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DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 19, No. 11
AMPI expanding Sanborn plant
July 22, 2017
Ready, set, dairy
Cooperative plans 14,000-square foot addition to Iowa facility By Jerry Nelson
jerry.n@dairystar.com
SANBORN, Iowa – AMPI, a farmer-owned dairy cooperative based in New Ulm, Minn., is expanding its Sanborn, Iowa, cheese and whey processing facility. The 14,000-square foot expansion will more than double the plant’s processing capacity, from 1.4 million pounds of milk per day to 3 million pounds of milk daily. This adds up to more than 1 billion pounds of milk annually. Bruce Brockshus, a member of the AMPI board of directors, addressed a crowd that gathered for a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house that was held at the Sanborn plant on July 17. Brockshus and his family milk 550 cows on their farm located near Ocheyedan, Iowa. “We saw the need for this expansion when it became evident that milk producBruce Brockshus tion was making a comeback in this area,” AMPI board member Brockshus said. “We have the infrastructure, we have the people and we have dairy farmers who are dedicated to the industry. This area’s milk production is growing and so is the demand for our products. The new expansion will increase the capacity and efciency of the Sanborn plant.” Harold Peters, manager of AMPI’s Sanborn division, said, “We already have enough milk production available in this district to meet the needs of this new expansion.” AMPI is owned by dairy farm families from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska. There Turn to AMPI | Page 5
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
Zeb Johnson milks 42 cows near Mora, Minn. Johnson purchased the farm site last summer and has spent the past year building his herd and becoming a full-Ɵme dairyman and owner of JerAnna Holsteins.
Johnson takes rst steps into industry By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
JERRY NELSON/DAIRY STAR
AMPI CEO Sheryl Meshke (center), along with AMPI board members and dairy producers, cut the ribbon during a ceremony held at their Sanborn, Iowa, cheese plant on July 17. A new addiƟon that is being built onto the AMPI Sanborn plant will more than double the plant’s processing capacity.
MORA, Minn. – Trading in a job with nancial stability and long-term benets to milk cows is not everyone’s idea of career growth, but for Zeb Johnson it was the right decision to lead him down the desired path of dairy farming. Last July, Johnson purchased a 40-acre farm site near Mora, Minn., where he milks 42 registered Holsteins. “I was at the ourmill for three years, working nights and 12-hour days. I thought if I’m going to work this hard I might as well be doing what I love,” Johnson said. “I thought I’d eventually be milking cows, but maybe not until I was 30. I worked a little harder and now I’m ahead of schedule.” Johnson’s farm includes a 30-stall, sandbedded tiestall barn and housing facilities for youngstock and dry cows. He also runs 120 acres of land for corn and alfalfa.
“This is a good farm to start out with,” Johnson said. “It’s not breaking the bank, but it’s also not the bare minimum. I have everything that I need to milk cows, and I can improve how I want to.” The 24-year-old started his dairy herd when he was young, purchasing a 6-monthold heifer with scholarship money earned through a 4-H interview. At that point, Johnson was granted a youth loan through the United States Department of AgricultureFarm Service Agency (FSA) to begin his dairy herd. Over the years, he slowly grew his herd to 12 milking animals, and housed them at his parents’ – Zane and Janet Johnson’s – 70-cow dairy near Hinckley, Minn. Then, after graduating college in 2013, Johnson pursued careers away from dairy farming with plans to someday return to his dairying roots. Turn to JOHNSON | Page 6
Page 2 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
DAIRY ST R www.dairystar.com
ISSN 020355 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave. Sauk Centre, MN 56378 Phone: (320) 352-6303 Fax: (320) 352-5647 Published by Dairy Star LLC General Manager/Editor Mark Klaphake - mark.k@dairystar.com 320-352-6303 (ofďƒžce) 320-248-3196 (cell) 320-352-0062 (home) Ad Composition Nancy Powell 320-352-6303 nancy.p@dairystar.com Amanda Thooft 320-352-6303 amanda.t@dairystar.com Consultant Jerry Jennissen 320-346-2292 Editorial Staff Andrea Borgerding - Managing Editor (320) 352-6303 • andrea.b@dairystar.com Krista Kuzma - Assistant Editor (507) 259-8159 • krista.k@dairystar.com Ron Johnson (608) 874-4243 ron.j@dairystar.com Ruth Klossner (507) 240-0048 cowlady@centurylink.net Jennifer Coyne (320) 352-6303 jenn@dairystar.com Brittany Olson (320) 352-6303 brittany.o@dairystar.com Danielle Nauman (608) 487-1101 danielle.n@dairystar.com Advertising Sales Main Ofďƒžce: 320-352-6303 Fax: 320-352-5647 Deadline is 5 p.m. of the Friday the week before publication Sales Manager - Jeff Weyer (Northern MN, East Central MN) 320-260-8505 (cell) jeff.w@dairystar.com Mark Klaphake (Western MN) 320-352-6303 (ofďƒžce) 320-248-3196 (cell) Laura Seljan (National Advertising, SE MN) 507-250-2217 fax: 507-634-4413 laura.s@dairystar.com Jerry Nelson (SW MN, NW Iowa, South Dakota) 605-690-6260 jerry.n@dairystar.com Mike Schafer (Central, South Central MN) 320-894-7825 mike.s@dairystar.com Lori Menke (Eastern Iowa, Southern WI) 563-608-6477 • lori.m@dairystar.com Megan Stuessel (Western Wisconsin) 608-387-1202 megan.s@dairystar.com Deadlines The deadline for news and advertising in the Dairy Star is 5 p.m. Friday the week before publication. Subscriptions One year subscription $35.00, outside the U.S. $110.00. Send check along with mailing address to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378. Advertising Our ad takers have no authority to bind this newspaper and only publication of an advertisement shall constitute ďƒžnal acceptance of the advertiser's order. Letters Letters and articles of opinion are welcomed. Letters must be signed and include address and phone number. We reserve the right to edit lengthy letters. The views and opinions expressed by Dairy Star columnists and writers are not necessarily those of the Dairy Star LLC.
The Dairy Star is published semi-monthly by Dairy Star, LLC, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246. Periodicals Postage Paid at Sauk Centre, MN and additional mailing ofďƒžces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246.
North America dealers. A glance at what’s inside
Dairy Proďƒžle brought to you by your
Water is one of the most essential nutrients for vitality of a dairy herd, especially during the summer months. A simple test can determine if the water source is contaminated and possibly affecting herd health, such as growth in young calves and reproduction, and even milk production. Dairy farmers Jason Eldeen and Luke Elsenpeter tell of their experience with water troubles and what changes they made to improve palatability on pages 12-13 in ďƒžrst section. Soon, beginning farmers in Minnesota will have a By Mark Klaphake leg up in starting their farming venture due to a ďƒžrst-ofits-kind law, which is set to take effect in 2018. The law Editor will allow increased access to farmland by providing a 5 percent tax credit to the landowners selling or renting the land or equipment to the young farmers. Read what some farmers are saying about this new law on page 10 in ďƒžrst section. During July, a lot of county fairs are in full swing. That means many young people are busy getting their dairy animals for 4-H, FFA and open class shows. For this issue’s “From our side of the fence,â€? we talked to kids who are involved with showing their dairy animals at these local shows. Turn to pages 15-16 in ďƒžrst section to read about what shows they attend, what animals they bring and the best tip they have ever received about showing animals along with other fun information. Continuing on the county fair theme, this issue we followed the Meyer family on July 14 for our “Day in the lifeâ€? feature on pages 16, 18-19 in second section. John and Connie Meyer were busy helping their two daughters, Megan and Kate, prepare their animals for the 4-H dairy show at the Winona County Fair along with making sure the farm ran smoothly while they were away for the day. The Meyers milk 800 cows on their farm, Quarry Hill Dairy, near Rollingstone, Minn. Just like last issue, we are again featuring four more of the 12 Princess Kay of the Milky Way Finalist on pages 22-25 in second section. This time, read about the dairy journeys of Abby Hopp from Fillmore County, Quinci Scherber from Hennepin County, Emily Annexstad from Nicollet County and Maddelin Lindahl from Chisago County.
Favorite quotes from this issue:
“One thing I always tell my customers is, ‘Just because you’re organic, it doesn’t mean you have to make poor-quality feed.’ Put up good feed, keep it in front of the cows, and keep the cows dry and clean and healthy.� - Rob Anderson (Pages 6-7, Second Section)
“We want to increase the knowledge of dairy from farmers to consumers and everyone in between.� - Mariah Schmitt (Pages 20-21, Second Section)
By the Numbers
rolling herd 32,400: Current average Greg and Wendi Piller’s 110-cow herd.
(Pages 8-9, Second Section )
200: feet per minute is the
recommended speed of wind, or 2 miles per hour, as it travels through a barn. (Pages 3-5, Second Section)
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 3
It’s all inside...
FIRST SECTION
Kittson
Norman
Ma
Becker
Clay
THIRD SECTION
Douglas Charles Mix
nso n
Miner
Brookings
Lake
Chippewa
Moody
McCook Minnehaha
Meeker
Hennepin Renville
Yellow Medicine
Wright
McLeod
Carver Scott
Sibley Lyon
Redwood
Nicollet Brown
Murray
Rock
Pillers overcome hurdles while dairy farming together Second Section: Pages 8 - 9
Dakota
Rice
Goodhue Wabasha
Cottonwood Watonwan Blue Earth Waseca Steele Dodge Olmsted
Nobles
Jackson
Martin
Faribault
Freeborn
Mower
Winona
Fillimore
St. Charles
Houston
A day in the life of the Meyer family Second Section: Pages 16, 18-19
Ha
Da
vis
on
Sa nb
or n
Kingsbury
Deuel
Kandiyohi
r
Hamlin
Lincoln
Clark
Kenyon
Isanti
Anoka
Swift Lac Qui Parle
Codington
Benton
Stearns
Pope
First Section: Pages 12 - 13
go
Farmers of the Barron County Watersheds host eld day Pages 38 - 39 Dairy Recipes
Morrison
Sherburne
Grant
Pages 32, 34
Mille Lacs
isa
Roberts
Day
Big Sto Stone
Pine
Douglas
Stevens
Waseca
Water quality testing important to promote herd health
Ch
Pages 22 - 25
Carlton
Crow Wing
Todd Grant
Third Section: Pages 3 - 4
Aitkin
eu
Marshall
Cass
Su
rse
First Section: Pages 1, 5
Savage
History of red and white dairy cattle chronicled in new book
Le
AMPI expanding Sanborn plant
Princess Kay Finalists Pages 30 - 31 Crop and weather reports
Ottertail
Wilkin
Sanborn
en
m hno
Wadena
First Section: Pages 18, 20
Second Section: Pages 3 - 4
Itasca
Hubbard
Polk
First Section: Pages 1, 6 - 7
Chaska
Koochiching
Clearwater
Wiener’s double ovsynch program raises reproduction rate
Johnson takes rst steps into industry
Tellers family host Carver County farmer to farmer tour
St. Louis
Red Lake
Sauk Centre
Schmitt named coordinator for Iowa’s Dairy Center
Page 8 Mother-son duo enjoys creating beautiful music Page 9 Hundreds attend 2017 National Guernsey Convention Page 10 Heikes named new CRI CEO Pages 16 - 17 Some Udder Stuff Pages 18 - 19 Dairy Calendar Pages 20 - 26 Classieds
Beltrami
Pennington
Tra ve
Pages 20 - 21
Second Section: Page 24
Lake of the Woods
Marshall
SECOND SECTION
Pages 6 - 7 Prot per stall important to Anderson Pages 10 - 11 The “Mielke” Market Weekly Page 12 Dairy markets Page 13 Area hay auction results Pages 14 - 15 Dairying Around the World
First Section: Pages 23, 25
Roseau
Mora
Scherber will compete for the title of Princess Kay of the Milky Way
sey
First Section: Page 11
Rogers
Moulzolf battled leukemia, now in remission
Washinton
Third Section: Pages 6 - 7
Rice
Storms bring damage to southern Minnesota
Kanabec
Lafayette
Fjerstad: The wonder dairywoman
Ra m
Fosston
Pipestone
Pages 8-9 Ag Insider Page 10 First-of-its-kind law aims to help young farmers nd their footing in Minnesota Page 22 Dairy farmers to benet from increased focus on exports Page 26 FSA News & Notes Page 27 The Transition Pen Page 28 How does the farmer benet from planting cover crops? Page 29 Research highlights from ADSA meetings Page 30 Dear County Agent Guy Page 31 On the Mark Page 32 Just Thinking Out Loud Page 33 Dairy Good Life Page 34 Something to Ruminate On Pages 35, 37 Martins receive help building barn after tornado
Hutchinson
Turner
Bon Yankton Homme
Lincoln Clay
Union
Lyon
Osceola Dickinson Emmet
Sioux
O’Brien
Clay
Kossuth
Palo Alto
FROM OUR SIDE OF THE FENCE:
What is your best experience showing cattle? Pages 15-16
Plymouth
Lewiston Minn.
Zone 1
Dairy Prole: Robb Miller
For additional stories from our other zone, log on to www.dairystar.com
Page 39
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Page 4 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 5
ConƟnued from AMPI | Page 1
Protect your cows from the summer heat! With
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JERRY NELSON/DAIRY STAR
This 14,000 square foot addiƟon at the AMPI cheese plant in Sanborn, Iowa, will soon house eight state-of-the-art cheese vats. The addiƟon of this new equipment will enable the plant to branch out into making Colby Jack and Monterey Jack cheeses. are 128 AMPI members located within a 100-mile radius of the Sanborn facility. Altogether, the dairy operations in the Sanborn district are home to some 30,000 cows. Steve Schlangen, dairyman from Albany, Minn., and chairman of the board of AMPI, also addressed the group. “The timing was right for this expansion,” Schlangen said. “We have had growing milk production in the Sanborn division, and we have customers who want more of our product.” The AMPI Steve Schlangen Sanborn plant curAMPI board rently produces chairman only mild Cheddar cheese. “After the expansion is completed, we plan to start making Colby Jack and Monterey Jack cheeses,” Peters said. Peters doesn’t anticipate any new hires after the expansion is nished. “We plan to stay at about 102 employees,” he said. “A lot of the new equipment will be automated. We will be able to more than double our daily cheese production, but stay with the same number of employees.” There can be little doubt as to the quality of the cheese made at the Sanborn plant. In each of the past three years, the Sanborn plant’s Mild Cheddar has been awarded rst place at the World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest. “Needless to say, this high quality cheese begins with the high quality milk that is supplied by our dairy farmers,” said Sheryl Meshke, CEO of AMPI. “Our dairy farmers are the reason this expansion is happening. The local community has been so welcoming throughout this process. There is one number that’s critical to remember, and that is $25,000. That’s the economic impact of every single dairy cow.” AMPI operates 10 processing plants scattered across the Midwest. The cooperative produces 10 percent
of the nation’s American-type cheese, butter, dried whey and sliced American cheese. In 2016, AMPI processed 5.5 billion pounds of milk, resulting in $1.6 billion in sales. The AMPI Sanborn plant produces cheese in 700-pound blocks that are known as 640s. The nished blocks of cheese are shipped to AMPI’s customers for further aging and for processing into packaged consumer products or for use in the food service industry. After the expansion is completed, the AMPI Sanborn plant will be capable of producing 300,000 pounds of block cheese every day. “This was the smallest plant in our co-op system, so it’s nice to see this expansion,” Peters said. “That 3 million pound per day size is a good place to be.” It is expected that the multimilliondollar Sanborn expansion will be coming online at the end of 2017 or in early 2018. “We plan to begin testing the new equipment by mid-December and hope to have most of the bugs worked out by the end of the year,” Peters said. The new expansion at Sanborn consists of a cavernous concrete-walled room that has been grafted onto AMPI’s existing cheese-making facility. The addition will house eight state-ofthe-art cheese vats, along with other processing equipment. O’Brien County Co-op Creamery rst built a milk plant in Sanborn in 1937. The plant has been updated and expanded over the years, especially after AMPI became involved with the Sanborn facility in 1978. “It has been a long process to convince the board that we needed to do this new expansion,” Brockshus said. “We’re glad that it nally came to fruition. This investment in the Sanborn plant sends a signal to our dairy farmer members that we are committed to the area’s dairy industry.” Schlangen agreed. “The crew at the Sanborn plant has proven that they know how to make award-winning cheese,” Schlangen said. “It will be exciting to see what they can do with this new facility.”
• Contains electrolytes and buffers to prevent dehydration. • Replaces minerals lost in sweating • Contains sugars to aid absorption of electrolytes culture to stimulate rumen • Contains yeast cultur feed intake fermentation and fee which dilates blood vessels • Contains Niashure® w allowing dissipate through the skin ll i hheatt tto di i
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Forage & Corn Silage Knowledge Event WEDNESDAY, AUG. 9 • BELGRADE, MN Directions: Located Highway 71 south of Belgrade SCHEDULE: 9:45 AM Registration 10:00 AM Welcome & Introductions HarvXtra Alfalfa - How it will add Profit to your Operation: -THIS IS CHANGING ALFALFA PRODUCTION!!! -Introduce our 3rd generation HarvXtra variety -Key learnings and takeaways from 2 years of HarvXtra production -Management ideas for Higher Yield and Quality Alfalfa Sorghums: How, Where, When & Why Alfalfa: More Net Income: Competing for the Acre Harvest Management & Storage: Feed MORE High Quality Forages 12:00 PM Lunch 1:00 PM Wrap-up & Departure for Home
Questions - please contact: Your local co-op seller.
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Page 6 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
ConƟnued from JOHNSON | Page 1
Willmar, MN • 320.231.1470
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Zeb Johnson’s rst heifer calf is now 11 years old and the foundaƟon to his registered herd. Next spring, there will be ve generaƟons of this cow family on the farm. In January 2016, Johnson received another FSA loan to purchase his farm site. “It took six months, but now look what I have,” Johnson said. “It took another two months to get a cow loan, but now I have my cows. I have everything – I’m happy.” On July 15, 2016, Johnson became a property owner, and he spent the following months tirelessly preparing the facilities for the arrival of livestock. Johnson replaced the drinking cups
in front of the stalls and, to be compliant with a Grade A license, he put in a new well on the farm. “There’s not a lot of creameries taking Grade B, if at all, right now, so I needed to make sure I could ship Grade A,” Johnson said. “It was a whole other challenge to nd someone that would take my milk.” After reaching out to three creameries, Johnson was able to build Turn to JOHNSON | Page 7
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 7
ConƟnued from JOHNSON | Page 6 a contract with Burnett Dairy in Alpha, Wis., where he also purchases feed. On Nov. 19, Johnson turned on the vacuum pump for the rst time. “Everything went smoothly. I was very happy,” Johnson said. In order to ll the barn, Johnson looked towards sales of highly respected registered farms throughout the Midwest. He came across Paradise-D Holsteins in Lancaster, Wis., where he purchased 30 cows. “I knew I wanted big cows with good feet and legs, and beautiful udders. If they were bred, producing good milk and had a low SCC, I kept my eye on them,” Johnson said. While Johnson admitted to paying more for the remainder of his herd, he hopes the genetic components will outweigh the cost. “Instead of buying more cows and getting the same amount of milk, I wanted to buy less cows that give more milk,” Johnson said. “Pagenkopfs had a 33,000-pound herd average and I wanted cows like that.” Before the herd could come home, Johnson wanted to make further improvements within the barn so the transition from one farm to the next did not greatly affect milk production and herd health. The purchased herd remained in Lancaster until June 15, as Johnson added sand bedding to his stalls. “It may be hard on the barn cleaner, but I don’t care if it’s harder on equipment or not. Once the cows are happy, that’s all that matters,” Johnson said. As Johnson settles into his role as a dairyman and owner of Jer-Anna Holsteins, he is pleased with how the cows have adjusted and is looking
with his father and brother, Jake, and receives help from a neighbor when it is time to wrap hay. “I have to thank everyone for helping me out whenever I need it,” Johnson said. “Otherwise, it’d be tough doing it all by myself without the people standing behind me and helping me out.” In time, Johnson hopes to acquire more of his own equipment, as well as
“A lot of people doubted me, saying I was crazy for leaving a high-paying job to go milk cows.” ZEB JOHNSON, DAIRY FARMER
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Zeb Johnson’s herd includes big-framed animals with strong udders and good feet and legs. To grow his herd Johnson purchased 30 cows from Paradise-D Holsteins in Lancaster, Wis. forward to developing his herd. “Right now, I don’t have any corn silage and am still getting a 70-pound average. If I can get to 80 pounds, I’d be very happy; but I’m not going to push my cows,” Johnson said. “I believe that if you keep your cows happy and healthy, they’re going to produce for
you.” While Johnson was able to apply concepts he learned in his dairy management courses at school to his dairy, it was the advice from his father and the help from fellow farmers that have aided in his progress. Johnson is sharing equipment
build a better housing facility for his dry cows and youngstock. “The hardest part is making sure the bills are paid and everything cash ows,” Johnson said. “I wanted to put new stalls in or add fans to the barn before I started milking, but as money comes in I’ll be able to make those changes.” The past year has been a whirlwind adventure for Johnson, and with a strong herd foundation he is eager to see where dairying will take him. “A lot of people doubted me, saying I was crazy for leaving a high-paying job to go milk cows. They thought I’d never be able to do it,” Johnson said. “But, every morning I get to wake up and am proud of what I have in that barn.”
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Dairy outlook from region to region Page 8 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
The Upper Midwest is producing plenty of milk, said the Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction on which is moving into the cheese market and keeping that issue. Congressman Bob Goodlatte previously a lid on prices. INTL FC Stone senior broker Dave chaired the House Agriculture Committee and now Kurzawski said the Midwest dairy industry is in leads the Judiciary Committee. decent shape, but that’s not the situation Ag Insider everywhere. “There are dire straits in EPA to curb ‘sue-and-settle’ policy California. When we had all of this Environmental Protection Agency product and we have all of this milk Administrator Scott Pruitt has sent a through our ush, it was enough to hide directive throughout the agency, to rein the sins of weather in California. I don’t in the so-called ‘sue-and-settle’ policy. know if we’ll be able to do that in the Agriculture groups have questioned a second half of the year.” Butter remains a common practice taken by environmental hot commodity. Kurzawski said the milk activists, like the Sierra Club and the powder market has been more bearish. Waterkeeper Alliance. In these situations, the government has been sued for failing Farm Bill listening session to be held in to meet regulatory deadlines. Rather than Minnesota going to court, the cases are settled out of By Don Wick The House Agriculture Committee court. Agriculture groups have said these has announced three new farm bill settlements often accomplish the goals Columnist listening sessions, including one in of the environmental organizations with Minnesota. That farm bill session will be held Aug. 3 little or no input from farmers and other impacted at Farmfest near Redwood Falls. Chairman Michael by the policy. Congressional leaders have praised Conaway and Ranking Member Collin Peterson are the move and asked Pruitt and Attorney General Jeff expected to participate. Sessions to formalize this new course of action. AFBF calls for MPP changes The American Farm Bureau Federation has submitted a list of farm bill recommendations to the House and Senate Agriculture committees. For dairy policy, AFBF is seeking a 25 percent reduction in premium rates for the rst 4 million pounds of production history in the Margin Protection Program. That would be linked to a 25 percent increase in premiums for milk production above that level. Farm Bureau also wants to modify the feed ration formula. Farm Bill won’t address labor shortage House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway said the 2018 Farm Bill will not include language to deal with the agricultural labor shortage. Dairy farmers may be looking for ways to address the immigration rules for foreign employees, but Conaway
Manitoba organic group asks for GMO intervention The Manitoba Organic Alliance is asking the federal government to cancel variety registration for all genetically modied alfalfa. MOA is part of a coalition that wants a full economic impact assessment and testing protocols created for all imports of alfalfa seed from the U.S. “Canada has found a niche,” said MOA President Kate Storey. “When the U.S. adopted GM alfalfa, Canada started to ll those nonGMO markets with GM-free forage, GM-free seed and those are pretty lucrative markets.” Western Dairy groups to merge The Western Dairy Association and Dairy Max are merging. Western Dairy Association represents dairy farmers in Montana, Wyoming and Colorado,
while Dairy Max oversees dairy promotion efforts for farmers in Texas, New Mexico, Kansas and Oklahoma. This merger will bring together dairy checkoff programs from the Mexican border to Canada. The merger will not be nalized until the end of 2018, but Mike Konkle is already serving as the CEO for both organizations.
DFA spins off NY plant Dairy Farmers of America has sold its dairy plant in Batavia, N. Y., to HP Hood LLC. This plant was built as a joint venture of PepsiCo and Theo Muller in 2013 and acquired by DFA in 2016. DFA will continue to supply raw milk to this plant when it becomes operational in 2019. HP Hood will use the facility to manufacture extended shelf-life beverages. Vetter named UNL diplomat in residence The former chief agricultural negotiator for the Ofce of the U.S. Trade Representative has taken on a new role at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Ambassador Darci Vetter, who is a Nebraska native, has been named UNL’s diplomat in residence and will help create the Clayton Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance. Heikes named CRI CEO Cooperative Resources International has named Keith Heikes as its next chief executive ofcer. Heikes will succeed Doug Wilson, who will retire next month. Heikes has been the chief operating ofcer for GENEX, which is a CRI subsidiary. The CRI cooperative brands also include Central Livestock Association and AgSource. Zinpro hires dairy researcher Dr. Adam Geiger has joined Zinpro Corporation as the dairy research nutritionist. Previously, Geiger was with Milk Products Inc. Geiger will provide technical support and assist with Zinpro’s dairy research. Turn to AG INSIDER | Page 9
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 9
ConƟnued from AG INSIDER | Page 8 MFU names new public relations director Brita Moore has joined the Minnesota Farmers Union staff as its public relations director. Previously, Moore was the assistant managing editor at Agri-News. Trivia challenge The United States leads the world in milk production from dairy cows. India’s milk output is larger, but most of that milk production comes from water buffalo. That answers our last
trivia question. For this week’s trivia, how many pizzas are sold in the U.S. each year? We’ll have the answer in the next edition of Dairy Star. Don Wick is owner/broadcaster for the Red River Farm Network, based in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Wick has been recognized as the National Farm Broadcaster of the Year and served as president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Don and his wife, Kolleen, have two adult sons, Tony and Sam, and ve grandchildren, Aiden, Piper, Adrienne, Aurora and Sterling.
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Since I started my farm two years ago. Why did you choose to use it? It was a lot less time consuming than having a vet out. It’s easier on the cows and me. What do you like about it? I like that I can mail in samples and have results in my email the next day. It means I can preg check cows every week, but only have the vet out every 60 days or even less often. It’s a lot more cost effective. How long have you been testing with DHIA? I always made sure my cows were on test even before I started milking on my own farm. What are some other tests you use through DHIA? I regularly test for Johnes and Leukosis, as well. Even if I decide not to cull the cows I can make sure not to feed their colostrum to heifers or to share needles between those cows and tested-free cows. That will Elinor Opitz make a gradual difference in how many cows are infected in 65 cows • Maple Lake, Minn. the herd. Minnesota Dairy Herd Improvement Association 307 Brighton Avenue South Buffalo, MN 55313 1.800.827.3442 www.mndhia.org
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Page 10 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
First-of-its-kind law aims to help young farmers nd their footing in Minnesota
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Combines
Gleaner R-62 w/heads .................$39,500 Gleaner A-75, 4 whl drive ........... $110,000
Skid Loaders
Bobcat S300, 2800 hrs, heat, ACS control, 2-speed ..........................................$26,900 Bobcat S630, 400 hrs, heat, 2 spd $34,800 Bobcat S590 heat 2-spd . (3) from $31,900 Bobcat S850, heat & A/C, 2-speed 2 units .......................Start @ $45,900 ‘15 Bobcat S750, A71 pkg., 2 spd $35,950 ‘16 Bobcat S740, A71, 2 spd ..... $34,500 Bobcat S550, heat, 2 spd., 300 hrs., ‘14..............................$31,800 Bobcat S550, heat, 2014, 2 spd. $29,900 Bobcat S130, heat, ‘12............. $22,400 Bobcat 610 w/bucket ................. $3,250 ‘14 Bobcat T590, A71............... $35,900 ‘14 Bobcat T590, heat, hi-Åow . $34,900 ‘12 Gehl 5240E, 2 spd., heat, 900 hrs.................................... $23,900 ‘14 Gehl V400, heat, AC, 2 spd ..$34,900 Gehl V330, heat & A/C, ‘12, 2400 hrs..................................$33,900 ‘07 Gehl 4640, single spd., heat $15,500 Gehl 4240E w/heat (3) Start @ $14,900 Case 430, ‘10 ...........................$22,900 Gehl R220, heat, 2 spd., joystick $31,900 Mustang 1750 2014 open cab .$36,500
TMR’s
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CIH Tigermate II, 54.5’ .............$29,900 CIH 730B, 7 shank ...................$15,900 CIH 600PTX chisel plow, 38’, 3 bar harrow ...........................$29,800 2) CIH 370, 28’..........................$31,900 CIH PTX300 chisel plow, 34’ ....$22,800 JD 2210 4-bar, 2006, 45.5ft......$35,900 JD 980, 36’ ...............................$13,700 JD 610 chisel plow, 17’ ............$10,900 JD 331 disc, 28’ .........................$6,850 DMI 730 ripper..........................$10,900 DMI 730B .................................$13,900 DMI 527B .................................$14,900 Glencoe Soil Saver .....................$6,500 Wil-Rich 957, 9 shank ..............$29,900 Wil-Rich 957, 7 shank ..............$15,900 Wil-Rich 957, 5 shank ..............$16,500 Wil-Rich 513, 9-24....................$38,900 Wil-Rich 29’ chisel plow, ‘07 ........$22,800 Wil-Rich QX2, 60’, basket ............$49,900 Wil-Rich Q-5 cult., 4-bar harrow, 32.5’............................................$11,900 Great Plains Turbo Chisel, 11 shk $22,800 Krause Dominator, 12 ft. (2) from $29,900 Krause Dominator, 12 ft., 2015.$40,900 Krause 18’ w/reel.............from $33,000
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Parker Grain Kart 838 .................$19,900 Brent 540 Box...............................$9,900 Loftness Chopper 20 ft...............$14,600 Valmetal 5600 RD bale chopper .$12,500 Used grain legs............................... Call Woods 3 pt. chopper, 20’ ...........$5,950 EZ Flow 300 bu. box ..................$1,950 Used Snowblowers ........................ Call Hardi 1,000 gal., 60’ boom .......$11,500 Demco 600 gal., 66’ bom .........$10,500 Red Ball 670, 1200 gal., 66’ boom$13,800 Unverferth Cart 9200 1000 bu. $19,950 Red Ball 1200 gal, 90 ft. boom 570 $18,800 H&S 12 wheel Hi Cap rake .........$8,275 J&M 1151, scale & tarp ............$48,900 Vicon disc mower .......................$5,950
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As young farmers in the state struggle to break into the industry, Minnesota introduces a law to lend a hand By Tom Meersman
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Matthew Fitzgerald was at the wheel of a tractor last week near Hutchinson, Minn., ames from a customized cultivator trailing him as the last step in his efforts to rid the grass and weeds from the rows of organic corn plants. The unusual cultivation is one of several techniques that are growing in favor as millennials and others push farms away from herbicides toward organic production. Fitzgerald, 25, describes it as a giant grill for weeds, and he and other young farmers are changing the industry, from embracing new methods to sharing information through social networks. Their numbers are still small — only 4 percent of principal farm operators in the state are under the age of 35 and the average age is 56, according to federal census numbers. But Fitzgerald is part of a movement of young farmers to increase their ranks. The National Young Farmers Coalition considers a recent law passed in Minnesota to be a major win for its cause. The law, a rst of its kind in the United States, aims to give beginning farmers a leg up — or at least a ghting chance — to get access to farmland by providing tax credits to the landowners who sell or rent land or farm equipment to them. “The No. 1 barrier for beginning farmers is access to land,” Fitzgerald said. “There’s lots of good workshops and resources and programs that can help people who are interested in farming, but ultimately when it comes down to it, you need to get on some soil to be a farmer.” Over the next 20 years, 573 million acres of farmland across the country will change management, according to the coalition. Sophie Vranian is the farm manager for Loon Organics and has been on the lookout to buy land of her own. To be sure, availability of land is not the only barrier that has given the farming industry a 6-1 ratio of producers over 65 to those under 35. Coalition members, including some from Minnesota, lobbied in Washington, D.C., last month for Congress to consider young farmers’ needs in the next farm bill. “Unless we tackle affordable land, student debt and health care now, few of these young farmers and ranchers will make agriculture a lifelong career,” said Lindsey Lusher Shute, the coalition’s executive director, in a statement. Details of how to implement the Minnesota law are still being worked out by state departments of agriculture and revenue, but an early estimate predicted that it could help 370 farmers annually — half renters, half buyers — once it takes effect in 2018. The law offers landowners a 5 percent state income tax credit if they sell land or machinery to new or beginning farmers, 10 percent if they rent land or equipment and 15 percent if they set up a crop share agreement. To be eligible for the program, the beginning farmer needs to have farmed for 10 years or fewer and must take an approved farm management course. Landowners could not qualify for tax credits if they sell or rent to their own family members. Iowa and Nebraska offer similar tax credit programs for land rental, but Minnesota will be the rst state to also allow the credits on land sales. Nolan Lenzen, a small organic dairy farmer near Eagle Bend in Todd County in central Minnesota, wishes a tax credit program had been available when be began farming 15 years ago. Lenzen, 35, said he was lucky to nd a barn to rent from a family friend, but he was turned down by four banks when he searched for capital to buy cows. He eventually received a loan from the Farm Service Agency through a federal program for beginning farmers. Banks are skittish about lending to farmers with little equity, Lenzen said, and landowners hesitate about selling or renting cropland to those with little farming experience. “Cash in hand for them is better than taking a risk, even though that same farmer will tell you they want to see beginning farmers on the land and want to help them out,” Lenzen said. Rob Holcomb, University of Minnesota Extension
educator and agricultural tax specialist, said there’s a certain number of retiring farmers who would like to see younger people get a start in farming. “Instead of just selling to somebody in their middle or late career in farming that has all the cash to buy the land outright, it gives retiring farmers the incentive to maybe help out a beginning person just getting into the business,” he said. “There’s a lot of land in this state that’s going to change hands in the next 15 years.” Siri Gossman, a 31-year-old in her rst year of raising free-range heritage turkeys in central Minnesota, said she’s noticed the same issue. “A lot of farmers that are aging out have the mindset that they want to see the land go to good use, but they also don’t want to lose money when they sell it,” she said. The new law is a step in the right direction, said Pakou Hang, executive director of the nonprot Hmong American Farmers Association in St. Paul, and she hopes that the incentives will help minority farmers who often nd it even more difcult than others to rent or buy farmland. “From an immigrant farmer perspective, this can be a game changer,” Hang said. “But we still need to consider that a lot of beginning farmers don’t have a lot of capital.” Fitzgerald and other beginning farmers who galvanized support for the new tax credit law through the Central Minnesota Young Farmers Coalition use Facebook, Instagram and other social media to share their successes and failures, trade information about crop insurance and where to buy supplies, advocate for farm policies and arrange meetings at local brewpubs or potluck dinners at each other’s farms. “It’s challenging socially to live isolated and far away from people your own age, so nding community is really important in small rural areas,” said Amelia Neaton, 35, a member of the group who switched careers to vegetable and ower farming after ve years as a professional architect. Neaton founded the Sweet Beet Farm in 2014 on land she and her husband purchased near Montrose, just west of the Twin Cities. “I’m really interested as a farmer to see what the future of this rural landscape around me is going to look like in another 10 or 15 or 20 years and who my neighbors are going to be,” Neaton said, “because I want to stay here and I want to raise my family here.” Sophie Vranian, farm manager at the Loon Organics vegetable farm near Hutchinson, has been on the lookout to buy land of her own and thinks the new tax credit law may be helpful. “It makes it more inspiring to keep looking for land and not give up,” she said. “It seems like an overwhelming task that’s very daunting, and it’s encouraging to me as a young farmer to know that there’s a policy to incentivize farmers to sell or rent to someone like me.” Also in the market to buy land is Devon Ballinger, who is in her fourth year of growing vegetables on rented property near Rochester. She has been looking for two years without success, and wants a place to expand her business into fruits and berries. At age 32 with one young child and another expected in December, Ballinger said she and her husband, who works off the farm, are ready to set down roots. “I denitely see the need for more young people returning to rural communities, and a policy like this can maybe help,” Ballinger said. “We love small towns, and we’d be happy to nd one to make our own.” Ballinger credits the Minnesota nonprot Land Stewardship Project for its efforts over the past two decades in training new farmers and working with other farm groups for the past 10 years to pass the beginning farmers tax credit law. “It’s a public good because one new farm family is going to be there for the rest of their life — going to church, going to school, being on the township board,” said Land Stewardship Project policy director Bobby King. “Getting a new farmer out there on the land really makes a big difference and means a lot to a rural community.” Neaton said she’s already feeling welcome by the mostly older farmers who live near her. “It’s a little intimidating sometimes when you buy new land and you don’t really know your neighbors that well and they just drive by and look,” she said. “And then all of a sudden they pull up by the side of the road and say: ‘Hey, you guys are doing a really good job. Keep it up.’ That’s encouraging.”
Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 11
Storms bring damage to southern Minnesota By Ruth Klossner Staff Writer
LAFAYETTE, Minn. – When storms rocked the area of Winthrop and New Ulm, Minn., July 9, several dairymen’s operations took a hit from hail. The Doug Kral farm, New Ulm, incurred hail damage. Doug’s son and farming partner, Joey, spoke on crop damage as well as damage to silage bags. “I don’t think the corn will make dairy feed,” Joey said. “It won’t put ears on. It will probably be heifer feed. It’s too bad. The corn was only Joey Kral about a week from tasseling.” While the farm’s alfalfa eld also took a beating, Doug gured it would be OK, but could be pushed back a week or so. The farm’s silage bags are speckled with black dots after being punched repeatedly by hail that ranged up to golf ball size. Doug went to town the morning after the storm to purchase the best duct tape he could nd. He taped numerous holes. Although some roofs were visually damaged, Joey reported no structural damage other than a few broken windows. “Nobody got hurt and at least we have livestock so we can salvage the corn,” Doug said. “We had about 85 acres that got hit. One good thing, we
got moisture. The crops had been showing stress.” Joey reported about three inches of rain. The town of Lafayette, four miles north of Kral’s farm, was pummeled with heavy hail and high winds. Dairy farmer John Wenninger, whose farm is located two miles northeast of Lafayette, incurred damage. “We were lucky, compared to other crop farmers nearby,” Wenninger said. “All of our corn has some damage, but it’s hard to say how bad it is. There’s still a chance it will make a decent John Wenninger yield. It’s already looking better after two days, shooting up a new leaf or two. The beans don’t look terrible, but if you look closely you can see bruising.” Wenninger’s ve silage bags also took a hit, reporting hundreds of holes in each bag. One bag had a four-inch divot. Wenninger plans to apply an acrylic latex roof coating to seal the bags. Wenninger expects three building roofs plus the house will need to be replaced. One of those buildings is a brand new shed completed only a month ago. Overhead doors look like they were banged with a hammer. The Anderson farm, known as Bernadotte Holsteins and located two miles east and north, received hail on 40 acres of corn and 20 acres of beans.
RUTH KLOSSNER/DAIRY STAR
(Above) Silage bags on the Kral farm, operated by Joey and Doug, were punched full of holes by hail that fell on the evening of July 9. Doug Kral patched the holes with duct tape. (Right) A corn eld that was a week from tasseling was shredded by hail on the Kral farm.
The farm’s wheat eld was spared as there was a denite cut-off line. Like Lafayette, the city of Winthrop, located ve miles northwest of Andersons, took heavy storm damage. Car windows were broken by baseball size hail. High winds also broke and uprooted numerous trees.
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Page 12 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
A closer look by Jennifer Coyne
Industry news addressed with help from your neighbors
Water quality testing important to promote herd health
WASECA, Minn. – Whether the animal is a weaned calf or a lactating cow, adequate water consumption is essential for proper growth and development. “Of all the nutrients required by dairy cattle, water is arguably the most important, yet often the most commonly overlooked when managing herd health,” said Christa Schlosser, with the Stearns County Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA). Dr. Paul Kononoff, of the University of Nebraska, said in a report that 122 gallons of water are needed to produce 1 pound of milk. While only 1 percent of total water comes from drinking, it remains the second-most vital nutrient for survival, with oxygen being the rst. A full-grown dairy cow requires nearly 30 gallons of drinking water, or 71 percent of total water intake (TWI), each day to maintain overall
division manager with Traut Companies.
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
Water tests help iden�fy contaminants in the water that may be affec�ng herd health on dairy farms, par�cularly adequate water consump�on, reproduc�on and milk produc�on.
health and milk production. However, a slight change in microbiological, chemical or physical structure can deter an animal from drink-
ing and result in serious herd health complications, such as a suppressed immune system, poor reproduction and a decrease in milk production.
“If the water is contaminated in any way, animals will drink it, but just enough to maintain hydration,” said Jim Gruenke, water treatment
Identifying the culprit When troubleshooting a problem on the dairy, water quality and consumption is often an item that falls further down the list while attempting to determine a cause of the issue. Typically, feed, cow comfort and management techniques are monitored rst. “At a time of evaluation, water doesn’t tend to immediately move to the forefront for most nutritionists, veterinarians and farmers,” Schlosser said. Jason Eldeen is all too familiar with this approach, as he and his brother, John, spent two years determining the cause of their youngstock troubles on their 62-cow dairy near Waseca, Minn. Healthy, strong calves are what the Eldeens pride themselves in when creating a foundation for the future Turn to WATER | Page 13
Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 13
ConĆ&#x;nued from WATER | Page 12
of their family’s herd. So when Eldeen noticed his post-weaned calves not progressing as expected, he quickly began looking for answers. “They were losing weight and their manure was loose. What they gained in the hutches was immediately lost and it would take a month to get back,â€? Eldeen said. “It was deďƒ&#x;ating. What were we doing wrong?â€? Luke Elsenpeter was also noticing a lag in his calves’ growth, as well as untapped potential for milk production in the lactating herd. “We’ve never had great milk production and have always monkeyed with our water to try and improve that,â€? said Elsenpeter said, who milks 160 cows with his brother, Dan, on their organic dairy near Maple Lake, Minn. Testing, analyzing results There are three aspects of water quality that should be considered when analyzing a test – microbiological, chemical and physical. Although milk processing plants test a farm’s well water for the presence of E-coli and coliforms, there are many chemical and physical attributes remaining that could effect water consumption, such as taste and odor. “Dirty stock tanks and algae and naturally occurring minerals may not be a herd health issue, but if the animals ďƒžnd the water’s palatability offensive, then it becomes a potential health and productivity issue,â€? Schlosser said. If water consumption is a concern, Schlosser encourages farmers to install water meters. A water meter will conďƒžrm if the animals are drinking enough water to sustain themselves or if a contaminant is deterring water consumption. “Our milking cows are on a meter,â€? Elsenpeter said. “Before we ďƒžxed our water problem, cows were drinking an average of 26 gallons of water per day.â€? In the Upper Midwest, the most common con-
taminants in water are iron and manganese. “We knew we had a lot of iron in our water, because you could see the rust lines,â€? Eldeen said. “We clearly had an issue, but after testing we were able to pinpoint the exact problem and know how to go about ďƒžxing it.â€? Elsenpeter, too, had mineral build up from iron and also manganese. “Our water stunk and we had a lot of algae build up, along with orange and black slime,â€? he said. There are several tests available to identify unwanted Luke Elsenpeter substances in drinking water, including a suitability test. Dairy farmer “Once we have identiďƒžed parameters on the farm and worked with the farm’s dairy experts, we can design a system to remove said item found in the tests,â€? Gruenke said.
“Do your research and take a water test to see what issues you might have. If you wouldn’t drink the water, don’t expect your cows to drink it.� LUKE ELSENPETER, DAIRY FARMER
Depending on the test results, farmers may implement the use of hydrogen peroxide or a more elaborate ďƒžltration system, if needed. Before taking larger, more costly actions, Schlosser suggests thoroughly cleaning water tanks
and fountains and taking note of any immediate improvements in water consumption. A step towards healthier herds After two years of research and inquiring, Eldeen and his brother, John, made changes to their water management, and immediately saw positive feedback in the herd, such as lower somatic cell count and fewer retained placentas. “This is our ďƒžrst summer we’ve had a ďƒžltration system in place, so it will be interesting to see how the hot weather effects water consumption,â€? Eldeen said. “Aside from overall calf health, our biggest payback has been getting our cows bred back – something we struggled with before.â€? Elsenpeter agreed. “I can’t say it’s changed production much, that’s really hard to quantify and relate speciďƒžcally to water. But, reproduction has been our biggest improvement,â€? Elsenpeter said, who installed a system in 2011. With the water meter, Elsenpeter has witnessed his cows increase daily consumption by 3 pounds. While the path to clean water may have been a frustrating and timely one, both Elsenpeter and Eldeen have no regrets for testing their water and implementing a management system that works well on their respected farms. In understanding the beneďƒžts of clean water, Schlosser encourages producers to test their water yearly. “Testing your water even when their isn’t a problem will provide you with a baseline for comparison in case you are faced with water quality related issues in the future,â€? Schlosser said. Elsenpeter agreed. “Every farm is different. Do your research and take a water test to see what issues you might have,â€? he said. “If you wouldn’t drink the water, don’t expect your cows to drink it.â€?
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 15
What is your best experience showing cattle?
Chloe Lien, 17 Parents: Trever and Brooke Lien Spicer, Minn. Kandiyohi County How many years have you been showing cattle at the fair? I have been showing since I was 2 years old. What fairs do you show at and what classes do you compete in? So far I have attended the Wadena County Fair and the Brainerd Dairy Days where I showed my Holstein fall calf and my Holstein summer yearling. Then we went to our Dairy Days in Kandiyohi County where I showed a fall calf, summer yearling, winter yearling, a 2-year-old cow and a 3-year-old cow, all Holsteins. We are also going to attend our district show on Aug. 5 in St. Cloud, Minn., our county fair Aug. 9-12 and hopefully the state fair. What is your best or most unique experience you have had while showing? One of my favorite experiences showing is meeting all the amazing people doing the same thing. I am just out there having fun and advocating the dairy industry. One of my favorite accomplishments was a few years ago when I took reserve champion total merit at the state fair. That was pretty cool. What has been your favorite animal to show? My favorite cow I’ve shown has been my Holstein named Equity. She is now 3 years old. I’ve shown her every year since she was a fall calf. Describe how you prepare your animals for the fair. There is so much preparation that goes into showing. You have to halter break all of your calves, which takes a while. We usually start working with our calves around the end of May and try to work with them almost everyday. We give them baths and make sure they are showready by the time the shows come. We have to clip all our calves before the shows and make sure the trailer is packed with all of our supplies. While at the shows we have to bed down our area and then wash, feed and water our cows. Then when they are dry, we do their toplines and make sure they are show ready. Before we load out our cattle to take them home after a day of showing, we make sure to take out there toplines so their hair doesn’t break. Then we load up, head home and prepare for the next show. What is the best advice you have ever received about showing an animal? The best advice I have ever received is to never let go of the rope and keep the animal’s head up and her feet under her. What is your favorite way to pass time while watching your string at the fair? My favorite thing to pass time while watching my show string is listening to the radio and playing cards with other show families who show dairy with me. We always have a great time doing it and it helps the time go by. Tell us about your farm. I don’t live on a farm anymore. We sold our cows in 2011. I show for John Holmgren and Roger and Mary Swart. Rebecka Hoffman, 17 Kevin and Judy Hoffman Dolton, S.D. McCook County 70 cows How many years have you been showing cattle at the fair? I have been showing dairy cattle at the fair for about 10 years. What fairs do you show at and what classes do you compete in? I show at the Turner County Fair, the Sioux Empire Fair and the South Dakota State Fair. I have cattle in the 2-year-old cow, winter yearling and junior heifer calf classes. What is your best or most unique experience you have had while showing? Last year, my 2-year-old cow, Rosie, won grand champion in the grade Holstein division and placed fth in the overall supreme championship competition. I also placed fth in dairy showmanship. What has been your favorite animal to show? Rosie, my 2-year-old red and white Holstein. I have shown her since she was a junior heifer calf. She was tame and would always snuggle me when I hugged her around the neck. Describe how you prepare your animals for the fair. We begin working with our animals in June. I go into their pens every morning and put a halter on them and lead them around. I also give them a bath almost every day. About a week before the show, my parents and I do the tting ourselves. What is the best advice you have ever received about showing an animal? My brother told me to watch the other people who are showing because you can learn a lot from them. I took his advice and it helped me see what I should be doing and helped me to become better in the show ring. What is your favorite way to pass time while watching your string at the fair? We play cards or watch the rest of the dairy show. We also spend time trying to keep our animals clean. Tell us about your farm. I am the baby of the family; I have four brothers and a sister. My dad does custom silage chopping, so between that and chores our summers are hectic. I will begin my senior year in high school in the fall. After graduation, I plan to attend South Dakota State University and major in dairy production. My long-term goal is to join our family’s dairy operation.
Brea, 14, and Ava, 11, Kieffer Parents: Chad and Kendra Kieffer Utica, Minn. Winona County 315 cows How many years have you been showing cattle at the fair? Brea: I have been showing for 10 years. Ava: Eight years. What fairs do you show at and what classes do you compete in? Brea: I show at the Southeast Minnesota Youth Dairy Show, the Minnesota State Junior Holstein Show, the Winona County Fair for both the 4-H and open class shows, the Rochester Area District I Holstein Show and the Minnesota State Fair. This year, I am showing an aged cow, a fall calf and a winter calf. All are registered Holsteins. Ava: I show at the Southeast Minnesota Youth Dairy Show and the open and 4-H shows at the Winona County Fair. I have a grade Holstein fall calf and a registered Holstein spring calf. What is your best or most unique experience you have had while showing? Brea: At this year’s youth show, there were two rings of showmanship going on at the same time. I was in one ring and Ava was in the other. Even though I was late to the class and my heifer was acting up, I was able to show how I could control her and won the class. It was cool because Ava also won her showmanship division at the same time. Ava: At last year’s youth show, Brea and I had to be in the same showmanship class and I beat her. She was fourth, and I was third. What has been your favorite animal to show? Brea: My winter calf this year. Her name is Willow. She’s perfect all the time. She has a really nice personality and is laid back all the time. I spoil her. Ava: I like my fall calf this year, who I named Paisley. She can be rambunctious when she goes to new places, but she knows to be serious when she’s in the show ring. I give her lots of special attention. Describe how you prepare your animals for the fair. Picking our animals starts before we train them. When we see a good cow calve, we check the calves to see if they will be good enough to show. Once we have our animals picked, we usually start training our animals in March. We had a late start this year and didn’t start until April. We put a halter on and tie them up about twice a week. Then we start walking them around. We also clip their winter hair off. When the fair is one month away, we start walking our animals every day and wash them one to two times a week. A week before this year’s fair, we washed our animals every day because they had dandruff. One day before the fair, we clip them. What is the best advice you have ever received about showing an animal? Brea: At the state show this year, my animal was acting up. Afterward, a few people came to me to give me a few tips. They told me to put my hand between the halter and the heifer’s head to help better control her head. I usually only put my pinky nger in between. It has helped me stay in control of my animals and helps them act better. Ava: My dad told me when showing my fall calf that I needed to place her feet squarely under her because her hooks are too sloped. Doing it this way makes her look better. He helped me understand that I need to show my animals to make them look their best. What is your favorite way to pass time while watching your string at the fair? We like playing cards such as crazy eights, poker and war. We also like to talk, organize all the tack stuff and focus on keeping our area clean for herdsmanship. Tell us about your farm. Our parents own our dairy, Kieand Holsteins, in partnership with our grandparents, Gary and Linda. We have 400 heifers along with our milking cows. Turn to FENCE | Page 16
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Page 16 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
ConƟnued from FENCE | Page 15 Erin Borash, 13 Parents: Ann and Ron Borash North Prairie, Minn. Morrison County 60 milking cows How many years have you been showing cattle at the fair? This is my fourth year showing cattle. What fairs do you show at and what classes do you compete in? I show at the Morrison County fair in Little Falls, Minn. This year I am bringing a winter calf, a fall calf and a spring yearling. I also show poultry and sheep. What is your best or most unique experience you have had while showing? Last year, the day before the dairy show, I got stung six times by wasps. The day of the show my face was very swollen and it was hard to see so it was difcult to lead my calves in a straight line and set their feet up the right way. What has been your favorite animal to show? My favorite animal I have shown was the Holstein fall calf I showed last year named Matilda. She was a lot of fun to show and is so friendly. Describe how you prepare your animals for the fair. This year I started working with my calves in the beginning of June. Our fair is not until the middle of August. I start out by tying them up and leading them around outside to get them used to a halter. I get them used to drinking from a pail. After that I start giving them baths and combing them. Then about a week before the fair I start clipping their hair. That can be hard to do because the calves don’t like the noise from the clippers, so they get jumpy. I try to work with them at least every other day. What is the best advice you have ever received about showing an animal? The best advice I have ever received about showing was to just have fun. It can be hard to control how your calf behaves in the ring, because it is different in there from being led around the yard. Even if you don’t get top of the class with your cow, just remember to have fun. What is your favorite way to pass time while watching your string at the fair? Besides taking care of cattle, sheep and poultry, I enjoy getting a malt and walking around with friends. It is also fun to watch other shows that are going on. Tell us about your farm. We live on a 300-acre century farm. Besides dairy and beef cows we have sheep, horses, a donkey, cats, a dog and poultry. There is a river running through our pasture that we swim in. I am the youngest kid in my family. I have one sister and six brothers. Abbie Harren, 16 Parents: Bob and Kristie Harren Freeport, Minn. Stearns County 50 cows How many years have you been showing cattle at the fair? I started showing cattle at the Stearns County Fair three years ago; however, I showed dairy goats several years before that. What fairs do you show at and what classes do you compete in? I show my animals at the Stearns County Fair. I usually show animals that range between fall and winter calves to junior and senior yearlings. What is your best or most unique experience you have had while showing? The best thing while showing is when the judge tells you that you have a very nice looking animal that is well groomed and trained well. What has been your favorite animal to show? My favorite animal I have ever shown is my heifer from last year, Buttercup. She is a Holstein-Jersey cross with mostly Jersey characteristics. She freshened a little early and that was very hard on her. Unfortunately, I am not able to show her this year. She is currently in our milking herd and is doing very well. Describe how you prepare your animals for the fair. Training cattle is not always an easy job. It takes about an hour every day. To start off, we halter break them in a pen, which means just getting them used to the halters and being tied up without going wild. After they are used to the halters we take them outside, tie them to a tractor and walk alongside them until they walk easily. We then walk them around without the tractor and set them up as if we were in the show arena. After they walk well and are calm, we wash them off and clip them for the fair. We normally start training our cattle two to three months before the fair. What is the best advice you have ever received about showing an animal? The best advice I have received about showing cattle is to start training them early and also try to choose good looking cattle that will train easily. Also, another big thing I learned is to never wrap the rope around your hand while holding onto the cattle. Instead, wrap the rope and hold it in your hand so you do not break your hand if the cattle become anxious or scared. What is your favorite way to pass time while watching your string at the fair? There are many things I do while watching the cattle. I love to inform fair-goers about my cattle. I also think it is fun to take one of the younger calves out of the stall to let the younger kids pet it while walking by. While watching cattle it is also fun to talk to other people in 4-H who show dairy and having friends come visit. Tell us about your farm. I live on a 185-acre dairy farm south of Freeport with my mom, dad, and three siblings. We grow corn for high moisture, chopping and dry corn. We seed oats for straw and feed. We also raise alfalfa that we chop and make into balage. We milk around 50 dairy cows. Our herd consists of Holsteins, and many crossbreeds. We use Jersey, Milking Shorthorn and Brown Swiss to cross breed our cattle. We also raise mini Rex rabbits that we show at the fair.
Ella Miller, 14 Parents: Robb and Kathy Miller Lewiston, Minn. Winona County 600 cows How many years have you been showing cattle at the fair? Six years. What fairs do you show at and what classes do you compete in? I show at the Midwest Spring National, the Minnesota Junior Holstein Show and the Minnesota Holstein Show, at the Winona County Fair in both the open class and 4-H shows, the District I Holstein Show at the Olmsted County Fair, the open show and 4-H show at the Minnesota State Fair and World Dairy Expo. This year, I have a registered Holstein fall yearling, a registered Guernsey fall yearling and a registered Guernsey fall calf. What is your best or most unique experience you have had while showing? Last year at World Dairy Expo, I placed rst in the junior show and third in the open show in my Guernsey fall yearling in milk class. What has been your favorite animal to show? Two years ago, I showed a Guernsey summer yearling. She had such a great personality and was so easy to show. Last year I won the state 4-H show with her. She’s dry right now and due in September. Describe how you prepare your animals for the fair. I start preparing in February because the Midwest Spring National is in April. I put my animals in their own pen to lose the winter weight. Then I start walking them. When I rst start, I walk them about four times a week, and once it gets closer to summer, I have more time to work with the animals so I lead them every day. I wash them about three times a week. It’s important to remember while practicing to focus on showing them rather than just walking them. It helps in the show ring. Every show I take them to, the more they learn and the better they lead. What is the best advice you have ever received about showing an animal? Enjoy what you’re doing. Don’t stress and take it all in. What is your favorite way to pass time while watching your string at the fair? Talking with friends and hanging out with them on the wash rack while we wash our animals. Tell us about your farm. Most of the animals on our farm are grade Holsteins. I started the registered show herd about three years ago. We have about 20 registered animals, both Holsteins and Guernseys. My dad farms together with my uncle, Luke, and my grandparents, Jack and Pat. Katherine Maus, 16 Parents: Darrel and Lisa Maus Freeport, Minn. Stearns County 70 cows How many years have you been showing cattle at the fair? I have been showing cattle at the fair for nine years. What fairs do you show at and what classes do you compete in? I have shown cattle at the Stearns County Fair and Minnesota State Fair, showing registered Holsteins and red and white cattle. What is your best or most unique experience you have had while showing? My most unique experience while showing cattle was having all of my siblings show together at the state fair. What has been your favorite animal to show? My favorite animal to show has been a Holstein summer yearling named Daffy. Describe how you prepare your animals for the fair. First we pick out some animals, and we tie them up with halters for a few days so they start to get used to it. Then we bring them out of the pen and tie them up to a bale rack so they start to walk with the halter. Next, we wash them with warm water and for every wash, we gradually turn the water colder so they get used to cold water. We also slowly start walking them around the yard and start to work with them so they get used to us. What is the best advice you have ever received about showing an animal? “If you’re not prepared to lose, don’t play the game.” What is your favorite way to pass time while watching your string at the fair? Talking to other 4-Hers and friends at the fair while eating malts from the malt stand. Tell us about the farm. I am the fourth generation to work on our 245-acre farm where we grow corn, oats and alfalfa. We raise the replacement heifers and sell the bull calves once they are weaned.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 17
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Page 18 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
Repro Leaders
Weiner’s double ovsynch program raises reproduction rate
What is your voluntary waiting period for cows? For heifers? Cows are at 70 days and heifers are bred starting at 13 months.
back nearly as early. That is why what they are doing at day 30 in milk is just about more important than what they are doing at day 60, because by day 42 you start sticking money into them on shots and if they are not healthy, it is a waste of money. Heifers are given a prostaglandin shot and tail chalked at 13 months. My ABS representative, Daryl Zenzen, stops in and checks for heat for the following ve days.
What is your rst service conception rate? The cows have a rst service conception rate of 61 percent, while the heifers are at 52 percent.
How do you observe for heat? About 90 percent of the cows are bred on a synchronization program. The heifers are tail chalked.
What is your reproduction program? I start the cows on the double ovsynch program at around 42 days. I use it on the cows for their rst service and regular ovsynch for any subsequent services. What is just as important as having a good reproduction program is having a good dry cow, transition cow program. If they end up with retained placentas and metritis after they calve they will not be ready to breed
How do you conrm pregnant or open cows? I use the DHIA milk test and ultrasound on the cows.
Aaron and Ashley Wiener Sauk Centre, Minn. Stearns County 85 cows What was your average pregnancy rate last year? Our herd’s pregnancy rate was 34 percent.
MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
Ashley and Aaron Wiener and their children (front row, from leŌ) – Hank, Elliot, Hailey and Ryland; (back row) Emily – milk 85 cows near Sauk Centre, Minn.
What is your breeding philosophy? How do you select bulls? What traits do you focus on? Does fertility play a role in bull selection? For a good all around cow, Daryl selects the bulls. He uses very good genomically-tested Turn to WIENERS | Page 20
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 19
“This is phenomenal.” — Candice Dotterer-White
PAUL DOTTERER AND SONS, INC., home of DOTTERER’S DAIRY MILL HALL, PENNSYLVANIA, Three generations of the Dotterer Family Candice Dotterer-White, Dairy Manager 900 cows, 85 lbs/cow/day, SCC 100,000 (3x) “This stuff is phenomenal. For 4 years, we used lotions on and off, which was inconvenient and the results were inconsistent. But when we tried Udder Comfort™ spray a year ago, not only was it easy, we also saw results. We use it regularly now on all fresh cows/heifers, and on mastitis cows. We continue using this product because we see the benefits of reduced edema, better milk letdown in heifers, and the effectiveness of reduced swelling,” says Candice Dotterer-White, dairy manager and third generation at Dotterer Dairy, Mill Hall, Pa., where 900 cows average 85-lb with 100,000 SCC. Candice is active in the industry and consumer outreach. Inspired through her membership in Dairy Girl Network, she says: “There are days it’s like we’re on the same farm 800 miles away with the same situations. We bounce ideas, get advice, and support each other.”
At Dotterer Dairy, she explains how the fresh cow routine with Udder Comfort spray is very cost-effective, consistently spraying front to rear along the center cleft and up the rear crease. “We spray all fresh udders 3x/day for at least 2 days after calving, longer if needed. We stick with Udder Comfort because it is effective, and the spray is easy and quick, so our milkers use it.”
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Page 20 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
ConƟnued from WIENERS | Page 18 bulls with proven fertility and good feet, legs and udders.
from those they will be going down the road.
How are cows and heifers bred? Do you have a different philosophy for breeding both? I use the same philosophy on both the cows and heifers, but the heifers are bred using sexed semen on their rst service and are bred to calving ease bulls.
How many times do you try to breed a cow before you sell her? Four.
What do you do to settle hard breeders? I already am implementing synchronization programs. If they don’t settle
Is there anything you have done or changed that brought about a signicant improvement in your reproductive program? In January 2016, I started using the double ovsynch program because at that time the pregnancy rate was at 14 percent. That is the only thing
MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
The Wieners start breeding their heifers at 13 months of age. They use sexed semen on their rst service. I have changed in my repro program that led to where the pregnancy rate is now. Tell us about your farm. We are a fourth-generation dairy farm with 85 cows and 200 acres. We raise corn and alfalfa. I also do some custom baling on the side. MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
The Wieners have their A.I. representaƟve use good genomically tested bulls with proven ferƟlity and good feet, legs and udders when making breeding decisions.
Aaron Wiener looks over a calendar where he charts his double ovsynch program.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 21
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9 JD S660, 2014, 545 hrs., 20 sep., #132631.....................................$260,000 9 JD S660, 2014, 418 hrs., 253 sep., #116531.....................................$265,000 7 JD S660, 2015, 583 hrs., 384 sep., #117457.....................................$269,000 2 JD S660, 2015, 386 hrs., 245 sep., #125946.....................................$295,000 1 JD S670, 2012, 2333 hrs., 1711 sep., #128689.....................................$159,500 4 JD S670, 2013, 847 hrs., #134914.....................................$227,900 5 JD S670, 2014, 662 hrs., 488 sep., #133494.....................................$285,000 8 JD S670, 2015, 419 hrs., 308 sep., #124831.....................................$299,500 8 JD S670, 2016, 334 hrs., 258 sep., #138933.....................................$315,000 8 JD S670, 2015, 290 hrs., 168 sep., #125750.....................................$325,000 9 JD S680, 2012, 1910 hrs., 1275 sep., #134377.....................................$224,000 5 JD S680, 2013, 1864 hrs., 1318 sep., #134536.....................................$224,900 3 JD S680, 2014, 743 hrs., 553 sep., #135928.....................................$315,000 3 JD S680, 2015, 500 hrs., 380 sep., #134530.....................................$359,000 7 JD S690, 2013, 1255 hrs., 855 sep., #119306.....................................$259,500 CORN AND ROW CROP HEADERS 3 JD 643, 1988, #134359 .......... $12,500 10 JD 643, #124401 ....................... $14,900 2 JD 693, #138426 ....................... $14,650 5 JD 893, 1995, #134074..............$9,500 10 JD 893, 1998, #138934........... $16,500 6 JD 893, 1993, #133956 .......... $18,900 1 JD 893, 2005, #134909 .......... $22,900 7 JD 893, 2004, #134970........... $24,900 6 JD 1293, 2005, #116503 ........ $21,900 7 Geringhoff 1622, 2007, #132675....................................... $47,900 6 Drago 1230, 2008, #139217....................................... $29,500 1 Harvestec 4308C, 2006, #133685....................................... $22,500 7 JD 606C, 2011, #136572 ........ $44,690 4 JD 606C, 2013, #116470 ........ $53,900 1 JD 608C, 2010, #135328 ........ $43,500 7 JD 608C, 2014, #134969 ........ $67,500 6 JD 612C, 2008, #127007 ........ $49,500 7 JD 612C, 2009, #126839 ........ $52,900 2 JD 612C, 2010, #135623 ........ $57,500 5 JD 612C, 2009, #103694 ........ $58,000 6 JD 612C, 2013, #122102 ........ $59,500 7 JD 612C, 2012, #106737 ........ $74,900 2 JD 612C, 2014, #134078 ........ $85,000 3 JD 612C, 2014, #126845 ........ $98,900 8 JD 612C, 2015, #126164 ........ $99,500 8 JD 612C, 2016, #134111 ......$109,000 5 JD 618C, 2013, #107764 ......$114,900 7 Fantini 6R30, 2010,
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Case IH 8010, 2006, $ 2125 hrs., #132086
99,000
#139273....................................... $12,500 10 JD 2640, 1978, 2533 hrs., #138846....................................... $11,000 4 JD 2840, 1979, #137677 ........ $13,000 12 JD 5625, 2008, 6449 hrs., #137854....................................... $35,900 10 JD 6400, 1994, 7825 hrs., #129836....................................... $34,900 11 JD 6410, 1998, 6720 hrs., #136564....................................... $42,900 10 JD 6430, 2008, 3141 hrs., #125897....................................... $64,500 5 JD 6430, 2008, 1490 hrs., #132066....................................... $74,900 4 JD 6430, 2010, 2500 hrs. #131347....................................... $80,000 6 JD 5085E, 2016, 241 hrs., #124729....................................... $51,900 6 JD 5100E, 2016, 99 hrs., #124826....................................... $54,900 7 JD 5100M, 2015, 383 hrs., #118463....................................... $62,900 6 JD 5115M, 2012, 785 hrs., #129621....................................... $64,900 4 JD 6105M, 2014, 320 hrs., #132099....................................... $71,000 2 JD 6105R, 2013, 414 hrs., #135169....................................... $91,500 4 JD 6105R, 2014, 198 hrs., #127952....................................... $99,000 4 JD 6110R, 2015, 104 hrs., #119898....................................... $99,500 6 JD 6110R, 2016, 95 hrs., #133619.....................................$112,000 4 JD 6120R, 2015, 132 hrs., #124875.....................................$118,900 5 JD 6125M, 2013, 759 hrs., #126547....................................... $85,900 11 JD 6125M, 2013, 435 hrs., #123591....................................... $86,900 3 JD 6125R, 2014, 479 hrs., #128687....................................... $94,900 4 JD 6125R, 2013, 600 hrs., #134131.....................................$103,000 4 JD 6130M, 2016, 11 hrs., #127623.....................................$106,900 4 JD 6130R, 2016, 143 hrs., #138428.....................................$110,000 4 JD 6135E, 2015, 298 hrs., #124885....................................... $71,900 4 JD 6135E, 2015, 1 hr., #124880....................................... $76,900 11 JD 6330 PREMIUM, 2013, 3716 hrs., #137150....................................... $72,900 6 Case IH FARMALL 155-C, 2014, 810 hrs., #140170...................... $52,500 4 Kubota M100GX, 2014, 450 hrs., #131537....................................... $49,000 9 New Holland TV6070, 2012, 275 hrs., #139324....................$109,500
JD 9570 STS, $ 2010, 910 hrs., #122037
169,500
Page 22 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
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Dairy farmers to benet from increased focus on exports
Over the past few months, I’ve attended several meetings where Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of the United States Dairy Export Council (USDEC), has highlighted exciting initiatives his organization is focusing on to increase access to international markets for U.S. exports. This is great news for Midwest dairy farmers looking to increase overall demand in dairy. One of the initiatives I’m most excited about is USDEC’s focus on the next 5 percent, or lifting U.S. export volume from around 15 percent of annual U.S. milk production to 20 percent. This goal was set in consultation with a broad dairy industry representation, including your dairy checkoff, along By Lucas Lentsch with others from U.S. dairy coop- Midwest Dairy eratives and processors and backed Association CEO by USDEC research and analysis. Midwest dairy farmers have much to gain from this ambitious goal, and I’m excited to watch the dairy industry collaborate on how to make this vision a reality. There are many examples of how the dairy checkoff has been working domestically on product innovation, both within schools and by collaborating with foodservice partners who have had a catalytic effect when introducing innovative dairy products into their menus. Some examples include all-day breakfast menus, coffee-based beverage options or adding more cheese to pizza offerings. According to Vilsack, another important key to fueling dairy growth lies in focusing on international markets. The time for this increased focus on exports couldn’t be more perfect. Consumer demand for dairy is growing throughout the United States and abroad. By 2025, world population is expected to add 792 million people (with the United States adding 26 million people, which is only 3 percent of the world total). More specically, in China, 16 million babies are born annually. In 10 years, the middle class living in Asia is expected to reach 3.2 billion. This increased population leads to an increased demand for protein. Dairy is perfectly positioned to meet this need. It’s clear if we don’t cultivate these growing global markets, other countries will step in and take our place. Vilsack said getting to the next 5 percent will involve elevating the in-country prole of U.S. suppliers, growing more consumer-centric, adapting to local market structures, tastes and demands, and becoming better supply chain partners. Continued emphasis on the importance of trade is also critical to growing our exports. With this goal in mind, Vilsack has had recent conversations with Canada highlighting that an updated free-trade agreement should confront Canada’s protectionist dairy products. Vilsack is calling for a modernization of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to end Canada’s distortion of dairy markets. To this end, USDEC and the National Milk Producers Federation have announced they will work with the Trump administration to modernize NAFTA, with the main goals to safeguard open trade with Mexico and to challenge Canada’s protectionist dairy policies. Achieving the next 5 percent vision will also require the dairy community to focus on moving the United States from being viewed as a supplier of commodity dairy products to increasing recognition that we are a supplier with a diverse portfolio of value-added products; we are willing and eager to work with overseas buyers to innovate and nurture a partnership. Dairy farmers can be proud of the work already being done on behalf of Dairy Management, Inc., with its Global Innovation Partners to expand our relationships with foodservice providers in China and southeast Asia. These new opportunities, coupled with increased exports, will provide a strong benet for Midwest dairy farmers. Lucas Lentsch was named CEO of Midwest Dairy Association in April 2016. In that role, he serves the dairy farm families of 10 states including Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. Midwest Dairy works to foster innovation and inspire consumer condence in dairy products and practices.
A grateful life
Moulzolf battled leukemia, now in remission
Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 23
By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
RICE, Minn. – With a tingling sensation in his feet while doing chores and a handful of medications taken daily, Neil Moulzolf is constantly reminded last year’s series of misfortunes that forever changed his life. “Prior to this, I thought I was invincible. I’d always be thinking about what could be done tomorrow, but now, it’s always about today,” said Neil, who milks 170 cows in partnership with his dad, Murry, near Rice, Minn. On Feb. 24, 2016, Neil was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and spent the following eight months ghting for his life. Currently, Neil is eight months into remission and cherishing every moment alongside his wife, Erica, and three young children – Alaina, 9, Landen, 3.5, and Logan, 2. An unsettling diagnosis Last winter was penciling out to look like others in years past for the Moulzolfs, with bitter cold temperatures making it difcult to complete
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
The Moulzolf family (front, from leŌ) – Alaina and Landen; (back, from leŌ) Murry, Neil holding Logan, and Erica – are grateful the past year is behind them. Last February, Neil was diagnosed with acute lymphoblasƟc leukemia, but is now 10 months into remission. chores and maintain one’s heath. In January, Neil came down with a bout of u. “I thought I had gotten over it, but a few days later I was pitching out manure, because the barn cleaner broke, and that ran me down again,” Neil said. “By February, I was nally feeling better.” However, the feeling soon dissipated one morning after
spending the previous evening playing with his children. “The kids and I were wrestling the night before when I heard a popping sound coming from my side,” Neil said. “The next morning, a cough started and it felt like I was being stabbed with a knife.” After visiting the doctor’s ofce, Neil was instructed to take over-the-counter pain
medication for what was assumed to be a pulled muscle. Unfortunately, symptoms of an unknown illness continued with purple spots appearing on the tops of his feet and his jaw swelling after biting into a small piece of candy. On Feb. 19, Neil knew something was not right. “I was in the barn sweeping the stalls when I became short
of breathe,” Neil said, recalling his dad and brother, Andy, taking over the chore. “I tried milking, but didn’t get halfway through – I couldn’t stand.” After returning to the house for breakfast, the symptoms subsided. But when Neil awoke from a mid-morning nap, excruciating pressure in his head led to an emergency room visit. “I had some blood work done,” Neil said. “When [doctors] came back into my room, they had a grim look on their faces. They told me I wasn’t going home and working with cows.” Neil’s platelet count was at 10,000 platelets per microliter of blood. A normal count can range from 174,000 to 400,000. With early indications of leukemia, Neil and Erica met with an oncology doctor to schedule a bone marrow biopsy. “I hadn’t been to the doctor since my ninth grade physical, and then here I was in the hospital with an IV in my arm, preparing for a biopsy,” Neil said. After going through two biopsies, with the rst one being unsuccessful, doctors accurately diagnosed Neil. “I was in the hospital room by myself when the doctor came in and told me the news – I just sat there, staring at the wall,” said Neil, tears in Turn to MOULZOLF | Page 25
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Page 24 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
Lasts … and lasts … and lasts.
CONTROL FLIES FOR UP TO 90 DAYS A single application of Annihilator™ Polyzone® provides long residual control of flies and withstands aggressive surfaces, weather and wash-off conditions. The Polyzone technology binds the active ingredient to the surface and slowly releases it over time to achieve extended control. For indoor or outdoor use, Annihilator Polyzone is effective against over 40 pests listed on the label. Learn more at BayerLivestock.com. For further technical information, please call Bayer Veterinary Technical Services at 1-800-422-9874. For customer service, please call 1-888-229-8745. See product label for complete product information, indications and application instructions. ©2017 Bayer, Shawnee Mission, KS 66201. Bayer (reg’d), the Bayer Cross (reg’d), Annihilator™ and Polyzone® are trademarks of Bayer.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 25
ConƟnued from MOULZOLF | Page 23
upwards of 17. Neil received ve units of blood and three platelet transfers. Between February and August, Neil went through eight rounds of chemotherapy.
his eyes as he recalled that moment. “They told me I had to start treatment right away, my blood was 90 percent leukemia.” Cancer’s unruly nature With the severity of Neil’s condition, he began an intense round of chemotherapy treatment Feb. 25 – a day after the diagnosis. “On Feb. 28, I celebrated my 33rd birthday in the hospital with a Dairy Queen ice cream cake and family,” Neil said. Throughout the month of March, Neil continued on his rst round of treatments, with family and friends present for support. “Everyone was so good about trying to keep Neil’s spirits up,” Erica said. “Even our milk truck driver stopped by and watched a movie with him.” Neil agreed. “Dad would call me every morning – it was like we were running the farm from the hospital,” he said. After spending nearly a month in the hospital, Neil returned home March 11 to celebrate Logan’s rst birthday and Alaina’s rst communion. One week later he began another round of treatment. To prevent the cancer from worsening, Neil had intrathecal chemotherapy, where spinal uid is removed and medication replaces it. Unbeknownst to the Moulzolfs, Neil has spinal stenosis, which made it impossible to extract uid from his spinal cord. “Cancer tends to hide in the brain, so we needed some way to get through to the nervous system,” Erica said. On April 26, Neil had surgery for a port to be placed on the top of his head for the intrathecal treatment; the
Finally, hope Last fall, Neil showed signs of progress. After receiving a PET scan in September, there were no indications of cancer present. Now, Neil is on maintenance medication and monthly rounds of treatment for the next two years to aid in remission.
“All last year, I never thought I’d die, but this winter I realized just how close I was to not being here.” NEIL MOULZOLF, DAIRY FARMER
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
Father-son duo Murry and Neil Moulzolf milk 170 cows in a partnership near Rice, Minn. following morning, it was removed and replaced. “I woke up in excruciating pain,” Neil said. “They did a CT scan and realized the port was in the wrong place.” As Neil continued with the chemotherapy regime, he was evaluated for the possibility of a bone marrow transplant. With the treatments seemingly working, Neil could bypass the transplant option and continue towards remission.
Neil’s prognosis was looking hopeful, so he returned home over Mother’s Day weekend and spent time in the elds. “But, then I got a bloody nose and it would not stop – it lasted all night and into the next morning,” Neil said. “I was literally spitting clots into a cup. My blood had no consistency, it was water-like.” When the Moulzolfs arrived at the emergency room, they realized Neil’s hemoglobin levels had reached four grams per deciliter, when they should be
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“In such a short period of time, it was a horric and stressful time,” Erica said. Neil agreed. “All last year, I never thought I’d die, but this winter I realized just how close I was to not being here,” he said. “I have nightmares about that.” With generous help from Arnold’s Equipment of St. Cloud and a benet hosted by the Moulzolfs’ families at Gilman Co-op Creamery, Neil and his family are rediscovering their life on the dairy. “I went to hell and back, and I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy,” Neil said. “Most importantly, I’m grateful to be alive.”
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Page 26 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
NAP provides nancial assistance
For producers who participate in the Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), I want to remind you that you must timely report any crop losses throughout the growing season. NAP provides nancial assistance to producers of noninsurable crops when low FSA News & Notes yields, loss of inventory or prevented planting occur due to natural disasters including excessive wind and qualifying drought (includes native grass for grazing). Eligible producers must have purchased NAP coverage for 2017 crops. A notice of loss must be By Ryan Brunn led within 15 calendar Stearns Co. Exec. Dir. days of when the loss is apparent or 15 calendar days after the normal harvest date. Eligible crops must be commercially produced agricultural commodities for which crop insurance is not available, including perennial grass forage and grazing crops, fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, oriculture, ornamental nursery, aquaculture, turf grass, ginseng, honey, syrup, bioenergy and industrial crops. For more information on NAP, contact your FSA ofce or visit www.fsa.usda.gov/nap. In another note, FSA offers direct farm ownership and direct farm operating loans to producers who want to establish, maintain or strengthen their farm or ranch. FSA loan ofcers process, approve and service direct loans. Direct farm operating loans can be used to purchase livestock and feed, farm equipment, fuel, farm chemicals, insurance and other costs including family living expenses. Operating loans can also be used to nance minor improvements or repairs to buildings and to renance some farm-related debts, excluding real estate. Direct farm ownership loans can be used to purchase farmland, enlarge an existing farm, construct and repair buildings, and to make farm improvements. The maximum loan amount for both direct farm ownership and operating loans is $300,000 and a down payment is not required. Repayment terms vary depending on the type of loan, collateral and the producer’s ability to repay the loan. Operating loans are normally repaid within seven years and farm ownership loans are not to exceed 40 years. Please contact your FSA ofce for more information or to apply for a direct farm ownership or operating loan. Farm Service Agency is an Equal Opportunity Lender. Complaints about discrimination should be sent to: Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250. Visit the Farm Service Agency Web site at: www.fsa.usda.gov/ for necessary application forms and updates on USDA programs.
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Battling crypto The Transition Pen
By Laura Scholtz & John Rosenhammer Father/Daughter Farming Duo Like many young farm kids, helping feed calves was one of my rst jobs on the farm. I remember making sure the water was warm, stirring in the milk replacer, measuring the correct amount of scoops of grain for each calf and shaking up small squares to bed in each calf. As we carried the pails to the calf barn, we could hear the calves whining. They bucked their heads aggressively as they drank their milk, they skipped around their pens when we added fresh bedding, and laid down, nestled in the bedding, calm and quiet as we headed back to the milk house to clean up the pails and bottles. Around the time we built our parlor in 2009, my dad took over my grandma’s duties of being the main calf feeder. We switched from feeding milk replacer to using our waste milk because it made sense nancially with no extra work. We gutted our 30-stanchion tiestall barn, turning it into a calf barn, plus converted a space in our old freestall barn to a transition group and calving pen. This meant no more carrying bags of milk replacer. The calf barn was only a 10-second hike from the parlor. We could take high somatic cell cows’ milk and feed it to calves rather than put it in the tank, and the calving pen was connected to the calf barn so moving newborns in was a breeze. All these changes seemed to make life easier, and for awhile, it was. I’ll never forget my winter break from college during my junior year in 2012-2013. I remember my dad calling me and saying he had the vet out to investigate because he didn’t know what was wrong. As I walked through the calf barn, the girls weren’t energetic. As I came up to each pen, they didn’t jump up in excitement, but just laid there, heads down looking in pain. I had to climb in their pens to get them up to eat, and they had little appetite. There was no sound of calves anxious to be fed. After some research and several lost heifer calves, we were given the diagnosis of cryptosporidium (crypto), which I believe is one of the most evil diseases because it survives almost all cleaning efforts and can take even the healthiest calf down. The only hope is prevention and early treatment. Following many failed attempts at treating calves via oral electrolytes, my dad learned how to IV uids to a calf. This sped up the response time and increased survival. We also cleaned the calving pen more frequently, moved calves out of the calving pen sooner and learned how to observe each calf for signs of crypto during each feeding. When a calf showed symptoms, it was given oral electrolytes and if no improvement by the next feeding, we IVed uids every 12 hours
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 27
until the calf was standing and aggressive again. The amount of time spent saving and trying to save calves was ridiculous, but we weren’t going sit idle. In college, I did endless research, asking my professors what to do and trying my best to implement changes at home. Pasteurizing our waste milk and colostrum was suggested to me over and over again. I nally made the call, and we installed a pasteurizer. The day the pasteurizer arrived is one I will always remember. Now, I could guarantee our calves would receive milk that was clean, consistently mixed via the agitator and always the same temperature. We added a balancer to our pasteurized waste milk, as well, in order to increase our solids content. After a year of dealing with this disease, we nally felt we built our own defense against it. We were consistently seeing calves recover and less calves needing treatment. However, the effects of this misfortune were more than a high death loss that year.
It meant not having enough extra heifers to sell as springers and later rst freshenings due to their slow starts affecting their growth. Since going through this, I believe we are a stronger team managing our herd. Last summer, I lost a calf that didn’t respond to my treatment protocols and after a post-mortem exam, the vet suggested we implement a salmonella vaccine to our dry cows. I did it, reluctantly, as it is an expensive vaccine and requires a booster dose. Luckily, that issue was a much less labor-intensive solution. I’m sure I’ll battle diseases in my dairying career that haven’t even been discovered yet, but I know with a veterinarian’s guidance, my unwavering determination and the support of my teammates, I will be able to overcome any obstacle. Laura Scholtz farms with her father, John, and uncle, Greg, on Roseview Dairy near Sleepy Eye, Minn. They milk 200 Holsteins and run 580 acres of cropland.
CowManager wins head-to-head comparison
Hilltop Dairy LLP The Reuvekamp Family Elkton, SD 2200 cows Installed CowManager: Spring 2017
Wilfried Reuvekamp
“Years ahead” of competition Early in 2017, Hilltop Dairy purchased a new eartag monitoring system. This spring, they also added the CowManager® system so they could test both products head-to-head at the same time on a full pen of close-up and breeding cows. Wilfried notes, “This was like comparing apples and oranges. The difference is so big that we decided to go for the superior CowManager -- it is years ahead. CowManager gives us the most accurate and timely health alerts combined with excellent heat alerts.” In just a few months, they improved their preg rate 7% and have fewer cull cows per week.
Easy-to-use Herd manager Filipe likes the easy-to-use CowManager smartphone app. He utilizes the colored graphs (eating, rumination and temperature) and monitors how quickly a cow recovers after each treatment.
Properly monitors every cow Wilfried concludes, “CowManager is a gamechanger and I recommend it to any producer. With CowManager, you can properly monitor every cow in the herd. I think in the future a dairy can’t function without such tools for fertility, health and nutrition. CowManager is not only an activity system but a complete monitoring system.” For more information:
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Page 28 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
Betty Berning bberning@umn.edu 320-203-6104 Rafael Bisinotto rbisinot@umn.edu 612-625-3130 Hugh Chester-Jones chest001@umn.edu (507) 835-3622 Gerard Cramer gcramer@umn.edu 612-625-8184 Marcia Endres miendres@umn.edu (612) 624-5391 Sandra Godden godde002@umn.edu 612-625-8177 Les Hansen hanse009@umn.edu 612-624-2277 Brad Heins hein0106@umn.edu (320) 589-1711 Kevin Janni kjanni@umn.edu (612) 625-3108 Karen Johnson ande9495@umn.edu 320-484-4334 Brenda Miller nels4220@umn.edu (320) 732-4435 Kota Minegishi kota@umn.edu 612-624-7455 Randy Pepin pepin019@umn.edu (320) 333-1369 Erin Royster royster@umn.edu Jim Salfer salfe001@umn.edu (320) 203-6093 M. Scott Wells mswells@umn.edu 612-625-3747 Emily Wilmes krek0033@umn.edu (320) 255-6169
www.extension.umn.edu/dairy
The beneďƒžts of cover crops
Many farmers ask why they should consider planting a cover crop; they see doing so as an extra expense and labor. Many beneďƒžts of cover crops are long term while some responses, like nitrogen sequestration, can provide short-term beneďƒžts. Individual ďƒželd response to cover crops vary based on ďƒželd slope, existing wind protection, soil type, species of cover crop planted, preceding crop and the crop to follow the cover crop. Do all ďƒželds equally suffer from water erosion? The answer is no; a relatively ďƒ&#x;at ďƒželd would have less risk. If a ďƒželd By Randy Pepin has any areas of slope, water erosion preU of M Extension vention may provide a substantial beneďƒžt. There is a high risk of water erosion from late fall or early spring rains in ďƒželds previously planted with corn silage, soybeans or fall tillage. An actively growing cover crop in late fall and early spring, such as winter cereal rye, can provide water erosion protection during this critical time. How about wind erosion? Have you ever observed soil blowing in the wind? Soil losses from wind erosion can be substantial. Based on her research, University of Minnesota Extension professor Jodi DeJong-Hughes estimates that in an open winter, accumulation of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) averages $55 in each ditch-acre in western Minnesota; this ditch dirt was originally topsoil in the adjoining ďƒželds. A growing cover crop like winter cereal rye will help minimize wind erosion losses. What is the toughest nutrient to manage in corn and small grains? Most farmers indicate nitrogen. So, anything we can do to minimize nitrogen losses should save us money, right? The nitrogen in manure or commercial fertilizer applied in late fall should mineralize to the stable ammonium form in the fall. During spring soil warm-up, however, nitrogen will nitrify to the nitrate form and be susceptible to leaching during spring rains. Winter cereal rye has the capability to sequester, or take up, nitrogen, preventing the nitrogen from leaching. If a farmer terminates and incorporates the winter cereal rye before it reaches 10 inches, my research, as well as the research of others, indicates most of the nitrogen in the rye should be available to the growing crop in the summer. Corn needs nitrogen in the summer, not early spring.
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Accumulating soil organic matter is a long-term beneďƒžt of having something growing in the soil as much of the year as possible. Some plant species are better at building soil organic matter than others; many consider winter cereal rye among the best for building organic matter. What is the beneďƒžt of increasing organic matter? Organic matter contains nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen will be available to the growing crop; therefore, higher levels of organic matter will reduce commercial nitrogen fertilizer needs. Higher level of soil organic matter also increases the soil’s cation exchange capacity (CEC) and water holding capacity, which are additional beneďƒžts. Another key component is soil health. Healthy soil microďƒ&#x;ora is essential for all the soil processes necessary for plant growth. Soil microďƒ&#x;ora needs actively growing plant roots to remain healthy. Anytime there is barren soil, there is also an unhealthy soil condition. Winter cereal rye can bridge the gap from corn silage harvest to next spring’s planting by providing a healthy soil environment. We are in the second year of our trial in which we plant winter cereal rye after harvesting either corn silage or soybeans. We then inject liquid manure into the growing winter cereal rye later in the fall when soil temperatures are below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, minimizing fall nitrogen volatilization losses. In the spring, we measure the 24-inch soil nitrate levels under the winter cereal rye versus the bare ground before rye termination. Then we plant corn and measure yields in the fall. The 24-inch soil nitrate tests demonstrate that the winter cereal rye is capable of sequestering a considerable amount of nitrates in the spring, minimizing the potential of nitrogen leaching. As long as we terminate and incorporate the winter cereal rye before it reaches a height of 10 inches, it appears we are able to get most of the nitrogen back for the growing corn crop in the summer. Winter cereal rye terminated at taller than 10 inches provides plant material to incorporate and has a more ligniďƒžed plant structure, making rapid decomposition in the soil difďƒžcult. Another option for dairy farms is to harvest the rye as a forage in mid-May, delaying corn planting. Winter cereal rye harvested as a spring forage contains a fair amount of nitrogen. If the farmer plants corn after harvesting the rye forage crop, replenishment of this nitrogen by additional application of manure or commercial fertilizer would be necessary.
USED EQUIPMENT SPECIALS Tractors ‘06 CIH MX285 w/Front Duals, 3 Pt Hitch & PTO, 5000 hrs....................................................... $86,000 ‘93 CIH 9250, 4WD, 6900 hrs, very nice ............ $55,000 ‘94 CIH 9250, 4WD, 7300 hrs ............................ $45,000 ‘13 CIH 450 Quadtrac Rowtrac, 2300 hrs ..................$235,000 ‘01 CIH STX440 w/ Excellent Tracks, 4800 hrs..........$125,000 ‘01 CIH STX440 w/ Good Tracks, 6300 hrs ..............$125,000 ‘09 CIH STX485 Quadtrac w/ PTO, 2850 hrs .............$219,000 ‘11 CIH STX535 Quadtrac, 2924 hrs .........................$229,000 ‘13 CIH Steiger 500 Quadtrac, 1014 hrs ....................$295,000 ‘12 CIH Steiger 550 Quadtrac w/ Guidance & PTO, 3637 hrs..............................................................$249,000 ‘12 CIH Steiger 550 Quadtrac w/Guidance, 3200 hrs $239,000 ‘12 CIH Steiger 550 Quadtrac, 2824 hrs ....................$259,000 ‘12 CIH Steiger 550 Quadtrac w/PTO, 2200 hrs ........$259,000 ‘99 Case 75XT Skid Steer, 4351 hrs ............................$18,000 ‘11 Case SV250 Skid Steer, 2731 hrs ..........................$27,000 Combine & Harvest Equipment ‘03 CIH 2388 Combine, 3113E/2294R ............... $79,500 ‘09 CIH 7088 Combine, 987E/715R ................. $190,000 ‘08 CIH 8010 Combine, 2700E/2100R ............. $149,000
‘11 CIH 8120 Combine w/Tracks, 1207E/908R $269,000 ‘13 CIH 8230 Combine....................................Coming In CIH 2020-35’ Flex Head ..................................... $14,500 Case-IH 3020-30’ Flex Head ...........................Coming In ‘14 CIH 3162-40’ Flex Head, Low Acres ............. $56,000 IHC 963 6R30� Corn Head ................................... $4,500 ‘89 IHC 963 Corn Head ........................................ $5,900 IHC 983 8R30� Corn Head ................................... $7,500 ‘07 CIH 2608 8R30� Chopping Corn Head ......... $26,000 ‘09 Case-IH 2608 Corn Head w/ End Augers...... $45,000 Case-IH 2612 Corn Head ................................ $49,500 Case-IH 2612 Corn Head ................................ $59,000 ‘04 Cressoni 8R30� Chopping Corn Head ........ $13,000 ‘05 Geringhoff RD1200B - 12R22� Chopping Corn Head .................................................... $49,000 Tillage Krause 4800 - 17’ Disk Chisel.......................................$7,900 Case-IH 730B Ecolotiger w/Leads ...............................$14,000 Case-IH 730B Ecolotiger S/N: JFH0012976...............$15,000 Case-IH 730B Ecolotiger w/ Cushion Gang.................$16,000 ‘10 Case-IH 870 - 22’ w/o Drag, Nice..........................$42,000 ‘13 Case-IH 870-22’ w/ Spike Harrow, Nice ................$59,000
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Š 2015 2007 CNH America LLC. All rights reserved. Case IH is a registered trademark of CNH America LLC. CNH Capital is a trademark of CNH America LLC. www.caseih.com
We stock parts for older model IH tractors
Research highlights from ADSA meetings Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 29
We have been conducting research at the University of Minnesota on dairy automation, especially automated milk feeders for preweaned calves and robotic milking systems for dairy cows. At the June ADSA meetings, there were abstracts presented on these topics and this article will summarize some of them. Researchers from the Universities of Guelph, British Columbia and Minnesota presented preliminary results of a study being conducted in Canada using data recorded by automated feeders to help detect sick calves. Sick calves had reduced milk intake as compared to healthy calves up to ve days before treatment administration and their milk intake returned to normal ve days after treatment administration. Another meaBy Marcia Endres surement that differed between U of M Extension sick and healthy calves was drinking speed. It decreased with disease and increased after treatment as well; however, it was not as noticeable as milk intake. It was concluded that milk intake can be a useful variable for producers to follow because they can observe how milk intake is affected by disease and recovery after treatment. Another study from the same group of researchers investigated the association between farm management factors and prevalence of disease in group-housed calves fed with auto feeders. The median prevalence of scours within herd was 24 percent (range: 8 to 46 percent) and the median prevalence of respiratory disease was 14 percent (range: 3 to 31 percent). Main factors which can help reduce disease included: use of individual maternity pens; use of a barn exclusively for milk fed calves or young calves (no older calves housed in the same barn); feeding probiotics, vitamin E and selenium to the calves; clean, dry, deep and comfortable bedding; feeding high quality milk, low in bacteria counts and appropriate percent of total solids. Cleaning the auto feeder and all parts must be a daily routine. A study at the University of Minnesota investigated which farm management factors were associated with calf feeding behaviors at the farm level. We found that peak milk allowance, age difference among calves within the group and age at weaning were positively associated with drinking speed. Milk allowance was also positively associated with the number of rewarded visits (when milk is fed by the auto feeder) and negatively associated with the number of unrewarded visits (when no milk is fed). What this means is that the more milk we feed the calves, the more satised they are and they do not keep coming to the auto feeder trying to get more milk. They will rest more hours per day. It is important to establish a gradual weaning protocol when feeding higher amounts of milk so that calves eat starter feed prior to being weaned off milk. A study at the University of Guelph investigated the use of anesthetics during caustic paste disbudding. Studies have shown that anesthetics and analgesics are effective on reducing pain with thermal disbudding, but there is limited research with caustic paste. Their study showed that caustic paste appears to cause pain for at least 180 minutes after application. Calves that received a local anesthetic nerve block prior to paste application had less pain sensitivity than calves that received a caustic paste containing anesthetic or calves that received a saline solution prior to paste application. Pain man-
agement during disbudding and dehorning was suggested by Dr. Ruegg to be the next market access issue for the dairy industry. On the topic of robotic milking, we presented results of a study at the University of Minnesota comparing milking frequency of heifers and older cows in 32 farms with free ow Lely robotic milking systems. Daily, individual cow data was collected from the robot software for 18 months. We found that heifers on average, across farms, were milked approximately 2.4 times per day during the rst four weeks in lactation compared to older cows being milked about 3.2 times per day. Late in lactation (less than 240 days in milk) heifers were milked more often than older cows. This might indicate that heifers are lagging behind older cows in early lactation. Is this a result of competition with
older cows or inadequately training heifers to use the robot? More research is needed to answer this question. A study from the University of Guelph showed that acute transition cow health disorders such as retained placenta, displaced abomasum and mastitis were associated with changes in daily milk production and rumination time from three to six days before diagnosis in herds with robotic milking systems in Canada. Subclinical ketosis and endometritis resulted in long term changes in productivity and behavior. Another study from the University of Guelph suggested there might be potential to use feed tables in robotic milking systems to reduce negative energy balance and subclinical ketosis by accounting for milk production of fresh cows.
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Summer vacation Page 30 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
Summertime is the season for that strange annual sitter for our herd of Holsteins. tradition known as the family vacation. The job description was fairly straightforward. When you think about it, taking a vacation with The person we hired would have to milk our cows, your youngsters is an odd notion. Why would one feed them, care for the baby calves, clean the barn, choose to be trapped in a car with miniature human- haul manure, keep all the animals healthy and make oids, who, through a ďƒ&#x;uke of genetics, happen to be sure our dog was petted. And that was just before related to you? Smallish people who are barely house- breakfast. broken and engage in such Fortunately, we disgusting behaviors as found an excellent hired guy distributing wet willies and Wh named Kevin. Kevin had When you think hi k about b iit, saving boogers in their shirt zero farming experience taking a vacation with your pockets? and therefore came with no Despite these hazards, youngsters is an odd notion. dunderheaded dairy manmy wife and I attempted agement ideas. Following to take a relaxing summer a training period that lasted vacation with our two sons scarcely a year, I became when they were kids. I say attempted because the get- conďƒždent enough in Kevin to leave him in charge for away provided precious little relaxation for me. a few days. We were dairy farmers. As such, the words “go on I arose at 5 a.m. on the ďƒžrst day of our vacation. vacationâ€? meant more than merely ďƒžnding someone My wife and I carried our slumbering sons out to the to check on the cat and watch “Game of Thronesâ€? on car and pointed it toward the Black Hills. your bathroom TV. We essentially had to ďƒžnd a babyIt’s about seven hours from our farm to the Hills.
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This can take twice as long if there are two ďƒždgety boys in the back seat. Our sons slept for the ďƒžrst few hours of our journey, so things seemed quiet and relaxed. But, I secretly worried that Kevin might forget to switch the pipe over to the milk tank, a blunder I had commit- Dear County Agent Guy ted more than once. The boys woke up hungry, so we purchased French toast sticks at a fast food joint. To this day, the aroma of greasy fried bread and sticky syrup makes me think “vacation.â€? Thanks to my strategy of leaving early By Jerry Nelson and minimizing the Columnist number of rest stops (sadly, my wife had vetoed my coffee can idea), we arrived in the Black Hills by early afternoon. We randomly decided to drive to Hot Springs where we visited Evans Plunge, a large indoor swimming pool that’s fed by natural warm springs. The unending ďƒ&#x;ow of balmy water has been augmented by waterslides and other naturallyoccurring fun-enhancing features. As the boys frolicked in the water and became ever-more wrinkly, my wife said, “Finally, we can relax and enjoy ourselves.â€? I glanced at my watch. “Kevin should be done cleaning the barn by now. I hope he remembers to fasten the gates the way I showed him. Some of our cows have escape skills that would rival Houdini.â€? “Can’t you just savor the moment?â€? my wife admonished. “That might be easier if I knew that Kevin was able to start the loader tractor. Sometimes you have to cuss at it and spit on it in a particular way to get it going.â€? “You need to switch off,â€? said my wife. “There’s nothing you can do about the farm. We’re hundreds of miles away.â€? “I know. But if the cows got out, I bet we could break some speed limits and get home in time to help Kevin chase them back in.â€? After several hours of water-based fun, our sons were tired and hungry. We grabbed some fast food and began to look for a place to spend the night. None of the major hotels had a vacancy. Just when the boys’ crankiness level reached critical mass, we found a hotel that had a room. I don’t recall, but I believe that “ďƒ&#x;eabagâ€? was somewhere in the hotel’s name. The bedspreads were threadbare and the room smelled weird, but we were too exhausted to care. Our sons fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. As the boys slept, my wife snuggled up to me. “Isn’t this nice and relaxing?â€? she asked. “I guess. But it would be better if I knew that Kevin remembered to turn off the barn’s lights.â€? “I ďƒžgured this would happen,â€? my wife muttered as she began to rummage about in her capacious purse. She soon hauled out an old light switch. “Here!â€? she said. “Turn it off!â€? I did as was told. “Feel better now?â€? asked my wife. And for some reason, I did. Jerry is a recovering dairy farmer from Volga, S.D. He and his wife, Julie, have two grown sons and live on the farm where Jerry’s great-grandfather homesteaded over 110 years ago. Jerry currently works full time for the Dairy Star as a staff writer/ ad salesman. Feel free to E-mail him at: jerry.n@dairystar.com.
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Did you get your Milk Break t-shirt yet?
I’ve had a huge box sitting under my desk for a couple of months now. It’s been there for so long I started to use it as a footrest as I work at my desk all day. By the time June Dairy Month rolled around it was time to break into the box – it was full of t-shirts ready to giveaway to some lucky readers. To celebrate June Dairy Month, Dairy Star ran a promotion on our Facebook page where people could share, comment and like a photo submitted by visitors. The photo had to have a special meaning – what June Dairy Month means to you. For those visitors who liked, commented and shared our daily June Dairy Month photo, they were automatically entered to win a Milk Break t-shirt. To further chances to win, visitors could be en- By Andrea Borgerding Staff Writer tered to win by simply signing up to receive our new E-newsletter, The Milk Break. I gave away 30 t-shirts during June Dairy Month. Well, the box sitting under my desk is still plenty full. And I still need names to get on our email list for the E-newsletter. So I am continuing to give away t-shirts every week. If you haven’t heard of The Milk Break yet, it is an E-newsletter I send out every Thursday to your email inbox. The newsletter includes daily news items, calendar items, a photo of the week, a preview to the next issue of Dairy Star, personal milestones, recipes, surveys and all those fun news items or behind the scenes tidbits we don’t get to share in the paper. DairySt r If you would like to sign up for the Milk Break newsletter, please email me at andrea.b@ www.dairystar.com dairystar.com or visit our web site for more information. I’ll be giving out t-shirts until the box under my desk is empty. Winners will be announced every week in The Milk Break newsletter so please sign up today. I’m getting too used to have a footrest under my desk – it’s time for the giant box of t-shirts to go!
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 31
AUTOMATING YOUR WORKLOAD
THINK IT’S NOT FOR YOU? You may be surprised!
When you talk to people who’ve automated their milking and feeding chores, you hear their stories ďŹ rst-hand. Many of them see a decrease in physical stress, an increase in milk production and herd health, and calmer cows.
SEE FOR YOURSELF! Good-View Ayr Farm Tour August 9, 12:30 p.m. 35400 State Hwy 1 NE Goodridge, MN 56725
Mike & Linda Hanson and their sons, Matthew & Steven, invite you to tour their dairy. Featuring 2 A4 milking robots and a Lely Vector automated feeding system.
Lunch is provided! Optional bus service ($20/person) from the Melrose American Legion parking lot. 265 County Road 173 SE. Pre-registration is required to ride the bus—Register online at regonline.com/dairyextensionďŹ eldday or call Shari at 320.203.6054. Bus leaves promptly at 8 a.m. and will return around 9 p.m. Bus space is limited, so call today!
Event Sponsored by Commitment. Relationships. Trust.
“I didn’t even think we had stray voltage!� Roger Lange milks 100 head on his family dairy at Crofton, Nebraska. Until recently he was often forced to sell his fresh heifers because they wouldn t let down their milk. “We called Stray Voltage Consulting, and Jerry found the problem within half an hour.� Roger said. “I was very impressed with Jerry. He’s a former REA guy, so he understands both the farmer and the electric company. Being able to work with both sides is a key component to his success.� “I haven’t had a single problem with our fresh heifers since Jerry corrected our stray voltage problem. I would highly recommend Stray Voltage Consulting to anyone who thinks they might have stray voltage!�
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A4 Automated Robots allow cows to regulate their own milking times. • If a cow has the production to milk 4 times a day, the system will take care of it for you. • Easier on your back, knees and other joints. • Meeting friends in the afternoon? No need to rush home!
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Tubeline Bale Wrappers provide a fast and efďŹ cient way to get hay off the ďŹ eld and put up high quality silage, allowing producers to deliver the nutrient rich, palatable, easily digestible hay that your dairy or cattle herds crave.
Vector Automated Feeding ensures there’s always enough fresh feed delivered to the herd. • Fresh, properly mixed, appropriate rations served 8 to 10 times a day. • Saves you labor in shoveling or pushing feed to your cows. • Want to take the weekend off from feeding? You can. Vector’s got this!
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Together or separate, each of these systems will help you achieve the results you’re looking for.
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Randy Arnhalt 320.267.3235 rarnhalt@Leedstone.com
Don Brower 320.267.1604
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Paul Becker 320.510.0200
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Show season is upon us Page 32 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
Come mid-July, as daytime temperatures and humidity climb, you know show season is on the way. It’s strange looking out across the yard and not seeing at least a few calves or yearlings tied up to the white farm fence as the kids start to work with their new project animals. For the past 20 years, we have been treated to nightly dairy shows as the kids would parade their animals in their imaginary show ring, slowly circling the single oak tree which served as the judge. The kids would keep their eye on the “judge,” teaching their animal how to stop and stand. Working on the subtle cues of taking just a half step to have proper feet placement. I think our kids’ favorite class at the dairy show was showmanship. This was a class where it was all about the effort you personally put into your project. In our county, we are blessed with a number of
great showkids. It was a thrill to watch these young people work their magic in the ring with their animals. Kent Bennington at Weaver Leather Livestock posted a Top 10 List A Successful Showman Understands. 10. Win or lose, always show class. 9. Teamwork is a must, don’t be afraid to help others. 8. Nobody wants to hear how good you are, just show them in the ring. 7. When things get tough, stay positive. 6. Practice like you’ve never won, show like you’ve never lost. 5. Competition is what makes us all better. 4. Never get out worked. 3. Always show respect for our industry and
your competition. 2. You don’t have to cheat to win. 1. Appreciate the “show mom,” they make it all happen. I would like to take this time to thank my “show mom” when I was growing up. I didn’t realize all that she did until I became one. As a kid you Just Thinking Out Loud take it for granted that everything is in place, not understanding it takes planning to make things run smoothly. Making sure there are extra rolls of paper towels, clear magic, baby powder and clipper blades in the show box. A cooler full of cold water, sandwiches, cookies By Natalie Schmitt and watermelon chunks Columnist is restocked every day. Being an extra set of hands to grab the halter as animals are swapped out for back to back classes. Someone willing to walk behind your cow loaded with the poop pan and paper towels. The person sitting in the arena sending you mental messages to keep your eye on the judge, lift the head a little higher, smile, breathe. The one behind the camera lens capturing the moment you realize the long nights of practice and extra effort paid off as you are named champion showman. As you take pictures of kids and cows this show season, don’t forget to step out from behind the camera. Looking back at the kids’ pictures from county fair over the years, I can count on one hand the number of times I was in the picture. I have all the kids and Mark every year to see how they have changed but I “forgot” to step into the picture too. Honestly, I hate to have my picture taken. Seeing myself in pictures makes me wince. Everyone else looks great and natural, then there is me ruining a perfectly good picture. At least that is what I tell myself.
A you take As k pictures i off the h kids and cows this show season, don’t forget to step out from behind the camera.
Bio-Cal: Research Backed, Field Proven In 2016, we partnered with an independent research farm to demonstrate the impact Bio-Cal can have when added to alfalfa fertility programs often used in the Midwest (0-0-60 and DAP). The result: A 10.7 percent yield increase, or almost a 1/2 ton more hay per acre, in the seeding year. We’ve recommended applying calcium to forages for over 30 years to support high-yielding forages with outstanding nutritional value. With over 32 percent calcium in both soluble and slow-release forms, Bio-Cal has helped farms across the Midwest make big improvements to crop yields and feed efficiency. If you’re looking for a proven forage product with positive ROI, consider adding Bio-Cal to your program.
Increase your forage yields. We’ll show you how. 800.327.6012 MidwesternBioAg.com Results may vary. ©2017. Midwestern BioAg, Inc.
Teresa Porter is a blogger for the Hufngton Post who wrote about getting in the picture. She is a photographer who xated on her aws to the point of shirking from any documentation that she ever walked the earth. She said there were “no pictures to show how we love, how we laugh, how we are treasured by our families. How is it possible that a double chin can overpower the beauty of a mother cuddling her child? How does arm fat distract from the perfect shot of a spontaneous hug?” “Life doesn’t wait until you get thin enough to capture it,” she writes. “Life is happening ... it is happening right now and the only moment we are guaranteed is the one we are living.” Porter’s change of attitude was brought about after she was in a severe car accident. She realized she could have been missing from family pictures permanently. Now she steps out from behind the camera to be a part of the moment, too. As “show moms,” we need to step out from behind the camera and be a part of the moment too. We’ve earned a spot in the picture, too. Have a great show season and don’t forget to say, “Cheese.” Natalie, Mark and his brother, Al, Schmitt farm together near Rice, Minn. They milk 100 registered Holsteins under the RALMA prex. Their four children are great help around the farm and are pushing Natalie out of several jobs. Therefore she is thankful to have something else to do. For questions or comments please email Natalie at mnschmitt@jetup.net.
Funny chickens
I stopped at the feed store to pick up milk replacer. I left with a box of chicks. When I stepped up to the counter to place my order, the clerk asked me if I wanted some chicks. There had been a mistake with an order from the hatchery and the chicks couldn’t be returned, so the feed store needed to nd a home for the chicks before the end of the day. My rst response to the question was all-out Dairy Good Life laughter. This is the third time in the past couple years we have taken in ordered-by-mistake baby poultry. Twice it was happenstance that I needed milk replacer on the same day that chicks arrived; the other time, the feed store actually called to see if I would take an erred order of ducklings. After a good laugh, the wheels in my brain started turning. The clerk had explained that the chicks were Black Silkie Bantams. Dan and Monika were both enrolled in the poultry project in 4-H, but I had missed the deadline for ordering chicks in time for the county fair. By Sadie Frericks The kids were disappointed, and I felt like Columnist a bad mom for a couple days. Perhaps this box of Black Silkie Bantams was a chance to show chickens after all. As an aside, Dan and Monika rst signed up for the poultry project back in 2015. They each picked a layer breed and we ordered chicks. The chicks arrived the same week as the avian inuenza outbreak and the project skidded to a halt. As a result, we still have a ridiculous number of prolic layers running around the farm. Who knew Black Australorps were so procient at hatching out their own chicks? I called Glen for conrmation. He’s the poultry expert in our family. He showed chickens for years in 4-H at both the county and state fair. He agreed that Black Silkie Bantams would be great chickens for a 4-H project. The silkies’ smaller size and gentle temperament would make them great for poultry project beginners. So, home I went with 15 little black bantam chicks. The kids were ecstatic upon discovering the surprise chicks. While the kids were inspecting the chicks, Dan proclaimed, “Mom, they have ve toes.” (Most breeds of chickens have four toes.) Five-toed feet are only one of the qualities that make silkies so unique. As the chicks grew, their down was replaced with wispy feathers that look more like hair than normal feathers. Their heads are crowned with a puff of these silky feathers. Their legs and feet are covered with uffy feathers as well. In short, they look like sooty powder puffs. Funny looking or not, the silkies have been a fun project. Dan has taken With Wi h the h county ffair i quickly i kl charge of the project and approaching, we started been solely responsible for taking care of the birds. Unhelping Dan sort out a der his care, all 15 of the cockerel and two pullets for chicks have become very nice looking birds. In conhis breeding trio. trast, it’s hard for our young kids to be completely responsible for their dairy projects – quite a bit of parental help is still required. Monika decided not to continue with the poultry project; she enrolled in the dog project with our new dog and decided two animal projects was enough. (Bless her practical heart. She didn’t get that from her mother.) With the county fair quickly approaching, we started helping Dan sort out a cockerel and two pullets for his breeding trio. The process gave us another good laugh. It turns out that silkie cockerels (young males) and pullets (young females) are almost impossible to tell apart. We found a poultry bulletin that explained the differences we should look for, but the nal word in the bulletin was that none of these characteristics is a guarantee of gender; the only certain indication is egg laying. Sufce it to say, we’re going to help Dan do the best he can picking out his chickens and hope that the cockerel doesn’t lay an egg at the fair. (We’ll be OK if one of the pullets crows, because apparently silkie pullets are capable of crowing like roosters.) If you’d like to see Dan’s funny chickens, come nd us at the Stearns County Fair. Sadie and her husband, Glen, milk 75 cows near Melrose, Minn. They have three children – Dan, 10, Monika, 7, and Daphne, 4. Sadie also writes a blog at www.dairygoodlife.com. She can be reached at sadiefrericks@gmail.com.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 33
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Benets of amino acid balancing Page 34 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
The concept of amino acid balancing is nothing new to the dairy industry. The tools needed to effectively balance amino acid dairy rations have been readily available for more than 10 years. The degree of Something to Ruminate On economic return with amino acid balancing uctuates with the pay price on milk protein and, to a lesser extent, milk fat. The Federal Milk Marketing Order 30 (FMMO 30) applies to most Dairy Star readers. Pay price within the FMMO 30 on milk By Barry Visser fat has been higher Nutritionist than protein since last fall, but the volume contribution of both still comprises the majority of your milk check. There are benets to maximize both milk fat and protein independent of their current market value. We also need to recognize a seasonal aspect to both milk fat and protein, and we are currently at seasonal lows for both (see chart). Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Conceptually, we continue to place less emphasis on dietary crude protein and more emphasis on the available grams of specic amino acids. Numerous ration modeling programs are capable of predicting both the dietary contribution to these amino acids along with rumen microbial contribution. It is well documented that lysine and methionine are the two most limiting amino acids in a lactating dairy cow diet. Different feed ingredients contribute a wide range of types and amounts of amino acids. Different feed ingredients, as well as synthetic sources, can contribute to lysine and methionine in the diet. However, keep in mind that not all sources are created equal. The bioavailability of these amino acids – and the decision on which feedstuff provides the most
economical return on investment – is a conversation to have with your nutrition advisor. The primary goal with amino acid balancing is to improve protein efciency. As a result, amino acid balancing often yields an improvement in milk protein output. Although a majority of these benets come from intestinal absorption of specic amino acids, research has shown benets in milk yield and milk fat responses to the rumen available contribution. The benets of amino acid balancing go well beyond milk component responses. Improvement in protein efciency results in less excess nitrogen excretion, which inherently has some environmental benets. It was quite common 15 years ago to see dietary crude protein levels at 18 to 19 percent. Today, we see dietary crude protein levels on amino acid-bal-
anced herds at 16.5 percent or lower. Milk urea nitrogen (MUN) values on these herds are often between 8 and 12 mg/dl. Lower nitrogen excretion results in additional energy that can be utilized for body reserves, milk production or other requirements of the cow. Amino acid balancing is gathering attention in dry cows, as well. Research has shown cow health benets and early lactation energy corrected milk improvements with the inclusion of amino acid balancing through the dry period. Calf and heifer programs are also incorporating specic amino acids and realizing positive responses in daily gains. Consider amino acid balancing and potential improved protein efciency on your farm. The net results can be improvement in cow health and performance, and an economic return to your bottom line.
Seasonal trends FMMO 30
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 35
Until the cows come home
BRITTANY OLSON/DAIRY STAR
The MarƟns (front, from leŌ) – Audrey, Rosene and Kendra; (back, from leŌ) Keith, Lavern, Rhoda holding Larissa, Roxanne and Teresa – are building a new barn and milking parlor aŌer an F3 tornado when it struck their dairy farm a few miles east of Conrath, Wis., on May 16. The MarƟns are eagerly awaiƟng the day that their 80 milking cows can come home for good.
Martins receive help building barn after tornado By Brittany Olson
brittany.o@dairystar.com
CONRATH, Wis. – The evening of May 16 changed the lives of Lavern and Rhoda Martin’s family forever when a large and violent tornado struck their farm at milking time. Lavern and Rhoda were milking 92 cows on their farm a couple miles east of Conrath, Wis., before the twister struck. Unfortunately, they lost several cows to the storm, along with the tiestall barn and stave silos. The house and shop also were damaged. After the tornado passed, help began to arrive in droves and the Martins are well on their way to building a new barn with dozens of volunteers helping just about every day since. Rhoda was in the basement with their younger children, Audrey, Rosene and Larissa, when the power cut out shortly before the tornado arrived. Their other four children, Roxanne, Teresa, Keith and Kendra, soon joined
her after coming in from the barn, and Lavern watched the clouds for a bit before joining them, as well. “We were in the basement, and felt the pressure change in our ears. That’s when we knew it was going to hit us,” Rhoda said. “God had His hand in it when the power cut out and the rest had to come to the basement instead of milking. You can feed calves and do other outside chores somewhat, but you can’t milk without electricity.” While they don’t remember the exact sound of the tornado roaring overhead, the combined noises created from breaking glass, tin ripping, wood crumbling and a collapsing silo lled the Martins’ ears as they waited out the disaster whirling above them. “They talk about it sounding like a freight train, but we didn’t hear anything sounding like that,” Rhoda said. “We heard the windows breaking and rain coming in, with all sorts of crashing and ripping outside.” The tornado, which cut a swath 83 miles long from far eastern Polk County through Barron and Rusk Counties, set a new state record for distance traveled by a single twister and
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Page 36 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
Women In Jeans Carol Radtke Kerkhoven, Minn.; Swift County 38 cows
Family: My husband, Rich, and I have three children. Chastiti, 31, lives here on the farm with us. She is a disabled adult. Madison, 19, is attending college and living at home. Austin, 28, lives in Willmar, Minn. Tell us about your farm: We own and operate a certied organic cow dairy. We have 160 acres, of which 65 are in permanent pasture with about 80 tillable acres and a 3-acre vineyard. We raise very little row crops. We focus on alfalfa and alfalfa/grass hay for most of the land, with a few acres set aside for test crops, such as the Kernza we planted last year. We moved to the abandoned family farm in 2008, three years after the death of my father-in-law. We tried several things – beef, poultry, goats, etc. – as enterprises before we settled on an organic dairy in 2013. It took us another two years before we had the milking facility and cows, but in January 2015 we did it. Most of our land was already certied organic in 2012, so it made sense to head in the direction of organic milking. Our milk is sold to Organic Valley through NFO. The family works together on the farm. Each of us has a responsibly. Rich is in charge of prepping and clean up the barn, eld work, feeding cows and most of the grunt work. Madison is in charge of calf care and heifers until they calve. I milk and manage our cows. We also have a few dairy goats, chickens, Highland beef, miniature horses and llamas. What’s the busiest time of day for you? Mornings are denitely the busiest part of my day. I’m up around 5 a.m. to do prep work in the house before I wake the rest of the family to get ready to head to the barn by 5:45 a.m. I milk cows until 7:10 a.m., then it’s back to the house to get our oldest, Chastiti, ready for her day program. Once she’s on the van, it’s back to the barn to nish up anything else that still needs to be done. Usually, Rich is nishing up. When you have a spare moment, what do you do? Take a nap. Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. Working on the farm has many experiences. Not all of them are pleasant and some you don’t want to remember. I can’t recall just one moment, but some things I love about dairy farming is bringing a new life into this world, working as a family for a common goal, and talking to people about what we do and why we do it organically. Being able to produce a healthy, whole food is a big factor, too. What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the dairy industry? Learning and educating. There is always something new to learn. I love meeting with consumers and farmers. Learning from farmers and educating the public are so important as there is so much misinformation out there. And I love that I can milk cows in my pajamas. My “girls” don’t care if I show up for work with messy hair and pjs.
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How do you stay connected with others in the industry? We live in an area dominated by dairy farmers. There are dairy farmers to the north, west and east of us; however, we are one of the smallest and the only certied organic dairy. Our daughter is active in 4-H and FFA, so the county fairs and state fair are very important to us. We work closely with our neighbors to the north. Although, they are not organic, they have over 100 years of dairy experience, and I have learned a lot from them. Our family is also connected via social media and openly shares with others how we got started, how and why we do things the way we do, and rarely turn down the opportunity to give farm and barn tours to those interested. We never turn down an interview. You never know who’s going to be inspired by the example you set or the information you’re willing to provide. In your opinion, what’s the importance of women in today’s dairy industry and how have you seen that change over the years? I think women play a huge role in dairy and probably always have, but no one has really paid attention to it. As most of us are caregivers, it just seems natural that we would also care for the animals in our charge. I know I can pick up on signs of our cows when something is off long before my husband does. I don’t know if I’m really qualied to answer this about how a woman’s role has changed in the dairy industry, as I really have only been doing this for two years. I grew up in the small town of Danube, Minn., which is a farming community and both my parents grew up on farms. My two uncles were dairymen, and I remember visiting their farms as a child. Those farms operated much like ours does today. At milking time, everyone was in the barn to help. My aunts and cousins helped with all milking chores. To me, it really doesn’t seem any different. I see women taking on a more management role. They are running the operation more so than in the past. We’ve all read our history, where women on the farm were not much more than helpers and/or milk-maids. That surely isn’t my role. I help run the dairy. If you could give a tour of your farm to a prominent woman in today’s society, who would it be and why? I turn no one away for a tour. Every person is important, in my opinion. If I had to pick one, I may have already given her a couple of tours. It would be Christa Williamson from the KMS FFA/Ag Department. She’s such a good educator (one of the best). I believe she has the ability to inuence the future of her students. If someone has an interest in dairy or organic farming, she’ll nd that individual and make the best of it. What is the best vacation you’ve ever taken? It was a two-day Organic Valleysponsored Farmers In Marketing Ambassador Training workshop, in Red Wing, Minn. Its emphasis was on how to connect more effectively with Organic Valley consumers to tell our farm story. The combination of being away from the farm and learning to be a better farmer-to-consumer advocate was just what I needed to re-energize. I also enjoy the time when I have the farm to myself – just the cows and I. From time to time, Rich and Madison travel to visit family, which leaves me here to run the farm myself. I love it. It’s hard work, but so rewarding, that it’s worth every minute. What are words you like to live by? Dare to be different. Don’t be normal, especially if normal is dened as the standard from which all else is measured.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017 • Page 37
ConĆ&#x;nued from MARTINS | Page 35
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BRITTANY OLSON/DAIRY STAR
A new truss is guided into place on the MarĆ&#x;n farm near Conrath, Wis. Dozens of volunteers are helping the MarĆ&#x;n family build a new barn aĹŒer a tornado destroyed their previous facility in May. severely damaged or destroyed several dairy farms along its destructive path with wind speeds up to 140 miles per hour. When the storm left, the surviving cattle were moved to various farms in the area. The 80 milking cows are now with Lavern’s uncle and cousin, Jerry and Andy Martin. Their friends and neighbors, as well as family and strangers, descended upon the Martin farm to help Lavern, Rhoda and their children get back on their feet. “Some days have been busier and bigger than others depending on what’s going on, like setting trusses,â€? Rhoda said. On July 10 and 11, trusses were being set for the new freestall barn and parlor. Lavern was driving the telehandler that hoisted the trusses onto the frame of the buildings, with Keith guiding each truss so it didn’t swing wildly on its way up. The men worked in seamless harmony as the telehandler lifted the truss, with a group sitting on the very top of the nearest ďƒžnished truss to help guide the new one into its proper place. “We served 50 men at lunch on July 10,â€? Rhoda said. “It’s a lot of food, but ladies from our church helped.â€? Family members have come from near and far to help, as well. “Lavern’s cousin from Indiana is here, and my uncle from Ohio is talking about bringing a group up here to help. They will probably come in a couple weeks,â€? Rhoda said. Gratitude and indebtedness run
strong and deep throughout all of the Martins when they think of everything that has been done for them in the past few weeks and months through the spirit of generosity and friendship. “There’s no way to repay these people,â€? Rhoda said. “We’re so overwhelmed and unworthy of all of this.â€? In a way, the tornado has been somewhat of a mixed blessing for the Martins as they continue to build a new chapter for their dairy farm as the barn and other new buildings come closer to completion. The calves have since returned home after being housed shufďƒ&#x;ed around to various neighbors’ farms after the storm. Rhoda, who grew up milking cows in a parlor, is looking forward to the new freestall barn and parlor on their farm. “I went from a parlor to a tiestall [barn] when I moved here, and it’s so much more up-and-down and labor intensive,â€? Rhoda said. “I’m not glad the tornado happened, but it’ll be nice to have a parlor for sure.â€? Even though much has been accomplished in the two months since the tornado hit their farm, Lavern and Rhoda still know there is a lot yet to do before they are ready to begin milking cows at the home farm once again. “You know that saying ‘until the cows come home’?â€? Rhoda said. “A lot of work has been done, but there’s more work to do until the cows can come home.â€?
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Lavern MarĆ&#x;n drives a telehandler while his son, Keith (leĹŒ) guides the truss as he liĹŒs it into the air. The MarĆ&#x;ns survived an F3 tornado on May 16 on their 80-cow dairy near Conrath, Wis.
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Page 38 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
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Robb Miller Lewiston, Minn. Winona County 600 cows How did you get into farming? My grandpa started our dairy, Clear Crest Farm, in 1936. My grandpa had Guernseys. My mom and dad bought the rst Holstein for the farm in the mid 1970s. I grew up on the farm and showed cows, even going to World Dairy Expo a few times. I attended the University of Wisconsin-River Falls for ag business and agronomy before I returned to the farm in 1994. I now farm with my brother, Luke. I focus more on the crop aspect, while Luke takes care of the herd. Our herd is mostly grade Holsteins with a few Guernseys left from my grandpa. Recently, my daughter has bought a few registered Holsteins to show. What are your thoughts and concerns about the dairy industry for the next year? There’s a lot of negativity on social media about agriculture and the dairy industry. People who aren’t familiar with farms might take that negativity as truth. The dairy industry really needs to win over social media and continue to share more about all the good things we do. What is the latest technology you implemented on your farm and the purpose for it? The most recent item we implemented has been our activity and rumen monitoring system. We now base all our breeding off the activity monitors. It has really helped our herd. What is a management practice you changed in the past year that has beneted you? Adding the activity and rumination collars was done in the last year. It has helped with our breeding and allows us to see if any cows are not feeling well. We will also have to change how things are managed when our new parlor is up and running. We are in the process of building a new 32-stall carousel parlor. It is designed to be a hybrid parlor, which allows us to add robots in the future. Supposedly, it is one of the rst hybrid parlors in the country. It will replace our current par-
What has been your biggest accomplishment while dairy farming? Sticking with it. Dairy is a tough industry and a lot of people get out of it. I’m glad we have been able to sustain. I like farming and want to continue doing it. I couldn’t sit behind a desk all day. What are your plans for your dairy in the next year and ve years? The new parlor will be a big change. Once that is nished, we will also need a new waste handling system sometime in the near future.
lor, which was built in 1969 and designed for 60 Guernseys. How do you retain a good working relationship with your employee or employees? Treat them how you want to be treated. We have 10 employees – a mix of full time and part time. Our herdsman has been with us for 30 years.
What has been the best purchase you’ve ever made on your farm? Our computerized feeding equipment. Our TMR system is synched with Dairy Comp 305 so if cows are moved to a different pen or more cows are added to a pen, the
How do you or your family like to spend time when you are not doing chores? Both Bradley and Ella are in sports, so we like to go watch them. Both are in basketball and track. In the fall, Ella also plays volleyball, while Bradley plays football. When we have a little time during the summer, we try to go to our cabin up north.
Tell us about a skill you possess that makes dairy farming easier for you. I have patience. It is needed when dealing with all the problems that come along while farming. You have to keep calm and work through situations that arise. I’ve also found if you keep calm, your employees will keep calm, too. What do you enjoy most about dairy farming? I like the lifestyle. It is both a business and a lifestyle in one. We can work together with our kids. My wife, Kathryn, and I have two kids. Ella is our dairy girl. She works with my brother, Luke, a lot with the herd. Our son, Bradley, helps me on the agronomy side of the dairy. Right now, they like to be around the farm, and we would like to give the option to return if that’s what they want.
Star Blends is a full service feed manufacturing facility. We provide custom complete feeds, supplements and minerals. We utilize modern technology to produce your needed products on demand with the highest quality feeds at the best cost. We also offer a wide selection of commodities, ingredients and additives. We are focused on dairy, efficiently delivering to farms in Western Wisconsin. Give us a call, we’d be happy to discuss our commodities or custom products and services with you and your nutritionist.
1919 Riley Road Sparta, WI 54656 | 800.462.4125
Page 40 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 22, 2017
Used H&S 5142, #3688 - $46,800
Used Knight 8118, #3542 - $12,500
Used Knight 8124, #3699 - $18,900
Used Knight 8132, #3605 - $25,900
Used Kuhn Knight 8110, #3931 - $5,200
Used Kuhn Knight 8124, #3366 - $19,900
Used Kuhn Knight 8124, #3354 - $19,900
Used Kuhn Knight 8124, #3912 - $24,900
Used Kuhn Knight 8132, #3609 - $29,900
Used Meyers 8720, #3536 - $18,900
Used Knight 3030, #3725 - $14,900
Used Knight 3030, #3504 - $11,900
Used Knight 3042, #3626 - $13,900
Used Knight 3450, #3372 - $10,900
Used Knight Big Auggie 12, #3702 - $3,250
Used Knight Botec 4052, #3566 - $8,900
Used Kuhn Knight 3130, #3434 - $21,500
Used Kuhn Knight 3130, #3643 - $10,900
Used Kuhn Knight 3130, #3624 - $14,900
Used Kuhn Knight 3130, #3695 - $12,900
Salesmen: Shawn Martin (608) 778-4554 or Joe Ryan (608) 778-2900
4116 Hwy. 80 S. Platteville, WI
Office: (608) 348-9401 or Toll Free: 1(888) BUY-PATZ www.steinhartsfarmservice.com
4116 Hwy. 80 S. Platteville, WI