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DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 21, No. 2
Snow storm makes mess for hauling
March 9, 2019
Blizzard causes widespread destruction
Truckers deal with treacherous roads, Dairy producers producers dump dealing with milk collapsed roofs, By Krista Kuzma fallen buildings from krista.k@dairystar.com late February storm The blizzard the region experienced Feb. 23-25 is not one that will soon be forgotten. “It’s the kind of storm you’ll talk about forever,” said Cindy Morgan, public engagement coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Transportation and social media meteorologist. “This one might be like the 1991 blizzard. I would put it on that magnitude. When you get to the point where you can’t travel through the storm even days after dealing with it, this is quite rare.” The storm, which moved from South Dakota across southern Minnesota and northern Iowa, and into west central Wisconsin, dumped over 10 inches of wet, heavy snow in the area. The precipitation plus wind speeds reaching over 50 miles per hour caused for whiteout conditions and closed down most roads in the storm’s path. Morgan called the road conditions treacherous and impassable. “The snowplows were out as long as possible, but in the middle of this, because those drifts were getting so high, at times they were getting stuck or they would miss the road and slide off,” Morgan said. MnDOT drivers were reporting drifts over the hood of their snowplows, Morgan said. “Eventually it shifted from a response effort to a passable system for emergency vehicles,” Morgan said. Because of the impassable road conditions, many milk truck drivers had difculty on the road or were unable to make stops Feb. 24. Tim Neitzel owns Neitzel Trucking, which has 15 trucks that picks up milk in Buffalo, Trempealeau, Jackson, La Crosse,
Turn to MILK | Page 5
By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
CHATFIELD, Minn. – The Hoffman family knew a blizzard would cause extra work on their dairy, but they never imagined the storm would force them to exit the business. “I was mixing feed when my dad called me and said another section of the barn [roof] had come down,” Corey Hoffman said. “I went over there and walked in to look at it. It wasn’t even two minutes and I said, ‘Dad, the cows have to go. We don’t have a choice.’” Two sections of the Hoffman family’s freestall barn Turn to BLIZZARD | Page 10
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Bridget and Corey Hoffman stand near a por�on of their freestall barn’s roof that collapsed from the weight of snow on Feb. 24. Two sec�ons of the family’s barn roof collapsed from a blizzard, forcing them to sell their 420-cow herd on their farm, North Creek Dairy, near Cha�ield, Minn.
A place to raise a family
Fifth-generation Jopps continue dairy By Danna Sabolik
danna.s@dairystar.com
DANNA SABOLIK/DAIRY STAR
Becca and Ryan Jopp, and their son, Derek, milk 85 cows on Ryan’s family farm near Mayer, Minn. The Jopps are the �h genera�on to milk cows on the dairy.
MAYER, Minn. – From playing with tractors in the sandbox to taking over the farm’s reproduction program, Ryan Jopp loved everything he did on the farm and knew he wanted to do that for the rest of his life. Today, he and his wife, Becca, own the dairy, where they milk 85 cows and run 160 acres near Mayer, Minn. They also nish about 30 dairy steers yearly. Ryan and Becca are the fth generation of Jopps to dairy farm on the land. Ryan’s great-greatTurn to JOPPS | Page 6