August 12, 2023 Dairy Star - 1st section - Zone 2

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25

DAIRY ST R25

Volume 25, No. 12

You can nd their cows in the city

Treschers farm among residents of Cashton

By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com

CASHTON, Wis. – Driving through the residential streets of Cashton, people pass houses, children on bikes and perhaps the occasional Amish horse and buggy. Right in the heart of the downtown residential streets, they will also nd a fully operational dairy farm. This is where the Trescher family has farmed since 1909.

“With our location, every single load of forage in and manure out is on a residential street, so it can be a little challenging from time to time,” Steve Trescher said. “But, I grew up here, my dad grew up here, and I guess we’re getting by.”

Steve and his wife, Annette, have been married for 36 years

and have continued the Trescher family’s legacy of farming in town.

The Trescher family’s farm was a tour stop June 23 for attendees of the National Jersey Convention.

The Treschers milk 70 cows in a 50-stall tiestall barn. The tiestall is bedded with sand and

holds mostly Jersey and JerseyHolstein crossbred cows, while a freestall barn houses the Holsteins. The herd is intermingled during milking time when they switch groups. Their son Derek

helps with feeding and hauling manure every day.

Running a dairy farm in the residential area of town has presented challenges. The Treschers said they do their best

to be as neighborly as possible by not doing eldwork after 10 p.m., keeping baleage plastic

Taking hot bu�on issues to Washington

Krentz talks milk pricing reform, farm bill priorities

By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com

BERLIN, Wis. – As both a dairy farmer and president of Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, Kevin Krentz is in a unique position to ensure the voice of dairy farmers is heard not only at the state level but also at the national level.

“This is the biggest voice the Farm Bureau has had in dairy in a long time,” Krentz said. “We are a major part of the discussions on the Federal Milk Marketing Order process as well as the farm bill. It’s good for farmers to have that extra voice.”

Krentz

ly, and their business partner, Cory Biely, milk 600 cows and farm 1,400 acres near Berlin. Krentz is in his third year serving as president of WFBF and has made two trips to Washington, D.C., this year with a third trip planned for the fall. During each visit, Krentz spends time with lawmakers and has found them to be receptive to his and other farmers’ ideas.

“They want to hear from us and know what our priorities are,” Krentz said. “That’s one thing that’s always impressed me since I became a Farm Bureau member is the respect and willingness of our elected ofcials to want to sit down and listen – not only from Madison but also D.C.”

In June, a Farm Bureau leadership group that Krentz is part of met with congresspeople and full groups of constituents and senators to discuss farm bill priorities. During the

week of July 10, those conversations continued when Krentz was in Washington to attend American Farm Bureau Federation meetings and talk with lawmakers about FMMO pricing reform.

“We need a pricing system that works for dairy farmers,” Krentz said. “We also need to continue to better our tools available to protect ourselves in the dairy industry whether that be Dairy Margin Coverage or Dairy Revenue Protection programs to provide that safety net. We need to continue to solidify those programs.”

Krentz met with the staff of Sen. John Boozman, RArk., ranking member of the Senate agriculture committee; the staff of Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Senate agriculture commit-

“All dairy, all the time”™

and his wife, Hol-

ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR Anne�e and Steve Trescher take a break June 23 at their farm in Cashton, Wisconsin. The couple hosted this year’s tour for the Na�onal Jersey Conven�on.

ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR

Heifers eat Aug. 4 on the Treschers’ farm in Cashton, Wisconsin. The view from the heifer yard includes the residen�al streets of town, and just around the corner is the hustle and bustle of Main Street.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Kevin Krentz (le�) discusses Federal Milk Marke�ng Order pricing reform and farm bill priori�es with Congressman Glenn “GT” Thompson’s agriculture commi�ee staff July 12 in Washington, D.C. In July, the U.S. Department of Agriculture voted to move forward with the FMMO hearing process, which is set to begin Aug. 23 in Carmel, Indiana.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture has scheduled a national hearing to review Federal Milk Marketing Orders for Aug. 23 near Indianapolis, Indiana. Thirty proposals were submitted, and 21 are in the scope of the hearing. Associated Milk Producers Inc. Chair Steve Schlangen said the numbers used in many of these proposals are still outdated. “They’re not anywhere close to where they should be as far as what it really costs to make milk into cheese and whey,” Schlangen said.

“With the numbers we’re using right now to create a Class III price, the costs are from 2005. … Labor was $10 an hour then.” Schlangen also wants the farm bill to include mandatory reporting of production costs in the dairy plants and surveying every two years “so that this thing doesn’t get way out of line like it has been.”

$1B in losses from 2018 farm bill

The 2018 farm bill changed the way farmers are paid for Class I uid milk, and the decision was made without a hearing, comment period or producer referendum. The Class I price now uses an average price, rather than the “higher of” pricing method. “We hope Congress is ready to make a simple four-word change in the dairy title of the 2023 farm bill,” said Laurie Fischer, CEO, American Dairy Coalition. “If the ‘higher of’ method was still in place, the August Class I mover would have been $18.29 (per hundredweight), not $16.62.” ADC reports the net loss realized by dairy farmers since the average method was implemented has now topped $1 billion.

“Go back to the ‘higher of’ (pricing method) by the fastest means possible,” Fischer said.

Dairy Business Innovation Act introduced

Wisconsin Congressman Derrick Van Orden has introduced the Dairy Business Innovation Act, which would allocate an additional $16 million per year to USDA to support dairy businesses. This program provides technical assistance to dairy businesses through research institutions or industry exports. Van Orden said the bill “will ensure Wisconsin dairy farmers’ continued ability to feed the world.” Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin introduced the companion bill in the upper chamber.

Interest rates rise

Don Wick

The Federal Reserve bumped interest rates by a quarter percentage point to a range of 5.25% to 5.5%. Interest rates are now at a 22-year high. Fed Chair Jerome Powell would not rule out another rate hike at the central bank’s September meeting.

Impact still to be seen

Virginia Tech Professor Emeritus Dr. David Kohl spoke at the Bell Bank AgViews Live Conference in Fargo, North Dakota; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. “Navigating these interest rates

Con nued from AG INSIDER | Page 2 is going to be very critical for the next two or three years; these are the fastest rising interest rates since the 1980s,” Kohl said. “We haven’t felt the impact because oftentimes we haven’t paid down on the operating loans.” Kohl said ination, economic growth and unemployment are all factors that must be considered before interest rates can decline.

Milk production edges higher

Milk production in the 24 major dairy states totaled 18.1 billion pounds in June, up 0.2% from one year ago. Wisconsin milk output was up 1% with cow numbers down 2,000 head.

Let the trend be your friend

Too many cows in the system, an oversupply of milk and milk dumping have all been market factors this summer. Total Farm Marketing senior marketing advisor Bryan Doherty said the milk price has improved. “When the market turns, the market will often nd that sellers have got their solid position or shorts, and you have speculators already jumping on the long side,” he said. That brings additional volatility to the marketplace. Doherty said this is a time for dairy farmers to start hedging, “but, do it lightly (and) let the trend be your friend right now.”

Disaster declaration praised Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has praised Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for issuing a disaster declaration for 27 Wisconsin counties due to drought. “We’re continuing to do everything we can to support farmers and their families, and we appreciate the help from our federal partners and USDA Secretary Vilsack to support our state’s farmers,” Evers said. This designation allows the Farm Service Agency to extend emergency credit to farmers recovering from a national disaster.

Strike at De Pere plant

Members of Teamsters Local 662 are on strike at New Dairy Select Milk in De Pere, Wisconsin. New Dairy Select Milk is a subsidiary of Borden Dairy and was formerly known as

Morning Glory. The striking workers are seeking a better healthcare plan. This facility produces sour cream for well-known brands, including Taco Bell and Wendy’s.

A new option for haymakers

New Holland Agriculture North America has a new header for its Speedrower PLUS Series self-propelled windrowers. The new Durabine 413 PLUS disc header features a cut width of 13 feet. This gives haymakers an additional size to choose from in its Durabine Plus Series.

Edge Co-op lls board vacancy

Brady Janzen, who is a partner with Riverview Dairy at Morris, Minnesota, will serve an interim term on the Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative board. Janzen lls a vacancy left by Mitch Davis, who sold his Minnesota-based dairy farms and transitioned to an advisory role. Edge is based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and serves dairy farmers in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Hromyak appointed Farm Bureau Foundation executive director

The Wisconsin Farm Bureau has named John Hromyak as its foundation director. Most recently, Hromyak was the director of the Agrace Hospice Care Foundation. Previously, Hromyak was the executive director of the Wisconsin FFA Foundation.

Trivia challenge

National Ice Cream Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of July. That answers our last trivia question. For this week’s trivia, how many gallons of milk does the average American consume per year? We will have the answer in our next edition of Dairy Star.

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

Anne e Trescher visits a calf June 23 on her farm in Cashton, Wisconsin. Anne e and her husband, Steve, have been farming together for 36 years.

contained and keeping the roads clean. They achieve this by having blacktop driveways so the mess cleans off on their property instead of on the residential roads.

Steve and Annette said there are benets to living in town such as the cows being on village water and the milkhouse operating on village sewer. There is also village electric service to the farm, eliminating the need for a backup generator.

They also realized that they had fewer solicitors because salesmen never thought to look for a farm down a residential street. Annette said nobody ever found them until they hosted a dairy breakfast in 1998.

When Steve’s dad was operating the farm, they had 12 cows and sold all of the milk out of the basement to the people in town until 1969 when pasteurization was made mandatory.

“You wouldn’t believe how many people tell me they remember buying milk from my dad,” Steve said. “Everybody in town got milk here. Things have denitely changed.”

While their children were growing up, Steve said it was normal for the town kids to ride their bikes right through the barn during milking while making their way around town with friends.

“When the kids got older, town kids were here and they had opportunities that other town kids wouldn’t have,” Steve said. “And, my kids had opportunities that other country kids wouldn’t have.”

The Treschers were originally an exclusively Holstein herd, but when Annette joined the operation, she brought her beloved Jerseys with her. She traded her beef cows for ve Jersey heifers, which she brought to the Trescher farm. Everyone had to learn how to manage Holsteins and Jerseys side by side.

“It was an adjustment for me,” Annette said. “Everyone has had a little bit of a learning curve over the years as to how to manage them.”

When she moved her rst group of heifers to the farm, Annette’s dad had told her to wait to breed the Jerseys so they would be big enough to compete with the Holsteins. The Treschers found out that they did not have to worry about the Jerseys competing. In fact, Annette said the Jerseys tend to boss the Holsteins around.

One challenge they have faced has been feeding the two breeds. The cows are fed a total mixed ration, but with them both being milked in the same stanchion barn, feed cannot be separated between the Jerseys and Holsteins. Annette said she thinks the Jerseys could produce a higher fat content if they were fed a separate ration. Even with the current feed, however, the Jerseys ranked seventh in the U.S. in mature equivalent milk production among other registered Jersey herds of a similar size.

“I’m pretty proud of how hard they work,” Annette said. “But, I could challenge them if I had a different facility.”

Feed is grown on the 300 acres the family farms. The land is a combination of the Trescher home farm and Steve’s mother’s home farm. They grow corn and alfalfa for feed.

“We have just as much land here as we would in the country,” Steve said.

The Treschers said they also have good neighbors.

“Thirty-six years ago, every single neighbor was a retired farmer,” Annette said. “That is no longer the case. We are lucky that we have very understanding neighbors now.”

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tee; and the staff of U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., chairman of the House agriculture committee.

“Congressman Derrick Van Orden was at the reception I attended for Sen. Thompson, and although I didn’t get a chance to speak with him that night, I want to thank him for all the work he’s done for agriculture in Wisconsin,” Krentz said.

In May, the National Milk Producers Federation put in a petition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to hold a hearing on FMMOs to make changes that can ultimately provide farmers with a more consistent paycheck. The AFBF came out in support of that petition. After 30 days, USDA did not fully accept NMPF’s proposal but did ask other groups to submit proposals.

On June 16, a prehearing webinar took place in which 12 organizations submitted approximately 38 proposals for changes in FMMOs. AFBF was one of those groups, Krentz said. In July, the USDA voted to move forward with the hearing process, which is set to begin Aug. 23 in Carmel, Indiana.

Krentz said a number of proposals have been submitted to increase the make allowance, which he said will be a major part of the scope moving forward.

“We need some offset for make allowance increase, moving back to higher of with Class I mover versus average of,” Krentz said. “This will help put money back into the order.”

But in order to support a make allowance, Krentz said he wants a clear picture of what the make is.

“I would like to see a regular mandatory survey of that make,” he said. “Only 30% of the milk plants participated in the last survey. That’s not giving us a clear picture. Understanding the make and what it should be to produce an adequate or fair make allowance is important.”

The last time yields were adjusted was almost 15 years ago, Krentz said. Therefore, yield factors may need to be adjusted.

Krentz would also like to disincentivize depooling.

“Negative producer price differentials have hurt farms a lot in a number of areas in Wisconsin over the past few years,” Krentz said. “We really need to look at PPDs and keeping them as positive as possible or better than that. That way, farms can manage by understanding what their premiums are moving forward

over for that class price. That has to be a major part of this reform.”

Krentz said farms with Dairy Revenue Protection in place based on Class III and Class IV prices are not covered under DRP when PPDs go negative.

“That is a major challenge we have had,” Krentz said. “Farmers can put tools in place to protect themselves, but if tools work against them or if the pricing system works against those tools, it’s not good for anybody.”

Getting as much product as possible priced into the market is another area to look at, according to Krentz.

“This will help ensure we’re getting a fair price on the milk check and getting paid to what we should be getting paid,” Krentz said. “We also have to look at individual orders. There is huge diversity within our orders around the country.”

Krentz wants to ensure that an order cannot be eliminated. Currently, if an order has a change, it can be brought forward, but if it reaches a vote and producers vote it down, that order is eliminated.

“We need a process to bring potential changes forward without the threat of losing the order,” he said. “This would give us exibility within different orders.”

The current farm bill expires at the end of September, and legislative portions of the FMMO pricing reforms will likely be attached to the new farm bill, Krentz said.

“We need to keep pushing to get the farm bill done ASAP so we can continue to support agriculture,” he said.

The Farm Bureau is hoping the next farm bill will continue to build on conservation and offer more in the way of risk management.

“Bolstering the Dairy Margin Coverage program is extremely important,” Krentz said. “We would also like to expand the list of specialty crops covered under crop insurance.”

Krentz said the timing of their June visit was interesting because it fell during the week Congress was asked to submit priorities for the farm bill.

“It was a perfect time to be having some of those discussions and letting them hear the priorities of Wisconsin when submitting their priorities,” Krentz said.

Another group of young farmers is going to

Washington in September, Krentz said, which hits at the right time once again.

“Lawmakers will be getting close to end discussions on the farm bill, and our farmers could have a major impact in those discussions,” Krentz said. “There is nothing more impactful than getting members in front of legislators.”

Krentz expects the FMMMO hearing process to take approximately 12 to 18 months. Depending on the scope and changes desired, implementation may take some time as well, Krentz said.

“We as farmers have a strong voice within our FMMOs and need to continue to use that voice whether verbally at a hearing or through the voting process when the hearing process continues,” Krentz said. “It is extremely important for our farmers to be part of that voting process.”

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Dairy farmer and Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federa on President Kevin Krentz (le ) and Congressman Mark Pocan pause for a photo July 12 in Washington, D.C. Krentz milks 600 cows and farms 1,400 acres near Berlin, Wisconsin, and has made two trips to Washington this summer to discuss agricultural priori es in Wisconsin.

Book inspires discussion on mental wellness

Farmer panel shares ideas on challenges, opportunities in ag

By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com

SPRING GREEN, Wis.

When Wisconsin author Michael Perry sent his latest book, “Forty Acres Deep,” to publishers in New York, they had no interest in printing the piece. Written about a middleaged farmer who is struggling to save his pole sheds from collapsing under the endlessly falling snow, the book describes a lonely, desperate man at the end of his rope. As the main character reects on the state of his farm after selling his dairy cows, giving up on beef farming and nally letting his elds go fallow, he obsesses over saving the pole sheds while battling a mental struggle concerning the value of his own life.

While the publishing company did not think there was an audience for such a plot, Perry knew there was a need for farmers in the Midwest to be represented. After consulting with his farming friends, he self-published the novel, and people across the Midwest are identifying with the story.

Farmers and readers came together July 18 to discuss the book and the current issues facing Wisconsin farmers, with the author present. Joy Kirkpatrick, from the University of Wisconsin Extension, moderated a farmer panel discussion at the Octagon Barn in Spring Green that included local farmers Dorothy Harms, Robert Nigh and David Unbehaun.

The event was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as part of its National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network.

Harms said there were scenes in the book that truly resonated with her.

“It was really important to get an accurate reection of what farmers face when they are trying to get through each day and how they identify with those struggles,” Harms said.

“(Perry) did a great job when he talked about the core of how farmers think; the work just has to be done.”

Nigh said the consolida-

&

tion of the dairy industry creates a loss of connections within communities, which was shown in the book as well.

Nigh said he has found that making an intentional effort to reach out to fellow farmers and neighbors with a phone call or text message just to check in has helped him to retain a sense of community.

“It’s important to reach out and have a condante that you can talk to,” Nigh said. “I feel better after I’ve done that, and I’m sure that I did more for myself than I’ve done for them.”

Other challenges that were discussed were labor shortages, market prices, the lack of milk market opportunities available, transfer of farmland and government regulations.

In terms of federal, state or local policy, the panel had ideas about what changes could be made to increase mental wellness in the rural areas. Harms said more funding for crisis worker training for suicide prevention should be zeroed in on. Instead of being treated like a criminal when a family member calls emergency services, she hopes there could be a more effective resource available through law enforcement

and medical professionals.

Unbehaun said people doing business with farmers should engage in some sort of training to help be a resource for their customers.

“A lot of the contact that farmers make is with people they do business with,” Unbehaun said. “Maybe we’re asking too much of these individuals, but they may be able to identify if somebody might be having an issue or if something is developing or changing in their attitude.”

There are programs that help promote and train activelistening skills, being able to ask the questions to get people who may be in crisis to a safe place. A recently launched resource is a national suicide hotline, accessible by dialing 988, that has received 995,000 calls from Wisconsin alone since its launch last year. The hotline is available to anyone struggling with mental wellness; they do not have to be in crisis to be able to utilize the resource.

Other resources mentioned were the Wisconsin Farm Center, Farmer Angel Network and Farm Well Wisconsin.

Nigh acknowledged the changing landscape of modern agriculture with a nod to the younger generations attempting to make a living from farming.

“The new generation is working even harder because they have jobs in town for one spouse or maybe both,” Nigh said. “There’s a lot more information out there, and you need to be able to digest that because just working hard doesn’t get you where you need to be. This book really does epitomize struggles, but there’s a lot more.”

With the struggles facing farmers today, the panel was eager to point out opportunities in agriculture that were not always popular. Harms’ family converted their dairy operation into an agritourism venue, which allowed them to transition to the fth generation on their farm.

The possibility of more farmers moving to regenerative agriculture was brought up as well. The lifestyle seems to be more exible in allowing time for the pursuit of off-farm income as well as down time, Nigh said.

The conversation circled back to the rural community again and again.

“We’re a unique set in our economy,” Nigh said. “We need to focus on rural issues and small towns because a vital part of our economy is being challenged – the core of our lifestyle, our small towns, our churches and our schools.”

Michael Perry Author of “Forty Acres Deep”

Mysteries of milk margins

Variables in predicting prices

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

ITHACA, N.Y. – After a year of dismal milk prices for dairy farmers, hopes turn to rumors that the trend might be about to change.

With prices wallowing in low numbers in July –Class III milk at $13.77 per hundredweight, a drop of $1.14 from June – better days cannot come soon enough. Yet, with so many factors being at play when it comes to prices and predicting those prices, farmers must make daily decisions while standing on shaky ground.

Christopher Wolf, a professor of agricultural economics at Cornell University in Ithaca, has been watching the ever-dropping markets. He said those complex factors make market predictions more challenging today.

“With 18% or so of milk equivalents being exported, the marginal unit of milk is priced by international markets,” Wolf said. “The result is that the products which the U.S. exports – especially powders – have prices highly correlated with world prices. Additionally, corn and soybean markets are very international (and) directly impact the cost of producing milk.”

At the global level, many more variables are added to the prediction puzzle.

“The result is that international weather and, particularly, economic or military conicts can directly affect the farm milk price in the U.S.,” Wolf said. “Weather adds a great deal of uncertainty with, for example, the large effects of the Pacic currents changing from La Nina to El Nino. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has impacted feed and energy prices, etc.”

Both at home and abroad, fears of recession have hurt milk pricing, especially for Class III milk, over the past year, along with other contributors. Plus, many factors are interdependent in intricate ways

“Cheese prices drive other prices as it is the largest use of milk,” Wolf said. “The most recent Cold Storage report put total natural cheese stocks at slightly more than 1.5 billion pounds, up a bit from the previous year. Of course, the important value is stocks-to-use rather than the stock value in isolation. Commercial disappearance depends on domestic and international consumption. The fear of a potential recession – which looks increasingly unlikely but you never know – dampens the forecasts for consumption.”

The coming months are predicted to be better for prices, Wolf said, but possible variables are ever-present.

“Margins are really low at the current time,” Wolf said. “Dairy Margin Coverage (is at) $3.65 per cwt for June and in the same neighborhood for July. This is not sustainable, and the markets expect adjustments (by) culling cows and other ways of cutting back production. The milk and feed markets are currently predicting a recovery in margins by November to closer to longrun averages ¬– not great but much better than today. This will depend on feed prices and weather, along with many other factors.”

If prices do improve as predicted, the roller coaster of milk pricing does not bring a sense of security even in better market times. However, Wolf said, stability is not always a good thing.

“There are many dimensions of farm milk price,” Wolf said. “It is not necessarily better to have no variation in milk price. Consider periods where the price was very low but stable.”

Predictability, Wolf said, is more important than stability for dairy farmers.

“We expect seasonal variation and can manage through it if it behaves predictably,” Wolf said. “However, I would argue that what farmers really need are adequate prices. If prices received are adequate, then the rest takes care of itself. The U.S. dairy industry has done a better job in recent years of looking for innovation in product form and place, and that will continue to be important to growing markets both domestically and abroad.”

Wolf also sees a role government can play.

“As an economist, I want to see the government intervening where there are potential market failures –information problems, market power discrepancies, etc. The DMC and Dairy Revenue Protection are valuable risk management programs. Federal Milk Marketing Orders modernization is a good idea to keep the underlying structure viable.”

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Delaney’s Ice Cream Shoppe cools down Farley

By Sherry Newell Contributing writer

FARLEY, Iowa – What do an auto repair shop, a baseball training facility and an ice cream shop have in common? In Farley, they all come with the name Delaney.

Delaney’s Ice Cream Shoppe was born of the business transformation brothers Matt and Jason Delaney began three years ago. Delaney’s Auto and Ag Center and Repair rst existed in Cascade then expanded to Farley where Matt began offering ice cream in the waiting area.

“I was looking for something unique to separate us from the competition,” Matt Delaney said. “(Ice cream) was the extra cherry on top.”

For the rst year, ice cream co-existed with the original business, but by the second summer, the Delaneys bought the attached hardware store. After remodeling, Delaney opened a separate ice cream business while his brother created Between the Laces, a baseball and softball practice business.

cream, and they have great names.”

All told, Delaney has accessed 65-75 of the company’s 100-plus avors at one time or another.

“That’s why we sell so many,” he said. “We market for the 30% of customers who come in and want something new. That’s what separates us from all the other ice cream stores.”

In addition to the agship store in Farley, ice cream is beginning to be offered at the Cascade location of Delaney’s Auto and Ag Center and Repair. In the future, ice cream offerings could be expanded there.

There is also an ice cream trailer, which Delaney calls a mobile barn, which offers ice cream and snow cones. It goes to Dyersville’s Field of Dreams nearly every weekend and to the Eagles Club on Fridays. Community events and ball games are also on the schedule.

Delaney gives 10% of proceeds to schools when the trailer is used at school events and runs a reward program with schools at the shop. He also has a relationship with the county dairy promotion association for which Delaney’s Ice Cream Shoppe won the Golden Butter Knife award this year.

Like any business, running an ice cream shop is not without challenges.

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“It’s his dream, my dream and what we do for a living,” Delaney said. “It was a great decision. Ice cream is like coffee: It doesn’t matter what you have for money; you treat yourself.”

Today, Delaney’s Ice Cream Shoppe goes through an average of about 90 3-gallon containers of ice cream each week, sometimes needing as much as 120 containers.

The store regularly offers 46 avors of Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, made in Madison, Wisconsin. Delaney credits the ice cream brand for much of the store’s success.

“We did a lot of research for a year and a half,” Delaney said. “Hands down, this was the best ice

“Help is the biggest thing, that and watching your spending,” said Delaney, who said he probably focuses about 60% of his time on the ice cream business. “The automotive business is still my bread and butter.”

Delaney has found good help from young people who were raised on farms.

“Your farm kids are the ones who know how to work,” he said. “Their parents make their kids work. I can’t focus all my time here, so we need people with initiative who are problem solvers, and those kids come from that background.”

Delaney said Delaney’s Ice Cream Shoppe is managed like a family.

SHERRY NEWELL/DAIRY STAR

Ma Delaney stands in Delaney’s Ice Cream Shoppe June 27 in Farley, Iowa. The business goes through an average of 90 3-gallon containers of ice cream each week.

A mobile unit ou i ed to resemble a barn is parked June 27 and is part of Ma Delaney’s ice cream business in Farley, Iowa. The trailer goes to community events and helps organiza ons raise funds by selling ice cream and snow cones.

“We try to have a lot of fun, but we have to work at the same time,” he said. Delaney’s eventual goal is to have one year-round ice cream store and two seasonal ones along with two more mobile units.

With a wife and two children who also need his attention, Delaney is

working to balance his time. Meanwhile, he remembers the words of an aunt who often said, “There’s always room for ice cream.”

That is good because ice cream shop owners get to take home the leftovers.

What are some of the DHIA tests you use?

We usually do the standard tests. We’ve also used the pregnancy test.

Which is your favorite and why? I really like the production and the breeding records.

How does testing with DHIA bene t your dairy operation? It helps us manage our dairy more ef ciently. If I have a high somatic cell count cow, it costs me money to have her in the herd. DHIA provides me with the information that helps me make decisions on my herd’s performance.

Tell us about your farm. I farm here with my brother, David. We are the third generation of Names to farm here. We milk our cows in a double 8 herringbone parlor. The cows are outside on pasture or bedding pack 365 days a year. We farm 750 acres of corn, soybeans and alfalfa.

DHIA: Now MORE than ever

Sauk Centre, MN Buffalo, MN 763.682.1091

SHERRY NEWELL/DAIRY STAR

Investing in the future of dairy

Compeer Financial donates $1M toward dairy pilot plant at UW-Platteville

By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com

PLATTEVILLE, Wis.

– Plans are underway for a new Dairy Pilot Plant and Training Center to be built at University of WisconsinPlatteville’s Pioneer Farm.

Progress on the project has been given a boost thanks to a $1 million donation from Compeer Financial. The donation is the biggest gift Compeer has ever given one individual entity for a project. UW-Platteville’s professor of dairy and animal science Tera Montgomery said the university has a long-standing relationship with Compeer.

“The school of agriculture has worked with Compeer Financial for a very long time, so we knew they were going to be a good partner of the Dairy Pilot Plant and Training Center,” Montgomery said. “In our conversations, they said they felt like it hit all the different points of what was important to them

eville,

to cost a total of $10 million

in terms of rural vitality and helping farmers and others in agriculture.”

Plans for the pilot plant are about 80% complete. Montgomery anticipates the nished project to cost approximately $10 million. Funding is being pursued through gifts and grants, which allows the project to move more quickly and give the donors a say in the deci-

sions if they so choose.

Because of the nature of the funding process, a timeline is difcult to form.

“I would love to say in two years during June Dairy Month we will have a grand opening, but I can’t say that,” Montgomery said. “I can’t really see it happening any faster than that just because of some of the tasks that need to be accomplished.”

When the funding goal is eventually reached, the Dairy Pilot Plant and Training Center will be built at the university’s school farm where the 200-head of dairy cattle are milked with a parlor and two robots. The goal is to provide education, outreach, research and training for students, producers and consumers.

The building will feature a production oor with ob-

servation windows, packaging capabilities and a store front. The area will serve as a host for any equipment that is brought in to experiment with. The entire design is plug and play with drop down electrical from the ceiling. Montgomery said it will provide proof of concept for a place where innovative dairy products can be made.

The store will sell ice cream from the university’s student-led ice cream business, Pioneer Sweets. It will also offer local products and provide an observing opportunity for people in the store to see and hear what is happening on the production oor.

Montgomery hopes local farmers and consumers will feel a positive impact from the Dairy Pilot Plant and Training Center.

“It’s meant to inspire people and get them to think of what they could potentially do on their own farms,” Montgomery said. “We can show people what is really possible with farm to fork.”

The university plans to hire an agricultural business faculty member who can help analyze data for people who

PHOTO SUBMITTED

The plans for the Dairy Pilot Plant and Training Center are underway at the University of Wisconsin-Pla

thanks to a $1 million dona on from Compeer Financial. The project is es mated

and will be funded through further gi s and grants.

Con nued from UW-PLATTEVILLE | Page 12 are using the pilot plant and guring out how to launch their ideas.

The benets will extend to university students as well, with the opportunity to research and train close to campus. Ultimately, the Dairy Pilot Plant and Training Center will allow the current trajectory of the research center to continue with its momentum. Some projects that have been funded through the Dairy Innovation Hub, for example, could be expanded with the new facility.

One of the current research projects in the dairy food science area at UWPlatteville involves a new technology developing plasma-activated water. Plasma-activated water is antimicrobial in nature and could be used to eliminate bacteria where it is not wanted such as while cleaning surfaces or growing plants like alfalfa.

together, the cost of travel and accommodations are more expensive than in the rural setting of Platteville.

“There’s a lot of training that happens across the state that can now have another place where we can meet and get some perspectives on how to do things differently,” Montgomery said. “We can’t and won’t replace UW-Madison’s Center for Dairy Research, but we can be an extension of what they are accomplishing there.”

Tera Montgomery UW-Platteville

Montgomery said she would like to see this project go so well that it can be duplicated elsewhere in the state. Her hope is that the investment in the dairy industry will continue to be a priority across Wisconsin.

Logistics play a role in the planning of the new facility as well. Montgomery said while UW-Madison is a well-known place to bring scientists

“The more we know, the better resource we can be for future students, for current farmers and for alumni and everyone,” Montgomery said. “It’s a process, but that’s the awesome thing about Compeer stepping up and saying they want to help us get there faster.”

from our side our side OF THE FENCE THE

Dairy show coordinators: How do you prepare for your county’s fair?

John Slipek (left) and Gary Beastrom Abbotsford, Wisconsin and Athens, Wisconsin Marathon County

What are your main responsibilities as coordinators of the dairy show at your county fair? We take care of organizing all the entries and paperwork for the Wisconsin Valley Fair. We also line up all of the sponsors. At the fair, we check everything in and clean up the paperwork. Then, we oversee the show to make sure it runs smoothly. We ensure there are no issues and record the placings. We also oversee our heifer program, selecting youth who apply for the program, working to nd them calves and sponsors, and making sure the projects go well throughout the year. There is a lot of paperwork and organizing with that project.

What do you enjoy about this role?Slipek: I enjoy it because I grew up with it, and I like being involved. I have been doing this for 49 years. It really t in well with my role as an agriculture teacher, and it was something I wanted to continue doing, even after retiring from teaching. It really is my niche. I love being around the animals, the show and the kids. I have worked with multiple generations of many of these families that exhibit at the fair. Beastrom: It keeps me in touch with the students and the kids. I started as a superintendent 17 years ago, after I retired from teaching agriculture in Athens. I really enjoy working with the students involved in the heifer program. We work with them in the fall when they submit their applications, nd calves and sponsors for them, and then check in with them to make sure things are going well. I also serve as the superintendent of the plant and soil sciences department.

What is the most challenging part of this position? Getting all of the paperwork organized and ready for show morning is the most challenging part. We have to check all of the papers and health work. There are substitutions we need to make sure get put into the right class, and we take out all of the scratches. Then we need to make sure all of the kids

Melinda Goplin Galesville, Wisconsin Trempealeau County

What are your main responsibilities as coordinator of the dairy show at your county fair? As the junior dairy superintendent, I work with the open show superintendent to organize entries, check everyone in and stall everyone according to space needs. I also organize show helpers to take care of the book, the placings, ribbons, a ring person and someone to help check in, help order awards, and make sure the judge knows which class is coming in and make everything run smoothly.

What do you enjoy about this role? I like seeing the kids working on their projects – from unloading them off the trailer to getting them washed and t – and getting excited about doing chores and nally taking them in the ring for the award for the work they’ve done. I like to see the older members step up into a leadership role to help the younger members too.

What is the most challenging part of this position? It requires me to neglect my own three children who also show. I need to be helping everyone else instead of just them. When they were younger, it was harder, but the place where we keep the cattle has stepped up, and my husband helps. It’s kind of a family ordeal because my dad is the ring man, my sister keeps records, a friend keeps books and other friends help.

are in the correct showmanship group. We try to get that all done before show morning to make sure everything is up-to-date and correct to help expedite the show. We have a great staff of volunteers. They all know where everyone is located in the barns, and that helps.

How many head of dairy cattle on average are exhibited and by how many exhibitors? We have about 225 head here this year exhibited by over 60 exhibitors from about 20 4-H clubs and FFA chapters. We are pretty close to last year. Our numbers have been steady lately. We have students leaving the program who used to show quite a few animals, but we have new kids coming into the program too. On Sunday, we have a Little Britches program to allow kids too young to show in the actual show the opportunity to show a calf. We don’t have as many kids living on farms, so we try to help them have these experiences. Our calf program helps with that, and we have dairy farmers who are willing to let kids show their animals.

What is something unique to your county's dairy show? We have a heifer program where youth can apply for a calf and then work with and show that heifer for two years. We have a heifer sale on Saturday night, where those heifers are sold. It is an open sale, and it is kind of the parting point in the program. The youth can either chose to buy their heifer back or she can be sold to another buyer. There are 34 kids involved in that program this year, and we have 17 heifers selling. About 70% of the heifers are bought back by the kids. Can you share a favorite memory from the years you have served as coordinator? Slipek: I have so many memories, I’m not sure how I could ever pick out a favorite. I would say the whole experience is a favorite memory. We have a great fair, great facilities and great kids from great families taking part. Beastrom: I taught agriculture for 32 years in Athens, so I have been involved with the fair for many, many years. The friendships I’ve made and the connections with the community are important to me. You know the people you can count on for just about anything.

When do you start preparing for next year's county fair, and what do those rst tasks involve? It is an on-going process. We have been working on next year’s fair before this one even started. We’ve been doing this for so long that the basics are a well-oiled machine, so we focus on trying to improve each year. We make minor changes from year to year, taking into account things the exhibitors suggest and ask for. We spend time each year working with the heifer program, going through the application process, nding and selecting heifers for the recipients, and then we keep in touch with them throughout the year as well as organizing the sale for each year.

How many head of dairy cattle on average are exhibited and by how many exhibitors? The numbers have denitely declined in the 20-some years. Most recently, it’s between 70 and 90 head total between the open and junior shows and probably about 20 exhibitors. A lot of our exhibitors are managerial, so they don’t own the animals themselves. There are about seven area farms that allow others to use animals for the fair.

What is something unique to your county's dairy show? We run our open show and junior show together on one day, which not everyone does. Our adults who bring their strings are showing in the same classes as the juniors, so it’s two shows in one. The juniors are automatically entered into both shows.

Can you share a favorite memory from the years you have served as coordinator? My favorite memories are always the senior showmanship and the Roy Berge awards. Roy used to manage the Trempealeau County farm in the 1970s. He always supported youth, and we continue to recognize youth in the junior class for the best t and trained. The judge watches for around 10 exhibitors throughout the day to come back in and compete for the Roy Berge award. We encourage the judge to ask them questions about how they were trained and tted to t into the methodology of the award.

When do you start preparing for next year's county fair, and what do those rst tasks involve? We’ll sit down in fall and review all the rules and regulations and make changes if we need to. That usually happens in November so that the fair book gets to the printer. It’s a 365-day job contacting sponsors and making sure there are people willing to donate prizes to exhibitors. Amy Schaefer and I work together because she is the open show coordinator. I have been the junior show coordinator for 26 years.

John Dieckhoff Brodhead, Wisconsin Green County

What are your main responsibilities as coordinator of the dairy show at your county fair? Green County has one of the largest junior dairy shows aside from the Wisconsin State Fair, and my rst responsibility for the fair is serving as fair board president. In coordinating the dairy show, my main responsibilities include getting judges, following up with dairy numbers reported from each club so that I can stall animals, and lining up volunteers who act as superintendents during the show. These ve people take care of all the workings of the show, including check-in and everything that goes along with that. What do you enjoy about this role? Everything we do with the fair is all about the kids, and I love being available to help. I’ve been on the fair board for 11 years, and everything at the fairgrounds is based on the youth. Our fairgrounds are privately owned, which is a rarity in the state. Income generated throughout the year is used to maintain the grounds so that it can be a place for youth to practice and/or show off what they learned in 4-H or FFA. My favorite part about this role is based on that.

What is the most challenging part of this position? It’s hard when mistakes are made that could affect the outcome of a person’s fair. There are rules to follow regarding entries, etc., and it can become challenging if a mistake is made when exhibitors are entering information. Some rule books would prevent a youth from showing at all if an animal is entered into the wrong class or has an incorrect registration number listed. We try to bridge that gap and make everybody aware. When it comes to check-in, we have to make a decision. What we’ve adopted is not perfect, but it allows the exhibitor to show in the proper class and receive the ribbon. However, they are not eligible for the premium and cannot move onto the championship round. Those are the tough things about the fair. Some people don’t like these rules, but if there are no rules, it ends up a free-for-all. It’s a real challenge, and we

Tony Fincutter Elkhorn, Wisconsin Walworth County

What are your main responsibilities as coordinator of the dairy show at your county fair? As the dairy superintendent for the junior and open shows, my main responsibility is raising funds for awards. The year I took this position over, we could no longer sell milk from show cows. The milk was the only source of income we had, and we were left with guring out how to raise funds so we could give back to the kids. We have two main sponsors for the open show that buy plaques and awards for each breed champion and supreme champions. For the junior show, my wife and I send out letters to local businesses – people I do business with on our farm – and we get a lot of great donations. We buy all the awards and give out almost $2,500 in cash prizes for showmanship and breed champions.

What do you enjoy about this role? I really enjoy working with the kids, especially the new incoming ones. This year, we have about nine new kids coming into show for their rst year. This is the next generation of kids whose parents I coached years ago.

What is the most challenging part of this position? Getting everything organized. Everyone enters more animals than they’re going to bring, and when they get to the fair, I go around and mark off those not coming. Hopefully, we get all the animals marked off so that the show goes smoothly and we’re not waiting for people to bring animals that aren’t there. The other challenge is getting all our work done at home during the fair. We have a dairy farm, and to get to the fair on time, we start chores at 3:30 a.m. on show days. My son also shows in the open show. He started in Little Britches, then he did the junior show, and now he is 30 years old and still showing.

have to provide education from front to back. If you allow the kid to be part of the process of entering the animal instead of just the parent doing it, then they have a better understanding of how it all works and any mistakes that were made. Sportsmanship comes into play here and how you answer adversity. Part of that challenge is why I enjoy what I do.

How many head of dairy cattle on average are exhibited and by how many exhibitors? We still have a lot of farms in Green County, and there were nearly 200 animals to check in for the junior and open show this year. Our numbers went up in 2023 after dwindling, and we doubled the number of open-class animals shown. We also had an overall increase this year in the number of exhibitors for the rst time in a while. We had 84 junior show exhibitors and 24 open-class exhibitors.

What is something unique to your county's dairy show? The sheer size of the show is unique and takes us two days to complete. Our county is so competitive with registered cattle, and it’s a really tough show, especially on the registered side. The sponsorships within the county are also unique. We have families that sponsor breed awards, such as our Nelson McCammon Brown Swiss award. For many years, the winner of this breed received a $500 award. Dairy is pretty special here and is a big part of what our county is, and it shows up at the fair.

Can you share a favorite memory from the years you have served as coordinator? I don’t know if it’s a single memory, but rather, it’s the relationships built with exhibitors, including those who have aged out. I try to be approachable, and it’s neat when exhibitors search me out. They come up and either thank me or the other volunteers for the experience or the help. We have good conversations, even leading up to the fair. The relationships that have been built are part of the reason why people still get along even if issues arise. These relationships are one of the favorite things I get out of the fair.

When do you start preparing for next year's county fair, and what do those rst tasks involve? The process to prepare for next year’s fair starts pretty much right after the current fair is nished. We already have a meeting scheduled for some time after the state fair to go over how things went this year and to look at any rule changes or tweaks to make things clearer. We also start getting prospective names for judges so that we can have those nailed down by the rst of the year because good judges get booked quickly.

How many head of dairy cattle on average are exhibited and by how many exhibitors? There are about 150 animals shown between the junior and open shows. In the junior show, we have 55 exhibitors showing around 130 animals. Many of those animals are also shown in the open show by about 60 to 70 exhibitors. All breeds are shown separate; we don’t combine. This year, cattle numbers have increased a little for the junior show. On Sunday, we have the 2-year-old all-breed futurity. Exhibitors wear formal wear, and there is a best-dressed award and highest placing junior award.

What is something unique to your county's dairy show? We give out cash awards from the money we raise. We also have a quality milk sale where the kid whose cow has the lowest linear somatic cell score for her age group can sell a gallon of milk between the heifer and cow shows. It’s not an actual gallon of milk but rather a pitcher with a Milk Chug in it. It’s a way for exhibitors to raise money for themselves. These pitchers have sold anywhere from $650 up to $2,800 per pitcher. It’s a great thing for the kids because they put a lot of money and time into showing and usually don’t get much return.

Can you share a favorite memory from the years you have served as coordinator?

We had an exhibitor who lived in Green County on a family member’s farm during the summer and showed their cattle at the state fair and Walworth County Fair because she was from this county. She thought her junior year would be her last year to show because her parents wanted her to stay home and earn money for college. I asked my wife and son, “What if we let her show something from our farm?” They agreed, and when we called her family, they jumped at the chance. She came out here every day after graduating from high school. She showed a heifer and big red cow, and that cow won supreme champion. It was pretty exciting for her family.

She also won the quality milk award with that cow and got to keep the money for college.

When do you start preparing for next year's county fair, and what do those rst tasks involve? I normally line up judges for next year’s fair as soon as we are done with this year’s fair. I call judges personally. The judge we will have this year for our junior show has judged at World Dairy Expo in both the junior and open shows. Last year’s judge also judged at WDE as an associate judge for the Ayrshire show. Six weeks after the fair, I attend a meeting for fair superintendents and again in January or February. Around April, I start sending letters to get donations for the junior show.

Steve Fronk

Rice Lake, Wisconsin Barron County

What are your main responsibilities as coordinator of the dairy show at your county fair?

As the dairy superintendent, I do pretty much everything to get the show organized. Ahead of the show, I take care of lining up the judge, the sponsors for the awards, the volunteer help for show day; and I also work out the stalling. Once the fair starts, I take care of checking everything in, deleting all the scratches and making sure everything is listed correctly. On show day, I check animals into the ring and just make sure everything runs smoothly.

What do you enjoy about this role? I just like doing it. I enjoy being around the kids and all their families. It is a real community experience. I have also worked with the judging team and the state fair kids. I have been the dairy show superintendent for 23 years, and I’ve got some families where I’m working with a third generation of exhibitors. It’s a lot of work, but I don’t mind that.

What is the most challenging part of this position? Show morning is by far the most challenging part. There’s always last-minute stuff that needs to be taken care of. I make sure the show starts on time and runs smoothly.

How many head of dairy cattle on average are exhibited and by how many exhibitors? We have about 120 head shown by 55 exhibitors this year, and that has been a pretty steady number.

What is something unique to your county's dairy show? It is very much like an annual get-together in our county, and it is important to the agriculture sector in Barron County. There is a lot of history, and everyone wants to maintain that history. Everyone leaves with a smile on their face.

Can you share a favorite memory from the years you have served as coordinator? My favorite memory has just been watching all these kids grow up to become good people and to have been able to play a role in their experience. Personally, I was recognized a couple of years ago for 20 years of service in this role, and I was also given the Friend of the Holstein Cow award.

When do you start preparing for next year's county fair, and what do those rst tasks involve? I am continuously working to make our show better. I already started preparing for the 2024 fair, even before the 2023 fair began. I have next year’s judges booked, and I am continually looking for new sponsors and working with current sponsors.

FORAGE PROFILE

Describe your farm and facilities. We have a freestall barn with waterbeds, and we milk our cows in a swing-16 parlor. Our herd average is 28,000 pounds with 4.3% butterfat and 3.2% protein. We have 350 cows, 300 of which are milking. We also have 300 heifers and raise our calves. We also raise 200 steers. We have three fulltime workers who do milking and help with chores. We can feed all the cows in two hours.

What forages do you harvest? We have 180 acres of alfalfa, 600 acres of corn and 200 acres of grass hay, and we also raise 110 acres of soybeans.

How many acres of crops do you raise? Around 1,100 acres.

Describe the rations for your livestock. Our cows get 50 pounds of corn silage, 30 pounds of haylage, 20 pounds of earlage, 3 pounds of soybeans, 3 pounds of soybean meal and some liquid protein mineral mix. The dry cows get grass hay, haylage, corn silage and mineral mix. The heifers are

on their dairy near Sauk Rapids, Minnesota. They milk 300 cows, raise 300 heifers and 200 steers on their farm in Benton County.

fed grass hay, haylage, corn silage and mineral.

What quality and quantity do you harvest of each crop? We try to harvest the haylage at 180-200 relative

feed value on about 180 acres. The corn silage is a brown midrib variety, and we harvest around 200 acres at 66%-68% moisture. The earlage is about 40% moisture, and we have around

150 acres of that. This year, we planted a 98-day variety.

Describe your harvesting techniques for alfalfa and corn silage. The alfalfa is cut, merged, chopped at

65% moisture and put on a pile. The corn silage is chopped at 66%-68% moisture and piled. We usually take the rst cutting around Memorial Day. We participate in a scissor cut through the University of Minnesota.

What techniques do you use to store, manage and feed your forages? The alfalfa and corn silage are piled and faced daily. The earlage is in bags or in the silo. They are fed with the mixer.

How does quality forages play in the production goals for your herd? Feeding quality forage keeps cows healthy and producing a high amount of quality milk with less purchased feed. You make the best quality forages you can so you don’t have to buy your milk through purchasing feed to make up for poor quality forages. Turn

Group of Companies

Brad and Chad Scapanski of Sauk Rapids, Minnesota | Benton County | 350 cows

MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR

Brad and Chad Scapanski stand in their freestall barn Aug. 7

“We decided to get more regimented with our use of Udder ComfortTM and saw our SCC drop from 200,000 to 120,000. Whether they have visible swelling or not, we make sure to apply the Udder Comfort spray to all fresh udders after each milking during the first 5 to 7 days after they calve. We see SCC drop right down.”

- Kyle Hirt, Mithva Farms, New Woodstock, NY 100 cows, 80 lbs/cow/day, 120,000 SCC

“We’ve relied on Udder Comfort for over 10 years as the best tool to get cows through transition and into milk faster with healthier udders. Using the Udder Comfort Battery-Operated Backpack Sprayer, we now are getting our fresh cows sprayed consistently 3x/day for a week after calving, and in 3 months, our SCC came down from 165 to 137,000.” - Scott Stempfle, Stempfle Holsteins, Maynard, IA

“Udder Comfort is something we don’t cut. It gets swelling out faster. We see faster, better milkouts and higher quality milk. We do every fresh cow for a week after calving. We mark high-count cows on DHIA and do them too. We tried other brands. They don’t work. Udder Comfort is the one that works!”

- Matt Nealy, Nealand Farms, Newville, PA 400 cows, 92 lbs/cow/day, 100,000 SCC

Ag Supply LLC

What are management or harvesting techniques you have changed that has made a notable difference in forage quality? The biggest change we made is when we switched to bags and silos to piles. It enabled us to harvest at a better moisture for a more digestible feed. Our window for chopping is wider, and we can harvest at a quicker pace because we aren’t unloading into a bagger. It’s also allowed for quicker feeding times. This year, we bought a triple mower that has allowed us to cut in the morning and chop in the afternoon with the exception of the rst crop. We updated our pro-

cesses four years ago, and that does a better job annihilating the kernel. We also put in a 200-by-300 tar pad three years ago. That has allowed us to have all our feed in one spot which makes feeding quicker plus we don’t have to deal with any mud.

Describe a challenge you overcame in reaching your forage quality goals. Switching to a BMR corn helped with the health of the cows. We wanted to get to a more digestible feed. We switched six years ago and have had less instances of displaced abomasum.

MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR

Brad and Chad Scapanski hold corn silage in their hands Aug. 7 on their farm near Sauk Rapids, Minnesota. The corn is a brown midrib variety and is harvested at 66%-68% moisture.

MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR

(Below) The Scapanskis pile their forages on a tar pad on their farm near Sauk Rapids, Minnesota. The tar pad is 200 feet by 300 feet, which has allowed for more efficient feeding.

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Like father, like daughter

Owens, Moore each honored at national Jersey meeting

By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com

FREDERIC, Wis. – Neither Walter Owens nor his daughter, Michelle Moore, have ever known a day without Jersey cows, and that suits each of them just ne.

“It has been a good thing to have Jerseys my whole life,” Owens said. “The Jersey cow has been good to our family over the years, and it is hard to imagine what life would look like without them.”

Owens and Moore were each honored by the American Jersey Cattle Association during the organization’s annual meeting in June. Owens received the Distinguished Service Award while Moore was named a Young Jersey Breeder for their efforts in their family’s dairy farm.

Owens Farm Inc. is home to 685 milking Jersey cows near Frederic. The family markets the milk produced through First District Association in Litcheld, Minnesota. They crop 1,800 acres, both owned and rented, raising alfalfa and corn to feed their herd. All of their

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youngstock is raised on the farm. The Owenses invested in a new calf barn in 2016, followed by a heifer barn in 2018.

Jersey cows rst came to the Polk County dairy farm in 1943, shortly after Owens’ father, Harold, took over the family farm.

“My dad believed early on that there was more prot per acre with Jerseys,” Owens said. “They haven’t proven him wrong yet.”

Since that time, both the farm and the herd of Jerseys have grown. Owens and his brothers, Wilfred and Roger, mark the third generation of their family to operate the farm. The fourth generation consists of Owens’ children, Brandon, Jeff and Michelle (Moore); Wilfred’s children, Steven and Doug; and Roger’s children, Chris and Julia.

Moore moved home and began working on the farm in 2012, shortly after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

“I worked off the farm for a while; it was a good experience, but it didn’t take me long to realize that it wasn’t what I wanted to do,” Moore said. “I

missed the cows and realized the farm is where my heart was.”

Having the farm to come home to, Moore said, is something she appreciates.

“I’m grateful that the farm was available for me to join, as

a career,” Moore said. “For a young person to start out in this industry these days is tough. Being able to become a part of something that was already established and successful has allowed me to do the things I love doing.”

Turn to OWENS/MOORE | Page 25

DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

Walter Owens and his daughter Michelle Moore, holding her daughter Callie Moore, stand amid their Jersey cows July 3 at Owens Farm Inc. near Frederic, Wisconsin. Owens and Moore were each honored at the American Jersey Ca le Associa on’s annual mee ng in June.

The experiences Moore had growing up with the cows played a large role in her decision.

“There is nothing like a Jersey,” Moore said. “They are smart little animals. They are the ideal co-workers.”

With so many members of the fourth generation making the decision to return to the farm, each family member has been able to specialize their talents. Owens works mostly with the cow herd, and Moore focuses on calves.

“We are all able to ll in where needed,” Owens said.

The family relies on its herd.

“One thing we have become very proud of is that our herd is homebred and stayed that way as we have grown over the years to bring more family into the farm as both ownership and employees,” Owens said. “It has probably been at least 40 years since we last purchased an animal.”

Early on, the family came to appreciate the value in registered Jerseys, becoming avid supporters and active members of the AJCA and the Wisconsin Jersey Breeders Association.

“Dad would add registered cows to the herd as he could,” Owens said. “He kept incredibly detailed records and always bought registered bulls so it was easy to register the last grade cows through the genetic recovery program, and by the late 1970s, all of the cows had papers.”

Registered dairy cattle opened up markets for his fam-

ily, Owens said, that might not have existed otherwise.

“We have been able to put a number of bulls into A.I.,” Owens said. “We used to show quite a bit, and we did fairly well at some of the bigger shows. We have sold cattle in state and national sales, as well as through private treaty. That was all possible because of the added value of the registered cow.”

That appreciation of registered Jerseys led the Owenses to connect with fellow breeders and invest their time in the AJCA and WJBA.

“We were really born into that mindset,” Owens said. “My parents got involved locally and in the state association. I served on the state board, and that just naturally grew into service on the national board when I was appointed to ll Chris Sorenson’s term when he was elected as the AJCA president.”

Owens ran and was reelected to the national board twice. Later, he was appointed to an open board position for National All-Jersey, the milk and cattle marketing arm of AJCA.

Through the NAJ appointment, Owens traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with congressional leaders, advocating for the needs of dairy farmers – Jersey breeders, in particular.

“The experiences I had on the boards have all been good,”

Owens said. “We all have the same goal but have different ideas for getting there. We all want to improve the Jersey breed and help create protability. We just about always ended up coming to a consensus, no matter what the discussion was.”

Involvement in leadership is important, Owens said.

“The people I have met,

the connections I have made and the friendships that have developed have been the most rewarding part of service,”

Owens said. “Those are things that would be missing from my life if I hadn’t gotten involved.”

The work accomplished by the boards Owens has served on plays a role in giving his family the opportunity to con-

tinue the tradition of Owens Farms Inc.

“Having your children grow to love the same thing you love and want to make that their life’s work, that is a gratifying feeling,” Owens said. “We must have been doing something right that our farm is growing soundly for the fourth and hopefully fth generations.”

DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

Jersey cows eat a total mixed ra on in the freestall barn July 3 at Owens Farm Inc. near Frederic, Wisconsin. The farm has raised Jersey cows since 1943.

A love for old iron

Petersens bring together people with passion for tractors

By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com

APPLETON, Wis. – Every July, Mark and Steve Petersen open their farm to fellow antique tractor lovers. For the past 30 years, likeminded people with a passion for the classics get together on a Monday night to check out tractors, cars, trucks and lawn mowers that have been lovingly restored to prime condition.

The Old Iron Event, as it is called, started at 5 p.m. July 10 and went well past dark. The long-standing event attracts hundreds, including many retired farmers and non-farm folks who share an interest in old tractors and cars. Each year, tractor speak lls the air as families and friends bond over their favorites.

“We have a lot of new neighbors, and we tell them to come by too so we can get to know each other,” Mark said. “It helps create a better relationship with us as an urban farm.”

The Petersens milk 50 cows and farm 300 acres near Appleton. In their spare time, the brothers have a knack for restoring old tractors – a hobby started long ago.

“Mark once found an old WC Allis for sale for $100,” Steve said. “We cleaned it up, threw a paint job on it, then thought, why not do another one? We did it when tractors weren’t so expensive.”

Members of the Fox Valley Two-Cylinder Club and beyond bring their nest to the event. This year, more than 40 pieces were parked at the Petersen farm, but some years, there are more than 200.

The Petersens’ AllisChalmers 180 tractor and manure spreader were on display, along with a Massey Ferguson Super 30, an Allis-Chalmers 170, a Ford 1917 TT truck –one of only three made in 1917 – and many other antiques on wheels.

“I always kind of had a thing for antique tractors,” Mark said. “You go to different shows and see things and eventually buy your rst one. Then you start looking for another, and it grows from there.”

The Petersens belong to the Fox Valley Two-Cylinder Club – a group with about 200 members. Many of the people in attendance at the Old Iron

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Event are part of this club, but anyone who wants to bring an old-time tractor or car is welcome to. A pig roast is part of the fun as well as wagon rides around the farm given by longtime club member Henry Joosten.

“We were one of the original people to help get this club going years ago,” Steve said. “A friend got me involved,

and we started having meetings. But, we had to pay to have them at certain places, so I suggested, ‘Why don’t we go to someone’s shop?’”

The Petersens offered to host a meeting, and it soon became an annual event. Now, Steve and Mark look forward to it every year, and each time, new memories are made.

“It’s good to get togeth-

er and shoot the breeze with people we only see once a year,” Mark said. “We look forward to touching base with old friends because you never know if it will be the last time you see them. In the last year, we probably lost three of our friends who always come.”

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STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR Steve (le ) and Mark Petersen stand next to their 1940 Allis-Chalmers UC tractor July 10 at an an que tractor show held on their dairy farm near Appleton, Wisconsin. The brothers milk 50 cows and farm 300 acres and have been hos ng the annual show for nearly 30 years.

This year, Peter Jochman from Mackville brought his 1951 Farmall, a red beauty he switched over to diesel. He started working on the tractor in 2019 and nished it in 2021 just before he had a stroke.

“The cross attached to the front of my tractor is a reminder that Jesus got me through 2021,” Jochman said. “The doctors told me they didn’t think I would make it.”

Jochman has worked on tractors for years and has been coming to the show at the Petersens’ farm for about ve years.

“I see all the old friends, and a lot of them are my customers,” Jochman said. “We have the Two-Cylinder Club meeting, eat a meal and enjoy the show. It’s a good time.”

Jochman xes all kinds of machinery in his repair shop, and most of his customers are farmers, including the Petersens.

“I worked on several of the tractors that are here at the show,” Jochman said. “I nally decided a couple years ago to restore one for myself.”

Ken Vanderloop from Kaukauna has been restoring tractors for 45 years and has over 100 tractors to his name. He has been coming to the event since it started, and his International 404 made in 1962 was on display that evening.

“I was born and raised on a dairy

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farm,” Vanderloop said. “That’s how my love for tractors started.”

Mark and Steve work on tractors together and specialize in collecting Allis-Chalmers models. They also have a place in their hearts for Eagle tractors and farm equipment that was manufactured in Appleton.

“We have a number of pieces of Eagle equipment, and we’re always looking for more,” Mark said. “We have a passion for Eagle, which is still alive and well here in Appleton and is now called Eagle Plastics, but it started with farm machinery in the early 1900s.”

A handful of the Petersens’ tractors were a part of the show, along with a few they have done for others.

“We’ve worked on a couple dozen tractors for other people through the years,” Steve said.

Mark said his favorite tractor is a Standard Twin his grandfather bought in 1937.

“It was a mail-order tractor, and my mom always talked about riding on that tractor,” Mark said. “It’s a special tractor for my brother and myself.”

The camaraderie among tractor lovers keeps people coming back to the Petersen farm year after year to celebrate their passion for the antiques. Mark, Steve and the show’s faithful attendees are already anticipating next year’s event.

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

More than 40 an que pieces, such as a Ford 6700 and an Allis-Chalmers 185, were parked at the Petersen farm July 10 for the Old Iron Event near Appleton, Wisconsin. Some years, more than 200 items are on display.

Tell us about your farm and family. My husband John and I have three sons, Hunter, Peyton and Tanner. We milk about 50 Ayrshires, Holsteins and Milking Shorthorns. We farm with my husband’s parents and farm about 350 acres, growing corn, oats and alfalfa hay. Our kids also enjoy having ducks, chickens, rabbits and goats.

What is a typical day like for you on the dairy? A typical day starts out doing morning chores, and then I go to work at ProVision Partners Cooperative. Then I come home, and we do the evening chores. The evenings are typically lled with activities for our boys.

What decision have you made in the last year that has beneted your farm? We have not made a lot of big changes recently, but we are always focusing on bettering the genetics of our herd and taking the best care of our cattle that we can. We have started giving calcium boluses to help prevent instances of milk fever. I have switched my newborn protocols to administering a microbial paste, Multimin and dipping navels. Since switching to the microbial paste, I have had virtually no scours. A couple of years ago, we had to switch vets, and our new vet can reliably ultrasound pregnancies for sex. That has made it easier to plan and be prepared.

Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. I would say it is being able to save a cow or calf who is sick. Last summer, a family favorite show cow went down after calving. We had to oat her, and it was stressful for a while. But eventually she got back up and continues to be doing well today. When you put everything you have into helping them, it is rewarding when it works. Other than that, I would have to say things like watching the kids do well showing and classifying and the satisfaction of breeding Excellent cows.

What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the dairy industry? I enjoy watching a calf grow into a cow and seeing what she can become and how she develops.

What is your biggest accomplishment in your dairy career? Some of the awards we have received through the Ayrshire association have been rewarding. We had the cow of the year a couple of years ago and received the state association’s young breeder award. I would also say being able to raise our family on the farm, enjoying the animals and doing well with them is very rewarding.

What are things you do to promote your farm or the dairy industry? We show our cattle at a variety of local, state and national shows. We also enjoy sharing our story with people who are interested and answering their questions the best we can.

What advice would you give another woman in the dairy industry? Times are tough right now with milk prices and input costs. You need to keep your head high and keep going. Stay focused on the things that are important and try not to let yourself get weighed down by the negatives.

What is a challenge in the dairy industry you have faced and how did you overcome it? Dealing with the low milk prices is a big challenge. We try to cut costs where we can but in ways that it doesn’t affect the cows. Being a small farm, we try to keep things as simple as possible and do as much as we can ourselves.

When you get a spare moment, what do you do? Spare moments are rare, but when there is a little free time, we try to do things as a family. John and I enjoy bowling and being able to socialize with our friends.

DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

Shauna Offer poses with a family-favorite Ayrshire cow, Ellie, Aug. 8 at her family’s 50-cow dairy farm near Auburndale, Wisconsin. One of Offer’s most memorable farm experiences was nursing Ellie through a difficult calving and transi�on period last summer.

www.extension.umn.edu/dairy

Drought prompts tough choices

Producers across the region wake up each morning and glance at the empty rain gauge with little relief in sight. Corn leaves have folded in on themselves, and dust is stirred up with every footfall across a parched eld in central Minnesota. Other symptoms of drought manifest as the emerging Mississippi riverbanks, the persistent running of irrigators and the water guzzling of cattle. What can producers do to limit expenditures and continue to feed the herd when drought situations present themselves?

An easily visible indicator of drought is stress on crops. Drought conditions may decrease yields or even force producers to purchase feed, making it harder to economically feed the dairy herd. As drought conditions experienced across the state continue to evolve, dairy producers should be encouraged to make tough choices regarding ways to reduce expenditures on their given operations. Feed resources should be focused on the farm’s milking herd. Less productive cows should be considered candidates for culling. Naturally, these kinds of decisions are never easy and should be data-driven. Maintaining current, accurate records allows farms to gauge which animals pay their way and which are eating families out of house and home. Animals with the potential to be culled include cows that

have been open for a long time and are not pregnant, cows with high cell counts, and those that are the lowest producers. Feed costs and forages will show a higher return on investment when focused on cows that make the most per dollar invested. Another way to reduce the dairy’s number of mouths to feed is by evaluating the heifer inventory. Herd replacements should make the cut, but extra heifers can be sold to cover the extra purchased feed cost, acting as a source of added income.

As summer progresses, we inch steadily closer to harvest.

By Dana Adams University of Minnesota

Once forages are harvested, there is substantial value in testing them to know their quality. This will allow producers to use them in their best and most protable use. After testing, the best quality forages should be fed to the early lactation cows or fed when the highest number of cows will be early in lactation. Knowing forage values allows farm teams to make informed, scally responsible decisions. It does require planning, recording and communication, but the payoff is farms being situated for success in the future.

After confronting expenditures from less productive cows and extra heifers, the next hurdle is forage supply. Is your operation meeting its needs or scrambling last minute and being nancially penalized? Advanced planning can allow the

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spread of expenses over several months and provide a window to source economically priced feed. It is the same principle as saving for a vacation. A little here and there is a much more realistic goal in comparison to a lump sum. Remember to account for feeding and storage losses as these can be relatively high depending on how they are fed and stored.

Drought conditions change business as normal in other ways besides crop production and the number of cows in the barn. They also create an environment where res are increasingly likely. Producers who continue their day-today work of welding or electrical work without accounting for the extremely dry conditions caused by a prolonged drought should be cautioned to have a plan for re prevention. Is there a re extinguisher in the building that is easily accessible? Does all the farm machinery have an upto-date re extinguisher? Preparing for the unexpected in simple ways like these is what allows farms to respond quickly and efciently to res that can get out of hand in a hurry.

Lastly, outside of the sterile number

Dana Adams, adam1744@umn.edu

320-204-2968

Joe Armstrong armst225@umn.edu

612.624.3610

Luciano Caixeta lcaixeta@umn.edu

612-625-3130

Gerard Cramer gcramer@umn.edu

612-625-8184

Marcia Endres miendres@umn.edu

612-624-5391

Joleen Hadrich jhadrich@umn.edu

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of bushels per acre and nances, every farm is operated by people. The burden of drought does not simply vanish at the corner of the corneld or when the barn door closes. At its core, drought can create mental and emotional stress impacting every person involved in the dairy. Family, friends and neighbors should be leaned upon, reassuring those impacted that they are not alone. As a reminder, ask for help when you need it, and give help readily when it’s needed.

Drought is yet another hurdle in the ever-uctuating world of agriculture. Producers can utilize current, accurate records to make informed culling decisions, use tested, high-quality forages for their farm’s highest producers, re-evaluate the farms’ heifer inventory and be familiar with their forage inventory to focus it toward its best use. Acknowledge the mental and emotional stress droughts put producers through, and both offer and receive assistance from a support network. Drought presents challenges, but those challenges can be navigated with a communicated and well-thought-out plan.

Les Hansen hanse009@umn.edu

612-624-2277

Brad Heins hein0106@umn.edu

320-589-1711

Nathan Hulinsky huli0013@umn.edu

320-203-6104

Karen Johnson ande9495@umn.edu

320-484-4334

Emily Krekelberg krek0033@umn.edu

507-280-2863

Claire LaCanne lacanne@umn.edu

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Brenda Miller nels4220@umn.edu

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Erin Royster royster@umn.edu

Isaac Salfer ijsalfer@umn.edu

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Jim Salfer salfe001@umn.edu

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Mike Schutz mschutz@umn.edu

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Melissa Wilson mlw@umn.edu

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Isaac Haagen hagge041@umn.edu

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Youth exhibit at Wisconsin Valley Fair

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DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

Judge Brandon Smith (far right) looks over the third and fourth grade showmanship class at the Wisconsin Valley Fair Aug. 3 in Wausau, Wisconsin. Placing rst in the class was Chase Bauman (right), followed by Rylan Brendemuehl, Bristal Kne er, Connor Krause and Kyson Stahel.

DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

Judge Brandon Smith talks to Malayna Fahey about her Holstein heifer during the sixth-grade showmanship class at the Wisconsin Valley Fair Aug. 3 in Wausau, Wisconsin. Fahey is a member of the Marathon County Junior Holstein Breeders.

DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

Alexis Ma sen tugs on her Holstein calf during the explorers showmanship class at the Wisconsin Valley Fair Aug. 3 in Wausau, Wisconsin. Ma sen is a member of the Plover Valley 4-H Club.

Youth enter the show ring at Barron County Fair

DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

Judge Ethan Dado talks to Mason Witscher about his cow, Pine-Circle DMan ExclusiveET, at the Barron County Fair Junior Show July 21 in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Exclusive was Dado’s selec on for grand champion a er she won the 4-year-old class.

DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

Ash n Witscher presents his Guernsey winter calf, Valley Gem Drone Date Night-ET, at the Barron County Fair Junior Show July 21 in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. The Barron County Fair has been in existence for 146 years.

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DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

Tani Riebe smiles as she leads a Jersey heifer in a group class at the Barron County Fair Junior Show July 21 in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. The rst Barron County Fair was held in 1877.

How did you get into farming? I grew up on the family farm knowing I wanted to be a farmer someday. My great-grandfather started farming here, making me the fourth generation in my family to farm at this location. I spent two years off the farm, but whenever I was not at work, I was either here or helping a buddy on his farm.

What are your thoughts and concerns about the dairy industry for the next year? With milk quotas and prices where they are, it’s going to be tough. The same with commodity prices, which are slowly coming down. You never know what to expect with farming because everything changes month to month. It’s very interesting, but other years were bad, and we made it.

What is a recent change you made on your farm and the reason for it? We installed the Feed Supervisor feed management system last year, which is connected to our truck scales. Everything on the farm gets scaled – from a feed mill bringing in feed to everything that is going out. When we chop hay, we know the exact tons on the pile, which really helps. Those numbers help us determine if we need to seed down some land next year. The system catches if a feeder is putting too much in or making mistakes. This tool makes it easier to manage and saves feed.

Tell us about a skill you possess that makes dairy farming easier for you. Being hands-on. I like being involved in the feeding and crop work – from planting to harvesting to manure management. We also try to do as much of the maintenance around the farm as we can.

What is the best decision you have made on your farm? The best decision we have made on our farm is to have our heifers custom raised. Every year, land is becoming more scarce around here with houses being built. Our farm is surrounded by towns, and each year, those towns get bigger. We go 30 miles

DAIRY PROFILE

south for land. It’s easier to have a custom raiser care for our heifers since we don’t have the land base or facilities for heifers. Our heifers are sent out to Oshkosh, Nebraska, as wet calves and come back home when they are four to six months pregnant. This is our second year doing that. Eventually, we would like to bring them home and raise everything inhouse.

What are three things on the farm that you cannot live without? Payloader: It makes feeding so efcient. We upgraded our total mixed ration mixer, and now we can feed 1,000 cows in four hours. It makes life a lot easier. On Sunday morning, everyone is fed by 10 a.m., and I can go out to breakfast with my family versus being here until 2 or 3 p.m. Tunnel ventilation in the barns: It’s really paying off this year for cow comfort. There is no freezing in the winter, and in summer, it’s nice and cool. When it’s 90 degrees outside, it’s 70 degrees in the barn. New shop: It is almost nished, and we’re hoping to be in it by the time we chop corn. The 100by 200-foot shop is heated and includes a wash bay and allows us to pull bigger equipment inside.

What strategies do you use to withstand the volatile milk prices? We cut back in every area we possibly can throughout the farm and try to ride it out. One area we cut back on is labor and keeping shifts to eight hours. We also started feeding grain distillers to cut back on corn and proteins. There is only so much money to go around.

How do you retain a good working relationship with your employees? Everyone just seems to get along. We do cookouts in the summer and grill brats and burgers for our employees. Milkers receive somatic cell count bonus pay, and employees also receive weekend pay. Our herdsman does a great job communicating with the rest of the employees and handling issues with our help.

What do you enjoy most about dairy farming? There is always something to do. It might be overwhelming at times when equipment is breaking down, but at the end of the day, if everything does work, it’s very rewarding. When you’re cutting hay, and the mergers and choppers are all running in sync, it’s a very satisfying feeling. You know you did something right.

What advice would you give other dairy farmers? Be open-minded and try to diversify. From a money standpoint, having other places of revenue helps, especially during hard times like now. My brother, Matthew, and I raise beef cattle and do custom harvesting. We also like to try doing things differ-

ently sometimes from how they have been done in the past.

What are your plans for your dairy in the next year and ve years? As my uncle is transitioning toward retirement in the next ve years, my brother and I will be transitioning into more of the dairy business, and we will start taking ownership of the farm.

How do you or your family like to spend time when you are not doing chores? We like to attend remen’s picnics and just hang out together. My parents have a camper 15 minutes away, and we like to go there and swim. I have a 3-year-old and 7-month-old, so it’s nice to take them up there and enjoy family time.

Nick Beck, Beck Dairy Farms of Allenton, Wisconsin Washington County | 1,000 cows

Hitting the supper club trail with Dad’s car

I was nishing up with my tour on Sunday afternoon when I got a text from Duane, my husband, about wanting to go for a car ride. We have been trying to get out with his dad’s old car more often.

His dad, Keith, was a Ford man and had collected a few cars and trucks that he loved to drive. After he passed, all ve kids got a vehicle. Duane got the 1959 Ford Fairlane Skyliner, with a retractable hard top in a minty green and ivory. It is in wonderful condition and recently has been buffed out to its original glory.

By Tina Hinchley Farmer & Columnist

It is stored in the shed where I start my tours, and we often get asked about it. Many older visitors remember riding in these cars when they were younger. They ask if we still take it out for a spin every once in a while. I always answer, “We do, but not as much as we would like.”

It seems the days get lled with working, and relaxation is something that only comes right before we head to bed. As we are getting older, we should be enjoying more of the time we have together. The car gives us the opportunity to drive to get an ice cream sundae or go to a restaurant or supper club.

This car has been going to supper clubs for many years. Keith would nish up helping us do eldwork, and he would be no sooner driving off for sh fries on Fridays, out for prime rib on Saturdays and all-you-caneat chicken dinners on Sundays. He really enjoyed driving this car, and he loved a great meal.

We are trying to keep up with the tradition of hitting the supper club circuit. Duane is a member of a Wisconsin supper club group. He loves to drink an old fashioned. We have favorite places to go to for a sh fry or prime rib on Saturdays. The supper clubs have daily specials that they are famous for along with a relish tray with fresh veggies, breadsticks and cheese spread, and loaf of bread with butter.

We have promised each other to venture out further and explore more with his dad’s car. It is a joy to drive this big, heavy, old car, but it can really do a number on your hair with the top down. That was why every woman always had scarves to cover their hair and big sunglasses in the old photos. Oh, and it can get cool on the ride home after the meal. We have the sunglasses in the glove box, hats on the dashboard, and jackets and blankets in the back seat. We are ready when we decide to go off on an adventure.

We put on our sunglasses and hats as we pulled out the driveway. Duane surprised me by heading north on Highway 73 to go to Fiel’s Supper Club in Randolph, Wisconsin. We drove for nearly an hour. We traveled slow enough to look at how nice the crops have become and feel the warmth of the sun.

This supper club is famous for onion rings, rye bread and a big salad bar with many salads. We were delighted with sampling many salads, a soup, a great German meal and an old fashioned. Then, we went back to the car to head home with jackets on to watch the sunset as we drove with a bright, beautiful, orange sky.

The Wisconsin supper club group has a website that I look at to see where our next supper club adventure could take us. I would love to venture up to Door County or to La Crosse or even to Bayeld with the car. We would need to plan it around the farm work, but it is very exciting to pull out of the driveway knowing the possibilities of nding a great meal are endless, but experiencing it in Dad’s car makes it so much more memorable.

Tina Hinchley, her husband Duane and daughter Anna milk 240 registered Holsteins with robots. They also farm 2,300 acres of crops near Cambridge, Wisconsin. The Hinchleys have been hosting farm tours for over 25 years.

Trailers loaded with life lessons

Anyone who has ever loaded up a trailer and headed to a show knows the months, if not years, of preparation that is involved.

Anyone who has ever loaded up a trailer and headed to a show knows about the work – the repetitive, daily grind that goes into caring for their animals.

Anyone who has ever loaded up a trailer and headed to a show knows about the satisfaction that comes from seeing that animal, all dolled up, looking its best.

Anyone who has ever loaded up a trailer and headed to a show knows the feeling when a special one is no longer there to hop on the trailer.

Anyone who has ever loaded up a trailer and headed to a show knows about the camaraderie among exhibitors, the connections made and the lifelong friendships grown.

classication and judging contest at the Wisconsin State Show, even pulling off a win in the classication contest. Time passes, and unfortunately, I do not see Cara Lee as often as I would like. We lost a young and vibrant Jenelle to cancer 13 years ago. But I think of those girls often and smile when I remember the times we spent together.

The lesson of loss unfortunately comes often on a dairy farm, and as the old adage goes, “Where there is livestock, there is sure to be dead stock.” The cows –like the people we love – never live as long as we want or need them to. Some days I sit and look through old photos and page through old registration papers, thinking about all of the cows that have been a part of my life and all of the people I have met because of them. I have walked into the barn, ready to start a new

day, only to nd a favorite has died overnight. I have struggled and fought and done everything I can think of to try and make a sick one healthy. I have sat and cried and prayed for a sign of improvement. I have sat in the straw, with a head lying on my lap, offering my love and compassion, waiting for the end. I have watched my son go through the loss of his rst special one, cries of agony I will never forget.

The older I get, the more I come to realize and learn that life does not follow a script and that it is far from easy or perfect. The struggles, while mundane at times, seem to grow, and I begin to question how much more I can handle. Fortunately for me, I was one of the lucky kids who loaded up a trailer and headed to a show.

By Danielle Nauman

Anyone who has ever loaded up a trailer and headed to a show knows that the greatest reward for all of their hard work does not come in the form of a ribbon in the show ring but instead in the valuable life lessons they have learned along the way.

The most fortunate of kids get to spend their summers learning all those things. They learn the value of hard work and dedication and how it comes to pay off in the long run. They learn what it means to be responsible and to have a living creature depend on them for everything. They witness the bond that is created by being a caretaker. They learn what it feels like to put the needs of another ahead of their own.

These luckiest of kids learn what it feels like to make money and lose money and the value of a dollar.

The most fortunate witness the splendor of a new life coming into the world. They also witness the heartbreak of losing something precious to them, to which they have invested a piece of their soul.

Those most fortunate will eventually learn that all of those lessons will be what guide them through their lives.

I had the fortune of being one of the lucky kids.

Everyone remembers the rst calf they showed. Mine was Lindy, and I grew up surrounded by her family. I slept by her grandmother in the barn, and her mother’s sister was my rst calf. It was only tting that family joined me in that rite of passage.

Lindy was white and speckled, a January-born Holstein calf. I showed her in the open class at the Monroe County Fair just before my 5th birthday. Lindy could be a little spunky, to say the least. Despite the time my dad and I spent training her at home, she did get away from me in the show ring.

Lindy taught me my rst lesson in determination and the importance of getting back up when you have been knocked down. I was afraid to grab back onto the halter after Lindy got away, but my dad wiped away my tears, handed me the lead strap and stayed a little closer. Lindy and I made it through the rest of the class. I have no idea what color ribbon Lindy got that day, but I can remember walking out of the ring with my dad, smiling in the wake of my tears.

When I was 10 or 11 years old, my dad and I trekked off to West Salem, Wisconsin, to exhibit at the District 2 Holstein Show for the rst time. I remember my dad telling me there were two girls I should go meet and make friends with. He took me over and introduced me to the two girls, and my rst true “cow friendship” was born. Cara Lee, Jenelle Plank and I became fast friends and spent lots of time at cow shows and Junior Holstein activities together. We teamed up to compete in dairy bowl and in the

The Cs of summer, part two

Once again, the heat of summer must have affected my thought processes. As I was milking cows this past weekend and pondering my upcoming column deadline, I honed in on all the “c” words in my world. I thought it would be interesting to see how a year makes a difference in my list, so I pulled a folded-up cow-move list out of my pocket and began to collect “c” words.

Culling cows. On our farm, we have to make serious culling decisions to keep our numbers manageable. Sometimes it is an easy decision. Garrison arrives in the hospital pen with mastitis that is nasty, and she is already a three-quartered cow. Hasta la vista, baby. Then there are the decisions I personally struggle with. I adore our big cows – the power milkers. I can’t explain why I do, but I have a soft spot for the overgrown cows. Peter keeps telling me I need to fall in love with the smaller cows. Jose got moved to the transition pen a couple weeks ago, and as her belly grew, so did her inability to complete the lunge

it takes to get up in a sand stall. Her back suffered. She moved to my pen pack, and the tough choice was made to sell her. My bovine version of Gulliver, Tassia, had wedged herself under three pipes Saturday morning. We cut the pipe to give her extra room to stand up, and she walked to the straw pen. Cripes. Yet again, I have to decide what is best for her future. She already cannot t comfortably in the parlor. Common sense would say to sell.

Cora’s calves. Cora has built herself a little herd of calves outside in hutches this summer, and she is conscientious with their care. Ira Jr. and Mavis got booted out of the calf barn before moving on to the feeders; some calves just need to be alone rather than deal with the competition in the pens. Scarlet and Flutterby were born a day apart, and their breeds are questionable. They look slightly Jersey or Swiss crossed, and that alone causes confusion when reading their cow cards and sire information. They are, however, both tiny and the perfect heifer calves for

Cora to train to lead for the pee-wee show at our local fair. Cora is the captain of their care. She remembers to feed them electrolytes daily, and the most exciting thing is that she can attach the nipples herself – that is reason to celebrate.

Company. It seems not a week has gone by on our calendar without someone extra joining us at the lunch table. Sometimes I have to stop and count how many children are running amuck on the farm because they are spread out in all directions, and I only see them when they are hungry. We have had special second-cousins from across the state and an aunt who came for fun and ended up pulling a calf and helping bed the barn. Friends from New York on their way back home from Minnesota did an overnight pit stop at the farm, letting the children run carefree and crazy down the slip-n-slide Dane and Oliver created. It keeps me hopping in the kitchen, with no complaints. I enjoy the chaos of extra companions and am already dreading school days.

By Jacqui Davison Columnist

Canning. I have only retrieved my enamelware kettle from the depths of my pantry twice so far this summer, but it will be getting a workout soon. Rhubarb sauce is on the shelves in my root cellar, and Stella and I canned 36 quarts of garlic-dill pickles last week to share. I am anticipating getting peaches preserved and maybe even beets if my row in the garden comes to fruition.

Creating. When my creative brain works, I feel like I am truly alive. I make it a point to sit at my sewing machine at least one morning a week – it keeps me calmer. Per the clever insight of a close friend, I turned an antique quilt top into charming valances for part of my living room area. They are so cute, and now something that was once deemed lost to the ages has been breathed a new life. The kids and I have continued our hard work in our vegetable garden this summer, a place lled with creative collaboration from all of us this year. I have even tried to be more creative when it comes to cooking. I made rolls lled with mozzarella cheese and fresh pesto, mini peach pies for third-crop eld dessert, and even found a recipe for peach cookies that was divine.

Curly hair and cancer. Yes, it is present in our lives. We are pretty good at ignoring its annoying presence at this point. Keith is on a treatment plan that works to keep its progression as slow as possible. I have a head full of curly hair these days, which is thicker than ever before and has a mind of its own.

Cooking, compassion and children. I continue to enjoy cooking for the crew around here. Peter and I hold counsel with the children over the lunch table almost daily, talking about compassion for one another and the animals in our lives while listening to their chatter and comical anecdotes. We will miss them come school time. Most meals are full of giggles and grins and chaos of some kind or another. This is the stuff that memories are made of.

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

Ramblings from the Ridge

Going west

Veterinary Wisdom

By Jim Bennett Columnist

Normally during the warmer months, I run to stay in shape. However, late last fall I developed a bad case of plantar fasciitis following a trail race, and since it has not fully healed, I cannot run. So, early this spring, I bought a new gravel bike. My gravel bike is light, comfortable and surefooted. It is truly a joy to ride, and I love it. I was surprised to nd another benet: My brain oods with memories from my working past while biking area gravel roads. Here are some examples.

I rode west into the wind because I like to have the wind at my back on the way home when I might be tired. As I peddled by a certain green hillside, I recalled a cow with a stanchion on her neck out in that pasture. I was on my way to Herman’s place to see an ailing cow, but the cow with the stanchion caught my eye. I assumed she had broken out of a barn somewhere and carried the stanchion with her.

Herman was very intelligent, but it always seemed he had trouble keeping all those ideas in his head. On that day, Herman wanted me to examine one of his big, beautiful registered Holsteins who stood near the far end of the barn. Going in, I knew this might be a prob-

lem because it was hard for Herman to get all the way down the barn without asking questions about problems of various other cows on the way. Of course, this is what happened, and we stopped part way down to look at the udder and teats of a cow.

Herman stood off to the side while I bent down and turned my head so I could see between the rear teats. Just as I got into position, I felt something on the left side of my head. It was not unpleasant and was warm and soft. It was only when I felt something in my ear that I became concerned and put my hand to my head. It was, of course, cow manure. She had scored a direct hit on the entire left side of my head. Herman, being a gentleman, did not laugh but seemed genuinely embarrassed. I ran into the milkhouse and stuck most of my head under the tap of the sink. Later, I asked Herman about the cow with the stanchion. He told me that some old timers used to leave a stanchion on a cow if the cow was prone to jumping fences. I asked him if he knew whose cow it was, but try as I might, I cannot remember what he told me that day.

Just down the road was Paul’s place. Paul was a hobby farmer. He called on a fall Sunday morning with a down cow. I got directions (no Google Maps back then) and drove out to nd a steer, not a cow, stuck upside down in a water tank. It was one of those oblong tanks about 4 feet long and 2 feet wide. The steer was thrashing about but could not get himself extricated. I suggested Paul get some ropes and chains, which he did, and then we managed to extract the steer with the help of a loader on an old tractor. I did not administer any

medications because the steer seemed to be ne and did not have any wounds. Some months later, when I called Paul about his unpaid bill, he told me he wasn’t going to pay it because I did not do anything more than he could have done. I don’t believe he ever did pay the bill.

A little farther west is the Kamen Farm. Mark and Tony were brothers and very good farmers. They called in the middle of a cold winter night, perhaps 2 or 3 a.m., for a cow with calving difculty. When I arrived, they were both sitting on a straw bale, propped against each other, sound asleep. I decided I would try to correct the presentation and deliver the calf quietly, leave my soiled sleeves on the oor next to them and then go home. I thought it would give us something to laugh about on my next visit. Unfortunately, while extracting the fetus, the cow let out an odd bellow that woke Tony up. When he moved, Mark’s head fell off his shoulder, which caused Mark to wake up too. My plan was foiled, but after cleaning up, I told them that I nearly got away without them knowing, and we still got that laugh.

After a couple of left turns and a few hills, I cycled by Don’s place. Don was one of our very rst dairy clients. I started practicing with a classmate, Dr. Kevin Nigon, way back in 1981. For the rst few weeks, we rode together on calls. The morning we went to Don’s, Kevin was driving his old, green Chevy truck with a full veterinary box on the chassis. I was riding shotgun. Our ofce manager was very familiar with many of the clients, and she advised us to be to Don’s on time. As things often go in

ambulatory practice, however, we were not. As we turned the corner into the driveway, I saw Don. I am sure Kevin did too because he expertly piloted that green truck so that Don would be on my side of the truck. When we were slowing down into the parking area, Don started jogging alongside my window. He was shouting something and waving his nger right at me through the window. In some ways, he resembled a large, angry dog. I was in no rush to open the door, and when I nally did, I really got an earful. Punctuality was apparently important to Don. After our verbal lashing, Kevin and I attended to whatever it was that needed to be done, and Don was nice as pie. He became one of our most valued dairy clients. He was always respectful, complementary and, of course, ready when we arrived. I believe I was never late to Don’s again.

What are old cow vets, really, other than a sinewy bag of memories and broken-down body parts? My gravel bike allows me to pull recollections out of that old bag. Thanks to all of you for letting me put all those memories in there over the years. I have a lot more directions to cycle and am sure I will pull out more, but I do not believe I will ever know whose cow that was with the stanchion on her neck.

Bennett is one of four dairy veterinarians at Northern Valley Dairy Production Medicine Center in Plainview, Minnesota. He also consults on dairy farms in other states. He and his wife, Pam, have four children. Jim can be reached at bennettnvac@gmail.com with comments or questions.

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Mowing thistles

There may not be much more hay to mow this year since we put up the rst crop as it continues to forget to rain at our farm. The lack of moisture hasn’t bothered the thistles. We usually clip pastures once or twice a year to keep the thistles in check that seem to move around but never go away. The places they grow thickest tend to be hardest to mow them off, which is under the cattle lane fences. I suppose that’s why so many successfully grow there. The cows can’t step on them, and I can’t mow them as cleanly. It probably doesn’t hurt either that the sides of the cattle lanes are very well fertilized by the cows on their way to and from grazing.

Thistles never last long in the hayelds. Now and then, I’ll see one while mowing hay, but the frequent mowing seems to kill them off pretty effectively. We have four species of thistles at our farm: Canadian, plumeless, bull and musk. They each seem to have their favorite ecological niches

with the plumeless thistles being the least picky but most obnoxious ones. Carduus Acanthoides, plumeless thistle, does not seem to be edible to even the hungriest of cattle. This is unlike Canadian thistles. I have seen cows eat the tops off of Canadian thistle and sometimes the whole plant. A little Wikipedia research taught me that particular scourge of my fencelines was brought to North America from Europe or Asia in the 1800s, most likely in some crop seed. I really wish it had been left over there. It would have saved us countless hours of mowing pastures and fencelines.

We nally got our rst signicant rainfall in months last week when we got a 1.5 inches of rain. It had surprisingly little effect on the dormant grasses in our pastures and yard but should save our third-crop hay from being even more disappointing than the second crop. Our family was talking at dinner last night about how we’ve only mowed our

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backyard once or twice this year. Now and then, we take the mower out to mow off the thistles, burdocks and a couple other weeds, which are the only green things in our yard but have no business being there, green or not. The drought is saving us a couple hours a week mowing the only grass we don’t feed to the cows and a couple bucks in gas, but I’d trade those two benets for more rain.

Another benet of the drought causing most of the grass to go dormant is that the kids’ fair animals aren’t as tempted to drag them around from clover patch to clover patch when they are supposed to be practicing parading around a show ring since there are none growing currently.

From the Zweber Farm

By Tim Zweber Farmer & Columnist

It’s almost county fair week, and the kids are getting excited to show off the animals they’ve been working with all summer. They each have a cow and a heifer they are bringing as well as ducks and/or chickens. They also prepared projects like photography, computer science and a performing arts act. Next week will be busy, shuttling kids and animals to and from the fair as well as catching up with our friends there and enjoying the many fair foods.

It will help out a lot with the fair week logistics that our oldest son Erik got his driver’s license last week and can now get himself and his siblings to the fair while we get chores done. I’m hoping this equals more relaxed chores during fair week if we just have to get ourselves there in time to help the kids with the nishing touches before the show.

Until next time, keep living the dream, and pray for rain. If you have plenty, then ask God to send some our way. You have to be pretty specic with those kinds of asks. Four years ago, I just wished it would stop being so muddy all the time, and for the last three years, it rarely rains. I got what I asked for, I guess.

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

An American tradition: The county fair

During childhood, it is rare to nd an event that is more anticipated than the annual county fair.

It’s the highlight of the summer for many. A time when our local communities gather each summer to exhibit livestock and other skills, partake in friendly competitions, share stories and break bread.

The long-held American tradition of the county fair began in 1811 in Pittseld, Massachusetts. Fairs were originally a place where farmers could exhibit their livestock, learn about modern agricultural practices, participate in commodity competitions and

from just a chore to be completed to interest in the reason the decisions about daily management at home are made. It gives youth a view of the decision-making process, allowing them to make a personal investment in the family farm. These opportunities are critical if we want our youth to stay involved in the dairy industry. We need to let youth experience the joys of dairy farming along with the work.

The fair is not just about showing cows; many of the lessons and skills we mentioned are developed through other project areas: open class horticulture, agriculture, 4-H general projects and FFA exhibits, to name a few. One of Megan’s favorite projects to exhibit as a youth at the fair was the veterinary science project area in the 4-H program. Each year, preparing this project, our father would spend a bit of time with Megan encouraging her to explore the whys behind many animal health decisions that were made on the dairy, creating and honing an interest in the future careers of veterinary medicine and dairy farming.

Birds just love this barn. The webs in these trusses are easy nest areas for birds. They also restrict air flow which leads to poor ventilation and moisture buildup in the building.

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showcase the latest advancements in technology. Today, fairs continue to do these things but with an increasing focus on the youth in our communities.

This week, we completed our annual trek to the Meeker County Fair. The fair was the highlight of our summer as youth. The fair continues to be something we look forward to now as adults when we can turn our focus to encouraging youth to learn and grow. For many, the county fair represents the culmination of weeks or months of work, learning and creating. A time when they can proudly exhibit all they have learned and have been striving toward for months. The fair is a foundation for youth to take their experiences at home and hone them into ideas and skills, preparing them for the future.

As Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said, “We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.” We provide youth the opportunity to partake in dairy projects for this exact reason. Caring for an animal teaches them responsibility and self-discipline. Through judging, they learn communication and social skills with other adults. They also learn good sportsmanship, time management, teamwork and concern for others.

Involvement also enables dairy farm youth to take the lessons they have learned at home working on their family farm and apply them to a project. It can help them understand and increase their interest in dairy, shifting the focus on many tasks at home

Looking back, as youth, we didn’t realize all the great things we were learning and the important life skills that we were developing until we were adults. This past week, we were able to spend time in the barns visiting with other adults who participated as a youth in a local county fair. These adults all admitted that some of their most important memories, friends and learning experiences that led them to where they are today were developed through the experiences they had preparing for and exhibiting at a local county fair. For the majority of them, their experiences led them to develop lifelong friends, choose a career in agriculture and become well-rounded leaders and citizens in our communities.

The fair is more than fun memories. It is inspiring a passion for the industry. Yes, it’s a lot of work each year preparing and exhibiting, often during the busiest time of the summer as well. But as we go through life, we nd that many of life’s most valuable lessons and memories are created during these times. We must remember that the fair is more than fun. It’s an investment in our youth, teaching them life skills, allowing them to develop into young adults, and building a foundation of the value of agriculture and the importance and value of our local communities. And we can say that after the recent completion of our fair, we should be extremely proud of our youth and our local community as well.

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

By Megan Schrupp & Ellen Stenger Columnists

The NexGen: Adventures of two dairy daughters

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