LOOK INSIDE FOR OUR WORLD DAIRY EDITION!
DAIRY ST R
Volume 22, No. 14
September 12, 2020
“All dairy, all the time”™
Blenkes living the American dream Netherlands natives build thriving U.S. dairy By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
WATERTOWN, Wis. – When Matthew and Irena Blenke were looking for a new place in the world to farm, they chose the United States. Several things led them to America, including the country’s sound agricultural practices and products, freemarket ideology and lower start-up costs. The couple was drawn to Wisconsin specically, seeing the state as the perfect place to make a fresh start. “Wisconsin is the heart of the world’s dairy industry,” Matthew said. “Everything is well developed here, and good service is close by.” The Blenkes moved from
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
Irena and Ma�hew Blenke milk 180 cows near Watertown, Wisconsin. They moved from the Netherlands to the United States in 2011 and built their dairy.
Saasveld, Netherlands, to Watertown in December 2011. They left behind the family farm where Matthew grew up – a farm that has been in the Blenke family for close to 500 years. Matthew’s nephew was taking over the farm, prompting the Blenkes to look for a new opportunity. The 160-acre farm in Watertown came with a stanchion barn the Blenkes replaced with a facility in 2012. Working with Fox Cities Builders, they built a four-row freestall barn for milk cows, dry cows and heifers. A second building houses calves and includes close-up and maternity pens, the milking parlor and selfcleaning holding area. “This place is similar to our farm in the Netherlands, only better,” Matthew said. “We built a copy of that farm here but with larger dimensions. The barn is spacious, Turn to BLENKE | Page 5
Northcrest Dairy adopts robotic technology Healthier, happier cows result in higher milk production By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Spoke and Topel families and full-�me employees – (front, from le�) Marissa Spoke, Finn Spoke, Malcolm Spoke and Ian Spoke; Chris Topel, Jenny Spoke and Jake Heiman; (back, from le�) Bob Topel, Jeff Spoke and Kari Steindorf – operate Northcrest Dairy near Waterloo, Wisconsin. The group milks 500 cows and farms 600 acres.
WATERLOO, Wis. – New robots have come to Waterloo. Using DeLaval’s robotic milking technology – the VMS V300 – Jeff and Jenny Spoke, who farm with Jenny’s parents, Bob and Chris Topel, are more than satised with the new technology. The family installed the latest in robotics to automate the milking of their 500cow herd last summer, retrotting eight robots into current facilities. “We had an old parlor that needed updating, but we didn’t want to build a new one,” Jeff said. “Bob had talked robots for a long time, so we decided to go that route.” The startup date for the rst four robots was Aug. 22, 2019. “We focused on getting one barn up and running rst,” Jeff said. “It was a lot of animals to train so we transitioned
one building at a time. We switched everyone in the rst barn to robots all at once, something we wouldn’t recommend in hindsight. In the second barn, we trained smaller groups, which worked much better.” By Oct. 1, 2019, the farm’s singleexit double-8 herringbone parlor was retired. “Our parlor was not very cowfriendly, and we pushed it pretty hard,” Jeff said. “It was tough to get a group through in less than an hour. We milked three times a day and were milking almost around the clock. Since switching to robots, injuries have pretty much disappeared. Cows don’t hurt themselves, and foot health is way better. We rarely pick up a foot now. Cows aren’t standing in the holding area which has been really benecial.” Jeff and Jenny teamed up with Jenny’s parents 20 years ago. But the 100-cow farm in Lake Mills was not big enough to support the two couples. Landlocked and on the edge of city limits, expansion at that location was not an option. In 2001, they purchased Turn to NORTHCREST | Page 7