June 8, 2024 Dairy Star - 2nd section

Cedar Crest Ice Cream loved for avor, freshness, scoopability

By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com

MANITOWOC, Wis. —

The enormous Guernsey cow that towers over the Cedar Crest Ice Cream plant and ice cream parlor makes the establishment nearly impossible to miss when driving through Manitowoc. The statue of Bernice has become a landmark in the community, welcoming visitors to the parlor that serves the creamy and avorful treat that often has people lining up even before it opens.

A town staple since 1989, the Cedar Crest ice cream parlor serves customers from March through October. During peak season, it serves about 40 3-gallon tubs of ice cream per day. The parlor also makes sundaes, malts, oats and shakes.

A parlor favorite

Cedar Crest is proud to make ice cream the old-fashioned way, churning it today as it has for nearly 50 years. Made from scratch in small batches, the process begins with slow, low-temperature pasteurization, which enhances avor.

Shannon Simon, marketing manager at Cedar Crest, said this is what sets the company apart from its competitors.

“Cedar Crest is one of the few ice cream companies that still slowly pasteurizes ice cream despite the fact there are hightemperature, fast-pasteurizing machines available to make this process quicker,” Simon said. “It takes a lot longer to make ice cream the way we do it, but we simply believe this method is what keeps a quality avor. It works — why change it?”

Ken Kohlwey established Cedar Crest Specialties in 1976. Dairy was in his family’s blood as Kohlwey’s parents owned a milk bottling company called Cedarburg Dairy. However, ice cream drove the next generation.

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STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Shannon Simon scoops ice cream May 30 at the Cedar Crest Ice Cream parlor in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. During peak season, the parlor serves about 40 3-gallon tubs of ice cream per day.

Starting out as a distributor for Oak Brand Ice Cream in Freeport, Illinois, Kohlwey ran two ice cream routes in Southwest Wisconsin. When that supplier left ice cream behind in 1977, the Kohlwey family purchased Smith Ice Cream Company in Oshkosh and began making their own ice cream. In 1979, they moved the corporate ofce from Milwaukee to Cedarburg. When the business outgrew its production facility, the family purchased Lake to Lake Manufacturing in Manitowoc in 1987.

“Bernice came with the property, and since then, we’ve been expanding, expanding, expanding,” Simon said.

Today, Kohlwey and his brothers, Bill, Tim and Robert, and Robert’s son, Luke, run Cedar Crest Ice Cream with help from 100-150 employees. Ice cream is made at the 45,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Manitowoc. The milk used to make the ingredients in Cedar Crest’s ice cream base is sourced from local creameries. From cow to cone, Cedar Crest Ice Cream ensures quality at every step of the process.

Once it is packaged, ice cream is shipped to the Cedarburg location where it is stored in a freezer set at -20 degrees ensuring product freshness.

“The ice cream stays frozen solid until leaving our facility,” Simon said.

A large volume of dairy products travel through the doors of Cedar Crest Ice Cream. The company makes and sells 3 million gallons of ice cream, custard, sorbet, sherbet and frozen yogurt annually.

Cedar Crest Ice Cream can be found in ice cream parlors and retail outlets

throughout Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. Ice cream parlors carrying the Cedar Crest brand sell it exclusively as their scooped product but may carry soft serve ice cream in addition.

“As we grow, ideally we would love to sell nationally,” Simon said. “We are capable to expand to that size. It’s an interesting future we can have.”

Cedar Crest claims that its ice cream was made for parlors because it scoops better, stays fresher longer and is consistently more avorful than other brands. Simon said scooping ease is a result of the ice cream containing 11% butterfat.

“That makes a signicant difference,” she said. “Sweet avors are even easier to scoop because of the sugars they contain, which make the ice cream super smooth and easy to scoop.”

Parlors can choose from 80 avors of Cedar Crest ice cream. The best-selling avors include Super Madness, blue raspberry, cherry and vanilla avored ice cream; Pirate’s Bounty, a caramel-avored ice cream with M&M’S and cookies; and Caramel Collision, a caramel ice cream with caramel swirls and chocolatecoated caramel mini cups.

More than 50 avors of Cedar Crest ice cream are available for retail sales. Included in this lineup are limited edition and seasonal avors like peppermint and pumpkin pie. Cedar Crest packages other avors to meet geographic demands.

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PHOTO SUBMITTED

Containers of Cedar Crest Ice Cream are stacked on a counter at Cedar Crest Ice Cream in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The company makes and sells 3 million gallons of ice cream, custard, sorbet, sherbet and frozen yogurt annually.

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Bernice, a giant Guernsey cow statue, stands May 30 outside the Cedar Crest Ice Cream plant and ice cream parlor in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Ice cream is made at the 45,000-square-foot facility

Illinois.

“A avor might be more popular in Iowa than in Michigan, for example, so we have different avors for different areas,” Simon said.

Cedar Crest has formulated over 200 avor combinations. Each year, new feature avors are released as the creamery brings back old favorites while also curating new avors for parlors.

“We’re innovative and always try to come up with something new and fantastic,” Simon said. “We want to keep it refreshing and think about what we haven’t done yet, but we also have to ask if it’s possible to make. We need suppliers that can give us these ingredients while meeting our standards to ensure a premium and quality product.”

New exotic avors on the Cedar Crest menu include Southern Bourbon Pecan and Firecracker. The rst is a

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bourbon-avored ice cream that has become popular among adults. Firecracker, a strawberry-avored ice cream infused with POP ROCKS candy, is the company’s featured avor for June.

“It provides a different ice cream-eating experience,” Simon said. “Pop rocks had their trend back in the day then faded away, and now they’re back again.”

Cedar Crest also enlists the help of Wisconsin 4-H clubs in coming up with new, fun avors in their annual 4-H Flavor Creation Contest. The grand prize for winning is $500.

“It gets the Wisconsin community involved and emphasizes how important agriculture and the dairy industry is to us as a state and to Cedar Crest’s future,” Simon said. “The kids come up with quirky names and ingredients and are really good at creating those unique

candy avors.”

New avors are tested in parlors before they are placed in retail outlets.

“We want to see how much of a rave they are before we invest in packaging,” Simon said. “We like to do our parlors a favor by offering avors that will draw people in. We have parlor-exclusive avors like bubble gum and licorice.”

Cedar Crest also began making ice cream sandwiches this year for retail sales. They are a novelty item for ice cream trucks and stands as well.

With a cow in their front yard, Cedar Crest’s connection to dairy is unmistakable.

“We’re very passionate about the dairy industry,” Simon said. “Without it, we wouldn’t be able to make our ice cream.”

Caprine Farming

Taking control of costs

McCauleys dial in feed variables with equipment, baled corn silage

By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com

LA VALLE, Wis. — When Chad and Robin McCauley embarked on their dairy goat career seven years ago, they were told over and over again that they could not feed corn silage.

“It’s not that goats can’t eat corn silage, it’s just that most of the people that have goats can’t keep corn silage fresh enough to feed it to them,” Chad McCauley said. “They can’t feed it fast enough.”

The McCauleys had always fed baled hay and a grain mix from the mill. But when they experienced inconsistencies in the grain mix and other feed costs continued to rise, they revisited the concept of feeding corn silage to their goats.

McCauley milks 175 goats near LaValle with his wife, Robin. Chad manages the daily re-

sponsibilities on the farm while Robin works full time off the farm. They have been renting their facilities and have always tried to be conscientious about operating costs.

McCauley was determined to try feeding corn silage. He began integrating corn silage into the diet by purchasing daily amounts from a neighboring farm. He fed baled hay on one end of the bunk and corn silage topped with protein mix on the other. The goats were fed cracked corn in the parlor. Eventually, the corn was top dressed on the corn silage as well.

The goats responded well to the corn silage, with production and components increasing. McCauley continued to increase the amount fed until the farm he was sourcing from said they could not sell corn silage anymore due to dry weather conditions.

McCauley went back to feeding hay and the protein mix until he discovered a farm in Hillsboro that was making baled corn silage. The corn silage is chopped and then dumped into a

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ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR

Chad McCauley pushes up feed May 20 at his rented farm near La Valle, Wisconsin. McCauley and his wife, Robin, milk 150 goats in Sauk County.

compactor. It is wrapped in plastic to cure and then bale wrapped for more durable protection. It is about the size of a large round bale of hay.

McCauley purchases 10 bales of corn silage at a time, which lasts about a month. This solution resolves the freshness issue.

“This (the open top of the bale) is my face to keep fresh,” McCauley said. “Whereas with a silo, I’d have to feed a foot a day out of it.”

With a reliable source of silage available to him, McCauley’s next move was to get a more consistent product. He began by looking at total mixed ration mixers. He considered a pull-type TMR but was already making hay all summer with one tractor and did not want another implement to hook and unhook. A friend suggested feeding with a feed cart, but he did not like not being able to weigh the ingredients to create a consistent product.

Then McCauley discovered the selfpropelled TMR. It has a capacity of almost 800 pounds and ts in the haymow of his barn. It combined the two concepts of pull-type TMR and feed cart in one. He worked with a local dealership to order a machine and has been using the new equipment for about three months.

Working with his nutritionist and the new equipment, McCauley was able to get his total feed costs down from $6,000 per month to $2,000 per month. This was due in part to experimenting with different supplement options in the parlor. He settled on a corn gluten pellet that was

about a third of the cost of the original supplement he was feeding.

McCauley said the feed cost savings have allowed him to continue farming.

“In 2022 everything was going up and 2023 wasn’t any better,” McCauley said. “I said we can’t continue like this because we’re not making enough money. If we hadn’t switched to TMR, I probably would have had to sell out because everything was just going up in price.”

McCauley mixes feed in the haymow and unloads the TMR through a hole in the oor to the bunks below. Now that warmer weather is upon him, he is remodeling his outdoor feed bunks so he can drive by with his new TMR to feed.

Though ingredients are added by hand, McCauley can incorporate everything except the pellets into the mixer. He can mix and feed in about 1 1/2 hours.

The new system also saves on hay and bedding. The goats used to grab mouthfuls of long hay and drag it into their pens to eat. This contributed to a layer of hay on top of the sawdust bedding pack, which prevented the sawdust from doing its job.

With lower feed costs and a longerlasting bedded pack, McCauley is glad he made the equipment upgrade and feed changes.

“Every time that I mix, it comes out the same,” McCauley said. “I’m feeding a more consistent feed and I’m not leaving my nancial situation in somebody (else’s) hands.”

ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR

Chad and Robin McCauley’s goat herd relaxes May 20 at their rented farm near La Valle, Wisconsin. The McCauleys milk 150 goats and recently started feeding total mixed ra on which has kept their bedding pack cleaner.

ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR

Chad McCauley mixes feed May 20 at his rented farm near La Valle, Wisconsin. McCauley started feeding a TMR to his dairy goats in January this year to incorporate corn silage and achieve a more consistent feed.

The “Mielke” Market Weekly

Butter inventory rises

U.S. butter stocks jumped in April. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest cold storage report shows April 30 inventory at 361.3 million pounds, up 44.1 million pounds or 13.9% from the March count. This was revised up 624,000 pounds and was 29.8 million pounds, or 9.0%, above April 2023.

Churns have been running well ahead of a year ago the past four months, and April likely followed that. Cheese vats weren’t quite as busy. HighGround Dairy reported that the March to April butter climb was “the most signicant build for the month since 2020 which was an outlier due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Eliminating that year results in the largest March to April increase since 2016.” HGD added that the cheese data was “neutral.”

American type cheese stocks climbed to 839.2 million pounds, up 10.6 million or 1.3% from the March level, which was revised up 3.1 million pounds but down 2.7 million pounds, or 0.3%, from a year ago.

The “other” cheese category holdings slipped to 598.4 million pounds, down 5.3 million or 0.9% from March’s count, which was revised 7.2 million pounds lower. Stocks were down 6.7 million pounds or 1.1% from a year ago.

The total April 30 cheese inventory stood at 1.46 billion pounds, up 5.6 million pounds, or 0.4%, from the March count, which was revised 5.1 million pounds lower at 8.8 million pounds, or 0.6%, below a year ago.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange butter headed south the rst day of trading following the Memorial Day holiday as a result of the cold storage data, plunging 12 cents, the rst time it was below $3 per pound since May 14. But butter wasn’t down for the count. It rallied Thursday, regaining 5.50 cents, and added 6 cents Friday to close at $3.09, still 3.25 cents lower on the week but 64.50 cents above a year ago. There were nine loads that traded hands on the shortened week.

Speaking in the June 3 “Dairy Radio Now” broadcast, StoneX broker Dave Kurzawski addressed the message on butter he interpreted from the cold storage report. “We may not have a supply problem on butter so much as we have a problem on the supply of available futures contracts,” Kurzawski said.

This rally really began at the end of January, he said, and has been driven primarily by the futures market.

“Understandably, end users want coverage,” Kurzawski said. “South of $3 per pound would be ideal, but the spot market has been the follower.”

“When we have a legitimate bull market on a product, typically the spot market will lead the rally,” he said. “The market is saying we have a supply demand imbalance. We can argue about what that imbalance is. It exists. We’re going to put the spot price, the actual product price, the highest price on the board and the futures will be at a discount to disincentivize anybody who makes that product from putting it away. Make the product today; then bring it to the market today. That’s the absolute best price you can get. That didn’t happen the past three months.”

Kurzawski said he expects more downside on butter but sees the report as relatively neutral on cheese. As to nonfat dry milk, he said, “The old habit of looking at world prices and global demand and saying it’s been bearish the past 8-12 months and will continue that way, those old habits die hard.”

“The market’s been pretty sideways,” he said. “Globally, it’s been sideways to a little bit rmer as we’re starting to see that on prices in the GlobalDairy Trade, but the reality is you will have more buyers, unfortunately at $1.25 in the U.S., or $1.28, than you do at $1.18 because there’s a fear of missing out like we saw in cheese in April.”

Dairy Market News reported that butter plants were running normally despite the holiday weekend. Cream was and is available. Multiples were steadily moving in the mid- to upper-1.10s, which mirrored previous months. Butter makers and cream handlers do not expect cream availability, and therefore churning, to last much further into the waning spring weeks. Components have started to tighten at the farm milk level. Butter makers are not overly concerned about the falling price, said DMN, and are comfortable with their stocks and current demand.

Butter production is strong in the West as manufacturers work to build stocks to cover planned downtime for churn maintenance during the next month. Cream demand is strengthening, and cream volumes are generally available throughout the region. Retail and food service butter demand is strong domestically while demand from international buyers is moderate, said DMN.

Block Cheddar lost 6 cents on the week, the third week of decline, closing Friday at $1.81 per pound,

lowest since May 3 but still 38 cents above a year ago.

Barrels nished at $1.94, down 4 cents on the week, 42.75 cents above a year ago, and 13 cents above the blocks. There were 14 sales of block on the week and eight sales of barrel.

Recent production hurdles have been reported by a number of cheesemakers, according to DMN. Multiple plants were on both holiday and unexpected downtime the week before Memorial Day and over the weekend. Some took an extra half-day off, while others were down for multiple days. Demand tones were consistent with the past few weeks to the past month and are “healthy.”

Retail and food service cheddar/Italian cheesemakers say demand from regional and eastern customers is hearty. Milk remains ample and spot prices mid-week were holding in a similar range to the previous week. Market tones have turned bearish, said DMN, but longer-term outlooks are “steadier to even bullish.”

Most cheese manufacturers in the West noted strong production. Some parts of the region are seeing stronger milk components compared to a year ago, and that is helping keep production strong and balancing milk supplies. Milk output is weakening in some parts, but upcoming summer school breaks are expected to ease bottling demand and increase milk availability for Class III manufacturers. Domestic cheese demand is steady while exports are steady to weaker.

CME nonfat dry milk fell to a Friday nish at $1.1675 per pound, 0.75 cents lower on the week and a quarter-cent below a year ago, on nine sales.

Whey slipped to 39.50 cents per pound Wednesday but closed Friday at 41.50 cents, up 1.50 cents on the week and 15.75 cents above a year ago, on 11 sales.

Dairy cow slaughter for the week ending May 18 totaled 47,000 head, down 1,000 from the previous week and 7,900 or 14.4% below a year ago. Year to date, 1,112,700 have been culled, down 169,300, or 13.2%, from 2023.

HGD said, “A weekly total of under 50,000 head is notable as it typically only occurs during holiday weeks. Further, this was the lowest value for the week in over 15 years. 2008 was the last time this gure was smaller. Milk prices have dramatically improved in second quarter, which has likely caused farmers to change their culling practices.”

The latest Crop Progress report shows 83% of U.S. corn was in the ground as of the week ending May 26, up from 70% the previous week, 3% ahead of a year ago, and 1% ahead of the ve-year average. Fifty-eight percent emerged, 8% behind a year ago.

Turn to MIELKE

Sixty-eight percent of the soybeans were planted, 10% behind a year ago, but 5% ahead of the ve-year average. Thirty-nine percent emerged, 11% behind a year ago.

In its May 29 Early Morning Update, StoneX reported, “The harsh storms and severe weather patterns we’ve seen this year are brought on by the changing seasons combined with a stronger-than-normal jet stream above the northern hemisphere, bringing not only tornados and severe thunderstorms but also signicant rainfall in the corn belt. As El-Nino begins to fade, the question of if — and if so, when — LaNina will develop becomes the focus.”

The Global Dairy Trade Pulse auction Tuesday saw 3.6 million pounds of product sold, down from 3.75 million May 14. Of the total offered, 94.4% sold. There were 888,454 fewer pounds of instant whole milk powder and 771,610 pounds more regular WMP sold versus the last Pulse. There was 8,818 pounds more skim milk powder sold.

Much of global trade is inuenced by China, whose dairy purchases continue to lag. Part of the explanation may be in an article by the Daily Dairy Report’s Sarina Sharp in the May 24 Milk Producers Council newsletter.

Sharp wrote, “USDA’s on-theground analysts in Beijing raised their estimates of Chinese milk output. They now show roughly 7% growth in Chinese milk production every year from 2020 through 2023 and project Chinese milk output to grow another 1.3% in 2024.”

The May 28 Daily Dairy Report added, “China’s dairy herd has grown faster than anticipated, up 3% year over year in 2023, as producers keep lowproducing cows in the herd and large herds expand. A recent report from the USDA Global Agricultural Information Network said, “Growth in raw milk production continues to outpace consumption, creating an oversupply in the Chinese market.” The DDR added that “China’s increased milk production this year will be pulled into manufacturing, and that will weigh on dairy product imports.”

In politics at home, the U.S. House Agriculture Committee approved its version of the 2024 Farm Bill, one that comes with a $1.5 trillion price tag over the next decade. The National Milk Producers Federation praised Chairman Glenn Thompson and committee members from both parties for approving a bill that “includes critical dairy priorities that will help support and grow this industry,” according to Gregg Doud, NMPF president and CEO.

“Provisions beneting dairy urged by NMPF include extending the Dairy Margin Coverage program through 2029; update production history for participating dairies to be based on the highest production year of 2021, 2022, or 2023; and extend the ability for producers to receive a 25% premium discount for locking ve years of coverage.”

The bill would restore the “higher of” Class I mover to, as NMPF said, “Reinstate orderly milk marketing and require plant cost studies every two years to provide better data to inform future make allowance conversations. It also supports the bipartisan, Housepassed Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act to reverse the under consumption of nutritious milk in our schools, and boosts funding for dairy trade promotion programs and protect the use of common food names worldwide.”

The bill supports voluntary, producer-led conservation programs, such as the Environmental Quality Incen-

tives Program, with dedicated funds for livestock operations and language encouraging states to prioritize methane-reducing practices and improves the certication of Third-Party Service Providers with technical expertise related to conservation planning to better assist producers participating in National Resources Conservation Service programs.

Meanwhile, on the Senate side, the May 24 “Daily Dairy Report” said, “Democrats on the Senate Ag Committee expressed concern about any cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benets. The bill does not call for outright cuts to food stamp benets. Rather, it authorizes a return to the pre-2021 SNAP formula, which adjusted for ination but did not account for gaps between the overall rate of ination and the rising cost of a healthy diet.”

Michael Dykes, D.V.M., president and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association, said, “IDFA was pleased to see the House Agriculture Committee’s Farm Bill expand the SNAP Healthy Fluid Milk Incentive (HFMI) to include the full suite of nutritious milk options.”

He said, “Congress created the SNAP HFMI pilot program in the 2018 Farm Bill to test the most effective ways of incentivizing SNAP participants’ purchases of healthy uid milk. Since then, HFMI pilots operating under the name ‘Add Milk!’ have been running in more than 700 retail outlets in 19 states, including locations in rural communities, counties with persistently high poverty rates, Opportunity Zones, low-income and low access census tracts, and Tribal Nations and surrounding tribal communities.”

“The program has been very effective in doubling the purchasing power of SNAP participants through the use of electronic incentives,” Dykes said. “The House Farm Bill recognizes this success by expanding the program to incentivize nutritious milk options like 2% and whole milk, and by providing more certain funding to ensure increased access and continued success of the program.”

The bill also makes the Dairy Forward Pricing Program permanent, which IDFA said “would eliminate the gap in forward pricing programs for proprietary plants and their producers that occurs if farm bills are delayed.”

The measure also allows schools to serve whole milk and reduced fat milk to students, pursuant to the Chairman’s Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, which IDFA supported. It also mandates biennial cost surveys to ensure make allowances accurately reect the cost of manufacturing dairy products, a consensus priority across the industry.

“Unfortunately,” concluded the IDFA, “The bill also includes a provision that circumvents USDA’s mandate to complete the ongoing Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) hearing process, by restoring the ‘higher-of’ formula for the calculation of the price of Class I (uid) milk. The USDA process to make changes to the FMMO through a Federal Order Hearing has been underway for well over one year, and USDA will soon announce its proposal.”

“IDFA believes Congress should not intervene on one select issue, especially one that is included in the current USDA FMMO Hearing process and one that has signicant impacts across all policies in the FMMO and like many of the hearing proposals, affects many parts of the dairy supply chain,” IDFA said.

years, top sires used through Alta Genetics. Some sires include Morrison, Abba, Pinetta, Orinoco, Stafford, Flashback, Acer, Jurgen and more. Nelson bred for good legs, feet, udders and components. Dry cows treated with Tomorrow. 75% of this herd tested A2A2. Owner is transitioning to goats. ***Cows are PENDING the HPAI/H5N1 Avian In uenza test*** Coming from Nelson Miller, Argyle WI

COMPLETE HERD DISPERSAL #2

35 Holstein Dairy Cows. Tie stall milked, outside everyday, bunk fed. 70# 4.2F 3.1P 150SCC, not pushed. AI breeding for over 50 years, currently using Holstein bulls. Vaccination program. Regular herd health. Coming from Pepin County

COMPLETE HERD DISPERSAL #3

60 Holstein Dairy Cows, tie stall milked, outside everyday, bunk fed, more information coming soon! SPRINGING HEIFERS

9 Holstein Springing Heifers, freestall adapted, over 30 year AI breeding though Select Sires. Owners previously sold their herd at Premier and now selling heifers as they get close. Reputation consignor. Coming from Jim & Karol Creaser, Menomonie, WI ***Herd For Sale Private Treaty – See website for more information! ***

Expecting our usual run of dairy cows, dairy bulls, springing heifers, short bred, and open heifers.

SPECIAL SPRING SHEEP & GOAT AUCTION

Thursday, June 13, 2024

Accepting Sheep & Goats Wednesday evening 5-8:30pm.

Overnight sheep & goats selling rst. Have all sheep & goats in by 9:00am Thursday morning.

MACHINERY AUCTION

Friday, June 14, 2024

Now accepting your farm machinery and construction equipment. The Machinery deadline is Friday, June 7th. See other ad for machinery listings! Nationwide buyers, proven results!

ADVANCE NOTICE! Wednesday June 19, 2024 at 11:00 Ayrshire Herd Dispersal! See our website for details!

SPECIAL MONTHLY DAIRY HEIFER AUCTION

Tuesday June 25, 2024 at 11:00am

Expecting 500-600 dairy heifers. Call with your consignments. Always a great selection of dairy heifers at Premier Livestock and Auctions!

All forages are not created equally for ensiling

By Wayne Coblentz U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center (retired)

This article is reprinted with permission from the Midwest Forage Association.

As the last vestiges of winter drift into memory, forage farmers increasingly turn their attention to looming eldwork, which includes production of late-spring and early-summer silages. With that in mind, it is important to remember all forages are not created equally with respect to silage fermentation. Two key forage characteristics that can greatly affect silage fermentation are concentrations of plant sugars or watersoluble carbohydrates (WSC) and buffering capacity (BC).

Concentrations of WSC are a critically important component of silage fermentation because they serve as the substrate for production of various fermentation acids that reduce silage pH, thereby imparting a measure of stability to the silage. The two primary fermentation acids produced are acetic and lactic, of which lactic acid is generally considered most desirable because it is the strongest fermentation acid and most effective at depressing silage pH. In simplest terms, BC can be dened as the forage’s inherent or natural resistance to pH change; normally, it is measured in the laboratory as the milliequivalents of acid required to reduce forage pH from 6.0 to 4.0. Much of the difference in BC between forages is related to naturally occurring organic acids, their salts, and to a lesser degree, plant proteins. To some extent, these two forage characteristics work against each other with respect to a desirable fermentation that includes strong acidication of the silage. Adequate WSC are required for production of fermentation acids, but highly buffered crops are more resistant to the desired pH change.

Water-soluble carbohydrates. Many factors contribute to the wide variability

in concentrations of WSC within silage crops, which can vary from about 5-20%. Forage species is a major factor, and a general ranking of crops common to the north-central U.S. in order from highest to lowest would be corn, forage sorghums, cool-season grasses (annual or perennial), alfalfa or other legumes. Although not typically grown in the north-central U.S., most warm-season perennials (e.g., bermudagrass) are not notoriously low in WSC, making them difcult to ensile because of inadequate substrate for fermentation. Unfortunately, this problem also occurs to a lesser degree with alfalfa, which typically exhibits concentrations of WSC between 5-7%. To visualize the effects of plant species on availability of substrate for fermentation, consider Figure 1, summarizing the average WSC concentrations measured from: i) cool-season-grass monocultures (N=8); ii) mixed cool-season grass/alfalfa forages (N=5); and iii) alfalfa monocultures (N=9). These averages were obtained from University of Wisconsin Marsheld Agricultural Research Station silage studies over the last 20 years. The mixed-species forages ranged from 48-82% alfalfa, with an overall average of around 64%. Two points should be immediately obvious from this gure: i) average concentrations of WSC in cool-season grasses were more than twice those of alfalfa (12.7 versus 6.0%); and ii) WSC in the mixed-species forages were intermediate (8.2%) between the monocultures but were consistent with greater proportions of alfalfa within the mixtures. On this basis alone, it should be clear that cool-season grasses have clear advantages over alfalfa with respect to adequacy of substrate for fermentation. Other factors also affect concentrations of WSC in forages. Some of these include stage of growth, time of day, climate, frost events, nitrogen fertilization, rainfall and poor or extended wilting conditions. Of these, the most problematic for spring

or early-summer silage harvests are the unfortunate effects of rain damage to mowed forages wilting in the eld. When this occurs, WSC are lost through direct leaching of sugars and by prolonged or extended respiration before these damaged forages can be wilted suitably for harvest. Rain damage is typically more severe as forages become drier and lose their cell functions. Rain damage effects to mowed/conditioned alfalfa forages wilting in the eld are presented in Figure 2 from two trials conducted at Marsheld, Wisconsin. In Trial 1, 1.1 inches of natural rainfall reduced WSC concentration from 6.4 to 4.9%. For Trial 2, 1.9 inches of natural rainfall that fell over an extended eight-day period reduced WSC available for fermentation from 6.1 to 2.9%. It is important to emphasize initial concentrations of WSC in alfalfa are marginal (at best) for supporting silage fermentation, and these rain-damaged forages were severely compromised by the noted losses.

GRAPH PROVIDED

Figure 1.Average concentra ons of WSC (bars) and BC (red line and markers) for monocultures and mixtures of cool-season grasses and alfalfa. Data were summarized from published silage studies conducted at Marsheld, WI, over the last 20 years.

served for cool-season grasses. Typically, BC is reduced as plants mature, and this has been documented for both cool-season grasses and alfalfa. For alfalfa, BC is much greater in the leaf compared to stem tissue, which contributes directly to the greater BC found in less mature forages.

Buffering capacity. A low BC is desirable for silage fermentation because it allows for an easier reduction of silage pH. A ranking of BC for commonly ensiled silage crops harvested throughout the north-central U.S. in order from highest to lowest would be alfalfa and other legumes, cool-season grasses, corn, where evaluations for legumes can exceed 500 mEq/ kg Dm, while corn can be less than 200 mEq/kg Dm. It should be clear that corn combines dual attributes of high WSC and low BC, making it the easiest crop to ensile and ferment properly. Conversely, the dual liabilities (marginal WSC, high BC) for alfalfa forages can be visualized by returning to Figure 1, where the average BC for alfalfa forages was 414 mEq/kg DM, which was considerably greater than ob-

GRAPH PROVIDED

Figure 2. Field losses of WSC from alfalfa a er two natutally occuring rainfall events at Marsheld, WI. [adapted from Coblentz and Muck (2012); J. Dairy Sci. 95:6635-6653].

Consequences. A primary concern when ensiling these damaged or disadvantaged forage crops occurs when they are ensiled at high moisture. Clostridia love high-moisture forage, and their secondary activity is highly undesirable, producing primary end products of butyric acid, ammonia and amines. A silage fermentation exhibiting a rapid and extensive pH decline inhibits clostridial activity. Baled silages may be more at risk because their fermentations are inherently restricted relative to precision-chopped silages due to their long-stem nature and often lower silage densities. Inoculants improving production of lactic acid may be helpful in preserving compromised or disadvantaged forage crops. Alternatively, clostridia do not ourish in dry silages and wilting to lower moisture concentrations in an effective technique for avoiding their undesirable secondary activity, but overall preservation then relies more heavily on oxygen exclusion.

Area Hay Auction Results

Small

Large Squares

$70-152.50/ton Mixed

$190-215/ton

$140-190/ton

$137.50/ton Straw

1st crop

2nd crop

3rd crop

4th crop

Grass

$117.50/ton

Large Rounds

$50-122.50/ton

$140/ton

$127.50-145/ton

$165/ton

$77.50-175/ton

$40-47.50/ton

BREAKFAST ON THE FARM

Spotlighting Wisconsin cheese

“Top Chef” cooking show features state’s signature culinary ingredient

By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com

MADISON, Wis. — The “Top Chef” television show has gained popularity in the 20 seasons it has aired and now attracts more than 7 million viewers per episode. The competition-style cooking show is lmed in a new location for each episode. The 21st season, which is airing now, was lmed in Wisconsin, putting Wisconsin cheese in the spotlight of those millions of viewers.

Rachel Kerr is the senior director of experiential and brand marketing at Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin.

impact which is incredible.” Kerr had a close hand in bringing the show to Wisconsin. “Top Chef” sends their scouts to potential locations each year. The Wisconsin Department of Tourism brought Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin along with other agricultural groups, cheese makers and dairy farmers to meet with the show producers. They shared their stories and provided samples of their products to the producers before the producers solidied their decision to lm in Wisconsin.

“We are obviously trying to promote Wisconsin dairy products and Wisconsin cheese, and getting it in front of that foodie audience is hugely important to us,” Kerr said. “Every time “Top Chef” goes to a new location, they see a signicant increase in tourism interest, in people interested in the culinary products of that state. So it does have a huge

“Cheese and dairy are synonymous with Wisconsin,” Kerr said. “That’s no new news. But they were shocked to meet master cheese makers and understand the kind of innovation that is happening in the state. I think that helped not only show them that Wisconsin is a great culinary destination but kind of helped inspire them to create creative challenges around Wisconsin cheese and Wisconsin dairy.”

During the show, 15 aspiring chefs compete to win the

A endees of the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin watch party gather April 4 for

cheese episode at The Sylvee in Madison, Wisconsin. The event included

makers, media and other industry professionals who came together to

and celebrate their featured products.

title of “Top Chef America”. The third episode this season featured a cheese challenge, where contestants were assigned a task to create a dish using Wisconsin cheese within a limited amount of time. Part of the challenge was to cook the dish for 100 people. The cheese makers whose products were featured were able to attend the lming along with a few members of the staff at Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin. Some of the cheeses featured in the show included Pleasant Ridge Reserve by Uplands Cheese; Merlot Bel-

McHale Balers

laVitano by Pam Hodgson of Sartori; Sancho Cruz, a Mexican-style Manchego by Door Artisan Cheese Company; Widmer Brick by Widmer’s Cheese Cellars; a 15-year aged Cheddar by Hook’s Cheese

Turn to TOP

Anderson Wrappers

Mega

PHOTO PROVIDED BY DAIRY FARMERS OF WISCONSIN

the “Top Chef”

dairy farmers, cheese

watch the show

Rachel Kerr

his

Company Inc; and Marieke Gouda. Other cheeses featured during the rest of the season include Canela by Roth Cheese; Cheddar curds by Decatur Dairy; Dunbarton Blue Cheese by Roelli Cheese Haus; Glacier Gorgonzola by Carr Valley Cheese; Limburger by Chalet Cheese Coop; Mount Raclette by Alpinage Cheese; Oaxaca by Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese LLC and Triple Creme Brie by Schroeder Kase.

Andy Hatch of Uplands Cheese said he has already seen an impact of being featured through increased sales.

“Our phone and website started blowing up right away,” Hatch said. “I really appreciated Top Chef’s focus on artisan producers because we are the companies (that are) too small to have our own marketing budget to buy that kind of attention.”

Hatch creates an artisan style cheese with milk from his own small herd of cows. The cheese is only produced during the spring, summer and fall while the cows are on fresh pasture. The cheese is then aged with a natural rind, which requires constant care and attention throughout the 9- 12-month process.

It is difcult to do on a large scale, Hatch said. He said what has been gained in the industry for the sake of efciency and scale sometimes sacrices or dilutes character. He said they are trying to make sure their cheese has as much of their farm’s character as possible.

near Dodgeville, Wis-

Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin gave Wisconsin cheesemakers the opportunity to submit their product to be featured in the show’s studio kitchen throughout the entire season of lming. Kerr said the top judge, Tom Colicchio, had great reviews.

“Although the cheese episode was certainly the pinnacle moment of the show, I had the chance to talk with Tom, who said they loved having the cheese on set and were always taking samples,” Kerr said. “It was really great to see people of that (prominence) talking about the products from Wisconsin.”

Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin hosted a watch party of the cheese episode at The Sylvee in Madison, where dairy farmers, cheese makers, media and other industry professionals gathered to watch the show and celebrate their featured products. Two contestants of the show were also in attendance — Michelle Wallace, who won the cheese challenge, and Dan Jacobs, who is a Milwaukee native. Pam Hodgson and Sam Crave attended the watch party to represent cheese making and participated in a round table conversation with the contestants.

“This was such a huge moment not just for Wisconsin but for the dairy industry,” Kerr said. “Putting Wisconsin cheese in front of millions of viewers nationwide and having it represented in a way that we always wanted it to be is truly an honor.”

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Andy Hatch holds a wheel of cheese in

curing room

consin. Hatch is the cheesemaker behind Uplands Cheese, which was featured in the “Top Chef” cooking show this year.

MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY

STAR

Greg Meyer rakes rst crop alfalfa together May 30 near Grove City, Minnesota. The Meyers have 17 acres of alfalfa.

Family tries to beat the rain

By Mark Klaphake mark.k@dairystar.com

GROVE CITY, Minn.—

When Patti, Greg and Nathan Meyer woke up May 30, they had one main goal in mind: Put up their rst-crop hay before it rained.

Nathan, who came back to the farm full time four years ago, and his parents milk 60 cows and farm around 120 acres near Grove City, Minnesota.

The Meyers were hoping to start baling May 28, but the hay wasn’t quite dry. That put a strong emphasis on securing it Thursday afternoon before the predicted rain rolled through later in the day.

“It’s stressful,” Greg said. “You have a nice crop out there, and you don’t want it to get rained on and then have it sit for two more days. That stuff bothers me. When we cut it, I didn’t think it was going to rain until Friday, and then the weather forecast changed.”

Having quality hay is a major goal for Greg.

“I don’t like feeding poor feed,” he said.

The Meyers’ focus was to do their lone eld of alfalfa,

A day in the life of the Meyers A in the life of the Meyers

a 17-acre eld rented from a neighbor.

Their other elds they plowed up last fall because they had over 200 bales of baleage to carry them over. They said they like baleage because it has helped raise their herd butterfat.

The day started out with each doing their daily morning chores. Nathan and Greg headed to the barn before 5:30 a.m., and by 6 a.m., Nathan was milking and Greg started feeding calves. They milk 60 cows in a 4-row tunnel ventilated sand-bedded tiestall barn.

They added two rows to the east of the current barn in 2016. They also have calf pens at the end of the oldest part of the barn.

A short time later, Patti helped with the calves. After milking, Greg and Nathan fed the cows and the 200 steers they raise. Some are housed in a hoop barn they built four years ago, and the others are housed at another site.

By 11:30 a.m., Greg drove his John Deere 70 to the eld to start raking rows together. Just 15 minutes later, Nathan was on his way to start round baling as rain clouds started to gather in the west.

“I was looking at my radar every 15 minutes, but (the rain) seemed to stay on the other side of Willmar all day,” Greg said.

By 2:30 p.m., Greg was done raking, and an hour later, Nathan had made the last round bale.

They promptly switched over to picking up the bales, hauling them a quarter mile home and getting them wrapped.

Patti and a neighbor helped Greg pick up 68 round bales

and transport them home, and Nathan went home and wrapped. They were done by 5 p.m.

“I was happy, just elated that it worked out,” Greg said.

“If we wouldn’t have gotten them moved, we could have picked them up Friday, but then we would have been tracking up the elds. It couldn’t have

worked out any better. It was a good crop.”

The urgency of getting the hay wrapped pushed chores back almost an hour, but for the Meyers, the delay was worth it. By 7:30 p.m., it started drizzling, and shortly after 8 p.m., it started to downpour.

Turn to MEYERS

MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR

Pa (from le ), Nathan and Greg Meyer stand in front of their hoop barn May 29 on their dairy near Grove City, Minnesota. The Meyers milk 60 cows and raise 200 steers.

| Page 15

“I was smiling from ear to ear,” Greg said. “It doesn’t get any better than that. It was the perfect day.”

Greg’s introduction to the dairy industry came from his grandpa.

“I spent summers with him, and then when he sold his cows, I helped neighbors all the time,” Greg said.

After high school, he studied dairy management at Iowa Lakes Community College.

The Meyers rented a farm near Watkins for ve years before buying their current farm.

“I started with a pickup and tools and nothing else,” Greg said. “I like being here. I lived everywhere growing up.”

They have been living and

milking at their current location for 30 years.

“I enjoy milking cows,” Greg said. “I just wish it was more consistent with pay. It’s stressful.”

Turn to MEYERS | Page 16

MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR

Nathan Meyer does maintenance on a bale wrapper May 29 near Grove City, Minnesota. The Meyers wrapped 68 bales a day later.

MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR

Nathan Meyer ejects a round bale May 30 near the Meyers’ farm near Grove City, Minnesota. Nathan has been helping his parents full- me on the farm for four years.

EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR

Greg Meyer feeds calves in the morning May 30 at his farm near Grove City, Minnesota. Meyer and his son, Nathan, head to the barn before 5:30 a.m. to start chores.

MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR

Greg Meyer visits with his milk hauler, Brian Schwandt, May 29 near Grove City, Minnesota. The Meyers have been milking at their current loca on for nearly 30 years.

Feed Bin FINANCING PROGRAM

Greg and Patti’s other children all have ties to agriculture as well. Ben is a carpenter and helps construct ag buildings, Matt works for a crop farmer and a cabinet maker, and Maggie does quality assurance for Cady Cheese. A couple years back, she was a Princess Kay of the Milky Way nalist.

“All of my kids are in agriculture, which I am proud of,” Greg said.

Nathan worked off the farm for many years but still found time to do the morning and night milking.

“I really enjoy milking, and the eldwork is fun,” Nathan said. “There

is never a dull moment. It seems like you are always doing something different.”

Nathan’s future goals are to continue to work with his parents and someday take over.

“It’s good that we have someone who wants to take on the family business,” Patti said.

To do that, Nathan will have to weather the ups and downs that farming brings.

“It was a good day,” Greg said. “They are not all like that. You have to take the bad with the good.”

Greg Meyer feeds hay to the steers housed off-sight in the morning May 30 near his farm by Grove City, Minnesota. The Meyers’ raise 200 steers.

EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR

Nathan Meyer hooks up a milking unit May 30 at his parent’s farm near Grove City, Minnesota. Meyer returned to the farm four years ago.

Big FFA win for New Vienna youth

Background in dairy inuences Hageman’s agriscience research

By Sherry Newell Contributing writer

NEW VIENNA, Iowa — The cows may be gone from the daily life of Libby Hageman, but her interest in dairy lives on through agriscience research as a Dyersville Beckman Catholic FFA member.

Hageman’s dairy-related work earned her rst place in Iowa FFA this year in the integrated systems division of agriscience research, and a nalist for star in agriscience.

The awards were presented at the Iowa State FFA Convention April 14-16 in Ames.

Hageman, of New Vienna, comes from a farm where her parents, Bob and Amy, milked 70 cows until two years ago. She continues to milk cows at the neighboring McAllister dairy.

But before the Hageman cows were sold, the soon-tobe high school senior began a research project addressing

a challenge on the family’s farm.

“I looked at scours in dairy calves and how bacteria on the bottles can affect the spread,” Hageman said. “We were struggling with that personally on our farm.”

Hageman’s research compared three cleaning methods for calf bottles: using a dishwasher, soaking in bleach and using hot water. She said the results surprised her.

“I thought the agitation and hot water of the dishwasher would be best, but it was the bleach,” she said.

Hageman’s work was done in the classroom lab, which presented a challenge from Iowa’s laws regulating raw milk at the time. She could not use raw milk, so she added yogurt to pasteurized milk to create bacteria.

Even so, the project brought her to the stage at the National FFA Convention & Expo 2022, where she placed eighth in animal systems after

a second-place win in Iowa. It also resulted in changes on the Hageman farm, where they began soaking bottles and buckets in bleach weekly and experienced better calf health.

In 2023, Hageman’s research project compared compaction rates in different soil types and their effect on germination in seedlings from the Conservation Reserve Program. Working again in the classroom, she used buckets to test clay, black dirt and sand compaction and resulting plant leaf size. Black dirt was the winner.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Libby Hageman holds her award at the Iowa State FFA Conven on April 14-16 in Ames, Iowa. Hageman, of New Vienna, was an FFA agriscience star nalist and a prociency winner.

SUBMITTED

Libby Hageman of New Vienna, Iowa, works in a classroom lab as part of an FFA agriscience research project at Beckman Catholic High School in Dyersville, Iowa. Hageman’s experience on her family’s Iowa dairy farm led her to research calf bo le hygiene, soil compac on and bedding over the last three years.

Again, her research inuenced farming at home where her father had continued to raise crops and a few animals.

“It made my father more aware of things like tire tracks and trafc in the elds,” she said.

Her 2024 research came back to dairy when she tested the impact on cattle hygiene of using different types of bedding. She researched sand, sawdust, straw, corn stalks and Unical P, a ne limestone product. Again, her personal experience with dairies helped her choose the subject.

“We had used sawdust, corn stalks and straw. A lot of neighbors used sand,” she said. “My uncle used Unical P. I had never heard of that before.”

While researching in the school lab, she experienced challenges again.

“I had to get really creative with the resources,” she said.

Hageman poured liquid on the bedding and measured the time it took to drain through the bedding and its heat retention after ve minutes under a heat lamp. Compression was also tested, with udder cleanliness as the goal.

While she concluded sand would have been best on the Hagemans’ former dairy, she acknowledged each dairy facility is different.

“My results would be different if I did it on a farm,” Hageman said. “I hope to pursue that and consider more variables in the future.”

Taking on FFA agriscience research and moving through the resulting competitions has changed her, she said.

“When I was younger, I was very quiet so (doing this) was a shock to me and everyone around me,” Hage-

man said. “Before I did this I would only talk to my parents. It’s helped me come out of my shell. It’s … pushed my brain to think in ways I normally didn’t.”

It may impact her future — she is considering dairy science — but that is still a question mark. First, she will compete for honors at the National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis, Indiana, this fall, hoping for a Top 10 nish.

“I’d sure like to get back on that stage in Indy,” Hageman said.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Bedding types are used in research at the lab at Beckman Catholic High School in Dyersville, Iowa. Libby Hageman, a Dyersville Beckman Catholic FFA Chapter member, won the top spot for agriscience research in the integrated systems division of the Iowa FFA prociency awards this spring.

PHOTO

Over seven decades of dairy chores

Kerndt milks cows from age 10 to 85

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

LANSING, Iowa —

When Patsy Kerndt was 10 years old, she would sit on a wooden stool with a bucket between her legs, milking cows by hand. Each evening, Kerndt would perform the task on two to three of her family’s cows after school.

Her family tried to get her to drive tractor, but that did not go well.

“I just would get petried, and so I said, ‘I’ll do chores ... don’t ask me to run machinery,’” Kerndt said.

they also raised 75-100 beef animals, chickens and pigs. Though they farmed with tractors, Kerndt remembers leading a horse back and forth to power the trip fork for transporting loose hay to the mow.

When she was 12, her dad built a new barn. They christened it with barn dances.

“Everybody had a good time,” Kernt said. “It was good old-fashioned barn dancing.“

In the new barn, they used oor bucket milking units. Despite the advances in technology, there still was no barn cleaner, so all manure had to be hand pitched into the manure spreader.

Kerndt has seen many changes in dairy from her beginnings of hand milking in the 1940s to milking units and from carrying canned milk to pipelines and bulk tanks. Kerndt has also survived personal tragedy, carrying on the family dairy farm after her husband’s early death for the sake of their teenage son. Her farm was sustained through the farm crisis of the 1980s and the uctuating milk prices of her later farming years.

Kerndt continued milking cows as an adult in the evenings after her job in town. She was even milking cows the day after she returned from her honeymoon.

“I just went from one farm to the next,” Kerndt said.

Kerndt milked in four different barns across her career. Her childhood farm had 30-40 cows and was about 540 acres. In addition to dairy cows,

There was no pipeline, so milk was carried to 10-gallon cans in the milk house and were cooled on one side of the cows’ water tank.

“In the winter months, when the milkman couldn’t get in, then ... (we had) to haul the milk out to the road where he could get them,” Kerndt said. “That went on for a number of years before we got a bulk tank.”

After she married Donnie Kerndt in 1961, she worked in her third barn and third milking setup.

Donnie’s family used Surge bucket milkers. Their barn was about 140 feet long and had one long row of cows. Kerndt recalls having to hurry to carry the milk the length of the barn to the milk house before another cow’s milker was done. Eventually, they upgraded their barn with a transfer system, making the long carry no longer necessary.

Even after having children, Kerndt continued to milk.

“I milked right up to the day I delivered with both of them,” Kerndt said. “It was good exercise for me. I guess I just loved being out there, be-

ing with the animals.”

Her eldest son was entertained in a playpen in the barn while she milked. For her youngest, she hooked up an intercom system between the barn and the playpen.

“The intercom was right above (the baby), so I could hear if she was fussing, or being naughty or doing something,” Kerndt said.

In 1971, the Kerndts built their last barn, where they milked 60 cows. Kerndt said Donnie wanted a stanchion so that he could show off the cows. The new barn was complete with a pipeline to the bulk tank.

“After working in that old barn down there carrying that milk, I thought this is really easy,” Kerndt said.

Donnie was an early adopter of A.I., starting before they were married.

The Kerndts sold occasional cows on dairy sales and leased bulls to local farms. After the bulls returned, they were sold to the sales barn.

In 1976, tragedy struck when Donnie was diagnosed with cancer. The couple sold the milking herd Dec. 11, 1976, and Donnie passed away Jan. 1, 1977.

Their children were ages 15 and 3 at the time, so the Kerndts retained around 25 heifers so that Brad, the oldest, could have a chance to farm.

“Donnie said, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’” Kerndt said. “I said, ‘Well, it’s the only way Brad’s going to get a chance … If we sell (all the heifers) how is he ever going to get back into farming?’”

During Brad’s senior year, they started milking their heifers. Kerndt’s prior active involvement on the farm made it easier for the single mom to farm with her young son.

“It was stressful,” Kerndt said. “I (had) farmed with Donnie, so I knew everything that was going on. It wasn’t

like I was working off the farm or anything. I was beside him all the time. ... I did the book work, so I knew what was going on there, and I just learned to ask questions.”

Kerndt dairy farmed with Brad, doing chores for him for over 40 years.

Over the years, Kerndt has seen variation in milk prices and the economics of dairy farming. She said in the early 1970s it was “a pretty good living” but in the 1980s the prices and interest were both bad. She also experienced the uctuating milk prices.

“It got hard towards the end,” Kerndt said. “How to budget, how to make ends meet, because you couldn’t depend upon that milk price.”

Kerndt continued milking until the age of 85.

“After I quit milking, then I went to pot because I didn’t have anything to do,” Kerndt said.

The Kerndts sold close to 100 animals at their herd dispersal in 2021 although Brad continues to raise some heifers and ush them.

“I hated to see them go,” Kerndt said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF COURTNEY SALES LLC

Patsy Kerndt milks a cow in 2021 at the age of 85 on the Kerndt farm near Lansing, Iowa. Kerndt started milking cows by hand.

Patsy Kerndt

Preventing heat stress begins in utero

Research reveals long-term effects on calves

By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com

MADISON, Wis. — As temperatures begin to rise with the approach of summer, methods to keep cattle cool are employed. Unfortunately, calves and dry cows might rank low on the list for dairy producers when implementing cooling strategies. However, animals of every age endure the impacts of heat stress, and, for calves, the consequences can be lifelong.

“Heat stress does not discriminate, and it will impact cattle of all ages and physiological states,” said Jimena Laporta, assistant professor of lactation physiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Although we don’t see these immediate production losses like we do for lactating cows, youngstock are still susceptible, and we see production and economic losses later on.”

Laporta and Jennifer Van Os, assistant professor and extension specialist in animal welfare, discussed the effects of heat stress in dairy calves

and ways to provide relief from warm weather during a University of WisconsinMadison Badger Dairy Insight webinar May 21. Both Laporta and Van Os are with the UWMadison Division of Extension Dairy Program and UW-Madison Department of Animal and Dairy Science.

In her research, Laporta has discovered that calves are impacted by heat stress before they are even born. When examining prenatal heat stress effects, Laporta and her team focus on the last trimester of gestation which coincides with the dry period.

“This is a critical developmental window, and there are a lot of events that will be temperature sensitive for that fetus,” Laporta said. “This includes the maturation of organs, establishment of cell hierarchy, cell differentiation and cell communication.”

The fetus is reliant on maternal regulation of temperature, therefore, maternal heat stress leads to in utero heat stress, which creates thermal stress on the growing fetus, Laporta said.

“There is increasing evidence that heat stress during these early developmental windows of life have carryover effects later on in life,” Laporta said.

Over the last few years,

Laporta’s team did studies in Florida and Wisconsin with two groups of cows. The rst group was heat stressed during the dry period, while cows in the second group were provided with heat abatement methods like soakers and fans. Laporta followed the heifers born from these cows throughout their lifetime, comparing the in utero cooled calves to the in utero heat stressed calves.

Negative effects for calves that experienced heat stress began at birth. Their gestation length was ve days shorter on average than calves cooled in utero, leaving less time for fetal development. This resulted in calves that were about 10 pounds lighter at birth. They were also smaller at weaning, weighing about 17 pounds less.

Calves experiencing heat stress in the womb also had a reduced ability to absorb immunoglobulins from colostrum, leaving them with a less robust immune system. The difference in absorption was 20% lower for these calves compared to calves whose dams were cooled during the dry period. In addition, milk and starter intake was reduced for heat stressed calves, which ate less at each visit to the automatic feeder.

Smaller body size was a concern not only at birth but across the entire pre-weaning

A calf stands outside its hutch on a dairy near Rollingstone, Minnesota. To prevent the onset of heat stress, monitor calves before the temperature-humidity index reaches 69 and before the temperature is 69.8 degrees.

period. Heat-stressed calves had shorter body length, shorter chest girth and shorter hip height as well as a smaller head circumference. Even after one year of age, these calves still measured smaller than their cooled counterparts.

“The effects are permanent, not transient, up until one year of age,” Laporta said. Fewer in utero heat stress

QUALITY that lasts for the LONG RUN

daughters survived to rst calving, and those that made it had a reduced productive life, with a lifespan that averaged 12 months shorter.

“These heifers leave the herd sooner overall, and those that make it to rst lactation Turn to HEAT STRESS

DAIRY

produce less milk,” Laporta said. “They barely made 65 pounds during their rst lactation, and second and third lactations look pretty much identical. At peak, these animals were producing 90 pounds but then crashed quickly.”

In utero cooled calves on the other hand were well above 65 pounds of milk in their rst lactation and much higher in second and third lactations.

“We see lower milk yield and lower energy corrected milk for at least three lactations in heat stress heifers,” Laporta said. “This highlights the long-term carryover effects of heat stress which leads to producing less milk over her lifetime.”

Laporta said that in utero heat stress derails the mammary gland development. Mammary gland tissue is impacted, resulting in smaller udders, truncated ductal epithelial structures, reduced branching and lower cell proliferation.

“This is seen as soon as they are born,” Laporta said. “At puberty, we also see they now have a similar body weight and height, but they produce less estrogen. At this stage, we want the mammary gland to be growing and proliferating. They have fewer mammary gland cells, which are those that make milk, which is why they’re producing less milk.”

Once calves are on the ground, they should be monitored for heat stress just like other members of the herd.

“To prevent the onset of heat stress, we should begin monitoring calves before the temperature-humidity index is 69 and before the temperature is 69.8 degrees Fahrenheit,” Laporta said. “We can improve natural passive ventilation by elevating hutches, changing hutch orientation, or adding extra windows and rear vents.”

During studies on heat abatement for group-housed calves in Florida and Wisconsin, researchers found that calves with access to fans consumed more grain and milk — drinking more milk overall, even during the hottest times of the day. As heifers, they got pregnant sooner and produced more milk in their rst lactation.

Van Os said the goal of heat abatement strategies for calves is to try to reduce heat gain and promote heat loss. When housed in a barn, a roof can provide shade. If housed in an outdoor hutch, the shade factor depends on hutch material.

“Some hutches have a greenhouse effect, causing the sun to amplify heat within the hutch,” Van Os said. “Other hutches can block out solar radiation. Adding supplemental shade via cloth or natural shade from trees can help. A shade cloth should block at least 80% of solar radiation.”

Mechanisms for promoting heat loss in a barn include mechanical or active ventilation from fans which force air to move across the animal.

“This actively cools the calves as well as gets rid of stale air and brings in fresh air,” Van Os said. “This can also be done with positive pressure tubes. In an outdoor hutch, you can use natural or passive ventilation to exchange air, reducing stale air from inside the hutch and replacing it with fresh air from outside using passive strategies; you’re not forcing air through with fans.”

Another option is to elevate hutches — either by putting them on a stand or up on cinder blocks. Openings in the hutch can also be modied to promote air exchange.

“When calves are in the hutch, they’re producing metabolic body heat and dissipating it back into the environment,” Van Os said. “When housed in pairs, two bodies in a hutch create even more heat.”

A study at UW-Madison compared two hutch environments. One hutch was unventilated with the only opening in the front of the hutch. The air speed average in this hutch was 0.4-feet per minute.

The other hutch was passively ventilated with the bedding door partially propped open with a cable tie. Port holes were also installed, which can be opened in summer to provide additional passive ventilation or closed in winter to prevent drafts. The additional airow through the hutch created an average air speed of 43 feet per minute.

Results were measured at three different points in the calves’ lives — week four, week six and week nine. Regardless of week of life, inside the ventilated hutch had a lower THI.

“If using pair housing, it’s important to help calves relieve the additional heat load that two bodies contribute,” Van Os said. “Passive ventilation results in a cooler microclimate inside of the hutch even when two calves spend time inside. If you have calves in outdoor hutches, you can adopt these practices.”

Crop & REPORTS

measurable since Memorial Day. We have 200 of our 1,600 acres of corn to plant yet. We are harvesting second crop grass today (June 5). We chop it all for the milk cows; it should be really good digestibility. We’ve been replacing tile lines and has been really rewarding.

It has been raining fairly regularly, not big amounts but enough to keep us from harvesting our first cutting of alfalfa. We plan to start cutting our alfalfa this week. There is some water standing in our alfalfa fields, so it will be a bit of a navigation problem. We have planted 75% of our grain corn and about half of it has emerged. It looks like we have good germination. The small grains and new seeding of alfalfa look great, but it appears that it will also be a good year for the weeds. We are about halfway through the rotation of our 24 pasture paddocks. The cows are really enjoying the fresh grass and alfalfa.

The hay is tall and laying down, but we can’t get in the fields because we have standing water. Every time you can almost go it rains. We are hoping to do hay next. We chop it all and put it on a pile. It’s at least 3 feet tall. We need a couple good days of dry weather. We have about 100 acres of corn to plant yet. The corn that we have planted is 4 inches tall. We haven’t seen any weevils yet. We’ve been doing maintenance more than anything the last couple weeks.

We have been catching some timely rains. Most of it fell in small amounts although a neighbor reported getting 2 inched in one hour. The crops look great. The fields have gone from gray and brown to lush, vibrant green. We chopped our first cutting of alfalfa and the second crop is coming back nicely. Our alfalfa yielded 2.1 – 3 tons per acre on a dry hay basis and the quality looks good. I talked to an excavation contractor recently and he said that there is soil moisture down to eight feet deep. Some of the springs on the tops of the hills are starting to run again, so it looks like we are out of the drought.

We finished our 130 acres of first crop hay last Thursday (May 30). We made haylage and put it all in a bunker. We still have to do 120 acres of new seeding. Not far from here there has been some weevil trouble. We are watching. We finished planting soybeans May 30 as well. The wheat is just below the waist in height and we can see heads inside the leaves. The second crop alfalfa is really coming back. We might have to replant corn on wet spots in the side hills. We will be doing meadows and ditches when we get a chance. We plan to put on nitrogen and sulfide in the next couple weeks.

We received 3 inches of rain one day last week and over 1 inch a day later, so we have plenty of soil moisture. We managed to chop our first cutting of alfalfa between showers. The crop looked good but had a substantial number of alfalfa weevil larvae in it. I was told that the weevil survival rate was high due to the mild winter. A neighbor cut his alfalfa and his haybine was covered with larvae. We are currently chopping our neighbor’s rye, which is about 4.5 feet tall and is yielding over ten ton per acre. There are still a few farmers who are planting corn and soybeans. There will probably be some prevented planting claims in our neighborhood.

The hay is all cut. I have 30 acres down yet that I want to bale later this week. We did 100 acres of alfalfa. We chopped most of it and round baled some on Friday (May 31). It got too ripe. The second crop looks good but has a little yellow spots because it got too wet. We finished corn on Friday (May 31) and I am waiting to get 50 acres of soybeans in. The early planted corn will be knee high by the end of the week. The corn we planted two weeks ago is 3-4 inches tall. I sprayed Friday and got stuck twice. We won’t be turning a wheel for three days. Our ground is saturated.

We have been in an every-two-day pattern, so it’s hard to get much done. We’ve had some erosion now because of all the rain. Last year’s bean ground has some gullies in it. I think we’ll let them go and it will be alright. I got my winter rye off and spread manure lightly then no tilled that ground. Not much first crop hay is done because it’s been so wet. I would say planting is about wrapped up aside from some silage corn and sorghum sudan grass. It started with visions of early spring and ended up going until early June. The bugs in our area are fierce this year. The hay still standing has been pounded by bugs, which usually the rain washes them off, but they’re thick.

We started cutting first crop hay on May 29. The ground was wet and we got rained out. The next day, we cut 100 acres. More rain came. We had to start and stop because of the rain, but we finally finished chopping on June 2. It had to be the biggest yielding crop we’ve ever had. We usually fill a bunker, but this year we filled one bunker and two-thirds of another. I don’t know about the quality yet, but I sent a sample in June 4. There were no buds when I was cutting, so I’m hoping it will be decent. A lot of our neighbors are done with first crop. I want to start side dressing nitrogen on the corn and touchup spraying on the corn fields as well.

The alfalfa seems to be yielding well. We make drive over piles with the haylage. As for the haylage ground we have done, everything is growing back well. We still have a couple hundred acres to go. We hardly get a break in the rain so it goes slow. Corn and oats are looking good. Everything is pretty well planted in the area, but we have a couple fields to finish planting. The weeds are starting to liven up so that is one of the next things we need to do.

We’ve had close to 7 inches of rain in the last two weeks, with about 5.5 inches being in the past week. We have standing water in pretty much every field right now. We were trying to haul manure on the triticale ground we took off last week, but it was touch and go in some spots. We had a two-and-a-half-day window to get the alfalfa done last week. We did 152 semi loads in 16 hours. The yields on the alfalfa and the triticale were phenomenal. The alfalfa was yielding 3.5 tons of dry matter an acre and we were doing a semi load of triticale per acre. The corn that isn’t under water looks great, but a lot is underwater right now.

We have had 1.75 inches in the last two weeks, a lot of the big storms have gone around us. The crops are taking up the rain as fast as it comes. We did hay May 29-31 and are about half done with it. We have our rye finished and corn no-tilled in behind it. The yields have been crazy, the best we’ve seen in recent years. We filled a 9-by-200 foot bag off of 44 acres, which is unheard of. We are hoping to get back to the hay tomorrow (June 6), if we don’t get too much rain today. Our corn all looks really good.

The corn in the low ground has been under water since getting planted. We can’t get our last 18 acres of corn planted due to the wet ground. A lot of other corn is up 4 inches. Daryl cut 70 acres of hay May 30 which is laying on the ground yet. We lost a lot of sugars and proteins from it being saturated. We’ve been trying to green chop for the dairy cows, but it’s slimy out there. The hay that is out there is so tall the rain has flattened it in different areas, which will make it harder when cutting. A lot of neighbors are holding off cutting alfalfa. Soybeans are doing pretty good and are at the 3-leaf stage.

BURKLE

JIM HAUSCHILDT

BEN JULKA

cows, 1,800 acres

Working with Mother Nature

DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

Ben Daul plants corn May 23 near Mosinee, Wisconsin. Daul planted during a two-day break in a series of rainy days in Central Wisconsin. Daul milks 65 cows and farms 400 acres on his Marathon County dairy farm.

DAIRY ST R25

A look back at 5, 10 and 20 years ago

5 years ago

A career focused on family

Marv and Judy Thielen from Melrose, Minnesota, were in the process of transitioning their dairy farm over to one of their sons, Chad, and his wife, Jacki. At the time, Marv and Judy had been farming together for 38 years on the farm that was recognized as a homestead in 1862. Chad and his parents worked alongside each other on the farm. As Chad settled into his new role at the family dairy, Marv and Judy were moving to serve as mentors. The Thielens milked 68 cows in a tiestall barn and maintained their above 4% average butterfat with a Holstein herd. After their years of farming, Marv and Judy were most proud of raising their four children — Chad, Kelly, Stacy and Brian — on the dairy farm.

Aho encompasses role as father, farmer

In Frazee, Minnesota, dairy farmers Reino and Peggy Aho were the parents of 11 children and 42 grandchildren. Family was something that Reino ensured his children knew was important and he exemplied working hard. The Aho kids grew up and took on dairying themselves. Tim, the oldest, moved off the farm and started a herd of 140 while his brothers, Jamin and Adrian, took over running the 400-cow dairy owned by their dad and uncle.

Educating the consumer

Dan and Pam Kessenich, who dairy farmed with their two adult sons, Brandon and Dylan, and Dan’s father, Byron, from Arlington, Wisconsin, were not beginners when it came to hosting the Columbia County Moo-Day Brunch. In 2019 they hosted the event for the second time at Kessenich Dairy. When they hosted it for the rst time, they were milking about 90 cows. The next time they hosted, they were milking 500 in a double-12 parallel parlor. In 2019, they were expecting around 2,000 people to attend the 42nd annual event.

Thompson ponders his dairy future

Near Ellsworth, Wisconsin, Mitch Thompson could be found milking 65 cows in a tiestall barn he started renting in 2016. In 2019, the 24-year-old had been milking for six years and was slowly making changes to survive the economy. Some of the changes included using sawdust instead of sand for bedding, not hiring any employees, removing additives from feed and incorporating more corn into the ration. Rather than giving every fresh cow calcium, he monitored health and only provided it when necessary. With the help of his wife, Ellen, working an offthe-farm job, he had been able to keep working on his dream as a dairy farmer.

10 years ago

Logging 94 years as volunteer firefighters

The Gilbertson family had over 90 years of combined service in the Hollandale volunteer re department in Hollandale, Wisconsin. Otis Gilbertson was the rst to join the department in 1950 and was joined years later by his son, Mark, in 1971. Otis was retired from the department after 34 years of service. Erik, Mark’s son, joined the department right after high school. In 2014 Mark had 43 years of service and Erik had 16 years. Fighting res was not all that runs in the family. Dairy farming did as well. Otis began farming in 1949 and all three had dairy farmed with pagers in hand, ready to drop their work when it went off.

Digging into their dairy roots

In 2014, Joel Meier from Swaledale, Iowa, was the fth generation to dairy on his family’s farm. Meier milked 80 cows with his parents, Brad and Rachel. The parlor they milked in was installed in 1972 and renovated in 2013. After graduating high school Meier went to college and obtained his degree to become a teacher. After college, he returned to the farm to replace his grandfather, who was in the process of retiring. At the time, Meier commented how his family never pushed him to be a dairy farmer.

20 years ago

Brothers evicted from rental property

When the Heldberg brothers — Karl and Frank — from Le Sueur, Minnesota, were evicted from the barn they were renting after the farm changed ownership, their friend, Robert Schuft, came to the rescue by offering the use of his barn. Schuft, who had 32 milking cows, was willing to adjust to t the Heldbergs’ 42-cow herd after the Heldbergs’ contract was broken. Switching the cows to a new location was not ideal since the brothers were in the process of planning their own barn on another location and did not want to stress the cows more than necessary.

De Boer family owns nationʼs top Holstein cow

In 2004, Paul De Boer from Corona, South Dakota, and his two sons, Brad and Brian, had a herd of cows to be proud of. Five of the Holstein breed’s Top 50 Total Performance Index cows came from their herd, including the top-ranked cow — DeBoer BW Marshall Snow Cap, who topped the list as a two-year-old. However, she was not the only cow they were proud to own. DeBoer Fred Snow Angel, Snow Cap’s dam, was ranked No. 4 on the list. Another relative was Snowake, who had an average butterfat test of 7.6%.

Potluck desserts

I was thumbing through my sister Nancy’s recipe collection when I came across these special treats. She was known to bring these treats to potlucks to share with everyone. Once you saw her treats on the table, you made sure to grab one the rst time through the line. If you waited, the odds were that the pan was empty when you went back, a sure sign of a food hit!

With recent May/June rains, it looks like the strawberries are going to have a bumper year. That is always an exciting sign and an opportunity to try new recipes. I found a recipe for Strawberry Bread that is loaded with strawberries. I can’t wait for the patch to open so that I can start making a new treat to share. Enjoy!

Rhubarb salad

4 cups diced rhubarb

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup sugar

1 package (6 ounces) strawberry Jello

1 cup orange juice

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

1 cup sliced fresh strawberries

In a saucepan, over medium heat, bring rhubarb, water and sugar to a boil. Cook uncovered until rhubarb is tender (6-8 minutes). Remove from heat. Stir in Jello until dissolved (2-3 minutes). Add orange juice and peel; mix well.

Chill until mix begins to thicken. Fold in strawberries and chill again. Garnish with mayonnaise, mint leaves and additional strawberries if desired.

S’more brownies

1 (21.5-ounce) package brownie mix

6 graham crackers

1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

8 (1.5-ounce) bars milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Spread into greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven. While brownies are baking, in a medium bowl, break graham crackers into pieces; toss with marshmallows and milk chocolate bits. Sprinkle evenly over top of warm brownies and return to oven for an additional 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting.

Creamy lemon squares

20 Nilla Wafers, nely chopped

1/2 cup our

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup cold butter

1 package cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons our

3 tablespoons lemon zest, divided 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons powdered sugar

Line an 8-inch square pan with foil. Mix wafers, our and brown sugar. Cut in cold butter until crumbly. Press into bottom of pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat cream cheese and sugar until creamed. Add eggs. Blend in our, 1 tablespoon zest, juice and baking powder. Pour over crust. Bake an additional 25-28 minutes. Cool. Refrigerate 2 hours. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and remaining zest.

Raspberry Bundt cake

1 plain white cake mix

1 (10-ounce) box frozen red raspberries, thawed, or 1 1/4 cups crushed fresh berries, plus juice

4 eggs

2/3 cup salad oil

Mix all ingredients together and beat 2 minutes. Bake in greased Bundt pan (or loaf pan) at 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes. Drizzle with powdered sugar glaze when cool.

Strawberry bread from Preppy Kitchen

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons our

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup diced fresh strawberries

Glaze:

3 tablespoons diced fresh strawberries

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray loaf pan with baking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, milk, oil, egg and vanilla. In another medium bowl, stir together 2 cups our, baking powder and salt. Add the our mixture to the sugar mixture and stir until just moistened.

In a small bowl, combine strawberries and 2 tablespoons our, tossing to coat. Fold strawberries into the batter. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake 5560 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

For the glaze: Mash strawberries. Stir in powdered sugar and milk. Spoon evenly over cooled bread. Let stand for 30 minutes or until glaze sets before serving.

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

Food columnist, Natalie Schmitt

Juusto Cheese

In an air fryer, small skillet, or sauté pan over low heat, fry cubed juusto cheese (bread cheese) until the cheese is glistening and warmed through. Add olives, thyme, oil, zest and freshly ground pepper if desired. Continue to warm until fragrant and outside is slightly crisp; do not simmer. Serve with warm atbread or toasted baguette slices (optional). Simple and Quick (and keto friendly!)

Crock Pot Chicken Enchiladas

8 ounces sour cream

8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese

4 cooked,

From the kitchen of Liza Schlintz, Bangor, Wisconsin, La Crosse County

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot, minus the tortillas. Heat for two hours on low heat. Stir in tortillas 30 minutes prior to serving.

Ice Cream Cake

1 gallon ice cream, slightly softened

1 package crushed Oreos 1/2 stick butter

1 large container cool whipped cream 1 package M&Ms Chocolate syrup

Combine butter and crushed Oreos. Press into bottom of 9-by-13 inch buttered cake pan. Follow with a layer of ice cream (one or more avors as desired). Top with cool whip layer and follow with chocolate syrup swirling designs. Garnish with M&Ms (or nuts, sprinkles, crushed cookies, etc.). Place in freezer for a minimum of two hours prior to serving. Our custom corn-chopping crew loves this treat!

the kitchen of Liza Schlintz, Bangor, Wisconsin, La Crosse County

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