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DAIRY ST R
A career devoted to dairy
Wisconsin home to over 6,000 dairies
Farmers evaluate their place in the DeVelder retires industry from AMPI By Jan Lefebvre jan.l@star-pub.com
NEW ULM, Minn. – Associated Milk Producers Inc. was part of Donn DeVelder’s life even before he began his career there in 1984. “I was raised on a dairy farm near Corsica, South Dakota,” DeVelder said. “My father was manager of the local creamery, which Donn DeVelder merged with the newly formed AMPI in the early 1970s.” DeVelder retired this month from his position as co-president and CEO of AMPI. Sheryl Meshke, who has been co-president and CEO with DeVelder since 2015, was selected by the cooperative’s board of directors to continue as sole president and CEO. “The dairy farmer-owners and employees of AMPI benetted from nearly four decades of Donn’s steady, consistent leadership,” Meshke said. Steve Schlangen serves as chairman of the board for AMPI. “Donn has been an absolute trouper his whole career, always willing to step up for any challenge and never forgetting where he came from,” Schlangen said. “I would take Donn on my team any day; he makes everyone around him better.” DeVelder’s entire career has been in dairy. Turn to DEVELDER | Page 6
January 28, 2023
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 24, No. 23
By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
Rising input costs, tighter margins, marketplace volatility and increasing regulatory pressures are contributing to the steady decline in the number of Wisconsin dairy farms. As of Jan. 1, Wisconsin was home to 6,116 licensed dairy herds, down 417 from just one year ago, according to agricultural statistics published by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. That number has fallen consistently over the
past decade, down from 10,541 licensed dairy farms in 2014. The decrease in the number of dairy farms operating in the state affects those directly involved in the dairy industry as well as those in surrounding industries. Annually, the dairy industry in Wisconsin contributes more than $45.6 billion to the state’s economy. But, as the economic and market factors changes, farmers are left deciding whether to continue on. Robert Pierce and his aunt Pam Pierce are in the position to choose how their family farm might continue as they near the end of their own careers as dairy farmers. “This is all I really have ever done and all I really ever wanted to do,” Robert Pierce said. “I was milking
DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
Ben Anderson stands in front of his herd March 8, 2021, on his farm near Spring Valley, Wisconsin. Anderson began building his herd in 2020 and now milks 40 cows.
cows before and after school as a kid, and I joined the operation after I graduated.” The pair milk 30 cows on their Lafayette County dairy farm near Darlington,
Wisconsin, on the farm that was purchased by Pierce’s grandfather in the 1960s. Pierce has no children to Turn to WISCONSIN | Page 7
Cover cropping, no-�ll �ps for beginners Three farmers share ideas about what works best on their operations By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. – The interest in cover crops and no-till farming continues to escalate. This was evident as farmers piled into the Glacier Canyon Conference Center Dec. 13, 2022, in Wisconsin Dells to learn all they could about these conservation practices. Saving soil, water and money while making extra feed are benets farmers are seeing from the use of cover crops and no-till.
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
Nick Faessler (from le�), Aaron Shotliff and Mark Keller par�cipate in a panel Dec. 13, 2022, at the Winter Wisconsin Cover Crop Conference in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. All three farmers have experience with cover crops and no-�ll and offered �ps for beginners. During the 2022 Winter Wisconsin Cover Crop Conference, a panel of southern Wisconsin dairy and crop farmers shared why no-till and cover crops are important to their operations. Panelists Mark
Keller, Aaron Shotliff and Nick Faessler offered thoughts on which cover crops to use in no-till situations and how beginners can get into no-till systems while explaining modications they made to their
planters. Keller and his brother, Tim, milk 300 cows and farm 640 acres at Kellercrest Registered Holsteins near Mount Horeb. The farm is located in two watersheds, and conservation has been a way of life for the family as long as Keller can remember. “We were one of Dane County’s original farms to do contour farming,” Keller said. “We’ve been doing cover crops since 2007 and have been pretty solid with no-till since then also. We have trout streams on both sides of our farm, so we need to be very conscious.” When introducing winter rye as a cover crop, the Kellers found it made nice feed for heifers. Turn to COVER CROP | Page 8