LOOK INSIDE FOR OUR FALL & WINTER
CALF & HEIFER EDITION!
DAIRY ST R
October 23, 2021
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 23, No. 17
Community unites to help family struck by sickness Friends, neighbors keep farm running for Neumanns during battle with COVID-19 By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
WEST BEND, Wis. – The Neumann family is overowing with thanks for the outpouring of love and support they recently received from neighbors and friends who helped them through a tough time of illness. When the Neumanns got hit hard by COVID-19, their community came together and kept the family fed, their cows milked and their crops harvested. It was a gesture of generosity this farm family will always remember. “There are no words to explain how grateful we are,” said Jenny Neumann, who farms with her husband, DJ, near West Bend. “Our neighbors came together to help us when we really needed it, and we couldn’t
have gotten through this without them.” The Neumanns milk about 110 cows and farm close to 300 acres. Helping on the farm is their son, Colby, 14, and daughter, Tessa, 13. The farm is owned by Neumann’s in-laws, Tom and Patti Neumann, and Tom helps with eldwork and hauling manure. Neumann and her husband rent from them and have plans to purchase the farm in the near future. “We have no employees,” Neumann said. “So when our family got sick, we couldn’t have stayed aoat without the help we received from our community. Family and friends also kept us fed for a good week.” The rst to fall ill was Tessa on Sept. 14, who tested positive Turn to NEUMANN | Page 6
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
The Neumann family – (from leŌ) Tessa, Jenny, DJ, and Colby – milk 110 cows and farm 300 acres near West Bend, Wisconsin. The Neumanns were grateful for help they received from neighbors and friends who got crops harvested and cows milked while the family was sick with COVID-19.
High-tesƟng alfalfa haylage for the win Mark takes first in Forage Superbowl By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
Todd Mark milks 130 cows near Elmwood, Wisconsin. Mark recently claimed Grand Champion Alfalfa Haylage at the World Forage Analysis Superbowl presented at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin.
ELMWOOD, Wis. – Growing top-quality forages is something that Todd Mark takes great pride in, saying that it is the foundation on which a protable herd is built. That focus on forage quality led Mark’s entry into the World Forage Analysis Superbowl to rise to the top of the heap, as the Grand Champion Alfalfa Haylage, the rst time he had ever entered. Mark, along with his wife, Billy Jo, operates Mark-Ridge Farm, where they milk 130 cows near Elmwood, with their son, Bryce, who is still on the farm while in high school, and their grown children, Jordyn, Cole and Natalie. The primarily Holstein herd eats a TMR diet that consists of haylage, corn silage and commodities, along with some barlage fed over the summer months. They run a rolling herd average over 30,500 pounds of milk consistently. Mark said he has had good luck with production, keeping his ration in the range of a balance of one-third corn silage to two-thirds haylage, or vice versa depending on his inventory. “Anywhere in that range seems to work well from my experience,” Mark said. “It all depends on the year and what is available.” “Quality is free, it doesn’t cost any more to get quality,” Mark said. “It costs the same to make poor quality forage as it does high quality. The equipment, the labor, all the costs are the same; so you might as well put in Turn to MARK | Page 8