Page 16 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 11, 2020
ConƟnued from OUR SIDE | Page 15 Alicia Thurk Hiebert Browerville, Minnesota Todd County 40 cows What are you looking forward to most this year? We don’t have any big plans or events scheduled for this year. We are most looking forward to making the nal payment on a couple pieces of equipment. What is one goal you have set for your dairy for 2020, and how do you plan to achieve it? My goal is to improve the pregnancy rate. I plan to do this by being more aggressive with my shot program. What are your predictions about this year’s dairy economy? 2020 is looking to be better than the last few years for milk price. However, I don’t foresee cattle prices rebounding much. What are the greatest challenges you see in 2020 for your dairy and for the industry? For our dairy, we will have the challenge of being a little short on corn silage. We are planning to put in some early maturing silage corn, hoping it will be able to ferment a bit before we run out of this year’s crop. For the industry, there will be the continued challenge of farms selling out and industry consolidation. Now with a second large milk processor ling bankruptcy, there will also be ripples from that felt throughout the industry. How have the past few years in the industry prepared you for the year ahead? The past few years have made it necessary to tighten our belts a bit and really focus on nances which has made us better business managers. What are three words to describe your feelings going into 2020? Hopeful. After the extremely difcult spring planting and fall harvesting last year, we are hopeful that 2020 will be less challenging. Eager. We are ready for a new year. Determined. We are determined to make this an all-around better and more protable year for our farm. Tell us about your farm. We have a 40-cow dairy with Holsteins, Jerseys and the occasional Milking Shorthorn. We farm approximately 800 acres. We purchased our current farm in 2016. My husband, Jared, is also the agronomy manager at ProAg Cooperative in Clarissa.
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Dave Daniels Brighton, Wisconsin Kenosha County 575 cows What are you looking forward to most this year? In Wisconsin, the Legislature has approved the Dairy Innovation Hub. This is a state-supported effort to expand research and teaching at the state’s three agricultural colleges with the goal of developing new technologies and approaches to strengthen the dairy industry and the communities that depend on them. I’m a member of the industry council that will be choosing and monitoring proposals from academia to accomplish this. What is one goal you have set for your dairy for 2020, and how do you plan to achieve it? To become a bit more diversied within agriculture. I am looking at a solar project that would benet the farm on the expense side. Another project would be to look at growing industrial hemp on some acres. What are your predictions about this year’s dairy economy? There will be some pressure on prices for the rst half of 2020. The second half could be like 2019 or a little better. Not sure if we’ll see a $20 Class III price though. What are the greatest challenges you see in 2020 for your dairy and for the industry? Our farm has some non-family employees. That is a challenge to keep and hire people who would work with cows. We have a bonus structure that helps. Living in an urban county, there is a lot of competition for labor. Also, the dairy industry is in a global marketplace. This means things that happen half a world away could affect our industry. How have the past few years in the industry prepared you for the year ahead? Continuing to focus on the expense side of our ledger is making our farm more competitive for the future. We are also looking at pieces of the farm enterprise that need more attention. Do we really need all those heifer calves for replacements? What are three words to describe your feelings going into 2020? Do our part. When your milk leaves your door, it is only the beginning. It will be processed by someone into many products. We still need to explain to our neighbors, cousins and friends what makes what you produce such a healthy and quality product. The story needs to be told because social media doesn’t have it right. Tell us about your farm. Mighty Grand Dairy is a multigenerational dairy farm that was formed when three neighbors combined our assets and grew our dairy business. We have 575 Holstein cows and grow our own replacements. We farm 1,125 acres of alfalfa, corn, wheat and winter forages. We also use cover crops where needed. Our milk is sold to Gran’de Cheese Company to be made into various Italian cheeses.
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THANK YOU
to all dairy farmers who have signed and returned the Dairy Check-Off Reform Petition. Over 900 dairy farmers across the nation have signed.
We are in need of 3,000-4,000 signatures.
No deadline to sign. Petitions are available online or contact us.
Thanks farmers for what you do!
For more information, contact: Dairy Pricing Association, Inc. W15311 Franklin Road, Taylor, WI 54659 Phone: (715) 284-2590 • Fax: (715) 284-2591 Email: dpainc@ceas.coop www.dairypricing.org www.facebook.com/dairypricing
Trista Kenealy Cadott, Wisconsin Chippewa County 500 cows What are you looking forward to most this year? Honestly, I’m looking forward to new beginnings. Everyone in the industry has had a tough go-around these last few years. Others would agree that 2019 was especially tough. What is one goal you have set for your dairy for 2020, and how do you plan to achieve it? To strive to be better. It doesn’t matter if its better with organizing my bookwork, calf management or whatever it may be. In order to be successful, we need to make sure we are utilizing our resources to the maximum benet while keeping our environment and animals safe. You need to keep good lines of communication not only with your family and employees but also your nutritionists, veterinarian, banker, agronomists, nancial consultants, accountants and whomever you work with to keep your operation running smooth. Those lines of communication are an integral part of successful operations. What are your predictions about this year’s dairy economy? I am optimistic the prices for the products we produce are going to increase and are going to stay up. After this many years at the lows we’ve had, things need to start turning around and looking up. What are the greatest challenges you see in 2020 for your dairy and for the industry? For our dairy and everyone else, we’re still going to have our challenges climbing out of our debts to get into more comfortable nancial positions. This year will be rough with the feed shortages due to 2019’s weather. Another challenge is going to be putting a more positive light on the dairy industry. With all the negativity and misinformation out there, it is extremely frustrating for us as producers to be heard and get our side of the story out there. How have the past few years in the industry prepared you for the year ahead? Not growing up in the dairy industry, I have had quite an education. Each year has been different, and I’ve learned to expect the unexpected and to not be surprised by anything anymore. I’ve also learned that communication is huge with navigating this volatile industry. What are three words to describe your feelings going into 2020? Optimistic, hopeful and resilient. After the last few difcult years, I am optimistic and hopeful milk and commodity prices are going to increase, and we will start to see more of that light at the end of the tunnel. As for resilient, you have to be in order to want to keep living this lifestyle. Tell us about your farm. We believe the farm was originally started around 1912 by my husband’s great-grandfather, so it’s been around a while. It has changed with new facilities and expansions, the latest one being in 2015. With my father-in-law, husband and now our two young sons, we have the third, fourth and fth generations living and working on the dairy. We milk 500 cows and farm roughly 1,000 acres that all goes for feed. We raise our own heifer calves and a few bull calves.
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