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DAIRY

Heart For Dairy Feature

DAIRY ST R

Closing the gap between farmer, milk processor

February 13, 2021

“All dairy, all the time”™

Volume 22, No. 24

Producing goat milk in volume

Drumlin Dairy caters Communication, trust key to specialty to successful relationships cheese market By Stacey Smart

stacey.s@dairystar.com

MADISON, Wis. – An open line of communication with his milk processor helps drive success for Wisconsin dairy producer Jim Winn, of Cottonwood Dairy, and South Dakota dairy producer Kevin Souza, of Victory Farms. Winn ships his milk to Grande, and Souza ships his milk to Valley Queen Cheese. Each farmer enjoys a close-knit relationship with his processor. “Our communication with Grande is second to none,” said Winn, who milks 1,750 cows. “I’ve known the Grande reps since I was a kid. It means a lot to be in business with guys you know and trust. That’s why I recommend getting to know your processor on a personal level, not just on a business level. Grande is like family, and we work very well together.” Winn and Souza were joined by Jason Mischel, vice president of sales and milk procurement at Valley Queen Cheese, and Greg Siegenthaler, vice president of supply chain for Grande Cheese, in a panel entitled “Building Relationships: Farmer and Processor Insights” during the virtual Dairy Strong conference Jan. 19-21. Viewing each other as friends, the dairy producers and processors cited communication and trust as key to successful farmer/processor relationships. A mutual reliance between farmer and processor helps ensure issues are resolved quickly. The four agreed the conversations are not always easy, but communication is important. For example, when Valley Queen announced it was getting away from shipping milk containing bovine somatotropin, they notied farmers a year in advance. “That year-notice was huge for our business in deciding how we were going to come off it,” Souza said. “I had buddies who only had a couple months’ notice.” Winn said he also received a oneyear notice for the removal of BST. “When the eld man told me he was going to take it away, I wasn’t happy,” Winn said. “But it was the best thing for us in the long run. Now, I wouldn’t use BST if they gave it out for free.” Valley Queen stays connected to its Turn to RELATIONSHIPS | Page 5

By Stacey Smart

stacey.s@dairystar.com

C H I LTO N , Wis. – Fullling a niche in the dairy marketplace was the driving factor in the creation of Drumlin Dairy. A demand for more goat milk in the area spurred the development of the lakeside farm near Chilton. The home of 8,000 milking goats, the majority of the farm’s Grade A milk is shipped to Montchevre to make STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR cheeses like crottin, Kevin Wellejus is the general manager of Drumlin Dairy near Chilton, Wisconsin. The dairy was cabrie and bucheron. started in 2017 and milks 8,000 goats. “Goats do really well on this scale,” said Kevin Wellejus, general manager in nearby Hilbert. Drumlin Dairy is a processors that were looking for more of Drumlin Dairy. “As the demand division of Holsum Dairies, which goat milk,” said Wellejus, a partner for goat products continues to climb, consist of Holsum Irish and Holsum with Holsum Dairies. “A fair amount I think we will see more farms of this Elm. Adding a third operation to milk of goat cheese in the U.S. is made from goats, these dairymen responded to curd imported from overseas. You get size.” The owners of Drumlin have been a request to produce another type of better quality cheese if you make it fresh, which is what these processors around the dairy industry for many milk as well. “We were approached by some wanted to do. All of our milk is used years, operating two 3,700-cow dairies for cheese production.” A veterinarian by trade, Wellejus was raised in a Pennsylvania farming community. Even though he did not call a farm his home, he grew up working on farms and developed a love for the dairy industry. He practiced veterinary medicine for seven years in western New York and northwest Pennsylvania, serving mostly dairy cow clients. In 2013, Wellejus moved to Wisconsin and became a manager at Holsum Dairies. Now managing Drumlin Dairy full time, Wellejus has shifted from cows to goats. “There is some overlap in how cow and goat dairies operate, but overall, they are fairly different,” Wellejus said. “One of the Holsum partners has a connection with a large goat dairy in the U.K., and we spent a couple weeks in Europe learning about the industry. We also worked with overseas goat STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

An employee at Drumlin Dairy preps a goat for milking on Jan. 28. The dairy employs 30 people, two-thirds of which are female.

Turn to DRUMLIN | Page 6

Page 2 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021

DAIRY ST R www.dairystar.com

ISSN 020355 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave. Sauk Centre, MN 56378 Phone: (320) 352-6303 Fax: (320) 352-5647 Published by Dairy Star LLC General Manager/Editor Mark Klaphake - mark.k@dairystar.com 320-352-6303 (ofce) 320-248-3196 (cell) 320-352-0062 (home) Ad Composition Nancy Powell 320-352-6303 nancy.p@dairystar.com Consultant Jerry Jennissen 320-346-2292 Editorial Staff Krista Kuzma - Editor/Wisconsin (507) 259-8159 • krista.k@dairystar.com Andrea Borgerding - Associate Editor (320) 352-6303 • andrea.b@dairystar.com Jennifer Coyne - Assistant Editor (320) 352-6303 • jenn@dairystar.com Danielle Nauman (608) 487-1101 danielle.n@dairystar.com Stacey Smart - Staff Writer (262) 442-6666 • stacey.s@dairystar.com Maria Bichler - Copy Editor 320-352-6303 Advertising Sales Main Ofce: 320-352-6303 Fax: 320-352-5647 Deadline is 5 p.m. of the Friday the week before publication Sales Manager - Joyce Frericks 320-352-6303 • joyce@dairystar.com Bob Leukam (Northern MN, East Central MN) 320-260-1248 (cell) bob.l@star-pub.com Mark Klaphake (Western MN) 320-352-6303 (ofce) 320-248-3196 (cell) Laura Seljan (National Advertising, SE MN) 507-250-2217 fax: 507-634-4413 laura.s@dairystar.com Jerry Nelson (SW MN, NW Iowa, South Dakota) 605-690-6260 jerry.n@dairystar.com Mike Schafer (Central, South Central MN) 320-894-7825 mike.s@dairystar.com Amanda Hoeer (Eastern Iowa) 320-250-2884 • amanda.h@dairystar.com Julie Barnes (SE WI and Northern IL) julie.b@dairystar.com Megan Stuessel (Western Wisconsin) 608-387-1202 • megan.s@dairystar.com Kati Kindschuh (Northeast WI and Upper MI) 920-979-5284 • kati.k@dairystar.com Deadlines The deadline for news and advertising in the Dairy Star is 5 p.m. Friday the week before publication. Subscriptions One year subscription $35.00, outside the U.S. $110.00. Send check along with mailing address to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378. Advertising Our ad takers have no authority to bind this newspaper and only publication of an advertisement shall constitute nal acceptance of the advertiser's order. Letters Letters and articles of opinion are welcomed. Letters must be signed and include address and phone number. We reserve the right to edit lengthy letters. The views and opinions expressed by Dairy Star columnists and writers are not necessarily those of the Dairy Star LLC.

The Dairy Star is published semi-monthly by Dairy Star, LLC, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246. Periodicals Postage Paid at Sauk Centre, MN and additional mailing ofces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246.

A glance at the other side

Dairy Star likes to provide local stories, which is why we have two versions of the paper. Below are a few highlights from stories you will not nd in this paper, but you can nd online in zone 1. Find full editions on our website, www.dairystar.com, and click on the e-edition tab under the Dairy Star header. Dairying despite a diagnosis Tom and Linda Krueger milk 50 cows near Eagle Lake, Minnesota but their world was turned upside down when the couple both received the diagnosis no one wants to hear: cancer. As Tom battles esophageal cancer, Linda deals with reoccurring breast cancer that has spread to her bones. The Kruegers continue to care for their cows and farm, saying the barn is a welcome respite from the craziness of their health struggles. Nearly Canada Dairy farming looks different for the Bitzers, even though they are Minnesotans. A farm located less than a mile from the shore of Lake of the Woods, ve miles from the Canadian border faces unique challenges of climate and isolation in the far North. Their milk is shipped 180 miles south, the nearest creamery and the nearest veterinarian is over an hour’s drive away. Custom calf raising farm honored The Webster family in Ortonville, Minnesota was named Big Stone County Farm Family of the Year for their custom calf operation. Alan and Jackie Webster custom raise 400 calves on their farm until they are 12 to 16 weeks old. They prioritize training their calves to drink from buckets as soon as possible and emphasize a strong diet of colostrum for newborns. Small grains, big opportunities The University of Minnesota-Extension hosted a webinar on small grains Feb. 3, focusing on how evolving climate patterns will allow for a window of opportunity in crop farming. With the ability to rejuvenate the soil, preserve nutrients and minimize runoff, Jochum Wiersma and Craig Sheaffer spoke about which small grains will fare best in Minnesota’s rich agricultural land, even as it evolves.

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021 • Page 3

It’s all inside... Columnists Waupaca

Dairy’s Working Youth: Trista Ritchie

Pittsville

Hughes family represents dairy industry in Super Bowl video

First Section: Pages 37-38

St. Croix Pierce

Dunn

Pepin

Chippewa

Buffalo

From the Zweber Farm

Page 35 First Section

Jackson

Schmitzes focus on cow comfort

Pages 10 - 11 Second Section

Juneau

Lafayette Green

Women in Dairy: Amy Ruegsegger

Carroll

Jefferson Waukesha

Rock

ens

h tep

Darlington

Zone 2

Green Lake Fond Du Lac

Dane

Jo Daviess

Zone 1

e nn Wi

Columbia Dodge

Sauk

Iowa

Grant

Page 26 Second Section

e mi Brown

go ba Calumet

Waushara

aw Cr

Country Cooking

Oconto

for

Second Section: Pages 7 - 8

Richland

a tag

Adams

Monroe

Shawano

Wood

Vernon

Ontario

Menominee

Portage Waupaca

La Crosse

The “Mielke” Market Weekly

Menominee

Langlade

Marathon

Clark

Eau Claire

Forest

Lincoln

Taylor

Ke w

Rusk

Barron

ren

Oneida

ton S he bo Milwaukee Ozauk M yg ee an anito wo c

hb Wa s

Price

ing

Page 32 First Section

Flo

Sawyer

Walworth go

eba

n Win

First Section: Page 36

Racine

DeKalb

Hen ders on

For additional stories from our other zone, log on to www.dairystar.com

Hull, IA Watertown, SD

(712) 439-2081 (605) 753-0300

www.automatedwastesystems.com

ren War

Drumlin Dairy caters to specialty cheese market First Section: Pages 1, 6 - 7

Kenosha

Madison

Kane

Marklein named Dairy Business Association Legislator of the Year

Lee

First Section: Pages 25 - 26

Rock Island Mercer

Chilton

McHenry

Ogle

Whiteside

Delta

Dickinson

Vilas

Wa sh

Come Full Circle

Polk

Iron

ett e

Page 31 First Section

Burnett

Trempealeau

Veterinary Wisdom

Ashland

Page 30 First Section

Third Section: Pages 3 - 4

Bayeld

Douglas

The melter

Charapata’s best friend is an 8-year-old Ayrshire

First Section: Pages 18, 20

Third Section: Page 12

First Section: Pages 34 - 35

Page 27 First Section

Coleman

Heart for Dairy

Bo o

Gardening in February

Green Valley

Do or

Uekert turns hobby into successful business

aun ee

Athens

Pages 8-9 First Section

Ma r

Ag Insider

FROM OUR SIDE OF THE FENCE: How do you nd time for each other while farming? First Section: Pages 15-16

Page 4 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021

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2337 Millennium Rd. • Decorah, IA 52101 United Suckow Dairy (563) 382-8722 12687 Hwy 18 & 52 • Postville, IA 52162 1467 West 5th Street • Winona, MN 55987 (563) 864-7417 (507) 452-5532 210 N. Industrial Pkwy • West Union, IA 52175 Leedstone (563) 422-5355 222 E Co Rd 173, Melrose, MN 56352 (320) 256-3303 24260 Cty. Rd. 27 • Plainview, MN 55964 (507) 534-3161

ConƟnued from RELATIONSHIPS | Page 1 producers through routine eld visits. Communication starts at the farm with the eld service representative and goes all the way up through the CEO. He and Mischel visit farms on a regular basis to have conversations with farmers and exchange ideas. “Since we have such a good relationship, I’m able to contact my eld rep with any problems we have at any time, and he’s able to help us,” said Souza, who milks 5,000 Jerseys. “It’s very important for us to have trust with Valley Queen because we do milk quite a few cows, and we don’t really have another option for outlet of our milk, but Valley Queen has treated us fair. It gives us peace of mind knowing we have a place to ship our milk to every day.” Winn has also had a positive experience working with Grande. “Our previous processor was just looking for pounds of milk, whereas Grande is fanatic about quality,” Winn said. “Their milk quality veterinarian is a huge help, and they’ve taken us to a new level with milk quality. It’s helped our bottom line tremendously. The difference to where we were before with cell count, etc., to where we are now is night and day.” Grande has a veterinarian and a bilingual trainer on staff and wants to continue providing more tools to farmers. “There are a lot of things we can still do, and I’m excited about the possibilities,” Siegenthaler said. “We have a 1-15 rep-to-farm ratio, and our reps are in constant contact with our producers.” Last March and April when farmers were undergoing uncertainty brought on by COVID-19, Winn said he talked to his eld man every day and to Siegenthaler about three times a week. “Grande was looking out for us just as much as we were looking out for them,” Winn said. “That makes a huge difference.” Siegenthaler agreed. “I think I probably heard from every one of our producers during the COVID-19 crisis multiple times, which is good,” Siegenthaler said. “They know that line of communication is open.” Demonstrating support for the dairy producers they serve is important to both Grande and Valley Queen. They stand behind farmers who take initiative to help their community, the environment and the dairy industry as a whole. One way that Grande supports the efforts of Cottonwood Dairy is through its collaboration with the farm’s in-

volvement in an event known as Day at the Dairy. Every spring, fourth graders in Winn’s county visit four farms, including Cottonwood Dairy, and Grande makes pizzas and provides milk for the students. “It’s our eighth year doing it, and it’s just a great day,” Winn said. “When we approached Grande about helping with it, they stepped up to the plate. They’ve been there with us from day one and are very open to helping us out. That really means a lot to the community.” In addition, Grande was one of the sponsors for Winn’s farmer-led watershed group known as LASA, once again demonstrating support for its producers. “Grande understands our efforts,” Winn said. “They get it and that sets them apart from other processors in our area. They view innovation and change as important. The environmental component is important to consumers, and our previous processor could not have cared less about that kind of stuff. We’re very happy with Grande and hope this relationship lasts forever.” From cheese buyers to people in the chocolate business, Valley Queen brings customers to Souza’s farm on a routine basis. These visits give customers a chance to ask questions and interact directly with a dairy farmer. “We feel it’s important for our customers to see where the milk is produced,” Mischel said. “We want them to be comfortable with the size, scope and scale of agriculture we deal with. During these tours, we get a sense of how the supply chain feels about what we’re doing.” Opening his farm doors to Valley Queen’s customers is something Souza enjoys doing. “We’re on the cutting edge just like Valley Queen, and we always want to show the customer what we’re doing next,” Souza said. Mischel described Valley Queen’s relationship with dairy producers as a two-way street. “We promise our producers we’re going to provide a good market for their milk, and in turn, we trust they’re going to continue to support us by providing quality milk for our products,” Mischel said. Souza said he and Valley Queen stay in contact all the time. “You’re not going to agree on everything,” Souza said. “You just need mutual understanding. At Valley Queen, we’re not just a number. We’re like family.”

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021 • Page 5

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Page 6 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021

ConƟnued from DRUMLIN | Page 1

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Kids spend the rst ve to six days of life in this training room where they are trained on nipples and acclimated to drinking milk replacer through an automated free-choice feeder. Approximately 800 goats are born every month at Drumlin Dairy.

consultants and hired people from overseas when we started.” Plans for Drumlin Dairy began in 2016, and by the summer of 2017, the dairy milked its rst goats. Purchasing kids over a 1.5-year timeframe, the owners of the dairy bought 7,000 goats to start and grew from there. “We bought kids from all over the U.S.,” Wellejus said. “We got a lot from the west coast, as well as New England and Texas.” The majority of the herd are Saanen and Alpine which Wellejus said are higher-producing breeds that milk longer lactations. Nubians and LaManchas can also be found on the dairy. Wellejus said some of the farm’s goats milk for a standard ve-month lactation, while others are still going strong since day one, milking 3.5 years straight. The dairy’s goal is to breed

one-half to one-third of the herd each year. One-third of the goats are bred via articial insemination while the rest are bred to bucks kept onsite. Goats are milked twice a day in a 120-stall Blom rotary parlor from Holland. The parlor milks 1,000 goats per hour, and goats ride for a sixminute rotation. “We’re set up to milk three times a day, but the goats aren’t quite there yet,” Wellejus said. Goats are housed in a Dutch-style cross-ventilated barn featuring long lanes of deep-bedded packs designed for ever animal to eat at once. The main barn houses 10,000 goats in nine large pens and a total of 18 lanes. “There are a lot of different ways to manage goats,” Wellejus said. “Some Turn to DRUMLIN| Page 7

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KUHN Knight PS 235 and 242 ProSpread® apron box spreaders are non-commercial spreaders that provide an affordable option for producers without sacriﬁcing quality. With capacities of 275 and 360 ft³, these machines are ideal for small dairy, feeder, and cow/calf operations. KUHN Knight PS 235 and 242 ProSpread® apron box spreaders are noncommercial spreaders that provide an affordable option for producers without sacrificing quality. The PS 235 and PS 242 are designed for small dairy, feeder, and cow/calf operations that process a wide array of semi-solid and solid materials. An all-steel welded box construction and two-piece poly floor give you a machine that is built to last. Choose between horizontal, VertiSpread® vertical beaters or the AccuSpread® spinner discharge to best fit the spreading needs of your operation. These spreaders, with heaped capacities of 275 and 360 ft³, feature a low loading height, are easy to maneuver around the farm and provide more efficient use of manure with exceptional spreading and metering capabilities.

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

The goats’ diet at Drumlin Dairy consists of dry hay and pellets. The dairy is devoted to supplying high-quality goat milk for making cheeses like croƫn, cabrie and bucheron.

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021 • Page 7

ConƟnued from DRUMLIN | Page 6

farmers feed them just like cows, while others feed all grain. You have to decide what’s right for your facility. Our goats’ diet consists of dry hay and pellets. We also bed the goats daily. Goats are sensitive to wet and must be kept clean and dry, otherwise they suffer from skin and foot problems.” Approximately 800 goats are born every month at Drumlin Dairy. The number of goats born daily can vary dramatically, creating challenging labor swings. The dairy currently employs 30 people, and two-thirds of the staff is female. Kid raising consumes half of the farm’s labor. The dairy keeps all its does but sells the bucks at 1 week old. “We like to get the bucks started before we sell them,” Wellejus said. After birth, newborns are transferred to a processing room where they receive colostrum, vaccines and ID tags, and spend about 12 hours drying off. Heat lamps and a heated

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

This Dutch-style barn featuring long lanes of deep-bedded packs houses 10,000 goats and is designed for everyone to eat at once.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Goats at Drumlin Dairy near Chilton, Wisconsin are milked twice a day in this 120-stall rotary parlor that milks 1,000 goats per hour. All of the dairy’s milk is sold for cheese producƟon.

oor keep baby goats warm and comfortable. From here, kids move next door to the training room for their rst 5 to 6 days of life. Housed in small groups, the babies are trained on nipples and acclimated to drinking milk replacer through an automated free-choice feeder before moving onto the kid barn. The temperaturecontrolled training room is set between 65 and 70 degrees. “Kids are fairly needy at this age, so we have one to two full-time employees in the training room at all times,” Wellejus said. “We place the kids in small pens because it provides a better visual. We feed milk twice a day and clean the room every six

hours. Kids are rather labor intensive and sensitive to getting sick.” Because many goat dairies are seasonal, Wellejus said milk prices uctuate drastically by season. When more milk is available in late spring and early summer, the dairy receives a lower price for its milk. Whereas late fall and early winter bring the highest prices. Drumlin Dairy is devoted to supplying high-quality goat milk year-round. The operation, in its fourth year, is making its mark in the industry, providing milk to make specialty products for people who love the unique taste of goat cheese.

One in four consumers believe plant-based food is healthier Page 8 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021

Sustainability seems to be a buzzword that Peterson does not expect the Dems to retain the is connecting with consumers. According to the majority International Food Information Council’s annual food Former House Agriculture Committee Chairman and health survey, 59 percent of Americans say it is Collin Peterson plans to stay involved in farm policy important for the food they purchase or consume is issues. In his address to the American Sugarbeet produced in an environmentally sustainable Growers Association virtual annual Ag Insider way. Seventy-six percent of consumers meeting. Peterson voiced concern about consider themselves omnivores. Nine the current ag committee. “I think the percent of the people surveyed identify Democrats are going to have a hard time themselves as vegetarian and 2 percent are nding enough people that are going to vegan. The report said the consumption of be willing to serve on the ag committee. I plant-based meat and dairy alternatives is think they’re going to have to draft people up. Forty-three percent said they would to serve and these may be people that assume that a product described as ‘plantdon’t have that big of an interest in being based’ would be healthier than one that is on the committee.” Peterson said the not, even if it had the exact same nutrition direction of the next farm bill will depend facts label. Regarding COVID, the IFIC largely by who is in charge. “It depends if survey found 60 percent of Americans are the Democrats retain the majority in 2023 cooking at home more. or not. Reading tea leaves, given what By Don Wick some of these so-called Progressives are Columnist COVID hits restaurant business hard pushing, my guess is that Democrats will According to the National Restaurant not be in charge in 2022.” Association’s state of the industry report, more than 110,000 bars and restaurants closed this past year. Vilsack faces Senate Ag Committee For the restaurants that closed for good in 2020, the On Groundhog Day, Tom Vilsack ironically majority of the operators had been in business for an found himself back in front of the Senate Agriculture average of 16 years. While there is pent-up consumer Committee for a conrmation hearing. Vilsack is demand, the report said consumers are also nding returning to the job he held for eight years during the new ways to enjoy their favorite restaurants, including Obama Administration. The former Iowa governor restaurant subscription services and meal kits. kicked off the hearing by saying this is a fundamentally different time in agriculture. “I recognize the Midwest Dairy launches new strategic plan unprecedented challenge we face with COVID and Midwest Dairy launched a new three-year strategic while pursuing these ‘why not’ opportunities will not plan earlier this month. The new plan takes into shirk the duties and responsibilities of the Department.” consideration lessons learned in the COVID pandemic Regarding the use of Commodity Credit Corporation with objectives to boost dairy sales, advance dairy funds, Vilsack said he’d ask for the same exibility research and grow trust in dairy nutrition. Midwest that was given to Secretary Perdue. Climate change, Dairy CEO Molly Pelzer said consumers are thinking food security and market transparency were addressed about health now more than ever. “Dairy has immune- during the hearing. boosting nutrients.” Pelzer said Americans continue to eat more food at home and the dairy industry is NMPF asks White House to join CPTPP trade deal watching for the return to restaurants. “We certainly The National Milk Producers Federation is urging know Americans consumed lots of cheese in restaurants the Biden Administration to join the Comprehensive and we were pleased to see cheese and butter diverting Progressive Trans-Pacic Partnership. That’s the trade to home use. Although we’ve enjoyed the baking, agreement that President Trump dropped in 2017. we’re looking forward to going out again. England is petitioning to join this Pacic Rim trade

deal and NMPF wants the U.S. to follow suit. The dairy industry is dependent on the export markets and National Milk sees opportunity in key markets like Vietnam and the Philippines.

Regeneration nation The National Alfalfa and Forage Alliance has launched its Regeneration Nation initiative. The NAFA describes alfalfa as the “ultimate regenerative crop,” helping farmers build soil health and reach sustainability goals. Alfalfa is the third most valuable eld crop in the U.S., but acres are trending lower. The Regeneration Nation effort is being used to tout those benets to dairy and forage growers. New scholarship opportunity for water quality certied farmers The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is offering a scholarship for farmers tied to the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certication Program. AgCentric Director Keith Olander said the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certication Program Farm Business Management Scholarship provides tuition buy down for the Farm Business Management Program. “For those who are water quality certied, there are opportunities to have tuition bought down as much as 75 percent based on qualications. Farmers must also be water quality certied through the agriculture department.” The program is an opportunity to compare protability between farms enrolled in the state’s water quality program and those who are not. “They’re looking at the economics around the adaptation of environmental and conservation practices and water quality,” Olander said. “We’re trying to identify within that how those farmers stack up against their peers.” MN House Ag Committee reviews farmer-lender mediation bill The Minnesota House Ag Committee met Monday to consider House File 80, legislation proposing an extension for the farmer-lender mediation period of an additional 60 days. University of Minnesota Extension Statewide Mediation Coordinator Mary Nell Preisler showed support for the Farmer-Lender Mediation Act Turn to AG INSIDER | Page 9

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ConƟnued from AG INSIDER | Page 8 extension from 90 days to 150 days, partly due to the COVID pandemic. “I’ve been doing this since 1986 and 90 days has never been long enough. However, if we have an agreement before 90 days, we can stop the mediation. We really haven’t run into this issue before, but the pandemic brought it to a head we’ve never had enough time.” The committee laid the bill over for possible future inclusion. Last year, the committee took similar action to get farmers through the pandemic. The Minnesota House Ag Committee also heard from the Rural Finance Authority Supervisor Matt McDevitt on ag loan activity during the hearing.

are unchanged from one year ago. At 4.6 million head, dairy replacement heifers are down 2 percent from last year. The number of milk replacement heifers declined by 35,000 head in Minnesota. Dairy replacements increased in South Dakota, Iowa and North Dakota and declined in Wisconsin. Trivia challenge Ricotta is the Italian cheese made from heating the whey left over from the cheese making process. That answers our last trivia question. For this week, Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow represents what state? We’ll have the answer in the next edition of Dairy Star. Don Wick is owner/broadcaster for the Red River Farm Network, based in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Wick has been recognized as the National Farm Broadcaster of the Year and served as president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Don and his wife, Kolleen, have two adult sons, Tony and Sam, and ve grandchildren, Aiden, Piper, Adrienne, Aurora, and Sterling.

Cattle inventory report released According to USDA’s semiannual cattle inventory report, beef cow numbers are down 1 percent from one year ago and dairy cow numbers up 1 percent. For dairy cows, the inventory in Minnesota rose 2 percent. South Dakota’s dairy herd is up by a whopping 11 percent; Iowa is up 2 percent; Wisconsin and North Dakota

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The Stam family – (front row, from leŌ) Maria, Collin, Jonathan, David and Lucas; (back row, from leŌ) Leah, Ryan, Caleb, Nathan, Nicole and Valerie – stand in the new facility they started using in April 2019 on their 150-cow dairy near Oskaloosa, Iowa.

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OSKALOOSA, Iowa – Although the Stam brothers have always liked dairy farming, a new facility has made the career a lot more exciting. “It makes you want to dairy farm rather than be physically worn out at the end of the day,” Nate Stam said. Three Lely A-5 robots in a new 6-row freestall barn with a new manure pit has been a welcomed upgrade for Nate and his brother, Caleb, on their 150cow dairy near Oskaloosa. They started using the new set up April 30, 2019. The barn with a feed alley splitting the middle has two robots on the outside wall of one side and one robot on the outside wall of the other side. The robots have the ability to sort cows for illness, breeding or going through a footbath. Having robots provides the Stams with more exibility, less physical work and shorter days. “They’re there on holidays and odd hours when it’s hard to get conventional help,” Caleb said. “They can occasionally break down, but they’re always there and don’t leave the farm.” The new milking equipment replaced a double-8 parabone parlor, remodeled from a double-4

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A channel between the freestall barn and the pit, pictured in the building stage, allows manure to gravity ow to the new 1.5-million-gallon pit.

herringbone by the Stams’ dad, Calvin, in 2006. “It was pretty much a homemade parlor that was very basic,” Nate said. The parlor always needed two people to get the job done efciently. The Stams hired high school students to help with labor. “If one person didn’t show up, it put you behind all day,” Caleb said. Milking in the old facility included a lot of steps in and out of the parlor. “We didn’t have a crowd gate in our holding pen so for 16 to 17 groups you were up and down from the pit going to get cows,” Caleb said. “It was a lot of wear and tear on your body, typically associated with dairy farmers.” Now, all the chores can be done by one person if needed; however, typically both brothers are on the farm every day along with part-time help from two of their nephews when they are not in school. Plus, the automated milking system allows the Stams to have exibility with chores, crop farming and custom work, especially since both have young families. Nate and his wife, Valerie, have four children: Jonathan, 9, David, 7, Lucas, 5, and Nicole, 2. Caleb and his wife, Leah, have three children: Collin, 8, Maria, 5, and Ryan, 1. “Our kids have a great opportunity if they so choose to stay in the dairy business,” Caleb said. “It’s not nearly as stressful as our old barn was – the hours, the demands. Now there is exibility. I just think it’s a lot more sustainable with our new facility.” The new facility also features automatic alley scrapers that push manure into an 8-by-8 underground channel on the east end of the barn, and it gravity ows to the 1.5 million gallon pit. Once there, sand and solids settle to the bottom and can be cleaned out when the pit is cleaned once a year. “It’s low maintenance and simple,” Nate said. Prior to this set up, the Stams scraped the manure into a small holding area and hauled it every two to three days, depending on weather. “Spring was always a challenge, and during summer when you have crops on the elds, nding a spot to haul was difcult,” Nate said. “This made everything much easier so we can pick our times to spread manure and not ght the weather so much. It was a huge time and labor savings.” After being in their new facility nearly two years, the Stams’ herd is averaging between 2.7 to 3 milkings per cow, per day. Many of the higher producing cows are going through the robots four times. “If it’s a high producing cow, they’re utilizing that ability (to get milked more often) which would have never happened in the old facility,” Caleb said. Production has also increased 15 pounds per cow per day. While the Stams recognize they are also Turn to STAMS | Page 11

Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021 • Page 11

ConƟnued from STAM | Page 10 feeding the cows to milk a little more, they feel the way they feed is more efcient. “It’s more tailored to each cow,” Nate said. “The cow that’s producing more milk will get more nutrients, and the cow that’s not doesn’t get as much. So, it makes it more efcient on a small scale when you don’t have different groups of cows.” However, the Stams experienced an adjustment period to a new way of feeding that inuenced how often the cows are milked. For the rst 10 months, cows would visit the robots often enough, but refusals – when cows would visit the robots, but it was not time to be milked yet – were at 0.5. The Stams and their equipment dealer wanted to see about two

refusals per cow. “You want the cows coming on their own to the robot and not you going to get them,” Nate said. “It’s a balancing act.” After pulling energy from the bunk and feeding more in the robot in the rst lactation heifers, the Stams saw the response they wanted. “It’s a learning curve for us and our nutritionist as well,” Caleb said. Pregnancy rate and reproduction has also improved due to the activity monitoring system, Caleb said. The cows also have more of a relaxed demeanor. “The cows just really seem to slow down,” Caleb said. “From an animal welfare point of view, the cows are making the choices. It takes very little

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Cows eat feed in the new 6-row freestall barn the Stam family constructed to house their 150cow herd on their dairy near Oskaloosa, Iowa.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

The rst cow to use the new facility is milked by one of three robots the Stams started using in April 2019 on their dairy near Oskaloosa, Iowa.

effort to sort out any cow that needs attention.” While the Stams are now reaping the benets of their new facility, it did not happen overnight. The brothers, who took over the farm in 2007 from their dad after he had health issues, spent nearly seven years researching every aspect of a new facility from the building to the nancials. They also toured dairies and talked to many farmers during that time. “Anytime we were on a

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Page 12 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021

Technology takes a bigger role on dairies Four Minnesota farms share how advancements help their herds By Krista Kuzma

krista.k@dairystar.com

Technology is constantly increasing on dairies across the nation. To help producers nd the right addition to their farm, Form-A-Feed had a producer panel called “Technology, automation and your dairy farm” during its Jan. 14 virtual annual conference. Four Minnesota dairy farms shared their experience with technological advancements. Co-Jo Dairy milks 900 cows near Grove City. Owner Joe Jans along with the farm’s herd manager, Jennessa Thompson, talked about the use of the SCR system for cow activity and health monitoring. Landwehr Dairy, owned by Denny and Marlene Landwehr, operates near Watkins. Herd manager, Theresa Galvan, shared on the panel about the farm’s use of Cow Manager to monitor health and fertility, along with EZfeed, a feed management software. Rick and Sarah Ahlgren spoke about the use of Lely robots, feeding system, auto scrapers and activity monitoring system on their farm, Ahlgren Dairy, where they milk 165 cows near Darwin. The nal panelist, Dean Smith, shared his use of the SCR system; FeedWatch, a feed tracking software; and DairyComp for reproductive management.

“I wasn’t super tech savvy,” Smith said. “But once you learn the curve it’s very good technology to get ahold of and very benecial for many reasons – cow health, efciencies, inventories.” Smith said he spends a couple hours a day doing computer work. “It’s just a lot of stuff you do on computers now that 10 to 15 years ago you did more visual or with pencil and paper,” he said. Galvan said Sarah and Rick even though there Ahlgren is a learning curve Dairy farmers to using technology, the ones she uses are easy to operate. “They try to make it as user friendly as possible,” she said. While the Ahlgrens had a lot of technology to learn at one time with their new automated facility, they said there are ways to work through it with the right people to support them. “Almost every small issue we had (right away) … we were able to resolve over the phone,” he said. “We have a lot to learn, … but that will all come with time, and we’re excited to be able to use it to more of an extent.” All four farms have seen improvement in their reproduction because of the activity systems. Prior to the using an activity monitoring system, the Ahlgrens bred cows based on visual heats. “We were missing a lot and the silent heats,” Rick said. “We didn’t have

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the data at the time to improve it.” Now their breeding is more accurate, and they are inseminating cows at the right time. To further improve the herd’s reproduction, the Ahlgrens are going to implement a synchronization program starting at 100 days in milk for cows that do not show heat. Galvan said it took time to trust the system. “The technicians we had at rst were unsure the proDean Smith gram was picking Dairy farmer up heats,” she said. “But then the next day the cow would bleed off so now they fully rely on it.” In addition to breeding cows using the farm’s activity system for the past 3.5 years, Landwehr Dairy uses a presynch and double ovsynch program. Co-Jo Dairy has been using the SCR system for the past ve years. Before that, the dairy relied on tail painting and an ovsynch program. Since the switch, the dairy has seen an increase in pregnancy rate, which is now at 28%. It also saved $5,000 per month from cutting back on ovsynch shots. Smith, who has been using the same system, had tail chalking with ovsynch prior. He likes the objectivity of the technology. “If you manage enough employees through your days, two of the hardest things to train people to do are heat detection because everyone has a dif-

ferent idea if that cow is in heat or not, and detecting sick cows,” Smith said. “There are a lot of things to look at. One person’s idea of a sick cow is different from the next. With the system, it picks those up.” Consistency from the use of technology also helps the dairy’s protability. “If you can take out the employee or management variability and give it to a technology that gives you solid information, it’s going to improve your efciencies and your bottom line,” Smith said. Rumination – whether on an individual basis or looking at the herd as a whole – has helped all the farms. “You can catch a cow before they’re sick,” Jans said. “We’ll give them some probiotic pills, and by the next day they’re usually back going and they don’t show up again.” This has signicantly reduced the antibiotic use at Co-Jo Dairy. “That was a key thing we put this in for,” Jans said. “As the industry is getting tougher on antibiotics, we’re hoping to get rid of some of that and don’t have to do a lot of treating on animals.” Feed tracking software at Landwehr Dairy has helped with keeping feed inventory and calculating feed projections for each year. “It makes communication (between different feeders) easier and makes an impact on cows not running out of feed,” Galvan said. Smith said having a feed tracking Turn to TECHNOLOGY | Page 12

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ConƟnued from TECHNOLOGY | Page 12

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Dr. Anne Proctor from Form-A-Feed stands next to Theresa Galvan while going over cow records at Landwehr Dairy near Watkins, Minnesota. Galvan is the herd manager at the dairy. software also allows him to see if there are feeder errors. “It keeps people accountable and on task,” Smith said. “If you have a really good feeder and things are going really well it might not be as big of an issue. But if you have issues, or sick cows or don’t know feed inventories, it pays pretty fast.” The Ahlgrens like their automated feeding system to save time, compared to their traditional TMR mixer on a tractor they used before the new setup. “Feeding used to be a big part of

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021 • Page 15

How do you find time for each other while farming?

Shoshannah and Kyle Gomm Marsheld, Wisconsin Wood County 55 cows, soon to be 80 How long have you been married? We will be married four years in May. How did you meet? We met at the music festival, Country USA, in 2013. Shoshannah came with her sister, who was college roommates with some of my friends. How do you nd time for each other while farming? We lived 80 miles apart, and I was farming on my own at the time, so it was lots of driving, and very little sleep. Now we just try to sit for a few minutes together at the end of the day, even if we just end up falling asleep on the couch together. Describe a trait you love about your spouse. She’s loyal, ghts for things she believes in and she’s completely family oriented. And her stubbornness. What are ways you show your spouse you love him/her? I try to be her stress relief and be there for her when she’s ready for a hug. Describe your ideal day trip or night out for Valentine’s Day. Nothing goes wrong or breaks, so we can actually have a Valentine’s Day. What are words you live by in your marriage? Always say “I love you.” Tell us about your farm. We milk registered Holsteins and Jerseys. We run it by ourselves and our ve boys. We make most of our own feed and Shoshannah does the breeding. Our getaways are getting to shows as often as we can.

Sarah and Joel Imdieke (with two of their children, Ava and Henry) Melrose, Minnesota Stearns County 100 cows How long have you been married? We have been married nine years this month. Feb. 18 is our anniversary. How did you meet? Sarah: We met online on Farmer’s Only. I wanted to marry a lamb farmer but ended up meeting a dairy farmer. I wasn’t from a dairy farm, but I grew up near Eau Claire, and my uncle had a dairy farm. How do you nd time for each other while farming? We don’t really do much other than farm. We have four kids who keep us busy. We used to occasionally go to St. Cloud to go out for supper but that was maybe once every other month. We haven’t been doing much since COVID-19. Describe a trait you love about your spouse. Sarah: I love his humor. He thinks he’s funny and most of the time he actually is. Other times he just thinks he’s funny. Joel: I like how she is detailed and pays attention to every little thing. It drives me crazy, but it’s funny to watch. What are ways you show your spouse you love him/her? Sarah: I make him coffee and breakfast in the morning. Joel: Sometimes I’ll do the dishes for her. Describe your ideal day trip or night out for Valentine’s Day. Sarah: We would just stay home and watch a movie and get takeout. Just relax a little bit. Joel: We’d have a night to ourselves at home without the kids and just relax. What are words you live by in your marriage? We don’t really have words; we try to communicate and always say “I love you.” Tell us about your farm. We are a fourth-generation dairy farm. We milk 100 cows and raise our steers. We also raise heifers for a few other dairies around here. We have four children ages 3 to 7 years old.

Joann and Andy Groos Colman, South Dakota Moody County 35 cows How long have you been married? We will be married for 58 years on Aug. 29. How did you meet? We met through one of Joann’s friends when we were juniors in high school. It turned out we only lived seven miles apart. Andy was crowned homecoming king when he was a senior on the same night Joann was crowned homecoming queen. But Andy went to school in Colman while Joann went to school in Egan, so we couldn’t attend each other’s coronation. How do you nd time for each other while farming? Joann worked off the farm for many years as a registered nurse, and Andy worked for several years as a part-time ag teacher and counselor. We found that milking together was the best time for us to catch up with each other and what was going on in our kids’ lives. Describe a trait you love about your spouse. Joann: Andy has a decisive mind and a good sense of humor. Andy: Joann is very strong-willed. She has very strong thoughts and can’t be steamrolled. What are ways you show your spouse you love him/her? Joann: I always make sure I x meals he likes. Andy: I enjoy doing things for her even though I don’t always show that I like it. Describe your ideal day trip or night out for Valentine’s Day. We would love to go to Hawaii and eat at a luau and enjoy the tropical weather. What are words you live by in your marriage? The three most important words are “I love you.” The second most important set of words are “I am sorry.” People don’t use those words often enough. Tell us about your farm. We left the farm in 1969 and lived in Iowa for a few years. We didn’t like the idea of

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Annie and Nick Stalboerger (with their children, Nathan and Mallory) Lake Henry, Minnesota Stearns County 60 cows How long have you been married? Nine years. How did you meet? We were both out with friends. How do you nd time for each other while farming? Whenever we do chores together is our alone time. I do chores every night during the week and on weekends. Nick does them all day, every day. Describe a trait you love about your spouse. We are both hard workers. What are ways you show your spouse you love him/her? Always supporting each other. Describe your ideal day trip or night out for Valentine’s Day. Spending the day with family. If we could do something as a family for the day or weekend, we would make a weekend trip to Arrowood or a water park. What are words you live by in your marriage? Learn to compromise. Tell us about your farm. We milk 60 cows, raise our replacement heifers, farm 300 acres and plant corn, alfalfa and soybean. I work full time at CentraCare. raising our kids in town, so we came back in 1972 and bought our rst few cows. Andy grew up milking about a dozen Shorthorn cows by hand with his father. Joann also grew up on a dairy farm, but they had milking machines. We have eight children. Three of our sons, Chad, Eric, and Grant, farm with us. The boys run a medium-sized farming operation. They calve about 400 stock cows every spring and sell the calves as feeders. Like many farmers, we struggled during the Mid-1980s Farm Crisis but we somehow managed to make it through.

Page 16 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021

ConƟnued from OUR SIDE | Page 15

Rick and Ann Stocker Jordan, Minnesota Scott County 85 cows How long have you been married? 33 years. How did you meet? A mutual friend introduced us at Union Hill Bar. How do you nd time for each other while farming? We do the milking together each morning and evening, so that gives us time to discuss things. In the winter, we have some time in the evenings after supper to spend time together. Describe a trait you love about your spouse. Ann: He has many traits that I love, but the one that I love the most is that he is caring. I have an off-thefarm job as well, and he always wants to hear about my day. He can tell when it’s been a long day and will offer to nish the evening milking himself, so I can have some time to myself. Rick: She is very understanding, and when things go wrong, she’s there to help get things working and back on track. What are ways you show your spouse you love him/her? Ann: I try to be helpful with more chores when I see that he is running behind. I will start milking without him when he’s busy with eld work. Also, I like to ask him about his favorite meal, or just dessert, and make him the things he likes best. Rick: I like to surprise her by taking her out to lunch or supper and occasionally surprise her with owers. Describe your ideal day trip or night out for Valentine’s Day. Ann: Ideally, we would hire a milker for the evening so we could enjoy a nice dinner out together. Of course, it is nice with just the two of us; however, as empty nesters, I love when we can include our kids and grandkids so the whole family is together. Rick: When both of our days go great and we can be done early then spend the evening together. What are words you live by in your marriage? Ann: Love, faith and hard work. We live by these words every day, and we need all three of them to be both successful and happy. Rick: Understanding and patience. Tell us about your farm. We milk 85 cows in a tiestall barn that holds 38 cows, so we do a lot of switching. We try to be milking shortly after 4 a.m., so that we are nished in time for Ann to get to her job. We nish our steers and raise our replacement heifers. We grow 380 acres of corn, soybean and alfalfa. We have four children who are awesome at coming to help us with eldwork and evening milkings, especially during the busiest times of the year.

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Abbie and Wayne Saemrow Morristown, Minnesota Rice County 850 cows How long have you been married? 10 years in September. How did you meet? We lived in the same neighborhood. Abbie and her twin sister would walk or ride their horses by the dairy. Then I hired her before I married her. How do you nd time for each other while farming? We work together every day so we are together all the time. It is actually more challenging to make time for ourselves individually. Besides working together, we like to go on a week-long vacation every year. We nd a place in the country we haven’t been to before and we go. We would like to visit Glacier National Park sometime. We also take smaller trips in the state. We have a goal to visit all of Minnesota’s state parks. Even when we are not on vacation, we nd projects to do together. Describe a trait you love about your spouse. Wayne: I like how supportive she is of my dairy farming habit. I call it an addiction because it can consume us 24/7. Abbie: He embraces me and loves me for who I am. What are ways you show your spouse you love him/her? Wayne: Abbie likes to make sure we talk before going to bed. It has been a really good thing for us and something I like. We reect on our day and our life. Abbie: I always like to make sure he has a good meal to eat. I also can be responsible for the dairy when he is gone, which he really appreciates. Every once in a while, I will buy him a special coffee for the morning. We are coffee snobs. Describe your ideal day trip or night out for Valentine’s Day. We do not typically go out for Valentine’s Day. For day trips, we like to bike, hike and snowshoe. We like to visit local county parks and state parks. Every once in a while, we will ride horses. During the summer months we have what we call our nightly date night that mixes a date with work. It is going out to the pasture to check on the heifers, but it has become one of our favorite parts of the day. It gives us time to talk while we drive there and back. Since the pasture is a few miles away, we are already half way to Dairy Queen so we will also go for an ice cream treat after we check the pasture. What are words you live by in your marriage? Abbie: It is OK to disagree, because it helps you gure out how to get along and work through the disagreement. Wayne: A couple that can work cattle together, stays together. Tell us about your farm. I (Wayne) farm in partnership with my three brothers. Along with the dairy, we raise our heifers, have 2,300 acres of crops and raise contract turkeys. I am the third generation with the fourth generation now also being involved on the farm. My 94-year-old mother feeds calves with us every day.

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Matt and Allison Till Maquoketa, Iowa Jackson County 55 cows How long have you been married? Since September 2017. How did you meet? Matt: We met through 4-H. She says we went on a conference trip to Ames together, but I can’t remember it. I do remember meeting her at the fair. We were in our junior year of high school when we started dating. How do you nd time for each other while farming? Allison: I plug myself into whatever he is doing. I tag along on little runs to town or will jump in the tractor. If he asks for help on the farm, sometimes I see it as nice for us to be together that way. It’s a little tough because we have a 4-month-old daughter now. We are also avid Iowa State fans, so we go to tailgate at the games with University of Iowa and the ISU homecoming. We both went to ISU, Matt in dairy science and me in animal science. Matt: When we need a night out together, I have my little brother milk the cows, and we go out for dinner for a date and Allison’s mom will watch the baby. It gives Allison and me one-on-one time. Describe a trait you love about your spouse. Matt: She never gives up on me. Sometimes it’s hard to love a dairy farmer, but she nds a way to stick with it. Allison: I love his passion for what he does. It takes a strong man to go out and milk cows every day, especially on days like this when it’s 15 degrees below zero. He’s always making sure that everything gets taken care of. He’s just so passionate. What are ways you show your spouse you love him/her? Allison: He likes to show it physically like cleaning out our calf condo stalls. We have eight of them, and my least favorite chore is cleaning them out after moving calves. So, when he does those without question, I appreciate it. That’s where I see love. We also made the promise to say “I love you” to each other every day. Matt: She’s got supper waiting or a snack for me when I pop my head into the house. She’s trying to keep me healthy. She tells me to take my vitamins and not just Mountain Dew. She is always willing to roll up her sleeves and jump in a tractor if I ask her to. Describe your ideal day trip or night out for Valentine’s Day. Matt: She is the one that makes the plans. I just roll with it. Allison: We would do a night so Matt can get his work stuff done; we are always aware of that. We would probably go to Dubuque on a dinner date. We always like to try something different; we never have a set place to go. We make it short and sweet. What are words you live by in your marriage? Allison: Trust. Communication, always keeping the lines open between each other so we are always aware of what is going on. Matt: Give and take. If you want to take something, you have to give something back. Marriage is always a work in progress. Tell us about your farm. Matt: We operate the farm, but my parents, Allan and Karen, own the farm and half the cows. We own the equipment. We raise the youngstock and have about 85 beef cows. My younger brother, Mark, helps with the dairy end of things and my older brother, Michael, helps with the beef side. We raise corn, soybean, hay and oat on 520 acres. We have multiple breeds of dairy cattle and milk in a stanchion barn. Allison: I work as crop insurance agent at Farm Credit in DeWitt working with producers in the surrounding area. On the farm, my primary role is raising calves. You don’t want me milking. I’m too slow.

Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021 • Page 17

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Page 18 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021

HEART

DAIRY

Hank Wagner

Wes De Kam

Dairy farming for

50 Years

Dairy farming for Years

Hank Wagner milks 700 cows in Shawano County near Green Valley, Wis.

How many years have you been dairy farming? I was born on our current family dairy farm and was driving tractor when I was 7 years old. I guess that means I have been dairy farming for over 50 years. My wife, Pam, and I purchased the family farm 34 years ago. Tell us about your farm. I am the fourth generation on our farm. My dad started with 18 cows and grew the herd to 65 cows before he sold the farm to me. We then changed roles, and I quickly found out that being the boss wasn’t as easy as I thought. My dad soon realized a person couldn’t survive on $3.75 an hour. We have taken many strategic steps to grow to the current size, and there are more steps planned in the future. Tell us about your family. My amazing wife, Pam, grew up on a dairy farm, and we have farmed together since the day we were married. She has helped fulll many roles over the years, and I am thankful for her. We have two children. Our son, Shawn, is our crops and machinery manager. His wife, Crystal, works off the farm as a dental hygienist, and they have two children. Our daughter, Laura, loves animals and is responsible for all the animals on the farm along with the people who care for them. Her husband, Tyler, is our feed manager and also does an amazing job leading the milk harvesting team. What has been the highlight of your dairying career? It would be having our children becoming partners in our family business. It is such a blessing to be able to spend time at work and play with our family. Pam is an awesome cook and makes lunch for all of us every day. What value would a large, successful business be without wonderful people to share it with? What do you love about dairy farming? I love almost everything about farming. I love caring for the animals. It may be watching that new baby calf grow into a productive animal or a new batch of spring kittens. I love watching those seeds miraculously grow into a bountiful harvest every year. But what I love most is spending time with family. A farm is a great place to raise a family and is something that is easily taken for granted. What has been the biggest obstacle you have faced in your dairying career and how did you overcome it? Dairy farming is loaded with obstacles, and it would be tough to pick just one. Yet I believe that every one of the obstacles we face contains a cleverly hidden opportunity. The way to overcome obstacles is to give little attention to the obstacle, and instead, diligently focus on nding the opportunities. Once we nd and implement the opportunities that came as a result of the obstacle, we usually become thankful for the obstacles too. What has been the best decision you have made on your farm? Understanding the value of people, vision and goals. People are not computers or machines – they can think, create and problem-solve. Uniting people with clear vision of what is possible can rewrite our future. Setting goals and attaching plans builds excitement and can bring what is possible in the future into the present. Engaging family, employees and all others connected to our business in this process can be powerful. Who has been an inspiration to you during your dairying career? There is not enough space in this article to list all the people who have been an inspiration to me. We enter this earth with nothing, and everything we know has come through another person. I am truly grateful for all the amazing people who have touched my life personally and in business. People truly are what is most valuable on this planet.

Wes De Kam milks 500 cows in Pipestone County near Edgerton, Minn.

How many years have you been dairy farming? I have dairy farmed my entire life. I grew up on a 40-cow dairy farm and worked at a neighboring dairy farm for seven years. I began dairying on my own in 1990. Tell us about your farm. We started by building a 120-cow freestall barn and a double-6 parlor. We doubled our herd seven years later, then doubled it again seven years after that. The last time we expanded our herd, we also expanded our parlor to a double-9. We now milk three times a day. Our daughter, Courtney, helps with feeding calves on our farm and her husband, Grant, is our herdsman. Courtney and Grant are gradually buying into our operation. Tell us about your family. My wife, Sheila, and I have been married 38 years and have three daughters. Heather is married to Rod Bleyenberg and has two sets of twin boys. Ashley is married to Nate Stoel and has a son and a daughter. Courtney is married to Grant Vis and has two sons. What has been the highlight of your dairying career? The highlight has been having our kids and grandkids getting involved with our dairy operation. What do you love about dairy farming? Having our kids and our grandkids around. We can play ball with our grandkids whenever we want, go to their games, let them help feed calves or take them for a ride in the tractor cab. It is fun to watch our grandkids grow and develop. We are teaching them how to care for our animals and how to have a good work ethic. It is the little things like this that make dairy farming a real joy. What has been the biggest obstacle you have faced in your dairying career and how did you overcome it? One of the biggest obstacles is trying to gure out where we want to be as far as size goes in today’s world. How do we stay relevant? Do we go with robots or do we install a bigger milking parlor? We have had our share of problems with labor, so I think robots might be the way of the future. It is difcult to nd good, dependable employees. What has been the best decision you have made on your farm? There were no dairy facilities on this farm when we purchased it. We had ordered a gutter cleaner and tie stalls and were all set to build a 90-cow tiestall barn when I read an article about freestall barns with curtain sidewalls. We drove to Lansing, Michigan, and visited with Bill Bickerton about dairy barn design. This caused us to change our minds about how we wanted to build our dairy facilities. We drove home and switched our plans from a tiestall barn to a freestall barn with curtain sidewalls. We have never had any regrets about making that change. Who has been an inspiration to you during your dairying career? My dad is an inspiration because he taught me how to care for animals and how to respect them. Bill Bickerton was very down to earth and gave us a lot of good insights, including that we should keep things as simple as possible. Bill took the time to sit down and share his knowledge with a young guy right out of high school.

Turn to HEART | Page 20

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ConƟnued from HEART | Page 18

HEART

DAIRY

Neil Jaschen

Neal Sjoquist

Dairy farming for

39 Years

Dairy farming for

49 Years

Neil Jaschen milks 400 cows in Bremer County near Tripoli, Iowa.

Neal Sjoquist milks 830 cows in Goodhue County near Goodhue, Minnesota.

How many years have you been farming? Since 1982, 39 years. Tell us about your farm. I grew up in town, and according to my parents, I wanted to milk cows since I was 3 years old. When I was in school, I had a dairy farmer a mile away across the creek, so I worked out there morning and night. I tried college for one semester and just missed the cows. I came back home, bought 12 cows and started milking in my grandpa’s small, empty barn he said I could use. Then I met my wife. She liked milking cows as much as I did. We’ve been gradually growing since then, starting with 30 cows when we got married, growing to 70 cows milking on two separate farms. In 1989, we added on to one of them, and we brought the cows all under one roof. In 1996, we built a freestall barn and grew to 120 cows. In 1999, we added 140 tie stalls to our barn and grew to 200 cows. We added two full-time employees in 2008 after the older boys went to college. In 2016, we built a 220-stall center drive freestall barn. Now we milk 400 cows in a 200-stall tiestall barn and switch cows in and out. Tell us about your family. My wife, Nancy, and I have three sons, all married, and we have three grandchildren. Our oldest son and his wife live north of Des Moines. He is a high school science teacher and head coach for that school’s track and cross-country programs. Our middle son and his wife live nearby, and he runs an independent ag research business. The older boys help when they can. Our youngest son and his wife bought a semi tanker and are hauling milk for us, and they help around the farm. What has been the highlight of your dairying career? There have been a lot of good things. I always thought good times were during milking at night when the kids were young. They’d come home from school and ride their trikes and bikes up and down the alleyway. I have lots of good memories of those days working with the whole family around. Now we are beginning to see that again with the grandchildren. What do you love about dairy farming? I just love the cows and the variety of work. I like to make good feed, hay and corn silage. What has been the biggest obstacle you have faced in your dairying career and how did you overcome it? Tough nancial years are the hardest, but you’re going to have that. You can’t do anything about it. You just manage the cows the best you can, keep your nose to the grindstone and hope it works it out. What has been the best decision you have made on your farm? Building the newer center-aisle freestall barn has been great for the cows and cut down on labor. Who has been an inspiration to you during your dairying career? So many people have just been helpful with words of advice. When I rst started out my uncle, Barney Buhr (a registered Holstein breeder), helped me pick out cows. He also introduced me to my wife. Ronald Strottman, a neighbor who milked Jerseys, has been a mentor. He is always looking out for us. If he’s seen something he can help out with, he has.

How many years have you been dairy farming? 49 years this fall. Tell us about your farm. This is the farm I grew up on. I joined the farm in October 1972 after spending three years as a mechanic. My dad got sick, and my mom needed help with chores. My younger brother returned to the dairy several years later, and he and I had a partnership for 27 years. During that time, we continued to add land and cows. Then I wanted to go somewhere warmer to dairy. In 2001, we moved to Scott City, Kansas. There, we owned a dairy with 14 other partners until 2014 when we sold the Kansas farm and returned to Minnesota. We had sold the farm in Minnesota, but part of the deal was to lease the dairy facility. While we were in Kansas my brother managed the dairy in Minnesota. When we returned, I bought out my brother’s share of livestock and machinery. In 2018, we were able to buy the building site of the farm along with 57 acres so now we are back to owning the family farm. Tell us about your family. My wife, Chris, and I farm together with our son, Lincoln, and his family: wife, Kim, and their children, Luke, 18, Ashlyn, 17, and Chloe, 13. Luke is employed on the farm. We also have one daughter, Serene, and two sons, Grant and Clinton, who are not involved on the dairy. They are all married and have children. We have 12 grandchildren. What has been the highlight of your dairying career? Just being able to survive. Dairy farming has been a good life, and I have a good family. Growing up on a dairy farmer taught me that hard work and responsibility doesn’t kill anybody. What do you love about dairy farming? Like most dairy farmers, I have a love-hate relationship with it. While I love the routine, I can also hate the routine. My dad always said the cows do not care if it is a weekend, holiday or if you are sick. They need to be fed and milked. Some days when you walk outside and see all that encompasses your farm, you say how good is this? But then you can walk in the barn and have a cow that is down and it’s not as fun. What has been the biggest obstacle you have faced in your dairying career and how did you overcome it? Sometimes no matter how hard you try or work, it might not always work out. It is important to accept that fact and overcome those challenges. For example, before we moved to Kansas, we were going to build a dairy in Nebraska. We even bought the land and were ready to go when the neighbors got together and sued us to stop us from building. The papers were served to me on my 50th birthday. No matter how much we wanted to build that dairy, we didn’t have the time or the money to try to ght it. So, we moved on. What has been the best decision you have made on your farm? When I started farming with my mom and dad and started my dairy farming career. Another good decision was buying back the family farm. Who has been an inspiration to you during your dairying career? My wife, Chris. She has always been my cheerleader, and she does not let anything get her down. She was a city girl from Richeld and has a degree in textiles and apparel design. She didn’t know much about farming when we rst got married, but she really took to living out here and raising our children. She started her own business, rst selling fabric and custom clothes before transforming it into custom bridal, bridesmaid and prom dresses, making 200 dresses per year. It helped her be able to work from home. She is a wonderful wife, mother and grandmother.

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DISKS JD 2620, 2016, 26 ft, 3-Section Folding, 9” spacing, #175512 ....................... $34,500 JD 235, 21 ft, 3-Section Folding, 9” spacing, #178330 .......................................$8,900 JD 637, 2011, 45 ft, 5-Section Folding, 9” spacing, #166177.......................... $34,900 JD 637, 2011, 42 ft, 5-Section Folding, 9” spacing, #178105.......................... $35,000 Sunflower 1550-50, 49 ft, 5-Section Folding, #172168 ............................. $38,400 JD 2680H, 2019, 42 ft, 3-Section Folding, #176202....................................... $99,500 Wishek 862-NT, 2009, 33 ft, 3-Section Folding, #163465............................ $21,900 FIELD CULTIVATORS JD 2210, 2005, 54 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #167743 .......................... $30,900 JD 980, 1996, 44 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #169542 ............................ $13,900 JD 2230FH, 2019, 44 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #177180 .................... $97,900 JD 2210LL, 2014, 45.5 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #173708 .................. $39,000 JD 2210, 2012, 32 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #173629 .......................... $35,900 Sunflower 5035, 2016, 24 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #177191......... $28,900 JD 2210, 2011, 60 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #168037 .......................... $49,400 Case IH 200, 2011, 50 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #178082 .................. $43,500 Case IH 200, 2012, 55 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #178072 .................. $47,900 JD 960, 1990, 32 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #174317 ...............................$4,400 Case IH 4300, 45.5 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #176927 ....................... $10,400 JD 2210, 2011, 45.5 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #179192....................... $39,900 JD 2210, 2009, 55.5 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #175257....................... $45,000 JD 2210, 2010, 45.5 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #178291....................... $33,400 JD 960, 1989, 42 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #165959 ...............................$6,900 Case IH 200, 2014, 60 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #176029 .................. $47,500 Elmers 6400, 1991, 41 ft, 3-Section Folding, S-Tine, #178092 .................... $14,900 JD 2210, 2012, 45.5 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #178521....................... $41,900 MOWER CONDITIONERS JD 630, 2014, #177753 .................................................................................... $16,400 JD 635, 2017, #166698..................................................................................... $22,900 JD 956, 2010, #172718 .................................................................................... $24,900 New Holland H7230, 2015, #176984 .......................................................... $22,400 Hesston 1372, 2010, #178648...................................................................... $17,400 JD 635, 2009, #173285..................................................................................... $16,500 New Idea 5212, 1992, #177618 ......................................................................$5,650 JD 946, 2010, #179286 .................................................................................... $18,500 JD 956, 2016, #177925 .................................................................................... $28,900 New Holland H7550, 2014, #167351 .......................................................... $19,900 MULCH FINISHERS JD 724, 1990, 20 ft, 3-Section Folding, #174088 ...............................................$8,500 Sunflower 6331, 32 ft, 3-Section Folding, #174316 .......................................$5,900 Glencoe SF4300, 22 ft, 3-Section Folding, #172068 .......................................$5,600

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PLANTERS JD 1750, 1997, 6R30 in, 1.6 Bushel Hopper, #176829 ................................... $13,900 JD 1750, 2000, 6R30”, 3.0 Bushel Hopper, #176783 ....................................... $16,900 JD 1775NT, 2019, 16R30 in, #174754..........................................................$149,500 JD 7200, 1988, 12R30 in, 1.6 Bushel Hopper, #176943 .....................................$9,500 JD DB44, 2014, 24R22 in,, #179344 ..............................................................$159,000 JD DB66, 2017, 36R22 in, #175194 ...............................................................$349,500 JD DB44, 2013, 24R22 in, #179347 ...............................................................$159,900 Wil-Rich PT2200, 2005, 24R22 in, 3.0 Bushel Hopper, #177551................ $39,900 JD 1770NT CCS, 2005, 16R30 in, #179288 .................................................... $52,400 JD 1710, 24R22 in, 3.0 Bushel Hopper, #168140 ........................................... $19,900 JD 1720 CCS, 2012, 16R30 in, #176499 .......................................................... $65,900 JD 7300, 1992, 12R30 in, 1.6 Bushel Hopper, #175563 .................................. $11,900 ROUND BALERS JD 558, 2009, Mega Wide, Surface Wrap Only, 5 Feet, 11000 Bales, #176828 ..$12,900 NH Rollbelt 450, 2011, Twine Only, 540 PTO, 4’ bale, 1200 Bales, #173712$17,000 JD 468, 2011, Mega Wide, wine & Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 4’ bale, 2972 Bales, #175425........................................................................................... $36,400 JD 459, 2014, Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, 540 pto, 4’ bale, 3600 Bales, #177752 .............................................................................. $29,400 JD 560M, 2019, Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 5’ Bale, 2100 Bales, #179000 .............................................................................. $45,500 JD 469 Silage Special, 2016, Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 4’ Bales, 4900 Bales, #177354 ............................................................ $36,900 NH BR7060, 2011, Mega Wide, Surface Wrap Only, 540 pto, 4’ bales, Precut Knives, 7300 bales, #169262 ................................................................... $23,900 JD 569, 2015, Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 5’ bales, 7222 bales, #179148 ............................................................................. $37,500 NH 664, 1998, Twine Only, 540 PTO, 5’ bales, #171161.....................................$4,950 JD 569, 2012, Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 5’ bales, 3300 bales, #173254............................................................................. $38,400 NH BR7070, 2008, Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, 540 pto, 4’ bales, Precut Knives, 7890 bales, #175751....................................... $19,900 JD 569, 2013, Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 5’ bales, 19368 bales, #177245......................................................................................... $21,500 JD 469 Silage Special, 2013, Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 4’ bales, 7928 Bales, #177623 ........................................................... $28,900 JD 569 Silage Special, 2015, Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, 540 pto, 5’ bales, 3300 bales, #178210 .............................................................. $41,500 NH Rollbelt 460, 2015, Twine/Surface Wrap, 540 pto, 4’ bales, 4 553 bales, #178211 ............................................................................................. $33,500

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Page 22 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021

Boots in the Barn series goes virtual

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Iowa State University Extension’s “Boots in the Barn” series targeted at dairy women completed its three-session run Feb. 5 with three women sharing techniques they use for successful herd management. The session, also sponsored by a Professional Dairy Producers Foundation grant, featured Carrisa Buttjer, assistant herdsman for Schanbacher Acres near Atkins, Iowa, along with Minnie Ward, owner of Fallen Oaks Custom Calves in St. Charles Minnesota, and Aaron Titterington, who works full time on her family’s dairy near Spencer, Iowa. Titterington’s family operation, Jones Dairy, milks 1,100 Jerseys in a double-12 parallel Aaron parlor and is implanting beef emTitterington bryos into 40% to 50% of their Dairy farmer milking herd. She highlighted the farm’s calf management protocols during the virtual presentation. Titterington said the dairy averages three new calves daily, each of which spends its rst hours in a warm room where it is weighed, identied, vaccinated, dehorned, fed and has its naval dipped. A calf’s rst meal at Jones Dairy is a colostrum replacer. Most calves are fed with Genesis®, a 150 gram replacer that comes with a disposable tube feeder to which water is added. “We’re kind of grandfathered in on the colostrum replacer, in that 20 years ago we started having pressure from Johne’s, so we went to the replacer and became addicted to the convenience,” Titterington said. “I understand that colostrum is denitely better, but this, for us, is the simplest way to make sure that it’s done promptly, correctly, and we can limit steps and potential for error.” If a calf is born during milking in the hospital parlor, it may receive its mother’s colostrum instead. Each calf’s second feeding is with its mother’s colostrum. Dixie cups with strong iodine are used for dipping navels at birth and again at the second feeding. Vaccinations for newborns include Inforce 3® intranasally, Ultrabac® C and D subcutaneously. Titterington shared a video that is required viewing for everyone on the farm who dehorns. It recommends refrigerating the paste, clipping hair around horn buds and then roughing the horn bud with the scissors before applying paste. For bottle-fed calves, Jones Dairy mixes pasteurized hospital cow milk half and half with a 25-25 milk replacer. “We try to be a little over the top when it comes to cleaning our calf utensils,” Titterington said. “We run about 100 bottles, so we have a bottle washer.” Bottles go through warm, soapy water with dish Turn to BOOTS | Page 23

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021 • Page 23

ConƟnued from BOOTS | Page 22 soap in it and then through two cycles of acid and detergent. Calves are in individual pens until about three weeks of age, then are in pairs or in a group of about 18 and receive bottles in headlocks. After weaning, they are in groups until 5 to 7 months of age, when they move to a larger barn until two or three months before calving. The second Carissa Buttjer Herdsperson presenter, Buttjer, has been at Schanbacher Acres, owned by J., Barb, Allan and Joyce Schanbacher, for 12 years. One of her responsibilities at the 280-cow dairy is blood sampling for pregnancy checks. Pregnancy can be determined based on the amount of a pregnancy-specic protein in a blood sample drawn from the tail. The Schanbacher cows and heifers wear heat detection collars, with cows receiving them at roughly 20 days in milk. Breeding begins when the monitors show heat after about 70 days in milk. If natural heat is not shown, the cow is added to a timed articial insemination schedule. Blood samples are taken at 35 days after breeding. Positive results are sampled again at 60 days. “If that comes back pregnant, we say she is veried pregnant and then we take the collar off and use it on another cow,” Buttjer said. Open cows are placed on the timed A.I. schedule. Breeding age heifers eat in head-

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Carissa BuƩjer of Schanbacher Acres near Atkins, Iowa, demonstrated blood sampling for pregnancy during a virtual session of Boots in the Barn February 5. locks, allowing breeding and blood samples to be taken more easily on Monday mornings. Collars are also used on the heifers. Heifers are sampled at 45 days. Blood sampling and collar transfers on the milking herd are done on Tuesdays, in combination with timed A.I. and vaccinations, using a management rail after milking. Buttjer said supplies and shipping of blood samples adds up to about $3.22 per sample. She said she takes about 15 blood samples a week. Buttjer said the dairy likes their decision to use blood sampling because it saves time spent with a veterinarian who comes from 1.5 hours away. “We don’t need to sort or move the cows, or reclean the parlor or the management rail, which is what we used to have to do when we would use the vet for preg checking,” Buttjer said. “It only requires one person. And it’s a little more economical for us.”

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The third “Boots in the Barn” presenter, Minnie Ward, works with her husband and daughter, Hanna, and has been raising calves at their farm Fallen Oaks for 14 years. They use hutches, super condos and a transition barn to raise calves that arrive once a week at 2 to 7 days old and remain until 4 months old. Ward said observation is the key to successful Minnie Ward calf raising, using Calf raiser the four senses of eyes, smell, ears and touch. She looks for bright and responsive eyes, a smooth and shiny hair coat, nose color and aggressiveness. “I tend to do my evaluations at feeding time,” Ward said. “That is when the calves are probably the most aggressive and you can actually interact and see if they are going to give you a sign. I always tell producers, ‘They tell us a story every day and it is our job to pick up on what they’re telling us.’” Calves are housed two per hutch upon arrival. Ward gives each an overall health score including total protein, body score and weight. They are vaccinated at arrival and again at weaning, and in cold weather are covered with calf jackets – sometimes two in extreme temperatures. Ward also said she is aggressive with uids when needed, keeping milk for nutrition even when electrolytes are given for scours. One of Ward’s tricks of the trade is giving 5 Hour Energy when a calf

is lethargic or slow to respond. When antibiotic treatment is necessary, she follows up with 5 Hour Energy and a Sci Mic bolus to replenish their system. She said she believes the protocol gives those calves a chance to rebound quicker and get back on full feed. With calves usually pail trained when arriving, Ward works to achieve 13% solids most of the year in the 24/20 milk replacer diet the farm uses. Ward uses a refractometer for measurement. She said the use of a milk taxi for mixing, dosing of different amounts and delivery works well for them. “This has been a saving grace for the consistency factor, because it’s not just me who feeds calves here – it is also my husband and daughter,” she said. “With the Milk Taxi we are able to keep the temperature consistent, the volume we’re feeding consistent, and it is very user friendly.” During weaning, calves are moved to pens of six to eight head and drop to once-a-day feeding and free-choice water and all the starter they can consume. They transition to groups of about 2030 head in the barn. The starter ration is a 20% texturized mix along with sorghum Sudan grass baleage. Most are eating at least 5 pounds of grain a day when weaned. Ward stressed that having the correct people with the same passion as their leader is critical to care of young calves. She is planning to add a cross-ventilated barn with auto feeders for 100 calves on milk this spring to replace hutches. An archived version of the webinar can be viewed at https://youtu.be/iUgYa2HEj5g.

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Page 24 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021

29TH ANNUAL

Carver County

DAIRY EXPO Moved to virtual platform for 2021!

Monday, February 15, 2021 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. REGISTRATION IS FREE

THE 2020 CARVER COUNTY DAIRY EXPO WILL FEATURE THREE SPEAKERS: Dr. Sandra Godden, DVM, UMN College of Veterinary Medicine will discuss improved methods of reducing mastitis with better bedding management and her research work with selective dry cow therapy. Jud Heinrichs, who has thirty years of Dairy Extension experience with Penn State University, will share his work and data on improving heifer raising costs. The event will be wrapped up with a presentation on what current dairy markets and policy looks like from the perspective of Chris A Wolf, Professor, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University.

Schedule 9:30 Welcome 9:40-10:10 Sandra Godden, DVM, Professor, UMN College of Veterinary Medicine Updates on Avenues of Mastitis Prevention: Bedding Management and Selective Dry Cow Therapy

10:20-10:50 Jud Heinrichs, professor, Dairy Nutrition, Penn State

For registration information along with a full schedule of events contact Colleen Carlson at traxl042@umn.edu, 507-521-3640 or visit the event website at https://z.umn.edu/2021DairyExpo

Strategies to Improve Heifer Raising Costs

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021 • Page 25

A champion for the dairy industry Marklein named Dairy Business Association Legislator of the Year

these issues and showed leadership in moving them forward.” Marklein grew up on a dairy farm near Spring Green before becoming a certied public accountant. Those real-life experiences have givBy Danielle Nauman en Marklein the background danielle.n@dairystar.com to understand the unique challenges that face farmers, MADISON, Wis. – Wis- particularly those in the dairy consin Sen. Howard Mar- sector. “I’ve milked a lot of cows klein has made it his mission to support and advocate for in my day, and I’m very comWisconsin dairy farmers in fortable around dairy farmthe Wisconsin Senate. That ers,” Marklein said. “I know dedication led to Marklein it is incredibly hard work, and being named the Dairy Busi- they do a great job. I have a ness Association Legislator very soft spot in my heart for our dairy farmers.” of the Year last month. Since 2014, Marklein has In a press release issued by DBA, Marklein was laud- represented the 17th District ed for championing dairy- which encompasses Grant, related legislation including Lafayette, Juneau and Richfunding for the Dairy Inno- land counties, along with porvation Hub; truth-in-labeling tions of Iowa, Sauk, Green, for milk, other dairy products Monroe and Vernon counties. and meat; as well as provid- He is serving as the Presiing more capital access for dent Pro-Tempore of the Senrural businesses, including ate, and he is currently the co-chair of the legislature’s dairy processors. budget-writing “Sen. Marklein has gone powerful above and beyond to strength- Joint Committee on Finance en and promote Wisconsin’s ; the vice-chair of the Sendairy community,” said DBA ate Committee on Agriculture president Amy Penterman, and Tourism; and is a memwho operates a dairy farm ber of the Joint Audit Comwith her family in Thorp. “He mittee. Prior to being elected recognized the importance of to serve in the State Senate,

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Wisconsin Sen. Howard Marklein (le�) was named the Legislator of the Year by the Wisconsin Dairy Business Associa�on (DBA). Chad Zuleger, Associate Director of Government Aﬀairs at DBA, presented the award Feb. 4 in Madison, Wisconsin.

Marklein represented the 51st Assembly District. “I have probably the most agriculture-dependent district in the state of Wisconsin and that includes a lot of dairy farmers,” Marklein said. “It also includes a lot of cheese and processing plants as well.” Funding for the Dairy In-

novation Hub is one piece of Hub was the No. 1 thing to legislation Marklein has been come out of the Dairy Task proud to have helped lay the Force 2.0,” Marklein said. foundation for and to have “The idea is to invest in dairy guided through the legislative research in Wisconsin, so we process. The bill provided can be on the cutting edge; funding for dairy research at not how to produce more the University of Wisconsin milk, but what are other uses campuses in Madison, Platteville and River Falls. “The Dairy Innovation Turn to MARKLEIN | Page 26

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ConƟnued from MARKLEIN | Page 25

for milk, how can we increase demand? Long-term the research that is taking place through the Dairy Innovation Hub will have a big impact on the dairy industry.” Like the members of DBA who selected him as Legislator of the Year, Marklein puts a great deal of importance in the truth-in-labeling bill he authored, which he said will help protect Wisconsin farmers from misleading food labeling. The bill was not voted on in the last legislative session but will be making its way through the process this year. Marklein urges all farmers to be in contact with their legislators, advocating for the passage of the bill. “I have been one of the strongest advocates for rural broadband in the last ve or six years,” Marklein said, speaking of another issue important to Wisconsin dairy farmers. “I chaired the legislative study committee on rural broadband and have pushed hard for more money for broadband. We have a good rural broadband grants program now and passed a number of bills related to rural broadband.” Marklein is happy to see the work being done to improve the infrastructure in terms of rural internet access but recognizes there is a lot to be done in that area. And, in the upcoming budget, he plans to work to increase broadband funding. “I think COVID-19 has really accentuated the need for broadband in our rural areas,” Marklein said. While Marklein feels agriculture is sitting in a relatively good position legislatively at the state level, he has concerns about some things that are happening at the federal level, including changes in tax laws. Marklein said he has heard from many farmers in the past week who have expressed concern and fear regarding those changes. “I’m a CPA so I understand, maybe more than some legislators, the real-life consequences of

“It is important to have a relationship, a personal relationship if at all possible, with their legislators.” HOWARD MARKLEIN, WISCONSIN SENATOR

changes in our inheritance and estate laws,” Marklein said. “What has been proposed in Washington could be disastrous for farmers. I have no idea how a farmer is going to be able to pass their farm on to the next generation if they have to incur the cost of paying the capital gains tax at the time of the transfer. I was raised on a farm; whatever equity we had was not in cash, it was land and assets. You would be forcing farmers to liquidate, probably a lot, when you look at the tax rates proposed.” Marklein believes the tax increase has roots in the notion that it could generate a great deal of revenue, but that the real-life consequences and impacts have not been considered. Because of the large stake they hold, Marklein encourages all dairy farmers to cultivate a relationship with their elected representatives at all levels of government. He said he considers his constituents to be a tremendous resource for his decisionmaking in Madison. “It is important to have a relationship, a personal relationship if at all possible, with their legislators,” Marklein said. “When you need something done, that is not the time to start making friends. You should have those relationships made and developed before there is a need.” Those relationships can be developed by initiating one-on-one contact with legislators or through groups like DBA. “There are fewer and fewer farmers,” Marklein said. “That means your voice had better get louder and louder. Farmers have to speak up and voices matter. On issues affecting farmers, I listen.”

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Gardening in February During the coldest days in February, I enjoy reading the stack of seed catalogs that have been mailed to me. Most of these seed and nursery companies must have gotten my name, address and email from the company I purchase the pumpkin seeds for our pumpkin patch that we have for the school kids during the month of October. I know I have not ordered seeds from all of these companies, but maybe I did some price checking online. What did the groundhog say Feb. 2? I do not know. But I do know that spring will be here sooner or later, and I am By Tina Hinchley itching to grow something. Farmer & Columnist My grandmother always started seeds indoors, and tomatoes were her rst seeds to grow. She always grew Early Girl and Better Boys varieties. But as I ip through the pages of the catalogs, there are so many varieties of tomatoes with different colors, avors and uses. The hybrid tomatoes and the heirlooms are listed side by side. Reading about the difference is a helpful tool when trying to decide what to grow. It mentioned that for a tomato to classify as an heirloom, the variety must be grown from seed (open pollinated), passed down from generation to generation and at least 50 years old. Die-hard heirloom fans claim that nothing can compare to their superior avor, but thanks to modern breeding efforts, many hybrids are closing

New resources help youth work more safely in agriculture

During the past decade, more youth have died working in agriculture than all other industries combined. Three new safety resource booklets – covering farm equipment operation, working with animals and gardening – feature guidelines that can help adults assign age- and ability-appropriate tasks to young people. “If we can get farm parents and supervisors to use the guidelines to assign work, it will ultimately result in less injuries and fatalities for our working youth,” said Marsha Salzwedel, Ed.D., project scientist with the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, part of the National Farm Medicine Center, Marsheld Clinic Research Institute, Marsheld, Wis. The guidelines are pulled from the Agricultural Youth Work Guidelines, developed by the National Children’s Center and covering more than 50 commonly performed tasks. Each guideline contains details about common hazards, important protective strategies and the roles adults play in ensuring a safe work environment. “The guidelines included in each booklet pertain to a specic topic,” Salzwedel said. “For example, in ‘Safety Guidelines for Youth Operating Farm Equipment,’ we pulled in guidelines relevant to that topic, like ‘Operating a Tractor.’” The booklets not only explain how to use the guidelines, they also provide important supplemental information on supervision, child development, communication and regulations. All three booklets are in the process of being translated into Spanish and French. To request a print copy of any of the booklets, please email nccrahs@marsheldresearch.org with your name and shipping information. The booklets can be accessed at www.cultivatesafety.org/workguideline-booklets/.

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021 • Page 27

the taste gap. According to the catalog, choosing an heirloom over a hybrid is often based solely on nostalgia for a specic variety. There is no denying I want to grow tomatoes with disease resistance, and that is what hybrids have over heirlooms. Both Early Girl and Better Boys are hybrids, but I do love to make salsa from Roma. They are an heirloom variety that produces high yields of pear-shaped, red fruit with rm texture. They are my favorite to cook with. I must be a little nostalgic too. As I examine the tomato information, there is wording about disease resistance but nothing about germination. So that might be the reason why Grandmother always put three seeds in a pot and then thinned to one seedling later. I wish she was around so I could ask her more about her tips and tricks. She started most of her vegetables and annuals early indoors. She was an amazing horticulturist and knew

how to grow anything. When I was looking up to see if some programs are still going on, the 2021 Green Thumb Gardening Winter series is happening online. The seed starting class was Jan 25., and the other programs are going on until March 1. Thanks to volunteers and Master Gardeners who have put in many hours. I will start my tomatoes in my south window and look forward to the sun helping them grow. It will be all that I can do to get a start on spring. If I have some time on a Monday evening, I might even register for a Green Thumb Gardening program. I might need to get more information on insect management for my tomatoes. Tina Hinchley, and her husband, Duane, daughter Anna, milk 240 registered Holsteins with robots. They also farm 2300 acres of crops near Cambridge, Wisconsin. The Hinchley’s have been hosting farm tour for over 25 years.

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Page 28 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021 Dana Adams adam1744@umn.edu 320-204-2968 Joe Armstrong armst225@umn.edu 612.624.3610 Luciano Caixeta lcaixeta@umn.edu 612-625-3130

www.extension.umn.edu/dairy

Generational tensions can divide us, shared experiences connect us

Gerard Cramer gcramer@umn.edu 612-625-8184 Marcia Endres miendres@umn.edu 612-624-5391 Sandra Godden godde002@umn.edu 612-625-8177

By Samantha Lahman

University of Minnesota Extension Educator

When bringing together multiple generations within a farm operation, even the smallest tasks can create tension and frustration. It is during these times that I have found searching out even the smallest commonality can make a difference. With the changing of each successive generation, an operation will adjust their practices, operating systems and employee structure, but there are traditions that span the ages. My favorite of these? The radio. In almost every barn, along the wall, just above shoulder height, hangs a common radio. In our barn, like others, the station has not been changed in years. The last time it was, I assume, was during a rebellious streak in my millennial youth when I was desperate to hear anything other than The Rolling Stones, Aretha, or broadcasts of Twin’s baseball. The change to early 2000s hip hop didn’t last more than an hour before it was turned back, and although I itched to change the station daily, I found reprieve when The Doors would nd their way to the charts and I could belt “My Generation” along to the radio. Can anyone name another song that throughout the years has connected with every teen in America as they came of age? Misunderstood, wanting to make a difference and trepidation for the future are all concepts that have plagued each generation before and continues as we welcome Generation Z to the farm. You may not have yet met Generation Z. Let me take a minute to introduce you. Those classied as Gen Z were born between 1997 and 2012. While generations are approximately 20 years apart, this isn’t always the case. Instead, generations are grouped by values, which are shaped by family, friends and community in the rst 10 years, and inuences, which are signicant events that occurred primarily during the ages of 15 to 25. These inuences can be cultural, social, political and even personal. These inuences play a major role in how we see the world and how we respond to situations. And while everyone is unique in their values and personality, there are some broad characterizations we can safely make that can help prevent, confront and x intergenerational tension on the farm. Gen Z is quickly making their entrance in the workforce as teens and young adults. They may come in the form of your own children, grandchildren or hired help. This new generation is racially and ethnically diverse, well-educated, competitive, independent and has earned themselves the nickname of the Do-It-Yourself generation. If you are looking to hire a member of Generation Z, a few things may aid in the process. This generation’s inuences are already showing their impact in the wants and needs of those entering the workforce. Gen Z has been inuenced by watching their Generation X/Millennial parents struggle with mortgages and student debt, so this coming generation has shown to be more scally responsible and are showing greater interest in things like job security, salary and benets than

Joleen Hadrich jhadrich@umn.edu 612-626-5620 Les Hansen hanse009@umn.edu 612-624-2277 Brad Heins hein0106@umn.edu 320-589-1711 Nathan Hulinsky huli0013@umn.edu 320-203-6104 Kevin Janni kjanni@umn.edu 612-625-3108 Karen Johnson ande9495@umn.edu 320-484-4334 Emily Krekelberg krek0033@umn.edu 507-280-2863 Claire LaCanne lacanne@umn.edu 507-332-6109 Brenda Miller nels4220@umn.edu 320-732-4435 Erin Royster royster@umn.edu Jim Salfer salfe001@umn.edu 320-203-6093 Mike Schutz mschutz@umn.edu 612-624-1205

older generations at the same age. These values do not necessarily mean that in order to get a Gen Z employee in the door you need to pay more, but perhaps pay differently. What does that mean? Well, this generation of young people are passionate about a few things and one of those is avoiding debt. In surveys, 70% have indicated salary would be a top motivator, and 35% of these young people plan to begin saving for retirement in their 20s. Offering incentives like making savings deposits, helping them open ROTH IRAs, being exible around class schedules, etc., could give you a major advantage on getting them in the door. Once on the job, keeping them can be just as tricky. Gen Z has been heavily impacted by continual social justice movements that include, but are not limited to, school/mass shootings, the #MeToo movement, Blue Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter, etc. These signicant social movements have Gen Z looking not just for a job, but for a work culture that will best t them. This means they value being not just an employee, but a member of the team. Providing them a seat at the table to listen as you discuss ideas or plan tasks allows them to learn and see how decisions are made and shows them that you value them and are making an investment in keeping them on your farm. Remember, this generation is motivated, self-reliant and able to teach themselves new things at a rapid pace, so do not be surprised if you give them a task and they go beyond the original ask by downloading the user manual for the automatic feeder to their phone and gure out how to activate a few options you did not even know existed. One of the highest priorities for younger generations is to connect the work they are doing to something greater. This is where positions in agriculture stand head and shoulders above the rest. Taking the time to talk with potential Gen Z employees about how important agriculture is to your family, your community, the country and the world is a must when selling yourself to a member of this generation. Conveying to them that they will have a role in this system can lead to deep connections to agriculture and ah-ha moments as they grab for a carton of milk in the lunch line. Make sure potential employees know the work they will do is crucial to your operation. Clearing bedding is no one’s favorite task, but when you explain to a young person how fresh bedding leads to higher cow comfort and greater longevity of the herd, a motivation to do the job well can spark. While generational tensions, like communication styles, work habits and expectations can divide us, traditions bring us together. And in agriculture, traditions are in no short supply. While it may take more time training and setting expectations for a Gen Z employee, the rewards of having them on the farm will be worth it. So from the unwritten rule of who gets which side in the parlor, who gets to sit in the good ofce chair or which radio station gets played, welcome Gen Z on the farm and embrace the tradition together.

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021 • Page 29

As a hobby, I enjoy history and genealogy, and I recently encountered a collection of stories told by pioneers of the expansion of European-American settlers into Minnesota Territory in the middle of the 19th century. Many of these stories related how herds of cattle were moved by boat from Illinois and eastern states to ports along the Mississippi River and then herded west to their new land claims. I was curious how many cows were around back then. Besides, this also gave me an opportunity to update some data I obtained several years ago to explore cow and heifer inventories for a cow culling conference. The Figures 1 and 2 are from the National Agricultural Statistics Service and include numbers of milk cows since 1867 and 500-pound dairy replacement heifers since 1920 for the By Mike Schutz United States (Figure 1) and Minnesota (Figure 2). University of MN These graphs tell an incredible story, especially of increasing efciency. For Minnesota, cow numbers peaked in 1934 at 1.89 million dairy cows. In 2019, the milk cow inventory was at 455,000 cows, but those 75% fewer cows produced 33% more total milk. The trends are interesting and follow historical events. In Minnesota and the U.S., cow numbers continued to expand almost linearly until about 1934 when the combined effects of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl forced a thinning of the dairy herd. That thinning was more pronounced in Minnesota than nationally, and Minnesota never again returned to 1934 levels, while the U.S. resumed expansion until just after WWII. Following the late 1940s, cow numbers fell in response to the mechanization of the dairy industry, which included rural electrication, machine milking, bulk milk cooling, forage and feeding technologies, and articial insemination that contributed to increases in milk per cow. Cow numbers fell off more quickly in the U.S. than in Minnesota from 1950 through 1970 thanks to the strength of the dairy infrastructure and deeply rooted traditions in dairy farming in Minnesota. Meanwhile in the U.S., the dairy industry began its shift to the western states with larger farm units, newer facilities and mechanization that achieved greater milk per cow, therefore requiring fewer cows. Since 1920, USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service has kept the estimated number of 500-pound or bigger heifers for milk cow replacement. Simply glancing at the yellow heifer lines in the two gures, it is readily apparent that the number of these heifers has been fairly consistent over time, running just below 5 million head in the U.S. and around 300 thousand head in Minnesota. Compared to the number of milk cows, it is quite easy to see that each cow has an increased opportunity to be replaced by a heifer in recent years. There are two well-recognized reasons. First, as an industry, death loss of heifer calves has been reduced radically over time. Second, length of productive life of cows has been reduced. Physiological and reproductive stress of dramatically greater milk production, improved genetics of replacement heifers since the beginning of organized genetic evaluation around 1960, and a greater inventory of heifers to support earlier replacement have likely all contributed to the more rapid herd replacement rates. When comparing Minnesota (Figure 2) to U.S. (Figure 1), it is quite apparent that the percentage of 500-pound replacement heifers relative to the cow herd is greater for Minnesota than the entire U.S., especially over the past 30 years. In other words, Minnesota dairy farmers hang on to more heifers for replacements. For the U.S., the percentage of 500-pound heifers relative to milk cows through the 2010s was 50%, but it was 62% for Minnesota. The reasons for more replacements in Minnesota are not readily apparent. If more heifers were raised in Minnesota than contract grown in other states, that could explain differences when compared to other individual states, but not to the whole U.S. However, if more heifers are raised under contract in Minnesota from other states than raised in other states from Minnesota, this could at least partly explain the differences. Perhaps Minnesota dairy producers simply prefer to give as many heifers as possible the opportunity to enter the dairy herd as a replacement. Of course, the annual cow and heifer numbers are survey estimates by USDA NASS and not actual counts. Nevertheless, it is an interesting observation, and I would be happy to hear your thoughts on why we might have a greater inventory of heifers in Minnesota.

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The melter

Page 30 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021

Winter has arrived, and it looks like she brought her suitcase and a few changes of clothes, because she’s going to be here a while. We got a wonderful snowfall last Thursday, with akes that fell so thick and heavy it muted all the noises of the world. The kids had a true snow day. It was a spectacular day to play out in the snow all morning. This white loveliness has been followed by some seriously cold temperatures. The only thing that makes negative degree days more tolerable is that the wind has been quiet for most of them and the sun has come out. One can pretend it is warmer with the sun at least. Dad and Ira worked on the torpedo heater for the manure channel Saturday afternoon, and tractors are plugged in all over. The loading of manure is a team sport in the mornings, due to the ice chunks. It reminded me of this parody I penned a couple cold

winters ago, and I thought it might be worth a rerun. I sing “The Melter” to the tune of Kenny Rogers’s hit song, “The Gambler.”

I can see you’re out of salt mix For a taste of the dumplings I’ll give you some advice”

On a cold winter’s day In a truck bound for somewhere I met up with the melter We were both too cold to walk So we took turns a-drivin’ ‘Cross the farm up to the freestall The problems overtook him, And he began to speak

So I handed him a hot bowl And he gulped down the last swallow Then he grabbed a piece of cake Ramblings from the Ridge And asked me for a knife And he headed for the front porch And his face broke in a smile He said, “If you’re gonna thaw the water, You gotta wait to do it right

He said, “Sis, I’ve made a life Out of keepin’ things a-runnin’ Knowin’ how to melt things By the pieces that freeze up So if you don’t mind me sayin’

“You’ve got to know when to bust ice By Jacqui Davison Know when to heat ice Columnist Know when to shut it off And know when to quit You’ve got to nd your peace When it seems you’re out of patience They’ll be time enough for xin’ When the winter’s done “Every melter knows That the secret to reheatin’ Is knowin’ what to insulate And knowin’ what to salt ‘Cause every job’s a cold one And every one important And the best that you can hope for is it thaws on its own.”

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And when he nished speakin’ He turned back toward the porch door Cut the insulation And headed to the barn And somewhere in the vortex The melter he kept workin’ And with his parting words I found the hope that I could keep You’ve got to know when to bust ice Know when to heat ice Know when to shut it off And know when to quit You’ve got to nd your peace When it seems you’re out of patience They’ll be time enough for xin’ When the winter’s done Jacqui and her family milk 800 cows and run 1,200 acres of crops in the northeastern corner of Vernon County, Wis. Her children, Ira (14), Dane (12), Henry (7) and Cora (4), help her on the farm while her husband, Keith, works on a grain farm. If she’s not in the barn, she’s probably in the kitchen, trailing after little ones, or sharing her passion of reading with someone. Her life is best described as organized chaos – and if it wasn’t, she’d be bored.

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Failure

“Doc, I consider this to be a failure,” was one of the rst things Tom said when I arrived at the dairy to do a laparotomy to correct an LDA. Tom is a sharp Veterinary Wisdom dairyman, and I like listening to what he has to say because I always learn something. He was correct. This was a failure, and it was a failure by both his management and my veterinary clinic’s consulting efforts. It was a failure because cows do not get displaced By Jim Bennett abomasum out there Columnist in nature on their own. They need some sort of help. Help might be too little bunk space in the pre-fresh pen, or it might be cows that are too fat, or it might be too crowded of a fresh pen, or lots of other things. Of course, we do not know what a normal rate of displaced abomasum might be for cows running around in the woods and not giving much milk like wild animals, but I bet it would be really low. Displaced abomasum is a production-related disease, meaning that increased production increases the risk of DA. However, high producing herds, with high levels of management, often have lower rates of DA than lower producing herds because of their management. This is one of the many paradoxes in animal health in production agriculture. Tom’s herd had an annual rate of 4%, which is calculated by dividing the number of DAs by the total number of calvings. In our practice area, this is too high and easily puts his herd in the top 25th percentile of DA rate. We expect an average of about 2%. So, Tom is right. Though, it is probably unrealistic to consider every DA as a failure, at least

Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021 • Page 31

in practical terms. Realistically, he has at least 2% example, even though another farm consistently too many. For a 1,000-cow dairy that calves about achieves 1%, because such a signicant reduction 1,000 animals per year, 2% excess would be about might be too much to expect in a short amount of 20 excess DAs per year. Some high producing herds time. can achieve 1% regularly, so by those standards, a Numbers matter. Dairy producers get paid in 1,000-cow dairy with a 4% rate has about 30 DAs numbers. We have to know the numbers before too many annually. we can try to solve problems and to do better. Why should a dairyman care? If we assume an Veterinarians can help dairy producers manage average DA costs $700 in treatment costs, lost milk those numbers by helping them determine what and increased culling, the data to collect, how to annual excess cost for a collect the data, and how Dairy i producers d get paid id iin 1,000-cow farm is $14,000 D to analyze and monitor to $21,000. This is real numbers. We have to know the data. Most dairy money for sure but is not veterinarians today do signicant on a 1,000- the numbers before we can some of the data analysis cow dairy. However, the try to solve problems and to for dairies themselves and incidence of displaced do better. are willing to help. Failure abomasum is one of those is normal in any business. tip of the iceberg kind of However, instead of things. Many, if not most, DA cows suffer from accepting failure, we can and should manage it to other metabolic diseases, such as retained placenta, our advantage. metritis, ketosis, fatty liver disease and others, but Bennett is one of four dairy veterinarians at there are usually many more cows that have one Northern Valley Dairy Production Medicine Center or more of these diseases that never seem to get a in Plainview, Minn. He also consults on dairy displaced abomasum. So the rate of DA on a dairy farms in other states. He and his wife, Pam, have probably vastly underestimates the true incidence four children. Jim can be reached at bennettnvac@ of metabolic disease, and thus the real cost to the gmail.com with comments or questions. dairy is much higher. Tom knows this, and that is why he cares. DAs are often the easiest metabolic disease to dene and to measure. The second point is that we only know this because Tom managed to record these events, and because we know what is normal and what is desired. Normal is determined by looking at a lot Your Mixer, Spreader, Hay Processor Headquarters of data from other farms, but this kind of data is We carry: hard to nd. Desired would be a different name for a goal, and we determine them by looking at lots of data from other farms too. However, we also have www.rotomix.com LLC to look at the history of Tom’s farm because his historic rate will help determine what is possible Dana Berreau to achieve in a reasonable amount of time. Perhaps 507-879-3593 / 800-821-7092 his goal should be 2% displaced abomasum, for Box 116, Lake Wilson, MN 56151

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Cold weather, warm vacations Page 32 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021

‘Tis the time of the year when it’s best to be anywhere but Minnesota, at least for a few days. The weather in January, February and sometimes into March is well known for its ability to freeze up the best of cattle waterers and make hydraulics inoperable. It’s the best time to visit somewhere closer to the equator or at least closer to the Mexican border than the Canadian one. I remember when growing up that it wasn’t all that common for dairy farmers to go on vacation. Come to think of it, I don’t remember very many people at all going on a sunny winter getaway. The days of bragging about never missing a milking since 1960 seem to be gone. Don’t get me wrong. If every day is a vacation for you because you are doing what you love and see no reason to step away for a bit, then you do you. Bring your umbrella drink to the barn for evening milking in your oral print shirt and sunglasses. If you bed the cows with sand, not only are they com-

fortable, but the beach is always near. One of the many benets of two families running a farm together, like ours, is that if a couple of people disappear to a warmer location for a few days or weeks there is plenty of people around who know how to get that nicky tractor started that does not like cold or what to do when, for no particular reason, the milk transfer pump forgets when it is supposed to pump. Working with family members comes with its own set of challenges, but it sure is nice my parents and our family can get away for a bit to check out other states. This is a luxury none of us used to have. My grandparents passed away shortly after my parents started farming. We cannot all leave at the same time without help from current and past employees to keep the works spinning while we are all gone, but that is life. Mom and Dad took off a few weeks ago to hike around the national and state parks by Sedona, Ari-

“You can see all the cows laying down comfortably.” - Nathan Kling & family, Taylor, Wisconsin

zona. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on whether you enjoy unusual weather phenomena, they brought a bit of Minnesota with them to the desert in the form of feet of snow. When I woke up for morning milking the day after they left, the story that popped up on my phone from From the Zweber Farm Apple news was a picture of palm trees in Las Vegas covered in snow. They had fun anyway trekking among beautiful rock formations despite the snow and took many pictures of the striking landscape. If you are a fan of hiking the scenic public lands in this country, Sedona By Tim Zweber is a great place to visit. Famer Columnist Emily and I will be headed further south to Puerto Rico when we head out on what was supposed to be a Christmas surprise. I say supposed to be because Google ruined the surprise. No, the Alexa we have in the living room did not listen in on a conversation and then suggest swimsuits Emily might be interested in. It was far blunter about ruining the surprise by reading an email and automatically adding our ight info to our shared calendar then alerting her to the event on both her phone and the iPad as she was teaching our kids in the next room. I even promptly erased the email after saving the conrmation number. Darn you helpful technology. She loved the gift all the same, surprise or not. Hopefully we can sneak off without Minnesota’s weather noticing we left. Until next time friends, keep on living the dream. And seriously, take a vacation if you can. I promise the cows will only miss you a little bit. Tim Zweber farms with his wife, Emily, their three children and his parents, Jon and Lisa, near Elko, Minnesota.

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The Dairy Business Innovation Alliance (DBIA), a partnership between the Center for Dairy Research (CDR) and Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (WCMA), will be distributing $1 million this spring in its next grant cycle. Dairy enterprises (farmers, entrepreneurs, processors, etc.) in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin are eligible to apply. Eligible projects include dairy farm diversication, the creation of “value added” dairy products and starting/increasing exports of dairy products. Grants of up to $50,000 will be awarded through a competitive process. Grant applications will be available for download on the DBIA website starting March 1, 2021 and are due April 30, 2021. The grant application will be posted on this page: https://www.cdr.wisc.edu/grantprogram. DBIA staff expect to get a signicant number of applications and encourages potential applicants to view the “Let’s Get Started” webinar series (https:// www.cdr.wisc.edu/dbia-webinars) prior to applying for a grant. The webinars share state and federal resources that can be helpful for dairy and farm businesses who wish to apply for a DBIA grant. For example, if an applicant needs help developing a business plan or a project budget, DBIA staff encourages them to contact their local Small Business Development Centers (business plans are required for the DBIA grant applications).

Cleaning the junk drawer

Junk drawers. Not an eyesore because you can close them, but that jumbled mess is annoying because you can’t gure out where the thing is that you need to nd in there. Right? Because house organizing projects are once again on the list due to the recent cold weather and visits from our family member who Come Full Dairy Circle enjoys helping with those types of projects, the junk drawer was due for sorting, purging and only holding the items deemed worthy of arranging in a more suitable way. The entire task took a few hours because there were items that needed new homes, that needed xing having been placed there a few decades ago. (Should it be xed or tossed? What or whose is it anyway?) There were also many batteries that needed testing to determine their fate, paper clips, spare change, nail clippers which seem to have multiplied, and so much By Jean Annexstad more. Wow, it was so nice to see the contents of that drawer Columnist afterward. I had to open it several times just to look. When I was thinking about what to write about this month, my working title was “Cleaning the junk drawer of my brain.” That’s because like the drawer in my house, I have been feeling my thoughts scattered, cluttered and in need of sorting, purging and reorganizing. Maybe it is because the daily tasks outside mostly revolve around keeping our herd fed, bedded and milked in this cold weather and the manure hauled, of course. My part in most of those tasks revolves around the calves, and thankfully, there are not as many to care for presently because we don’t calve our heifers in for a few months in the coldest part of winter. That leaves more time to think and reect. We have turned the corner on the weeks remaining in the winter, although we are in the critically frigid cold part where waterers freeze, our cows don’t want to leave their freestall barn to walk on the outside walkway to our milking parlor in the renovated tiestall barn, and there are other things that can and do break down. Our milking parlor, manure system, calf barn and other facilities are showing their age. We made a lot of changes in the late 90’s. Although they have served us well, we are now faced with whether to put resources and dollars into xing and replacing the worn-out parts or buildings and systems, build new ones, or neither. It will depend on how much longer we want to or can keep doing the work, or if the next generation who would like to dairy farm here. Making big changes would require debt load and a solid plan for success. Those are some big questions to ponder, and they will take a lot of brain work to sort through. This is a good time to gather up some resources and create ideas for what is next. My approach, which I suppose is from my journalist perspective, is to gather information to consider. I have been trying to update my brain by watching Zoom presentations or listening to podcasts. There are so many. They offer so many ideas, statistics, techniques and details. I have listened to quite a few and maybe that is why my brain feels scrambled. Back in the days when educational meetings or speakers at events were attended in person, we didn’t take as many opportunities to go, listen and learn. It can be taxing for us to leave the dairy farm work even for a few hours, no matter how informative and useful the event might potentially be. Now, if you take time to get on the Zoom call at lunch or watch a recording later, the information is at the tap of a keyboard. All that is needed is your undivided attention. Granted, that can be hard to come by with so many other tasks to achieve in a day. With all the information at hand, the next step is to gure out what our next steps for this operation could or should be. There are no denitive answers, only varied options, limited funds and uncertainty. Maybe the next steps include contemplating future goals and how to reach them. The wheel spinning of not having an overall plan leads to that scrambled brain feeling. It is not easy to carve out the time to reect on how to progress, make the tasks more doable or what the end-game should be. The brain work involved is difcult. Yet, we need to get started. The good news is that tools, resources and people who can help us with advice are available in this industry. That can give all of us hope and help us to remain positive and moving in the direction of the next steps. We only need to nd the time to think, ask for the help and make the next priority list. I am hopeful that some of the junk drawer cleaning of our brains can be accomplished before the winter ends and the next, more focused, busy season arrives. Jean dairy farms with her husband, Rolf, and brother-in-law, Mike, and children Emily, Matthias and Leif. They farm near St. Peter, Minnesota, in Norseland, where she is still trying to t in with the Norwegians and Swedes. They milk 200 cows and farm 650 acres. She can be reached at jeanannexstad@ gmail.com.

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Page 34 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021

Sew much imagination

Uekert turns hobby into successful business

too much,” Uekert said. “I really got started with it after my daughter was born. I was using cloth diapers and thought I could be making them myself.” Uekert got her rst sewing and embroidery machine shortly before the birth of her son, and the hobby grew into the beginning of what has now become BusyKids Workshop, a business run by Uekert and her mother, which features Busy Books and Fold-N-Go Barns, along with a growing line of kids’ clothing. The idea to create the business started about ve years ago. Uekert was working to develop a direct-sales business and was interested in attending an event to showcase

By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com

ATHENS, Wis. – What started out as a simple hobby slowly grew into a way for Ashlee Uekert to express her creativity and imagination, using fabric and a sewing machine. Uekert and her husband, Scott, along with their children Morgan, 7, and Lucas, 6, milk 48 cows on their dairy farm near Athens. “I did a little bit of sewing when I was a kid, but nothing

DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

Ashlee Uekert milks 48 cows with her husband ScoƩ on their dairy farm in Athens, Wisconsin. She started Busy Kids Workshop ve years ago aŌer seeing how well-received some of her mother’s home-sewn items were at a local craŌ show.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Ashlee Uekert displays and sells her Busy Books and Fold-Up Farms during a craŌ show. She aƩends nearly 20 craŌ shows each year.

that product. In order to procure a booth, she needed to offer handmade items as well. She asked her mother to bring some handmade bibs and baby blankets. Her mother also brought along a at barn and farm animal playset. The pair was astounded at the reception the homemade items received. “I really think people

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appreciate the handmade items, especially now more so then they might have even 10 years ago,” Uekert said. “There is a trend toward the growing appreciation of artisan things in many areas.” Five years ago this spring, Uekert made the rst Busy Books and since that time has sold at least a couple of

Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021 • Page 35

ConƟnued from UEKERT | Page 34 of the Busy Book. The basic book comes with a cover and six pages, and can be customized by the purchaser. The books are put together with binder rings, which also allow additional pages to be added over time. In addition to the standard pages Uekert began with, she continues to design and develop new pages each year, keeping the options for her customers fresh and appealing. Uekert has designed and creates about 20 learning and sensory pages that range from shoe-lace tying to matching colors to counting coins to weaving and many more. “Because of the way I sell them, so they are all custom and unique, I make the pages in an assembly-line fashion,” Uekert said. “I’ll make 20 or so of one certain page at a time, creating an inventory of that, before moving on to making the next type.” Uekert has been adding a line of clothing to the BusyKids Workshop, which features both regular sized clothing and what she calls Grow With Me clothes. The Grow With Me clothing features cuffs that can be folded and unfolded to a desired length, allowing the garment to t a growing child longer than an average one might. “I have been making outts for my kids for a while, and I gured since I was already making those, I would begin offering them as well,” Uekert said. “I like using different color and

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Lucas Uekert spends Ɵme playing with one of the Busy Books his mother, Ashlee Uekert, makes and sells through the Busy Kids Workshop. The Uekerts milk 48 cows near Athens, Wisconsin.

that I am able to increase my inventory of fabric, giving me more options in creating designs,” Uekert said. A downfall of Etsy is the transaction and marketing fees which cut into the prot margin, Uekert said. This has prompted her to develop her own website, which she completed around Jan. 1. “I am hoping to be able to direct more of the sales to the website to get away from fees charged by Etsy,” Uekert said. The marketing aspect has been one of the things ASHLEE UEKERT, DAIRY FARMER Uekert has found the most challenging. pattern combinations to make each “Creating a brand and getting it piece unique. There might be some that are similar, but no two are precisely the out in front of people and building an online presence is challenging,” Uekert same.” Uekert estimates that approximately said. Honing her sewing abilities and 75% of BusyKids Workshop sales come from in-person sales that take place at developing the BusyKids Workshop the 18 to 20 craft shows she attends have brought an added level of each year. She has used an Etsy website enjoyment to Uekert’s life. “It has lled the down time,” she to gain nationwide exposure, with New York being one of the top states she said. “Sometimes being on the farm can be kind of isolated and secluded. This is ships to. “Selling books, barns and clothes a unique hobby, and with the business, has allowed me to create enough prot it has been a hobby that more than pays for itself.”

“Selling books, barns and clothes has allowed me to create enough prot that I am able to increase my inventory of fabric, giving me more options in creating designs.”

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Page 36 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021

Women In Dairy Amy Ruegsegger Darlington, Wisconsin Lafayette County 100 cows Family: Alan Errthum, daughter Kylee Badtke, son Brett Couthard and his girlfriend Alicia Baker. Tell us about your farm. I own 62.5 acres and rent 170 acres of crop ground from my parents. I grew up on this farm and bought the buildings and pastures from my parents 10 years ago. I had to do a lot of upgrading and building as most of the older buildings were obsolete. What is the busiest time of day for you? The mornings with milking and getting my daughter to school and then nishing chores. When you get a spare moment, what do you do? What is that? Seriously, though, before COVID-19, we enjoyed going to tractor pulls, county fairs, wineries; all the little hometown things. World Dairy Expo is always a favorite week too. I missed that last year. Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. It is more funny than memorable, but before I bought this place, I was renting another farm. I had gone up into the silo and changed two doors at once, and then I couldn’t get back out. I only did that once and learned my lesson. What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the dairy industry? The ties to the industry that you make: family ties, the history of the industry, working with the animals and being outside. How do you stay connected with others in the industry? A lot of online groups, which are really neat because you can talk to people around the country and the world. Before COVID-19, it used to be going to co-op meetings,

county fairs and meeting up with local people. Who is someone in the industry who has inspired you? I’ve never met her but had followed her story via Facebook, but I would say a young girl from Pennsylvania named Reese Burdette. She was badly burned in a house re. After we had our house re about 4.5 years ago when our house was stuck by lighting, I was so grateful and blessed everyone got out of the house OK and no one was harmed. If you could give a tour of your farm to a prominent woman in today’s society, who would it be? I would like to share it with someone who could use their inuence to help make our industry better. Someone who could be a positive inuence. Someone who could understand that besides being a way of life, it is a business. Perhaps someone like Ivanka Trump, with her business background and she was involved in the Farmers to Families food box program. What is the best vacation you have ever taken? The FFA Leadership Conference trip to Washington, D.C., my senior year of high school would be one. Also a reciprocal exchange I participated in to England. I stayed with a family there for three weeks, and then their son came back and stayed with my family for three weeks. Both were good learning experiences.

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What are some words you like to live by? Work hard and surround yourself with good people: a good banker, nutritionist, veterinarian, crop consultants, etc. You rely on them to give you the best advice and to help steer you in the right direction.

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Essential in the pandemic

Hughes family represents dairy industry in Super Bowl video By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com

PITTSVILLE, Wis. – “For showing up when we need you most, thank you.” Those are the words that close out a poignant video titled “Essential,” which aired during the CBS broadcast of Super Bowl LV Feb. 7. The video featured a collection of interviews and images of essential workers in elds that have

helped keep the nation moving throughout the coronavirus pandemic. The dairy industry held a spot at the table, as Alan and Stephanie Hughes and their family opened the doors of their 55-cow dairy farm in Pittsville to share their story with the creators of the video, CBS Sports. The Hughes family was approached about appearing in the video by Alan’s cousin, Gareth Hughes, a creative director with CBS Sports and seven-time Emmy winner for his productions. “Alan’s family and Gareth’s family were involved in agriculture, so the roots are still there with Gareth, even Turn to HUGHES | Page 38

Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021 • Page 37

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IMAGE COURTESY OF CBS SPORTS

The Hughes family – (front, from leŌ) Stephanie holding Derek; (back, from leŌ) Gavin, Bryce and Alan – milks 55 cows on their dairy farm near PiƩsville, Wisconsin. They were featured in a Super Bowl LV commercial Feb. 7.

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ConƟnued from HUGHES | Page 37

IMAGE COURTESY OF CBS SPORTS

Bryce Hughes, 11, carries milkers from the milk house during the “EssenƟal” video which aired during Super Bowl LV Feb. 7.

though he now lives in Brooklyn, New York,” Stephanie said. “Gareth and his family had visited us on the farm a couple of years ago. He suggested us to his production crew, and that is how we were picked.” The video clips were gathered from 12 locations around the country, and featured occupations such as farmers, bus drivers, nurses, doctors, hospital room cleaners, food bank distributors, nursing home caretakers, paramedics, mail carriers and delivery services, teachers, lab technicians and grocery store managers. Much of the work to plan the video was done remotely, and Gareth worked with producer Laura Dunham and editor Josh Glaser. Sean Brennan served as the director of photography and came to the farm to take the video the week between Christmas and the new year. “They wanted to just get our daily grind,” Stephanie said. “We didn’t do any staging or anything different. They just lmed as we went about our normal routine.” The Hugheses took the opportunity to not only put a positive face on the dairy industry for the brief moments they were featured in the video, but to create

IMAGE COURTESY OF CBS SPORTS

Stephanie and Alan Hughes sit in the ally in their Ɵestall barn during the “EssenƟal” video. They were contacted by Alan’s cousin to parƟcipate in a Super Bowl LV adverƟsement and welcomed a team of videographers to their farm in December 2020. a positive impact on Brennan and his crew. “The people who came to lm had never been on a farm before; every time someone like that comes on the farm, we really want to make a good impression,” Stephanie said. “We sent cheese home with them. If we get one person out of the three who were here to go home and share the experience as a positive one with their family and their friends, that is a win for the industry.” The Hughes family did not see the results of their day spent with the video crew until it aired during the Super Bowl, but Gareth shared with them prior to its airing that he felt it was the best piece he had produced thus far in his career. “To hear him say that before we even got to see it, when he has won seven Emmys for his work, was pretty moving for me,” Stephanie said. “As family, we are so proud of what he created.” After hearing Gareth’s thoughts on the video, the excitement to watch it built for the Hugheses. “I was a little nervous for two days, maybe more

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Derek Hughes, 3, rides his tricycle down the barn walk during the “EssenƟal” video which aired during Super Bowl LV Feb. 7. excited to see it than nervous; but especially in agriculture, you want to make sure everything is portrayed in a good light,” Stephanie said. “Alan wasn’t nervous at all, because he trusted Gareth’s judgement.” When the Hugheses viewed the end product on the television, they were moved to the point of being speechless. “Having it come together like it did was amazing,” Stephanie said. “When Gareth asked us to do this, it was easy to say yes because it was doing it for him. And whenever we get any opportunity to talk about agriculture, we take it. You only get one chance to promote your industry. Adding to the Hughes family as being essential workers in the dairy industry throughout the pandemic, Alan serves as a member of the 115th Fighter Wing of the Wisconsin Air National Guard. He has been called up several times during the year for pandemicrelated needs, rioting in Kenosha, the election and the inauguration in Washington, D.C. In the video, Stephanie said, “I told Alan we just have to take it one day at a time, one step at a time, one breath at a time.” And in reality, that is all anyone can do.

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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 13, 2021 • Page 39