March 27, 2021 Dairy Star - Zone 2 by Dairy Star

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DAIRY ST R

March 27, 2021

“All dairy, all the time”™

Volume 23, No. 3

Decades of modernization help Baudhuins thrive

Family combines housing, feed storage in latest expanson Stacey Smart

stacey.s@dairystar.com

BRUSSELS, Wis. – When Galen Baudhuin took over his parents’ farm in 2002, it marked the beginning of a series of changes and updates to the dairy near Brussels. From its breeding philosophy to cattle housing, Baudhuin and his wife, Lisa, transformed the farm into an operation that would work best for their family. Barns were expanded and remodeled, a milking parlor was built, cow numbers were increased, new buildings were constructed, and manure systems were put in place. The Baudhuins farm with their two children – Brooke and Dustin – who are the sixth generation on the farm that has been in the family since 1899. The family milks 240 cows and farms about 600 acres. All labor is supplied by the family. Baudhuin and Brooke milk Turn to BAUDHUINS | Page 6

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

The Baudhuin family – (from leŌ) Amy holding Chloe, 2 months, DusƟn, Lisa, Galen, and Brooke holding Brynlee, 19 months – milks 240 cows and farms about 600 acres near Brussels, Wisconsin.

COVID-19 vaccines available for essential workers Dairy farmers, processors nd opportunity in pandemic By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com

One year into the coronavirus pandemic, the virus remains a hindrance to communities across the globe. Yet, as vaccines become available to essential workers in agriculture, a sense of normalcy is on the horizon. “Receiving the COVID-19 vaccine is important because it will offer our team members and their families protection, and, hopefully, some relief from the stress this virus has caused,” said Annie Vannurden, manager at Silverstreak Dairies LLC. Vannurden has coordinated with local health care providers to administer the vaccine to employees at the farm’s central Minnesota dairies March 27. At the beginning of March, agriculture workers became a part of the group of eligible Minnesotans to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, categorized as frontline essential workers. As of March 21, the state health department reported more than 1.4 million citizens having received at least one vaccine dose and another 850,000 who have completed the vaccine series.

The same is similar in Wisconsin. As of March 23, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported nearly 1.5 million Wisconsin residents have received at least one dose of a vaccine; 870,000 have completed the vaccine series. “We have been coordinating with our members and health ofcials to set up on-site vaccination clinics at plants, doing that on plant-by-plant assistance for weeks now,” John Umhoefer said. “There are several ways to get people registered through the federal and state lists and through pharmacies. We’ve been driving that message to our members.” Umhoefer is the executive director of Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, which represents 650 cheesemakers, buttermakers and whey processors. There are three COVID-19 vaccines approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, two with a two-dose series and one with a single dose. The two-dose series are considered plug and play technology, according to Lisa Morici of Tulane University’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology. “This type of vaccine induces an immune response to stop the COVID-19 spike protein from getting to our bodies’ cells,” Morici said. “This particular method is designed to combat a pandemic, where we’re dealing with an emerging virus that we didn’t

know how to grow and make a lot of it. This has been in development for 30 years.” Morici presented, “Dispelling misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine: What agriculture producers need to know,” in a webinar hosted by AgriSafe Network March 11. The single-dose vaccine is modied from the human adenovirus to create the spike protein found in COVID-19. “These vaccines are some of the safest that have ever been developed,” Morici said. “They were incredibly scrutinized.” Regardless of which vaccine is administered, health ofcials are urging all to get vaccinated. “It’s estimated about 20% of the United States are immune to COVID-19. We need about 80% of the population to be immune to get to herd immunity,” Morici said. “Ag businesses are familiar with herd immunity as it affects animals and crops. We need enough to block and limit transmission of the virus to protect those who are not immune.” For Stephanie Krueger and her family, contributing to that immunity through the vaccine was a simple decision. “We didn’t really have any hesitations,” Krueger Turn to VACCINES | Page 5

Page 2 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021

DAIRY ST R www.dairystar.com

ISSN 020355 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave. Sauk Centre, MN 56378 Phone: (320) 352-6303 Fax: (320) 352-5647 Published by Dairy Star LLC General Manager/Editor Mark Klaphake - mark.k@dairystar.com 320-352-6303 (ofce) 320-248-3196 (cell) 320-352-0062 (home) Ad Composition Nancy Powell 320-352-6303 nancy.p@dairystar.com Consultant Jerry Jennissen 320-346-2292 Editorial Staff Krista Kuzma - Editor/Wisconsin (507) 259-8159 • krista.k@dairystar.com Andrea Borgerding - Associate Editor (320) 352-6303 • andrea.b@dairystar.com Jennifer Coyne - Assistant Editor (320) 352-6303 • jenn@dairystar.com Danielle Nauman (608) 487-1101 danielle.n@dairystar.com Stacey Smart - Staff Writer (262) 442-6666 • stacey.s@dairystar.com Maria Bichler - Copy Editor 320-352-6303 Advertising Sales Main Ofce: 320-352-6303 Fax: 320-352-5647 Deadline is 5 p.m. of the Friday the week before publication Sales Manager - Joyce Frericks 320-352-6303 • joyce@dairystar.com Bob Leukam (Northern MN, East Central MN) 320-260-1248 (cell) bob.l@star-pub.com Mark Klaphake (Western MN) 320-352-6303 (ofce) 320-248-3196 (cell) Laura Seljan (National Advertising, SE MN) 507-250-2217 fax: 507-634-4413 laura.s@dairystar.com Jerry Nelson (SW MN, NW Iowa, South Dakota) 605-690-6260 jerry.n@dairystar.com Mike Schafer (Central, South Central MN) 320-894-7825 mike.s@dairystar.com Amanda Hoeer (Eastern Iowa) 320-250-2884 • amanda.h@dairystar.com Julie Barnes (SE WI and Northern IL) julie.b@dairystar.com Megan Stuessel (Western Wisconsin) 608-387-1202 • megan.s@dairystar.com Kati Kindschuh (Northeast WI and Upper MI) 920-979-5284 • kati.k@dairystar.com Deadlines The deadline for news and advertising in the Dairy Star is 5 p.m. Friday the week before publication. Subscriptions One year subscription $35.00, outside the U.S. $110.00. Send check along with mailing address to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378. Advertising Our ad takers have no authority to bind this newspaper and only publication of an advertisement shall constitute nal acceptance of the advertiser's order. Letters Letters and articles of opinion are welcomed. Letters must be signed and include address and phone number. We reserve the right to edit lengthy letters. The views and opinions expressed by Dairy Star columnists and writers are not necessarily those of the Dairy Star LLC.

The Dairy Star is published semi-monthly by Dairy Star, LLC, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246. Periodicals Postage Paid at Sauk Centre, MN and additional mailing ofces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246.

A glance at the other side

Dairy Star likes to provide local stories, which is why we have two versions of the paper. Below are a few highlights from stories you will not nd in this paper, but you can nd online in zone 1. Find full editions on our website, www.dairystar.com, and click on the e-edition tab under the Dairy Star header. Marschalls honor their matriarch While the Marschalls are honored to receive the 2020 Scott County Farm Family of the Year award, they have dedicated it to their wife and mother, Michelle Marschall, who passed away a few weeks before the family received news of their recognition. The award has been a way to reminisce about the woman who did so much on their farm near Shakopee, Minnesota. Hazels say goodbye to dairying career After 42 years in the dairy business, the Hazels are hanging up the milkers. Brian and Judy Hazel, who farm together with their son, Adam, are selling their 280-cow herd. The couple, who farms near Lanesboro, Minnesota, said as each of them are 69 years old, it is time to retire. Princess Kay nalist judging, education will be hybrid format The pandemic has not stopped the Princess Kay of the Milky Way program. That continues this year as the May Leadership and Promotion Event will be both virtual and in person. The educational seminars will be online once a week in the four weeks leading up to May 15. On that day, county princesses who are competing for a Princess Kay of the Milky Way spot will be able to judge in person for the one-day event. There is also the option to be judged virtually. Gatewoods have direct-market meat business While milking cows has always been a staple for the Gatewoods’ farm, they have tried a new business venture in the last few years – direct marketing meat to consumers. The family milks 66 cows on their farm near Willmar, Minnesota. They also raise Holstein and Holstein-Angus steers for their meat business, Grandpa’s Granary.

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Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021 • Page 3

It’s all inside... Columnists

Pierce

Page 32 First Section

Chippewa

Buffalo

Dairy Good Life Page 33 First Section

La Crosse

Calf Chronicles

Juneau

Dane

Lafayette Green

Rock

son

hen

p Ste

Carroll

Jefferson Waukesha Walworth go

eba

n Win

Iowa

Grant

Third Section: Page 39

Ogle

Whiteside

Wisconsin Dells

Staying alive in an on-farm emergency

Jersey herd inspiration for Little Brown Cow Cheese

First Section: Pages 10 - 11

Kenosha

Plymouth

Kane

Women in Dairy: Stacy Limberg

Lee

First Section: Page 36

Rock Island Mercer

Hen ders

Third Section: Pages 6 - 7

Racine

Sheboygan Falls

McHenry

DeKalb

Zone 2

For additional stories from our other zone, log on to www.dairystar.com

Green Lake Fond Du Lac

Columbia Dodge

Sauk

Jo Daviess

Zone 1

e nn Wi

Pages 10 - 11 Second Section

Dairy Prole: Brian Friske

e mi Brown

go ba Calumet

Waushara

Kendall

Oconto

for

The “Mielke” Market Weekly

Richland

a tag

Adams

Monroe

Shawano

Wood

Vernon

Page 38 First Section

Menominee

Portage Waupaca Jackson

Langlade

Marathon

Clark

Eau Claire

Do or

hb Pepin

Taylor

Forest

Menominee

aun ee

First Section: Pages 23, 25

Dunn

Lincoln

Ke w

St. Croix

Rusk

Barron

ren

Oneida

ton S he bo Milwaukee Ozauk M yg ee an anito wo c

Anderson begins dairy career while nishing school

Price

Delta

Dickinson

Vilas

ett e

Spring Valley

Iron

ing

ur Polk

Second Section: Pages 3 - 4

Flo

Sawyer

Trempealeau

Just Thinking Out Loud

Ashland

Wa s

Burnett

Page 30 First Section

Door County dairy masters of maple syrup

First Section: Pages 1, 6 - 7

Bayeld

Ramblings from the Ridge

Page 31 First Section

First Section: Pages 34, 35

Douglas

Sturgeon Bay

Baudhuins combine animal housing, feed storage in latest expanson

Wa sh

First Section: Page 28

Page 27 First Section

Brussels

Kreagers building rstgeneration farm for the second generation

Farmer and Columnist

Something to Ruminate On

Marathon City

Auburndale Ayrshire named breed’s Wisconsin Cow of the Year

Auburndale

Pages 8-9 First Section

Ma r

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re War

FROM OUR SIDE OF THE FENCE: Former princesses: Why should young women get involved? First Section: Pages 15 - 16

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Page 4 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021

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Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021 • Page 5

ConƟnued from VACCINES | Page 1 “We didn’t really have any hesitations,” Krueger said. “When it was available for farmers, we jumped at the opportunity to do our part.” Krueger and her family milk 100 cows in Sibley County near Arlington, Minnesota. She and her husband, Scott, were vaccinated March 10. Their 20-year-old daughter was vaccinated two days prior through her part-time

“If either one of us were to get sick, it would be near impossible to keep the farm running.”

STEPHANIE KRUEGER, DAIRY FARMER

work at a local veterinary clinic. “Scott and all four of our kids have an autoimmune disease, so we wanted to do everything we could to protect them from the worst of it,” Krueger said. “We also have a very limited number of employees. If either one of us were to get sick, it would be near impossible to keep the farm running.” Vannurden expressed the same concern of having her farms function as usual if there were a larger COVID-19 outbreak amongst employees. “We trust the science and know vaccinating our team will build up immunity for our farm and add to the immunity for our communities,” Vannurden said. Silverstreak Dairies LLC has one dairy in northern Minnesota. Those em-

ployees will be offered the vaccine in April. Another farm in South Dakota will have the vaccines available later this spring. “Our biggest concern has been availability,” Vannurden said. “We are happy Minnesota is prioritizing agriculture workers for receiving the vaccines. We hope other states will follow suit.” Both dairy farmers’ day-to-day responsibilities have only been slightly affected by the virus. The larger impact of the pandemic on the global dairy industry is their greatest concern. “The pandemic created the milk prices to crash initially, then skyrocket and ebbed again,” Krueger said. “Hopefully now that ag workers are able to be vaccinated, plants will be able to run at 100% capacity.” Vannurden agreed. “We all hate to see milk dumped because plants are shut down or limitations because of supply and demand,” she said. “If the vaccine can keep plants operating, kids in school and people eating their cheese pizza at restaurants, then we will see (dairy) demand pick back up.” From a processing standpoint, businesses continue adhering to strict protocols to ensure the health and safety of those workers in food production. The vaccines are supplemental to those procedures but essential for a return to normalcy, said Umhoefer. “Everyone is curious to see how consumers react to dining in or out, and what restaurants and grocery shopping will look like a year from now,” he said. “We believe the vaccine is the key to the economic recovery.”

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Page 6 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021

ConƟnued from BAUDHUINS | Page 1

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STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Calves are housed in individual pens measuring 4 feet by 6 feet in the barn that used to be a 30-stall Ɵestall facility. The Baudhuins converted the barn to calf housing in 2019. cows, Dustin feeds, and Lisa manages calves. In 2019, the family built a 3-row freestall barn with 100 stalls and added 75 cows to the herd. Cows moved into the new barn Jan. 1, 2020. Measuring 66 feet by 248 feet, the barn also includes two large pens for steers and three commodity bins. Steers are housed on manure packs in pens measuring 40-by-40 with about 30 steers per pen. The Baudhuins sell 80 Angus-Holstein crossbred steers each year for extra income. “Everything is tied into one big building,” Baudhuin said. “We could’ve built a separate commodity shed, but that would’ve been more expensive. It was easier and cheaper to do it this way, and it makes feeding faster and simpler. We also went from using a stationary mixer to using a trailer mixer when we built the new barn.” Two bins are used for feed and one

is used for sawdust. The barn also features roof coops, manual curtains and alley scrapers. The six center coops operate on a thermostat to maintain ideal temperatures. “The coops suck hot air out and suck in cool air from the curtains,” Baudhuin said. “We also hung ve big fans in the new barn for additional ventilation.” Roof strength was important to Baudhuin, who saw a lot of barns go down in 2018 because of snow, and he wanted to ensure his new barn would not meet a similar fate. “I’ve never seen a truss system so strong,” Baudhuin said. “This barn is built solid. The cross pieces placed between trusses give the roof a lot of strength.” The new barn is connected to two Turn to BAUDHUINS | Page 7

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ConƟnued from BAUDHUINS | Page 6 older freestall barns allowing cows from all three barns to intermingle and move between buildings. The oldest barn is bedded with sand, while the other barns feature mattresses bedded with sawdust. Fresh cows and dry cows are housed on a bedded pack, and cows stay on the pack for about two weeks after freshening. The Baudhuins strive for longevity and have several cows over 10 years old, including a 14-yearold who calved with twin heifers 3 months ago and is now milking 140 pounds per day. Their diverse herd includes Holsteins and Red and White Holsteins, Lineback-Holstein crosses, Jersey-Holstein crosses and Fleckvieh crosses. For more than 60 years, Baudhuin’s parents had a registered Holstein herd and utilized embryo transfer. But Baudhuin took a different approach. “I had a grand champion cow I couldn’t get bred back in 2002,” Baudhuin said. “I tried breeding her 10 times. I nally settled her to a Jersey bull. That’s how crossbreeding began here for us, but my father was not a fan. Also, the better components we get with crossbreeds helps fatten our milk check.” Cows are milked twice a day in a swing-10 parlor built in 2014. This spring, the Baudhuins are putting in Boumatic high-lift rapid exit stalls. “Since we have different sized animals and breeds, these stalls will hold the cows bet-

Baudhuin said. Free time is scarce for the Baudhuins, but this family of avid deer hunters carves time out of their busy schedules to spend in the woods. Setting up cameras to track deer is one of Dustin’s favorite hobbies. The Baudhuins also transformed two calf huts into a hunting cabin where they can spend time off the farm.

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Cows are housed in this new 3-row freestall barn the Baudhuin family built in 2019 on their farm near Brussels, Wisconsin. ter,” Baudhuin said. “We used to add an 11th cow to help with that, so this will save time. We’re also adding butt pans which will keep things cleaner.” To ensure a smooth ow through the parlor, the Baudhuins use their tiestall barn to house and milk 50 cows, such as large producers that tend to milk slower and cows that nd it difcult to get around. In 2019, the family converted 30 of the 84 stalls into calf hous-

ing – a setup that moved calves closer and made feeding easier for Lisa. Stalls measuring 4-by-6 now serve as individual pens. In summer, the family also houses calves in an openfaced building featuring eight stalls with curtains on the front and back. Also in 2019, the Baudhuins put in a 1.2 million gallon Slurrystore to complement the 750,000 gallon square concrete manure pit they built in 2002 when Baudhuin took

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USDA considers a replacement for food box program Page 8 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021

The United States Department of Agriculture donations, measures to protect essential workers from Agricultural Marketing Service is taking input COVID-19 and other loans to bolster food industry on the a new COVID-19-related food purchase resiliency,” said Michael Dykes, president and CEO and distribution program to replace the Farmers of IDFA. to Families Food Box Program. Public comment will be taken through the end of this USDEC challenges Canadian tariff Ag Insider month. An announcement promoting a rate quotas listening session said, “While the food The U.S. Dairy Export Council is box effort served some communities urging the Biden administration to take well, it faced challenges in others.” action on the dairy quotas within the U.S.Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Mexico-Canada Agreement. USDEC the administrative costs for the program President and CEO Krysta Harden said during the Trump administration were Canada needs to stop manipulating these too high. The Farmers to Families Food tariff rate quotas. “Its actions have not Box Program has been supportive for only negatively impacted U.S. dairy dairy prices. farmers and manufacturers, but also constrained many Canadian companies NASDA supports food box effort from being able to make use these new The National Association of State TRQs to expand their supply options,” By Don Wick Departments of Agriculture supports the Harden said. “USMCA lays out clear Columnist continuation of the Farmers to Families requirements on TRQ procedures and Food Box Program. NASDA called for we urge the U.S. government to ensure more exibility in the items within the food boxes full compliance by Canada with those commitments.” and is seeking changes to increase participation from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who previously local farmers and vendors. NASDA represents the led USDEC, has emphasized the importance of commissioners, secretaries and directors of the state enforcing trade agreements. departments of agriculture in all 50 states. 2021 milk production forecast declines slightly COVID-19 relief measure signed into law In USDA’s latest supply/demand report, 2021 President Joe Biden has signed the nearly $2 milk production was forecast at 227.3 billion pounds. trillion American Rescue Plan. Democrats passed the That is down 100 million pounds from the February bill in both chambers of Congress without a single report. Cow numbers are expected to increase, but Republican vote. This package includes $4 billion to that will be offset by slower growth in milk output per respond to the disruptions in the food supply chain. cow. The Class III milk price was raised 15 cents from There is another $4 billion to provide debt relief for the previous forecast at $16.75 per hundredweight. In farmers of color with 120% of the outstanding federal 2020, the Class III price averaged $18.16 per cwt. loans forgiven. The COVID-19 bill also expands last year’s 15% increase in SNAP benets through the end Record milk output in Wisconsin of September. Despite a downturn in cow numbers, Wisconsin’s milk production in 2020 was a record high. Wisconsin American Rescue Plan praised by IDFA dairy farms produced nearly 31 billion pounds of The enactment of the new COVID-19 relief milk, slightly higher than the previous record set in package is being applauded by the International 2019. Milk per cow also rose to an all-time record Dairy Foods Association. “The package allocates high of 24,408 pounds. $3.6 billion in funding for USDA food purchases and

Peterson takes on new farm policy role Former House Agriculture Committee Chair Collin Peterson has teamed up with Combest, Sell and Associates. Peterson is not able to lobby until the end of the year but will work in an advisory and consulting basis. Combest Sell clients include the dairy industry. A.I. business loses a longtime leader A global leader in the dairy genetics industry, Tom Lyon, has passed away at the age of 80. Lyon began his career as a public relations manager for Midwest Breeders Cooperative. When Midwest merged with Minnesota Valley Breeders in 1985 to form 21st Century Genetics, Lyon was promoted to general manager. When the company became Cooperative Resources International in 1993, Lyon was named the chief executive ofcer. Lyon was awarded the National Dairy Shrine’s Guest of Honor and was inducted into the Wisconsin Business Hall of Fame and the National Cooperative Business Hall of Fame. Dairy market analyst passes Leukemia claimed the life of Alan Levitt, 59, March 7. Levitt was the vice president of communications and market analysis for the U.S. Dairy Export Council for 12 years. Previously, Levitt ran his own freelance communications rm, served as editor of Cheese Market News and managing editor for Dairy Foods magazine. Dairy 2025 Over the next four years, all Land O’Lakes dairy farmer/owners will complete an intensive onfarm sustainability assessment. The new Dairy 2025 Commitment is described as the cooperative’s next step in its focus on sustainability. WDE offered a 10-year extension Dane County has offered World Dairy Expo a 10year extension to its contract and compensation for the economic losses resulting from the cancellation of the 2020 show due to COVID-19. “World Dairy Turn to AG INSIDER | Page 9

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ConƟnued from AG INSIDER | Page 8 Expo is a long-standing partner of Dane County, and this contract extension reects our commitment to our farmers, our agricultural heritage and this event,” said Dane County executive Joe Parisi. Earlier in the month, WDE announced it was looking for possible alternative sites to hold the show in case Dane County’s health restrictions prevented them from holding the Expo in Madison. Checkoff expands consumer reach The Dairy Checkoff is partnering with the National Football League and Discovery Education for a new initiative. NFL players will share their signature smoothie recipes in a series of videos that will be shared on social media and the DMI Dairy Good channels. A Farming to the Future virtual eld trip is being made available to classrooms across the country. Celebrity chef Carla Hall is included in the virtual classroom effort. The goal with these projects is to promote the dairy industry’s sustainability

story, the dairy farmers’ commitment to the planet and the unique health and wellness benets of dairy products. Trivia challenge Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was a research chemist before going into the world of politics. In that role, Thatcher is often credited with having a role in the development of soft serve ice cream. That answers our last trivia question. For this week, who is the last U.S. president to grow up on a farm milking cows? We will have the answer in the next edition of Dairy Star. Don Wick is owner/broadcaster for the Red River Farm Network, based in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Wick has been recognized as the National Farm Broadcaster of the Year and served as president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Don and his wife, Kolleen, have two adult sons, Tony and Sam, and ve grandchildren, Aiden, Piper, Adrienne, Aurora and Sterling.

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Page 10 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021

Jersey herd inspiration for Little Brown Cow Cheese Wilterdink nds niche in marketing cheddars By Stacey Smart

stacey.s@dairystar.com

SHEBOYGAN FALLS, Wis. – Don Wilterdink’s cows mean the world to him. He knows each cow in his allJersey herd by heart and views the bovines as employees and partners. Every cow at Long Distance Genetics has a name and is special to Wilterdink. “I’m a cowaholic,” Wilterdink said. “I love cows.” Wilterdink is sharing his beloved cows with others through the cheddar cheese he started making from their milk in 2018 – an idea that transpired during a visit to a Door County winery. “I wanted to provide something people feel good about,” Wilterdink said. “Little Brown Cow Cheese

is exceptional cheese with a small-town story, and that’s appealing to consumers.” Made by Gibbsville Cheese, Little Brown Cow Cheese is a 60/40 blend of Wilterdink’s Jersey milk and locally sourced milk. Wilterdink uses a percentage of his farm’s milk to make mild, medium and aged cheddars. “Our cheese is soft and holds moisture well,” Wilterdink said. “People say it’s so creamy. It works great for making grilled cheese sandwiches and mac and cheese.” Wilterdink milks 60 cows and farms 600 acres near Sheboygan Falls. He married his high school sweetheart, Lynn, in 1986. The couple has eight children and seven grandchildren. Lynn, a retired

PHOTO SUBMITTED

The Wilterdink family makes aged, medium and mild cheddar cheeses from their Jersey cows’ milk which they market under the brand, LiƩle Brown Cow Cheese. Product labels feature the Wilterdink children and caƩle from the family’s farm.

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Don Wilterdink poses with one of his cows, Donnie, on his farm near Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, where he milks 60 Jerseys and farms 600 acres. Wilterdink began making LiƩle Brown Cow Cheese in 2018. teacher, tutors twice a week and watches their grandkids twice a week. Wilterdink began working at his brother’s farm when he was in sixth grade. He later became a herdsman at another farm while also working at an apple orchard. When he went out on his own, Wilterdink started with four cows in a rented barn near Random Lake. He soon took out a loan and bought 17 more cows. He continued growing his herd and moved to his current location in 1988. “I had a fear of failure and that was great motivation for me when I was young,” Wilterdink said. Wilterdink always had an eye for Jerseys even though people often questioned his choice of breed early on. “Now, everyone seems to want Jerseys,” he said. During the late 1980s and 1990s, Wilterdink’s focus was

on genetics. “We sold 40 to 50 bulls into A.I. and had the No. 1 uid dollar merit bull in the U.S. for a couple years - Long Distance Barber Barkly,” Wilterdink said. “We sold embryos to different countries. It was fun. I enjoyed it.” Wilterdink’s all-time favorite cow is Duncan Babe – a Jersey that came from Parma, Michigan. Wilterdink bought her as a calf, and when she passed away years later, Babe was buried on the farm. “We were big into genetics and still are,” Wilterdink said. “Once a year, we would go anywhere in the country to buy the best heifer or cow that we could. We also did a lot of ushing. Babe was great looking, was a great milker and ushed well. She probably made us a lot of money.” But when their kids started growing up, Wilterdink’s focus shifted.

“They were very athletic and played a lot of ball,” Wilterdink said. “Since I didn’t trust anyone else to milk the cows, I ended up missing a lot of ball games. I didn’t want to miss out on things anymore, so I scaled back on the merchandising end and invested in some other businesses instead. It worked out well. I got to watch more ball games, which is something I enjoy.” However, Wilterdink has not lost his passion for good genetics. Top-quality cows are a must in his barn, and he sells quite a few cattle. Cows are milked twice a day in a 60-stall tiestall barn where the rolling herd average is 17,963 pounds of milk with 5.5% butterfat and 3.7% protein. “Our milk’s high butterfat is what makes our cheese Turn to WILTERDINKS | Page 11

Congratulations to the six young ladies crowned Stearns County Dairy Princesses.

Six girls (from left) Samantha Young the daughter of Kevin & Beth Young of Holdingford, Minn., Alex Christen the daughter of Glen & Becky Christen of Sauk Centre, Minn., Kallie Frericks the daughter of Steve & Tammy Frericks of Albany, Minn., Hailey Frericks, the daughter of Steve & Tammy Frericks of Albany, Minn., Savanna Marthaler the daughter of Harold Marthaler & Denise Mikkelson of Sauk Centre, Minn., and Makayla Breth the daughter Jerry & Tammy Breth of St. Anthony, Minn. were crowned Stearns County dairy princesses at the annual banquet which was held March 20 at the Freeport Community Center. Young and Ohmann were also recipients of $500 scholarships from the Stearns County American Dairy Association. Ambassadors are Emily Breth the daughter of Jerry & Tammy Breth of St. Anthony, Brittany Klaphake the daughter of Joel & Jessica Klaphake of Holdingford, Jenna Lawin the daughter of Kyle & Becky Lawin of Holdingford, Jessica Ohmann the daughter of Ron and Ami Ohmann of Albany and Clara Pflueger the daughter of Brian and Jessica Donabauer of St. Anthony.

Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021 • Page 11

ConƟnued from WILTERDINKS | Page 10 special,” Wilterdink said. The Wilterdinks made their rst batch of cheese and aged it for a year before introducing it to the public. Wanting to take advantage of a different price point, Wilterdink decided to take his cheese outside Sheboygan Falls and chose Madison as the place where he would launch Little Brown Cow Cheese. The family held tastings at stores, and the feedback was positive. So, they made more cheese. “I would drop off cheese at a store and tell them to try it – it was as simple as that,” Wilterdink said. In a little over two years’ time, the Wilterdinks have

made 10,000 pounds of cheese. The aged variety is aged for 6-12 months, the medium for 3-6 months and the mild for 0-3 months. “The cheese has done better than we hoped,” Wilterdink said. “Too well actually because we don’t have the supply to keep up with demand. Our cheese is selling quicker than we can age it.” Little Brown Cow Cheese is available at four stores in Madison and several local stores, as well as on its website. People can also buy cheese from the farm. At Christmas, the Wilterdinks sold nearly 800 gift boxes. Selling more cheese on a local level is a strategy

PHOTO SUBMITTED

All members of the Wilterdink family – (front, from leŌ) Devon, Abby, Kimberly, Tessa, Ashley Holzer and Brooke Williams; (back, from leŌ) Derick, Josh, Don, Lynn, Dawson, Chris Holzer and Jordan Williams – make the LiƩle Brown Cow Cheese business run.

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Cows at Long Distance GeneƟcs are housed in a Ɵestall barn and milked twice a day. Their milk contains 5.5% buƩerfat which helps produce a soŌ, creamy cheese.

they plan to expand upon as inventory picks up. “We would like to have a consistent route from Madison to Milwaukee someday and also branch out into upscale restaurants,” Wilterdink said. The label on the cheese contains a photo of one of Wilterdink’s sons as a child with a Jersey calf and the slogan, “From our family to yours ... Enjoy!” “We did it so the kids could be involved,” Wilterdink said. “Everything is done by family – from the label to the merchandising to delivery.” Selling hay to horse owners is another side business of Wilterdink’s who sells 25,00030,000 bales every year to 25 clients. He is also an investor

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in numerous businesses. Wilterdink thrives on a nonstop schedule and is always on the go. Dreaming up new ideas is thrilling to Wilterdink, whose love for cows is often at the center of his creative juices. “I’m a risk taker by nature, and I enjoy the rush of trying new things,” Wilterdink said. “I like being busy. I like working.” Little Brown Cow Cheese has taken off and is the newest focus of this Jersey breeder who has a big heart for his little brown cows. “Eventually, we’d like to open a store where we can sell cheese, beef and crafts,” Wilterdink said. “You need to nd your niche as a farmer. Our new niche is cheese.”

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Page 12 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021

A trial of breeds

Three dairies highlight health, longevity of three-way crossbreds By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com

In a study to determine the value crossbreds add to a dairy herd, three Minnesota farmers can attest to the strategy’s effectiveness in creating a protable, long-lasting animal. “I still like the look of those pretty Holsteins; there’s nothing prettier,” Ken Herbranson said. “But, there’s an economic advantage (to ProCROSS breeding) you will see over time. I’m convinced of that, or we wouldn’t have crossed them all.” Herbranson operates Brookside Dairy in Otter Tail County near Clitherall, where he and his brother, Arlan, milk 525 three-way crossbred cows. The farmer was joined by Lisa Reeck, of Paynesville, and Tim Kieffer, of Hastings, in the webinar, “Combining science and the ProCROSS experience,” March 11, which highlighted on-farm results of a 10-year study on the use of a three-breed rotation incorporating Montbéliarde, Viking Red and Holstein genetics. In 2008, the study enrolled 3,500 pure Holstein heifers and cows from seven Minnesota

dairies. Throughout the next decade, those animals were bred to Montbéliarde and Viking Red bulls, and evaluated on health and production traits, as well as underwent a prot analysis. “When you look at a balance sheet, you have to realize it’s a long-term look,” Herbranson said. “We found crosses get bred sooner, we’re spending less on vet work, our death loss has gone down. … If you can nd a small prot somewhere on the farm, you can double that with a small change.” Since being a part of the lengthy research study, Herbranson has entirely switched his herd from registered Holsteins to ProCROSS animals. “We started with a pretty good herd of cows that were A.I.’d to the better third of bulls in the books for decades before,” Herbranson said. “We were disappointed because the health traits and keeping cows around were real issues when it came to the bottom line and protability of the dairy herd. Our herd improved with crossbreeding, and the results show that.” Brookside Dairy maintains

PHOTO SUBMITTED

A small group of ProCROSS heifers graze at Greenwood Dairy near Paynesville, Minnesota. The crossbreds are the result of a 10-year study on the use of a three-breed rotaƟon incorporaƟng Montbéliarde, Viking Red and Holstein geneƟcs. 80 pounds of milk per cow per day with a somatic cell count of 101,000. The dairy’s pregnancy rate is at 28%, and the calving interval stands at 12.6 months. The results of the study in its entirety showed that the lifetime prot of the threeway crossbred animals was 33% more protable than their purebred Holstein pen mates. In daily prots, this looked like

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ConƟnued from CROSSBREDS | Page 12 Value Honor Roll Herd by Minnesota Dairy Herd Improvement Association. To improve their herds, the three dairy producers selected Montbéliarde and Viking Red bulls for their udders and feet and legs, primarily. The benets of the selections carried far beyond those traits. “That was our main criteria,” Reeck said. “We noticed right away that the crossbreds coming into the herd were stronger than a lot of our Ken Herbranson Holsteins.” Now, Reeck Brookside Dairy and her husband, Justin, breed with an emphasis on milk fat and protein for the 700-cow herd at Greenwood Dairy. They maintain an 88-pound tank average and 41% conception rate. Study participants bred for rst-generation crossbreds with both Viking Red and Holsteins, and Montbéliarde and Holsteins. Subsequent matings then incorporated Tim Kieffer the other breed. River City Dairy Both Reeck and Herbranson noted a preference for the Montbéliarde breed. “We like what the F1 looks like and milks like,” said Herbranson of his Montbéliarde-Holstein crossbred heifers. While Herbranson uses Montbéliarde sexed semen on heifers, Reeck uses all three breeds to follow the traditional three-way cross strategy. “Our individual data showed that the Montbéliarde-Holsteins did better than Viking Red,” she said. “We’re still enjoying and learning what works best in our barn with our management style.” In Kieffer’s experience, the Viking Red crossbreds outperformed all other cattle in the study. As the farmer continues developing his herd, he is breeding Montbéliarde on cows and Viking Red on heifers. One of the greatest advantages of the three-way rotational crossbred is

their longevity in the herd, which the farmers attributed to the animals’ fertility. On average, the crossbreds were bred back sooner than their purebred Holstein penmates. Both Kieffer and Reeck said their voluntary waiting period was the same for all animals in the herds. The ease of breeding crossbreds has led to a natural elimination of Holsteins in Herbranson’s herd. “Reducing days in milk gets a Lisa Reeck larger portion of the Greenwood Dairy herd in heavy milking months and fewer on the tail end of it. That makes it easier to be protable,” he said. “We cull the Holsteins for the same reasons as the crossbreds, and the Holsteins are naturally weeding themselves out over time.” Kieffer agreed. “Fertility is the biggest for us,” he said. “Most of the Holsteins leave because of fertility issues.” The farmers also commended the crossbreds on their feed efciency, being able to get more components on the same or less feed than Holsteins. In the study, none of the farms separated their herds based on breed, but admitted the crossbreds were likely overfed to meet the nutritional needs of the Holsteins. “We DHIA test, and looking at cows, it’s amazing that some cross you’ll see 5%-plus milk fat and 3.5% protein on individual animals,” Reeck said. “Every month, our main feed bill is big. It’s a big expense of a dairy. We’re able to spend the same on feed and get more components than we used to.” While there were risks in being a part of industry research, the benets have not gone unnoticed as these three farmers found ways to maximize protability on their dairy with a three-way breeding strategy. “It’s all about getting a cow in the herd and milking well,” Herbranson said. “(The crossbreds) are invisible animals. We don’t mess with them and don’t spend a lot of money on them. An animal doing well is the most protable lactation there is.”

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Former princesses: Why should young women get involved?

Haley C. Reeson New Glarus, Wisconsin Green County Green County Dairy Princess 2014-15 Why should young women get involved in their dairy princess programs? When I say this program can change your life, I don’t mean that to sound cheesy. Although some may say it is a great resume builder, I see it as an outlet to think about what you were meant to do and how you can make a difference. I realized during my time as a princess that I full heartedly loved every aspect of the agricultural industry. Before the program, I wanted to be a physical therapist. After the program, I wanted to be equipped with the skills to promote the industry that has given me and the entire world so much. The day I went to the (at the time) Milk Marketing Board’s annual meeting, I felt it. I knew that is where I belonged. What were the most unique or thought-provoking questions you were asked as a princess? Besides the many times you are asked if chocolate milk comes from brown cows, or if cows can bite, the most thought-provoking question I received was, “Is factory farming unethical?” Being 16 at the time, this was a daunting question. I handled it to the best of my ability by stating that farming has its ups and downs. But it is important to remember that every farm is working hard every day to produce the best quality they possibly can for consumers. We are a community, and I support big and small alike. If you were the coordinator of a dairy princess program now, what event would you incorporate? I would sign everyone up to attend the Blue Ribbon Cheese and Butter Auction hosted by the Wisconsin State Fair Dairy Promotion Board. Aside from tasting mouth-watering cheeses and avors of the dairy industry, this auction showcases worldrenowned products that are made in Wisconsin. This event is the gold mine for learning about Wisconsin agriculture and what they have accomplished. To truly market and promote as a dairy princess, learning from the people who make the products is the best education you could possibly receive. What is the most important message people need to hear about the dairy community or dairy products today? Real dairy is not leaving anytime soon. This community is constantly changing, evolving and growing to t the needs of consumers. The industry is lled with intelligent people who genuinely love what they do, and they will never stop ghting for a healthier and safer tomorrow for people and animals alike. How do you continue to promote dairy in your life? I stay involved. I return home every summer to help put on one of the biggest educational events in my county, the breakfast on the farm. I help my family and the Green County Ag chest keep our annual Dairy Days cattle show alive by creating a fun environment for kids and families to showcase their animals. I hope to get involved in my new community by volunteering at the local county fair and applying to be on their dairy promotions board. My main goal is to receive a job back in the dairy industry where I can keep learning, growing and promoting Wisconsin agriculture. Tell us about yourself. I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh with a bachelor’s degree in public relations and advertising. While navigating through post-graduation life during COVID-19, I have since landed in Sheboygan. In my current position as a content specialist with Big Bark Media LLC, I design websites, plan social media content, create graphics and participate in marketing strategy sessions. I enjoy spending time with my friends and family, snuggling my two cats, watching HGTV and working out at the local CrossFit gym.

Kaitlyn Riley Gays Mills, Wisconsin 2009 Crawford County Dairy Princess, 2012 Wisconsin Jersey Queen, 2013 Crawford County Fairest of the Fair, 2014 Wisconsin Fairest of the Fairs, 2018 Alice in Dairyland Why should young women get involved in their dairy princess programs? Young women should become involved in their dairy princess programs because it is an opportunity for them to get out of their comfort zones and uncover new ways to share their stories. The interactions I had in dairy royalty and ambassador programs helped me develop communication skills that I use every day in my personal and professional life. What were the most unique or thought-provoking questions you were asked as a princess? Some of the most thought-provoking questions I received were focused on the future. Consumers young and old are curious about the sustainability of the dairy industry whether that is environmental, economic or social sustainability. I once had a high school student ask what I thought the dairy industry would look like in ve years. With advancements in technology and changes in agricultural demographics, it felt almost impossible to predict. However, it was inspiring to have conversations with a new generation that is interested in becoming part of that story regardless of any previous ties to agriculture. If you were the coordinator of a dairy princess program now, what event would you incorporate? One event I would incorporate in a dairy princess program would be a career connection. Most young women involved with ambassador or royalty programs are working toward their professional aspirations. The event would be a natural way for ambassadors to engage with industry leaders and learn about opportunities available in all forms of agriculture. This information could be shared at a career fair and in a social media campaign that targets high school and college students. From drone technologists to food scientists and communicators, the agriculture industry will require fresh minds entering the eld more than ever before as we continue providing food, fuel and ber for the world. What is the most important message people need to hear about the dairy community or dairy products today? I do not think it can be stressed enough that farmers are also consumers. Like each shopper who is conscious of a product’s nutritional value and environmental footprint, we too want to provide the very best for our families. That is why farmers are so dedicated to protecting their land and livestock. The nest ingredients to feed the world come from healthy soils and happy cows. How do you continue to promote dairy in your life? I continue my dairy promotion efforts by staying involved with the Crawford County Dairy Promotion Committee. I manage the committee’s social media accounts and assist with planning and executing the annual Crawford County Dairy Breakfast. Tell us about yourself. I work with Mid-West Family La Crosse as a farm news reporter and on-air host with KQ98. Through my job, I develop localized agricultural content with producers in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa to provide relevant news, features and updates for those working in the industry. On my days out of the ofce, I return home to my family’s registered Jersey farm where my parents, Jody and Paulette Riley, milk a 70-cow herd.

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Mariah (Schmitt) Busta Fort Atkinson, Iowa Winneshiek County Winneshiek County Dairy Princess and Iowa Dairy Princess 2012-14 Why should young women get involved in their dairy princess programs? Dairy princess programs are such a great way to grow both personally and professionally. Through my experiences, I was able to learn how to effectively promote dairy, sharpen my communication skills, travel and network with dairy leaders across the state. Even if you aren’t looking for a career in agriculture, the dairy community still needs more advocates. I encourage any young girl to get involved in their local princess programs because the opportunities are endless. What were the most unique or thought-provoking questions you were asked as a dairy princess? It’s hard to recall one particular question, but my princess experiences made me realize how important it is to tell our story. With most consumers being at least three generations removed from the farm, people don’t even know the simple things like all cows are females and must have a calf to begin producing milk. Dairy princesses have a great opportunity to help bridge the gap between farmers and consumers. If you were the coordinator of a dairy princess program now, what event would you incorporate? Lucky for me, I actually coordinate the Iowa Dairy Princess Program. One of the ways the pandemic has challenged us was to become more active on social media. Over the past year, the Iowa dairy princesses have found new ways to reach consumers through live Facebook farm tours, story time with the dairy princess and more. Social media is a huge opportunity for young girls to be connected with an audience you might not be able to reach otherwise. What is the most important message people need to hear about the dairy community or dairy products today? One of the hot topics right now is sustainability and dairy’s environmental impact. It’s so important for consumers to know that great strides have been taken to reduce dairy’s carbon footprint. How do you continue to promote dairy in your life? I am fortunate my job allows me to promote dairy every single day. As the Iowa Dairy Center coordinator at the Northeast Iowa Dairy and Agriculture Foundation, I plan and provide fun dairy experiences for our community. In a normal year, we’ll have 10,000 annual visitors to our farm. I enjoy giving tours and planning events like breakfast on the farm. Unfortunately, last summer we had to cancel breakfast on the farm due to COVID-19. Instead, we were able to pivot and hosted a Drive-Thru Santa on the Farm where visitors drove right through our freestall barn to see the cows up close, enjoyed milk and cookies, and were able to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus. It was a huge hit and has encouraged me to nd more ways to inject dairy into fun, unconventional experiences. Tell us about yourself. I graduated from Iowa State University with degrees in dairy science and agriculture and society. While at Iowa State, I was active in the Dairy Science Club, dairy judging, Dairy Challenge and studied abroad visiting France, Italy, Switzerland and New Zealand. Following graduation, I began my position at the Northeast Iowa Dairy and Agriculture Foundation. I now live in Fort Atkinson, Iowa, with my husband, Ryan. We enjoy traveling, golng and spending time with family and friends. We both grew up on farms near Fort Atkinson and would like to be involved as the next generation on our family farms.

Page 16 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021

ConƟnued from OUR SIDE | Page 15 Hannah Nelson Ellsworth, Wisconsin Pierce County Wisconsin Red and White Princess and National Red and White Queen Years Why should young women get involved in their dairy princess programs? Becoming a dairy princess is probably one of the best ways for young women to get leadership experience. Most importantly, dairy princess programs help young women grow and become themselves. What were the most unique or thought-provoking questions you were asked as a princess? I was always asked what kind of princess I was and what I promoted. So, then I would explain about the Red and White Holstein cows. Then, the common question of whether they produce chocolate milk or not would be asked. Even though the question seems common, I just couldn’t believe someone would ever ask it in real life. I was able to clear up that question for someone, and now they know to tell anyone that brown cows don’t produce chocolate milk. If you were the coordinator of a dairy princess program now, what event would you incorporate? I would incorporate a chance for the princess to be on a radio talk show or a podcast to talk about the dairy industry and who they represent. This would be a great way to reach a different segment or demographic of people to help promote to that wouldn’t be at any other type of event. What is the most important message people need to hear about the dairy community or dairy products today? Dairy products have expanded so much in the years. It is important to know, especially for people who use alternatives to dairy products, that there are dairy options available for those who can’t consume dairy in their diet. Products such as A2A2 and Fairlife ultra-ltered milk have helped this all become possible. How do you continue to promote dairy in your life? I am able to help at dairy breakfasts around my area and am also involved in sharing dairy related topics on social media. Social media is a great outlet for everyone to utilize to promote dairy in a positive way. Tell us about yourself. I am a senior at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls graduating in May with a degree in agricultural business and a minor in dairy science. I reside in Ellsworth, Wisconsin, with my mom, Tracy, and my brother, Levi. We raise show heifers, recipient cows, steers, and show and market pigs. I am on the search for a job in agriculture, marketing or nances. I am also working on marketing and growing my own herd.

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Jill Ann Makovec Muscoda, Wisconsin Grant County Wisconsin Holstein Princess and Alice in Dairyland 1999 and 2007-08 Why should young women get involved in their dairy princess programs? The Wisconsin Holstein royalty program helped me develop professional skills I utilize in my work today – from networking to relationship building and independent travel to impromptu speaking. Additionally, serving as the Wisconsin Holstein Princess introduced me to people who helped me achieve another goal which was serving as our state’s agriculture ambassador – Alice in Dairyland. These programs create pathways for women looking to strengthen personal and professional skills that will lead them into the next chapters of their lives. What were the most unique or thought-provoking questions you were asked as a princess? While I can’t recall a specic question, the most challenging ones, in general, were those who want to equate our farm animals to pets. From a distance, we do have deep relationships with the animals we are trusted to raise and care for; however, explaining how they are different from pets was always a challenge. If you were the coordinator of a dairy princess program now, what event would you incorporate? Consumers are so far removed from their food and have many questions about agriculture and food production. It is easy to be defensive when instead we need to be inquisitive. I would like to see our princesses more involved in the local library system where they can read to youth and conduct art projects with them. This is a gentle way to introduce children to food and food production while giving parents the opportunity to be engaged and ask questions. It brings agriculture to the consumer space with open dialog. After a year of living in virtual worlds, our dairy and ag ambassadors also can enhance their use of social media to relate to consumers on many different levels. What is the most important message people need to hear about the dairy community or dairy products today? Dairy products are healthy and can be incorporated into healthy lifestyles for people of all ages. There are so many beverage and snack options from which to choose. We need to keep putting dairy rst. From low lactose to low-fat options, dairy has a place in our daily diets and provides nutrients necessary for healthy living. Additionally, dairy animals can be raised in multiple environments and live a happy life. We need to work together and not pit one type of farm against the other. How do you continue to promote dairy in your life? I am a big advocate for dairy and dairy farmers. I work to share facts from a variety of farm and ag organizations through social media. I never shy away from conversations in the grocery store. And, I continue to mentor and coach current dairy princesses and ambassadors so they feel comfortable sharing the story of dairy and dairy farmers. Tell us about yourself. I am a national account executive with Browneld Ag News – the largest network of radio stations delivering ag programming in the Upper Midwest. Additionally, I manage my parents’ century-old farm and am working to renovate the farmhouse where my father was born. In my free time, I enjoy reading and working out. For the next year, I am chairing the selection of the 75th Alice in Dairyland to be held in Dane County.

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Allison Foster Portage, Wisconsin Columbia County Wisconsin Jersey Princess, Wisconsin Jersey Queen and rst runner up National Jersey Queen 2016-18 Why should young women get involved in their dairy princess programs? These were some of the best experiences of my young adult life. They helped me to grow, change and learn so much. That is exactly why I would encourage any young woman to take part in these programs. From the time you start the application process to the time you nish your reign, you learn so much. I gained valuable interview experience and the ability to speak to groups of all sizes. Additionally, I was able to volunteer and coordinate fundraisers for our junior association. Through it all, I met some of the most amazing young women that I competed against and with. I was also humbled to learn from breeders, exhibitors and farmers from all over the state and nation. They are now people I call my friends. What were the most unique or thought-provoking questions you were asked as a princess? I had a woman approach me at a fair I was attending and asked why we farm girls like me and Alice in Dairyland and other princesses wore dresses. She said we should be wearing jeans and boots. I explained to her how we are more than just farm girls. We’re professionals, and we’re representatives for our breed, state and industry. We do more than milk cows and feed calves. We speak to people, lead demonstrations, hand out ribbons and volunteer our time. She then understood a little bit more about the life of a dairy princess and why it is important to dress for success. Another common question was, “Can I wear your crown or sash?” My answer was always absolutely. It was an opportunity to encourage young girls to follow their dreams and talk about what I do. Sure, at rst they are entranced by the pretty jewels and sparkle, but they became interested when I started talking. If you were the coordinator of a dairy princess program now, what event would you incorporate? I would encourage my Jersey queens to have a special project or topic to talk about in their year. Some aspect of the dairy or Jersey industries they are particularly passionate about and then have them nd and plan events. I worked with the Alzheimer’s and Dementia Alliance at several of their memory cafes for people and their caregivers. I simply had a presentation that talked about my unique experience in the dairy industry. We then could talk and share stories over some delicious dairy treats. I loved getting to hear their stories of growing up in ag and elding their questions. Events like this are what fuels their passion and helps them to gain those valuable life skills of planning, time management and communication. What is the most important message people need to hear about the dairy community or dairy products today? They need to know the dairy community cares for their cows, the land, their families and their communities. They aren’t just farmers. They’re school board members, town and county board people, business owners and volunteers. They aren’t in it for money. They’re in the dairy business because they love it and care for it and want to make sure it’s sustainable for many generations to come. The products are safe. People have a natural and growing curiosity about the world and especially their food. Between marketing ploys and a plethora of misinformation, the messages get skewed. Consumers need to understand not only how their food is produced, but how it is processed in order to make it safe and stable for them and their families. How do you continue to promote dairy in your life? Being a Jersey queen also made me a lifelong agriculture advocate. I tell just about anyone who will listen about dairy cattle and products. I enjoy sharing messages from our farm, from the facts of how we raise animals to heartfelt stories or funny mishaps. I also love to share my knowledge of dairy products and how they are made. There are so many interesting and genius products out there. I want to ensure people that no matter what choice they’re making, dairy is safe and healthy. Tell us about yourself. I graduated in December 2019 from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville with my degree in dairy science. I moved back to my hometown to stay near my family. I started a position at Grande Cheese. I put the cheese into molds and take it out before it enters brine and packaging. I’m fascinated by the processing side of the dairy industry and hope to continue to grow and learn in that area. Additionally, I co-own LoLand Legacy Jerseys with my younger brother, Jarrett, where we have about 25 registered Jerseys that we show all over the state. In my free time, I volunteer as the director of communications and care packages for Operation Not Alone, a non-prot serving veterans and active duty military.

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Producers share insight on signicant production increase

The Dairy Star staff visited with ve dairy farms that test with DHIA in Minnesota. These producers had substantial herd average increases from 2017 to 2020.

Rich Lambrecht Belle Plaine, Minnesota ScoƩ County 100 cows

Ryan Knisley (pictured with son, Riley) Richmond, Minnesota Stearns County 54 cows

What was your herd average three years ago? What is it now? Lambrecht: Three years ago, our rolling herd average was 28,300 pounds. It dropped to 23,500 pounds by the end of 2019. Now, in 2021 it has returned to 26,200 pounds. Knisley: It was 18,857 pounds three years ago. Now it is 24,293 pounds. Seifert: Our current rolling herd average is 27,542 pounds of milk with a 3.9% fat and 3.1% protein. Three years ago it was 25,112 pounds. Burfeind: In December 2017, our rolling herd average was 26,684 pounds of milk with 1,020 pounds of fat and 893 pounds of protein. In December 2020, it increased to 30,245 pounds of milk with 1,303 pounds of fat and 1,017 pounds of protein. What type of facilities do you have for your cows? Lambrecht: Our barn is a 3-row drive-by freestall with mattresses. We use sawdust for bedding. The cows are milked two times a day in a double-6 step up parlor. Knisley: I have a 53-stall tiestall barn. I use wood shavings for bedding. Seifert: The majority of my milking herd is housed in a 4-row, tail-to-tail, sandbedded freestall barn. Dry and post-fresh cows are housed in a corn-straw pack

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barn that was formerly a compost barn. The herd is milked three times a day in a double-12 parabone parlor. Burfeind: In 2014, we built a new 4-row tail-to-tail sand bedded freestall barn with a double-10 parallel parlor. What have been the three most important factors in your herd average increase? Lambrecht: Our herd peaked at about 28,300 pounds in 2017 when we were forced to stop using rBST. We were short on hay and went to a higher corn silage diet. It worked ne until that fall when our corn got too dry in the eld and didn’t end up making good silage. We also struggled with having enough labor to help with day-to-day work that needed to be done around the farm. These four situations caused the herd’s milk average to drop dramatically. It bottomed out at about 23,500 pounds at the end of 2019. In the spring of 2019, my son, Michael, joined the farm full time. My daughter, Makayla, and her husband, Tylor, also started to Turn to PRODUCTION | Page 20

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Catch the Dairy Star’s Mark Klaphake with Joe Gill at 6:45 a.m. the 2nd & 4th Fridays of the month on KASM!

DAIRY EQUIPMENT INC.

PO Box 160, Albany, MN • (320) 845-2184 • Fax (320) 845-2187

tfn

Celebrating over 40 Years in Business

Phone: 608-269-3830 Toll Free: 1-888-863-0227 Email: prestonde@prestonde.com

“... udders spot-on, all the way ready, fast.” — Joe Engel

LUCK-E HOLSTEINS, The Engel Family, HAMPSHIRE, IL Milking 185 Holsteins, Bred over 400 EX, RHA 25,464M 4.5F 1151 3.3P 829, SCC 160,000 2020 State Show Premier Breeder and Exhibitor, including winners in the group of recently fresh 2-year-old King Doc daughters (above). Two are VG88 full sisters to Luck-E Dr Antidote RC EX90 54H902 “Udder Comfort™ does an awesome job softening udders and is gentle to skin. Results set it apart from everything else. For silky udders that are ready fast, we use Udder Comfort on every fresh cow 2x/day for a week after calving. We also apply it prefresh for first-calf heifers, and get it between the leg and the udder to prevent irritation,” says Joe Engel, Luck-E Holsteins, Hampshire, Ill. The Engels have bred over 400 EX cows, including impact cows Asia, Atlanta, Kandie-Red, and a string of impact sires, including Red and Polled. Joe and Matt and parents Dennis and Beth milk 185 Holsteins. They focus on balanced cows from consistent families, wide from muzzle to pins, efficient and long-lasting in a freestall setup where good udders and high components rule.

“We like to be proactive. It’s good for cows and milk quality. Since Udder Comfort came out, it’s the only one we use. We want fresh, crisp, perfect udders by 10 days to 3 weeks fresh. Over and over, Udder Comfort delivers. It gets udders spot-on, all the way ready, fast.” https://wp.me/pb1wH7-e6

Quality Udders Make Quality Milk

Maximum Results Minimal Cost To locate a distributor 1.888.773.7153 uddercomfort.com For external application to the udder only, after milking, as an essential component of udder management. Always wash and dry teats thoroughly before milking.

Page 20 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021 LIMIT 1 FREE AD PER FARM PER ISSUE

s ’ Mark r e m r et a 8 BUY • SELL • TRADE

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ConƟnued from PRODUCTION | Page 18 help out on a part-time basis, which resolved many of the labor issues. We also have other part-time workers’ help whenever it is needed. In 2020, the growing season improved, and we were able to put up more quality haylage. We also have enough fermented corn silage which will carry us to the end of December. This will allow our 2021 corn silage crop to ferment for a few months before we start feeding it. Knisley: Management is No. 1. I do all the milking and chores, and I keep it all on a regular schedule. If you want production out of your cows and catching those details, it has to be about doing things by yourself. Quality feed is No. 2. You have to have good feed for them. You want good silage and good quality alfalfa. Good genetics is No. 3. You have to use good bulls and work with an A.I. service to mate your cows. I go for production, but you also have to have feet and legs. Daughter pregnancy rate is something I’m starting to look into. You can have good cows, but if they don’t breed back, that kind of bites you. Seifert: Quality forage. For a number of years, we had difculty producing an adequate quantity of quality silages due to the weather. This shortage inevitably led to having to feed inferior quality and alternative feed stuffs to lactating cows for extended periods of time during the year. This had a detrimental effect on intakes, production and components. We made great strides in getting back on track and hitting our forage quality targets. Foot health. In the past three years, we’ve been getting aggressive on getting my herd on track from a hoof maintenance standpoint. Running foot bath more often and scheduling every cow to be trimmed at certain times in her lactation regardless of condition has allowed us to be more proactive rather than reactive with our foot health program. Reproduction. The greatest aid I had was having someone here who was dedicated to tail chalking/painting cows and checking multiple times a day. Another thing we began doing was verifying cows found pregnant at two more points during their lactation. We had been having a seemingly large number of cows who would lose their pregnancies at some point post-pregnancy check. They would then slip through the system resulting in either late lactation rebreeds or sales. This has aided that issue substantially. Burfeind: The rst is genetics. Five years ago, half the herd was crossbred. We went back to using Holstein breeding and now most of the herd is back to Holstein with breeding focused on components. The crossbreds had a good percentage for fat and protein, but the total fat and protein from the Holsteins is higher. The second important factor is heifer raising. About three years ago, we changed our focus for raising our replacements. We used to calve them in at 21 to 22 months old, but they were not big enough or mature enough. We pushed breeding back so they would calve in at 24 months. They are now also housed in outdoor feed lots. The third most important factor is nutrition. Three years ago, we switched to brown midrib corn silage along with adding a highly digestible rye grass to the diet. Working with our nutrition company, Big Gain, has been very benecial. If I could add a fourth important factor, it would be transition cow management. Three years ago, we did a lot of testing on the cows after calving to determine where we can do better. We dialed in calcium salts and switched some of the nutrition for those cows. Now our transition cows are doing a lot better. Turn to PRODUCTION | Page 22

Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021 • Page 21

Financing subject to pre-approval through JD Financial. Some restrictions apply. See dealer for details.

0.75% Ànancing for up to 60 months on 2010 or newer pre-owned round balers

JD 569, 2014, ##179194 17791994

25,900

JD 460M, 2018, #164359

JD 560M, 2019, #179000

45,500

JD 569 2013, #172972

JD 569, 2013, #177245

43,900

30,900

JD 469, 2015, #175511

21,500

NH Rollbelt 460, $ 2015 #178946

20,900

23,900

Claas 480RC, $ 2017, #179187

31,500

Equipment and pictures added daily • Go to www.mmcjd.com AIR DRILLS AND SEEDERS 6 Case IH SDX 40/adx2230, 2007, Width: 40, 7.5”, Shoot: Double Shoot, #180891 ........$53,900 DISKS 6 JD 235, 30 ft, 3-Section Folding, 9”, #181115 ................................................................... $6,900 3 Wishek 862-NT, 2009, 33 ft, 3-Section Folding, #163465..............................................$21,900 4 Case IH RMX340, 2009, 35 ft, 3-Section Folding, 9”, #181151 .......................................$29,400 10 JD 2620, 2016, 26 ft, 3-Section Folding, 9”, #175512 .....................................................$34,500 7 JD 637, 2011, 45 ft, 5-Section Folding, 9”, #166177........................................................$34,900 FIELD CULTIVATORS 5 JD 980, 1994, 3-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #181108....................................... $5,000 9 JD 960, 1989, 38 ft, 3-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #180045.............................. $5,500 14 JD 960, 1989, 42 ft, 5-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #165959.............................. $6,900 17 Case IH 4300, 30 ft, 3-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #181148............................. $8,500 4 JD 980, 1996, 44 ft, 5-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #169542 .......................$13,900 14 Elmers 6400, 1991, 41 ft, 3-Section Folding, Standards: S-Tine, #178092 .....................$14,900 10 Sunflower 5035, 2016, 24 ft, 3-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #177191..........$28,900 2 JD 2210, 2012, 32 ft, 3-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #173629..........................$35,900 MOWER CONDITIONERS 7 New Idea 5212, 1992, #177618 ...................................................................................... $5,650 7 JD 635, 2009, #173285...................................................................................................$16,500 17 Hesston 1372, 2010, #178648 ......................................................................................$17,400 6 JD 946, 2010, #179286...................................................................................................$18,500 8 NH H7550, 2014, #167351.............................................................................................$19,900 10 NH H7230, 2015, #176984.............................................................................................$22,400 10 JD 635, 2017, #166698...................................................................................................$22,900 10 JD 956, 2010, #172718...................................................................................................$24,900 6 JD 956, 2015, #180948...................................................................................................$35,900 MULCH FINISHERS 6 Sunflower 6331, 25 ft, 3-Section Folding, #174316........................................................ $5,900 2 JD 724, 1990, 20 ft, 3-Section Folding, #174088 .............................................................. $8,500 15 Kuhn Krause 6200-45, 2014, 45 ft, 9”, #180001...........................................................$45,900 4 JD 2310, 2014, 33 ft, 3-Section Folding, #181152 ..........................................................$46,400 PLANTERS: DRAWN 6 White 6100, 1995, 6 Row 30 in, Frame: Rigid, , #181144 ................................................ $7,900 6 JD 7200, 1988, 8 Row 36 in, Frame: Wing Fold, Hopper: 1.6 Bushel, #180622.................. $8,400 10 JD 1750, 1996, 6 Row 30 in, Frame: Rigid, Hopper: 1.6 Bushel, #179650 .......................$13,000 4 JD 1750, 1997, 6 Row 30 in, Frame: Rigid, Hopper: 1.6 Bushel, #176829 .......................$13,900 9 JD 1770, 1997, 16 Row 30 in, Frame: Flex Fold, Hopper: 3.0 Bushel, #180078................$19,500 9 JD 1760NT, 2014, 8 Row 30 in, Frame: Wing Fold, Hopper: 3.0 Bushel, #181228 ...........$37,500 14 Wil-Rich PT2200, 2005, 24 Row 22 in, Frame: Wing Fold, Hopper: 3.0 Bushel, #177551$39,900 2 JD 1775NT, 2019, 16 Row 30 in, Frame: Flex Fold, Metering System: Plate, Hopper: Central Fill System Row Command, Electric Drive, #174754 ........................$149,500 5 JD DB44, 2013, 24 Row 22 in, Frame: Flex Fold, Metering System: Vacuum, Hopper: Central Fill System Row Command, #179347 ...................................................$159,900 5 JD 1775NT, 2021, 16 Row 30 in, Frame: Flex Fold, Metering System: Exact Emerge, Hopper: Central Fill System Row Command, Electric Drive, #174940 .............................$199,500

16 JD DB66, 2017, 36 Row 22 in, Frame: Wing Fold, Metering System: Exact Emerge, Hopper: Central Fill System Row Command, Electric Drive, #175194 .............................$349,500 PLANTERS: INTEGRAL 5 JD 7300, 1989, 12 Row 30 in, Frame: Wing Fold, Metering System: Vacuum, Hopper: 1.6 Bushel, #180958 ............................................................................................ $9,000 3 JD 7300, 1992, 12 Row 30 in, Frame: Wing Fold, Metering System: Vacuum, Hopper: 1.6 Bushel, #175563 ..........................................................................................$11,900 15 JD 1710, 24 Row 22 in, Frame: Wing Fold, Metering System: Vacuum, Hopper: 3.0 Bushel, #168140 ..........................................................................................$19,900 PULL-TYPE SPRAYERS 4 Hardi NP1100, 2003, #180960 ........................................................................................ $8,500 1 Hardi NAV550, 2005, #179504 ......................................................................................$10,400 17 Top Air TA1200, 2005, #180618 ....................................................................................$12,500 14 Redball 132’ walking tandems, #176938 ..................................................................$14,900 10 Hardi NAVIGATOR 1000, 2007, #169543 ......................................................................$15,000 16 Hardi Navigator 4000, #180889 ..................................................................................$15,000 5 Hardi Commander Plus 1200, 2002, #181150 ............................................................$17,500 7 Fast 9508, 2008, #169075 .............................................................................................$23,900 3 Hardi Navigator 4000, 2013, #179001 ........................................................................$24,000 15 Top Air TA1600, 2015, #177863 ....................................................................................$38,400 3 Top Air TA2400, 2011, #179435 ....................................................................................$44,900 ROUND BALERS 2 NH 664, 1998, Pickup: Regular, Twine Only, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 5 Feet #171161 ............................................................................................................................ $4,950 11 NH BR780, 2003, Pickup: Regular, Twine Only, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, Bale Count, #169873 ......................................................................................................... $9,900 6 JD 567, 2002, Pickup: Mega Wide, Twine Only, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 8312 Bale Count, #179041...............................................................................................$13,400 11 JD 468 Silage Special, 2011, Pickup: Mega Wide, Twine Only, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 4 Feet,15000 Bale Count, #180946 ...........................................................$16,900 4 NH Rollbelt 450, 2011, Pickup: Regular, Twine Only, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 4 Feet,1200 Bale Count, #173712 .............................................................$17,000 6 NH Rollbelt 460, 2015, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 4 Feet, 9000 Bale Count, #178946............................................................$20,900 10 JD 569, 2013, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 19368 Bale Count, #177245 ..........................................................$21,500 2 NH BR7060, 2011, Pickup: Mega Wide, Surface Wrap Only, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 4 Feet, Precut Knives, 7300 Bale Count, #169262 .....................................$23,900 12 JD 469, 2015, Pickup: Mega Wide, Twine Only, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 4 Feet, 8060 Bale Count, #175511...............................................................................................$23,900 5 JD 568, 2008, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet,13500 Bale Count, #176786 ...........................................................$23,900 17 JD 569, 2014, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet,15560 Bale Count, #179194...........................................................$25,900 4 JD 459, 2014, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 4 Feet, 3600 Bale Count, #177752 ............................................................$29,400

6 JD 569 Silage Special, 2013, Pickup: Mega Wide, Surface Wrap Only, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 9,540 Bale Count, #177861...........................................................$29,400 5 JD 569, 2013, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet,18000 Bale Count, #172972 ...........................................................$30,900 10 JD 569, 2016, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 9,800 Bale Count, #181002 ...........................................................$31,400 6 Claas 480RC, 2017, Pickup: Mega Wide, Surface Wrap Only, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 4 Feet, Precut Knives, 5165 Bale Count, #179187 .....................................$31,500 6 JD 459 Silage Special, 2017, Pickup: Mega Wide, Surface Wrap Only, Width of Bale: 4 Feet, 3800 Bale Count, #177855 ............................................................$35,900 2 JD 569, 2012, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 3,300 Bale Count, #173254 ...........................................................$38,400 10 JD 569 Silage Special, 2015, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 3300 Bale Count, #178210.............................................$41,500 10 JD 560M, 2018, Pickup: Mega Wide, Surface Wrap Only, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 7600 Bale Count, #181057 ............................................................$41,500 6 JD 560M, 2019, Pickup: Mega Wide, Surface Wrap Only, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet,7200 Bale Count, #179188 .............................................................$42,400 6 JD 569, 2016, Pickup: Mega Wide, Surface Wrap Only, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 5085 Bale Count, #180947 ............................................................$42,400 6 JD 460M, 2018, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 4 Feet, Precut Knives, 6400 Bale Count, #164359 .....................................$43,900 4 JD 560M, 2019, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 2100 Bale Count, #179000 ............................................................$45,500 UTILITY TRACTORS 4 JD 5045E, 2019, Configuration: Standard, Syncro, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540, Tire Width: Wide, 75 hrs., #177181 ..................................................................................$23,900 4 JD 5075M, 2019, Configuration: Standard, Power Reverser, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Mid, 100 hrs., #177178 .................................................$42,900 11 JD 5075M, 2019, Configuration: Standard, Power Reverser, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Mid, 103 hrs., #156813 .................................................$42,900 9 Case IH Farmall 75C, 2019, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Syncro, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, 415 hrs., #179865...........................................................................$45,900 4 JD 5090E, 2019, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Power Reverser, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540, 291 hrs., #155536 ....................................................................................$52,900 12 JD 5090E, 2019, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Power Reverser, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540, 60 hrs., #155533 ......................................................................................$59,500 12 JD 5075M/Loader, 2019, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 1000, 540/1000, 147 hrs.,#156690......................................................$71,900 16 JD 5090M, 2019, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Power Reverser, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, 227 hrs., #156691...........................................................................$73,900 15 JD 6120E, 2019, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, 200 hrs., #160857...........................................................................$74,900 4 JD 6120E, 2019, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Power Reverser, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, 283 hrs., #160865...........................................................................$78,900 4 JD 6105E, 2020, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Power Reverser, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, 114 hrs., #165343...........................................................................$78,900

Visit one of our 17 locations in Central Minnesota! CALL (7) = ALEXANDRIA (9) = PRINCETON (12) = AITKIN (4) = ST. CLOUD (1) = GLENCOE 4561 Hwy. 212

1035 35th Ave. NE

(2) = HOWARD LAKE (5) = GLENWOOD 5845 Keats Ave. SW

1710 N. Franklin

(3) = STEWART

(6) = SAUK CENTRE

78412 Co. Rd. 20

1140 Centre St.

320-763-4220 5005 Co. Rd. 82 SE

3708 Baptist Church Rd.

(8) = PAYNESVILLE

16069 Hwy. 27 E.

725 Lake Ave. S.

1120 2nd St. NW

(10) = LITTLE FALLS (13) = BAXTER (11) = WADENA 62505 US Hwy. 10

7045 Foley Rd.

TODAY! (320)365-1653 (14) = ELBOW LAKE

(16) = BENSON

(15) = MORRIS

(17) = MADISON

110 2nd St. NE

23604 State Hwy. 9

380 Atlantic Ave. 516 1st St. E

SEE OUR COMPLETE INVENTORY WITH PICTURES AND DESCRIPTIONS AT: www.mmcjd.com

Page 22 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021

ConƟnued from PRODUCTION | Page 20 What is your ration and have you made recent changes that have helped with production? Lambrecht: The ration is made up of corn silage, haylage, high moisture corn and is balanced out with a custom protein mix. Knisley: I feed baleage, corn silage, a protein and dry corn. Having a good nutritionist is a lot of it. You have to have someone to work with. If you have any changes in feed, they help get it tested and adjust the ration accordingly. Seifert: The forage portion is typically comprised of roughly 75% corn silage and 25% haylage, but those numbers can be inverted based on inventory we have on hand. Currently, we are running a 55% forage ration; however, we have ran as high as 68% forage in the past. We typically are able to make ve cuttings of alfalfa per year, with a target RFV of 185 at 60-65% moisture cut at 1 inch theoretical chop length. Corn silage we aim for 68-70% moisture also 7/8 to 1 inch tcl. All of this is stored via drive over pile on a dirt base. We had a hard time hitting these targets throughout the entirety of the forage making season. The weather, being drier this year, helped us regain control of our harvest timing. Burfeind: The ration consists of BMR corn silage, Roundup Ready alfalfa, Italian rye grass, soybean meal and mineral. The change to BMR corn silage and adding Italian rye grass have been the most recent changes. When we added Italian rye grass three years ago, we wanted to grow more of our forage. We added BMR corn silage to try to get more milk from the cows. Since we only have to grow corn for our milking herd, it was easy to switch our corn.

Start planning for tomorrow, today. 0

% FINANCING FOR UP

72 MONTHS*

3 MONTH DEFERRAL ON CONTRACTS UP TO 60 MONTHS*

SCAN ME

www.delaval.com

Contact one of the following dealers to learn more: IOWA Kramer Bros. Monticello, IA 319-465-5931 Prairie Land Ag Supply Inc. Rock Valley, IA 712-476-9290 United Dairy Systems, Inc. West Union, IA 563-422-5355 WISCONSIN Advanced Dairy/Bob’s Dairy Supply Spring Valley, WI 715-772-3201 Ederer Dairy Supply Plain, WI 608-546-3713

DeLaval Dairy Service Kaukauna, WI 866-335-2825 Joe’s Refrigeration Inc. Withee, WI 715-229-2321 Mlsna Dairy Supply Inc. Cashton, WI 608-654-5106 Professional Dairy Services Arlington, WI 608-635-0267 Redeker Dairy Equipment Brandon, WI 920-346-5579 The Scharine Group Inc. Whitewater, WI 800 472-2880 Mt Horeb, WI 800-872-3470

MINNESOTA & SOUTH DAKOTA D&D Ag Supply Pennock, MN 320-599-4466 East Central Dairy Supply Mora, MN 320-679-1029 Farm Systems Melrose, MN 320-256-3276 Watertown, SD 605-886-7401 Sioux Falls, SD 800-284-0015 S&S Dairy System LLC St. Charles, MN 507-932-4288 Professional Dairy Systems Wadena, MN 218-632-5416

*0% interest for up to 72 months, DeLaval equipment only and restrictions may apply, on approved credit and minimum deal amount of $25,000 is required to qualify. Lease option may include a residual to be paid in order to obtain full ownership at the end of the term. Subject to special conditions’ that may cease at any time. Accrued interest invoices are capped at 4 months, effective Jan 1st 2021. is a registered trademark of Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A. and “DeLaval” is a registered trade/servicemark of DeLaval Holding AB © 2021 DeLaval Inc. DeLaval, 11100 North Congress Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri 64153-1296. www.delaval.com

What is the best advice you have been given that has helped you manage your herd? Lambrecht: I would say the best advice has two points: Make sure we have enough high-quality fermented forage on hand; and staff enough people to ll all the labor needs on the farm. This ultimately attributes to good quality and increased milk production. Knisley: Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about management and the importance of being on time, doing the same things every time and doing it yourself. Just because you have cows in the barn doesn’t make you a dairyman. You have to spend time with them. Seifert: Get an education in dairy rst. Without the mentorship of instructors like Brandt Groen, I couldn’t have made it even half as far as I have. As I’ve told other young people, you have to know the rules, so to speak, so you know when you are breaking them and what to go back to when you’re not getting away with breaking them. Having your learning curve shortened and rened prior to having a major nancial stake in things can be huge in today’s dairy market environment. Burfeind: Lactation starts at dry off. That is a something that has stuck with me. Even when the cows are not milking, they need to be well taken care of. Tell us about your farm and your goals for your dairy this year. Lambrecht: We are the fth generation of Lambrechts on this farm. My wife, Karen, and I have three grown children and two granddaughters: our daughter, Becca, and her husband, Cody Pelowski, along with their daughter, Amelia; our daughter, Makayla, and her husband, Tylor Morlock, along with their daughter, Hayden; and our son, Michael, and his special friend, Jen Wolf. We farm 850 acres and milk 100 Holstein cows and raise about 120 replacement heifers. Our bull calves are sold shortly after they are born. Knisley: I rent the farm site. I milk 54 cows in 53-stall tiestall barn. I buy all of my feed from the farm I rent. My goal for the next year is to maintain and hope things get better, and to take the good with the bad. I want to keep the cows rolling and do what I can within my control. Seifert: I farm in loose partnership with my dad, which is essentially two separate herds in one facility. I have a little over 200 milking. My dad, Steve, has around 100 milking. This year’s main goal is to keep the ball rolling on all of those improved fronts. I know there is plenty of upside potential if we do. Burfeind: My wife, Sheila, and I farm together with my parents, Dave and Janet, on my family’s dairy. Our herdsman, Bo Dankers, has helped us make these changes over the last few years to increase production. We milk twice a day and our heifers are raised off-site starting at 6 months old. Goals for the farm for the year include maintaining production, working on better reproduction and continuing to produce quality forages.

Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021 • Page 23

On-the-job learning Anderson begins dairy career while nishing school By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com

SPRING VALLEY, Wis. – When he graduated from high school, Ben Anderson did not plan to become a dairy farmer. “When I nished high school, I was more interested in a possible career as a nutritionist or working in the genetics eld,” Anderson said. Anderson grew up on his family’s dairy farm near Spring Valley as the fourth generation of his family on the farm. His father sold the milking herd in 2019. At that time, Anderson attended Chippewa Valley Technical College to study animal science management. After his father sold the milking herd, Anderson worked on various neighboring dairy farms and began to think about the possibility of becoming a dairy farmer himself. “I kept a few heifers from our herd and had them housed around the county as they calved,” Anderson said. “Last fall I had seven in the barn with no place to take them. I decided I either needed to sell them or have enough in the barn to keep the water from freezing.” The quandary for Anderson was in the timing. He was still attending classes at CVTC, which could complicate the launch of his dairy farming career. “I did not really want to start up while I was in school,” Anderson said. “I was worried about balancing the cows, chores and school.”

DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

Ben Anderson milks 22 cows near Spring Valley, Wisconsin. Anderson is trying his hand at dairy farming while also compleƟng an animal science degree at Chippewa Valley Technical College. Despite the poor timing, Anderson began gathering the heifers housed at other farms. The week before Christmas, he started shipping milk with 14 from his dad’s original herd and pur-

chased another seven from other herds. Today, he is milking 22 head at his family’s farm. While some days are long, Anderson said managing both school and his

dairy herd is working out better than he expected. “With COVID-19, I only need to be Turn to ANDERSON | Page 25

Chippewa Farm Service

LLC

Customer Appreciation Days

Open House

Wednesday, April 7th & Thursday, April 8th Custom Àt to your new or existing building Motorized or Manual Options Highest UV inhibitor and lock stitch style sewing for longer curtain life Get the full value of air quality control curtains at the touch of a button

7 a.m. - 4 p.m.

minutes

Lunch at 11:00 both days

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS!

Come enjoy lunch and see what we have to offer for 2021!

There will also be open house discounts on all new equipment and 10% off on all parts paid for that day (ordered or carryout)!!

www.chippewafarmservice.com 715-382-5400 16570 Co Hwy O • Chippewa Falls, WI 54729

Page 24 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021

CONSISTENT PERFORMANCE WHEN BEDDING OR FEEDING

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Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021 • Page 25

ConƟnued from ANDERSON | Page 23 on campus one day a week for labs; the rest of my classes are online, and you work on your own time to complete the assignments,” said Anderson, who will graduate from the program this spring. “I gure I spend about 10 to 15 hours a week on schoolwork.” Anderson is grateful for the help he has from his father, and credits his dad for allowing him to juggle everything he needs to. “My dad’s job is exible, and he is able to help me with chores when I need to be on campus,” Anderson said. “In return, I help him with the crops and with his beef herd. And my whole family chipped in and helped during the cold weather in February. That was a huge help.” Anderson also credits his parents with getting him started by helping keep his overhead low. “My parents are not charging me rent for the barn,” Anderson said. “My dad is just happy it is being used and not sitting empty. I pay my portion of the electric bill, and I buy all my feed from my dad. That has been a big help too.”

“I never liked milking before, but it’s diﬀerent now that it is my own.” BEN ANDERSON, DAIRY FARMER

Besides his busy schedule, Anderson has faced a few other challenges during his early days milking his own herd. Finding a milk market was a bit of a challenge, but he nally found a home for his milk with Dairy Farmers of America. “The other area creameries put me on their waiting lists, but for the time being I’ve been pretty happy with DFA,” Anderson said. Most of Anderson’s herd consists of rst-lactation heifers, which created more challenges. “I would like to be shipping more milk right now, but with mostly rst-calf heifers, and many of them are getting to be later lactation, they are doing alright, I guess,” Anderson said. “I am also short of replace-

ment heifers to start calving in as these girls go dry.” If things go well for his rst year, Anderson hopes to slowly increase his herd to ll the 42-stall barn; however, for the time being, he plans to continue milking at his current herd size. “I did struggle during the cold snap in February, keeping the barn warm enough to keep things running,” Anderson said. “I kept a bullet heater running whenever I was here in the barn to help create warmth. I also kept the barn shut up as tight as possible. The air quality lacked a bit, but I did what I felt I had to do.” Anderson has developed some goals to work toward as he continues his foray into the dairy industry. In addition to slowly growing his herd and his production levels, he would like to have an Excellent cow call his barn home. “Right now, I am focusing a lot on health traits in my sire selection,” Anderson said. “I also put a lot of emphasis on udder composite and net merit.” During his time at CVTC, Anderson has learned to breed cows himself. He works with an A.I. technician to ensure his cows are getting bred. He uses conventional semen on most of his cows for the rst three or four services, and then uses beef semen. Between growing up on his family’s farm, working on other dairy farms and his schooling, Anderson said he has gained knowledge of animal health and has learned to take care of many things himself. He largely reserves visits from the veterinarian for herd health or more complex emergencies. In addition to his dad, Anderson considers himself lucky to count some of his former employers as mentors as he establishes himself, including Mark and Brett Anderson; and Mike Raleigh. He also credits fellow young dairy farmer Mitch Thompson as being a motivational role model. “I never liked milking before, but it’s different now that it is my own,” Anderson said. “I’m not sure what the future holds, but I decided this was something I wanted to at least try. I thought it was a good idea to try while I was young with not a lot of personal or nancial responsibilities.”

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Updating records, program signup information Page 26 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021

By Steve Frericks

County Executive Director Stearns County FSA Oﬃce

Producers are gearing up and preparing for spring planting just a few weeks away. The Farm Service Agency is gearing up for the spring season with the many programs we administer. You can help us by ensuring your paperwork is current and up to date. Farm records updates Many producers make the mistake of thinking land records at the county courthouse are provided to FSA for your farming operations. This is not the case. FSA is cleaning up our producer record database and needs your help. Please report any changes of address, zip code, phone number, email address or an incorrect name or business name on le to our ofce. You should also report changes in your farm operation, like the addition of a farm by lease or purchase. You should also report any changes

to your operation in which you reorganize to form a trust, LLC or other legal entity. FSA and Natural Resources Conservation Service program participants are required to promptly report changes in their farming operation to the county committee in writing and to update their Farm Operating Plan on form CCC-902. To update your records, contact your county United States Department of Agriculture Service Center. USDA extends general signup for Conservation Reserve Program The USDA is extending the Conservation Reserve Program general signup period, which had previously been announced as ending Feb. 12. USDA will continue to accept offers as it takes this opportunity for the incoming administration to evaluate ways to increase enrollment. Under the previous administration, incentives and rental payment rates were reduced resulting in an enrollment shortfall of over 4 million acres. The program, administered by FSA, provides annual rental payments for

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10 to 15 years for land devoted to conservation purposes, as well as other types of payments. Before the general signup period ends, producers will have the opportunity to adjust or resubmit their offers to take advantage of planned improvements to the program. This signup for CRP gives producers an opportunity to enroll land for the rst time or re-enroll land under existing contracts that will be expiring Sept. 30. All interested producers, including those on Indian reservations and with trust lands, are encouraged to contact a Service Center for more information.

Applying for a Farm Storage Facility Loan The FSA Farm Storage Facility Loan program provides low-interest nancing to help you build or upgrade storage facilities and to purchase portable (new or used) structures, equipment and storage and handling trucks. Farm Storage Facility Loan program interest rates: – Three year 0.25% – Five year 0.50% – Seven year 0.875% – Ten year 1.125% – Twelve year 1.375% Eligible commodities include corn, grain sorghum, rice, soybean, oat, peanut, wheat, barley, minor oilseeds harvested as whole grain, pulse crops (lentil, chickpea and dry pea), hay, honey, renewable biomass, fruits, nuts and vegetables for cold storage facilities, oriculture, hop, maple sap, rye, milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, meat and poultry (unprocessed), egg and aquaculture (excluding systems that maintain live animals through uptake and discharge of water). Qualied facilities include grain bins, hay barns and cold storage facilities for eligible commodities. Loans up to $50,000 can be secured by a promissory note/security agreement. Loans between $50,000 and $100,000 may require additional security, and loans exceeding $100,000 require additional security. You do not need to demonstrate the lack of commercial credit availability to apply. The loans are designed to assist a diverse range of farming operations, including small and mid-sized businesses, new farmers, operations supplying local food and farmers markets, non-traditional farm products and underserved producers. For more information, contact a Service Center or visit fsa.usda.gov/ pricesupport. USDA offers targeted farm loan funding for underserved groups, beginning farmers FSA offers targeted farm ownership and farm operating loans to assist underserved applicants and beginning farmers and ranchers. USDA denes underserved applicants as a group whose members have been subjected to racial, ethnic or gender prejudice because of their identity as members of the group without regard to their individual qualities. For farm loan program purposes, targeted underserved groups are women, African Americans, American Indians and Alaskan Natives, Hispanics and Asians and Pacic Islanders. Underserved or beginning farmers and ranchers who cannot obtain commercial credit from a bank can apply for either FSA direct loans or guaranteed loans. Direct loans are made to applicants by FSA. Guaranteed loans are made by lending institutions who arrange for FSA to guarantee the loan. FSA can guarantee up to 95% of the loss of principal and interest on a loan. The FSA guarantee allows lenders to make agricultural credit available to producers who do not meet the lender’s normal underwriting criteria. The direct and guaranteed loan program provides for two types of loans: farm ownership loans and farm operating loans. In addition to customary farm operating and ownership loans, FSA offers microloans through the direct loan program. Microloans focus on the nancing needs of small, beginning farmers, niche and nontraditional farm operations. Microloans are available for both ownership and operating nance needs. To learn more about microloans, visit fsa.usda.gov/microloans. To qualify as a beginning producer, the individual or entity must meet the eligibility requirements outlined for direct or guaranteed loans. Individuals and all entity members must have operated a farm for less than 10 years. Applicants must materially or substantially participate in the operation. For more information on FSA’s farm loan programs and targeted underserved and beginning farmer guidelines, contact a Service Center or visit fsa.usda.gov/farmloans. The staff at FSA wishes you a safe and productive spring planting season. Farm Service Agency is an Equal Opportunity Lender. Complaints about discrimination should be sent to: Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250. Visit the Farm Service Agency Web site at: www.fsa.usda.gov/ for necessary application forms and updates on USDA programs.

We are too efcient As farmers, we are all very good at what we do. We are experts in the art of milking cows and growing crops to feed our cows. I often mention, on our farm tours, that today’s dairy farmers are not milking old world cows. Grandpa and Grandma’s cows were improved with every new generation. Dairy farmers have the best animals with better genetics than ever before. And with that, we all have By Tina Hinchley more milk in our bulk Farmer & Columnist tanks. That sounds great, something to cheer for, except it is not. Oversupply of milk is driving milk prices down for every dairy farmer. The coronavirus pandemic has opened many eyes in the dairy industry. With the closing of restaurants, universities and schools, our dairy products had nowhere to go. Cheese is a huge part of Wisconsin milk processing. The many companies had to reinvent products that were going out of the cheese factories wholesale. The cheese needed new packaging, products and consumers to pick it up at the grocery store. It took a while for that to happen, and a lot of milk was disposed of. That is a nice way to say milk got dumped into our manure pits. When I explain this to visitors who come to our farm, they cannot imagine how painful it is for dairy farmers to see milk being thrown away. I can encourage every single person to drink more milk,

Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021 • Page 27

price, more farmers will plant more corn this spring. Meanwhile, corn and soybeans are tight in supply. With this high price, it leaves even less prot margins for dairy families. Next fall, the surplus supply of corn will drop the price back down to below breakeven for all of us. It’s an up and down rollercoaster, but we’ve had more down years then up lately. My husband, Duane, got his rst milk check in 1980 at $14.86 per hundredweight. We received our recent milk check at $14.80. Over 40 years of dairy farming and we were paid the same amount. Except back then, he was milking 50 cows, and today we are milking 240 cows. There is a dairy crisis going on in the United States, and it has to do with extra milk with no place to go. As I read through the last Dairy Star, I noticed many comments on farmers speaking in favor of controlling our dairy supply. They are interested in nding a

way to stabilize our markets with mechanisms that will help every farmer get more money for the milk their cows are producing. We work too hard every day. We all need to work to nd solutions to make a comfortable living. If you are able, reach out to your local farm organization, be it Farmers Union or Farm Bureau. Dairy committees are trying to organize options available to help dairy farmers. This oversupply issue will require help from the legislature. Our representatives will need to hear our concerns. We need our voices to be heard. We are serious about the problem of overproduction in our dairy industry. Tina Hinchley, and her husband, Duane, daughter Anna, milk 240 registered Holsteins with robots. They also farm 2300 acres of crops near Cambridge, Wisconsin. The Hinchley’s have been hosting farm tour for over 25 years.

W cannot eat or d We drink i k our way out of the surplus milk we are creating. eat more cheese and have two scoops of ice cream to keep the cows in Wisconsin milking, but that is not realistic. We cannot eat or drink our way out of the surplus milk we are creating. Farmers are so efcient and productive that it isn’t just dairy that has a hard time controlling our production; it is all commodities. Corn, soybean, you name whatever we can grow. When farmers go to work, they do the best they can, and they increase production. More corn will mean more money. More money will help pay off debts on the loans we all have. The example I used on my tour: The corn price is over $5 per bushel, and any farmers who have corn in storage are making good money. All farmers are watching the markets and everyone wants to make more money. I can be certain that with the higher

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Page 28 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021

Auburndale Ayrshire named breed’s Wisconsin Cow of the Year

Former all-American honored with award By Stacey Smart

stacey.s@dairystar.com

AUBURNDALE, Wis. – Each year for more than 25 years, the Wisconsin Ayrshire Breeders’ Association has recognized one of Wisconsin’s top registered Ayrshire cows that exceeds expectations in production, type and genetic merit. This year, a 7-year-old Ayrshire from the Auburndale area captured the title of Wisconsin Cow of the Year. Cici’s Dozer Carley EX-90,

owned by Hunter and Peyton Offer and Carley and Charlie Richards, won the 2020 Wisconsin Cow of the Year award at the Wisconsin Ayrshire Breeders’ Association’s annual meeting March 6 in Plover. Carley is owned in partnership by the Offer children, sons of John and Shauna Offer of Auburndale, and the Richards children, who are the daughter and son of Chris and Janice Richards of Linden. She is housed at the Offers’ Foggy Valley Farm near Auburndale. “My boys were pretty surprised when Carley’s name was announced as winner of Cow of the Year,” John Offer said. “They didn’t know we had sent in her application.” The two families purchased

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Cici’s Dozer Carley EX-90 is the Ayrshire breed’s 2020 Wisconsin Cow of the Year. Carley is a former All-American owned in partnership by the Oﬀer family of Auburndale, Wisconsin, and the Richards family of Linden, Wisconsin.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Sara Schneider presents the owners of Cici’s Dozer Carley – (front, from le�) Peyton and Hunter Oﬀer; and (back, right) Charlie Richards – the 2020 Wisconsin Cow of the Year award at the Wisconsin Ayrshire Breeders’ Associa�on’s annual meeting March 6 in Plover, Wisconsin. Not pictured is part-owner Carley Richards.

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Carley’s dam, Covey-P&A Modesto CiCi VG-87, as a heifer at the 2011 Wisconsin state sale. “We put her in the kids’ names, and her rst daughter was Carley,” Offer said. Hunter, 11, and Peyton, 10, named the cow after Carley Richards, who is a nurse at Vanderbilt in Nashville and will start the nurse practitioner program at Ohio State in August. Charlie is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. When Hunter was 4, he showed Carley at the Marsheld Fair. She would go on to compete in state and national shows placing at the top of her class with Charlie at the halter. As a summer yearling, Carley was named reserve ju-

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nior all-American and honorable mention all-American. She took home junior all-Wisconsin honors three times in her show career and was reserve grand champion of the Wisconsin state show as a junior 2-year-old. “We haven’t shown Carley in a few years, but she did well at shows as a heifer and younger cow,” Offer said. Carley passed her success in the showring onto her offspring. Her daughter, Carley’s Dreamer Cocoa, who scored VG-87 as a 2-year-old, was reserve junior all-American and nominated all-American in 2019 as a fall yearling. “Carley has several other daughters that we will probably show this year too,” Offer said. Carley is sired by Family-

Af-Ayr Reno Dozer. Her dam was junior all-Wisconsin summer yearling in 2011, and in 2019, she won a Wisconsin production award for cows aged 8 to 10 years old. Carley also won a production award for cows 5 years old and over that same year. Born June 2013, Carley is nearing her eighth birthday and breeds back easy, according to Offer. “We bred her to sexed semen this time and she stuck the rst try,” Offer said. “That’s great for an older cow.” Offer said Carley is the complete package – producing solid milk records and excelling in type. “She’s an all-around good cow,” he said.

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Cow visit characteristics, milk production on robotic farms

The number of dairy farms using robotic milking systems in the United States is growing relatively rapidly. These systems can automatically complete all necessary milking-related tasks performed by human labor in conventional milking systems, including cow preparation, milking machine attachment and post-milk teat disinfection, in a consistent manner. One advantage of RMS is the information collected on each cow by the robot software each time a cow enters the robot box or stall. My Ph.D. student Mateus Peiter and I, in collaboration with Jim Salfer, conducted an investigation on the relationship between cow robot visit variables and milk production in RMS herds located in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The RMS pen is usually designed for one of two cow trafc ow systems: free ow, where the cows have unrestricted By Marcia Endres access to all areas of the pen, including the RMS; or guided University of MN ow, in which the cows need to go through pre-selection gates to access different areas of the pen. There are two main types of a guided ow system, referred to as milk-rst and feed-rst. In the milk-rst system, which is now the preferred option in the U.S., cows leaving the resting area must pass through a pre-selection gate that determines if they are eligible for milking. If a cow meets the requirement to be milked, she is guided to a commitment pen that contains the robot box. The commitment pen is a gated area next to the box that cows eligible for milking cannot leave until they are milked. If the cow is not eligible for milking, she is allowed to enter the feed bunk area and can only re-enter the resting area through a one-way gate. Pre-selection gates can also be installed in crossovers away from the robot box and open only for cows not eligible for milking. The choice of trafc ow type is generally driven by management preferences of the producer. Data per cow per visit (successful milkings and failures only) included the following variables: cow identication, days in milk, date and time of visit, milking interval, box time, average milking speed, milking time, pre-treatment time, connection time, dead milk time and post-treatment time. Daily data per cow included: total milk production, average milk fat percentage, average milk protein percentage, total successful milkings, total refusals, total failures, total concentrate allowed, total concentrate intake and total residual concentrate. Milking interval was the time between visits with milking permission – successful milking or failure. Box time was the total time spent in the robot box per visit. A failure was recorded when the cow had an incomplete milking, i.e., the milking units failed to attach or the milking was not carried to completion. Reasons for failures included: automatic robot stop, connection attempts, connection time, dead milk time, teats not found and stopped by user. Cows were refused by the robot when they had not reached the minimum milking interval time established by the milking permission settings for each cow. Refusals were not used for guided ow farms as cows are pre-selected for milking by the selection gate. We found a positive association between concentrate intake in the RMS box and milk production which was consistent with previous studies. An estimate of 0.88 pounds greater fat-protein-corrected milk yield for each pound of additional concentrate intake was observed on free ow Lely farms. Concentrate intake had the greatest association with daily milk production on farms with the DeLaval system, which was 16.8 pounds greater milk yield for each extra pound of concentrate intake. However, farms with a guided ow system usually do not provide much concentrate in the RMS box because cows are guided by the selection gate. Milking speed had a positive association with milk production for both brands, which again has been shown previously. On farms with the Lely system, each extra pound milked per minute was associated with 10.2 pounds greater daily milk yield, whereas on farms with the DeLaval system, this estimate was 10.6 pounds. We suggest that cows with a high milking speed at their optimum milking interval (based on milking permissions) would be preferred We ffound W d a positive i i association i i when trying to select for efciency on RMS farms. Other between average pre-treatment variables that showed a relatime and milk yield. tionship with milk production were milking time, milking interval and refusals. Now, some ndings on variables not commonly investigated. We found a positive association between average pre-treatment time and milk yield. Longer pre-treatment time could contribute to improved udder health and increased stimulation time, which might explain the relationship we found. The average time the RMS takes to attach the milking units is called connection time, where longer times could mean that the technology is having difculties identifying the teats to make the cluster attachment. In our study, connection time had a negative relationship with daily milk yield. Dead milk time is the time between milking unit attachment and the start of milk ow while the vacuum is on. Each additional second spent with dead milk was associated with a decrease of 0.24 pounds in daily milk yield. Lely’s recommendation is for dead milk time to be under 12 seconds per milking; long periods with vacuum on without milk ow may damage the teats. The last procedure performed by the RMS before releasing the cow is the post-treatment, which would correspond to post-dipping on conventional milking systems. Similar to the results found for pre-treatment time, each second increase in post-treatment time was associated with a 0.33 pounds greater milk yield. It is possible that farms with greater post-treatment times had cows with improved udder health, leading to increased milk production. We suggest additional research is needed to better understand the relationships between milking preparation procedures and milk production on farms using RMS.

Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021 • Page 29

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Let there be pie Page 30 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021

The crocuses and daffodils are popping up on the south side of the farmhouse, offering a touch of color to the otherwise brown world outside. The bunker wall is lined with dandelion greens, promising to be the rst spots to have yellow heads waving in the breeze. The freestall curtains are lifted when the sun is out, giving the cows a view of the outside world and a breath of fresh air. The time change has gifted us with more hours to toil away in the sunlight. This means now I’m in the barn when the sun sets and it looks as though everything is bathed in gold. Aside from a good sunrise, this is my favorite time of the day in the barn. Sometimes it feels like the cows even take a moment to chew their cud slower and appreciate the beauty that far too many times we let pass unnoticed. The weeklong forecast tells us to expect spring rains daily. It becomes a chore to trudge to the barn in a downpour, no doubt about it. However, the speed at which the grass and plants suck up the moisture and change colors is a joy to observe.

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We are focusing on some spring projects in the barns to get done before the elds are in need of attention. Peter is cleverly planning a pen renovation while the kids are off on spring break. As they say, “Many hands make light work.” It will give all the boys something to do, not to mention they will feel good about the obvious improvements they make to the herd’s living conditions. We are hoping to convert a catch-all area on the farm to a bike shop area for this wild bike-loving crew of kids. A place for them to keep track of their own tools, instead of leaving Peter’s tools scattered all over the place. All this work is sure to create some hearty appetites, so I’m already mentally planning meals for next week. Cora spied Grandpa’s Easter egg stash and has been asking nonstop about when it’s time to hide them again. Kids – they have memories like elephants when it comes to fun activities like that. I wish their memory was as quick for things like shutting the door to the

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Raisin Custard Pie Filling: 1/2 cup sugar 3 tablespoon cornstarch 2 cups milk 3 egg yolks 2 teaspoon lemon juice 1/2 cup raisins 1 pastry shell (9 inches) baked Meringue: 3 egg whites 1/4 cup sugar In a saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch, add milk until smooth. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until thick and bubbly. Reduce heat, continue stirring for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir a small amount of hot lling into yolks. Return all to pan. Bring to a gentle boil. Cook and stir for two minutes more. Remove from heat. Add lemon juice and raisins. Pour into pastry shell. For meringue, beat egg whites in small bowl until foamy. Gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff and glossy. Spread over hot lling, sealing edges to crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until meringue peaks are golden brown. Cool on wire rack for 1 hour. Serve warm or cold. Store in refrigerator. Jacqui and her family milk 800 cows and run 1,200 acres of crops in the northeastern corner of Vernon County, Wisconsin. Her children, Ira (14), Dane (12), Henry (7) and Cora (4), help her on the farm while her husband, Keith, works on a grain farm. If she’s not in the barn, she’s probably in the kitchen, trailing after little ones, or sharing her passion of reading with someone. Her life is best described as organized chaos – and if it wasn’t, she’d be bored.

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chicken coop. Easter is right around the corner, and my mouth salivates with the tasty dishes I think of for Easter dinner. So, I turn on some of my favorite springtime music, “Orinoco Flow” by the Celtic Women, and Ramblings from the Ridge get to work on my meal planning. I’m hoping I can convince the masses that a pork or beef tenderloin would be more exciting than ham this year. It bafes me how routine we are with our holiday meals, and the idea of change is preposterous. I’m guilty of it as well; I only make certain dishes By Jacqui Davison for each. Easter needs Columnist bacon wrapped asparagus made by Lynzie, Jell-O with bananas smothered in Cool Whip, a salad of fresh greens and all sorts of things by Stacy, made-fromscratch crescent rolls and buns, mashed potatoes with cottage cheese and French onion dip, and then – where my tendency to go overboard emerges – pies. Ice cream pies, fruity pies, cream pies, meringue pies, cheesecakes. You can’t go wrong with pie. I have many an eager taste-tester, and a winning pie recipe is decided by how long it takes to eat. If it’s super tasty, it may even get hidden in the back of the refrigerator in hopes that no one takes that treasured last piece. (I may be guilty of this.) The sheer act of rolling out piecrusts made with my home-rendered lard is a calming one for me. And I love the challenge of making a good meringue, which often leads me to think I should make just one more pie. Leftover potatoes may get forgotten in the fridge, but pie never goes to the chickens. There is always someone that needs pie. My Taste of Home Best of Country Pies cookbook is one of my favorites. What follows is a recipe I tried this winter, it was a winner (for the raisin lovers) that will grace our Easter table. Happy Easter to you!

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Ration balancing has changed Dairy cow ration balancing has become much more precise in the last 15 years with advances in nutrition research, ration formulation models and feed analysis methodologies. Once common terminology like crude protein and net energy of lactation are giving way to acids, ruminal Something to Ruminate On amino neutral detergent ber, starch digestibility and specic fatty acids.

it is often a key nutrient to maximize production. Some nutrition models now rely on the rate of starch digestibility (starch kd) or seven-hour in vitro starch degradability measured by commercial labs to predict the rate and extent of starch digestion. Physical and chemical factors that affect starch digestibility include type of endosperm, particle size, kernel processing, storage method, moisture content and length of fermentation.

Essential amino acids Dairy cows do not have CP requirements; they have amino acid requirements. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Research and eld experience have By Barry Visser con rmed that when Nutritionist cows absorb essential AA in a prole that closely resembles the prole their bodies require, total essential AA requirements are reduced and protein utilization efciency is maximized. Therefore, balancing rations for AA has allowed nutritionists to signicantly reduce the amount of CP fed. Increased efciency of protein utilization and lower CP in rations results in less waste nitrogen to the environment. The rst goal of balancing a ration for AA is to provide enough rumen-degradable protein to maximize the efciency of microbial protein synthesis in the rumen. The second goal is to balance rumenundegradable protein, including bypass methionine and lysine sources, to optimize metabolizable protein, which is the true protein absorbed in the intestine. Microbial protein synthesized in the rumen, together with rumen-undegradable protein, comprise the majority of the metabolizable protein passage to the intestine. Concentrations of lysine and methionine in metabolizable protein have a great impact on protein content of milk and milk yield.

Specic fatty acids Fat is another important energy source for dairy cows. As with CP, we have seen a move away from relying exclusively on the total fat content of the ration. Instead, the focus has shifted to feeding dairy cows specic FA. The composition of the fat, especially its unsaturated FA content, can have profound effects on rumen fermentation and production responses. Under certain dietary conditions, unsaturated FA can form unique intermediates in the rumen that are potent

Fiber digestibility Dry matter intake has a huge impact on diet digestibility and, therefore, on the energy concentration of the diet. Digestible NDF and starch are the major contributors to dietary energy for lactating cows. Research in the past few years has shown that uNDF (the highly indigestible fraction of NDF) is a more robust predictor of feed digestibility than lignin. uNDF has also become a useful tool to benchmark forages in terms of potential rumen ll and DMI constraints. The difference between total NDF and the uNDF content of a ration is the amount of ber that has the potential to be fermented in the rumen and turned into energy available to the cow. The extent of ruminal NDF degradation will be determined by the rates of digestion and passage. Starch digestibility Dairy cows are fed signicant quantities of starch because it is highly digestible and energy-dense. Although cows do not have a requirement for starch,

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Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021 • Page 31

inhibitors of milkfat synthesis. Rumen unsaturated FA load is one tool currently used in ration formulation to help determine how much fat can be fed to lactating cows. In addition, ratios and blends of specic FA are now being evaluated.

Listen to the cows No doubt, feeding high-producing cows has become more precise and sophisticated with today’s tools. It has been said three rations can be delivered to dairy cows: the ration the nutritionist balances, the ration the feeder mixes for the cows, and the ration the cow may sort through and decide to eat. Work with your nutritionist and feed team to read the cows, make sure the right feed is delivered to the right group of cows in a timely and consistent manner, and strive to achieve a goodquality forage program as well as promote excellent cow comfort and management. Ultimately, the cows let us know if the ration is optimal, not the computer. Barry Visser is a nutritionist for Vita Plus.

Here we go again

Page 32 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021

Well, it is that time again. As the rst light of the You forget all the little things that have to be in working day crests the eastern horizon, the robins welcome the order before you can start milking. The waterlines have morning with a sweet serenade. It is spring time. A time to be opened and the cups lled. Fingers crossed we will of new beginnings. A fresh start on a continuous journey. not ood the barn from stuck valves. Greasing up the feed cart, mixer and conveyors. Restocking the milking A perfect time to start milking cows again. supplies of cleaners, towels and lters. After hitting the pause button on our milking operation in October, Mark and I Just Thinking Out Loud Opening up silos and lling concentrate bins. Then, the big hurdle: passing have hit the play button in time for a spring inspection. launch. Mark was not quite ready to walk On Monday morning, our yard was out of the barn for good last fall. Not yet. alive once again with all the people He enjoys working with good cows and who help us keep the farm running. developing strong family lines. So, we The feed truck pulled up to the bin to held back some of our bred heifers and unload a fresh batch of concentrate. youngstock for a spring reboot. The dairy supply truck backed up to the Starting back up in production is kind milkhouse to restock milking supplies. of like starting over with a new baby. Our The A.I. technician made a service call. rst three children were only 18 and 17 months apart, a very tight calving interval. The cooperative eldsman popped in to We were in the throes of caring for one baby make sure everything was in shape for By Natalie Schmitt when the next one arrived. We never really the inspector. Columnist got out of the baby routine. Then we took a The nice thing about taking time off break between Katie and Austin. It was only from milking was that we could nally 22 months, but for me, it felt like I was starting all over make repairs and improvements in our milkhouse again, pulling out all the baby stuff again and adjusting to to appease the milk inspector. Once the cold snap in a new routine. That is what this feels like as we start back February broke, Mark was able to put a fresh coat of up in milk production. paint on the ceiling and doors. Because the milkhouse Our rst heifer calved in mid-March with a heifer was ofine, the oor was staying dry. A perfect time to calf. We are off to a great start. I named our new addition repair some rough spots where cleaners and acid had Ralma Lambda Delta Dawn, as the dawn of a new deteriorated the cement ooring. Once we were done adventure. It was exciting to be back in the barn. The scrubbing down the walls and the stainless-steel bulk only thing living in the barn these past three months have tank, we stepped back to marvel. The milkhouse never been the cats. It looks like we only lost Mark’s favorite looked so good. The milk inspector agreed. We passed cat Misty this winter. Otherwise, the cats have patiently with ying colors and can start shipping milk once again. been waiting for the return of fresh milk in their dish. As we planned for our sale in October, we realized we They will now have to give up the straw cart as we start would need more than just a few fresh heifers to produce the routine of bedding cattle in the barn. Within a week, enough milk to reach the paddles in the bulk tank in the we had four fresh heifers milking. We are running 75% spring. Austin worked out a plan with a college buddy bull calves, so some things have not changed much. from Wisconsin to house and milk 10 of our cows while Starting back up in the barn has been interesting. we were ofine. As trafc was starting to ow into our

farm yard Monday morning, Mark pulled out with the truck and trailer to bring our cows home. After our short break, it feels good to start back up in a familiar routine but with a chance to start new habits. “Just because we have always done it this way,” won’t y anymore. We know we can do things differently now. The cycle has been broken. We can now try new ideas and incorporate new procedures. We just have to keep two things in mind. – Never be afraid to try something new. Remember amateurs built the ark and professionals built the Titanic. – Life is too short to milk ugly cows. Here is the ultimate question. “Is there life after cows?” We have been to the other side and have come back to say … not yet. Yes, there is a life after milking cows, but we’re not quite ready to journey down that path. For the last three months, we have found time to catch up on fun projects we never seemed to have the time for. But those projects are coming to a close, and we need something else to do, so why not milk cows again? Mark’s passion is working with cows. I enjoy it too, and I am with him every step of the way. There was a line in our marriage vows about through thick and thin, or was it through mud and muck and green pastures? We may need to push each other forward some days. On other days, we wait for one of us to catch up but at least we are heading down the path together. We do not know where we are heading. Right now, this adventure is not about the destination but the journey we share. I know not having a plan will drive some business experts crazy, but we are fortunate at this time in our lives we can take the scenic route on our life journey. Here’s to a bulk tank of fresh milk. As their four children pursue dairy careers off the family farm, Natalie and Mark are starting a new adventure of milking registered Holsteins just because they like good cows on their farm north of Rice, Minnesota.

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Treats for Scruffy

I haven’t visited a dairy farm yet that isn’t also home to another species: cats. When we bought our dairy farm, it came with a couple of barn cats. It wasn’t long before several more moved in. Then, as you can imagine, those barn cats led to barn kittens. When our kids were little, barn cats had the important job of keeping kids occupied and entertained. Feeding the barn cats and taming new kittens were two of the kids’ rst jobs. Those jobs created close connecDairy Good Life tions with our clowder of cats. Each kid has his or her own cat family, with kittens born from each family belonging to said child. Our barn cats have also contributed to the greatest lesson farm kids learn: life and death. When you think about it, barn cats live free, but perilous lives. As much as we would like to keep them constantly safe, the dangers of heavy equipment, the nearby road, and aerial predators are ever present. Peril seems to befall our fall-born kittens, especially. For some crazy reason, a couple of our queens are prone to delivering kittens in the fall instead of the spring. Come winter, when our barn turns downBy Sadie Frericks right chilly, fall kittens warm themselves by snugColumnist gling with the calves in our group pens. The sight is adorable. But, sadly, this leads to quite a few squished kittens. One of last fall’s kittens, named Ginny at birth by Monika (after her favorite Harry Potter character), however, deed all the odds. Ginny, who was nicknamed Scruffy over the winter, kept herself away from calves and, instead, gravitated towards humans. She quickly became what I call a shoulder cat: those cats who climb up your leg or a nearby gate to sit on your shoulder and purr in your ear. We’ve had shoulder cats before, but none like Scruffy. Past shoulder cats usually just climbed up to sit on our shoulders while we stood holding bottles for newborn calves. As soon as we started to walk away, though, the cats would leap down. Not Scruffy. She’d climb up and then hang on until we set her down. Given the choice, I think she would have ridden on a shoulder all day long. We often told her to go play with the other cats instead of following us around. But she seemed to prefer human company. And her favorite human was Glen. She often perched on Glen’s shoulder while he was driving the feed cart. And his shoulder was the rst she sought during milking. “I don’t even like cats,” Glen would often say as Scruffy purred in his ear and he scratched the spot under her chin. Glen would let her ride on his shoulder for the rst couple cows, then take her to the milkhouse to spend the rest of milking in safety. Scruffy didn’t care much for her solitary connement in the milkhouse, so we tried to make it more enjoyable by giving her a personal milk dish and an old hat to curl up on. One day, Glen found Scruffy covered in milk, presumably from falling into her milk dish. After that, she really looked like her name. Shortly after, Glen gave her a bath. He was washing milkers when she climbed up onto his shoulder. He took advantage of the pail of warm, soapy water and dunked her in a few times, which she actually seemed to enjoy. He rinsed her off in the sink, which she clearly did not enjoy, and then set her to dry in front of the compressor. Scruffy was a bit upset with Glen, but got over it rather quickly. One afternoon while I was in town picking up supplies, I got a text message from Glen that read: Treats for Scruffy. I wasn’t sure if he was kidding. So I thought, what the heck, I can pick up a $2 dollar bag of kitten treats. The treats were an instant hit. The treats made solitary connement in the milkhouse even more enjoyable for Scruffy. Everyone who passed through the milkhouse – Glen, me, the kids – loved stopping to give Scruffy treats. It reached the point where we had to start checking in with each other to keep Scruffy’s treat consumption within her daily allocation. On Tuesday morning, I had just nished pushing up feed when that “something’s not right” feeling struck me. It took me a second to realize what was missing: Scruffy. I looked in the calf pens. I looked in the barn ofce. I went back into the milkhouse to look there. There was no sign of Scruffy and I started to fear the worst. I soon learned the awful truth: Scruffy had an unfortunate encounter with the feed cart on Monday night. We are heartbroken. For the rst time ever, the loss of a cat is even affecting Glen. Lots of tears have been shed around here for our departed feline friends, but the tears for Scruffy stung a bit more. I hope she’s found a shoulder to ride on in kitty heaven. Sadie and her husband, Glen, milk 100 cows near Melrose, Minnesota. They have three children – Dan, 13, Monika, 11, and Daphne, 7. Sadie also writes a blog at www.dairygoodlife.com. She can be reached at sadiefrericks@gmail.com.

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Page 34 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021

Recipe for success

Kreagers building up farm for the second generation By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com

MARATHON CITY, Wis. – Hard work and determination mixed with a healthy dose of doing what you can when you can with what you have are the primary ingredients in the recipe of success for rst-generation dairy farmers Keith and Juli Kreager. Today, along with their sons Landon, 20, and Mavrick, 18, the Kreagers are milking

80 cows on the dairy farm they have built. Keith grew up working on neighboring dairy farms and found dairy farming to be his calling. He began milking cows in 1998 at the age of 19 while he and Juli were dating. He started milking about 35 cows in a tiestall barn using oor buckets with a step-saver for several years before putting in a pipeline and adding an additional 10 to 15 switch cows. “When we bought this place there was an old hip-roof barn,” Keith said. “It was in such bad shape you could almost fall through the haymow oor. We said that’s enough and tore that down. We never missed a milking; we milked under the stars while we built DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

The Kreagers – (from le�) Mavrick, Juli, Keith and Landon – milk 80 cows on their dairy farm near Marathon City, Wisconsin.

DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR

The Kreagers milk Jersey cows for their high components and feed eﬃciency.

a new barn.” The Kreagers built a single-story, 35-stall tiestall barn in 2006, and after several years, they realized they needed to move to the next step. “Juli was working off the farm, I was driving school bus, and we were nding the cashow just was not there,” Keith said. “The cost of living was going up, and to keep up with ination, we knew we needed to do something.” Keith purchased a used

parlor, and in 2013, the Kreagers made the next leap forward in growing their family dairy farm. They converted half of their tiestall barn into a double-8 swing parlor, which Juli requested be built at counter-top height, to be a comfortable level for her to milk at. The other half of the tiestall barn was converted into a calf barn. The Kreagers housed their cows in a three-sided barn on a bedded pack and were making

plans to build on to the other half of that barn when they fell victim to a tornado in 2017 that severely damaged the original structure. “We were having trouble guring out how to move forward with that,” Keith said. “The posts kept on falling in the wrong spots for where the stalls needed to be.” Instead of being devastated Turn to KREAGERS | Page 35

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Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021 • Page 35

ConƟnued from KREAGERS | Page 34

Tell the advertisers you saw their ad in the Dairy Star! DAIRY IN SOUTHERN MN CONVERTING TO BEEF FACILITY

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The Kreagers house their herd in a newly-built freestall barn on their farm near Marathon City, Wisconsin.

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when the tornado struck, the Kreagers relied on their faith which has served them well throughout their marriage. “We took that as a message from the good Lord that we just needed to tear it down and start from scratch, to make a new building that would work as we needed it to,” Juli said. In building the new structure, the Kreagers adhered to their philosophy of doing what they could when they could. They outtted the barn with automatic curtains to help with ventilation and climate control. They also chose to install free stalls versus staying with a bedded pack. The Kreagers have been pleased with the new freestall barn, citing increased cow comfort and less feed waste from indoor feeding as the primary benets. “The other half of that building paid for itself real quick,” Keith said.

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In 2019, the Kreagers were ready to go to work on the next piece of their recipe: upgrading their calf-raising facility. When they built the parlor, they gutted and put gravel in the other half of the tiestall barn, using that as their calf barn. Their calf-raising results were not meeting their expectations, so they decided to make some changes. They cleaned out the barn and started from the bottom, pouring concrete that slopes toward a center drain, allowing for easy cleaning. The calves are housed in individual Calf-Tel pens, and the barn is ventilated with a variable-speed Crystal Creek Air System, using tubes with aps and exhaust fans. “Since redoing the calf barn, we have only lost three calves,” Keith said. “Once again, doing something right pays for itself in short order.”

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Turn to KREAGERS | Page 37

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X 3,000-gallon Mueller Bulk Tank (1989 Serial #OHBT-11083)

Mandako Land Rollers

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GRAVITY BOXES

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MISCELLANEOUS

NH 680 manure spreader ..................... $7,500 NH 185 spreader ................................ $10,500 CIH 5300 grain drill w/grass .............. $10,900 Midsota 5510 & F610 rock trailers .... In Stock Midsota F8216 rock trailer ........................ Call Gehl 170 grinder, scale, like new........ $22,000 New Red Devil & Agro Trend Snowblowers

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River Divide IBA

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Miller IBA Dairy Supply

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Root River IBA

IBA Fahrney, Inc

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Dairyland Equipment

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Manitowoc IBA

Minnesota Dairy Solutions

Monroe, WI • 608-325-4248 Menahga, MN • 218-564-4958 Whitelaw, WI • 920-732-4680

Pettit IBA Farm Supply

Lewiston, MN • 507-269-5714

Balzer IBA

Cold Spring, MN • 320-345-1445

Valley Dairy Supply

Corona, SD • 608-432-5224

Page 36 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021

Women In Dairy Stacy Limberg Plymouth, Wisconsin Sheboygan County 75 cows Family: My husband, Dale, and I have two daughters, Allison, 16, and Megan, 15. Tell us about your farm. We milk in a stanchion and tiestall barn. We raise our heifers and have 55 youngstock. We grow our crops for feed. Our daughters help on the farm, and our youngest wants to take it over someday. The farm is the third generation on my husband’s side of the family. We employ two people to help us with the operation. What is the busiest time of day for you? That depends on the day and what is going on. Some days, mornings are the busiest. Other days, the afternoon or the evening may be the busiest time. No two days are the same for me. If things were the same for me every day, I would be worried what was wrong or going to go wrong. When you get a spare moment, what do you do? Between running the farm with Dale and raising two teenage daughters, that does not leave a lot of free time. When I get down time, I like to relax and do nothing. As a family, we will play darts together in our basement. Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. I would have to say working with my family all the time is my most memorable experience. Watching my youngest daughter follow in her dad’s footsteps is pretty neat. The two of them are always good for a laugh if needed but manage to get the work done also. Another thing I enjoy is watching our daughters milk together and accomplish the goal they set out to do. What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the dairy industry? I like knowing we are providing food for others. I also enjoy educating people about the dairy industry. I have served several years on our dairy promotions board helping others to better understand what we do on a daily basis. Our farm has also hosted a few different tours for people to see rsthand what we do. I love when someone realizes that how we farm is not necessarily what is said on social media. How do you stay connected with others in the industry? I am a part of the Dairy Girl Network. I follow several other pages on Facebook related to the dairy industry. My family and I help with our local dairy promotions team when possible. I also attend talks and conferences about the industry.

Who is someone in the industry who has inspired you? I look up to and admire all the females in the dairy industry. We are all in this together in what used to be a male-dominated industry. We can all bring ideas to the table. If you could give a tour of your farm to a prominent woman in today’s society, who would it be? Melinda Gates. She has proven herself in a male-dominated industry and proven women can succeed. She also helps impoverished communities. What is the best vacation you have ever taken? As a family, we usually only get away for a few days so we usually go to Wisconsin Dells. But when I was growing up, my parents took me to Nevada to visit family. We drove out there and stopped and saw the sites along the way and back. It was amazing seeing the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. I hope to take the girls there before they leave the house. What are some words you like to live by? “It is what it is.” This was a saying my mom always said. They are good words to follow. Some things you can change but others you have to live with. My kids would say, “Suck it up buttercup.” I tell them this all the time if they are complaining about something.

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Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021 • Page 37

ConƟnued from KREAGERS | Page 35

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The Kreagers use a Lely Juno feed pusher in their freestall barn to maximize bunk space by keeping feed pushed up to the cows on a more regular basis. At the same time, the Kreagers added a pasteurizer to better the consistency in their calf-feeding program. Keith said every calf gets the same amount of milk at the same temperature every feeding. “We used to feed milk replacer several years ago, but we didn’t have good luck with that,” Juli said. “Then we switched to unpasteurized whole milk, and our results were better but not ideal. What we are doing now, this is ideal.” Always looking forward to making their farm operate more efciently, the Kreagers ventured into the world of robotic automation with the purchase of a Lely Juno feed pusher which they feel allows them to make the best use of their available bunk space. Believers in continuing to move forward, they have

been researching how they could best incorporate robotic milking on their farm in the future. “We’ve got to make changes to keep getting better,” Keith said. “Every time we make a change, we want to incorporate newer technology.” Neither Keith nor Juli are ready to close their dairy farming careers just yet, but they do have other things they would like to pursue in life. They are hoping the increase in automation on the farm, along with the potential of transitioning to their sons, will allow them the time to begin those adventures. “We have a true family farm,” Keith said. “It is just the four of us here. We are trying to build this up so our boys can take over if that is what they decide they want to do.”

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Close the highway to the calf Page 38 • Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021

Have you ever been on California choice. It is a strong antibacterial with State Route 1? It runs along the Pacic desiccant properties so it will do a good Ocean for more than 600 miles. Imagine job of disinfecting and drying up the driving down this highway, top down, umbilicus. sun shining and the ocean at your side. Having the best disinfectant is You are heading north, out of crowded step one of dipping navels. Step two Los Angeles trafc, to a nicer, calmer is using a clean disinfectant cup. I environment where have seen farmers use Calf Chronicles you can thrive. Sounds throwaway cups or plastic amazing, doesn’t it? locking bags full of iodine Pathogens, just like to decrease the chance of humans, look for an spreading pathogens from environment to thrive in. one calf to the next. But So when a new calf hits if your farm’s protocol the ground, pathogens includes something more seek the roadway reusable, make sure it presented to them into is also sanitized. After a the calf’s blood stream while, iodine dippers that where they can prosper. sit out and are not regularly A calf’s navel acts as a cleaned develop a crusty highway between the edge to them, and the very By Ellen Cushing outside world and her last thing we want is to Columnist bloodstream. When introduce pathogens to the that highway is open, calf instead of disinfecting pathogens can easily overtake a calf, the umbilicus. and it is up to us to help that calf close Step three is making sure the the highway. disinfectant fully covers the umbilicus. Calves are born with an The best way to make this happen is to underdeveloped immune system. This dip, not spray, the navel. As previously means calves have a slow and weak mentioned, the navel is an open response to pathogens during their highway from the outside world into rst weeks of life. They are vulnerable the calf’s bloodstream, so it is critical and in extra need of protocols that to block off the entire highway. Think help them prevent pathogens from of it as a six-lane road. When you spray, overloading their immune system. you might cover lanes 2-5, but trafc One protocol is dipping navels to help can get through on lanes one and six. repel and neutralize the bacteria that is On the other hand, when you dip the already on the umbilicus. It also helps navel, you cut off the entire roadway. to dry this fresh tissue that is no longer Best practice is to dip and jiggle the cup needed because the calf is breathing a little, sloshing iodine on the sides of and functioning on its own and no the navel. Then dip again and again to longer needs the vessels that fed it from make sure you get full coverage on that its mother. When it comes to dipping calf’s umbilicus. You should see a little navels, 7% iodine is the disinfectant of iodine dripping off the end.

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Take the Ɵme to cover the enƟre navel area, including the end of the cord right up to the calf’s belly.

Additionally, timing is important when it comes to navel-dipping protocols. Just like we want to get colostrum into the calf as soon as possible, we also want to get a calf’s navel dipped as soon as possible. The goal is to close the blood vessels, kill any present bacteria and then dry out the umbilical cord, basically decreasing any chance that pathogens will enter the navel highway. The calving area also plays a large role in the number of pathogens introduced to a calf. Keeping this pen clean, dry and free of excess manure will help keep the navel area that way too. It’s important to pay attention to maternity area bedding, especially in times of high calving. Rather than cleaning the pen out every so many days, it is good practice to clean it out after a specic number of calvings. This could mean you clean it out every other day, or it could mean you clean it every four days, depending

on the calving load. Pathogens look for an environment they can live and thrive in, but we do not want to make it easy for them. If we view the umbilicus as a highway from the outside world into the calf, we do not want to shut down just one lane, we want to stop trafc completely. The best way to accomplish this is to dip the navel in 7% iodine as soon as possible. If we can reach this goal and keep the maternity pen clean and dry, calves should be ready to thrive in a healthier environment. Ellen is the First Defense regional sales and marketing manager for Wisconsin and Minnesota. She’s a problem solver who loves walking calf hutches and diagnosing protocol drift. A great day is a day spent helping dairy and beef farmers keep their baby calves healthy! Ellen can be reached at ecushing@immucell.com.

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The disinfectant in this dip well has become contaminated and is likely a source of bacteria. Make sure dip cups stay clean and are relled with new iodine regularly.

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Dairy Star • Saturday, March 27, 2021 • Page 39