May 25, 2024 Dairy Star - 1st section - Zone 1

“All

Dairy royalty in the making

Finalists

announced for the 71st Princess Kay competition

By Jan Lefebvre jan.l@star-pub.com

ST. PAUL, Minn. — On May 13, Midwest Dairy released the names of the 10 nalists in the running to be crowned this year’s Princess Kay of the Milky Way.

Candidates were selected during the annual May Leadership Event May 10-11 at the Delta Hotel in Minneapolis.

Each year, the event offers leadership workshops, networking and educational sessions for dairy princesses from across Minnesota in preparation for their service as goodwill ambassadors for dairy farming.

This is the 71st year of the competition, which is sponsored by Midwest Dairy and funded by dairy farmers through their promotion checkoff.

The current Princess Kay of the Milky Way, Emma Kuball from Rice County, met the nalists during the leadership event and posted a video on the Princess Kay Facebook page where she gave short introductions about each candidate.

Selena Corona of St. Joseph will represent Stearns County. Her parents are Ross Lemke and Kelly Corona, and Steve Corona.

Paige Gerads of Albany will represent Morrison County. Her parents are Jamie and Becky Gerads.

Katie Ketchum of Altura will represent Winona County. Her parents are Mike and Mary Ketchum.

Mackenzie Moline of St. Peter will represent Nicollet County. Her parents are Rob and Gail Moline.

Terning establishes milking herd by 22

By Emily Breth emily.b@star-pub.com

DASSEL, Minn. — On Aug. 22, 2022, Dylan Terning began milking a herd of 60 Holstein cows at the age of 22.

The 24-year-old’s herd is now averaging 70 pounds of milk per day with tests of 3.9% butterfat and 3.2% protein. Cows are milked in a tiestall barn that Terning rents from Don and Peter Settergren near Dassel, and milk is shipped to First District Association in Litcheld.

“The biggest reason I didn’t start earlier than I did was because I was too scared to call the creamery,” Terning

Accomplishing a dream

started milking his own herd Aug.

said. “You know, you have this big dream of doing this your whole life, and you did it your whole life but not on your own. I did not want to get the answer, ‘No.’”

Terning milked cows on his family’s farm since the age of 7.

He worked at a local dairy for more than three years before leaving to pre-

pare a barn for his own herd of cows.

| Page 6

Special delivery

Strnad assists laboring heifer on Gagnows’ farm

By Stacey Smart

stacey.s@dairystar.com

SEYMOUR, Wis. — Jon Strnad went above and beyond his duties as a driver for the United Parcel Service when he delivered a calf in between delivering packages April 15.

When driving past KJ Farms near Seymour around 2 p.m., Strnad noticed a heifer on pasture giving birth that seemed to be struggling. The calf was halfway out with the sack over its head, and neither the calf nor the heifer were moving much.

EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR

Dylan Terning takes a break during milking May 9 at his farm near Dassel, Minnesota. Terning

22, 2022.

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Tracy (from le ), Kurt and Jacob Gagnow and UPS delivery driver Jon Strnad gather May 14 around Joni, the calf Strnad delivered on the Gagnows’ farm in between delivering packages April 15, near Seymour, Wisconsin. The Gagnows milk 50 cows and farm 350 acres.

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Having grown up on a dairy farm, Strnad had seen that scenario many times. He slowed down and watched.

“When you see them laying like that, you wonder how long they’ve been in that position,” he said. “It doesn’t end well for the calf if things stay that way for too long. It looked like she needed help.”

Strnad was qualied for the job, so he parked his truck on the side of the road and hopped the fence.

“I’ve pulled calves ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper,” said Strnad, whose family continues to farm near Rio Creek. “Growing up, I remember pulling calves with my brothers and my dad.”

Strnad approached the pair slowly, but when the heifer stood up, Strnad knew he had to act fast.

“Now is when the calf could really get hurt,” he said. “I broke a hole in the sack close to the mouth so the calf could get air. Its head moved, and I thought she took a gasp of air.”

At this point, the heifer turned away from Strnad.

“I could tell she was groggy and wasn’t going to move much more,” he said. “I grabbed the front legs and pulled the calf out while trying to break the fall. When the calf landed on the ground, it still wasn’t moving. I cleared the pathway to get the slimy stuff out of her mouth and rubbed her nose. She

moved a bit. Then, she really started to move.”

The movement piqued the interest of the heifer, who came over and began licking the calf as Strnad observed from 6 feet away. All looked well to the man

and opinions

columnists and

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Joni enjoys a warm day on the Gagnows’ lawn May 14 at KJ Farms near Seymour, Wisconsin. The Gagnows named Joni a er Jon Strnad, the UPS delivery driver who delivered Joni April 15.

in the brown uniform when he noticed a large animal coming toward him making a grunting noise.

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

This pasture at KJ Farms is where UPS driver Jon Strnad pulled a calf from a heifer struggling to give birth near Seymour, Wisconsin. Strnad, who grew up on a dairy farm, was awarded a medal by the CEO of UPS for going above and beyond

“I saw the bull and knew that was my cue to leave,” Strnad said.

Having made the ultimate delivery, Strnad drove to the Gagnows’ house and knocked on the patio door. When Tracy Gagnow answered, Strnad said, “I’m just letting you know I pulled a calf.” Then, he turned and left.

“I was shocked,” Tracy said. “People call us sometimes when they see an animal is calving, but we’ve never had anyone deliver a calf before. His hands were bloody, and I thought, ‘That was rude of me. I didn’t even have him come in and wash his hands.’”

Kurt Gagnow, who farms with his son, Jacob, was working in the shop at the time and saw the UPS truck leaving the driveway but did not think anything of it. The Gagnows milk 50 cows and farm 350 acres on the farm Kurt worked on since he was 12 years old and purchased in 2001. Kurt’s 90-yearold father helps work the land.

When Tracy called Kurt to tell him the UPS man delivered a calf, he said, “What kind of box did it come in?” Kurt then proceeded to check on the newest member of the herd.

“Jon saved the calf’s life and the mom’s life,” Kurt said. “When they stand up like that, they can pinch a nerve in their back when the calf comes out, and it paralyzes their back end.”

Strnad has driven for UPS for 30 years and said this was the most unique situation he has ever been in. When the

CEO of the company heard about his heroic act, she sent Strnad a letter and gave him a medal.

“The medal is reserved for drivers who go above and beyond their regular duties,” Strnad said. “The CEO told me this made her day.”

Strnad believes in putting the customer rst, and looking out for the creatures on his route is part of that mindset. When he saw an animal in need, he acted.

“Mom and baby are doing great,” Tracy said. “She is a rst-calf heifer, and they can be touchy. If they don’t recover well, you could lose them, so it always makes you nervous.”

The Gagnows named the calf Joni, adding the letter “I” to the name of the man who helped save her life. The Gagnows did not know Strnad before that day and are grateful for the generosity and quick thinking shown by a stranger. Brought together by unusual circumstances on their small family farm, the Gagnows forged a friendship with their delivery man.

“We’ll always be connected now,” said Strnad, who has a special place in his heart for the calf he helped bring into the world.

Joni will be in the petting zoo at the Outagamie County Fair June 26-30 for anyone who wants to meet the spunky calf that might not have made it if a certain UPS man had not taken the time to stop that day.

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his regular du es.

“I didn’t milk cows for about 45 days, and that was too much for me,” Terning said. “I joke that was me testing out retirement.”

Terning said he never considered a career other than dairy farming. When he rst began his herd, he housed cows at Deerview Dairy in Willmar and shipped milk to the creamery in Litcheld. When he branched out on his own, on rented land, the creamery began picking up his milk from the new location with no issues.

“I like the exibility now,” Terning said. “I can manage my time better. When I was working for someone else, we did crops until 2 in the morning and then had to be in the barn to milk the cows a few hours later.”

However, Terning did not mind being an employee. He said it was a sad day leaving the farm after working there for so long.

When Terning was working toward getting his own barn, he was not alone in making the decision to rent from the Settergrens. The Settergrens’ brother, who is a pastor, approached Terning one day after church and told Terning that his brothers were expecting him to stop by one day.

milking and chores when he can.

“My biggest thing is family,” Terning said. “Growing up on the farm, family was there every day.”

“There was tons of support and encouragement coming here,” Terning said. “The biggest thing was knowing what my long-term plans were. The Settergren brothers were comfortable letting me in. I plan to continue doing what I’m doing and making adjustments to better the operation.”

This barn was a prime location for Terning because it was close to home.

Along with his dairy operation, Terning farms 600 acres — a combination of family land, rented land from the Settergrens and land he purchased — of hay, corn, wheat and soybeans and manages a herd of about 40 beef cow-calf pairs each year. When the pastures dry up and the cows can roam, the dairy heifers are on pasture with a bull.

When it comes to breeding, Terning only uses Holstein bulls.

“At home, we were big into crossbreeding,” Terning said. “Now, I do a lot of breeding for type for bigger-bodied cows that will last.”

His family focuses on components, but Terning wants to focus on longevity and would like to milk his cows for 10 years rather than nding replacement heifers.

While there are things Terning did not carry with him from his family’s farm, there are others he deems extremely important.

Terning spent his childhood at Ahlgren Brothers, a dairy farm owned by his grandparents. The farm is now managed by his uncle, Rick Ahlgren. There were many days Terning would be in the company of his younger brother, Tate.

“When Tate was younger and I was still at home, I dragged him around (the farm),” Terning said. “When I was gone for four years, I was worried he would no longer be interested in milking. But, he’s back helping me, and I hope he doesn’t leave.”

Milking on his own is about much more than a paycheck to Terning. The land he is renting allows the Settergren family to spend time with the cows, something that was long in their history and is once again an option with the rental agreement.

“It’s nice to know you are keeping the history going,” Terning said. “Plus, you get done at the end of the day and this is on you. This is your reward. You nally got it.”

Even though Terning has spent his life working with cows and was on a path leading him to his dream, he questioned himself along the way.

“I know people have had harder roads, but there were a few times I was wondering if it was worth it,” Terning said. “In the end, it fell into place.”

EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR

Dylan Terning lls pails with feed for the heifers May 9 at his farm near Dassel, Minnesota. Along with running a dairy opera on, Terning manages a herd of about 40 beef calf-cow pairs.

EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR

Dylan Terning prepares a cow for milking May 9 at his farm near Dassel, Minnesota. Terning’s younger brother, Tate, helps with

Afton Nelson of Owatonna will represent Steele County. Her parents are Tim and Stacy Nelson.

Miranda Schroeder of Caledonia will represent Houston County. Her parents are Daniel and Sheila Schroeder.

hopes to reach out even more in the role of Princess Kay.

Rachel Visser of Hutchinson will represent McLeod County. Her parents are Barry and Shannon Visser.

Katelyn Welgraven of Ruthton will represent Pipestone County. Her parents are Keith and Jeanna Welgraven.

Grace Woitalla of Avon will represent Stearns County. Her parents are Keith and Patty Woitalla.

“I enjoy talking with community members, whether it’s young kids or people who are in the older generations and sharing the farm-totable process,” Nelson said. “As far as now being a nalist, of course, the butter head is cool, but being able to represent Minnesota on a larger level would be great. Locally, I represent 13 farms whereas Princess Kay represents over 3,000 farms.”

Nelson said it is important to support dairy farmers.

McKenna Wright of Hutchinson will represent McLeod County. Her parents are Paul and Heather Wright.

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The nalists are all connected to dairy farming but in a variety of ways. Some grew up on dairy farms. Others, like Nelson, came to the world of dairy via a different route.

The University of Wisconsin-River Falls student, majoring in dairy science and minoring in companion animals, was rst introduced to dairy through an educational program in Steele County called Cow Camp. The program brought kids to the farm of Deb and Glen Johnson to learn about dairy.

“When I did Cow Camp, I fell in love with the dairy community,” Nelson said. “I quickly found a passion that I haven’t left since, and I was probably only 8 or 9 years old at the time. … Just being in the environment and being with the calves, I thought, ‘I could do this forever.’”

During the camp, the Johnsons introduced the attendees to various breeds of cows.

“My rst year at camp, there was a Brown Swiss named Honey, and I instantly fell in love with the Brown Swiss breed,” Nelson said.

She began leasing animals through 4-H, and she and her brother have owned Brown Swiss cattle together since 2016. The cattle are housed at a nearby farm in exchange for labor. Nelson and her brother help milk and do eldwork at the site.

Now rmly embedded in the world of dairy, as well as serving as a Steele County dairy princess, Nelson

“Unfortunately, as we know, the industry is kind of slimming down,” she said. “I want producers to know that there are still a lot of people who are extremely passionate about dairy.”

Unlike Nelson, Schroeder came to the world of dairy farming more traditionally. She is part of the fth generation on her family’s farm near Caledonia.

“A lot of people don’t know where their food comes from, so being able to see the hard work that gets put into our farm and into the food that we raise is incredible,” Schroeder said. “I am so glad that we still have the farm in our family, and I hope it will be for generations to come.”

Schroeder wrapped up her second year at Minnesota State College Southeast where she is majoring in accounting with the hope of applying her degree in an agriculture-related sector. When helping on the farm, she said her favorite chore is bottle-feeding calves.

“Just seeing how adorable they are and knowing that I am raising the next producers on the farm is a real joy of mine — to be able to see the life from calf to cow,” Schroeder said. “I love doing it.”

For Schroeder, inspiration to compete for the Princess Kay title came in part from her older sister, Rebeckah Marschall, who now runs the farm with her dad, cousin and uncle. Marschall was a Princess Kay nalist in 2020.

“(My sister) is what sparked my interest in everything,” Schroeder said. “She helped me gain the condence to step out and do the Princess

Selena Corona

Paige Gerads

Katie Ketchum

Mackenzie Moline

Afton Nelson

Kay program. … I watched her go through the program and become a nalist, and it has been a goal of mine to follow in her footsteps.”

Schroeder said her sister has cheered her on the whole way and has given advice.

“She told me, ‘Condence is key and so is knowing exactly who you are,’” Schroeder said.

Helping to promote dairy, Schroeder said, is what most excites her about the dairy princess program.

“Being able to do that as Princess Kay would be amazing,” Schroeder said.

According to Midwest Dairy’s website, candidates are judged on knowledge of the dairy industry, communication skills and enthusiasm for promoting dairy.

In August, the nalists will compete for the role of Princess Kay, with the winner announced Wednesday evening before the opening day of the Minnesota State Fair. The 71st Princess Kay of the Milky Way will then spend the next year representing Minnesota’s dairy farmers. All nalists will have their likeness carved in butter during the fair.

Watch for upcoming articles in Dairy Star that will highlight each of the nalists.

Rachel Visser

Grace Woitalla McKenna Wright

Miranda Schroeder

Katelyn Welgraven

Positive momentum for Class III milk

Rabobank senior dairy analyst Lucas Fuess said the cheese market has been squeezed, supporting Class III milk prices. “What I think has happened lately is a combination of weaker cheddar production coupled with very rm cheese exports,” Fuess said. “February and March cheese exports were exceptionally strong and that absorbed a lot more product than we might have expected.”

Thompson unveils farm bill language House Committee on Agriculture

Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson has released his farm bill text. It includes many provisions farm groups wanted, including premium support to help farmers ‘buy up’ higher levels of crop insurance. It raises reference prices and doubles the Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development Program funding. Thompson’s bill also addresses the problems associated with California’s Prop 12, making it illegal for a state to impose standards on livestock and dairy production outside of its borders.

Dairy title details

Thompson’s farm bill proposal makes adjustments in dairy programs. It increases the cap on Tier 1 coverage for Dairy Margin Coverage to 6 million pounds. There is an opportunity to update production history for DMC, and it provides a 25% discount on DMC premiums for dairy operations that enroll coverage for the life of the 2024 farm bill. The farm bill text mandates biennial cost surveys to make sure make allowances accurately reect the cost of manufacturing dairy products. Thompson’s dairy title would also restore the higher of formula for the calculation of the price for Class I uid milk until the Federal Milk Marketing Order updates are ratied.

Farm bill text delivers momentum for the process

The Russell Group President Randy Russell has been pouring through the lengthy farm bill text. “Chairman Thompson releasing this text is a very positive move,” Russell said. “It builds some momentum in a farm bill process that has been long and prolonged. We can haggle about the details, but you’ve got to step in the batter’s box and start the game before you can score any runs, so I think this is positive.”

Activist groups step up federal focus

A new coalition of 15 animal rights groups has been formed to make local, state and national policy changes. The Animal Policy Alliance’s mission is to end what it sees as animal cruelty in largescale farms. This coalition says it has had success with state initiatives and wants to increase animal welfare regulations at the federal level.

A chaotic nish

MMPA pleased with environment, agriculture bills

Ag Insider

By Don Wick Columnist

The agriculture policy and supplemental budget bill passed in both the Minnesota House and Senate. With the midnight deadline approaching Sunday night, nine bills were combined into one in the House. Majority Leader Jamie Long said the minority has a right to be heard, but the majority has the right to govern and brought the massive bill to a vote. Chaos took over with Republicans upset with the DFL majority. Amid the commotion, the combined bill passed on a 70-50 margin in the House. After adjournment, Republicans led an ethics complaint against House Speaker Melissa Hortman for pushing the large bill through at the last minute after shutting down the debate. On the Senate side, the agriculture bill passed with a 36-31 margin.

Compromise found for agriculture bill

The nal agriculture bill in the Minnesota Legislature extends the Agriculture Fertilizer Research and Education Council through 2030. The House bill would have allowed AFREC to expire in 2025 and divert the 40-cent per ton fee on fertilizer purchases for a new private well water assistance program for southeastern Minnesota. The Senate wanted to extend AFREC for another 10 years. The compromise bill requires the council to develop best management practices for areas where water is vulnerable to nitrate losses. Senate Agriculture, Broadband and Rural Development Committee Chair Aric Putnam praised the negotiation process in the conference committee.

“So often in politics, we think what makes things happen is passion, but, in truth, it’s patience,” Putnam said.

“This is the result of patience, grace and thoughtfulness; I’m very proud of this bill.”

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Reecting on the Minnesota legislative session, Minnesota Milk Producers Association Executive Director Lucas Sjostrom is satised. “We’re quite pleased with the environment and agriculture bills,” Sjostrom said. “There weren’t very many changes that affected dairy, which is good.” Sjostrom said any changes impacting the dairy sector were negligible.

Canada

cattle import restrictions

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has created more requirements when importing dairy cattle from the U.S. This is in response to the rst conrmed case of H5N1 in a dairy herd in late March. Since April 29, breeding cattle have been required to have milk tested and a negative test to cross the border. Farmers must be willing to voluntarily test asymptomatic cattle as well.

Federal relief on the way for dairy farmers

There’s nancial support coming for dairy farmers dealing with H5N1 in their cattle. That includes reimbursements for veterinarian costs associated with the virus. “We’re going to provide funding for heat treatment to dispose of milk in a bio-secure fashion,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. “This is going to provide producers a safe option for disposing of milk.” Vilsack also announced increases in federal surveillance and testing of human and animal health.

Farm Credit collaboration

The collaboration agreement between AgCountry Farm Credit Services, Farm Credit Services of America and Frontier Farm Credit has been in place for a month. This is the largest collaboration of its kind in the Farm Credit System. Marc Knisley, who is the executive vice president of AgCountry business development, said this collaboration protects the local brand presence. “It is an opportunity to keep these local associations more local, let them leverage the scale of working together and maybe slow down the merger trend that we’ve seen,” he said. In an interview with the Red River Farm Network, Knisley

said this was a board-driven decision. The three entities will share leadership, planning and technology while local boards, ofces and programs will be maintained. “It’s not really a take-away, it is more of the added value that the broader leadership team can bring and the depth of knowledge and experience that we can bring in a collaboration,” Knisley said.

Hay stocks up over a year ago

As of May 1, hay stocks totaled 21 million tons nationwide. That’s up a massive 47% from one year ago. Meanwhile, Minnesota hay stocks dropped 30%.

Broton to succeed Nelsen at AgriGrowth

The Minnesota AgriGrowth Council has named its new executive director. Darin Broton has spent the past 25 years at the cross-section of communications, policy and politics. Broton is now with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and has previous experience in the attorney general’s ofce and the Tunheim consulting rm. Broton said AgriGrowth has a role as an advocate for Minnesota agriculture. “The ag community can either be in the driver’s seat and helping drive these changes and conversations or we can be in the backseat,” Broton said. “If we’re in the backseat, we’re going to have things thrust upon us versus being a proactive, thoughtful convener and problem solver to help solve multiple challenges.” Broton’s start date is June 10. AgriGrowth’s executive director, Tamara Nelsen, is retiring.

Trivia challenge

The Ford F-150 has been the bestselling pickup in the U.S. for nearly 50 years. That answers our last trivia question. For this week’s trivia, we look at June Dairy Month. This celebration began as National Milk Month. What was the year? We will have the answer in our next edition of Dairy Star.

Don Wick is owner/broadcaster for the Red River Farm Network of 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 sons, Tony and Sam, and ve grandchildren, Aiden, Piper, Adrienne, Aurora and Sterling.

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USDA announces funding for H5N1affected herds

Pruitt details programs in

NMPF webinar

By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com

In the wake of the evolving animal health situation created by highly pathogenic avian inuenza in dairy cattle, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that signicant investments will be made to support affected dairy farms and reduce the impact and spread of the virus to mitigate risk and protect public health.

The USDA announced May 10 that $98 million in existing funds is being made available to its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to support these initiatives. USDA can make additional funds available with Congressional notication.

Dr. Michael Pruitt, the APHIS deputy national incident commander and director of district 4 veterinary services, appeared on a webinar hosted by the National Milk Producers Federation

May 16. The webinar discussed how affected dairy farmers can use these funds to work through and recover from the effects of the HPAI H5N1 virus.

“We are in what I would call uncharted waters,” Pruitt said. “The rollouts have been fast and furious. As we go along, there might be some changes that come about to make it more simple to take advantage of this. These nancial opportunities will potentially help you and will potentially help us as we try to get more knowledge of the disease prevalence in our herds in the United States.”

Pruitt dened an affected farm as any facility that has received a non-negative polymerase chain reaction sample from milk or via pathology from a necropsy situation.

As of May 17, the virus has been conrmed on 51 dairy farms in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas.

“The focus right now is on those affected herds,” Pruitt said. “I suspect we will pick up more herds as pre-movement testing continues. We’re asking producers that are affected by the disease get conrmation at either a National Animal Health Laboratory Network or National Veterinary Services Labo-

Turn to H5NI | Page 12

tests do you use and what do you like about those tests? We do normal milk sampling and use the pregnancy check. It’s less cow handling for the staff.

Which is your favorite and why? I like to know the fat and protein. To make better culling decisions.

How does testing with DHIA bene t your dairy operation? It is hard to make decisions without current information. So, testing gives us that.

Tell us about your farm. I farm with my wife, Kate, and parents, Betty and Joe, in Sauk Centre. We enjoy working with good cows and better people. From our employees, consultants and even a few sales people. The farm consists of registered Holsteins and crops to feed them. We strive to get a little better each year by improving both.

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Michael McAndrews Sauk Centre, Minnesota Stearns county • 400 cows

ratories. We’re preparing to roll this out as quickly as we can.”

Affected farms are eligible to submit receipts for the program, commencing with the date of the USDA conrmation of the presence of the virus on their farms. They can request program funding for 120 days following that conrmation.

“We’re working right now on building the team that we’ll need to support this,” Pruitt said. “Our administrative services unit feels very comfortable that we have assets in place right now with the skill sets that are necessary to immediately employ this activity. We’re ready to go as soon as this thing reaches its ofcial roll-out.”

Pruitt said the Farm Service Agency will provide assistance for H5N1-related milk loss and is developing rules for that arm of the program.

Detailing the programs available, Pruitt stressed the importance of using personal protective equipment on affected farms.

“We’re looking to support you by trying to slow down any potential for accidental exposure on those dairies where the virus could potentially

Monahan HOOF

move to humans,” Pruitt said. “Producers who elect this option can receive a at rate per employee up to $2,000 per month to provide PPE. In addition, if they have their own uniform services, we will help support increased laundering services. The idea is to provide PPE, whether disposable or reusable.”

The funding for increased PPE is limited to four months following the initial conrmation on each farm.

“In addition to that, people can take advantage of very specic information that might not have been on their radar before regarding biosecurity auditing, planning and implementation,” Pruitt said.

Producers can receive a one-time offer of $1,500 per affected premise to work with either private entities or state personnel to develop and implement enhanced biosecurity measures.

Producers will need to keep all receipts and invoices for the process to be reimbursed.

With increasing biosecurity measures, up to $100 will be paid to farms that wish to install an in-line sampler for their milk systems.

Up to $2,000 over four months will

TRIMMING

Cattle, Sheep, and Goat Hoof Trimming

be available to affected dairy farmers to put toward the purchase of a pasteurization unit or other expenses related to heating and disposing of affected milk in a biosecure fashion.

“There has been some concern about just dumping the milk, but right now, the only safe option we’ve got is to dispose of milk after it’s been heated,” Pruitt said. “At this time, heat treating milk is the only conrmed method for biosecure disposal of affected milk.”

Pruitt said while some farms treat waste milk fed to calves using ultraviolet light rather than pasteurization, the effectiveness of UV light in terms of killing the H5N1 virus is not conrmed.

“We can reimburse producers that have experienced cattle that are going to the sick pen and have to be treated medically to get those animals through that sick period to get them through resolution,” Pruitt said. “We can support that up to $10,000 total per affected premise.”

The reimbursement can also be applied to veterinary fees for collecting samples for testing. The USDA will also cover the shipping costs of sending samples to a NAHNL lab for testing

for two shipments per month, not to exceed $50 per shipment for each affected premise.

A team through the Ruminant Heath Commodities Unit is working on building a related program that offers an opportunity to test bulk tank milk, probably weekly, Pruitt said. The number of samples would be based on the number of cows and the number of tanks.

“It will be a really good support mechanism for those people who want to go past being required to do premovement testing every time they have a load that needs to go,” Pruitt said. “This would offer us a chance over a period of three weeks to help establish herd status. That would give us a chance to take a look at herd prevalence and at the same time give you a chance to feel more comfortable that your cattle are not experiencing disease. We could help you establish and maintain that status.”

To enroll in the programs, affected dairy farmers must contact the USDA’s designated area veterinarian in charge of their state. That information can be found via the APHIS website.

We use a hydraulic upright chute for less stress.

“Our

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Growing US exports

How USDEC is increasing worldwide demand for American dairy products

By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com

WASHINGTON — Within 25 years, exports of U.S. dairy products have increased nearly sevenfold. Today, almost 20% of U.S. dairy production is exported, which means that one in six tankers of milk leaving a dairy is going for exports.

“Exports impact every farmer,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. “Exporting gives protection to farmers to ensure there is a home for their milk, whether it’s around the corner or around the world. Exports are becoming a much more important factor in U.S. dairy, and for us to grow as an industry, we must have markets outside the U.S.”

USDEC was created 28 years ago by dairy farmers through the national dairy checkoff program. USDEC is an umbrella organization bringing together elements of the dairy chain to build and grow markets around the world.

“It’s a collective effort that adds value to farmers’ milk checks by adding new markets for commodities,” Harden said. “This is especially important if you have a new generation that wants to come back to the farm. USDEC wants to help the young farmer gure out how they t into a global market and the growth that provides.”

The U.S. is the third largest exporter of dairy products in the world, following New Zealand and Europe. Harden said the U.S.’s biggest market and closest ally for exports is Mexico.

“Mexico is a large consumer of dairy, and they love our cheeses,” she said. “Dairy is a big part of their diet, but it’s not a market we take for granted. We sit down with Mexican dairy farmers and processors regularly. If there’s more demand for dairy in Mexico, it helps Mexican dairy farmers and U.S. dairy farmers.”

Harden said Mexico imports about 30% of its dairy consumption even though the country has a successful dairy-producing industry.

“Our trade is not about displacing any farmers; we need more farmers in the world, not fewer,” she said. “We work hand in hand in many cases because Mexico still can’t meet the demand.”

Harden said USDEC sees potential in Central America and South America. The council is also focused on Southeast Asia and has a brick-and-mortar ofce in Singapore that includes a test kitchen, chef and meeting space.

“It is a big world, and we have to look at it market by market and situation by situation,” Harden said. “Southeast Asia is a very large market with a potential for dairy ingredients.”

With additional ofces in Mexico, South America, Korea, Japan, the Middle East, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, USDEC has outposts around the world. There are 10 in all, including the main ofce in Washington, D.C., with more ofces to come. Among the prospects is Sub-Saharan Africa.

“We’re making sure U.S. dairy is front and center in emerging markets, growth markets and established markets,” Harden said. “We have to be aggressive and strategic and make sure

we know and understand these markets. We work closely with our governments and governments in these key countries to ensure our products are allowed in. There are a lot of requirements to make that happen.”

The U.S. is rebounding from a tough year for exports last year following a record-breaking year in 2022, when U.S. dairy exports totaled $9.66 billion.

“We were a little lower last year, but we’ll climb back up this year,” Harden said. “Right now, about 17%-18% of production is going into exports. That helps the milk check. If we don’t have a place for those products, where are they going to go? Exports give a home to milk that would otherwise be in a surplus which causes oversupply and less money for farmers.”

With 96% of the world population falling outside U.S. borders, Harden said there is a responsibility to help feed a hungry world.

“There are opportunities to grow markets that may not have dairy in their diet to the extent they should,” Harden said. “Many countries are decient in the vitamins and minerals found in dairy and do not reach the suggested intake for dairy products. This is a great opportunity for us to give more of the world a healthier diet through the sustainable nutrition that comes from dairy.”

Harden also sees exports as a way to help people understand the many uses of dairy, from traditional foods to ingredients to proteins and permeates.

“There are all sorts of things we can do with dairy,” Harden said. “We export a lot of cheese, and there is growing demand for U.S. cheese around the world. But powder, proteins and other ingredients from dairy are critical.”

Milk processors play a role in exports, and USDEC is often the facilitator, matching up exporters with buyers. The organization works with governments around the world to ensure standards and qualications are met.

“We help facilitate the process for our member companies and cooperatives, making sure those who want to buy from the U.S. know who to buy from,” Harden said. “If you want to sell outside the U.S., we help make sure you understand what that’s going to look like.”

The high-quality and high-value reputation of U.S. dairy products makes it an attractive option for countries looking to import. Building relationships and partnerships with these countries is the important next step, Harden said.

“When I look at where this industry will be in 10 years, we will be exporting more, and we will be taking market share from our competitors,” Harden said. “There will be new markets that we’re not doing business in today that we’ll be doing business with in 10 years.”

Taking market share from competitors is something that Harden sees as inevitable.

“We have the resources to grow production here: land, water and a much more favorable regulatory environment than our competitors,” Harden said.

“Some states have stricter environmental regulations than others, but by and large, we are a business and ag-friendly country.”

USDEC is gearing up for World Milk Day June 1, which will kick off June Dairy Month.

“We’ll have celebrations with our counterparts and consumers in every one of our locations and in every language,” Harden said. “That day and all of June Dairy Month is a time to say thank you to our great dairy farmers.”

As exports grow, Harden sees it as key to helping sustain the dairy industry and drive growth.

“I want dairy farmers to look at exports and trade in a positive light,” Harden said. “It is an opportunity for us to grow as an industry and is a positive reason to stay in dairy or bring in the next generation.”

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Charlie Sachs

Eyota, Minnesota Olmsted County 100 cows

What is the most signicant remodeling project you’ve done on the farm?

We redid the parlor.

Tell us about the planning process and what it took to complete the project. We bought a used double-8 parallel parlor from a guy in South Dakota. We hauled it home last summer. It took two weekends to take it out of his barn and haul it home in pieces. My son, CJ, went to school with Jacob Hornberg, who works for Lang’s Dairy Equipment of Decorah, Iowa. Jake had stopped out to the farm to see what CJ was doing, looked at the parlor and asked if he could send out their guy who does the design work. We worked with Rod Rain, and he drew the plans. We ended up having Lang’s Dairy Equipment install, and the concrete work was done by Tony Schwartz of T S Concrete Inc. in Elgin, Minnesota. Don’s Electric Inc. from St. Charles, Minnesota, did all the wiring.

What was the reason for making the change, and what kind of impact has this had? We were milking in a 1969 model double-6. To say it had outlived its useful life would probably be an understatement. It was referred to as the dungeon. There was one window in the whole parlor. The cows had to walk up steps to get into the parlor and down steps to get out of the parlor. I don’t know who thought that was a good idea in the ’60s. It was taking way too long to milk in this old parlor. For our remodel, we went out into the old freestall barn that was built with the old parlor and started over. We took free stalls out and dug the pit for a new parlor.

What do you like and dislike about remodeling projects? We got lucky that it was done this winter. We started the project Jan. 4, and we milked the rst cows in the new parlor Feb. 15. It made for a long month and a half of work, but going from the six to the eight units on a side, we cut an hour off each milking. There’s no steps anymore, and the cow ow is just so much improved.

What kind of project are you considering? We are not 100% nished. The south wall of the parlor is the old barn wall. We’re thinking of putting in a couple more windows in that. We also have a couple of fans ordered for that wall. When we built the north wall, which is in the center of the old freestall barn, we built it so part of that wall opens up during summer. This allows, if we get those fans installed on the south side, for a cross-ventilated parlor.

Tell us about your farm and plans for the dairy farm this year. Our dairy farm is operated by my wife, Carrie, and I and our son, CJ. We ship our milk to Plainview Milk Products Cooperative. We farm about 400 acres. We do not have any special plans for the farm this year.

Mark Lamborn

Luana, Iowa

Allamakee County

180 cows

What is the most signicant remodeling project you’ve done on the farm? Putting the robots in two years ago.

Tell us about the planning process and what it took to complete the project. We looked at a lot of other robot/ freestall barn setups before making our decision to retrot our 6-row freestall barn. We signed the paperwork ordering our three robots at the end of March 2021. Planning involved members of DeLaval, an electrician, plumbers, a cement contractor, the excavating crew and carpenters. We were delayed because of post-pandemic trucking problems. Our robot startup day was Jan. 18, 2022. We had help from family, friends and neighbors in bitter cold conditions to push the cows through.

What was the reason for making the change, and what kind of impact has this had? The hired man and my shoulders were about shot from milking all the time. We checked into hiring milkers and soon found out it would cost about what it would cost for a robot project payment. Robotic milkers are also working for you 24/7. They don’t call in sick or not show up. Having robots has allowed me to go to sporting events easier, and I have more time for maintaining and xing things.

What do you like and dislike about remodeling projects? I like looking at other people’s layouts and talking to them about things they would or wouldn’t do again. I dislike the cost of everything and am thankful interest rates were lower two years ago.

What kind of project are you considering? I would like to do a calf barn and am planning on one or two more robots.

Tell us about your farm and plans for the dairy farm this year. My wife and I are the sixth-generation dairy farmers on our heritage farm. Jill works part time in healthcare along with taking care of the farm bookwork. We have ve children. Brock is a real estate agent and insurance agent. He helps during planting and harvest. Blake works for an excavating/construction company. He also helps with eldwork when able. Avery is a junior in high school. She is active in sports and working off the farm. Jaxon is a freshman in high school. He plays sports and helps a neighbor milk cows in their parlor. Camden is our “farm manager.” He knows everything that is going on. We also have one full-time employee, who is also a hoof trimmer. We milk 180 cows, raise our heifers and nish our steers. We farm approximately 1,300 acres, doing all our own chopping and spraying. Our milk is shipped to Prairie Farms Dairy Inc. only 4 miles from our farm in Luana. We have no big projects planned for this year.

Weston Hill Lake Wilson, Minnesota Murray County 240 cows

What is the most signicant remodeling project you’ve done on the farm?

We switched our dairy facilities from a pole barn and a double-8 herringbone parlor to a hoop barn and milking robots. We built the rst part of the hoop barn in 2013 and added a robot room the next year. We added the second half of the hoop barn and another robot room in 2018.

Tell us about the planning process and what it took to complete the project. Gorter’s Clay & Dairy Equipment Inc. helped us with the planning and design. We visited robotic dairies and asked the owners what they liked and what they would change. Dad and I did as much of the construction as we could. After our cows were milked in the old parlor, we would walk them up to the new hoop barn so they could do dry runs through the robots and get used to the free stalls.

What was the reason for making the change, and what kind of impact has this had? We were expanding our dairy herd, and our facilities were shot. It was cheaper to build a hoop barn than to remodel our facilities and make room for just one milking robot. The new facilities have improved everything for the cows. They are healthier, happier and are giving more milk than they did in the old barn.

What do you like and dislike about remodeling projects? I like the fact that we now have state-of-the-art equipment. The downside was that we had to spend three days pushing the cows through the milking robots. The cows were totally adapted after about two weeks. The heifers adapted quickly, but it took longer for the older cows.

What kind of project are you considering? We have a long list of building repairs that need to be done, including putting doors on some of our sheds. We also need to replace a bunch of the 100-year-old wooden posts in our pasture fence.

Tell us about your farm and plans for the dairy farm this year. I farm with my parents, Chuck and Laurie. Dad and I do most of the work around the farm, and Mom handles the bookkeeping. Our milk goes to Associated Milk Producers Inc. We grow corn and alfalfa and have a few acres of pasture. We usually plant rye in the fall and chop it for silage in May. We will then plant the rye ground to soybeans. We hire custom operators to do all of our manure hauling and eldwork so we can concentrate on caring for our cows. All of our heifers and the bottom quarter of our milking herd are bred to beef bulls. We use sexed semen on the top 3/4 of the milking herd. As a result, we have about 150% more replacement heifers than we need.

Todd Heieie, pictured with his sons Max (left) and Gunnar Brooten, Minnesota Stearns County 140 cows

What is the most signicant remodeling project you’ve done on the farm? We’ve done a few remodels over the years. Our latest and maybe most signicant was remodeling our compost bedding pack barn with a parlor into a freestall barn with two robotic milking units.

Tell us about the planning process and what it took to complete the project. We started out planning to replace the compost pack with free stalls because the cost of sawdust had gotten so high and was also hard to nd during the coronavirus pandemic. We asked about where we could put robots in the future so we could leave room. As we looked into it, we ran numbers and decided to do the robots at the same time.

What was the reason for making the change, and what kind of impact has this had? Once we decided what we were going to do, we toured dairies with robots and looked at the pros and cons of setups. We gathered opinions from the farmers as to what they really liked and what they might do differently. We looked at different kinds of robots with their salesmen and decided which kind we were most comfortable with. Arnzen Construction, Inc. did all the construction, cement work, and installing of free stalls and water beds. They also did all the designing, with input from us and Genex, who would be installing the delaval robots. We started toward the end of June 2022, doing one side of the barn at a time. Half of the milk cows had to be housed in a different barn and walked to the parlor twice a day. We nished with the free stalls in September, the robots came around Christmas, and we were able to start using them Feb. 1, 2023.

What do you like and dislike about remodeling projects? Our primary reason was to save money on bedding and have an easier way to milk. It has denitely made life easier and more exible. We have more time for other things, and it is better for the cows as well. We went with DeLaval robots with a guided-ow system, which eliminates most of the cow fetching. The cows don’t have to be disturbed much at all. Kind of like cows, I like my routines, and a remodeling project like this denitely messes that up. We had good contractors who understood this needed to get done as fast as possible, which helped a lot.

What kind of project are you considering? Our next project for the summer is turning our old parlor into a heated shop. We will cut out a wall, put in an overhead door, knock out all the old cement and put in a new oor.

Tell us about your farm and plans for the dairy farm this year. We own 440 acres. Our milk goes to First District Association. We are milking 120 cows in two DeLaval robots. We plan to slowly increase to 140 over the course of the year. I’m kind of old to be making this kind of investment, but we have twin boys who will be seniors in high school next year. They are interested in farming, so this remodel will make it easier for them if they decide to take over someday.

Jason Douvier

Albany, Minnesota

Stearns County

56 cows

What is the most signicant remodeling project you’ve done on the farm? The most signicant remodeling project I did was when I remodeled our old two-story hog barn. We transformed it into a barn for my calves.

Tell us about the planning process and what it took to complete the project. We looked at different setups to get ideas on how we could make it work by using the building we had. At rst, I planned to make individual pens for each calf. Then, we looked at barns that had automatic calf feeders. The calves looked happy and healthy, so I ended up going that route. Once we started remodeling, it took close to a year before we were able to nally move the calves in. We ended up getting the whole barn down to the studs and replacing some of the foundation. We also removed the haymow oor to allow us to put overhead doors in for a skid loader. The higher ceilings also help with better air ow and ventilation. I was able to work on it between chores and eldwork during the week, and on the weekends, my brothers would help.

Derek Hammerand Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque County 210 cows

What is the most signicant remodeling project you’ve done on the farm? Upgrading to a milking parlor in the fall of 2021. We built a double-12, rapid exit parallel parlor. Previously, we were milking in a double-8 herringbone, and we were walking the cows 300 feet down a hill to the old stanchion barn.

Tell us about the planning process and what it took to complete the project. The biggest decision was to decide on a herringbone or a parallel parlor. I decided to go with a parallel parlor because it was safer; I was tired of getting kicked in the herringbone parlor. To plan for the project, I toured as many parlors as I could. Even if I got just one good idea out of a parlor tour, it served me well. To complete the project, we built the parlor and holding area onto the existing freestall barn. This involved concrete, plumbing, electrical and construction work. Most of the labor was completed with the help of a couple friends, my brother-in-law and father-in-law. My grandpa always told me that price is soon forgotten but quality is long remembered, so I kept that in mind when planning the size of the parlor stalls and how much room the cows had to exit.

What was the reason for making the change, and what kind of impact has this had? The biggest reason for the change was to eliminate the walk from the freestall barn to the old parlor. It wasn’t very fun chasing cows down to milk in a blizzard; they always seemed to run, and then, they would fall and get hurt or slip on the ice. The weather was a big factor in deciding to make the upgrade. It has saved time, being able to milk with 24 units instead of 16. The biggest impact is seeing less injuries and increased longevity in the older cows due to less walking every day.

What do you like and dislike about remodeling projects? I like when it’s complete and done. I dislike paying for it and the constant headaches every day while building. I also like feeling like you’re doing something to benet yourself and the cows today and in the long run. Once it’s done, you’re happy you did it.

What kind of project are you considering? I nished building a fresh cow barn and calving barn in January. It’s one building for fresh cows. It took about eight weeks to build. It was intended to be a bedding pack, but I designed it where I could switch to free stalls if I didn’t like the bedding pack. After only a month, I poured a wall and put free stalls in for the fresh cows. They stay for about 10-20 days, until the threat of ketosis has generally passed. It has made it easier to keep an eye on fresh cows.

Tell us about your farm and plans for the dairy farm this year. The farm is 175 acres, and I also rent an additional 80 acres from neighbors. I milk 210 cows with my wife, Jennifer, who also works full time as a nurse practitioner. We have a 10-month-old daughter, Laurna. I have ve part-time people who help milk. Our milk is shipped to Wapsie Valley Creamery in Independence, Iowa. The plan for the dairy this year is to hopefully pay off some things with the higher milk price. Then, we are actually going to start building a house this fall.

What was the reason for making the change, and what kind of impact has this had? The reason we made the change is because we were feeding calves in hutches and didn’t like dealing with that during the cold, snow and rain. The calves are happier and healthier. We are able to manage them better because they are inside and out of the elements. The calves and cows are much friendlier than ever because of the increased human interaction since we are in the pen a couple times a day. Before, they only saw someone looking in from the outside.

What do you like and dislike about remodeling projects? I like the satisfaction of doing things and being able to make something better. I dislike that it’s hard to get time to do big projects with all the other farm things going on.

What kind of project are you considering? As of right now, I am not planning on starting any projects or remodeling the farm.

Tell us about your farm and plans for the dairy farm this year. I farm with my wife, Amanda, and three children. We milk 56 cows in a tiestall barn. All of our replacements are raised on-farm, and we grow our own feed. I don’t have anything planned for this year, just some small maintenance projects, maintaining herd numbers and taking advantage of the good cattle prices.

Careful consideration for cow comfort, labor ef

Draegers unlatch robotic barn doors for open house

By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com

MARATHON, Wis. — A robotic milking system has been on the radar at Draeger Dairy near Marathon for nearly a decade.

After years of contemplation, 12 Lely Astronaut A5 robotic milking units were red up Aug. 21, 2023, launching the Draeger family into a new era on their Marathon County farm.

Draeger Dairy, home to nearly 700 milking cows, is operated by brothers Jim Draeger and Alan Draeger, along with Jim’s children, Heidi and Aaron Gauerke, TJ Draeger, Teanna Draeger and Kylie Draeger.

Nearly 550 cows call the robotic barn home. The other 150 cows continue to live in the older freestall barn and are milked in a double-12 parlor. Eventually, the Draegers hope to ll both barns and milk the facility’s capacity of 900 cows.

Since moving into the facility, the herd is averaging 92 pounds of milk per cow per day, with an energy-corrected equiv-

alent of nearly 100 pounds.

The Draegers are inviting others interested in the technology to view theirs in an open house from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 15.

“For the past 10 years, I have been saying that robots were going to be our future,”

Heidi said.

While Heidi was the early advocate and long convinced of the value robots could play in the farm’s future, the rest of her family came on board about four years ago. Like many farms, labor issues were the driver that ultimately brought robotic milking to the farm.

“We have a lot of local competition for labor,” Aaron said.

Jim agreed. He said the nancial implications of procuring staff convinced him.

“It’s a struggle to nd employees to milk the cows, especially knowing that employee wages and benets like health insurance and workers compensation continue to escalate,” Jim said. “You know that robot is not going to ask for a raise. It is not going to call in sick.”

When the decision was

made, the Draegers investigated the technology available and researched and toured facilities.

“The reputation of Seehafers and Lely were huge, knowing you have dealer support and knowledge,” TJ said. “Lely fo-

cuses on robots. They are on the forefront of robots, driving the innovation.”

As a team, the Draegers felt the free-ow model was the best t for their cows.

“We visited both free-ow and guided-ow barns, and by the end, we were all on the same page that the free-ow offered superior cow comfort,” Jim said.

DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

The Draeger family — TJ Draeger (from le ), Jim Draeger, Kylie Draeger, Alan Draeger, Teanna Draeger, Heidi Gauerke and Aaron Gauerke — stand May 17 in their new robo c facility near Marathon, Wisconsin. The Draegers are opening their barn doors for an open house June 15.

RUBBER MATS

“We use Udder ComfortTM on fresh cows, works tremendously on fresh 2-yr-olds. It softens udders quickly, reducing pressure and increasing comfort for better performance. We have used Udder Comfort for 10 years, blue spray in the parlor, white lotion at shows. We see a bagging to milking out after,” says Jeff King, Kings-Ransom Farm, Schuylerville, New York, milking 1000 registered Holsteins, producing over 30,000M at 90,000 SCC.

Award-winning King Brothers Dairy milk and dairy products start with quality udders making quality milk.

They credit good staff, genetics, sand bedding, cow comfort, consistent milking routines, including Udder Comfort for fresh cows.

With over 120 EX in this large freestall herd, they produce A.I. sires like Dynasty, Cadillac and Dropbox from homebred cow families like Cleavage, Cleo, Dextra.

“It’s easy to love the great ones, but when you have cows walk in the freestall barn with good feet and legs and udders full of milk, cows the kids enjoy showing and do well with and learn from, that’s what it’s all about,” adds Jan King.

- Jeff King

(Clockwise) Jonathan, Jeff, and Jan King with Kings-Ransom Casp Daze-ET EX94 95MS, dam of popular sires Dropbox and Dreamy. Jonathan, Pandora, Jan, Becky, and Jeff King with their awardwinning King Brothers milk! Daze udder at 21 DIM.

The decision was not made lightly.

“It honestly took me a little while to get on board with the idea of free-ow trafc,” TJ said. “We built the parlor in 1996. You have it in your head, ‘I have to tell these cows what to do.’ But once we started going on tours, I realized the benets of just letting cows do what cows do.”

They selected Sensenig Construction as the contractor to build the barn.

“We bid it out and toured the manufacturing facility and looked at the other barns they have built, and we liked what we saw,” Aaron said. “Our barn is unique in that it is all wood. You don’t see a lot of all-wood barn constructions. The aesthetic is very pleasing.”

The tunnel-ventilated barn is congured into four pens, each containing three robots placed in an L-shaped formation. Each pen has a sort pen attached, allowing cows to be separated for health work, breeding and hoof trimming.

With the design of their barn, the Draegers placed the feed mangers on the outside perimeter of the pens. Each pen is equipped with stainless steel, tip-over water troughs, which are cleaned daily.

With cow comfort being a priority, the Draegers opted to install the Agromatic FreeFEED natural feed system over a traditional neck rail.

“There is no restriction to the cows lifting their head,” Jim said. “They can eat in a more natural position, and they aren’t rubbing calluses on their necks.

You can walk in and out of the pens anyplace, without having to crawl through. It’s like having 600 man-passes.”

The only headlocks in the barn are in the sort pens.

“I spent a lot of time looking for the quietest headlocks I could nd,” said Heidi, of her choice of Cosnet headlocks. “A robot barn is supposed to be quiet, not full of clanging headlocks.”

Fiberglass stall dividers were chosen for the free stalls, based on their low cost and easy maintenance.

Each pen is equipped with a footbath, located at the outside end. The footbaths are lled each Monday and cows are pushed through them. The gates are left open through Tuesday night. Then, they are closed, and the footbaths are drained and ushed for use the next week.

“The cows love the foot-

baths,” Teanna said. “If the gates are open, they want to be in there.”

The design of the new barn allows the Draegers to operate three feed systems. They are using two to feed two different pellets in the robots, based on the ration the cows receive.

Two Lely feed pushers operate eight times daily. The aisles are scraped using Valmetal alley scraper drivers on custom-built sleds.

Because of natural slope, the barn is built on a single plane with a 2% slope throughout the building. Two cross channels are used to carry manure from the barn. As an experiment, half the barn is sand bedded once a week while the other half has waterbeds covered with sawdust and hydrated lime. Each half of the barn is emptied using a different system.

“Sand is expensive to haul

DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

(Le ) Cows eat a total mixed ra on May 17 at the Agromatic FreeFEED natural feeding system near Marathon, Wisconsin. The Draegers chose the system over a tradi onal neck rail because of increased cow comfort.

(Below) Cows relax May 17 in sand-bedded berglass free stalls at Draeger Dairy near Marathon, Wisconsin. The Draegers built a new robo c facility with 12 Lely Astronaut A5 robo c milking units.

in and out, and it wears stuff out in between,” TJ said. “The problem is the cows like days at the beach just as much as I do.”

Compared to the labor force required to milk the entire herd in the parlor, the robotic barn requires minimal staff.

“We have two people working in there during the day and one person overnight,” Heidi

said.

Keeping things simple and focused on the cows has allowed the Draegers to reach their goal of increased labor efciency.

“We really put a lot of thought into guring out how we can do the most for the cows with the least amount of people,” Aaron said.

The Draeger family — Alan Draeger (from left), Aaron Gauerke, Tina Draeger, Heidi Gauerke, TJ Drager, Danika Gauerke, Breleigh Draeger, Levi Gauerke, Amelia Gauerke, Teeana Draeger, Sandy Draeger, Kylie Draeger and Jim Draeger — are sharing their new robotic

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Emmit (from le ), Colton, Amber, Charlo e, Garret and Hazel Duske sit together May 13 behind the milking barn on the Duske family’s farm near Waverly, Minnesota. The Duske family accomplished many tasks with the help of family members.

A day in the life of the Duskes A in the life of the Duskes

By Mark Klaphake mark.k@dairystar.com

WAVERLY, Minn. — Three generations of the Duske family worked together to face the challenge of a busy day of spring eldwork and farm chores May 13 near Waverly.

Garret Duske was joined by his dad, Cliff Duske, uncle, Keith Duske, and cousin, Nathaniel Farber, on the beautiful 75-degree day.

“Family, I can trust, and they know what I expect out of them,” Garret Duske said. “It’s fun to work with family. You are not guaranteed tomorrow, so you just enjoy the day with them.

Duske and his wife, Amber, have four children, Emmit, Hazel, Colton and Charlotte. The family milks 96 cows on the farm that was

started by Duske’s grandfather, Herb, in the 1930s.

Cliff and Keith took ownership in 1970. Duske started taking over the farm from his dad and uncle in 2005.

The Duskes raise bull calves to 400 pounds and farm close to 500 acres.

“My passion is to be hands on with the animals and stuff on the farm,”

Garret Duske lls the mixer a er morning milking May 13 on the dairy he operates with his family near Waverly, Minnesota. Duske started his day milking at 4:30 a.m.

MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR

Garret (le ) and Emmit Duske ll the corn planter with seed May 13 on their farm near Waverly, Minnesota. Emmit spent most of his day plan ng corn and soybeans.

MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR

EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR

Con�nued from DAY IN THE

| Page 25 Duske said. “I like being there. We have been blessed in more ways than I can imagine with what we have.”

The day’s plan May 13 was orchestrated by Duske while doing the morning milking.

“Either the night before or during the morning milking, I am already planning out my day and what I should try to get done,” Duske said. “I usually nalize it when I am milking in the morning.”

Shortly after milking was complete, Duske mixed feed while Keith, Emmit and Farber arrived.

Keith cleaned the barn and then started his day in the eld, which included spraying preemergent herbicides on soybeans. Farber fed calves and then worked with Emmit to feed the total mixed ration to the cows.

Emmit, a freshman at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted High School, took the day off from school to plant corn and soybeans.

Emmit has taken on a greater role with eldwork since Cliff broke ve toes in a

Emmit Duske plants corn May 13 at the Duske family’s farm near Waverly, Minnesota. Duske took the day off from school to help his family with eldwork.

farm accident. Emmit cleaned up the 12-row planter and then lled the seed boxes with his dad.

When the father-son team added liquid fertilizer, they faced the rst adversity of the day. The hose broke on the

fertilizer tank, and fertilizer sprayed on Duske’s arms and legs.

“That was a sticky mess,” Duske said.

EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR

Colton Duske (le�) and his cousin, Nathaniel Farber, feed calves May 13 at the Duske family’s farm near Waverly, Minnesota. Duske and his siblings help their parents, Garret and Amber, on the family’s 96-cow dairy farm.

Once the hose was mended, they nished lling the planter. Emmit went to the eld to begin planting, and Duske went home to take a shower.

“I’d rather let everybody else drive the tractors while I stay on the farm because I know what has to be done there,” Duske said.

Turn to DAY IN THE LIFE | Page 27

MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR Nathaniel Farber does maintenance on a piece of �llage equipment on the morning of May 13 at the Duske family’s farm near Waverly, Minnesota. Farber helps on the farm full �me during the summer.

MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR

EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR

Amber Duske prepares feed for the milking cows May 13 at her family’s farm near Waverly, Minnesota. Duske walked to the farm with her children to help with evening chores.

Farber, a college student at Southwest Minnesota State University, helps full time during the summer and part time during the school year. He helped nish calf chores before cleaning off and greasing the cultivator.

Cliff arrived around 10:30 a.m., and he and Farber sharpened the blades on the lawn mower before Cliff mowed lawn.

Once the tractors were humming in the eld, Duske and Farber grabbed their lunch, loaded the skid loader and

went to cut trees and move branches off the edges of a eld several miles from the farm. Duske said last year’s harvest was diminished because of the trees.

By 3 p.m., Duske and Farber were home, and they started working on evening chores.

Once Hazel, Colton and Charlotte got off the bus, they walked across a 10-acre eld to the farm with Amber to help with evening chores.

Farber fed cows and heifers and got ready to start milking.

Amber helped bring in fresh cows and helped Farber and Duske milk in the L-shaped barn. Duske has modied the barn with tunnel ventilation, new mats and larger stalls.

“That paid for itself in one year and makes us a lot of money every year,” Duske said. “I sell 20-30 heifers because I don’t need them.”

Charlotte helped care for chickens and calves, and Hazel helped milk and did chicken chores.

By 6 p.m., the busyness of the day was over.

Emmit nished planting 70 acres of corn and 20 acres of soybeans. Keith sprayed close to 120 acres of soybeans.

“It’s a regular, productive day,” Duske said. “From last Friday to Monday, we’ve had a lot of productive days. It was nice to keep moving without any major breakdowns.”

By late afternoon, plans switched to off-farm activities. Keith had a track meet to attend, Emmit went shing, and Duske, Amber, Hazel, Colton and Charlotte went home for supper.

“I try to get started earlier in the morning so people can have their afternoons,” Duske said. “It works pretty good.”

EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR

Hazel Duske rells water for the chickens May 13 at her family’s farm near Waverly, Minnesota. Duske helped with chores a�er ge�ng home from school.

MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR

Garret, Keith and Cliff Duske talk about the day’s plans May 13 at the Duske family’s farm near Waverly, Minnesota. Garret started taking over the farm from Keith and Cliff in 2005.

Youthful team takes the win

Lake

City FFA

victorious at state convention in dairy judging

By Amy Kyllo amy.k@star-pub.com

LAKE CITY, Minn. — Lake City FFA Chapter’s state-winning dairy judging team consists of three eighth graders and one sophomore.

Blake Siewert, son of Kevin and Kay, a sophomore, was joined by eighth graders Lillian Schumacher, daughter of Nathan and Tina, and twin sisters, Emily and Ashley Mellgren, daughters of Adam and Sarah Mellgren.

They won the dairy cattle evaluation and management Career Development Event at the state FFA convention in April.

“I was ... really excited and surprised to get rst since we’re going up against people a lot older than us,” Ashley Mellgren said. “We’re a young team, so it was pretty cool.”

The Lake City team won the competition by 13 points. Emily also took No. 1 in the state as an individual.

“I was surprised because there are so many people, and I’m not as experienced as other people are,” Emily said.

The team said a favorite memory from their experience is the community support they received. Along with their family, the students were supported by the Lake City High School principal and the superintendent as they received their award. To their teams’ knowledge, this is the rst time that Lake City has won any CDE at the state level.

Siewert is part of his family’s dairy farm, Hyde Park Holsteins near Zumbro Falls, where they milk 750 cows.

The Mellgrens work on their parents’ farm, Higher Ground Holsteins, also near Zumbro Falls, where they milk 70 cows.

Schumacher leases show cattle from the Mellgrens.

“A big part (of dairy judging) is ... being with your friends,” Schumacher said. “I didn’t grow up on a farm, so this is another way for me to get into agriculture.”

Siewert and the Mellgrens have been showing through 4-H since they were Cloverbuds, and Schumacher has been showing since the fth grade. All partici-

pate in 4-H dairy judging and three are involved with dairy bowl.

Haely Leiding is the FFA adviser at Lake City.

“They’re practicing year-round almost for this contest,” Leiding said.

“All those pieces are making them better farmers, better agriculturalists, better FFA members.”

Leiding’s twin sister, Kayla Sexton, is the team’s 4-H leader and trains them for 4-H dairy judging.

Leiding said having her FFA team win is a full-circle moment for her.

Leiding and Sexton won the same competition in 2013.

To help prepare for judging, the team practices at the Mellgrens’ farm or Siewert’s farm.

Ashley said she and Emily also do informal practices with their parents.

“As the cows come in the parlor, you can look at them every day, and you get an option every day to practice and give reasons and just compare the cows,” Ashley said.

The Mellgrens will take two similaraged cows and compare them.

“We talk about which one is better and their faults ... and areas that they need improvement,” Ashley said.

Siewert said he mentally does dairy judging at home too.

Ashley said something she enjoys about dairy judging is getting to look at other animals and see their potential. For Emily, she appreciates the skills she is gaining to be able to pick out her own animals for showing.

Siewert said the competition is helpful for eventually making his own breeding decisions because it allows him to see and identify faults and make improvements.

Siewert and the Mellgrens are active on their respective farms.

Siewert helps with calf care, cow health and breeding, working on the farm every day after school. The Mellgrens take turns every other morning doing chores before school. After school, they also do chores unless sports interfere. They work with calves and heifers, and, as needed, they help with milking or other chores.

Ashley has learned condence through winning the state competition.

April 23 at the state FFA

team won the compe on by

as an individual.

“Don’t think you can’t beat people who are older than you just because you’re younger,” she said.

The team will attend the national dairy judging competition in October. Leiding said her team is nervous about competing against older teams.

The team will be asked to do a presentation, something they have never done before.

“We have to really prepare for that, ... because that is a big part of your score at nationals,” Siewert said.

Giving reasons is another challenge, Emily said.

“We’re going against such older and (more) experienced people, so that’s something that we should work on as a team,” Emily said.

Schumacher said one of the life lessons from dairy judging is teamwork. She said she has observed her teammates working together to quickly nd answers.

Leiding agreed.

“They’re truly friends and want the best for each other,” Leiding said. “That makes them even more competitive within themselves too. They want to beat each other, but they want to be the best they can be for each other too.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MINNESOTA FFA ASSOCIATION

The Lake City FFA Chapter dairy judging team — Lillian Schumacher (from le ), Ashley Mellgren, Blake Siewert and Emily Mellgren — gather by their rst-place

award

conven on in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The

13 points, and Emily also took No. 1 in the state

‘Tis the season

As we wheel into the spring season, we can say with condence that there will be plenty of time in the tractor to think — to dwell, reect, ponticate and muse about your farm, personal and professional relationships, and where the dairy industry is going.

There is a lot of security in making sure the tractor is ready to go. As we hop in and dive into planting like every time before, here are mental health tips to reect on.

proach strategy has been reported to decrease depression and hopelessness.

By Dana Adams University of Minnesota

Farming, especially in the rush of spring, can leave many in a state of tense reactions. This behavior of being primed to spring into action can also result in overwhelming anxiety, frustration, depression or fatigue, which ultimately leads to delayed planting.

These normal emotions become stronger when we don’t have time to anticipate the stressor, leaving us with negative emotions spinning around. When we face these stressors, we reexively reach for our coping skills, allowing us to process and return to feeling calm and in control.

There are two sets of coping styles: approach and avoidance.

Approach coping enables us to meet an issue head-on. Some examples of approach coping include acknowledging a stressor, looking for solutions, learning about a stressor and meditation. The ap-

Avoidance coping is a passive approach to dealing with a stressor. Examples of an avoidance strategy include denying there is a stressor, avoiding the problem, staying busy, venting or partaking in self-blame. Avoidance coping has been shown to increase acute stress, depression and hopelessness.

Naturally, working toward happier outcomes by choosing the best coping style is a skill that gets better with practice. Time in the tractor is an excellent opportunity to cycle through identifying stressors you are dealing with to explore solutions and practice meditation techniques, such as box breathing.

There will be time to think and practice all three throughout the growing season. Equally important is catching yourself when you slip back toward avoidance coping. Pause before an internal vent session or after you deny there’s a problem to a friend. Pause, reect and scroll through your internal notes on approach coping skills for an alternative so you can anticipate the next time your venting takes center stage.

These behaviors and cycles are easily lost or too overwhelming to the person experiencing them but may be observed by other important people in

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their lives. Partners, parents, co-workers or clergy members may notice and offer support. There are several steps that members of a support system can offer to bolster their loved one.

Showing that you care is an oftenunderappreciated step in helping someone you care about. The effort to show that a person is cared for will differ from person to person but is valuable. Actions like being present, listening and offering supportive touch are often helpful practices. Also, remember to practice active listening, saying things like, “This seems really hard. Thanks for sharing with me.” These comments are not disingenuous. You’re being transparent, reminding them they are valued.

Another practice that members of a support system can use is to notice behavior changes. These changes may be markers of more serious mental health concerns. One-off behavior changes are not excessively concerning.

Behaviors that are concerning are changes to routines, leisure activities or sleep patterns. These changes can also show up as an increase in the quantity or frequency of alcohol use, sleeping later than usual or not sleeping at all, and not engaging in activities that used to be enjoyable. Members of a person’s support system don’t need to know everything,

Dana Adams adam1744@umn.edu 320-204-2968

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but noticing that practices and behaviors have changed and offering more support is what is important when considering next steps.

Finally, ask, in an appropriate time and place, how someone is really doing and what you can do to help. Typically, this is best done in a one-on-one conversation, allowing individuals to open up about whatever they are experiencing. Individuals may need a listening ear, a hug or someone to brainstorm solutions with. Ask and respond in a way that will provide what they need in that moment.

If a person’s distress doesn’t seem to lessen after talking openly, the next essential step is to ask if they are considering hurting themselves or someone else. Although this may be uncomfortable, asking about suicide does not increase the likelihood that someone will attempt to end their life and may reduce their distress and thoughts of suicide. If a loved one says they are considering ending their life, stay with them and help them get the appropriate support they need.

Your time in the tractor has a multitude of benets. While getting crops in the ground, you also have time to reect on what brings you happiness and what thoughts and behaviors should be addressed. You can access tools to bring you toward a calm future.

Claire LaCanne lacanne@umn.edu 507-332-6109

Brenda Miller nels4220@umn.edu 320-732-4435

Isaac Salfer ijsalfer@umn.edu 320-296-1357

Jim Salfer salfe001@umn.edu 320-203-6093

Mike Schutz mschutz@umn.edu 612-624-1205

Melissa Wilson mlw@umn.edu 612-625-4276

Isaac Haagen hagge041@umn.edu 612-624-7455

Michael Boland boland@umn.edu 612-625-3013

Sabrina Florentino slpore@umn.edu 507-441-1765

ADSA conference highlights

How far have we come in using on-farm dairy data effectively? Far but not far enough.

There is work to do, as we learned at a conference hosted by the American Dairy Science Association in early May.

When we think about the continuously evolving nature of dairy technology, are we ever getting there?

In 2016, the ADSA hosted a conference on big data. Eight years later, we are still talking about the need for data integration and its challenges.

Victor Cabrera, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, talked about the Dairy Brain project which aims to enhance on-farm decision making. He pointed out the need for more efcient data accessibility and more standardized data. There is a lack of professionals with combined skills in animal science and computer science; we are just starting to create a new generation of combined skills. In addition, we need to take advantage of the latest articial intelligence developments, have better data governance education and focus on sustainable data integration projects.

Mitch Breunig, a dairy producer from Wisconsin who is a user of the Dairy Brain, said that where the rubber hits the road is income over feed cost. He needs to have this information in real time using Dairy Brain reports.

Jeffrey Bewley, Holstein Associa-

tion USA, gave a talk focused on the failure of dairy technology startups. The failure rate in the dairy industry is similar to other industries. Some of the reasons for failure include: sensor physical form troubles (too heavy, easy to lose, etc.); device integrity (hard to stand barn conditions); identifying and xing broken devices; cow ID issues; camera cleaning; too much structure needed (wires, etc.); new name/same idea (How many ruminations sensors do we need?); and focusing too much on the technology rather than useful information (i.e., startups that don’t have any cow people on staff).

Technologies need to have these important characteristics: work well, have great customer service and connect with the herd management software. The latter has improved considerably in recent years, and that is very encouraging. Another question Bewley posed: Is the company going to be around for the long term?

A point was made various times throughout the conference that prediction of health is more difcult than pregnancy status or heat detection. Eating time and rumination time seem to be more important than lying time for health monitoring. Points to ponder: Is the algorithm detecting more than clinical disease? It might be seeing things that we don’t see. Limitations still exist on using sensors and

data for sensitive and specic disease detection.

We can use cameras and computer vision to watch behaviors. For now, this occurs more at the group level or individually in research settings with a small number of animals. But, it has exciting potential.

Joao Dorea, UW-Madison, shared results of studies using articial intelligence and images for identication of individual animals and to measure body condition score, feeding behavior, respiration rates and cow mobility.

There are challenges with image quality in a barn environment that need to be overcome. It has been shown that animal behavior can be a good indicator of animal welfare. However, it is difcult to visually watch on a large scale and over a prolonged period. There can be excellent value from using articial intelligence, such as computer vision, to watch animal behavior continuously and more accurately. To conduct this effectively, it is important to bring together disciplines — animal/veterinary science, biology and computer science — as mentioned before when we discussed data integration.

Daniel Lefebvre, Lactanet, discussed the challenge of bringing all data together and accessing diverse sources of data. Farm data is messy but is also rich in variety. Data veracity and validation is important. Other considerations are cyber-attacks, opportunities for collaboration and a

data exchange hub, moving data from the farm to be used effectively. Keys for the future are to access data from various sources, integration and standardization, and active participation.

Martin Wiedmann, Cornell University, questioned the value of data sharing. He said it must come back to the farmer to improve a herd’s efciency and protability.

Callum Eastwood, DairyNZ, spoke on the topic of understanding the sociology of technology adoption. As an example, virtual fencing is being adopted in New Zealand. Currently, about 4% of farms are using it. Return on investment is not what drives adoption, as it costs $70 per cow per year to have virtual fencing. Farmers like the convenience and reduced labor time, as they no longer need to move electric fences. About 30% of rotary dairies have wearable sensors for heat detection or monitoring health. For some farmers, it feels like more labor. Are we providing more data, or are we going to make life easier on the farm? In summary, adoption of technology is a social process and more than just a return on investment.

There were other topics discussed, including presentations from the medical and crop elds, data ownership, development of algorithms using sensor data, integration of genomics and enviromics, the need for international standards, mining the industry and scientic value, teaching the new generation with combined skills and more.

How did you get into farming? My grandpa bought the farm and started with beef and hogs. Then, my dad took over the farm, and we built the dairy barn in 1984 when I graduated.

What are the most signicant ways your farm has changed since you started farming? We put up more sheds and improved the heifer and dry cow facility. Also, we’ve kept up with advancements with equipment.

What was a challenge you faced in your dairy farming career, and how did you overcome it? Putting up with residential sprawl and trying to nd another piece of land. I just keep chugging along so I can keep farming. I have been losing land to housing. We were farming 850 acres, and now, we are down to 550 acres.

What is the best decision you have made on your farm? We stopped raising a lot of chickens. Now, we just have a small ock of around 200. We also started raising beef. Being diversied and having a little bit of everything has helped us keep going.

What three things on the farm can you not live without? My kids, for sure, because they have always been with me, helping me. We always gured out how to get it done. The skid loader for getting the animals taken care of. The big square baler so we don’t have to deal with all of the small squares.

DAIRY PROFILE

What are your thoughts and concerns about the dairy industry for the next year? If the milk price doesn’t get better, there is going to be a lot more farmers quitting and leaving. It’s sad for the younger ones because they don’t get the opportunity

to farm because they need to work off farm to be able to support a family. I’m grateful I could support a family with my wife who worked out.

What strategies do you use to withstand the volatile milk prices? We are raising beef cattle to get an added income. We ne-tuned the cost of things and cut back on input cost in

CHECK OUT THIS EQUIPMENT ON HAND! ON

EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR

Emma (front, from le ) and Sarah; (back, from le ) Dennis, Jake and Jim Kemmetmueller stand together May 16 at their farm near Rogers, Minnesota. The Kemmetmueller family milks 54 cows in a estall barn and farms 550 acres.

ways that didn’t hurt the milk production. We are breeding with a bull rather than using A.I. to save time and make sure they are getting bred back.

How do you maintain family relationships while also working together? We make a lot of jokes and try to make it fun in the barn. The girls poke fun at me. We have fun and communicate with each other if there is something that bothers each other. If I have a habit they don’t like, they let me know and mock me, which helps keep it light.

We also rotate who is at the farm so they all get a day off.

What do you nd most rewarding about dairy farming? I enjoy that all my kids are here and come around for dinner and farm. I can see how growing up on the farm has impacted them, because of their school and work capabilities. I’m very proud of my kids. The farm faced many challenges for us all, and it shows in the way the kids are.

The Kemmetmueller family’s sign sits in the yard May 16 at the farm near Rogers, Minnesota. The Kemmetmueller family began milking cows in 1984 when Jim graduated from high school and started working on the farm.

Tell us something special about your farm. It’s special for the kids that their grandparents live on the farm and they can talk to them every day. Also, the whole family is close, including my brothers and sisters, and we get together. The community around us is special. Everyone is kind and willing to help.

What are your plans for your dairy in the next year and ve years? For the next year, it’s just to keep going with the farm the way it is. In ve years, when the kids get careers off the farm, the dairy will have to go because I won’t be able to do it on my own.

How do you or your family like to spend time when you are not doing chores? We do a lot of games and random things outside; we are a fairly competitive family. We play the Wii when it’s not nice outside, and we always laugh with each other. We always get dinner for birthdays, and we have dinner once a week with all the kids, even the ones who moved off the farm.

EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR

Jim Kemmetmueller milks a cow May 16 at his family’s dairy farm near Rogers, Minnesota. In addi on to raising dairy ca le, the Kemmetmuellers also raise beef ca le and chickens.

EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR

AG TRUCKS

965-1000

Do not miss deadlines for this growing season

By Steve Frericks Stearns County FSA executive director

Talk about progress. Our farmers never cease to amaze me. When the conditions are right, signicant progress can be made to get the crops in the ground. It is simply amazing how much corn and soybeans were put in once the conditions improved.

As livestock producers, are you taking advantage of all the opportunities available to you? Have you reported your pasture acres to the Farm Service Agency the past few years? If you have and your county was an eligible disaster county for the Livestock Forage Disaster Program, you are well aware of the benets to ensuring you have certied your pastures by the July 15 deadline. Many counties triggered for LFP payments in 2021 and 2023. The weather for 2024 has not been dictated as of yet. As soon as you are done planting, call the FSA ofce to schedule an appointment.

Many producers have the opportunity to accomplish this task before the rst cutting of hay goes down. Take the opportunity to act upon this if you can. Call the FSA ofce to schedule that appointment.

Maps are available at the FSA ofces for acreage reporting purposes. If you wish to receive maps by email, call the ofce or email.

The deadline for spring-seed crops in Minnesota counties is July 15.

In order to maintain program eligibility and benets, you must le timely acreage reports. Failure to le an acreage report by the crop acreage reporting deadline may cause ineligibility for program benets. FSA will not accept acreage reports provided more than a year after the acreage reporting deadline.

All producers are encouraged to contact the FSA ofce for more information on the nal planting date for specic crops. The nal planting dates vary by crop, planting period and county, so contact the FSA ofce for a list of county-specic planting deadlines. The timely planting of a crop, by the nal planting date, may prevent loss of program benets.

The deadline for corn for grain is May 31, and the deadline for soybeans for grain is June 10.

When certifying organic acres, the buffer zone acreage must be included in the organic acreage. You must also provide a current organic plan and an organic certicate or documentation from a certifying agent indicating an organic plan is in effect. Documentation must include name of certied individuals; address; telephone number; effective date of certication; certicate number; list of commodities certied; name and address of certifying agent; and a map showing the specic location of each eld of certied organic land, including the buffer zone acreage.

Certication exemptions are available for producers whose annual gross agricultural income from organic sales totals $5,000 or less. Although exempt growers are not required to provide a written certicate, they are required to provide a map showing the specic location of each eld of certied organic, transitional and buffer zone acreage.

For questions about reporting organic crops, contact your county’s U.S. Department of Agriculture Service Center.

Stay safe this spring, and make safety your No. 1 priority.

Farm Service Agency is an equal opportunity lender. Complaints about discrimination should be sent to: Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 20250. Visit www.fsa.usda.gov for application forms and updates on USDA programs

Anticipating, preparing for an on-farm crisis

While you may not be able to predict a crisis on your farm, you can and should prepare for one. Anticipation and preparation will help your business recover. Should you ever experience a crisis on your farm, you will be ready to take immediate action steps to mitigate risks and resume normal operation for you, your family, employees and the overall farm.

By Jay Edenborg Midwest Dairy

In the agriculture industry, what happens on one farm can happen on any farm. A crisis is a major occurrence with a potentially negative outcome that affects an organization, company, or industry and its stakeholders or reputation.

A crisis on a dairy farm can include accidents, severe weather, animal disease, property damage, cybersecurity threats, or any other event that interrupts normal business operations and threatens the health or even the existence of your farm.

During these challenging situations, emotions are high, brains are busy processing and events can continue to occur rapidly, making it easy for any crisis to escalate quickly. Even the simplest tasks can become difcult for everyone involved. Many people incorrectly assume they can maintain all their typical day-to-day responsibilities during a crisis. However, new and unexpected priorities do pop up.

Anticipation and preparation can help keep your farm on track during these situations and make business recovery smoother. Being prepared helps you and your employees respond quickly and efciently in any situation. Too many businesses nd themselves trying to devise a plan in the middle of a crisis, and unfortunately, this is often too late. We understand that being prepared for a crisis can’t prevent it from occurring, but it does decrease your recovery time. Investing time and planning into managing potential crises in ways that minimize market instability and disruption of day-to-day operations will benet you in the long run as you proactively communicate crisis information to your employees and stakeholders.

Midwest Dairy is available as a resource to support farmers in crisis preparation and management. While Midwest Dairy cannot create a plan for or manage a crisis for you, we do provide crisis planning consultation and support materials. Our

team has prepared tools, resources and guidance for developing a farm crisis response plan. These resources will help allow you to avoid problems, prevent potential accidents and avoid additional revenue loss if anything should arise; we also can help during a crisis through communications support and consultation to help farmers react to or recover from an issue or crisis on a farm or dairy-related event.

Ask yourself this question: Are you condently prepared for a crisis on your farm? If you have any hesitations, I invite

you to join the Midwest Dairy farm crisis webinar from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 6. During this training, we will provide tips, tools and resources to prepare you for and manage an on-farm crisis. Attendees will review the core components of a farm crisis plan, work through a sample planning workbook, and learn about preparation steps after the plan is developed and critical actions to take in the event of a crisis. Use the QR code to register or contact your Midwest Dairy farmer relations manager for more information.

Editorial disclaimer: The views expressed by

Pictured

BIGSHOT daughter, Luckwaldt

Woodville, WI. Photos by Jordan.

The weeding season

It’s time for us to gird our gardening loins and wage war against a relentless army of evildoers. Yes, it’s weeding season once again.

They say that a weed is just a plant that has no apparent purpose. Well, they are full of hooey. This is the type of rationalization that will enable the enemy to gain the upper hand. Start making excuses for dandelions — begin to say that it’s not the crabgrass’s fault; it simply can’t help itself — and the terrorists will have won.

Events conspired to give the weeds a head start in my garden this spring. By the time I got around to tilling our plot, the weeds were running riot, partying like there was no tomorrow. For them, there wasn’t.

Rototilling is a great way to become intimately acquainted with your garden’s soil. In some areas,

the dirt was hard as a cow path; in others, it was uffy as a featherbed. It dawned on me that the cow path areas had been packed last summer by my footfalls. Cows aren’t the only creatures of habit.

Rank after rank of the enemy fell before the tiller’s merciless tines. Take that, you pernicious pennycress! Liquidate those loathsome lamb’s quarters! Quash that quack grass! Terminate those thistles! There’s nothing like massacring a mess of weeds to help a guy work through his anger issues.

Tilling the garden was a huge event when I was a kid. Dad would hook our John Deere B tractor onto our two-bottom plow and pull into the garden. As we kids gathered to watch, Dad would yank the trip rope and the plow would bite into the earth. We would amble along behind the plow, marveling at how cleanly it ipped the soil, playing with the

shiny slabs that had rolled off the moldboard.

The leftover furrow was ready-made for planting potatoes. Simply toss in the seed spuds, rake some dirt and presto. You might call that lazy, but I maintain that we were simply being efcient.

Planting potatoes brings to mind a story I once heard. An elderly farmer related that he and his father planted 10 bushels of spuds one spring during the Dirty Thirties. They slaved, sweated and carried water throughout the scorching summer, and in the fall, they harvested … 10 bushels of potatoes.

“But it was our own fault,” lamented the old sodbuster. “We should have planted more.”

By Jerry Nelson

Legend has it that Paul Bunyan sowed a mess of potatoes one spring. A drought set in, but Paul labored so furiously in his potato patch that his sweat irrigated the eld. He harvested a bumper crop of potatoes that autumn and saved his logging crew from starvation.

I like fresh veggies as much as the next guy, but there is no way I’m going to work that hard.

The other day I was out driving when I spotted something in the road ditch. Investigation revealed it to be a white straw fedora that was only slightly beat up. This was a rst for me; I never nd anything of value.

I’m not a hat wearer. I won’t don a stocking cap until the wind chill has plummeted to the point where it could cause the ears to instantly crystallize.

The fedora t perfectly, which I took as a sign. It’s a dapper chapeau, the sort of headgear that Don Draper might wear. Maybe Indiana Jones would sport such a lid if he were a gardener. Indy’s leather satchel would be full of sweet corn seed; instead of a bullwhip, he would carry a coiled garden hose. He would cut a striking gure even though his holster holds a garden trowel instead of a pistol.

Grandpa Nelson always wore a straw fedora in the summertime, a topper that cost perhaps $1.29 at the general store. He chose the kind of hat that featured a green cellophane visor in its brim.

Grandpa often took me to task for going bareheaded in the hot, summer sun. Pointing at his shaded brow, he would declare, “Ten degrees cooler.” He would then doff his straw hat to display his sweat-free forehead. I was young and thought that I knew everything. I regarded Grandpa’s advice as annoying and ill-informed.

I’m wearing my found fedora while working in the garden and have discovered that covering one’s head indeed keeps the noggin cooler. Plus, the hat looks snazzy. It’s the type of topper Dick Tracy might have worn had he been drawn to horticulture instead of a comic strip constable.

So, for the next several months, I’ll be locked in a pitched battle with those wicked weeds. The good guys always wear white hats.

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

Columnist

Dear County Agent Guy

Scout early, often for alfalfa bugs

A mild winter, periods of warm, dry weather and early south winds have led to reports of high bug pressure in alfalfa elds.

Something to Ruminate On

Many types of insects are found on alfalfa. The benecial insects include pollinators, parasites and predators. Other insects, which feed on the leaves, stems, crowns, seed pods and owers, can cause economic loss when they become abundant.

By Barry Visser Nutritionist

Alfalfa weevil

The alfalfa weevil is an early-season alfalfa pest in the Midwest. They are most damaging in the larvae stage as they can skeletonize leaves so only leaf veins or holes remain. This causes stunted plant growth and reduced forage yield and quality. Larvae are yellow to green with black heads and a white stripe along the back.

Young larvae feed on the leaf buds and between folded leaets in the plant terminal. Older larvae feed mostly on open leaets, but they also feed on the terminal buds. From a distance, the foliage damage appears grayish to white. Mature larvae then drop to the leaf litter and spin silken cocoons. The adult weevils emerge from the cocoons in one to two weeks. The new adults emerging in late spring feed for a short period and then leave the alfalfa eld to go to nearby protected areas for a summer resting period, returning to the elds again in the fall. Adults also feed on the leaves but cause less damage.

The rst cutting is at the greatest risk for alfalfa

weevil damage. However, in some years, larvae and adults may threaten subsequent cuttings and require treatment.

Potato leafhoppers

The potato leafhopper is perhaps the most serious alfalfa insect pest in the Upper Midwest. Although it’s a native species, PLH cannot survive northern winters, so adults migrate into the Midwest each spring. PLH can be confused with other small, soft-bodied insects such as aphids, but PLH have elongated bodies and tend to be mobile compared to aphids.

Leafhopper populations frequently increase to damaging levels on the second and subsequent alfalfa crops. They can be especially damaging on new alfalfa seedings, particularly near weedy areas where they can have larger populations. Once PLH colonize in alfalfa elds, adults deposit eggs into stems and leaf veins. In warm weather, these eggs develop into adults in about three weeks, so populations can increase quickly.

Leafhoppers have piercing-sucking mouthparts and extract plant juices. Heavy feeding disrupts nutrient ow within plants, causing V-shaped yellow triangles to form at the leaet tips (“hopper burn”), but this evidence of damage does not develop until seven to 10 days after feeding begins. As feeding continues, damage gets worse, and the chlorotic areas spread toward the base of the leaet. Once hopper burn is evident, economic loss has occurred.

Historically, crop scouting and insecticide application when warranted was the only effective means of PLH management. However, glandularhaired alfalfa varieties are having an impact on how we manage this pest.

Aphids

Aphids are soft-bodied, slow-moving insects that live in colonies and suck plant sap from stems, leaves and terminals. Three primary species of

aphids feed on alfalfa in the Midwest: pea aphid, cowpea aphid and spotted alfalfa aphid. Infested plants turn yellow and wilt, and their growth can be stunted. Honeydew can accumulate on the leaves and stems with certain species. Predatory insects and parasites, aphid diseases and weather conditions often keep aphid numbers low. However, aphids have a high reproductive rate and can increase rapidly under favorable conditions.

The most common aphid species is the pea aphid. Adults are bright green with long legs. They are about one-eighth inch long, making them the largest aphid species found on alfalfa. Only the tip of each antennal segment is black, differentiating it from other aphid species. Pea aphids congregate in dense colonies along the stems, terminal shoots and leaves. Damage is often most prevalent in the spring because pea aphids like cooler temperatures.

Scouting

Each week during the growing season, check for insect activity in at least four or ve spots in each eld. Pest populations can vary across elds, and results may be inaccurate if you check only a limited area. Sample away from the eld edges, and avoid sampling when the elds are wet from rain or dew, which makes it difcult to detect insects.

Once physical signs of damage are present in an alfalfa eld, you may already be behind in terms of treatment. Early cutting can be a management strategy depending on bug severity relative to alfalfa growth. Some bugs nd it difcult to survive once vegetative foliage is removed, especially under sunny conditions.

Work closely with your agronomy team to develop an effective scouting plan. Your cows and pocketbook will appreciate the improved alfalfa quality and yield.

Barry Visser is a nutritionist for Vita Plus.

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Adapt or adopt

What’s the difference between adapt and adopt?

Both are action verbs with the change of one little vowel creating a special moment. Think of this: Adapting old ideas by adopting new technology. One is an aaah moment, the comfort of familiarity of the past. The other generates an oooh moment of excitement for what is to come. We’ve had a few of those moments around the farm these past few weeks.

We are all learning lessons while we try to hang on to the comfort of, “It’s just how things are done,” coupled with the realization that there might be a better way. This is the rst time in 50 years that Mark has not led the charge in starting the growing season. He was just 14 years old when his dad announced he couldn’t plant the corn crop that year. Mark hooked the tractor up to the planter and headed off to the backelds to adapt to his new job.

He has adapted from a 4-row plate planter to a 6-row narrow planter. He would eventually adopt a liquid fertilization system as his body refused to lift several tons of fertilizer by a bushel basket from the wagon to dump it into the fertilizer boxes on the planter. It was amazing how quickly he could get the job done by adopting one change — an oooh moment.

This year, Austin and Mark are adapting to their situation in life and adopting ideas along the way. Austin is generating oooh moments as he has installed a GPS system on the tractors and modied the planter to plant green. He has studied, read and talked with so many people using old ideas with new technology. It rubs on Mark’s vision of how to grow crops, but kudos to him for giving Austin some backelds to adapt his theories to work on our land

The equipment updates and planting strategies

appear to be working. The cornelds by the road are marked with green dotted parallel lines running north and south. The rows are even straighter than Mark’s, and those very rarely had a weave in them. The elds closest to the road are always your straightest. Austin tried growing a green eld of corn by direct seeding into an alfalfa eld and then spraying to kill the alfalfa growth. This is one of our sandiest elds, and he is hoping to generate more crop protection while reducing watering needs. He is trying to adapt his planting strategies to the land available to him.

It seems this next generation is adapting old ideas while adopting new technologies to create a successful result. The reduced, no-till craze in the 1970s was a novel idea that didn’t have the technology to support its success. Fast forward, and the old idea is new again. The technology has caught up to the ideas, kind of like bell bottom jeans. I wonder what will be the next old idea to become new again?

By Natalie Schmitt Columnist

Once a new technology is adopted, it seems difcult to imagine what life was like without it. Mark was resistant to have a cell phone. He watched and grumbled as the kids ddled, texted and chatted on their phone what seemed like non-stop. Once they were all on their own, he decided he needed to get one too.

At the same time, Austin lost his expensive phone down an ice shing hole with no chance of recovery. Together, they went to nd new phones which could withstand chores, dirt and a myriad of other situations on the farm that could shorten the life of any phone. They ended up picking out a couple of cheap phones from Walmart for $18 each. If it broke or was crushed by a piece of equipment, it wouldn’t be a big loss. Since it was such a good deal, they grabbed a couple of extra phones as a type of warranty plan.

It has been a good strategy. After several years, the camera on Mark’s original phone didn’t work anymore, so he shifted over to his backup phone. It didn’t last as long as the rst one. The charging port was damaged, and his battery was losing life quickly. He needed to save all his pictures and contacts before they were all lost in space. For four days, he was without his phone. It was like going back to the Dark Ages. He couldn’t call anyone whenever he wanted to. He couldn’t see the milk or crop reports at his ngertips. He couldn’t laugh at shared Snapchats with the kids. He didn’t realize how dependent he had become on his phone. Eventually, he was able to convert Austin’s extra phone over to his number, and he has been reconnected with his world.

I had a similar technical loss. My PC has been going since 2009. It has become the B John Deere of the ofce. It still runs, but it just can’t do the work. I’ve been without my computer for a week as they update, revive and restore all my les. I didn’t realize how I write by typing. It has been interesting working on this article. Mark isn’t the only one who has embraced technology and can’t imagine how we ever survived without it.

As their four children pursue dairy careers off the family farm, Natalie and Mark Schmitt started an adventure of milking registered Holsteins just because they like good cows on their farm north of Rice, Minnesota.

Big, small joys

Sunshine. Lilac blossoms. Occasional showers. Emerging corn. Fluffy baby chicks. A ood of new calves. May is full of joys, both big and small.

By Sadie Frericks Columnist

We had two sets of healthy twin heifer calves born during the rst week of May. Since we now rely mostly on blood testing to detect pregnancies, twins are always a surprise. Lincoln’s twins arrived during the night, and she had them all uffed up by the time we rst checked the calving pen that morning. Smoke calved in the early evening, so her twins were slow-motion surprise.

Smoke was vigorously cleaning her calf off when Monika asked, “Is that a foot?” Sure enough, another foot was toeing into the world. A few minutes later, Smoke had another baby to clean. The look on Smoke’s face made me think that cows are just as surprised as we are when two arrive instead of the customary one.

Lincoln’s twins were born the morning of Dan’s junior prom, so one of the calves made an appearance in the photos he took with his date. It was Monika and Daphne’s idea, so they carried the calf to the yard for the photo shoot. The calf cooperated perfectly, and we got adorable photos.

The grass seems greener than green this spring, likely because it’s such a contrast to the drab hues of last summer’s drought. The cows went out to pasture earlier than ever before. They must remember the dismal grazing of last summer, too, because even they seemed extra exuberant about their return to the paddocks.

The funniest part of “cows out”

day was watching our older cows. In years past, we’ve corralled the cows in the yard, opened the gate, and then ushered them to pasture. This year, we let them trickle out.

It was early afternoon before we nished double-checking the fences and opened the gate. The old ladies were napping in the sand barn when we started letting the younger cows out of the tiestall. During the winter, when we switch, the tiestall cows only have access to the southern half of our cowyard. When we let them out that day, they had access to both halves of the cowyard and the sand barn.

Several young cows thought they were getting away with being where they shouldn’t and began frolicking like cows do when they’re out. They didn’t even notice the open pasture gate and, instead, pranced up to the sand barn. A couple old ladies emerged from their stalls with looks on their faces that said they were thinking, “What in the heck are you young girls doing in here?”

Awakened from their siestas, these older cows moseyed down to the cowyard. For these seasoned grazers, it only took a few moments to notice the open pasture gate. December, who is starting her ninth grazing season, wasted no time marching through the gate and out to pasture. Jessi, in her eighth season, tailed close behind. Not long after, the younger cows caught on and followed their lead. For the next half hour or so, every couple minutes, a few cows would wake up, catch on that something was out of the ordinary, poke their heads out of the sand barn, see the other cows already in the pasture and sprint down to the gate and out through the lane. Once their hooves hit grass, their heels kicked for the sky like they were young heifers again. If there was ever any doubt that cows feel joy, the rst day of grazing is proof that they do.

I hope your May is lled with joys as well.

Sadie Frericks and her husband, Glen, milk 100 cows near Melrose, Minnesota. They have three children: Dan, Monika, and Daphne. Sadie also writes a blog at www.dairygoodlife.com. She can be reached at sadiefrericks@ gmail.com.

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