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DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 22, No. 4
Producers dump milk due to COVID-19
Processors ask farmers to get rid of, reduce production during pandemic By Krista Kuzma & Jennifer Coyne Staff Writers
HORICON, Wis. – As other dairy farmers received letters in March from their processors about potentially needing to dump milk due to shutdowns because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lisa Condon became nervous for her own farm’s production. “We thought maybe we would be under the radar, but that didn’t happen,” Condon said. Condon and her husband, Bob, began dumping milk April 1 on their 500-cow dairy near Horicon. They are one of many farms in the country having to let raw product go down the drain. “What a waste,” Condon said. “You work your whole life and every day just to throw it down the drain. Right away we tried to gure out options to try to use it or do something with it.” Instead, the Condons are pumping 6,000 gallons – one tanker load – each day into their manure pit. “We didn’t get a lot of warning,” Condon said. “We got a call from our eld representative that afternoon saying don’t ship anymore milk through the weekend. But it has continued longer than that.” Condon is a representative for the central district in Wisconsin for her cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America. She said her family’s dairy was chosen to dump milk because it has a manure pit and direct ships with its own tanker trucks. “If our dairy dumped, then four or ve smaller dairies Turn to MILK | Page 7
April 11, 2020
A career built from scratch
Martins erect cow, calf barns, milking parlor By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
BROOTEN, Minn. – For Wesley Martin to continue his career as a dairy farmer, he needed a place to call his own with the ability to further establish his herd. Over the last year and a half, Wesley has been able to do that by building facilities for his cows and youngstock on his dairy farm in Stearns County near Brooten. “The biggest decision was how many cows I wanted to milk and how much money I was willing to spend to make a good living,” Wesley said. In July 2018, the Martins broke ground for a 101-stall freestall barn, double-8 parallel parlor and enclosed calf barn. The project would accommodate 110 milking cows Turn to MARTINS | Page 7
MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
The MarƟn family – Wesley holding Weston, Juanita and Maria holding Kristen – milks 110 cows on their farm near Brooten, Minnesota. The family built a parlor, freestall barn and calf barn in 2018.
Milk given to those in need Cooperative, dairy farmers give school cartons to Rochester food bank By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
ROCHESTER, Minn. – When schools in Wisconsin and Minnesota closed in March due to COVID-19, Plainview Milk Products Cooperative was left with 250,000 half pint cartons with nowhere to go. Charlie Sachs, a dairy farmer from Eyota, thought he could help. “I was in a position where I could get the right people talking and product out,” said Sachs, who is on the board of directors for both Plainview Milk Products and the Olmsted County American Dairy Association. The cooperative and association teamed up to donate milk March 19 to Channel One Food Bank in Rochester. Plus, Plainview Milk Products donated additional milk to three other food banks in the Twin Cities metro area. “It came at a really good time because we were just starting to worry about COVID-19,” said Jessica Sund, communications and development director for Channel One Food Bank. “We were able to use that milk to push out additional distributions to families, so that was really helpful.”
Fred Berndt, assistant general manager for Plainview Milk Products Cooperative, said about 15% of the cooperative’s milk is sent to its plant in Hastings and bottled. This includes milk for many local schools in Minnesota and Wisconsin. “We produced on Friday (March 13) as though the schools would be open and going,” Berndt said. “By Sunday afternoon and night, we reached out right away because we knew we would have to nd homes for it.” He had 250,000 half pint cartons, or 10,000 gallons, of milk that would not be going to schools. When Kevin Connelly heard about the extra milk, he had no hesitation with using money to donate it to a great cause. “We jumped on board and didn’t want to see the milk go to waste,” said the Olmsted County ADA board chairman and dairy farmer from Byron. “There are people who need dairy products. We always make a monthly donation to Channel One, but to me there was a greater need now than even two months ago, especially with kids out of school.” Sund is grateful for the donation and others like it. “It’s such a perishable item and it has to have cooling so we can’t accept donations of milk from the public,” Sund said. While the food bank can accept dairy given from retailers and distributors, more often, it is bought with donation money. Turn to FOOD BANK | Page 5