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DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 19, No. 10
July 8, 2017
“We bought his land with the assumption that we’d have it forever...” – Jason Weisenbeck
Weisenbeck family ghts to keep land from eminent domain
Sand from dredging the Mississippi River to be stored on acres along the banks By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
NELSON, Wis. – The Weisenbeck family was thrown a curve ball on May 12 in the form of a Fed-Ex package from the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE). That package contained a plan for dredge work needing to be done on the Mississippi, and explained to this dairy farming family how it would suddenly become the focal point of their lives. The Weisenbeck family owns about 175 of the 470 acres of land, which they must
DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
Jason Weisenbeck stands near the 80-acre eld targeted as part of Plan A – land he may have to involuntarily sell to the Army Corps of Engineers to store sand from dredging a porƟon of the Mississippi River. The Weisenbecks milk 1,300 cows near Nelson, Wis.
involuntarily sell to the ACE to store sand from dredging a portion of the Mississippi River. The Weisenbecks milk 1,300 cows on their dairy, Burnside Dairy, near Nelson and Durand, Wis. “We bought his land with the assumption that we’d have it forever, to grow feed for our herd. As we’ve acquired land, we’ve added cows,” said Jason Weisenbeck, who by default is fast becoming the family’s expert on the situation. Weisenbeck’s farm, Burnside Dairy, is home to over 2,500 total head of livestock. The Weisenbeck family also farms 2,000 acres located between the home farm outside of Durand, and another farm just outside of Nelson. Jason Weisenbeck, along with his father, Bill, and brothers, Paul
Turn to WEISENBECK | Page 5
The route to automation
Bernings use robots for milking, calf feeding By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
ST. MICHAEL, Minn. – Since 2010, the Bernings have incorporated automated tools to improve efciency on their dairy, and now they would not farm any other way. Brothers Mark and Paul Berning, and Mark’s son, David, are partners at Green Waves Farm, Inc., near St. Michael, Minn., where they are milking 375 cows with eight robots and raising their heifer calves on an automatic feeder. The Bernings hosted a University of Minnesota Extension eld day June 30 showcasing their technology advancements to more than 200 dairy farmers and members of the community. “When we installed the calf feeder seven years ago, my brother said, ‘If those robotic milkers work as good as these calf feeders, we should invest in them right away,’” Mark said. “Now, it’s 2017 and we’ve nally completely the project.” Paul agreed. “We’ve basically done everything,
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
The Bernings – (from leŌ) Paul, Stacy, Isabelle, Sharon, David, Sara, Mark and Julie – milk 375 cows with eight robots near St. Michael, Minn. Not pictured are Paul and Stacy’s sons, Blake, Brandon and Brady. starting with a tiestall barn to complete automation,” he said. The milking cows are housed in a cross-ventilated freestall barn that was built in 2014 with four milking robots. This past April, an expansion was completed, where an exact replica of the barn was added onto the west end of the building, accommodating four additional ro-
bots.
Pre-fresh heifers are also located in the barn, where they have roughly 10 days prior to calving to become acclimated to the milking machines. “We’re training them,” Mark said. “We run them through once or twice a day, with a few servings of pellets. They’re in the robots for about 3 minutes as the arm
moves back and forth.” At the point where the expansion and the original barn meet, two large bedded packs are available – one for fresh or problem cows and another for newborn calves. Within a few days of birth, heifer calves are moved to the group housing faTurn to BERNINGS | Page 6