Country Acres 2018 - June 1 edition by Star Publications

ountry C cres A

A Supplement to the Star Shopper

Friday, June 1, 2018 • Edition 8

On guard

PHOTO BY ABBY HOPP

Buddy protects Mark and Nancy Quistorff ’s sheep May 16 on their farm near West Union.

Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment

Quistorffs’ flock protected by llama By ABBY HOPP Staff Writer WEST UNION – Pulling into the Quistorffs’ yard just outside of West Union, a visitor will likely see an unusual sight for Central Minnesota – a llama in the pasture, grazing the green grass alongside a flock of sheep. Buddy is Mark and Nancy Quistorff’s llama. He has quite a bond with both the sheep and the Quistorffs. “You often see him running and dancing with the sheep,” Mark said. “It’s like a calf in the springtime.” Buddy eats what the sheep eat and does what the sheep do. He can often be seen rolling around in the dirt like a horse. But Buddy is not just a pet. Buddy is a guard llama, doing anything it takes to protect the sheep. About 25 years ago, the Quistorffs lost six sheep. Not knowing what happened to them, they walked many miles around both the perimeter of the farm and on the farm itself, but they still could not

find the sheep or what killed them. This was alarming to the Quistorffs and inspired them to do extensive research to find something to protect their flock. Though the Quistorffs do not know what got their sheep, the animals have many predators which are often the greatest risk in raising sheep. According to the University of Minnesota Extension, common predators in Minnesota include coyotes, dogs, wolves, foxes, eagles and other birds of prey. The best way to deal with these predators is to keep a guard animal, such as a dog, donkey or llama, with the sheep at all times. The Quistorffs decided this step was a necessary one. “We live too close to town to have a guard dog and donkeys holler too much,” Mark said. So, after hours of discussion and research, the Quistorffs came to a deci-

QUISTORFFS continued on page 3

Setting goals Fiskness family aspires to farm full-time By KATELYN ASFELD Staff Writer OSAKIS – Pulling into the driveway of the Fiskness family farm outside of Osakis, goats can be seen laying in the pasture as their kids hop and kick playfully in the warm sun. The youngest of the Fiskness family, Abigail, is quick to point out the names and personalities of each goat as they approach the fence, tails wagging excitedly. “This one is Buttercup and there’s Coco,” she said. “That one’s Casper and this is Dino.” Nearly every animal on the farm has a name and the Fiskness family know the personality of each one. Ten years ago, Amber and Jed Fiskness bought their farm and were eager to begin farming. Together, with their three children, Mackenzie, 14, Zach, 12, and Abigail, 9, they raise and sell a variety of different vegetables, eggs and meat animals to over 100 customers. As they began raising a family, Jed and Amber wanted to know more about the food they bought, where it came from and how it was grown. This led them to begin growing their own produce and raising their own animals. “I love the outdoors, animals and the farming lifestyle,” Jed said. “I grew up on a dairy farm and always wanted to have a

farm of my own.” On their 72 acres, the Fiskness family raise Berkshire hogs, cattle, broiler (meat) chickens, egg-laying chickens, turkeys, goats, rabbits and sheep. They also grow an assortment of vegetables including kohlrabi, cabbage, beans, broccoli, winter squash, sweet corn and more. “Early on, we began growing vegetables for our family,” said Jed. “Then neighbors and friends heard what we were doing and they wanted to buy produce from us. That’s when we realized that there might be a market for this.” They began selling their produce six years ago by word of mouth, and now they sell on Facebook and at the Osakis Farmers Market, providing eggs, meat, vegetables and canned and baked goods. “Our most popular products are the chicken eggs, sweet corn, pumpkins and the meat chickens,” Jed said. Currently, the Fisknesses have nine head of cattle and 75 Berkshire hogs, including new litters of piglets. “I’ll sell some pigs as feeder pigs to be finished out elsewhere because I don’t have the space to grow out that many,” Jed said. “I usually like to keep 25 feeders.” When their chicken coop is at full capacity, they have 125 layer hens, each laying an egg every 25 hours. In the winter, when there is less sunlight, Jed will use artificial light to keep egg production

PHOTOS BY KATELYN ASFELD

The Fiskness family stands for a photo May 20 at their farm near Osakis. Pictured are (front): Abigail, 9; Middle: Amber (from left) and Mackenzie, 14; Back: Zach, 12 and Jed.

going as chickens require 14 hours of sunlight. The demand for their chicken eggs is high amongst their customers. “We’re almost always short of eggs,” he said. “Very rarely do we have extra eggs. We’ve actually had different people approach us that wanted large quantities, and unfortunately, I couldn’t help them.” They plan to build a third coop for more hens to meet the growing demands

for chicken eggs. They own a diverse flock of chickens that produce white, brown and green eggs. “We do a little bit of everything for chicken breeds. Our main four that we’ve been raising lately include White Leghorn, Barred Rock, Buff Orpington and Ameraucana,” he said.

FISKNESS continued on page 6

Page 2 • Country Acres - Friday, June 1, 2018

Country Acres Published by Star Publications Copyright 2014 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave. Sauk Centre, MN 56378 Phone: 320-352-6577 Fax: 320-352-5647 NEWS STAFF Diane Leukam, Editor diane@saukherald.com Mark Klaphake, Assistant Editor mark.k@dairystar.com Herman Lensing, Writer herman@melrosebeacon.com Liz Vos, Writer liz@albanyenterprise.com Laura Hintzen, Writer laura.h@saukherald.com Katelyn Asfeld, Writer kate@saukherald.com Carol Moorman, Writer carol@melrosebeacon.com Abby Hopp, Writer

Story ideas send to: diane@saukherald.com

This month in the

COUNTRY

SALES STAFF Jeff Weyer, 320-260-8505 jeff.w@dairystar.com Kayla Hunstiger, 320-247-2728 kayla@saukherald.com Missy Traeger, 320-291-9899 missy@saukherald.com Tim Vos, 320-845-2700 tim@albanyenterprise.com Mike Schafer, 320-894-7825 mike.s@dairystar.com Lynnette Ostendorf, 320-352-6577 lynnette@saukherald.com Brian Trattles, 320-352-6577 brian.t@saukherald.com

PRODUCTION STAFF Pat Turner Tara Pitschka Amanda Thooft Nancy Powell Brian Dingmann Cassidy Zenzen Jennifer Coyne, Proofreader Andrea Borgerding, Proofreader

Deadlines: Country Acres will be published the first Fridays of April, May, June, September, October and November, and the third Friday of every month. Deadline for news and advertising is the Thursday before publication.

5 Suddenly summer Diane Leukam Column 8 Artistic Endeavors Alexandria 11 Preserving a habitat Terrace 15 Wetzel takes pride in harness craft Spicer 16 Country Cooking

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sion and purchased Buddy from Mark’s cousin in hopes of minimizing loss of animals. “It is a security thing,” Nancy said. “We lost six sheep before we got the llama, but we haven’t lost any since.” Buddy in fact does a great job at protecting the sheep which he has been doing since he was 9 months old. He is often standing on a higher spot than the sheep or lying by the door of the barn when the sheep are inside. “If you look for the llama, you’ll find the sheep,” Mark said. Buddy’s ears can rotate sideways and straight, picking up even the slightest sound. He is a quiet guard; sometimes he whistles, but not very often. Llamas are commonly aggressive animals and often have an attitude. Llamas that are alerted to danger will hold their ears back and may spit or blow air. This makes them a great guard animal.

Though they are aggressive, guard llamas will not harm visitors or owners in most cases. According to Mark, llamas will not spit unless they have their ears back. “Never pet from the nose, to the head, to the ears,” Mark said. “Scratch him under his chin and he won’t spit.” According to Mark, male llamas are better than female llamas as guard animals. Females have a more maternal side, versus males, which are more protective. Guard llamas typically cost $500750 and are especially hard to find in Minnesota. However, after purchasing, they are easy to raise. Llamas are extremely trainable and do exactly what the sheep do. The Quistorffs have a well-estab-

QUISTORFFS continued on page 4 PHOTOS BY ABBY HOPP

Buddy protects the flock of sheep May 16 in the Quistorffs’ pasture near West Union.

PHOTOS BY DIANE LEUKAM

4 Child’s Play Diane Leukam Column 8 Young Farmer Q&A 10 A Cowboy Life Arizona 14 Cool Animals of the North Litchfield 16 Breast Cancer Awareness For Your Pets Wendy Womack Column 17 Is There a Trade War or Not? Roger Strom Column 18 Brewing Beer 101 Barret 21 Country Cooking

(above) Each system holds 48 panels and it takes eight of them to fill the 48. That is equivalent to 1,536 holes of lettuce. (left) The nursery where the seeds germinate for nearly a week before being moved to the panels for hanging.

Mark and Nancy Quistorff pose by guard llama, Buddy, in their pasture May 16 at their home near West Union.

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Friday, June 1, 2018 - Country Acres • Page 3 QUISTORFFS continued from front

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Page 4 • Country Acres - Friday, June 1, 2018 QUISTORFFS continued from page 3

lished flock of 55 crossbred sheep. Mark purchased his first 25 animals in 1985 because he felt they were easier to raise than the cattle he grew up with. The sheep are on green pastureland when the climate allows, and they spend the colder months in a barn. They eat grass in the summer and baled alfalfa grass, corn, oats and soybeans in the winter. Sheep have a fivemonth gestation period, unlike cattle with a ninemonth gestation period. Most farmers have their sheep bred in October, with lambing beginning in March. The Quistorffs like to lamb early, in hopes of getting the best market price. They begin their breeding season in July, to lamb in early December. They breed and sell their lambs

for meat and the market price is often much higher at the beginning of the market season. “December through March is the new crop,” Mark said. “If we can sell by April we can get the best price.” Buddy has an important job protecting those sheep. However, Buddy is getting old. He is about 25 years old and llamas typically live up to 30 years of age. As they age, they begin losing characteristics needed to protect. But, help is on the way. Three years ago, the Quistorffs purchased another llama, Cosmo, to train and eventually take over Buddy’s responsibilities. Cosmo is 4 years old and was purchased from a farmer in Wisconsin. He is slightly smaller than Buddy, but has done a great

job at protecting the young sheep. Cosmo is training to be a guard llama by protecting the younger lambs in a different pasture on the farm. The Quistorffs are prepared for the future, and with the help of the llamas, they feel that they will save sheep and therefore, money in the long run. The Quistorffs have lived on their current farmstead near West Union since 1992. They currently have 65 acres and raise many animals in addition to their sheep and llamas. These animals include steers, pigeons, pigs, chickens and dogs. They also keep busy outside the farm, as Mark works full time. He recently purchased Depot Feeds in Sauk Centre. Nancy helps at the office a few times a week, but mostly

completes chores on the farm. Having a guard llama ensures that the sheep stay safe, despite not watching them during all hours of

the day. Buddy and Cosmo are always on high alert and do whatever it takes to protect the flock. But not only that, the Quis-

torffs have a special bond with their llamas. Nancy said, “Even though they are guard animals, they become a part of the family.”

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emorial Day was a warm one. I planned to sit out on the front porch and write this, but I thought it might get too hot and humid for my computer. So, I went back inside. What a difference a month makes. After our long winter, suddenly it is summer and warm computer or not, I am savoring every minute of it. Well, let me insert this here, because technology allows it: As I put some finishing touches to this on Tuesday, I was sitting in the dark in the office, the electricity shut off as a storm passed through Sauk Centre. Hopefully we will get some much-needed rain. Anyway, I took a drive down to Litchfield last week and enjoyed the scenery along the way. Someone recently commented that the spring colors are almost as beautiful as the fall colors in Minnesota, and I tend to agree. The countryside looks like it is all planted, for the most part, and before long, first-cutting hay will be underway. In our story lineup this issue, Kenny Wetzel has a harness shop near Spicer, where, with his own two hands, he crafts harnesses, saddles and various horse tack. There are a lot of horses – and

by Diane Leukam people who love them – in Country Acres. Did you know there are about 92,000 horses and 14,000 horse farms in Minnesota? That’s enough to keep Mr. Wetzel busy for as long as he chooses to be. Jim Gerde of Terrace has been grazing his cattle on waterfowl protection areas for 25 years. Learn how the disturbance of the landscape through prescribed grazing actually helps the native prairie grasses and other plants to grow and remain healthy. In Alexandria, Bill and Mimi Seykora are a husband-and-wife artistic team. He creates beautiful objects with wood and she does the same with pottery. I’ve always loved pottery and when I ran across this story, I knew right away it would be a good fit. Just a little FYI, I was one of those kids in high school who took a number of art classes and enjoyed every minute of it. No apologies. And, who would have thought Bill could make some-

thing so beautiful with colored pencils. Check it out. Meet Buddy, the guard llama at Mark and Nancy Quistorff’s farm in West Union. Veteran sheep raisers, the couple relies on Buddy to keep their flock safe, and while Buddy has become like a member of the family for the Quistorffs, a roaming coyote may not be so lucky. Last but not least, Jed and Amber Fiskness of Osakis are working towards full-time farming. With a fantastic mixture of kids, animals and produce, from pigs and chickens, to rabbits and goats, this small farm is teeming with life. With their cottage food license, they are able to sell all sorts of items right from the farm. Thank you for being a part of our Country Acres family. We enjoy meeting every one of you whenever we get the opportunity and hope you enjoy meeting this issue’s people as well. Watch your mailbox June 15 for our next issue, and then, we go to once a month, the third Friday, for July and August. As always, please peruse all our advertisers, without whom this free paper would not be possible. Stop in and shop, and tell them you saw it in Country Acres!

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Friday, June 1, 2018 - Country Acres • Page 7 FISKNESS continued from page 6 a basic training course on sanitization to receive our license.” The goats and rabbits are a hobby for the Fiskness children, as they show the animals for 4-H. Rabbit breeds they own include Havana, Polish, Silver Fox, Flemish Giant and one Florida White. “Rabbits are very good for teaching kids the basics of animal care and showing. They really enjoy showing the rabbits,” Jed said. This year, Mackenzie and Zach’s team took first in state in their division for the rabbit bowl which is a knowledge test on rabbits.

Jed works full-time off the farm, milking cows for a local dairy, selling animal feed for Oakhill Farm and Feed and working at Osakis General Store as a sales representative. Amber works on the farm feeding and caring for the animals and tending to the garden along with the children who also help with chores. The Fiskness family have a long list of goals they would like to achieve in the years to come. As they look back at the progress they have made, they are confident and excited about what the future will hold for their family farm. Layer hens flock to the side of a chicken coop May 20 on the Fiskness Family Farm outside of Osakis.

Jed Fiskness pets a bull May 20 at his farm near Osakis.

Berkshire hogs huddle up to the fence after being called by Jed Fiskness on the Fiskness Family Farm May 20 outside of Osakis.

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Friday, June 1, 2018 - Country Acres • Page 9 SEYKORA continued from page 8 turn. My dad had a lathe, but wouldn’t let me touch it,” he said. Mimi added, “I was pretty excited when he came to me and said he’d like to turn bowls.” The Seykoras built an attachment onto their garage where Mimi’s studio and their gallery space is located. Bill does his woodworking just 50 feet away in a separate shed. Bill started with a small lathe, but wanted make bigger bowls. He ended up purchasing a larger lathe which made bowls measuring 21 inches in diameter.

He has worked with a variety of trees including ash, maple, cherry, apple, walnut, butternut, chestnut and pear, but has also worked with rare woods often found in Africa and Asia. “When a tree starts to die, it sends enzymes through the woods which gives black lines to the wood. This is called spalting,” Mimi said. “It doesn’t degrade the wood but creates a beautiful texture.” Bill is currently working on a new technique where he layers woods with plywood and colored pencils, creating one-of-a-

kind beautiful bowls, goblets and handles. Mimi too, incorporates little pieces she has picked up along the way through traveling the world and brings them to life in her pottery. “There are always going to be influences out there like Pinterest, but instead of copying someone, I want to create my own ideas,” she said. Mimi has worked with pottery for nearly 40 years and has experience with raku, a type of low-firing

SEYKORA continued on page 10

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Finished ceramic pots sit on display at Merodie (Mimi) and Bill Seykora’s home May 24 near Alexandria. These pots were made using a low-firing process called raku. The right pot features burnt horsehair for a more rustic look.

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Page 10 • Country Acres - Friday, June 1, 2018 SEYKORA continued from page 9 process that was inspired by traditional Japanese firing. For the past three years, she and Bill have hosted raku firings at Carlos Creek Winery in Alexandria. “With Raku, the fun is in the firing process and not necessarily in making the pot,” she said. For the raku firing events, they make and bisque fire the pots before bringing them to the winery. From there, the individual picks a pot, decorates it and then places it in a kiln to be fired and go

through the reduction process. Each person has the choice to glaze a pot or add horse hair, which is burned onto the bisqued pot. Even though the Seykoras live a busy lifestyle, they are not staying busy because they have to, but because they want to. “That’s how we want to keep it. When this becomes work, we won’t do this anymore,” Mimi said. “I don’t want this to be stressful with timelines. I want this to be something I continue to love, enjoy and grow from.”

PHOTOS BY LAURA HINTZEN

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Friday, June 1, 2018 - Country Acres • Page 11

Preserving a habitat Gerde maintains healthy wetland through prescribed grazing By KATELYN ASFELD Staff Writer

TERRACE - In his piece “Walden and Other Writings,” American author Henry David Thoreau described wetlands as a “sacred place, a sanctum sanctorum,” He continues by writing “I seemed to have reached a new world, so wild a place… far away from human society. What’s the need of visiting far-off mountains and bogs, if a half-hour’s walk will carry me into such wildness and novelty.” Such wildness and

they need to have periodic disturbances to defoliate vegetation and begin a nutrient cycling process. Different practices, such as prescribed burning, haying and grazing, are used to maintain a healthy grassland and provide a habitat for grassland birds. The Morris Wetland Management District (WMD) is responsible for preserving WPAs in eight counties. They also oversee the prescribed grazing program. The WMD is an office within the branch of refuges of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) which is a federal land management agency. “Almost 250 WPAs ranging in size from seven acres to 1,250 acres, are managed for grassland nesting migratory birds,” said J.B. Bright, wildlife refuge specialist with Morris WMD. “Over the past A wild wooly geranium blooms 30 years, around 100 difin a waterfowl protection area ferent WPAs have had prePHOTOS BY KATELYN ASFELD (WPAs) on a rainy day May 23 Jim Gerde stands with his dog, Sammy, in front of his herd of cattle May 23 on his farm near Terrace. near Terrace. WPAs provide GERDE Gerde participates in the prescribed grazing program overseen by the Morris Wetland Management a refuge for waterfowl and continued on page 12 District. migratory birds. novelty can be found in the rolling glacial hills and glistening lakes of the wetlands located near the small town of Terrace, 13 miles south of Glenwood. On these glacial hills, cattle graze alongside waterfowl and grass-nesting birds, co-existing peacefully. Jim Gerde is a beef producer who resides outside of Terrace; his home overlooks a wetland, full of grass, hills and a large body of water. For the last 25 years, Gerde’s cattle have been used in prescribed grazing practices on Waterfowl Protection Areas (WPAs) surrounding his farm. In order for grasslands to thrive, particularly the grasslands of the Northern Great Plains and the tallgrass prairie region, which are disturbance dependent,

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Page 14 • Country Acres - Friday, June 1, 2018 GERDE continued from page 13

PHOTO BY KATELYN ASFELD

A few of Jim Gerde’s cattle graze on a waterfowl protection area (WPAs) May 23 outside of Terrace. Gerde’s cattle have been used for prescribed grazing on WPAs since 1993.

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unit (1,000-pound cow) for a month. This helps them determine the appropriate stocking rates (number of livestock in a given area), for a WPA management unit. “The primary components of targeted grazing are timing and intensity,” Bright said. “Timing refers to the time of year and length of time the plants are exposed to grazing, known as grazing period. Intensity refers to the degree of grazing pressure that plants and plant communities experience.” As a permitted grazer, producers are required to follow regulations set forth by the WMD. For example, insecticides cannot be applied to livestock while they graze in a WPA. Also prohibited is supplemental feeding of livestock with the exception of minerals and protein. Producers are also responsible for providing, building and maintaining fencing for their animals; and routinely checking on their

animals, ensuring they are in good health and have access to water. Some WPAs, however, have permanent boundary fencing that do not need to be taken down after grazing. Gerde enjoys watching the calves grow and prosper. “The WPA shouldn’t be something you depend on for grass each year, that’s not the intention of it, but it helps the habitat out,” Gerde said. “If you don’t do grazing, haying or burning, the quality of the nesting grass will deteriorate over time.” As Gerde goes out to the pasture every day to check on his cattle, he enjoys watching the calves as they grow and prosper. When he is out there, he can also catch a glimpse of wildlife – goslings sitting on the grass, ducks swimming on a pond, a Great Blue Heron standing in shallow water and Sandhill Cranes flying overhead. A place of such wildness and novelty.

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Friday, June 1, 2018 - Country Acres • Page 15

Wetzel takes pride in harness craft By LAURA HINTZEN Staff Writer

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When Wetzel graduated from Olivia High School in 1966, he already had plans that next year to marry the love of his life. Wetzel married Elaine Schaeffer in 1967. The couple raised four children together, including sons Larry, Jason, Tony and daughter Lisa. They are also grandparents to four grandchildren. In 1985, the Wetzels moved to Spicer and bought a home on a 33-acre parcel of land just west of the town. The couple enjoyed taking weekend trips to different campgrounds throughout Minnesota and South Dakota to go horseback riding. “I always made sure that my wife had the best horse that we owned at the time,” Wetzel said. After their children PHOTOS BY LAURA HINTZEN had graduated high school, in 1994, the couple had A variety of harnesses and saddles of different shapes and sizes are displayed May 24 at Kenny Wetzel’s harness shop in Spicer. more time do devote to their business, Kenny Wet- at their home. ﬁed customers is the best Grain • Agronomy zel Harness Shop, located “I guess having satis- part about what I do,” he Feed • Petroleum • Seed said. Spartan Mosquito Wetzel is self-taught in Eradicator mostly everything he does Application last in his business. up 90 days! “Years ago, when EXPIRES 6-15-18 I was a kid, if I broke something, I would ﬁx it. I would hand-stitch it all together and the neighbors started bringing their stuff Redeemable at any Pro Ag Locationn over,” Wetzel chuckled. 806 22nd Ave E, Alexandria ria (320) 763-5445 “I’m following in my father’s footsteps.” The property is quaint and inviting, as nearly 20 horses greet visitors as they arrive. “What I like to tell people is, if I’m home, then I’m open,” he said. “I also have a drop box available out front of my door for CA June1-1B-BT

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Page 18 • Country Acres - Friday, June 1, 2018 GERDE continued from page 17 putting in 12-plus hours, depending on the ﬂow of orders. “The best part about making harnesses, is it is very non-monotonous,” he said. “If I’m working on a project, I can leave, take a nap and come back.” Wetzel is preparing for the busyness of the next few months with his 70th birthday in July and having a booth at the Kandiyohi County Fair during the ﬁrst week of August. “Selling quality stuff to customers makes me happy,” he said. “If I can do that, then I’ve done my job.” This saddle was made by Kenny Wetzel and is shown on display May 24 in his shop near Spicer.

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