Seniors! CELEBRATING OUR
Pages 23 - 27 of the First Section!
DAIRY ST R
Volume 24, No. 7
May 28, 2022
“All dairy, all the time”™
Spring derecho causes unexpected damage Dairies grapple with aftermath of May storm By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
BRUCE, S.D. – The weather has been anything but normal for much of the Upper Midwest, and a dangerous springtime storm only added to the chaos. On the early evening of May 12, a severe derecho pummeled eastern South Dakota and west central Minnesota with wind gusts of more than 100 mph and sheets of rain blanketing the landscape, according to the National Weather Service. “A couple of years ago, we had a part of a building roof go down in a heavy snow load,” said Wim Hammink.
“We thought that was a big deal. That was peanuts compared to this.” Hammink and his family milk 4,000 cows at Hammink Dairy LLC in Brookings County near Bruce. Within the herd, 3,200 are milked in a 60-stall rotary parlor. Roofs collapse, no injuries at Hammink Dairy At about 5:30 p.m. that Thursday, the storm tore through the farm with roofs and building support beams crumbling against the hurricane-like winds. “We knew it could be severe because there was a big wall of dust coming up from the south,” Hammink said. “We lost power before it was even by us. As soon as the storm came, calf hutches started ying by.” The most signicant damage occurred at the family’s south farm site where the roofs of the rotary parlor and holding pen collapsed with cows beneath. Fortunately, the structure of the rotary and gates within the holding pen Turn to STORM | Page 6
PHOTO SUBMITTED
The roof of the parlor room collapses onto the 60-stall rotary parlor May 12 at Hammink Dairy LLC near Bruce, South Dakota. An evening storm pummeled the area with wind gusts exceeding 100 mph.
A new venture
Bartholome family hauls their own milk By Kate Rechtzigel kate.r@dairystar.com
KATE RECHTZIGEL/DAIRY STAR
Jim Bartholome and his employee, Victor Gonzalez stand in front of their new milk truck May 19 at Bartholome’s farm near Goodhue, Minnesota. The family has been hauling their milk as Bartholome Transport for the past year.
GOODHUE, Minn. – Due to increasing milk hauling prices and the taking away of subsidies, Jim and Lisa Bartholome began looking at the start of a new venture and researching the possibility of hauling their own milk to help offset costs and nd a solution to some of the challenges dairy farmers face today. “It just made economic sense to do it ourselves,” Jim said. Bartholome Farms, owned and operated by Jim and Lisa, is a fth-generation family farm homesteaded in 1861. They have four children – Samantha, 21, Madison, 18, Austin, 15, and Dominic, 13 – who help on the family farm. Their farm is located near Goodhue, and they farm 520 acres of corn and alfalfa. They also
harvest winter rye as a double crop. They are milking 500 cows three times a day and have been hauling their milk as Bartholome Transport for the past year. They started transporting their own milk May 1, 2021, with one truck and trailer. “It has been a smooth transition for us overall,” Jim said. “We are very thankful to have a valuable employee who enjoys hauling milk and to have a good creamery that is willing to work with us.” They are hauling full loads of milk to their creamery located 80 miles away in Le Sueur. “We are producing a full load of milk every 32 hours, and with us having two 4,000-gallon tanks on-site, we are hauling two days on, one Turn to BARTHOLOME | Page 7
Page 2 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022
DAIRY ST R www.dairystar.com
ISSN 020355 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave. Sauk Centre, MN 56378 Phone: (320) 352-6303 Fax: (320) 352-5647 Published by Dairy Star LLC General Manager/Editor Mark Klaphake - mark.k@dairystar.com 320-352-6303 (ofce) 320-248-3196 (cell) 320-352-0062 (home) Ad Composition Nancy Powell 320-352-6303 nancy.p@dairystar.com Editorial Staff Jennifer Coyne - Assistant Editor (320) 352-6303 • jenn@dairystar.com Danielle Nauman - Staff Writer (608) 487-1101 • danielle.n@dairystar.com Stacey Smart - Staff Writer (262) 442-6666 • stacey.s@dairystar.com Abby Wiedmeyer - Staff Writer 608-487-4812 • abby.w@dairystar.com Kate Rechtzigel - Staff Writer 507-696-9213 • kate.r@dairystar.com Maria Bichler - Copy Editor 320-352-6303 Consultant Jerry Jennissen 320-346-2292 Advertising Sales Main Ofce: 320-352-6303 Fax: 320-352-5647 Deadline is 5 p.m. of the Friday the week before publication Sales Manager - Joyce Frericks 320-352-6303 • joyce@dairystar.com Bob Leukam (Northern MN, East Central MN) 320-260-1248 (cell) bob.l@star-pub.com Mark Klaphake (Western MN) 320-352-6303 (ofce) 320-248-3196 (cell) Laura Seljan (National Advertising, SE MN) 507-250-2217 fax: 507-634-4413 laura.s@dairystar.com Jerry Nelson (SW MN, NW Iowa, South Dakota) 605-690-6260 jerry.n@dairystar.com Mike Schafer (Central, South Central MN) 320-894-7825 mike.s@dairystar.com Amanda Hoeer (Eastern Iowa) 320-250-2884 • amanda.h@dairystar.com Megan Stuessel (Western Wisconsin) 608-387-1202 • megan.s@dairystar.com Kati Kindschuh (Northeast WI and Upper MI) 920-979-5284 • kati.k@dairystar.com Deadlines The deadline for news and advertising in the Dairy Star is 5 p.m. Friday the week before publication. Subscriptions One year subscription $40.00, outside the U.S. $200.00. Send check along with mailing address to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378. Advertising Our ad takers have no authority to bind this newspaper and only publication of an advertisement shall constitute nal acceptance of the advertiser's order. Letters Letters and articles of opinion are welcomed. Letters must be signed and include address and phone number. We reserve the right to edit lengthy letters. The views and opinions expressed by Dairy Star columnists and writers are not necessarily those of the Dairy Star / Star Publications LLC.
The Dairy Star is published semi-monthly by Star Publications LLC, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246. Periodicals Postage Paid at Sauk Centre, MN and additional mailing ofces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246.
Dairy ProleCanada brought to you by your Holding accountable Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack met with his Canadian counterpart during the G-7 meetings in Germany and voiced disappointment in Canada’s response to a dispute panel’s ruling in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. “I had a very frank and specic conversation with her about how disappointed we were in the Canadian response,” Vilsack said. The National Milk Producers Federation and U.S. Dairy Export Council asked the U.S. government to levy retaliatory tariffs on Canada after Ottawa refused to meet its signed treaty obligations of the USMCA. Vilsack responded to this effort. “I’m hopeful the nature of my conversation with the Canadian minister underscores the signicant level of disappointment,” he said. “I hope Canada is capable of reading between the lines of what’s next.” New Zealand challenges Canadian dairy policy The United States is not the only country challenging Canadian dairy policy. New Zealand is moving forward with a trade dispute against Canada. New Zealand claims Canada is not complying with the Trans-Pacic Partnership by limiting market access. Dairy Risk Management participation varies In 2021, Wisconsin had the most Dairy Revenue Protection policies with 1,466. That was followed by Minnesota with 757 policies. So far this year, both states have had signicant declines. The number of DRP policies in Minnesota is down 143 and Wisconsin is down 45. American Farm Bureau Market Intel said a portion of these declines may be linked to a temporary shutdown of the component pricing option in some regions. Wisconsin has the highest concentration of farms enrolled in Dairy Margin Coverage with 4,474. Minnesota is next at 1,834. From 2021 to 2022, both states had a drop in DMC participation. Wisconsin de-
North America dealers. for USMCA obligations
clined 293 farms and Minnesota dropped 133. The Upper Midwest dominates participaAg Insider tion in the Livestock Gross Margin-Dairy policies. Last year, Wisconsin had 872 policies and Minnesota had 268.
USDA names nominee for Under Secretary of Trade The United States Department of Agriculture’s nominee for the Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agriculture is Alexis Taylor, the director of the Oregon Department By Don Wick of Agriculture. Agriculture Columnist groups have been anxious to see the position lled. “We are extremely pleased that the Biden administration has selected such a well-qualied nominee,” said Jim Mulhern, president/CEO, National Milk Producers Federation. U.S. Dairy Export Council President/CEO Krysta Harden also praised Taylor for her leadership abilities and experience. “The Senate should act quickly to conrm this outstanding nominee,” Harden said. The USDA Under Secretary for Trade is a liaison from the USDA to the Ofce of the U.S. Trade Representative. Merger moratorium A bill has been introduced in Congress that calls for an immediate moratorium on acquisitions and mergers in the food and agriculture sector. This proposal would also create a government commission to oversee antitrust enforcement. Turn to AG INSIDER | Page 5
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Goodhue, MN
Bruce, SD
Spring derecho causes unexpected damage
Guthrie Center, IA
Service grows from farm’s milk bottling venture
Bartholome family has been hauling milk for 1 year
First Section: Pages 1, 6
First Section: Page 10
First Section: Pages 1, 7
Manchester, IA
Mapleton, MN
Cannon Falls, MN
Youth tting workshop debuts in Iowa
Bunker silos, silage bags key for storing Appels’ forages
CannonBelles begins making cheese in new plant May 6
First Section: Page 30
First Section: Pages 18, 20
First Section: Pages 12 - 13
Caledonia, MN
Orange City, IA
Houdek family receives Minnesota PDCA Distinguished Breeder Award
Schelling family constructs a new robotic dairy facility Second Section: Pages 3, 5
Pelican Rapids, MN
Kimms recipients of distinguished breeder award Third Section: Pages 10 - 11
Third Section: Pages 6 - 7
FROM OUR SIDE OF THE FENCE:
For additional stories from our other zone, log on to www.dairystar.com
College graduates: What will you be doing after graduation? First Section: Pages 15 - 16
Zone 1
Zone 2
Columnists Ag Insider Pages 2, 5 First F Section
Dea County Dear Ag Agent Guy P Page 36 First Firs Section
Something S to Ruminate On Page 37 Fi Section First
Jus Thinking Just O Out Loud Page 38 F First ir Section
This is the front. We have what you need for what comes out the back.
Dairy Good Life Page 39 First Section
The “Mielke” Market Weekly Pages 8 - 9 Second Section
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Page 4 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022
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Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022 • Page 5
ConƟnued from AG INSIDER | Page 2 Democratic senators Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Jon Tester and Jeff Merkley are working together on this legislation. Untangling the supply chain The U.S. dairy industry is untangling the supply chain crisis. “Within the last year, because of the imbalance of how people were buying things, companies that shipped products from Asia unload those ships and sent them back empty,” said Chris Galen, senior vice president of member services, National Milk Producers Federation. “That’s been a detriment to ag exporters, including the dairy industry. We’re doing a number of things to deal with the situation including trucking, transportation, shipping and availability of shipping containers.” Galen said the Ocean Shipping Reform Act is an important piece of legislation lawmakers are considering. “There’s a version that’s passed the Senate and another version that passed the House,” Galen said. “Those versions are different and have to be brought together and merged into one version that has to be passed again by both chambers.” Seeking answers to supply chain challenges South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson and Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig have introduced legislation to address problems with the supply chain. The bill calls for a USDA task force to evaluate the reliability of the current food supply chain and provide recommendations to Congress to prevent future problems. Farm families on the brink The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture reviewed USDA’s scal year 2023 budget request last week. USDA is requesting $195.9 billion. During the hearing, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asked lawmakers to not lose sight of farm families that need help nancially. “There are 61,670 farm families on the brink. Those farm families are either delinquent in their loans to USDA, are bankrupt or are pending foreclosure.” Milk production drops U.S. milk production declined less than 1% from April 2021 to April 2022. South Dakota had the biggest growth with April milk production up nearly 17%. Minnesota milk production declined 1.4%. Wisconsin was down 0.1%, and California declined 0.6%. MN hay supply near record lows As of May 1, a total of 330,000 tons of hay was stored on Minnesota farms. That is down 18% from one year ago. This is also the second lowest May hay stocks total on record, topping only the 280,000 tons stored on state farms in 2019. Nationwide, hay stocks are down 7%. Tractor, combine sales slip Tractor and combine sales declined for the second month in a row. Information from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers said U.S. tractor sales declined more than 22% in April compared to one year ago. Combine sales dropped nearly 6%. AEM spokesman Curt Blades said this comparison is being made to record sales one year ago. Governor’s Ag Ambassador Award goes to Bones Walt Bones will be honored with the Governor’s Ag Ambassador Award during the Ag Summit June 22 in Brookings, South Dakota. Bones was South Dakota’s secretary of agriculture from 2011-13 and continues to operate a diversied crop and livestock farm near Parker, South Dakota. For the Farmers John Deere and Busch Light launched a For the Farmers campaign. Cases of Busch Light sold through July 3 will feature a farm scene. A John Deere tractor is part of the artwork. This partnership will support Farm Rescue. Trivia challenge June Dairy Month was rst launched in 1937. That answers our last trivia question. For this week’s trivia, what is the scientic term for the brain freeze that happens when eating something very cold, like ice cream? We will have the answer in the next edition of Dairy Star.
Don Wick is owner/broadcaster for the Red River Farm Network, based in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Wick has been recognized as the National Farm Broadcaster of the Year and served as president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Don and his wife, Kolleen, have two adult sons, Tony and Sam, and ve grandchildren, Aiden, Piper, Adrienne, Aurora and Sterling.
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FARM INFORMATION STATION Joe Gill • Farm Director
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Page 6 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022
ConƟnued from STORM | Page 1
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PHOTO SUBMITTED
Employees look at the damage of Hammink Dairy LLC’s parlor and holding pen area May 12 near Bruce, South Dakota. Cows were stuck in the parlor and holding pen for seven hours before they could be safely relocated. held the roof up, and after cutting out a partial side of the holding pen, cows could walk to their pens through the return lane unscathed. “For seven hours they were stuck there,” Hammink said. “They were bellowing, full of milk and scared.” Family, farm employees, community members and people from South Dakota State University worked to clean up the debris and move the cows to safety. “The community has been so great,” Hammink said. “Everyone has stepped up to help.” The Hamminks were in the midst of building a dry cow facility, so they used cranes from the construction company to lift the fallen rafters. The daytime team for the dairy stayed until 3 a.m. when the cows were safely relocated, the parlor was cleaned and operational, and milking was beginning again. “When we did start milking again, the cows were really scared to go anywhere,” Hammink said. “We were going at half our speed, at best. Those rst couple milkings, the milk was going down the drain. It wasn’t until almost a day later we were able to put milk in the tank.” Power returned to the south farm site 12 hours after the storm; four days later for the north farm site. In the days that followed, Hammink worked with the construction team building the dry cow barn to redirect efforts to the milking barn and parlor area. At the time of this writing, materials were ordered, steel and rafters were being delivered, and the reconstruction of the facilities were a work in progress. While damage was widespread and repairs will take time, Hammink is grateful for how his farm fared in the storm. “People were working in the parlor when the storm came through, and yet no one or no cows were injured or hurt,” Hammink said. “We can deal with the material damage. It’s a lot of clean up, but nothing compared to having people or animals killed in this storm.” Global Dairy relocates part of milking herd A short distance north, Global Dairy was also put in a dire situation at the farm in Hamlin County near Estelline. The east milking facility largely withstood the storm; however, the main barn and milking parlor was left without power and water. Kevin Souza, a partner at Victory Farms near Revillo, about an hour north of Estelline, contacted Global Dairy’s General Manager Shannon DeWitt by text immediately following the storm. “She responded that they needed a place to milk 1,700 cows,” Souza said. He worked with DeWitt and one of Global Dairy’s owners, Arjan Blok, in coordinating the relocation of most of
the farm’s milking herd following the severe storm. DeWitt said when the storm arrived, those working at Global Dairy quickly sought shelter, but after the storm passed, they saw the destruction it caused. “The parlor building was destroyed, and everything was housed in that barn except our hospital pen and dry cows,” DeWitt said. “We don’t have a way to milk in that facility. We had to reach out to people who would understand what had happened.” One of Souza’s farm sites was housing heifers since a new building was completed about six years ago to accommodate the milking herd. Souza called the local dairy equipment dealer to see about the possibility of getting the parlor up and running again. “They gured within six to eight hours they could get it running,” Souza said. “Once we knew that, we started moving.” He and his team then made arrangements to move the heifers out of the freestall barn and into outdoor corrals. People came from near and far to load and truck cattle, both heifers off of Victory Farms and cows from Global Dairy. The last load of milking cows arrived at 4:30 a.m. May 13 in Revillo and milking began about an hour later. DeWitt said they are so appreciative of the help they received. “Kevin’s family, our employees, truck drivers, electricians, everyone,” she said. “They have to know how much we appreciate them.” Souza agreed. “There’s no question that when somebody needs help, as farmers, dairymen, that’s what we do, we get it done,” he said. “It’s pretty awesome to have an industry like this that will come together when somebody really needs it.” In the days following the storm, Global Dairy relocated about half of it employees to Souza’s farm site to manage and care for the herd. Feed is being delivered, and everyone is adjusting to the different setup. “We’re getting into the ow of things,” DeWitt said. “It’s a bigger parlor than what we’re used to and different equipment. We have a crew up there that is making it work.” Within two days of the move, the parlor was operating with the cooling and wash systems functioning so milk could be shipped again. “Just three weeks ago, a guy offered to buy the milk tanks from this parlor,” Souza said. “My partners and I decided it wasn’t the right time and not the right move. That would’ve made this situation 10 times harder to pull off; somebody was looking out.” The team at Global Dairy is making plans for rebuilding but with the assistance from Victory Farms, there is time.
Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022 • Page 7
ConƟnued from BARTHOLOME | Page 1
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Jim Bartholome unloads a full tank of milk at their creamery in Le Sueur, Minnesota. Bartholome and his family decided to haul their own milk aŌer an increase in hauling prices and the eliminaƟon of subsidies. day off, which provides some leverage for us,” Jim said. Currently, they have one employee, Victor Gonzalez, who does all the milk hauling for them. Lisa credits him with their success. “His dedication and commitment are key to making it all work,” Lisa said. To get started with milk hauling, both Jim and Gonzalez had to obtain their milk sampling licenses and continue learning about the processes involved in milk hauling both on the farm, which was familiar, but also at the creamery when unloading the milk. Prior to pumping milk on the farm, they test each bulk tank for antibiotics, take milk samples and load the truck. At the plant, prior to unloading the milk, the creamery does an ofcial antibiotic test. Once cleared, they begin to unload the milk. This process takes about 30 minutes to unload the milk and then another 30 minutes for washing the milk trailer. Once a week, they are hauling whey back from the creamery to feed their cows. Gonzalez has been working on the farm for six years, primarily feeding cows, and now adds milk hauling to his list of responsibilities. “I enjoy driving and love my new job,” Gonzalez said. Jim is appreciative of the work Gonzalez provides. “We are very fortunate and lucky to have Victor haul our milk because he truly loves and cares about what he does for work and understands the importance of hauling milk safely,” he said. “He takes pride in always doing a good job while keeping our truck and trailer sparkling clean.” Gonzalez starts feeding cows at 6 a.m. and is getting ready for milk hauling by 9 a.m. The milk hauling process
takes about 5-6 hours each day; however, it can take longer on days when hauling whey back because those trips require an extra washing of the milk trailer. When asked about challenges, Jim said, “It has been an interesting year, and with anything new, there is always a learning curve that goes along with it. We have learned a lot from other milk haulers throughout the process. The other truck drivers are really good at helping out or answering a question.” Gonzalez agreed. “I remember my rst day, and Jim had asked me to back up,” he said. “I was sweating because it was my rst time backing up the new truck and trailer, and after a day or two, I felt good about it. I think the best way to learn is hands-on, and every day, I am learning something new.” Lisa said another challenge they have faced is hauling milk in bad weather conditions, road construction or other unexpected delays. Some of their favorite memories on the road include driving with their children, talking and interacting with others at the plant, and blowing the horn for a child with a disability who always waits on the side of the road in one of the towns they drive through. “I remember my grandpa and dad talking about hauling milk with horses,” Jim said. “I never thought I would be hauling my own milk with trucks today.” They plan to expand and use their trucks for other opportunities on the farm, such as fall harvest. For other dairy farmers thinking about milk hauling, Jim said, “It has been a good investment for our farm, and if it ts into your operation, it is well worth it.”
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Page 8 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022
History made in Princess Kay program
Twins, county representation are a rst for nalists By Grace Jeurissen grace.j@star-pub.com
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Heavy anticipation lled the Frericks family’s living room as Hailey and Kallie watched the Facebook live video calling out the 10 nalists for the 2022 Princess Kay of the Milky Way competition. Hailey and Kallie Frericks, identical twins, are both Stearns County dairy princesses and in the running for the title. “I was called fourth, and the rest of the nalist video we waited to see if Kallie would be called too,” Hailey said. The ninth nalist called was indeed Kallie, marking the rst time in history identical twins have been named as nalists in the same year. It also marks the rst time four nalists reside in Stearns County. Joining the Frericks sisters, 19, of Albany representing Stearns County, are Alex Christen, 20, of Sauk Centre, representing Stearns County; Aly Dieball, 19, of Green Isle, representing Sibley County; Ashley Holst, 20, of Kellogg, representing Wabasha County; Kiley Lickfelt, 20, of Hutchinson, representing McLeod County; Briana Maus, 18, of Freeport, representing Stearns County; Amber
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both could do this together,” Kallie said. Hailey agreed. “We have done everything in dairy together, and this is just the icing on the cake,” Hailey said. “No matter if one or neither of us is crowned, we will be there supporting each other the whole way.” These 10 were selected following a leadership training event May 14. Janet Bremer, the Princess Kay of the Milky Way coordinator, said this year’s May Leadership and Networking event for the young women was a success. “The goal for the May event is to provide these girls with some information and education,” Bremer said. “This provides them with a chance for personal growth and professional development.” In July, she will meet with the nalists for another professional development event. This is a chance for Bremer to get to know the girls individually and to guide them further down the road to a potential title as Princess Kay. Each girl who competes for the title will learn from a variety of industry professionals as well as the current Princess Kay of the Milky Way, Anna Euerle. Words of wisdom and encouragement were shared by Euerle as she introduced each of the nalists. The nalists will spend the summer advocating for dairy in their own counties while preparing themselves for August. This year’s nalist group comes from many backgrounds, but they all have their own story to share with consumers, and the sisters are not the only nalists who are connected. Ashley Holst, of Kellogg, brings family farm values to the table as a nalist. With her hands-on farm experience and desire to learn about anything and everything, she is excited to learn and share more of dairy’s story. “I look forward to being able to connect with consumers and listen to producers,” Holst said. “Dairy is a driver toward building communities and creating a healthy lifestyle, and my family is a part of that.”
Holst has intentions of partnering with her brother on their family’s farm in the future, but for now, she is bridging the gap between consumers and producers all while being a preveterinarian student. Wright grew up on her small family farm where she helps with a variety of activities ranging from milking to eldwork. Wright happened to be volunteering during a bingo event at her church when she stepped away to watch the nalist announcement. “I was stuck in the moment as Anna was reading my biography,” Wright said. “Then she called my name, and I was shocked.” Wright said it is important to have one-on-one conversations with people about dairy and to accept differences between opinions. She looks at her role as a dairy princess as an outlet to reach people who have thoughtprovoking questions about the dairy industry. Wright recently nished her freshman year at South Dakota State University and spent some evenings in her dorm speaking with her roommate Dieball, a nalist from Sibley County, about the dairy industry and their farm experiences. Dieball was the rst person Wright called after the completion of the nalist announcement. The phone call was lled with emotions and excitement as the dynamic duo embark on yet another journey together. “When Allison called, I was bawling my eyes out,” Dieball said. “Sibley County hasn’t had a nalist in eight years, and the amount of support I have received from the community is unbelievable.” Honored is how Dieball explained her feelings about representing Sibley County on a state level. When she heard her name called as the 10th nalist, she jumped for joy because of the effort she put in to preparing for the May event. Dieball is looking forward to communicating with consumers about all the hard work farmers put in, day in and day out, to produce dairy for the community to enjoy. The next Princess Kay will be crowned Aug. 24 at the Minnesota State Fair.
Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022 • Page 9
Succession planning has two sides Schmitz, Plante explain process with tips to succeed By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com
CASHTON, Wis. – When a farm goes through a generational transition, there are two sides to consider: the retiring party and the party that is taking over. Developing a plan that appeases both parties is key. “A farm succession is like when people who are on their own individual paths who are coming together to a future that is foggy and uncertain,” Mark Schmitz said. “When you’re doing this for the rst time, it can be pretty scary and feel risky if you don’t know what to expect. Having a guide like the Farm Center in addition to your trusted advisory team can help.” Schmitz, a staff member of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection’s Wisconsin Farm Center, spoke at a conference sponsored by AgrAbility at the Organic Valley Distribution Center in Cashton. He was joined by his co-worker, Kevin Plante. Schmitz and Plante stressed the importance of planning when considering a generational transition. When beginning to draw a plan, there are a few points that successful transition plans have in common. The goals of both parties are clearly identied and documented, nancial security for both parties is considered, an estate plan is established with a professional team and proactive communication within the family is evident. “Communication is so important because without clear communication, people don’t know where each other stands and make bad assumptions,” Schmitz said. “This creates needless fears
about the future.” When considering the nancial aspects of farm transitions, assets and equity come into play. Schmitz said there is a difference between being equal and being equitable. “You can’t go to town and pay for groceries with a 5-gallon bucket of soil,” Schmitz said. “Even though you have a whole bunch of equity tied up in the land, that might not do you any good if you don’t have liquid assets.” There are certain cases when holding on to assets can be benecial, but it can sometimes have a negative effect as well. Plante explained what the Wisconsin Farm Center refers to as the DIRTI ve. The acronym stands for depreciation and repayment, interest on loan repayment, repairs, taxes and insurance. “This looks at what the expenses related to holding on to an asset are relative to what the opportunities are and whether there is income available or potential for revenue generation,” Plante said. “We sit down and crunch the numbers out.” Plante said there are many cases where gifting takes place in a farm transition. Some people do not realize that when a gift is made, the basis of the cost of what you buy stays with the giftee. If they turn around and sell it, there is a gain. “There’s always a caveat,” Plante said. “But if the idea is that it stays in the family and carries on year after year, let’s hope it’s a few generations before anyone has to deal with it.” Depending on what everyone’s needs and resources look like, there are a few business structures that can take form. Whether a limited liability company is formed or an informal agreement is made, an operating agreement can then be developed. This should establish the rules of the game and offer all parties a peace of mind. The operating agreement can also lay out the details of the
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purchase options versus the rst right of refusal if someone wants to exit and sell their share. It also lays out who owns what percentage of equity. Once the operating agreement is established, an estate plan should be documented to ensure control of the property while the retiring party is still alive and what will happen to them should they die. “It’s never too early or too late to start an estate plan or adjust a current plan,” Schmitz said. “It’s really a living document. It’s not a one-and-done situation.” There are ve events that the Wisconsin Farm Center says should trigger a review of a succession plan: death, disability, disagreement, divorce and decade. “As uncomfortable as it might be to get in front of an attorney and write a check for them to plan, without it, it really leaves a lot of uncertainty going forward,” Schmitz said. “Without it, it might end up being more expensive to administer your estate upon your death.” In the event of a death where there is no estate plan, assets are distributed per Wisconsin state law. This offers no Medicaid protection and is subject to probate which varies by county. “Doing nothing is certainly not a plan,” Schmitz said. “The bottom line is if you don’t have a plan then you really don’t have any control over what happens to your estate. The state will tell you what is going to happen.” Plante encourages everyone to develop a team to help with succession planning. This can be made up of an accountant or tax professional, attorney, family members, nancial advisor, insurance agent, lender or a third-party facilitator. “We always tell people this is a marathon not a sprint,” Plante said. “This will take some time, but it is better to try to get in front of it right away instead of trying to react to situations as they change.”
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Service grows from farm’s milk bottling venture By Sherry Newell Contributing writer
GUTHRIE CENTER, Iowa – Sixteen years ago, the Sheeder family in Guthrie Center was 10 years into milking a herd of Holstein and Jersey cows. A couple of the state’s dairy farms were processing their own milk into consumer products, but the Sheeders saw opportunity to add value to their dairy west of Des Moines. Russell and Merici PHOTO SUBMITTED Sheeder took a leap, putting their pasteurized, homog- The Sheeders – (from leŌ) Grant holding Evan and Lauren holding Caleb – enized milk into glass bottles are part of Sheeder Cloverleaf Dairy, of Guthrie Center, Iowa. The family and stocking grocery stores began processing their farm’s milk 16 years ago, and recently transiƟoned across central Iowa. Sheeder to a home delivery business. Cloverleaf Dairy’s milk became a popular product, and the business expanded to include ice cream. While Dairy Farmers of America took a portion into glass bottles along with making yogurt and proof the Sheeders’ milk, there were times when 90% viding milk for various businesses like coffee and of it was processed on the farm and delivered to gro- ice cream shops. cery stores. Sheeder Cloverleaf Dairy began delivering Bur“Glass bottles in central Iowa were unheard bach Countryside milk; the glass bottles were back, of,” said Grant Sheeder, Russell and Merici’s son, although customers could still have Anderson Erickwho handles marketing. “And, social media was not son products delivered as well. even a thing.” “I’m surprised how many people are against But their customers were buying milk for its plastic containers. They’ve gone green,” Grant said. taste and health benets. Grant credited vat pasteurHome delivery routes now run four days each ization and their cows’ ration for the quality of the week, with one van operated by two semi-retired dairy’s milk. drivers. Russell and Merici manage the coolers and When the coronavirus pandemic hit in early organize the loads. It provides an income for the 2020, it became clear that home delivery of their former dairy farmers and allows them to provide products was an opportunity they could not pass up. wholesome dairy products to their region. They began delivering dairy to customers’ homes, “But, they don’t have to be there from 4:30 a.m. along with eggs and bread. to 7 p.m. every day,” said Grant of his parents’ con“Just delivering milk didn’t do it,” said Grant of tinued involvement. the switch to home delivery. Grant also has a new farm-to-market business Over the two years since then, the delivery busi- in the works. A meat locker will open in 2022 in ness has expanded to include beef, honey, baked Guthrie Center, thanks to his realization that it has goods, pasta, pizza and coffee, products grown or been nearly impossible to keep up with the demand made in central Iowa. As he reached out to nd lo- for steaks and roasts. cal products for the route, Grant discovered items of Eventually, the Sheeder family’s remaining which he was previously unaware. dairy animals and 80 stock cows will go through the “Farm to table has been an ever-increasing thing, locker and may be included in home delivery. but COVID really drove it home,” he said. “People Meanwhile, central Iowa consumers can have want to support the local businesses, and the quality their dairy, and other products, delivered. is there. This is the best stuff in the world.” “We like to call it a small farmers’ market on The delivery business with the Sheeders’ milk wheels,” Grant said. and ice cream was a success. But after 16 years, retirement loomed for Russell and Merici. The cows were sold early in 2022, leaving a dilemma: How would dairy remain on the delivery route? For 45 days, the family’s delivery service featured products from Anderson Erickson Dairy, a commercial processor in Des Moines. But those who loved Sheeder Cloverleaf Dairy’s milk were disappointed. “People were really bummed,” Grant said. “We had a really high percentage of fat; we made sure there was full avor. It was a pride thing for us. Premium quality for a premium-priced milk in glass bottles.” Enter Burbach’s CounPHOTO SUBMITTED tryside Dairy of Hartington, Nebraska, northwest of Sioux The home delivery van operated by Sheeder Cloverleaf Dairy makes City. There, dairy farmers Dean runs Monday through Thursday each week. Milk and other fresh prodand Lisa Burbach process milk ucts are available to customers in and around Guthrie Center, Iowa.
Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022 • Page 11
What is the status of CRP?
Minnesota farmers continue to prioritize land conservation By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
ST. PAUL, Minn. – In an effort to improve water quality, reduce soil erosion and mend habitats, the Conservation Reserve Program was established by President Ronald Reagan in 1985. To date, it remains one of the largest conservation programs across the nation, according to the United States Department of Agriculture; and that trend is no different in Minnesota. “Minnesota has always been a leader in conservation,” Whitney Place said. “The CRP program is one of those tools to get conservation on the land.” Place is the state executive director of the USDA Farm Service Agency in Minnesota. The signup for the General CRP program closed in March, and with that, of the 2 million acres enrolled across the nation, nearly 31,000 acres are represented in Minnesota. That value contributes to the state’s nearly 1 million acres of CRP land from 55,000 contracts. “Of course, there are certain areas of the state where CRP makes sense,” Place said. “CRP is a program that can t so many ecosystems and have benets. It’s a competitive program, and we’re happy a lot of producers take it as an opportunity.” Over the last decade, a slight decrease in land enrolled has been noted; in 2013, the state recorded 1.3 million acres. This year, Minnesota has 104,000 acres set to expire from the federal conservation program. “The goal is to maintain those acres somewhere in new or current enrollment in light of the shifting agriculture sector with high commodity prices, weather and the situation in Ukraine,” Place said. Not only have acres enrolled shifted but those acres have also drifted into which program the acres are a part of. Aside from the General CRP program, Grassland CRP and Continuous CRP, which includes the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program and Farmable Wetlands Program among others, have all gained competitive participation. The state has seen greater interest in the continuous enrollment program, Place said. “When there’s ongoing signup, it allows producers to target certain areas of land that will benet and then they can secure a contract,” she said. “With waves of those signups comes additional acres every year.” Last year, the Biden administration reviewed the national conservation program and made adjustments to further incentivize landowners to enroll their property. “There were changes to the CRP program where it might not have worked in the past,
but it could have signicantly changed for farmers now,” Place said. “We encourage landowners to think about their land, run numbers and decide if contracting some will work.” To create a larger incentive for enrolling, the government authorized higher payment rates for land enrolled in CRP with a one-time 10% inationary adjustment under General CRP. It also worked with local FSA ofces to improve rental rates. In Grassland CRP, a minimum rental rate of $15 was established, said to benet 1,347 counties across the nation. “This happened for a couple reasons,” Place said. “One, to keep up with ination; and two, as we’re facing high commodity prices, this program needs to make sure rental rates are competitive. This is a signature change moving forward.” Most notably, the administration addressed the conservation program’s potential for climate mitigation. In the Continuous CRP program, several adjustments were put in place that increase the program’s payments to encourage enrollment. “This is land a lot of people don’t want to farm anyways,” Place said. “As we think about climate, environmental protection and resiliency, people want to protect these acres. We’ve seen that gradual shift over the last 10 years.” Last fall, USDA launched the rst phase of the soil carbon monitoring efforts through CRP. This initiative is focused on collecting soil samples from perennial grasses, trees and wetlands enrolled in the conservation program to better quantify the climate benets of the program. “Where the conversation is going, both in the Biden administration and agriculture and food companies, is climate,” Place said. “CRP provides carbon sequestration, and farmers can tap into that private carbon market. These conversations are happening right now.” One initiative that occurred out of necessity was the authorization of emergency haying and grazing conservation land in wake of the widespread drought. However, that program was limited and poorly timed for the dairy industry as access to lands was granted in late summer when grasses were past maturity. There was also a fee to harvest the land. “The drought was key to starting a conversation about grazing CRP and managing it through haying,” Place said. “From my perspective, we have to manage it in a way that gives livestock producers access to forage. That’s another win-win for CRP that the program should be seeking.” Place expects conversations about more inclusive possibilities of CRP to happen when drafting the next farm bill. “The program was rst passed in 1985, and it has remained relatively the same,” she said. “It’s really exciting that it’s been going on that long and it continues to provide benets, but there is always room for growth. We have to continue working to make farming operations successful with environmental benets as well.”
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Page 12 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022
From a hobby to business
CannonBelles begin making cheese in new plant By Kate Rechtzigel kate.r@dairystar.com
CANNON FALLS, Minn. – After 11 years of making cheese at a pilot test plant and in turkey roasters, the ladies of CannonBelles have nally moved into their new cheese plant in Cannon Falls. “I walk into our make room and it’s just this bright light and red oors,” Kathy Hupf said. “It’s awesome and a fun feeling of something new and exciting.” Friends Hupf, Deeann Lufkin and Jackie Ohmann rst started making cheese in 2011 as a hobby but quickly found they all needed a career change. Now, more than a decade later, they are making cheese at their own cheese plant which became operational May 6. “This is our fourth cheese make in the new plant so we’re still trying to dial in all of the little tiny differences with equipment and ingredients; making sure that our product is very similar or the same as what we made before,” said Lufkin, the head cheesemaker. “But, it’s a great feeling because this plant is ours.” All of the equipment in the plant is new.
The plant is 5,800 square feet and includes a pasteurizer, two vats, cheese compress, curd mill, tanks for cleaning equipment, packaging sealer, large walk-in coolers for fresh and aged cheese, bulk tank for milk storage, testing and lab equipment, and a sub-zero freezer for cultures. “We do want to get a new vacuum sealer and adjust some equipment on the cheese vat,” Ohmann said. “Even though the equipment has only been in use for three weeks, we’re already seeing what we need to change and do to grow.” Hupf agreed. “This equipment is slightly different from what we have been using for the last six years so it’s a real learning curve for us too,” she said. “It’s similar but yet different.” They get their milk from Blake and Chicky Otte’s farm, Square Deal Dairy, near Randolph. “They are our choice for several reasons,” Hupf said. “One, they are only 5 miles away from our plant; and two, they do a great job managing their herd of cows. They produce a high-quality product for us where we can get more cheese yield out of their milk, and they have three grown
KATE RECHTZIGEL/DAIRY STAR
Friends and owners of CannonBelles – (from leŌ) Jackie Ohmann, Kathy Hupf and Deeann LuŅin – stand in front of their new cheese plant near Cannon Falls, Minnesota. The new cheese plant became operaƟonal May 6. sons who have come back to the farm so we see longevity in them being able to supply our milk for the long term.” Before moving into the plant this spring, they were making cheese at the University of Minnesota’s pilot plant for over six years and in Ohmann’s kitchen
with turkey roasters prior. “They have a pilot cheesemaker’s program so we were able to tap into that and get trained by master cheesemaker Ray Miller,” Hupf said. Lufkin agreed. “We were able to use a lot of different pieces of equipment
and gure out what we wanted,” she said. “For example, we have chosen to use a high-temperature, short-time pasteurizer because we can grow into it, and it takes less time to pasteurize.”
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Deeann LuŅin sƟrs a vat of cheese on May 17 at CannonBelles cheese plan near Cannon Falls, Minnesota. The new plant is 5,800 square feet and features one 5,000 and one 1,000 pound vat. They also toured other facilities, asked questions and received advice from other cheesemakers before making cheese in their new plant. One thing they learned from other cheesemakers was to leave room for expansion. “We heard from a lot of cheesemakers not to make our make room too small so we can expand if needed,” Lufkin said. “Thus, limiting our downtime so we can just add on rather than having to stop production if we expand. We really kept those in mind as we built this.” Ohmann agreed. “The coolers are also pretty empty so we have room for growth,” she said. Lufkin went to the cheesemaker short course at the University of WisconsinRiver Falls in 2014 where she heard about someone who could write grants for them. “We knew we needed money so we got lined up with him,” Lufkin said. “It slowed us way down, and it was painful. But, the best thing that happened for us. I really think we would’ve been closed by now if we were still at the pace we originally wanted to be at.” Before deciding where to build, they looked at several options of either remodeling an existing building or building new. “We learned that it was going to be safer to build our own building,” Hupf said. Lufkin agreed. “The amount of regulations for dairy plants are pretty intense so it would have cost us more to t into an existing building than it would to build new,” she said. This summer, the creamery plans to start tours. Consumers will be able to see cows on the farm where the milk is produced, tour the plant and go to the nearby coffee shop to eat the cheese. The women enjoy being able to make cheese when they want and expand and grow their markets. “At the University of Minnesota, we were only able to make cheese once a
month and not at all during COVID-19,” Lufkin said. “Now, we can also play and have the freedom to make new cheese avors.” Before they only processed 1,000 pounds of cheese a month at the pilot plant and have now been able to process 400 to 500 pounds of cheese within a week. They currently make cheese once a week on Tuesdays and make queso fresco, four aged cheddars, gouda, Colby and eight avors of cheese curds including bacon, dill, ranch, jalapeno and grim reaper which is Carolina reaper, habanero, serrano and jalapeno peppers. “We are also able to add our horseradish and garlic avors back,” Lufkin said. “We can now also allow Jackie to come up with new avors.” Hupf agreed. “As of now, we don’t have a denite pattern of what cheeses we will make when,” she said. “We will make cheese curds more often now for summer sales, but we will also start making our aged cheeses to build up our supply and get ready for our Christmas sales, giving them time to age.” They are thankful for the family and friends who have been there to support them either through volunteering or sharing their story. “For me being an outsider, the Minnesota dairy community has been amazing,” Lufkin said. “It’s more of a family. Everybody is happy to answer questions, help us nd answers and be there with us. I’ve never seen this in any other job or career I’ve had. It’s unbelievable to me, and I am honored to be a part of it.” This summer, CannonBelles is planning a grand opening where customers can see the new plant. “There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t get 10 to 20 inquiries about it,” Hupf said. “Now we can nally say, ‘We’re in.’ It’s exciting and terrifying all at the same time.”
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Rebecka Hoffman Dolton, South Dakota South Dakota State University Dairy production
What are your post-graduation plans? After graduation, I will be returning to my family’s farm to take over and work part time at Intuit as a QuickBooks Live bookkeeper. I will also be attending graduate school at the University of South Dakota for their online Master of Professional Accountancy program. Why have you chosen this career path? Being raised in the dairy community, I also was attracted to the driven, dedicated people and the hard work that it endures. I chose my career path because I want to continue to be a part of this community and continue to care for animals and hope to give other young individuals that welcoming feel that I have felt in the dairy community. What college class or experience do you feel will help you most in your career? Dairy farm operations II was one of the most helpful courses I have taken while at SDSU. In this course, we discussed how to run an operation including economics of a farm, farmstead design, reproduction and care for animals from newborn calves to aged lactation cows. It was a great range of information that I can take back to my own operation. How has your career outlook changed since rst enrolling in college? When rst enrolling in college, I planned on returning to my family’s farm and taking over. Not much has changed since then, but I did gain an interest in accounting and wanted to incorporate that into my career. College also gave me a different view on how I wanted to take over and what my next steps would be. Where do you see yourself in ve years? In ve years, I see myself working on expanding my operation and updating our milking facility. I also would like to start my own bookkeeping service and do accounting for local farming operations. Tell us about the farm you grew up on. Our farm milks around 70 cows in a double-6 herringbone parlor. We raise mainly Holsteins with a few Jerseys. I will be the fth generation to be living and working on our farm.
Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022 • Page 15
College graduates:
What will you be doing after graduation?
Kaylee Gibbs Waterville, Iowa Allamakee County Northeast Iowa Community College Dairy science technology What are your post-graduation plans? Get off the farm for a while and learn some new skills to bring back to the family farm to be a key part in the operation. Why have you chosen this career path? I have always had a passion for dairy and couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. What college class or experience do you feel will help you most in your career? Probably reproduction and animal health. In reproduction, I was able to gain a better understanding on the reproductive side. In animal health, I learned different diseases and how I could treat them. Those are important concepts to learn to be able to utilize them back Clayton Schreifels Cold Spring, Minnesota Ridgewater College Farm operations and management, agribusiness What are your post-graduation plans? I am planning to work fulltime at the Cold Spring Cooperative as an applicator for ve to 10 years. Then, I plan purchase shares of my family’s meat market.
home or at a job within the industry. How has your career outlook changed since rst enrolling in college? I don’t think my outlook changed. I always knew I wanted to work with cows. But during my time in college, I learned that it’s OK to go off and do my own thing and learn something new to bring home. Where do you see yourself in ve years? Probably back on the farm or at a job within the dairy industry. Tell us about the farm you grew up on. I grew up on my family’s dairy farm in Waterville, Iowa. My dad and uncle are partners as well as my grandparents. We milk 500 Holsteins in a double-16 parlor and run around 1,400 acres to grow our own forages. We converted our naturally ventilated freestall barn to tunnel ventilation this spring. Our heifer calves are fed on six DeLaval robotic feeders.
How has your career outlook changed since rst enrolling in college? I rst enrolled not sure where I t into agriculture other than the family farm which wasn’t my calling. And now upon graduation, I found multiple opportunities for me and the cooperative was my rst choice. Where do you see yourself in ve years? In ve years, I hope to be purchasing shares in the family’s meat market as well as achieving many personal goals.
Why have you chosen this career path? I choose this path because agriculture is my passion, and I get to help farmers get Tell us about the farm you grew up on. I grew up on the best crop. I did not want to take over the family a family dairy farm south of Cold Spring. We milked farm. 60 Holstein and Jersey cows with 500 acres in operation. We’ve since expanded to 120 head, raising all of What college class or experience do you feel will our steers for butcher, and have about 150 acres more. help you most in your career? The semester in- My older brother is purchasing the farm from our dad ternships and the farm management classes were and raising his family on the farm as well. I grew up useful. A monthlong internship each semester got helping in the barn in any way from feeding to milking me out of the classroom putting what I learned into to cleaning. As I got older, I was able to start running use. The farm management classes taught me a lot some equipment doing tillage, harvesting and haying. about record keeping, nancial ratios and how to be protable for different operations. Turn to OUR SIDE | Page 16
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ConƟnued from OUR SIDE | Page 15 Kjersten Veiseth Zumbrota, Minnesota University of MinnesotaTwin Cities Animal science-dairy production
Jessica Schmitt Fort Atkinson, Iowa Iowa State University Dairy science, agricultural communications and international agriculture
What are your postgraduation plans? After graduation, I will be working as a precision ag specialist for Ag Partners Cooperative in Plainview, Minnesota.
What are your post-graduation plans? After graduation, I will be working as the integrated communications coordinator for Dairy West, the checkoff organization of Idaho and Utah. While working, I will be pursuing my master’s in communications through Purdue University with an emphasis in strategic communications and public relations.
Why have you chosen this career path? I decided to go into the agriculture eld because of the love that I have for my family’s farm and because of all of my experiences within agriculture. I wanted to work with farmers and be able to give back to the industry that has given me so many amazing memories and opportunities. What college class or experience do you feel will help you most in your career? The management classes I took were the most important for my career. I took an agronomy strategies and management class where I was able to give a presentation at the end of the semester about recommendations I would make for an assigned farm and why those are the best choices for that farm. In my dairy production and management class, I was able to learn and connect with industry professionals about all aspects of the dairy and work with a team of other students to give a presentation on recommendations to further that farm’s success. These classes both gave me the opportunity to act as a professional in the eld and learn how to make recommendations to farmers that will have a positive impact on their operation. How has your career outlook changed since rst enrolling in college? I knew I wanted to work with farmers and was hoping to work rst hand with dairy farmers through the nutrition eld. Throughout college and internship opportunities, I was able to better understand how connected agronomy is to dairy cattle feed. I was able to look into how certain varieties of crops and management practices are able to help with nutrients in the feed. I now know that even though my role on the farms I will be working with is not directly with the cows, I will be playing a big role in making sure the feed those cows are getting is the highest quality possible. Where do you see yourself in ve years? I see myself continuing to be in the agriculture industry in the next ve years. I hope to be providing great service to the farms that I call upon and to have good relationships with each of them. I also hope to stay near home so I am able to help on my family’s farm as well. Tell us about the farm you grew up on. I grew up my family’s dairy farm where we milk 80 Holsteins and farm about 400 acres of corn and alfalfa. We also raise about 30 head of beef cattle. I am the fth generation on the farm that is run by my dad, Mike, and my uncle, Denny.
Why have you chosen this career path? I chose this route because it combines all of my passions of dairy and consumer education. Growing up on a dairy farm, my love for the dairy industry sparked, but I found my true passion for promotion when serving as the Iowa Dairy Princess and as an Iowa Dairy Ambassador through Midwest Dairy. My degrees in dairy science and agricultural communications prepared me to be successful in this eld. What college class or experience do you feel will help you most in your career? What most prepared me from my time at ISU was the internship opportunities. I had three internships that occurred during the summer months. Each of these experiences were in different states working for organizations completing different assignments. Because of this array of internships, I was able to
broaden my skillset and learn a multitude of aspects in agriculture. How has your career outlook changed since rst enrolling in college? When I rst came to college, I had so many interests. I did not know how to narrow them down. I was interested in communications, genetics, nutrition and so much more. Luckily, through classes, oncampus organizations and internships, I was able to gure out what I do and don’t like. This certainly aided my job search senior year and helped me nd my true passion. Where do you see yourself in ve years? In ve years from now, I want to see myself with my master’s degree and continuing to work for the dairy checkoff. I hope I am satised in my career knowing I am able to express my creativity and be proud of my work. Additionally, I hope I continue to stay in contact with the connections I made at ISU and from other impactful experiences. Tell us about the farm you grew up on. I am fortunate to have grown up in a dairy farm family where I learned all hands on deck at a young age. My family’s dairy is located outside of Fort Atkinson, Iowa, where we milked 50 Holsteins. My sister and I got sick of seeing black and white so we decided to add every breed of dairy cattle into the herd. While we stopped milking in October 2021, I have a small Ayrshire herd on my cousin’s dairy, and we nish steers for local dairy producers.
Riley Reis Lime Spring, Iowa Howard County Northeast Iowa Community College Dairy science technology
Also, reproduction and nutrition class because they are two important things on the farm. Being able to have an understanding helps when having conversations about these topics.
What are your post-graduation plans? Work on the family farm and become more involved in making management decisions. Why have you chosen this career path? I like the environment and seeing the small changes make big differences. What college class or experience do you feel will help you most in your career? Going on farm tours and seeing how every operation is different. I got to talk to farmers and take new things from different farms back home and use them at home.
How has your career outlook changed since rst enrolling in college? I knew I always wanted to farm. Where do you see yourself in ve years? Making more money and being more efcient. Tell us about the farm you grew up on. We milk 370 cows in a double-12 parallel parlor, we raise our heifers and nish our steers, and we farm about 800 acres.
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Page 18 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022
Harvesting Quality Forages
Bunker silos, silage bags key for storing Appels’ forages Don and Bill Appel Mapleton, Minnesota Blue Earth County 120 cows Describe your farm and facilities. This is my grandparents’ farm. I grew up by Heron Lake. I’ve milked cows since I was 7 years old. We raise corn, soybean, winter rye and alfalfa. We have cattle on three farms and have about 400 cattle all together. My daughter, Theresa, helps milk when she’s not working in Mankato. My son, Daniel, helps milk when he’s not working with his hogs. The grandchildren also have their 4-H projects here and come when they are not in school. What forages do you harvest? We harvest alfalfa, corn for silage and winter rye. How many acres of crops do you raise? We raise 1,000 acres between all four of us. Describe the rations for your liveKATE RECHTZIGEL/DAIRY STAR
Turn to FORAGES | Page 20
Alfalfa bales are stored in bunker silos on the Appels’ farm near Mapleton, Minnesota. They cut alfalfa up to 30-day intervals.
Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022 • Page 19
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Page 20 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022
ConƟnued from FORAGES | Page 18 stock. Corn silage, haylage and a protein/corn mix for the cows. The youngstock get grass hay.
selves, but we do hire some of it done. We cut up to 30 days depending on the weather for alfalfa.
What quality and quantity do you harvest of each crop? We raise 70 acres of alfalfa, 70 acres of corn silage and 40 acres of winter rye. We farm one farm organically on 160 acres and grow corn, soybean, wheat, vetch and winter rye. It varies with rotation, but vetch and winter rye are the big crops. We can never raise enough organic vetch.
What techniques do you use to store, manage and feed your forages? Bunker silos and one or two bags. On one of the other farms, we have to put up a bag, but on this farm, it’s all bunkers.
Describe your harvesting techniques for alfalfa and corn silage. For corn silage, we try to do most of it our-
Describe a challenge you overcame in reaching your forage quality goals. Getting the alfalfa cut on time. We just learned to cut around the weather. We also buy most of our dry hay. I’ve been getting it from the same farm in South Dakota for seven years.
KATE RECHTZIGEL/DAIRY STAR
Cows on the Appels’ farm eat a total mixed raƟon May 18 at the Appels’ farm near Mapleton, Minnesota. Quality alfalfa helps the Appels reach their producƟon goals.
KATE RECHTZIGEL/DAIRY STAR
Don and Bill Appel milk cows May 18 on their farm near Mapleton, Minnesota. They raise corn, soybeans, winter rye and alfalfa on their farm.
How do quality forages play a part in the production goals for your herd? You can’t beat good alfalfa; good alfalfa is the key to any production. We can tell as soon as we get poorer
quality hay. Quality alfalfa is No. 1. What are management or harvesting techniques you have changed that have made a notable difference in
forage quality? For corn silage, we got a rotary corn head for our chopper. That was one of the biggest improvements we made. It helps get it done on time. I won’t cut silage anymore without a rotary corn head.
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Equipment and pictures added daily • Go to www.mmcjd.com
COMBINES JD S680, 2013, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 2006 hrs., 1350 sep hrs., #174756.......$140,000 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1351 hrs., 750 sep hrs., #191164........$368,000 JD 9670 STS, 2011, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 3669 hrs., 2503 sep hrs., #188158 ....$99,900 JD S670, 2016, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 2430 hrs., 1453 sep hrs., #176660.......$199,500 JD S670, 2013, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 2764 hrs., 1916 sep hrs., #191646 .........$139,900 JD S780, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 273 hrs., 161 sep hrs., #191038...........$529,000 JD S680, 2013, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 2366 hrs., 1513 sep hrs., #527150 .........$129,000 JD S790, 2020, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 807 hrs., 608 sep hrs., #525863...........$429,000 JD S790, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 562 hrs., 439 sep hrs., #531357...........$488,000 JD 9600, 1992, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 4764 hrs., 3192 sep hrs., #524471...........$22,000 JD S680, 2014, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 2373 hrs., 1703 sep hrs., #178114 .........$131,500 JD S680, 2015, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 2753 hrs., 2048 sep hrs., #524469 .........$165,900 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 995 hrs., 772 sep hrs., #523885...........$379,000 JD S690, 2017, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1422 hrs., 1187 sep hrs., #524271.......$295,000 JD S790, 2021, Corn/Bean, 359 hrs., 276 sep hrs., #533168 ......................$535,000 JD S790, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 440 hrs., 316 sep hrs., #533167...........$529,000 JD S770, 2018, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 1411 hrs., 1051 sep hrs., #421313 .........$277,000 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1088 hrs., 690 sep hrs., #177549.........$364,400 JD S680, 2014, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 2248 hrs., 1668 sep hrs., #531966.......$195,000 JD S660, 2014, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1555 hrs., 1181 sep hrs., #532082.......$189,500 JD 9500, 1993, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 4730 hrs., 3072 sep hrs., #531515...........$27,000 JD 9500, 1993, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 5698 hrs., 3476 sep hrs., #531747...........$22,000 JD 9500, 1993, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 3986 hrs., 2930 sep hrs., #533533...........$29,500 JD S670, 2016, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1372 hrs., 820 sep hrs., #531783.........$259,995 JD 9500, 1991, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 6754 hrs., 5000 sep hrs., #185458...........$22,400 JD 9770 STS, 2009, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 4550 hrs., 3172 sep hrs., #190521..$81,000 JD S670, 2014, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 2229 hrs., 1622 sep hrs., #531781 .........$155,000 JD 8820, 1986, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 5792 hrs., #533178 ...............................$11,500 JD 9770 STS, 2010, Corn/Bean, 3620 hrs., 2851 sep hrs., #533838 ...........$107,500 JD S670, 2015, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1000 hrs., 750 sep hrs., #531784.........$279,900 JD S780, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 257 hrs., 189 sep hrs., #191345...........$546,000
JD 9450, 2000, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 3850 hrs., 2481 sep hrs., #532894...........$44,900 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1597 hrs., 1130 sep hrs., #276170.......$329,900 JD S680, 2012, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 2808 hrs., 1765 sep hrs., #274579.......$134,900 JD S770, 2021, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 290 hrs., 200 sep hrs., #532535 .............$524,900 JD S680, 2014, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 2350 hrs., 1713 sep hrs., #276314 .........$219,900 JD S780, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 451 hrs., 345 sep hrs., #190866...........$492,000 Case IH 8240, 2017, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 1733 hrs., 1318 sep hrs., #191428$212,000 JD S680, 2017, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1941 hrs., 1362 sep hrs., #191923.......$271,000 JD S780, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 161 hrs., 109 sep hrs., #191479...........$535,900 JD S790, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 413 hrs., 299 sep hrs., #275515...........$549,900 JD 9670 STS, 2008, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 4233 hrs., 2830 sep hrs., #276373 ....$79,900 JD S790, 2018, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 1237 hrs., 914 sep hrs., #273973 ...........$334,900 JD S680, 2017, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 2200 hrs., 1507 sep hrs., #276315.......$247,900 JD S790, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 147 hrs., 94 sep hrs., #275856.............$554,900 JD S790, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 516 hrs., 382 sep hrs., #276139...........$524,900 Case IH 1680, 1987, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 4125 hrs., #276343 ..........................$8,950 JD S770, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 2242 hrs., 1587 sep hrs., #181147.......$245,000 JD 6620, 1979, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 1557 hrs., #187694 ...................................$7,900 JD S780, 2020, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 763 hrs., 539 sep hrs., #188459...........$454,900 JD S780, 2020, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 791 hrs., 596 sep hrs., #188309...........$454,900 JD S780, 2020, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 836 hrs., 626 sep hrs., #188458...........$454,900 JD S780, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 290 hrs., 217 sep hrs., #191047...........$504,900 JD S780, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 216 hrs., 168 sep hrs., #191048...........$507,900 JD S780, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 114 hrs., 79 sep hrs., #191064.............$518,900 JD 9600, 1997, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 4409 hrs., 3113 sep hrs., #532056...........$24,900 JD S680, 2017, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1487 hrs., 1053 sep hrs., #273646.......$254,900 JD S790, 2020, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1088 hrs., 684 sep hrs., #274274.........$449,900 JD S680, 2012, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 2300 hrs., 1600 sep hrs., #532046 .........$150,000 JD S790, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 322 hrs., 231 sep hrs., #275632...........$534,900 JD S780, 2020, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 872 hrs., 633 sep hrs., #531647...........$439,900 JD 9650 STS, 1999, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 5395 hrs., 3467 sep hrs., #276232 ....$34,900
JD X9 1100, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 485 hrs., 321 sep hrs., #276061 .....$699,900 JD S790, 2020, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1142 hrs., 864 sep hrs., #275917.........$429,900 JD 9770 STS, 2010, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 3666 hrs., 2599 sep hrs., #532697 ....$79,900 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 1080 hrs., 700 sep hrs., #531873 ...........$319,900 JD S680, 2016, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1659 hrs., 1197 sep hrs., #273603.......$247,900 JD 6620SH, 1982, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 3594 hrs., #274596...............................$6,950 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1268 hrs., 888 sep hrs., #275242.........$369,900 JD 9560 STS, 2005, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 3350 hrs., 2100 sep hrs., #531329..$82,900 Case IH 7088, 2010, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 3175 hrs., 2476 sep hrs., #531665$99,000 JD 9500, 1991, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 5637 hrs., 3750 sep hrs., #531870 ........$23,900 JD 9870 STS, 2009, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 5890 hrs., 4072 sep hrs., #532518..$54,500 JD S780, 2020, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 657 hrs., 473 sep hrs., #532549...........$465,000 JD S780, 2020, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 823 hrs., 640 sep hrs., #532517...........$439,000 JD S680, 2012, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 2575 hrs., 1817 sep hrs., #524875 .........$132,500 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 745 hrs., 508 sep hrs., #169507...........$409,500 JD S780, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 340 hrs., 281 sep hrs., #191053...........$528,000 JD S780, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 387 hrs., 310 sep hrs., #191065...........$509,900 JD S670, 2014, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 2590 hrs., 1673 sep hrs., #191790.......$167,000 JD 9770 STS, 2008, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 3245 hrs., 2000 sep hrs., #531918..$92,000 JD S790, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1184 hrs., 810 sep hrs., #171378.........$389,500 JD S680, 2014, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 2974 hrs., 2063 sep hrs., #182070.......$128,900 JD S680, 2014, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1985 hrs., 1420 sep hrs., #189953.......$202,000 JD S680, 2015, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 2430 hrs., 1762 sep hrs., #190078.......$191,000 JD S790, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 427 hrs., 308 sep hrs., #191075...........$582,500 JD S780, 2021, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 397 hrs., 285 sep hrs., #191076...........$500,000 JD S680, 2016, Corn/Bea, PRWD, 1842 hrs., 1250 sep hrs., #532830.........$249,000 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1379 hrs., 950 sep hrs., #183533.........$355,000 JD 6620, 1983, Corn/Bean, 2WD, 3800 hrs., #188350 ...................................$9,500 JD S790, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1390 hrs., 1110 sep hrs., #532032.......$359,000 JD 9760 STS, 2005, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 3984 hrs., 2728 sep hrs., #532686..$64,000
Locations throughout minnesota & western wisconsin! CALL TODAY! (320)365-1653 SEE OUR COMPLETE INVENTORY WITH PICTURES AND DESCRIPTIONS AT: www.mmcjd.com
Summer is in the air
Page 22 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022
DeLaval Parlor P500 milking system
102
”
max ceiling height requirement for DeLaval SynchroArc™
Up to
56
%
reduction in exit cycle time with DeLaval SynchroSweep™
3
cow flow control options
ZERO
obstructions at cow exit
For more than 70 years, the Johnsons have been milking cows at Highland Dairy in Glade Spring, Virginia. Third-generation dairywoman, Rena Johnson, decided to upgrade the dairy so she can milk cows for decades to come. The DeLaval P500 parlor was the key to helping her do just that.
Learn more! SCAN HERE
Learn how the P500 parlor helped Highland Dairy reach their parlor efficiency goals.
www.delaval.com
Contact one of the following dealers to learn more: IOWA Kramer Bros. Monticello, IA 319-465-5931 Prairie Land Ag Supply Inc. Rock Valley, IA 712-476-9290 United Dairy Systems, Inc. West Union, IA 563-422-5355 WISCONSIN Advanced Dairy/Bob’s Dairy Supply Spring Valley, WI 715-772-3201 Ederer Dairy Supply Plain, WI 608-546-3713
DeLaval Dairy Service Kaukauna, WI 866-335-2825 Joe’s Refrigeration Inc. Withee, WI 715-229-2321 Mlsna Dairy Supply Inc. Cashton, WI 608-654-5106 Professional Dairy Services Arlington, WI 608-635-0267 Redeker Dairy Equipment Brandon, WI 920-346-5579 The Scharine Group Inc. Whitewater, WI 800 472-2880 Mt Horeb, WI 800-872-3470
MINNESOTA & SOUTH DAKOTA Advanced Dairy of Mora Mora, MN 320-679-1029 Farm Systems Melrose, MN 320-256-3276 Brookings, SD 800-636-5581 S&S Dairy System LLC St. Charles, MN 507-932-4288 Professional Dairy Systems Wadena, MN 218-632-5416
is a registered trademark of Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A. and “DeLaval” is a registered trade/servicemark of DeLaval Holding AB © 2022 DeLaval Inc. DeLaval, 11100 North Congress Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri 64153-1296. All facts and figures are the result of data collected on test farms and pilot farms. Data compared to DeLaval Champion. Results may vary and are not guaranteed. www.delaval.com
Memorial Day is almost here even though it feels like spring has just gotten started, and with the rst weekend of summer nearly upon us, it always brings back great childhood memories for me. The last days of school with the lilac trees budding and their sweet smell blooming through the countryside. The sight of rst crop hay that’s just about ready and the smell of fresh cut hay is something that just never gets old. For a farm kid, sumBy Kati Kindschuh mer always meant working on the farm. My mom used Staff Writer to joke, “Why do you need summer school when the barn is the best school around.” There might be a bit of truth to that looking back now. Throughout the summer, we’d have a variety of chores: picking rocks, milking cows, taking water out to pastures and, of course, making hay. Inevitably, my dad would pick the hottest days to bale hay. At the time, we made a few big bales, but we made an overwhelmingly large amount of small squares. And, who better to unload and stack bales than farm kids? I guess a perk was being able to get a fair amount of exercise and a bit of a tan while we worked in the heat. Comparable to covering bunkers these days, making small squares of hay taught a kid how to not quit or complain (too much) until the job was done; a good characteristic in today’s workforce if you want to succeed. But in addition to unloading hay and picking rocks, for my siblings and me, summer also meant working with heifers to take to our county fair. Every day, we’d nish morning chores and grab halters and a bucket to wash heifers then walk up and down the driveway. I’m sure the trafc down our country road thought the cattle parade was some sort of child labor law infringement. But, the fresh scent of shampoo mixed with fresh cut hay is a scent I wish Glade would pick up. When we’d walk our heifers, my dad always told us, “Practice just like you’re in the ring at the fair.” My three older siblings and I would walk in a clockwise circle in the driveway, stopping to set up the feet and legs. We would practice when the judge changes sides, pinch her down on top, pull throat, and we practiced pulling into line. My dad told us, “Showmanship is won at home. Put in the work now, become a team with your heifer and glide together through the ring.” Low and behold, us Kindschuh kids always did well in our showmanship classes. Now, as an adult, I don’t get the opportunity every summer to wash and work with show cattle like I did as a kid. But from time to time, I get the call to come help at the farm. Feels kind of like the manager of a baseball team making a call to the bullpen for a relief pitcher. But if I’m being honest, it’s kind of nice to still be on the roster. The phrase, “You’re burning daylight,” is one I heard time and time again from my dad as a kid. Oddly enough, I tell myself this daily. Maybe that’s why farm kids in today’s world succeed more so than their urban counterparts. Our summers were spent working instead of burning daylight playing video games or napping. Our summer school taught the lessons of callused hands and dirty jeans before Picasso or the Pythagorean theorem. Our summer school taught us how to drive a stick shift truck. Our summer school taught us how to tag calves and give medicine. Our summer school taught us how to mow the lawn and pull weeds. Our summer school taught us how to back up a wagon and change tires. Our summer school taught us how to write a check and balance a checkbook. Our summer school taught us how to say goodbye to that fair steer, cry about it and move on. Our summer school taught us some of the basic skills in life without ever stepping into a classroom. Granted, I loved school, but the lessons taught on the farm those summers were some of the greatest lessons I’ll carry with me all my life. If you’re reading this, I hope you get some young people on your farm this summer. Maybe it’s your grandkids, or your nieces and nephews. Maybe it’s the neighbor kid down the road who could use a few extra bucks. You’ll be giving them more than something to do. You’ll give them purpose and work ethic that cannot be taught inside a classroom.
CELEBRATING OUR Buck Oeltjenbruns
Parents: Curt Oeltjenbruns and Mary Buck West Concord, Minnesota Kenyon-Wanamingo High School What dairy do you work for? How many cows do they milk? We only have my two show cows here to milk. We also custom raise 175 dairy heifers and 150 dairy steers on the farm. What are your responsibilities on the farm? I am responsible for milking my cows, cleaning and bedding all the cattle pens, hauling manure, help with articial insemination and feeding when needed. I also help with all crop and forage planting and harvesting. I also repair and maintain all our equipment. What was your favorite high school class? Advanced metals. I learned a lot about different metals and ways to construct things. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? Having a good work ethic, taking responsibility, understanding the value of ownership and gaining knowledge for what I want to accomplish in life. What is your favorite memory on the farm? I have a lot of favorite memories, starting with riding in tractors with my parents in the elds and then being able to start driving tractors myself doing eldwork. Purchasing my rst dairy heifer and eventually watching her have her rst calf and seeing my herd grow was also another favorite memory. What are your future plans? I am enrolled at South Central College in North Mankato for the ag service technician program. I will use the skills I learn for repairing equipment at a dealership and at home. I am looking for land to rent or buy land to help grow the family farm and eventually one day, take over the family farm.
Blake Krienke Kraig and Rachelle Krienke Lester Prairie, Minnesota Howard Lake-WaverlyWinsted What dairy do you work for? How many cows do they milk? I work on my family’s dairy farm, Prairie Dairy, where we milk 530 Holsteins.
Seniors!
What are your responsibilities on the farm? On the farm, I mainly focus on the crop portion of the dairy. I work a lot with equipment maintenance, manure hauling, all seasonal eldwork and occasional animal handling. It is my responsibility to run the triple mower to cut our hay in the summer months as well. What was your favorite high school class? My favorite class in high school was Foods II, where we learn about more advanced food preparation techniques. It was my favorite class because we got to try new foods and always got to eat what we made. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? Growing up on a farm has prepared me for the unpredictability of life moving into the next stage. On a farm, the weather, the cattle and the equipment breakdowns can cause unpredictable hiccups in our day-to-day and having learned to not let that get me easily frustrated will be a good virtue moving forward. What is your favorite memory on the farm? Working alongside my dad and grandpa on a daily basis. What are your future plans? In the fall, I will be attending Ridgewater College in Willmar to major in farm operations and management with an end goal to return to the family farm to continue my family’s legacy as the sixth generation.
Lane Domeyer
Parents: Dewey and Jeannie Domeyer Delhi, Iowa Maquoketa Valley High School What dairy do you work for or come from? How many cows do they milk? I work at Delta Acres, owned by Tom and Cheri Engelken, with their 250 cows. I also raise my own string of heifers to show and have amassed approximately 20 heifers and cows, which are milked at Carroll’s HillTop Farm and Breezy Ridge Farms. What are your responsibilities on the farm? On the dairy I milk for currently, I milk cows, bring up fresh heifers, scrape manure, etc. At home, I raise heifers to show and have learned to t them. I work dairy shows and sales with other farmers and help prepare for classications and picturing of cattle. What was your favorite high school class? Agricultural construction. I got to learn how to use different tools and learn building techniques.
Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022 • Page 23
Honoring the next generation of the dairy industry How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? The harder you work and the more time and effort you give to learning a skill, the more success you have. What is your favorite memory on the farm? Working with my show heifers and getting better at tting and preparing a heifer for a show. What are your future plans? I plan to attend Kaskaskia College in Centralia, Illinois, where I will major in agricultural business and dairy science and judge collegiately on their dairy judging team.
Joe Ebaugh Parents: Jeremy and Sara Ebaugh Denver, Iowa Denver High School What dairy do you work for or come from? How many cows do they milk? I work on my parents’ farm, and we milk 230 cows. What are your responsibilities on the farm? My responsibilities include, but are not limited to, milking cows, feeding calves, working cattle, driving tractors, cutting hay and scraping barnyards. What was your favorite high school class? My favorite class was ag business because it showed me the ins and outs of the agricultural world. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? Living on the farm has prepared me by showing me how to work hard to accomplish great things. It also showed me how to work with my family to get things done. What is your favorite memory on the farm? Sorting cattle with my family. What are your future plans? My plans include going to Upper Iowa University majoring in ag business, and I also plan to wrestle. Turn to SENIORS | Page 25
GOOD LUCK IN YOUR FUTURE ENDEAVORS PIERZ, MN LLITTLE ROCK, MN 320-584-5147 320-468-2168 LASTRUP, MN BUCKMAN, MN 320-468-2543 320-468-6433 FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK!
Congratulations to the Class of 2022! A Fourth Generation Family Owned Company
300 10th St., S N.E. • Independence, IA • (319) 334-7193
Page 24 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022
DAIRY SCIENCE PROGRAM UW-Platteville’s School of Agriculture offers...
• Courses that focus on Farm to Fork concepts for a better producer, consultant, and consumer • Opportunities for competition with other dairy schools through Pioneer Dairy Challenge Team & Pioneer Dairy Judging Team • A wide variety of industry support and resources available to Dairy Science majors through internships and other networking opportunities • Agriculture-focused Faculty-Led Education Abroad with Service Learning Components • COMING SOON - Dairy Pilot Plant at Pioneer Farm! This new facility will allow for dairy food production as well as research and education in sustainable on-farm dairy systems and food production • Pioneer Farm - campus farm giving students opportunities for hands-on work experience
Close to 75 members, learning about the dairy industry and giving back through a wide variety of philanthropic and service learning opportunities.
Dairy Science major
40+ students and growing! MINORS
Agribusiness • Ag Engineering Technology Spanish • Soil and Crop Science
Annual Consignment Sale
- student run, opportunities for networking tthrough Midwest ADSA and the PDPW Mentor program
Become a Part of the NEW Student Run Business Pioneer Sweets! HANDS ON LEARNING IN CLASS
CAMPUS DAIRY FARM
NEW LELY ROBOTIC MILKERS
Plus 17 other clubs/ organizations and 6 other competitive teams in the School of Agriculture!
The Dairy Innovation Hub is bringing almost $2 million per year to UW-Platteville
Schedule a visit today! www.uwplatt.edu/department/school-agriculture
ConƟnued from SENIORS | Page 23
Katie Ketchum
Parents: Mike and Mary Ketchum Altura, Minnesota LewistonAltura High School W h a t dairy do you work for? How many cows do they milk? I work on my family’s farm, Ketchum LLC, where we milk 100 registered Holsteins and Jerseys. What are your responsibilities on the farm? I oversee feeding calves, milking cows, helping dehorn, register and vaccinate calves. I also help with various herd checks and cleaning and bedding pens of all ages. What was your favorite high school class? Right now, my favorite high school class is my wildlife class. I enjoy this
Ashley Elsbernd
Parents: Peter and Kristi Elsbernd Calmar, Iowa South Winneshiek High School/Northeast Iowa Community College W h a t dairy do you work for or come from? How many cows do they milk? I live and work on my family’s dairy farm, Elsbernd Dairy Farm LLC, where we milk 350 Holsteins. What are your responsibilities on the farm? With being active in my community and school life, I was a back-up milker or helped with random tasks. In summer, I will become a bigger part of the farm.
Courtney Goedken
Parents: Tim Goedken and Joan Goedken Hopkinton, Iowa Maquoketa Valley High School W h a t dairy do you work for or come from? How many cows do they milk? I work at my family’s dairy farm, Lango Dairy. We milk about 190 cows twice a day. What are your responsibilities on the farm? On the farm, I milk every morning and night. I am also responsible for feeding baby calves milk and grain every morning and night along with
Nicholas Popp
Parents: Doug and Jane Popp Royalton, Minnesota Little Falls Community High School W h a t dairy do you work for? How many cows do they milk? I live and work on our family’s farm, Two Rivers Dairy, where we milk 32 cows. What are your responsibilities on the farm? I feed calves, help with eldwork, feed livestock, do skid load-
Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022 • Page 25
class because I am constantly learning something new. We also get to be outside a lot and interact with our surroundings. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? Living and working on the farm has prepared me in so many ways for the next chapter in my life. I have learned mental toughness, determination, patience and how to overcome obstacles. Having these life skills has prepared me for the better when it comes to the next stage in my life. What is your favorite memory on the farm? My favorite memory on the farm has to be all the jokes my family tells in the parlor. Many of them are related to cows or are dad jokes so there is always a laugh that I get out of it. What are your future plans? My future plans include attending the University of Wisconsin-River Falls to major in agricultural education with a minor in animal science with hopes of becoming an agriculture teacher and FFA advisor. What was your favorite high school class? I enjoyed my agriculture classes for the life lessons I learned along with the academic lessons taught. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? Being able to feed calves in 10-degree weather can make coursework and lecture sound like a piece of cake. Also, having the support of my family on the farm, as well as in my future, has taught me I can take on any future goal. What is your favorite memory on the farm? On Christmas in 2018, I was gifted a Red and White Holstein from my grandpa and dad. Being able to go down to the calf barn and see an animal of my own and the future of my herd made my heart want to explode. What are your future plans? I will take my Associate of Science degree from Northeast Iowa Community College and transfer to University of Wisconsin-Platteville for a major in dairy science and a minor in agribusiness. feeding the heifers and steers grain and hay. What was your favorite high school class?Agricultural business was my favorite class in high school because I enjoyed learning math with real life situations that I understood. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? Working and living on a farm has prepared me for my future because it helped me develop a work ethic and time management skills that I will use for the rest of my life. What is your favorite memory on the farm? I can’t think of my favorite memory on the farm because all the memories made on the farm are my favorite. What are your future plans? I plan to attend Kirkwood Community College to study agricultural business. er work, and care for our sheep, goats, chickens, peacocks, pony and rabbits. What was your favorite high school class? Calculus because I enjoyed the teacher, and I like working out problems. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? Growing up on a farm has taught me a work ethic like no other, and because of that, I will be able to get through anything. What is your favorite memory on the farm? Probably doing eldwork and working late nights with my sister. What are your future plans? I will be attending North Dakota State University for agriculture and biosystems engineering.
Turn to SENIORS | Page 26
BENEFITS OF USING DIRECTIONAL DRILLING INSTALLATION INCLUDE:
Ŷ Continuation of Normal Operation Ŷ Avoidance of identi¿ed Infrastructure Installation Ŷ Maintain Integrity of Driveway, Roadways, Buildings, and Natural Features Ŷ Little to No Disturbance to Wetlands or Other Sensitives Areas Ŷ Many Unique Installation Capabilities Vs. Open Cutting/Digging (Entering underBuildings or Tanks) Ŷ Minimal Site Restoration
PRODUCT INSTALLATION
Ŷ Water Lines/Water Mains Ŷ Drainage/ Tile Lines Ŷ Forced/ On Grade Sewer Ŷ Manure Transfer Lines
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Land Improvements
Drain Tile Design/ Installation • Ditch Cleaning & Grading • Fenceline Clearing
Changing weather and higher inputs got you down?
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920-450-2844
www.SevenOaksTeam.com
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Page 26 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022
ConƟnued from SENIORS | Page 25
Briana Maus
Parents: Darrel and Lisa Maus Freeport, Minnesota Melrose Area High School What dairy do you work for? How many cows do they milk? I work on my family’s fourth-generation dairy farm. We milk 60 Holstein cows and have 245 acres of land. What are your responsibilities on the farm? My responsibilities on the farm consist of feeding all of the animals. After the cows are fed in the morning, I mix the different rations for the heifers, dry cows and then milk cows. I feed the younger calves grain, milk, water and, depending on the age, sometimes alfalfa hay. What was your favorite high school class? My favorite class in high school is math. The teacher makes it easy to understand and fun to learn. One perk of the class is there are only ve people. This makes it easier to learn because there is more one-on-one time with the teacher. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? Growing up on a dairy farm has many different advantages, one being a strong work ethic. By getting up in the morning, I ensure all the animals are happy and healthy. What is your favorite memory on the farm? My favorite memory would have to be making forts in our hayloft with my older siblings. As kids, we would always spend all our free time in the hay barn playing games and having the time of our lives. What are your future plans? My future plans include attending South Dakota State University to major in dairy manufacturing with a minor in agricultural business. While attending college I hope to join the SDSU Dairy Club and possibly work in the manufacturing plant on campus.
Sophie Kyllonen Bruce and Jacki Kyllonen Sleepy Eye, Minnesota Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s High School What dairy do you work for? How many cows do they milk? I currently work for two farms, but I have worked for three all at once before. I work for Roseview Dairy which has 150 Holstein cows, and Riverside Dairy which has 80 Holstein and Jersey crosses. I previously worked with Olmar Farm, a farm that milks 200 Holstein cows. What are your responsibilities on the farm? I do a variety of things on the farm. I operate farm equipment for cleaning, feeding and bedding, feed and maintain the general welfare of calves, milk cows, and help with herd health. There is no limit to the tasks I do, but those are some of the more frequent jobs I do around the farms. What was your favorite high school class? Art because I could express myself and have fun with my creativity on a project. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? Working on multiple farms opened my vision for what I want to do in the future. I love working with large animals like the dairy cows and building relationships with the animals on each farm. With my skills and experience working with larger animals, I have prepared myself for working in the agricultural industry. What is your favorite memory on the farm? I loved seeing my show cows and other spoiled cows and giving them lots of love. They made my job so much more fun and a little bit harder at times because they’re so tame. What are your future plans? I plan to go to South Dakota State University to study animal science with the aspiration of becoming a large animal veterinarian.
Alandra Hinsch
Parents: Chad and Lydia Hinsch Goodhue, Minnesota Goodhue Public School What dairy do you work for? How many cows do they milk? Hinsch Farms Inc., 625 cows. What are your responsibilities on the farm? I feed the calves and take care of giving them shots when they are sick. I help out with xing machinery and plowing the elds. What was your favorite high school class? My favorite high school classes would be any of my ag classes. I felt they were the best because they were the most handson classes. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? Working on and having the farm has helped me to learn so many things I will be able to use in my life. I am so grateful for the opportunities I have gained through my knowledge from the farm. What’s your favorite memory on the farm? My favorite memory on the farm would be taking the fourwheeler out back and driving through the waterways in the eld when my cousin and I were either checking elds or just messing around. What are your future plans? In the fall, I plan on attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to major in biochemistry and to minor in Spanish.
Nakia Evans
Parents: Paul Evans, Sarah Bush and Jason Bush Worthington, Minnesota Worthington High School What dairy do you work for? How many cows do they milk? I work at D+S Hilltop Farms by Bigelow, Minnesota. They milk 300 cows three times a day and have been milking for 53 years. What are your responsibilities on the farm? When I started in September 2021, I helped with the calving season for the farm. At D+S Hilltop, they calve in the fall, which I thought was odd at rst but later made sense. I feed, bed and vaccinate the calves. Once I graduate, I hope to take on more chores on the farm. What was your favorite high school class? I loved our agriculture classes at Worthington High School. I found these classes the most interesting and benecial for me because of my love for the topic. The ag teachers at the school were also supportive and guided all of us to becoming the young adults we are today. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? I have developed important skills that someone who doesn’t work on a farm might not have. I have been told that I have a great work ethic, that I am personable and I am also persistent when an issue comes my way. What is your favorite memory on the farm? My favorite memory is nursing a calf back to health. This little bull calf had issues walking but with persistence, hard work and some physical therapy, he was back on his feet and ready to take on the world. What are your future plans? I plan to attend the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in the fall and work toward a double major in agricultural education and dairy science. I would then see myself in a classroom in the Midwest or in sales. While I am home in the summer, I plan to come back to the dairy to help with daily chores.
Ashlyn Miklas
Parents: Mike Chamberlain and Amy Bearbower Zumbrota, Minnesota Zumbrota-Mazeppa High School What dairy do you work for? How many cows do they milk? Chamberlain Family Farm, 40 cows. What are your responsibilities on the farm? A few of my responsibilities on the farm include prepping and milking the cows, cleaning and sanitizing the milkhouse and parlor and striving to attain milk quality. What was your favorite high school class? My favorite high school class has been math because it is challenging and fun. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? Working and living on a farm has taught me hard work, responsibility and perseverance. What is your favorite memory on the farm? My favorite memory on the farm has been when my rst show heifer had her calf. What are your future plans? I plan to attend the University of Wisconsin-River Falls to major in agricultural business.
Brooke Moorse
Parents: Greg and Becky Moorse Minneota, Minnesota Minneota Public School What dairy do you work for? How many cows do they milk? I work at Moorse Dairy. We milk roughly 90 at a time. What are your responsibilities on the farm? I mainly help whenever I am needed, but I prefer milking the cows. What was your favorite high school class? My favorite class is animal science because it’s something I’m already familiar with. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? Living on the farm has taught me many different values including respect, responsibility and leadership. What is your favorite memory on the farm? My favorite memory from on the farm is when my brother and I were bringing our milking cows back to the barn after getting home from the state fair and taking the moment in and appreciating the work my family puts into the farm and dairy. What are your future plans? I will be attending South Dakota State University this fall for agriculture education.
Josie Sutherland
Parents: David and Dawn Sutherland Pipestone, Minnesota Pipestone Area Schools What dairy do you work for? How many do you milk? I work with Elm Lane Holsteins where we milk around 110 cows. What are your responsibilities on the farm? I milk the cows in the evening as well as assist with vaccination and tag-
ging of heifer calves.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022 • Page 27
What was your favorite high school class? I loved taking anatomy. I had a super energetic teacher and have a love for the science eld myself. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage of your life? Growing up on a farm has allowed me to know how to manage my nances very well and grow in my condence to allow me to be able to advocate for the dairy industry.
What is your favorite memory on the farm? Some of my favorite memories have always been riding along with my grandpa or dad in the tractor during harvest and planting season and just talking with them. What are your future plans? Next year, I plan to attend South Dakota State University to major in dairy production and minor in agribusiness marketing.
Adrianna Kruse
What was your favorite high school class? My favorite high school class was called Saints Manufacturing. In this class, I got to have a small business with my classmates and sell a product that we produced during class. We created wooden Christmas signs for people in our local community to purchase. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? Living on a farm has prepared me for the next stage of life in terms of my work ethic and my ability to work with others. What is your favorite memory on the farm? My favorite memory at the dairy I previously worked at was assisting with the birth of a two-headed calf. What are your future plans? My future plans are to attend Iowa State University to major in animal science.
Parents: Ben and Lori Kruse St. Ansgar, Iowa St. Ansgar High School What dairy do you work for? How many cows do they milk? I work with Deer Creek Dairy, where they milk around 70 cows. I used to work at Hernkes Dairy, which milked around 750 cows. What are your responsibilities on the farm? I help raise the heifers that I have ownership in.
Andrew Caughey
Parents: Aric and Jennifer Caughey Brainerd, Minnesota Brainerd High School What dairy do you work for? How many cows do they milk? I work for JENARIC Dairy where we milk a mix of 60 Holstein and Jersey cows. What are your responsibilities on the farm? I have many responsibilities, from feeding the calves and making sure they are all happy and healthy to milking the 60 dairy cows and monitoring the herd’s health. What was your favorite high school class? My favorite high school class had to be biological engineering. I learned how to use
Erin Borash
Parents: Ronald and Ann Borash Bowlus, Minnesota Royalton High School What dairy do you work for? How many cows do they milk? I work on Spunk Brook Farm, which is my family’s century farm. We milk between 50-60 Holsteins and Red and White Holsteins. Besides milk cows, my family also raises calves, heifers, bulls and steers. What are your responsibilities on the farm? My chores include looking after the general welfare of all the livestock. This entitles providing fresh feed, water and bedding to all the animals. I also help with eldwork in the summer and fall, usually cutting, raking and baling hay. What was your favorite high school class? I enjoyed the college writing class I took last year, composition. Though it was
Aaron Lorenz
Parents: Andy Lorenz and Kirsten Lorenz Bricelyn, Minnesota Blue Earth Area Schools What dairy do you work for? How many cows do they milk? I work for Lorenzland Dairy, and we milk around 90 cows. What are your responsibilities on the farm? My responsibilities include milking,
engineering to nd solutions to help improve the lives of those around me from learning ways to increase crop yield to nding ways to purify contaminated water. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? Working and living on a dairy farm has taught me the value of hard work and honesty and how I can accomplish anything I put my mind to in my life no matter how challenging the task may be. What is your favorite memory on the farm? I have so many favorite memories on the farm, from feeding the baby calves to milking the cows or just going down to the river to swim and relax after a day of working on the farm. What are your future plans? My future plans are to attend North Dakota State University and major in agriculture engineering and minor in biotechnology. I can help improve the agriculture industry and make the life of those involved easier. a challenging course, I appreciated the work that the class required. Many of the skills and concepts I grasped from composition also applied to other classes and areas outside of school. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? Life on my family farm taught me a great deal about responsibility and has strengthened my work ethic. Farm life has made me realize that what you put into a task is what you get out of it. Looking to the future, I will be able to apply this mentality to my education and jobs. What is your favorite memory on the farm? As the youngest child with seven older siblings, my childhood was pretty chaotic. That being said, my favorite memories include playing hide-and-seek between the cows or playing in our hay loft while my parents nished up chores. What are your future plans? I am not decided on a college yet; however, I plan to pursue degrees in animal science and environmental science. From there, I would like to return home and continue working on my parents’ farm. chopping hay and doing anything else my dad tells me to do. And, keeping my younger brother off his phone while we’re working. What was your favorite high school class? My favorite class in high is college chemistry. I like chemistry and its application. How do you feel working or living on a farm has prepared you for the next stage in your life? Working and living on the farm has helped to make me responsible and independent. It has taught me the value of hard work. What is your favorite memory on the farm? My favorite memory on the farm is hosting the dairy socials. What are your future plans? My future plans include going to the University of Minnesota and majoring in biomedical engineering.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022 • Page 29
Women In Dairy Jody Miller Avoca, Wisconsin Iowa County 250 cows Family: My husband, Dan, and I own the farm. Scott, Dan’s brother, and Derek, Dan’s son, work here full time. We have other family who work here as well, and my daughter, Cassie, owns eight cows here. Tell us about your farm. We run 600 acres and milk three times a day. We are all dairy, and we raise our replacements. Dan is the third generation on this farm. On my side, I am also the third generation to farm. What is a typical day like for you on the dairy? There is no typical day. We start milking at 4:30 a.m. After that, we breed, sort, herd check or hoof trim. Now eldwork is starting, which I love. I always help with chopping. I also watch my granddaughter, Breklyn, a few days a week. I do a lot of the herd health work as well. What decision have you made in the last year that has beneted your farm? We have recently installed the SCR ear tags. We were having trouble getting cows bred because we were not catching them in heat. We installed the ear tags in February, and we are updating our parlor to connect with the tags. They track rumination, heat and activity, and general health. We did this as an effort to be more efcient. Our last herd health was awesome. Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. When we hosted the dairy breakfast in 2018. We were able to talk with so many people. Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin brought their magazine people from New York which was very cool. We love what we do so much, and it was so nice to let people see that. I also love getting to work with our kids. What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the industry? I am enjoying being here and doing it. We are lucky to be dairying. I enjoy working with my husband every day and having our kids and grandkids involved. We have had such a crazy spring, and it has been so awesome to see everyone pull together. I am so proud of all of my family in agriculture. I watched my mother balance it all and have had her as an example.
What are things you do to promote your farm or the dairy industry? We have shirts made every year with a different saying on them. We hosted the dairy breakfast in the past. We are active on social media as well. My daughter and I started an FFA Alumni, and I have two daughters who are FFA leaders. All of us get together to participate in parades, and in the past, we have used a blow-up cow suit for fun. What advice would you give another woman in the dairy industry? Roll with the punches. You cannot be too hard on yourself because you can’t do everything. Take a step back when things get rough. For me, eldwork is like therapy because I can be out in nature and have time to think. When you get a spare moment, what do you do? I like to garden with owers. I have a pond behind the house with sh in it that I built. I also like to attend farm sales with my husband.
What is your biggest accomplishment in your dairy career? We expanded in 2015 and went from a tiestall barn to a freestall and parlor setup. It was a dream come true.
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Page 30 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022
Tuning up for the show season
Youth tting workshop debuts in Iowa
shared by an active dairy farmer or heifer raiser. “So last fall at Cattle Congress (in Waterloo), I was talking with other show people, and we wanted to do this,” he said. By Sherry Newell “There aren’t a lot of these (workshops) Contributing Writer out there that aren’t correlated with a show.” MANCHESTER, Iowa – Not every The workshop allowed youth to bring youth who shows dairy runs with the big an animal, prepare it and show it, with leagues. That is the reason Bob Sadler coaching from accomplished adults. Mark envisioned the Spring Dairy Tune Up Fit Fisher, a professional tter from Edgeand Show Workshop that took place at the wood, provided the tting portion of the Delaware County Fairgrounds May 14-15 workshop. Kaleb Kruse, of Petersburg, led in Manchester. the showmanship session. Sadler, from West Union, put together Fisher worked with one of his own an overnight event designed to help youth animals as a demonstration, then sent parbecome better at training, tting and show- ticipants back to t their own animals, ing their cattle. Jessi Lansing, of Garnavil- with himself and other adults assisting. lo, and a committee of adults joined Sadler The showmanship portion of the day with in lining up what they hope will be an an- Kruse was also hands-on. nual event. “Kaleb is great in the way he works “This was for the youth that can’t go to with kids,” Sadler said. “We had two of the older youth do a walkthrough while he talked, then we ran through a class just like a showmanship competition but with no placings.” An Iowa State University dairy specialist was also on hand along with a Select Sires representative who discussed genetics. While the committee had hoped for more participants, several traveled far to BOB SADLER, WORKSHOP COORDINATOR attend. One youth came from South Dakota and another from Illinois. A third was these big-time shows,” Sadler said. “They from southern Iowa with the remainder don’t have the premiere cattle. They might from more local areas. only show at the county fair or a smaller “It allowed for lots of one-on-one show. It was my goal to get something for time,” said Sadler, who has spent most those entry-level and above who have no of his life around dairy and now helps his one to teach them.” children show cattle and pursues other Sadler said he sees more and more youth volunteer work when not focusing youth who come from an acreage or live on his job with Fayette County Conservain town and have dairy projects with cattle tion.
“It was my goal to get something for those entry-level and above who have no one to teach them.”
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Mark Fisher, of Edgewood, Iowa, shares his ƫng skills with a group of youth involved with a dairy youth workshop May 14-15 in Manchester, Iowa. Each parƟcipant brought their own heifer to t with the help of Fisher and other experienced adults. He and the committee envision growing participation by creating a traveling clinic. They have talked about moving south toward Coralville but could also hold the event in Waterloo or West Union to make it more accessible to Minnesota. Sponsorships allowed the event to be free for participants, and the workshop is registered as a non-prot. Because of the funding, participants received meals and a T-shirt. Most stayed overnight in the barn.
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Reviews of the workshop were positive, according to Sadler. “Parents loved it,” he said. “One drove six hours to attend, and said it was denitely worth the drive. I’m grateful to everyone involved – parents, sponsors, the crew that helped set it up. Things like this take everybody’s knowledge and everybody’s time.”
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Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022 • Page 31
Nate Melin Atlas, Wisconsin Polk County 60 cows How did you get into farming? I was born into it. I am the fourth generation to farm here, and I am raising the fth. What are your thoughts and concerns about the dairy industry for the next year? As always, the rising cost of inputs concerns me as well as the uctuating prices of income and battling Mother Nature. What is a recent change you made on your farm and the reason for it? We are in the process of updating some stalls in the barn, and within the last few years, we purchased the farm’s rst ever four-wheel drive tractor, which was long overdue and much needed on our heavy ground. Tell us about a skill you possess that makes dairy farming easier for you. I am laid back and go with the ow. Patience is also helpful. What is the best decision you have made on your farm? My best decision was to marry my wife. All joking aside, the decision to simply continue to dairy and push through has been the best one made.
The Melin family – (front, from leŌ) Rudy, Luella, Axel and Pearl; (back, from leŌ) Kelsey holding Gus, Dave and Nate – milk 60 cows in Polk County near Atlas, Wisconsin.
What are three things on the farm that you cannot live without? Mountain Dew, a handy side kick (a kid or my wife) to be a runner and a helper and my headphones with music.
tested at times, but it’s important to keep business and family separate. Don’t let feelings get hurt. Don’t let them stay hurt. Communication is important, and you need to laugh a lot.
What are your plans for your dairy in the next year and ve years? Next year, get the crops in and out in time. Put up good feed. In ve years, put up a calf barn and gain more land.
What strategies do you use to withstand the volatile milk prices? It’s important to always plan for a low because history tells us there is always one coming again. Don’t go buck wild buying when prices are up.
What do you enjoy most about dairy farming? I’m my own boss. And, I like being able to do it with my family.
How do you or your family like to spend time when you are not doing chores? Seems like the time not doing chores or something related to the farm is slim. We took a family camping trip last year, and my wife hopes to make it annual. We enjoy bonres in the yard, grilling out and playing catch.
How do you maintain family relationships while also working together? Family relationships can get
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What advice would you give other dairy farmers? Keep on keeping on.
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Page 32 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022
www.extension.umn.edu/dairy
Severe weather planning for the farm By Emma Severns
University of Minnesota
Life on the farm, just like the weather, can be unpredictable, so it is important to plan for even the most unexpected circumstances. As we have already seen in the month of May, adverse weather can cause a lot of damage on the farm. Creating an emergency action plan for severe weather for your farm could save lives and help everyone stay safe if the unexpected does happen. Take time to get together with everyone who works on your farm and start planning. Creating an emergency plan in the case of severe weather does not have to be complicated. Gathering a few key pieces of information can help create a quick and simple plan. Communication is the most important step in creating any type of emergency action plan. Everyone on your farm should be involved in the planning process. In addition, contact your local emergency services to help think through what they would need in any of these situations to make sure you are properly prepared. The process to prepare for severe weather starts with creating a map of the farm, which includes all buildings and structures as well as access routes to your farmstead and land. Access routes include roads, lanes and driveways. Also include all fences and gates as well as the locations of all livestock, hazardous substances, and shut-offs for electricity, water and other utilities. Although you may know where everything is located on the farm, it helps to have it all written down in case someone else needs this information. Having everything mapped out allows you to see the opportunities and challenges when making your plan. You may also want to make a few lists. One of those is a full list of your farm’s inventory. Include all livestock on the farm, listing species and number of each species. Also include crop types, number of acres and what types of crops you have stored on the farm. All machinery and equipment, including serial numbers, should be on the list. Your inventory should also include hazardous substances such as fuel, fertilizer and medicines. Create an emergency contact list that includes phone numbers of the veterinarian, county emergency management, extension ofce and insurance agent. List all of the businesses that supply services to the farm. Also include the milk processor, feed and fuel delivery and anyone else who is on the farm regularly and should be alerted after something happens on the farm. Review your current insurance coverage and emergency supplies. Contact your insurance agent and review your coverage for emergency and disaster situations. Determine what areas you can use in an emergency for livestock and equipment relocations. This is also time to review buildings for any structural compromises or loose materials. Repairing weak areas or cleaning up unused materials laying around could help keep animals and people safe during adverse weather conditions. Next, you will want to create an action plan. You will most likely have two scenarios to review: one for sheltering in place and another for evacuation. If you are going to be sheltering in place, plan for what to do if resources are
cut off. Do you have backup power and fuel? What will you do if an access route is blocked? Determine what actions will need to be taken and who will need to be contacted if this happens. When creating an evacuation plan, look at the map created. What is the best escape for animals? Which gates need to be opened? What happens if an identied route is blocked? Also consider where your hazardous materials are stored. Make a plan for people. Where is a safe place to take shelter? Where should they evacuate to? Make sure these are made clear to everyone working on the farm so everyone stays safe. In the case of preparing your farm for a major storm, there are a few tips to follow. Store and secure items or equipment that could blow away. Check generators and make sure they are in good working condition, and secure a sufcient amount of fuel to operate them. Turn off the propane supply tanks and secure them in the event of ooding to prevent them from oating away. Identify places to relocate animals from low-lying areas. Mark animals with an identier so they can be easily returned if lost. For example, paint markings on hooves or coat, or clip initials in the hair. Move feed to higher ground or to a more accessible location in case of ooding or transportation problems. Staying informed of when and where storms are moving is just as important as knowing what to do in an event of a storm. Monitor local weather reports for up-to-the-minute information on storms to be prepared. Dana Adams, adam1744@umn.edu 320-204-2968
Brad Heins hein0106@umn.edu 320-589-1711
Joe Armstrong armst225@umn.edu 612.624.3610
Nathan Hulinsky huli0013@umn.edu 320-203-6104
Luciano Caixeta lcaixeta@umn.edu 612-625-3130
Kevin Janni kjanni@umn.edu 612-625-3108
Gerard Cramer gcramer@umn.edu 612-625-8184
Karen Johnson ande9495@umn.edu 320-484-4334
Marcia Endres miendres@umn.edu 612-624-5391
Emily Krekelberg krek0033@umn.edu 507-280-2863
Joleen Hadrich jhadrich@umn.edu 612-626-5620
Claire LaCanne lacanne@umn.edu 507-332-6109
Les Hansen hanse009@umn.edu 612-624-2277
Brenda Miller nels4220@umn.edu 320-732-4435
Erin Royster royster@umn.edu Isaac Salfer ijsalfer@umn.edu 320-296-1357 Jim Salfer salfe001@umn.edu 320-203-6093 Mike Schutz mschutz@umn.edu 612-624-1205 Emma Severns sever575@umn.edu 507-934-7828 Melissa Wison mlw@umn.edu 612-625-4276
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Step up lameness prevention practices
Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022 • Page 33
THE NEXT STEPS YOU TAKE IN DAIRY
Parlor Automation Upgrades
By Dana Adams
Perfect Milking in any Parlor
University of Minnesota
Lameness is a simple word that can have complicated and long-term results. Lameness can contribute to lower dry matter intake, lower milk production, reduced reproductive performance and an increased risk of involuntary culling. Every dairy farm has a general strategy for controlling lameness. They may have a hoof trimmer that their farm has been working with for decades or a herdsman who keeps the footbaths operational and alleyway manure under control. There are some tips and best practices that can keep a herd’s hoof health and lameness in check. These evaluation and prevention strategies can help. One of the strongest steps an operation can take toward reducing lameness is to look for lameness in the herd and write it down. It is recommended that record keeping be performed by the same person, using the dairy’s record keeping system, preferably monthly. This continuity allows the operation to gauge progress over time and to utilize lameness prevention management. The method to quantify the lameness of an animal is by locomotion scoring. Evaluation is done on a at, level surface and utilizes a locomotion score chart that ranges from 1 to 5. The scale starts at 1 with a normal cow, standing and walking with a level back, making long, condent strides. On the opposite end of the spectrum is 5, an animal displaying a pronounced arch in the back and being reluctant to move. By walking pens and observing the herd as they move through pens and up to the parlor, or ideally when cows return to the pen from milking, abnormal locomotion scores can be observed and steps can be taken for those cows ranging outside of the farm’s desired score. There are several preventative lameness practices many producers use to keep their cow’s locomotion scores at 1 and 2. Footbaths and regularly scheduled hoof trimming are utilized throughout the dairy industry. Footbaths are used to disinfect, clean cows’ hooves, prevent lesions and harden claw walls. This dazzling resume does require that footbaths be changed every 150 to 200 passes depending on the solution. Another routine practice operations use is timely hoof trimming (typically at dry off and 120 days in milk). The timely aspect of hoof trimming can be difcult when an average day on a dairy is a series of surprises. Typically hoof trimming is performed semi-annually and if needed for corrective purposes. A great way to think of it is for a 1,400-pound cow, taking the 350 pounds of intensely focused weight at each of the four soles and evenly spreading it out over each hoof. These routine practices are an excellent foundation for a lameness program, creating structurally sound, even hooves for weight bearing. These are not the only contributors to hoof health. A strong nutrition program is another important aspect of lameness prevention in a herd. A dairy cow needs a balanced ration that meets her nutrient requirements for her age, health and stage of lactation. Work with a nutritionist to develop a ration that includes balanced levels of rumen fermentable starch, effective ber, minerals and vitamins, and forage particle size. This will help maintain a healthy pH level within the rumen, staving off both acidosis and lameness within the herd. Logically, the next focus of attention should be the place where proportionally cows spend most of their time, in their stalls. The goal is to provide appropriately sized stalls for cows to lie down for 10 to 14 hours daily with readily accessible feed and water. Mattresses with adequate amounts of bedding (approximately 15 pounds of bedding), deep-bedded sand or solids, and other comfortable surfaces can result in longer daily lying times. This prevents excessive time on their feet, controlling this path to lameness. Minimizing time in the holding pen waiting to be milked plays a role in reducing lameness as well. Some operations may see benets from investing in their facilities by increasing cow comfort and reducing lameness. Farms can add grooves to concrete ooring to increase traction or utilize soft rubber mats. Rubber mats provide traction, balance, as well as shock absorption for cows’ feet. Prioritize phasing in rubber mats in the following locations on the dairy: milking parlor, holding pen and parlor return lanes. Lameness appears on every dairy and can best be managed through continual monitoring to control its impact on cow comfort and milk production. By beginning with locomotion scoring, an operation can establish a baseline for lameness and areas for improvement. Producers are reminded that lameness can come from multiple sources, and preventative management in multiple areas on a dairy can go a long way toward reducing lameness within a herd.
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Page 34 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022
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The average farmer gets about 40 opportunities to plant a crop. Any seasoned farmer will tell you that no two years are ever the same. With that mindset, it is important to be as prepared as possible. This includes the potential need for United States Department of Agriculture programs. If the growing season of 2021 taught us anything, it is to be prepared. Ad hoc disaster programs along with some COVID-19 programs helped the bottom line of area producers during stressful times in 2021. If you received a crop insurance indemnity in 2021, watch your mailbox for the Emergency Response Program. Timely crop certication is critical should the crop year of 2022 present any challenges. Do not delay reporting your crops upon completion of planting. Please make it your priority. Prevent planting is on the mind of everyone right now. Review the details below. Reporting timelines are critical. Stay safe out there. The hours will be long, but the benets will be great. Be proud of what you are doing. We certainly are proud of you all. File a notice of loss for failed, prevented planted acres USDA Farm Service Agency reminds you to report prevented planted and failed acres in order to establish or retain FSA program eligibility for some programs. You should report crop acreage you intended to plant but, due to natural disaster, were prevented from planting. Prevented planting acreage must be reported on form CCC-576, Notice of Loss, no later than 15 calendar days after the nal planting date as established by FSA and Risk Management Agency. If you’re unable to report the prevented planting acreage within the 15 calendar days following the nal planting date, a late-led report can be submitted. Late-led reports will only be accepted if FSA conducts a farm visit to assess the eligible disaster condition that prevented the crop from being planted. A $46 measurement service fee will be charged per farm. Additionally, if you have failed acres, you should also use form CCC-576, Notice of Loss, to report failed acres. Contact your local USDA Service Center or visit www.fsa.usda.gov. Additional information can be found at farmers.gov. Hay, graze and chop cover crops Agricultural producers with crop insurance can hay, graze or chop cover crops for silage, haylage or baleage at any time and receive 100% of the prevented planting payment. Previously, cover crops could only be hayed, grazed or chopped after Nov. 1; otherwise, the prevented planting payment was reduced by 65%. The RMA added this exibility as part of a broader effort to encourage producers to use cover crops, an important conservation and good farming practice. Cover crops are especially important on elds prevented from planting as they help reduce soil erosion and boost soil health. RMA recognizes that cover crops are not planted as an agricultural commodity but rather with the primary purpose for conservation benets. For the 2021 crop year and beyond, RMA will not consider a cover crop planted following a prevented planting claim to be a second crop. But, RMA will continue to consider a cover crop harvested for grain or seed to be a second crop, and it remains subject to a reduction in the prevented planting indemnity in accordance with the policy. This decision to allow exibility for the 2021 crop year, and to make the change permanent for future years, builds on the advanced research and identied benets cover crops have supporting healthy soils and cropland sustainability efforts. To learn more about this policy change, visit RMA’s prevented planting webpage. The webpage also has the latest cover crop termination guidelines, which USDA updated in 2019 as a result of greater exibilities provided in the 2018 farm bill. Crop insurance is sold and delivered solely through private crop insurance agents. A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA Service Centers and online at the RMA agent locator. Learn more about crop insurance and the modern farm safety net at rma.usda.gov. Farm Service Agency is an Equal Opportunity Lender. Complaints about discrimination should be sent to: Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250. Visit the Farm Service Agency Web site at: www.fsa. usda.gov/ for necessary application forms and updates on USDA programs.
Working with Taco Bell to replace menu products Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022 • Page 35
Scientist creates shelfstable dairy creamer
Because the world we live in is ever-changing, research continues to be top of mind for Midwest Dairy. Research helps us identify the greatest areas for category growth by narrowing in on what consumers want and need from dairy as well as how partners can use this information and dairy product research to truly make every drop count when it comes to dairy sales and innovation. Bringing together dairy researchers and industry partners, the Midwest Dairy Foods Research Center identies and funds research that helps solve By Robin Brown current challenges in dairy Midwest Dairy food processing. This is a collaborative effort between dairy farmers and land grant universities focusing on dairy product research and innovation. MDFRC makes a difference by focusing on pre-competitive research, educating the next generation of dairy leaders, and improving research priorities and return on investment by creating feedback loops among stakeholders. The MDFRC delivers research and education that benet consumers and fuels a strong market for dairy products. MDFRC has recently made headlines as these dairy checkoff scientists have created a new creamer that is being used in Taco Bell beverages. This shelf-stable vanilla creamer is permanently replacing a non-dairy product in more than 7,500 Taco Bell locations across the United States. The
E Expanding di b beverage offerings ff i like this one to include dairy not only delights customers with a better-tasting dairybased product but also drive additional dairy sales ...
different attributes, including a multi-use product that could be included in a large number of different beverage formats, exhibited a long shelf life and had a nutrition target that was less than 100 calories per ounce, so they turned to the scientist at MDFRC for help. The MDFRC application lab developed three formulas of dairy-based creamers that were then scaled up further in the pilot plants. When tested, the new creamer formula not only tasted better than the original non-dairy creamer, but it also met all of the attributes that Taco Bell wanted as mentioned above. This project has been a labor of love and actually started back in 2016 when the initial concept development surfaced and then took 3-5 months of development which included lab-scale formula development, screening ingredients and testing. The commercial promotion of this product was then done by DMI and the team at Taco Bell.
The creamer has ofcially taken its place on Taco Bell’s menu and can be found in the Island Berry Freeze, Pineapple Whip Freeze and Mountain Dew Baja Blast Colada. Besides these three beverages, the creamer is automatically added to customers who order a 12-ounce hot coffee or 20-ounce iced coffee. But it does not stop there; the creamer product is also being featured in the Cinnabon Delights Coffee at participating U.S. locations for a limited time. All these new avenues for this one creamer are positive for dairy sales and showcase the importance of partnering with those who have a willingness to innovate their menu to feature dairy products. Expanding beverage offerings like this one to include dairy not only delights customers with a better-tasting dairy-based product but also drives additional dairy sales and, I believe, adds value to your checkoff investment.
Editorial disclaimer: The views expressed by our columnists are the opinions and thoughts of the author and do not reect the opinions and views of Dairy Star staff and ownership.
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MDFRC application scientist, Sonia Patel, had a helping hand in creating the shelf-stable creamers right here in the Midwest at the University of Minnesota. Prior to this creamer innovation, Taco Bell was using a non-dairy creamer product but had shown interest in manufacturing their own creamer that would use dairy ingredients. Interest in a new creamer was due largely to the fact that the non-dairy creamer they were using did not conform to Taco Bell’s clean label statements, plus it was inferior in taste when compared to a dairy creamer. In creating their own product, Taco Bell was looking for something that had many * L imit 10 fr e e b a g s o f s ta r te r pe r c u s to me r . Qua lifying milk r epla c er s pic tur ed a b ove.
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Mystifying measurements Page 36 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022
Some years ago, NASA – who should consider At least that’s my theory. I gure that’s why, some changing its motto from “To innity and beyond!” to years back, we began to see changes in our road signs. “Oops!” – announced its Mars Climate Orbiter had That’s why road signs mysteriously began to appear been lost. NASA admitted the $125 million probe that read something like: “West Undershirt – 10 mi. / 1 km.” veered disastrously off course 16 when a ight controller erroGovernment G agents, cleverly Like many A Americans, i Ih have disguised in bib overalls and neously sent navigation com- Lik mands to the doomed probe nothing but disdain for the battered seed corn caps, be– get this – using the metric gan to hang out in small town metric system. system. coffee shops to gauge the eff Well, geez. No wonder fectiveness of this campaign that probe crashed itself. Noon o our farmers. What they body likes to use the metric system. hoped for was to start hearing conversations that went Like many Americans, I have nothing but disdain something like this: for the metric system. This despite the huge amount “You know, that farm just down the road from the of effort that the government has put into luring me old Gunderson place. It’s 6.43 kilometers north and into the metric lifestyle, even going so far as erecting 4.82 kilometers west of my place.” subliminal road signs. “I heard that his soybeans yielded 100 more kilo-
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grams per hectare on that 16.18 than the ones on his home 64.74.” “Man, it was a real scorcher yesterday. It must have hit a high of 40. A few centimeters of rain sure wouldn’t hurt.” But, none of that happened. And, when you think about it, the effort to convert us to metric Dear County Agent Guy measurements doesn’t make much sense. After we booted out the English during the Revolutionary War, we said to them, “And take your silly monetary system with you!” We then created our current currency, the dollar, which is neatly divided into 100 equal parts. This is By Jerry Nelson essentially metric monColumnist ey. Yet at the same time, we decided to cling to the English system of weights and measurements, a system that is inherently goofy. For instance, a foot is supposedly the length of an average foot. This might be a handy rule of thumb for your average Joe, but what about non-average guys like my neighbor, Albert, who wears a size 14 boot and has feet the size of snowshoes? There are also 12 inches in a foot, which makes absolutely no sense at all. My guess is that there are 12 months in a year and someone in the distant past thought the lowly foot could use some kind of cosmic connection. An acre was once dened as the amount of land a team of oxen could plow in one day. As you can imagine, this varied depending on whether or not the oxen were good team players. Some English king nally decreed an acre measures exactly one rod wide by half a mile long. This sounds good until you consider that a rod is equal to 16.5 feet. Who came up with that wacky number? And, that is just the beginning. What about leagues and furlongs? Is a nautical mile a nice mile that has gone bad? Why do cars measure their speed in miles per hour while airplanes do so in knots? And, whose bright idea was it to measure air speed by dangling an old chunk of knotted rope? Why on earth did they set the boiling point of water at 212 degrees? Just so they would have a good question for “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” And, could somebody explain why 8 quarts of water would be 2 gallons while the very same amount of wheat is 1 peck? And, what does a quick smooch have to do with measuring grain? It’s enough to drive one to drink, except for even that can quickly become confusing. You could start out with a wee dram and wind up being in your cups or shily to the gills. You simply can’t escape the weirdness. Not that any of this changes my feelings regarding the metric system. I will continue to cling to the English measurement system despite its many twists and eccentricities. I guess it sort of reminds me of me. And so, I will keep on enjoying my quarter pounders, passing up on those sissy 113.4 grammers. And, they can have my yardstick when they pry it from my cold, dead ngers. Jerry is a recovering dairy farmer from Volga, South Dakota. He and his wife, Julie, have two grown sons and live on the farm where Jerry’s great-grandfather homesteaded over 110 years ago. Jerry currently works full time for the Dairy Star as a staff writer/ad salesman. Feel free to E-mail him at: jerry.n@dairystar.com.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022 • Page 37
Every growing season is different, and this spring is no exception. Excluding a few bursts of summer-like temperatures, cooler weather has blanketed much of the Midwest. As a result, we are signicantly behind on growing degree days for alfalfa maturity. Surprisingly, alfalfa has continued to progress. By the time this reaches print, some of our southern readers will have already taken a rst cutting of hay. For some farms, inventories are tight and newcrop haylage cannot be harvested soon enough. Strong milk prices kept barns full the past several months, and many areas reported lower-than-average yields in 2021 as a result of drought conditions. The option to purchase historically highpriced hay or brous byproducts is not feasible for many. Most alfalfa stands have been evaluated for winter survival at this point. Reports of mild to severe winterkill are present across the Midwest. In most cases, interseeding or other corrective ac-
F some ffarms, iinventories For i are tight and new-crop haylage cannot be harvested soon enough. tions have already occurred. If you are in the unfortunate position of dealing with a high percentage of winterkill, work with your agronomist and nutritionist to devise an alternative cropping plan. Environmental impact on quality The environment in which plants develop plays an important role in what the actual forage
quality will be at a specic stage of maturity. Temperature is the driving force behind most physiological processes that occur in a plant, including photosynthesis, respiration and cell wall formation. Alfalfa grown during cooler conditions has a tendency for slower rate of maturity, larger stem diameter, increased plant height and less lignication, resulting in higher ber digestibility. Soil moisture also has a signicant impact on alfalfa growth and forage quality. Wetter conditions tend to accelerate plant maturity, increase plant height, decrease the proportion of leaves to stems and generally increase ber percentages. Cooler temperatures have resulted in fewer growing degree days this spring, but moisture has been plentiful in most areas. As these two environmental interactions offset, the potential exists for high-quality haylage. First-cut quality can decrease rapidly Plant maturity is the most important factor affecting quality. With maturity comes more cell wall constituents, including lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose. Proportionally, we see a drop in the digestible cellular contents such as soluble proteins, sugar, starch, fats and pectins. Not only does neutral detergent ber increase and forage energy content drop with maturity, but also the accumulating NDF becomes less digestible. Although rst-cutting alfalfa offers the opportunity for harvesting the highest amount of digestible ber in the growing season, forage quality declines at a faster rate for rst cutting compared to subsequent cuttings. It can change even faster if grass is present in the stand. Timely rst cut is essential if high forage quality is the objective.
Let’s build a great team
With Minnesota Dairy Initiative, dairy producers can use a team approach to: • Develop goals • Gain on-farm education • Get access to various resources • Network with industry ag professionals and dairy peers • Improve profitability • Enhance performance and efficiencies The Minnesota Dairy Initiative Program is available to all dairy producers regardless of size or production and is custom fit to the farm’s needs. To enroll, please contact Leah Bischof at 320-429-0611 or leahbischof@gmail.com or visit www.mn-dairy-initiative.org.
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When should you start rst cutting? No simple guidelines apply to every year or every farm. Generally, you can wait longer during periods of cooler temperatures and Something to Ruminate On wetter conditions like most areas have experienced this spring. Several farms are dealing with an added challenge of managing unplanted corn or soybean acres at about the same time rst cut is ready. With a few rare exceptions, the best decision is to By Barry Visser put up the haylage. Nutritionist Scissor cutting is a tool that has been around for many years to determine the ideal time to cut. A second tool, the Predicted Equation for Alfalfa Quality, helps make your own eld estimates. Both measurements evaluate the standing crop and do not account for the change in quality due to wilting, harvesting and storage. A good rule of thumb as hay nears cutting is an average decline in relative feed value of four units per day under average weather conditions. Although maturity and quality of alfalfa silage at harvest is one of many factors affecting the bottom line of your dairy, high-quality homegrown forages can save you in purchased feed costs. That’s why putting up top-quality alfalfa silage should be a priority of your forage team. It’s in the best interest of your cows and your pocketbook. Barry Visser is a nutritionist for Vita Plus.
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Weathering storms Page 38 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022
Across the Midwest, we have been ravaged with extreme weather in the last six weeks from blinding blizzards, drenching downpours, softball-size hail and gale force winds. Many will be feeling the effects of these traumatic storms for years as lives have been uprooted and views outside kitchen windows have been changed forever. On Sunday, as we were rushing through the morning routine to make it to church on time, my mind started wandering. Another weather system was racing across the horizon to our area, I wondered how we could make it down to the basement from the choir loft if a tornado hit the church. We were heading to the country church in North Prairie, no sirens to alert us of impending danger. I pushed the thought aside and nished bedding the cows. As Mark drove to church, our Edge was struggling to stay between the lines. I assumed Mark was “farming the ditches” as he surveyed the progression of eldwork. Once we got to the parking lot, I started to realize my premonition may not have been too far off base. Several of us were hunched over, ghting the wind whipping across the church parking lot as we raced in slow motion to the front doors.
Once inside the church, there was silence. The century old church was built to safely harbor all who were within her walls. For the next hour, the only howling sounds were from a little one who took a tumble from the church pew. As we left the church, chatting with friends, we started to realize what had happened. Large broken branches missed cars in the parking lot. Across the street, a stately mature pine tree was uprooted and gently placed between the house and shed. Gale force winds had pushed through the countryside while we were in church. When we got home, we didn’t see a single branch in the yard. Apparently, the winds had missed us. It wasn’t until we went out for evening chores when we discovered domes were moved. Luckily, the calves were still inside, confused but safe. We had a major storm barrel through our farm yard in August 2010. The trauma of that weather event is still seen today. The view outside my kitchen window has lost the comforting peaceful shade beneath the mammoth elm trees. The remaining oak trees stand like wounded soldiers. I can envision how the domes were tossed deep into the corn eld. Calves were dazed and stunned as much as we were
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once the winds subsided. I think the calves would eventually suffer from post-traumatic storm disease. Apparently, it is an inherited trait. Just before, during and after the storm, we had six Supersire ET sisters born. We named them Chaos, Cyclone, Commotion, Confusions, Chapel and Church. They Just Thinking Out Loud were always a skittish bunch of calves, ready to bolt at the drop of a hat. We calved in all of the sisters but only two would stay in the herd. Commotion and Confusion stayed in our barn for several lactations but with a caveat. Since they lived up to their names and possibly suffered from PTSD, we were never able to chase them between barns. Since they were such good By Natalie Schmitt milk cows, we accommoColumnist dated their disposition. Once they calved or when they were dried off, we would trailer them 160-feet between the barns. They were just too nuts to chase, and we weren’t track stars. They had their permanent stalls in the back of the milking barn. We have had fun coming up with names for this cow family and their disorder. Austin could care less what we name the calves. He is all about numbers. For Mark and myself, naming calves is a creative outlet in developing family legacies. We have several descendents from Confusion in the barn today. So, Confusion had Turmoil, who had Turbulence, who had Turbo, who had Turbine. This line has been easy to handle and a joy to milk. Turbo is probably one of my favorite 2-year-olds in the barn right now. She is so gentle, despite her name. Turmoil had a second daughter named Ralma Rapid Terror. She appears to be living up to her name and the legacy of her grandmother. Terror calved in the afternoon just before milking time. Perfect. We could get her milked and the calf fed before we started milking the whole herd. No late night calving duties. We were even able to chase her across the yard straight into the barn and in a stall. It seemed so simple. Actually, she was still brain numb from the delivery and just ran blindly in a straight line to the milking barn. When we chased her back to the other barn, she missed the door but went around on the north side where there was a gate to the pen. We gave her and ourselves a break from a potentially long chase scene. The next morning, the PTSD kicked in. In the dark (thanks to daylight saving time), Austin and Mark tried to chase her across with two other switch heifers before they started milking. They got two out of three across with no problems. Terror, on the other hand, made a break for it and ran through the mud and a hot wire fence to get back with the others. Once the cows in the barn were milked, it was time to coral Terror and get her milked. Just like her grandmother, we hooked up the stock trailer to haul her across the farm yard. Once Austin convinced her to step off the trailer, it was a race to the back of the barn to the very last stall, Confusion’s old stall. Mark thinks she is living up to her name and legacy. I wonder if her heifer calf will continue the family tradition? I named her Ralma Lambda Tremor. She is a pretty excitable calf. We all have storms in our own lives, seen and unseen. Through these times, I always remind myself that God won’t give me more than I can handle. Sometimes I wish he didn’t have so much condence in me and what we can do together. My friend Bernie gave me a prayer card with a very gentle yet empowering reminder. “Lord, help me to remember that nothing is going to happen to me today that you and I can’t handle.” When storm clouds bear down on us, remember we’re not in this alone. We will weather the storms. As their four children pursue dairy careers off the family farm, Natalie and Mark are starting a new adventure of milking registered Holsteins just because they like good cows on their farm north of Rice, Minnesota.
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Is she ID’d?
Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022 • Page 39
4-H families, at least in Minnesota, wrapped up one of the most important requirements of the 4-H dairy project: animal identication. For those unfamiliar with the 4-H dairy project, here’s an explanation. Each year, every cow, heifer or calf that a 4-H student plans to show at the county fair must be identied with the county 4-H ofce by May 15. This is a strict deadline, and there are strict requirements that go along with the identication process. Failure to properly identify an animal by the deadline leaves that animal ineligible for exhibition at the state fair and for receipt of any ribbons Dairy Good Life higher than blue at county fair. Thankfully, the identication process has come a long way since the advent of digital registration. My kids will never know the fun my generation of 4-H kids had while painstakingly lling out the yellow paper identication forms with our best penmanship. Or, the fun of drawing each animal’s markings on the bovine outlines. The digital process now involves entering every animal’s identifying information in an online portal, doublechecking that all of the information is correct, and submitting. Cows and heifers who are already enrolled from previous years only need to be renewed in the system. By Sadie Frericks The only gripe I have is that there is no simple way to Columnist move a heifer from one sibling to another. In our family, the youngest showperson halters the youngest animals – usually winter calves and spring calves – but then an older sibling might show them as a yearling or cow. This year, we renewed the cows and heifers who will be returning to the show ring and added the calves and heifers who will be making their debut. Then, we decided to do something we’ve contemplated for several years: to ID everyone else. By everyone else I mean every other eligible animal. Cows cannot be ID’d after they’ve calved, so this list included all of the calves and heifers not yet fresh. Here’s why: – Back up plan for bad luck. We’ve always ID’d extra animals – calves and heifers with show ring potential but not rst choices – just in case something happens to the kids’ rst choices. Ideally, a 4-H student would grow a dairy project over time – show an animal as a heifer, then as a cow, and for years after that. In reality, it takes an incredible amount of luck and good fortune to show the same bovine from calf to aged cow. Monika had a really good run with her Jersey cow, Sunlight. She showed her as a spring calf, yearling, 2-year-old, 3-year-old, and 4-year-old. Unfortunately, a mid-gestation pregnancy loss means Sunlight will be dry during the fair this year. We’ve had far more bad luck with show cows and heifers. We’ve had favorite fair heifers who don’t calve in with fair-quality udders, show cows whose udders don’t recover well from a case of mastitis, and others who end up being dry during the fair. Dan has had more than his fair share of heartbreak with fair heifers not becoming fair cows. Fingers crossed, it looks like this year a couple of his heifers nally turned into nice cows. Now, when a rst choice doesn’t pan out, our kids will have an abundance of back up options. – No more ugly-duckling regrets. The most correct, stylish cows in our herd will never enter the show ring because they weren’t ID’d before they calved. We call them ugly ducklings: plain-looking heifers who turn into beautiful, swan-like cows. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the question, “Is she ID’d?” Usually it comes right after a new heifer calves in with a really nice udder. Now, the answer will always be, “Yes.” – Our entire herd is their 4-H project. Again, the bias in 4-H is that 4-H kids should develop specic animals into long-term projects. In reality, every cow, heifer, and calf on our farm is part of our kids’ 4-H dairy project experience. They practice dairy judging on all of our cattle. They connect the dots between what they’ve studied in project bowl and what they observe and experience while doing their chores and taking care of all of our animals. Now, they’ll have the option to show all of our cattle. We also decided to keep every cow ID’d until she leaves the herd. 4-H requires cows to remain continuously ID’d in order to be eligible to show. Several times now, we’ve removed a cow from the roster because she was on a calving schedule that left her in late lactation or dry during the fair. But then a cow has an extended lactation, calves in the winter, and still looks good come summer. That happened last year with Gloria, one of our old Milking Shorthorns. More than once, Dan looked her over and shook his head that she couldn’t be shown. She had been ID’d as a heifer, but we didn’t keep her ID’d. Looking back, we all wish we had made these decisions years ago. We thought it would be extra work to do the IDs and renewals. What we discovered, though, was that it was actually faster to ID every animal in the herdbook than it was to decide which calves and heifers should be identied and which shouldn’t. Now, they have to decide who they’re actually going to show, because they can’t take everyone to the fair. Sadie and her husband, Glen, milk 100 cows near Melrose, Minnesota. They have three children – Dan, 15, Monika, 12, and Daphne, 9. Sadie also writes a blog at www. dairygoodlife.com. She can be reached at sadiefrericks@gmail.com.
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Page 40 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 28, 2022
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