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Volume 18, No. 24
Freestall barn meeting led to love, marriage
Mumms raising family, farming By Ron Johnson
ron.j@dairystar.com
LANCASTER, Wis. – Love in the freestall barn. It sounds like the title of a pulp novel. But it’s really the rst chapter in the true story of Joe and Sarah Mumm. Joe, 38, and Sarah, 33, milk 50 registered Holsteins on their rented farm near Lancaster, Wis. Their story started Aug. 12, 2004. Joe remembers it as a Tuesday, because the farm he worked on – Majestic View Dairy, Lancaster – was doing herd health work that day. Meanwhile, Sara was touring the farm as part of an interview for the position of herdsman. At the same time, Joe was assisting a veterinarian as she determined the sex of unborn calves. It denitely was not a romantic scenario – no candlelight dinner, no wine, no soft music. Instead, Sarah found a cow poop-splattered Joe. Sarah did get the herdsman job. And Joe liked Sarah right off the bat and wanted to ask her on a date. But the situation got in the way. For one thing, he worked mainly with the farm’s crops.
“I didn’t see him (again) until the weather got cold, because he was busy in the elds,” Sarah said. “My rst impression of Joe was that he was a nice guy. But I gured, because of that, he had a wife and kids at home, because he was 27 at the time.” Bye and bye, Joe started helping with barn chores. So, Sarah and he began bumping into each other. Enter the three Cupids. That’s the trio of co-workers at Majestic View who never wearied of telling Joe about the positive attributes of Sarah, and reiterating to her the good aspects of Joe. “We never would have pursued the situation,” Sarah said, “without the aid of Matt Staner, Jeff Harper and Gale Knapp.” When Valentine’s Day arrived in 2005, Staner asked Joe if he’d bought owers for Sarah. Learning that Joe hadn’t, Staner made him get some, and fast. Armed with a dozen red roses tastefully arranged in a vase, Joe asked Staner for advice on the next step of his courtship. “‘Put the owers in her car,’” Joe said he was told. Trouble was, the doors were Turn to MUMMS | Page 7
RON JOHNSON/DAIRY STAR
A dozen years aŌer they met in a barn, Joe and Sarah Mumm are sƟll there. They met at MajesƟc View Dairy, Lancaster, Wis., where they both worked, and are now on their rented farm, milking 50 registered Holsteins.
February 11, 2017
Innovation provides family’s future
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
Mike and Linda Hanson milk 102 cows near Goodridge, Minn., with their sons – David, and his wife, Ashley, MaƩhew (pictured) and Steven. This fall, the family installed two milking robots and a mixing and feeding robot.
Hansons automate milking, feeding on dairy By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
GOODRIDGE, Minn. – When Mike Hanson was a young boy helping on his family’s dairy, he was mixing and delivering feed to the milking herd with a shovel and pails. Now, Mike has not touched a shovel for feed in ve months. “Leave it to the farmers to get innovative,” Mike said. “They’re always thinking; there’s always someone pushing the envelope.” Mike and his wife, Linda, milk 102 Ayrshires and Holsteins near Goodridge, Minn., in Pennington County with their three sons – David and his wife, Ashley, Matthew and Steven. They also run 3,000 acres of cropland. This fall, the Hansons began milking with two Lely robots and feeding with a Lely Vector – one of the rst autoTurn to HANSONS | Page 5
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
A claw reaches down into a bale of dry hay to add to the raƟon. The robot mixes feed 15 Ɵmes in 24 hours for the Hansons’ lactaƟng and dry cows.