CHECK OUT THE
HEART
starting on Page 23 of this section!
DAIRY
Heart For Dairy Feature
DAIRY ST R
February 27, 2021
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 23, No. 1
Hesses troubleshoot for quality milk Family overcomes stray voltage to achieve low SCC By Danna Sabolik Contributing Writer
CHASKA, Minn. – Jason Hesse knows how valuable clean milk is, and that is why he makes it a priority on his farm. This year, the Hesse dairy was recognized by Minnesota Dairy Herd Improvement Association for having the lowest overall somatic cell count among herds that test with DHIA for 2020. The annual recognition is bestowed to a farm in Minnesota that participates in the DHIA program. Jason attributes his success to the help he has had along the way. “Relationships are huge,” he said. “You can’t
DANNA SABOLIK/DAIRY STAR
Jackie (from leŌ), Jason and James Hesse own and operate Harmony Hills Dairy LLC near Chaska, Minnesota. The Hesses had the lowest overall somaƟc cell count of those that test with Minnesota DHIA in 2020. know everything, so it’s very valuable to get someone’s opinion. We especially rely on our vet, nutritionist and power
company.” About 15 years ago, the Hesses’ farm, Harmony Hills Dairy LLC, struggled with
stray voltage, skyrocketing their SCC. “Hints you may have it is uneasy cows, cows that lick or
lap up their water instead of actually drinking it, or cows unable to drop their milk,” Jason said. “Also, if you have a cut on your nger, try putting it on your wash vat and see if it gives the cut a steady jolt.” After working with the electric company and installing a new electric panel and pole outside, the Hesses began to see a reection in the production and quality of milk. “We work with Minnesota Power Company and are very lucky to have a great relationship with them,” Jason said. “They worked with us so well and still come back to check the pole every year.” Today, Jason milks 63 cows in a at double-6 parlor. Jason’s wife, Jackie, works off the farm as a business risk and control senior manager at Wells Fargo. The couple has a 2-yearold daughter, Avery, and a baby Turn to HESSES | Page 7
A couple committed to the industry Bolins’ Farm Bureau tradition leads to service award By Sherry Newell Contributing Writer
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Dave and Pam Bolin dairy farm near Clarksville, Iowa. The couple was named Iowa Farm Bureau’s DisƟnguished Service to Agriculture winners in December.
CLARKSVILLE, Iowa – It has been more than 50 years since two Butler County children played together while their parents took part in local Farm Bureau meetings held in members’ homes. Back then, Pam Jensen and Dave Bolin could not have imagined the life they would lead together. Nor could the two of them, who married in 1978 and dairy farmed their entire lives, have imagined becoming the Iowa Farm Bureau’s 2020 Distinguished Service to Agriculture award winners. But win they did. Dave and Pam Bolin were bestowed with the honor late last year during a partly virtual Iowa Farm Bureau state meeting. The award honors those who have played a signicant role in the
agricultural industry at the local, state and/or national level. While it is often given to an individual, the Bolins received it together. “It’s tting that Pam and I win this together,” Dave said. “We always worked together; I think we should win together.” Working together began when Pam brought her Holsteins from the Jensen family dairy to the Bolin family’s Guernsey farm after their marriage. They farmed with Dave’s parents, Neil and Mavis Bolin, then became the fourth generation to own the farm. Eventually, Dave and Pam raised three sons on the farm: Matthew, Daniel and James. Daniel and his wife, Lynn, returned to the farm in 2011. By 2015, New Day Dairy was born, ushering in the fth generation. A freestall barn with robotic milkers was built on a new site, and it includes a bed and breakfast business managed by Lynn. Dave and Pam own cows and equipment and work for New Day while also custom raising heifers Turn to BOLINS | Page 5
Page 2 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 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 (ofce) 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 Ofce: 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 (ofce) 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 Hoeer (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 ofces. 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 2. Find full editions on our website, www.dairystar.com, and click on the e-edition tab under the Dairy Star header. Michels family has had a decade of growth Over the last 10 years, Michels Farms has experienced expansions, updates and additions in order to support a new generation to the farm. Three Michels siblings – Becky, Kelly and Slick – returned to the dairy to join their parents, Dan and Brenda, and now milk 375 cows and run 600 acres on their dairy near Lomira, Wisconsin. Sauers win Wisconsin Outstanding Young Farmer award Shane and Jennifer Sauer have been given the Wisconsin Outstanding Young Farmer award. The couple operates Sauer Dairy LLC, where they milk 150 cows, near Waterloo, Wisconsin. The two work together to continue to develop the herd’s genetics and be conscientious stewards of the land. Wallermans open on-farm store After mulling around the idea of entering the world of direct-marketing to help diversify their 375 cow, dairy farm near Norwalk, Wis., Doug and Amanda Wallerman opened up The Bossy Cow Country Store in November. In their store, they retail beef raised on their farm and source pork and lamb from neighboring farmers. Amanda places an emphasis on sourcing the majority of the store’s inventory locally, providing a retail venue for area artisans. Breyers enjoy benets of robots When Dillon and Derek Breyer each made the decision to come home to join their family’s Birnamwood, Wis., dairy farm, their parents Doug and Cindy knew that some changes were going to need to be made. After planning to add a parlor, they instead decided to build a new robotic freestall barn with two Lely A-5 robots milking 120 cows. The robots have kept the workload manageable for family labor allowed Dillon and Derek the time to focus on the cows.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 3
It’s all inside... Columnists First Section: Pages 23, 25
Third Section: Pages 8 - 9
Bon Yankton Homme
Clay
Lyon
Osceola
n inso Emmet
Dick
O’Brien
Sioux Plymouth
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Monona
Palo Alto
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Clay
Ca
Crawford Carroll
Pottawattamie Cass Mills nt
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Mitchell Howard
Hancock Cerro Gordo
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Bremer
Wright Franklin Butler
Guthrie
Boone
Dallas
Story
Polk
all
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Ch
Black Hawk
Webster Hamilton Hardin Grundy
Greene
Tama
Jasper
Fayette
First Section: Page 39
Pine Island
Klingsporns benet from team approach of MDI meetings
Clayton
an
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Bu
Benton
Dela
Jones
Linn
Iowa
Madison Warren Marion Mahaska Keokuk
Adair
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Mo
Page
Worth
Houston
First Section: Pages 10 - 11
Jackson Clinton
on Cedar
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Jo
Taylor
Union old
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Rin
Clarke
Lucas
Decatur Wayne
Monroe Wapello e
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Davis
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Scott
Muscatine
FROM OUR SIDE OF THE FENCE:
Van Buren
How do you adapt your calf care management for cold weather? First Section: Pages 15-16
Louisa
Henry Des
Maurice
Dairy Prole: The Vander Waals
For additional stories from our other zone, log on to www.dairystar.com
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Harrison Shelby
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Wilkin ln
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Faribault
Martin
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Turner
Jackson
Winona
Fillimore
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Hutchinson
Nobles
Freeborn
sh
Charles Mix
Rock
Wabasha
Cottonwood Watonwan Blue Earth Waseca Steele Dodge Olmsted
ne
Douglas
Gregory
McCook Minnehaha
Murray
Goodhue
Rice
am
Tripp
Moody
Nicollet
Brown
All
Todd
Ha
ns
on
Lake
Redwood
n
Mellette
Miner
Lyon
gto
Aurora
Sanborn
Brookings
Dakota
Scott
Sibley
Second Section: Pages 4 - 5
W in
Brule
Jerauld
Kingsbury
Carver
Frosty Face tops favorite cow list
hin
Lyman
Beadle
Yellow Medicine
Hennepin
McLeod
Wabasha
Wa s
Shannon Pages 10 - 11 Bennett Second Section
Buffalo
Deuel
Hamlin
Hand
Wright
Meeker
Renville
Anoka
iek
Jones
Hughes
Lac Qui Parle
Codington
Clark
Kandiyohi
Chippewa
Isanti
sh
Stanley
Hyde
Spink
Sherburne
Swift
Grant
Benton
Stearns
Pope
Washington
Sully
Stevens
Pine
Mille Lacs
Morrison
Douglas
eu r
Faulk
Potter
Carlton
Todd Grant
Big Stone
Day
Aitkin
Crow Wing
Su
Edmunds
Cass
we
Fall River
Roberts
Marshall
McPherson
Ziebach
Jackson
Sargent
Brown Walworth
Haakon
Richland
Third Section: Page 7
Po
Custer
Dickey
Otter Tail
Tra ver se
Campbell
Corson
Pennington
The “Mielke” Market Weekly
Ransom
LaMoure
McIntosh
Sioux
Becker
Clay
Le
Lawrence
Cass
Mah
Goodhue
Dairy’s Working Youth: Cassandra Hinsch
Lake
Itasca
go
Page 38 Meade First Section
Bames
Cook
isa Ch
Calf Chronicles
Stutsman
Emmons
Dewey Butte
Kidder
Logan
Grant
Page 33 First Perkins Section
Harding
Burleigh
Morton
Dairy Good Life
en nom
Norman
Oliver
Adams
Polk
Trail
Steele
Lincoln
Bowman
Page 32 Hettinger First Section
Griggs
St. Louis
Red Lake
on
Mercer
Just Thinking OutStark Loud
Slope
Foster
Koochiching
ub
Sheridan
Billings Golden Valley
Wells
Beltrami
Pennington
Grand Forks
Eddy
McLean
First Section: Pages 1, 7
Lake of the Woods
Marshall
Benson Nelson
Roseau
Pipestone
Dunn
Walsh
Ramsey
McHenry
Ward
Kittson
n
Something to Ruminate On
Pembina
Au d
Pierce
Mountrail
Page 31 First Section
Cavalier
Towner
io
McKenzie
Rolette
Da vi so n
Williams
Bottineau
Hesse recognized for low somatic cell count
First Section: Pages 18, 20
Clearwater
Renville
Burke Page 30 First Section
Divide
Chaska
Bred & Butter Dairy emphasizes genetics to improve herd potential
Heart for Dairy
Kid’s Corner: The Rybinskis
Dear County Agent Guy
Kensington
Canby
Hendricks
Pages 8-9 First Section
Un
Ag Insider
Moines
Lee
Clarksville
Family’s Farm Bureau tradition leads to award for Iowa dairy farm couple First Section: Pages 1, 5 - 6
Page 4 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 5
COLD CALVES NEED MORE ENERGY!
ConƟnued from BOLINS | Page 1
PHOTO SUBMITTED
The sun rises over New Day Dairy near Clarksville, Iowa, where Dave and Pam Bolin assist the next generaƟon of their family’s dairy farmers. The couple won Iowa Farm Bureau’s DisƟnguished Service to Agriculture award in 2020. on the home farm. “When people ask if I’ve retired, I tell them I never really had a job,” Dave said. Both he and Pam were full-time dairy farmers from the time they returned from Iowa State University. They credit Farm Bureau’s Take Root program with helping them plan and implement the farm’s transition. Years ago, they also won a trip to an American Farm Bureau convention for their use of shredded paper as bedding for their cattle at the time. History has repeated itself with this latest award. Pam’s father, Mathias Jensen, was selected for Iowa Farm
Bureau’s Distinguished Service to Agriculture award in 1994. In fact, he and the Butler County Farm Bureau board submitted the Bolins’ nomination. Jensen passed away last November but knew about the Bolins’ selection before his death. Farm Bureau roots in both families trace back to grandparents. Pam remembers a Farm Bureau songbook used at those township meetings where she and Dave rst met. Both of their mothers chaired the womens group, and Dave’s father, Neil, worked his way through local leadership roles.
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Page 6 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
ConƟnued from BOLINS | Page 5
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PHOTO SUBMITTED
Dave and Pam Bolin parƟcipate in dairy promoƟon, which helped earn them the Iowa Farm Bureau DisƟnguished Service to Agriculture award in December. The couple dairy farms near Clarksville, Iowa. When the time came for the next generation to step into Farm Bureau involvement, it was an easy decision. “It represents agriculture and it looks to the grassroots,” said Pam, who served for a short time on the county board. She also bested former Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey to win Iowa Farm Bureau’s Young Farmer Discussion Meet in the late 1980s. “We saw through our parents, especially here in Iowa, that Farm Bureau had a pretty strong voice,” Dave said. “If Iowa Farm Bureau wasn’t on board with a legislative issue, it wasn’t going to pass.” Dave worked his way through local Farm Bureau leadership soon after college graduation. “I was the young guy among a lot of grandparents,” he said. After serving as president, he stepped aside when he was elected to the local school board. He also served on the local Dairy Herd Improvement Association board and was a national director of the American Guernsey Association. Because of those commitments,
Dave declined when asked to run for a seat on the board of the Bolins’ dairy cooperative, Swiss Valley Farms. Instead, Pam ran and won. Elected when she was not yet 30 years old, she ended up serving for 26 years and became its rst female president. Pam was World Dairy Expo’s Woman of the Year in 2014. Through the years, the Bolins’ priorities were faith, family, fun and farming. Fun came partly from their off-farm activities in the various organizations where they met friends from across the country. Farm Bureau involvement may see another generation or two of Bolins. Dan and Lynn are raising three children at New Day Dairy and have already placed second in the organization’s Grow Your Future award. But while Dave and Pam have already been recognized for distinguished service, the couple is not done with Farm Bureau. Dave is currently Butler County’s voting delegate. “Now I’m the old guy,” Dave said. “But, I have more going for me as the old guy.”
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ConƟnued from HESSES | Page 1 crop side of the operation with due in April. From 2004-18, Jason Jason’s brother, Dan. Together hauled milk part time and used they manage 1,100 acres and that time to talk with farmers help provide the feed for Jason. Dan also raises steers on about what they were doing on the farm, complementing the their farm and what worked. dairy and crop business. “The best way to learn is “It works out well,” Jason from people actually doing it,” said. “We all have our own Jason said. businesses but still work Harmony Hills Dairy has together for a lot of things.” been in the family for three Jason practices a more generations. Jason’s grandfather natural management style on bought the farm after his return his dairy, allowing the cows from World War II in 1946. The 62-stall barn was to cycle on their own. He uses converted in 2018 by Jason and vaccinations minimally. “Personally, I think it Jackie to house the double-6 makes a difference,” Jason parlor and dry cow calving pen. said. “It’s their body, their Jason’s father, James, immune system, and if things semi-retired from the dairy in come up, they can take care of January 2019 when Jason and it themselves.” Jackie took over. Minimizing The dairy has their fair the size of the milking herd share of mastitis cases, but part was essential to make the parlor of Jason’s management style economical, so Jason adjusted is to carefully evaluate and the herd of 115 cows to 60. contain the issue. He tests with James continued to run the DHIA monthly, and if an issue comes up in between, he ships a sample to his creamery for diagnosis. “It’s crazy how just a half gallon or so of milk can destroy a whole tank,” Jason said. Then, he will treat the cow, and if it becomes a chronic issue, Jason will continue to milk out the problem quarter until the cow dries up. “Usually when she goes PHOTO SUBMITTED through a dry cycle, it will x Avery Hesse, 2, feeds a calf on itself,” Jason said. her parents’ farm, Harmony Overall, his philosophy is Hills Dairy, near Chaska, Min- treating the cows how he would nesota. Avery is Jason and want to be treated. Jackie’s rst daughter, and the “Everyone has fresh couple is expecƟng another bedding, alleys scrapped, and child in April.
Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 7
DANNA SABOLIK/DAIRY STAR
The double-6 at parlor serves an essenƟal role in milking management to ensure a low somaƟc cell count and quality milk on Harmony Hills Dairy near Chaska, Minnesota. Jason and Jackie Hesse installed the parlor in late 2018. fresh feed and water every day,” Jason said. “And I’m talking milking cows all the way down to calves. Everyone is treated the same.” His milking process also contributes to a low SCC. Jason milks with six units and has 12 stalls in the parlor. Keeping a pre-milking routine is important, Jason said. The cows come into a holding area and then into the parlor where they are prepped and pre-dipped with a peroxidebased dip. Then, they are dried with a cloth towel and stripped three times per teat. Jason said another important step is letting
them sit to let their milk drop. “If a cow is done being milked before another is prepped and ready, the unit will hang there,” Jason said. “We try to not over-milk them and don’t rush through the parlor either.” After milking, the cows are dipped with 1% iodine. In the extremely cold weeks of winter, Jason uses a powder-based dip. His dry cow program is closely managed as well. “I’ll add cows to the dry cow pen about ve days prior to full dry up,” Jason said. “They will be milked once a day and fed the dry cow ration until their production is almost
nothing, and then I dry them up using dry cow tubes and a teat sealant.” While the DHIA recognition is an honor for the Hesses, they are used to such accolades as they have been recognized for their milk quality from their creamery for the past 10 years. They ship their milk to Bongards and are recognized annually with a quality SCC award. Producing clean milk is a priority on Harmony Hills Dairy, and Jason is proud to be recognized with the Minnesota DHIA’s annual honor.
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USDA’s No. 1 priority is COVID response Page 8 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
With Agriculture Secretary-designate Tom making soon on tariffs. How the administration makes Vilsack awaiting conrmation, USDA Chief of the decisions will signal how they’ll deal with future Staff Katharine Ferguson spoke on behalf of the trade problems. “As they review the phase one deal, Agriculture Department at the Ag Outlook Conference. there are hundreds of billions of products we import Ferguson said the Department’s response from China currently facing import tariffs. to COVID-19 tops the agenda. “We A few products had exclusions expiring Ag Insider cannot get our economy back on track December 31. The Biden administration and we cannot build rural America unless will have to gure out how to deal with we contain and end the COVID-19 those.” An additional item the Biden pandemic.” Ferguson promoted local administration will consider with China and regional systems to improve access is benchmark purchases. “There are to healthy food. Ferguson also said the valid questions to ask. I think it’s worth Biden administration will support farmers agriculture thinking about. How would of color and the small-to-mid sized farms we like to engage with China?” by reducing barriers to land, capital and risk management. Immigration reform An immigration bill has been Hope remains in ag amid division in introduced in Congress. National Milk By Don Wick Washington D.C. Producers Federation President and According to National Council of CEO Jim Mulhern responded, saying Columnist Farmer Cooperatives President and CEO immigration reform must include Chuck Conner, a partisan polarization changes critical to the dairy workforce. is happening in Washington D.C. “Members of “These include extending to current workers and Congress now, quite literally, fear members across their families the legal protections they have earned the aisle and their supporters or simply view them and enabling dairy farmers to use a guest worker as un-American in some way. These feelings aren’t program to supplement their domestic workforce just across party lines, there are these feelings among when needed.” the same political party,” Conner said. “Working together seems impossible and yet, against that Farm credit conditions improve terrible backdrop, is the start of a new presidential There was a dramatic improvement in farm administration. One reason for hope among some of credit conditions for the region in the nal three the darkest times in our nation’s capitol is having Ag months of 2020. More than three-quarters of the ag Secretary designate Tom Vilsack to lead agriculture.” lenders surveyed in the fourth quarter by the Federal Conner said President Biden seemed respectful of Reserve Bank of Minneapolis reported an increase all views, but that doesn’t mean there will not be in farm incomes. Just under half of the lenders said partisanship on key issues. Conner’s comments were loan repayment rates have increased. The value of made during the NCFC annual meeting. non-irrigated cropland increased 3.6 percent from one year ago. Cash rents for that ground rose more than 6 How will the Biden administration handle trade percent. tariffs? Negotiating new trade deals is not the top priority Give the Paycheck Protection Program another for the Biden administration, but former Chief look Agriculture Negotiator Darci Vetter said there are Sign-up is open for the Paycheck Protection overlapping trade decisions the administration will be Program. MinnStar Bank Farm Management Analyst
Kent Thiesse said if farmers did not qualify for the rst round, the program may be worth revisiting. “Now, farmers can use line nine on the Schedule F, gross income, to potentially qualify.” Thiesse said if farmers applied for a loan in the rst program, received it and were forgiven, those farmers cannot reapply for the rst round of the program. Farmers may be eligible for the second round of PPP loans. “Farmers can apply for round two, but they must demonstrate they had at least a 25 percent reduction in receipts or gross income for one quarter in 2020, compared to the same quarter in 2019.” PPP loans are being administered through local ag lenders and the application deadline is March 31. Bill advances to repeal restrictions to manure applications The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is making changes to the NPDES permit requirements, restricting the application of manure during certain months. A bill repealing these restrictions has passed out of the Senate Agriculture Committee and is on its way to the Environment and Natural Resources Committee. Minnesota Farm Bureau said tying regulations to specic dates on the calendar makes no sense and will limit a farmer’s ability to manage these nutrients. Delaney moves to Senate Ag Committee Patrick Delaney is the new director of external affairs for the Senate Agriculture Committee. In this role, Delaney will oversee coalition building and stakeholder outreach. Previously, Delaney was the chief spokesperson for House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson. Fischbach names district director Minnesota Representative Michelle Fischbach has named Ben Anderson as her district director. Most recently, Anderson was a regional director for the University of Minnesota Extension Service. Previously, Anderson worked at USDA, the House Turn to AG INSIDER | Page 9
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 9
ConƟnued from AG INSIDER | Page 8 Agriculture Committee and the staff of Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman. DeLaval names new CEO The Tetra Laval Group Board has appointed Paul Lofgren as president and chief executive ofcer of DeLaval, effective April 1. After 18 years in the role, Joakim Rosengren is stepping down after 18 years in the position. Dairy promotion board members elected Dairy Management Inc, National Dairy Promotion and Research Board and United Dairy Industry Association have elected board ofcers. Farmers from Minnesota are serving in leadership, including deb Vander Kooi of Worthington, Minn. as the treasurer of DMI. UDIA ofcers include Treasurer Charles Krause of Buffalo, Minn. DeBriyn passes Former AgStar Financial Services CEO and President Paul DeBriyn has passed away. DeBriyn was at the helm
of AgStar for 26 years. He served on the Farmer Mac board and chaired the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council. DeBriyn’s many honors include AgriGrowth’s Distinguished Service Award in 2014 and the Siehl Prize in 2011. DeBriyn, 65, was born in Thief River Falls and lived most recently in Florida. Trivia challenge Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow represents the State of Michigan in Congress. That answers our last trivia question. For this week, what state does House Agriculture Committee Chair David Scott represent? 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.
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We do monthly milk testing, milk pregnancy checks, Johnes testing, Leukosis testing, MUN and fatty acids.
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Tell us about your farm. The University of MN WCROC dairy farm has been milking cows for over 100 years. We have an organic and conventional herd in a side-by-side comparison. We rotationally graze during the summertime with all of the cows. Our herd is about a third Holstein and twothirds crossbreds of the Montbeliarde, Viking Red, Normande, and Jersey breeds. We have 1,100 acres of land which includes 400 Brad Heins acres of pasture for cows and heifers. (University of Minnesota West Central We conduct research with dairy heifers Research and Outreach Center dairy) and cows that will help farmers become 300 cows • Morris, Minn. more proÀtable. Herd DHIA testing for 50+ years. 307 Brighton Avenue South Buffalo, MN 55313 763.682.1091 www.mndhia.org
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KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
The Klingsporn family – (front, from leŌ) David, Linda and Melisa holding Lydia ; (back, from leŌ) Luke and Kevin holding Dylan – work with Minnesota Dairy IniƟaƟves to make updates and work on farm transiƟon. They milk 177 cows near Pine Island, Minnesota.
Klingsporns benet from team approach of MDI meetings
the team aspect to get people’s perspectives and set goals.” The Klingsporns set up their rst initial meeting PINE ISLAND, Minn. – With two generations in 2018 for everyone to get to know each other. For working together, the Klingsporns knew they needed their team, the Klingsporns chose their agronomist, to make changes to their farm, both in the physical and nutritionist, lender, FBM instructor and pastor, along legal sense, in order to make a smooth farm transfer in with their MDI coordinator. “They don’t all have to be at the same meetings, the future. “But we didn’t know where to start,” Kevin depending on what you have to focus on,” Melisa said. Klingsporn said. For their second meeting, the team walked At the advice of their farm business management instructor, the Klingsporns put together a team through the farm for a SWOT analysis, which stands through the Minnesota Dairy Initiatives to help them for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. “I think we knew some of them, but they brought on their 177-cow dairy near Pine Island. Here, Linda and David Klingsporn farm together with their two up other good points too,” Melisa said. Luke agreed. sons and their families: Kevin and Melisa and their “They were critiquing how we run our farm to get two children, Dylan, 2, and Lydia, 2 months; and Luke and Brianne, along with their children, Ella, 3, ideas of where we could improve and get that outside eye,” he said. “They brought solutions and prices and Ezra, 1. The farm has been in the Klingsporn family for that were affordable. They made us look into things several generations. David joined the operation full instead of just saying, ‘Oh, it’s not going to work.’” From this analysis, the Klingsporns were able time in 1979 after graduating from high school. Linda joined not long after she and David were married in to improve breeding efciency. The rst change was 1981. Their sons also joined when the time came – putting in headlocks for the heifers. “We didn’t think it was going to work and didn’t Kevin in 2001 and Luke in 2005. “It’s more than just numbers,” Luke said about think it was going to be cost effective,” Luke said. MDI. “Farm business management is numbers and “We told them the runaround we were having with prices to see how we sit nancially. MDI is more our breeding and fetching heifers so they suggested we do it. It’s been a big improvement.” They also installed an activity monitoring system because they were having a hard time catching cows in heat. “You could walk to the door and see a cow on that end of the barn riding, but by the time you got there, you had no idea which one it was,” David said. The Klingsporns’ team also helped them know how to interpret and correlate information on their DHIA and Dairy Comp records. Plus, communication between the KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR family has improved. Heifers use headlocks at the Klingsporn family’s dairy near Pine Island, MinTurn to KLINGSPORNS nesota. | Page 11 By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 11
ConƟnued from KLINGSPORNS | Page 10 “We’re working on it,” Luke said. “It’s better, but there’s still room.” Relationships with employees and knowing how to manage has also improved, David said. Perhaps the biggest projects for the Klingsporns have been talking about farm transition and how that might affect the farm’s facilities. MDI rst suggested the family attend a two-day farm transition workshop. “That started the talks of transitioning and talk about what everyone’s goals and wants are from the farm,” Melisa said. “Up until that conference, those are things that really weren’t talked about.” Plus, it made them think
and talk about their facilities long term. The Klingsporns milk in a double-8 parallel parlor they retrotted into a stanchion barn in 2006. Cows are housed in a freestall barn they put up in 2001 that was retrotted into a loang shed. “It’s an older facility that’s not really efcient,” Melisa said. “If the two brothers want to continue dairying, something has to change from an efciency standpoint.” They also worry about continuing to employ a reliable and sufcient work force. The Klingsporns currently have ve part-time employees. “We’ve been lucky getting the ones we have but eventually that might dry up,” Luke said. The most recent talks with their MDI team have been KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
The Klingsporns – (from leŌ) Luke, David and Kevin – look up a cow on the acƟvity monitoring system on their farm near Pine Island, Minnesota.
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
A double-8 parallel parlor is used to milk the Klingsporns’ 177cow herd on their farm.
working on their business model, their vision for the future and their goals. Overall, the Klingsporns said the team meetings have been benecial. “From a general standpoint, they are completely free to do,” Melisa said. “It’s just your time that it takes to meet with them.” Luke agreed. “And most of the time you should be taking that time to
plan anyway, especially for what they can do for you,” he said. While the outcome has been good, the older generation admitted it was a scary step to take when they were not used to sharing all their business information with the younger generation and with others. “The younger generation was more excited than the older generation,” David said. “There’s still some hesitation,
but it’s nice to know they appreciate knowing all this from us. Because that’s the end result is with the people involved.” Linda agreed. “It helps us improve our day-to-day stuff,” she said. “And it helps keep the ball rolling.” Now that the process has started, the Klingsporns are thankful for the team approach and how that has been helping their farm.
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Page 12 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
Is your farm resilient?
Hadrich’s presentation includes a cow’s breakeven point By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
Being able to answer the question, “How much money is each cow in a herd making?” is important to know to keep a dairy business running. It is also the question asked Feb. 12 during a University of Minnesota Extension and Minnesota Dairy Initiative winter dairy series webinar, “Bessy’s Bottom Line: How much is that cow actually making you?” Joleen Hadrich, University of Minnesota Extension economist, presented the webinar with input from Francis Rynda, a dairy farmer from Le Sueur County near Montgomery, Minnesota. “How do we know our cow in our dairy herd is actually making us money,” Hadrich said. “It’s not just what she’s generating that year, but there’s a cost incurred to get her from when she was a baby calf to her rst calving and making sure we’re including that cost as well. That’s the main goal of this conversation.” Rynda included his opinions based on his records and what has worked on his 47-cow herd. Using records from FINBIN, a farm nancial and production benchmark database, Hadrich presented the cost of production, which includes labor and management, for dairy farms based on size in 2019. Here is the av-
erage price per hundredweight in order to breakeven: $20.28 for farms with 1 to 50 cows; $17.97 for farms with 51 to 100 cows; $17.94 for farms with 101 to 200 cows; $17.61 for farms with 201 to 500 cows; and $17.43 for farms with over 500 cows. “When we actually value the operator’s labor and management at true market rates, the herds with 1 to 50 cows on average lost about $386 per cow in 2019 while Joleen Hadrich U of M Extension the other farm sizes economist report a positive prot,” Hadrich said about the FINBIN data. “The one caveat I like to put in is that this is an average. We can have a number of our 50-cow dairies that are generating positive prot for their family to survive on and in other instances they may not be due to multiple reasons.” Rynda is one example of a protable farm in that category. Based on his numbers, Rynda calculated his 2020 breakeven price at $17.97 per cwt with an average milk price for the year at $19.66 per cwt. That’s a $1.69 per cwt prot for the year. “It’s all about knowing where you’re at,” Rynda said. “If my (cost of production) price is lower than what I’m actually receiving, then I have to look at my management practices or my feed costs or everything and see how I can be protable or if I need to get out.” Hadrich asked Rynda if he uses for-
ward contracting. “Being a smaller dairy, doing forward contracting doesn’t work (for me) because you have to do it in larger amounts,” he said. “But you have to know where you are with cost of production so you can know where you’re going.” Hadrich used a recent University of Minnesota study to show data about what makes a dairy farm resilient or non-resilient. The farms identied as resilient were those in the top 25% of their peers for four out of the seven years of the study based on the net farm income ratio. “Keep in mind that non-resilient does not mean they weren’t successful,” Hadrich said. “It just means they did not rank in that top 25% for four or more years.” The average farm size of resilient farms was about 100 cows while the average size of non-resilient farms was about 400 cows. Based on cows with consecutive lactation data, resilient farm cows gave 71 pounds of milk per cow per day while the cows on non-resilient farms gave 87 pounds of milk per cow per day. Daily energy corrected milk came to 76 pounds per cow on resilient farms and 93 pounds per cow on non-resilient farms. Daily feed cost per cow on resilient farms came to $5.44 while it was $6.44 on non-resilient farms. The age of a cow at rst calving was 25.98 months for resilient farms and 24.23 for nonresilient farms. Estimated cost for raising a heifer came to $2,236 for resilient farms and $2,116 for non-
resilient farms. On Rynda’s farm, he said raising a dairy heifer costs about $1,800. “That’s cost savings in terms of labor and what you’re feeding them,” Hadrich said. “This is a great example that the numbers we give are an estimate. It’s really important to know what the cost is to raise that cow from birth to rst calving.” Emphasizing heifer raising cost is
“Being a smaller dairy, doing forward contracting doesn’t work (for me) because you have to do it in larger amounts. But you have to know where you are with cost of production.” FRANCIS RYNDA, DAIRY FARMER
important, Hadrich said. That animal will need to recoup both her yearly expenses as a cow and close to $2,000 in expenses she incurred before she could produce milk. “So, if you only have that cow in your herd for two years, that means she has to be generating another $1,000 per year in revenue on top of what she’s doing to cover her costs that year so you’re not at a loss of raising that cow,” Turn to RESILIENT | Page 13
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 13
ConƟnued from RESILIENT | Page 12 Hadrich said. The study also explained when cows reached the breakeven point in their lifetime. Across all farms, only 14% of cows hit breakeven in the rst lactation. In the second lactation, resilient farms had 30% of their cows breakeven while non-resilient farms had over 21% hit that point. In lactation three, 14% of cows on resilient farms reached breakeven while 12% cows broke even on non-resilient farms. “A much larger percent of the cows hit the breakeven in their second lactation on resilient farms,” Hadrich said. “And the unique thing we found out is the resilient herds tended to keep cows in their herd longer. What this mean is that once this cow hit her breakeven in lactation two, she maybe stayed in the herd until her sixth lactation.” This gives those cows more time to generate more income for a farm. Nonresilient farms kept cows an average of two lactations, and overall 40%-60% of all cows in the sample never hit their lifetime breakeven. “Even when we factored in the cull price, she didn’t recover the cost of keeping her in the herd over that time period,” Hadrich said. Out of Rynda’s 47 cows he had on the herd’s most recent DHIA test, 23 cows were on their rst or second lactation; 11 of them were on their third lactation, four cows were in their fourth lactation, three were in their fth lactation and one was in her sixth lactation. “I could assume 50% of your herd should be contributing to your equity generation over time because if you’re like an average herd, they should have hit their breakeven by their third lactation,” Hadrich said. When it comes to culling, Rynda looks at several factors, especially milk quality and the ability to breed back quickly.
“I’m not afraid to sell the animals … if they’re causing issues or costing me money,” Rynda said. “If they’re high somatic, my premiums at the creamery go down. If I’m treating them, that’s costing money. If they’re in the barn milking, but not going to have a calf, that’s longer days in milk so that’s cost-
“It’s always a multitude of things and to have the assumption that every cow in your herd is going to breakeven is an unrealistic expectation.” JOLEEN HADRICH, U OF M ECONOMIST
ing me money.” Hadrich said Rynda’s farm is a great example of how the decision to keep a cow in a herd or not is not based on one contribution. “It’s always a multitude of things and to have the assumption that every cow in your herd is going to breakeven is an unrealistic expectation,” she said. It comes down to each farmer’s goals and how he or she wants to feed his or her herd. The resilient farms were lower in milk with a lower feed cost; however, they were getting 5% higher milk price due to premiums from the processor, Hadrich said. “Other farms are taking the high yield, high feed cost approach, but they may also be getting a volume premium tied to that,” she said. “So, there are different strategies of how you’re going to manage this moving forward.”
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Page 14 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 15
How do you adapt your calf care management for cold weather?
Austin Bender Kingston, Wisconsin Green Lake County 140 cows Describe your calf facilities. Calves are raised in hutches from birth to 3-5 days old and fed by bottle. They are then moved into one of our two robot barns where they are group housed and fed with an automatic calf feeder. We also buy feeder beef calves that we house with our dairy calves. It’s nice not having to feed calves outside, and the calves switch to feed earlier and have a better rate of gain in this environment. What is your calf care protocol immediately after a calf is born? We give newborn calves the Inforce vaccine intranasally and colostrum as soon as we can. We also dip their navels. At weaning, we also administer Pyramid Presponse as part of our vaccination program. How do you adapt your calf care management for cold weather? We have two calf hutches – a traditional square Calf-Tel hutch and a PolyDome hutch. We use the PolyDome in winter because it heats up more than the Calf-Tel, keeping calves warmer. We bed with straw all year, but we’ll use sawdust in the summer if we have access to it. We only use calf jackets in really cold weather. If the temperature gets down in the 20s for a high, we put a jacket on the calves for a couple days. Otherwise, we try to avoid jackets because you can’t see changes in breathing patterns and could potentially miss a developing respiratory issue. We also like to take jackets off as soon as we can so the calves can adapt to the cold weather. We feed a 25% fat/25% protein milk replacer year-round. We’ll give aggressive drinkers a little more in the winter because these calves don’t sit in the chute as long. Each robot barn has two pens, and in the summer, we put 25 calves in each pen. In the winter, we only house 12-15 calves per pen. This helps prevent respiratory issues. We can’t keep the ventilation perfect, but this way, we treat less calves which returns more dollars at the end of the day. Tell us your best winter calf survival story. The rst winter we were in the automated barns, we had a handful of calves we thought were hopeless. We spent more time with these animals and pumped them up with uids, and they went from lying at to now being in our milking herd. There’s a large learning curve with automatic feeders, and we had a lot of issues at rst trying to gure out the system. Describe one winter health challenge that you overcame in your calves. One winter calf challenge we have had is respiratory issues. We overcrowded calves too heavily when the barns were new, and the positive pressure air tubes didn’t do enough to get the air exchange up. We eventually found the right pen capacity to ensure calves thrive. Also, now that calves consume more milk than they did when we rst started on the auto feeders, they are better equipped to handle adversity. Tell us about your farm. I am a third-generation farmer at Bender Family Farms, which was started by my grandpa in 1956. The farm is now owned by me, my
Kristin Quist (pictured with husband, Jacob) Deer Park, Wisconsin Polk County 1,200 cows Describe your calf facilities. Calves receive their rst two feedings of colostrum indoors in a heated warming room before they are moved to hutches. They are in the hutches for four days where they are fed a 25/25 milk replacer and then are moved into one of our two auto feeder barns. We have one barn we feed pasteurized whole milk with a balancer in and the other we feed a 25/25 milk replacer. Once they are weaned, they move out to our heifer barn. What is your calf care protocol immediately after a calf is born? Calves are licked off by their mother, and we assist by rubbing them off with a bath towel. The calf has its navel dipped immediately, and again after that she is placed in the heated room. Our calves are vaccinated with Naselgen 3 and Calf Guard at birth and fed a gallon of pasteurized colostrum 45 minutes later. They are then fed a second feeding of 2 quarts of colostrum eight hours later and are dehorned at this time with paste. How do you adapt your calf care management for cold weather? We provide extra deep bedding, increase milk solids and increase feeding plans by 1 liter from summer to winter. We also add Mistral bedding conditioner to our auto feeder pens to help keep the ammonia levels lower and the air fresher. Tell us your best winter calf survival story. We had a calf that lived inside our heated room in our calf barn for three days last winter. She had gotten dehydrated and cold, and we didn’t think she had much of a chance. But with persistent IV uids and a warm room for three days feeding her with a bottle, the third day she was waiting for us at the door. We had to distract her so we could mix up milk replacer so she wouldn’t drink it all. She rejoined her herd mates that day and has been great ever since. Describe one winter health challenge that you overcame in your calves. Respiratory issues in an up and down damp climate are a challenge. We had to relearn how to manage our ventilation in our calf barn after eight years of a solid protocol working year in and year out. Instead of opening the barn up at 30 degrees, we had to start opening it up at 15 degrees due to the humidity. It was very challenging and took a lot of patience to gure it out, but once we did, it was very rewarding. Tell us about your farm. I farm with my husband, Jacob, and parents, Kevin and Roxie Solum, at Minglewood Inc. We milk 480 of our cows with robots as well as crop farm and have an on-farm store, Minglewood Eats and Treats, where we have beef, cheese, honey and other local farm products for sale. older brother, Andrew, and our dad, Melvin. My brother, Jeff, also helps milk cows and care for livestock. We milk 140 cows and run about 1,000 acres. We raise our youngstock and nish 300 dairy/Angus steers each year.
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Aimee Wittmann Wittmann Farms LLC Plain, Wisconsin Sauk County 260 milking cows Describe your calf facilities. We raise our calves in hutches until they are ready to start weaning. At about 2 months old they move into group pens until they are completely weaned. What is your calf care protocol immediately after a calf is born? As soon as a cow freshens and cleans her calf, we take the calf and put it in my heated milk house. The new calf will get two feedings of 1 gallon each of colostrum. I will vaccinate with Inforce and multimin, give it an eartag and dehorn all within the rst few hours after birth. Each calf will get moved into its own individual hutch outside. In winter they will get a calf jacket. They will stay in that hutch until they are ready for the weaning process. Around two months I will move them into group pens outside where they will remain until completely weaned, no later than 4 months old. How do you adapt your calf care management for cold weather? Living in Wisconsin we are used to all kinds of weather. As soon as the daytime temperature drops below 30 degrees each newborn will get a calf jacket. I don’t put jackets on any animals over 1 month old. During the coldest months I will add a third feeding, bumping calves up to 9 quarts of milk a day. Tell us your best winter calf survival story. During the winter months I get up throughout the night to check the maternity barn for fresh cows and heifers. One morning, it was double digit negative temps outside as I ran to the barn. I knew we had a large group of rst-calf heifers due to freshen soon. Sure enough, we had three new babies and a calf coming backwards. I was able to grab the calf jack and assist mama with delivering her little heifer calf. She lived. Describe one winter health challenge that you overcame in your calves. The hardest thing in the winter is feeding enough milk to prevent calves from losing too much weight from putting too much energy into shivering and illness. So by adding an additional feeding I’m able to continue to get my calves to gain weight during the winter months. Tell us about your farm. I was raised on a beef and dairy farm. My husband grew up four miles down the road on a third generation dairy farm. My dad picked up his milk. We married nine years ago and have four children. My husband and I, together with his brother and his wife, have taken over the farm from their parents. In 2016 we merged herds and built a parlor and freestall. Currently we are milking 260 cows, in hopes to be milking 400 after our second freestall is built. Turn to OUR SIDE | Page 16
Page 16 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
ConƟnued from OUR SIDE | Page 15
Tina Lehnertz Lehnertz Family Farm Rollingstone, Minnesota Winona County 150 calves Describe your calf facilities. We raise our calves in calf hutches until about 70 days of age. What is your calf care protocol immediately after a calf is born? We don’t get calves until they are about 3 days old. They are weighed and dehorned, and we draw blood for total proteins. How do you adapt your calf care management for cold weather? All our calves in huts have calf jackets on in the winter. They are bedded every other day with straw not only to keep them dry, but to provide a warm bed for them. We make sure there is always grain and plenty of liquids. We may have to do extra feedings in subzero temperatures. If any are slow or feeling under the weather, we will also provide electrolytes for them. When raising babies, paying attention to details and detecting what might be a problem early and responding accordingly are key to raising calves to be healthy milk cows. Tell us your best winter calf survival story. I don’t recall a best winter survival story, but when I save an animal from the repercussions of the cold or an illness, there is nothing more rewarding. The hard work and efforts were well worth it. It puts a smile on my face. Describe one winter health challenge that you overcame in your calves. The hardest thing to manage is what you don’t have control over – the weather and the temperature swings are the hardest. I would rather it stay a cold even temperature in the winter. Pneumonia is probably one of the greatest challenges when the temperature swings are so extreme. Making sure they are dry is key, along with paying attention to their intakes. Tell us about your farm. I farm with my husband, Dave, and my son and his family. My husband was born and raised here. It is a four-generation farm. His dad and grandpa both milked here. Dave and I milked until 2010. We then started taking care of heifers. We raise heifers from 3 days old to 1 month before calving. We raise some of the feed on 400 acres, 100 of which is rented ground. We take pride in raising a healthy animal and taking care of our farm.
Kayla Asmus pictured with her mom, Bonnie Rinde Rinde Farms LLC Long Prairie, Minnesota Todd County 250 cows Describe your calf facilities. Our calves are born on a straw-bedded pack in our 6-row barn and then moved into individual huts for seven to 10 days. After that, they are moved into our automatic calf feeder barn where they stay until they are weaned. What is your calf care protocol immediately after a calf is born? We have been working closely with our vet so our protocols have been evolving over the last year. We get the calf off the bedded pack and put them into a warm room in the same barn. The mother gets milked up there, and then we feed the colostrum immediately to the calf. All colostrum gets checked to make sure it is good quality. The calves also get their navels dipped and heifers get Inforce 3. How do you adapt your calf care management for cold weather? During cold weather, we tend to keep the calves in the warm room a little longer, at least until they are drinking well. When they go to individual huts, they get a eece calf coat. We also make sure they have lots of uffy straw to lay in. When the calves are moved to the barn, they get to keep their coats on until they are at least 1 month old. Tell us your best winter calf survival story. It doesn’t happen often, but there has been a time or two we needed to bring a calf into the house and warm them up in the bathtub. I (Kayla) remember as a kid we had a small Jersey that got to live in the bathroom for a couple of days after we got her warmed up. Describe one winter health challenge that you overcame in your calves. Pneumonia has always been a struggle for us, especially when the temperatures have a big swing. Like I said before, we’ve been working closely with our vet and have revamped our tunnel ventilation in the calf barn and added some vaccines to our protocol. We have had good success by doing so. Tell us about your farm. We have a family farm my parents started, and both myself and two brothers are partners in the farm. We milk cows in our double-8 herringbone parlor with automatic takeoffs. The cows walk down from our 6-row barn where they have sand-bedded stalls. We feed a TMR mix and have a robotic feed pusher so they always have access to feed. We also run just shy of 3,000 acres. We are always looking at ways to improve our operation, and the cows will be getting some automatic brushes installed soon.
Brothers Jamin (not pictured) and Adrian Aho Adrian is pictured with his wife, Tamra, and children Lane, Wes, Lars and Rykynn J&A Dairy Frazee, Minnesota Becker County 500 cows Describe your calf facilities. The calves are born in a straw pen and moved immediately to individual Calf-Tel calf pens in a hoop barn. Calves are bucket fed with pasteurized whole milk using the Milk Shuttle from Urban. After three to four weeks, they are moved to another hoop barn and penned with nine calves. They are fed milk replacer with a mob feeder until weaning. Calves are bedded two to three times per week at both locations, along with the maternity pen. What is your calf care protocol immediately after a calf is born? The calf is fed 3 quarts pasteurized colostrum, t with a calf jacket and moved to its individual pen. The new Amish Thinsulate calf jackets are a worthy investment. Our colostrum pasteurizer/warmer has also been a great investment. How do you adapt your calf care management for cold weather? Bedding is No. 1. Long straw for deep bedding. Make sure calves are equipped with jackets to keep core body heat and preserve energy. Timely feeding. Making sure the calf feeder says a prayer for patience and is also dressed properly to do the job correctly. Tell us your best winter calf survival story. The best calf survival stories are the ones where the calf is born where it’s supposed to be born, in the maternity pen, clean and dry. Describe one winter health challenge that you overcame in your calves. Pneumonia. It was overcome by the addition of a new calf barn with good ventilation, upgraded ventilation at the existing barn, proper bedding, early treatment of sickness in calves showing symptoms and vaccinations with Inforce 3. Tell us about your farm. We are fourth-generation farmers with our wives and children. We milk 500 Holstein cows and farm 1,500 acres of land. Our dad, Reino, and two uncles, Raymond and Harry, are involved with the crops. We milk two times per day and employ part-time help from neighbor kids.
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Jared Brouwer Castlewood, South Dakota Hamlin County 550 cows Describe your calf facilities. Shortly after they are born, the calves go straight to individual hutches where they will stay until they are weaned at about 9 weeks of age. After weaning, they are taken to our calf barn and put into group pens that hold eight or nine head. What is your calf care protocol immediately after a calf is born? Our calves are born in a maternity pen that has a deep bedding pack. We dip their navels in iodine and make sure that they get 2 to 3 quarts of high quality colostrum. They are all given ear tags and administered a handful of vaccines. How do you adapt your calf care management for cold weather? We put calf coats on our calves for the rst 2 to 3 weeks of their lives and feed them a winter formulation of milk replacer that contains a higher level of fat. We also bump up the volume of milk replacer we feed the calves and make sure their hutches always have plenty of clean, dry bedding. Tell us your best winter calf survival story. Each fall, we move our calf hutches to a spot that’s better for the wintertime. Even so, we will sometimes get a blizzard that will ll the openings of some of our hutches with snow. We will call up our kids, give each of them a shovel and tell them to dig until they nd a calf. Our three kids enjoy helping out all around the farm. Describe one winter health challenge that you overcame in your calves. How did you manage it? We often have to deal with respiratory problems in our young calves. We usually go to pharmaceutical options to help manage this issue. Tell us about your farm. This is very much a family operation. I farm with my brother-in-law, Jeff TeKrony, and his family. I joined the operation about 10 years ago and am now in charge of calf care. We have a great crew of employees who do our twicea-day milkings. We grow our own feed. We also raise our replacement animals and feed out all of our steers. Our plan is to keep on improving our operation and strive to become more efcient.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 17
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Page 18 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
Breeding Focus
Bred & Butter Dairy emphasizes genetics to improve herd potential
Bred & Butter Dairy LLC Greg Sabolik Kensington, Minnesota 500 cows
and any trait that increases her level of orneriness. I don’t like cranky cows. Describe the ideal cow for your herd. The ideal cow is one I see outside the parlor three times per year. Once at calving, once at breeding and once at dry off. If she can come to work every day and not need any extra attention, she will be protable.
Describe your facilities and list your breeding management team. We have a 500-cow sand-bedded freestall that has grown in three stages. We have one key employee, Tony, primarily dedicated to reproduction while a few others dedicate a small amount of time to it as well. What is your reproduction program? Do you use a synchronization program? How do you get animals pregnant? We use a combination of ovsynch, double ovsynch and activity monitors. We use the protocols and then listen to what the cow is telling us based off the monitor data. It has been very effective. What guidelines do you follow to reach the goals for your breeding program? We stick to the basics by making sure she is in good health, well fed and under the least amount of stress as possible.
What role does genetics have in reaching the goals of your farm? We have placed more emphasis on genetics and have started to genomic test every animal. We’re hoping this will escalate the improvements in our genetic potential over the coming years. DANNA SABOLIK/DAIRY STAR
Tony (leŌ) and Greg Sabolik manage the breeding on Sabolik’s family’s farm, Bred & BuƩer Dairy LLC, near Kensington, Minnesota. Tony is the head breeder on the 500-cow dairy. If all those are accounted for, the reproduction will fall into place. What are the top traits you look for in breeding your
dairy herd and how has this changed since you started farming? I never have put that much emphasis on traits. I typically fall back to net merit if I had to choose one specic
thing. What are certain traits you try to avoid? We avoid any trait that will drastically reduce the physical size of my cows
What percentage of your herd is bred to sexed, conventional and beef semen? We use sexed semen on our females with the highest genetic potential. We try to manage that usage to produce a heifer rate of about 75% of our herd. We don’t want any more heifers than we Turn to SABOLIK | Page 20
Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 19
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Page 20 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
ConƟnued from SABOLIK | Page 18 need, so we aim to get the right amount to keep our herd productive and healthy. All other cows get bred to beef semen or implanted with Angus embryos. What is your conception rate? How does this differ with different types of semen? Our conception rate on sexed is 61% and is 56% for beef semen. We haven’t had nearly as good of results implanting embryos but are in the learning stages of that. What is the greatest lesson you have learned through your breeding program? It’s important to utilize all technology available and become an
What is the age of your heifers at rst service? We target a 13.5-to-14-month age for our rst service on heifers. How does your heifer inventory affect your breeding program? We try to produce a 75% heifer rate. We don’t want any more than we need.
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Equipment and pictures added daily • Go to www.mmcjd.com AIR DRILLS & SEEDERS 14 JD 1990, 2018, Width: 42, Spacing: 15”, #179654 .................................................. $90,900 DISKS 10 JD 235, 21 ft, 3-Section Folding, Spacing: 9”, 178330 ...............................................$8,900 10 JD 2620, 2016, 26 ft, 3-Section Folding, Spacing: 9”, 175512 ............................... $34,500 7 JD 637, 2011, 45 ft, 5-Section Folding, Spacing: 9”, 166177.................................. $34,900 15 Sunflower 1550-50, 49 ft, 5-Section Folding, 172168 ....................................... $38,400 FIELD CULTIVATORS 14 JD 960, 1989, 42 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, 165959 .........................................$6,900 15 Case IH 4300, 45.5 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, 176927................................. $10,400 2 JD 980, 1996, 38 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, 179443 ...................................... $12,900 4 JD 980, 1996, 44 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, 169542 ...................................... $13,900 14 Elmers 6400, 1991, 41 ft, 3-Section Folding, S-Tine, 178092 .............................. $14,900 15 JD 2210, 2005, 34 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, 179755 ................................... $25,900 10 Sunflower 5035, 2016, 24 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, 177191 ................... $28,900 5 JD 2210, 2010, 45.5 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, 178291 ................................ $33,400 2 JD 2210, 2012, 32 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #173629 ................................. $35,900 16 JD 2210, 2011, 45.5 ft, 3-Section Folding, C-Shank, #179192 .............................. $39,900 7 Case IH 200, 2011, 50 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #178082 .......................... $43,500 5 JD 2210, 2009, 55.5 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #175257 .............................. $45,000 14 Case IH 200, 2014, 60 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #176029 .......................... $47,500 7 Case IH 200, 2012, 55 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #178072 ......................... $47,900 17 JD 2210, 2011, 60 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #168037 ................................. $49,400 4 JD 2230FH, 2019, 44 ft, 5-Section Folding, C-Shank, #177180 ............................ $97,900 HEAVY HARROWS 3 Summers Superharrow, 2011, #176832 .......................................................... $22,900 LARGE SQUARE BALERS 2 JD L330, 2016, 7000 bales, #179376 ...................................................................... $89,900 MOWER CONDITIONERS 7 New Idea 5212, 1992, #177618 ..............................................................................$5,650 11 JD 956, 2008, #179757 ............................................................................................ $12,400 7 JD 635, 2009, #173285 ............................................................................................ $16,500 17 Hesston 1372, 2010, #178648 .............................................................................. $17,400 6 JD 946, 2010, #179286 ............................................................................................ $18,500 8 New Holland H7550, 2014, #167351 ................................................................. $19,900 10 New Holland H7230, 2015, #176984 ................................................................. $22,400 10 JD 635, 2017, #166698 ............................................................................................ $22,900 10 JD 956, 2010, #172718 ............................................................................................ $24,900 11 JD 956, 2016, #177925 ............................................................................................ $28,900 MULCH FINISHERS 9 Glencoe SF4300, 22 ft, 3-Section Folding, #172068...............................................$5,600 6 Sunflower 6331, 32 ft, 3-Section Folding, #174316...............................................$5,900 2 JD 724, 1990, 20 ft, 3-Section Folding, #174088 .......................................................$8,500 PLANTERS 10 JD 1750, 1996, 6R30”, Rigid, Vacuum, 1.6 Bushel hopper, #179650...................... $13,000 4 JD 1750, 1997, 6R30”, Rigid, Vacuum, 1.6 Bushel hopper, #176829 .................... $13,900
4 JD 1750, 2000, 6R30”, Rigid, Vacuum, 3.0 Bushel Hopper, #176783 ..................... $16,900 14 Wil-Rich PT2200, 2005, 24R22”, Wing Fold, Vacuum, 3.0 Bushel Hopper, #177551, ..................................................................................... $39,900 7 JD 1790, 2008, 16/32 Row 15/30”, Flex Fold,Vacuum, Central Fill System, #179686 ...................................................................................... $65,900 8 JD 1770NT, 2013, 16R30”, Flex Fold, Vacuum, 3.0 Bushel Hopper, Row Command, #177779........................................................................................... $75,900 2 JD 1775NT, 2019, 16R30”, Flex Fold, Central Fill System, Row Command, Electric Drive, #174754 .............................................................................................$149,500 5 JD DB44, 2013, 24R22”, Flex Fold, Vacuum, Central Fill System, Row Command, #179347.........................................................................................$159,900 16 JD DB66, 2017, 36R22”, Wing Fold, Exact Emerge, Central Fill System, Row Command, Electric Drive, #175194 ..................................................................$349,500 14 JD DB66, 2019, 36R22”, Wing Fold, Exact Emerge, Central Fill System, Row Command, Electric Drive, #179655 ..................................................................$399,400 14 JD 7300, 1995, 12R30”, Wing Fold, Vacuum, 1.6 Bushel Hopper, #179656 ........... $11,500 3 JD 7300, 1992, 12R30”, Wing Fold, Vacuum, 1.6 Bushel Hopper, #175563........... $11,900 15 JD 1710, 24R22”, Wing Fold, Vacuum, 3.0 Bushel Hopper, #168140..................... $19,900 8 JD 1720 CCS, 2012, 16R30”, Wing Fold, Vacuum, Central Fill System, Row Command, #176499........................................................................................... $65,900 PULL-TYPE SPRAYERS 1 Hardi NAV550, 2005, #179504............................................................................. $10,400 9 Demco Conquest, #178381 .................................................................................. $11,500 14 Redball 132’ walking tandems, #176938...................................................... $14,900 10 Hardi Navigator 1000, 2007, #169543 .............................................................. $15,000 16 Hardi CM4400, 2008, #178288 ............................................................................. $19,900 7 Fast 9508, 2008, #169075 ...................................................................................... $23,900 3 Hardi Navigator 4000, 2013, #179001 ............................................................. $24,000 15 Top Air TA1600, 2015, #177863 ............................................................................ $38,400 3 Top Air TA2400, 2011, #179435 ........................................................................... $44,900 ROUND BALERS 2 NH 664, 1998, Twine, 540 pto, 5’ bale, #171161 ........................................................$4,950 1 Challenger RB46, 2003, Twine, 1000 pto, 4’ bale, 1238 bales, #178031...............$8,500 11 New Holland BR780, 2003, Regular, Twine, 540 pto, 5’ bale, #169873 ................$9,900 4 JD 558, 2009, Mega Wide, Surface Wrap, 5’ bales, 11000 Bales, #176828............. $12,900 6 JD 567, 2002, Mega Wide, Twine, 540 pto, 5’ bales, 8312 bales, #179041 ............ $13,400 4 NH Rollbelt 450, 2011, Pickup Twine Only, 540 pto, 4’ bales, 1200 Bale Count, #173712 ......................................................................................... $17,000 2 NH BR7070, 2008, Mega Wide, Twine and Surface Wrap, 540 pto, 4’ bale, Precut Knives, 7890 Bales, #175751........................................................................... $19,900 10 JD 459 Silage Special, 2014, Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, 540 pto, 4’ bales, 15900 bales, #178525 .................................................................... $19,900 6 NH Rollbelt 460, 2015, Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, 540 pto, 4’ bale, 9000 bales, #178946 ...................................................................................... $20,900 10 JD 569, 2013, Mega Wide, Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 5’ bale, 19368 bales, #177245 ................................................................................................ $21,500
Visit one of our 17 locations in Central Minnesota! (1) = GLENCOE 4561 Hwy. 212
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2 NH BR7060, 2011, Mega Wide, Surface Wrap Only, 540 pto, 4’ bales, Precut Knives, 7300 bales, #169262........................................................................... $23,900 12 JD 469, 2015, Mega Wide, Twine Only, 540 pto, 4’ bales, 8060 bales, #175511 ... $23,900 5 JD 568, 2008, Mega Wide, Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 5’ bales, 13500 bales, #176786 ....................................................................................................23900 17 JD 569, 2014, Mega Wide, Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 5’ bales, 15560 Bales, #179194 ................................................................................................ $25,900 8 JD 569, 2016, Mega Wide, Surface Wrap Only, 1000 pto, 5’ bale, 8352 bales, #176841 ......................................................................................................26400 10 JD 469 Silage Special, 2013, Mega Wide, Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 4’ bales, 7928 bales, #177623 ........................................................................................28900 4 JD 459, 2014, Mega Wide, Twine and Surface Wrap, 540 pto, 4’ bale, 3600 bales, #177752 .................................................................................................. $29,400 6 JD 569 Silage Special, 2013, Mega Wide, Surface Wrap Only, 1000 pto, 5’ bales, 9540 bales, #177861 .................................................................................... $29,400 5 JD 569, 2013, Mega Wide, Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 5’ bales, 8000 bales, #172972 .................................................................................................. $30,900 6 Claas 480RC, 2017, Mega Wide, Surface Wrap Only, 540 pto, 4’ bales, Precut Knives, 5165 bales, #179187........................................................................... $31,500 10 New Holland Rollbelt 460, 2015, Mega Wide, Twine and Surface Wrap, 540 pto, 4’ bales, Precut Knives, 4553 bales, #178211 .............................................. $33,500 9 JD 450M, 2019, Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, 540 pto, 4’ bales, 1045 bales, #177758 .................................................................................................. $34,500 6 JD 459 Silage Special, 2017, Mega Wide, Surface Wrap, 4’ bales, 3800 bales, #177855 ...................................................................................................................... $35,900 4 JD 468, 2011, Mega Wide, Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 4’ bales, 2972 bales, #175425 ................................................................................................. $36,400 2 JD 469 Silage Special, 2016, Mega Wide, Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 4’ bale, 4900 bales, #177354 ..................................................................... $36,900 2 JD 569, 2015, Mega Wide, Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 5’ bales, 7222 bales, #179148 .................................................................................................. $37,500 2 JD 569, 2012, Mega Wide, Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 5’ bale, 3300 bales, #173254 .................................................................................................. $38,400 8 JD 560M, 2018, Mega Wide, Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 5’ bales, 4251 bales, #177359 .................................................................................................. $41,400 10 JD 569 Silage Special, 2015, Mega Wide, Twine and Surface Wrap, 540 pto, 5’ bales, 3300 Bales, #178210 ...................................................................... $41,500 6 JD 560M, 2019, Mega Wide, Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 5’ bales, 7200 bales, #179188 ...................................................................................................................... $42,400 6 JD 460M, 2018, Mega Wide, Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 4’ bales, 5985 bales, #164359 .................................................................................................. $43,900 4 JD 560M, 2019, Mega Wide, Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 5’ bales, 2100 bales, #179000 .................................................................................................. $45,500 10 JD 560M, 2019, Mega Wide, Twine and Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 5’ bales, 2400 bales, #179138 .................................................................................................. $45,900 6 JD V461R, 2019, Mega Wide, Surface Wrap, 1000 pto, 4’ bales, #17910............... $69,400
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(10) = LITTLE FALLS (13) = BAXTER (11) = WADENA 62505 US Hwy. 10
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(14) = ELBOW LAKE
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110 2nd St. NE
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SEE OUR COMPLETE INVENTORY WITH PICTURES AND DESCRIPTIONS AT: www.mmcjd.com
Page 22 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
DAIRYSTAR.COM
KNOW WHERE TO GO FOR YOUR DAIRY NEWS
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Contact one of the following dealers to learn more: IOWA Prairie Land Ag Supply Inc. Rock Valley, IA 712-476-9290 United Dairy Systems, Inc. West Union, IA 563-422-5355 WISCONSIN Advanced Dairy/Bob’s Dairy Supply Spring Valley, WI 715-772-3201 Ederer Dairy Supply Plain, WI 608-546-3713 DeLaval Dairy Service Kaukauna, WI 866-335-2825
Dougherty shares tips on soil, nutrient management
Joe’s Refrigeration Inc. Withee, WI 715-229-2321 Mlsna Dairy Supply Inc. Cashton, WI 608-654-5106 Professional Dairy Services Arlington, WI 608-635-0267 Redeker Dairy Equipment Brandon, WI 920-346-5579 The Scharine Group Inc. Whitewater, WI 800 472-2880 Mt Horeb, WI 800-872-3470
MINNESOTA & SOUTH DAKOTA D&D Ag Supply Pennock, MN 320-599-4466 East Central Dairy Supply Mora, MN 320-679-1029 Farm Systems Melrose, MN 320-256-3276 Watertown, SD 605-886-7401 Sioux Falls, SD 800-284-0015 S&S Dairy System LLC St. Charles, MN 507-932-4288 Professional Dairy Systems Wadena, MN 218-632-5416
is a registered trademark of Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A. and “DeLaval” is a registered trade/servicemark of DeLaval Holding AB © 2021 DeLaval Inc. DeLaval, 11100 North Congress Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri 64153-1296. Data collected at test and pilot farms. Results will vary from dairy to dairy. Nothing in this document shall constitute a warranty or guaranty of performance. www.delaval.com
Liquid gold or waste product. Depending on your point of view, manure can be either. Brian Dougherty, eld agricultural engineer with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, sees it as the former. Dougherty presented how to make the most of manure nutrients as part of Iowa State University’s Virtual Dairy Day 2021. He covered manure economics and nutrient management, stressing the importance of individualized programs for manure management. “When it’s compared to other nutrient sources, manure is a high-density product of nutrients for elds,” Dougherty said. Calculating the nutrient value of manure depends on many factors, but from a typical manure slurry, Dougherty found an average 1,000-gallon sample of manure contained 10% nitrogen, 25% phosphorus pentoxide and 40% potassium oxide. “That’s $25 per a thousand gallons,” Dougherty said. “And that’s not counting the additional value in organic matter and micronutrients.” To make the most of manure nutrients, Dougherty outlined three goals: reduce pathways for nutrient loss; apply manure at a consistent rate at the right time; and recoup your investment. To reduce pathways for nutrient loss, an important step to consider is denitrication or the converting of nitrogen in the soil to nitrogen gas. “This (denitrication) can be done by improving drainage and preventing soil from becoming anaerobic,” Dougherty said. “It’s also important to note the volatilization or ammonium to ammonium gas on the surface of the soil.” Water contamination is also an area of concern, either through leaching or surface runoff. Another challenge when applying manure is the rate of application to maintain consistency. Dougherty suggested keeping equipment calibrated and maintained to get the best bang for your buck. “Avoid early fall application or plant a cover crop to avoid nutrient loss over winter,” Dougherty said. “Also, keep in mind you already paid for that manure as soon as the feed truck came in your driveway.” To make the most of manure investment, Dougherty encouraged taking credit for other legumes and not overapplying nitrogen. “It’s best to take samples to know what you’re working with – from both the soil and the manure,” Dougherty said. From there, a grower can prioritize application locations and amounts. “Cover crop can capture nutrients and work really well with manure,” Dougherty said. “(Cover crops) encourage better soil cycling if managed properly, and we’ve seen in the data, it can bring back a lot of benets year after year.” Treating manure like a valuable asset encourages lower fertilizer costs, better land management and healthier crops, Dougherty said. “If you’re thinking about getting started on cover crops, try it on easy acres like corn silage,” Dougherty said. “Start with a simple mix and seed early so the crop can become established before winter.” He also suggested watching carbon to nitrogen rations in manure when working with a cover crop as differing amounts will affect crops differently. “If you manage your manure like fertilizer and your cover crop like a cash crop, this model will lead you to success,” Dougherty said.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 23
Farmers share their heart for dairy HEART
HEART
DAIRY
DAIRY
Dan Menth
Dan & Brenda Citterman Dan Menth (leŌ), with employee Tony Ertl, milks 83 cows in Carver County near New Germany, Minnesota.
How many years have you been dairy farming? I grew up on the farm but ofcially took over in 1994. Tell us about your farm. Growing up we had a farm across the road but my dad, Eldert “Fuzzy” Menth, bought this place from his dad when I was a kid in 1969. I took over in 1994 and put up a new heifer shed and bin. I am milking 83 cows and raise everything here except Holstein bulls. I have full-time hired help, Tony Ertl, who helps me every day. He grew up on a dairy and has been doing this all his life. We get along like brothers. I also have help with fall eldwork because I could not do this on my own. I run about 600 acres of corn, soybeans, alfalfa and oats. Tell us about your family. I’m not married. My brother, Bob, was farming with me full time until ve years ago when he retired. He helps with eldwork. What has been the highlight of your dairying career? I haven’t once regretted my choice to stick with farming. I love being my own boss and wouldn’t want to do anything else. What do you love about dairy farming? I love working with the animals and being with the cows every day. I also like being able to be outside in the country and not be stuck in a building all day long. What has been the biggest obstacle you have faced in your dairying career and how did you overcome it? I had back surgery last January and couldn’t be in the barn for over two months. In August 2019, I had some bad back issues and couldn’t x it with cortisone shots or therapy so the doctor recommended surgery. My fourth lumbar was deteriorated, and he told me if I put it off in another year, I wouldn’t be able to walk. It had gotten so bad I couldn’t even sit in a tractor for fall eldwork. I knew I’d have reliable help with Tony and a few other relief milkers, so I went through with it. It’s been like a miracle since. I’ve had no issues postrecovery. I’m very thankful I overcame it. If you don’t have your health, you can’t face other problems that come up. What has been the best decision you have made on your farm? I breed Angus to all my rst-calf heifers. I decided to do that about 15 years ago. I’m happy with that decision, because I can raise my own beef instead of buy them. I have a strong herd with my Holstein genetics, and the Angus genetics help me get a different animal. I have plenty of replacements, and it works well for me. Who has been an inspiration to you during your dairying career? My dad is my biggest inspiration. He’s the one who taught me everything I know about dairy farming. He passed away seven years ago this March, and we all miss him on his four-wheeler checking elds and making sure chores are done around the yard. He helped me make a lot of big decisions and was a mentor to me. I always asked his advice before doing something. I didn’t always take his advice, but I made sure to ask.
Brenda and Dan CiƩerman, pictured with granddaughter Sophie Walker, milk 100 cows in Lincoln County near Canby, Minnesota.
How many years have you been dairy farming? We have been dairy farming for 31 years. Dan ofcially took over from his dad in 1990. Tell us about your farm. This farm has been in the Citterman family since it was purchased from the railroad in 1887. When I was a kid, we milked with standing buckets. It was a big deal when we got a pipeline. We used to store our forages in upright silos, but now we use silage bags, which means that we have unlimited storage capacity. The genetics of our herd has also improved greatly over the years. Tell us about your family. Brenda and Dan got married in 1985. In addition to working on the farm, Brenda is a pharmacy tech, a CNA and a paramedic. We farm with our son, Bob, and his wife, Sarah. Bob and Sarah have three sons, Jacob, 2, Jackson, 4, and Jason, 6. Our oldest daughter, Becky Paluch, and her husband, Brandon, and their family are also part of the operation. What has been the highlight of your dairying career? That would be when Bob decided he wanted to farm and joined the operation. It’s wonderful to know our family’s dairy farming tradition will be carried forward by the next generation. What do you love about dairy farming? When we are milking, we’re spending time with our family. The camaraderie we share is nice. If there’s a problem, we will all gure it out together. What has been the biggest obstacle you have faced in your dairying career and how did you overcome it? Dan caught COVID-19 in September and is dealing with the aftereffects. Dan was hospitalized ve times, including three times in Sioux Falls. He was on supplemental oxygen until just a short time ago. During a recent doctor’s appointment, the pulmonologist said he hadn’t thought that Dan would make it. Last fall when Dan was sick, neighbors and family pitched in to help get our crops harvested and complete the fall tillage. Becky and Brandon combined corn all night, then went to their jobs in the morning. It brought home how important family and community are to us. What has been the best decision you have made on your farm? One of our best decisions was buying our skidloader with the tracks on it. That thing has helped us get through a lot of mud. Who has been an inspiration to you during your dairying career? Dan’s dad, Norbert, was Dan’s biggest inspiration. Norbert was Dan’s best friend for 63 years, until he passed away two years ago. Norbert loved to drive the skidloader. We would sit on buckets and visit for a while, then Norbert would climb into the skidloader and go feed the dry cows and do any other small tasks that needed to be done. He really enjoyed the cattle and working with his family and watching his grandkids grow up on our farm.
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Page 24 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 25
HEART
HEART
DAIRY
DAIRY
Darwin & Barb Kasper
Scott & Dawn Kasper Sco� and Dawn Kasper milk 240 cows in Steele County near Medford, Minnesota.
Darwin and Barb Kasper milk 240 cows in Steele County near Medford, Minnesota.
How many years have you been dairy farming? 35 years (Scott) and 33 years (Dawn). Tell us about your farm. This farm has been in the Kasper family since 1898. I (Scott) worked off the farm during high school but helped when I could. I made dairy farming my career in 1985 when I joined my parents, Darwin and Barb. Dawn joined us after we got married in 1988. In 1995, we gutted the barn and put in a double-8 parallel Germania parlor, holding area and maternity pens along with an ofce and utility room. We also built a 240-cow freestall barn at the same time along with transitioning from silos to bunkers for feed. We have built something almost every year. Our son, Patrick, now farms with us too. Tell us about your family. We have two boys. Patrick farms with us full time, and Derrick has a full-time job off the farm but helps when he can. What has been the highlight of your dairying career? Scott: Being able to work with family and still being able to get along well. I have especially liked mentoring my two boys and helping them become who they are today. Dawn: Even though we miss out sometimes on vacations or being able to take weekends off, we compensate by doing things in between chores or after milking. In the summer, we like to load up the boat and go to the lake after nishing evening milking. What do you love about dairy farming? We like having the variety and the freedom to do our work how we want as a dairy farmer. What has been the biggest obstacle you have faced in your dairying career and how did you overcome it? Other than the milk price, our biggest obstacle was when we expanded the milking herd in 1995. We seemed to be bottlenecked in other areas of the farm since those areas had not been expanded yet. To overcome this problem, we had to upgrade to larger equipment, more heifer builds and a larger manure storage area with efciency in mind. What has been the best decision you have made on your farm? In 1995, when we expanded, we either had to expand or get out. We could not keep going in the tiestall barn. Beyond that, we don’t think any one decision stands out more than the next. Everyone involved in the farm throws in their input. From there, we agree on the best plan and move forward. Who has been an inspiration to you during your dairying career? Scott: If it was not for my dad, we would probably not be dairy farming. I don’t think anyone wakes up one morning and says I want to be a dairy farmer. It is something you are groomed for from working together with someone. Dawn: We watched Barb and Darwin, and learned how to work together. Discussions might get heated, but we learned to work through it. And we can still laugh together after it. We also have other dairy farming friends we nd inspirational.
How many years have you been dairy farming? 60 years (Darwin) and 59 years (Barb). Tell us about your farm. This farm has been in our family since 1898. My (Darwin) greatgrandpa, grandpa and dad all farmed here before me. I started farming when I graduated from high school in 1961. Barb joined me when we got married in 1962. We bought the farmsite from my dad in 1964. Now we farm here together with our son and daughter-inlaw, Scott and Dawn, along with their son, Patrick. The barn was built in 1958 and was a one-story tiestall barn that held 86 cows. In 1995, we gutted the barn and put in a double-8 parallel Germania parlor, holding area and maternity pens along with an ofce and utility room. We also built a 240-cow freestall barn at the same time along with transitioning from silos to bunkers for feed. We have built something almost every year. Tell us about your family. We have four sons. Our son, Scott, and his wife, Dawn, farm with us. What has been the highlight of your dairying career? Darwin: Having our kids in 4-H and watching them show. We also sold a bull, Kashome Bell Jurist, to a bull stud in the early 1980s. We gave tours of our farm to people from all over the world to come see his daughters. Barb: We also enjoyed going to meetings and seeing other dairy farmers at those meetings. We had a lot of friends all over the country. What do you love about dairy farming? We love working with our family. We also were lucky to work with and be friends with so many other dairy farm families from dairy industry boards. We liked to be involved. Plus, we sold cattle across the country and to other countries. What has been the biggest obstacle you have faced in your dairying career and how did you overcome it? Barb: We have to be efcient to make enough money for all our families to be able to pay bills. We are constantly working on how to make the farm more efcient. The upkeep of the farm to make it presentable while giving tours was also a lot of extra work I did. It was a working farm, but we liked and expected it to look nice. It took years. Darwin: Transitioning to the next generation has also been a big project to take on. We have been working on it for the last 10 years and it is not done yet. What has been the best decision you have made on your farm? We have made a lot of good decisions to keep the farm efcient and be able to make money. It was not just one decision. Who has been an inspiration to you during your dairying career? There is not just one person who was inspirational. We had interactions and friendships with so many other dairy farmers. They all inspired us. Darwin’s dad was also an inspiration. He had registered Holsteins and is part of the reason why we loved the registered business so much.
How many years have you been dairy farming? I grew up in it. I’ve been dairying all my life and became the primary operator about 10 years ago. Tell us about your farm. Grandpa was milking here in the early 1940s, and my dad was born in 1948. We had stanchions at that time. There was a big change in 1963 when Jeff Dresser milks 170 cows in Lee County near Keokuk, Iowa. we borrowed money to build a parlor. My grandparents built it themselves out of cement blocks and also built the house on the farm where my parents live. We went from 14 cows to 50 at that time. Then in 1986, we updated and went to 70 cows. In 1998, we built the freestall barn to house 140 cows and bought our cousins’ herd, and they came to work for us along with those cows. We also bought 300 acres of land from two neighbors’ farms. Now it’s about all we can handle with the manpower we have. But we’ve upgraded the parlor from a double-5 to a double-6 parabone, which knocked off 45 minutes from milking time. It’s interesting that we’ve been doing this long enough that only one building from the original farm is still here. Tell us about your family. My wife, Barbara, and I are here with a son, Cody, and a grandson. We have a younger son, Dalton, here at home as well. My parents are Raymond and Sandy. What has been the highlight of your dairying career? I guess I’m just proud of the years we’ve been doing this and the progress we’ve made. What do you love about dairy farming? I love cows. It’s a good spot to have your family. Some days I call it therapy. Those are days I like being with the cows instead of people. What has been the biggest obstacle you have faced in your dairying career and how did you overcome it? It can be challenging to work with family, and the volatility of milk prices isn’t any fun. But you just do what you need to do. Also, getting good help is difcult; we’re fortunate to have really good help now. What has been the best decision you have made on your farm? Completely overhauling the milkhouse 12 years ago. And since the beginning of this year, we are using the CowManager system for our health alerts. Who has been an inspiration to you during your dairying career? It’s all the dairy farmers I’ve communicated with. Being on the Prairie Farms board, there are dairy farmers now serving and some who have retired. If I have an issue that comes up, I can call them to throw around ideas.
How many years have you been dairy farming? Marvin and I have been married for 50 years, and I grew up on a dairy farm. Tell us about your farm. We have 90 registered Holstein Peggy cows and 50 beef cows. We sell Pearson Holstein breeding Peggy Pearson milks 90 cows in stock and bulls and St. Louis County near Angora, feed out our Holstein Minnesota. steers to sell locally. Our beef calves are sold as feeders. We farm 1,300 acres of owned and rented land growing 200 acres of oat and barley. We harvest 1,000 acres of red clover, alfalfa, Birdsfoot trefoil and grass hay put up as haylage, baleage, large round and small square bales. We sell a lot of horse hay and hay for feeding deer. We grew from 40 dairy cows to 90, added beef cows and fed steers and expanded cropland by many rented acres. Tell us about your family. Our son and daughter-in-law have taken over most of the farm, but I milk every morning, do the books and rake most of the hay. Jeff and Lisha’s three daughters help on the farm. We also have two daughters, Rachel and Amy, and three more granddaughters and a grandson. Our grandson helps on the farm. We also have a longtime employee who is part of the family What has been the highlight of your dairying career? Being named the St. Louis County Farm Family of the Year, the Minnesota Holstein Longtime Meritorious Service award and the Purebred Dairy Cattle Association Holstein Breeder of the Year award. What do you love about dairy farming? Working with family, working outside and the cows. What has been the biggest obstacle you have faced in your dairying career and how did you overcome it? The farm crisis of the 1980s. We worked hard and diversied to move on. What has been the best decision you have made on your farm? Developing a high-type herd of registered Holsteins, Rice-River Holsteins. Another good decision was purchasing an individual bale wrapper. It helps in making quality hay when we have so many acres to cover. Who has been an inspiration to you during your dairying career? Our family and the friends we have made belonging to the Minnesota Holstein Association.
HEART
DAIRY Jeff Dresser
HEART
DAIRY
Page 26 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
Disaster assistance available for livestock losses By Steve Frericks
County Executive Director Stearns County FSA Office
With the extreme cold weather upon us, the Farm Service Agency would like to remind producers of options available for livestock producers. If you have lost livestock as a direct result of the extreme cold conditions we have experienced, please review the article below and contact your local FSA ofce. The Livestock Indemnity Program provides assistance for livestock deaths in excess of normal mortality caused by adverse weather, disease and attacks by animals reintroduced into the wild by the federal government or protected by federal law. For disease losses, FSA county committees can accept veterinarian certications that livestock deaths were directly related to adverse weather and unpreventable through good animal husbandry and management. For 2021 livestock losses, you must le a notice within 30 calendar days of when the loss is rst apparent. You then must provide the following supporting documentation to your local FSA ofce no later than 60 calendar days after the end of the calendar year in which the eligible loss condition occurred. – Proof of death documentation, copy of grower’s contracts and proof of normal mortality documentation. The United States Department of Agriculture has established normal mortality rates for each type and weight range of eligible livestock, i.e. adult beef cow = 1.5% and non-adult beef cattle (less than 250 pounds) = 3%. These established percentages reect losses that are considered expected or typical under normal conditions. In addition to ling a notice of loss, you must also submit an application for payment. For more information, contact your local FSA ofce or visit the FSA LIP fact sheet: https://www.fsa.usda. gov/Assets/USDA-FSA-Public/usdafiles/FactSheets/ livestock_indemnity_program_lip-fact_sheet.pdf. USDA offers secure options for signing, sharing documents online Farmers and ranchers working with FSA or Natural Resources Conservation Service can now sign and share documents online in just a few clicks. By using Box or OneSpan, producers can digitally complete business transactions without leaving their homes or agricultural operations. Both services are free, secure and available for multiple FSA and NRCS programs. Box is a secure, cloud-based site where FSA or NRCS documents can be managed and shared. Producers who choose to use Box can create a username and password to access their secure Box account, where documents can be downloaded, printed, manually signed, scanned, uploaded and shared digitally with staff. This service is available to any FSA or NRCS customer with access to a mobile device or computer with printer connectivity. OneSpan is a secure eSignature solution for FSA and NRCS customers. Like Box, no software downloads or eAuthentication is required for OneSpan. Instead, producers interested in eSignature through OneSpan can conrm their identity through two-factor authentication using a verication code sent to their mobile device or a personalized question and answer. Once identity is conrmed, documents can be reviewed and e-signed through OneSpan via the producer’s email address. Signed documents immediately become available to the appropriate Service Center staff. Box and OneSpan are both optional services for customers interested in improved efciency in signing and sharing documents with USDA, and they do not replace existing systems using eAuthentication for digital signature. Instead, these tools provide additional digital options for producers to use when conducting business with FSA or NRCS. USDA Service Center staff are available to help producers get started with Box and OneSpan through a few simple steps. Visit www.farmers.gov/servicelocator to nd your local ofce and let staff know you are interested in signing and sharing documents through these new features. In most cases, one quick phone call will be all that is needed to initiate the process. Visit www.farmers.gov/mydocs to learn more about Box and OneSpan, steps for getting started and additional resources for conducting business with USDA online. To learn more about program exibilities and Service Center status during the coronavirus pandemic, visit www.farmers.gov/coronavirus.
Connecting with consumers to share our dairy story Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 27
One of my favorite things about being a farmer is sharing our story. I love people, our community and helping others understand how our farm works and how we help get food to people’s tables. This passion has opened doors for me to connect with consumers to share the sustainable nutrition story of dairy, and I encourage fellow farmers to do the same. I grew up on a Minnesota hog farm and then started dairy farming with my husband, who is a third-generation dairy farmer. When I rst joined the dairy community, I was not sure about the best way to get involved. I quickly discovered that Midwest Dairy supports several programs to help nd By Angie Tauer the right volunteer opportunities Dairy farmer for connecting with consumers. People – both kids and adults – are genuinely curious to learn more about where their food comes and how farm animals are treated. As farmers who live and breathe this lifestyle every day, we are in the perfect position to share our rsthand accounts. Plus, we know research has shown consumers have a high level of trust in farmers and the information we share. We need to keep telling our stories so that trust extends to our products and the broader ag community. Here are three ways I have helped share dairy’s story. I hope they inspire you to nd ways to get involved. Discover Dairy’s Adopt-A-Cow: We participated in the Adopt-A-Cow program in 2018 and are doing it again this year. This program was created to provide educators and students with a free, year-long virtual experience where they can care for a calf and interact with a dairy farmer. During the 2020-21 school year, 250,183 students are engaged and learning about life on a dairy farm. For this program, I record videos, take photos and provide a write up three times a year – in October, December and February – and then host a live virtual session with the participating classes in either April or May. This program is laid out incredibly well, with step-by-step instructions as well as technical support for participating farmers, and it is also convenient for educators to incorporate this into their lesson plans. All-in-all, I spend around 10 hours total to participate in this program – not a big commitment to have such a large reach and help kids develop a love and appreciation of dairy. Agriculture Library Books Undeniably Dairy Grant Project: In addition to farming, I also work off the farm in libraries, which allows me to embrace my love of books. During my time as a children’s librarian, I earned the title Miss Angie with the Cows. Kids would ask me questions about our cows and wanted to learn more about farming, which made me realize we did not have many ag-based books that provided accurate and relevant information while
being entertaining. Through the help of Undeniably role in telling dairy’s story, Midwest Dairy can help. Dairy grant funding, I ordered a wide variety of There are skills-based resources, such as ENGAGE books. Then, I hand-delivered around 110 books to communications workshops to help build condence approximately 20 libraries to have conversations with in our county, creating a fun, consumers, and there are We need d to k keep telling lli our meaningful and tangible W nancial programs, such as way to extend ag literacy to stories so that trust extends the Undeniably Dairy grants curious consumers. that help ideas become Storytime on the Farm: to our products and the reality. When questions arise Not all efforts need to be or if you are having trouble broader ag community. large-scale. One of my navigating a process, reach favorite ways to share our out to your farmer relations story is hosting a storytime representative, and they will on our farm for individual families or small groups. be happy to assist. This allows parents and children alike to see a Like everything in life, there is no one-size-tsworking dairy farm and have a memorable outing to all approach for farmers to get involved, but there hear fun, ag-based books. When it is safe to do so, we is room for everyone to help share our dairy story. are looking forward to hosting these again. Consider joining me in this endeavor to connect with If you think you would like to take a more active consumers and help our dairy community thrive.
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Page 28 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 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 Gerard Cramer gcramer@umn.edu 612-625-8184 Marcia Endres miendres@umn.edu 612-624-5391 Sandra Godden godde002@umn.edu 612-625-8177 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
www.extension.umn.edu/dairy
Winter is here By Emily Krekelberg & Joe Armstrong, DVM University of Minnesota
After an abnormally warm January, February has brought the Midwest days of sub-zero temperatures and more snow. Cold weather is a critical time for proper care of both humans and animals. Severe winter weather is not over, and it’s important to be prepared. Severe weather of any type can be stressful. Make sure you are prepared now to avoid extra stress in the moment. Like cattle, humans have a higher need for a nutrientdense diet and water in the winter. We are using more energy for warmth on top of usual energy expenditures. Eat a diet that is rich in complex carbohydrates, protein and healthy fats. Dry winter air means more water is evaporated from our bodies. Drinking enough water each day also helps our energy levels. Save time by making meals in advance and individually packaging them for grab-and-go any time of the day. Dress in layers from head to toe. Wool is a great insulator in cold weather. Make sure to cover the head, hands and face. Any exposed skin on the face (such as around the eyes) can be protected with a thin layer of petroleum jelly (please note, petroleum jelly will freeze in temperatures/windchills 49 degrees below zero Fahrenheit). Focus on physical, mental and emotional needs. Take care of your body with proper attire, a balanced diet, enough water and plenty of sleep. Equipment will break, water lines will freeze, and people will be grumpy. Give yourself and others grace and plan for extra time for all tasks. Be sure to take breaks to warm up and take your mind off of farming, even for 10 minutes. Pay attention to frostbite times and plan outdoor chores accordingly. Have a plan for clearing snow and managing ice and precipitation events. For extended outside and/or drive time, consider wearing sunglasses to protect against snow blindness. Ensure everybody working on the farm has appropriate clothing and cold weather gear. Have contingency plans in place for power outages and other issues. Both dairy and beef cattle are incredibly hardy. Cattle can live outside in the winter and do quite well even during winter storms if provided with a few key components. One of the most critical factors for your cattle is acclimation to the weather. Cattle expected to live outside during the winter should remain outside to adjust to the changing conditions as
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winter approaches. This will allow the cattle to grow a thick hair coat in preparation for the cold. A windbreak is the single most important factor for the success of your cattle riding out severe winter weather. Cattle will often seek out windbreaks if one is not provided and prioritize getting out of the wind ahead of feed and water in severe winter weather. Stands of trees, stacks of roundbales, buildings or other man-made structures are examples of effective windbreaks. Windbreaks should be relatively tall, and the material should allow a small amount of wind to pass through. This helps prevent a downdraft when the wind passes over the top of the windbreak. After a windbreak, keeping cattle dry is the next most crucial factor for successfully getting through severe winter weather. Building a dened bedded pack behind your windbreak is one of the best ways to provide a dry place for your cattle. Packs work best when you start with a reasonably deep absorbent base and when a thin layer of new bedding is applied daily. If you do not have a bedded pack usually, it is very benecial to provide deep bedding behind your windbreak when you know severe weather is approaching. In extreme cold, cattle require more calories to maintain their body condition and stay warm. When the temperature approaches zero degrees, you can expect to feed about 30% more than you would at temperatures above 32 degrees. Using your feed to congregate your cattle where you want them to be ahead of incoming severe weather is a great strategy. When a storm is approaching, place feed behind your windbreak to encourage your cattle to stay there. Often forgotten, water is a key element to the health of your cattle. During severe winter weather, water access can be compromised and should be checked daily in the winter months. Without adequate water access, cattle will not eat as much and will lose body condition. If water is unavailable for long enough, cattle will attempt to eat snow, but they cannot consume enough snow for their water needs. Creek bottoms, swales and other similar landscape features can be tempting places to use as windbreaks for your animals. The problem with using these locations is that they are the prime spots for drifting snow. High winds combined with snow can create deep drifts that cause access issues for feeding cattle, water access issues and buried cattle. It is better to avoid these areas if possible and set your cattle up for success in a place where heavy drifting is less likely.
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Generation Z new employee training By Karen Johnson & Samantha Lahman University of Minnesota
When hiring someone from a different generation with potentially no farming or agriculture experience, it can feel like we are training someone who cannot speak our language. What language is that? For the advanced farmer, it seems to be a mix of hand signals and mumbles. For most, our introduction to this style of communication comes shortly after we are rst able to reach the pedals of the farm truck. My rst experience is clear in my memory. I remember being told to slide over to the driver’s seat while Dad got out to open the barn door and realizing that the time was nally here. It was my job to back up the trailer for the rst time. So in the dark with the truck window cranked down and rain pouring in, I tried to translate in real time as my father made a series of hand signals and motions that would have made any MLB pitching coach proud. I don’t pride myself on being a fast learner, but I quickly connected that mumbles meant keep going and grunts meant you are doing it wrong, and that there are subtle differences between “turn the wheel to the left” and “the trailer needs to come to the left.” This language can be learned and translated over time. But for those who are young and new to the farming community, it can be a barrier that amplies existing generational challenges. When welcoming new Generation Z hires, it is crucial to approach on-farm training with a plan that goes into much more detail than you might be used to. Here are suggestions for topics/questions for your new employee training protocol. Some might be common practice, but others may be something you have not considered before. – Who does the new employee need to report to? – What are preferred methods of communication? When it comes to communication, Gen Z prefer instant responses so texting or face-to-face is preferred. – Is texting, Tweeting, etc., during work allowed? – What tasks can they do by themselves? Gen Z, more than most generations, is increasingly happy and efcient when working independently. Throwing on a pair of headphones and focusing on their work is common for youth in this generation. – Can they use headphones or earbuds? Gen Z has never lived in a world where their favorite music or podcasts aren’t readily available in their pocket. Make it clear when it is or denitely is not appropriate to be using headphones/ earbuds. Young employees with little to no cattle experience might not understand that cattle are unpredictable, so wearing earbuds when moving cows is a serious safety concern because they could become distracted or be unable to hear other employees. – If they become sick or something happens and they are unable to work, how far in advance should they let you know? How should this be communicated; text or call? – What is OK to wear to work and why? For those who have grown up around livestock, it is obvious why you should wear closed toed shoes or why you need to wear rubber boots. As discussed in the previous article in this series, Gen Z wants to know why they need to do something. Take the time to share with them that cows sometimes seem to get pleasure from stepping on your feet, closed toed shoes will protect you, and rubber boots are much easier to clean and sanitize which is an important step in the biosecurity plan. – Gen Z, like Millennials, expect continual feedback. Establishing a norm for asking questions should be a top priority. When and how should employees ask questions? Is it OK for them to text you as they are completing the task, or do you expect they simply skip the tasks they don’t know how to do? While it may seem ridiculous, it brings to mind a friend who had asked their young son to clean out a specic corner of his chicken coop. After two days it hadn’t been done so he asked his son why. His response was that he didn’t know where the shovel was. Excessive detail will benet the employee and ensure tasks are completed to the standard expected by you. – Over 90% of Gen Z are active on social media and most use multiple platforms like Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, SnapChat and Facebook. Sharing videos and photos of their lives publicly is commonplace. Employers need to have clear communication on the use of social media on their operation. When is it OK and what is OK to post online and share from their job? Is it OK to share seles while palpating cows? Why is it not OK to video the disposal of a carcass? Gen Z is passionate about what they do, and referring to the previous article in this series, Gen Z want to make a difference and contribute to something greater. Sharing what they do publicly is part of this desire, so it’s important you help them understand the best way to do this. Sharing positive interactions and farming practices can be a great asset to your operation and to the agriculture community as a whole. So, how do we protect our operations from those that disagree with our practices while educating the next generation of farm employees all while letting them be publicly proud of the work they are doing? There’s not an easy solution, but one idea is to provide a statement to new employees that stresses they are expected to positively support the farming operation. They can do this by ensuring all animals are healthy, safe and treated with respect. They are required to report any and all concerns for animal and employee safety immediately to farm management. This type of message gives employees condence their opinions and concerns matter and will be addressed immediately. Employees may raise concerns in regards to things they don’t understand, but now employees have opened a conversation that allows you to educate them on what is being done and why. On the farm, where it is important not just for productivity, but for safety, communication hurdles can be challenging. The best advice is to start with the assumption that they know very little and go from there. And, don’t let their rst task be backing up the trailer.
Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 29
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Coping with winter Page 30 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
People my age are secretly pleased with the nasty winter we have been having. “It’s about time we had a hard winter like those we had to cope with when we were kids,” we think to ourselves. We Baby Boomers believe that today’s youth are hopelessly mollycoddled. The Boomer generation invented the internet and rock music, which makes it possible for today’s youth to download music, play video games and hack into the Defense Department all at the same time. And do those whippersnappers ever thank us? No! Tough winters force us to call upon our inner resources and nd novel ways to cope. And not just by reading novels. Some years ago, my sisters invented a method for dealing with the long cold. At midwinter, they would throw an “I Hate Winter” party.
There was only one rule regarding these gatherings: You had to attend wearing summer attire. Nothing puts you in a summertime mood like donning your shorts, tank top and ip-ops, even though this mood is swiftly destroyed as you dash through the sub-zero chill on your way out to the car. My sisters would decorate their basement in a tropical motif. A thermostat cranked up to sizzling bacon and an inatable kiddie pool rounded out the illusion of summertime. During one of these midwinter soirees, my now-ex brother-in-law pulled me aside. He was from New York and probably thought he that could teach this country bumpkin a thing or two. “I’ve got a something to show you,” he whispered as he rubbed his nose and sniffed meaningfully. We retreated to a dark corner of the basement and he produced a small baggy of powder.
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“Straight from the highlands of Sri Lanka,” he murmured. This was not my rst rodeo. I had been introduced to this sort of thing back in second grade when my cousin Jim tricked me into snorking a chunk of a Dear County Agent Guy Fizzy tablet up my nose. I quickly learned that Fizzy abuse can lead to nasal detonation. I put the proffered baggy to my nose and inhaled deeply. Its impact was instant. The brown powder’s aroma transported me back to my childhood. It is a warm summer By Jerry Nelson afternoon and Mom is Columnist pulling a pan of baked apples from the oven. The apples are seductively supple in their tanned skins; the heady fragrance of spices is a palpable presence in the kitchen. A small tear escaped my eye as my brother-in-law grinned and said, “Good stuff, isn’t it? Best cinnamon on the planet.” I told myself that was a one-off incident. But there is no such thing as just once. The next day I snuck into the pantry and took a whiff of black pepper. The effect was again immediate. I am 6 years old and my sister Janet and I have brought lunch out to the eld for our father. Dad idles his John Deere “A” tractor on the headland, and we all sit on the ground. My job was to carry the hot coffee that sloshes around in a mason jar that had been wrapped with a dishtowel. Dad discovers a pair of extra scrambled egg sandwiches in the lunch box. Janet and I happily join Dad in wolng down the luscious treats. The generous sprinkles of black pepper Mom had applied to the egg tickles the back of my throat. Some days later, my wife and I were at the supermarket. I accidentally became separated from her and wandered over to the spice aisle. I broke into a cold sweat as I gaped, slack-jawed, at the innite possibilities. My hand trembled as I reached for a small bottle. I opened it and inhaled deeply. It is suddenly a balmy spring afternoon. I am 9, and my friend Bobby and I are constructing a deadwood fort in our farm grove. We are discussing how we would defend our stronghold against desperados or, worse, a marauding herd of girls. Our herculean labors cause Bobby and me to be gripped by acute hunger pangs. We decide to remedy the situation by sneaking into a nearby farmhouse to requisition some much-needed grub. As we stealthily slip into the kitchen, we are walloped by the perfume of warm gingerbread. Cooling cookies beckon invitingly from the kitchen table. We almost make a clean getaway when we are accosted by the authorities. “Do you boys want some milk to go with those cookies?” asks my mom. A thump from a shopping cart jolted me from my reverie. “Get your nose out of that ginger,” my wife hissed. “You’re embarrassing me.” “Cut me some slack,” I replied. “I’m just trying to cope with this nasty winter.” Jerry is a recovering dairy farmer from Volga, S.D. He and his wife, Julie, have two grown sons and live on the farm where Jerry’s great-grandfather homesteaded over 110 years ago. Jerry currently works full time for the Dairy Star as a staff writer/ad salesman. Feel free to E-mail him at: jerry.n@dairystar.com.
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Dairy replacement costs impact herd protability Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 31
My November column focused on reducing feed costs and mentioned heifer replacement costs as an area to evaluate. At that time, we could see the tidal wave of higher protein and energy costs building. Today, this wave has hit shore and washed away much of the prot margins experienced the past several Something to Ruminate On months. I served on the planning committee for the recent virtual Carver County Dairy Expo, and we were pleased to have a great lineup of speakers. Dr. Jud Heinrichs, Penn State University, shared a timely topic titled “Keeping a Check on Dairy By Barry Visser Replacement Costs.” Nutritionist He had several key take-home messages to maximize your investment in non-productive dairy replacement assets. The cost to raise a heifer from birth to calving is $2,025 per head in Pennsylvania. This cost is similar to that reported by the University of Wisconsin. Both gures are prior to this most recent uptick in corn and protein prices. The current market value of springers varies across the country, but reported values are about half or less of true input costs to raise a heifer. The days of selling springing heifers for a prot appear to be behind us. It is important to predict how many heifers you need to maintain herd size. Heifer culling rates and reproductive success have a huge impact on the number of replacements needed within a herd. Sexed semen and beef semen are common strategies to control heifer inventory on farms. Heinrichs focused on the following three key factors to reduce the cost of raising heifers. – Culling rates. The average culling rate across the United States is 38% or 2.6 years of productive herd life. Dr. Albert De Vries at the University of Florida generated a model showing the value of a mature herd. Herd replacement costs decline as culling rate decreases. Heinrichs showed an example where a 20% reduction in culling rate (40% to 32%) results in 24.6% reduction in heifer raising costs. However, genetic opportunity costs go up with lower cull rates and fewer additional young animals with higher genetic potential. – Age at rst calving. As an industry, we see a continued reduction in age at rst calving. The ideal AFC target is dependent on several factors and somewhat herd specic. Heinrichs suggested that most herds’ AFC should be between 22 and 23 months. He indicated that reducing AFC by one month will result in 4.3% reduction in heifer-rearing costs. – Heifer feed cost. Feed costs are by far the largest input for heifer production in most systems and can account for 10% to 15% of the total farm expense. The most expensive period to raise a heifer is the rst two months of life. The cheapest time to raise a heifer is post-weaning. A 2020 Cornell study found $3.25 per-day feed costs and $1.70 per-day labor costs for preweaned calves. This decreased dramatically in the few months post-weaning ($1.50 per-day feed and $0.22 per-day labor). Your costs may vary from this, but the relative trend is likely consistent. Heinrichs cautioned that overfeeding milk is expensive and can also limit starter grain intake. Introducing starter grain and free-choice water to
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calves within the rst few days of life results in the production of volatile fatty acids essential for papillae development in the rumen wall. Calf health and performance are both compromised with poor rumen development. It is common to see daily gains plateau at weaning in calves that are not consuming adequate starter. Heinrichs recommended weaning calves somewhere between 6 to 8 weeks for most farms. A growing heifer can capture more energy from a given feedstuff because her rate of passage is lower than a lactating cow. Feed efciency in older heifers is dependent on feed types and feeding strategies. Heinrichs shared data supporting increased feed efciency by limit-feeding heifers versus feeding ad libitum. However, this feeding approach requires several management factors to be in place, such as adequate bunk space and frequent feed pushups. The goal of raising dairy heifers is to minimize
costs without sacricing future production potential. Several management systems can work well, depending on individual farm facilities, resources and management preferences. Look for opportunities to control heifer numbers, reduce age at rst calving if above 23 months and keep feed costs under control. Heinrichs offered these heifer-raising savings opportunities: – Keep mortality and morbidity low. – Do not overfeed liquid feeds. – Wean at reasonable ages with good rumen development. – Grow calves and heifers at the right rates. – Use good breeding management. – Take advantage of improved feed efciency in growing heifer rations. Barry Visser is a nutritionist for Vita Plus.
Cows don’t give milk Page 32 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
The readings for the rst Sunday of Lent focused on Jesus in the desert for 40 days. During this time, he removed himself from distractions so he could clear his head, nd his center, take a deep breath and move forward in his mission. Between COVID-19 and not milking cows right now, we nd ourselves in a desert of sorts. We are nding a sense of quiet with the removal of daily chores, distractions and clatter. We are clearing our heads and nding our center and our starting point for the next step. But taking that rst step is so hard. We know all the ways we can fall, but we forget all the ways we can get back up. Imagine a baby’s rst step. I witnessed our granddaughter Emma taking her rst steps this past summer. She was just 10 months old but determined to catch up and keep up with her older brother. She didn’t know how this walking thing was going to work, but she was determined to move. Her rst steps were not perfect. They were tenuous, cautious and hesitant. She stutter stepped. She stumbled and tumbled. Her rst step into the unknown was the hardest step she took. But she took it. When she fell, she got back up. Watch out world, here she comes. It is too bad we are smarter than a baby. We recognize all the dangers and pitfalls. We consider all of the what ifs before we take our rst step. A baby looks ahead to where they want to go. They have a nish line in sight and a target to reach. They don’t focus on all the other distractions. They get moving. We can sometimes get caught up in the what if game. It is a game we can never win. The Vikings have
2
better odds of winning a Super Bowl than we have at winning this game. We can sometimes let this game stop us in our tracks. Fear of the unknown or fear of change is normal. We can’t let it paralyze us. Fr. Mike said, “All fear comes from our desire to be in control. … What if God were enough to take care of it?” Now this doesn’t mean we sit back and let him do all of the work. We have to keep working, keep moving, keep milking cows. Bear with me. As dairymen, we sometimes forget that cows don’t give milk. Think about that. Try to clear your mind from distractions and focus on the words. Cows don’t give milk. Here is the story behind that line. A peasant farmer used to say to his young children, “When you are 12, I will tell you the secret of life.” When his oldest turned 12, he anxiously asked his father what was the secret of life. The father said, “I will tell you, but you can’t tell your brothers and sisters. The secret of life is this: The cow does not give milk.” The boy looked confused and the father went on to explain. “The cow does not give milk, you have to milk it. You have to get up early every morning and fetch her from the eld. You’ll have to cross swampy muck to bring her home. You’ll need to tie her up in the stall and pull up your stool. Once you have the bucket in place, you will have to do the work of lling up the bucket. That is the secret of life. The cow does not give milk. You milk her or you don’t get milk. There are some people who think the cow gives milk. That all things are just there and free. They think that
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Queen of the 9 x 13
At one of Dan’s pre-school doctor’s appointments, the nurse asked him a series of questions designed to gauge his social and intellectual development. Nurse: “What do you do when you’re cold?” Dan: “Put mittens on.” Nurse: “What do you do when you’re tired?” Dan: “Go to sleep.” Nurse: “What do you do when you’re hungry?” Dan: “Look for food.” Fast forward 10 years and not much has changed. Dairy Good Life My hungry kids still rummage through the fridge looking for food. Except now, as fast-growing teens, I think they eat twice as much. Daphne had her own well child visit last week. The questions asked by the nurse have changed quite a bit since her last visit. She was asked, “How many evening meals do you eat with your family each week?” and “How many take out/restaurant meals do you eat each week?” I’m proud to say that Daphne’s answers reected the value our family – and many other farm families – places on home cooked meals. My go-to strategy for putting supper on the By Sadie Frericks table most nights and making sure we have leftovers Columnist available for rummaging is the humble 9 x 13 pan. I know many home cooks who rely on their Crock•Pots® and InstaPots® for making supper prep easy. I used to make a lot of skillet meals and I still like a quick sheet pan dinner. But, these days, I’m a queen of the 9 x 13. The things I like most about making supper in a 9 x 13 are that 9 x 13 recipes usually make enough for multiple meals and when supper is done, I can put a cover on the pan and put the whole thing right in the fridge. Everyone in our family knows that if there’s a 9 x 13 pan in the fridge, there’s something tasty to eat. I admit that making supper in the oven isn’t as exible, time-wise, as using a slow cooker, but it works well for me now since Dan and Monika are old enough to take the pan out of the oven if I’m not in the house when the timer goes off. Our best-loved 9 x 13 suppers are usually a delicious combination of meat and cheese – lasagna, meatloaf, and sausage egg bake. But we also enjoy classics like tater tot hotdish and chicken n’ biscuit casserole. Another great use of 9 x 13 pans is for reinventing leftovers. Everybody around here groans if I heat up last night’s spaghetti or chicken alfredo for supper, but if I mix the leftover pasta and sauce together, spread it out in a 9 x 13, cover it with mozzarella cheese, and put it in the oven for half an hour – voilà! I have another hot supper that everybody enjoys. I also make most of our desserts in a 9 x 13. When I rst started baking, I couldn’t understand why any recipe was created for an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 pan. A small pan of bars or cake doesn’t last long enough to be worth baking. I automatically double those recipes to make them family-size. My latest 9 x 13 dessert victory was the cheesecake I made Glen for Valentine’s Day. I have a traditional springform pan for making fancy round cheesecakes, but a 9 x 13 pan is just way more practical. Maybe next month I’ll share the cheesecake recipe. For now, though, here’s my recipe for a 9 x 13 pan of Pizza Meatloaf. Enjoy! Pizza Meatloaf makes one 9 x 13 pan; 12 – 16 servings Ingredients 2 eggs 24 ounce jar marinara sauce, divided 2 cups oatmeal 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning or oregano 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 pounds ground beef 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese 12-24 pepperoni slices (optional) Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9 x 13 baking dish with butter or cooking spray. In large bowl, beat eggs, then mix in 2 cups of marinara sauce, oatmeal, spices, and salt. Gently mix in ground beef. Transfer beef mixture to prepared pan and press into place to ll pan. Spread remaining 1 cup marinara sauce over top of beef mixture. Sauce layer will be very thin. Bake for 30 minutes. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over sauce. Top with pepperoni slices, if using. You can also add a few pinches of Italian seasoning or dried parsley akes for garnish. Bake for 10 minutes more. For extra deliciousness and presentation points, nish the pizza meatloaf under the broiler until cheese is bubbly and starting to brown. Sadie and her husband, Glen, milk 100 cows near Melrose, Minnesota. They have three children – Dan, 13, Monika, 11, and Daphne, 7. Sadie also writes a blog at www.dairygoodlife.com. She can be reached at sadiefrericks@gmail.com.
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Page 34 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
Pandemic assistance, partnerships highlights of Midwest Dairy virtual meeting By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
Like many meetings this year, the Midwest Dairy district meetings shifted to one virtual district meeting Feb. 17. Following the general meeting about Midwest Dairy’s work in 2020 and a glimpse of the strategic plan for 202123, attendees split into virtual rooms to discuss more in-depth about promotions or ideas in each of their local areas. Barb Liebenstein, dairy farmer and Midwest Dairy Minnesota division board chair, rst gave information about how farmers are voted to serve on the state and corporate Midwest Dairy boards. From there, farmers are elected to serve on the Dairy Management Inc. board. “I think it’s important to know any of us as dairy farmers can serve on our local, state and national boards,” Liebenstein said. “Equally important is that if you don’t have time to serve, we do have representatives that will be happy to help with any questions, comments or concerns you might have about DMI or your state Midwest Dairy board.” Charles Krause, a dairy farmer and Minnesota dairy promotion council chairman, talked about the district changes. The number of districts in the state has not changed in 15 years. During that time, the number of dairy herds in Minnesota has decreased over 2,500. Following the Minnesota Department of Agriculture statute, which calls for equitable representation on the board, the number of districts was reduced
from 22 to 18 with the number of dairy farms in each district being 130 to 150. “It’s impossible to get exactly the same number, but we did the best we could with the numbers that were current in 2020,” Krause said. “Some of you will notice big changes if you’re in northern Minnesota and others may not notice any changes at all. One big change is in Stearns County. When we went to equitable representation, Stearns county picked up a district.” Brittney Arnold, farmer relations manager at Midwest Dairy, then discussed how Midwest Dairy has built dairy sales, consumer trust and dairy leaders in 2020. Midwest Dairy has built dairy sales through partnerships, which regionwide through November resulted in 23 million incremental pounds of milk sold and reached over 14 million consumers. One example is the partnership with Pizza Ranch during June. The restaurant offered extra cheese for any online large pizza order. Midwest Dairy helped with the marketing, which helped sell over 1 million more pounds of milk and reached 17 million consumers. To build trust, Midwest Dairy connected dairy farmers with congressional leaders in virtual meetings to highlight the value of the checkoff program and how it helped Minnesotans during the coronavirus pandemic. A virtual cheese board event also gave more consumers trust in dairy’s sustainability. The invite-only event highlighted dairy farmer Jerry Jennissen who spoke about sustainability on his family’s dairy farm and brought
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together people to discuss dairy’s role in sustainable nutrition. Those in attendance were from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, the University of Minnesota, The Nature Conservancy, The Agricultural Utilization Research Institute, the Minnesota Grocers’ Association and Native Sustainability. Other partnerships included connecting with physicians and dietitians to share relevant and science-based dairy information along with a partnership with the Minnesota Vikings Women, which featured content from two Vikings player spouses. Midwest Dairy continues its partnership with Fuel Up to Play 60, which has 95% of all districts in Minnesota enrolled. During the pandemic, Midwest Dairy provided $500,000 to food banks across its 10-state region, funded 27 food pantry coolers in Minnesota and provided emergency relief for schools across the state. “This program allowed farmers to support their local schools that were struggling to keep milk cold during meal distribution,” Arnold said. Dairy was also a part of the Minnesota State Fair Food Parade as one of the top 16 vendors asked to be a part of the event selling malts. Midwest Dairy continues to build dairy leaders. Perhaps one of the most well-known dairy leaders is Princess Kay of the Milky Way, a program that has continued despite the pandemic. Current Princess Kay Brenna Connelly shared how she has been making virtual appearances and promotes through social media. In the coming weeks, she
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will launch a new social media campaign called Dairy Takes a Team, which will highlight all the people needed to produce dairy products. Other ways dairy leaders are developed is through the dairy ambassador program and summer interns. New this year is the Dairy Experience and Agricultural Leadership program with ve of the 15 dairy farmer participants from Minnesota. Molly Pelzer, Midwest Dairy CEO, then explained the organization’s new strategic plan for 2021-23. “Our goal in this plan was to increase our focus and set priorities. We now have six objectives in our plan, down from 15,” Pelzer said. “Each objective has a specic result measure. Our dairy farmer board leaders are dedicated to measuring the impact of your checkoff investment.” The three business objectives are increase dairy sales, grow trust in dairy and advance research in dairy. The three foundational objectives are to create dairy checkoff advocates, develop farm and community leaders and enhance Midwest Dairy employee culture. Research is a big part of the checkoff, Pelzer said. While there has been research on nutrition, science, sustainability and consumer insight, the most recent focus on been measuring dairy trust. “To measure sales, you can look at the incremental dairy pounds sold, but to measure trust is a little harder,” Pelzer said. Turn to MIDWEST DAIRY | Page 35 NH BR7090, 2011, round baler, 11,755 bales, Corn Stalk Special New Holland BR7070, 2014, round baler, 14,059 bales, Crop Cutter New Holland RB560, 2017, Round Baler 1,176 bales, like new Vermeer 504N round baler Krone BP4X4XC 4X4 Large Square Baler, 2012 with 19,000 bales Krone Swadro 810 rotary rake, 2-point mount H&S HC12 high capacity wheel rake w/center kicker H&S V10 cart rake, very good condition JD 946 Mower Conditioner, 2-Point Mount, 2013 MF 1329 3-pt. Disc Mower, 9’ cut, 2013 Art’s way 240C Stalk Chopper, 2015, 20’ Width, Low Acres
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 35
ConƟnued from MIDWEST DAIRY | Page 34
Two years ago, Midwest Dairy started a project to assess how consumer trust is being built. This project will continue over the next three years. The research shows consumers love dairy products, they believe dairy products are healthy, and they trust dairy farmers; however, there has been an increase in the belief that plant-based alternatives are healthier than dairy foods. “That gives us something to focus on in our immediate work and our messaging to consumers,” Pelzer said. “We will correct that misinformation and use the new tools about sustainable nutrition – how dairy is made with care
for the planet and how dairy is good for you – in our work.” In order to achieve its goals, Midwest Dairy can rely on help from many other organizations part of the dairy community, including Dairy Management Inc., National Dairy Council, Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, U.S. Dairy Export Council, GenYouth and Global Dairy Platform, among others. “We know this unied and collaborative approach will make the most of your checkoff investment, and we look forward to continuing this key to success working across the dairy community,” Pelzer said.
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AMPI, First District Association announce formation of Common Marketing Agency Associated Milk Producers Inc. (AMPI) and First District Association (FDA) announced today the formation of a jointly owned Common Marketing Agency (CMA) of the two Minnesota-based dairy cooperatives. The CMA will optimize operational and supply chain efciencies to benet members and customers. This includes enhanced on-farm services, better utilizing manufacturing capacity and serving domestic and global customers with an expanded dairy product portfolio. "We see endless opportunities to leverage our dairy farmer-owned assets," said Josh Barka, chairman of the FDA Board of Directors. "The CMA exemplies the cooperative principle of cooperation among cooperatives." "The CMA is a natural progression for two like-minded cooperatives to better position themselves for long-term strength," said Steve Schlangen, chairman of the AMPI Board of Directors. “The strategy of forming CMAs was in use before the Capper-Volstead Act was enacted in 1922,” said Michael Boland, professor of agricultural economics at the University of Minnesota with expertise in cooperatives. “Co-ops in other sectors, such as dairy cattle genetics and sugar beets, have used CMAs to their advantage. It allows cooperatives to coordinate value-added services with each other, while individual cooperative members retain ownership and independence.” The CMA — known as the American Dairy Cooperative — will be led by a board of directors, comprised of AMPI and FDA members. Together, the CMA members annually produce 7 billion pounds of milk.
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Page 36 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
Women In Dairy Brenda Luhman Goodhue, Minnesota Goodhue County 220 cows Family: My husband, Travis, and I have two boys and one girl: Zac, 16, Lily, 13, and Skyler, 7. Tell us about your farm. In 2008, my father-in-law, Glenn Luhman, retired from farming and since then Travis and I have been managing the farm. We rent the farm and 280 acres from Glenn, who lives onsite. The farm has been in the Luhman family for over 100 years. We live on a 160-acre century farm down the road, which belonged to Glenn’s mother’s family, the Lohmeyer family. We milk in a double-8 herringbone parlor. Travis and I own 660 acres total and rent about 350 acres. We grow corn, soybeans and hay on a total of 850 acres. We sell our bull calves but raise our heifers. We spend a lot of time moving and feeding youngstock. In the summer, we spend plenty of time making silage bales and small straw bales. We also have two horses and six laying chickens. What is the busiest time of day for you? The busiest time of the day for me is the morning. I am getting kids ready for school before tending to a variety of farm chores such as hauling cattle to market or corn to the elevator, paying bills, going for parts or calling someone like the electrician because something is broken. When you get a spare moment, what do you do? When I get a spare moment, I usually like to call and chat with a girlfriend. I rely on that support to keep my sanity. Another thing I enjoy is shopping on Facebook Marketplace for a great bargain, usually furniture, because I try to be frugal. Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. I don’t think I will ever forget the countless hours and long days I spent hauling grain to the elevator with a tractor and wagons every fall, struggling to get done before winter came. I haul all my grain with a semi-truck and trailer now which is really slick, but we still didn’t get done last year. What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the dairy industry? I enjoy the business side of farming the most – keeping the bookwork in order and dealing with people who provide a service to our farm. I am good with numbers and people.
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How do you stay connected with others in the industry? Through publications like Dairy Star, and attending seminars, appreciation picnics and machinery auctions. Who is someone in the industry who has inspired you? I have become an inspiration to myself. I have always been a hard worker and not afraid to get dirty. I was raised on a pig farm, then went to Southeast Technical College in North Mankato for swine production management and later found myself marrying a dairy farmer. Fast forward to September 2019. I was 43 years old and had my rst mammogram. I discovered I had stage 3 breast cancer. There were some scary moments when I wondered if I would survive, if I would get very sick from the chemo, if the coronavirus would kill me, if I could take care of myself after the surgery and especially when my hair was falling out. I overcame those moments thanks to the prayers and support of so many people and because I had enough faith to know that God has a plan for me. I kept a positive attitude, and I kept staying busy, juggling clinic appointments with family life and farm work. We made business decisions and large machinery purchases assuming I would survive, and we continued to farm. I don’t let this disease get me down, depressed or worried about my future. I feel blessed. My treatments are nished, and now we wait, check for symptoms and wait to see if it will come back. There are no guarantees in life. I simply plan on surviving. Through it all, people who hear me talk about this tell me how strong, optimistic and inspiring I am. Now, looking back, I have to agree. The ght may not be over, but keeping faith and a positive attitude is half the battle. If I can get through all this, I can get through anything. If you could give a tour of your farm to a prominent woman in today’s society, who would it be? Candace Owens. I follow her on Facebook. She is becoming well known for her public speaking and conservative political views. She is a passionate, honest, intelligent young woman who will be running for a government position soon. The world needs more women like her. With all the corruption we see in politics, Candace Owens is a woman we can trust to do right by people. It is important for our politicians to understand our lifestyle, the sacrices made and the struggles farmers deal with in hopes our government will continue to support family-owned farms. What is the best vacation you have ever taken? Our family trip in December 2013 to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. That was our most recent trip as a family. The weather was always perfect, and we loved the beach and the food there. We had a professional photo shoot for family photos which turned out amazing. What are some words you like to live by? Don’t work too hard, think positive and do things that bring you more joy and peace. My experience with cancer has taught me a few things, and I know some things in my life must change if I want to stay healthy. Some say, “Cancer is a wake-up call.” My life can be better. Stress can be a major cause of illness, and we all need to make time for fun. We can’t work all the time. Plan something fun. Work on solutions to reduce the amount of stress or anxiety you carry. Pray more. Positive thinking does increase your chance of surviving disease, so we need to train our minds. Part of that is being grateful for our blessings. Stop holding out on doing or having things that bring you joy or peace. Instead, just do it. Life is too short.
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Small grains, big potential Cuba City farmer feeds small grains as a winter forage By Danna Sabolik Contributing Writer
Resourcefulness is dened as having the ability to nd quick and clever ways to overcome difculties. Josh Tranel ts this description well and has taken advantage of a great opportunity in his dairy operation. As part of Iowa State University’s Virtual Dairy Day Feb. 12, Tranel, a Cuba City, Wisconsin, dairy farmer, spoke on small grain benets as a forage source for dairy farmers. Tranel farms with seven of his cousins on a 600-cow 2,000-acre organic dairy farm. “On our dairy, we have started using small grains as a forage source as well as a cover crop,” Tranel said. “It ts nicely into some windows of crop rotation, keeps soil covered, reduces weed pressure and helps keep ration costs down.” Tranel said growing a small grain silage is cheaper than alfalfa or other typical plants. They began by growing winter rye and triticale as nurse crops and cover crops, then began sorghum sudangrass and summer annuals, eventually going all in and embracing the new crop cycle of smaller grains. “We had grown a lot of wheat and barley but it saw fallow so we cut it early, chopped it and put something else on that eld,” Tranel said. On Tranel Family Farm, winter wheat, triticale, winter rye/Italian ryegrass, oat and sorghum sudangrass are grown and rotated into their cash crops. Through his presentation, Tranel highlighted pros and cons to each crop and how to apply them in a rotation. Winter wheat Winter wheat has a lot of benets, which is probably why it is one of the more common cover crops used in the Upper Midwest. “One of the best things about winter wheat is its winter hardiness,” Tranel said. “It’s easy to kill off for the next crop. We chop it every June and
Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 37
feed it to our dry cows. Because of its low potassium content, it works rumens really well.” However, there is a lower yield potential if the crop is not wellestablished before winter. Tranel recommends planting early in the fall to establish the crop prior to the rst frost. In a rotation, Tranel suggests using winter wheat while transitioning land to organic or in areas that suffer from heavy runoff with snowmelt in spring. Oats Oat is an easy commodity to establish any time of the year but struggles through the winter. “In our rotation, we use it as a nurse crop or to patch areas of overrun pasture, or if we need to grow forage quickly before winter,” Tranel said. Winter/Spring Triticale High quality and yield potential are two of the benets to triticale, but a lot of the success surrounding the crop depends on fall tilling. “We use triticale as a nurse crop for spring seed and alfalfa,” Tranel said. Winter rye Winter rye is another crop with high yield potential, and excels at weed suppression. “We use winter rye in our rotation after corn and have found it forms great sod,” Tranel said. “We drill it in in late fall but have struggled to kill it off without chemicals.” Sorghum sudangrass Sorghum or sorghum sudangrass grows best in dry, hot summers. For Tranel, the past few summers have been wetter than average, and the stand has lost quality. “That past few years we’ve started to grow other plants with this, a sort of cocktail mix,” Tranel said. “It really depends on the area and what your soil needs, though. … There are a lot of uses with this crop.” Tranel said this rotation has worked well for them on their operation. “This is a great way to grow highquality forages,” he said. “There is also a lot of exibility depending on what your operation needs.”
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Stop cutting corners (and nipples) Page 38 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
We have all been there. It is 15 to digest milk or milk replacer. Just degrees outside, your hands are numb, to help you better understand the you have a list of chores a mile long, and difference between a calf and a cow’s the newborn calf is taking what seems digestive system, when a calf is born like hours to drink her the abomasum makes up bottle. She nally nishes 60% of the newborn’s Calf Chronicles and you get ready to feed stomach capacity and the next newborn in line, this amount decreases but now you have an idea: to 8% for a mature cow. Why not cut the nipple, just On the ip side, a calf’s a little bit, so more milk rumen goes from making comes out? How much up 25% of her stomach harm could that possibly capacity to 65% as a do? And it will save mature cow. So, for all you at least 15 minutes. intents and purposes, a Sometimes working newborn calf is basically smarter, not harder is the a monogastric animal. key to success, but there are If the esophageal By Ellen Cushing times when cutting corners groove is not stimulated Columnist is not the smarter option. to open, it will allow Cutting nipples is one of milk to enter into the those shortcuts that seems too good to rumen and reticulum, which can result be true, and that is because it is. in bloat and excess gas if the milk When you cut bottle nipples, it does not move quickly enough into the allows milk to quickly ow into a calf’s abomasum. When a calf is tubed, the mouth, which in turn has some negative milk ows fast enough that it does not sit impacts. The calf can choke at the in the rumen long, even without opening amount of milk coming in at once. And the esophageal groove. However, with if there is so much milk that the calf is bottle feeding, the milk has more time unable to swallow as it comes in, the to sit in the rumen, and that is when you milk can end up in the lungs, which can can see bloating or excess gas occur. lead to pneumonia. As a rule of thumb, the opening Additionally, if the nipple is free of a bottle should be large enough that owing milk into the mouth, the calf’s the calf does not have to struggle to get suckling reex is less likely to be milk out. What is a good test? Turn the stimulated. When a calf is nursing her bottle upside down and milk should mama, or a bottle, that sucking motion slowly drip out, one drop at a time. If triggers her suckling reex, which then milk is pouring out, the hole is too big. stimulates the esophageal groove to One thing to also check is the vent hole open, allowing the milk to bypass the in your bottles. A lot of issues can be calf’s underdeveloped rumen and go blamed on a vent hole that is sealed or straight into the abomasum – where it clogged. belongs. Unfortunately, bottle feeding For the rst two weeks of a calf’s newborn calves can become tiresome, life, calves can only use the abomasum but try to keep in mind that these babies
PHOTO SUBMITTED
A cut nipple allows milk to quickly ow into the calf’s mouth which may lessen the likelihood of the calf’s suckling reex to be sƟmulated and can cause choking.
require extra patience and nurturing. They came out of a nice warm place into a cold, new world, and although it might take them time to adjust, setting them up for success on day No. 1 is the key to your dairy operation’s future success. So, when you nd yourself with a newborn that is taking a little too long to latch on to that bottle and drink, try to imagine the stellar cow she will become one day, and do not let your frustrations lead you to cut corners. Ellen is the First Defense regional sales and marketing manager for Wisconsin and Minnesota. She’s a problem solver who loves walking calf hutches and diagnosing protocol drift. A great day is a day spent helping dairy and beef farmers keep their baby calves healthy! Ellen can be reached at ecushing@immucell.com.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021 • Page 39
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John and Sharon, Pearl, Krysta, Craig and Dawn Vander Waal Maurice, Iowa Sioux County 300 cows
see how everything is starting to ow better. What advice would you give other dairy farmers? Dairy farming has to be your calling. I have gotten a tremendous amount of support from Sharon who has a dairy farming background. It’s very important to have the support of your family.
How did you get into farming? My dad, Aart, started building a new dairy facility near Hull, Iowa, in 1998. He got cancer and passed away later that year, so my brothers and I took over the operation. In 2017, my wife, Sharon, and I went out on our own and built a robotic dairy facility on a bare patch of land. It was great to have the opportunity to design our dairy from scratch instead of trying to retrot things. We milk with four Lely robots and bed our cows with manure solids. We have two robots for the older and larger cows and two for the heifers and smaller animals. Our dairy barn is comfy and the cow ow is superb.
What has been the best purchase you have ever made on your farm? Our milking robots. There isn’t a better way to milk cows.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
The Vander Waal family includes – (from leŌ) Krysta, Sharon holding Dawn, Craig, John and Pearl. The Vander Waals operate a 300-cow roboƟc dairy near Maurice, Iowa. What is a management practice you have changed in the past year that has beneted you? We have too many replacement animals, so we are starting to breed more of our cows to black bulls to keep things under control. When we select sires, we look at milk and fat production. Teat length and placement and milking speed are also important. We will not breed back any cow that milks out slower than the rate of 5 pounds per minute, even if she’s a high producer.
What are your thoughts and concerns about the dairy industry for the next year? One concern is having enough moisture for the crops. We are also worried about milk price volatility. And, it looks like feed prices are going to be higher. What is the latest technology you have implemented on your farm and the purpose for it? My robotic manure scrapers and feed pushers can now be controlled with my smartphone via a Bluetooth link. If they get stuck, I can tell them how to get unstuck from the tractor cab.
What cost-saving steps have you implemented during the low milk price? We continue to save on labor costs with our robots. We are working on reducing the costs of raising our replacement animals. We are also trying to keep our good cows around longer.
How do you retain a good working relationship with your employees? I make sure the robots are operating properly before I go to bed so they won’t call me in the middle of the night. Tell us about a skill you posses that makes dairy farming easier for you. The biggest one is my ability to keep things running without calling for help. I can usually troubleshoot and x things myself. Since we started up this robotic dairy, we’ve only had the service tech come out two or three times. What do you enjoy most about dairy farming? I enjoy seeing the continuing betterment of the herd. It’s also nice to
What has been your biggest accomplishment while dairy farming? Getting our cows to produce more milk. Last summer, our herd hit an average production of 100 pounds of milk per head per day. What are your plans for your dairy in the next year and the next ve years? During the next year, we are going to strive for more consistency. We have been buying some of our hay and would like to end the year with more and better hay on hand. In the long term, we would like to add more space for our dry cows and maybe add another robotic milker. How do you or your family like to spend time when you are not doing chores? During the wintertime, I like to go ice shing with my family. In the summertime, we like to drive down to the marina at Yankton and go boating.
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Page 40 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 27, 2021
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