his new normal and intends to thrive at life with contains 70 Jerseys and 24 Holsteins. “We started buying Jerseys in the late a prosthetic. “Amputation is not the end of the road,” ‘90s but really grew in that area in the last four-to-ve years,” Hass said. “We’re paid a Hass said. “It’s the bright light on a new road. premium price over the top for Jersey milk, It’s the bright light of a new beginning.” and it’s amazing.”

Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 7

ConƟnued from ZWIEGS | Page 1 silage and haylage. Performing regular dry matter testing and forage analysis testing and routinely tracking dry matter are also part of the regimen. “I think everything else on the dairy is tied to the success or failure of nutrition,” Kyle said. “Having that base right improves reproduction, animal health and more. We target our crops for feed and take the best acres for that purpose.” The Zwiegs were the top Dairy Herd Improvement Association herd in Dodge County for twice-a-day milking from 2015-19, and in 2019, they had the top herd overall, including herds milked three times per day. Cows were averaging around 100 pounds in the stanchion barn before switching to robots. Realizing their cows were capable of more, the Zwiegs knew the secret to maximizing production was to milk three times per day, but Kyle was not willing to sacrice time with his family to get those extra pounds. Instead, Kyle’s love for technology and automation fueled an interest in robotics. The Zwiegs built a robotic milking barn in 2020 and began milking cows with a DeLaval VMS V300 robotic unit that November. Now, cows are milking just shy of three times a day with the average number of trips through the robot at 2.9. “Robotics solved the labor issue and got us from twice-a-day milking to three times a day,” Kyle said. “We attribute our nal 15% production increase to that. We’re DeLaval’s top robotic herd for number of pounds per cow per day.” For the last six months, cows have averaged 113 pounds of milk daily and 7,050 pounds per unit. The robotic environment ts well into the Zwiegs’ commitment to cow comfort and increased efciencies. “The barn is really quiet,” Rachel said. “Everyone is content, and there’s no herding of animals. It’s a really pleasant setting for the cows.”

Kyle agreed. “When it comes to animal comfort, we’re revolving things around the cow as much as we can – what she wants and what she prefers,” he said. “Robotics allow cows to function at their free will. They can milk, eat and lie down when they want. No time is spent in a holding pen. Very few minutes are wasted because a cow is always doing what she wants.” On the crop side, the Zwiegs take conservation efforts seriously. In 2010, Kyle established a 100% no-till cropping system straight out of school. Since adopting no till, the Zwiegs have fabricated a nitrogen application tool bar from scratch, designed and manufactured a liquid fertilizer trailer, retrotted a self-propelled sprayer for drag line nitrogen application, and made many conversions and adaptations to their planters to improve their no-till performance. Kyle credits no till as the cornerstone of the farm’s sustainability efforts and said that soil tilth, soil biology, porosity and increased net income have improved dramatically from the practice. Zwieg’s Maple Acres is one of 16 farms taking part in the Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easements program since 2010. A conservation easement was sold on their original homestead property ensuring their land will remain in production agriculture and can never be subdivided for development. As part of the state of Wisconsin’s Working Lands Initiative, the program’s focused preservation efforts center around urban areas to help preserve the ag industry and maintain farm viability amid urban sprawl. The Zwiegs are also active in their local watershed group – Farmers for Lake Country – and work with Tall Pines Conservancy of which Kyle is a board member. His family’s conservation easement was the rst completed by Tall Pines on a working farm. “The conservancy has exploded in

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

A cow at Zwieg’s Maple Acres is milked by the farm’s DeLaval VMS V300 roboƟc unit Feb. 2 at the farm near Ixonia, Wisconsin. The Zwiegs milk between 65 and 70 cows. growth since then, resulting in the protection of 1,000 acres of farmland northeast of the Milwaukee suburbs,” Kyle said. The Zwiegs have been selected for a variety of EQUIP grants which helped pay for aerial cover crop seeding into standing corn and soybean as well as a large-scale waterway and plunge pool installation project done on highly erodible land. “Automation in crops is the next thing coming for us,” Kyle said. “Next year, we’re looking at doing drone applications and will experiment with the technology for cover crop seeding and other row crop applications. The labor market is not great, so we’re going toward the automation solution.” The Zwiegs farm in a unique area of rural and urban intertwinement. Thus, the couple nds community involvement

critical and hosts regular on-farm tours and invites landlords for annual visits. They have welcomed bicyclists through Tall Pines Conservancy, held an on-farm event featuring author and singer/songwriter Michael Perry, done a fundraiser for local land conservation efforts that was featured in a live telethon through YouTube, as well as given school tours through Oconomowoc High School FFA and hosted farmers interested in robotics. “It’s important to have a relationship with the people around you,” Rachel said. “We’re very connected to the city and have an active Facebook page targeting our immediate neighbors so they can learn more about what we’re doing and why while getting to know us. We want to be understood by the people in our area and put a positive light on farming.”

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Page 8 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022

Hazeltine’s toy collection more than 25 years in the making By Stacey Smart

stacey.s@dairystar.com

JANESVILLE, Wis. – A precision John Deere 4020 tractor – a birthday gift from her husband more than 25 years ago , is where it all began for Margaret Hazeltine. The tractor is a model of one her father once owned and spurred a love for collecting toy tractors that Hazeltine latched onto when her husband died two years later in a farming accident. Holding a special place in Hazeltine’s heart, the green tractor he gave her was the rst in her collection and remains one of Hazeltine’s favorites. “The 4020 is quite personal to me,” Hazeltine said. “It also has a wide front end, which is rare. My husband was interested in toy tractors and had bought some of his own as well. After he passed away, I took a liking to collecting too. These are things I’ve had, things I drove. Many of the tractors are symbolic, and some have sentimental value to me. Every tractor has a story to tell.” Hazeltine and her son, Rob, milk 110 cows and farm

A love for tractors

450 acres near Janesville. Their herd contains Ayrshires and Holsteins, and Hazeltine is active with the state and national Ayrshire associations. Hazeltine and her late husband named their farm 7 Oaks Dairy to represent the combined number of children they brought to their second marriage. “Growing up, I was always around my brothers driving tractor, etc., and that’s what enabled me to take over the farm,” Hazeltine said. “I had a lot of experience with that kind of stuff.” Hazeltine has owned the life-size version of nearly every piece of machinery in her collection, which includes major brands from John Deere and Case to Farmall and New Holland. Growing up with John Deere tractors, Hazeltine has another John Deere 4020 in her collection – a sister to the rst. Both represent tractors her dad owned, which are now on Hazeltine’s farm. “They came off the line one serial number apart,” Hazeltine said. “It’s very rare to own two tractors with back-to-back serial numbers. The tractors were made in 1972, and my dad used them a lot.” Another favorite in Hazeltine’s collection is a precision orange and yellow self-propelled chopper she bought at a farm show. Numbered 652 of 1,000 made, the toy is a duplicate of

STACEY SMART /DAIRY STAR

Margaret HazelƟne holds the rst tractor in her collecƟon – a precision John Deere 4020 that was a giŌ from her late husband. HazelƟne milks 110 cows and farms 450 acres near Janesville, Wisconsin with her son, Rob HazelƟne, and has been collecƟng toy tractors for more than 25 years. the one her dad owned. “This chopper is my pride and joy,” Hazeltine said. “When I was a kid, my dad had a chop-

ping business. He was the rst in Rock County to do that, and this chopper looks just like the one he had.”

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 9

ConƟnued from HAZELTINE | Page 8 tors contain steel wheels and intricate, movable parts. The clutch, brakes, speed levers and steering wheel move, and the doors open and close. The precision series models in Hazeltine’s collection are now on display in a remodeled room in her house. Recently unpacked from boxes in her bedroom closet, so as to not collect dust, the tractors sit on glass shelves behind a sliding glass door within a wooden cabinet she purchased from an antique store. Filling an empty spot on the wall, Hazeltine nally had a place to showcase her treasured tractors and other equipment she had been collecting for years. “It’s a nice place to display them, and they won’t get dusty in the cabinet,” Hazeltine said. A gray Samson tractor with red wheels might be Hazeltine’s most extraordinary nd, and she was lucky enough to get her hands on the rst model to roll off the assembly line. Made for the 2021 Farm Progress Days by Turtle Creek Scale Models in Beloit, the tractor was a replica of those made in Janesville at the General Motors Co. factory before the plant was used to manufacture cars. “I knew the guy who made the models from when I used to waitress part time,” Hazeltine said. “We got to be good friends, and he gave me the rst one he made. It’s numbered one of 1,000 and is an extremely unique tractor.” Another beloved piece in

her collection is a skidloader – a Christmas gift from her sister. “I live in my Bobcat,” Hazeltine said. “I use it to clean barns, mix feed and do calf chores. I told my kids that when I die, they can put one of my little model skidsteers on the top of my tombstone.” Also in her collection is a commemorative tractor celebrating 165 years of Case that bears a patriotic design of stars and stripes. Hazeltine also has four Case 2390s and 2590s – a model of each with a gray smokestack and a black smokestack. And a red Farmall in her collection is a lookalike to the one Hazeltine’s husband once rebuilt. “I had to have it in my collection because my husband had one in real life,” she said. “I’m partial to the red Magnums because that’s what I have. We also had Case tractors here because they were cheaper and more economical on fuel than John Deere.” Over the years, her kids played with some of the tractors so a few are missing various parts. “When my kids were little, the red and green tractors were for the boys, and the blue tractor was for my daughter,” Hazeltine said. “All three had their own color. Now that the kids are older, I’ve gone into buying precision models. You don’t touch or play with these tractors.” A grandmother of 19, Ha-

zeltine said she has 4-year-old and 7-year-old grandchildren who do not always understand her no-touch policy. Hazeltine’s collection contains valuable tractors, including two pieces she estimates to be worth around $1,000 each – her John Deere with the wide tires and her chopper. A black and orange Case Demonstrator, blue and white Spirit of ’76 Agri King made only that year, and semis hauling little tractors are other pieces in her collection that Hazeltine said are rare. “I don’t know if you could put a price on some of this stuff,” said Hazeltine, who does not sell or trade tractors. Hazeltine acquires new pieces for her collection by attending toy tractor shows and through gifts. “I introduced my grandsons to toy shows, and we try to do at least one per year,” Hazeltine said. “Each kid gets $20 to buy what they like while I look for something not in my collection or a piece I would like to have. I’ve never paid more than $200 for a tractor.” Collecting toy tractors has become a family tradition. Rob, and one of his sons are also collectors. Rob likes to add to Hazeltine’s collection and bought her a John Deere tractor with a front loader for Christmas. “I’m passing this hobby on down the line,” Hazeltine said. “From my husband to me to my kids and grandkids, we’re all collectors. I was always big

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into antiques and collecting toy tractors kind of aligns with that passion.” Tied to both her present and past, Hazeltine’s tractors bring

her joy, and as her collection continues to grow, she remains excited about which tractor she will nd next.

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STACEY SMART /DAIRY STAR

Part of Margaret HazelƟne’s toy tractor collecƟon is to be found in her bedroom on her dairy near Janesville, Wisconsin. From John Deere and Case to Farmall and New Holland, HazelƟne has owned the life-size version of many pieces of machinery in her collecƟon.

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Page 10 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022

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MANTORVILLE, Minn. − From hand-dipped chocolates to cocoa bombs and caramels, the Chocolate Shoppe in Mantorville is all dairy. “Honestly, without milk and butter, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do,” Lynnette Nash said. “Our products have milk and butter in them, and years ago, we even used butter from a local creamery.” Nash operates the Chocolate Shoppe along with her mother, Lynne Kenworthy, daughter, Alexa, and ve employees. The business has been in operation since 1976, specializing in hand-dipped chocolates. “Sometimes when you come in here, you will see three generations sitting here working at it,” Nash said. “My KATE RECHTZIGEL/DAIRY STAR husband, Luke, used to work for us until LynneƩe Nash is the owner of the Chocolate Shoppe in Mantorhe passed away, and my brother, Matt, ville, Minnesota. She purchased her family’s chocolate shop in has been kind of taking care of a lot of 2011. things Luke used to do.” The Nash family rst purchased the is pecan turtles which is made with caramel and nuts.” shop in 1989. However, the base of those beloved pecan turtles “My mom and I used to work for the previous and every other chocolate or caramel in the store is milk. owners and we just really liked it. So, when the oppor“We have one chocolate that is 70% cocoa that tunity came up to buy it, we thought it was an obvious does not have dairy in it, but everything else has milk decision,” Nash said. “I’ve always liked to cook and in it; that’s what sweetens the dark chocolate from the bake, except now I don’t get to cook or bake anything milk chocolate,” Nash said. “Plus, when we’re making except for chocolates.” caramels, caramel is made with milk and butter, and For many years, the Nash family has been satisfying toffee is all butter and sugar.” customers’ childhood fantasies and their unique orders, The Nashes use an old-fashioned recipe with dried all with dairy in mind. milk and powdered sugar for their cocoa bombs and buy “During Christmas, I did a baby reveal for a girl,” milk from local stores for mixing or blending if needed. Nash said. “I put dried strawberry milk in a cocoa bomb “Most of the milk comes in our chocolate that is and picked out pink marshmallows out of the mixture purchased from our supplier,” Nash said. bag for the middle. The top was just plain white, and After the Nash family receives the pre-made chocothen I streaked it with ambiguous yellows and greens late, they utilize machines which keep the chocolate and even little decorations on top so until they broke tempered, and then they hand dip the various candies it open, they couldn’t tell what it was. We do a lot of and nuts they are using. custom orders like that.” “Whenever you are working with dairy, anywhere Today, Nash and Matt handle most of the cooking in it, even if it says shelf stable, you always have to be of caramels and other chocolates. Lynne does most of aware that it can fracture or change,” Nash said. the hand dipping. New employee Gretchen does a lot In the summertime, the Nashes also sell ice cream. of the behind-the-scene things, and Alexa is involved “We’ve been with the same local supplier for 27 in everything except for the cooking of caramels and years,” Nash said. “They provide us with the best toffees. scoopable ice cream.” “At Marigold Days, the family steps in,” Nash said. The shop’s busiest time of the year is around “Everybody knows their spot and they just go for it.” Christmas. The family sells hundreds of boxes of The Nashes sell chocolate-covered pretzel rods, tof- chocolate treats. fees, pecan turtles and peanut brittle, just to name a few. “It starts in November and doesn’t end until Christ“There are very few things we make that don’t have mas is over,” Nash said. “One Christmas order is updairy in them,” Nash said. “Our most popular chocolate wards of 300 tins lled with 1.5 pounds of just turtles. We’re even up until midnight or 1 a.m. some of those nights.” Growing up with a dad who made cheese for Pace Dairy Foods Company, Nash grew to learn the importance of dairy from a young age. She took over the family’s chocolate shop in 2011. In her current role, Nash promotes dairy and agriculture. “We help out the local school and FFA programs and anybody who comes to us,” Nash said. As the Nash family continues to make reputable sweets in southern Minnesota, they are quick to note the community that has made their business successful. “Mantorville is a farming village,” Nash said. “From the big farmers to my brother who raises a couple cows, dairy is around this area, and we wouldn’t KATE RECHTZIGEL/DAIRY STAR know what to do if there weren’t LynneƩe Nash places a freshly dipped chocolate turtle on a tray on Jan. cows around.” 26 at her business in Mantorville, Minnesota. The chocolates will then be cooled down so they harden and reach the correct temperature.

Adapting to industry changes for you and great for the planet and great Panelists reect on for the environment.” supply chain disruptions Vincent said consumer preference has changed beyond the grocery store with with COVID-19 people wanting to know exactly where their food comes from. By Abby Wiedmeyer “There is a higher level of transparency abby.w@dairystar.com that is not just requested but demanded MADISON, Wis. – When the coro- by consumers,” Vincent said. “A young navirus pandemic hit nearly two years 12-year-old girl is like, ‘I like dairy, but I’m ago, Craig Culver and his business were not sure if it’s good for the planet and I’m not prepared for what would unfold in the not sure if the animals are really happy.’ months that followed but quickly adapted When I was 12, I was like, ‘Can I stay out to create a growing market of dairy sales. past 7 p.m. and ride my bike?’” “Before COVID-19, we were so ill Sexton agreed. prepared,” said Culver, co-founder of “The younger the consumer is, the more Culver’s. “We were so fortunate to have they want to know about the companies the drive-thru. The lines were long; we providing their food,” Sexton said. “We all are the slowest fast-food restaurant in the know what’s happening (on farms); we all world and I’m proud of that. We were able know that that’s the truth. We are actually to take care of our guests.” bringing farmers up to tell these stories Culver spoke of the disruptions in the because it is critical.” food supply chain and the way consumers Sexton also said companies will need think about their food as part of a panel, to look at data to determine how to keep “Supply chain crisis: What we learned and up with the changing demands. where we’re headed,” at the Dairy Strong “There are a slew of new technologies conference in Madison Jan. 20. emerging, but we as an industry need to Culver was joined by Chad Vincent, gure out how they all connect,” Vincent CEO of Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, and said. “I would focus on accelerating data Scott Sexton, CEO of Dairy.com. and getting it into an open format where After an initial drop in sales in March you can share. That is what’s going to be 2020 for the fast-food restaurant, the year important to consumer preferences, and ended with an increase in sales of 5% in when these huge disruptions hit us, that 2020 and 18% in 2021, Culver said. There you are agile and you can make changes were also over 50 new restaurants opened in quickly.” those two years, despite supply challenges. Sexton said there is technology being “I am amazed that somehow or another, used in the event of a recall to track a prodour suppliers had it pretty much taken care uct from the store shelf back to the farm of of,” Culver said. origin in less than two hours. However, the more pressing concern “There are a slew of new for food processors is available labor. “We’ve got a restaurant here in town technologies emerging, (Madison) that is advertising $20 an hour, but we as an industry and she could not get one single person to apply,” Culver said. “And that was just a need to gure out how crew member, not a manager or anything.” All the panelists agreed the panthey all connect.” demic caused disruptions, but they have all learned things from it and feel better CHAD VINCENT, prepared for these changes going forward. CEO OF DAIRY FARMERS OF WISCONSIN “We know bad things are going to happen to upset our industry that will The one food source the restaurant did upset the ow,” Vincent said. “Everybody not run short on was dairy. “We were scared, and it’s a mess yet I spoke to is a lot smarter today than they today,” Culver said. “But when it comes were a year ago.” Sexton said there is good news for data to the dairy products, we haven’t missed a beat. You guys have done a great job in the future. “Good news is there are a lot of digital supporting us and the United States. You keep producing, and the trucks keep getting systems today capturing and managing data,” he said. “I think a lot of what you to our places.” Along with supply chain disruptions will see is the openness of those systems for restaurants, American households and the connectivity of the data.” Culver agreed that the pandemic has developed purchasing and eating habits. accelerated certain changes he thinks are Because of this, grocery stores saw an good. increase in dairy sales. “We didn’t have online ordering or “When the chips were down, they went straight to dairy,” Vincent said of consum- the ability to take tablets outside and take ers. “To me, that warms the heart because orders there. We were just way behind,” we all know the power of dairy and how he said. “COVID-19 has pushed us to get good it is. Sometimes people like to pick those things in place. In many ways, it at that because there are competitors out was good for us, but I still don’t want to there that want to try and portray us as go through it again.” anything less than wholesome, and great

Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 11

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Success is raising their family on the farm Redetzkes named runners-up for Wisconsin OYF By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com

COLBY, Wis. – Both Mike and Gina Redetzke grew up on Marathon County dairy farms. They were named the Marathon County Outstanding Young Farmer last fall and the runners-up for the Wisconsin Outstanding Young Farmer award last month. The young couple purchased their farm in 2017 with the plan of nishing and selling dairy steers, but fate soon led them to a different business model. “My brothers had just started milking cows and needed a place to raise heifers, so we made room for those,” Mike said. “Then Gina’s brother needed a place to go with his overow heifers.” With that, the Redetzkes entered the world of custom dairy heifer raising. They are raising about 240 heifers for four clients with herd sizes ranging from 40 to 700 head. Calves come to the farm weaned at about 60 days of age. They stay with the Redetzkes until about 60 days prior to calving. With careful research and determination, the Redetzkes

have learned the management practices that best suit their facilities and reap the greatest gains for their clients. “We set a goal of determining where the animals needed to be growth-wise, and then we worked to get to that level,” Mike said. “For the rst couple of years, we ran every animal over a platform scale each month to establish numbers for our rate of gain.” The Redetzkes set about remodeling the existing farm buildings to accommodate the heifers they would be raising. The most challenging part was renovating the two-story dairy barn into a facility for young calves. “It took a lot of work to get the ventilation where we wanted it and to nd the best bedding to use in the barn,” Gina said. “We worked with the Marsheld Veterinary Clinic to design the ventilation. We have three positive-pressure tubes and two, two-speed fans, one 36 inches and one 48 inches.” Through a process of trial and error, they settled on green poplar sawdust as the bedding best suited for the facility. “It absorbs very well and keeps the dust at a minimum,” Gina said. “We scrape out and replace the bedding every three

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MaƩ and Gina Redetzke, of Colby, Wisconsin, are named the runners-up in the Wisconsin Outstanding Young Farmer contest aŌer being named the Marathon County Outstanding Young Farmers last fall.

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“With being heavy into forage production, with lots of traﬃc on the elds, I was nding that the ground was getting harder and harder.” MIKE REDETZKE, DAIRY FARMER

allowing them to do their own harvesting on their timeline. Gina’s parents help with the busiest of cropping times. “We have purchased our own hay equipment and bagger so that we can put up our forages at the best timing,” Mike said. “All of our equipment is older and was purchased as mechanic’s specials. Luckily, I have those skills and was able to rebuild most everything.” Over the past ve years, Mike said he has been drawn to implementing conservation practices on his farm, and he began attending meetings of the Eau Pleine Partnership for Integrated Conservation. “We were out riding four-wheeler a couple of years ago in the spring,” Mike said. “The water coming off a eld that didn’t have cover crops looked like chocolate milk. A eld with triticale on it was so clean you could have bottled it.” This coming crop season will mark the fourth year that the Redetzkes have been using no-till cropping methods and the second year they have been working with cover crops. “With being heavy into forage production, with lots of trafc on the elds, I was nding that the ground was getting harder and harder,” Mike said. “That is

what really got me started with cover crops. The difference they have made is remarkable; cover crops are the answer to hard, compacted soils.” Joining up with EPICC, the Redetzkes worked on a study looking at how corn plant population and row spacing affected the growth and quality of the interseeded cover crops. “We found that having a plant population of 20,000 with 30-inch row spacing increased both the yield and quality of our corn silage and improved the cover crop stand as well,” Mike said. Cover cropping and soil health is not the full extent of the Redetzke’s interest in implementing conservation practices. This year they will begin establishing a pollinator habitat plot on 1.4 acres working with the Conservation Stewardship Program through the Natural Resources Conservation Service. “The corner of that eld, you have to cross a waterway to get to, and it is always wet and difcult to work with,” Mike said. “I decided that rather than just leave it to grow weeds, we would turn it into a monarch habitat.” The Redetzkes’ attention to detail in their forage cropping endeavors have reaped them some rewards that go beyond the feed bunk. Last year they made their rst entry into the World Forage Analysis Superbowl held in conjunction with World Dairy Expo. Their entry in the alfalfa haylage division, a 35-day cut rotation that tested at 220 RFQ, placed fourth. As they look toward the future, the Redetzkes said they are happy at their current size and instead have set their goals toward improving what they are doing. “I want to get the cover cropping perfected,” Mike said. “My goal is to have every acre be green in the fall. I would like to expand our rotational grazing program, putting in more permanent lanes along with a water system in the pastures.” Gina has been researching licensure to begin direct marketing cuts of meat from their small herd of grass-fed beef as well as marketing pasture-raised chickens. Both agree, though, that the greatest reward they have reaped from their farming venture is the ability to work with each other and raise their four children – Daniel, 7, Bethany, 6, Elijah, 3, and Jonathan, 1 – on the farm the same way they were raised. “We are blessed to be surrounded by family to be there for back-up for us,” Gina said.

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ConƟnued from REDETZKES | Page 12 to four days.” While the Redetzkes admit they have encountered more than one raised eyebrow at the idea of housing calves in the old barn, they are happy with the results their planning has reaped. “All the calves have their lungs ultrasounded and scored before leaving the barn and moving out to the other housing areas,” Gina said. Cropping about 175 acres, which includes about 40 acres of rotational grazed pasture, the Redetzkes raise the forages needed to feed the heifers they raise. The Redetzkes conduct grid soil sampling on their elds, and Mike does his own nutrient management planning. Due to the small size of their cropping operation, the Redetzkes have chosen to invest in a small line of older equipment,

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Dairyy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 15

Who is your favorite cow in your herd?

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Who is your favorite cow, past or present? My favorite cow is Bones. She is a 9-year-old Holstein. She actually is no longer in production on our farm. Bones is retired and spends her days in the dry cow pen. When she was a lactating cow, she averaged 95 pounds a day of milk. In 2019, she calved and got sick. It took so much medication, surgery and care but she eventually got better. We all thought she wouldn’t make it, but she is a ghter. This is why she is retired. We tried to breed her back but had no luck. What is her inuence in the herd? She has one daughter on the farm who is an excellent producer. She also has a handful of granddaughters. We try to keep a theme with their names by naming them after the names of bones in the body. For example, there is Phalange and Patella. What makes her a special cow on your dairy? Bones is special for many reasons. It all started when she was a heifer about to calve. She was very thin (hence the name Bones). To help her gain some needed weight, we started feeding her some grain every day. It became a routine for her, and every morning she waited in her spot for us to deliver it to her. She was already a friendly cow, but this really made her extra friendly. Bones quickly became a favorite of everyone on the farm. We even celebrate her birthday with donuts (her favorite treat). Where is this cow housed, and how does she receive treatment differently than her herdmates? Bones is spending her days in the dry cow pen, lounging in deep sand-bedded free stalls. The biggest way she receives treatment differently than her herdmates is the fact that she no longer produces milk and can still live on the farm. She’s that special. How does this cow reect what your ideal cow would be? Before Bones retired, she was an ideal cow with good weight, excellent production and a docile girl. Isn’t that what all farmers would ask for in a cow? Tell us a favorite memory or story about this cow. My favorite memory is two years ago when we threw her an actual birthday party. She wore a birthday hat, we sang “Happy Birthday” and gave her a platter of donuts. We decided to light a candle as we sang to her, and she legitimately blew out her birthday candle. We all laughed but were not surprised one bit. Tell us about your farm. Our dairy farm is family owned and operated. My husband and myself are the fourth generation and work alongside my parents and our many employees. We strive to produce the cleanest milk while maintaining superb animal care.

Where is this cow housed, and how does she receive treatment differently than her herdmates? She was housed in the barn with all the other cows. She got one of the box stalls. During show season, she got walks and baths and all the special treatment that it takes for show cows to be ready. She was on the road a lot as she went to a lot of different shows in her lifetime.

Who is your favorite cow, past or present? My favorite past cow is Coral. She had good production, type classication and transmitted all her How does this cow reect what your ideal cow would be? We like to breed cows that have type to her offspring. excellent production and high type and hopefully What is her inuence in the herd? One of some of them do well at the shows. The shows her daughters is a 94-point cow and made kind of add a little extra to the daily grind. They more than 200,000 pounds of milk in her are kind of like a vacation to get off the farm lifetime. She has several other daughters and see other people in the industry. in the herd as well, and now there are granddaughters and great-granddaughters Tell us a favorite memory or story about this cow. When she got named grand champion at as well. the junior spring show at Wisconsin state show. What makes her a special cow on your She won a lot of awards, but that was the biggest dairy? She was a cow that my daughter award she had ever won. showed, and she was grand champion at the junior show at Wisconsin spring show Tell us about your farm. We have 400 acres. We one year and won her class at state fair rent the work land out and buy the feed back so another year. She also made the top record we don’t have to try to deal with the crops and of over 54,000 in milk and over 2,000 in the cattle and maintain a line of machinery. We fat. She was classied E92 in her second milk 60 cows in a tiestall barn. Cows are fed a lactation. She made one of the best records total mixed ration. My son, Joey, helps full time, and my other son, Josh, works off the farm and we ever made. helps on weekends. Bill Stade Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin Jefferson County 60 cows

What is her inuence in the herd? Ellie lives on in her daughters, and we have 10 in the herd, seven are milking and three are going to calve in Who is your favorite cow, March. We did a lot of ushing past or present? My favorite with her, and her daughters are cow is Stade Atwood Ellie. really good so far. I’ve had six She was a 90-point Holstein, calve in the last three months, but unfortunately, she passed and they’re really doing well. away last summer at the age of Her oldest natural daughter is 5. She was electrocuted during going dry and making 22,000 a storm when some exposed overhead wires pounds of milk as a 2-year-old. hit the building, sending electric current into the barn which killed two cows, including What makes her a special cow on your Ellie, and sent my wife for a jolt. Ellie was dairy? Her great offspring. We only had Ellie a nice-uddered, moderate-framed cow. She in the barn milking for three years, but she was was big, but not as big as some. Her milk always a favorite. We knew she was special, production was not that great at 21,000 and that’s why I ushed her. Now she is living pounds, but she did have a high butterfat at on in her daughters. 4.4%. The classier called her the modern Turn to OUR SIDE | Page 16 kind, and she was a nice cow to work with.

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ConƟnued from OUR SIDE | Page 15 Where is this cow housed, and how does she receive treatment differently than her herdmates? Ellie wasn’t treated any differently than the other cows. She was housed in sand-bedded free stalls with the rest of the herd and milked in our stanchion barn. How does this cow reect what your ideal cow would be? She could’ve stood to do a little more milk-wise, but she had high components and was a plain, easy keeper. She went about her business every day, and you never noticed her. Ellie never got sick and bred back on time. We had no problems with her. Tell us a favorite memory or story about this cow. The day Ellie went Excellent was a memorable moment. She was raised from 83 points to 90 points, which is quite a big jump. She went from GP83 as a 2-year-old to E90 as a 4-year-old. It wasn’t expected, but she deserved it. She really turned into a nice cow. She had a good pedigree with 15 generations of Very Good and Excellent dams behind her. Tell us about your farm. My wife, Karen, and I own and operate Seven Star Farm where we milk 60 cows and raise 70 heifers as well as steers. We run 480 acres and grow corn, soybean and alfalfa. My parents bought the farm 50 years ago when I was 9-years-old. Brock Bailey Tomah, Wisconsin Monroe County 340 cows Who is your favorite cow, past or present? Our favorite cow was Polly. She lived to be 10 years old and was a high producer with good components. What is her inuence in the herd? She has three daughters milking right now and has produced a lot of milk and good components over the years. What makes her a special cow on your dairy? Our daughter, Josie, showed her at the fair and won grand champion grade at the county fair as a 4-year-old. She was special because the kids could all pet her. Even though she was a giant cow, she was as gentle as ever. Where is this cow housed, and how does she receive treatment differently than her herdmates? She was housed in the freestall barn with everyone else and did not get any special treatment beyond the affection from the kids and training at fair time. How does this cow reect what your ideal cow would be? Her production and temperament were what we like in cows. Her components made a difference, too, because it pays better for us to have good components over high volume. Tell us a favorite memory or story about this cow. The best memory was when she won at the county fair. Tell us about your farm. I farm with my brother, Brent, and my parents, Jean and Mike. My wife, Nelda, is an ag teacher and helps when she can along with our six children. We farm 1,200 acres. Our cows are housed in a freestall barn and milked in the tiestall barn. We raise our own replacements as well.

Michelle McNamara Emerald, Wisconsin St. Croix County 60 cows Who is your favorite cow, past or present? Our favorite cow is Aziza. Her registered name is Mayerlane Throne Aziza-ET. Aziza is 15-years-old and going to be 16-years-old in October. She is the rst cow on our farm to hit 300,000 pounds lifetime milk. Aziza is milking, and her current lifetime is at 351,403 pounds of milk. She is scored Excellent 91. Aziza is a queen bee, and she is the ruler of the pasture. What is her inuence in the herd? Aziza has had many daughters and granddaughters. They have all been great cows coming into the herd.

in the herd. She has her stall and goes out to pasture with all the other ladies in the barn. She does get some extra goodies and scratches though.

What makes her a special cow on your dairy? Aziza was purchased as a lot of four embryos from the Mayerlane Holsteins auction. She is sired by Timlyn Throne, and her dam is the well-known Sildahl Rudolph Allstar-ET. Out of those four embryos, we only had two pregnancies. Out of those two, she was the only heifer. As a heifer, Aziza aborted her Goldwyn calf at six-months along. We made the decision to bring her in to start milking her even though she didn’t have much of anything for an udder. She slowly started to milk and develop. Due to this, her rst lactation was not very impressive with 14,161 pounds of milk. But she made up for it over the years. What makes Aziza special is the milestones that she has made for our farm. Being a small, family dairy farm and to get a cow to more than 300,000 pounds of milk has been a great accomplishment. Every day we are excited to see what she is able to keep doing and see what we can ultimately get her to.

How does this cow reect what your ideal cow would be? Aziza reects what an ideal cow is in the fact that she is a powerhouse and has longevity. She has been a pretty easy cow to take care of.

Where is this cow housed, and how does she receive treatment differently than her herdmates? Aziza is housed with all the other cows in the herd. We are a 60cow tie-stall operation. She doesn’t get special treatment versus the other cows

Tell us a favorite memory or story about this cow. Our favorite memory of Aziza would have to be her hitting the 300,000-pound lifetime mark. This has been a great milestone to hit for the farm, especially with hitting it with Aziza. It has been such a pleasure watching Aziza grow and blossom from a calf to a heifer and to a cow that can produce and hit the milestones that she has been able to achieve. Tell us about your farm. Our farm has been in the family since 1915. We milk around 60 cows in a tie stall operation. Over the past few years, we have updated a few of our facilities. Building a new calf shed and heifer facility have been great additions to the farm. During the spring, summer and fall, our cows go out to pasture, and they absolutely love being on pasture. The farm is run by Mike with help from his children, Michelle, Jennifer, Mark and Julie. Running the farm with no hired hands, you denitely need as much family help as you can get.

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 17

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Page 18 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022

Breeding Prole

Combination of reproduction strategies key to Elsingers’ success Jeff, Brenda and Mike Elsinger Elsinger Farms Lomira, Wisconsin Describe your facilities and list your breeding management team. Cows are housed in a 6-row free stall barn and milked three times a day in a double-14 parallel parlor. Heifers are raised onsite until they reach breeding

age at which point they are sent to a custom heifer raiser and return home when ready to freshen. Our breeding management team consists of Brenda Elsinger; herdsman and afternoon breeder Andres Avila; CentralStar breeders Eric Gudex, Victor Lopez and Dennis Gunst; veterinarian/nutritionist Monty Belmer of Waupun Vet Clinic; and Susie Martin and

PHOTO SUBMITTED

The breeding management team at Elsinger Farms includes – (from leŌ) Andres Avila, Eric Gudex, Brenda Elsinger, Brian Kelroy, Susie MarƟn, Victor Lopez and Dr. Monty Belmer. The Elsingers maintain at 32% pregnancy rate on their dairy near Lomira, Wisconsin. Brian Kelroy of CentralStar. What is your current pregnancy rate? 32% STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Brenda Elsinger looks over reproducƟon reports Feb. 2 on her farm near Lomira, Wisconsin. The farm uses a combinaƟon of electronic heat detecƟon, synchronizaƟon and daily tail chalking as part of their reproducƟon program.

What is your reproduction program? Do you use a synchronization program? How do you get animals pregnant? We use a combination of electronic

heat detection, synchronization and daily tail chalking. We do our mating through CentralStar and breeding is done by CentralStar A.I. specialists. Our program begins with a 70-day voluntary waiting period, and all cows are enrolled in a G6G program for rst service: GnRH is given at day 60, Lutalyse at day 67, GnRH

again at day 69, and the cow is bred on day 70. We do cherry pick some animals if they are showing good heat before 70 days. Any animal found open through ultrasound is resynchronized. PregTurn to ELSINGERS | Page 20

Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 19

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Page 20 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022

ConƟnued from ELSINGERS | Page 18

nancy checks are performed by ultrasound at 33 and 60 days and again before dryoff.

Describe your breeding philosophy. We strive to mate cows and heifers to the best possible bulls based on matings through CentralStar. Our goal is to get cows pregnant as quickly and efciently as possible after the voluntary waiting period. What guidelines do you follow to reach the goals for your breeding program? We follow the guidelines suggested by our herd health veterinarian. We’re open to trying different things. If something is working, we’ll run with that. If it’s not working, we’ll put our heads together with the vet and try a different alternative. What are the top traits you look for in breeding your dairy herd, and how has this changed since you started farming? Good feet and legs, moderate structure, good milk components and a nice udder. We have always looked at these traits and think that’s why we have really good, sound animals. What are certain traits you try to avoid? Poor components and really largestructured cows. Describe the ideal cow for your herd. Our ideal cow is moderatesized with good feet and legs, good components, longevity, high daughter pregnancy rate and good disposition. What role does genetics have in reaching the goals of your farm? Genetics plays a huge role. We use genomics to help us pick the best youngstock on our dairy to mate with the best bulls, doing this helps speed up our genetic advancement. We’ve been genomic testing for two years and

started with our calves and heifers. We have closed the gap from there and are 100% genomics tested on the heifer end. What percentage of your herd is bred to sexed, conventional and beef semen? Beef semen 64%, sexed semen 32% and conventional semen 4%. What is your conception rate? How does this differ with different types of semen? First lactation conception rate is 52%; second lactation is 47%; and third lactation 40%. The cows have a conception rate of 46% with sexed semen and 45% with beef semen. The virgin heifers have a 58% conception rate, with 52% sexed and 55% beef. What is the greatest lesson you have learned through your breeding program? You need to trust the people on your team and make sure the correct people are in place in order to make the breeding program successful. What is the age of your heifers at rst service? 14 months. How does your heifer inventory affect your breeding program? We monitor our heifer inventory and adjust the use of beef semen accordingly. We know exactly what we’re going to have for heifer calves which allows us to keep our heifer inventories more manageable. Tell us about your farm. Jeff farmed with his dad until 1989 when Jeff and I purchased the farm we are currently on from a retired farmer. We brought 50 cows with us when we started. We formed a partnership with our son, Mike, after he graduated from school and started our expansion. We built a freestall barn in 2005 and a milking parlor in 2007. We

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

This prefresh heifer exemplies the type of animal the Elsingers strive to breed. Good feet and legs, nice udders, and moderate structure are the top traits the dairy looks for in-breeding their herd. are a dairy and cash crop operation, and we are proud our somatic cell count has averaged under 100,000 for the last four years. A farm is not just about the land, buildings and cattle. It’s about the people we’ve met along the way. We’ve enjoyed

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 21

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DRILLS

Brillion DH-212, End Wheel, #525698.........................................................$19,900

FIELD CULTIVATORS

Case IH 4300, 30 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #181148.............................$8,500 Case IH 4300, 2001, 38 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #186653 .................$11,995 DMI Tiger Mate II, 2000, 32 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #275938........$12,900 JD 980, 1998, 44 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #276171 ............................$14,900 Wil-Rich Excel 42’, 1999, #276243 ..............................................................$14,900 JD 980, 2002, 27 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #275563 .............................$14,900 JD 980, 2002, 44 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #191670 .............................$17,500 JD 2200, 2002, 34 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #185898...........................$19,000 Case IH TIGERMATE II, 2003, 50.5 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #186586$19,000 Wil-Rich QUAD 5, 1998, 42 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #191850...........$19,500 JD 2210, 2004, 24 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #191188...........................$19,500 Case IH TigerMate II, 2003, 55 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #272294 ...$24,900 Case IH TM14, 2005, 50.5 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #187546 ...........$26,900 Case IH TIGERMATE 2, 2009, 60 ft, #273153 ..............................................$27,900 Case IH TIGERMATE II, 2004, 60.5 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #186585$28,000 JD 2210, 2005, 55.5 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #274609 .......................$29,900 JD 2210, 2010, 65 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #273967...........................$32,900 Case IH 200, 2009, 50.5 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #275589 ................$37,900 JD 2210, 2014, 55.5 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #523982........................$47,500

PLANTERS

JD 7000, 8R30”, Rigid, Vacuum, 1.6 Bushel Hopper, #183615 ..........................$9,900 JD 7200, 1991, 16R30”, Vacuum, 1.6 Bushel Hopper, #275813.......................$12,900 Checchi & Magli Wolf Pro 1, 2019, Rigid, #526034 ..................................$14,995 JD 1750, 8R30”, Rigid, Vacuum, 3.0 Bushel Hopper, #186458 ........................$17,900 JD 1780, 2001, 16/31R15/30”, Flex Fold, Vacuum, 3.0 Bu. Hopper, #190820..$19,000 JD 1770, 1997, 16R30”, Flex Fold, Vacuum, 3.0 Bushel Hopper, #180078 .......$19,500 JD 1780, 2002, 6/11R15/30”, Rigid, Vacuum, 3.0 Bushel Hopper, #180078 ...$19,900 JD 1750, 2006, 6R30”, Rigid, Vacuum, 1.6 Bushel Hopper,#276309...............$25,900 JD 1770, 1999, 16R30”, Flex Fold, Vacuum, 1.6 Bushel Hopper, #186432 ......$28,500 Case IH 1200, 2008, 16/31R15”, Vacuum, Central Fill, #272706....................$29,900 Kinze 3600, 16R30”, Rigid, Finger Pickup, 3.0 Bushel Hopper, #275620........$29,900 JD 1755, 2019, 6R30”, Rigid, Finger Pickup, 1.6 Bushel Hopper, #186443 .....$39,400

Kinze 3650, 2002, 16/31, 1.6 Bushel Hopper, #276302 ................................$39,900 Wil-Rich PT-2200, 2007, 24R22”, Wing Fold, Vacuum, 3.0 Bu., #191659 .....$41,000 JD 1770NT CCS, 2006, 16R30”, Flex Fold, Vacuum, Central Fill, #181880 ......$59,500 Case IH Early Riser 1240, 2011, 16R30”, Vacuum, Central Fill., #275290 ...$59,900 Kinze 3600, 2009, 12/23R15”, Flex Fold, Vacuum, 1.6 Bu. Hopper, #531310 .$74,730 JD 1770NT, 2013, 24R30”, Flex Fold, Vacuum, 1.6 Bu. Hopper, #273978 ........$79,900 JD 1790, 2005, 16/31R15/30”, Flex Fold, Vacuum, Central Fill, #531342 .......$81,000 JD DB90, 2006, 36R30”, Flex Fold, Vacuum, Central Fill, #531337 ..................$89,900 JD 1790, 2010, 16/31R15/30”, Flex Fold, Vacuum, Central Fill, #275036 ........$99,900 JD 1775NT, 2017, 12R30”, Flex Fold, Vacuum, Central Fill, #531308 .......... $132,900 JD 1775NT, 2018, 16R30”, Flex Fold, Vacuum, Central Fill, #186435 ........... $145,400 JD DB60, 2013, 24R30”, Flex Fold, Vacuum, Central Fill, #186440 ............... $178,500 JD DB60, 2014, 24R30”, Flex Fold, Vacuum, Central Fill, #186455............... $185,900 JD 1775NT, 2015, 24R30”, Exact Emerge, Central Fill, #275625 .................. $224,900 JD 1775NT, 2020, 24R30”, Flex Fold, Vacuum, Central Fill, #186454 ........... $264,900 JD 7300, 1989, 12R30”, Wing Fold, Vacuum, 1.6 Bu. Hopper, #190126.............$9,000 White 6700, 12R22 in”, Rigid, Vacuum, 1.6 Bushel Hopper, #186493 .............$9,900 White 6700, 22 in, Rigid, Vacuum, 1.6 Bushel Hopper, #186494 ..................$10,900 JD 1710, 1998, 12R30”, Wing Fold, Vacuum, 1.6 Bushel Hopper, #191814 .....$15,900 JD 1700, 2014, 4R30”, Rigid, Vacuum, Mini Hopper, #275821 ........................$17,900 JD 1710, 1997, 12R30”, Wing Fold, Vacuum, 1.6 Bushel Hopper, #191791 .....$19,500 JD 1720 CCS, 2010, 12R38”, Wing Fold, Vacuum, Central Fill, #276333 .........$29,900 JD DR24, 2020, 24R30”, Exact Emerge, Central Fill, #274275 .................... $319,900

PULL-TYPE SPRAYERS

HARDI NP1100, 2004, #191848 ....................................................................$8,500 DEMCO 500, 2011, #525209 ...........................................................................$8,500 REDBALL 670, 2006, #191961 .......................................................................$9,900 TOP AIR TA1200, 2005, #180618 ................................................................$12,500 REDBALL 680R-1350, 1999, #186516 .......................................................$14,900 HARDI NAVIGATOR 4000, #180889 ..........................................................$15,000 HARDI COMMANDER PLUS 1200, 2002, #181150 ..................................$17,500 TOP AIR TA1200, 2010, #275678 ................................................................$17,900 TOP AIR TA1200, 2011, #531277 ................................................................$18,900 TOP AIR TA1200, 2006, #190823 ................................................................$19,500 HARDI COMMANDER 4400, 2009, #188739 .............................................$28,900

SELF-PROPELLED SPRAYERS

CASE IH 3185, 2004, 90-Foot, Poly, 4000 hrs., #531252 ..............................$39,500 ROGATOR 1184, 2010, 120-Foot, Stainless, 4610 hrs., #191681 ..................$53,500 JD 4920, 2006, 120-Foot, Stainless, 3688 hrs, #187626.................................$71,000 ROGATOR RG1100, 2013, 120-Foot, Stainless, 3506 hrs., #191696 ............$74,500 JD 4830, 2010, 120-Foot, Stainless, 3870 hrs, #191797.................................$88,500 ROGATOR RG1100, 2013, 90-Foot, Stainless, 3250 hrs., #191700 ..............$97,000 JD R4023, 2015, 90-Foot, Poly, 1826 hrs., #275709 ....................................... $144,900 HAGIE STS12, 2012, 90-Foot, 3077 hrs., #276184..................................... $149,900 JD 4630, 2013, 80-Foot, Poly, 1030 hrs., #275374 ...................................... $159,900 JD R4038, 2014, 120-Foot, Stainless, 3490 hrs., #275787 .......................... $169,900 MILLER PRO NITRO 5240, 2013, 90-Ft, Stainless, 1650 hrs., #276351 . $174,900 JD R4038, 2017, 2885 hrs., #275251.......................................................... $189,900 JD R4038, 2016, 90-Foot, Stainless, 2400 hrs., #274783 ............................ $194,900 JD R4038, 2016, 120-Foot, Stainless, 3038 hrs., #275257 .......................... $199,900 JD R4038, 2018, 1751 hrs., #275667.......................................................... $204,900 JD R4045, 2016, 120-Foot, Stainless, 3339 hrs., #267493 .......................... $219,900 JD R4038, 2017, 90-Foot, Stainless, 2190 hrs., #275254 ........................... $219,900 JD R4038, 2016, 90-Foot, Stainless, 2200 hrs., #275266 ............................ $219,900 JD R4045, 2017, 120-Foot, Stainless, 2950 hrs., #275252 .......................... $229,900 JD R4030, 2019, 100-Foot, Poly, 1474 hrs., #274204 ................................. $254,900 JD R4038, 2016, 120-Foot, Stainless, 1180 hrs., #275312 .......................... $269,900 JD R4038, 2019, 120-Foot, Stainless, 1135 hrs., #276194 .......................... $329,900 JD R4038, 2020, 120-Foot, Stainless, 683 hrs., #275047 ............................ $359,900 JD R4045, 2018, 120-Foot, Stainless, 1175 hrs., #275627 .......................... $359,900 JD R4045, 2019, 120-Foot, Stainless, 1575 hrs., #421298 .......................... $399,500 JD R4045, 2020, 120-Foot, Stainless, 1332 hrs., #275782 .......................... $399,900 JD R4038, 2021, 132-Foot, Stainless, 590 hrs. , #190973 ........................... $419,900 JD R4038, 2021, 120-Foot, Stainless, 200 hrs., #191080 ............................ $429,000 JD R4038, 2021, 132-Foot, Stainless, 235 hrs., #191060 ............................ $449,900 JD R4038, 2021, 132-Foot, Stainless, 380 hrs., #191034 ............................ $450,000 JD R4044, 2021, 132-Foot, Stainless, 367 hrs., #191061 ............................ $459,900 JD R4044, 2021, 132-Foot, Stainless, 261 hrs., #191079 ............................ $479,000

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Page 22 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022

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For the love of cows

I cannot remember a time in my life where I have not loved cows. Many of my best memories, and some of my most painful ones, have a four-legged loved one in the center. Throughout my life, I have been blessed to have many special cows in my life, and to have loved so many. Two of them rise to the top. They were my best friends, my condants and they still hold special places in my heart. Licorice was born in 1983 at Grandma and Grandpa Kroning’s farm. By Danielle Nauman From the beginning, she Staff Writer was special to me; she was my rst real show calf. I showed her at the District 3 Holstein Show in Lancaster, Wisconsin, that summer as a March calf. The class was big, and she placed third. Ray Kuehl judged the show and later told my grandpa it didn’t take him long to gure out who the little blonde girl with the really nice calf was. I showed Licorice at our county fair my rst year in 4-H. My fancy December calf had not placed well in her class and my dad told me not to get my hopes up with Licorice because the judge didn’t seem to like what we had. I grabbed the halter and as we headed to the showring I told my dad, “We’re going to win.” And, win we did. The next summer, as a junior 2-year-old, at our District 2 Holstein Show, Licorice was coming in heat, and she jumped me in the ring, knocking me at on the ground. It created quite a ruckus as people grabbed for Licorice’s halter. My dad got to me and took over showing her. Licorice won her class that day. Dr. Dave Dickson was judging and he later told my dad he couldn’t believe he missed the whole thing. Licorice calved for the last time July 15, 1988, in the middle of one of the hottest, driest summers I can recall. That day still holds the record high temperature. We had her under fans and were rinsing her off all day long. She nally calved about 9:30 p.m., with a heifer calf born upside down and backward. The calf was alive, and I named her Lucky. Dad had been down to check Licorice at 2 a.m., she was up and eating but hadn’t cleaned. When Mom got to the barn at 4:30 a.m., Licorice had cleaned but was laying there dead. That was one of the worst days of my life. I still tear up thinking about losing Licorice. Her calf became Little Licorice. The cow I had the greatest bond with was Chenell, who was a Christmas gift to me from my parents in 1986. Chenell was the rst animal I took to the Wisconsin Junior State Fair. Our class was huge and we were way down the line, closer to the bottom than the top. Judge Lowell Lindsey came through the line one last time and stopped by Chenell. He told me to bring my heifer out and gave her a good look. Then he said, “This doesn’t happen too often, but I missed your calf. So tell me where you want her to go.” I responded by pointing at the top heifer and saying, “See that white one up there? I want to be one ahead of her.” He laughed and said he’d see what he could do. We ended up seventh and I will never forget the reality check he gave me. Chenell was the only Holstein class winner I ever had at the Junior State Fair, winning the dry cow class in 1993, and was pulled out for champion because of her great frame. Chenell always had huge bull calves or huge sets of mixed twins. As a result, she suffered three displaced abomasums throughout her life. I spent the summer of 1991 in Japan as an exchange student, and Chenell did not take my absence well. Our vet was running out of ideas with her and he nally asked my parents if they could call me in Japan and let me talk to the cow, which they did. They said she perked up and did better for a few days. He was nally able to catch the oating DA she was suffering. He referred her to the vet school. They found she had a tear in the tissue holding her abomasum to the body wall, and she was twisting there. Chenell stayed around with us until she was 14. The day I lost her is another day I remember each year with tears in my eyes. The passage of time and my memories revolve around the cows I have been lucky to have loved.

Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 23

Speaking up for agriculture Handels promote dairy with cheese sales, farmers market

said they were unsure whether or not to accept the nomination. abby.w@dairystar.com “We debated for a long time if we were worthy of this BARNEVELD, Wis. – or if it was even worth it for us,” Bryanna and Dylan Handel Handel said. “Then, we were are gaining recognition for the told there were only ve other eight years of hard work in people in the state nominated. advocating for agriculture. It really is an honor.” The couple was awarded The couple was nominated the Speak Up for Ag Award by Handel’s former employees by the Wisconsin Outstanding who have watched the couple’s Young Farmers Program at farm progress through social their 68th annual awards media. ceremony Jan. 21 in Neenah. “Dylan and I started with The Handels were awarded 16 cows and a rented barn,” based on their various efforts Handel said. “I feel like to promote agriculture and be we’re in very good shape for progressive young farmers. going through what we’ve These efforts include their conquered.” own brand of cheese and Since starting their dairy participating in a television career in 2014, the couple has managed to purchase their own farm and grow their herd to 70 Jerseys, which are milked in a tiestall facility. Their milk gets shipped to Meister Cheese in Muscoda, BRYANNA HANDEL, DAIRY FARMER which is part of the Cows First commercial for Chipotle and a program that provides cheese podcast. When the Handels found to Chipotle. This led to an out they were nominated for opportunity to participate in a the award, Bryanna Handel commercial for the restaurant By Abby Wiedmeyer

“We debated for a long time if we were worthy of this or if it was even worth it for us.”

ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR

The Handels – (from leŌ) Dylan, Clyde and Bryanna – stand in the heifer barn Jan. 27 on their farm near Barneveld, Wisconsin. Not pictured are Lyle, Roy and Elizabeth Handel. chain, where Handel spoke about her belief in good animal husbandry. “I am a rm believer that if you take care of the cows, the cows will take care of you,” Handel said in the commercial. The couple has been promoting their own brand of mild cheddar cheese under the farm name B. Kurt Dairy since 2018. To make their own brand of cheese, the Handels ship

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one load of milk at a time to Cedar Grove Cheese in Plain, where they rent a vat and make cheese. In the rst year of selling cheese, they moved 1,200 pounds; in 2019, they sold almost 3,000 pounds. “Then 2020 happened and Cedar Grove was making cheese for people who had to dump milk,” Handel said. “I backed off because those people needed a market so we

ended up selling about 1,200 pounds again that year.” In an effort to increase sales, they held a farmers market on their property in 2021. The market hosted 13 vendors and a coffee truck. “I didn’t know if it would be a op or not, but then 500 people showed up,” Handel Turn to HANDELS | Page 26

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Page 24 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022

Schedule of Events

30TH ANNUAL

Carver County

DAIRY EXPO

9:00 am 10:15 am

Session A

Over 40 Vendors!

10:30 am

Session B

Regional Extension Educator, University of Minnesota

11:30 am

(Includes lunch, refreshments and program notes. Cash or Check only.)

Monday, February 21, 2022

9 AM-3:15 PM • CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL

12:30 pm

Owner, Fieldstone Consulting

Keynote Address: “Dairy industry megatrends and pearls from the past”

Enjoy Lunch and the Trade Show Session D

2:15 pm

Session E

“Impact of daily and seasonal rhythms on nutrition and milk production” Isaac Salfer

Online information available at https://z.umn.edu/2022DairyExpo and Facebook: @CarverScottExtension

Jim Paulson

Corey Geiger - Editor, Hoard’s Dairyman

Trade Show and Education for Dairy Producers.

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Session C

“Is there a future “Forage value “Developing for small and of winter and a successful midsize dairy summer transition plan” farms?” cover crops” James Salfer

COST: $10/person $5/Student (with ID)

Hosted by University of Minnesota Extension-Carver County and the Carver County Dairy Core Team

Registration - Trade Show Open until 3:00 p.m. Early Bird Drawing in Trade Show Arena

“A farm “Best management without drama. practices for manure: Better Culture, Are they worth it” better profit” Melissa Wilson, PhD Jared Holt

Partner, Ascent Financial

Assistant Professor, Animal Science, University of Minnesota

3:15 pm

For Dairy Expo information, please call Carver County Extension (952) 466-5300.

Session F

Door Prize Drawings - Trade Show Arena

Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist Manure Nutrient Management & Water Quality

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 25

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Page 26 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022

ConƟnued from HANDELS | Page 23 said. “I feel like we have a very good location being so close to the highway.” Handel said she received positive feedback regarding the market. “After we had the farmers market, there were some young female farmers who messaged me and said, ‘Thanks, you gave us hope because we honestly just keep hearing that you have to get bigger. Hearing your story was like a breath of fresh air.’” Handel said she plans

to hold the farmers market again this year in mid-August. She hopes to further increase cheese sales and introduce a new enterprise of cut owers. “I already have 200 bulbs of tulips and 100 daffodils planted,” Handel said. “I had already bought the seeds, so we’re doing it.” Handel said that winning the award has renewed her ambition to continue promoting their farm. “It just makes us continue to want to do the farmers

ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR

Bryanna Handel feeds grain to the heifers Jan. 27 at her farm near Barneveld, Wisconsin. The Handels milk 70 Jerseys.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Dylan and Bryanna Handel are awarded the Speak Up for Ag award from the Wisconsin Young Farmers Program Jan. 21 in Neenah, Wisconsin.

market now that we know people actually enjoyed it, and you get some recognition for putting your farm out there,” Handel said. On the farm, the Handels have been nothing short of progressive. They built their herd from sale barn cows to a barn full of cows that recently classied well. “We just classied for the rst time,” Handel said. “There were three cows that went as high as they could for classication, and I think we

averaged 88 for the day. I guess it’s kind of nice to know what you did start with and now look around and say, ‘Wow, we have 25 Very Good cows.’” Handel credits their breeder for helping their herd progress. Raising heifers in the facility they built in 2020 has helped grow the herd as well and improving the farm’s appearance. “When you don’t have room for heifers, you end up putting them in make shift pens and they just don’t do well,”

Handel said. “The heifer shed was much needed.” As they reected on the progress they have made on the farm, in the barn and for the community, the Handels said they are grateful for the recognition and for the weekend away to accept the award. “It was nice to meet the other farmers,” Handel said. “They were all impressive. It was nice seeing other young farmers making progress.”

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Tour de Forage offers alternative ration models, species ideas By Sherry Newell Contributing Writer

MELROSE, Minn. – With grain prices increasing, feeding a dairy ration higher in forage content could be worth considering, said speakers at the 2022 Tour de Forage Jan. 26 in Melrose. Two presentations included data showing how cows performed just as well or better on high-quality forage, replacing a larger portion of corn and other protein sources. The event was one of three information days organized by the Midwest Forage Association and regional forage councils in southeast, northeast and central Minnesota in cooperation with University of Minnesota Extension. “This could be a very economical alternative,” said Dana Adams, an extension livestock educator, of adjusting rations. “That’s because it becomes less dependent on market uctuations.” Adams said the high quality of forage produced across Minnesota can be an opportunity for producers to control input costs. However, she also suggested continually monitoring and adjusting for forage quality within the ration. A dairy cow, she said, can handle a high-forage diet, but quality is key. “It’s not her, it’s us – the human aspect. (We) need more time to adjust,” Adams said. “Not all the forages on a given farm are always the best.” Lower quality forages can be fed to either heifers or dry cows, she said. “(A higher-forage diet) requires something of a mindset challenge,” Adams said. “You no longer have a safety net of grain if your forage quality uctuates.” Successful high-forage rations hinge on forages low in lignin and neutral detergent ber and high in NDF digestibility and non-ber carbohydrates, Adams said. “NDF digestibility plays an especially important role in dry matter intake, rumen ll, rumination and, consequently, milk production,” Adams said. She said the benets of feeding a higher percentage of quality forage include higher milk components and fewer metabolic and hoof issues in addition to saving grain costs. Adams cited equipment changes, harvest timing, storage and bunk management as key considerations when looking to implement high-forage rations. Stall space is also important, because approximately 50% of cows in the pen should be laying in stalls and ruminating after eating. She advised a gradual transition to feeding a diet higher in forage percentage, and carefully monitoring success by observing cud chewing, screening manure and monitoring components.

University of Minnesota feed efciency studies have compared highforage diets to conventional rations on rstlactation ProCROSS and Holstein cows from 46-to-150 days in milk. ProCROSS is a three-breed rotation using Holstein, Montbéliarde and Viking Red. Brad Heins, an associate professor who works with the herd at the West Central Research and Outreach Center in Morrison, reported on the research. It measured dry matter intake, production, body weight and condition score, and residual feed intake. Cows were fed a high-ber, low-starch (HFLS) ration with 47% more alfalfa hay and 30% more corn silage. Heins said there was little difference in fat and protein components and in body weight and condition throughout the study. However, the ProCROSS cows were more feed efcient on the heavier forage use without any loss of fat and protein. “Holstein cows fed the traditional ration were probably least efcient,” Heins said. “They don’t milk enough compared to what they eat. So, we might want to think about doing (a high-forage diet), especially if grain costs keep going up.” Heins also touched on the use of alternative forages, including Kernza, an intermediate wheatgrass, as forage. The WCROC planted its rst Kernza crop on an old soybean eld in the fall of 2016. “It’s a smaller grain that grows very tall with a deep, dense root,” Heins said. “It’s tolerant to drought and can handle a wide range of temperatures.” While it can be harvested as grain, Heins said his goal was to utilize it for spring and fall grazing. He also said Kernza could make sense in terms of crop diversity, soil fertility, nutrient cycling and winter cover. The Kernza studies at Morris included strip grazing of Kernza with and without red clover two- days-at-a-time. “Heifers gained just as well as on conventional pasture,” Heins said. “The kernza did a bit better in the fall; we got about two-to-three more weeks of forage.” Next, Heins said, will be an effort to ensile the crop and do digestibility studies to see if Kernza silage can replace grass. Heins also reported on grazing systems at WCROC, using a mixture of species on 300 acres of organic pasture. The center has used BMR sorghum sudangrass and teff grass and oat with turnip in one system. In another, perennial ryegrass, orchard grass, chicory, meadow fescue, alfalfa, red clover and white clover have been used. “No single species has it all; diversity is key,” Heins said. “A lot of these forages can be used in many different ways, but across a season, we can almost double forage production if we use a warm-season grass.”

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 27

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Page 28 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022

Prevention is key with unpredictable weather

Costello talks health trends By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com

MONDOVI, Wis. – The unpredictable weather is something that continues to challenge dairy farmers in the Midwest, but with the right approaches, prevention can ease the stress of inclement weather for both cattle and farmers. “This fall and winter has been a rough year to be a cow or calf, just because the weather has been doing that whole 60-degree swing,” Dr. Nicole Costello said. “It’s just hard to keep calves Dr. Nicole consistently Costello comfortable.” DVM Costello, a veterinarian with Mondovi Veterinary Service, said the inconsistent weather has resulted in more cases of pneumonia and more antibiotic use as farmers try to stabilize the temperatures of calves in these circumstances. “My farms that typically don’t treat or have less than 10% of

their calves with pneumonia are running 20%-25% because we just can’t outcompete Mother Nature,” Costello said. Costello said when it comes to prevention, farmers are looking at what environmental factors they do have control over. Farmers with calf barns have been looking at their ventilation system to try and keep temperatures as stable as possible. “We don’t want to button everything up and then the next day it’s 42 degrees,” Costello said. “They’re very cognizant of getting everything opened up in the morning and just trying to keep that air ow consistent.” When farmers are looking at when to vaccinate or move calves, for example, Costello recommended looking ahead at the weather and plan to do things when there is a week of consistent weather ahead to lower the stress point for the animals. “That’s how I look at a lot of things with calves,” Costello said. “We can push them and push them, but there is always that tipping point. Once it goes over, it’s game over.” Costello said a common hiccup with this method comes when weaning calves. Sometimes she nds that calves need to be moved through the system, and it is not economical for the farm to wait for better weather to wean them. “Some have added an extra intranasal vaccine to try to prevent

LEGACY FORWARD

any respiratory problems, while others have used a slower weaning process where they taper them down over time,” Costello said. The key is to keep calves warm and dry with consistent bedding. Costello said when it comes to

fared the best over the winter are the ones with a solid vaccination program in place. “Having a good vaccination protocol is key to success here,” Costello said. “With weather like this, you can pick out the holes of who is vaccinating “My farms that typically don’t well and who is not.” Costello has treat or have less than 10% of herds that pick a month and vaccinate their calves with pneumonia are during that month every year, and running 20%-25% because we others that base it around just can’t outcompete Mother season. their calving “We have to Nature.” nd a way to make it work in your DR. NICOLE COSTELLO, DVM system,” Costello said. “I think with cows, she has only seen a spike in pneumonia cases within the last two a little creativity you can. It’s not weeks. Much like the calves, it often always going to be the gold standard of how I want it to be, but we can came down to ventilation. Poor ventilation can lead to nd a way to make it work so that respiratory problems with humidity the cows have some protection.” Regardless of the timing, build up and sporadic air movement Costello stressed the importance of caused by fans. “All those little things we can a vaccination protocol to combat the usually get away with that we don’t unpredictable weather during the normally think of as problems in the winter season. “Make sure your cows are winter have been more of a problem this year just because the weather has vaccinated,” Costello said. “When been so inconsistent,” Costello said. the weather does this, it’s cheap “One of my farms said it’s like we’re insurance because it’s not very talking about summer heat, which is expensive, and if it prevents one cow from getting sick, then it’s paid for kind of true, just the ip side.” Costello said the farms that have itself.”

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Women In Dairy Ann Schulz Mayville, Wisconsin Dodge County 90 cows Family: Our immediate family consists of my husband, Tony, and our 2-year-old daughter, Edith. Our extended family includes Tony’s parents, Glen and Teresa Schulz of Mayville; and my parents, Mark and Mary Huenink of Cedar Grove. Both of our parents are active dairy farmers; Tony’s parents with us and my parents (along with one of my older brothers and his family) on a 75-cow dairy and seed farm. Tell us about your farm. The farm, known within our family as Whirling Winds Dairy, consists of 90 milking cows and about 120 youngstock. All lactating and dry cows are housed in a 4-row free stall barn and milked in a double-6 at parlor, converted from a stanchion barn. We raise replacements on the farm. Nursery calves are housed in individual pens converted from old tie stalls. Once weaned, they are moved to group pens converted from old maternity pens. At around 6 months of age, they move outside to a lean-to type housing. At 13 months, they move to a breeding group within the lean-to and remain there until conrmed pregnant when they are moved to an outdoor lot. At three months prior to calving, they are moved to the dry cow pen, and then three weeks before they are due, they are moved to a maternity pen. We have three groups of lactating cows: two high groups and a low group. We crop about 250 acres (owned and rented). Our primary crops are alfalfa, corn, sudangrass, rye grass, soybean and oat. The farm is owned by Tony’s parents with a transition plan in place for when they retire. Tony and I own most of the cattle, about half of the machinery and are in the process of purchasing a small acreage of land about 2 miles from the home farm. We have two high school students who help a few nights a week with milking chores, and Tony’s sister and brother-in-law help with special projects. We also have great neighbors who are there to help at a moment’s notice. What is a typical day like for you on the dairy? I have a part-time role on the farm. I start morning chores around 5:30 a.m. It takes about 30 minutes to get the barn and milkhouse set up and bring cows in from the free stall barn to start milking. Usually, I am able to milk one group of cows while Tony grooms and scrapes. After this, I head into the house to care for Edith, and my father-in-law takes over milking with Tony. After that, my day on the farm consists of anything I can safely do with a toddler in tow, which includes data entry, lling sand in the freestall barn, processing calves or running for parts or medications. Edith’s naptime is a great time to tackle moving calves and heifers and bedding and cleaning pens, as needed. What decision have you made in the last year that has beneted your farm? In December 2020, I was listening to “The Dairy Signal” and heard Dr. Paul Fricke talk about research conducted earlier in 2020 regarding synchronization of heifers and breeding with sexed semen. We had been breeding heifers to sexed semen from estrus detection, and our conception rate was not where we wanted it to be. I replayed the presentation for Tony a few days later, and we decided to talk about the ve-day CIDR synch protocol with our veterinarian. Our vet highly recommended the protocol, and we started implementing it immediately. Since we’ve been using the program, we are seeing conception rates that are consistent with the research trials, which is a big improvement over where we were. Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. A farm is a great place to make memories. Edith enjoys giving cookies to calves. It is one way to get her comfortable around the calves and to keep a few calves friendly for her to visit as they both grow. When it came time to move a group of calves, the rst calf to move was one that was familiar with cookies. Tony was trying to push her out of the pen, but she wasn’t having it. I told him, half joking, that we should coax her out using a cookie. Tony laughed and said, “That won’t work.” Having said that made

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me determined to coax this calf to the next pen with a cookie. So, I retrieved a cookie and let the calf sniff and lick at it. As she stretched her neck to reach for it, I slowly stepped back. Bit by bit, she followed the cookie until she nally leapt out the door into her new pen. We looked at each other in amazement and started laughing.

Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 29

What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the dairy industry? After I graduated college, I worked for a farm equipment manufacturer for several years. One of my colleagues had a huge, framed picture of a cow in his cubicle with a label at the bottom that read “End User.” It was such a great reminder that everything we did was for the cow: the machines were designed, manufactured, marketed and sold to make great hay or mix great feed or spread nutrients back on the land all so that cows could be healthy and productive. Now, I have the great fortune of working with cows every day. That is what I enjoy, the cows. What is your biggest accomplishment in your dairy career? Every day is an accomplishment. I am never guaranteed a tomorrow – in life or in the dairy industry. I never take a day for granted and strive to make today better than yesterday. What are things you do to promote your farm or the dairy industry? I work part-time for the Wisconsin State Fair Dairy Promotion Board as their coordinator. The board is made up of individuals passionate about promoting Wisconsin’s $45.6 billion dairy industry during the Wisconsin State Fair. We provide educational opportunities for attendees with our interactive Dairy Lane exhibit and cow and goat milking demonstrations. We also promote the consumption of dairy products at the fair through managing the Real Wisconsin Cheese Grill and Dairyland Shake Shop. We also help manage the Dairy Products Contest and Blue Ribbon Dairy Products Auction. Our proceeds help fund scholarships for students pursuing careers in the dairy industry and help support our dairy promotion development at the fair. We have such a unique opportunity to educate a primarily urban audience about dairy at the state fair, and we are continually investing in opportunities that help tell the story of dairy to those who may be unfamiliar with the benets of dairy in a balanced diet. What advice would you give another woman in the dairy industry? As they say in bungee jumping: Don’t wait until you are ready; you’ll never be ready. Just jump. I tend to overthink things at times, and I may not be the only one who exhibits that trait. But I’ve learned in order to progress, you have to move forward despite the unknowns. You are stronger than you think and can work through more than what you believe you are capable of doing. When you get a spare moment, what do you do? I enjoy being outside, so if I do have free time I am typically outside. In the summer, I garden and can. In the fall, I take in the cooler weather and fall colors as much as possible through hikes, walks or jogs. In the winter, I enjoy snowshoeing, and in the spring, I start planning what to plant in the garden.

Page 30 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 31

What do you enjoy most about dairy farming? Probably the lifestyle. It sounds crazy, but there is something new every day. Things change, and there are always challenges.

Tom Mulrooney Fennimore, Wisconsin Grant County 160 cows How did you get into farming? I have farmed all my life. I got started with my neighbor in 1977, and we farmed in halves. He helped me get started. What are your thoughts and concerns about the dairy industry for the next year? I worry about the young people trying to make a living at this if people do not realize how important dairy is to our nutrition. It is surprising to me how many people are impacted by the dairy industry and how many people do not realize that. You have to relate everything back to your belly. When things get rough, you still have to be able to eat. What is a recent change you made on your farm and the reason for it? We have changed our mindset to looking at the exit process. We are trying to keep things going and make it so that someone can come in and buy it reasonably. It’s always been my goal to transition this farm to a young family like my neighbor did for me so long ago. Tell us about a skill you possess that makes dairy

What advice would you give other dairy farmers? Treat it as a business. If you’re not making any money, don’t go bigger because you will just make less. What are your plans for your dairy in the next year and ve years? Sell it. We have the farm sold and are just about to transition a new person in. We bought a new farm a few miles away with a nice house and some buildings and a little pasture that I can continue putzing with. farming easier for you. I understand cattle. I have also learned that when your wife is helping you move cattle, sometimes it’s best to shut your mouth; otherwise, you won’t have any help. What is the best decision you have made on your farm? Going to a freestall setup. It helped our cow comfort and production. What are three things on the farm that you cannot live without? My skidloader because everything here was

built for a skidloader to do the work. My TMR because it has made feeding easier. When we switched from the tiestall to the freestall, we had to switch from feeding each individual cow to feeding all the cows at once, and the TMR has helped with that. I also could not live without my mule, which is the ATV. It saves so many steps and makes a lot of things easier. What strategies do you use to withstand the volatile milk prices? We try to strive for production. We try not to let the prices today bother us and

just continue to think about tomorrow. It’s like taking care of a dry cow to prepare for her lactation. I also worry about having enough feed in the summertime so I stock up on that when I can. How do you retain a good working relationship with your employees? We try to treat our employees how we would like to be treated. I take care of them, and they know I won’t have them do a job that I won’t do.

How do you or your family like to spend time when you are not doing chores? We have done some traveling over the years. We have hosted exchange students from Slovakia and Germany, which gave us the opportunity to visit them. That was a really neat experience to get to know other cultures. We have also gone to the Bahamas and Florida in the past.

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Page 32 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022

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Progress on SCC By Mike Schutz

University of Minnesota

Efforts by the United States dairy industry to reduce somatic cells in milk have resulted in enormous improvement in milk quality over the last 20 years. Initial efforts to measure and record somatic cell count accompanied advancement in NIR technologies for rapid measurement by dairy plants and Dairy Herd Improvement testing services. In the 1980s, reporting of SCC by plants and DHI became common and served multiple purposes. Somatic cells are immune cells, mainly neutrophils, that enter the milk of cows to do what neutrophils do, which is ght infection. Through research, it has become clear that SCC is only expected to be elevated during mastitis or infection of the mammary gland. So, SCC serves as both an indicator of mastitis in cows and a direct measure of milk quality because the antibacterial properties of the cells have a sizable impact on cheese cultures and yield efciency, and the protease and lipase activity of the cells can dramatically reduce the shelf life of uid milk. The ability to measure SCC in milk provided opportunities to manage it; and the dairy industry responded in a big way. Figure 1 shows the dramatic reduction in annual average SCC of herds on DHI test for Minnesota (Vikings purple), Midwest (Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin in Packers/ NDSU Bison gold), and United States (red, white and blue). The focus is intended to be on the continued dramatic reduction of SCC in the past 20 years. While Minnesota DHI herds do have a somewhat higher average than in the Midwest as a whole, this gap has, in fact, reduced over time and is likely due to the number of smaller DHI herds in Minnesota milking in older facilities. Low SCC can be achieved by farms of all kinds as indicated by the annual list of low SCC farms reported by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture but certainly can be more challenging in older facilities. To help understand the impacts of this improvement, we can look at market access. The legal standard for Grade A milk in the U.S. requires milk not to exceed 750,000 somatic cells per mL. From the graph, milk apparently meets that benchmark readily. However, in 2001, 4.9% of U.S. DHI herd test days would not have met that standard. By 2020, that number was down to 1.2%. Of course, because not all milk from cows tested on DHI test days goes in the tank, these numbers overestimate the impact on marketability but provide another benchmark of progress. While the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments has voted down several attempts to reduce the legal standard of SCC in milk, market demands have become more restrictive. Around 2011, U.S. dairy product manufacturers began to implement a 400,000 cells per

mL limit on milk to allow access to European markets. In 2001, 31.1% of herd test days would not have met that standard, while by 2020 that number improved to 8.3%. Because reduction in SCC depends on the challenging task of reducing clinical and subclinical mastitis, this reduction in incidence of elevated SCC is quite remarkable. The rst genetic evaluation for linear SCC score (SCS) was in 1994. Figure 2 has the average per cow SCS (green) and the genetic (blue) and environmental (red) trends since 1984 when the rst DHI SCC records were collected. The averages correspond to the U.S. line from Figure 1 because a change of a full unit in SCS reects a halving of SCC. Clearly, environmental trend, which is mainly management, has accounted for most improvement in SCS. When rst rolled out as a trait in 1994, and because of the antagonistic genetic correlation with milk yield, producers were encouraged to include selection for lower SCC only as part of the Net Merit Index which included PTA for SCS with a weight of -6%. That emphasis was

increased to -9% in 2000 and -10% in 2010. In Figure 2, one can observe the impact by those changes contributing to continued reduction in average SCC despite a leveling of the management trend. In 2018, the emphasis on SCS in Net Merit was reduced to -4% and then to -3% in 2021, but those shifts resulted from measures of clinical mastitis and udder composite traits being included in the index. Time will tell what impacts the reduced direct emphasis on the selection index weight for SCS will have. Probably, relationships of PTA for SCS with cases of mastitis has changed over time. Previous work has shown that genetic contributions to SCS from contagious and environmental pathogens differ. As the prevailing causes of mastitis shift from contagious to environmental mastitis, those relationships may change as well. So, it is encouraging that PTA for clinical mastitis is now included in Net Merit, but there remains value in direct selection against SCS for its impact on milk quality.

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 33

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By Brenda Miller

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It is almost a given that a cow will need some sort of injection at some point in her lifetime whether it be a vaccine or a treatment of some kind. As farmers, it is our job to properly administer those injections for the best results and least amount of stress for the cow (and handler). There are three routes of administration for injections in an animal: subcutaneous (under the skin), intramuscular (into the muscle) and intravenous (into the vein). When an intramuscular injection is given, it leaves an injection site lesion (tissue damage). The lesion will never go away, it is permanent. If the injection was given in a marketable piece of meat, that lesion and the meat surrounding it will be discarded when the animal is slaughtered as these lesions cause scar tissue to form around the lesion. This results in a reduction in tenderness and thus meat quality for most of the muscle. According to the 2016 National Beef Quality Audit, less than 5% of fed cattle had injection site blemishes. However, 20% of slaughter cows and bulls had injection site blemishes. Unfortunately, that is a loss of roughly $188 million dollars annually in the meat industry. We can do better as an industry especially on the slaughter cows and bulls. To alleviate this, there are only three locations a needle should be inserted into cattle: neck (subcutaneous and intramuscular; Figure 1), ear (implants) and vein. If two injections need to be given to an animal, they should be given one on each side of the neck. Three injections: one on one side and two on the other side of the neck with about 4 -inches between injection sites. This is roughly the width of your palm. Only give 10cc per injection site to spread out the pharmaceuticals and get the most efcacy out of the product. Needle selection is extremely important when preparing to give shots (Figure 2). There are many factors to take into consideration when choosing which needle size to use. Some of these are: route of administration, size of animal, viscosity of the uid and amount to be injected. Needles come in different gauges. The gauge refers to the size of the hole in the needle. The higher the gauge, the smaller the hole. Fluid viscosity refers to the thickness of the uid. As an example, penicillin is much thicker than oxytocin; therefore, you would likely use a lower gauge needle. Whereas, for oxytocin, you would use a higher gauge needle. If

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Figure 1 you ever give an injection and notice a few drops coming out of the injection site, it could be an indicator that your needle size may need to be adjusted. Those drops may not seem like much, but the animal is not going to get its full dosage if it is dripping out of the injection site. Always purchase quality needles and change them frequently. I personally prefer to use a new needle for every animal. This ensures the sharpest needle point and least amount of pain for the animal plus it helps with disease control in a herd. However, I realize not all farms do this and that is OK. Make sure to change needles at minimum every ve-to-10 head and check the needle after every injection for contamination, bends or burrs. If you do not want to be injected with said needle, then you better not be using it on your animals. Dull and/ or burred needles are painful and can cause other issues. If a needle gets bent, be sure to discard it immediately. If a needle breaks off inside an animal, it can travel up to a half an inch every hour it is inside the animal’s tissue. Always get a new needle before going back into the bottle of pharmaceutical, never insert a used needle into the bottle, to avoid contamination of the bottle. The next time an injection is needed, read the label to see which route of administration you need to use, take into consideration the viscosity of the liquid and size of the animal, and choose your needle accordingly. Make sure you are injecting the animal in the neck region only, use new needles, change them frequently and monitor needle condition for best results.

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Page 34 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022

Busy time of year It is a busy time of From My Perspective the year, but then, when is it not busy on a dairy farm? Summer through fall, cropping seems to take its share of time in addition to the day-to-day dairy cow functions. Now is tax preparation, balance sheet completion, farm analysis and of course, cash ow projections for 2022. Hopefully behind all of this By Tom Anderson is the contemplation of, Columnist “What can be changed in the future?” For some it is the decision of how to transition the farm to the next generation. Or perhaps how to retire and reduce the tax implications and have enough to life for the next stage. These are huge implications for your future and need a great deal of thought and discussion with family members, bankers, lawyers and, hopefully, your farmmanagement person. Outside input is an extremely important part of the decision-making process. We all need to realize these are not one-time events but a process that can take months and likely, many years to complete. Transition especially is a process that may take 10 years or more as you transition the business assets and management duties I would like us to consider the question that all dairy farms (in fact any business) need to evaluate on an on-going basis. How do we get to the next level? How do we get better? How do we stay competitive? I know of some Holstein dairy herds at 30,000 pounds of milk with 4.3% butterfat and 3.3% protein and less than 100,000 somatic cell count with a pregnancy rate of 28%. These are great herds. The problem is we live in a competitive world where the neighboring farm or one across the county or the other side of the nation is at 32,000 pounds of milk with 4.5% butterfat and 3.4% protein and an 80,000 SCC with a pregnancy rate of 33%. That is our competition, whether we like it or not. We are in a changing world that never stands still, and surely, the past couple of years has seen more changes than ever before. Some of these we may like and others not so much. Nonetheless, it is reality, and we will need to compete in a global market. I had an amazing text this week from a producer who harvested an annual average of 6,113 pounds of milk per robot per day ranking him 15th in North America for pounds per robot per day and 23rd in the world for fat-and-protein-corrected milk. Amazing. That is our competition, and I can assure you that it will only get more and more competitive. The question remains, “How do I get to the next level and stay competitive in this global market?” In my opinion, we can’t change something if we don’t know what it is today. So rst, determine what we need to measure, measure it, and then nally set a goal of where we want to be by a selected date in the future. As an example: A few years ago, we seldom, if ever, talked about energy-corrected milk or pounds of components produced per cow per day. A lofty goal two-to-three years ago was 6 pounds of butterfat and protein per cow per day. Now, the goal is likely more than 7 pounds per day. A cow producing 90 pounds at a 4.0% butterfat (3.6 pounds) and 3.3% protein (2.97 pounds) has a total of 6.57 pounds of components. With the current component pricing of your milk, it may well be worthwhile to look deeper into the cost and benet to increasing your components. My recommendation is to gather your team of individuals to begin to identify areas where you can improve. These may be production related, revenue generation, cost efciencies or other areas that can improve your nancials. Welcome the critic to your group, and don’t hold a grudge or harbor ill feelings against those who you feel are being critical. The honest and open communication will be benecial to your overall protability. Set a few identiable benchmarks, prioritize them and determine a process to reach your goals. Tom Anderson is a Farm Business Management faculty member at Riverland Community College.

Off to California We are off on an adventure. This will be our rst time attending the World Ag Expo in Tulare, California, an ag show hosted at the International Agri-Center from Feb. 8-10. Others who have attended this event have told us about the variety of farm equipment on display and the international crowds that attend. Both Duane and I are excited to do a little traveling and see some people we know. I heard about this By Tina Hinchley event when World Dairy Farmer & Columnist Expo was going on in Madison last fall. I had nished giving a farm tour for a couple families, and a car pulled in the driveway. This car pulled in the driveway a little way, and I waved to them and hoped they would pull in further. We had unloaded the wagon ride, and the children from the tour were chasing a cat. The parents were all talking outside getting ready to go inside to pay for their tour. I could tell by the driver’s face that he didn’t know if he was in the right place, so I ran over to the car and introduced myself. The four gentlemen inside the car apologized. They thought they were interrupting and recognized they didn’t have a reservation. They mentioned they were at WDE and were from

Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 35

that we use to farm. They enjoyed seeing our few antique tractors and were impressed that Duane was using an Oliver 880, gasoline model, to mix feed until 2018 when we added more cows. We went from area to area, checking out the combine, baler, Steiger and row-trac. They chatted between each other and even mentioned that they don’t think New Holland would be doing any more research and development on the pull-type choppers any longer. They all felt New Holland would only be focusing on self-propelled models. They said the chopper we use hasn’t changed at all. It is the best design for the size of farming we are doing. In all this discussion, I was able to recognize that we are small in comparison to what must be happening in California. I have seen big farms and

big equipment but apparently nothing compared to what they have at their show. They asked if I ever get off the farm and if I would I like to see their show. Smiling, I replied, “I do get off the farm, and of course, I would denitely like to see what they have in California.” Well, they said they would send some tickets. Those tickets arrived in the mail in January with a note saying they were glad I chased after them and they still talk about their Hinchley farm tour. Tina Hinchley, and her husband, Duane, daughter Anna, milk 240 registered Holsteins with robots. They also farm 2300 acres of crops near Cambridge, Wisconsin. The Hinchley’s have been hosting farm tours for over 25 years.

Th Those ti tickets k t arrived i d iin th the mail in January with a note saying they were glad I chased after them and they still talk about their Hinchley farm tour. California. They wanted something to do before they ew home the next day, and our farm was recommended as a good place to visit while in Wisconsin. It looked like they were going to leave, but I insisted they wait a moment until I had nished up with my families. After I said goodbye to the families who I had spent two hours with, the four guys got out of their air-conditioned vehicle and stepped onto the hot, dusty driveway. They introduced themselves and said they organize the World Ag Expo in California. They were interested in seeing our farm, cows and the robots. As we took the wagon, with our Oliver 550 pulling them to check out the farm, we started to talk about tractors and everything

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Book escape

Page 36 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022

Reading is my stress relief, my coping mechanism, my escape. Reading makes me a calmer person, and when I am deep into a good book, it can push me through a long day. I catch myself wondering what the characters are doing while I am refreshing the straw in my calving pen (as if their story is continuing without me), and I feel the urgent need to rush home to check in on them. When the wind is howling outside and I am dreading the trip to the barn, I remind myself that the sooner I get done with chores, the sooner I can nestle in with my book. I would even venture so far as to say I prefer a good book at the end of a strenuous day above anything else, that is provided my eyes still have the energy to stay awake and not blur the words together. Beyond the books I am reading for my own pleasure, we are constantly reading or listening to books as a family. Our commute from farm to home at night has become much more pleasant the past year with the addition of audio books. We have traveled with swans in “The Trumpet of the Swan,” we have practiced magic with “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” we have lived in a brownstone apartment in New York with “The Vanderbeekers of 141st

Street,” and we have outsmarted pirates and own in the jungle with “Peter and the Starcatchers.” “Peter and the Starcatchers” is written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson as a prelude to the long-known story of Peter Pan. Ever wonder how it is that Peter can y? Or, how did he come to live on an island called Neverland with his band of Lost Boys? Perhaps, how did Captain Hook and Peter end up becoming lifelong rivals? This book and the two that follow in the series are phenomenal. There are four books total; we are on the third one. The action doesn’t stop. I can’t stop recommending this book to everyone with children who have any sort of time in a vehicle. Having children ranging from age 4 to 15, nding a book that will interest all of them at once can present a challenge. These books capture our attention from the moment they are turned on until the minute we pull into the driveway. And, despite the fact there are multiple storylines happening simultaneously, all of the children can follow along. I nd myself driving well below the speed limit because I am so engrossed in the action of the story. Audio book genius reader Jim Dale is the voice behind Harry

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Potter, Peter and another favorite of ours “James Herriot’s Animal Stories.” He makes each and every character come to life with the power of his voice. Now that Stacy and I have older boys, they often suggest books to us. Oliver, Dane and I have read a few of the same books by Alan Ramblings from the Ridge Gratz. It may seem bizarre to be a grown woman who reads young adult books, but there are some wonderful books out there. They read fast, and it will reignite your desire to read more. The rst book that introduced me to this author was “Projekt 1065: A Novel of World War II.” It was like reading the script to a spy thriller movie By Jacqui Davison set in Germany. His book Columnist “Refugee” follows the lives of three teenagers in refugee situations over different periods of time, yet all their lives connect in the end. Gratz’s main characters in every book are the ages of his primary audience, usually between 12 and 14. I started his book “Grenade” (per Oliver’s request), set in Hiroshima during WWII. This story follows a young Okinawan soldier as well as an American soldier, and at only 20 pages in, it is sure to be a winner. Historical ction books are some of my favorite reads. They give me the ability to time travel through the pages of a well-written book and learn many things along the way. “The Care and Management of Lies” by Jacqueline Winspear took me to England during WWI. Winspear writes beautifully, capturing the feelings of her characters and the heaviness of the time period and making you feel the pain with them. I also learned more about WWI from other perspectives within the pages and through the lives of the characters of Martha Hall Kelly’s book “Lost Roses.” Kelly’s previous book, “Lilac Girls,” focuses on the lives of three women during WWII, one of which was Caroline Ferriday. “Lost Roses” is Caroline’s mother Eliza’s story of strength and resilience during the First World War and her impact on the emigrated White Russians. These incredible women were real people, and in Kelly’s other book, “Sunower Sisters,” she tells the story of yet another ancestor during the Civil War. Whenever I read a book that has so much factual information woven seamlessly into the storyline, I am astounded at how little I know about history. It serves to whet my appetite to know more and more. “Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” This quote from Mason Cooley ts my reading life. Reading offers me a way to travel back in time, across the world to learn things or to a world of magic and wonder. It is a vacation I can afford to take daily if my drooping eyelids allow. Jacqui and her family milk 800 cows and run 1,200 acres of crops in the northeastern corner of Vernon County, Wisconsin. Her children, Ira (14), Dane (12), Henry (7) and Cora (4), help her on the farm while her husband, Keith, works on a grain farm. If she’s not in the barn, she’s probably in the kitchen, trailing after little ones, or sharing her passion of reading with someone. Her life is best described as organized chaos – and if it wasn’t, she’d be bored.

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Parlor tricks

Working in the parlor is like driving the chopper because one gets to see the results of one’s labor. The parlor, like the chopper, needs to be running properly to maximize the harvest. Here Veterinary Wisdom are some simple ideas to make your parlor run well. Remember that milk runs downhill. In lowline systems, milk can run downhill all the way from the teat to the receiver jar unless there are obstructions to the ow. When running downhill, the ow in the hoses and lines is laminar, meaning there are layers of air and milk. This keeps the By Jim Bennett teat end vacuum stable and Columnist close to the line vacuum. In contrast, for milk to move uphill, a slug forms which temporarily blocks the airow. A vacuum drops behind the slug for the length of time it takes for the slug to move up the hose to the line. This results in slower milk ow from the udder and longer milking times as well as greater vacuum uctuation at the teat end. In high-line systems, the line vacuum needs to be higher to maintain adequate vacuum levels at the teat end. This means the vacuum applied to the teat ends at the beginning and end of milking will be higher, and this can cause teat-end damage. Most parlors are designed to take advantage of laminar ow by allowing milk to ow downhill to the line, but sometimes barriers are inadvertently put in place. For example, in many parlors the milk hoses are way too long, creating a valley for the milk to ow into and requiring a slug to move the milk out. In other parlors, hose length is not standard, so milk runs downhill for some cows but not for others. It is not always possible for milk to run downhill from every udder on every cow, but it should be possible for the vast majority. Otherwise, one is wasting one of the big advantages of a low-line system. Unit positioning is important. Units should be square on the udder when viewed from the rear or the side. Poor

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positioning can result in poor milk out of one or more quarters. Poor positioning can also lead to admission of air and squawking, which can result in longer milking duration, poor milk out and mastitis. Poor positioning also can be painful to the cow. Some, but not all parlors, will need hose positioners to maintain proper positioning. All the milking technicians need to use the supports, and they should understand the reasons for their use. Poor positioning sometimes happens because hoses are too long. Poor positioning can also lead to slug ow if hoses are tipped to one side or the other. Venting is needed to move milk away from the teats. The vents can be in the mouthpiece, the short milk tube or the claw. Vents need to be examined at the beginning of milking to make sure they are open; otherwise, it will be difcult to move milk away from the teats. Another problem we commonly see is systems with vents in more than one place, like the claw and the short milk tube, for example. This may result in lower claw vacuum at peak milk ow and longer milking duration. While the effects may be subtle, the effect is greater on high-producing, fast-milking cows. Teat end health is important. Less than 20% of cows should have teats with scores of 3 or 4, and less than 20% of teats should score 3 or 4. A teat with a score of 3 or 4 will have fronds of tissue protruding more than 1 mm from the teat end. Rough teat ends can lead to mastitis and longer milking times. Rough teat ends usually are caused by longer time milking in low ow. Cleanliness really is next to godliness in a parlor. Teat barrels, and especially teat ends, need to be clean and dry. Bacteria do not have legs; they move in uid, so wet teat ends facilitate transfer into the udder. A common mistake in many parlors is not drying the teat ends properly. Technicians often dry the barrels with a twisting motion but neglect to dry the teat end. They need to pinch the teat end with a clean towel or the clean side of a towel to get them dry. Cleanliness does not just apply to the teats. It is not uncommon to see the outside of liners and claws with caked manure. Bacteria can be transferred from the manure to the technician’s gloves, and then to the teat and ultimately can infect the cows. Keeping the rest of the parlor clean will encourage technicians to be clean. You do not need to get every drop of milk out of the

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cow. A reasonable goal is for most cows to have between 100 mL and 250 mL left in the udder, or up to about 1 cup of milk. It is unusual to nd parlors where most cows have 100-250 mL of milk left; almost always, cows are milked drier than this. Fewer than 20% of quarters should have more than 100 mL of milk left. Usually, when a quarter is not fully milked out, it is due to that quarter being slow milking or poor unit positioning. Trying to harvest every drop of milk leads to longer milking duration, longer times in low milk ow and possibly poor teat end health. Milking preparation is important. Cows need at least 10 seconds of tactile stimulation, and units need to be attached when milk letdown occurs. Attaching too early or too late results in delayed milk ejection. Every minute of delayed milk ejection costs about 7 pounds of lost milk per day. Consistency is key in the routine. Often, we see consistency decline when an extra person comes into the parlor for a period of time, and there is not a clear denition of how the routine needs to change to maintain proper timing. Cows should be comfortable during milking. A reasonable standard is less than 10% of animals kicking or stomping near the end of milking. If there are too many, it may be due to improper take-off settings, vacuum or pulsator settings or electrical problems. Minimizing duration of milking is important because milking, by itself, is somewhat of a traumatic event. The most traumatic part of milking is the time spent in low milk ow, because the teat end vacuum tends to correlate inversely with milk ow. As milk ow drops, teat end vacuum will move toward whatever the line vacuum is. Changes that reduce milk ow tend to affect your best cows the most, because peak ow vacuum on those cows tends to be lower already. Keeping the parlor running smoothly helps you harvest the right amount of milk quickly, carefully and with comfort for the cow. Parts of this article were taken from Northern Valley Livestock Services December 2021 newsletter. 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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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022 • Page 37

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The importance of friends Page 38 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 12, 2022

Our truck engine decided to quit inexplicably fell off the oil pump so our truck functioning after a decade of mostly trouble- forgot to keep pumping oil to all its spinning bits. free service hauling cattle and hogs to-and-fro. It isn’t unusual for an engine to quit pumping oil It wasn’t a surprise, or maybe it was. I’m still and lock up. For the engine to somehow lock undecided and, as usual, stumped as to how my up while parked after driving around ne the equipment always causes day d before and then for seasoned mechanics to If iit weren’t it i to start and run just ’ ffor ffriends i d and d cock their head to the side, ne after being hauled to frown and say, “Huh, never family, some weeks would the mechanic is unusual. seen that before.” Maybe really be tough to deal with or The mechanic I took the that’s because I went to a truck to was my partner vocational technical school really expensive. from school as there are to become a mechanic and precious p few people I x all the simple problems trust t to work on things I myself, or maybe I have equipment that always could x myself were time in greater supply. fails in exceptional ways. It’s nice to own Getting our truck to the repair shop my friend exceptional things; unless, of course, the only works at required buying my brother-in-law a way they are extraordinary is in how they die. case of beer or two to haul it because I only have Similarly to how our Case 970 died without one truck, and the likelihood of it pulling the warning one day after more than 30 years of atbed trailer with itself on it wasn’t real great. chugging along because the oil pickup tube We also were supposed to haul both cattle and

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hogs to the butcher shop a couple days after it died, so I borrowed my friend’s farm truck From the Zweber Farm and bought more beer as well as a tank of diesel as thanks for the kindness. Somehow, as I alluded to earlier, shortly after the truck got into the repair shop, my friend thought it would By Tim Zweber need a new engine. But, then it magically Farmer & Columnist started right up after sitting in the shop overnight and had no oil pressure issues when tested. I went and picked it up happy I’d not need to ask another favor to borrow a friend’s truck to pick up beef from the butcher shop that day. Turns out there was something wrong with the truck, but it somehow made it the hour and a half round trip to pick up a trailer load of frozen beef only to die in a snowstorm a quarter mile from our farm. Luckily, Dad had a tractor going, the Case 970 I mentioned earlier, and towed me the last bit to the farm so we could unload the beef. If it weren’t for friends and family, some weeks would really be tough to deal with or really expensive. Again, my brother-in-law helped me out and towed the truck back where it just came from. Again, I had to hit my friend up for use of his farm truck because of course beef and hogs needed to get to the butcher shop before the truck would be back. Also, it turns out my wife has a cousin that owns an auto salvage yard, and he helped me get an engine a lot quicker than a person usually could get one. Some days it feels like if I didn’t have bad luck, I’d have none at all. Despite how big a pain it was to be without a truck for the most part of a month, I got a great reminder how important friends and family are. Hopefully this article is enough to remind you of that. There’s no need to replace your vehicle’s engine in the near future. Until next time, keep living the dream, and don’t forget to check the oil. Tim Zweber farms with his wife Emily, their three children and his parents Jon and Lisa by Elko, Minnesota.

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Taking a wee break

Every Sunday night, for an hour, my husband Rolf and I take a little trip to the Yorkshire Dales. We are transported to the beautiful scenery of pristine green hills, winding roads, stone barns, dogs wagging their tails, sheep on hillsides, horses on stately estates and of course, cows. We are viewing season two of “All Creatures Great and Small,” featuring the tales of well-known veterinarian and author James Come Full Dairy Circle Herriot. PBS Masterpiece Theater has made the tales into a series, which airs on PBS. You may have read and loved the book series as I did in the 1970s. The books no doubt inspired many through the years to pursue the veterinary profession. The plots of each of the show’s episodes move along interestingly but with the British nuances and sense of humor. I personally don’t miss the violence, chase scenes and edginess of many shows set in American cities. The series takes place in the 1930-1940 decades of a rural veterinary practice in the village of Darrowby. By Jean Annexstad It is nice watching a drama from a time when the Columnist phones were rotary, the vehicles were classic, and the main characters relax by having a few draughts at the local pub, Drover’s Arms, before going home to a delicious home-cooked meal set out lavishly on the kitchen table. I also appreciate the housekeeper’s stern command of, “Pail!” when the vets come back from their farm calls with lthy clothes needing a good soak. The practice in the story consists of a senior veterinarian, Siegfried Farnon, his younger brother Tristan, James Herriot, a new-to-the-area veterinarian who has just accepted a job with the practice, the housekeeper Mrs. Audrey Hall, and Helen Alderson, a local farmer, who is also James’ love interest. There are many plot twists and turns among the lives of the main characters; from the animals cared for at the wealthy estate owner’s horse stables to the plainer, hardscrabble sheep and cattle farms; and with pets, such as spoiled Triki Woo, a Pekingese owned by the venerable, wealthy Mrs. Pumphreys. Rolf and I both enjoy and banter about the show’s animal and veterinary references. Sometimes the British terms for things are funny and perplexing. A few weeks ago, the farmers “stirks” were sick with “husk.” The dairy heifers apparently had contracted a parasite on pasture and their prognosis was not great. We forgot to ask our own vet during that week’s herd check if he had ever treated stirks for husk. A check with Wikipedia conrms that husk is a parasitic bronchitis, a disease of sheep, cattle, goats and swine commonly known as lungworms. So, it’s no wonder that the show’s Dr. Herriot gave his diagnosis to the recently-widowed farmer with such concern. Where the show shines for us is that it does an excellent job of depicting the relationship between clients and veterinarians and also how the clinic (or surgery, as the Brit’s call it) functions to serve clients. It seems that many things are the same, no matter the decade. The animal owners and veterinarians, along with their staff, have unique problems to solve in terms of doing what is best for the animals with sometimes heart-wrenching options. The veterinarians are treated like the knowledgeable and caring professionals that they are. They take the farmer or pet owner’s plight to keep animals healthy within a reasonable cost scenario into consideration. The veterinarians often must deliver bad news, and yet they are able to do it with such care and concern. There are funny parts, of course, such as the large boar that almost rams Tristan, and when James runs from a bull and lands in the manure pile. I have to thank Rolf for the idea of reviewing this series for my column, because I was out of ideas this month. The show is a nice break every week and something to look forward to. Who knows, someday, perhaps we can see Yorkshire or some other far-ung place in person. The travel bug still bites me on occasion, and the Viking River Cruises are a main sponsor of PBS Masterpiece Theater, so maybe the bug will bite Rolf too. Until then, I am guessing we have many more cows to milk, calves to feed and crops to raise. The Yorkshire Dales on the tube, it is. If you are looking for a fun break and the series I’ve reviewed isn’t your style, I have another recommendation. “Holstein America,” the only television program of its kind that pays tribute to the nation’s dairy farms and families. The next episode airs Thursday, Feb. 10 on RFD-TV, and you can catch it on Holstein USA’s website and YouTube channel afterward. Jean dairy farms with her husband, Rolf, and brother-in-law, Mike, and children Emily, Matthias and Leif. They farm near St. Peter, Minnesota, in Norseland, where she is still trying to t in with the Norwegians and Swedes. They milk 200 cows and farm 650 acres. She can be reached at jeanannexstad@ gmail.com.

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