Dairy Star • Saturday, February 8, 2014 • Page 3
It’s all inside... Pennsylvania farmer, reghter swapped jobs for a day Pages 14 - 15 Second Section
Dairy’s Star Youth: James Gathje
Kids Corner: The Kuechles
Auctioneer Al Wessel has become an icon on the circuit
Page 21 Second Section
Pages 38 - 39
Pages 6 - 7 Third Section
Mlsnas work with Franzs to possibly transition into the farm Pages 3, 6 Second Section
Rusches remodel tiestall barn, start their own dairy farm
Pages 2 - 3 Third Section
Daley Farms sponsors Lewiston-Altura fourth grade class beverage during morning break
Women in Jeans: Heidi Sellner Page 13 Second Section
Pages 12 - 13
Johnsons’ sand bedding, milking procedure lowers SCC
Sauk Centre
Pages 18, 20
Richmond
Eden Valley
Weyerhauser
Pages 1, 10
Stewart
Pages 22 -23, 25
Sleepy Eye
Fairbault Lewiston
Heron Lake
Contents
A Little Bit of Sunshine
Rhodeses nd love working together on dairy farm
Northeld
Heart for Dairy
Page 35 2014 Farm Bill is here SECOND SECTION Page 4 Dairy crisis management: Midwest Dairy offers help to plan ahead Page 7 Dairy in the Suburbs Page 9 Making Cents of Dairy Page 10 The “Mielke” Market Weekly Page 11 Dairy Markets Page 12 Iowa hay auction results
Pages 36 - 37
Bauers keep SCC low, receive top National Milk Quality Award
Pages 1, 8
FIRST SECTION Pages 16-17 From Our Side of the Fence Page 26 FSA News & Notes Page 28 Using success factors to address lameness Page 29 Plan now for summer forages and grazing Page 31
Zajecs switch from milking cows to milking sheep
West Salem
Rushford
Hull
A day in the life of the Drinkall family
Pages 18 - 20
Pages 16 - 17 Second Section
DHIA 2013 lifetime high cows over 250,000 milk
Page 22
Mailbox prices continued higher during October
Pages 26 - 27 People in the Dairy Community Pages 28 - 29 ‘Four R’s’ important with feed additives Page 30 Dairy Recipes THIRD SECTION Page 4 Labor saved, one measure of robotic milking success Page 9 Select cows for robotic milkers Pages 10 - 11 Calves’ rst feeding is ‘most critical’ it will ever have Pages 12 - 13 Hastings is a long way from Seattle, but his team is always close to his heart Pages 14, 16 Dairy Calendar Pages 17 - 18 Some Udder Stuff Pages 19 - 22 Classieds
Columnists Ag Insider Pages 6-7
The Next Generation Page 33
Veterinary Wisdom Page 34
Getting Kerry’d Away Page 27
Just Thinking Out Loud Page 32
Dear County Agent Guy Page 30
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 8, 2014 • Page 7
Continued from AG INSIDER | Page 6 No change in the U.S. dairy herd According to USDA’s semi-annual cattle inventory report, the number of milk cows nationwide is 9.2 million head. That’s unchanged from January of 2013. The number of milk replacement heifers was 4.5 million, which was also unchanged from year earlier levels. A balance shift in St. Paul The balance of power in Minnesota has shifted more toward the metro areas of the state. Ag lobbyist Bruce Kleven said the shift has an effect on ag policy. “We have quite a concentration of folks in the metro area, just by sheer population. Along with that, goes some of the seniority,” explained Kleven. “In the Minnesota Senate, most of the leadership that we would care about are from the rural area, but, for every one of them, there are two people from Minneapolis we have to off-set; their work is very challenging.” Kleven, who’s been an ag lobbyist for 20 years, says farming practices today are much better than in the past, but farmers are also under more pressure to do things correctly. Food rule comment period extended The Food and Drug Administration has ofcially extended the comment period deadline on the proposed animal food rule under the Food Safety Modernization Act. The announcement comes after the American Feed Industry Association, National Grain and Feed Association, National Renderers Association, and the Pet Food Institute submitted a joint request for extension in November. The extension moves the comment period deadline from February 26 to March 31. Tritrichomonas test approved Life Technologies Corporation is introducing the rst USDA-licensed real-time test to detect Tritrichomonas in cattle. Infected bulls do not show outward signs of the disease, but if exposed to cows, Tritrichomonas can result in early embryonic loss and infertility. The new diagnostic tool, which is called the VetMAXX-Gold Trich Detection Kit, will impact the number of open and late-calving cows. Vilsack tops the list Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has topped the list of the 50 most pow-
erful people in food. The website, The Daily Meal, has published this list for the past four years. Monsanto President and CEO Hugh Grant is number two on this list. Other familiar names from the world of agriculture include ADM CEO Patricia Woertz at number seven; Cargill CEO David MacLennan at number ten and First Lady Michelle Obama at number 22. Chipotle to launch new satire series Chipotle Mexican Grill is set to launch another promotion campaign that is sure to irk animal agriculture. The rst installment of “Farmed and Dangerous,” a four-part comedy series on Hulu, begins this month. According to a Chipotle news release, the series satirizes the lengths to which corporate agribusiness and its image-makers go to create a positive image of industrial agriculture. Robinson launches campaign South Dakota Democratic congressional candidate Corinna Robinson has launched her campaign. Robinson is a Rapid City native and was a member of the U.S. Army for 25 years. This seat is now held by Republican Kristi Noem. Jensen joins SD value-added board South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard has appointed Nathan Jensen of Beresford to the state’s ValueAdded Finance Authority board. Jensen is the chief nancial ofcer for Meadowvale Dairy. Trivia Challenge Paula Deen is the former Food Network personality that was known for her frequent use of butter. That answers our last trivia question. For this edition, where did Super Bowl champion quarterback Russell Wilson play college football? We’ll have the answer in the next edition of Dairy Star. Don Wick is a partner and broadcaster for the Red River Farm Network, based in Grand Forks, N.D. He was the 2004 National Farm Broadcaster of the Year. Don and his wife, Kolleen, have two adult sons, Tony and Sam, and two grandchildren, Aiden and Piper. Don Wick can be reached at don@rrfn.com.
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Page 24 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 8, 2014
One of the herd.
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Page 40 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 8, 2014
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