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DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 22, No. 12
Almost back up and running Burnett Dairy recovering from re at Grantsburg plant By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
GRANTSBURG, Wis. – After a re the night of July 20 torched a portion of Burnett Dairy’s Grantsburg processing plant, the cooperative is making plans to get the plant back in working order. “We’re making a lot of progress,” Bill Haase said. “There have been crews (at the plant) around the clock.” Haase, who is the chairman of the cooperative’s board of directors and milks 530 cows together with his family near Osceola, said the cause of the re is still undetermined. The re at Burnett Dairy forced the cooperative to nd immediate alternatives for its producers to send their milk. “That was a major concern right up front,” Haase said. “Sometime during the night (of the re), a milk truck came to unload. Our eldman and personnel handled it and got ahold of different co-ops and milk processing plants around the area. … We did not have to dump any milk.” The plant takes in about 1 million pounds of milk every day and produces 55 million pounds of cheese each year. While a portion of milk has been diverted to the cooperative’s plant in Wilson, the rest has been taken in by other processors including Associated Milk Producers Inc., Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery, Foremost Farms, Grassland Dairy, LaGrander’s Hillside Dairy, Lake Country Dairy, Land O’Lakes, Plainview Milk Products and Saputo Inc. “We were getting calls from other creameries saying they could take milk,” Haase said. “It’s amazing how you compete, but you work together when needed.” The structure that was burned and damaged in the re was the oldest part of the creamery, and one of the original buildings that was used for Turn to BURNETT | Page 5
August 8, 2020
Returning to their roots
Wicks family restarts dairy after being out of the business many years By Jerry Nelson
jerry.n@dairystar.com
CAVOUR, S.D. – Most people would not think of starting a dairy operation as the second act of their working career. But most people are not Vaughn Wicks. “I have always enjoyed milking cows,” Vaughn said. “Dairy farming has never been far from my heart.” Vaughn’s father, Larry, started milking ve cows by hand in the early 1960s. “After we’d added a few more cows, we moved up to belly buckets and sold our milk in 10-gallon cans,” Larry said.
JERRY NELSON/DAIRY STAR
The Wicks family – (from leŌ) EllioƩ, Larry, Valerie, Vaughn, Elias Fisk, Loren Fisk, and Allison Fisk holding Isaac Fisk – dairy farm near Cavour, South Dakota. The Wicks recently started milking cows in their refurbished dairy facility, which had been used for many years as an aucƟon barn.
Turn to WICKS | Page 6
A livelihood worth creating
Skrochs named Benton County’s farm family of the year By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
Mark and Pam Skroch walk through their bedded pack barn July 23 at their 118-cow dairy near Rice, Minnesota. The Skrochs are this year’s Benton County Farm Family of the Year.
RICE, Minn. – As Mark and Pam Skroch commuted back and forth from the Twin Cities area to Pam’s home farm in Rice, they knew it was not a lifestyle they wanted to last very long. They longed for the freedoms of the country and the great responsibility of raising their family on a dairy farm. “We wanted to continue farming with my family, the way of life it gave us and our kids,” Pam said. “We had the opportunity to move out here and still take advantage of the opportunities available in town, so we took it.” The Skrochs milk 118 cows, feedout about 180 steers and run 500 acres of land on their farm, Sunny Oak Farm, near Rice. For the couple’s contributions to their community and farming philosophy, they were named this year’s Benton County Farm Family of the Year. “I hope this recognition shows others that it’s possible to raise a family and expand a farm and make a living farming,” Mark said. “All of our hard work is paying off.” Mark and Pam begin their day around 4:30 a.m. Turn to SKROCHS | Page 11