“All
Finding the right mix
Czech uses rotational crossbreeding to enhance genetics
By Sarah Middendorf sarah.m@star-pub.com
RICE, Minn — Sometimes keeping it simple works, but Brent Czech nds quality with an in-depth crossbreeding program.
“When I heard Dr. Les Hansen discuss crossbreeding in the early 2000s, it resonated with me, and thought, this makes a lot of sense for commercial dairy production,” Czech said.
Czech, his wife, Callie, and his parents, Myron and Debbie Czech, own New Heights Dairy near Rice. Through the past 18 years they have grown their dairy
from 850 cows milked in a parlor and housed in a sandbedded freestall barn to milking across four locations.
In 2006, they purchased the dairy upon Brent’s graduation from the University of Minnesota. This also marks the beginning of their crossbreeding.
When the Czechs started crossbreeding, they were doing a three-way rotational cross of Holstein, Jersey and Montbéliarde, in that order.
“When we were looking at the advancements of the Holstein breed over the last decade, we wanted to gure
Turn to CZECH | Page 6
A touchdown for dairy
Haags host Wisconsin Badgers football team to provide education about industry
By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com
MOUNT HOREB, Wis.
When a big, black “On Wisconsin” bus pulled up to their driveway July 22, the Haag family was ready to make a good impression on 25 young men who had never stepped foot on a dairy farm. The men were members of the University of WisconsinMadison football team, and they brought a busload of enthusiasm to the farm.
“This was such a unique promotion of our dairy industry,” Dawn Haag said. “We were able to reach a whole different realm of consumers and make an impact that day. I bet every one of those kids went back and told their mom, dad, uncle and brother what they saw.”
Dawn and her husband, Virgil, farm with their children, Karsen and Kody, near Mount
The Haags milk 260 cows with four Lely A5 robotic milking units in a facility built in 2023. The Badger football fans greeted their guests with a big Wisconsin family farm welcome.
“It was a fun farm experience to share something we’re passionate about and proud of with people unfamiliar with the dairy industry, and they were very receptive,” Dawn said. “Just a little snippet of their time is all we had. You can’t explain dairy farming in two hours, but you can give them an overview.”
The Haags partnered with Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin in hosting the event that was orchestrated by former NFL player, Travis Beckum. Beckum works for the UW-Madison athletic department and also played football for the Badgers.
to BADGER FOOTBALL | Page 2
SARAH MIDDENDORF/DAIRY STAR
Brent Czech walks through the barn Sept. 6 on his farm near Rice, Minnesota. New Heights Dairy has been crossbreeding their animals since 2006.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Drew Braam (le ) and Omillio Agard, members of the University of Wisconsin-Madison football team, interact with a cow July 22 at the Haag farm near Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. The Haags set up sta ons around the farm to give the athletes an overview of dairy farming.
Horeb.
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The month prior, after making a connection through DFW, he visited the Haags’ farm with one goal in mind — to milk a cow. The Wisconsin native had never been on a farm.
“We have robots, so we brought out our portable milker and bucket, and he milked her that way,” Dawn said. “He was so enthralled to see a cow and learn about the total mixed ration.”
It was during this visit that Beckum asked the Haags if they would ever consider hosting the football team.
“Part of his job is to give athletes a taste of Wisconsin because they come from all over,” Dawn said. “They try to come up with ways to get them invested in our state, and Travis was excited about this. He’s very down to earth and is a great person. It was really cool to meet him also.”
Six people from DFW came to help the Haags, including Suzanne Fanning, executive vice president and chief marketing ofcer, who kicked things off with an introduction about Wisconsin’s dairy industry. The event was university sponsored, with no cost incurred to DFW.
“We wanted to show them how important the dairy industry is to Wisconsin, and Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin did a really good job of that,” Dawn said.
The Haags had the chance to do myth busting too, Dawn said.
“Some players had the idea this was going to be dirty, but their idea of a dairy farm was very different than what they saw,” she said. “It was good to show our industry in a positive light to break any
Tyler Jansey of the University of Wisconsin-Madison football team sits in a tractor July 22 at the Haag farm near Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. Jansey and some of his teammates visited the farm owned by Virgil and Dawn Haag and their children, Karsen and Kody, to learn more about Wisconsin’s dairy industry.
misconceptions they might hold about dairy farming.”
The Haags set up stations, and it was a lively day of learning as the athletes and farmers interacted. Only one player, who was from Arizona, had visited a dairy farm before, and he came wearing boots.
Karsen took out a Red & White Holstein named Cheers on a halter. This was the same cow Beckum had milked.
“It was like a swarm of bees when we brought the cow out,” Dawn said. “They
all wanted to touch her and take pictures with her. For many of them, it was their rst time petting a cow.”
The players also had the opportunity to bottle-feed water to calves. The Haags had a portable milker on display and encouraged players to stick their ngers inside one of the teat cups to feel the pulsation.
Turn to BADGER FOOTBALL | Page 5
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“Nobody wanted to do that, but when Karsen’s son did it, one guy said, ‘I can’t let a 6-year-old show me up,’ and so he tried it too,” Dawn said.
Karsen showed the players how she checks the Lely app on her phone, and Dawn said the group was impressed by the technology. Virgil and Dawn split up between each of the robot rooms to give the athletes an up close look at the milking process.
“They loved being in the robot rooms,” Dawn said. “They were in small groups so they could really get to see them.”
A tractor and TMR mixer were on display, and Kody showed the athletes the different ingredients they feed their cows. However, it was the quantity that amazed them.
“They couldn’t believe Kody mixes
22,000 pounds of feed per day,” Dawn said.
The visit was hands-on, with football players immersing themselves in the farm rather than merely observing. They climbed in the tractor and peered into the mixer and stood on top of the bunker pile.
The Haags said they were eager learners, who took a lot of pictures and asked a lot of questions.
“They were very excited and engaged in what we were doing,” Virgil said. “They were also very polite. I was impressed. When they left, every one of the players said, ‘Thank you’ and shook our hands. They were very appreciative of what we did for them.”
Dawn agreed.
“The guys were so respectful and pleasant,” she said. “We were just amazed at how attentive they were, and we en-
joyed watching their reactions.”
DFW and the Haags offered the players snacks of yogurt and cheese.
“Our milk plant, Klondike Cheese (Company), was gracious enough to supply Odyssey yogurt,” Dawn said. “We explained how the milk truck picks up our milk, and this is the nal product, as some of our milk goes into making yogurt. They could see the whole product chain.”
GoodSport, a dairy beverage made from milk permeate, was also available for players to try.
“That drink went over big,” Virgil said. “I don’t think there was one guy who didn’t drink it or at least take a bottle with him.”
DFW also provided promotional shirts, hats and sweatshirts to the players.
“There was nothing left over,” Virgil
said. “The next week when the Badgers went to Platteville for practice, we noticed on TV that they had their Dairy Strong hats on as they walked off the bus.”
Virgil learned from Beckum that the players told their other teammates how much fun they had at the farm and how much they learned.
“I thought that was really nice they told their friends that they missed a good opportunity,” Virgil said.
By sharing their farm with the athletes, the Haags said they` hope to build trust for dairy farmers and dairy products among an audience new to agriculture.
“In our ag world, we think everyone knows about farming like we do,” Dawn said. “We forget there are people even in Wisconsin who don’t have that farm experience.”
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Members of the University of Wisconsin-Madison football team and the Haag family — Darrion Dupree (front, from le ), Xavier Lucas, Sean West, Tyler Jansey, Ryan Cory, Virgil Haag with grandson, Kayson Bentley, Karsen Bentley, Dawn Haag, Dan Bentley, Gretchen Bentley; (middle, from le ) Derek Jensen, Max Lofy, Emerson Mandell, Langdon Nordgaard, Cody Raymond, Drew Braam, Mason Lane, Deed Capper, Hank Weber, James Durand; (back, from le ) Milos Spasojevic, Omillio Agard, Jay Harper and Dillan Johnson — gather July 22 on the Haags’ farm near Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. The Haag family milks 260 cows.
out a way to incorporate more Holstein into the cross while still capturing the benets of heterosis,” Czech said.
Heterosis increases the average production of certain traits in the offspring.
The Czechs decided to change the rotation to do just that. For the last ve years their rotation has been Holstein, Jersey, Holstein, Montbéliarde and Holstein.
“After going through several scenarios, we thought the cross that we are currently doing would be the best combination of taking advantage of the improvement in the Holstein breed but still making a healthy, highproducing animal targeted for longevity,” Czech said. “The biggest advantages currently would be reduced death loss, better health, as well as improved feed efciency.”
John Metzger, director of product development at Trans Ova Genetics, said rotational breeding has three key points to consider to produce the best offspring. These include a breeding plan, breed selection and sire and dam selection.
Metzger said breed selection is important to make an operation more protable.
A breeding plan depends on the farm and what will work best for their operation. Figuring out what rotation to use, what system to implement and whether it’s a rotational crossbreeding program or a perpetual F1 program are some of the questions Metzger said to consider.
“The better you can do the selection on both the male and female side the more improvement and better animals you’ll have,” Metzger said.
Metzger said if the operation has a well-designed crossbreeding program, but they don’t use really good bulls, they are likely to give up almost everything gained.
In the past year the Czechs have switched to using only progeny-proven bulls.
“We have a very specic type of cow we want to develop and by using two to three bulls from each breed, we feel that will create more consistency rather than using a higher number of genomic bulls,” Czech said.
The Czechs want to create cows that will produce a lot of components over a lifetime. To accomplish that,
they are selecting for a combination of health traits, combined fat and protein and body size.
Breed complementarity strengthens one animal by having breeds complement each other and masking certain traits that are weaknesses.
“It’s kind of the opposite of inbreeding depression,” Metzger said. “You can combine strengths and weaknesses from breeds.”
When producers do a two-breed rotation they only capture half of the heterosis. This is why some producers switched and started doing threebreed rotations.
“I think you retain much more of the heterosis as you get into it,” Metzger said.
Generally, the rst generation, F1 cross, is the most protable animal because they are combining the strength of two breeds. Through this cross, the animals are also getting 100% heterosis.
“When you look at the breeds, you want to be careful that you’re not giving up too much in genetic merit,” Metzger said. “Some breeds have higher fertility and better health, so you bring that into the mix. Then the heterosis or hybrid vigor gives you an extra bump in survival, health, reproduction and longevity.”
Genetic merit is the animal’s value as a parent and the traits breeders see and measure. When producers cross two animals together the animal has a high heterosis, but if there is a big difference between genetic merit, the heterosis might not give that animal a higher performance of the best breed.
“Our goal is to develop an animal that ts our management system,” Czech said. “How we have done that continues to evolve, whether it is netuning sire selection or evaluating the genetic potential of each breed. What was the best t in the past isn’t always the proper path going forward, and what works for one dairy might not be right for another.”
Metzger said there are many factors that a producer needs to consider.
“There are a lot of different ways to do it and I think that whatever a producer decides to do has to t with their goals (and) t with their management system,” Czech said. “I made the decisions that I felt (were) best for my production model.” We can help you with your farm or small business websites, printing & sign needs! For more information, contact your area rep listed on Page 2 of the First Section.
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WEB DESIGNS
Engelmeyer switches from electrician to dairy farmer
By Mark Klaphake & Meghan Kropp mark.k@dairystar.com
MELROSE, Minn. — In March 2022, Derek Engelmeyer made a decision that forever changed the outlook of his parents, Joe and Kim’s, dairy farm.
He switched occupations from an electrician to a full-time farmer.
Since that life-altering change, Engelmeyer has been an understudy on his parents’ 140-cow dairy near Melrose.
“I always liked the thought of being my own boss versus working for someone else,” Derek said. “It was always fun between being on the farm with Mom and Dad and when I was kid out at my grandparents’ places on the farm. I kind of wanted to give my kids the same opportunity growing up.”
Derek and his wife, Amber, have two sons, Wyatt and Colton. Derek’s presence on the farm has injected energy and opportunity for the Engelmeyers.
He is embracing strategies for feeding, milking and breeding cows.
Turn to ENGELMEYER | Page 8
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The Engelmeyers — Colton (front, from le ) and Wya ; (middle, from le ) Amber and Derek; (back, from le ) Emily, Kim and Joe — gather in their freestall barn Sept. 2 on their dairy near Melrose, Minnesota. Derek started helping full me on the farm in 2022.
“I’ve learned quite a few new things, what it takes, like the feed to get them to milk, how to dry stuff down, how much they need for different rations,” Derek said.
He said recently they were working on the chopper and running into a few roadblocks. He suggested it might be better to bring the piece of equipment to a mechanic.
“I told Dad I wasn’t a mechanic, we should bring it to town,” Derek said. “Dad said, ‘You’re a farmer now so that makes you an electrician, a mechanic, a plumber, a carpenter, anything under the sun.’ You have to have some sort of knowledge on a little bit of everything.”
A few characteristics can help in gaining these bits of knowledge. Joe said his son has those qualities.
“He has patience, which is going to help him,” Joe said. “He’s willing to learn new things. He’s not afraid to do different things, like working on equipment or anything. It doesn’t matter. He’s not afraid to try.”
Farming has become a sort of school for Derek. He’s increasing his role with eldwork and his dairy animal knowledge continues to grow. He recently added breeding to his class list.
“That’s probably one of the more difcult things I’ve
had to learn,” Derek said. “Just because it’s inside of a cow. You’re searching for things with your eyes closed.”
Another new thing that Derek has been excited about since his return to the farm is learning about planting corn, including the electronics involved.
“The biggest thing that I’ve enjoyed this year is we
planted our own corn for the rst year since we started farming,” he said. “It’s kind of cool to see it in the box, throw in the ground and hope like hell it comes up.”
Derek said this project included planting just under 10,000 sweet corn plants.
Turn to ENGELMEYER | Page 9
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MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
(Le ) Derek Engelmeyer pushes up feed Sept. 5 on his family’s dairy near Melrose, Minnesota. The Engelmeyers milk 140 cows.
(Below) Derek Engelmeyer scrapes manure Sept. 5 in the freestall barn at the Engelmeyer’s dairy near Melrose, Minnesota.
“It’s a different feeling of accomplishment,” he said. “We sold a lot of it. It was one of those things we just did because we had our own corn planter.”
Derek said he would eventually like to see other electronics, such as robotics, on the farm.
“I’ve watched my parents update a lot of things with the times as they’ve gone on. You’ve got to keep moving along with it. You can’t be stuck in the old ways in how you do things,” he said.
Between taking care of the animals, planting and harvesting corn, and working around the farm, Derek’s hours have changed substantially from his day-to-day as an electrician.
“You start a little earlier in the morning, obviously. You go a little later into the evening with work,” he said. “It’s just basically when you get up in the morning to when you go to bed at night.”
While the days may be long, Derek said there is plenty of fun to be had on the farm.
“Going out to do eld work kind of seems like playing because you get to go out and sit in the big tractor and drive around,” he said.
Amber said their boys also enjoy going for rides on the tractor or the skid loader.
“I’ve never second-guessed (working with family). They are always going to teach you something. They’ll tell you when you’re wrong and congratulate you when you do something right.”
DEREK ENGELMEYER, DAIRY FARMER
“When I’m feeding the boys at night and Derek is pushing in feed, they can hear the beep of the skid loader,” Amber said. “For the rst month that we lived here, they were crying because they knew the skid loader was moving and they were not in it.”
Derek, Amber and their boys live up the hill from Joe and Kim and have enjoyed being able to come down whenever and getting to raise their boys on the farm.
“Watching the kids grow up down here is a lot like my childhood,” Amber said. “It’s awesome. They get to experience all these things and see all the hard work that is put into farming.”
Wyatt and Colton are also excited to be on the farm.
“It’s super nice to bring them down here, they enjoy it,” Amber said. “When we rst moved here, they would cry every time I would bring them home from daycare because they just wanted to come down to the farm and milk with Dad.”
Amber knew that Derek wanted to come back to the work on the farm, so she was not surprised when he came home and said he was quitting as an electrician to start farming.
“People say working for family could be a bad choice, but I don’t know. I’ve never second-guessed it,” Derek said. “They are always going to teach you something. They’ll tell you when you’re wrong and congratulate you when you do something right.”
Knowing someone wants to keep the farm in the family matters to Joe.
“It’s nice to have some help and to know that somebody wants to run it, to take it over,” he said. “If the next generation wants to do it, you have to hand it over and help them along with it.”
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Class III milk moves higher
Prices for dairy cattle and Class III milk are holding strong. Jenny Wackershauser, a dairy agent and broker with Ever.Ag, said tight cattle supplies are a large factor. “It actually ties a lot back to the beef herd.” With more dairy cows being bred to beef, the dairy heifer replacements are extremely tight, hence the tight dairy market. Demand is also increasing with more processing becoming available. “We’re moving into a very balanced to tight milk market that we have not seen going back to probably 2018”, said Wackerhauser.
Dairy exports turn lower
we do a better job across the state for all farmers.” Broten said manure is a valuable resource that improves soil health and increases crop yields.
Make your voice heard on proposed feedlot rules
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has announced changes to feedlot permits that are nearing their expiration date. The proposed permits would require farmers to apply manure in the spring or plant cover crops for fall-applied manure. “The case they’ve made is that focusing on cover crops offers the greatest potential to guard against nitrates,” said Stu Lourey, government relations director, Minnesota Farmers Union. “The permit changes aren’t done until they’re done so it’s important to make your voice heard.” The public comment period has closed, but Lourey urges those affected to continue to tell their story.
For the rst six months of 2024, U.S. dairy exports have exported 2% less total milk solids than they did during the rst half of last year. Exports are down 12% for dry milk products, down 1.2% for dry whey products and up 23% for cheese. Dairy imports are up nearly 11% from last year. The Dairy Market Report from the National Milk Producers Federation and U.S. Dairy Export Council said the Dairy Margin Coverage margin will average between $11.85 per hundredweight and $12.20 per cwt this year. That would be the highest average margin for a calendar year under DMC since the program began nearly 10 years ago.
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By Don Wick Columnist Ag Insider
Progress seen for dairy vaccine
A Protectionist trade policy expected under Trump or Harris
Whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris is in the Oval Ofce on January 20, 2025, a more protectionist trade policy is anticipated. Ben Conner, a partner with the trade policy consulting rm DTB AgriTrade, made that point during the Next 5 Years Conference. Conner said Trump is advocating for more tariffs. “That’s certainly what he’s suggesting in his campaign promise and it’s in the Republican platform,” Conner said. “It’s questionable what authority he has to do that, so we’ll have to see if he gets elected what might happen there, but at the moment it looks like we have to be prepared for more tariffs.” Conner described Harris as a blank slate. There is the expectation another Democratic administration would prioritize climate policy when adopting trade policy. “Clean energy is denitely going to be a focus for her and what that means on the trade front is a little more of an unknown. We just don’t know at this point how Harris would approach that.”
Another farm bill extension likely
Another farm bill extension is all but a certainty. At the Farm Progress Show, House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson said it was time for the Senate to act. In Thompson’s words, the Senate has 90 pages of ideas but has not taken any real action. The legislation has passed the House Agriculture Committee but does not appear to have enough votes to pass the full House. The farm bill is operating under a one-year extension, which expires at the end of September.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made a stop at the Farm Progress Show in Iowa. “Since I’m at the Farm Progress Show, we obviously want to make sure that we announce progress,” he said. Vilsack outlined the work underway to develop H5N1 vaccines for dairy cattle. “We have a number of companies that have been working on vaccines and one company has now presented sufcient information to the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) to allow me to authorize what I did this week, the rst eld trial of a vaccine for cattle H5N1 for safety purposes.” The eld trials are the next step in vaccine development.
Praise for common names initiative
The Chilean government will allow U.S. exporters to continue to market their products using common names, such as parmesan and prosciutto. National Milk Producers Federation President and CEO Gregg Doud describes this agreement as a milestone for U.S. dairy farmers. The European Union and other countries have taken aggressive steps to restrict other countries from using these common food names.
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Farm Bill Extension is Likely
Another farm bill extension seems to become more plausible as time progresses. “We’re at the point in the process where we’re going to be forced to probably extend all the appropriations,” said Jay Truitt, President, Policy Solutions. Truitt expects the farm bill will be one of many items lumped into one large omnibus bill. A farm bill debate will nally happen, but Truitt doesn’t expect that to happen until well into next year.
Feedlot permit process needs common-sense approach
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has proposed changes to the state feedlot permit process. AgriGrowth Executive Director Darin Broten said MPCA’s one-size-ts-all approach does not work. “Science has to drive decisions, not arbitrary dates as has been proposed by the MPCA as to when manure can be applied to farm elds.” The MPCA has also proposed a cover crop requirement if farmers want to apply manure in the fall. Broten said Minnesota is a very large state and that regulation is not practical. “We really believe we should have a more thoughtful conversation, take a step back and engage with farmers and the industry to gure out how can
Truterra carbon incentives expand to dairy sector Truterra has launched a rst-ever carbon program for dairy farmers. Land O’Lakes created Truterra in 2016, offering incentives to adopt climatesmart farming practices like cover crops and no-till. Truterra President Jamie Leifker says this is their rst program for the dairy business. Truterra is working with three dairy companies: Land O’Lakes, Dairy Farmers of America and Bel Brands. “What we want farmers to understand is that we’re owned by a farmer-owned organization that puts a high degree of effort into the delity of our data to ensure that we’re protecting the farmer’s data in a way that they own it; they never lose control of it,” Leifker said. “We’re not calling out specic performance on specic farms. We aggregate the data so we’re protecting the farmer and the efforts that they’re putting into their farm.”
Longtime dairy booster honored by Minnesota Milk Producers Association
The Minnesota Milk Producers Association has awarded its Bruce Cottington Friend of Dairy Award to ag industry consultant and Minnesota State Fair Moo Booth Superintendent Doris Mold. Mold has coordinated the Moo Booth educational experience for 40 years.
Trivia challenge
Strawberry is the most popular milkshake avor in the United States. That answers our last trivia question. For this week’s trivia, what is the theme for the 2024 World Dairy Expo? We’ll have the answer in our next edition of the Dairy Star.
Don Wick is owner/broadcaster for the Red River Farm Network of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Wick has been recognized as the National Farm Broadcaster of the Year and served as president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Don and his wife, Kolleen, have two sons, Tony and Sam, and ve grandchildren, Aiden, Piper, Adrienne, Aurora and Sterling.
The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act
Legislators, industry groups continue to push for its passage
By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Putting whole milk and 2% milk options back on the trays of school lunches is the objective of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act. Since 2012, kids’ choices in the cafeteria have been limited to unavored low-fat (1%), unavored fat-free and avored fatfree milk. In 2017, schools were allowed to start serving avored low-fat milk as well.
In December 2023, the bill sponsored by Congressman and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., to restore whole and reduced fat milk to schools, received overwhelming bipartisan support when it passed in the U.S. House of Representatives with a 330-99 vote.
However, the bill was stopped short at its next destination, the U.S. Senate. Chair of the Senate Com-
mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry Committee — Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. —blocked the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act after Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. requested unanimous consent on the Senate oor to pass the Act.
“It just takes one senator to raise their hand and put a hold on a piece of legislation so they can give it another look,” said Rob Rosado, vice president of legislative affairs at the International Dairy Foods Association.
“Stabenow is the Senate Ag Committee chair, so this is her jurisdiction. As chair, she determines what legislation is best for her committee.”
This setback does not mean the dairy industry has given up on getting the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act passed. Legislators in favor of the bill and industry organizations continue to ght for it.
“We’re really excited about the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act,” Rosado said. “We’ve been trying to nd opportunities to get it passed, and hopefully there is a window of opportunity to do that later this year.”
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“It helps me keep track of the cows that need to be bred, and I keep an eye on the days in milk and the days open.”
How long have you been testing with DHIA?
I have been testing with DHIA for more than 30 years. The bene t of nding out how each cow is performing is why I continue to test.
What tests do you use and what do you like about those tests? I use tests for somatic cell count, butterfat and protein. I like to identify the high somatic cell cows so I can take them out of the line and use that milk for calves or something else.
Which is your favorite and why? My favorite test is the somatic cell count test, just so I know which ones I need to keep an eye on. I either treat them, cull them or use them to feed calves.
How does testing with DHIA bene t your dairy operation? It helps me keep track of the cows that need to be bred, and I keep an eye on the days in milk and the days open. I use their records a lot. Each month it gives you a list of cows to breed or which ones need to be pregnancy checked.
Tell us about your farm. We typically have about 90 cows and we milk our herd in a tiestall barn. We grow our own feed, harvesting alfalfa, high-moisture corn and corn silage. We buy our protein from the local elevator. We get help from my dad, Harvey, and my brother, Dan, helps with eld work. We ship our milk to First District Association.
The milk ing robot ’s strong The milking robot’s strong per formance is achieved in performance is achieved in combination with streamlined maintenance, and the abilit y maintenance, and the ability for 24/7 operation with for 24/7 operation with minimum use of consumables minimum use and energy With the and energy. With the Dair yRobot R9500, up to four DairyRobot R9500, up to four boxes can be connec ted to can connected to one supply unit This way one unit. This way they share one vacuum share one vacuum pump, compressor, milk pump, compressor, milk and calf milk line, and tank and calf milk line, and tank connec tion – which means connection – means less equipment and reduced less and reduced system complexit y system complexity.
“Centre Dairy was very easy to work with, we had the robots installed about a year and half ago, and after a slight learning curve, the cows have adapted well and ef ciency and production are up.We are nding it takes less labor and time for each milking.” -
Marc Claseman
Harlan Mauk Howard Lake, MN Wright County • 80 cows
Rosado said this is the rst time the bill has ever had this much bipartisan support across the oor, with all but one Republican voting for the bill and a majority of Democrats voting for it in the House.
Under the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, schools participating in the school lunch program would be able to offer students a variety of uid milks, including avored and unavored organic or non-organic whole, reduced-fat, low-fat and fatfree uid milk, and lactosefree uid milk.
“We believe this bill is important from a nutritional standpoint because whole milk provides all the same nutrients as low-fat and nonfat milk, but more people will consume it,” Rosado said. “That’s the end goal of what we’re trying to do here. We have strong bipartisan sponsors, and we keep going to nd opportunities to move it forward.”
IDFA launched a website campaign for promoting whole milk in school meals. Rosado said there are many resources on the website and ways to contact members of Congress about getting on board with this bill. The public can voice its support for the bill by lling out a form to email to their U.S. Senators,
Pu�ng whole milk and 2% milk op�ons back on the trays of school lunches is the objec�ve of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act. Under this act, schools would be able to offer students a variety of uid milks, including avored and unavored organic or non-organic whole, reducedfat, low-fat and fat-free uid milk, and lactose-free uid milk.
encouraging their support of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act.
According to the IDFA website, milk offers 13 essential nutrients and is the No. 1 source of protein, vitamin D, calcium and potassium in the diets of children ages 2-18. Since the U.S. Department of Agriculture removed whole and 2% milk from schools in
2012, school milk consumption and meal participation have declined.
Measuring consumer support for whole milk is one of the ways IDFA is advocating for the bill. The organization found that 9 out of 10 parents serve 2% and whole milk to their children at home and want it back in schools.
“They want Congress to
do something about it, and we’re going to keep pushing it,” Rosado said.
In September, IDFA is hosting a legislative y-in, to talk about this issue along with others.
“We continue to have our senior executives in D.C. promoting the bill as well, as we try to build more bipartisan support,” Rosado said.
“We’re going to continue to bang the drum for whole milk.”
Chairman Thompson said the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act has now been added to the House Committee on Agriculture farm bill, which passed the House committee in May.
“While we work towards the end of the year, it’s important for the Senate to take action, so we can work out the differences,” Thompson said. “I believe we are close, but the Senate must prioritize this bipartisan legislation.”
Rosado said that Sens. Stabenow and John Boozman, R-Ark., each have frameworks for a farm bill, and Boozman includes the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act in his framework.
“At some point, they’re going to need to sit down with Chairman Thompson and talk about the farm bill in the coming months because the current bill expires Sept. 30,” Rosado said. “Everyone wants to pass a new farm bill by the end of the calendar year, so we really want this to be in that conversation. We’re working publicly and privately to ensure the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act is in the mix.”
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BUILT STRONGER. LASTS LONGER.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Rosado is optimistic that IDFA is making headway with Stabenow as the organization works to build support for the bill.
“We have a good working relationship with Chairwoman Stabenow and her staff and continue to have conversations,” Rosado said. “We are showing her the nutritional science is there as well as the bipartisan and public support.”
Rosado is hoping for action on the bill when Congress reconvenes after the November elections. If the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act does not pass by Jan. 3, 2025, it would start over from the beginning in the next Congress.
Sen. Marshall was the lead of the bipartisan Senate version of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act and continues to back the bill as well.
“We are still pushing for the measure to be considered before the end of the 118th Congress, hoping that Leader Schumer understands how important it is for nutrient-dense and delicious whole milk to be in the lunchroom,” Marshall said. “If the bill does not come to the oor independently, we will explore opportunities to attach it to another legislative vehicle.”
Another group working behind the scenes in favor of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act is 97 Milk. This non-prot grassroots farmer-led initiative based in Pennsylvania promotes whole milk as 97% fat free and is promoting the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act on its website and social media platforms.
Sherry Bunting is an independent agricultural journalist and volunteer with 97 Milk and the Grassroots Pennsylvania Dairy Advisory Committee.
“We’re working on educating the public about the issue,” Bunting said. “Most people don’t even realize kids don’t have a choice of whole or 2%
milk at school. A big hurdle was for people to see the need for this legislation.”
Bunting said about half of the Senate Ag Committee, including Democrats and Republicans, are signed on as co-sponsors to the companion Senate bill, which contains identical language to the House bill that passed in December.
According to Bunting, Stabenow has not allowed her committee to take up the bill.
“On the Senate side, it has to move out of the ag committee to get to the Senate oor,” Bunting said. “On the House side, the bill moved out of the education committee to the House oor.”
Chairman Thompson obtained a waiver from education chair, Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., that would allow a whole milk waiver act to be included in the farm bill on the House side.
“With that waiver, he did what people said could not be done and made it part of the farm bill,” Bunting said. “The fact it’s in the farm bill makes me hopeful that if we can get a farm bill passed, the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act will ride along. This would be the fourth time GT Thompson has put this bill forward over the last eight years.”
Bunting said new this time in the bill is language that makes the fat found in milk exempt from being counted in meal dietary guidelines.
Bringing whole milk back into schools will round out the school meal with a avorful and nutrition-packed option that research shows many kids are already drinking at home.
“We’ve never been this close before,” Rosado said. “It passed the House with huge bipartisan support and has good bipartisan support in the Senate. We feel the time is right for Whole Milk for Healthy Kids.”
WORLD DAIRY EXPO
from our side our side OF THE FENCE
How does your family’s farm routine change when school starts?
Chad Wieneke
Adrian, Minnesota Nobles County 300 cows
How many children do you have and what are their ages? My wife, Teresa, and I have three kids — Alysha, 21, Grant, 19, and Addison, 14. My brother, Kevin, and his wife, Julie, have three kids — Cameron, 20, Sophie, 16, and Connor, 12.
What roles do your kids play on the farm? When Grant got home from his rst year of college, he took on some big roles on the dairy farm. He did the feeding and helped Kevin with the reproduction in the dairy herd. Both he and Cameron probably worked more than 60 hours a week. Cameron doesn’t mind helping with the dairy, but he really likes feeding cattle and running the feedlot portion of the farm. We nish about 1,000 animals a year on Kevin’s place. Both Cameron and Grant are into crop production and help with that in the spring. They come home in March and have a spring and summer internship. They both enjoy the crop production of the farming operation. They like tractors. Alysha goes to college and works at John Deere in Luverne full time. She helps on the weekends with silage chopping and chores whenever she can. Sophie and Connor help when we are chopping hay or corn. Addison has her 4-H chores and shows lambs, and helps whenever we need her.
Do your kids’ responsibilities change when school starts? Cameron and Grant go to Lake Area Technical College in Watertown, South Dakota. They come back every weekend to help on the farm. Alysha helps after work if we need her. The other three are all in high school and active in sports, so we don’t get a lot of help from them.
How do you adapt your schedule to cover extra work when your kids start school? Kevin and I put in a lot more hours when they are gone. We probably add 2-3 hours a day more when the kids are gone.
What is the most exciting part about your kids going back to school? It’s exciting that it’s the boys’ last year of college. They will both be done this spring and plan to return to the farm. Kevin and I try to accommodate each other. When his kids have football or volleyball, I will cover. When Addison has cross-country, he covers for me. We try to make as many sporting events as possible, but we don’t make them all.
What lessons have you taught your kids on the farm? I taught them to have a strong work ethic, and I hope they realize the dairy farm is a great place to raise a family.
Tell us about your farm. Kevin and I run the farm. We milk 300 cows in a double-10 parallel parlor. We also nish out around 1,000 steers annually. We have 1,200 acres and plant corn, soybeans and alfalfa. We are the fourth generation, and our kids are going to be the fth. Our dad, Dale, and mom, Mary, come out to the farm and help when they can.
Bill and Amber Koopmeiners Valley Creek Acres Burtrum, Minnesota Morrison County 75 cows
How many children do you have and what are their ages? We have 3 children, ages 12, 9 and 7.
What roles do your kids play on the farm? Our kids help with milking at times. They mainly help with cleaning the barn, moving cattle of all ages, skid loader work and eldwork.
Do your kids’ responsibilities change when school starts? They don't help with morning chores as we open enroll to a different school so their bus ride is a bit longer. For the evening chores, they still help with cleaning the barn, calf chores at times and any eld work that still needs to be nished, after homework has been completed, of course.
How do you adapt your schedule to cover extra work when your kids start school? We are blessed and have a full-time worker and another high school student, so it means we just divide up cleaning the barn and moving the cattle and some of the eldwork. We also have Bill's dad who cares for all the feeding of the cows and heifers.
What is the most exciting part about your kids going back to school? Not having to be a referee between the kids. My husband would say, “He gets to drive tractors again.” Also, the compliments we get from the school staff and other parents about how responsible and grown up our kids are. Manners and work ethic are complimented all the time as well. It just goes to show that we as parents are doing the right thing even though at times that is super hard, and you wonder if things are too much sometimes.
What lessons have you taught your kids on the farm? That if we all work hard, we get things done and get more time for fun. But honestly, I think right now everything we do, the kids think it's all fun yet. In a few more years that may not be the case. Also hard work. People appreciate hard work and helping people no matter what if at all possible and thanking those who come help us. Seeing them being able to step up when they see someone needing help and they know it's something they can do is very rewarding.
Tell us about your farm. We are in the process of building a new barn and milking facility. We are in the very early stages, but we are planning currently doing things to help our expansion come a little more smoothly. We currently milk in a 62 tiestall barn. We milk a total of 75 cows, which means we are switching cows in and out to get all cows milked in that small barn. We also have eight cow-calf pairs of beef cows. We grow our own crops and run 350 acres with a crop rotation of corn, beans, rye and alfalfa. We have started to implement notill crops as well.
Becky Sonberg Osage, Iowa Mitchell County 134 cows
How many children do you have and what are their ages? We have four children; Easton, 16, Jasper, 15, Lyla, 14, and Oliver, 12.
What roles do your kids play on the farm? They all help with all aspects of dairy farming, plus we have more than 200 laying chickens.
Do your kids' responsibilities change when school starts? We dry up the cows starting around July and calve August through December. When school starts, we are not milking as many cows so there is less work. But as the calves start coming, it gets pretty busy. They all get up before school to help with chores. Oliver is the only one doing fall sports this year, so the other three help with chores when they get home. The older two can get out early for work study. Basically they still have the same responsibilities covering daily chores, they are just not able to help with crop work. On the weekends they will catch up with other chores. When winter starts, all of them will be involved in sports activities and not be available after school. This year will be a rst,so we are not quite sure what we will do. We will probably have help from some students not involved with sports.
How do you adapt your schedule to cover extra work when your kids start school? My nephew will be helping with morning chores, and hopefully, we can get some helpers who are not involved with sports activities. I try to do extra work but I am usually running the kids around or attending their activities.
What is the most exciting part about your kids going back to school? I like seeing them involved with their friends, and to be honest, not having to worry about making them lunch. It's crazy when they are home, but it’s a different crazy managing their school lives.
What lessons have you taught your kids on the farm? We have taught them to be hard workers and always help others. They are denitely not afraid to take on work.
Tell us about your farm. We are a second-generation family-run operation, starting in 1977. We milk Holstein cows in a double-8 parallel parlor twice a day and feed out the steers. We also raise corn, soybeans, hay, oats and peas. We sell to Prairie Farms Dairy Inc. All employees are either family or a couple of high school friends of the kids. In the last few years, we have added laying hens to the mix. I also cover vacations/illnesses in various departments at the local hospital/clinic.
Lakeside Jerseys
Steph (from left), Kevin, Kelsey and Kevin Krohnfeldt
Alexandria, Minnesota
Douglas County
75 Cows
How many children do you have and what are their ages? We have two children: Kelsey, 17, and Cole, 15, a senior and sophomore, respectively, at Alexandria Area High School.
What roles do your children play on the farm? Both of our teens are very versatile and important to our farm, stepping in to help when and where we need them. We want them to be able to stand on their own if needed. They both play a role in the house too, even our son. They know how to cook, clean and do laundry (even if he doesn’t like it). And they also help out on the farm doing whatever job needs done. Sometimes it’s trapping gophers or mowing lawn, sometimes it is caring for our calves and chickens. They will both also pitch pen manure, feed and bed our heifers in the cattle shed, or do welding or mechanic work if we ask them (Both take classes at school for those kinds of trades and love it.) They are also a tremendous help in being parts runners, driving tractors and running equipment, hauling loads from the elds, and using the skid loader for bales and other odd jobs. Basically, they’re just your typical farm kids that kind of have a hand in all of the day to day tasks and enjoy getting dirty alongside the family.
Do your kids’ responsibilities change when school starts? Yes, it changes, because we want them to get enough rest so they can have focus and energy at school to take advantage of the courses offered there. Both Kelsey and Cole still pitch in at home and at the farm during the school year, but it is denitely less than the weekends, summer or every farm kid’s favorite (non) “holiday break or snow-day” off from school. They help when they can during the week if they’re not at school, FFA, sports or their offthe-farm jobs.
How do you adapt your schedule to cover extra work when your kids start school? Communication is important in knowing who is going to be where and when, so the
Nikki Deyle (pictured with her family — Sydney (from left), William, Lucas, Zachary and Nathan)
Browerville, Minnesota
Todd County
35 cows
How many children do you have and what grades are they in? I have four: Lucas is 16; Zachary is 14; Sydney is 13; and William is 10.
What roles do your kids play on the farm? Each of the kids has their own jobs on the farm. They primarily only have to do chores in the evening on weekdays. Lucas feeds the heifers and helps with eld work, Zachary takes care of the baby calves, Sydney is my milker, and William feeds hay and lls in where he needs to.
Do your kids’ responsibilities change when school starts? Explain. Chores and responsibilities stay the same unless one of them has a lot of homework to get done or an event to get to. Sydney is in volleyball and gone during the week so
things that need to be done get done. We keep a lled out weekly calendar on the kitchen table all the time and have a family group text chat going daily so we know which of us is doing the next task. And sometimes we still can’t keep up with the schedule changes.
What is the most exciting part about your kids going back to school? To see them learn and grow in self-condence with the new opportunities the school and our community offer and to see them work side by side with each other and their peers to accomplish things is pretty rewarding. Although it’s getting harder and harder to let them go because they’re almost ready to y on their own.
What lessons have you taught your kids on the farm? We have tried to pass down the main lesson of being good stewards of our land and animals, to nurture, carefully watch the details, and improve everything more than you take from it. Kelsey and Cole have learned to watch the body language of our animals, which gives crucial hints on health and temperament or situation. They have an understanding of the balance of putting money back into the business instead of always buying impulsive things. They’ve learned that farming is often a gamble and to read the poker face in the sky and weatherisms of trees and animals to know if we should rake hay or not. Both have learned to be grateful for what we have and know how to turn a wrench rst to try to x something that’s broken before buying new, or at least hit the duct tape and zip ties. The pair of them know we are blessed by God and are lucky to be the third generation in our family’s legacy of dairy farming, which wouldn’t be here without the hard labor and wisdom of their grandparents and great-grandparents. We’re so very fortunate to have their grandparents here with us on our day-to-day farm life adventures. Plus, they were also fortunate to grow up with a great-grandpa dairyman too, who provided a unique perspective on farming because he had seen so much change in the industry and way of life since he was born into farming in 1928. Kelsey and Cole have learned a great deal of valuable info, tips and tricks from all of them.
Tell us about your farm. Our family farms 350 acres of land that provides feed and bedding for our 150 head of Jersey cows, heifers and calves. On our little slice of countryside, we grow alfalfa, corn, oats, rye, soybeans and wheat, along with cover crops when possible. We have been taking steps to keep our carbon footprint minimal, especially because we have so many beautiful lakes nearby and enjoy the shing and hunting that a healthy ecosystem provides. We switched to no-till planting a number of years ago, keep cover crops going in the off seasons, and became Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certied so we can continue to improve our practices and be good to the soil and waters that were here long before us.
William lls in. On the weekends then, Sydney makes sure that she helps with the milkings. It also means some of the extra chores that normally get done during the week, now get done on the weekends.
How do you adapt your schedule to cover extra work when your kids start school? It just means that I start chores a bit earlier and adjust the jobs. That way whoever is at home knows which job they need to do and who is covering who. Most times, it still ends up with Mom or Uncle Jakin covering things.
What is the most exciting part about your kids going back to school? The food lasts a bit longer in the house.
What lessons have you taught your kids on the farm? I believe that they have learned responsibility, how to care for animals and the land, time management and how to be a team player. They all know that they have to work together to get the chores done in a timely matter before they can do anything else.
Tell us about your farm. Our farm is a 1,200-acre crop and dairy farm located just outside of Browerville. We milk 35 Guernseys and the kids are the sixth generation to grow up there. It is owned and operated by my brother, Jakin, and me. We grow corn, soybeans, alfalfa and small grains.
Describe your farm and facilities. We are a multi-generational farm that was started in 1861. The owners and operators of the business include Jim and Donna Hoefs and their sons — Jim, Jason and Joel. We sell our milk to Agropur in Le Sueur. Most of the livestock is housed on the main farm site. Our milking herd is housed in free stalls and milked in our double-8 parlor. We raise all of our youngstock and replacement heifers. As part of the operation, we also nish out all our steers. We produce the majority of our forage on acres that are close to the farm.
What forages do you harvest?
We harvest winter rye in the late spring to be utilized in dry cow and heifer rations. Alfalfa is harvested four times throughout the summer and utilized in our lactating cow ration. Our corn silage crop is harvested in September and utilized in all our animal diets. Grass meadows and ditches are harvested and wet wrapped for use in dry cow and heifer rations.
How many acres of crops do you raise? We farm approximately 1,000 acres of cropland. We raise corn, soybeans, spring wheat, alfalfa, barley and peas, new seeding alfalfa cover crop and winter rye.
FORAGE PROFILE
Describe the rations for your livestock. We mix four different types of rations. Our lactating cow ration is composed of corn silage, haylage, alfalfa baleage, cottonseed, soybean meal and mineral mix. The dry cow ration utilizes some of our lower-quality forages including ryegrass baleage, low-quality alfalfa baleage, corn silage, distillers grain and mineral mix.
The heifer ration is similar to the dry cow ration in composition but utilizes a different mineral mix. We also mix a ration for our steer nishing lot that is much lighter in forage but utilizes low-quality forages such as grass to help balance their diet of primarily corn and distillers grain.
grass cover crop. This past year it was nearly 900 round bales that varied in quality because of challenging harvest conditions. We also harvest meadow grass. We aim to harvest at least 1,000 grass bales that vary in quality and moisture.
Describe your harvesting techniques for alfalfa and corn silage. We recently purchased a self-propelled chopper that has changed the way our forage harvesting is handled. Our chopping wagons have been retrotted to be able to continue using them with the self-propelled chopper. More than half our alfalfa crop is chopped into a silo or bunker. The remaining alfalfa is round baled and wet wrapped to be fed as baleage.
Corn silage is harvested in early fall each year. We aim to harvest at 68% moisture and ll multiple bunkers to put up about 13 months’ worth of feed each year.
What quality and quantity do you harvest of each crop? We harvest approximately 3,800 tons of corn silage annually. We try to optimize quality by harvesting at ideal moisture of 68%. For haylage/baleage we run approximately 155 acres of alfalfa annually. We harvest 4-5 crops each year depending on conditions. We harvest approximately 65 acres worth of rye-
What techniques do you use to store, manage and feed your forages. We have four bunkers of varying sizes that store our corn silage and haylage crops. Bunkers are well packed to maximize the amount of forage stored and the quality of feed we produce.
AMY KYLLO/DAIRY STAR
The Hoefs family — Jimmy (from le ), Joel, Jim and Jason — hold up corn silage Sept. 6 at their farm near New Prague, Minnesota. The Hoefs family milks 250 cows.
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“If you don’t have cow comfort, nothing else seems to matter. We minimize stresses at calving on her feet and legs, making sure she has feed and water and a good place to rest, she’s clean and she’s dry.
“That leaves the udder as the next thing to take care of, and with Udder ComfortTM they transition a lot more smoothly,”
Maynard, Iowa, milking 750 95 pounds of 4.2 fat milk.
“For 10 years we used Udder Comfort periodically. At the 2022 World Dairy Expo, they talked me into trying the Udder Comfort Battery-Operated Backpack Sprayer. I didn’t think it insisted, and they were right!
SCC fell from 165 to 137,000.
“We also notice any clinicals that do show up, clear faster, and don’t
“Now, we continue to use it 3x/day on all fresh cows for a week after calving. If we have a mastitis cow or high SCC, or anything not perfectly normal, we spray it on
“With fresh cows, we see a lot more udder texture at 2 weeks in milk as edema is pulled out. You can They’re up moving around more. They eat. They drink. They make more milk and higher quality milk.
“The Udder Comfort Backpack Sprayer made us more compliant on our udder health. It’s more user-friendly
(Above) The dairy herd eats total mixed ra�on Sept. 6 at Hoefs Dairy LLC near New Prague, Minnesota. The Hoefs family has four different ra�ons: the milking cow ra�on, the heifer ra�on, the dry cow ra�on and the steer ra�on.
(Right) Rows of baleage lie stacked in front of a bunker Sept. 6 at Hoefs Dairy LLC near New Prague, Minnesota. The Hoefs individually wrap the baleage to allow them to stack bales to minimize the footprint for feed storage.
We maintain three Harvestore silos and two stave silos for storage of haylage and high moisture ear corn.
A large portion of the back of the farm site is used to store individually wrapped alfalfa, rye and grass round bales. Individually wrapping allows us to stack bales three high to minimize the footprint for feed storage. Most forages are mixed into rations for youngstock, milking cows or dry cows.
How does quality forages play in the production goals for your herd? We strive to produce milk high in components and feed accordingly. Harvesting our forages at ideal times and with short harvest windows allows us to put up feed that is higher in quality. This quality forage helps us to minimize the costly inputs needed to balance our rations for all of our livestock.
What are management or harvesting techniques you have changed that has made a notable difference in for-
age quality? Explain. When we switched to baleage many years ago, it ensured being able to produce a quality forage even when the weather didn’t cooperate. The addition of bunkers made forage production more labor and time efcient. Bunkers help us reduce the harvest window to ensure forages are put up at the highest possible quality. The addition of the selfpropelled chopper added additional speed and efciency to our haylage crops and allowed us to harvest corn silage exactly when we wanted to rather than waiting on the schedule of a custom chopping crew.
Describe a challenge you overcame in reaching your forage quality goals. Weather is always a factor when trying to put up good quality forage. With running 155 acres of alfalfa, it can be challenging to make sure all acres are cut and harvested within the sometimes-small dry weather windows Minnesota summers give us.
This past year specically, we saw major challenges in harvesting our 65 acres of ryegrass cover crop. The spring was wet, the crop was thick, eld conditions were awful and the weather didn’t cooperate. It was harvested over a two-week time span, using multiple techniques. By the end of the crop, we conceded to round baling the remaining crop to use as bedding.
FORAGE HARVESTER
AMY KYLLO/DAIRY STAR
Berry healthy
Wright Farms grows, sells, feeds Aronia fruit
By Tiffany Klaphake tiffany.k@dairystar.com
HUTCHINSON, Minn.
Stepping inside the on-farm stand at Wright Farms, one can nd numerous items that are all grown or made in Minnesota. One of the more unique items is grown right on Wright Farms — Aronia berries.
“We are extremely diversied and are always looking for the little niche things,” said Paul Wright, the farm owner.
Along with their organic Aronia berries and products made with them, the family sells popcorn, direct market beef to the public and small square and mini straw bales to landscape companies.
Wright and his wife, Heather, and their family milk 40 cows in a tiestall barn at their farm near Hutchinson. They raise all their replacements along with replacements for another farm.
The on-farm store was started in 2022.
“The health benets of Aronia are getting more and more well known as more and
TIFFANY KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
Paul Wright holds Aronia berries Aug. 28 at his farm near Hutchinson, Minnesota. Wright milks 40 cows and has an on-farm store.
more people are looking to be health conscious,” Wright said.
The Wrights sell the berries as frozen berries, juice, gummies and a protein powder. They also feed them to their calves. Wright has also experimented with making Aronia berry ice cream. Each year, the Wrights harvest 40,000-50,000
pounds of berries from their 10-acre orchard.
“We have started putting Aronia berry juice in our calf health program,” Wright said. “When it comes to calf health you do everything you possibly can.”
The Wrights press the juice themselves.
“When you just drink the juice it’s not as potent as the berries straight,” Wright said. There is a noticeable difference in calf health since they started feeding Aronia berry juice to their calves, Wright said. Aronia berries contain antioxidants.
“It is one heck of a boost to your immune system,” Wright said. “That’s the biggest reason we feed it to our calves. It seems to be helping as we have very few calf health issues. We probably have the only calves around that can say they are raised on purple milk.”
Wright’s journey to Aronia berry farming started in 2016.
“I came across an article that said Aronia berries are the highest antioxidant berry out there,” Wright said. “So, we thought about it and planted 10 acres for a total of 12,500 plants of berry bushes that summer.”
Besides being full of antioxidants, Aronia berries are anti-inammatory because of their polyphenols, anthocyanins and avonoids, Wright said.
“We have some dedicated customers of Aronia,” Wright said.
He said they tell customers to consume one serving of Aronia per day for one or two months and then stop and see what happens.
“Chances are, your knee, back or muscle pain will come back,” Wright said. Aronia berries are native to the Midwest and, therefore, grow well in central Minnesota.
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“Native American cultures were very familiar with the fruit,” Wright said.
Throughout the year, maintenance on the berries is minimal since the plants are perennials. The grass in between the rows of berries is mowed regularly and weeds or small trees are pulled out as needed.
“In February or March, we trim all the bushes down, taking off all the little branches,” Wright said. “They are a very hardy plant.”
The Wrights have installed inground irrigation and spray an organic foliar feeder as fertilizer.
“Prior to harvest, we test the Brix level on a refractometer,” Wright said. “But, if you can give a gentle pull and the berries fall off, they are ready.”
Harvest for the berries is done with a shaker machine that is pulled behind a tractor. “Typically, we have pure berries coming through,” Wright said. “Hardly any leaves or twigs come through the shaker.”
All berries are collected and placed in tubs. Depending on what the berries are going to be used for determines if they will need to go through a destemming machine. Berries that are destemmed are sent to a facility in Iowa to
Aronia berries wait to be picked Aug. 28 at Wright Farms near Hutchinson, Minnesota. Aronia berries are high in an oxidants.
a certied organic cleaner and are made into powders.
Meanwhile, the remaining berries are washed by the Wrights and are kept in a freezer in Minnesota.
“We have our own walk-in freezer on the farm that we store them in,” Wright said. “We pack that as full of boxes as we can and then we work with a freezer facility in St. Michael to store them. As sales progress we will go up and bring more back to the farm.”
Wright said a serving of Aronia berries equates to 15-20 berries or 2 ounces of juice.
“Originally, we liked the uniqueness and the high anti-oxidant food and we are into the niche market so we thought it would be a good t,” Wright said. “The berries are very common in many European countries.”
There are many ways to utilize Aronia berries and Wright Farms is working with a grower in Iowa to create gummies, soaps, lotions and powders.
“We are working towards becoming the go-to place for Aronia berry products,” Wright said. “There is a big story to tell with Aronia and our little farm store helps us do that. But it takes a continuous effort to do it.”
TIFFANY KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
PHOTO SUBMITTED
A calf drinks milk infused with Aronia berry juice Sept. 8 at Wright Farms near Hutchinson, Minnesota. The Wrights have seen a reduc on in calf health issues since feeding the berry infused milk to the calves.
TIFFANY KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
Aronia berries and Aronia berry juice are for sale Aug. 28 at Wright Farms store near Hutchinson, Minnesota. The Wrights freeze the berries and press the juice themselves.
A lifelong commitment to dairy
1974 Princess Kay still a promoter
By Sherry Newell & Mark Klaphake Staff Writers
When Juliet Tessmer Garbow was about 7 years old, her dairy farmer father took her to the Minnesota State Fair. She remembers holding his hand as Princess Kay of the Milky Way waved at her from a convertible. Her dad said, “Someday, that’s going to be you.”
Glenard was right. Garbow became the 21st Princess Kay in 1974, rst winning the Hennepin County title and later the Region 7 crown at a time when 12 regional winners became the Princess Kay contestants. She remembers the coronation well.
“My family was sitting there, and I was just so scared I would disappoint them,” Garbow said. “My heart was racing.”
She said she gets goosebumps even now when she thinks about it.
“I looked down at my dad and he was so happy,” she said. “My dad always wanted a Princess Kay.”
Garbow’s family milked 40 registered Holstein cows near Rogers, Minnesota, and she was one of the chief helpers on the farm. Baling hay and doing calf and heifer feeding were among her duties. She still has a DeLaval milk bucket from the family farm, adding decor to her home in Arizona.
At 20, Garbow captured the Princess Kay title while she was working as a lab technician at a Monticello medical clinic. Later, she would become a neonatal nurse practitioner, a role in which she still practices, fulltime, at age 70. She lived in Michigan and received her master’s degree at Stoney Brook University. Now she spends time
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in both Arizona and Detroit, Michigan.
She is also still a practicing dairy promoter.
She returned to the Minnesota State Fair this year for the rst time since she was crowned. Garbow took in the Princess Kay coronation and served milk at the All-YouCan-Drink Milk Stand on the rst day of the fair.
“If I could serve milk every day of the fair, I would volunteer every day for nothing,” Garbow said. “It was wonderful to see that people still do that.”
Her work in the medical eld gave her a chance to emphasize the role of dairy in building strong bones to the moms with whom she dealt.
Garbow regularly sends margarine back to restaurant kitchens to make it clear she prefers real butter.
“I am true blue to dairy,” she said. “There is always yogurt in the refrigerator. Cottage cheese is a must. I wrap meat around a cheese stick. My little grandkids — they never got pop until they got it at school; it was milk or chocolate milk.”
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Juliet Tessmer Garbow was crowned Princess Kay of the Milky Way in 1974 at the Minnesota State Fair. Garbow’s family milked 40 cows near Rogers.
She said her grandchildren have never broken a bone.
Her grandchildren were not only the recipients of Garbow’s enthusiasm for dairy — they also were able to play with her Princess Kay crown and banner. Other souvenirs, like a gold bracelet presented as a gift from milk producers, are still in her possession along with special memories of the year’s experiences leading up to and during her reign.
She received the Region 7 crown during an event at a shopping center. But her mother, Dorothy, using the time there to grocery shop, missed the moment.
“She heard the announcement over the speakers in the store,” Garbow said.
During judging for Princess Kay, Garbow met WCCO radio’s Maynard Speece, who later attended her wedding with his wife. At the time, Speece was a nationally known farm broadcaster.
Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Garbow was crowned the 21st Princess Kay of the Milky Way in 1974.
ner Coliseum.
“My dad was so proud (Speece) came to my wedding,” Garbow said. “I remember he gave us pots and pans.”
Just like newly-crowned Princess Kays of the modern era, Garbow spent the rst day of the Minnesota State Fair in the butter sculpting booth and rode in the daily parade. The remaining regional dairy princesses spent a few days each being featured in butter sculpures and handing out leftover butter chips on crackers to fairgoers.
Garbow had shown cattle in 4-H at the state fair, receiving her ribbons from whoever wore the Princess Kay crown, so she was especially pleased to be the one presenting ribbons at dairy shows at the Lee & Rose War-
Later in her Princess Kay year, she participated and won a milking contest at a Twins game at the Metropolitan Stadium where her opponents were former New York Yankee great Jim “Catsh” Hunter and Danny Thompson from the Minnesota Twins.
“I know Dad held the cow, and it was my cow,” she said.
Garbow met the governor, Wendell Anderson, during a “June in January” proclamation and traveled across the state visiting regional dairy events, stores and banks during June.
However, many of Garbow’s fond memories are of her delight in making her dairy farmer father proud.
“Dad was such a huge inuence,” she said. “He was such a good farmer. It wasn’t just his job; it was who he was: farmer, father, husband.”
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EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR
Juliet Tessmer Garbow (le ) and Princess Kay Rachel Visser stand together in the dairy building Aug. 22 at the Minnesota State Fair in
Continuing the discussion on Federal Milk Marketing Orders
Price scenarios, timeline examined
By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com
Editor’s Note: This is part two of a two-part series discussing recommendations resulting from the Federal Milk Marketing Order hearing process.
MADISON, Wis. — The conversation around the Federal Milk Marketing Order reform continued July 24 on the Professional Dairy Producers The Dairy Signal webinar. The effects of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recommended decision on future milking pricing were shared through several examples.
Dr. Charles Nicholson from the Department of Animal & Dairy Sciences and Agricultural & Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was joined by Mark Stephenson, who retired from UWMadison as director of dairy policy analysis.
Nicholson shared a chart showing the 11 federal orders with an estimate of what the USDA thinks the impact of the recommended decision would be on the blend price (across all the different uses of milk in the order). The USDA projects increases in eight of the orders with as much as $2 per hundredweight in the Appalachian order. Overall, a $0.32 per cwt increase is expected on average — going from the original price of $20.52 to the recommended price of $20.84, but with signicant regional differences.
“A lot of that is based on how milk gets used in those different milk marketing areas,” Nicholson said.
Other orders do not look to fare as well in the value of the blend price, including the Upper Midwest (down $0.10 per cwt), California (down $0.20 per cwt), and Arizona (down $0.03 per cwt).
Nicholson and Stephenson also did their own calculations to determine what they think will happen to prices. In a scenario calculating the impact on class prices, Nicholson shared what prices would have been for May 2024, reecting the impacts of changes to make allowances and Class I differentials.
In this example, the Class I price would have gone up a little over $2 on average but decreases would have been seen in Class II, Class III and Class IV prices (about 50 cents for Class III and IV and close to 75 cents for Class II).
“This is because we’re increasing the value of milk that goes into Class I, and we’re decreasing the minimum price that has to be paid for milk in those other classes,” Nicholson said. “This is a limited way to think about it though because it assumes everything else is going to be the same in May 2024 and the previous vemonth period even though the USDA is projecting some pretty signicant
increases and decreases in some areas for milk prices.”
Nicholson also shared a ve-year analysis of the impacts of changes to make allowances and Class I differentials through 2028. This is their estimate of the annual average all-milk price for the U.S., the annual average Class I milk price for all of the U.S., which differs by region, and the annual average Class III milk price, which is the same across the country.
“We are projecting that in the rst three years of these changes for the U.S. as a whole, there will be a negative impact on all-milk prices,” Nicholson said. “In the nal two years (2027 and 2028), there would be some higher-than-expected prices — higher than would have been the case if we kept the current system. We see a bigger positive impact on Class I in those later years, and we see a smaller impact — a negative impact — on Class III as we project that out.”
Nicholson said that whatever decision gets made and whenever it is implemented, it will take some time to play out as all the different players — producers, processors and consumers — respond to these changes.
“We’re saying we see a trajectory going forward, but it’s likely the impacts are not going to be the same from the get-go and stay that way,” he said.
Stephenson reiterated that these prices are the regulated minimum prices and not the prices producers receive.
Another graph showed the different impacts seen in different orders, examining the value of milk in Order 6 (Florida) and Order 30 (Upper Midwest).
“They have very different uses of milk,” Nicholson said. “The Florida order is a lot about beverage milk, while Order 30 is heavy into cheese manufacturing and has a lot of Class III milk.”
When adding up all the values for milk in these different classes, there is a net gain in Order 6 of $1.82 per cwt. In Order 30, there is a reduction of $0.81 per cwt.
“In both Florida and Wisconsin, the value of milk that gets used in Class I goes up at about the same rate even though those orders are very different in terms of total milk being pooled,” Nicholson said. “Where the big difference comes in is in the value of Class III milk, which is quite negatively affected in the Upper Midwest.”
Changing the make allowances, which are a key component of the recommended decision, has the impact of lowering the minimum pay price for Class II, Class III and Class IV, Nicholson said.
“That’s sort of taking money out of the system that otherwise would have been paid to dairy producers,” he said. “There’s a little bit of a balancing of then putting some money
back into the pool of dollars available to producers, but that’s happening because of an increase in the price that would be paid for Class I milk. Here in the Upper Midwest, we’re mostly seeing the impact of those make allowance changes that have lowered the Class III price.”
A nal decision is expected by Nov. 12, after the ling of comments and exceptions. Producers and their cooperatives will have the opportunity to vote on the decision either later this year or early next year, Nicholson said.
The nal decision will be followed by a producer referendum in which either all changes are accepted, or the order is voted out. The schedule for this will be determined by the USDA at the time of the nal decision.
Stephenson said producers who can vote are those who have sold milk into a regulated market in the FMMO over a period of time.
“Many producers may be represented by their cooperatives in a block vote,” he said. “Some cooperatives will also allow individual producers to make their own votes. Independent producers will be able to cast their own votes if they are not a member of a cooperative.”
Stephenson estimates that if the new orders are voted in, they will be implemented around the rst of next year. However, since the nal decision would be issued Nov. 12, shortly after the election process, he said there are likely to be a lot of distractions in Washington that could affect its timing.
When the nal decision is made, but before a producer referendum, Stephenson said the secretary of agriculture will be interested in seeing it, and it will likely be sent through the Senate and House agriculture committees as well.
“This is one of the places where the process can get hung up,” he said. “Sometimes, that will sit on desks outside of USDA, and the ag marketing service can’t do anything to hustle this along. Also, there are things that could change in the farm bill that might impact federal orders. All of that can disrupt the timeline.”
As far as when milk checks would reect any kind of change, Stephenson said he guesses it would be in the January milk check.
“Once they get the votes back, they want to move pretty quickly to actually implement the changes,” Nicholson said. “There’s not a lot of lag time between counting the votes and making stuff happen.”
Keeping kids safe on the farm
The farm is a great place to raise kids, but it is also dangerous. About one-third of all farm incidents involve children, and every three days a child in the U.S. dies in a farm-related incident. Prevent your child from becoming a statistic by being proactive about practicing safety on the farm.
Warn children about on-farm hazards. Many of the everyday hazards on the farm are not always obvious to kids. A hazard is a potential source of harm or danger (i.e. an icy sidewalk), and risk is a situation involving exposure to a hazard (i.e. walking across an icy sidewalk). Talk to children about what makes certain areas of the farm dangerous, and what the risks are. Ask them what they think they can do to keep themselves safe.
By Emily Krekelberg University of Minnesota
may want to help with everything, consider the age-appropriateness of certain tasks and the risks involved. Some tasks like feeding livestock, cleaning out pens, and operating machinery will not be appropriate for every child. Think about age, development and body size when considering which tasks to assign. A great resource for determining age appropriateness is the Agricultural Youth Work Guidelines from the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, which can be found at cultivatesafety. org.
Hazards on the farm may involve machinery, livestock, grain bins, silos and chemicals. Considering the risks of certain farming activities can help us nd jobs on the farm that are safe for kids.
Give children age-appropriate tasks. Kids tend to be very eager helpers on the farm. Although they
Talk with your kids about the types of jobs they want to do and the types of jobs they think they’re ready to do. Before letting a child work independently, be sure they are properly trained in the task and spend some time observing them to see if any changes or adaptations need to be made, or if the child may not be ready for that task yet. Never force a child to do a task they are not comfortable with or that they are not ready to do on their own. Take the time to fully instruct children on a task, its hazards
and what to do if they need help. The investment of time now will make taking on new tasks easier in the future.
Supervise children on the farm. This is critical to keeping kids safe on the farm, whether they are working or not. Over half of child injuries on farms happen to children who are not working but are simply in the vicinity of dangerous activities. For younger children, consider how to set up safe play areas outside using a snow fence or another highly visible material. Post signage around the farm and at
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
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
driveways to alert visitors to watch for children.
During high trafc times like planting and harvest, put children in safety vests and keep them in an area safely away from the action. When children are helping you with a job or task, be sure to model safe practices and explain why you are doing things that way. Make safety a part of your farm’s culture, and your children will follow your example. Keeping a watchful eye on any kids around the farm is crucial in ensuring their safety.
Claire LaCanne lacanne@umn.edu 507-332-6109
Brenda Miller nels4220@umn.edu 320-732-4435
Isaac Salfer ijsalfer@umn.edu 320-296-1357
Jim Salfer salfe001@umn.edu 320-203-6093
Mike Schutz mschutz@umn.edu 612-624-1205
Melissa Wilson mlw@umn.edu 612-625-4276
Isaac Haagen hagge041@umn.edu 612-624-7455
Michael Boland boland@umn.edu 612-625-3013
Sabrina Florentino slpore@umn.edu 507-441-1765
Get the most out of your hay
Whether there is an excess of hay or a shortage in your system, efciently feeding it can drastically impact the success of your operation. Hay is expensive, even if you make your own. Avoiding waste can mean you do not have to buy hay or could mean you have excess hay you can sell. Either way, using your hay efciently results in more money in the long run.
Storing hay indoors is the best option for avoiding spoilage. However, it is unrealistic to assume all producers can store hay inside. Most producers cannot keep all of their hay inside, but other strategies can also help reduce spoilage. It is critical to remember that the outer portion of a bale contains a large proportion of the total hay in the bale.
—Limiting cattle to 4-6 hours of access to the round bale feeder in a 24hour window can reduce waste to less than 5%.
—You must create enough space for all cattle to eat at the same time.
By Joe Armstrong, DVM University of Minnesota
—Reducing spoilage reduces waste.
—The outer six inches of a 6-foot round bale contains 25% of the hay in the bale.
—The outer six inches of a 5-foot round bale contains 35% of the hay in the bale.
—Net wrap can help shed more water compared to twine or plastic string.
—B-wrap can reduce spoilage and help maintain quality but requires special equipment.
—Stacking hay can help protect bales from water.
—Plan so you can feed your outside stored hay rst.
—If you have to buy hay, ask if the seller can store the hay inside until you need it. While this conversation is often focused on the cow-calf producer, dairy producers certainly use their share of hay. It is not uncommon for dairy replacements to see hay in a round bale feeder at some point in their development. Round bale feeders can be an important tool for raising heifers, but when given free choice access, cattle waste a signicant amount of the hay available. Producers should consider limiting access time to the feeders to reduce waste. This strategy often requires more round-bale feeders as every animal must be able to eat at the same time.
—In general, cattle waste (remove but do not consume) about 25% of each bale fed in a round bale feeder when they have 24-hour access.
—Limiting cattle to 8-12 hours of access to the round bale feeder in a 24hour window can reduce waste to only 10%.
—Limiting access is dependent on reliably keeping cattle away from the round bale feeders. If you store hay outside and allow the outer six inches of the bale to spoil and combine that with feeding in a 24hour access round bale feeder you are potentially wasting approximately 50% of each bale. This is an alarming amount. Improving hay storage or expanding your feeding operation to limit access can be justied quickly by the savings.
Limiting feed on a per-head basis is best done with the help of a nutritionist to ensure your cattle maintain the proper body condition for their age and meet their nutrient requirements. Success with limit-feeding is entirely dependent on having adequate bunk space.
—For replacement heifers, provide two linear feet per head to minimize competition at the bunk and create a uniform group.
—When feeding replacement heifers on frozen ground, distribute feed to provide at least two linear feet per head of space.
—Processing or grinding hay is the most efcient method for limitfeeding, but rolling out bales on frozen ground is also an option.
Measuring your forage quality allows you to target nutritional goals more effectively by matching forages to animal requirements. This targeted approach improves efciency and gives insight into the need for supplementation. Work with your nutritionist to develop the most efcient plan. Testing your hay this year may also allow for the identication of mold that could hinder production, reproduction or growth. This year has been wet in Minnesota and other parts of the Upper Midwest. This could seriously impact the quality of the hay that was put up. Testing allows you to plan how to utilize potentially compromised forages in your system and avoid feeding the wrong hay to the wrong group of animals.
Interested in listening to this information? Check out Episode 82 — Get the most out of your hay — of the University of Minnesota Extension’s The Moos Room podcast available wherever you get your podcasts.
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A truckload of animals
Howe family brings over 70 animals to the county fair
By Emily Breth emily.b@star-pub.com
HUTCHINSON,
Minn.
Tammy Howe has her hands full helping her husband, Jaren, farm and her kids — Austin, Tanner and Taylor — prepare for the county and state fair.
“Between the (kids) they took two pigs, seven heifers, 60 chickens and four turkeys (to the county fair),” Howe said. “That is between 4-H and open class.”
At their farm, the Howes milk 80 registered Holsteins in a 75-stall tiestall barn. The Howes also custom raise 250 heifers to diversify their farm.
“The boys also have their pigs, chickens, and some Call ducks to help take care of,” Howe said. “We have around 200 chickens for Austin to use for his poultry projects.”
Other chores the boys help with include hauling manure, cleaning and bedding pens, mixing feed, feeding the animals and helping with
eldwork.
“The boys work with the baby calves up to the milking cows,” Howe said. “Taylor is a great helper too. She is always right in there with the boys.”
As their children have grown up, so have their responsibilities, involvement and accomplishments. The boys are both active in 4-H showing dairy, poultry and swine, judging dairy, participating on quiz bowl teams and serving as reporters for their club. They also do community service such as helping with church activities and assisting with Sunday school.
“Tanner was on the dairy quiz bowl intermediate team that was champion at state,” Howe said. “Austin was on the poultry team. He loves dairy, but because he knows that so well, he really immersed himself in poultry and he has done really well within it.”
took two pigs, seven
Austin breeds and raises the poults he brings to the fair. He has shown at the state poultry show in Hutchinson, a couple of county fairs and the state fair.
“Everyone at the county fair always says, ‘Your boys are such hard workers. They don’t stop. They know what they need to do. This clearly isn’t the rst time they have done it,’ which is a true statement,” Howe said. “They have a really active hand in all the chores we do at our dairy farm.” Tanner was announced as a BELLE Grant recipient this year. The grant is given out to rst-year eligible state fair exhibitors to help fund their stay and additional equipment needed to prepare and get their animals ready.
EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR
Aus n (le ) and Tanner Howe stand with their show heifers Aug. 22 at the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. At the McLeod County Fair the two boys and their sister, Taylor,
heifers, four turkeys and 60 chickens.
Aus n
“The kids start right after school with getting their animals ready, so it’s a lot of time and work, but it is worth it when you get to come to the state fair,” Howe said. “You have to show the time you put into them. It shows if you do and it shows if you don’t.”
With the biggest difference in the state fair being the way of preparing the animals, Howe said their family is fortunate to have a good group of older 4-H members to help.
“I really have to give credit to (the older 4-H members) for just taking the younger kids under their wing,” Howe said.
Being a past 4-H member herself, Howe said it is fun to go back with the memories of doing it herself and now watching her kids participate.
“A lot has changed, and a lot hasn’t at the same time,” Howe said. “At the county fair, I just enjoy seeing their involvement. The boys thrive in that environment and it is their favorite time of the year. They like to be busy.”
With the number of animals, the Howe family brings to the county fair there is no time to be bored between washing, cleaning and feeding their animals.
“The boys have a hoot of a time,” Howe said. “It is also a great chance to see your friends.”
Outside of 4-H, the Howe kids have made friends through other extracurricular activities. Austin is involved in trap shooting and bass shing. Tanner is also a part of those along with football and lacrosse. Taylor, at the age of 8, is currently involved in gymnastics and dance.
“The kids stay busy,” Howe said. “If they are not busy at the farm, we are busy running them somewhere.”
This year marked Taylor’s
nal year as a Cloverbud. She is excited to start being able to show on her own and be like her brothers, Howe said.
“I am really proud of all three of our kids,” Howe said. “Austin and Tanner just love this farming thing and being able to see their passion come to life here at the shows is special. I’m proud of their work ethic and I’m proud of the young men they are growing into.”
EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR
(back) and Tanner Howe work together Aug. 23 to get one of the heifers ready for a show at the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Both boys are ac ve in 4-H including showing dairy, poultry and swine and judging dairy.
EMILY BRETH/DAIRY STAR
Aus n Howe works on his heifer’s top line Aug. 24 at the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. The Howe family milks 80 registered Holsteins in a 75-stallestall barn.
A life lost too soon
Today as I was driving to take photos for Dairy Star, I called my parents to pass the time. It was a moment of shock when my mom told me about a life-ending crash when a dairy farmer friend’s tractor was hit by a semi.
I wrote two stories at Dairy Star with CJ. He was always so cheerful and ready to visit with me. I’ve known CJ’s family my entire life and it’s impossible to think of his parents having to bury their child in his mid20s. I cannot imagine their pain and I feel insufcient to speak of it. It feels like to say any words inevitably means the words I say will be fully inadequate.
alongside his parents as the next generation. He was an excited and enthusiastic young farmer, and I remember him checking in about when I was going to come out and write the story. That story was published just over a year ago. I’m glad I had the opportunity.
By Amy Kyllo Staff Writer
One of the stories I wrote about CJ described how he dairy farmed
In the year since then, the family had taken their farm into the future, retrotting in an updated parlor. For his parents to add losing a business partner to the grief of losing a child is pretty unthinkable.
I think about the extra chores staring at them and a parlor representing a future that doesn’t look the same. I hope in those moments they feel their community around them. I hope this column lets them know that people far and wide care.
Most days I forget that my days are numbered, but to hear of a guy a year or two older than me passing makes me pause. Most days I forget that the people I love most won’t be here forever. Most days I forget that we’re not guaranteed tomorrow.
The few times I visited with CJ, we always talked about farming. Conversations would often turn to tractors. He really liked the Allis Chalmers brand and always had a few projects going. He named one of his favorites ‘Peaches,’ a tting name for a soft orange tractor. If he didn’t mention Allis Chalmers tractors to you, the Allis Chalmers logo tattooed on his forearm was a dead giveaway to his passion.
As I was sharing the news of the loss with my editor, Mark Klaphake, he said to me “Amy, you and I are so lucky.” He then began to list things like life, food and other essentials I
take for granted.
Please don’t take life for granted today. Go hug your family. Take in the moments. As Mark said, it’s the God-given people in our lives who actually matter.
Working for Dairy Star, I care about the people I write about. Though I am atrocious with names — and even sometimes forget a face — I don’t forget your stories, and I don’t forget the kindness shown to me by so many.
Most days, I’m writing about moments of joy and accomplishment, but it’s in time of loss that my mission feels clear: to be a uniting force to mourn together as a greater community. I aim to let people know they are not alone in the pain and to remind those of us who are complacent in the beauty of our lives to sit up and take notice before it’s too late.
CJ, you will be missed.
Dealing in dairy
Hadwen Kleiss spends career selling cattle, genetics
By Amy Kyllo amy.k@star-pub.com
FREDRICKSBURG,
Iowa — When Hadwen Kleiss was a young boy, his mother tried to get him to take piano lessons, before nally giving up and reportedly saying, “Just go outside and play with your calves. You don’t have to do this anymore.” Ever since then, the now 92-year-old farmer has been playing with bovines.
“I’ve had a lot of good memories,” Kleiss said.
Kleiss is the patriarch at Stardell Farms. He is a former dairy farmer who has worked as a livestock dealer for decades. Kleiss, alongside his late wife, Louann, has sold heifers across the U.S. and exported cattle internationally to four continents. His family said his rst love was for Holsteins until he met Louann. Four bulls he owned or bred eventually went to stud, one of which provided needed nancial security. He also was an early adopter of embryo transplants.
Now, Kleiss is sharing what he has learned in his legacy with his great-grandchildren.
“I tell them the Kleiss name means something,” he said. “You have to remember that you have to work harder than anybody else and you have to be honest and do what you have to do.”
Kleiss grew up on his home farm with his parents. They had 15 cows and did not get electricity until he was 10. His education extended through the sixth grade at a one-room schoolhouse.
Kleiss worked alongside his parents until the early ‘60s when he took over the farm. He continued to milk cows on the home farm until 1994. In 1993-1994, Kleiss built a 700-cow dairy farm with his sons, Doug and Dale, and neighbor, Walter Wendland. The dairy was large for the time. They sold this dairy in 2015.
As a young man, Kleiss helped his parents purchase a bull named Crusader from a prison farm in Wisconsin. He helped to pay for the bull,
which cost $600, by picking rocks and corn. Crusader was shipped on the railroad in a crate. Crusader and one of his favorite cows, Blossom, would form the lineage of all three of the Kleiss-bred bulls that headed to stud. Kleiss resold Crusader for the same
amount he bought him for, and he was later in the lineup at Curtiss Breeding Service. Kleiss had developed quality registered genetics, and at one point, every cow in his barn at the home farm was classied as Very Good or Excellent.
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During the 1970s, farming was going well for Kleiss and he was buying land. However, the farming crisis of the 1980s hit. Kleiss said he was nearly broke and deeply depressed.
AMY KYLLO/DAIRY STAR
Hadwen Kleiss stands by the farm sign June 12 at Stardell Farms near Fredricksburg, Iowa. Kleiss has sold heifers interna onally for 30 years and con nues to sell them domes cally.
The ne art of visiting
There are some things wrong with today’s world that can be traced back to some of the customs we’ve abandoned.
For instance, we were a much more civilized society when men wore capes. Why did we ever give them up? Nothing gives a guy an air of panache like a long, owing cape. Plus, if it’s red and has a letter “S” emblazoned on it, you can y.
And whatever happened to plumed hats, the kind of headgear that looks like it’s the result of an accident involving a pirate’s cap and an ostrich? Our behavior would improve greatly if we went around with the feathers of a large, ightless bird atop our heads. We would also have something to tip with great air whenever a lady passes by.
Speaking of ladies, when did the practice of wear-
ing elbow-length gloves fall out of favor? Whatever happened to fashions that involve large and graceful skirts, the kind that contained more cloth than a parachute?
Another custom that has fallen into disuse is the ne art of visiting.
When I was a youngster, people would spontaneously drop in on one another for unscheduled visits. This could happen at any time, but most commonly occurred on Sunday afternoons. Nobody ever phoned ahead to make an appointment.
This wasn’t because telephones hadn’t been invented. We had long moved past the string-and-can technology and were using actual phones. But the fact we had to use party lines made our phone calls about as private as a radio broadcast.
Editorial disclaimer: The views expressed by our columnists are the opinions and thoughts of the author and do not reect the opinions and views of Dairy Star staff and ownership.
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Back then, people simply expected visitors, or “company” as it was called. Our parents would often pack their eight kids into the station wagon and visit our grandparents.
At rst blush, that sort of thing may have seemed like torture for a little boy. After all, my parents and grandparents tended to just sit around the living room, yakking and drinking coffee. What excitement is there in that?
Most of the time some of my cousins and their parents would also be visiting. This meant there were playmates available for games of tag or hide-and-seek. For some reason, they never even tried to nd me whenever I hid. I guess I was just too good of a hider.
At about mid-afternoon, the call of “Lunch” would echo across the farmyard. Lunch was something you ate at the midpoint of both the forenoon and the afternoon.
We would sprint to the house and gather around a table that brimmed with cookies and pies. These goodies must not have contained any calories because stuffing ourselves silly with them never caused us to gain a single ounce. After lling our bellies with these treats, we would dash back outside to tear around some more.
Speaking of treats, it was customary for a caller to bring along something tasty. This was not just polite, it also served as an excuse: “I just baked this huge batch of brownies and didn’t quite know what to do with them all.”
But not having goodies with you didn’t mean you couldn’t pay a visit. Even empty-handed, you could still randomly stop at someone’s house and could depend upon being asked in for “coffee and a bite.” Even our neighborhood Norwegian bachelor farmers would extend this invitation, but you had to be careful there as their version of “a bite” might involve such things as lard sandwiches.
After a visit it was expected that the visited would soon come calling on the visitors. A supply of treats was kept on hand at our house for unexpected drop-ins. We kids constantly nibbled on the treats to ensure their quality.
Our neighbors Al and Lorraine didn’t do much visiting, but let it be known that they thoroughly enjoyed having guests drop by.
Lorraine was a top-notch cook who produced mass quantities of marvelous munchies. Their farmhouse was as busy as Grand Central Terminal.
Once, when my wife and I stopped in, Lorraine complained about how portly their dog, Brownie, had become. “I even bought her this special diet dog food,” said Lorraine, opening a cupboard that contained enough canned pooch food to supply a fallout shelter.
I glanced at Al, who had his hand under the table. Brownie, who was also under the table, was quietly eating the cookie he held.
Al ginned and winked. I held my tongue and grinned back at Al as Lorraine groused about the utter worthlessness of that fancy diet dog food.
It soon became time for us to leave. As we got up to go, we reminded Al and Lorraine that it was now their turn to visit us.
Then, I tossed on my cape and helped my wife slip into her elegant, elbow-length gloves.
Jerry Nelson is a recovering dairy farmer from Volga, South Dakota. He and his wife, Julie, have two sons and live on the farm where Jerry’s great-grandfather homesteaded over 110 years ago. Feel free to email him at jerry.n@dairystar.com.
By Jerry Nelson Columnist
Dear County Agent Guy
Stagger Tropicana Sheepster
Staphylococcus aureus — A real bugger
Our veterinary practice runs an in-house laboratory where we perform several types of cultures, including milk cultures from the bulk tank and individual cows. Bulk tank cultures are an economical tool for dairy producers to monitor for contagious mastitis pathogens in their herd. The most common contagious pathogens we see in our lab include Staphylococcus aureus and Prototheca.
Veterinary Wisdom
By Megan Weisenbeck Veterinary Wisdom
Over the past 12 months, we have had an uptick in the number of S. aureus positives. S. aureus may be difcult to eradicate in a herd, though I believe it can be wellcontrolled. These are just a few thoughts from my review of literature and experience in practice when it comes to S. aureus.
I’m not sure that total eradication is a good goal. In fact, S. aureus can appear in closed herds. Rather, I would encourage milk quality management strategies to keep contagious pathogens as low as possible. Even though I said eradication might not be a good goal, I would not ignore the detection of S. aureus on individual mastitis cultures or bulk tanks. Bulk tank bacteria measurements are usually reported as
colony-forming units per milliliter, or cfu/ml. Unfortunately, it can be hard to correlate the cfu to the number of cows infected. In our lab, I usually start to have alarm bells when the number reaches 15-20 cfu/ml though I don’t really know how many infected cows that would be, except more than one. Occasionally, I come across bulk tank reports from creameries that do not report zero, but call S. aureus less than 10, which isn’t very specic. I might consider running a bulk tank culture outside of the creamery if the somatic cell count is at or over 200,000 to get a more accurate bacteria measurement.
Mastitis caused by S. aureus produces more damage to milk-producing tissues than other types of bacteria and can decrease milk production by up to 45% per quarter and 15% per infected cow. So not only does it have an impact on SCC, but it can also impact milk production.
Infected cows appear to be an important and permanent source of infection for other cows. However, S. aureus can also be found in areas outside of the udder in the environment, including the hock and udder skin. Infected cows also do not shed S. aureus bacteria every day.
Once a staph cow, always a staph cow? While I’d like to think that we stand a good chance of beating S. aureus, cure rates are low. This is because the bacteria form micro abscesses that are eventually walled off by scar tissue and difcult to reach with antibiotics. One literature review suggests cure rates of only 20%-30% overall across all lactations. Better cure rates are as-
sociated with young cows early in lactation who do not have clinical mastitis at the start of treatment. Because S. aureus is shed intermittently, it takes multiple cultures after treatment to determine if a cow is cured. It is highly unlikely that S. aureus-infected cows selfcure. If you have previously identied a cow infected with S. aureus and she has a negative culture without any treatment, it is more likely that she just isn’t shedding bacteria the day you sampled her.
Parlor procedures are very important in controlling spread, such as creating a staph pen and milking that pen last, changing gloves after milking an infected cow, and using one towel per cow in the prep procedure to avoid the transfer of bacteria.
Fresh heifers can be a signicant source of infection in dairy herds. Why? I suspect culprits such as cross sucking and y pressure cause teat end damage that allows S. aureus found on the skin to enter the teat canal and settle in the udder.
While S. aureus might be a bugger to manage, I do believe it can be dealt with economically in most herds. Monitoring through some sort of bulk tank culture is a good rst step and I encourage all dairy operations to do so periodically and review the results with their farm team.
Megan Weisenbeck is one of six veterinarians at Northern Valley Livestock Services in Plainview, MN. She practices primarily dairy production medicine in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Megan can be reached at meganweisenbeck.dvm@gmail.com.
Kleiss would rent out bulls to farms as herd bulls. Among them was Stardell Valiant WinkenET. As they realized his daughters were good from the 3-4 farms he had serviced, Winken was sent to stud and quickly became a proven bull.
“When the proof came out, it looked pretty good,” Kleiss said.
Heifers from his time as a herd bull were distributed across the nation and helped speed the reliability of his proof.
Winken rose as high as No. 8 Holstein sire in the nation for Total Performance Index in 1989. Kleiss retained ownership of Winken, and over his years at stud, Kleiss received $2 million in royalties which changed his farming operation’s trajectory.
Stardell Chief Adan-ET, another herd bull who Kleiss sent to stud, ranked No. 1 for TPI in 1993.
Stardell Steady Creme Brut-ET was known for siring good feet and legs and components and was sold in the U.S. and England.
With the farm on better nancial standing because of the bulls, Kleiss invested in a beef fattening facility and switched it into a heifer farm. Kleiss bought open heifers, brought them to his facility, bred them and resold them.
“I’ve always tried to make the new revolution come to form,” Kleiss said.
Amid his cattle dealing efforts, an opportunity to sell on the international market opened. A cattle dealer in Indiana was exporting, but the details around registration papers had been an issue, so Kleiss’ name came up to the international buyer who had been working with the dealer. Thus began his 30-year career as an international cattle exporter.
Kleiss sold heifers to Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, Egypt, Japan, Chili and Honduras. He sold his last international load to Honduras in 2016. Some heifers were sent via airplane, others via boat. A boatload held about 1,000 animals.
As Kleiss grew his operation, he eventually had around four farms caring for the 500-600 heifers he had on hand.
Part of Kleiss’ success was having registration paperwork with each of his heifers. Kleiss said he estimates his home ofce would have registration papers for between 500-1,000 animals at any given time.
Even on non-registered heifers, Kleiss would get the bull record and the dam’s Dairy Herd Improvement Association data to garner 50% registration papers.
In this, an important part of Kleiss’ operation was Louann, who made sure the paperwork was correct for every animal.
“Everything (was) dotted right,” Kleiss said. With years of international sales, Kleiss gathered many stories. He remembers that heifers sold to South Korea had to have white on their head and be a specic weight. He also remembers an Egyptian buyer rubbing the navels of the heifers to check for pregnancy. Another memory is the time a planeload of heifers exported to Central America was ransomed at the airport.
Kleiss and his grandson, Tim, continue to work at breeding on their dairy genetics they have retained.
“In my brain, I still think I can breed a good one,” Kleiss said.
Though Kleiss is done with international exports, he still sells dairy animals domestically along with beef animals. Today Stardell Farms grows crops and beef, and the sixth generation of the Kleiss family continues the farming legacy.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Hadwen Kleiss holds the halter on Blossom. All three bulls that Kleiss bred and sent to stud were descendants of Blossom.
In the pursuit of peak performance
Farmers are cultivators of land, caretakers of animals and producers of food for our communities. We take great pride in the legacy that has led us to where we are today. The foundation our ancestors laid has helped to build a dairy industry that is now the most efcient globally. We continue that tradition by constantly striving for improvement — continuing to learn new skills, develop new ideas and disseminate new information in the industry. The complex culmination
The NexGen: Adventures of two dairy daughters
By Megan Schrupp & Ellen Stenger Columnists
of all our focus, effort and knowledge always returns to the basic theme of the dairy farm: cows need to eat, milk, socialize and be comfortable.
At rst glance, most would consider a cow a simple mammal. Even though less than 2% of the U.S. population is involved in dairy and ranch operations, “cow” is commonly one of the rst nouns taught to children, along with cat, dog, horse, and sheep. However, our dairy legacy has also passed down the knowledge that cows are more than just simple farm animals — rather we akin cows to professional athletes. Metabolically and physically, what cows can do is more along the lines of Jim Thorpe, Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Keeping them performing at an elite level is an area of immense interest and investment, which we are constantly pursuing.
For any athlete, nutrition is critical to performance and success. Dialing in nutrition down to the individual essential amino acid, fatty acid and micronutrient prole is more than what the majority of Americans do for their health. Like human professional athletes, millions are invested in facilities that maintain the optimal climate year-round for maximum performance, production, health and comfort.
In addition, an entirely new sector of the dairy industry has emerged to take the basics our ancestors taught us to new heights. Data-driven dairy
decisions are emerging as a pivotal point for the industry. Dairy technology is enabling us to ask questions and learn information that we previously were unable to do. Cows are now monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by things such as individual sensors on collars, ear tags or internal boluses, and also cameras that utilize advanced technology like facial recognition in our facilities. We can now monitor and quantify with data a large volume of very specic aspects of feed intake, reproduction, production, socialization, body condition, health and locomotion. When these major sectors of the dairy are dialed in and operating at peak performance, we are now further using data to explore questions about advanced limits to the performance of our bovine athletes.
Being a dairy veterinarian and dairy farmer is a physically demanding job. I’m sure many of us can recall veterinarians who have sore shoulders, knees and backs. Be it from overuse, repetition — such as the repetition of pregnancy checking or syringe squeezing, a run-in with a wild bovine or a freak accident, we veterinarians also need some maintenance to perform at optimal levels.
In Megan’s case, it’s regular visits to the chiropractor. Throughout her years as a veterinarian, chiropractic care has not only kept her working but also alleviated and healed any injuries that have occurred.
It was the combination of our personal experience of chiropractic, our bovine athletic performance mindset, and on-farm data collection that encouraged Megan to attend Options for Animals: College of Animal Chiropractic to learn about applying chiropractic therapy for our dairy cows. Chiropractic care has emerged as a common critical component of care for elite human athletes. Sports teams such as the Minnesota Twins and Vikings even have chiropractors on staff to support athletes. Chiropractic care in the dairy industry has been increasing in the last decade, and, as with any new skill, we are now exploring how to apply it within our specic dairy. In our next article, we will share more about the chiropractic care of our cows and how we’re using it to maintain our cow athletes, maximize their performance and continue our family’s dairy legacy in this new era.
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.
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‘15 Gehl V330, ISO/H-Pattern, 73HP Dsl, 3300 Lift Cap, C/H/A , 2 Spd, 5,620 hrs....................................$25,500
‘19 Gehl V270, JS Ctrls, 73HP Dsl, 2700 Lift Cap, C&H, 2 Spd, 250 hrs ...$57,500
‘17 Gehl V270, ISO Ctrls, Dsl, 2700 Lift Cap, C&H, 2 Spd, 3,950 hrs ......$40,500
‘17 Gehl RT250, ISO/Dual H-Ctrls, Dsl, Camso Tracks HXD 450x86x58, Both Standard And Hi-Flow Hyd, 2 Spd, Hydra Glide, 295 hrs, Warranty Till 6-3026 or 1000 Hrs...........................$48,500
‘20 Gehl RT165, T-Bar H-Ctrls, 70HP Dsl, 15.5” All Season Tracks, 2100 Lift Cap, C/H/A, 1,875 hrs........................$36,800
‘19 Gehl RT165, ISO/JS Ctrls, Dsl, 15 1/2 All Season Tracks, Lift Cap 1800 @ 35% And 2400 @ 50%, C/H/A, 2 Spd, 1,758 hrs. ..................................$39,500
Gehl RT135, ISO Ctrls, 46HP Dsl, 1350 Lift Cap, C/H/A, SS, 107 hrs. ....$46,500 Gehl R190, Dual-H Ctrls, Dsl, 2150 Lift Cap, C&H, 2 Spd, 6,130 hrs ......$22,500 ‘22 Manitou 1650RT, H/Ft Ctrls, Dsl, 12” Tracks, 1650 Lift Cap, C/H/A, 2 Spd,
‘20 Mustang 3300V NXT2, ISO/JS ctrls, dsl, 3300 lift cap, C/H/A, 2 spd, Hydra Glide, 5,090 hrs .........................$26,500
‘19 Mustang 2700V, ISO Ctrls, 72HP Dsl, 2700 Lift Cap, C/H/A, 2 Spd, Hydra Glide, 14 Pin, Back Up Camera, 261hrs........................................$58,900
‘20 Mustang 2150RT, JS Ctrls, 72HP Dsl, 18” All Season Tracks, 2300 At 35%3000 At 50%, C/H/A, 2 Spd, 2,265 hrs....................................$39,750
‘13 Mustang 2056 II, Case Ctls, Dsl, 2150 Lift Ca, C&H, 2 aSpd .................$29,500
‘18 Mustang 1650RT, H/F Ctrls, Dsl, 2350 Lift Cap, C/H/A, 2 Spd, 975 hrs $50,900
‘21 Mustang 1650R, H/F Ctrls, Dsl, C/H/A, SS, 3,640 hrs .................$32,900 ‘20 Deere 332G, ISO/Dual H-Ctrls, Dsl, 3600 Lift Cap, C/H/A, 2 Spd, 975 hrs.......................................$47,000
‘06 Bobcat MT52 standon ldr., 20HP dsl, tipping load 1600 lbs, standard auxiliary hyd, 411 hrs...............................$13,900
‘17 Case SV280, Switchable ISO/Dual H-Ctrls, Dsl, 2800 Lift Cap, Hi-Flow, C/H/A, 2 Spd, 360 hrs. ..............$55,500
‘23 NH L320, ISO/Dual H-Ctrls, Dsl, 2000
Lift Cap, C/H/A, 2 Spd, 270 hrs $49,000
4,481 hrs. .......................$95,500
‘17 Kuhn Knight SLC132, 425 Tires, 3200 Gal ....................................$36,500 ‘17 Kuhn Knight 8124, 19L X 16.1 Flotation Tires, 2400 Gals, 500 Bu, Frt & Rear Splash Guards, Low Usage$34,500 ‘23 Kuhn Knight PS280, Accuspread Spinner Beater (Litter), Athne ScalesISObus, Light Kit, Headland De ector, Auto Chain Oiler ......................$105,000 Kuhn Knight SLC141, 28L-26 Tires, 4100 Gallons .............................$47,000 Kuhn Knight 8132, 1 3/8 1000 PTO, 3200 Gals ..................................$15,000
‘11 H&S 5126, 2600 Gallons, 347 Cu Ft .....................................$8,900
NH 185, 170 Struck Cu Ft, 275 Bu, Upper Beater, T-Rod 67 Apron Chain, Poly Floor, End Gate ...................................$12,900
‘19 Doda AFI-35, 1 3/8 1000 PTO, 6” .................................................$7,500
‘21 Artex SBX700, 726 Cu Ft, Guillotine Endgate, 88C Apron Chain With Tube Slats, Twin Vert Beater ..............$53,500
‘20 Artex SBX950, 950 Bu, Cyclone Beaters, Raven w/ unlocks, CR7 Display .......................................$99,500
‘18 Artex SB600, 1 3/8 1000 PTO, Vert Beater .................................$47,500
‘20 Artex SBX800, 800 Cu Ft, Guillotine Endgate, 88C Apron Chain, Hyd Apron Pressure Relief Kit, Heavy Duty Vert Beaters, Teeth & Rippers Updated ........ $57,500 Meyers VB750, 600 Bu, 482 Cu Ft Struck, Vert Beaters, 5 Pt Digi Star Scale, Nutra Tracker NT Scale Head, No GPS Puck Included.....................................$46,500
‘12 Hagedorn Hydra-Spread Extravert 5440, 684 Cu Ft Heaped, 440 Cu Ft Struck, Sequence Valve Flow Ctrl, Wood Rails, Stone Guard, Endgate .....$39,500 ‘15 Hagedorn Hydra-Spread Extravert 5440, 684 Cu Ft Heaped, 440 Cu Ft Struck, Sequence Valve Flow Ctrl, Wood Rails, Stone Guard, Endgate .....$41,500
