Page 16 • Dairy Star • Second Section • Saturday, October 11, 2014
A day in the life of the Jasken brothers
Chopping corn silage, chores make for busy Sept. 29 BY MISSY MUSSMAN Staff writer
OGEMA, Minn. – Despite getting two-tenths of an inch of rain the night before, the Jasken brothers were still able to chop corn. “That little bit of rain didn’t stop us,” said Bob Jasken. Besides their normal daily chores, chopping corn took up most of their day on Sept. 29. The three Jasken brothers, Bob, Roger and Russ along with Russ’ wife, Anisa, and children, Brian, Eric and Eric’s wife Kaitlynn, Ariel, and Erin, milk 66 cows and run close to 500 acres of land on their dairy farm in Becker County near Ogema, Minn. At 5 a.m., Roger was at the farm cleaning mangers and feeding the cows their hay and TMR. “We used to feed TMR rst, but now we feed the hay rst,” Roger said. “It’s better for the cows to eat a roughage rst and get their stomachs moving.”
Bob arrived on the farm at 6 a.m. to clean the barn and bed the cows. Russ pulled in 15 minutes later to get things ready to milk cows with Bob in their tiestall barn that was built by their father, Leonard, in 1959. “They – Roger, Bob and Russ – are keeping up the tradition of farming their father started,” said their mother, Mildred. “I’m glad they came back.” Leonard began the family’s dairy farm in 1949, and almost 38 years later, he sold the farm to Russ and Roger in April of 1987. “Dad was looking to retire at the time,” Russ said. “We had to make a decision.” That decision came easy for Roger. “I never left the farm,” he said. “It was all I knew. I enjoyed taking care of the cows, too.” Taking care of the cows is
MISSY MUSSMAN/ DAIRY STAR
Bob Jasken milks one of his cows during morning chores on Sept. 29. He and Russ work together to milk the cows.
MISSY MUSSMAN/ DAIRY STAR
The Jasken brothers – from left: Russ, Bob and Roger – were busy chopping corn silage on Sept. 29. The brothers milk 66 cows and run 500 acres on their farm in Becker County near Ogema, Minn. something Roger had learned from his dad. “He always told me, ‘Take care of the cows and they’ll take care of you’,” he said. “I always make sure they are fed and well cared for.” For Russ, returning to the
farm after attending ag school and working for a few different dairy farmers was a logical move. “I like cattle till Sunday comes” Russ said. “It’s what I wanted to do.” Although Bob had been
Roger feeds a calf milk during morning chores on Sept. 29.
milking with his dad since 1974, he decided to remain apart of the farm as an employee instead. “I told them I didn’t want to buy into the farm, but that I would work for them,” Bob said. “I felt that was the best t
MISSY MUSSMAN/ DAIRY STAR
Turn to JASKEN | Page 18
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Page 18 • Dairy Star • Second Section • Saturday, October 11, 2014
Continued from JASKEN | Page 16 for me.” Since then, the brothers have gotten into a routine for daily chores. “It works pretty good for us,” Russ said. “We are a balanced team. We all work together.” While Bob and Russ were milking on Sept. 29, Roger fed the calves, older heifers and dry cows. Once milking was nished, Bob started the pipeline washer while Russ checked his breeding calendar in the barn. Bob does all the A.I. breeding while Russ chooses which bulls to use for the herd. “I look for dairy strength and good feet and leg traits rst and foremost,” he said. “They have to be able to handle standing in a tiestall barn.” Other traits he looks for are longevity and milk compo-
nents. “Dad always had nice cows, so we have kept that going through our breeding,” Russ said. After morning chores were nished, they went in for breakfast with their mom. By 10 a.m., Russ, Roger and Bob began chopping corn silage. Russ ran the chopper, Roger drove the chopper boxes back and forth and Bob ran the bagger. “With the three of us working like that, it makes things go a lot faster and easier,” Bob said. “It works really slick. We go with what we have and do the best we can.” This was their fourth bag of corn silage for the year. “Usually we do three bags of corn silage, but we ran out this last year,” Russ said. “This year we decided to do four
MISSY MUSSMAN/ DAIRY STAR
The Jasken brothers (from left) Roger, Russ and Bob take a break from chores to have breakfast at their mother’s house on Sept. 29.
MISSY MUSSMAN/ DAIRY STAR
Roger helps his brother, Bob, unload corn silage before evening chores on Sept. 29. Bob ran the bagger while Roger transferred loads back and forth from the eld. bags. That way we know we will have enough. Plus, corn is cheap, so I don’t feel so bad chopping more.” Currently, the corn silage is running 65 to 68 percent moisture, which has been perfect for storing in bags. But it has made it challenging for lling their silo. “It’s too wet for the silo yet,” Russ said. “We are going to have to take a break after we nish this bag before we ll the silo.” Normally, the Jasken brothers chop between 60 to 70 acres of corn for silage and this year is no different. Turn to JASKEN | Page 19
MISSY MUSSMAN/ DAIRY STAR
Russ chops corn in the eld just south of their farm during the afternoon on Sept. 29.
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Dairy Star • Second Section • Saturday, October 11, 2014 • Page 19
P BARN PEO O O H PL DAIRY, E H MACHINERY & HAY STORAGE
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Continued from JASKEN | Page 18
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Roger feeds the cows their hay before evening milking. Roger feeds hay both morning and night to the cows. “I think we are going to stay right around there,â€? Russ said. With the wet start to spring, the Jaskens were curious how their silage was going to be affected. “It started out wet, then got dry, and it was cooler this summer than most. But the corn adjusted well,â€? Russ said. “I was surprised at how it came along. It looked a little shorter than normal, but we are still getting really good tonnage out of it.â€? This year, the Jasken brothers planted some of their corn acres with brown midrib corn. “This was our ďƒžrst year trying it,â€? Russ said. “I have heard it could give us ďƒžve more pounds of milk per cow, so we will see. But the main reason we tried it was because most of the dairy farms in our area feed it, so we didn’t want to miss the boat.â€? They were able to chop 20 loads of corn silage before evening chores.
“That is the furthest we have ever gotten in a day,â€? Bob said. “These wagons were full. There was a lot of silage in them.â€? By 5 p.m., the brothers ďƒžnished bagging their last load of corn silage for the day and headed into the barn to start evening chores. Russ mixed the dry cow feed and the cow feed for the evening, while Roger began cleaning mangers again and feed hay to the cows. Russ fed the cows and mixed the feed for the next morning and Roger and Bob cleaned the barn and bedded the cows. By 8:30 p.m., chores were ďƒžnished and the brothers were back home to prepare to ďƒžnish chopping corn the next day. “During harvest time, things get busy. But we work hard and it pays off,â€? Bob said. “We are just proud to be carrying on the dairy farm that Dad started.â€?
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Bob spreads straw under the cows before evening milking on Sept. 29. Bob beds the cows twice a day.
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