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DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 20, No. 24
February 9, 2019
Frigid temps wreak havoc on dairies
Farmers across Midwest battle extreme winter weather By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Emily Pieper feeds calves milk during aŌernoon chores Jan. 31 at her family’s farm near New Prague, Minn. Pieper dressed in extra layers to withstand the chilling temperatures.
FENNIMORE, Wis. – The Upper Midwest has long been known as a favorable farming region with a temperate climate ideal for raising livestock and growing crops. Unfortunately, plunging temperatures and dangerously cold wind chills Jan. 29-31 made daily chores agonizing for dairy farmers across the region. “This has been emotionally and physically exhausting,” Amy Scanlan said. “At one point our tractor wasn’t working to feed TMR, the waters were frozen, and the cows were bellowing. All I could do was ball myself.” Scanlan and her husband, Tim, prepared for the drastic weather, but are still dealing with the aftermath of the unusual conditions on their 125-cow dairy farm near Fennimore, Wis. Chilling temperatures as low as negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit, with wind chills dropping to 60 degrees below zero in parts of northern Minnesota, blanketed the Upper Midwest as a cold front moved in from Canada. As the weather passed through, people were encouraged to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary travel. “To put this into perspective, the National Weather Service only ever issues a wind chill warning at negative Turn to WEATHER | Page 5
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
Snow blows around the Gamradt family’s dairy farm Jan. 29 near Sauk Centre, Minn. Temperatures as low as negaƟve 40 degrees Fahrenheit and wind chills dropping to 60 degrees below zero blanketed the Upper Midwest as a cold front moved through from Canada.
A large, growing Chinese dairy industry Bennett travels abroad to teach veterinary work By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
HEBEI, China – Dr. Jim Bennett’s typical routine as a veterinarian includes traveling from farm to farm to look at and diagnose cows along with talking to the farm’s staff members. While this was true during the end of January, Bennett was not at his regular clients’ farms. Instead, he traveled to Hebei, a province in China, for nine days to visit dairy farms and teach on-farm staff about how to troubleshoot diseases, especially mastitis. “Their industry resembles our industry,” said Bennett, a veterinarian at Northern Valley Dairy Production Medicine Center in Plainview, Minn. “If you didn’t know where you were, you would think you were on a farm in the U.S. The cows look like U.S. cows, and the modern farms there really look like our farms.” Bennett visited eight dairy farms, all of which he considered to be large. The smallest dairy he visited had 1,000 cows while the largest had 6,000. “The new farms built in the last few years look like they could be stuck in the Midwest,” he said. “They’re very similar.” Bennett said China’s dairy industry is a young, but growing industry. Farms considered to be old have been in operation for 40 years while newer models have been built within the last 15 years. The older facilities are a mix of freestall barns, dry lots and bedded pack housing. Newer farms had barns that were four-row, naturally-ventilated or cross-ventilated. Bedding was either recycled manure solids or organic bedding like rice hulls. Bennett said he did not see sand bedding. Milking facilities ranged from 80-stall rotaries to double-20 parallel parlors. He also saw manure digesters, alley scrapers and the latest feeding equipment. “The new dairies are very high tech,” Bennett said. “They had all the technology we would expect to see on a big U.S. dairy. The Chinese look to us because our systems are what they want Turn to BENNETT | Page 7