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DAIRY ST R
Volume 24, No. 6
May 14, 2022
“All dairy, all the time”™
Deerview Dairy builds for the future
Schuelers install rotary parlor with automation capabilities By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
Chris Schueler and his family milk 625 cows with a 40-cow rotary parlor on their farm near Willmar, Minnesota. The Schuelers installed the parlor and renovated their freestall barn last fall.
WILLMAR, Minn. – Every decision Chris Schueler and his family make for their dairy is precisely made with the future of the farm and industry in mind. Their latest decision was no different. “We continue with a onestep-at-a-time approach, either by choice or necessity,” Schueler said. “Knowing we position our operation to be viable for the future is really important to us; for either the next generation or somebody else down the road.” Schueler and his parents, Don and Shirley, own Deerview Dairy LLLP in Kandiyohi County near Willmar. Schueler’s wife, Lisa, and children, Caden and Paige, are also involved on the farm. On Oct. 23, 2021, the family began milking their 625 cows in a 40-stall rotary parlor. In addition to the new milking system, the barn was expanded upon and
converted from natural to cross ventilation. The parlor’s capacity tops out at 1,420 cows. “There are many more steps to get to an ending point,” Schueler said,. “For me right now, I don’t want to add more cows but knowing the capability is available is important to us.” Cows are milked on a 3X schedule, while fresh cows are milked four times a day; a management protocol the Schuelers established two years ago. With this schedule, the parlor is operational for about 17 hours in a 24hour period with two employees pre and post dipping and attaching the units. Currently, each turn of the carousel is about eight minutes. “We don’t have to be highly efcient right now,” Schueler said. “But should we pursue automation, the picture of efciency comes in and we could literally milk 1,400 cows with two people.
Turn to SCHUELERS | Page 7
A dream accomplished
Lenzmeier purchases herd, farms by Shakopee By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
SHAKOPEE, Minn. – One of Joe Lenzmeier’s earliest memories on the farm was him as a young boy feeding the cows grain with a tin coffee can before milking. The now 25-year-old still feeds the cows, but his responsibilities are far greater. “I enjoy it 100%, agriculture but especially dairy farming,” Lenzmeier said. “I picture myself doing something with cows my whole life.” Lenzmeier is a fourth-generation dairy farmer in Scott County near Shakopee. In February 2019, he purchased the 50-cow herd from his uncle, Bill Lenzmeier. Today, he milks the herd on the property his grandparents own and purchases all his forages from his uncle who runs the land. Lenzmeier purchases all of his grain from his other uncle who owns the feed mill nearby. The herd is milked in a 44-stall tiestall barn and housed in a loang shed with a bedded pack. Lenzmeier’s heifers are all housed on site. After being weaned in the calf barn, the heifers are relocated to a pole shed with a cement lot and fence-line feeding. They move through the pens – young heifers, breeding age and con-
rmed pregnant – until pre-fresh when they go to the dry cow lot. “It works out pretty slick,” Lenzmeier said. “I just keep moving them up one pen and then bring them down to the barn after calving.” Lenzmeier always had aspirations to farm. After high school, he spent a semester at South Central College in Mankato before returning to the family farm to work full time for his uncle. A few years passed and Lenzmeier was given the opportunity to purchase the herd. But it was not without the insistence of his father, Steve Lenzmeier, that Lenzmeier went ahead with the agreement. “When my uncle rst wanted to stop milking, I shot him down because of the milk prices,” Lenzmeier said. “I told my dad that was my decision, but he said he would crunch some numbers and see what I thought. That really got the ball rolling.” Soon after, Lenzmeier dove into his career as a dairy farmer. “I handed that check to my uncle and then was talking to my dad that night and said, ‘How many 21-year-olds can say they have a herd of cows?’ Not many,” Lenzmeier said. “It was weird to think, it was exciting, and it took a while to sink in.” While Lenzmeier dairy farms on his own, it has not been without the support of his parents, Steve and Cheri, and siblings and cousin who help on the farm when needed.
Turn to LENZMEIER | Page 6
GRACE JEURISSEN/DAIRY STAR
Joe Lenzmeier milks a cow May 2 at the farm his grandparents own near Shakopee, Minnesota. Lenzmeier rents the farm and owns the cows and some machinery.