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DAIRY ST R
December 24, 2022
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 24, No. 21
A Christmas calf for Hanks
8-year-old wins Opal the Jersey By Jan Lefebvre jan.l@star-pub.com
ATWATER, Minn. – Daphne Hanks was all smiles Dec. 19 as she arrived with her dad, Trent Hanks, at Oat Hill Dairy near Atwater. Not only did the 8-year-old second grader from Blackduck get to skip school, but she was about to meet Opal, the heifer calf she won through Dairy Star’s Great Christmas Giveaway. Opal, a registered Jersey, took to Daphne right away, sucking her ngers and accepting gentle pats on the head. The calf was provided by sisters Katie and Kim Olson of Oat Hill Dairy where they milk 120 cows with a robotic milking system. Trent said his daughter was at rst confused when she heard she won the calf.
“She didn’t know she was in the drawing,” Trent said. “Her aunt put her name in, so I was surprised too.” Daphne’s name was entered at Perham Stockyards in Perham. Beth Stoderl works there and said she was pleased to hear that Daphne won. “The Hanks are denitely a well-deserving family,” Stoderl said. “They are also highly into 4-H and FFA and are raising their kids in an agbased, ag-future way.” Once the news of winning set in, Daphne’s reaction changed. “I got really excited,” she said. At Oat Hill Dairy, Katie Olson was on hand to help Daphne and Trent load Opal into an en-closed wooden sheep container that Trent borrowed from a neighbor and strapped to his pickup bed. “When we heard the winner was an 8-year-old girl, we thought that was awesome,” Olson said. “She’ll have a long time with the calf and get to
JAN LEFEBVRE/DAIRY STAR
Daphne Hanks meets Opal the Jersey calf Dec. 19 at Oat Hill Dairy near Atwater, Minnesota. Daphne, from Blackduck, Minnesota, won Opal in Dairy Star’s Great Christmas Giveaway. show her and have fun with her.” Olson remembered being
as young as Daphne. “I was on the farm when I was 8 years old and anticipat-
ing showing for 4-H,” Olson said. “We couldn’t show until Turn to GIVEAWAY | Page 7
Making a miraculous comeback Schmaling dees odds, walks again after life-threatening accident By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
DELAVAN, Wis. – Tanner Schmaling was told he would spend the majority of his life in a wheelchair after breaking his neck in a swimming accident in January. At best, he would be able to walk short distances. But that was not a diagnosis this dairy farmer was willing to live with. “I wasn’t content with being in a wheelchair for the rest of my life,” Tanner said. “I thought, how am I going to do the things I still want to accomplish in life if I’m in a wheelchair?” Tanner and his wife, Maddie, own and operate MapleLeigh Futures near Delavan – a certied in vitro fertiliza-
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
Tanner Schmaling and his wife, Maddie, own and operate Maple-Leigh Futures near Delavan, Wisconsin, where they board donor cows and show caƩle. Tanner broke his neck in a swimming accident in January while vacaƟoning with his family in Hawaii and has since learned to walk again aŌer being told he would spend the majority of his life in a wheelchair. tion facility and boarding business for donor cows and show
cattle. Maple-Leigh Futures houses around 90 donors and 25
high-type animals for customers around the country. Maddie also works full time at Land O’Lakes. Tanner farms alongside his parents, John and Jill, on their 120-cow commercial dairy, where the Schmalings farm about 500 acres and custom crop another 500 acres. Tanner and Maddie were on vacation in Maui, Hawaii, with other family members celebrating Tanner’s parents’ 40th wedding anniversary when the accident took place. “It was the second to the last day of our vacation,” Tanner said. “We had a great time before that.” On Jan. 7, Tanner was swimming 20 yards offshore when he dove into a wave and was pulled underneath by the undercurrent. “The wave ipped my whole body, and I heard and felt my neck crack on the ocean oor,” Tanner said. “I went limp and passed out face down in the water.” Tanner’s world went dark before the water quickly carried
him back to shore and dumped him face down on the beach. His family was there, as well as a doctor who immediately tended to Tanner until paramedics arrived. Tanner lay helpless, unable to move. He was 90% paralyzed. “It was the scariest feeling waking up and not having the ability to move or feel anything,” he said. “The only thing I could move were the ngertips on my right hand.” Tanner’s long journey of recovery began two days later when surgeons fused the C4 through C6 vertebrate in his neck during an eight-hour surgery. This involved putting in two metal plates and four screws that will stay with Tanner permanently. He wore a neck brace for 12 weeks following the operation. Tanner began making small movements with his right hand and tried standing up with the help of a machine. Hospital Turn to SCHMALING | Page 6