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February 24, 2024
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 26, No. 1
Coming together for Nehm
Leading the sustainability movement Winn spearheads pilot project, gains Farmer of the Year award By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Tractors line the streets Feb. 4 in front of Farmers’ Implement in Allenton, Wisconsin. Farmers from ve coun�es paid tribute to Cur�s Nehm on the day of his visita�on and funeral, riding in on approximately 150 tractors.
Community pays respects through tractor gathering By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
ALLENTON, Wis. — On Feb. 4, more than 350 people gathered at Farmers’ Implement in Allenton to remember and honor a special young man, Curtis Nehm. They came on tractors from ve counties to pay tribute to one of their own and support his family during a time of sorrow. “The farming community is super supportive, and a lot of people came,” said Nehm’s sister, Cheryl Asmus. “It was awesome. It was what we needed.” Nehm died in a farm accident Jan. 27 at the age of 27. On the day of Nehm’s visitation and funeral, approximately 150 tractors, a combine, a chopper, a grain truck and several service trucks lined the road in front of the implement where Nehm had worked since he was 15. They Turn to NEHM | Page 6
ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR
Jim Winn stands in a freestall barn Jan. 29 at his farm near South Wayne, Wisconsin. Winn was named the 2023 Farmer of the Year by the Field to Market organiza�on for his efforts in sustainability.
SOUTH WAYNE, Wis. — Jim Winn has a long history of conservation efforts, simply because he believes it is the right thing to do. First, he helped to form his local farmer-led watershed group, the Lafayette Ag Stewardship Alliance, expanding the conservation efforts to include more farms and more acres. This led to an active involvement in a pilot sustainability project that is measuring the impact of conservation practices on environmental metrics and farm nances. For his efforts, Winn was named the 2023 Farmer of the Year from Field to Market. Turn to WINN | Page 2
Enjoying dairy farming again Zeitlers are 9 months into robotic journey By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
COLEMAN, Wis. — The Zeitler family was losing their love of dairy farming. They were milking 180 cows in an inefcient and outdated 80-stall stanchion barn. For years, they dreamed of being able to leap to a robotic milking system — a dream they realized in 2023. “We’re nally able to start living the lifestyle we wanted,” Jerry Zeitler said. “We were working 15- and 16hour days, non-stop. Milking alone took eight or nine hours each day.” PHOTO SUBMITTED
Turn to ZEITLERS | Page 8
The Zeitler family — Connor Seefeldt (front, from le�), Michaela Zeitler and Tricia Zeitler; (back, from le�) Renee Seefeldt, Jerry Zeitler holding Colton Seefeldt and Zach Zeitler — pose in front of their robo�c milking system Jan. 31 in Coleman, Wisconsin. The Zeitlers started milking with four Lely A5 robots May 30, 2023.