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DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 18, No. 14
September 10, 2016
“Let’s milk A devastating ood for NE Iowa cows”
Fink takes leap into dairying despite limited experience By Cassie Olson
cassie.o@dairystar.com
TOMAH, Wis. – When Samantha Fink initially purchased her farm in 2012 with her father, Dale, and brother, Cody, her plan was never to milk cows. Despite her limited experience in dairy, Fink took a leap of faith in September 2015 when she began lling her Tomah, Wis., farm with the 100 dairy cows she milks today. Having grown up on her family’s beef and crop farm in Trempealeau, Wis., Fink and her family purchased the Tomah farm primarily for the land. With 250 acres, nearly all of which are tillable, the purchase allowed them to expand as Fink approached college graduation. “I was going to school for animal science for the rst two years that we owned the farm. We bought it in 2012, when land prices had skyrocketed; both my brother and I knew we wanted to farm, and this farm was more affordable than the land near Trempealeau. It was the only option,” Fink said. Following her graduation in May 2014, Fink moved 70 miles from her home farm to begin farming in Tomah. She began by raising a fraction of her family’s beef steers and heifers for the rst year. The farm’s previous owners, however, had milked cows until the farm was sold. As she put more time and effort into the farm, Fink realized she was putting the existing equipment and facilities to waste. “The parlor and equipment was here, all in good condition,” Fink said. “So, one day I just said to my dad, ‘Let’s milk cows.’” Turn to FINK | Page 6
PHOTO SUBMITTED
A hay shed on the Dietzenbachs’ farm stands in water from the ooded Turkey River on Aug. 24. The Dietzenbach family lost round bales of hay and corn stalks, and had numerous acres under water because of ooding on their farm near Fort Atkinson, Iowa.
Dietzenbach one of many farmers to have numerous acres under water By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
FORT ATKINSON, Iowa – Many northeast Iowa dairy farmers were anxiously watching as rain kept falling the night of Aug. 23 into the morning of Aug. 24. Unfortunately for many, the large amount of rain received in a short period of time – some areas had over 10 inches in about four to ve hours – resulted in ooded elds and farmsites. This included Dan Dietzenbach,
who milks 70 cows near Fort Atkinson, Iowa. His farm received about ve inches of rain overnight. “I knew it was going to be bad, possibly like [the ood we had in] ’08, but I didn’t think it would be worse,” Dietzenbach said. Dietzenbach farms together with his wife, Michelle, and parents, Vern and Bernice, on their farmsites along the Turkey River. A large amount of their farmland is at river bottom. Normally, the section of the river that is near their dairy is about 60 to 80 feet Turn to FLOODING | Page 5
Milk solids a key component to prot Butterfat, protein, whey hot commodities for buyers By Brittany Olson
brittany.o@dairystar.com
CASSIE OLSON/DAIRY STAR
Samantha Fink milks 100 cows on her dairy farm in Tomah, Wis. Fink purchased the farm with her father and brother in 2012 before she began milking cows in 2015.
TAYLORS FALLS, Minn. – “What is milk?” That was the question posed by Dr. Normand StPierre at a dairy management seminar on Aug. 24 in Taylors Falls, Minn. St-Pierre, the director of research and technical services at Perdue AgriBusiness, spoke about the composition of milk. “In 100 pounds of milk, there are 3.8 pounds of butterfat, 3.0 pounds of protein, 5.7 pounds of other solids and the rest – 87.5 pounds – is water,” St-Pierre said. “Buyers are not paying you the same for each pound of those milk solids.” St-Pierre went on to explain the factors that deter-
mine component prices. “The USDA does not determine component prices, the federal government does not determine component prices and neither does your cooperative,” StPierre said. “What does determine your component pay prices are wholesale prices and unregulated sales of butter, cheese blocks and barrels, dry whey, and nonfat dry milk.” Given component prices per hundredweight (cwt) as of July 2016, butterfat sold for $2.44 per pound, while protein rang up at $2.84 per pound and other milk solids raked in $0.10 per pound. “Those are the gross revenues per pound, but how much does it cost you to produce each pound?” StPierre said. For example, St-Pierre explained that it takes 26.6 pounds of dry matter intake to make 5.36 pounds of fat and 2.5 pounds of other milk solids. Meanwhile, 10.71 pounds of net energy for lactation creates 4.25 Turn to MILK SOLIDS | Page 9