Keya Sleister (Eastern IA, Southwest WI, IL) 563-608-5988 • keya.s@dairystar.com
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Applying manure in-season
By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com
GREEN BAY, Wis. —
The ability to give crops the nutrients they need when they need them has prompted farmers to invest in systems that offer exibility to apply manure while plants are growing and developing.
During a panel on inseason land application of manure Feb. 26 at the Midwest Manure Summit in Green Bay, four farmers explained how they are applying nutrients.
gation, and Todd Rokey of Rokey Farms LLC discussed the NutraDrip Subsurface Drip Irrigation system.
Schwahn farms about 500 acres near Reedsville and chose to utilize the RAIN system because land is hard to come by in his area and he wanted to improve crop yield. The system is positioned over 160 acres, and Schwahn has been able to gain bushels per acre without extra inputs.
by
of
An irriga on system applies surface water and leachate collected in the surface water July 25, 2024, to sorghum sudangrass about three weeks a er plan ng at Ebert Enterprises near Algoma, Wisconsin. Turn to MANURE
Mike Perry, eld operations manager at Double S Dairy LLC, as well as farmer John Schwahn, talked about their use of the 360 RAIN system. Randy Ebert of Ebert Enterprises LLC shared his experiences with irri-
“Manure is applied at the base of the plant throughout the growing season with very good results,” Schwahn said. “When you get manure in that growing crop, it provides a lot of benets. Applying at the base also minimizes smell.”
| Page 5
Optimal hoofcare for dairy
• Automatic pump calculates the proper amount of water, cleanser, and disinfectant to fill the mat 24/7.
• High quality mat placed at the exit of the robot or parlor to deliver fresh treatment for each cow
• Cleans and conditions hooves to promote overall hoof health.
• Skin care for healthy claws
• Ensures good adhesion to the claw
• pH-neutral
• Contains natural extracts (propolis)
• Optimised for the MS AutoHoofClean System
• Environmentally friendly
Every four days, Schwahn puts on 0.3-inch of a water and manure blend in a banded zone. Schwahn’s system pumps 2 miles in both directions, but he is hoping to eventually reach further elds.
“It’s really crucial in that late season to have the RAIN advantage,” he said.
Double S Dairy near Markesan began using 360 RAIN in 2022.
“The machine is out there every day of the year, and we have the option of applying manure throughout the growing season all the way through full tassel and beyond,” Perry said. “We’re also applying a blend into alfalfa, and we see some really nice responses with that.”
The dairy applies a blend that is three-quarters water and one-quarter manure to each alfalfa crop after cutting. Manure is separated by the farm’s separator, and typically the manure in the lagoon contains 3%-4% solids.
“We know how much it costs to apply manure if it’s custom done,” Perry said. “If it contains a large volume of water, it’s expensive to get out but doesn’t have a lot of value. Now, it can be put on a lot of acres close to the farm.”
For the past six years, Rokey has managed 127 acres of subsurface drip irrigation, and for the past four years, he has applied swine efuent
2 through the subsurface drip tape. Rokey said his system is similar to RAIN 360 but with a different delivery method.
Rokey and his brother raise 3,600 pigs in Kansas and farm 700 acres while custom farming another 150 acres of soybeans and corn. Two of their nishing buildings drain into a concrete lagoon which is at the top of an earthen lagoon. Solids and liquids run into the earthen lagoon. Solids are separated by gravity, and liquid enters the irrigation system from the earthen lagoon.
“We’re in rolling country and do not have access to underground water for irrigation,” Rokey said. “We built a pond which acts as a pumping station, and that’s where the manure is mixed with water.”
The sub-service drip system is located 12-14 inches underground. Manure travels in a 3-inch line buried for 1 mile as the hog building is located a mile from the lagoon.
Manure is injected into irrigation water at a rate of 80% water and 20% manure. Rokey puts over a million gallons of manure through the system each year. By utilizing a two-stage lagoon, Rokey said he can get manure solids down to 2%.
“That’s vital for our drip system,” he said. “If there is more than 2%, it has to go through a separation process.”
Rokey cut nitrogen use
on corn by a third by applying manure in season and reduced synthetic nitrogen use by about 20%.
Rokey has increased yields above 260-270 bushels of corn per acre. He said the speed of growth from applying in season is key.
“Being able to put nutrients out there when that crop needs it makes a difference,” he said.
The return on investment for Rokey’s system was three years.
“That does not include the value of manure; that’s strictly handling costs,” he said. “This is a system that’s been working very well for us. There are a number of these systems on dairies, particularly in Minnesota.”
Perry said the ROI of their 360 RAIN was also quick. When looking at application costs of 360 RAIN versus hiring a custom operator to pump out manure and leachate, the per-acre difference was $500$550 solely in application costs.
Ebert and his wife, Renee, are the sixth generation at Ebert Enterprises near Algoma, which is home to a cropping, dairy and beef operation they operate with their children, Jordan and Whitney, and more than 100 employees.
The Eberts have three irrigation pivots: an 1,100-foot pivot covering nearly 100
acres that delivers 400 gallons per minute and takes 40 hours to make a complete turn; a 600-foot pivot covering a little over 30 acres that delivers 600 gallons per minute and makes a complete turn in eight hours; and a 1,000-foot pivot they have not used yet. A weather station in the eld monitors wind, and moisture probes monitor moisture.
“Both of those things indicate what we can and cannot do on a given day,” Ebert said. Ebert uses surface water and a low-nutrient manure source in his irrigation system.
“Irrigation is its own beast; it’s not the same as manure application,” Ebert said. “I’ve been through three permits. Our county has adopted an irrigation ordinance, and we have multiple towns within our county that have an irrigation ban. When people think of irrigation, they think of spraying, but what we’re doing is very different from that.”
Ebert applies wastewater irrigation to corn up to fulltassel silk ear. In 2024, the Eberts planted corn in a circle for the rst time.
“We’re trying to get our drop nozzles to follow corn rows instead of ghting through corn rows,” Ebert said.
The low-pressure drop nozzles deliver a coarse droplet that minimizes drift.
“Our approach is to put the least nutrient-dense product through the pivots from a trucking standpoint,” Ebert said.
The Eberts have about 2,500 contiguous acres and started the process of burying a pipeline 17 years ago. This has given them the ability to connect all their acres with a pipeline and connect three production sites through a 10-inch line with 8-inch laterals. The system can handle 1,000-2,000 gallons per minute at less than 200 pounds per square inch.
The Eberts are collecting 20 acres of surface water between their farm sites. Receiving 31 inches of rain on an annual basis allows them to collect 15-16 million gallons of water per year.
“Our goal is to use this moisture on more pivots and do more applications to grow consistent crops no matter what the good Lord gives us for weather,” Ebert said.
Schwahn said he believes in-season application will expand in the future.
“Ten years down the road, I think the majority of manure is going to get hauled in summer, and it will just be maintenance in spring and fall,” Schwahn said. “This will prevent losing the value of that nutrient, as you lose some from fall to spring. Timing is everything.”
FEED BUNKS
CONCRETE PRODUCTS
NFL
were Packer fans.
“It was really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Riewe said. “I wanted to take my family and experience it with my boys. The boys didn’t have classes, and my wife took the day off work and we went on Friday.”
The experience lived up to Riewe’s expectations, in spite of the rain the day he attended.
“It felt like a giant Packer tailgate party,” Riewe said. “Probably 90% of the people there were Packers fans.”
Riewe said he also saw quite a few Bears fans and some Lions fans, but not many Vikings fans. Overall, he said he thought all the teams were represented.
The event drew over 600,000 people during the three days it was held, with 175,000 people in attendance on Friday when the Riewe family attended.
“We entered in the Titletown district area,” Riewe said. “At rst it wasn’t too crowded, but the closer we got to Lambeau, the more crowded it became. It was like herding cattle through gates.”
Riewe said he was pleased with the family-friendly atmosphere.
“They had lots of things for the kids,” Riewe said. “There was a wall with all the player helmets where you could take photos, a place where kids could kick little eld goals or throw the ball and take photos in their favorite team jerseys.”
The event and activities were free. While the draft stage was built across Oneida Street, the stadium was open for spectators to go inside.
“We watched Round 2 from outside,” Riewe said. “We watched Round 3 in the atrium and drank hot chocolate to get in out of the rain. We stayed afterwards for the drone show they put on, which was neat to see.”
The camaraderie of Packers fans was in its full glory, Riewe said.
“The best part of the draft, for me,
was when the Bears would be on the clock,” Riewe said. “Everyone booed them, and then nearly 200,000 people would chant, ‘The Bears still suck.’ That was probably the highlight for me.”
As a long-time follower of the Packers’ draft picks, Riewe said, at rst, he was surprised by the team’s rst-round selection.
“I didn’t expect them to go with a receiver; they haven’t since like 2002,” Riewe said. “But I think they had to do it with Christian Watson’s knee injury. They needed a guy who can take the top off the defense and ip the eld. Looking back, I should have seen it coming — they needed a receiver.”
The second and third rounds brought more unexpected moves.
“Choosing an offensive lineman was surprising because they need a cornerback badly,” Riewe said. “Taking an offensive tackle was more of a pick for the future. The second pick, he’s not much of a receiver, but he can run the wildcat out of the backeld and be a game changer — we haven’t had a game changer in a long time, so hopefully it pans out. They say he’s hard to tackle and that’s what we need.”
As he ponders the future of his team in the upcoming season, Riewe said, like every year, he dreams of a silver football being hoisted high as the Lombardi Trophy makes its way home to Titletown.
“The Packers are my team, they’re Wisconsin’s team, it’s us against everyone else,” Riewe said. “I used to get upset and depressed when the season ended short of a championship. Now I shake it off and start thinking about what next year will bring. That is what I’m trying to instill in my boys — the resiliency to look to the future and the loyalty to stay the course.”
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Fans cheer during the Green Bay Packers’ second-round dra pick April 25 at the
Dra in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Charlie Riewe said the majority of the crowd
ates the 102-year-old farm with help from 49 employees.
“I’m blessed to have four boys who are enthused about agriculture and that the farm will go on to the next generation,” Mike said. “I didn’t think we were going to have four who were interested.”
Mike’s grandfather started the farm with nine cows.
“Our goal is to get to 8,000 cows with 7,200 milking,” Mike said.
To create capacity, the Gerrits family built an 11-row barn for housing 2,055 cows and an 8-row barn to house 855 cows. Once their 80-stall rotary parlor was built, they gutted their original 40-stall rotary and replaced it with a 50-stall rotary.
“Building was the easy part,” Mike said. “The remodel was the harder part.”
While remodeling the existing rotary, cows were transferred to the new 80-stall parlor, which hosted its rst milking June 3, 2024. Cows were moved into the new barns the same day. Work on the old parlor began July 5, and it was up and running Nov. 11.
The new DeLaval parlors are equipped with Evanza milking units that deliver a milk out of 3.5 minutes. Craig said the cluster collapses and is lighter weight than what they used in the old parlor, resulting in fewer kickoffs and squawking. He especially likes the comfort start tap on the unit, which starts the vacuum without the use of a button.
“We’ve never had it before, but we won’t get another parlor without that feature,” Craig said. “It won’t work if the guys start drifting. The
Cows eat and relax April 29 in one of two new freestall barns at
11-row tunnel-ven lated barn can house 2,055 cows and features a fully automated
temperature and humidity using fans, sprinklers and curtains.
parlor is always on point — from the iodine dip to the time the unit attaches. In the old rotary, guys would drift, and cows wouldn’t get the prep time they needed.”
Cows ride for an 11-minute rotation, and the parlor moves the crowd gate every 12 stalls. Everything is timed and synced, Craig said, eliminating the need to watch a camera in order to move the gate. Both parlors are parallel style.
“We had a herringbone rotary before, but parallel is better for cow entry and ow,” Mike said. “They get
on faster because they walk straight in instead of making a turn.”
The two parlors are identical in features and include pre- and post-dip automation. One robot pre-dips while another post-dips.
“We love the robots,” Mike said. “They provide excellent teat coverage and savings on teat dip. We don’t have to worry about a person being there; the robot is always there.”
Cows are milked three times a day and average 106 pounds of energycorrected milk and over 7 pounds of solids. Somatic cell counts are 69,000
The
in the 80-stall parlor and 90,000 in the 50-stall. Milk from the 80-stall parlor is shipped to Arla Foods, and milk from the 50-stall is shipped to Sartori Cheese.
The farm’s existing freestall barns, which each house 1,200 cows, were updated with a new ventilation system, a new water system, new selflocking headlocks, new sprinklers and larger free stalls. In addition, several barn roofs were replaced.
“These barns needed an upgrade, and now they are a carbon copy of the new barns,” Mike said.
Turn to GERRITS | Page 8
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
Country Aire Farms near Greenleaf, Wisconsin. This
ven la on system for controlling
Each tunnel-ventilated barn features a fully automated ventilation system for controlling temperature and humidity using fans, sprinklers and curtains.
As part of their expansion and remodel project, the Gerrits family also brought hoof trimming in-house, trimming cows as they come from the parlor.
“We try to stay in sync with the parlor,” Craig said. “It’s super-efcient.”
They also switched to automatic footbaths.
A full remodel was completed on the maternity barn as well, which features new pens, a warming room, calf pens and a small milking system for immediate colostrum collection.
In addition, the Gerrits family improved cow comfort in the holding area by replacing the slatted oor with a solid oor and adding a sprinkler system. A ush system was installed in both parlors and the holding area to ush the oor with recycled water.
Switching to a new activity monitoring system has also beneted the operation. An automatic sort system that allows them to sort within a sort is a new feature they are using. The rumination collars are providing a 99% catch rate when sorting.
“The idea of the sort is to keep work out of the par-
lor and holding pen and have a sorted pen within a pen,”
Craig said. “The cows in the sort group have feed, water and can lie down. Cows can be cows, and it’s efcient with labor.”
The herdsman goes through the list every day that is generated by the activity monitoring system while Craig looks at daily eating and rumination minutes.
“That’s a big indicator of dry matter intakes and changes in feed,” he said. “We have higher conception rates now too. The system is an upfront cost, but it’s worth it.”
The family has also switched from bedding with sand to bedding with sepa-
rated solids. The solids come from a digester project that Country Aire Farms contributes to, piping manure to a digester owned by BC Organics.
Previously, the Gerrits family milked in three locations and ve parlors. Bringing everything together at one site has boosted efciency.
“We’re letting the boys pave the way,” Mike said. “Technology-wise, they’re much more advanced than I was. They’re all incredibly tech-savvy. I think there’s going to be more change in the industry in the next ve years versus the last 25, and the boys are ready to roll.”
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR (Le ) Cows are milked April 29 in the new 80-stall rotary milking parlor at Country Aire Farms near Greenleaf, Wisconsin. The DeLaval parlor is equipped with Evanza milking units that deliver a milk out of 3.5 minutes.
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR (Below) A teat spray robot pre-dips cows April 29 in one of the new milking parlors at Country Aire Farms near Greenleaf, Wisconsin. Mike Gerrits said the robot provides excellent teat coverage and savings on teat dip.
Trump budget recommendations released
The White House has released its budget recommendations for scal year 2026. For the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Trump administration cuts $754 million in discretionary funding for conservation technical assistance through the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The budget calls for $358 million in cuts to Farm Service Agency salaries and expenses. The budget document said the FSA is “staff-heavy” and leased premises are underutilized. More focus will be on improving online services for farmers. The proposal eliminates the McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program that buys commodities from U.S. farmers for foreign food donations. USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and National Agricultural Statistics Service budgets would be trimmed by nearly $160 million. The budget plan said it reduces funding for agricultural research projects that have gone beyond their ideal lifespan or are not a national priority. USDA Rural Development funds for broadband expansion are also eliminated.
State FSA director announced USDA has announced the latest slate of presidential appointments for Farm Service Agency state directors. Sandy Chalmers is returning to the post. Chalmers also served in executive positions at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection.
IDFA pledges to eliminate articial dyes
The International Dairy Foods Association has pledged to eliminate articial colors from the National School Lunch Program. This voluntary pledge includes Red 3, Red 40, Green 3, Blue 1, Blue 2, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 in milk, cheese and yogurt products sold to K-12 schools, beginning in the 2026-2027 school year. “While I look forward to getting whole milk back into our schools, this announcement shows how the dairy industry is vol-
untarily driving change and giving consumers what they want without government mandates,” said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins
Trade representative’s ofce challenges common names
The U.S. Trade Representative’s Ofce called out the European Union and its campaign to restrict common food names, such as parmesan and feta. The U.S. Dairy Export Council, National Milk Producers Federation and the Consortium for Common Food Names praised the annual USTR report. USDEC President/CEO Krysta Harden said Europe’s use of geographical indicators “is nothing more than a trade barrier dressed up as intellectual property protection.”
Dairy outlook released
The monthly Dairy Market Report from the NMPF and Dairy Management Incorporated said rising milk production and general economic uncertainty are pressuring milk prices. Dairy product prices were lower in March, which sent Class III prices down as well. Looking ahead, the average all-milk price forecast for 2025 was lowered.
By Don Wick Columnist
More cheese heading south of the border Mexico is expected to become the top destination for U.S. agricultural exports this year. Food and ag exports south of the border rose 65% in the past four years. A report from the CoBank Knowledge Exchange said Mexico’s economy is growing, and the appetite for meat and dairy products is following suit. U.S. dairy exports are enjoying noticeable growth, with the total U.S. dairy export value increasing 76% since 2020.
India signs memorandum of understanding NMPF and USDEC have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce. The MOU is a framework for working together to increase dairy trade and boost public nutrition.
I really like their records. The pounds, fat and protein are really important to me. I also like the action sheets. They tell me when cows are going dry, when they are going to freshen, who needs to be bred and the low cows in our herd.
Which is your favorite and why? I really like all of them. I use all that information.
How does testing with DHIA bene t your dairy operation? DHIA helps me keep track of the cows records. The information tells me who is going to dry up, who has been vaccinated, who is going to freshen, there is so much and I use all of it. It just really helps our operation.
Tell us about your farm. I own the farm with my husband, Paul. Our son, Ben, also farms with us. Ben and I are the herdspersons, and Paul takes care all of the crops. He also takes care of the beef herd. We breed our lower end cows to beef bulls. We milk 260 cows in a double-eight parallel parlor. This is Paul’s home farm. Ben is the fourth generation of Glende’s on this farm. We have registered Holsteins.
Jackie Glende
260 cows • Altura, Minnesota
Testing with DHIA at least 40 years
Food costs rise
Global food prices rose last month, with higher prices for meat, dairy and sugar products shouldering the blame. The food price index from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization indicates meat prices are up more than 4% since the beginning of the year. Dairy prices are up as much as 23%, with international butter prices at a new all-time high.
Cheese, please
With 25% of the nation’s total cheese production, Wisconsin remains the nation’s top cheeseproducing state in 2024. At 1.02 billion pounds, specialty cheese accounted for 28% of Wisconsin’s total cheese production. This was an increase of 71.3 million pounds from 2023. Ninety-three of Wisconsin’s 116 cheese plants manufactured at least one type of specialty cheese last year.
Pizza Hut sales drop
In the rst quarter, Pizza Hut saw same-store U.S. sales decline 5%. To gain market share moving forward, company ofcials said they’d focus on value offerings and menu innovations.
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WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. — Forages are the basis of rations for dairy cows, the fuel that keeps them running at peak performance. Maximizing quality while harvesting large quantities of forages is at the top of many dairy farmers’ lists.
Three forage producers — Tom Kestell of EverGreen-View in Waldo; Mark Hockel of Eagle Ag Inc. in Windom, Minnesota, and Dan Miller of Valley Angus Farm in Spring Valley, Minnesota — shared their forage tips at the Midwest Forage Association Symposium Feb. 19 in Wisconsin Dells.
“Variety selection is one of the most important things,” Hockel said. “Tillage, soil type and identifying the varieties that do best on your farm will move that needle the most.”
Hockel, who works for Riverview LLP and their con-
Three forage producers — Mark Hockel (from le ), Dan Miller and Tom Kestell — share some of the best decisions they have made regarding forages Feb. 19 at the Midwest Forage Associa on Symposium in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. The three agreed that using lateral thinking to make decisions can lead to gains in forage quality and quan ty.
tract growers as their master agronomist, said they have implemented a 2-tier testing system to evaluate seed varieties.
“We hired a research company that does smallplot testing and we do a plot in each of our six regions,” Hockel explained. “The second year we take the best varieties from those tests and do full-length strip-plots, a quarter to half mile long, to see
how those results compare to the rst year. We can see if they stand and yield well two years in a row.”
A willingness to think outside the box when it comes to forages has beneted Kestell throughout his career.
“We farm in Sheboygan County and are greatly affected by Lake Michigan,” Kestell said. “We have to think about maturities and timing for everything, as forage is
the No. 1 thing in our diet.”
Nearly a decade ago, Kestell moved to a 34-inch cut for his corn silage.
“It sounds radical; my nutritionist called it an epiphany,” Kestell said. “I decided we were just hauling undigestible materials into the cows and then hauling it back out in manure, so why not just leave it in the elds in the rst place? It’s a practice we think has changed our ration more
than any other thing and has been one of the largest protadders to our operation.”
Kestell said the practice needs to be approached thoughtfully, since most of the moisture is in the bottom of the plant. He recommends starting silage a little wetter because it will dry quickly.
“Our samples in 2023 averaged about 50% starch, almost the same as snaplage, and we didn’t notice a big tonnage drop,” Kestell said. “We checked what the stubble had — the adjusted crude protein and the starch were 3%, the acid detergent ber was 44 and the neutral detergent ber 67. We might be leaving a few tons in the eld, but it’s not the nutrients we’re leaving.”
Kestell has also changed his thinking on alfalfa.
“We have started doing almost exclusive fall seeding,” Kestell said. “We get our wheat crop and the straw (rst). Then, we plant as a cover crop — but with the future of next year in mind — the alfalfa. We don’t see near the weed pressure, because we spray our wheat elds, and we aren’t planting into wet soils at that point.”
DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
from our side our side OF THE FENCE
How do you balance farm work and being a mother?
Sara Byl (pictured with son, Noah)
Grantsburg, Wisconsin Polk County 250 cows
Explain to us what a typical day looks like for you on the farm. On days I do not milk in the morning, I stay home with my son, Noah, until he gets on the bus at 6:45 a.m. Then, I head to the farm, walk in and say good morning to the two employees who are milking. I check in with them to see if there have been any issues with the cows or equipment. If all is good, I head to my ofce and gather my Ovsynch list and shots and go walk the cows. I administer shots and check for heats from the cows or heifers. If anyone is in heat, I breed them. I spend some time making business calls and catching up on records, vaccinations, etc. We feed calves three times a day, and I always feed the 11 a.m. shift. Once I get done with calf stuff, it is usually around 1 p.m., and I grab a bite to eat. The rest of the day is lled with any random stuff: bedding pens and hutches, cleaning pens, catching up on vaccines, washing equipment, fencing, making runs for supplies, etc. I try to get the bulk of my stuff done before Noah gets home from school to be exible with him.
How do you balance farm work and being a mother? I am lucky to have good people who help me milk my cows. That frees my time up for other tasks. When Noah gets home from school, he comes to the farm. I save the work we can do together so we can visit and have some fun while working. I try to make my nights exible as best I can so I can be home to make a supper, clean, do yard work and run Noah to his practices or activities.
What’s the best thing about being a dairy farm mother? The best thing about being a dairy farm mom is watching Noah learn and experience things daily on this farm, which are shaping him into being a good man and a hard worker.
What are the advantages you have experienced of raising your kids on a farm? Noah is 13 and has learned so much from the farm; how to work together to get a job done, sacrice, death, perseverance, happiness, commitment and responsibility are just a few things that come to mind. I love that he can be here with me when he is not in school.
What is one thing your mom taught you that you incorporate into your daily life? I lost my mom two years ago after a long battle with cancer. She was a wonderful woman who worked hard on our farm. She created a loving and fun home for my siblings and me. She always had time for us and was our biggest fan. I try to incorporate all of that into my life for Noah. If he can look back at his childhood and me as his mom like I look back at my mom and my younger years, I will have succeeded in life.
Tell us about your farm, family and plans for Mother’s Day. I farm with my dad, Mike, and son, Noah. I have two sisters and one brother, and their families all chip in at our farm when needed. My dad takes care of the crops and equipment and hauls manure daily. I take care of everything that has a heartbeat on this farm — bovine and human. We crop about 800 acres, which all goes into feeding our animals. For Mother’s Day, I hope we can make it to church, maybe go to the local garden nursery for owers and then grill something for supper.
Shelly Grosenick (left to right: Maddy, Jim, Shelly, Corbin and Tucker Grosenick)
Watertown, Wisconsin Dodge County 200 cows
Explain to us what a typical day looks like for you on the farm. Fortunately, there doesn't seem to be anything typical about my days, but there are more seasonal patterns. I nd it invaluable to start my days with a cup of tea and time for myself to set my intentions for the day and week. On mornings, I usually spend time doing online work for my business of selling our farm products before wrangling my three children. Once the kids are off to school, I divide my days between farm bookwork and record keeping and all the tasks necessary for the farm market side of the business, which is coming into its busy season now and will peak before the holidays. Afternoons are typically for the children's sports and projects and then preparing for the next day's work.
How do you balance farm work and being a mother? I have found balance between the demands of a farming career and motherhood in where they overlap and through a strong emphasis on strategic scheduling. I gladly share my passion for growing, raising and producing good food with my children. For us, that means they are a part of the farm — an invaluable part — and we work side-by-side together almost every single day. However, some jobs are best done after the kids are sleeping or early in the morning before they wake up.
What’s the best thing about being a dairy farm mother? The best thing about being a dairy farm mom is simply having my kids with me; we love to explore, create, imagine and nd joy in the day-to-day.
What are the advantages you have experienced of raising your kids on a farm? The beauty of farming and children is the vast freedom of space, both physically and mentally, from running down to the creek to walking the elds to nuzzling a newborn calf to lying in the garden dirt and nding shapes in the clouds. We like to take full advantage of the creativity farming provides. It's also nice to be able to spread out to the far corners of the farm on days when quiet, alone time is needed away from each other.
What is one thing your mom taught you that you incorporate into your daily life? My grandma, who passed away about four years ago, has a big inuence on my day-to-day mentality. I channel my Grandma Millie when baking, especially, and sometimes tip the sugar cup just a bit more with a crafty glint in my eye. She was a prime example of seless help, and I forever treasure the ways she taught me to enjoy the menial tasks on a farm. Oh, and that it's OK to have a bowl of ice cream every night before bed.
Tell us about your farm, family and plans for Mother’s Day. Mother's Day, at some point, is spent with my hands in the dirt, planting owers or the garden, or we'll spend the day outside grilling. Typically, I do not have to do the cooking or the dishes.
Krista Dolan Dodgeville, Wisconsin Iowa County 270 cows
Explain to us what a typical day looks like for you on the farm. I start my day with calf chores, handling fresh cows and herd management things. I make sure my boys are ready for school, and then I go back to the farm to do heifer chores and whatever else is on the agenda for that day. For afternoon calf chores, I usually have high school employees help so I can catch up on whatever else may need to be done. This might include drying up cows, updating cow records, farm bookwork and accounting, making and delivering eld meals and shuttling people and equipment around when in season.
How do you balance farm work and being a mother? It’s much easier now that my kids are 12 and 17. When they were younger, they just went with me. They slept in the ofce, swung in a swing watching, observed in the stroller or rode around in tractors with their dad or grandpa. I take 20 minutes every morning and see the boys off to school and make sure they are prepared for
Stephanie Hughes
Pittsville, Wisconsin
Wood County
60 cows
Explain to us what a typical day looks like for you on the farm. day usually begins around 4 a.m. The rst thing I do is look at the calendar and schedule. Our weeks are busy, lled with meetings, spring sports schedules, appointments and activities, so I have to plan and structure the day. The next thing, I make breakfast for our youngest son, Derek, 8, for I am in the barn when he wakes up before the bus comes. I then go to the barn to do chores and milk. Around 6:45 a.m., Derek comes out to the barn with his backpack and in his school clothes to say “Hi” to me and give scratches to his favorite cows. My husband helps feed cows and clean the barn before he leaves for work at 7 a.m. Our two older sons — Bryce, 14, and Gavin, 13 — come out to get on the bus around 7:15 a.m. I always make sure I ask them if they have everything they need for practice or their evening activity. I then put the dudes on the bus and head back into the barn to nish feeding cows, feeding calves, hauling manure and mixing feed. Mid-morning, I head into the house to eat breakfast, do laundry, load the dishwasher, prep supper and do any ofce and paperwork that has to be done. If I have time, I sit and rest for a few minutes to recharge. I head back to the barn for afternoon chores and milking around 2 p.m. I start early in the afternoon because it is just me. Every day of the week, we have some sort of practice, game, track meet or meeting in the evening, so
their day. If we have an event to attend, we rearrange schedules to make things work.
What’s the best thing about being a dairy farm mother? I enjoy the exibility. If there are things at the kids’ school I need to attend, I can. I either get up earlier or start later to make it work.
What are the advantages you have experienced of raising your kids on a farm? They see what it means to work hard and work together to accomplish things. They have gone to the farm since they were babies. They observed and watched for a number of years. It was easy for them to start doing things when they were able. I feel they understand life, the circle of life and where your food comes from much easier than those not raised on a farm.
What is one thing your mom taught you that you incorporate into your daily life? My mom taught me how to be a farmer. I was never going to live this life or feed calves ever again, but here I am, living the dream. She taught me the value of hard work, and I was able to teach that to my kids.
Tell us about your farm, family and plans for Mother’s Day. My husband, Ryan, and I co-own Dolan Farms LLC with his parents. We have two sons: Kaleb, 17, and Gage, 12. We milk 270 cows twice a day, raise our own replacements and farm around 800 acres. Mother’s Day is weather-dependent when it comes to farm families. It may be perfect planting weather, in which case, we may have a eld picnic. If it’s a rainy day, we will likely go out for a meal.
between my husband and I, we make several trips to town after school, chores or work to drop off or pick up the dudes — hence my glance at the calendar each morning to know what to expect for chaos in the evenings. I also coach peewee baseball for Derek and his team, so I must be done in the barn by 5:30 p.m. and ready to head to the diamond for practice at 6 p.m. Supper, homework and showers are done, hopefully, by 9 p.m. Spring is our busiest time of year because we have Boy Scouts, track, soccer and baseball, so this is our lifestyle currently. Our dudes love the farm and farm life, but they are only young once and enjoy doing activities with their friends.
How do you balance farm work and being a mother? Being a mother alrst. I want to be present in their lives. I adjust milking times to be at their meeting, event, game or meet. There have been days I have milked extremely early in the morning and have milked really late after we got home. Our sons will not remember what time I milked the cows, but they will remember I was there. I have a calendar on our countertop that has all our events and activities on it, so I know where we are going and when each day.
What’s the best thing about being a dairy farm mother? The best thing in the entire world is being able to raise our sons on our farm. There are so many life lessons they have learned and are learning every day. We share joys, challenges, hardships, excitement, happiness, disappointment, anticipation, love and sadness. Because of those shared moments, I am very close to my dudes. I also enjoy seeing the passion they have for showing cattle, like me. They work very hard all summer on their calves and put in the time it takes. They also love to work on vehicles and tractors in the garage with their dad and help him with eld work. Farm life is truly the best life.
What are the advantages you have experienced of raising your kids on a farm? They have learned what dedication is by having to be here 365 days a year. As they grow up, they are learning responsibility by doing daily tasks to care for our land and animals. Our kids will be hard workers and have a great work ethic. They have seen and experienced good days and bad.
Tell us about your farm, family and plans for Mother’s Day. My husband, Alan, and I own and operate Sunsett Dairy and Farmstead Market in Pittsville. We own 70 acres and intensively rotational graze our 60-cow dairy herd. We rent additional land to grow more corn silage. We raise our own youngstock and steers for our farm market. Our herd consists of registered Jerseys, Holsteins, Ayrshires and Milking Shorthorns. I am the primary operator of the farm, and Alan has a full-time position with the Wisconsin Air National Guard at the Hardwood Bombing Range in Babcock, Wisconsin. We have three very busy sons: Bryce is in FFA and high school track, likes working in the barn and shop and loves showing cattle; Gavin enjoys being in plays, theatre, soccer and Boy Scouts, as well as working on metal projects on his forge; and Derek is obsessed with cows, loves tools and working on projects and likes playing baseball and riding his bike all over the farm. The boys and Alan usually have a card, snacks, treats and owers for me on Mother’s Day. We have gone hiking, kayaking and shing, too. I also help some really good friends serve a Mother’s Day buffet at a local restaurant. Fortunately, there are enough leftovers to bring home and not have to cook supper that day. I am lucky to be a mom and pray for those who are trying to be and those who can't be.
DAIRY STAR E-EDITION
Annie Hedlund (pictured with her husband, Adam) Siren, Wisconsin Polk county 100 cows
Explain to us what a typical day looks like for you on the farm. On my typical day, I’m usually up at 4:30 a.m. to head to the barn. I get cows up, clean stalls and scrape the barn. I head home to get the kids off to school before heading back to the farm to tie up chores in the barn. I milk every Wednesday and Friday night and every weekend. After getting the kids off the bus, we head to the farm for feeding calves and scraping the barn.
How do you balance farm work and being a mother? Balancing farm life with being a mom denitely has not been easy for me, but with the kids getting older, it has become easier. Thankfully, having some hired help has helped with the pressure of chores.
What’s the best thing about being a dairy farm mother? The best thing about being a farm mom, obviously, is having the family together but also having a community to help you.
What are the advantages you have experienced of raising your kids on a farm? One of the advantages of raising our kids on the farm is that they get to live a life that not many kids get to experience. Although it has its struggles, they look forward to going to the farm to explore. The ideas, games or whatever they make up always amaze me.
What is one thing your mom taught you that you incorporate into your daily life? The world owes you a living, but you have to work hard to collect. The quote was in our milk house growing up, and I live by this every day. Some days are harder than others, but when you take a step back and realize what success you have made, it is totally worth it.
Tell us about your farm, family and plans for Mother’s Day. My husband and I and three kids milk around 100 cows twice a day. We have one hired hand who also brings her 1-year-old. We grow corn, beans and hay. We raise our own heifers. As far as Mother’s Day plans, unfortunately, I am sure we will be in the elds, but hopefully, I can get a good supper at the end of the day.
FIELDLINE FORAGE BLOWERS
“We were using Udder Comfort™ spray bottles as needed in the parlor. Then we got the Udder Comfort Battery-Operated Backpack Sprayer at the 2023 World Dairy Expo and are able to do several proactive applications in the 2 weeks before they calve,” says Sarah Roy, partner with her father Doug Warner at Norwood Centennial Farms, Charlevoix, Michigan. The closed all-A2 Holstein herd includes polled. Recent production is 124.6 lbs. energy-corrected milk and 150,000 SCC.
“Applying Udder Comfort in the pens as they’re getting ready to calve puts us ahead of the game. We spend way less money and time on treatments, have far fewer issues, and are not needing as much spray in the parlor now,” she says.
Doug lives on the farm, operating the 160-cow dairy with good employees. Sarah manages the business side, navigating the future with consumer-facing diversification.
“Udder Comfort is worth its weight in gold. In today’s world of product ads, this one lives up. Using it proactively before calving makes a noticeable difference, especially for heifers. Everything is new to them. Now they are less anxious, loosened up, and ready to go,” she says.
Tell us about the forages you plant and detail your harvest strategies. Alfalfa is seeded with a forage oat nurse crop. The second year meadow fescue is no-tilled in to the stand and kept for two to three more years. Italian ryegrass is spring-planted with a forage oat nurse crop, harvested four or ve times and only kept for one year. Corn silage is split-planted with Dairyland BMR and HiDF seed. Winter triticale is planted when corn silage harvest is early enough and ts into rotation. The goal, weather permitting, is to cut the haylage crops one day and chop the next at 60-65% moisture on a 28-day interval. Our moisture goal for corn silage is 65-68%.
What is your average somatic cell count and how does that affect your production? Our average SCC is between 50-60. Achieving a low SCC is viewed as a benet for overall health and reproduction, which allows them to reach their production potential.
What change has created the biggest improvement in your herd average? This is a combination of several different things, but the biggest improvement has been building the freestall barn. This provides the cows with a more comfortable and con-
sistent routine. It has taught us how to take better care of our cows, thereby keeping them in the herd longer and increasing our protability per animal.
What technology do you use to monitor your herd? The herd is monitored with CowManager. Most of our breeding is done using the activity tracking. Health events are treated and monitored with
the rumination and temperature monitoring.
What is your breeding program, and what role does genetics play in your production level? Cows and heifers are mated using aAa as a starting point. From there, I look for a bull that is high component percent that compliments the cow’s weaknesses and has a quality pedigree. IVF has been used
The World’s Best
Processor
in recent years to push genetic gains at a faster pace so we can make more replacements out of our best genetics and be more strategic about breeding our bottom production animals to beef.
List three management strategies that have helped you attain your production and component level. Having CowManager has given us the ability to have eyes on the
herd 24 hours a day to watch health and rumination, catch sick cows faster and know if they are responding to treatment. We have not had to rely so heavily on Ovsynch and are able to breed timelier off natural heats. From a forage standpoint, focusing on ways to increase haylage digestibility and adding BMR corn silage has allowed for better feed utilization. High-oleic soybeans have provided a higher quality protein source with the right kind of oil to increase butterfat production.
Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy in the next year. We have been on our farm since 1994. We started out in a tie-stall barn, with 45 cows and 10 heifers, farming 135 acres. Today we have 160 cows, 140 heifers and 500 acres. Our current facility is a three-row, tunnel-ventilated freestall barn, a bedded pack barn for heifers, super-hutch group housing for weaned calves until six months and young calves in individual hutches. Plans for the dairy in the next year include focusing on calf and heifer care to provide consistent, higher-quality replacements for the herd. We also plan to continue ne-tuning and learning ways to provide higher quality forages, focusing on digestible ber.
DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
Cows pause from ea ng their total mixed ra on May 1 at Mastey Farms near Bonduel, Wisconsin. The Masteys focus on con nually improving cow comfort on their farm.
BOTTOM LINE DAIRY’S
Planning ahead provides security, exibility
As dairy farmers, we are constantly planning for nearly every phase of our business. Whether it’s daily rations, each season’s crop and input needs or long-term facilities and equipment investments, there’s always something in the planning or decision-making stage. However, for many of us, the most important plan for the dairy — a transition plan — is the one that is the most challenging to initiate and put in place.
Here on our dairy, we’ve spent the last few years developing a transition plan for our family farm, and while my wife, Julie, and I aren’t ready to retire, there is a security in knowing we have a plan in place that allows the farm to continue with the next generation and provide for nonfarming family members.
By John Haag
farmer
for the future and their family was the push for us to begin our own transition-planning process a few years ago. We have seen too many examples in which one generation of a farm family waited too long to put a plan in place, only to leave the next generation in a difcult situation to either buy out siblings or forego their chance to stay on the farm, even after investing 30 or more years there. We also wanted to ensure everything is in writing and understood in advance to prevent any misunderstandings or disagreements later.
We’ve learned a few lessons along the way:
planning from professional and industry organizations like Professional Dairy Producers, as well as state extension teams, private advisors and more. It’s never too early to begin attending programs, reading articles or listening to podcasts. Attending sessions at PDP Business Conference or watching a PDP Dairy Signal episode can provide ideas or questions to jump-start your planning process.
Identify your priorities. We’ve all heard the phrase “Fair doesn’t mean equal,” and that is absolutely true with farming operations. Julie and I want to make sure both our children and their families are taken care of, while also recognizing the decades of work and sweat equity Josh has invested in the farm.
a plan that ts your needs and operation.
Even with the uncertainty and volatility in today’s world, I’m excited about the future of the dairy industry and for our own operation. Watching our grandchildren grow up on the farm and knowing we’ve established a pathway for that third generation to be involved in the operation is a good reminder that the time, effort and investment in transition planning has been worth it.
My wife and I are rst-generation dairy farmers. We purchased our farm about 35 years ago, and our son, Josh, and daughter-in-law, Melissa, are now partners in the operation. We’ve grown the farm from 35 cows in a stanchion building to about 115 cows with freestall facilities and two robotic milkers. Preserving our legacy and ensuring Josh and Melissa have the opportunity to maintain the farm
Start early. Beginning the transition-planning process before we were ready to retire has allowed us to take our time and not rush into rash decisions. We’ve been able to research options; talk with advisors such as lawyers, lenders, accountants and nancial planners; and have open conversations with Josh and his sister, Amanda. While she is not involved in the farming operation, Amanda has been part of planning conversations. Do your research. We are fortunate in today’s world to have a variety of resources for transition and estate
Keep lines of communication open. Our goal is to have no surprises for anyone. A proactive transitionplanning process ensures everyone has been able to ask questions, provide feedback and address any concerns they might have along the way.
Build the plan that works for your family. Every farm and family situation is different, so plans need to be developed that are specic to each family. Don’t be afraid to ask more questions of your lawyers and advisors to avoid taking the “cookiecutter” approach. Take time to design
John Haag owns and operates Haag Dairy LLC in Dane, Wis., with his son, Josh. Haag Dairy raises all their replacements on the 150-cow dairy in addition to selling approximately 50 cows a year to other farmers as replacements. In August of 2018, they began using two DeLaval robots in their milking routine. They have twice hosted the Dane County Breakfast on the Farm, and John is the current president of the Dane County Promotion Committee and past president of Lodi FFA alumni. He recently served on the PDP board of directors, including a term as board president.
34 years, 488 cows later, Lyndell Dairy continues progressing
By Dan Wacker dan.w@dairystar.com
LYNDON STATION, Wis. — Thirty-four years ago, Troy and Sandy Madland started a dairy farm in a rented barn milking 32 cows. Now, Lyndell Dairy milks 520 cows in a double-10 herringbone parlor as the Madlands’ children, Garrett Madland and Theresa Holloway, look to continue their family tradition and begin the steps of ownership transition.
Lyndell Dairy nished its latest expansion in 2022. The family and their team of eight employees milk a herd that averages 102 pounds of milk per cow per day, with tests of 4.6% butterfat and 3.3% protein, and an average somatic cell count of 37,000.
“I always knew I wanted to farm,” Troy said. “I liked working with the cows — their temperament, their personalities, how each one is unique.”
When he was old enough
Growing like mad
to drive, Troy rented a pasture and bought four beef cattle and also worked for a neighboring farmer. After high school, he sold his small herd before attending the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
While there, he met Sandy and gained additional dairy experience through working off campus.
After graduating, Troy worked for the Dairy Herd
Improvement Association for a year before deciding to start his own dairy. With his greataunt and uncle co-signing a loan, Troy had what he needed to begin renting a tiestall barn and launch his dairy adventure.
“My aunt and uncle were business people,” Troy said. “They had to be sure we had a plan when we started out. Sandy and I presented a busi-
ness plan for how we wanted the dairy to work, and they trusted us.”
The Madlands received a loan large enough to purchase 32 cows in 1991 and have some startup cash on hand. Troy spent that rst year milking their cows in the morning, working on a neighboring farm during the day and coming back home to milk once more.
That went on until 1993, when the Madlands took their herd to a nearby farm and formed a partnership with another dairy farmer. After two years, the partnership dissolved. Troy and Sandy got word of another place coming up for rent and took their herd of nearly 40 cows to the current location.
“The former owner had sold in the spring, and we started renting early that fall in ‘93,” Troy said. “We rented for about two years, and then in 1996, we purchased the farm. We were milking 80 cows at that time in a double-7 herringbone parlor.”
With improved facilities and more established equity, the Madlands continued their expansion. Lyndell Dairy formed another partnership to take advantage of larger facilities, and as that second partner withdrew, Lyndell Dairy stood pat with 125 cows in its herd.
That is until 2005. That year set the stage for their largest expansion to that point. The Madlands began meeting with a business consultant, one they still meet with monthly, to determine
DAN WACKER/DAIRY STAR
Theresa Holloway (from le ), Troy, Garre and Sandy Madland walk through the feed alley in their freestall barn April 29 near Lyndon Sta on, Wisconsin. The family farms 1,800 acres for feed for their 520-cow dairy.
Welcome to Jones County, Iowa
I grew up watching my parents pour their hearts and souls into our dairy farm (and, of course, our family as well). They have worked so hard to turn this farm into something we are all truly proud to be a part of. It takes so much passion, perseverance and sacrice to be a part of the agriculture industry, and they embrace it with so much grace.
I attended the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and obtained a degree in dairy science with a minor in ag business. In 1988-1989, my dad attended Northeast Iowa Community College’s dairy program. I will also be getting married this June to Dylan Rickels, whose mom also grew up on a dairy farm. They are very connected and equally share an appreciation for the farming industry.
herd. My goals have always been oriented around hot sheets, production and animal husbandry rather than the ribbons on the wall or attending shows. We have some cow families that are more type-oriented and denitely have an appreciation for them. I nd economically it doesn’t t in with my goals and passions to pursue the show ring while still having respect for those who do.
Additionally, we bed the cows and dry cows with sand. Our somatic cell count is generally around 120,000-150,000. We treat very few cows; most cases can be milked through it. We designed and built a homemade sand lane to recover our sand and cut down on bedding costs.
Since I was a young girl, I have wanted nothing more than to come home and work alongside my parents every single day. I am only 23, and I already feel like I have a lifetime of accomplishments in just being a part of something this special.
Our farm is nestled in the rolling hills of Jones County between Cedar Rapids and Dubuque. We are one of only four herds left milking in our county. The majority of our neighbors are settled in a housing development on 3-acre lots with a pond. Some would look at this as a negative, but it has created an opportunity for many new friendships and has kept us striving to improve. My parents bought the lot that receives our water to give us an opportunity to be a part of the homeowners association, sit in on meetings and be included in their community.
I work full time with my dad, Doug Fairbanks, and my cousin, Josh Fairbanks. Along with us, we have two full-time milkers and some additional part-time help on the weekends. We milk around 400 registered cows, including our milking and dry cows, three times a day. Holsteins make up the majority of the herd, along with 70 Brown Swiss and a handful of Jerseys. We have multiple breeds to build on genetics and cow families. It also makes for a lighthearted, fun challenge. What is the fun if everything is black and white?
My ideal cow is a moderatestatured, strong cow with great feet and legs and a solidly welded-on udder. We strive for a high producing, long lasting and reproductively sound
Alongside our cow herd, we raise all our replacement heifers and market breeding bulls. The demand for bulls is very strong, with some people exiting the industry that used to raise bulls along with the use of sexed/ beef semen. On the cow herd, we use a combination of sexed and conventional semen on 60%-80% of the herd, with the remainder being bred to beef.
Although my mother, Jody, is a biology teacher at the high school, she is also a vital key to the farm. She and I work together to feed all our baby calves twice a day. We also sell some of our higher-end, better-pedigreed animals on consignment sales.
The main focus has always been on the cows, but my parents have worked hard to accumulate their 600 acres of farm ground, with 400 of that being corn, 100 alfalfa and 100 plenish beans. Our goal is to have as much crop input go back to the cows as possible while still maintaining a high-producing and high-component herd. If the timing and/or weather are off and we don’t get the perfect crop, we have the exibility of feeding it to the youngstock. We end every fall by planting 100-150 acres of cover crops. In the spring, we harvest the cover crops, haul manure and then no-till beans into that.
That’s the overall background of our farm. I’m looking forward to touching base with all of you in the future to update you on the latest activities on our family farm.
Abby Fairbanks is the third-generation on her family’s farm. She works full-time with her parents, Doug and Jody, where they milk 400 cows near Anamosa, Iowa.
By Abby Fairbanks Columnist
Farming with the Fairbanks
res of both le ram uri tim ea s a wrapper, atically ng perfectly e. Its l for
the best way to handle their expansion. Following their own precedent, Lyndell Dairy built a 4-row freestall barn in 2006, and planned to renovate its parlor ve years later.
“We were afraid to take too big of a bite,” Sandy said. “We had always borrowed what we could afford and grew in incremental steps. Those smaller steps helped us survive some tough times, because if we had done the parlor at the same time, we might not have made it through 2009.”
That was the year milk prices dipped $7 on average globally from where they were the year prior, Sandy said. That change in the market saw farmers all over make tough decisions about the future of dairy.
“(With) the market in ’09, and the dry years of ’12 and ’13, we certainly faced some challenges,” Troy said. “But we knew after 2009 we still wanted to expand, and that led us to putting up a new dry cow barn.”
With 2012 being a lighter year for crops due to less rainfall, Troy and the crew that would normally be his eldhands found work putting together the
barn. The crew installed the stalls and fans and did the entirety of the interior work of the new barn on their own.
After Garrett graduated from UW-Platteville in 2014, he faced a decision of his own: nd work on another dairy or come back home and help his parents.
“I knew I always wanted to farm,” Garrett said. “Dad said I had better come home because they weren’t sure how much longer they wanted to do it. I knew if I came back, there were some changes I wanted to make.”
At that time, Lyndell Dairy was milking around 330 cows three times a day in their double-7 parlor. To help increase their production, they upgraded to their current milking setup as a double-10 herringbone parlor and added 70 stalls to the dry cow barn to bring their total milking number to 400.
In 2022,a transition cow barn was added, bringing the milking herd total to its current 520.
Garrett and Theresa continue to put their own touches on Lyndell Dairy. Garrett, having spent a sum-
mer with Select Sires Inc. as an intern, adds a new genetics-focused outlook in his role as herdsman. Theresa, who manages raising calves and youngstock, also has pivotal experience with high-end cattle genetics.
“I interned with a farm in Illinois where they milked between 150-200 cows,” Theresa said. “It was a highgenetic herd, so I learned a lot in how to handle those kinds of cows. But I knew I wanted to be home.”
Theresa and Garrett continue to expand the focus of genetics into the herd at Lyndell Dairy. As that approach evolves, the family knows they would not be where they are without the help of their employees.
“We couldn’t be here today with-
out the help we have,” Troy said. “We’re fortunate to have some outstanding employees; some have been working with us for 20-25 years. Our primary feeder has been here 20 years, and now his son has been with us for ve. They know we value them and they’re the key to what we’ve done here.”
With a steady workforce and a vision for the future, Lyndell Dairy could hang its hat on its current situation, but that would not be the Madland way.
“As far as the future goes, I like where we’re at with our current number,” Garrett said. “But I wouldn’t rule out a thousand cows down the line.”
DAN WACKER/DAIRY STAR
Garre Madland analyzes data at the computer at Lyndell Dairy April 29 near Lyndon Sta on, Wisconsin. Madland took over the herdsman role a er returning to the family farm 10 years ago.
DAN WACKER/DAIRY STAR
Sandy and Troy Madland, the founders of Lyndell Dairy, stand near their farm sign April 29 near Lyndon Sta on, Wisconsin. The Madlands started their dairy career in 1991 in a rented estall barn milking 32 cows.
Perseverance amid regulation
European farmers discuss challenges, opportunities
By Stacey Smart stacey.s@dairystar.com
MADISON, Wis. — Dairy farming in Europe shares similarities to dairy farming in the U.S., however, farmers in Europe experience additional government regulation.
Three dairy farmers from Ireland, France and the Netherlands shared information about their farms while discussing challenges regarding environmental regulations and other policies during a panel entitled, “Global Dairying” March 12 at the Professional Dairy Producers Conference in Madison.
David Hyland dairy farms in the midlands of Ireland with his brother, Paul, at P&D Hyland Farms. The siblings inherited the farm from their father, who started milking cows in the 1970s.
“We began expanding when we came home to farm to make room for the two of us,” Hyland said. “After 2015, when quotas were abolished in Europe, we expanded more, renting more land around us and buying land from neighboring farms.”
Today, Hyland and his brother milk 1,150 cows and farm 1,740 acres. Cows are milked in ve parlors, ranging from 145-360 cows per parlor. Hyland said cows and youngstock graze for 10 months of the year in a temperate cli-
at P&D Hyland Farms in Ireland. The Hylands milk 1,150 cows and graze their ca le for 10 months of the year.
mate noted for plentiful rain.
The dairy follows a grass-based spring calving system with cows calving in a 12-week window from February to April. The farm’s stocking rate is 2.18 cows per hectare.
“This rate is important because we have a nitrate regulation in Europe and have to keep it under 220 kilograms of nitrates per cow,” Hyland said. “Ours is 207 kilograms per cow.”
The Hylands incorporated white clover to reduce dependence on chemical nitrogen. Hyland said they do not
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spread much phosphorus because they do not have much allowance for it.
Their cows are 70% Holstein and 30% Friesian. The Hylands strive to breed a low-maintenance cow with a high feed conversion efciency.
“We have a high percentage of butterfat and protein at 3.75% protein and 4.65% fat, which gives us 7-8 cents above the average milk price,” Hyland said.
Their milk is shipped to Tirlán, a farmer-owned cooperative. Hyland said it is the largest milk processor in Ireland, making primarily butter, milk, cheese and powder. Having an open market to Europe, 85%-90% of milk products are exported as powder, cheese and butter.
“We get a good milk price,” Hyland said. “There are lots of opportunities for expanding going forward if we wanted to. There is no regulation that we can’t expand.”
Thibaut Cordel and his family farm in France, on the border of Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg. The farm is owned by seven partners, including Cordel’s parents and some neighbors who joined the business in the last 20 years. The farm’s 280 Holsteins are milked by three robotic milking units
and a parlor.
“We are expanding, but to keep our investment low, we choose not to go fully automatic yet,” Cordel said.
Cows average 90 pounds of milk per day, and milk is shipped to Hochwald — a German co-op.
The farm employs six people and two part-time trainees.
“We have to compete with labor traveling to Luxembourg, where they get paid twice as much,” Cordel said. “That’s one of the reasons we’ve gone to automation. It is more labor efcient, and there are less people working on the farm per cow.”
The farm also raises 90 Limousin beef cows and is connected with a biogas plant, allowing them to produce electricity for the farm and sell the remainder. The Cordels also operate a shop located a half-hour from the farm where they sell beef, milk and veal.
Cordel and his family farm 1,260 hectares. When it comes to environmental regulation, Cordel said some rules apply to all of Europe and some are applied differently to each country. For example, in France, 5 meters must remain untouched on each side of a body of water, whereas in Germany, the requirement is 3 meters. From October-January, Cordel said it is almost impossible to spread slurry or manure on crops.
French farmers are facing pressure from processors as well. This has resulted in LACTALIS refusing to collect milk from 150 dairy producers by the end of 2025. Cordel said he believes France will lose about 30% of its cows in the next 10 years.
“The baby boom is retiring,” he said. “Dairy farming has not been profitable, so it’s not attractive to the next generation.”
Fewer cows and fewer farmers are causing a concentration of milk plants.
“We need to concentrate, but society doesn’t want that,” Cordel said. “They say, ‘No big farms in my backyard.’ In France, that means 150 cows. It’s quite the challenge. France will be a net importer of milk in 2027. We used to be a major exporter of milk in Europe.”
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David Hyland (le ) and his brother, Paul, take a break in one of the milking parlors
Despite these challenges, Cordel and his family plan to build a new barn. Growing their farm and making more milk is the goal, he said.
“There is a new generation coming, and we want to increase automation and make better welfare for the cows, create more opportunities for our team, and provide better conditions to attract labor,” Cordel said.
Anton Stokman farms in the Netherlands, where he milks 280 cows. He has used a robotic milking system for 30 years. The farm’s digester turns biogas into natural gas that Stokman sells. It supplies power to 3,000 homes.
“It gives us green energy, and the people like it,” he said.
Stokman grows six crops per year with help from an automated silo covering system.
“We lose very little forage, and the quality is very good and the same every day of the year,” Stokman said.
The latest technology implemented on their farm is the Lely Exos — a robot that cuts, transports, distributes and fertilizes grass.
“It’s very gentle with it, and gives us fresh, short grass,” Stokman said.
Stokman said their country has about the same milk production as Wisconsin on approximately 20% of the land Wisconsin uses.
“Now we have even less (land) because we are told we cannot farm in certain areas due to nitrogen laws (in the Netherlands),” Stokman said.
The Netherlands imposes strict nitrogen emission policies, and permits for activities that might have a slight emission of nitrogen are forbidden.
“We cannot emit any extra nitrogen,” he said.
Government-mandated herd reductions and increased sustainability requirements also confront the Netherlands’ dairy farmers. Strict goals on water quality, biodiversity and natural animal behavior also exist. Economic pressures include rising production costs. For example, phosphate rights cost 3,000 euros per cow.
“If you’re above 1.5 cows per hectare, you have to dispose of excess manure, costing you 1,000 euros per cow per year,” Stokman said.
Land in the Netherlands costs 70,000-140,000 euros per hectare. The cost of labor is also high. Stokman employs his son and two full-time people at a rate of 35 euros per hour, which equals about $39 an hour.
Nonetheless, there are opportunities for Dutch farmers. A push for carbon neutrality from retailers would be one such opportunity, as Stokman gets paid extra for producing low-carbon milk and achieving biodiversity.
“Most of the people here are very rich,” Stokman said. “They have the money to pay for (their food); now the challenge for us is to make them pay for it. In that way, there is a future for farmers.”
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Anton Stokman’s farm is pictured from above in the Netherlands. Stokman milks 280 cows with a robo c milking system and has a digester for turning biogas into natural gas.
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Thibaut Cordel kneels by the cows on his family’s farm in France. The farm’s 280 Holsteins are milked by three robo c milking units and in a parlor, with the milk shipped to Hochwald—a German co-op.
Griesbach enjoys New Zealand’s natural beauty, big game
By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
STRATFORD, Wis. — Hunting is a hobby Bill Griesbach has enjoyed throughout his lifetime, and when a once-in-a-lifetime hunt presented itself, he seized the opportunity.
Griesbach and his family operate Griesbach Family Farm LLC near Stratford, where they milk 155 cows with three robotic milking units.
Bill and his wife, Carol, have enjoyed several trips, traveling with Holiday Vacations and WAXX 104.5 farm director Bob Bosold. Their most recent adventure earlier this spring took them to Australia and New Zealand. The couple extended their stay beyond the tour to accommodate Bill’s hunting adventure.
“When this trip came up, we knew it was one we wanted to go on,” Bill said. “A guy (had) told me if I ever got to New Zealand, it was reasonable to hunt out there, so I booked this hunt for after the tour.”
The Griesbachs soaked in the world down under, visiting tourist sites and a variety of farms, while Bill awaited his opportunity to hunt New Zealand red stag.
“It took me 70 years to get to New Zealand, so I was going to make the most of it,” Bill said.
The red stag hunt
Carol and Bill Griesbach gather by the red stag Bill harvested April 3 on Te Waipounamu in New Zealand. The Griesbachs milk 155 cows with their family on their Marathon County Wisconsin dairy farm near Stra ord.
After their touring companions returned to North America, the Griesbachs embarked on the next leg of their own adventure. They met up with a guide from New Zealand Trophy Hunting to begin the 5-day hunt they had booked.
Bill’s hunt took place in the northern area of Te Waipounamu, which is New Zealand’s southern island.
“A red stag is between a deer and an elk,” Bill said. “If you measure the horns, there will be more points on a red stag than a whitetail. The red stag I got was about 20 points on each side.” With no natural predators, Bill said hunting for red stag has no dened season and requires no license or registration of harvested animals.
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Agriculture connections found at NFL Draft
Leading up to the National Football League Draft, excitement buzzed across Wisconsin, not just from football fans but also from our agricultural community.
For me, the excitement started last fall when the Green Bay Packers teamed up with four Wisconsin farms to spotlight the connection between farming and football. These family farms created NFL draftthemed corn mazes, helping celebrate both traditions in a uniquely Wisconsin way. One of the mazes was found at Feltz’s Dairy Store in Portage County, Wisconsin, honoring the spirit of the draft and farming roots.
By Michelle Stangler Staff Writer
As anticipation built throughout the fall and winter, I found myself genuinely excited. While I would not call myself as much of a football fan as my parents, I was still eager to be part of the experience. So, I made the few-hour drive to Green Bay to experience one day of it rsthand, not for work, just as a spectator.
But, as always, agriculture found its way into the story.
The NFL Draft, held every spring, is when college football players are selected to join the professional league. It reminded me of selecting dairy cattle for the county fair as a kid. Often, I would show a calf one year and then hope to bring her back as a yearling the next year because of the bond we had formed and the hope she would grow into something special.
These young athletes are picked based on talent, potential and how well they t into a team, just like in agriculture, where success is built on working with good people.
I attended day two of the draft on April 25 as a spectator, and agriculture connections were everywhere. Walking around, I heard the word “butter” being tossed around on the stage where picks were being chosen and references to Wisconsin’s dairy industry.
During a brief segment before a draft pick, former Cincinnati Bengals player Tim Krumrie took the spotlight. He was raised on a dairy farm near Mondovi, Wisconsin, and after high school, he played for the University of Wisconsin-Madison before going pro. He had the honor of announcing the Bengals’ second and third-round picks.
When asked onstage, sitting down by two of the co-hosts of the theater experience, on what were his values he learned as a kid that allowed him to reach great heights in football, he said, “Well, thanks to the Wisconsin people, I had a dairy farm. It’s nothing like getting up at 5 a.m. in the morning, doing chores, getting on the school bus.”
The draft reportedly brought in around 600,000 attendees over the three days, and I was proud to be among them.
That night reminded me why I love telling farm-
ers’ stories and how there is so much history in America’s Dairyland.
Green Bay was overowing with Cheeseheads, proudly wearing their team colors. And even though it’s the smallest city with an NFL team, the draft proved that size doesn’t matter. What matters is how you make people feel.
As someone who grew up on a dairy farm in Watertown, I now see the little ways farming shows up in everyday life. For my family, Packers games were a tradition. We often scheduled chores around game time so we could gather, sharing joy, pride and connection, giving our family something to look forward to when I was growing up.
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MICHELLE STANGLER/DAIRY STAR Cheeseheads and football fans gather April 25 at the NFL dra held in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The dra reportedly brought in around 600,000 a endees over the three-day event.
From Gucci to cows in Italy
Our group of American dairy farmers was scheduled to leave the Newark airport in late afternoon April 5. International ights often start in late afternoon, so hopefully passengers can sleep on those ights.
If you have ever own, you know that things often don’t go as planned. If one has a ticket but no boarding pass that means you can get bumped off. This is not a good situation any time, but especially when traveling with a group. I was nally able to get a boarding pass at the gate counter, and eventually a reserved seat. It can cause your blood pressure to go up a little while you’re waiting for those decisions to be made by airline personnel. Airline company apps on your phone are great when they work, but when they don’t, they are extremely frustrating.
ing institutions; and a lot of expensive stores that sell clothing, jewelry and other items that rich people covet, like Gucci. It is estimated that Milan is home to 115,000 millionaires, which makes it the wealthiest city in Italy.
Another thing I don’t understand is why they don’t load planes from the rear rst instead of the front. There must be a practical explanation to try to minimize the congestion in a plane with 55 rows of seats, but it seemed we were always in those last rows of seats and what a hassle to get there.
Three-quarters of Milan was destroyed by bombing in World War II because it was an industrial center. It was rebuilt and many buildings were re-created in the same style as they were before the war. Many of Leonardo da Vinci’s art works are stored in museums. A true story: When the bombing became heavy, the local people sandbagged both sides of a wall with the painting of The Last Supper. The only part of the building to survive was that sand-bagged area.
By Jim Mlsna
The Milan Cathedral is the most popular tourist attraction. There was a Mass being conducted while we were visiting so we were unable to get inside the building. It has a gold-plated statue on a pedestal 460 feet above the piazza’s oor. It is the second largest church in Italy, after the Vatican’s Basilica.
year. They did not show animals in 2024 because of the fear of the blue tongue virus in the European Union. They ush three to four cows each month, but do not do any in vitro fertilization work as it is not very advanced in Italy.
The farm is owned by the Ciserania family and includes 360 hectares. (One hectare equals 2.2 acres and is worth 75,000 euros.) Half of their land is in grass hay and half is in corn. All of their corn is chopped for silage. They harvest seven cuttings of hay each year off the grass. After each cutting of hay, those elds are ooded with liquid manure. Their manure is separated into liquid and solid portions daily. The solid portion is applied once a year to elds that will be planted to corn. They also irrigate many of their elds and last year they spent 30,000 euros on water.
Our plane was loaded when the power went off like a lightning storm hiccup. It quickly came back on, but that caused the plane’s computer to malfunction. That computer eventually had to be shut down and restarted, resulting in a two-hour delay. Leaving Newark at 7 p.m. and ying faster than the earth spins causes major upsets to the body and brain. We arrived at Milan in Italy at 9 a.m. local time, but our body clocks were at 2 a.m. We were told that staying awake and moving would help us adjust, but we sure were tired.
We spent the rst afternoon walking the streets of Milan, which is the second largest city in Italy next to Rome. It is located in the northern part of Italy and is going to be the home of the 2026 Winter Olympics. Milan is Italy’s economic capital and nancial hub, with the national stock exchange; many bank-
The Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel is a shopping gallery covered with a glass dome high above the shops and apartments. Stores with shoes, purses, clothing and other goods way beyond our needs or price range lined both sides of the streets. The mosaic artwork in the streets depicted historical stories of past rulers.
The next morning, we boarded our bus and stopped at Sabbiona Holsteins a few miles outside of Milan. They have a highly pedigreed herd of 650 cows and 700 youngstock. Their current star is a 97-point Holstein who has earned her own large freestall pen. They have bred 452 Excellent cows and have sold seven young sires in the last year. The most recent one they sold went for 25,000 euros. One euro is worth approximately $1.20. They currently have two sires at Semex.
This farm also sells 120 rst-calf heifers each
Their cows’ diets are somewhat controlled by the consortium that buys their milk. The diet must consist of at least 60% grass and the remainder can be corn silage and ground corn, but no additional protein can be fed. They can only milk two times a day. This is because their milk is made into cheese, which is controlled by the consortium so they can maintain the name and the quality that has been established for centuries. Their milk is made into Parmesan cheese, which has to be made in the Parma region where they are located. They get 64 euro cents per liter for their milk. If their milk goes for uid consumption, they only get 60 euro cents per liter.
Their foreign workers were from India and are paid approximately the same as ours in the U.S. They are unable to nd many Italians who will milk cows. We ended our day with a common Italian meal. There were usually at least four courses. The rst course that night was mushrooms on a breakfast-style biscuit. The second course was lasagna with lots of pasta, but not much cheese or meat. The third course was pork chops and we nished off with the nal course of a chocolate dessert. Wine is offered at every meal along with water. Fresh cold milk was rarely found. I don’t know the reason, but there are very few overweight Italians. They sure kept us Americans fed well.
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Making a plan for chronically high SCC cows
Number 1399. She is high again on the monthly somatic cell count test. This is the fourth time. She is now what our vet clinic considers a chronic cow. What are you going to do with her? Sell her? Ignore her? Treat or culture her? Let’s make a plan. Some farmers do not have any sort of plan and only address cows like this when the whole herd SCC gets too high. Subclinical infections are a much larger part of the SCC story than clinical mastitis, so having a subclinical mastitis plan will have a large impact on udder health and farm economics.
Veterinary
Wisdom
By Megan Weisenbeck
Veterinary Wisdom
First, why do cows become chronically high, never show clinical mastitis and show no bacterial growth on milk culture? Researchers believe chronic cows are the result of animals with failed immune responses that did not fully clear the organisms from the udder. It can happen with any mastitis pathogen, although I nd the Streptococcus species can be a common cause of chronic cows. Chronically high SCC cows that culture negative probably have such low levels of organisms that we cannot detect them on culture plates. Perhaps detection would be better with mass spectrometry at a diagnostic lab, but this is less practical and more expensive to implement than onfarm (or vet clinic) culture. Remember, subclinical mastitis is different than clinical mastitis, which is when the inammatory response causes changes in the milk or udder or shows signs of systemic illness.
Should all subclinical cows be treated? I don’t recommend blanket treatment of subclinical masti-
tis. Because you do not need to discard milk from untreated subclinical cows since the milk looks normal, the cost of treatment becomes greater than the value of discarded milk.
So, back to the plan: what to do with high SCC cows? Since Dairy Herd Improvement Association test day generates several lists of cows based on SCC, I use the following method. (Note: The following suggestions assume that DHIA testing is performed monthly. I use a similar method for herds with less frequent DHIA testing with some alterations.)
The rst list is new infections. These are cows that were low on the previous test or, in the case of fresh cows, low at the last test in the previous lactation but are high on the current test.
Examine the list of new infections. Remove any cows that have been treated for clinical mastitis since the recent test. Consider removing cows more than about 200 days in milk or more than 150 days pregnant, since these animals will be dried up soon. There are not many lactation days left to pay for possible improvements in milk production due to treatment, and they will be treated at dry up. If you utilize selective dry cow treatment, ensure that cows close to dry off who show up on the new infection list receive intramammary antibiotics and teat sealant. The remaining animals on this list would be good candidates to examine for signs of clinical mastitis or to take samples for milk culture. Use the California Mastitis Test paddle test if you are unsure of the quarter affected.
The second list is chronic cows. These are cows that have been high for four consecutive tests or, if fresh, high at dry up and again for multiple test days after calving.
First, identify fresh cows that had a high rst test and high last test in the previous lactation. Look at their records from the last lactation. Cows that had three or four consecutive high tests last lactation should be considered as do-not-treat cows,
except if they are toxic. This means they should get clinical mastitis this lactation; they will not be treated, but milk is discarded until the appearance returns to normal. Understand that the appearance of the milk has little to do with infection status, and most cows’ milk will return to normal 4-6 days after abnormal milk rst appeared, treated or not. Cows that have persistently high SCC are not likely to respond to treatment, so marking them as “do not treat” saves money and hassle. Cows that have four or more consecutive high tests in their current lactation are not likely to respond to treatment for clinical mastitis, so they should be marked as donot-treat cows as well.
Cows with three high tests should be put on a watch list. Once they have four consecutive high tests, they should be marked as do not treat. Many dairies treat cows with clinical mastitis without looking to see if the cows have chronically high SCC and thus treat cows that have little chance of responding to treatment. To complicate matters, since milk returns to normal whether cured or not, owners and managers often think treated cows responded when in fact, they did not.
On some farms, I will note the watch cows with three high tests on their cow cards with “Wait and see.” In some situations, I will also make a list of rst-lactation cows with three high test days to CMT and culture in hopes of cleaning these young cows up for subsequent lactations, though I don’t currently track the success of this method.
Culturing the milk only makes sense if you plan to do something with the results. That something might be antibiotic treatment, or it might be culling if your reason for culture was to look for Prototheca, Staph aureus or other contagious organisms.
Megan Weisenbeck is one of six veterinarians at Northern Valley Livestock Services in Plainview, MN. She practices primarily dairy production medicine in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Megan can be reached at meganweisenbeck.dvm@gmail.com.
I don’t remember how it started, but my Zweber cousins have a book club. I am a member of this club as I love reading any and all books. Sometimes, I think they may wish I weren’t a member, as I enjoy picking rather long books. What can I say? We have an Audible account with quite a few credits banked up, and I have a lot of time in the skid loader to listen to books. I haven’t chosen “Les Misérables” yet, which takes somewhere around 60 hours to read. However, I think I’m up to pick the next book soon, and that is an excellent book. Similar to my Dairy Star articles, our discus-
sions of books rarely stay quite on topic. The conversation usually starts with us talking about the book we read, and then it just kind of wanders where it will to tangential topics. The book my cousin Laura picked last month was “Witchcraft for Wayward Girls.” Somehow, the discussion of a book wherein unwed pregnant teens in the late 1960s practice witchcraft drifted to the urban/rural divide in politics. The weird part was that the election of our current president was the start of a somewhat contentious debate, but the president wasn’t really the contentious part. We were debat-
Editorial disclaimer: The views expressed by our columnists are the opinions and thoughts of the author and do not reect the opinions and views of Dairy Star staff and ownership.
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ing whether rural areas should have the amount of inuence they do in politics, as there are so many fewer people there.
Depending on your viewpoint, the Senate and the electoral college are either essential to make sure our vast country isn’t run by the two most populous cities on opposite coasts of the country, or it’s a way to prevent the populist vote from choosing the president and deciding the laws. I’m going to guess the audience I’m writing for here, being largely rural and agricultural, is opposed to New York and Los Angeles running the show on a federal level. That said, there seems to be a lot of animosity between urban and rural areas currently, or at least when it comes to politics.
By Tim Zweber Farmer &
A Minnesota Public Radio article I read on Facebook talked about why the author thought rural areas have mostly voted Republican in recent history. I thought it was a well-thought-out article, and they interviewed a number of people from rural areas. The interviewees talked about not feeling heard by the democratic party that is seen to be elected and run by the urban areas of the state. They didn’t want to vote for candidates whose party would ignore them.
I made the mistake of looking at the comments section, curious if anyone wrote they felt a greater understanding of rural voters or if any rural folks added their thoughts on the article. The comments were nearly all about how stupid rural people are that they would vote for a party that would cut funding for farm programs and hold up promised grant funds. It seemed not only did no one gain any understanding, but they were even more upset that people weren’t ashamed of how they voted. Comment sections on the internet should in no way be taken as an indicator of most people’s views.
I’m not writing this to tell you how to vote. I’m concerned that urban and rural communities understand each other less as farming has become more consolidated. There are just fewer of us in agriculture and the rural areas than there had been in the past. Because of that, fewer and fewer people come from farms or know someone who farms. We need to step up and have those hard conversations in a respectful way with people from urban and suburban areas. We can’t just say, “They aren’t worth talking to, they’ll never understand.” It’s not about convincing people you are right or they are wrong about some political issue. It’s about explaining why you think about an issue the way you do and also listening to them about how they came to their conclusions. Together, you can lay down a few pieces in the process to build a bridge across that divide of understanding.
Until next time, keep living the dream, and be a bridge builder rather than a burner. Rural America has been wishing for the replacement of many of its literal bridges, and maybe the way to help make that happen is by maintaining and building the gurative ones.
Tim Zweber farms with his wife, Emily, their three children and his parents, Jon and Lisa, near Elko, Minnesota.
