April 8, 2023 Dairy Star - 1st section - Zone 2

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DAIRY ST R25

April 8, 2023

Milk usage skyrockets at West De Pere High School

By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com

DE PERE, Wis. – Students at West De Pere High School cannot get enough of the dairy product options available at Phantom Perks café. New this school year, the grab-and-go on-site café opened September 2022. Every day, kids are lining up for hot chocolate milk, iced coffee lattes, yogurt parfaits and smoothies, which are served as part of breakfast and lunch offerings.

“It was always my dream to have a coffee shop,

A deep dive into dairy

From September 2022 through February, West De Pere High School used 156 gallons of milk, 54 quarts of whipping cream and 1,020 pounds of yogurt. They sold 666 hot chocolate milks, 707 smoothies and 1,209 yogurt parfaits.

“We didn’t have any of this before,” Tilot said. “We only had cartons of milk. It’s nice to increase our dairy usage quite a bit by opening up this café.”

Tilot transformed a cement block room centrally located between the school’s two lunchrooms into a rustic one-stop shop where students can purchase these dairy-rich products along with grab-and-go meals.

and I was so excited when we were given the space at the high school to make it a

reality,” said Jennifer Tilot, nutritional director for the West De Pere school district.

“The kids absolutely love it, and the school is going through a lot more milk.”

Turn to WEST DE PERE

Ag Day at the Capitol connects farmers with legislators

By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com

MADISON, Wis. – More than 250 farmers and industry people attended Ag Day at the Capitol March 29 in Madison to hear updates on agricultural issues from the legislators themselves. Issue briefings were held in the Monona Terrace followed by a visit to the Capitol to meet legislators from their areas.

Sauk County dairy farmer Randy Roecker believes in the importance of attending the event.

“I think it’s important for

Attendees started the day

“All dairy, all the time”™

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Sherlyn Calderon (from le�), Jennifer Tilot and Miranda Uelman take a break at Phantom Perks café inside West De Pere High School March 23 in De Pere, Wisconsin. Tilot opened the café in September 2022, which offers a variety of dairy-based products, including hot chocolate milk, iced coffee la�es, yogurt parfaits and smoothies.

Panel provided insight with issue briengs

PHOTO SUBMITTED

More than 250 farmers and agriculturalists gathered March 29 to a�end Ag Day at the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. The annual event was hosted by Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federa�on. farmers to show this unity that we go up there together and march up to the Capitol,” Roecker said. “I think it’s very important that we put farmers’ faces on these problems. I’m really glad I went.”

The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation hosted the annual event.

with Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Secretary Randy

Romanski who served as the event’s keynote speaker. Romanski shed light on initiatives in the 2023-25 biennial state budget that will impact agriculture including increasing trade opportunities, investments to

the processing industry and connecting the general public with agriculture.

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The market is moving into the spring ush period, and Rabobank economist Lucas Fuess expects milk prices to remain steady. “Taking $17 to $18 milk into the second quarter may be a little bit of a struggle here for dairy farmers in the coming months, but into the second half of the year, Rabobank is expecting a demand recovery-driven course by China and hopefully providing upside to milk prices into the second half of the year,” Fuess said. Fuess admits milk prices are not protable at current levels, “especially when we consider the cost of production.”

DMC payment triggered

According to the Dairy Market Report, the Dairy Margin Coverage program is paying $1.56 per hundredweight for $9.50 per hundredweight coverage for January. From December to January, the average all-milk price dropped by $1.60 per hundredweight. That’s tied for the 10th largest monthly price drop since January 2000. The bump in soymeal costs represented two-thirds of the margin decline. Corn and premium alfalfa prices also contributed to the change.

Milk production increases

February milk production in the 24 major dairy states rose 1% from one year ago. In Wisconsin, milk cow numbers declined 3,000 head from one year ago and production dropped 0.3%. California production increased just under 1% while cow numbers rose 3,000 head.

A position of growth

Rabobank global dairy strategist Mary Ledman sees opportunities for growth for the U.S. dairy industry. “The U.S. accounts for about 15% of global dairy trade, and I

think there’s room to improve that number,” Ledman said.

Compared to other parts of the world, the U.S. has fewer regulations. “Our share in global dairy trade is growing, mostly because we don’t see the same type of environmental constraints hindering production growth,” she said.

Farm bill markup on the way

House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn “GT”

Don Wick

Thompson is preparing to mark up the new farm bill in a matter of months. “In terms of votes, I suspect we’re looking at the summer, end of spring, somewhere toward the beginning of summer,” Thompson said. Congress is mired in debate over the debt ceiling and budget cuts. Thompson said the country needs to get its scal house in order but not on the backs of the farmers.

Tai defends trade agenda

In testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai highlighted the Biden administration’s trade agenda, emphasizing U.S. agricultural exports reached record levels in 2022. Regarding the dairy industry, Tai said, “We are pressing Canada to ensure that U.S. dairy farmers are treated fairly.”

Day at the Capitol connects farmers with legislators

Con nued from AG INSIDER | Page 2

A proposed increase in CAFO permit fees

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is proposing an increase in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation permit fees. This budget proposal would raise the annual CAFO fee from $345 to $545. Previous attempts by the governor to increase these fees were rejected by the Legislature.

Avoid manure runoff

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is advising farmers to check the National Weather Service runoff risk advisory forecast before spreading manure on their elds. This forecast is updated four times per day and helps determine the potential for manure runoff based on weather conditions.

A good year for ag banks

Lending through U.S. farm banks increased to $103 billion in 2022, up more than 8% from the previous year. The American Bankers Association’s annual Farm Bank Performance Report credits the change to nearly a 10% increase in outstanding loans secured by farmland and a 6% increase in farm production loans. At the end of the year, only a fraction of 1% of the loan portfolio was delinquent.

DFA reports scal year 2022 income

Dairy Farmers of America reports 2022 net income of $108 million. A year ago, DFA had net income of $199 million. Annual sales totaled $24.5 billion, a 27% increase from 2021.

Ag census forms being accepted

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been collecting responses for the 2022 Census of Agriculture since last fall, and over 1 million questionnaires have been returned. USDA will continue to accept completed ag census forms through the spring. The census is used to help make decisions about farm policy, ag research, rural development and more.

WDE honors for Morris

Amery, Wisconsin, dairy farmer

Tom Morris is the World Dairy Expo Industry Person of the Year. Morris developed more than 200 Excellent cows and held three complete herd

dispersal sales during the 1980s. Each sale had the highest average price in the United States for the year. Tom and Sandy Morris have also managed over 500 dispersals and consignment sales through Tom Morris Ltd. Morris was behind the launch of the rst ninemonth Dairy Herdsman Technical College program in the nation and was an instructor for 10 years. Morris is also the owner/publisher of the Cattle CONNECTION dairy publication. Morris is also the chair of the World Dairy Expo Dairy Cattle Exhibitor Committee and vice president of the WDE executive committee.

PDPW presents leadership award

Professional Dairy Producers has presented the Dean Strauss Leadership Award to Mark Diederichs of Malone, Wisconsin. Diederichs is a past president and board member of PDPW.

HOF honors for Meyer

Former farm broadcaster Bob Meyer is being inducted into the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. Meyer spent over 30 years with WDLB in Marsheld, Wisconsin. That included time with the Goetz Farm Radio Network and Browneld Ag News. The induction ceremony will take place in mid-June in Elkhart, Wisconsin.

FFA alumni ofcer team elected Bobbie Jo Montgomery, of Waupaca, Wisconsin, is the new president of the Wisconsin FFA Alumni and Supporters. Grant Staszak, of Bonduel, Wisconsin, is president-elect. Nick Lowe, of Stoughton, Wisconsin, was elected vice president.

Trivia challenge

The average cow produces 46,000 glasses of milk per year. That answers our last trivia question. For this week’s trivia, what popular type of blue cheese originated in Italy? We will have the answer in our next edition of Dairy Star.

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

“This is a really good budget for agriculture,” Romanski said. “There are a lot of investments in agriculture, and a lot of these investments build on bipartisan agreement that weren’t in the last budget.”

Romanski said there will be an increase in the budget for exports on a permanent basis and increased support for watershed programs through additional staff.

More focus has been placed on the meat processing industry because the pandemic reminded consumers how important and fragile the food system is. While grants have been made and funds have been allocated to this industry already, it is being taken a step further by educating the up and coming workforce in meat processing. A program is being piloted for high school students to take a 10-day course for meat processing education.

Romanski encouraged farmers to continue to be advocates for their own industry.

“Events like Ag Day at the Capitol are great because we have the opportunity to talk on common interests,” Romanski said. “I am appreciative of your efforts and the efforts of our legislators that collectively help us move agriculture forward.”

Following Romanski’s speech, the afternoon session was a legislative panel including Sens. Howard Marklein and Joan Ballweg, and Reps. Tony Kurtz and Nancy VanderMeer.

The legislators discussed agriculture’s role in developing solutions to protect the food supply and government’s role in aiding that protection, pressing issues facing Wisconsin agriculture in the current budget cycle, and the statewide need for rural road infrastructure improvements and farmer-led conservation initiatives including producer-led watershed programming.

“We can feed ourselves, and I think the pandemic kind of highlighted how that supply chain can get disrupted,” Kurtz said. “Trust me, I’ve been around all over the world. If you start taking the food supply away from people, you will have unbelievable unrest, civil disturbance. So protecting the food supply chain is not only good for farmers, but it is also a national security issue.”

Marklein said some meat processors have had poor interactions with DATCP, and while there is a role for

government, it should be that of a supporting role.

“I’m a strong believer that our best solutions come from the private sector,” Marklein said. “Sometimes I think the best thing government can do is get out of the way and be responsible.”

Wisconsin’s budget currently shows a surplus of $7.1 billion, which Marklein said can sound better than it really is. As a member of the joint nance committee, he said that is largely one-time money. In the last three years, the federal government has sent over $65 billion to the state of Wisconsin. Those dollars are used for Paycheck Protection Program loans, stimulus checks and provides money to the governor to use at his discretion. Funding also goes toward schools.

The ongoing surplus into the future upon which expenditures can be built is about $3 billion. From that, deductions have to be made such as standard budget adjustments, costs to continue existing programs and debt service. That brings the surplus down to approximately $2.4 billion.

“That is really what I consider to be the money on which you can talk about funding schools, farm mental health and any of these programs,” Marklein said. “I think a lot of the challenges that I hear out in the public and among colleagues is how are we going to spend this money. We have to kind of dampen their expectations because I don’t think any of us want to fund ongoing programs with one time money.”

Kurtz said the most important issues in agriculture are the ones farmers care about and stressed the importance of speaking up.

“One thing that is so helpful is when organizations like the Farm Bureau come to us and tell us what your No. 1 issue is that you truly need our help on,” Kurtz said. “That’s where you come in on what your advocacy is. You need to tell us what you want to solve for rural Wisconsin in agriculture.”

Krista Dolan, Iowa County dairy farmer, said the Farm Bureau provides the opportunity to advocate.

“I’m excited to see the enthusiasm and energy with the new WFBF staff,” Dolan said. “They did a great job preparing for our day at the Capitol. Also, thank you to our elected ofcials for making time to let us share our story.”

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Sauk County dairy farmer Randy Roecker (le ) visits with Rep. Tony Kurtz March 29 at the annual Ag Day at the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. Roecker milks 250 cows near Loganville, Wisconsin, and a ended the event to advocate for the dairy industry.

Lattes are the most popular item on the menu. The latte recipe consists of four ounces of 2% milk, four ounces of cold brew coffee and three ounces of vanilla latte. There is also a selection of sugar-free syrups kids can pump into their iced coffees.

The Phantom Perks café has many regulars. Elli, a sophomore, comes to the café daily to buy lattes, while another sophomore, Leah, buys lattes and smoothies every day. Sophomore Gracie comes to the café for lattes on a regular basis as well. Joe, who is also a sophomore, is a latte lover who likes to top off his drink with crushed Oreo cookies.

“The prices are good, the people are nice, and they make good lattes,” Gracie said.

Tilot and her team offer different avored lattes for holidays and special occasions. For St. Patrick’s Day, they offered three festive avors with names like the Nutty Irishman and Pot of Gold.

“We like doing fun things like this for the kids, while still getting them to drink milk,” Tilot said.

On March 23, Tilot and her staff handed out strawberry-avored smoothie samples containing yogurt, milk, unsweetened strawberries and strawberry puree. Several kids came back to buy a smoothie after trying a sample.

“The smoothie machine just cranked up today,” Tilot said. “It was here when I started, and I said let’s do something with it.”

Tilot is hoping to make a green smoothie, featuring spinach, apples, yogurt and milk. Athletic coaches are also asking for a protein smoothie which Tilot said the school will add to its menu this spring.

In the past, smoothies were blended and put into cups, but Tilot is moving away from prepackaged smoothies.

“Smoothies come out fresh from the machine, and the kids can add toppings,” she said.

Angel, a junior at West De Pere High School, tried a smoothie for the rst time that day.

“I liked it a lot,” she said. “It’s really good, and I would come back for more.”

Tilot’s desire to offer more dairy products at West De Pere High School sprouted from her previous job in the Wrightstown Community School District. She was involved

INTRODUCING THE NEXT GENERATION OF PREMIUM DIESEL FUELS

in the Fuel Up to Play 60 national wellness program and consistently promoted dairy in the schools.

“We were surrounded by farms and toured farms, and I always wanted to promote local dairy,” Tilot said. “I’m a city girl, and I found it so interesting.”

West De Pere High School worked with Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin to source some of the equipment, such as the milk warmer used to serve hot chocolate milk. Similar in taste to hot cocoa, students can also add whipped cream to this chocolatey beverage. Tilot has also used the milk warmer to make mo-

cha milk.

“We were a test site for that product,” Tilot said. “It’s newer technology utilizing a milk barrel in which kids pour the milk from a tapper.”

Café West is another shop in the school that recently opened, and like Phantom Perks, it features different foods than the main lunch lines that are well-liked by students. Café West’s yogurt bar allows students to build their own yogurt parfait. Each bowl contains eight ounces of yogurt, and kids can add toppings like fruit, granola and chocolate chips.

Turn to WEST DE PERE | Page 9

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Sophomores Gracie Clapper and Joe Stellmach enjoy iced coffee la�es at Phantom Perks café at West De Pere High School March 23 in De Pere, Wisconsin. The la�e recipe consists of four ounces of 2% milk, four ounces of cold brew coffee and three ounces of vanilla la�e.

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Jennifer Tilot pours a strawberry smoothie from the school’s smoothie machine March 23 in De Pere, Wisconsin. Tilot is hoping to offer green and protein smoothies in the future.

The school also sells smoothie bowl meals, which include vegetables, fruits and grain – everything to make a full lunch, according to Tilot. The school offers about a dozen meal choices –many of which have dairy in them, Tilot said.

For the past three years, the school has also offered frozen yogurt. Their machine produces vanilla and another alternating avor – everything from bubble gum to chocolate cake. The yogurt can also be served as a twist.

“The frozen yogurt is extremely popular,” Tilot said. “We don’t serve it in winter, but we’ll be bringing it back again this spring.”

More than 1,000 students in grades 9 through 12 attend West De Pere High School, which also began selling Fairlife milk in March.

“It’s so popular we can’t keep it stocked,” Tilot said. “It’s nice to see kids making that healthy choice at the vending machine.”

The 14-ounce milk bottles are available in white, strawberry and chocolate avors and are also sold at Phantom Perks café.

Expanding their product selection has increased the school’s dairy consumption considerably while giving students healthy things to drink and eat. It is an effort that principal Russ Gerke nds crucial.

“I think we’re in a time where having options is very important to kids,” Gerke said. “They’re not looking for just one item; they’re looking for variety. Our team has done a good job of putting things out there, and the kids appreciate it. Some kids really rely on having a good breakfast and lunch at school, and this program helps students get their day off to a good start and maintain it throughout the day.”

Phantom Perks café is open for breakfast from 7-7:30 a.m. and again from 8:40-8:50 a.m. and during the two lunch periods that run between 10:05 a.m. and noon.

“If we’re not doing this, kids are going to drink a Mountain Dew or pick something else to eat,” Tilot said. “We’re giving them a lot of choices at Phantom Perks and Café West, and it’s great to see students choosing the healthy items. As a result, we’re increasing our milk consumption quite a bit.”

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Haley Xiong (from le ), Diego Soto and Angel Khang pose with the smoothies they purchased March 23 from Phantom Perks café inside West De Pere High School in De Pere, Wisconsin. From September 2022 through February, the school sold 707 smoothies.

BUILT TO KEEP GOING.

BECAUSE A FARM NEVER SLEEPS.

Keeping it close to home

Schultz specializes in pizzas made with home-grown, local ingredients

By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com

ATHENS, Wis. – After his parents sold their 50-cow dairy herd in 1998, Tony Schultz knew that someday he wanted to nd a way to reestablish the family’s farm as a business venture.

“I loved (the) farm, and I wanted to nd a way back,” Schultz said.

It was during his time attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison that the wheels began to turn in his head to develop a plan to do just that.

“I experienced the Dane County farmers market and was amazed at the support for local agriculture,” Schultz said. “I also learned about community-supported agriculture, and thought I had found my niche for going back to the farm.”

In 2006, Schultz returned to the farm and purchased 80 acres to set about creating an organic produce CSA, giving new birth to Stoney Acres Farm located near Athens in northern Marathon County. This year will mark his 17th year as a CSA and his 18th year attending the Wausau farmers market.

After touring a “pizza farm” in western Wisconsin, Schultz dove in to bring that business model to his own farm. He built his rst brick oven in 2010. The rst pizza nights were held as on-farm events for the partners of his CSA.

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“I loved that concept even though I had never been in the restaurant business,” Schultz said. “It was very exciting as I developed the idea. Everything used in making the pizzas, except for the cheese, is grown and made right here on the farm; and the cheese is all purchased as close to the farm as possible.”

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customer interest in the establishment. He began bringing in live music acts.

“It has really become a complete night out,” Schultz said. “You can have some really good, gourmet pizza, enjoy a couple of beers, listen to some great music and the kids can play on the playground all while you sit back and enjoy the country and farm atmosphere.”

Like most businesses, the pandemic presented a glitch for Schultz’s business plan. While the CSA remained operational, the restaurant business was stymied.

“The restaurant was shut down, and that is when I made the shift into making frozen pizzas,” Schultz said.

Gehl 100 Feed Mill

The rst pizza nights open to the public began in 2012 and were held one day a week from June through October. The rst two years, Schultz estimates he sold roughly 50 pizzas per night. By 2014, his volume had increased to anywhere from 225 to 250 pizzas a night.

Then, late in the summer of 2015, Schultz had the luck of being featured in an Emmy-winning episode of “Wisconsin Foodie,” which airs on PBS and features food destinations.

Schultz began marketing frozen pizzas at four local retailers and at the Wausau farmers market, and estimates he sells approximately 300 frozen pizzas a week.

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“After that, business just blew up, and when our season started in 2016, we were swamped with making 400 pizzas on a Friday night,” Schultz said. “We were frazzled, and the growth was stressful. But, I was not about to look a gifthorse in the mouth.”

The second and third brick ovens were built, and Schultz made the decision to open on Saturdays in addition to his traditional Friday night.

All of his pizza recipes are ones Schultz has concocted himself; some are variations of standard pizzas and others are unique creations that work in harmony with what produce is in season on his farm.

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“Transitioning to that second night helped spread out the pressure some,” Schultz said. “After that, I really started thinking of ways to embrace the growing popularity we were experiencing.”

In 2018, Schultz launched a microbrewery, making ales and ciders that are available only at Stoney Acres, which added another avenue of

In his pizza making endeavors, Schultz estimates he uses approximately 35 40-pound blocks of pizza cheese per month along with another 50 pounds of Nasonville Dairy’s bleu cheese. Schultz said he also uses fresh mozzarella from BelGioioso as well as cheese from Carr Valley and goat cheese from LaClare Creamery.

Schultz takes pride that, aside from the cheese, every ingredient for his pizzas comes directly from Stoney Acres.

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DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

Tony Schultz holds a Dairyland Delight frozen cheese pizza March 24 at Stoney Acres Farm in Athens, Wisconsin. Schultz serves pizza using home-grown and local ingredients from his on-farm restaurant.

Between 10 to 20 acres of winter and spring wheat are grown each year. Schultz mills the wheat on-site to make his own our and also uses it to feed the 120 pigs he raises each year on the farm, which provide for all of the sausage used on his pizzas. Two to three acres of tomatoes are raised each year to make the 1,500 gallons of tomato sauce which serve as the base for both his 12-inch frozen pizzas and 16-inch restaurant pizzas.

“We want to keep everything as hyper-local as we can,” Schultz said. “This is a local, diversied, organic family farm. These are the ethical and productive pillars of the farm.”

Besides the reputation Stoney Acres has earned for their pizza, Schultz said the atmosphere of spending an evening on the farm has been a cornerstone of their success.

“People come here because this looks like a farm,” Schultz said. “I have weeds, I have mud, I have old machinery sitting around. It is the real deal, and people like the pastoral setting.”

Over the course of a summer weekend, Schultz said the farm will have as many as 500 visitors. Because of the connections he is able to make with customers, Schultz was looking forward to launching his 11th restaurant season April 7 despite the mud that likely greeted the rst customers of 2023.

“We get a real mix of people,” he said. “We get a lot of foodies who come simply because of the pizzas. We get a lot of localvores who appreciate knowing exactly where their food is coming from. We get a lot of people who bring visiting family or friends because this is a neat place to share.”

DHIA FIELD REPRESENTATIVE PROFILE

What counties or area do you cover? I cover all over–my main counties are Todd, Morrison, Douglas, and Stearns, but I go to Stevens, Pope, East Otter Tail, Polk, Becker and Wadena counties on a regular basis too.

What do you enjoy about the farmers you work with? Developing the lasting relationships. They become family in a way. You know what is happening in each other’s lives and you genuinely care about them. Most farms I go to don’t really feel like work, they feel like you are just going to visit a friend for a few hours.

What do you like about your work for DHIA? Even though there is way more work to do than most would prefer, there is still a lot of exibility in the scheduling. If I need to take a day off, it is easy to make that happen. I also like that if I look out the window and the weather gives you that “absolutely not” feeling, I just send a text to the farmer to apologize. Everyone understands when the weather is bad. I have very rarely had someone give me grief about it.

What do you do in your free time? I spend MOST of my free time keeping up with my 3 and 4 year olds. They are always on the go. When I can, I like to take my horses trail riding in the summer or go somewhere warm to ride in the winter. I just got into cattle sorting in the last year. That has been a lot of fun. I also enjoy doing nonlivestock judging for 4-H for the surrounding county fairs. Lastly, I help my nieces and nephews with showing their dairy cattle in the summer because showing cattle has been part of my life since high school.

DHIA: Now MORE than ever

Sauk Centre, MN Buffalo, MN 763.682.1091

www.mndhia.org

DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

Tony Schultz waters young produce plants March 24 in the greenhouse at Stoney Acres Farm in Athens, Wisconsin. All of the ingredients for his pizzas are grown and raised on the farm, except for the cheese.

Katie Shaw

10 years with DHIA

“Most farms I go to don’t really feel like work, they feel like you are just going to visit a friend for a few hours.“

Flooding impacts dairies in California

Record rainfall, snow packs inundate Tulare County

By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com

PIXLEY, Calif. – After being ravaged by drought for nearly ve years, in California’s Central Valley, Tulare County has been inundated with rainfall and snow melt for over three months.

“They are calling this a 50- to 100-year event,” Joey Airoso said. “The last time we have experienced ooding like this was 1969. This year, we have had record rainfall combined with a record snow pack in the Sierra Nevada mountains.”

Airoso, along with his wife, Laurie, his parents, Joe and Diane, and his son and daughter-in-law, Joseph and Kelci, operate Air-Osa Dairy near Pixley in the state’s top dairy area of Tulare County. The Airosos milk 2,900 head of primarily Holstein cows with a few Jerseys added to the mix. They farm 1,500 acres of cropland where they raise corn, wheat, alfalfa and pistachios.

“The ooding really started with a storm that came through the end of February,” Airoso said. “We had snow in areas of California

Feb. 25 where it is nearly unheard of even on the beaches. Then a week later, we had a warm rain that melted all of the snow below 4,000 feet. All of that rain, plus that snow melt, came down toward us.”

Over the past month, Airoso said the Central Valley has experienced a great deal

of rainfall, including two days with rainfall totals over 3 inches each. Airoso said this winter’s rainfall total is over four times that of an average winter, and that the snow pack in the mountains is two to three times its normal depth.

“Two years ago, in Pixley, we got less than onetenth of an inch of rain all winter, and there have been winters where have gotten 3 inches of rain throughout the entire winter,” Airoso said.

Airoso said there are several ood control dams located between nearby Fresno and Tulare that are typically able to contain the snow melt the area relies heavily on for moisture.

“They usually try not to have those full until the end of the winter, but after that storm, they lled up,” Airoso said. “Now we are getting the rain plus the dams have to release some water.”

Fields around Air-Osa Dairy in Pixley, California, are underwater. The area has been inundated with heavy rains for over three months. Many farms in California’s

Several factors played a role in how the water has come down through the

Central Valley, Airoso said. Those include a lack of maintenance on aging infrastructure as well as a general lack of enough infrastructure.

“Before 1969, there was massive ooding in 1955, and that is when most of these ood control measures were built to alleviate that issue during future events,” Airoso said. “But here we are 68 years later still relying on that same infrastructure.”

Updating ood control infrastructure is something agricultural groups have been promoting for several years, Airoso said. Funding and approval from the state nally came in the last couple of years, but the updating projects have not yet been completed.

“If the updates had been completed and in place, I think the water could have been better managed to avoid the severe ooding,” Airoso said.

Airoso pointed to heavy state regulations and environmental policy as being

roadblocks to ensuring infrastructure is up to date.

“There are people in this state who do not understand what we do, how we do it or why we do it,” Airoso said. “Those people want things to look like they did 100 years ago despite the fact that over 40 million people live here now.”

While the ooding creates certain issues for residents of the Central Valley, Airoso said he is thankful for the relief from the drought.

“The last 12 months we have been in dire straits,” Airoso said. “Last July, people started to run out of water.”

California farmers are regulated in the amount of water they can use from underground, Airoso said.

“You can only take out as much as what goes in based on how much precipitation, snow melt and surface water recharges the aquifer,” Airoso said.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Tulare Lake near Tulare, California, is normally very low due to drought but has overowed its banks this spring and con nues to cover farmland and force evacua ons. Joey Airoso, who farms in Tulare County, said those in the region are growing concerned about how much farther the lake will con nue to spread.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Central Valley are being forced to relocate ca le.

California’s

Airoso said the heavy rainfall and ooding issues have created additional levels of stress for both animals on his farm and the people trying to care for them. Airoso said about 10 farms in the Tulare County have had to relocate their cattle, and about that many are in the same situation in the Fresno area as well.

“We are lucky that we are not in an area where farms have had to relocate away from the ooding,” Airoso said. “One of our farms is about a half-mile from another farm that had to move. For now, we are just dealing with a lot of water and doing a lot of pumping.”

With continued heavy rains predicted, Airoso said increasing water levels remains a concern. Many roads in the area have been closed due to ooding and ood-related damage. As water levels in Tulare Lake continue to rise, Airoso said additional farms are being notied of pending evacuations.

Airoso voiced concern over the coming cropping season.

“We are normally planting our early corn by now and getting ready for our rst cutting of hay,” he said. “Even if we didn’t get another drop of rain, it will still be three weeks before we can get into the elds.”

In a typical year, Airoso said they make hay from March through November, and said they will probably for certain lose one crop of hay.

“That will denitely have an impact on feed availability,” Airoso said. “Feed prices are already up, particularly for roughages, because of the drought.”

Those pressures, coupled with a recent softening in milk prices, has Airoso concerned about increasingly tight margins in the near future.

“The impacts of this will be felt for a while, especially for those who have had to relocate,” he said. “The roads and other infrastructure that have been damaged will take a long time to repair and have a long-term impact on trucking in our area. And then there is the question of how it will affect crop production for this growing season.”

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Central Valley is being impacted by ooding caused by historic rainfall and snowpacks in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The wet weather pa ern follows a nearly ve-year drought.

F r o m O u r S i d e From Our Side

O f T h e F e n c e Of The Fence

Jim Briggs

Stratford, Wisconsin

Marathon County

100 cows

How many acres do you farm? What crops do you grow? We have 240 acres of pasture, silage corn and forage crops. What cover crops do you plant? We rotational graze and are heavy on forages. I consider that our primary cover crops.

How long have you been utilizing cover crops? We have dabbled with trying covers in corn a few times and hope to do more.

Explain your crop rotation and how cover crops play an important role in that system. Pasture is long-term and hay elds are generally a 4- to 5-year stand. Most of our corn is one or two years before going back to hay.

What benets have you seen since implementing cover crops? We have seen less erosion in heavy rain events.

Tell us your best and worst experiences with planting cover crops. When we tried it in corn, it was during difcult years to get the timing right with the weather. There is more cover crop equipment available in the area now which makes it easier to get planted.

What are the most important things you have learned since you started planting cover crops and what adjustments did you make as a result to increase success with cover cropping? You need to learn what works best with what you have soil-wise. You need to know what you are wanting to accomplish as far as improving your soil. You have to be continually looking at your results and re-evaluating what you are doing.

Tell us about your farm. We milk about 100 cows on two farms. The cows are a mix of Jerseys and Holsteins. We have one part-time employee and one full-time employee plus myself. My wife helps whenever she is home from her off-farm job. We have one son in Wisconsin who helps on the farm at certain times. We do apprenticeships through Stratford High School and the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship program. Milk from both farms is shipped to Mullins Cheese.

CORRECTION

In the March 25 issue of Dairy Star, a quote within the story “Carbon market experts discuss opportunities” was incorrect. Ryan Stockwell, a project developer, was misquoted as saying, “Carbon credits are tied to a commodity, which simplies payment structure.” Rather, it should have said, “Supply chain insets are tied to a commodity, which simplies payment structure.” Dairy Star staff regrets this error.

Joe (left) and Mark Loehr Mount Calvary, Wisconsin Fond du Lac County 600 cows

How many acres do you farm? What crops do you grow? We farm 1,030 acres and grow corn, an alfalfa/ grass/clover blend, wheat and sorghum.

What cover crops do you plant? Winter triticale, winter rye, tillage radishes, crimson clover, Austrian winter peas and full-season mixes after winter wheat.

How long have you been utilizing cover crops? We have been doing cover crops for 15 years. The last ve years have been with 100% covers. We originally did it to grow more feed. That evolved into realizing the benets of living roots year-round. We also were seeing more compaction from liquid manure application and realized it could be a way to hold soil structure during manure application. We are now 100% no till and regard cover crops as essential to nutrient cycling and soil health improvement.

Explain your crop rotation and how cover crops play an important role in that system. We plant 40% to 50% of our land to corn each year. We try to minimize corn-on-corn acres by putting corn on anything that was not corn the previous year. Wheat is followed by a full season cover crop or occasionally planted to alfalfa.

What benets have you seen since implementing cover crops? Reduction in soil erosion from surface water and wind is the clear one. Looser, more porous soil and better plant health in our crops are also benets we have seen.

Tell us your best and worst experiences with planting cover crops. Our best experiences are having unexpected high-quality forages to harvest when other plans were derailed by weather. We have green chopped in both fall and spring on cover crops when needing extra forage or when rain delayed planting. The worst experiences were in 2018 and 2019 when incessant rains prevented timely planting of cover crops.

What are the most important things you have learned since you started planting cover crops and what adjustments did you make as a result to increase success with cover cropping? Seeding rates are important for specic goals. Timing of termination of the cover matters. Covers do not need to be harvested to be valuable (often on the contrary). The energy from the sun can be captured and used to improve soil throughout the year.

Tell us about your farm. We farm with our wives and children and 10 employees, milking 600 Holsteins and Brown Swiss cows. Our herd is housed in free stalls and compost-bedded pack pens and milked in a swing-12 parlor. Our milk is sold to Baker Cheese.

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Explain your crop rotation and how cover crops play an important role in that system.

Dennis Vogt Manitowoc, Wisconsin Manitowoc County

90 cows

How many acres do you farm? What crops do you grow? We farm about 200 acres. We grow alfalfa, corn for silage and high-moisture corn, and some winter wheat. What cover crops do you plant? In the fall, after we have an old hay eld that grows out or a eld we take corn silage off of, we like to plant a mixture of half barley and half winter wheat. Sometimes, we plant a little rye with barley instead of wheat.

How long have you been utilizing cover crops? Why did you decide to implement this practice? We have been planting cover crops for about seven years, mostly for erosion control and to save fuel. The rst year we tried it, we had real wet weather the following spring and had a small window to get crops planted. It worked out good having the cover crops because it allowed us to get our corn planted in time. We went right out with the corn planter and no tilled corn into the cover crop. We were able to nish planting in one day instead of two. We got a really good crop, and that is kind of what sold us on doing cover crops.

Explain your crop rotation and how cover crops play an important role in that system. We usually have a eld in alfalfa for four years, and then we switch to corn for two years before seeding it back down to alfalfa again. I like planting cover crops after taking old hay out in the fall. We kill off old hay and then plant a cover crop in September. The following spring, we just no till corn into it. After the cover crop comes up in the fall, we have the manure applicator put 6,000 or 7,000 gallons of manure on. We incorporate it real lightly into the growing cover crop. If we have

Jack Herricks

Cashton, Wisconsin

Monroe County

600 cows

How many acres do you farm? What crops do you plant? We farm 1,400 acres and grow alfalfa, grain corn, silage corn, oat and rye.

What cover crops do you plant? Oat and rye.

How long have you been utilizing cover crops? We’ve been doing cover crops for alfalfa seeding my entire farming career. We have been doing cover crops after corn silage for 20 years. We did cover crops with oat and alfalfa because we needed that kind of forage, and also, I didn’t want to leave the ground exposed so long before the new alfalfa got going. The cover crops on corn silage ground is for erosion control and to put some green matter back into the soil.

Explain your crop rotation and how cover crops play an important role in that system. Wherever we harvest corn silage, we grow rye after. And then wherever we’re going to grow new alfalfa, we use oat with it. For raising heifers and feeding dry cows, we can use a good amount of the small grain forage. A big advantage is not only does it help prevent erosion but it keeps the elds weed free in spring which makes planting in clean elds much easier.

What benets have you seen since implementing cover crops? Less erosion. It aids in our efforts to keep something green on the landscape. It also helps with weed control, and when the cover crop gets sprayed out and usually it’s 8-12 inches tall, it drives down and puts a mat on the soil and decomposes into the soil and helps instill organic matter. It also helps with keeping manure in place.

enough time the next spring, we’ll put on another 6,000 to 7,000 gallons of manure before planting. If it's getting too late, then we skip the manure and just no till into it.

What benets have you seen since implementing cover crops? We have less erosion, good crops, we save a lot of fuel, and we don’t have to pick as many stones. Fall tillage took a lot of fuel because we go pretty deep.

Tell us your best and worst experiences with planting cover crops. Our best experience occurred the rst year we did cover crops when we were able to get the corn in during a one-day window. Our worst experience was last year when we tried some rye. We put a little manure on in the spring and had to work it up to get it level. We pulled up a lot of the rye’s root system, making it hard to get a nice seed bed with the corn. If we didn’t have to work it in the spring, I think rye would be good. That is why we go with barley and wheat instead.

What are the most important things you have learned since you started planting cover crops and what adjustments did you make as a result to increase success with cover cropping? We try to let that cover crop get growing as early as possible in the fall before putting manure on, and we try to not put too much manure on. We have also learned that if we plant rye, we should not work it up in the spring. In the future, we might be looking at getting a vertical till machine that will allow us to work the ground real lightly without disturbing the root system so much.

Tell us about your farm. I am the third generation on this farm which my grandfather started around 1900. I farm with my wife, Rachel, who helps full time with milking and the books. Our son, Reuben, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls two years ago and is with us full time as well. His wife, Kalley, helps feed calves, and our son, John, also helps feed calves. Our daughter, Grace, who works in health care in Wisconsin Rapids, still helps us out as well when she is home. We milk about 90 cows in a straight-6 at barn parlor, and our milk is shipped to Land O’Lakes in Kiel, Wisconsin.

Tell us your best and worst experiences with planting cover crops. Actually, it has been a pretty easy thing. The toughest part of it is if we have a late corn silage harvest and to get some manure spread and then get the rye in the ground that it’s going to have time to germinate and establish before it freezes. One experience 3-4 years ago was we had a late corn silage harvest, and we didn’t get the rye going until Oct. 20, and it didn’t germinate. I go walking every day, and when you walk the same path every day, you notice a lot of things that you’ve never seen before. So here I was out walking Dec. 28. It had warmed up and all of a sudden here’s all these red spikes. The rye had germinated and sprouted up between Christmas and New Year’s. That was the worst and best case scenario all at once. I’ve learned from tapping the maples in the spring of the year that spring hasn’t really sprung until the rye breaks dormancy and starts greening up. Then you know the ground is warm enough and spring has arrived.

What are the most important things you have learned since you started planting cover crops and what adjustments did you make as a result to increase success with cover cropping? I’ve seen that it doesn’t cost much more to put a little more seed on the ground. If you're going to be late getting the cover crops in, put a little more seed on and you’re still going to get a better ground cover. That is an adjustment you have to make on the y when you see how the season is panning out. You can go by a general time frame, but every fall is a little different.

Tell us about your farm. Principals are my wife Pat and I; the next generation is our daughter and son-in-law and our son and daughter-in-law; and nephew, Ben. Some of the grandsons work on the farm as school allows. In the past, granddaughters have helped, too, but now, they’re in college and working. We have a number of employees. Our farm supports quite a number of families. We milk 600 cows in a double-8 herringbone parlor. We’ve shipped our milk to Foremost Farms for 45 years. This will be my 51st planting season. I’m pretty proud of the fact that our farm is a century farm, and we’ve got generations that are actively working and involved and I have high hopes there are more generations to come after us.

Paving their way to genetic success

Describe your facilities and list your breeding management team. We milk in a 35cow tiestall facility which has been completely remodeled since coming back to Sarah’s parents’ farm in fall 2017. Calves and heifers are housed in loose bedding with bred heifers/dry cows and milk cows grazing pastures in the summer.

Aaron does all the articial insemination. Bull selection and mating choices are a joint decision between Aaron and Sarah. We work with Cashton Vet Clinic and Dr. Andrew Mason to achieve our reproductive and herd goals.

What is your current pregnancy rate? With being a smaller dairy, this is not something we necessarily calculate. If we had to estimate, we would guess it is around 35%.

What is your reproduction program? We currently have a voluntary waiting period of around 65 days. During summer months, we rely heavily on Estrotect patches. If cows are not showing natural heats, we typically run them through a standard ovsynch protocol or G7, whichever is advised by our vet. With heifers, we prefer to breed natural heats. If no heat

is shown, we will have them ultrasounded to conrm an appropriate stage in their cycle, give them a shot of Lutalyse and will breed once their patch is changed. With being a smaller herd, we can closely monitor our cows and know which ones should be returning when and can watch for heats that way.

Describe your breeding philosophy. Our main breeding philosophy is to get cows pregnant within a timely manner to reduce our calving intervals. Milking in a tiestall barn does not allow for much grace when it comes to inventory, so we have to be pretty particular about the number of incoming heifers and how long we want to keep breeding certain cows. We also strive to breed high type, functional animals. We recently classied our herd of Holsteins for the rst time and had two homebred Excellent cows and a BAA just over 106. To many that might not seem like a lot, but it was a great starting place for us as we venture down the registered cattle path. Aaron follows a lot of social media to see what mating decisions are being made in the industry. We also enjoy taking the time to attend World Dairy Expo and inquire about various family lines

happy with the results, which included two EX-90 cows and an 86-point 2-year-old. All but one of the 25 homebred cows scored Good or be er, with over 50% of the herd scoring Very Good or above.

and what mating decisions are working for the breeds.

What guidelines do you follow to reach the goals for your breeding program? We focus

very heavily on Red and White bulls for our herd. We use sexed semen primarily on our highend cows and heifers. Everything else on the farm will receive Angus semen. Cows and heifers that struggle to settle after two services of sexed semen will receive Angus on the third and following services.

What are the top traits you look for in breeding your dairy herd and how has this changed since you started farming? We try to pick bulls with sound feet and legs, good production traits, and high type characteristics. As stated above, we use mostly Red and White bulls which has started to become an issue with the shrinking genetic pool. Since we started making the breeding decisions, we have now begun using more red carrier bulls and have tried to implement more corrective mating. Having a Holstein classier talk us through each animal really opened our eyes to how we can better make corrective decisions to breed even better cattle.

Aaron & Sarah Schmitz Red Line Ridge Holsteins and Jerseys | Ontario, Wisconsin | 40 cows

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Sarah Schmitz and her husband, Aaron, milk their cow, Red Line Ridge Punch Rudy EX-90, at their farm near Ontario, Wisconsin. The Schmitzes classied for the rst me this year and were

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The Engels milk 184 cows at Luck-E Holsteins, Hampshire, Ill. The dams of the milk herd average EX92. They have bred over 600 EX, including both sides of the pedigree of Luck-E Awesome Adventure EX94 96MS, 2022 Illinois Cow of the Year. Joe’s 9-year-old son Blake showed her at World Dairy Expo.

Adventure (above) was 2022 WDE International Type and Production winner and nominated Junior All-American.

“We want fresh, crisp, perfect udders by 10 to 21 days in milk. Udder Comfort gets udders spot-on, all the way ready, fast. We had many young cows just fresh and showring ready at our sale in 2019,” says Joe, as he and Matt prepare 170 lots, many fresh in March for the ‘Best of Luck-E’ in April.

What are certain traits you try to avoid? We try our best to avoid a negative daughter pregnancy rate which can be a struggle with higher type bulls. Many of the class winners at WDE were sired by bulls with extremely negative DPRs, which is frustrating as we see the value of using these bulls but do not want to risk the loss of fertility. We also try to avoid negative milk, poor udder composites and incorrect leg sets.

Describe the ideal cow for your herd. Our ideal cow would be one that is around for numerous lactations (more than ve). She has produced stylish and functional daughters. She breeds back easily each lactation, has little to no health issues and acts youthful even in old age. She may never reach the coveted score of an Excellent cow, but she’s come awfully close (87+ points) and has paved her way with production data.

What role does genetics have in reaching the goals of your farm? At the end of the day, the cows are what pay the bills. If we can continue to produce animals that milk well and score high, we can capitalize on both milk and genetics. Plus, we all know that farming is no easy task, but waking up to a barn full of beautiful, well-balanced cows makes the job a little bit easier.

What percentage of your herd is bred to sexed, conventional and beef semen? We currently use sexed semen on the top 30%-40% of our cows. All other cows receive Angus semen. After making some changes to our heifer protocols, we are now using around 65% Angus and 35% sexed semen in our virgin heifers.

What is your conception rate? How does this differ with different types

Aaron Schmitz prepares cows for classica on at his farm near Ontario, Wisconsin. Aaron milks 40 cows with his wife, Sarah, and her parents, Sco and Genise Wi

of semen? We do not track our conception rate. We denitely see a higher conception rate with the use of Angus semen, but we have also been fortunate with our successes using sexed semen in our mature cows. This has undoubtedly allowed us to make greater genetic advancements by producing daughters out of our top cows and keeping the offspring of lower-end animals out of the herd.

What is the greatest lesson you have learned through your breeding program? The biggest lesson we have learned is that not every heifer out of a great cow is going to turn out. We were using a lot of sexed semen in our heifers, and once they calved in, they may have not been the heifer we envisioned them

to be and were then stuck with a calf that we weren’t sure what to do with. We have gone to using a lot more Angus in our heifer program until we know the type of udder that heifer will put on and how she will perform. Once she has proven she possesses the traits we are breeding for, she then may receive sexed semen as a lactating cow.

What is the age of your heifers at rst service? Before remodeling the barn, we were breeding heifers around 12 months of age to calve them in with a smaller frame to accommodate the stalls in the barn. Prior to the remodel, stalls were 58 inches in length. Now that we have remodeled the barn and lengthened the stalls to 65 inches and 72 inches in

length, we typically hold off until at least 14 months of age for rst service. We have enough feed and heifer space that we are OK with holding off on rst service to allow for larger-framed, rstcalf heifers.

How does your heifer inventory affect your breeding program? For a while, we were keeping every single heifer calf which led to an abundance of replacements. This allowed us to cull out a lot of cows with undesirable traits or health concerns, which has further improved the herd. Due to our successes with breeding, we have been able to cut back on the number of replacements needed. By not needing as many replacement heifers, we have been able to capitalize on the added value of beef-cross calves. We have also been able to purchase sexed semen of higher-end bulls and mate them with our top cows.

Tell us about your farm. We farm alongside Sarah’s parents, Scott and Genise Witt. Sarah is the fth generation on the family dairy and works off the farm as an agriculture teacher/FFA advisor. We have two young children, Tanner and Aubrey, so we keep busy. The farm includes over 220 acres which is used to grow our own feed for the cattle. We have registered Holsteins and a handful (or two) of registered Jerseys. By remaining small, the farm has been able to maintain its protability. Each year we strive to continue to make small improvements to ensure the legacy of the family dairy can continue on for generations to come. We enjoy watching our kids interact with the animals that we are so passionate about and hope that one day, they will continue breeding and developing our cow families with similar goals in mind.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

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Closing the chapter on their career

Meyers retire from dairying after 42 years

By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com

WESTBY, Wis. – When 3 p.m. rolls around, Steve and Linda Meyer take a break for their afternoon coffee, like they have been doing throughout their 42 years of marriage and farming career. The team has seen good times in raising their children and grandchildren on the farm coupled with bad times bringing low milk prices and health issues.

Now, the couple is retiring from dairying. Their herd of 70 cows was sold March 29 at Premier Livestock and Auctions in Withee.

“It will be kind of nice to slow down,” Steve said.

Linda is looking forward to spending more time with her husband and their grandchildren. The couple plans to eventually move to the Appleton area to be closer to their youngest grandchildren. Linda plans to run an in-home day care as well.

“She followed my dreams and helped me all these years, and now, it’s my turn to let her

have her dream,” Steve said. “I’d love to do that for her, but I am going to miss doing this.”

When they were rst married, Steve and Linda farmed at a few different places, working for shares. In 2004, they bought their current farm from Steve’s dad.

“I was always asking my dad when he was going to quit, and he would never give me an answer because he still had kids at home,” Steve said. “Then one day he called me out of the blue and asked if I would buy the farm.”

Although they waited a year before taking his dad up on the offer, Steve and Linda eventually bought the farm and moved their cows in. They also bought a lot of the machinery, which was not in great condition but still was a place to start.

“I feel lucky that we did it the way we did,” Steve said. “It got us through the rst year.”

They milked 70 cows in a tiestall barn. When they rst moved to the property, they used a Harvestore silo and baled hay. One of the rst things they upgraded was adding a stationary mixer to the operation. Steve said the cows responded nicely.

“I had it mapped out in my head before I moved here because I knew how I was going to set it up,” Steve said. “The

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total mixed ration has made a huge difference.”

Steve said that before moving to his dad’s farm, they never averaged much more than 60 pounds of milk per cow. Since managing the feed-

ing system differently, however, they have stayed around 80 pounds per cow. They also quit using the Harvestore and switched to bag storage.

The farm has about 140 acres total, with 90 of them till-

able. With the cows gone, the couple will not need to plant a crop this year. They are trying to decide how to manage the land.

Turn to MEYERS | Page 25

ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR

Steve and Linda Meyer stand among their cows March 20 at their farm near Westby, Wisconsin. The Meyers are re ring from milking cows a er 42 years of farming together.

Con nued from MEYERS | Page 23

“We wanted to be able to rent it out to a younger person to get started and go on shares, but it isn’t really viable to bring somebody else into it,” Steve said. “We’ve learned a lot about budgeting over the years.”

Steve’s health has been a challenge for the couple as he has battled diverticulitis which turned into multiple hernias and surgeries. Linda said Steve’s ill health placed him in the hospital often.

“In the 42 years we’ve been married, he’s had seven surgeries,” Linda said. “I kept the place going.”

a few years now and turned out to be very good help. He’s done very well for us.”

Satona’s wife, Holly, and the Meyers’ children showed cows together when they were young. They usually placed high with cows from the Meyer herd and one cow in particular won a couple times.

“When I started here, I started using the best of the best bulls,” Steve said. “I was spending a lot of money breeding the cows, and it made a heck of a difference. It really showed. And now, boy it’s hard to give up that cow and not know what’s going to be-

All of the illness and surgeries have left Steve with congestive heart failure and problems with his lungs. While Linda helps when she is not working off the farm, Steve does a majority of the chores with the help of his hired hand.

“It’s put a lot of pressure on her (Linda),” Steve said. “Mike Satona has been here

come of her. She’s still everything she was.”

While they are anticipating life without cows, Linda agreed it will be an adjustment.

“We have a lot of good cows out there,” Linda said. “He missed out on a lot of things so to be able to enjoy our grandchildren will be nice.”

Steve Meyer does chores March 20 at his farm near Westby, Wisconsin. It was one of the last mes he would do so before his cows sold at auc on March 29.

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“She followed my dreams and helped me all these years, and now, it’s my turn to let her have her dream. I’d love to do that for her, but I am going to miss doing this.”

STEVE MEYER, RETIRED DAIRY FARMER

ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR Heifers are housed in a loose housing barn a ached to the estall barn at Steve and Linda Meyer’s farm near Westby, Wisconsin. Youngstock will be sold at a later date.

Sharing their story one video at a time

Gieroks advocate for agriculture through social media

By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com

INDEPENDENCE, Wis.

– Aaron Gierok sees his family farm through the lens of a video camera.

As often as he can, Aaron takes time off of work and makes the one hour commute to his home farm to help his dad with chores and projects. While he is there, he documents their work and shares edited videos on YouTube. His work has earned him more than 32,000 subscribers

“People get to see a more old school farm like this that dad built,” Aaron said. “It’s in a beautiful spot, and they can see that the small farm still works.”

Aaron’s parents, George and Mary Gierok, milk 45 cows in a tiestall barn near Independence. Aaron grew up helping his parents on the dairy along with his three siblings. While he has been lming videos since 2017, Aaron started the YouTube channel in 2021 as a way to advocate for agriculture and his family’s small farm.

Since purchasing the farm 32 years ago, George has add-

ed hand-crafted buildings and fences to the farm, which adds to its character. Whether it is a heifer shed or a carving, woodworking is a creative outlet for George and is something the viewers seem to appreciate.

“We are getting to be kind of a niche by keeping this place the way we are keeping it,” George said. “I think it’s so cool that now he can document all this stuff.”

Aaron uses a GoPro camera to lm the videos. He has a custom-built tripod with a magnet that he uses to mount the camera to the fenders of tractors, on top of balers, on barn walls or wherever else the action might be taking place.

When Aaron rst started, he shared one video every other week. Once the channel garnered a larger audience, he increased the posts to twice a week. He now shares three videos a week. Each video is between 10 and 20 minutes long. While he is getting faster at editing them, Aaron said initially it took about an hour of editing for every 2-3 minutes of video.

“I’ve learned by looking up tutorial videos or just trying it out myself,” Aaron said. “I never took any classes for this in high school.”

All of the efforts have created a community of followers on the social media channel. The demographic is mostly people aged 55 and older, but Aaron has started to see a shift

with the addition of younger subscribers. Aaron said he has learned from the comments people leave on the videos.

“I think our community has been super positive,” Aar-

on said. “There is a wealth of knowledge, especially with an older audience.”

Turn to GIEROKS | Page 27

ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR

Aaron Gierok (le ) stands with his dad, George Gierok, March 7 on their farm near Independence, Wisconsin. The Gieroks milk 45 cows and manage a YouTube channel which shares videos of their daily work.

When Aaron bought a John Deere planter, he posted a video about it and asked if any viewers had advice for how to operate and maintain the equipment, because his dad had always used an International planter in the past. Aaron said people were quick to share their experiences, and three different people mailed literature to the channel’s registered post ofce box.

“One guy was a mechanic who did a lot of custom planting and sent a whole notepad of information,” Aaron said. “The neat thing was this old guy wanting to pass on his knowledge to this younger guy.”

Aaron used to try to respond to every comment on the videos, but as their list of subscribers has grown, it has not remained possible. The father and son duo occasionally post a Q&A video where they try to respond to questions asked in the comments. Other times,

they will begin a new video by answering a couple questions from other posts.

Most of the videos are of daily chores and other projects that are normal for the Gieroks like cutting rewood or machinery maintenance but may be interesting to someone who does not live the lifestyle of a small dairy farmer.

“What I’m learning with social media is the simpler the better,” Aaron said. “To us, it seems really monotonous like feeding cows again, but to a viewer, it can be a totally different video than the last one.”

Between doing the work to lm the videos and then going through the editing process, Aaron said he is happy with the return he gets from his efforts.

“I’m not investing a crazy amount of money or anything; it’s mainly just time,” Aaron said. “It’s allowed us to create a history book in a way.”

ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR

Aaron Gierok sets up a camera March 7 to lm ac vi es on his family’s farm near Independence, Wisconsin. Gierok posts videos to his YouTube channel, Gierok Farms, which has over 32,000 subscribers.

ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR

Heifers eat hay March 7 at the Gierok farm near Independence, Wisconsin. George Gierok and his son, Aaron, post videos to their YouTube channel showing their unique buildings and small-scale dairy farming methods.

IN DAIRY women

Family: I farm with my husband, John, and his parents, Dave and Sandy.

Tell us about your farm. We crop about 500 acres and raise our heifers. We also raise a few steers every year for butchering. John is the third generation, and we milk in a double-8 Surge parallel parlor. Our milk goes to Grassland Dairy Products.

What is a typical day like for you on the dairy? I wake up at 4:30 a.m. to milk. I am usually out of the barn by 7 a.m. Then, I feed the baby calves, push up feed to everything else and check the heifers for any sick ones. I also check who needs bedding and who needs more feed. Then, I go in to make breakfast. During the day, I push up feed and check the dry cows every two hours. Every couple of days, we sort animals that need to be moved. Then, it is time

Katie Noth Wilton, Wisconsin Monroe County 110 cows

for chores again. In the summer, when John is busy with eldwork, I am mostly on my own for night chores.

What decision have you made in the last year that has beneted your farm? We made the decision to rely on bull breeding which has turned out very well. We also put an addition on the calf barn last year, and the calves have been doing so much better. We added a 24by 36-foot area that is a large weaned pen. We added a couple more huts as well. It’s nice because everyone has a roof now, and they are staying much healthier.

Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. When we were rst married, we had a pet cow have twins on some rented pasture land. One of the calves ended up in the creek, and I had to go down and sh it out. It was OK and had not drowned or anything, but it was unusual to have to go in after a calf in the creek.

What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the dairy industry? I have really enjoyed working with all the animals, from calves to cows. I like being independent and not having a boss per se.

What is your biggest accomplishment in your dairy career? Coming from a military background, it was an adjustment to settle down and stay in one place on a farm. I am proud we are actually succeeding and not struggling.

What are things you do to promote your farm or the dairy industry? I share photos on Facebook and talk to people in different groups who need advice about raising bottle calves and things like that.

What advice would you give another woman in the dairy industry? Just be patient. You will gure it out. Don’t be afraid to ask another person like your nutritionist or someone who deals with other farms.

When you get a spare moment, what do you do? Sit down and rest.

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Consistent disease recording is important

By Isaac Haagen

Inconsistent recording on the farm can impact herd metrics. It is hard to benchmark or make decisions without the whole picture. Therefore, accurate and complete records are important when analyzing a herd. However, one area of the farm that often lacks consistent, accurate records is youngstock.

This certainly became apparent during my Ph.D. while researching disease resistance in calves and heifers. I spent a lot of time looking at herd records and was tasked with extracting disease data from herd management software like DairyComp and PCDart. These software programs allow producers to record and track many performance and life events for animals including disease events. This task ended up being more daunting than anticipated due to the amount of variation in disease recording, both across and within farms.

Take calf scours, for example. Across six herds that were recording calf scours in herd management software, we observed over 15 different

names related to scours. Within a single herd, it was common to have two or more events for calf scours. Some farms may record “dia” for diarrhea while others may abbreviate scours as “scr.” Some of the variation was simply due to spelling. The same was true for calf respiratory disease, as we recorded over 20 unique events across herds.

This can impact herd metrics. For example, Herd A uses only “resp” as the event name for calf respiratory disease. The incidence of calf respiratory disease in this scenario is simply the proportion of all calves that had a “resp” event recorded. If there were 20 calves that had a “resp” event recorded out of 100 calves, then the incidence of calf respiratory disease for Herd A would be 20%.

However, as I previously stated, many herds use two or more event names for a single disease. Herd B also has 20 calves out of 100 that have had a respiratory disease event recorded. However, Herd B uses “resp” and “pneu” as event names for calf respiratory disease. This herd has ve “resp” events and 15 “pneu” events

recorded across the 100 calves. In this scenario, it is important that Herd B adds both events together when calculating calf respiratory disease incidence. If the herd only included “resp” events, then their incidence of calf respiratory disease would be only 5%, which is severely underestimated when compared to the correct 20%. It is only by ensuring that all event codes are included in the calculation that a realistic estimate is obtained.

What can you do? First is to routinely monitor animals and check for signs of disease. This is critical to making sure you are identifying most diseased animals. Next, record the data. I highly recommend recording in the herd management software that you use on your farm. When you do record, keep disease event names simple and recognizable. For instance, create one event for calf scours and one event for calf respiratory disease.

Dana Adams, adam1744@umn.edu

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Joe Armstrong armst225@umn.edu

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It is important to utilize these records for benchmarking and decisions. Benchmarking can be done by comparing yourself to recommended targets. For preweaned calves, the Dairy Calf and Heifer Association has established the following goals: Keep scours treatment below 15% and respiratory disease treatment below 10%. Further, benchmark your herd against your historical data. Routine benchmarking may help in identifying any worrisome upward trends in your herd that require intervention or help identify if a recent change has been benecial. Finally, while I have mainly discussed disease recording, make sure you are recording all relevant data for youngstock such as breeding dates and culling codes. Happy data recording.

Les Hansen hanse009@umn.edu

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Precision technologies for dairy grazing systems

Pasture-based dairy herds continue to grow in the United States as the demand for grass-fed and continued sustainable farming practices increases.

Sustainable farming practices may be achieved with connement dairy herds; however, the increased expense of dairy farming has caused farmers to adopt different management styles within their dairy herds. Animal welfare and cow comfort must be a priority within pasturebased dairy herds; however, unlike in connement herds, cattle are not always within eyesight of employees. Therefore, precision dairy technologies allow for cattle to be monitored continuously without constant human observation. Monitoring daily behaviors such as feeding, ruminating, resting or lying, and active time can aid in understanding animal health and productivity. Farmers that want to increase overall production efciency should consider implementing precision dairy technologies.

eating time, ruminating time, lying time and standing time may be continuously collected. Once data are processed through algorithms, they can be categorized into specic behaviors or health and estrus alerts. The data can then be viewed on a computer or website, and some companies have applications for mobile devices. There is a need to improve welfare and efciency and utilize behaviors to study grazing patterns as well as determine how heat stress can affect cattle on pasture.

By Brad Heins U of M

The goals of precision dairy technologies for dairy grazing systems include increased animal performance through enhanced milk production, increased fertility, improved animal health, reduced transition disorders, reduced lameness and increased utilization of pasture through improved grazing patterns and behavior of cattle. Precision dairy technologies for grazing dairies have received attention because of advances in continuous monitoring of animal behavior and health of cattle on pasture, robotics, computer vision and machine learning techniques. This article summarizes the current research and status of precision technologies for grazing dairy herds with wearable technologies, pasture forage measurements and grazing management, and virtual fencing.

There are more than 50 wearable technologies that have been developed and marketed for dairy cattle. Many technologies are worn by the cow and may be reused; whereas, some are placed inside of the cow and may not be reused. Cow behavior data such as

The research team at the West Central and Outreach Center has validated wearable technologies for grazing cows and found which ones will accurately monitor rumination and eating behavior. The technologies were less accurate in monitoring the active behavior because grazing behavior and walking are difcult to dene. In pasture-based herds, y pressure may inuence the behavior of cows. Increased horn y populations were associated with a decrease in rumination for cows that grazed almost 24 hours per day. Another study conducted at the West Central and Outreach Center determined that activity and rumination were different across breeds.

Satellite photography is growing in popularity to measure pasture forage biomass on grazing dairy farms. These satellite images will provide farmers with weekly real-time information to support pasture management. Satellite technology can reduce the amount of time farmers spend determining forage biomass of their pastures. Farms can use normalized difference vegetation index from satellite images to determine pasture biomass. Alternative methods to calculate the biomass of pastures may provide advantages for farmers to improve grazing management.

Cattle are routinely contained with electric fencing of numerous forms within grazing dairy farms. Virtual fencing is an encouraging future technology to implement because it allows for remote monitoring of cattle, improved pasture utilization and reduced labor. Virtual fencing provides boundaries for cattle without using a physical barrier. Previous research demonstrated that virtual fencing could contain grazing cattle within the boundaries of a pasture with no adverse behavioral events associated with implement-

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ing virtual fencing for grazing dairy cattle. For virtual fencing to be utilized by grazing farmers, one can assume the technology must be economically feasible, it must be easy and convenient for farmers to use, and it must reduce labor costs.

Precision technologies for grazing dairy farms will aid in decision support for farmers, improve animal health and performance, and increase production efciency. However, there are challenges that come with any new technology that include costs of the technology, familiarization of new software, willingness to implement technology, interpretation of the data and subsequent actions to take with cattle, and lack of technical service.

They have the potential to maximize prot of a grazing dairy herd when integrated into the whole grazing farm, which includes a self-feeder, robotic milker, feed pusher, wearable technologies, pasture management technologies, and virtual fencing, among numerous other technologies. In the future, farmers need more information from researchers and industry professionals to help implement precision technologies on their grazing dairy farm.

Please join us for the Precision Dairy Conference June 2021 in Bloomington, Minnesota. This event will include dairy producer panelists talking about how technology has affected their bottom line and many precision technologies will be discussed.

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Giving the gift of life

The registered dairy cattle industry lost a great patron: one of the biggest cheerleaders and advocates, someone with vision, who pushed the edges and made all of us strive to do just a little better in our own breeding programs.

Michael Heath was a lifelong lover of the Jersey breed, growing up on his family’s registered Jersey farm, Spring Valley Farm, near Westminster, Maryland. More than just a Jersey enthusiast, Michael was a connoisseur of good cows of any color, and his unique approach to breeding cattle impacted the Holstein and Red & White breeds as well.

Michael’s choice to give the gift of life resonates with me. When my dad passed away, we were approached by the hospital about donating. It wasn’t something my dad had ever mentioned, and honestly, it was not something I ever gured I would need to consider that cold and snowy day after Christmas. With only moments to make the decision, my family and I decided Dad, too, would want to do what he could to help someone else, and my dad’s corneas, along with skin and bone tissue, were donated.

By Danielle Nauman Staff Writer

I rst came to know Michael and his family nearly 30 years ago, and they were instrumental in converting this Holstein girl to a Jersey lover. My rst Jersey, Juno Magic of Billings, was purchased in the second sale Michael hosted, the Maryland Elite Heifer Sale II.

Anyone who knew Michael could appreciate, and likely was in awe of, his keen eye for picking out the good ones, especially when they were a little green, not yet at their prime. Many of us can hear him in our minds, describing one that caught his eye.

Michael loved judging. He once told me it was his absolute favorite thing to do. Michael embraced every judging job, from the smallest county fair to the world’s biggest dairy cattle stages, with the same fervor and enthusiasm.

Michael was known for his colorful reasons.

“She has the shoot-to-the-moon front end.”

“She emulsies this class.”

The “BING! BANG! BOOM!” that made history as he culminated the 2013 International Red & White Show with a cow named Apple, her clone and her daughter as the nal three cows will likely be remembered for all-time; as will his excitement, and his “Air Heath” moment naming his junior champion during the 2012 International Holstein Show.

Michael also loved his family, his friends, shing and good food, and approached all with the same passion as he did everything else.

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On St. Patrick’s Day, Michael suffered a farm accident that left him ghting valiantly for his life for nearly a week in a Baltimore hospital. Along with many other members of the global showing family, I found myself fervently praying for God to show us a miracle.

During that week, nearly every post I saw scrolling through social media was a photo of Michael or a memory someone had to share. The underlying theme was the faith and the optimism that our showing family had. No matter how dire the straits, God would answer our prayers and return Michael to all of us.

The memories shared about Michael by our global community were not solely about his acumen for dairy cattle evaluation. Those stories centered around a person who was genuinely kind and caring, one who respected others.

Michael was a product of his family and of the extended Maryland dairy community that shaped his view of the world.

Ultimately God did show us a miracle through Michael. It just wasn’t the one those of us who had the fortune of calling Michael a friend had prayed for. The miracle God chose to grant was to give new hope and new life to many through Michael’s nal gift of organ donation.

During the days that followed, I questioned if we had done the right thing. Two weeks after my dad’s death, we received a letter from the Lions’ Eye Bank telling us my dad’s corneas had given sight to a 13-yearold boy. That was the same age my son was at the time, and I took that as a sign. Two years later, we received a letter from a woman named Patricia, thanking us for the gift of my dad’s bone tissue that had given her back her life, allowing her to regain her mobility and rejoin the workforce as a contributing member of society.

Since my dad’s donation, I have become hyper-aware of organ donation and how my path has crossed with those who have beneted: skin tissue after serious burns, livers, kidneys, hearts, lungs and bone marrow; and sadly, I had a friend who didn’t get his new heart in time.

I have been the beneciary of a donation gift myself. Five years ago, I was involved in a skid loader accident that shattered my tibia plateau and left me non-weight bearing for 90 days. The reconstructive surgery involved the use of donated bone tissue to help my own bone knit back together.

It was not surprising someone like Michael had made the decision to reach out and help a stranger in the event of his death. His own family had been affected by the gift of life, given so generously because of the death of another.

Now, because of Michael, countless others will have the opportunity to celebrate another birthday or another holiday or another special life event, even though he no longer has that chance.

I would urge you, as you read this, to be like Michael. Be kind, be genuine and caring, and take the steps to give the greatest gift and make your wishes known as an organ donor. To help someone live on, when you no longer can, is the greatest expression of caring we can make.

To quote another registered dairy cattle industry leader, “Who ever got Michael’s heart, got a good one.”

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Michael Heath evaluates animals during the Canadian Na onal Holstein Show at the 2015 Royal Winter Agricultural Fair in Toronto, Ontario. Heath was a lifelong lover of the Jersey breed and passed away in March.

Jacob Manternach (pictured with Tucker and Remlie) Hopkinton, Iowa Delaware County

180 cows

How did you get into farming? I am the second generation on my family’s farm. I was fortunate to join my parents’ farm in July 2013.

What are your thoughts and concerns about the dairy industry for the next year? My short-term concerns are the dwindling milk price with steady to increasing input costs along with the rising interest rates.

What is a recent change you made on your farm and the reason for it? Activity monitoring system for the cows. With a growing family, I could not spend the amount of time with the cows that I used to be able to. It has improved timeliness of breeding along with monitoring rumen functions for early detection of health issues before they become visible to the eye.

Tell us about a skill you possess that makes dairy farming easier for you. Basic herd health skills, A.I. breeding, being able to vein cows when needed and basic hoof trimming abilities.

What is the best decision you have made on your farm? Harvesting as much hay wet as possible, as either haylage or baleage, and manure storage has greatly improved crop yields while saving labor.

What are three things on the farm that you cannot live without? Skid loader: It by far gets the most hours of any piece of equipment – mixing feed, bedding livestock, scraping manure, handling manure and feed, and pushing snow. Smart phone: Having internet at my ngertips, allowing for quick look up for repair manuals, part numbers, phone numbers, emailed feed sheets and a basic calculator at all times is priceless. Milking parlor: It’s by far the most important piece of equipment twice a day every day.

What strategies do you use to withstand the volatile milk prices? Keeping as many inputs in house as possible, such as feed, labor and crop inputs. How do you retain a good working relationship with your employees? Patience is essential with good employees. They didn’t grow up working on the farm like me, so one cannot expect them to instantly gure out how to accomplish a task the way I would do it. To maintain good family working relationships, leave problems that happen in the barn, in the barn, at the end of the day.

What do you enjoy most about dairy farming? The changing tasks and challenges associated with the changing of seasons. No two days, two weeks or two years are ever the same.

What advice would you give other dairy farmers? Always look forward. Don’t get bogged down with mistakes in the past; just keep improving while moving forward. Don’t be afraid to ask the previous generation for advice.

What are your plans for your dairy in the next year and ve years? In the short term, I want to keep improving overall production on the farm, and overhauling the heifer rearing program is at top of the list currently. In the long term, I want to improve efciency with labor-saving technology while improving cow comfort with a new freestall barn.

How do you or your family like to spend time when you are not doing chores? We visit extended family as much as possible. We also like to take the kiddos to water parks and parades. With a young family, many activities revolve around the kids.

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My parents recently went on a short trip to Florida with my two sisters’ families. Our young nephews and niece aren’t really the right ages to join the kind of trips we take our teen kids on, so they do their own trip to a kid friendly beach in Florida. My folks join in the fun or misery depending on how well the toddlers sleep in an unfamiliar Airbnb. You can probably guess that usually someone needs a nap. I could denitely relate to those kiddos even though I wasn’t on the trip.

By Tim Zweber Farmer & Columnist

I hauled a load of cattle to the butcher shop shortly before Mom and Dad were headed out of town. On my way home, the brake pedal started to feel a little low, and then, the service brake system light came on. Not ideal, but I was an auto mechanic so no big deal. It shouldn’t take long to x a brake problem, or normally it wouldn’t. As I should have expected, though, repairing the brakes was not that easy. We don’t have a carwash located anywhere near us so the truck, which is almost always hooked to a trailer, does not get washed often during the winter. Not washing a vehicle in Minnesota tends to lead to extensive rusting of all the unprotected parts that road salt can get to. It just so happens that brake parts aren’t very well protected and are very much exposed to road salt. The main cause of the brake system failure was a brake line that rusted and burst, but also, both the front and rear brakes needed servicing too. This led to a couple very long nights after chores torching rusty bolts and hammering rotors off to get the truck back to driving condition with all its wheels on just in time to haul pigs to the butcher the next morning.

Our kids have rock climbing team practice and ballet on Saturday mornings so usually that’s a busy morning getting done in time. Emily has to get out of the barn in time to run the kids to practices, and I do their usual morning chores. Because we were short of people with Dad gone, something that hasn’t happened here in probably 20 years happened that morning. There was a huge bull calf in the calving shed and an old cow with a prolapsed uterus. I got a hold of one of our local vets, who I think was eating breakfast at the time, and ran up to the gas station in town for a bag of sugar to shrink the cow’s uterus down to get it back inside her. The vet showed up in an hour like he said, and we spent the next hour and a half working to put her uterus back where it belonged. We then got to enjoy the donuts I bought at the gas station while I was shopping for sugar. It has been a long time since I’ve had to do that job, but I don’t remember it being that difcult the couple other times in my life I’ve had to help the vet.

Doing that job made me very happy that most AI bulls today have very low calving difculty genetics. When my parents got back from their trip, and Dad and I were milking cows, we talked about the prolapse cow. We recalled how bad some calvings were decades ago and how far genetics have come since people started to care more about calving ease than huge show-type calves. We are both happy we spend more time worrying about checking cows for signs of calving out of fear of the babies being born in the cold than because we may have to help deliver it. At least I didn’t have to deliver that big bull calf before also having to x a prolapse. No. 872 did the calving part just ne on her own; she just did a little too good of a job pushing.

Until next time, keep living the dream, and make sure you budget twice the usual time you’d need for a task if you’re shorthanded on the farm. Also, don’t overdo a job. Sometimes to quit pushing at the right time is rather important.

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

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From the Zweber Farm

The outdoor show

Spring is in the air. This brings about some unusual behavior, including those peculiar phenomena known as the outdoor shows. I say they are peculiar due to the fact that these so-called “outdoor” shows are invariably held indoors.

Dear County Agent Guy

I hadn’t been to an outdoor show for many years, so I recently decided to take one in. The last outdoor show I attended was held so long ago that it had featured the latest cutting-edge developments in birchbark canoe construction and bamboo shing pole technology.

ping when I peeked in on him. He looked like a humungous wadded-up, coffee-colored fur comforter, albeit one that reeked mightily of bear funk. Bears might do many things in the woods but apparently taking a bath isn’t one of them.

I didn’t stick around to catch Brody’s show although there were snapshots on display that depicted his previous performances. The most startling photo was the one where Brody had his trainer’s face almost fully engulfed in his (the bear’s) yawning, slobbery, razor-toothed, bear-funk mouth. That is either the ultimate in macho male grossness or the most extreme form of French kissing I’ve ever seen. I didn’t bother to ask anyone which it might be.

As I drove home that day, I wondered: What if Brody’s trainer had a chaw of Kodiak smokeless tobacco in his mouth when he performed his face-in-the-bear’smaw act? Could it then be said that you saw a Kodiak mouthing a mouth that was mouthing some Kodiak?

In any case, I hoped Brody’s trainer didn’t choose that particular moment to expectorate.

Jerry is a recovering dairy farmer from Volga, South Dakota. He and his wife, Julie, have two grown sons and live on the farm where Jerry’s great-grandfather homesteaded over 110 years ago. Jerry works full time for Dairy Star as a staff writer and ad salesman. Feel free to email him at jerry.n@dairystar. com.

Editorial disclaimer: The views expressed by our columnists are the opinions and thoughts of the author and do not reect the opinions and views of Dairy Star staff and ownership.

By Jerry Nelson Columnist

I quickly discovered that much had changed since then. In fact, things had transformed so radically that the show’s name had mutated from simply “Outdoor Show” to “Sportsmen’s Boat, Camping and Vacation Show.” This is a title that can cover an awful lot of stuff – which it most certainly did.

One thing that hadn’t changed, though, was the way the show strove to attract the guy segment of our species. Among the biggest lures of that outdoor show I attended all those moons ago was the chance to shake hands with and procure an autograph of a former supermodel who had been featured in a famous men’s magazine.

The new incarnation of the outdoor show featured numerous family-friendly enticements such as a rubber ducky race and the opportunity to look at real, live tiger cubs. But the outdoor show was still denitely canted toward guys because everything at the show was about bigger, bigger and bigger. You couldn’t escape the message that size really does matter.

There were booths that featured equipment to help you catch bigger sh and displays that promoted hunts wherein a guy could bag an elk the size of a house. Gawking at the photos of successful elk hunts – the ecstatic hunters beaming from behind trophy bulls that had horns the size of mature oak trees – caused me to feel a tinge of antler envy.

The latest shing technology included a device called the automatic ice sherman. This doohickey supposedly allows ice shermen to ice sh while leaving the shing rod totally unattended. And here I’d thought that ice shing couldn’t get any more exciting.

Another shing-related advance was an underwater viewing system. This thingamabob can enable a guy to not only see the sh but to also note the water’s temperature, depth and direction in which the camera is pointing.

This device would be a “must have” for every sherman. A guy could link the doodad to his smartphone and produce underwater videos that would document his angling exploits. Add in the data collected by the doohickey and the sherman would have indisputable proof of the nuclear submarine-sized sh he could have caught had he been so inclined. This should satisfy any skeptic (mainly his wife) who thinks the sherman is spinning yet another farfetched “the big one that got away” yarn.

Watercraft have made tremendous advances. These days, sport shing boats are made of super-strong, super-exotic materials – I wouldn’t be surprised if unobtanium were involved – and are driven by engines that have enough horsepower to loft the boat into low Earth orbit.

In case there was any doubt this was a guy-oriented show, there was a booth that promoted smokeless tobaccos, one of which was called Kodiak. Smokeless tobacco is important to some outdoorsmen as it gives them a manly reason to spit. I suppose the polite term for this would be “expectorate.”

It probably wasn’t a coincidence that an actual 1,500-pound Kodiak bear named Brody was being kept in an enclosure near the tobacco booth. Brody was nap-

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Not a professional dog doula

Before I get to rambling on like usual, let me dene doula for those of you who are new to this term. A doula is a “professional labor assistant who provides physical and emotional support to you during pregnancy, birth, and the postnatal period.” (Thanks Google.) I have been trying out my doula skills on Lucy, our Labrador at the farm. The neighbor’s Great Pyrenees paid a visit one day, and much like when the bull jumps the fence because your heifers are in heat…well, you know the rest.

Lucy’s time was nearing. Cora was measuring her belly’s increasing width by putting one leg on either side of her when she would nap on the kitchen oor. I could feel her chainsaw-like snoring vibrations through my feet as I did the dishes nearby. Her sleep volume was increasing daily, thanks to the pressure on her body by an unknown number of puppies growing inside. Peanut was feeling left out. His best furry friend could no longer run and wrestle with him on the walk to the barn, and napping seemed to be her favorite pastime. I pondered readying the basement room for her birthing station, but after a few attempts to get her to even come into it to sit by me were shot down, I tried to accept that the living room would likely be her chosen spot.

Two weeks ago, as I was milking cows, I popped in the milkhouse to check in on Lucy, only to discover that Peanut was patiently waiting for me to nish and Lucy was nowhere in sight. I had all the children combing every open building on the farm, yelling, shining lights. It was too cold out for puppies to be born outside. I was not being a very good doula. I nished up chores and made a beeline for the house, on a whim walking around the outside porch. Out of the shadows popped Lucy, panting like crazy and all wound up. This goofy dog seemed to think her nesting spot should be under there in the cold and dark. Not a chance, dog.

I took the kids home and came back to the farm to endure a long night of listening to Lucy pant and watching her pace, unable to nd her comfortable spot anywhere. I tried to lock her in the basement, a very foolish idea for sure, and in hindsight, probably one that delayed her labor. I let her have her choice of the couches and headed home to get the kids on the bus. Cora had a bad cold that day, so I let her stay home and be a farmer and dog doula. We opened the door to the farmhouse and instantly heard squeaking. Lucy was positioned on one couch, with a chubby little black puppy on the other.

The second black one slid out as Cora and I were getting ready for the barn. Assuming (yes, I know that is not always wise) that Lucy would prefer privacy during her labor, we headed out to move cows. Being the worrywart that I am, I called the secretary from the middle of a pen of cows and asked if someone could go check on my laboring mother. She caught the second one and removed the sack. I snuck back to the house in time to greet number four. Back up to the barn, I nished my chores and grabbed Cora and sped back down. Puppy number ve was out and nursing, but puppy six was dead inside the sack. Lucy was so exhausted from her night therefore not doing the things that should have come natural to her.

By Jacqui Davison

Cora and I mourned number six and went back out to feed the sheep and chickens. In a matter of less than ten minutes, Lucy had pushed out another puppy – still in the sack. I was determined not to lose this one. I grabbed a kitchen towel and, channeling all of my James Herriot knowledge, began rubbing him ercely. Then I did the unthinkable. I gave this little black ball mouthto-mouth. I know. A bit gross, but I was not going to give up. After much rubbing and a few more breaths, his tongue turned pink and he gasped. I do not know who was more surprised–me or Cora. It worked. It actually worked. Cora took over with the cuddling as I helped the eighth pup out of the birth bag and to the food source. “Herriot” as he was aptly named, needed some assistance to latch on, but after a few tries on his own, he was proclaimed a pro.

Lucy was treated to lunch on the couch, and after scrambled eggs were devoured, she seemed to have gained some needed strength and began to realize she actually had puppies. She hopped up, and silly me, thinking she was done and needed to go outside, I opened the door. As my luck would have it, she dove under the porch. There was no way I was crawling under there to coerce her out. An hour later, when the kids arrived home, Dane volunteered his wiry body and shimmied through the boards. Ham, a rope, sweet talking, digging, a swift kick to the porch lattice, as much patience as I could muster, and we nally got her back to the house. As Dane worked his way out along her path, he discovered dead puppy number two.

We settled her and all her puppies onto the couch, and I began to attack my pile of dirty dishes. She started snoring comfortably, and I gured all was well. Every time I peeked over my shoulder, she appeared content. 12 hours after the rst puppy was born, I crossed the oor and low and behold, there was one nal puppy tucked under her tail in the sack, dead.

I suppose it was probably a blessing in disguise. Seven is a much easier number to handle where puppies are concerned when you are a rst-time mother. Lucy enjoys her made-to-order meals of hamburger, rice and scrambled eggs. She bounds outside in the morning to wrestle a bit with Peanut again, to his utter delight. The best part? These roly-poly puppies have just opened their eyes, and listening to their squeaks and purrs or sneaking a cuddle or two is a sure way to make everyone’s day.

Jacqui and her family milk 800 cows and farm 1,200 acres of crops in the northeastern corner of Vernon County, Wisconsin. Her children, Ira, Dane, Henry and Cora, help her on the farm while her husband, Keith, works on a grain farm. If she’s not in the barn, she’s probably in the kitchen, trailing after little ones or sharing her passion of reading with someone. Her life is best described as organized chaos, and if it wasn’t, she’d be bored.

Columnist

Ramblings from the Ridge

Is there an ideal somatic cell count?

Can somatic cell counts get too low?

That is the title of a recent article in Dairy Herd Management magazine. In the article, Amber Yutzy, from Pennsylvania State University, suggests cows with counts below 50,000 cells per milliliter might respond more slowly to infection.

or to get clinical mastitis? In reality, we do not have healthy cows with four uninfected quarters each having a SCC of 100,000 to 150,000.

and chronic infections, and low SCC herds would have a greater proportion of gram-negative infections. This does not mean low SCC causes more coliform infections.

Is this true? No.

The preponderance of evidence suggests low SCC cows and herds have lower rates of clinical mastitis. To be fair, Yutzy is quoted at the end of the article saying, “The benets of having a low SCC far outweigh the risks.” But, she also states, “Ideally an individual cow cell count should be between 100,000 and 150,000,” which is clearly not true.

There is no benet to the cow by having a count between 100,000 and 150,000, and there are clear benets to having a lower count. Normal, healthy cows typically have counts around 20,000 to 50,000. A cow with a count of 100,000-150,000 most likely has one infected quarter that is causing the composite sample to increase. Remember, we do not typically measure SCC by quarter. So, how is it possible that a cow with one infected quarter with, say, a quarter level SCC of 750,000 and three quarters with SCC levels of 25,000, for example, is less likely to get infected

The idea of decreased susceptibility due to increased counts assumes there are more cells present in the udder, and the increased cell numbers somehow make the udder respond quicker to infection. However, in reality, those cells are continually being released into the milk in response to an infection and being ushed out of the udder two or three times per day via milking. Cows with elevated counts have already been infected, and cells are continually being released into the udder in response to that infection. So, the idea of infecting a cow to prevent her from becoming infected makes no sense. It is like cutting off one’s arm to prevent it from being cut off.

According to a review paper of this subject by Rainard (Journal of Dairy Science, 101:8, 2018), “It seems unlikely that the low concentrations of leukocytes found in milk from a healthy mammary gland play a signicant role in its defense.” In other words, the whole concept that resident somatic cells of the udder actually defend the udder from infection is not true. If fact, a feature of a healthy mammary gland is its capacity to mount a swift and massive inammatory reaction, bringing hordes of a particular type of white blood cell, the neutrophil, to milk that can reach concentrations of more than one hundred million cells per milliliter, according to the article.

be the same as the count of a normal cow, or 20,000-50,000. It is just that it is so darn difcult to keep at least some cows from getting infected, even in really clean herds, so we do not see many herds with herd SCCs below 50,000.

My own 42 years of experience working with top dairy producers conrms the available evidence in that herds with very low herd SCCs have very little clinical mastitis. In fact, in those herds, clinical mastitis is an unusual occurrence, and producers may be unconcerned about the occasional case. Maintaining great udder health in those herds seems to be much easier than maintaining decent udder health in herds with SCCs in the range of 150,000 to 200,000. This seems to be one of those dairy secrets that only certain producers seem to know.

Some have claimed an association between low herd somatic cell counts and a greater proportion of coliform infections. However, if true, this is likely explained by the observation that the cow’s SCC drops rapidly following a coliform infection, yet often takes weeks to months with infections from gram-positive environmental organisms and may not drop at all when infected by contagious pathogens. Thus, very high SCC herds would be expected to have more gram-positive

So, what is a healthy herd SCC?

The typical Holstein cow at one month in lactation has a baseline SCC of about 20,000. The herd SCC is determined by how much shedding and how much milk infected quarters produce. For example, if you have a few cows with very high quarter level SCC, and they produce a lot of milk in those quarters, the herd SCC may rise signicantly just from their contribution. In simple terms, the herd SCC is a combination of the contribution of healthy cows with SCCs 20,00050,000 and infected, unhealthy cows with much higher counts. Thus, even a herd SCC of 100,000 is not really healthy. Ideally, herd counts would

The idea that a herd’s somatic cell count can be too low seems to surface in the press every few years. It is not true. One cannot be too healthy nor can an udder. The rewards of excellent udder health are remarkable, and we should continue to pursue that goal.

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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JD 7980 2014, Kernel Processor, PRWD, 3400 hrs., 2366 CH hrs., #532823 .............. $157,000

JD 8700 2016, Kernel Processor, PRWD, 1467 hrs., 933 CH hrs., #532572 ................ $339,000

Benets of selective dry cow therapy

Nydam discusses value at PDPW conference

By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. – Udder health plays a key role in producing quality milk and is an important piece of the puzzle of dairy farm economics.

Dr. Daryl Nydam, of Cornell University, was at the Professional Dairy Producers annual business conference March 15 to discuss the pros and cons of selective dry cow therapy in his presentation, “Dollars and Sense in Udder Health.”

“Sixty percent of antimicrobial usage in the dairy industry is aimed at control or treatment of mastitis, and two-thirds of that is dry cow therapy,” Nydam said. “Dry cow therapy is the only place in the dairy industry where we kind of routinely use antibiotics.”

Nydam said the thought process of blanket dry cow therapy dates back to the early 1960s.

“My father was a veterinarian, and he was at the forefront of, ‘Treat every quarter, every cow with a tube,’” Nydam said. “That made it into the National Mastitis Council’s ve-point plan, and when they made it a 10-point plan, it stayed in there. I think nothing has been more adopted than dry cow therapy.”

Nydam said a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture survey found that 93% of cows in the U.S. are treated with intramammary antimicrobials at dry-off.

“I think that is more cows than are fed with a (total mixed ration) and more than are bred with AI right now,” Nydam said. “We have adopted this wholeheartedly. So, why am I here to tell about selective therapy? It was an awesome thing when the average dry cow either had or was likely to acquire a new infection. When blanket therapy started, most of the quarters had a sub-clinical infection.”

Research conducted in 1985 found that 45% were cultured negative, Nydam said, meaning that more than

half of quarters were cultured positive. Nydam’s current research has found that between 75%-90% of quarters are cultured negative.

“Udder health has dramatically improved in the United States,” he said. “Back then, it didn’t pay to try and sort out which cows to treat and not to treat. It was more economical and probably a good use of antibiotics overall.”

Nydam said the pathology of the infections has changed over the last quarter century.

“Back in the day, Strep ag was a huge problem, and fortunately, Strep ag dies with any of the six brands of dry cow tubes,” Nydam said. “It’s a great way to clean it up in a herd. Staph aureus used to be a big problem in herds, and now, it is typically a very small problem. But those contagious pathogens were highly prevalent. Now, we see mostly E. coli, Klebsiella, Strep non-ag and Staph non-aureus. They are more sporadic, and only 10% of the quarters are infected at dry-off.”

New protocols for udder health at dry-off have also helped.

“We have a bunch of teat sealants, and they work pretty darn well at preventing new intramammary infections during the dry period,” Nydam said.

When it comes to selecting dry cow treatments and teat sealants, Nydam said research has shown there is little difference among any of the available products, which he said allows producers to feel comfortable using the one that is most cost-effective for them.

“We’re in the dairy business, and our rst order of business is to make money,” Nydam said. “We have to do this without compromising animal health because we care for these critters, and it turns out, good health and productivity usually go hand in hand. We can save money on tubes, and perhaps labor, if we selectively treat cows.”

Nydam said selective dry cow therapy might also decrease the risk of residues in early lactation.

“There is a track record of safety in our industry like none other,” he said. “I’m proud to say 0.018% of tankers in the country leaving the farm last year had a residue, but we can always do better.”

Nydam said selective dry cow therapy might, at some point in time, play into what he calls our social license to sell milk.

Each year, Nydam said he sends a letter on behalf of Cornell University to the New York state government, explaining why he thinks banning blanket dry cow therapy is a bad idea. He said legislation like this has passed in some states and keeps coming up in others, and blanket therapies may be outlawed as they are in much of the European Union.

“I want us to be ahead of that game, so we can say that we as an industry are policing this ourselves,” he said. “I don’t want someone in a state capital telling us how to best run our farms.”

To implement selective dry cow therapy, Nydam said the rst step is determining which cows and quarters require treatment.

“To do this, we need something that is pretty accurate, pretty rapid and inexpensive,” Nydam said. “I would say it’s going to have to be less than $10 to $12, because that would be a savings on tubes. If it is more than that, no one will buy it.”

Nydam said culturing is probably the most accurate way to detect an issue and can be done at the quarterlevel. The downside of culturing is the expense and time needed to complete the culture. On-farm data can also come into play, such as from testing programs, which can provide individual cow somatic cell count data and records of mastitis events.

Nydam has worked on several studies that have shown no discernible differences between cows that are blanket-treated and cows that are selectively treated at dry-off.

“Even if we see a slight decrease in udder health overall, we are still coming out ahead using selective dry cow therapy,” he said. “Selective dry cow therapy can help decrease our overall on-farm antibiotic usage.”

Mindsets are contagious

This winter has been brutal.

Here in Minnesota, we are close to, if not already, breaking records on total snowfall amounts for the past winter season. In the doldrums of winter, many of us struggle with not only the specic difculties that winter brings to our dairies but also the separation that occurs when we are hunkered down for months after the busy holiday season.

The NexGen: Adventures of two dairy daughters

By Megan Schrupp & Ellen Stenger Columnists

Recently, we participated in two opportunities to immerse ourselves in our great dairy community. These events have reminded us that we are not alone and are doing work worth doing. We attended the Minnesota Farm Bureau Ag Day Gala in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Central Plains Dairy Expo in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Besides the information we absorbed from informational sessions and visiting with industry experts at both events, we came across an unexpected topic – sequoias. In some ways, they are just like the farming community.

Giant sequoias are some of the world’s largest trees. These trees can live to be more than 3,400 years old and weigh more than 2 million pounds. The General Sherman sequoia tree, the largest in the world, measures 275 feet tall and is 36 feet wide in diameter at the base.

If you have ever visited a sequoia forest, how insignicant you feel is incredible. However, the most interesting thing about giant sequoias is that even with their massive size and weight, their roots venture only about 6 to 12 feet deep. How can these enormous trees stay standing, living for thousands of years, on such a shallow root system?

Rather than relying on deep roots to keep them upright, they spread their roots wide and intertwine with the other trees in the forest. These roots mat together to build a strong and stable community, each tree supporting the other. These trees are like the members of our dairy industry’s community. We, like them, are all intertwined and interconnected, supporting and depending on one another, holding each other up and helping each other grow.

In a rapidly changing world and an industry that can be physically and mentally challenging, you must surround yourself with a community of “sequoias” that inspire you and your business. This community should consist of individuals and dairies solving challenges with a positive attitude that you respect and admire.

Proximity is power. As Tony Robbins lectures, “Always remember that who you spend the most time with is who you eventually become. To reach new heights of success, you must surround yourself with people who not only inspire you but challenge you.”

Dairying is not easy. Top dairy herds acquire a circle of inuence with wide-ranging expertise that pushes their dairy to raise the bar and achieve loftier goals.

The members in your “forest” could be fellow dairy men or women, nutritionists, veterinarians, professors, business professionals, members of your church and local community, or anyone else who challenges and pushes you and your business to learn and grow continually.

If you’re a young farmer like us, we recommend seeking a mentor and spending time with them. Don’t be afraid to ask them questions and to expand and discuss topics that interest you and your dairy. Highly successful people are often willing to share their experiences, mistakes and goals. Your circle of inuence is also critical because it can be called upon in a time of need, providing knowledge, training and expertise. Surrounding you, your dairy and your team with these individuals and spending time where they are will take your dairy to the next level.

Many people aspire to be the smartest or most successful person at the table. However, if you are always that person, you limit yourself and what you can achieve. At NexGen, we aim to push ourselves outside our comfort zone. We desire to acquire a seat at the table of dairies and experts that are more successful, knowledgeable or experienced than we are. Our participation has provided numerous new ideas and management strategies and at times has encouraged us to change our thinking and make successful changes to our dairy farm.

Suppose we continually expose ourselves to a community of men and women with different perspectives and new ideas. In that case, we can grow into and along with that network of roots and allow those giants to help hold our business upright and to grow to new heights.

Megan Schrupp and Ellen Stenger are sisters and co-owners of both NexGen Dairy and NexGen Market in Eden Valley, Minnesota. They can be reached at Nexgendairy@gmail.com

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