LOOK INSIDE FOR OUR CENTRAL PLAINS DAIRY EXPO PREVIEW EDITION!
DAIRY ST R
March 13, 2021
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 23, No. 2
Tin Valley Farms embraces community through value-added options
A taste of farm life
By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
NEOSHO, Wis. – The Rettler family loves to give people a taste of farm life. Whether selling cheese made with their dairy’s milk or sharing their farm with others through tours or the renting of event space, John and JoAnn Rettler invite the community into their lives. When they built a barn in 2015, the Rettlers took more than their own family and cows into consideration. They anticipated creating a venue suited for education and social interaction. “You have to educate people,” John said. “So we
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Students from St. Kilian School pose with one of the newborn calves held by QuinƟn ReƩler (leŌ) March 9, 2019, at Tin Valley Farms near Neosho, Wisconsin. The ReƩlers give tours to school children of all ages, and feeding calves is one of the highlights.
built this barn with education in mind.” Welcoming school children of all ages, the Rettlers give tours and offer kids a hands-on farm experience to learn where their food comes from. The students eat lunch on the farm, and in the fall, hayrides are also part of the fun. The Rettlers have opened up their barn to the community, inviting neighbors, friends and businesses to host gatherings in their upstairs conference room. Decorated in a country theme, the space contains a full kitchen, TV, viewing windows of cows and robots, and plenty of seating to accommodate 50 adults. The family rents out the room for events such as company meetings, birthday parties, baby showers and more. While at the farm, guests can also visit the robot room and see the robots in action. The Turn to RETTLER | Page 5
Innovation under one roof Rolfs build automated facility for calves, cows By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
MCINTOSH, Minn. – From a newborn calf to a cow completing her lactation, every animal on Golden Sunrise Dairy Inc. is housed under one roof in a barn equipped with the latest feeding and milking technology. “I didn’t have any hesitation,” said Tim Rolf of the new construction. “I knew I needed the younger generation to help, and Derek studied a lot about what would be best for us.” On Feb. 18, 2020, Tim and his son, Derek, began milking their 140-cow herd with three Lely Astronaut A5 robots on their farm in Polk County near McIntosh. In 2018, the partners began construction on their housing facilities, which include an automated calf barn attached to a cross-ventilated freestall barn
that houses weaned youngstock, dry and lactating cows in addition to a kitchen for the Lely Vector. The barn stands 562 feet long with the width varying from 138 feet for the cow groups and 148 feet for the heifers and the kitchen. To the south of the facility is a short walkway that opens to a 106by-70 calf barn. Calves are housed in individual pens and bottle fed for the rst three days of life. They then transition to a pen of 20 calves on an automatic feeder until weaned. At 5 months, the heifers are relocated to the far east side of the freestall barn and move throughout a series of pens until three weeks precalving. A section of pens dividing the youngstock and lactating herds is allocated for far-off and close-up dry cows, including a maternity pen. Once in lactation, the cows can be moved into one of two pens based on lactation and stall availability in the pens. Turn to ROLFS | Page 10
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
Derek Rolf, Tim Rolf and Jesse Moan operate Golden Sunrise Dairy Inc. in Polk County near McIntosh, Minnesota. In 2018, the Rolfs began construcƟon on housing faciliƟes for calves to cows that incorporates the industry’s latest automated technologies.