Thursday, June 6, 2024
Vol. 159, Issue 23
Decorah, Iowa 52101 www.decorahnewspapers.com
Hagemans keep dairy farming competitive with high-tech innovations
| saluting dairy producers
By Zach Jensen In 1978, national radio personality Paul Harvey spoke at the FFA National Convention in Kansas City, Mo., and since then, Harvey’s poem, entitled “So God Made a Farmer”, have been the motto of countless farmers across the nation, including Alan and Ruth Hageman of rural Decorah. “If you plan on being a dairy farmer,” Alan said. “You need to do it, because you want to not just think you will always be making money. There are many high periods and low periods with dairy farming. The mindset of any farmer needs to be as true as the famous Paul Harvey poem.” “God said, ‘I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day
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JUNE DAIRY MONTH |
The Hageman family farm earned awards for the Sixth Top Farm and Most Improved Farm. Pictured l-r- Karla Schmitt, Ben Schmitt, Ruth Hageman, Alan Hageman, Scott Hageman. (submitted)
in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper, then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board’,” Harvey’s poem says. “So, God made a Farmer.” The Hageman family farm earned awards for the Sixth Top Farm and Most Improved Farm during the Winneshiek County Dairy Banquet held earlier this spring. “Awards are based on milk production records by each herd on a dairy testing program in the county,” said Ruth. “The tests calculate pounds of milk, cow and year produced, butterfat and protein content of milk of each cow.” Ruth explained that the average of all a farmer’s cows’ data is compiled togeth-
er to give the production average for each farm. The butterfat and protein ratios help determine which cows and herds are more efficient at producing milk for dairy product items like cheese, cream, butter or ice cream. Next, samples are obtained from each farm’s cows several times throughout the year. Most samples are sent to testing laboratories in Wisconsin, and those samples are then used to set the records for each cow and each individual farm.
Hageman Dairy continued on page 3
Timp crowned 2024-25 Dairy Princess By Roz Weis
Winneshiek County has a new princess. As the reigning 2024-25 Winneshiek County Dairy Princess, Kelsey Timp will be visible across the area throughout the year promoting dairy and educating the public about the industry. The daughter of Robin and Brett Timp, Kelsey will be a senior at South Winneshiek High School in the fall. Those attending this year’s Dairy Banquet recently in Festina will recall from Kelsey’s speech that she knows dairy, and she’s passionate about educating
the public on the benefits of dairy products. She is quick to point out the nutritional value of the dairy production industry and stressed the importance of being informed. She said all too often she sees misinformation spread about the dairy products, and she strives to clear up any misconceptions about dairy. In her Dairy Banquet speech she said, “Chocolate milk comes from brown cows, right? If you thought this, then you would be one of 16.4 million Americans that do!” She finds the ignorance of the American consumer is often mind-boggling. “The misinformation about the dairy industry can be detrimental to many groups,” she continued. She aspires to better educate people about dairy, shedding light on actual, factual statistics. As the county’s new dairy ambassador, her goal is promoting the real face of the dairy industry.
About Kelsey She, her parents, two sisters and a brother live near Ossian. The family milks 200 cows and sell their milk to Foremost Farms. In her time away from school and extracurricular activities, Kelsey works for Irish Grove Dairy in Castalia. In high school, she’s active in softball, track, student government, volleyball, FFA, SODA, National Honor Society and Youth Beef Team. She is the current president of the FFA Chapter and serves on the District Officer Team, appointed as Northwest Sub District Vice President. In FFA, she participates in Dairy Cattle Evaluation and Management, and represented Iowa at the National FFA Convention this past year. Her 4-H activities include taking many projects to the fair, including static projects, dairy, beef, poultry and rabbits. In her free
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2024 Dairy Princess Kelsey Timp is the daughter of Robin and Brett Timp of Ossian. (Driftless Multimedia photo by Kate Klimesh)
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‘Perfect storm’ hits Winneshiek County Public Health
Staffing shortage forces county agency to decertify home healthcare services By Zach Jensen In the 85 years since Winneshiek County Public Health’s (WCPH) inception, the agency has provided healthcare services to countless county residents. But recently, due to what WCPH Agency Administrator Krista Vanden Brink called “the perfect storm”, the agency is being forced to decertify its home health. “We’ve had baby boomers who are retiring, and nursing and medical schools haven’t been able to put out enough providers, nurses or doctors, because of a shortage of nursing faculty,” said Vanden Brink, who has been an RN with the agency since 1998. “And, then we had the pandemic. We’ve
lost a lot of people.” Vanden Brink said the storm hit WCPH in April when one longtime staffer retired, one home care aide left and two nurses resigned. Because the agency suddenly became shortstaffed, Vanden Brink said the agency didn’t have much of a choice. Vanden Brink said she reached out to her Iowa Health and Human Services (IHHS) regional community health consultant and asked for some guidance on what the agency could do. The IHHS consultant said WCPH could either continue to try to appeal to potential staffers, or they could begin the decertification process. “We’re truly going through a grieving process, because we
have formed so many good relationships with people, including our staff and our clients,” said Vanden Brink. “We have become family, and they’ve certainly become ours. Some of us have watched each other’s children grow up, and that’s hard.” “Decertification is a disappointment for our agency, as WCPH has been providing home health services to clients in the county for many years,” added WCPH Board Vice Chair Dr. Janet Ryan. “With the support of public health nursing staff in their home, clients have been able to stay in their homes longer, avoiding placement in long term care facilities. Decertification was not the Board’s original intent, but with the recent loss of nurses on staff, we
are no longer able to safely provide in-home nursing services.” However, Vanden Brink said being short-staffed is nothing new for WCPH. “We have been short of RNs for a number of years; at least five years, if not more,” Vanden Brink said. “So, it’s challenging sometimes, because we can’t take as many clients, because we don’t want caseloads to be too high or too complex.” Vanden Brink said the final day WCPH will provide home health services is June 30, and between now and then, she and remaining staff are doing home visits; working to make sure each of the county’s 39 home health clients have what they need and helping them transi-
tion into their next home health provider. “That might not seem like a lot, but that’s only because we haven’t had enough staff,” said Vanden Brink, who has been WCPH’s Agency Administrator since 2003. “When you’re already short-staffed, and someone goes on vacation, or they’re sick, there’s little to no backup. So, what do you do?” Winneshiek County’s clients will transition to either Regional Health Services of Howard County, WinnMed, Veterans Memorial or other northeast Iowa hospitals and clinics, and the public health side of WCPH will continue. “Public Health is still here, and we have every intention of being here,” Vanden Brink
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said. “We have a strong Board of Public Health that supports us, because they know that the public health services we provide are important to Winneshiek County residents.” Vanden Brink said the agency will continue doing flu shots, the foot clinic and other services as well as act as a local health information hub for county residents. “We’re the go-to place for questions about expired medications, poison ivy, sumac, ‘What do I do about ear wax or pinkeye or food poisoning?’” she said. “All of those are questions that we get. That’s an
Public health continued on page 4