LOOK INSIDE FOR OUR WORLD DAIRY EXPO PREVIEW EDITION!
DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 20, No. 14
September 8, 2018
Historic ooding Manure troubles solved decimates southern Wisconsin Record 24-hour rainfall totals across the region By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
CASHTON, Wis. – Last July, Randy and Barb Muenzenberger spent days cleaning up their farm and elds, rebuilding driveways and fences. They never dreamed one year later they would be faced with the same tasks, this time much worse. Areas of LaCrosse, Vernon, Monroe and Juneau counties in southern Wisconsin received record rainfall totals in the overnight hours of Aug. 27-28, while the area was pelted with nearly eight solid hours of torrential downpours. According to the National Weather Service in LaCrosse, Wis., highest recorded totals were nearly 11 inches in the Monroe County village of Cashton, Wis. More rain fell during the day Aug. 28. “I’ve lived here all my life,” Randy Muenzenberger said. “I’ve never seen anything like this. It doesn’t even compare to last summer.
Turn to FLOODING | Page 6
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Jon and Wendy Meyer, and their son Karl, installed a Slurrystore in July 2017 to help with manure storage on their 80-cow dairy near Lake City, Minn.
Programs help Meyers build Slurrystore By Kayla Leiding Contributing Writer
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Jason Cummings, of Cashton, Wis., came across this sight of heifers belonging to Jesse Schwarz, stranded on a washedout roadway in southern Monroe County. Cummings helped Schwarz get the heifers to safety. Schwarz reported that the only damage he experienced was the destrucƟon of creek-side pasture and fencing.
LAKE CITY, Minn. – For 30 years of his 32-year dairying career, Jon Meyer has had manure storage in the back of his mind. That dream turned into reality in July 2017 as the Meyers used their newly built Slurrystore for the rst time. This addition to their farm was made possible with money provided to them from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Livestock Investment Grant. Jon and Wendy, along with their son, Karl, and Jon’s father, Paul, milk 80 cows on their farm near Lake City, Minn. Before the Slurrystore, the Meyers’ manure pit underneath their freestall barn that was built in 1969 had to be pumped out every six to eight weeks. “[In the winter], If we hauled on a certain eld, we watched it go through the neighbor’s elds [in the spring],” Jon said. Jon had to spread the manure from the pit on top of the snow in their elds in the winter, so by spring, a lot of the nitrogen was lost. It was also a challenge to
determine which days to spread manure in the winter since the weather is unpredictable, Jon said. “It was hard on him going out in the winter time when it was freezing,” Wendy said. When deciding on what kind of set-up they wanted, safety was the No. 1 factor for Wendy. “I don’t want a lagoon with kids around,” she said. Jon agreed. “I would rather put something above ground than
have a lagoon,” he said. Jon also wanted to build up rather than out because their freestall barn is close to the property line. He also did not want to take up pasture land. Plus, the Slurrystore came with a pump, which both Jon and Wendy liked. A Slurrystore has always been his ideal manure-storing facility. The process of planning the project started in March 2014. Turn to MEYERS | Page 5
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Jon Meyer shows where the manure is pumped from the barn to the Slurrystore on his family’s farm near Lake City, Minn.