LOOK INSIDE FOR OUR DCHA CONFERENCE PREVIEW EDITION!
DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 20, No. 3
How to weather the economic storm
March 24, 2018
Growing to capture efciency, technology
Zwieg strives to reach high Kohl shares tips production goals
for success
By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
Editor’s note: This is the second of two articles on Dr. David Kohl’s presentation, “Positioning for success in cyclical economics,” hosted by Ridgewater College Farm Business Management Programs Feb. 21 Willmar, Minn. WILLMAR, Minn. – Every generation of dairy farmers have experienced some form of volatile markets; it is the natural result of being a part of an industry molded by cyclical environments. How farmers prepare and weather the volatility is the differentiating factor between protability and loss. “Moving forward, we’re going to have to manage volatility in the extremes, which means management is really going to show its face in the next ve to 10 years,” said Dr. David Kohl, Professor of Emeritus at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. The cyclical environment of the dairy industry can be best described by seasons – summer, fall, winter and spring – which most recently began in 2006. From 2006 until 2012, demand for dairy products was strong, the value of the dollar and interest rates were low, as well as a growing interest in technology and ethanol. “That [period] was an aberration and it’s only ever happened in three other times [in history],” Kohl said. “Baby boomer farmers who made it through the ‘80s made more money in those ve years than they did the previous 40. That was summer, and everyone Turn to KOHLS | Page 5
By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
IXONIA, Wis. – From Day 1 of dairying with his family, Kyle Zwieg has been working to improve the family’s farm. Since returning in 2012 Zwieg has helped the farm grow – adding facilities for an expanded herd and improving the rolling herd average over 8,000 pounds of milk through the breeding and feeding programs Zwieg helped establish. Today, Kyle Zwieg is the sixth generation of his family to operate the Zwieg’s Maple Acres along with his wife, Turn to ZWIEGS | Page
DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
Kyle and Rachel Zwieg operate Zwieg’s Maple Acres Dairy with Kyle’s parents, Joe and Lisa Zwieg. They milk 80 cows in Dodge County near Ixonia, Wis.
A move to pursue their dairying dream
Guisewhites leave East Coast to settle in Minnesota By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Nicole and Norman Guisewhite, accompanied by their daughter, Alexis, check over their herd on a recent aŌernoon. AŌer moving from the East Coast four years ago, the family bought a herd of cows and started renƟng a facility near Mayer, Minn.
MAYER, Minn. – There’s no doubt in Norman and Nicole Guisewhite’s mind of what they are meant do to. Their mission is to dairy farm. But pursuing their career of choice meant taking a leap of faith and moving to a new state – from Pennsylvania to Minnesota – where they did not know anyone. Nearly one year ago, Norman and Nicole Guisewhite, along with their children, Hanna, 7, and Alexis, 4, bought a 100-cow herd and started their dairying dream on a rented farm near Mayer, Minn. The journey to get to this point, however, hasn’t been the straightest path. The couple started farming right out of high school in 2004 with Norman’s family milking 400 cows in Virginia. When that didn’t work, they moved to Pennsylvania in 2008 to try dairying on their own until they sold the cows in 2011. Turn to GUISEWHITES | Page 6