Win Prizes During
Summer
DAIRY ST T R’s
SALUTE TO DA RY
DAIRY ST R
SEE PAGE 18 OF THE FIRST SECTION FOR MORE INFOMATION
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 21, No. 7
May 25, 2019
Trade causes ripple effect in ag community
Allens, Glessings talk USMCA with Vice President Pence By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Seena and Dan Glessing talk with Vice President Mike Pence at a Minnesota Farm Bureau event May 9 in Glyndon, Minn. The Glessings shared their story as dairy farmers and the importance of raƟfying the U.S.Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
GLYNDON, Minn. – Ratifying the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement is crucial for the dairy industry. In 2018, $40 billion worth of agriculture goods were exported to Canada and Mexico with dairy products contributing $2 billion, according to the United States Dairy Export Council. “American farmers are very good at producing quality, safe and consistent food; food that is highly sought after,” Keith Allen said. “With USMCA, we can step up to the plate and meet the demands of the world.” Keith and Morgan Allen and Dan and Seena Glessing expressed their concerns for fair trade between the United States’ neighbors with Vice President Mike Pence at a Minnesota Farm Bureau event May 9 in Glyndon, Minn. The couples were invited to the meeting because of their involvement in the farm bureau organization, Dan serving as vice president and Keith as representative of District I. Turn to TRADE | Page 5
A new beginning
Opsahl gets life on track with dairy By Danna Sabolik
danna.s@dairystar.com
HINCKLEY, Minn. – Ryan Opsahl knows all too well the vicious cycle of addiction. But after spending nearly two years in prison on drug-related charges, Opsahl is ready to start anew – and as a dairy farmer. “I was a really bad drug addict for a few years and went through a lot of different treatment programs. They all say you have to create a better life – one that’s worth living without drugs,” Opsahl said. “I needed to live a life worth living, and for me, that was dairy farming.” After serving a 37-month sentence from July 2015 to August 2018, Opsahl began his dairying career. He now milks 50 cows on the farm owned by his grandparents, David and Mary Williams, near Hinckley, Minn. “I always wanted to be a dairy farmer when I grew up; it was the only thing I wanted to be. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else but farming,” said Opsahl who was raised on his grandparents’ farm. Every morning, Opsahl and his grandfather begin the day in the dairy barn. “He will help me with morning feeding just to keep me moving along,” Opsahl said. “I usually start milking around 6:30 a.m. and I have to be done by 8:10 a.m. when the milk truck comes.” Turn to OPSAHL | Page 6
DANNA SABOLIK/DAIRY STAR
Ryan Opsahl milks 50 cows on his grandparents’ farm near Hinckley, Minn. Opsahl began milking in the vacant dairy barn last October, six weeks aŌer geƫng out of prison.
Page 2 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019
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 (ofďƒžce) 320-248-3196 (cell) 320-352-0062 (home) Ad Composition Nancy Powell 320-352-6303 nancy.p@dairystar.com Amanda Thooft 320-352-6303 amanda.t@dairystar.com Consultant Jerry Jennissen 320-346-2292 Editorial Staff Andrea Borgerding - Associate Editor (320) 352-6303 • andrea.b@dairystar.com Krista Kuzma - Assistant Editor (507) 259-8159 • krista.k@dairystar.com Jennifer Coyne - Assistant Editor (320) 352-6303 • jenn@dairystar.com Ruth Klossner (507) 240-0048 cowlady@centurylink.net Danielle Nauman (608) 487-1101 danielle.n@dairystar.com Danna Sabolik - Staff Writer (320) 352-6303 • danna.s@dairystar.com Maria Bichler - Copy Editor 320-352-6303 Advertising Sales Main Ofďƒžce: 320-352-6303 Fax: 320-352-5647 Deadline is 5 p.m. of the Friday the week before publication Sales Manager - Jeff Weyer (Northern MN, East Central MN) 320-260-8505 (cell) jeff.w@dairystar.com Mark Klaphake (Western MN) 320-352-6303 (ofďƒžce) 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 Hoeďƒ&#x;er (Eastern Iowa) 320-250-2884 • amanda.h@dairystar.com Amos Denman (Southern WI) 563-608-6477 • amos.d@dairystar.com Megan Stuessel (Western Wisconsin) 608-387-1202 • megan.s@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 ďƒžnal 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 ofďƒžces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246.
North America dealers. A glance at what’s inside
Dairy Proďƒžle brought to you by your
June Dairy Month is almost here, and that means many fun events are happening. To help make it easier for you to ďƒžnd a nearby gathering, we have compiled a list of all the breakfasts and events in our coverage area. Here are a few examples. On-farm events In Minnesota there are several events in the evening such as the Meeker County Dinner on the Dairy on June 21 where dinner is free. Or Winona County Family Night on the Farm on June 26 that includes an opportunity to see a dairy, farm machinery, live entertainment By Krista Kuzma and a bounce house for the kids. Breakfast is also a popular option for many dairy events. On June 1, the Barron County Assistant Editor Dairy Breakfast will offer omelets, all-you-can-eat pancakes, deep fried cheese curds, sundaes and other foods on a dairy in Prairie Farm, Wis. In addition to a meal at the Trempealeau County “On the farmâ€? Dairy Breakfast June 8, the crowning of the new Trempealeau County Dairy Ambassador will take place. Helplines Look for a schedule of all the upcoming events in the ďƒžrst – Minnesota Farm & Rural Helpline, section. Summer Salute to Dairy campaign Dairy Star also has our own exciting campaign running this summer. It’s called Dairy Star’s Summer Salute to Dairy. For each issue from June through August, we will invite readers to submit photos and share them on social media to win prizes or potentially be shared in the paper. For the ďƒžrst issue in June, we want to celebrate milk and therefore want to see you milk toast. Send us pictures of how you enjoy your milk. Check out the ad on page 18 for more details. Cheers to a dairy-ďƒžlled summer!
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Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 3
It’s all inside... Columnists Ag Insider
Pages 8-9 First Section
Sauk Centre
Grueneses, Middendorfs travel overseas for agriculture Kittson Roseau conference
First Section: Pages 23, 25
en
om ahn
M
Becker
Clay
Otter Tail
Wilkin
Estelline
From Our Side of the Fence
Tra ve
rse
Grant
Marshall
Lincoln
McCook Minnehaha
Pipestone
nso n
Moody
Murray
Rock
Nobles
Carver Scott
Sibley Redwood Brown
Nicollet
First Section: Pages 18, 20
Dakota
Rice
Goodhue Wabasha
Cottonwood Watonwan Blue Earth Waseca Steele Dodge Olmsted Jackson
Faribault
Martin
Freeborn
Winona
Fillimore
Mower
Houston
Strawberry Point
Hutchinson
Turner
Strawberry Hill Farm focuses on dairy goats, tours
Bon Yankton Homme
Lincoln Clay
Union
Lyon
Osceola Dickinson Emmet
Sioux
O’Brien
Plymouth
Zone 1
For additional stories from our other zone, log on to www.dairystar.com
Clay
Kossuth
Palo Alto
Winnebago
Worth
Hancock
Cerro Gordo
Sibley
Youth dairy show will be dedicated to founder’s memory First Section: Pages 34-35
Mitchell
Floyd
Howard
aw
as
ick
Ch
Bremer Black Hawk
Allamakee
Charles Mix
Lake
Hennepin
Peterson
Crossvent barn, consistency, conrming viable CL’s key to repro success at Johnson Rolling Acres
Winneshiek
Douglas
Miner
Brookings
Anoka
Wright
McLeod
Renville
Yellow Medicine Lyon
Meeker
Isanti
Ha
Da
vis
on
Sa
nb or n
Kingsbury
Deuel
Benton
Third Section: Page 3
go
Hamlin
Mille Lacs
Sherburne Kandiyohi
Lake City
Cow at Beltz family’s dairy gives birth to four calves
Pine
Stearns
Chippewa
Lac Qui Parle
Codington
Carlton
Crow Wing
isa
Swift
Grant Clark
Aitkin
Morrison
Pope
First Section: Pages 1, 6
Ch
Big Sto Stone
Roberts
Day
Pages 10 - 11 Second Section
Cass
Douglas
Stevens
Hinckley
Opsahl gets life on track with dairy
Todd
First Section: Pages 15 - 16
The “Mielke” Market Weekly
Itasca
sey
Norman
First Section: Pages 12 - 13
Washington
Polk
First Section: Pages 1, 5
Page 32 First Section
Page 33 First Section
Koochiching St. Louis
Red Lake
First Section: Page 10
Wilhelm continues farming for the cows
Kanabec
Allens, Glessings talk USMCA with Vice President Pence
Just Thinking Out Loud
Dairy Good Life
Beltrami
Pennington
Glyndon
Finalists named for 66th Princess Kay of the Milky Way
Princeton
Ra m
Page 31 First Section
Marshall
Lake of the Woods
r
Something to Ruminate On
Third Section: Page 7
Hubbard
Page 30 First Section
Third Section: Pages 22 - 23
St. Cloud
Dairy’s Star Youth: Samantha Young
eu
Dear County Agent Guy
Holdingford
Kids Corner: The Scherpings
Su
Second Section: Page 3
Freeport
Le
Lund races cars for fun
Wadena
Page 26 First Section
Brandon
Clearwater
FSA News & Notes
Fayette
Clayton
n
na
ha
c Bu
Third Section: Pages 2, 4
are
law
De
Linn
Dubuque
Jones
Jackson
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Page 4 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019
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Fuller’s Milker Center, Inc. 423 U.S. 61 • Lancaster, WI 53813 (608) 723-4634
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Professional Dairy Systems
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Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 5
ConƟnued from TRADE | Page 1
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PHOTO SUBMITTED
Vice President Mike Pence (center) visits with Minnesota farmers, including Keith and Morgan Allen (right), during his visit May 9 in Glyndon, Minn. Minnesota Farm Bureau hosted the event in support of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. While at the Clay County crop farm, 30 people representing facets of the agriculture community gathered to express their support for USMCA and ask Congress to move forward with ratication of the agreement. The Allens took part in the discussion as dairy goat farmers and small business owners. Both Keith and Morgan hold jobs in the agriculture industry in addition to milking 35 goats and selling the milk for artisan cheesemaking near Kenyon, Minn. Likewise, the Glessings spoke on behalf of the dairy industry as farmers who milk 80 cows near Waverly, Minn. Seena is also the area high school agriculture and foods instructor. “As dairy farmers, we know the agriculture community is hurting,” Seena said. “But, that’s also hurting rural development and rural schools. … We’re struggling because of the ripple effect trade has.” USMCA comes after the longstanding North American Free Trade Agreement was reviewed and updated last fall by the United States and its trading partners to the north and south. With the agreement’s approval from the three countries, it awaits ratication from lawmakers in each government. Pence’s visit to Minnesota, in the heart of U.S. Representative Collin Peterson’s district, was made in an effort to bring awareness to the trade deal and urge Congress to move forward with a passing vote. “If we lose these markets, it will be hard to get back,” Dan said. “The United States could be the rst out of the chute, so to speak.” Keith agreed. “There’s a lot of excitement about [USMCA],” he said. “We’re moving in the right direction for American farmers.” During the meeting, attendees broke into three groups to have a more personal conversation with the vice president. The Allens took the opportunity to share how trade tensions are effecting the farmers they work with as a private seed dealer and representative of a feed company. Not only have the trade disputes weakened commodity prices, but also in turn have impacted small businesses that rely on farmers who make up the customer base. “When grain prices are down and milk prices are down, it affects the thousands of jobs that farms support,”
Morgan said. “As a rural community, we lose diversity and vitality.” At the event, the Minnesota Farm Bureau noted that the relationship between Canada and Mexico as the nation’s top trading partners supports 10,000 jobs in Minnesota alone. The Allens’ conversation with Pence also provided them with a chance to represent agriculture for farmers in their region who could not attend the event. “It was really special that the farmers we work with trust us to share their thoughts and feelings with [Pence],” Morgan said. “We couldn’t stress enough how we feel agriculture is being used as a pawn in this trade game.” Keith agreed, recalling the moment he told Pence of a dairy farmer who was forced to sell his herd because he could not afford the input costs of spring planting. “[Pence] told us he hears stories like that all the time all across the country,” he said. “I feel like he understood what’s happening and how when farmers are hurting, small business and communities hurt.” The vice president’s sincere demeanor is what the Glessings immediately noticed. As they told Pence of their family’s dairy and their hopes to provide an opportunity for their young children to farm in the future, Dan and Seena felt their message was well received. “He seemed very aware of the concerns we brought up. … He was listening,” Seena said. Dan agreed. “We’re not looking to get rich,” he said. “USMCA can help us see better milk prices so we can farm at a protable level and really enjoy what we’re doing.” Both the Glessings and Allens have participated in various Farm Bureau events, which have allowed them to advocate for the dairy industry and talk with lawmakers at the state and nation’s capitol. However, any former experience does not compare to their time spent with Vice President Pence. “This was a neat, once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Seena said. “As we drove home, we couldn’t help but feel very satised.” The event in northern Minnesota was one stop in a series of visits Pence made to the Midwest rallying support for USMCA. Now, rural America waits to see if their voices were heard.
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Page 6 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019
ConƟnued from OPSAHL | Page 1
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Ryan Opsahl feeds his cows outside May 10 on his farm near Hinckley, Minn. Opsahl began milking a herd of 35 cows Oct. 1, 2018, which he has grown to 50 cows. After milking and feeding, Opsahl feeds his youngstock and lets the cows outside, where he feeds them another wheelbarrow of feed. “They eat way better outside,” he said. “I don’t know why. I can have wet stuff from the oor in the barn and they just lick it clean out there.” Next, he cleans the barn and prepares as much as he can for evening milking. Then the day’s projects begin. “I’ve been working on emptying the pit, which is hard to do by myself,” Opsahl said. “I can only do about 10 loads a day, so it takes me a while.” When Opsahl moved home, he knew there would be a lot of work to do. “[My grandparents] sold the cows a few years before, so the barn sat empty for a while,” Opsahl said. “It was a lot of work, but I was able to clean it up and get it ready for cows again.” While there were no dairy cows on the farm site, Opsahl’s grandparents had not given up farm life. They raised
“I’ve decided that once you come to terms with the fact you’re not going to get rich and you’ll never have everything done, you’ll live a happier life.” RYAN OPSAHL, DAIRY FARMER
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a herd of beef cattle, and encouraged Opsahl to get involved with beef, as well, considering the dairy climate. “I just couldn’t walk past the barn everyday and know I didn’t give it a shot,” Opsahl said. “I was going to be a dairy farmer and there was no talking me out of it.” Last October, Opsahl purchased a herd of 37 cows with the help of his grandparents.
“I’m pretty lucky I had my grandparents to help me get started,” he said. The barn has 72 stalls and Opsahl is trying to ll it up. “I’m at about 50 milking cows now, and I just bought about 60 heifers from the sale barn that weren’t supposed to be bred, but a few are starting to bag up,” he said. Opsahl learned a lot of his dairy knowledge on the farm, but is changing things up a little. “I’m not doing everything the same as my grandpa and grandma,” he said. “I like to let the cows out after milking and they never did that. I think it’s better for the cows, and they seem to like it more.” Opsahl is still ne-tuning his farming philosophy, though. “I’ve also done a lot more A.I. breeding, but I’m keeping a few bulls around, too,” he said. “Grandpa doesn’t care for A.I. at all, so we butt heads a little on that front.” This spring, Opsahl is working on planting with his grandpa. “We have some corn and alfalfa to plant,” Opsahl said. “After three years of no dairy, I’m having to rethink the eld plans and gure out what I want for my herd. I have some peas and barley that I might chop and mix into the ration to see how they do on that. I want to try some new things.” Once eldwork is complete, Opsahl wants to continue making the dairy his own. The farm site still needs to be cleaned up a bit; Opsahl needs to replace fans in the barn and other pieces of equipment that are no longer working properly. “I’ve decided that once you come to terms with the fact you’re not going to get rich and you’ll never have everything done, you’ll live a happier life,” Opsahl said. “You’re also never going to have enough sleep.” While only a short time into his venture, Opsahl knows dairy farming is a method to keep sober. It is all a part of how he is building a better life for himself. “I want to milk cows for the rest of my life,” Opsahl said.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 7
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Page 8 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019
New development in trade situation with Canada, Mexico President Donald Trump has lifted the steel legally defensible trade damages done to our U.S. and aluminum tariffs on Mexico and Canada. “As producers.” Perdue remains hopeful for the U.S. to you know, for years Canada has been charging us reach a trade agreement with China. extremely high tariffs, as much as 285 percent or more for agricultural products, which is an absolute barrier New relief package to be more diverse Trade assistance details are still being to our farmers being able to do business Ag Insider nalized. USDA Under Secretary for with them.” Trump said , “hopefully Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Congress will approve the United States. Ted McKinney told reporters the new Mexico Canada Agreement quickly. And aid package would be diverse. “Some then the great farmers, manufacturers pieces may come and go, ebb and ow. and steel plants will make our economy Some of the programs seen in the last even more successful than it already is, if round of payments are being considered that’s possible, which it is possible.” and other things, too,” he said. “We want to be robust and we want to make sure USDEC, NMPF welcome trade news farmers get the message while trade is The U.S. dairy industry has preferred, the administration has their applauded the United States decision to backs given the strife they’ve been drop metal tariffs on Mexico and Canada, through.” McKinney said USDA doesn’t paving the way for the passage of the By Don Wick want to do anything to harm potential U.S-Mexico-Canada Agreement. With Columnist commercial sales. this announcement, retaliatory tariffs on U.S. dairy products, including duties of 25 percent on U.S. cheese exports to Mexico, are DMC enrollment begins in mid-June The past ve years have been very challenging gone. U.S. Dairy Export Council President/CEO Tom Vilsack said this news will build vital momentum for for dairy farmers. National Milk Producers Federation passing USMCA. National Milk Producers Federation Senior Vice President of Communications Alan President/CEO Jim Mulhern said dairy farmers Bjerga said the Dairy Margin Coverage program needed some good news and this announcement should be considered. “Signup is starting June 17 certainly helps. Mexico is the largest customer for the and you’ll see payments going out as soon as July,” U.S. dairy industry with $1.4 billion in sales last year. Bjerga said. “As far as possible solutions in today’s policy environment, the Dairy Margin Coverage Administration to provide another round of trade program is effective, targeted assistance and we strongly encourage producers to look seriously at the aid USDA is in the midst of developing a trade $9.50 coverage level.” Bjerga, who is a Motley, Minn. assistance program for farmers. “We are assuming it native, said dairy farmers who participated in the old will contain direct payments for commodities,” said Margin Protection Program should also be looking for Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. “Certainly, a refund. the President’s concept of buying commodities for humanitarian purposes may also be part of that.” The Swine disease impacts demand for dairy ingredients The outbreak of African Swine Fever in China new trade package is expected to cost between $15 and $20 billion, which is the general calculation of has resulted in the loss of an estimated 200 million damages to U.S. farmers from the trade dispute with pigs. According to a new report from Rabobank, China. “We’ve asked our economist at USDA to be this situation is having an impact on the U.S. dairy very precise when calculating what we believe to be industry. With fewer pigs, there is less demand for
dairy ingredients in feed, such as milk and whey permeate, whey powder and lactose. Rabobank estimates a drop in demand of 54,500 metric tons to 72,500 metric tons. The decline in demand is on top of the rising Chinese tariffs on U.S. dairy products. MN farmer testies before Congress The House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management heard testimony on the state of the farm economy. Northeld, Minn., farmer Mike Peterson testied before the committee. “With the continuing slump in commodity prices, nancial stress continues to grow. Farm debt is at an all-time high. Most farmers I know have burned through their equity they built up the good years,” Peterson said. “We are now seeing an increase in Chapter 12 bankruptcies in Minnesota. Unless we get our markets back and prices rebound, I think many farmers will be forced out of business.” Peterson also said input costs have not turned lower as they have in other time of low commodity prices. A difcult loan renewal season After four or ve years of low commodity prices, the farm nancial situation is in tough shape. Farm Credit Council President and CEO Todd Van Hoose said it was a difcult loan renewal season. “Really for the rst time this year, a lot of farmers sat down and couldn’t nd a way to pencil out any kind of prot.” Van Hoose remains long-term bullish about agriculture. “We know our job right now is to work with people to get them through this downturn and get them to the other side with success.” AgriBank reports 1Q nancials AgriBank reports rst quarter net income of just over $137 million, down from $146 million in the same period last year. Loan volume totaled nearly $93 billion, which is comparable to the previous quarter. Credit quality is strong with 98 percent of AgriBank’s loans classied as acceptable. In a news release, AgriBank said the farm sector’s declining working Turn to AG INSIDER | Page 9
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Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 9
ConƟnued from AG INSIDER | Page 8 capital is a concern. Trade policy is seen as one of the biggest uncertainties. AgriBank said the new dairy provisions in the farm bill may help, but the dairy market remains very challenged. Tight hay supplies Nationwide, the hay stored on the farm totals nearly 15 million tons. That’s down three percent from last year and is the lowest May 1 hay stocks gure since the drought of 2012. Minnesota farmers stored 280,000 tons of hay on May 1, down 50 percent from a year ago. More time for input on gray wolf delisting The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is giving the public another 60 days to comment on the possible delisting of the gray wolf from the endangered species list. The comment period was originally scheduled to end this past week, but the deadline has been extended to July 15.
Bongards’ reports 2018 nancials Bongards Creameries had 2018 earnings of $4.36 million on over $600 million in sales. Member-owners received a dividend payment of .06 cents per hundredweight on allocated earnings of $3.9 million for 2018 production. Current and past member owners will receive a payout on 2009 equity of $930,000 later this year. Bongards is a cooperative with plants in Perham and Bongards, Minn. and Humboldt, Tenn.
DHIA: Now MORE than ever There is proof in the number
Trivia challenge The Super Bowl is the most popular day for pizza consumption each year. That answers our last trivia question. When did June Dairy Month start? We’ll 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.
Later this year we will reach 400,000 Milk Pregnancy samples tested at a Minnesota DHIA lab. Will it be yours?
A tremendous milestone and an essential tool used by many dairies.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The new normal?
ACCURATE, CONVENIENT, COST AND LABOR SAVING. Minnesota Dairy Herd Improvement Association 307 Brighton Avenue South Buffalo, MN 55313 1.800.827.3442 www.mndhia.org
After years of low milk prices, it is clear to most people that this is not the dip in a cycle; rather, it is the new normal. The U.S. dairy industry has evolved to the point that the large dairies are very able to keep the market ooded with milk to the detriment of the prices. Lowering the price is not their goal, but it is the real result of their relentless growth. To help the smaller farms survive, the taxpayers could send them a subsidy check every month. In that case, expect the large dairies to lobby that they should get an even bigger check. A better option is a two tier price structure that has a $10 price spread. This would need to be based on a quota plan and preferably one where shares have no saleable value. An example would be $23 milk with over quota surplus milk selling for $13. This can be implemented with little cost to the taxpayer. The new farm bill buys some time, but we all know where the industry is headed if there are no changes made that control production. Gene Zepper Perham, Minn.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Dairy Star Newspaper welcomes letters to the editor. Every letter for publication must be 500 words or less, contain the author’s signature, address and telephone number. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and brevity. Letters can be mailed to Dairy Star, Letter to Editor, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378 or e-mail: mark.k@dairystar.com.
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Page 10 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019
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ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Many emotions ďƒžlled the banquet hall in anticipation for the 10 young women being named Princess Kay of the Milky Way ďƒžnalists May 19 at the River’s Edge Convention Center in St. Cloud, Minn. As the ďƒžnalists were announced one by one, the tension swelled and released. “It’s really an honor, especially because my family just sold the herd in September,â€? Brittney Tiede said. “It’s something I didn’t think I’d have the opportunity to be able to do, but I was able to ďƒžnd a job on a farm again and keep pursuing my passion. [Being named a ďƒžnalist] certainly means the world to me.â€? Tiede is the daughter of Lloyd and Diane Tiede, of Le Center, Minn., and represents Le Sueur County. Also selected as 2019 Princess Kay Finalists are Kayla Biel, the daughter of Kevin and Kelly Biel of Harmony, Minn., representing Fillmore County; Elizabeth Golombiecki, the daughter of Julie Golombiecki and the late Ron Golombiecki of Morris, Minn., representing Stevens County; Donna Honer, the daughter of Scott and Toni Honer of St. Cloud, Minn., representing Stearns County; Grace Jeurissen, the daughter of Rick and Mindy Jeurissen of Lester Prairie, Minn., representing McLeod County; Elizabeth Krienke, the daughter of Kraig and Rachelle Krienke of Lester Prairie, Minn., representing McLeod County; Amy Kyllo, the daughter of Paul and Susan Kyllo of Byron, Minn., representing Olmsted County; Lexie Lange, the daughter of Mark and Joanna Lange, of Sherburn, Minn., representing Martin County; Rachel Paskewitz, the daughter of Alan and Vicki Paskewitz of Browerville, Minn., representing Todd County; and AnnaMarie Sachs, the daughter of Charlie and Carrie Sachs of Eyota, Minn., representing Olmsted County. The group includes two counties, Olmsted and McLeod, that boast two women as well as two ladies who have sisters who are past royalty. For one dairy princess, being named a ďƒžnalist was especially meaningful. Golombiecki embraced the moment, but wished she could have shared it with her father who passed away of pancreatic cancer four weeks ago. “Being a ďƒžnalist is adding to a mix of emotions this month,â€? Golombiecki said. “I know my dad would be so proud, and I’d be lying if I said my dad is not in my mind as I am going through this. I’m always thinking of him, but it’s also exciting for me to do this for myself and prove it to myself that I can accomplish this.â€? Golombiecki was excited to be named a ďƒžnalist and even more excited to represent Stevens County at the next level of dairy promotion. “People think, ‘Oh, Stevens County has a lot of cows, people are familiar with agriculture,’â€? she said. “But, I had a show cow at the county fair and encoun-
DANNA SABOLIK/DAIRY STAR
Stearns County Dairy Princess Donna Honer celebrates being named a 2019 Princess Kay of the Milky Way ďƒžnalist May 19 in St. Cloud, Minn. tered people who were so confused to see my cow on a halter or being milked. I get to be a face for the dairy community, and I can help answer those questions and communicate with the public what dairy farmers do.â€? Golombiecki took over the family farm with her older brother, Lester. They milk 60 cows and crop 2,100 acres with their cousins. “Over the last few years, we’ve been transitioning and evolving, so roles [on the farm] have changed,â€? she said. “The dairy market is tough, but dairy farmers are stronger. Right now, I plan to continue farming with my brother. We make a good team and have plans to continue growing and improving what my dad built.â€? As Golombiecki goes through the Princess Kay contest, her father will be on her mind. “My dad told me I would have my head carved in butter one day, and now it’s actually going to happen,â€? Golombiecki said. “Even though he’s not going to be here to see it, I know he’s still here with me in a way.â€? Like Golombiecki, Paskewitz is thankful to be serving in her role on behalf of dairy farmers. “I’m so grateful to serve [dairy farmers] as much as they’ve served me,â€? said Paskewitz, who is the sister of current Princess Kay Rebekka Paskewitz. “While I didn’t grow up on a dairy farm, I’ve had the chance to work on a dairy farm and in the same way I chose dairy, dairy has chosen me. I’m so thankful for this opportunity.â€? The ďƒžnalists were named during an afternoon banquet following a weekend-long leadership conference for county dairy princesses in Minnesota. These 10 young women will represent Minnesota’s dairy industry through the summer and have their likeness sculpted in 90-pound blocks of butter during the 2019 Minnesota State Fair.
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ZZZ DJURPDWLF QHW MN & IA Sales Rep - Dewey Vine - (563) 387-7466 WI Sales Rep - Erik Niemeier - (608) 574-6046
Minnesota county dairy princesses (front, from leĹŒ) – Elizabeth Golombiecki, Elizabeth Krienke, Lexie Lange, BriĆŠney Tiede and Rachel Paskewitz; (back, from leĹŒ) Kayla Biel, Amy Kyllo, Grace Jeurissen, Donna Honer and AnnaMarie Sachs – are named the 2019 Princess Kay of the Milky Way ďƒžnalists May 19 at the River’s Edge ConvenĆ&#x;on Center, in St. Cloud, Minn.
Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 11
How to build risk management using DMC, Dairy RP By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
Dairy farmers need to have a risk management strategy in place to withstand the economic volatility the industry faces. There are many ways to achieve a successful plan by incorporating new tools, such as the Dairy Margin Coverage and Dairy Revenue Protection programs. “Some things in life are hard … guring out how to nd a meaningful price protection for your dairy is not that hard,” said Dr. Marin Bozic, professor at the University of Minnesota. “Dairy risk management is easy, and you should do it.” Bozic joined Compeer Financial dairy specialist Cassie Monger and crop insurance team leader Josh Newton in explaining why dairy farmers should consider enrolling in DMC and Dairy RP as part of their marketing plan. The trio were a part of a webinar, “What dairy producers need to know about the new risk management tools,” May 17 hosted by I-29 Moo University. “We didn’t have good risk management tools until recently,” Bozic said. Enrollment for Dairy RP began last October, and the results of the rst quarter reveal the program worked as intended in protecting a dairy business from market price uctuations. “At rst, we had higher prices, but then they fell off and triggered indemnity payments,” Newton said. “Looking forward into quarters two, three and four, they may not trigger indemnity payments when Class III nishes higher, and ultimately that’s what we’re shooting for. Dairy RP is an insurance product, so if milk prices are higher and we don’t use it, we view that as a win.” In quarter one, Newton and Monger booked 57 endorsements. Of those endorsements, 11 triggered indemnity payments in the amount of $135,000; eight using Class III options with an average payment of $0.66 per hundredweight and three using component pricing with an average payment of $0.43 per cwt. The indemnity payments ranged from $0.20 to $1.15 per cwt. for Class III endorsements while component endorsements ranged from $0.11 to $1.06 per cwt. “The rst day (Oct. 9) triggered the largest indemnity,” Newton said. “It was the rst day of a brand new product, so there was some hesitation. After we have the opportunity to explain how this works, more farmers will get on board and use this as a revenue protection tool.” Monger agreed. “Dairy RP adds an additional easy-to-understand risk management tool to the toolbox, so to speak,” she said. “Details can be complicated and overwhelming, but the information you need to know when making a decision is simple to understand and easy to incorporate into your business.” To date, about 25 billion pounds, or 12% of annual production in the United States, is protected under Dairy RP, said Bozic. He anticipates that value to increase. When deciding if the insurance program is right for the dairy operation, farmers should consider the markets long term rather than simply viewing the immediate quarter. “The key is consistency to keep up with the volatility of the market right now,” Monger said. Bozic agreed, referencing an example where 95% of milk production is covered in either class or components. Positive indemnities were received 28% to 33% of the time and a net benet of the program was reected similarly. “It’s like car insurance. There’s a 2% chance you’ll need it, but 98% of the time the car will do just ne,” Bozic said. “Over the last 40 quarters, 15 quarters paid back, so the net benet was positive, and it’s increasing on the horizon.” Small changes to the program will go into effect July 1. There are several factors to consider when using Dairy RP, and dairy farmers should work with a trusted insurance agent to determine the best options for their business. Beginning June 17, dairy farmers may also sign up for the highly anticipated DMC program.
During the webinar, Bozic urged farmers to enroll their rst 5 million pounds at the $9.50 coverage level for the ve-year duration of the program. “If we take a closer look at how DMC would perform on the last four miserable years we’ve had, in three out of the four years, most of the time it would have resulted in payments – and meaningful payments,” he said. “The last 20 years of data shows only in 2005 and 2014 DMC would not have returned back the premiums.” For 2019, DMC indemnity payments at the $9.50 coverage level have been revealed for January, February and March at $1.51 per cwt., $1.28 per cwt. and $0.65 per cwt., respectively.
A comfy
Additional resources regarding the DMC program are available on the United States Department of Agriculture’s website, including an informational video created by University of Wisconsin’s Dr. Mark Stephenson: https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programsand-services/dairy-margin-coverage-program/index. Under the new farm bill, dairy farmers can incorporate multiple programs that will best meet the needs of their business, including DMC and Dairy RP among others. “Keep in mind futures prices are in our favor, so put something in place now to take risk off the table in your overall risk management strategy,” Monger said.
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Page 12 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019
DAIRYING IN TOUGH TIMES
Wilhelm continues farming for the cows By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
Editor’s note: In this series, “Dairying in tough times,” Dairy Star is catching up with dairy farmers who began milking cows in the last ve years. These farmers are sharing how they have been able to weather the market conditions and why they see promise in today’s changing industry. PRINCETON, Minn. – John Wilhelm began milking cows in October 2014. If he knew the dairy industry would tank as it has, he never would have lled the barn. “I’ve just been fortunate I had the equity and four months worth of good prices to carry me through,” Wilhelm said. “And honestly, it’s the cows that keep me going. I do this for them.” Wilhelm milks 60 registered Holsteins on his family’s farm in Mille Lacs County near Princeton, Minn. After Wilhelm graduated Ridgewater College in fall 2013, he took to dairy farming on the farm site his dad and uncle once milked. When Wilhelm rst began dairying, he emphasized quality feed and genetics to establish good production and herd health. With the onset of low milk prices, Wilhelm found ways to cut costs on herd management without sacricing the progress he made. “Back in 2003, when my dad and uncle dairied, you could afford to make mistakes,” Wilhelm said. “Now, you can’t. … You have to do all the little things right.”
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
John Wilhelm milks 60 registered Holsteins on his family’s farm in Mille Lacs County near Princeton, Minn. Wilhelm began dairying in October 2014. The young dairy farmer runs 55 acres of hay ground but purchases most other feed inputs. He contracts grain through his dad and uncle, Mark and Tim, and also buys corn silage, dry hay and baleage. When purchasing forages, Wilhelm shops around looking for the highest
relative feed quality at the right price. He strives to provide his herd with a 190-plus RFQ. “Dairy farming is all about math,” Wilhelm said. “I talk with my nutritionist at least twice a week, bouncing ideas off of him and adjusting the ration to keep it balanced as we’re using different
forages.” Wilhelm is also willing to invest in higher-priced semen if the mating is right. “I’d rather spend $100 now on a straw, then skimp costs now and pay for it in two years when the animal comes in Turn to WILHELM | Page 13
Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 13
ConƟnued from WILHELM | Page 12
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JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
John Wilhelm uses ground sheetrock as a bedding source for his milking herd at his dairy in Princeton, Minn. Wilhelm uses the alternaƟve bedding as a way to cut costs on the farm. to milk,” Wilhelm said. However, Wilhelm has changed his breeding philosophy. He once used to breed entirely for type, but now chooses bulls for positive components, a net merit of $800 or greater, positive health traits and a positive daughter pregnancy rate, and then type. “The genetics are here,” said Wilhelm of his herd. “Now, I have to focus on longevity and maintaining milk and type.” The investment in nutrition and genetics has boosted Wilhelm’s production with cows milking 83 pounds per day, giving him a rolling herd average of 24,000 pounds – up more than 1,000 pounds from last year. While Wilhelm’s short time dairy farming has garnered striking milestones, it has not been easy. “Last year, I made $12,000 before taxes,” Wilhelm said. “We’re living off one income.” Wilhelm’s wife, Alexa, is a registered nurse at St. Cloud Hospital in St. Cloud, Minn. Together, the couple has two daughters, Chloe, 6, and Ariel, 7 months. The day after Christmas this past year, Wilhelm caught a re that started in the water heater in the tiestall barn. Luckily, the only damage was in the room surrounding the heater but the cost was unprecedented. “Stuff happens every day,” Wilhelm said. “It’s never a question of when a x will come, but how big is the x going to be.” To plan for the repairs, Wilhelm tries to keep cash on hand. He sets a price oor in his bank account and does not dip below that amount. Additionally, he has found areas on the farm to reduce costs which provides a better nancial cushion for the dairy business. In the last year, Wilhelm has stopped using chopped straw for bedding. He now spends $200 on 6 tons of ground sheetrock, sprinkling on top of the stall mattresses throughout the day.
Wilhelm has also restructured his herd health protocols. “I used to have herd check once a month, but now the vet comes out every three months,” he said. “I still vaccinate, but not twice during lactation like I used to. I vaccinate at dry off and then they get a booster two weeks before calving.” To help maintain a healthier herd, Wilhelm sold eight cows from the herd which were a part of the original group of animals he started milking. He replaced those animals with younger cows that hold more potential in the barn. “It was really a wash in price, but I gained in production,” Wilhelm said. In the future, Wilhelm wants to capitalize on his herd’s genetics, so he maintains membership in Holstein Association USA Inc. Currently, he ushes some but uses the embryos with his own lower-end genetic animals. “At the stage I’m at, I’m not ready to make money off of my registered genetics, so I’ve stopped registering my animals. That helps cut costs,” Wilhelm said. Over the last four years, Wilhelm has had to make decisions that have propelled his dairy business in the right direction. These decisions have also worn on his physical and mental health. “I have a good friend who wanted to start dairying. He found a herd and everything,” Wilhelm said. “I told him I’d love to see him milk cows, but I don’t want to see him dead either. It’s nearly impossible for someone to start from scratch right now.” After the barn re this past winter, Wilhelm’s wife posted a note on their fridge with resources Wilhelm uses when he feels defeated. Seeing the reminder every morning before he heads out to do chores and also the support he has found with family and friends keeps Wilhelm carrying on as a dairy farmer. “It’s hard. … I have to know there are things in life I can’t control,” Wilhelm said. “I take it day by day. It will all work out.”
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Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 15
From Our Side Of The Fence Graduates: How do you feel about starting a dairy career?
Avery Enyart Postville, Iowa Allamakee County 250 cows Northeast Iowa Community College Calmar, dairy science technology Tell us about your family’s dairy. We are milking about 250 Holsteins three times a day. We also operate 1,200 acres of crop land for ourselves and have a custom farming business which is mainly forage harvesting. It is owned and managed by my dad, Steve, and brothers, Adam and Alex. Steve is the general manager and mixes feed, Adam is the herdsman, and Alex takes care of the ďƒžnancials along with crops and the custom farming business. What is your role on the farm since your return? Since I have returned, I have stepped into an assistant herdsman position, and I also help with ďƒželdwork. How do you feel about starting a dairy career in the current dairy economy? It has deďƒžnitely been tough the last few years, but hopefully prices continue to rise. How has the current dairy economy affected your return to the farm? I have been working on the farm since high school. Our farm has many different enterprises, which has made it easier to return full time. What classes were most beneďƒžcial in preparing you for your dairy farming career? Marketing, animal health and dairy business were by far the most beneďƒžcial classes for me. My internship at Pattison Dairy also helped me see a dairy with different goals and management techniques, and how I could implement practices on our farm. How has the farm accommodated you coming home? We seem to be growing in one aspect of the farm or another every year – adding cows, adding more land or more custom work. How do you think your farm and your role on it will change in 10 years? We will keep trying to expand our operation in some way. I hope to have my own part of the farm I manage, whether it’s raising steers or taking over management of raising our youngstock.
Aaron Borash Little Falls, Minn. Morrison County 80 cows Ridgewater College, farm operations and management Tell us about your family’s dairy. I work on my family’s dairy farm with my parents, Wayne and Joyce, and two younger sisters. Dad is the main milker and boss. My mom keeps the records and feeds the calves. When available, my sisters assist with calf chores. What is your role on the farm since your return? I am in charge of mixing feed, cleaning barns, maintenance of machinery and ďƒželdwork. Milking cows is a given. How do you feel about starting a dairy career in the current dairy economy? Right now it’s a little scary because everything you hear is negative. You wade through the rough times knowing it’s going to get better. I am eager to work hard and try my best. How has the current dairy economy affected your return to the farm? My dad has never closed the door to my working somewhere other than the farm. It is difďƒžcult to compete with the wage and beneďƒžts of an off-the-farm job. I would rather not pursue other employment, but my parents say I have youth and a hunger for money that drives me. I guess time will tell. However tied-down a farmer may feel, there is still a sense of freedom and variety a farm offers that other jobs don’t. What classes were most beneďƒžcial in preparing you for your dairy farming career? The agriculture classes at Ridgewater are hands on for the most part. The ones I found most interesting and will probably help the most are A.I. training, hoof trimming and all the machinery maintenance classes. How has the farm accommodated you coming home? It is springtime, and Mom and Dad put me right to work, so it was not a big issue ďƒžnding things for me to do. We also discussed maybe getting a few more cows to support me as an employee. How do you think your farm and your role on it will change in 10 years? I see myself operating a more advanced version of the current family farm, which includes more cattle and perhaps more buildings. I see my parents taking less of a workload and me doing more so they can enjoy the years before they approach retirement.
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Olivia Brandenburg Fort Atkinson, Wis. Jefferson County 70 cows University of Wisconsin Madison Farm and Industry Short Course, dairy herd management Tell us about your family’s dairy. I grew up on my family’s 70-cow dairy farm outside of Fort Atkinson, Wis., with my parents, Jim and Peggy, and my two younger brothers, Sawyer, 17, and Emerson, 13. Along with our milk cows, we have around 100 youngstock. What is your role on the farm since your return? My roll on our dairy farm consists of caring for our herd of elite show cows along with feeding and caring for the calves. How do you feel about starting a dairy career in the current dairy economy? Coming right out of college and returning to the farm, I can face a few challenges during this tough time but also be able to get by with what we have. It’s tough during this time knowing everyone is hurting in this industry and not just my family and the neighbors around us. With our mixed herd of Jerseys and Holsteins, the components and extra premiums are helping us immensely. How has the current dairy economy affected your return to the farm? I have returned home with an open mind knowing that each day you may have to make decisions you may never have had to do. Whether it may be going and buying more feed to feed animals, selling some breeding age heifers or cows, or maybe making a small simple decision during the day. What classes were most beneďƒžcial in preparing you for your dairy farming career? I beneďƒžted from all the classes whether that was herd health class, dairy herd management class and my soils class. I took a little something from all of those classes and was able to bring the knowledge home. The dairy herd health class was by far my favorite. I was able to bring so much home that I know I could do things on my own without calling a vet to look at a cow that’s down, sick or whatever it may be. How has the farm accommodated you coming home? I was able to be more involved with making bigger decisions with breeding cows back, caring for calves and other small things. How do you think your farm and your role on it will change in 10 years? Within the next 10 years, I hope I can take most of the farm over from my parents and be able to run it with my brothers, mainly being in charge of the animals and my brothers being in charge of the ďƒželd work. Within the next year, we plan to build a 74-cow freestall barn with a swing-6 parlor and slowly convert to all Jerseys. Turn to OUR SIDE | Page 16
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ConƟnued from OUR SIDE | Page 15 Andrew Fisher Watkins, Minn. Meeker County 75 cows Ridgewater College, farm operations and management, emphasis in dairy Tell us about your family’s dairy. My family farm is located north of Forest City, Minn. I will be the fth generation to farm. I work alongside my grandfather and father. My grandfather manages the calves and assists with eldwork and other jobs. My dad and I share the milking, feeding and all other chores. We milk 75 cows in a tiestall barn and raise steers. Our crops consist of corn, oats, alfalfa, soybeans and grass hay. What is your role on the farm since your return? My main role on the farm is overseeing herd reproduction. I primarily deal with close up springers and dry cows. As far as other roles on the farm, my dad and I share all other responsibilities equally. How do you feel about starting a dairy career in the current dairy economy? Owning and operating my own family dairy farm is still my dream and has been since I was a young kid. Today’s current economy has forced me to be more realistic with what the future may or may not hold for smaller sized farming. I have been hopeful for what my family and I can do with the farm, but we have also been looking at other sources of income during these tough times. How has the current dairy economy affected your return to the farm? For my family’s farm, my return has not changed the farming situation. If anything, it has forced us to become more efcient and be more diverse in our income sources. My dad and I have been in discussion that there is a possibility an off-farm job may be necessary to create a surplus of income. Thankfully, we are not at this point. What classes were most benecial in preparing you for your dairy farming career? I started the program with a strong knowledge base. I have learned a lot from my grandfather, father and uncle. The classes that added to this foundation were dairy nutrition, as this helped me understand reasoning behind nutrition changes; personal management taught me the skills I would need to lead a team and work with others; and all my farm management courses because they taught me about keeping records, the importance and details of taxes, and other nancing information necessary to run a successful business. How has the farm accommodated you coming home? We have increased our herd size to accommodate me. My dad and I have been researching and attempting to increase milk production and raise more steers. My dad and I understand that a workable farm also needs to reect an income for two people. How do you think your farm and your role on it will change in 10 years? In 10 years, I hope to own a larger percentage of the farm. If the dairy economy stays in its current state, our farm will have to change. We have discussed changing to primarily raise steers and expand our crop land acres. But if the dairy economy improves and has a strong outlook, we hope to expand our current situation to a larger dairy herd. This is a difcult question to answer considering the current state of the agriculture economy in general.
Katie Hendrickson Estelline, S.D. Hamiln County 70 cows South Dakota State University, dairy production and animal science Tell us about your family’s dairy. My family dairy switched from a tiestall barn to Lely robots a little over two years ago. We milk 70 cows in the freestall barn. Our dairy is run by my parents Mary Beth and Byron Hendrickson, my grandpa Dennis Hendrickson and myself. My older brother Mitchell Hendrickson also helps when he is home. My mom does the book work and helps make sure the facilities stay clean. My dad takes care of fetching the cows that have not made it up to the robot for the day, does maintenance on the robots and gives treatments to cows. My grandpa and I feed and take care of the youngstock. We raise our replacement heifers and grow our steers out to nish. We farm several hundred acres of crops to provide feed. What is your role on the farm since your return? I am wherever help is needed. The main role I have is taking care of the calves. I provide them with grain, milk and water in the morning and at night. I also make sure they have clean straw in their pens for comfort. I monitor them to make sure they are healthy and provide medicine when needed. I assist with vaccinations, dehorning, castrating and weaning calves. Even though I have been helping on the dairy since I was a kid, I have much to learn before I can do it all. Dairy farming is a never-ending learning experience, and that is one of the reasons I love it so much. How do you feel about starting a dairy career in the current dairy economy? Even with the economy being depressed, there are opportunities for young people within the industry. It can be hard being in the dairy industry when things are not going well, and I feel for everyone who has been negatively affected. I look forward to better things in the future. How has the current dairy economy affected your return to the farm? The economy was not a deciding factor on returning to the farm. I knew it was what I wanted to do. I am hoping I will be able to make a positive impact on our farm so we can continually become more protable in the future. What classes were most benecial in preparing you for your dairy farming career? In dairy cattle breeding and evaluation, we learned about breeds of cattle, reproduction and genetics. We got hands on experience using A.I., ultrasounding, judging cattle based on their type traits, and we got to observe an embryo transfer. This class opened my eyes to the technologies that could be benecial in advancing a dairy farm. Physiology of lactation taught us about a cow’s lactation from the udder conformation to the entire physiological process. We dissected a cow’s udder to see where treatments go, observe how mastitis affects the udder and observe the anatomy. This class showed me the importance of proper treatments. How has the farm accommodated you coming home? My dad and grandpa are glad to have me back. As a dairy farmer, there is always a never-ending list of things to do so having one more extra hand goes a long way. How do you think your farm and your role on it will change in 10 years? In 10 years, I hope we are able to incorporate technologies and ideas from research to improve our dairy. Within the next few years, the main change I see is our dairy updating our tiestall barn into an excellent calf barn facility. In 10 years, I see myself helping make more decisions.
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Mary Scott Westgate, Iowa Fayette County 175 cows Iowa State University, dairy science Tell us about your family’s dairy. Of our herd, 120 cows are milked by two Lely robots while an additional 30 are milked in our tiestall barn. My parents, Mike and Kathleen, own and operate our dairy farm. Mike is the farm manager. He is in charge of all the eldwork, feeding youngstock and cows, maintenance on the robots and the farm nancials. Kathleen is the herd manager. She is in charge of all the breeding, genetic selection, calf raising, fetching cows and managing the cow records. They both work together to make sure everything runs smoothly and gets done. What is your role on the farm since your return? I have only been home for two weeks, but for the time being I am helping with chores and catching up on big projects around the farm. While I was in college, I was in charge of the registration, vaccinating and tagging of all youngstock on the farm. My plans are to take charge of the calf and heifer program along with taking a share of the genetic selection. It is my goal to raise healthy calves with good genetics that will be productive and protable cows. How do you feel about starting a dairy career in the current dairy economy? At this point, it will be a challenge. While everyone in the dairy industry is struggling, it is small farms like ours that aren’t making it. The future for smaller farms would be to nd a niche market for dairy products and strive to produce a high quality, wholesome product to sell to consumers. While this isn’t possible for our farm in the current dairy economy, it is something to look forward to in the future. How has the current dairy economy affected your return to the farm? It was never in my plans to return home to the farm right out of college. I hoped to nd a career within the industry with the possibility of returning home in the future. The current economy has dwindled the number of jobs being offered in the dairy industry, which is the main reason I have returned home. While I am still searching for a career, I plan to stay involved with my family’s farm. What classes were most benecial in preparing you for your dairy farming career? Animal Science 333 and 434 were the most benecial to me. Animal Science 333 is about embryo transfer and related technologies taught by Dr. Youngs. We were taught how to collect and transfer embryos as well as many reproductive synchronization protocols and how to best use them. Animal Science 434 was dairy farm management taught by Dr. Timms. In this class, we learned how to deal with real life situations on a dairy farm along with benchmarks to compare to. How has the farm accommodated you coming home? As on any dairy farm, there are plenty of things that need to be done. I am there to help with whatever needs to be done as well as taking charge of aspects of the farm. My parents are more than willing to hand things over as well as making improvements so I am able to stay busy and play a role on the farm. How do you think your farm and your role on it will change in 10 years? It is difcult to say how much things will change in the next 10 years. As one of eight siblings, there will be a challenging transition from one generation to the next. It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.
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Page 18 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019
Repro Leaders
Crossvent barn, consistency, conrming viable CLs key to reproductive success at Johnson Rolling Acres Johnson Rolling Acres Peterson, Minn. Fillmore County 1,200 cows What was your pregnancy rate average last year? Last year, our DHIA records showed 30% and our own records from Dairy Comp showed 34%. What is your voluntary waiting period for cows? For heifers? For cows, the voluntary waiting period is 67 days. Heifers are bred at 13 months. What is your rst service conception rate? First service conception rate is 53%.
What is your reproduction program? Do you use a synchronization program? No cows are bred before 67 days, and all cows are bred the rst time on a timed breeding. In a presynch program, cows are given two rounds of Lutalyse. When cows are between 6065 days, they are ultrasounded for a viable corpus luteum. If there is a viable CL, we give the cow lutalyse, and then she is bred three days later. If there is not a viable CL, the cow is given GnRH and checked for a viable CL in seven days. Then they are started on the ovsynch program. Then 32 days af-
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Trinity (from leŌ) and Mark Johnson, along with herdsman Walter Laumb are three of the people responsible for the reproducƟon program at Johnson Rolling Acres near Peterson, Minn.
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Two cows at Johnson Rolling Acres wear acƟvity monitor collars. Repeat and tough breeders are bred through the monitors rather than Ɵmed A.I.
ter breeding, the cow is given GnRH and pregnancy checked at 39 days. If she is open, she is resynched and bred again at 42 days. We think staying on a cow’s normal cycle is benecial. The extra GnRH improves conception immensely and was suggested by our veterinarian. It helps us make sure the cows are cycling correctly.
How do you observe for heat? Most cows are bred from timed A.I.; however, we also have an activity monitor to help us breed repeat and tough breeders. Being able to catch more cows with the activity monitors helps us get more cows pregnant and not have to resynch them again.
How do you conrm pregnant or open cows? We use ultrasound to conrm pregnancy. Our vet, Dr. John Rein, from the Harmony and Cresco Vet Clinic comes out weekly. Cows are checked 39 days after breeding and rechecked at 65 days. We also check for twins at this time. If a cow is going to have twins, she is dried off a Turn to REPRO | Page 20
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Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 19
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J&S DAIRY, The Worms Family, MELROSE, MINN. Nestor Gomez, herdsman 900 cows, 75 lbs/cow/day SCC 210,000 down to 178,000 Big smile when asked what he loves about his job as herdsman: “Taking care of the cows!” “We see Udder Comfort™ working and are thankful for this product. It takes the swelling away. Instead of being tight and slow to milk, the fresh udders are soft and let milk down faster for better milking,” says Nestor Gomez at J&S Dairy, owned by the Worms family near Melrose, Minnesota. Josh Worms says Nestor, the 900-cow dairy’s herdsman, has been working Udder Comfort into their fresh cow routine since bringing home samples from Central Plains Expo in 2017. “We see the biggest benefit in fresh heifers with the most edema and cows with big udders. We do spray all fresh udders with Udder Comfort 2x/day for 3 to 4 days,” Nestor explains. “We also like using this for all hospital cows. They recover faster. We used to use a regular mint, but Udder Comfort brings so much more. It’s easy to recommend this product for fresh cows: The spray is easy to use, a gallon does 35 to 40 fresh cows (all applications), and the results help them.”
Quality Udders Make Quality Milk
Keep the milk in the system 1.888.773.7153 1.613.652.9086 uddercomfort.com Call to locate a distributor near you. 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, May 25, 2019
ConƟnued from REPRO | Page 18 week earlier and put in the prefresh pen one week earlier. That’s been huge for their transition and getting them going. What is your breeding philosophy? How do you select bulls? What traits do you focus on? Does fertility play a role in bull selection? All our cows are GMS mated through ABS Global. Our breeding philosophy has changed a lot in the last 10 years. We used to breed for feet and legs, and high production. Now we focus on components and health traits. After breeding this way for a few years, we are now starting to see if pay off. Our per-day production per cow is 88 pounds of milk with 4% butterfat and 3.2% protein. Fertility is also a big factor in our mating decisions. We only use bulls with a positive score for daughter pregnancy rate and high sire conception rate. In January, we started a new breeding protocol that will help us try to manage our heifer inventory. The top 30% of our herd is bred using sexed semen. The bottom 35% is bred using beef semen. The remainder of the herd is bred with conventional semen. We have more heifers than we need. Adding beef into our breeding helps us achieve only the number of heifers we need. It also helps us genetically improve our herd at a faster rate and breed the tough breeders out of our herd. How are cows and heifers bred? Do you have a different philosophy for breeding both? For the past ve years, we have worked with De Su Holsteins to breed our heifers. They have a business that works together with an A.I. company to develop and produce heifers with high genetic quality. All our heifers are eligible to receive an embryo from highly genetic animals from De Su Holsteins. They are given two chances to carry an embryo before they
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Dry cows rest comfortably in one of several pens in the crossvenƟlated freestall barn at Johnson Rolling Acres near Peterson, Minn. are bred based off their GMS mating. The top 25% is bred with sexed semen. What do you do to settle hard breeders? If a cow is open after the rst two services, she is bred the third and fourth time to a high fertility bull. Beef semen is used on the fth service. If the cow is still not bred, she is put on a do not breed list and sold. If a heifer reaches about 18 months old and is still not bred, she is put on the DNB list and sold. How many times do you try to breed a cow before you sell her? Five to six times. We have a hard cutoff at 250 days in milk. If she is not pregnant by then, she is sold. Is there anything you have done or changed that brought about a signi-
ARE YOU PREPARED FOR THE
SUMMER HEAT? Now is the time to check, clean and replace existing cooling systems and/or design a cooling solution to alleviate heat stress.
Tell us about your farm. There are six partners who own Johnson Rolling Acres. Three senior partners – Mark, Richard and Bradley Johnson – are the older generation. Three junior partners – Trinity, Zac and Lee Johnson – are the younger generation. One senior partner recently retired; however, he still comes to mix feed during the week. In addition to our milking herd, we nish 10,000 pigs each year. Our 2,900 acres are used to raise our own crops for the animals along with a small portion of cash crop. We harvest our own crops and haul our manure. The farm has 27 full-time and part-time employees, which includes all the partners. Our herdsman, Walter Laumb, has been with us for over 15 years.
cant improvement in your reproductive program? The rst is our crossventilation barn we built in 2012. It has the calving pens, and is where the prefresh and transition cows are housed. Taking good care of cows during this time is a big part of getting them bred back in a timely manner. Cows are ready to rebreed if they take off in transition after calving, are kept healthy and don’t lose body condition. Last year, we also brought our dry cows home. Now we don’t have to transport them to another farm which was another stressor. The second thing was adding a second shot of lutalyze 24 hours after the rst in our ovsynch program. That’s been huge for us. The third aspect is being able to rely on employees to give shots. The same three employees give shots at the same time each day. Three other people focus on the breeding. This consistency helps our breeding program.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 21
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ARTICULATED 4WD TRACTORS 14 JD 9630, 2009, Power Shift, Triples, Guidance-ready, 3918 hrs., #151999 .................................................................................... $154,900 14 Ford 9680, 1995, Duals, 5385 hrs., #158661 .............................. $36,000 17 JD 9370R, 2015, Power Shift, Duals, Guidance-ready, 971 hrs., #154699 ................................................................................... $219,500 1 JD 9410R, 2014, Power Shift, Duals, 1561 hrs., #146677.......... $219,500 7 JD 9470R, 2016, Power Shift, Duals, Guidance-ready, Heavy Duty Gudgeon, 847 hrs., #158093................................... $259,500 15 JD 9520R, 2015, Power Shift, Duals, PTO, Guidance-ready, Heavy Duty Gudgeon, 924 hrs., #158096................................... $289,500 15 JD 9560R, 2014, Power Shift, Duals, Hydraulic Pump: Big, Guidance-ready, Heavy Duty Gudgeon, 4491 hrs., #158665......$179,500 15 JD 9560R, 2014, Power Shift, Duals, Guidance-ready, Heavy Duty Gudgeon, 5121 hrs., #158666................................. $165,000 6 JD 9570R, 2017, Power Shift, Duals, 810 hrs., #150670............ $355,900 11 JD 9570R, 2018, Power Shift, Duals, PTO, Guidance-ready, Heavy Duty Gudgeon, 142 hrs., #147190................................... $389,500 2 Case IH STX440, 2001, Power Shift, Duals, 5949 hrs., #156666 ...................................................................................... $89,500 MOWER CONDITIONERS 7 JD 535, 2005, #139187 ............................................................... $14,000 10 JD 630, 2014, #153621 ............................................................... $20,900 12 JD 630, 2015, #156597 ............................................................... $21,900 10 JD 820, 1994, #150306 ..................................................................$4,750 4 JD 835, 2014, #152233 ............................................................... $24,200 4 JD 946, 2008, #150133 ............................................................... $14,430 5 JD 946, 2014, #157889 ............................................................... $23,900 17 New Holland H7460, 2013, #144344 ....................................... $21,900 PULL-TYPE SPRAYERS 10 Redball 580, 2006, #151074 ..................................................... $18,900 10 Blum 750, 1979, #158936 ............................................................$4,900 9 Fast 9518, #158292 ................................................................... $25,900 1 Fast 9613, 2016, #157612 ......................................................... $29,900 15 Wil-Rich Blumha, #148336 .........................................................$5,500 5 Hardi Commander 1200, 2002, #150043 ................................ $14,900 4 Hardi NAVIGATOR 4000, 2010, #158476 .................................. $17,900 2 Hardi RANGER 2000, 2014, #155294 ........................................ $20,500 15 Top Air TA1200, 2008, #155358 ................................................ $16,650 ROUND BALERS 10 JD 457, 2004 Pickup: Mega Wide, Twine Only, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 4 Feet,7500 Bale Count, #159175 ......................... $12,400 6 JD 468, 2012, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 4 Feet, 9500 Bale Count, #153396 ....... $28,900 9 JD 468, 2009, Pickup: Mega Wide, Wrapping: Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 4 Feet, 19500 Bale Count, #158356 ...................................................................................... $15,500 11 JD 535, 1992, Twine Only, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, #151750 .........................................................................................$7,200 11 JD 535, 1990, Twine Only, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, #151751 .........................................................................................$6,500 14 JD 535, 1993, Pickup: Regular, Twine Only, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, #155784 ..............................................................................$4,520 14 JD 559, 2015, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 2730 Bale Count, #158977 ........................ $31,350 12 JD 568, 2010, Pickup: Mega Wide, Twine Only, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 5422 Bale Count, #149676........................ $25,500 7 JD 569, 2014, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 6800 Bale Count, #157756 ...... $34,500 6 JD 569, 2017, Pickup: Mega Wide, Wrapping: Surface Wrap Only, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 6050 Bale Count, #143801 ....... $38,000 14 JD 569, 2013, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 10900 Bale Count, #153558 ..... $26,500 4 Gehl 1465, Pickup: Regular, Twine Only, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 4 Feet, #150085 .........................................................................................$5,100 10 Massey Ferguson 2846A, 2012, 1390 Bale Count, #155473 .... $24,900
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JD 9520RX, 2016, 1250 hrs., #143518
2 JD 458 Silage Special, 2011, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 4 Feet, 13444 Bale Count, #157883 ...................................................................................... $22,900 6 JD 460M, 2018, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 4 Feet, 4500 Bale Count, #152787 ....... $35,500 6 JD 560M, 2018, 6018 Bale Count, #155709 ................................ $42,500 8 JD 569 Premium, 2014, Surface Wrap Only, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 12000 Bale Count, #148146 ...................... $26,900 7 JD 854 Silage Special, 2016, 250 Bale Count, #156233 ............ $47,900 6 JD 854 Silage Special, 2016, Pickup: Mega Wide, Both Twine and Surface Wrap, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 4 Feet, Precut Knives, 6000 Bale Count, #151149........................................................... $31,300 6 JD 854 Silage Special, 2014, Pickup: Mega Wide, Surface Wrap Only, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 4 Feet, Precut Knives, 7250 Bale Count, #151186 ...................................................................................... $29,500 2 New Holland BR7090, 2010, Pickup: Mega Wide, PTO: 1000, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 8254 Bale Count, #155760 ........................ $22,000 10 New Holland BR780, 2004, Twine Only, PTO: 540, Width of Bale: 5 Feet, 3000 Bale Count, #152119 ...........................$9,900 SELF-PROPELLED SPRAYERS 4 AgChem 1074, 2009, Boom Width: 100-Foot, Tank: Stainless, 3650 hrs., #158291...................................................................... $56,900 16 Case IH 4430, 2013, Boom Leveling, Tank: Stainless, Tire Width: Narrow, Guidance-ready, 2655 hrs., #154198 ........................................ $209,500 10 JD 4920, 2004, 4600 hrs., #157917 ............................................ $69,500 8 JD R4038, 2018, Boom Width: 120-Foot, Nozzle Spacing: 20 in, 495 hrs., #150887...................................................................... $339,000 14 JD R4038, 2017, Hydraulic Tread Adjust, Guidance-ready, 508 hrs., #143961 .................................................................................... $346,500 14 JD R4038, 2018, 101 hrs., #155379 .......................................... $319,500 UTILITY TRACTORS 16 JD 2040, 1979, Configuration: Standard, 2WD, Rear PTO: 540, Tire Width: Mid, #157048 ...............................................................$9,900 16 JD 2840, 1977, 377 hrs., #157047 .............................................. $15,900 10 JD 6420, 2002, 6900 hrs., #154564 ............................................ $48,900 10 JD 5065E, 2018, 37 hrs., #156859 .............................................. $31,900 10 JD 5065M, 2012, Partial Power Shift, 2WD, Rear PTO: 540, 4975 hrs., #151388...................................................................... $21,900 15 JD 5100E, 2016, Cab, Power Reverser, MFWD, 2075 hrs., #149334 ...................................................................................... $46,900 5 JD 5100E, 2016, Cab, Power Reverser, MFWD, 1971 hrs., #145220 ...................................................................................... $46,900 4 JD 5115M, 2018, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Mid, Loader, 419 hrs., #143684 ...................................................................................... $78,900 4 JD 5115M, 2018, #143686 ......................................................... $78,900 4 JD 5115M, 2018, 187 hrs., #143688 ........................................... $71,900 11 JD 5115M, 2016, Cab, Power Reverser, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Loader, 315 hrs., #149192 ........................................................... $79,500 5 JD 6105R, 2013, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, 1425 hrs., #156129...................................................................... $71,900 8 JD 6110M, 2016, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, 315 hrs., #144493........................... $79,500 17 JD 6110R, 2017, Cab, Partial Power Shift, Guidance-ready, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Loader, 365 hrs., #144495 .......................... $99,500 17 JD 6110R, 2017, Cab, IVT, Guidance-ready, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, 257 hrs., #144497........................................................................ $97,900 15 JD 6110R, 2016, Cab, IVT, MFWD, 347 hrs., #144500 .................. $95,900 11 JD 6110R, 2017, Cab, IVT, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, 345 hrs., #142813 ...................................................................................... $99,500 11 JD 6110R, 2017, Cab, IVT, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Loader, 378 hrs., #144499...................................................................... $104,900 14 JD 6110R, 2017, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Loader, 409 hrs., #144496 ........................................................... $99,500 4 JD 6120E, 2018, 193 hrs., #143694 ............................................ $79,500 10 JD 6120E, 2016, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540,
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110,000
JD 7200R, 2012, $ 2780 hrs., #154425
369,000
$
134,900
JD 7210R, 2015, $ 825 hrs., #141370
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JD 8245R, 2016, 676 hrs., #144535
Tire Width: Wide, Loader, 272 hrs., #124936 ................................ $69,500 10 JD 6120E, 2016, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540, Tire Width: Wide, Loader, 275 hrs., #124867 ................................ $69,500 11 JD 6120E, 2018, 36 hrs., #143692 .............................................. $79,500 2 JD 6125R, 2014, 780 hrs., #155293 ............................................ $67,500 11 JD 6125R, 2014, Cab, Partial Power Shift, Guidance-ready, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Loader, 489 hrs., #158248 ........................ $115,000 14 JD 6130M, 2016, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, 195 hrs., #124993........................................................................ $99,500 10 JD 6130R, 2016, Cab, Partial Power Shift, Guidance-ready, MFWD, Tire Width: Mid, 187 hrs., #124987 .............................................. $96,900 17 JD 6130R, 2017, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Loader, 171 hrs., #147778......................................................... $109,500 6 JD 6130R, 2016, Cab, Partial Power Shift, Guidance-ready, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Mid, 371 hrs., #142596 ............. $99,500 5 JD 6130R, 2015, Cab, Partial Power Shift, Guidance-ready, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, 265 hrs., #142595 ....................................... $99,500 8 JD 6130R, 2018, Cab, Partial Power Shift, Guidance-ready, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Wide, 130 hrs., #156512 ......... $115,000 8 JD 6130R, 2018, Guidance-ready, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Wide, 120 hrs., #156488 .......................................... $125,000 8 JD 6130R, 2016, Guidance-ready, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Wide, 2191 hrs., #156511 .......................................... $85,900 14 JD 6130R, 2017, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, Guidance-ready, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, 194 hrs., #144503 $99,500 4 JD 6135E, 2016, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Tire Width: Wide, 198 hrs., #142599........................................................................ $71,900 4 JD 6135E, 2018, 152 hrs., #143696 ............................................ $84,900 4 JD 6135E, 2018, 177 hrs., #143698 ............................................ $84,900 5 JD 6135E, 2016 Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Tire Width: Narrow, 327 hrs., #142600 ........................................ $74,900 WINDROWERS 6 JD 994, 2005, Conditioner: Steel, #145340 ................................. $13,500 4 JD 2320, 1981, Platform Size: 12, Conditioner: Rubber/Urethane, #150888 ........................................................................................$4,900 6 JD W235, 2014, Conditioner: Steel, 653 hrs., #135622 ............. $129,500 6 JD W260, 2016, Conditioner: Rubber/Urethane, 591 hrs., #140978 .................................................................................... $149,500
STEEL DEALS
COMBINE PLATFORM 7 JD 635F, 2006, #140683 ............................................................. $11,900 ROW CROP TRACTORS 14 JD 6175R, 2017, 175 hp.,182 hrs., #145241 ............................. $128,000 17 JD 6175R, 2017, 175 hp., 421 hrs., #144524 ............................ $139,000 10 JD 7200R, 2012, 200 hp., 2780 hrs., #154425 .......................... $102,500 11 JD 7210R, 2015, 210 hp., 804 hrs., #141370 ............................ $134,900 10 JD 8245R, 2016, 245 hp., 676 hrs., #144535 ............................ $184,900 SELF-PROPELLED FORAGE HARVESTER HEADS: ROTARY 6 JD 688, 2011, #140930 ............................................................... $23,500 6 JD 710, 2007, #115310 ............................................................... $33,000 6 JD 770, 2011, #138381 ............................................................... $29,700 SELF-PROPELLED FORAGE HARVESTERS 6 JD 7300, 2003, 5093 hrs., 3640 cu. hrs., #140932.........................$68,000 6 Claas JAGUAR 890, 2002, 2749 hrs., 2290 cu. hrs., #133756 ..... $96,000 TRACK TRACTORS 4 JD 9520RX, 2016, 520 hp.,1206 hrs., #143518 ......................... $369,000 6 Case IH QUAD 500, 2011, 500 hp., 2950 hrs., #155272 ........... $189,000
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128,000
JD 6175R, 2017, $ 182 hrs., #145241
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189,000
CIH QT500, 2011, $ 2950 hrs., #155272
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139,000
JD 6175R, 2017, $ 422 hrs., #144524
Page 22 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019
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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-Suckow Dairy Supply West Union, IA 563-422-5355 Postville, IA 563-864-7417
WISCONSIN Advanced Dairy/Bob’s Dairy Supply Spring Valley, WI 715-772-3201 Ederer Dairy Supply Plain, WI 608-546-3713 Joe’s Refrigeration Inc. Withee, WI 715-229-2321 Mlsna Dairy Supply Inc. Cashton, WI 608-654-5106 Professional Dairy Services Waunakee, WI 608-849-5043
Mondovi Dairy Systems Inc. Mondovi, WI 715-926-5777 West Salem, WI 608-769-2113 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, MN 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
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Scissor cut results for May 14-20 The Alfalfa Harvest Alert Project / Scissor Cut project is now underway. The goal of this project is to alert alfalfa growers to start rst crop harvest when the crop is at a level of quality and yield potential that meets their specic needs. Keep in mind, the goal of this project is not to try and name the day that you should harvest. Rather the goal is to encourage growers who are busy with management of other crops to be more strategic with hay crop harvest as it relates to their needs. Fresh cut samples of alfalfa are collected when height of the stand reaches between 14 and 16 inches tall. Project cooperators will try to sample at least twice a By Nathan Drewitz week usually Monday and Thursday until harvest. Clipped samU of M Extension ples are tested to determine Relative Feed Value (RFV), Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF), and other alfalfa quality factors related to harvest decisions. Quality and maturity will also be estimated through an equation called the “Predictive Equation for Alfalfa Quality” (PEAQ). This process uses the stage of maturity and height of the tallest stems to estimate RFV and NDF. The following are results from May 14 to May 20. Carver County – Drier Farm near Norwood; May 14, RFV = 303, RFQ = 328, CP = 23.27% May 16, RFV = 266, RFQ = 283, CP = 22.14% May 20, RFV = 253, RFQ = 280, CP = 22.81% Benton County – O&S Dairy near Rice; May 16, RFV = 241, RFQ = 268, PEAQ = 237, CP = 22.93% Sibley County – Belter Dairy near Glencoe; May 16, RFV = 253, RFQ = 272, PEAQ = 260, CP = 25.11% Stearns County – Frericks near Melrose; May 20, RFV = 212, RFQ = 263, PEAQ = 237, CP = 24.30 Wright County – Krause near Buffalo; May 20, RFV = 251, RFQ = 285, PEAQ = 230, CP = 24.80 You can nd more detailed reports at the UMN Extension Website by searching for “Minnesota Extension Crop News,” or by calling (320) 968-5077 if you are in Stearns, Benton, or Morrison counties. If you are outside that area call Extension Colleagues Colleen Carlson in Scott and Carver Counties, Jason Ertl in Sibley County, Karen Johnson in Meeker and McLeod Counties, and Adam Austing in Wright County for more information.
New helpline has answers to grazing questions Have you launched a full-blown livestock grazing enterprise and are now ready to take the next step? Or maybe you’re just thinking about turning a few head of cattle or sheep out onto pasture or a stand of cover crops as a way to get access to an inexpensive feed source. Utilizing an innovative grazing system can be a low-cost, protable way to integrate animals into a farming operation. But getting the most out of such a system also requires mastering the basics of pasture improvement, cover cropping, fencing technology and herd management. Fortunately, the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) has recently launched a toll-free helpline for farmers seeking support related to grazing livestock. Farmers and ranchers can call 1-888-664-7293 (1-888-MNGRAZE) or submit questions online at www.landstewardshipproject.org/grazinghelpline. LSP can provide advice and resources regarding managed rotational grazing, cover crop grazing, stockpile grazing, winter feeding and pasture rental rates, among other topics. If LSP doesn’t have the answers to your grazing questions, chances are its experts can track down the right resource to help you out.
Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 23
Hungary for dairy Grueneses, Middendorfs travel overseas for agriculture conference By Danna Sabolik
danna.s@dairystar.com
BUDAPEST, Hungary – Steve Middendorf and Arnie Gruenes always jump on the chance to learn more about the dairy industry. Middendorf and his wife, Julie, and Gruenes and his wife, Kris, recently returned from a trip overseas. Middendorf and Gruenes were asked to speak at the Babolna Road Show April 3 in Budapest, Hungary. “It was the trip of a lifetime. It was very cool,” said Middendorf, who milks 180 cows on his farm near Sauk Centre, Minn. Gruenes agreed. “They really respect the American dairy farmer over there,” Gruenes said. “They’re interested in what we’re doing and how we do it.” Gruenes milks 2,000 cows near Richmond, Minn. The pair spoke together but on different topics. Middendorf talked about how he uses robotic technology on his farm where he milks his herd with three robotic milkers. Gruenes spoke on life after rbST and the steps he is tak-
ing to ensure milk production remains at a healthy level. “[Hungarians] are pretty progressive in breeding and nutrition,” Middendorf said. “They’re very interested in innovation and progress.” With rbST illegal= in Hungary, farmers are looking for ways to improve their production by other means. “We talked about how important breeding, feed and cow comfort is to increase production,” Gruenes said. “They look to the U.S. farmer for advice because our production is much better than most farms there. They have a few with good production, though.” Today’s dairy cow is as productive as it has ever been, so new variables must be explored to continue advancement within the industry. Middendorf and Gruenes spoke on what these next steps will be in their presentation. “The next level of cow is in genetics and cow comfort,” Gruenes said. “A lot of farms in the United States have gured out cow comfort and feed quality, so genetics is the next big thing for the industry for production and protability of dairy here.”
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Minnesota dairy farmers, Arnie Gruenes (leŌ) with Steve and Julie Middendorf (right), stand with a Hungarian dairy farmer during a tour of dairy farms while in Hungary March 30 to April 6. They presented at the Babolna Road Show April 3 in Budapest, Hungary on dairy farming in the United States. The Minnesota farmers attended the event after being recommended by their nutritionist and were put up by Babolna Feed and Holstein Genetika, a Hungarian genetics company. They were in the country from March 30 to April 6. While overseas, Middendorf and Gruenes had a chance to learn about the country’s
dairy industry. Prior to speaking at the conference, the dairy farmers toured dairy farms and explored the country. “The tours were very eyeopening,” Middendorf said. “They are focused on good production. A lot of the farms are owned by people who don’t live on the farms, but the farm managers are all very educated.”
When Communist forces assumed Hungary in 1945, they repossessed dairies into big operations with the size of a dairy ranging from 500 to 1,000 cows. In 1991, when the Berlin Wall came down, a lot of those big dairies went up for sale at a price most families could not afford. Investors and Turn to HUNGARY| Page 25
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Page 24 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019
IT’S DAIRY DAYS AT ddzťȄƟƕ dijdzɼď
Just 2 years after a storm hit their Century Farm, the Carlson family invites you to Dairy Days at their farm near Willmar!
Saturday, June 15, 2019 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Things to Do:
Things to See:
» Listen to, and watch—KWLM Broadcasting Live
» 60-stall GEA DairyProQ rotary, robotic milking parlor
» Take a farm tour
» Combine Simulator & AgCentric Technology Trailer
» Enjoy free milk, cheese, and shakes
» 1,800-cow herd
» Visit with Kandiyohi County Dairy Princess & ADA representatives
» Energy-efficient cross ventilation freestall system
» Get info from GEA, Leedstone, AgCentric, Ridgewater College, Select Sires, Vita Plus, Nedap, and Munson Lakes Nutrition
» Automated feeding baby-calf barn
» Sand bedding w/sand settling lane recycling
» Wish the Carlson family success in their future!
Hope to See You HERE! Carlson Dairy Farm 4951 120th St NW Pennock, MN 56279
Stop in and see one of the first GEA DairyProQ robotic rotary parlors in the U.S.
Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 25
ConƟnued from HUNGARY | Page 23 large companies purchased the dairies, leading to today’s industry structure. Middendorf was interested in their nutrition program, which varies from what is typical in the United States. “Their growing season is longer than ours, so they have different crops and actually feed a lot of rye silage,” Middendorf said. Another important facet in the Hungarian dairy industry is their on-farm labor. “They have different government laws on labor, meaning they can only work so many hours and the cost of labor is about one-third of what it is here in the U.S.,” Gruenes said. “They have signicant feed costs and aren’t getting the pounds of milk per cow like we do.” In addition to farm tours, the couples enjoyed the city of Budapest. There, the women toured a castle and joined their husbands for dinner on the Danube River which runs through the city. “It was a great learning experience,” Middendorf said. “Just to experience another culture and see the way they do things. It was very cool.”
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Minnesota dairy farmers, Steve and Julie Middendorf (center) and Arnie and Kris Gruenes (far right), are pictured with Hungarians who are involved in the dairy industry during their Ɵme in Hungary March 30 to April 6.
See us for your
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Arnie Gruenes, who dairy farms near Richmond, Minn., presents about the U.S. dairy industry during the Babolna Road Show April 3 in Budapest, Hungary.
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USDA announces March income over feed cost margin triggers The United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency announced that the March 2019 income over feed cost margin was $8.85 per hundredweight, triggering the third payment for dairy producers who purchase FSA News & Notes the appropriate level of coverage under the new Dairy Margin Coverage program. DMC, which replaces the Margin Protection Program for Dairy, offers protection to dairy producers when the difference between the all milk price and the average By Ryan Brunn feed cost (the margin) Stearns Co. Exec. Dir. falls below a certain dollar amount selected by the producer. The signup period for DMC opens June 17. Dairy producers who elect a DMC coverage level between $9 and $9.50 would be eligible for a payment for January, February and March. For example, a dairy operation that chooses to enroll an established production history of 3 million pounds (30,000 cwt.) and elects the $9.50 coverage level on 95% of production would receive $1,543.75 for March. Sample calculation: $9.50 - $8.85 margin = $0.65 difference $0.65 x 95% of production x 2,500 cwt. (30,000 cwt./12) = $1,543.75 DMC premiums are paid annually. The calculated annual premium for coverage at $9.50 on 95% of a 3 million pound production history for this example would be $4,275. Sample calculation: 3,000,000 x 95% = 2,850,000/100 = 28,500 cwt. x 0.150 premium fee = $4,275 The dairy operation in the example calculation will pay $4,275 in total premium payments for all of 2019 and receive $8,170 in DMC payments for January, February and March combined. Additional payments will be made if calculated margins remain below the $9.50/cwt. level. All participants are also required to pay an annual $100 administrative fee in addition to any premium, and payments will be subject to a 6.2% reduction to account for federal sequestration. Operations making a one-time election to participate in DMC through 2023 are eligible to receive a 25% discount on their premium for the existing margin coverage rates. For the example above, this would reduce the annual premium by $1,068.75. On Dec. 20, 2018, President Trump signed into law the 2018 farm bill, which provides support, certainty and stability to our nation’s farmers, ranchers and land stewards by enhancing farm support programs, improving crop insurance, maintaining disaster programs and promoting and supporting voluntary conservation. FSA is committed to implementing these changes as quickly and effectively as possible, and today’s updates are part of meeting that goal. FSA announced the availability of the DMC decision support tool as well as repayment options for producers who were enrolled in MPP-Dairy. For DMC signup, eligibility and related dairy program information, visit the DMC webpage or contact a USDA service center. To locate your FSA ofce, visit http://www.farmers.gov/service-locator. 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.
Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 27
Dairy’s sustainability story is a good tale to tell Consumer research increasingly tells us a person’s food choices extend well beyond taste and nutrition. While these factors are important, consumers are also looking for food and beverage products which uphold a certain set of social responsibility ideals. It is not about what they are eating or drinking, it is about how it was made. Are By Bob Lefebvre the animals involved in VP of Agricultural production well-treated? Affairs, Midwest Dairy Were best practices used to improve soil health, decrease carbon emissions and maintain quality surface water and groundwater? What does the brand, company or farmer stand for? And, everyone in the supply chain must be transparent. This is all positive news for the dairy industry because dairy farmers have been on a continuous improvement curve when it comes to responsible, sustainable practices in milk production. The story of how milk gets from the farm to the table is a good story to tell. So much so that in 2011, the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy launched the national U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards program to highlight industry efforts that have contributed outstanding benets to business, community and the environment. Since its launch, the program has recognized more than 50 U.S. dairy farms, businesses and collaborative partnerships as environmental leaders. At the annual awards ceremony in May, I had the pleasure to see Cinnamon Ridge Farms in Donahue, Iowa, be recognized as one of only three recipients of the 2019 Outstanding Dairy Farm award. John and Joan Maxwell, along with their daughter, Amy, operate Cinnamon Ridge Farms. They are one example of many across the Midwest showcasing every dairy farmer’s commitment to sustainability, demonstrating how transparency and ingenuity lead to sustainable and scalable practices that can benet businesses, communities and the environment. In their earlier years, the Maxwells found an economic, environmentally sustainable solution to sourcing feed by planting a cover crop in the fall. The crop, rye grass, vernalizes over winter and can be used as quality feed source for the cows. The cover crop also prevents nutrient runoff and leaching and
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signicantly reduces soil erosion, building healthier soil for future feed crops. Cinnamon Ridge also became a destination for food waste, accepting 2,000 pounds of coffee creamer from a manufacturing company each week. Rather than that same creamer ending up in a landll, it provides a carbohydrate source, and the cows love it. The Maxwells have excelled as storytellers. They have extended the reach of dairy’s sustainability story through information-sharing with programs like their internships, tours and events with local elected ofcials, consumers, inuencers and fellow dairy farmers. Their efforts are helping to ensure current and future generations of farmers have the
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right tools to help their businesses remain sustainable economically, socially and environmentally. By sharing their narrative with a diverse audience, they are helping to ensure dairy can provide sustainable nutrition for a growing world population. Do you have a sustainability story to tell? If so, share it. Help consumers gain a better understanding of how you, your colleagues and the entire dairy supply chain care about providing them with food that is good for them, the environment and the animals that made the milk. By working together and speaking as one, the dairy industry can make great strides to ensure consumers believe in dairy foods and the farmers who produce them.
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Page 28 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019
Luciano Caixeta lcaixeta@umn.edu 612-625-3130 Hugh Chester-Jones chest001@umn.edu 507-835-3622 Gerard Cramer gcramer@umn.edu 612-625-8184 Marcia Endres miendres@umn.edu 612-624-5391 Sandra Godden godde002@umn.edu 612-625-8177 Joleen Hadrich jhadrich@umn.edu 612-626-5620 Les Hansen hanse009@umn.edu 612-624-2277 Brad Heins hein0106@umn.edu 320-589-1711 Nathan Hulinsky huli0013@umn.edu 320-203-6104 Kevin Janni kjanni@umn.edu 612-625-3108 Karen Johnson ande9495@umn.edu 320-484-4334 Claire LaCanne lacanne@umn.edu 507-332-6109 Brenda Miller nels4220@umn.edu 320-732-4435 Kota Minegishi kota@umn.edu 612-624-7455 Erin Royster royster@umn.edu Jim Salfer salfe001@umn.edu 320-203-6093 Mike Schutz mschutz@umn.edu 612-624-1205
www.extension.umn.edu/dairy
More to learn about technology
The dramatic changes in the dairy industry we have witnessed in the last ve to 10 years makes us wonder. What is the future of technology? How much more are we going to see? It is mind blowing that in spite of the difcult economic times we are going through in the dairy industry today, technology investments, such as robotic milking or use of sensors for cow monitoring, have not slowed down much (or in some instances, increased) in recent years. There is a conference coming up – the International Precision Dairy Farming Conference June 18-19 in Rochester, Minn. – By Marcia Endres where technology topics will be presented University of MN and discussed. In his keynote talk, “The New Digital World of Dairy Farming, Bridging the Data Gap,” Aidan Connolly, president of Agritech Capital, will introduce us to eight major technologies and the interconnectivity of the internet leading to the transformation going on in dairy today. These technologies include sensors, articial intelligence, drones, robots, 3D printing, augmented reality, virtual reality and blockchain. Sensors and wearable technologies allow farmers to monitor individual cows. There is a plethora of options in the market. We can monitor each cow’s activity, lying and feeding behavior, rumination, calving time, ruminal acidosis, estrus and more. Inline sensors also exist that can measure milk fat, milk protein, somatic cell counts, progesterone, electrical conductivity and antibiotics at every milking. Use of video cameras and computer vision is also being developed and implemented. These technologies depend on effective algorithms to detect and identify cows that deviate from their normal patterns. “Big data promises precision agriculture; however, if farmers can’t interpret the data and use it to take action then the data are useless,” Connolly said. “Articial intelligence allows producers to analyze the data that sensors and other hardware technologies collect. It can provide an interpretation and solution by mimicking human decision making and has the ability to completely transform how a dairy farm operates.”
Robotic milking is becoming more popular in the United States with many installations in the Midwest. Producers are moving in that direction primarily because of lifestyle and labor management. Brian Houin, with Homestead Dairy in Indiana, is another keynote speaker at the conference. Currently, their dairy is the largest robotic milking dairy in the United States with 36 box robots. The conference also includes a breakout presentation about the largest robotic dairy in the world with 64 box robots in Ancali, Chile. A year after robotic milking installation, Houin’s farm has seen more milk per cow and better overall herd health in the robot barns compared to the conventionally milked cows on their other site. Reproduction is better and a lower cull rate can be found in the robotic dairy compared to the conventional. The way the cows are fed in the robot has allowed the feed costs to be similar between the robot cows and the conventionally fed cows. The biggest challenge to managing robots is forgetting everything you know about managing a dairy and starting over, Houin said. Other robotic or automated systems such as milk feeding for calves or TMR feeding for cows are also becoming more common. There is a system that can feed individually-housed calves, too. The conference will have breakout talks about this topic and more. These robotic systems have shown to not necessarily reduce labor but improve labor exibility. They require a different set of skills than conventional milking or feeding animals and may attract a different labor force. All the big data generated by technology can be used to further improve the technology. Who owns the data? The JoinData project, a nonprot cooperative in the Netherlands, aims to have Dutch farmers in control of their data streams. Ron van Burgsteden, a 70-cow Dutch dairy producer, has been involved in this data project and will share his experience at the conference. There is a lot to learn about technology, and we learn not only by listening to great talks but also by asking questions and discussing with each other as we network during a two-day event. Plan to attend and contribute to the spread of knowledge.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 29
Do robots increase milk production? By Kota Minegishi, U of M & Simon Jette Nantel, UWRF
Robots tend to boost milk production – a key preliminary result from a survey of robotic milking producers jointly conducted by extension educators at the University of Wisconsin, University of Minnesota and Penn State University. We thank those producers who provided input in our survey, and we continue to invite others who operate automatic milking systems to participate. The online survey is available at z.umn.edu/ dairyrobotsurvey. The survey data, which currently contains 89 complete responses for this part of the analysis, shows most producers started from production ranging from 60 to 80 lbs. per cow per day before AMS adoption and reached 70 to 90 lbs. per cow per day with AMS today. This before-and-after relationship can be observed in the data plot of production before AMS against production after AMS in Figure 1. It is color-coded to separate producers into two groups based on whether they have been using AMS for more than one year (installation prior to 2018) or not. Solid lines represent the average trends for the two groups. The gray dashed-line corresponds to AMS adoption if there were no effects on production (one-to-one relationship); anywhere above this gray line represents gains in production. The survey results distinctly show most producers experienced increased production. This supports the conventional wisdom that adopting AMS translates into higher production mainly due to a higher milking frequency. Many of these producers were milking twice a day before adopting AMS. With AMS, milking frequency typically goes up to between 2.5 to 2.8 times a day. The survey results also indicate a steep learning curve for AMS management; most producers responded that they needed about six to 12 months to operate AMS at a satisfactory level. This shows up in Figure 1 as an average 6-8 pound difference in production gains between those with over a year of AMS experience (green) and those without (red). It should also be noted that the production gains seen in Figure 1 cannot be solely attributed to AMS. Many producers also changed other aspects of their operation such as housing, bedding and feeding. About half of the respondents to our survey built a new housing structure. Many also changed
their bedding material (mostly to either sand or waterbeds). Those factors tend to be associated with increases in cow comfort and production. Another factor inuencing changes in production is when AMS was actually adopted. These before- and afterdata points are, on average, ve years apart, and one could argue that the dairy industry as a whole has experienced an increase in productivity typically through improvements in genetics and feeding. In our preliminary analysis, this trend was estimated to be about an annual increase of 0.2 to 0.4 pound of daily production per cow. When controlling for those factors (including changes in housing, bedding, timing of AMS adoption, etc.) we still nd gains in production associated with the adoption of AMS among our survey respondents. Those gains tend to be larger for producers who initially had lower production levels. That is reected in Figure 1 by the two trend lines having less steep slopes compared to the one-to-one gray line. Those with lower initial production levels (for example, less than 60 lbs. per cow per day) have on average experienced gains of more than 10 lbs. per cow per day. Those with higher initial production levels (for example, greater than 70 lbs. per cow per day) have, on average, experienced gains below 10 lbs. per cow per day. Finally, we also observed cases of stagnant or even decreasing production after the adoption of AMS. Various reasons may explain this. Besides the normal learning curve associated with AMS management, some farms have clearly experienced additional difculties in adapting to the technology and in nding the right technical support. To aid producer learning and the exchange of information surrounding AMS management, we have launched a virtual peer group, ComMoonity-Robotic Milking (http://www.commoonity.umn.edu). We welcome current and prospective robot users to join and participate. Keep in mind that gains in milk production do not guarantee nancial gains. A number of other factors affect AMS protability including capital cost and labor savings. To help producers evaluate these factors, we also maintain the AMS economic analysis planning tool (z.umn.edu/robotparlor), which we plan to update in the coming months using the information collected through the survey.
FIGURE 1
This graph shows milk producƟon before and aŌer AMS adopƟon. A large part of survey responses is from farms in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and New York.
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Page 30 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019
Old Brownie
You know you are getting older when crucial rst, she stands out in my memory as being more than elements of your youth come to be regarded as classic. a car; she was also a teacher. For instance, the tractors I drove as a lad are now One of the biggest lessons from Brownie involved found on antique iron calendars. Those Grand Funk practicality. Like most red-blooded teenaged boys, I Railroad tunes I listened to as a teenager – with the had a searing desire for a fast, sporty car. Something volume cranked up so high sexy and low-slung with formthe furniture would levitate tting bucket seats and an One off the h bi biggest llessons enormous – are now categorized as O amount of horsepower. classic rock. We are talking about something from Brownie involved It never really hit home along the lines of a Barcalounger that I was becoming long practicality. with a Saturn V rocket engine in the tooth until I spied strapped to it. a magazine ad for “A But my parents’ law of collectable scale model of one of America’s classic economics dashed cold water onto this fantasy. This automobiles – the 1959 Ford Fairlane.” I was gob law said, simply: You cannot have what you cannot smacked. Old Brownie? A classic? afford. That is why I opted to lure Brownie out of Brownie, my erstwhile 1959 Ford Fairlane, retirement by ransoming her from a friend’s dad for ushered me into manhood the year I turned 16. As my the princely sum of $15.
Brownie was a derelict when we rst met. She had languished in a tangle of weeds for a number of years and had lost some parts including her engine and transmission. She also had a major dent in the nose of her hood. But, my face often sported Dear County Agent Guy zits the size of nuclear warheads. Who was I to nitpick? I handed three $5 bills to my pal’s dad and towed Brownie to our school’s shop. During the next month of shop classes, I became her ardent mechanic/suitor. In that romantic setting, bathed in the heady By Jerry Nelson perfume of grease and solvents, I was able nd Columnist the key to our mutual fulllment by installing an engine and transmission salvaged from an old Ford station wagon. What a glorious day it was when Brownie and I nally went public. She purred contentedly as we slowly yet casually cruised up and down Main Street. I took Brownie home, and my parents approved of her immediately. During those giddy early days, I would spontaneously buy her romantic little gifts such as a fresh set of sparkplugs or new seat covers. I even went so far as to cover her oors with green indoor/ outdoor carpeting which, by sheer coincidence, happened to look exactly like the carpet my parents had recently installed in our porch. Brownie and I shared many novel experiences during our year together. I will always remember that time when I neglected to check her antifreeze and was treated to the spectacle of her radiator erupting with steam amidst subzero cold. And, who can forget how Brownie coughed out one of her sparkplugs when I was driving a girl home one evening? Brownie and I were both deeply embarrassed. Time passed and I grew increasingly irritated with Brownie. Her quaint quirks became irksome. Her smoking, which I once regarded as charming and sophisticated, began to just plain stink. That big ding in the front of her hood was as unsightly as a spitting gap. Brownie sensed my discontent and started to guzzle 10W-30 like lemonade on a hot summer’s day. I nally could not stomach Brownie’s foul manners any longer. “Ciao, baby,” I whispered softly as I caressed her rusty grille one last time. “We had some fun times, didn’t we? I’ll never forget those wild weekend spending sprees at Carquest.” I stole a sidelong glance at my new ame, a sleek, cherry-red ‘64 Galaxie 500. “But, you know how these things go. People grow and move on. You understand, don’t you?” Brownie peered up at me. For a moment, the Havoline haze seemed to lift. The look in her headlights told me there were no hard feelings. She remained a class act to the very end. I do not know what became of Brownie. Maybe she hooked up with another teenaged boy seeking his rst, or perhaps she landed in some skid row salvage yard. I like to imagine she lives on in the form of tiny scale models of herself. So, I hope you will understand if I wipe away a sentimental tear as I apply my newest bumper sticker. The one that says, “I’m not getting older. I’m becoming a classic.” Jerry is a recovering dairy farmer from Volga, S.D. He and his wife, Julie, have two grown sons and live on the farm where Jerry’s great-grandfather homesteaded over 110 years ago. Jerry currently works full time for the Dairy Star as a staff writer/ad salesman. Feel free to E-mail him at: jerry.n@ dairystar.com.
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What to expect from this year’s rst-cut alfalfa For some farms, inventories are tight and new crop haylage cannot be harvested soon enough. Cows ate well this winter, low cull prices kept barns full the past several months, and many areas reported lowerthan-average yields on their late 2018 cuttings. The option to purchase historically high-priced hay is not for many. Something to Ruminate On feasible Most alfalfa stands have been evaluated for winter survival at this point. Reports of mild to severe winterkill are present across the Midwest. In most cases, interseeding or other corrective actions have already occurred. If you are in the unfortunate position of dealing with a By Barry Visser high percentage of Nutritionist winterkill, work with your agronomist and nutritionist to devise an alternative cropping plan. The environment plants develop in plays an important role in what the actual forage quality will be at a specic stage of maturity. Temperature is the driving force behind most physiological processes that occur in a plant, such as photosynthesis, respiration and cell wall formation. Alfalfa grown during cooler conditions has a tendency for slower rate of maturity, larger stem diameter, increased plant height and less lignication, resulting in higher ber digestibility. Soil moisture also has a signicant impact on alfalfa growth and forage quality. Wetter conditions tend to accelerate plant maturity, increase plant height, decrease the proportion of leaves to stems and generally increase ber percentages. Cooler temperatures have resulted in less growing degree days this spring, but moisture has been plentiful in most areas. As these two environmental interactions offset, the potential exists for high-quality haylage. Plant maturity is the most important factor affecting quality. With maturity comes more cell wall constituents, including lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose. Proportionally, we see a drop in the digestible cellular contents such as soluble proteins, sugar, starch, fats and pectins. Not only does neutral detergent ber increase and forage energy content drop with maturity, but also the accumulating NDF becomes less digestible. Although rst-cutting alfalfa offers the opportunity for harvesting the highest amount of digestible ber in the growing season, forage quality declines at a faster rate for rst cutting compared to subsequent cuttings. It can change even faster if grass is present in the stand. Timely rst cut is essential if high forage quality is the objective. No simple guidelines apply every year or on every farm. Generally, you can wait longer during periods of cooler temperatures and wetter conditions like most areas have experienced this spring. Several farms will have an added challenge of managing unplanted corn or soybean acres at about the same time rst cut is ready. With a few rare exceptions, the best decision is to put up the haylage. Scissor cutting is a tool that has been around for many years to determine the ideal time to cut. A second tool, the Predicted Equation for Alfalfa Quality, helps you make your own eld estimates. Both measurements evaluate the standing crop and do not account for the change in quality due to wilting, harvesting and storage. A good rule of thumb as hay nears cutting is an average decline in relative feed value of four units per day under average weather conditions. Although maturity and quality of alfalfa silage at harvest is one of many factors affecting the bottom line of your dairy, high-quality homegrown forages can save you in purchased feed costs. That is why putting up top-quality alfalfa silage should be a priority of your forage team. It is in the best interest of your cows and your pocketbook. Barry Visser is a nutritionist for Vita Plus.
Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 31
Page 32 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019
Who is on the planter? I gave Mark two choices: spring break or graduation. We were going to Florida one way or another to visit Michael. He has been at the University of Florida for the past two years and was set to graduate this spring. We had not made the trip to visit him yet and time was running out. Mark chose graduation. I reminded him that it was the rst weekend in May – the head of corn planting season for us. He stood his ground and re-afrmed his choice of graduation despite the date. I clicked conrm on the airline tickets, and we were booked to y into Florida May 1 and return May 5. I marked the dates on the calendar and ipped it back to the reality of winter in January. It turned out to be a good decision not to travel for spring break. Michael was buried in research and writing his dissertation. We were plunged in the deep freeze and buried by record snowfalls. We were all putting in long days trying to complete our projects to make it to graduation day. As the reality of our trip came closer, Mark started to question his timing. If we are gone, who was going to plant
the corn? This has been Mark’s sole responsibility for the last 45 years. One spring, his dad decided it was time for someone else to run the planter, so Mark climbed on the tractor and headed out to the back eld by himself to start planting. He wanted to make sure he had the hang of it by the time he was planting the elds next to the road for the neighbors to see. By trial and error, adjustments here and there, Mark started to gure out how to plant corn. He had no fancy monitors to alert him of when he ran out of fertilizer or seeds. He was climbing off the tractor every couple of rounds to check on the planting depth and population. He learned and survived his rst planting season. There was enough feed for the animals that year, and he inherited a new responsibility. It looked like Austin was going to have to be ready to start planting for Mark this year, and that was OK. Or, was it? Was Mark ready to give up the reins on running the planter? As our departure date drew closer, weather forecasts were watched closely. It looked like it was going to be a late planting season. The ground was still too cold and
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wet to start before we left, but maybe by Saturday Austin could head to the elds. Mark and Austin worked on getting the planter ready to go. Mark wanted to take Austin and the planter out for a quick run to explain how the monitors worked, how to nd the right speed and other words of experience, but Just Thinking Out Loud the lessons would have to wait until we returned. Florida in early May is great. The snowbirds had migrated back north, and the college kids were back in classes. The sweltering humidity of summer was still a month away. It was a perfect 90 degrees and sunny, especially after a long and cold winter. We enjoyed tooling around By Natalie Schmitt the gulf coast and strolling Columnist along the beach on Honeymoon Island even though we were far from honeymooners. A Schmitt family trip is not complete without a trip to a dairy farm. Michael arranged for us to tour North Florida Holsteins where they milk 7,000 registered Holsteins. We picked the brains of the owner, Don, and his farm manager, JC, about sire selections, genomics, herd health and calf care. It was fascinating how Don moved his herd of 125 cows from the New York/Pennsylvania area in the early 80’s and grew to be one of the largest herds in Florida. We learned about experiments they are working on with calf raising and breeding protocols. Most of their freestall barns are open sided with massive fans and sprayers used to keep the cattle cool during the hot, humid days. The newest freestall barn is a tunnel ventilation system with closed sides. They feel they will be better able to control cow comfort in this type of system. Five hours of learning were never so much fun. Of course, the highlight of our trip was watching Michael walk across the stage to receive his Master’s Degree in Dairy Science, Genomics and Economic Analysis. He did his research on genetic traits and the economic impact or return on investment. It is way over my head, but I get the jest of it. With his scientic analysis of breeding and his father’s art of breeding, we demonstrate the big bang theory of art and science unraveling the mystery of how to breed good dairy cattle, and their discussions can sometimes end up in a big bang. Al and Austin held down the fort and things were running smoothly. Austin was keeping Mark posted on how things were going with daily reports. On Sunday morning, just as we were wrapping up our visit to Florida, Austin sent Mark a text saying he had started planting corn. When we had left for this trip, Mark was comfortable with the idea of Austin planting, but now that he had started on his own, Mark was concerned. There were many decisions yet to be made. What elds to plant rst, what varieties and at what populations? They had not talked about any of these things. There were so many things Austin did not know when he climbed up on that planter to start putting the crop in the ground. It was almost history repeating itself. I reminded Mark that Austin could not plant that many acres between milkings to cause too many problems. If the corn was in the ground, it would come up, and there would be feed for the cows, which is the whole purpose of growing our crops. It would be OK. He knew that was true. He and the farm survived when he started planting corn, too. But, he sure wished they had discussed and developed a game plan before Austin headed out to the elds. The next morning during milking, Austin let his dad in on a little secret. Yes, he had started planting corn, but he only put a few kernels in the ground by hand just to say he started planting corn. Mark was relieved. There was still time to have those discussions and make those nal plans. Time still to share his observations and little knacks of getting the crop off to a good start. Mark put in the corn crop and turned the reins over to Austin to put in the soybeans. Step by step. We were able to nish planting our crops by May 18, but I think we may be one of the few. As soon as they parked the planter, the rains and cold temperatures returned. Now, we wait to see how the crop will emerge. I am in Illinois for a long overdue family visit and high school graduations. Flying over Iowa and driving the back roads of home, I see very few elds worked. Some corn was planted back in April. Those elds are stitched with faint green rows, but the corn is struggling to grow. There has been so much rain between here and home that there will be many new lessons learned this planting season regardless of who is in the planter. Be safe out there. Natalie, Mark and his brother Al, farm together near Rice, Minn. They milk 100 registered Holsteins under the RALMA prex. Their four children are grown up and all involved in agriculture with hopes of someone returning to the farm. For questions or comments, please e-mail Natalie at mnschmitt@jetup.net.
Making bunnies
With any luck, by the time you read this, there will be half-dozen or so baby bunnies snuggling in a nest box in our rabbit hutch. Last year, Monika decided she wanted to show a rabbit at the fair. If you read my last column, you’ll recall rabbits are one of the species that t our requirements for non-dairy fair animals. But, two weeks before the fair, the rabbit she chose was bitten by its hutch-mate, so she didn’t go Dairy Good Life to the show. The bunny recovered from the injury, and we ended up keeping her for a pet. This spring, Glen’s dad suggested breeding Monika’s rabbit so there would be young rabbits for both Monika and Daphne to show at the fair. Of course, the girls loved the idea. So, we came up with a plan for making bunnies. The rst step was nding a daddy bunny. A 4-H friend of ours offered to let us borrow one of her bucks. On Easter Sunday, Glen’s dad brought the buck to our place for the mating. If, like me, you’re not as familiar with rabbit reBy Sadie Frericks production as you are dairy cow reproduction, allow me to share what I’ve learned. Essentially, female rabColumnist bits ovulate on demand. They don’t have estrus cycles like other mammals. Instead, they release their eggs shortly after mating. Dang! Just think of how convenient dairy cow reproduction would be if cows simply ovulated as needed. Anyway, we put the buck into an empty cage and then put the doe into the cage. Apparently, if you try to put the buck into the doe’s hutch, she will attack him. The girls crowded around the cage to watch. Like most children raised on farms, our kids have a basic understanding of how life starts. We don’t have any bulls on the farm, since we only use articial insemination. But, we’ve explained the process. The analogy we use is that, through articial insemination, we’re putting seeds into the cow’s body and, if everything goes right, one of those seeds will grow into a baby calf. Our kids have also seen the natural process countless times – we have freerange chickens and free-range cats. They mate all the time. So, I gured the rabbit mating would be fairly uninteresting. I gured wrong. The rabbits got right to it and, just as quickly, the questions started. “Why is he biting her?” “Why is the mommy bunny just laying there while the daddy bunny does all the work?” “How exactly does the daddy bunny get the seeds into the mommy bunny?” Thankfully, the mating didn’t take long, because I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep a straight face while replying with, “I’ll explain that another time.” I did explain, however, that even though the rabbits mated, there was no guarantee we would end up with baby bunnies. First, the seeds would need to grow, and then the mommy bunny would need to take good care of them when they were born. I found out later that one of the kids prayed for the baby bunnies in the prayer circle at school. I hope that was all that was said. Another thing I learned about rabbit reproduction is the gestation period is approximately 31 days. That means I only had to answer 31 days’ worth of “When are the baby bunnies going to be born?” Today is day 29. We put the nest box in the mommy bunny’s hutch with some shavings and straw. She immediately started pulling the uffy white fur out of her dewlap and mixing it with the straw. I’m told this nesting behavior is a good sign she’s about to kindle. No, she’s not going to start on re. The technical term for birthing in rabbits is kindling. Cows calve, sheep lamb, and rabbits kindle. The technical term for baby bunnies is kits. If all of the hoping and ngercrossing and praying go our way, there will soon be a number of kits for Monika and Daphne to cuddle and tame. Monika is hoping for a spotted rabbit. The mommy bunny is an albino and the daddy bunny is a broken red (i.e. white with red markings), so there’s a good chance we could end up with some of each. Daphne said she’d be happy with any bunnies. She already has their greeting written on our walkway with sidewalk chalk: “Welcome to the world baby bunnies!” Sadie and her husband, Glen, milk 100 cows near Melrose, Minn. They have three children – Dan, 11, Monika, 8, and Daphne, 5. Sadie also writes a blog at www. dairygoodlife.com. She can be reached at sadiefrericks@gmail.com.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 33
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Page 34 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019
Youth dairy show will be dedicated to Eggink’s memory
Honoring a legacy
By Jerry Nelson
jerry.n@dairystar.com
SIBLEY, Iowa – The 15th annual Iowa-Minnesota Youth Dairy Show will be held June 21-22 at the Osceola County Fairgrounds in Sibley, Iowa. This year’s show will be dedicated to Charlie Eggink, a founder of the event. Eggink passed away in December following a brief illness. Charlotte Rollefson, Eggink’s daughter, said she and her father got the idea for a youth dairy show after attending a similar event in Ellsworth, Minn. “Ellsworth had a youth dairy show that was held in conjunction with their Dairy Days,” Rollefson said. “When they decided to stop holding the show in Ellsworth, I asked Dad if we could do something similar in Sibley.” Eggink was the son of Dutch immigrants. He grew up milking cows on his family’s farm but spent his adult life working as a trucker, an employee at a grain elevator and as the maintenance supervisor at a factory. But, that is only a fraction of his story. “Dad was always involved with dairy cattle,” Rollefson said. “He was a 4-H leader for 25 years. He was a member of the Iowa Holstein Association and was the dairy superintendent for the Osceola County Fair for 60 years. He was the assistant dairy superintendent at AK-SAR-BEN for many years and the dairy superintendent at the Clay County Fair for ve years.” After he retired, Eggink worked on the registered Holstein dairy farm that is operated by his son Leroy and his family. Eggink mixed feed for the
cows every morning and pitched in wherever he was needed. There was never any question about it when Rollefson suggested to her father that they start a youth dairy show. “I mentioned it to Dad, and he immediately replied that this is something we should absolutely do,” Rollefson said. “He always wanted to do everything he could to get young people involved in agriculture especially if it meant showing dairy cattle.” Rollefson and her father obtained funding from local Charlotte Rollefson businesses to make the IowaMinnesota Youth Dairy Show happen. “There are no entry fees for the show,” Rollefson said. The show has grown over the years to include young people from South Dakota and Nebraska. “The rst year we had 35 kids who participated. Last year, we had more than 50 kids,” Rollefson said. “During the past 15 years, we have had kids from more than 100 families participate in the show.” The dairy barns at the Osceola County Fairgrounds will open to receive cattle at noon Friday, June 21. At 7 p.m., a complimentary meal will be served. This will be followed by family-friendly fun and games. “We are trying to get parents to be more involved with the show,” Rollefson said. “We want families to participate as a group and have a good time. We want to provide everyone with a fun and educational experience.” The rst class of cattle will be shown at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 22. “We have a novice class for kids who are 9 and
PHOTO SUBMITTED
This year’s Iowa-Minnesota Youth Dairy Show will be dedicated to the memory of one of its founders, Charlie Eggink. Eggink passed away last December following a brief illness. under,” Rollefson said. “Last year, we had 20 kids in the novice class. Our classes are based upon age. We make sure that kids only show against others in their own age group. Our goal is to help them build condence in the show ring. And, we don’t allow any professional tters at the show. We want kids to learn how to t their animals themselves.” While Eggink will not be at this year’s show, his inuence will live on in a lot of ways. “Dad was known as Mr. Fix It,” Rollefson said. Turn to DAIRY SHOW | Page 35
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ConƟnued from DAIRY SHOW | Page 34
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Heather Luitjens and daughter Lisa, 4, lead a Jersey heifer into the show ring during the 2018 Iowa-Minnesota Youth Dairy Show. Luitjens showed caƩle at the rst Iowa-Minnesota Youth Dairy Show in 2004. “He could repair almost anything. He would salvage old vacuum pumps and make them into portable milking machines for the kids. He would repair clippers and sharpen their blades. He was also instrumental in making it possible for 4-H kids to lease dairy cattle.” Eggink never sought the limelight. “Dad wanted to remain in the background, helping out anywhere that he could,” Rollefson said. “He was our ring steward and would assist kids who had difcult animals. He would bring in his skid loader for cleanup and provided milking equipment for the kids to use. Most of all, he enjoyed helping the kids and their parents. He was always encouraging kids to try, and he taught many of them how to t and to show. He wanted everyone to learn and have fun. After he passed away, we had a lot of people tell us that they never would have started showing dairy cattle if it weren’t for Dad.” Shortly after he began to feel ill
in early December 2018, Eggink was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He passed away a little more than one week later. “Dad’s nal wishes were that we continue the show,” Rollefson said. “He gave me instructions about who to contact and all the things that needed to be done. He really looked forward to each year’s show.” The trophies that will be handed out at this year’s Iowa-Minnesota Youth Dairy Show will be engraved with the words, “In memory of Charlie Eggink.” But that is not the only way Eggink’s legacy will live on. “One of the boys who participated in our rst show 15 years ago is now bringing his own kids to Sibley to show dairy cattle,” Rollefson said. “I can’t think of a better way to honor Dad’s memory.” For more information about the Iowa-Minnesota Youth Dairy Show, contact Charlotte Rollefson at richrollefson@yahoo.com or 712461-1558.
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Page 36 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019
Women In Dairy Erica Ullom
Bloomer, Wis. Chippewa County 65 cows Family: husband Travis; daughter Hannah who nished her freshman year of college; son Fritz who will be a senior in high school next year. Tell us about your farm. I’m lucky enough to be able to farm with my parents Don and Liz Mayer at Mayerlane Holsteins where we milk 65 cows three times a day. Our herd is mostly Holsteins and a couple of Jerseys. Also at the farm are my sister Sam, Hannah and Fritz and some part-time high school and college kids. We buy all our feed because our farm is six acres. What is the busiest time of day for you? I guess that depends on the day and where I need to be; I know that doesn’t answer the question, but that is how our farm operates. We all have a side job and the kids are active in cattle showing, sports and other activities. We all adjust each day to what is going on. When you get a spare moment, what do you do? I love to be able to sit and hang out with my friends or family. Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. I have many, and some of them are getting ready for classifying. We are busy for a couple days before, and it’s exciting to see everything come together. I also love Expo time. We have tours come through the farm and get to see some of our friends from all over the world. I also enjoy being out there every day. Whether at the end of the day if it was good or bad, I enjoy all the time I get in the barn. What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the dairy industry? Denitely the friends I have made.
How do you stay connected with others in the industry? I’m on the Wisconsin State Holstein Board, so I get to talk to a lot of people who are connected to dairy at conventions and other events. Also, going to cattle shows and talking with others. Who is someone in the industry who has inspired you? My parents because they are who I learned most of my dairy knowledge from. Heather Jaquet. Though there are many inspiring people in the dairy industry, Heather is one who stands out to me the most. Her work with juniors has reached a national level with many of her teams of dairy bowl, speaking and dairy jeopardy. She is truly one of the best people I know; she is also one of the most knowledgeable.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 37
MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH
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Experiencing the stressor of farm life ďƒžrst hand Moynihan becomes rural stress advocate after starting dairy career By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
BELLE PLAINE, Minn. – Most people know Meg Moynihan as the stress lady at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, directing farmers to use resources to get through stressful times; however, what some people may not know is it was Moynihan’s experience becoming a full-time dairy farmer in 2016 that made her realize her position was needed. “When I went back to the department [after a leave of absence in order to farm], they asked me what I wanted to do. Meg Moynihan I said, ‘It’s bad out there. Farmers are really struggling,’â€? she said. “While farming, I saw up close what other people in our neighborhood and farmer friends around the state were struggling with.â€? Since then, Moynihan has become a rural stress advocate and openly shares the story of how the stress of her dairying journey found her searching for resources for help. “I think people appreciate the deep understanding that they are not alone in the struggles they’re feeling,â€? said Moynihan, who milks 60 cows near Belle Plaine, Minn. “Sometimes it doesn’t feel like mental health. It just feels like, ‘I have a lot of crap to deal with.’ It’s OK to talk about this stuff even though it’s uncomfortable and scary.â€? Through her work in the organic realm at the MDA, Moynihan met and married her husband, Kevin Stuedemann, an organic dairy farmer, in 2012. When she moved to the farm, Moynihan would help with chores when she had time; however, since Moynihan did not grow up on a farm, she did not know all the ins and outs of dairying. That changed in 2016 when the couple received a letter from their organic milk cooperative that stated it was stopping its route to their farm due to distance. “That really knocked us for a loop,â€? Moynihan said. “But, I arrogantly thought, ‘I’m the organic lady. I know the organic world. I’ll make a few calls, and it won’t be a problem.’ But it was a big problem.â€? They could not ďƒžnd a milk market and had to start dumping milk until they could ďƒžnd another place for their product. “The dumping milk really knocked Kevin over. It was extremely hard for him emotionally to see that. He felt like a failure. He decided to do what he knew would earn us revenue, which was long-distance household furniture moving,â€? Moynihan said. That left Moynihan at home to run the farm. She took a leave of absence from the MDA to be the operator of the dairy. “At that point there were a lot of things I couldn’t do when I took this on – I couldn’t use the TMR mixer, I couldn’t back anything up. But, I thought, ‘It’s spring, I know how to ďƒžx fence, I know how to ďƒžx water lines, I know how to milk cows and I have a phone. I can call people if I need to,’â€? she said The learning curve was large, and Moynihan quickly experienced stress factors of farming. “When something broke I didn’t know how to ďƒžx it. And sometimes I didn’t know who to call, and I was leery of calling people too many times and asking for help because you don’t want to wear out your welcome. Learning to do things myself, and ďƒžguring out what I could and couldn’t do was hard,â€? Moynihan said.
The length of each day and the physical labor was also hard, she said. “Because I was inexperienced and not as physically strong as other farmers, everything took me that much longer,� Moynihan said. “I ate a lot of cereal and slept about four hours a night. It’s a good thing I am a skilled sleeper. Some days, 10-minute naps were a godsend.� The experience also opened her eyes to other farming stressors – price, weather, markets, neighbors, elderly parents, multi generations on the farm, siblings who have left the farm versus siblings who stayed on the farm, illness, debt or losing rental ground to a competitor among other issues. “The emotions during that whole time really came fast and furious. I felt angry, scared, worried, inadequate, in over my
If you or someone you know is in a stressful situation and needs help, please reach out to the Minnesota Farm & Rural Helpline at 833-600-2670 or go to www.minnesotafarmstress.com. head, frustrated,â€? Moynihan said. “I would cry a couple times a day. I would scream and yell and slam doors. I sent my husband mean texts. I felt resentful.â€? That is when Moynihan realized she needed help and reached out to her doctor. Eventually, the couple found a conventional market for their milk for six months before ďƒžnding an organic route to pick them up. Stuedemann still works in household moving, but does not take as many long trips. Moynihan continues to farm nearly full time on the dairy while also working for the MDA. Through this experience, Moynihan said she learned a lot about herself. But more importantly, she discovered a new purpose in her off-farm career. “There are deep stressors in farm life that people have throughout their lives,â€? Moynihan said. “I look around and think if it had that profound of an impact on me and I only had to go through it eight or nine months, what’s it like when you have to go through it for 20 years?â€? That is why Moynihan is such an advocate for helping people with rural stress and mental health. “I have really felt supported [by the MDA Commissioner’s Ofďƒžce and administration]. We had to ďƒžgure out how we work together and help farmers ďƒžnd what they need quickly,â€? she said. Not all farmers need the same type of help, Moynihan said. Some might need a doctor or therapist while others need access to a banker or lawyer. A pastor who knows about farming might be needed for a listening ear. “The question is: How do we make it easier to help people ďƒžnd what they need,â€? Moynihan said. She has been reaching out to more than farmers. Other people such as lenders, farm business management instructors and Extension educators, among others, are key in helping farmers with rural stress. “Sometimes it’s not calling the doctor, sometimes it’s just spending an extra ďƒžve minutes with the vet in the yard and talking,â€? Moynihan said. “It’s equipping everybody to be on the watch for others who need encouragement and support.â€? Although mental health sometimes carries a negative stigma, Moynihan said people need to get past it for the good of the dairy community. “I think it’s going to get worse unless we – all of us involved in dairy – get better at it,â€? Moynihan said. “If we don’t pay attention, take care of ourselves and take care of each other it’s going to get us. But, I think we have the ability to care for ourselves and each other, and make difďƒžcult decisions. I don’t know anyone more resourceful or braver than farmers.â€?
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Page 38 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019
Dairy celebrations for June Dairy Month Stearns County Breakfast on the Farm, June 1 Learn where your food comes from and have tons of fun at the Stearns County Breakfast on the farm, which will take place on June 1 from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Mill Creek Dairy located near Cold Spring, Minn.. No parking is available at the farm so attendees will park at ROCORI High School, 534 5th St North in Cold Spring. A free charter bus will take you to and from the farm. There will be guided tours, a petting zoo, the children’s obstacle course, and horse-drawn wagon rides; making this experience a must for children of all ages. Breakfast is $5 a plate; children ve and under eat free. Including pancakes, French toast, sausage, eggs, milk, juice, and coffee. Visitors will be able to see rsthand where their favorite dairy products come from and participate in other exhibits and activities showcasing beef, sheep, swine, goats, poultry, and crops. For questions, contact Brad Herkenhoff at 320-429-1520 or bradh@mycmcu. org. This event is sponsored by Stearns County Farm Bureau and other local organizations. Clay County Breakfast on the Farm, June 1 The Clay County Breakfast on the Farm will take place on June 1 from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Kasin Farms, 4271 230th Street South, Hawley, Minn., 3.25 miles south of Hawley on County Highway 31. Free parking will be available at the farm along with shuttle rides to the breakfast, handicap parking is also available. Free will donations are accepted for the Hawley Lions preparing the breakfast which consists of pancakes, fresh scrambled eggs, locally made sausage, cheese, milk, coffee from Subway, water and various toppings for the eggs. Activities will consist of ice cream cones, entertainment by Jan Severson, horse drawn wagon rides, play in the corn box, milk Daisy May, farm animal zoo, farm safety just for kids (and adults), kiddie pedal tractor pull, free cheese samples, new and old farm equipment on display. For questions, contact Keith or Lori Aakre at 218-937-5514 or BOTF.Hawley@gmail.com. The event is sponsored by Clay County Farm Bureau, Hawley Area Lions, and many other local organizations. Detroit Lakes Breakfast on the Farm, June 1 On June 1, Detroit Lakes will be hosting a Breakfast on the Farm from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. on David and
Joanne Herbranson Farm, 12402 260th St S, Hawley, Minn. Come enjoy a delicious breakfast and learn more about modern dairy production and meet the farmers behind your favorite dairy products. Many activities will be available onsite. Dairy Fest, June 1 Dairy Fest MOOOOOOOOOVES into the Swiftel Center, Brookings, S.D., June 1 from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to kick off June Dairy Month. This free event features carnival games, live animals, inatable bounce houses, tons of other activities, and of course free SDSU ice cream. Round-trip transportation is provided including handicap accessible seating in order to tour a real-life dairy farm or the SDSU Davis Dairy Plant. At the farm, enjoy a free grilled cheese sandwich lunch. Brown County Breakfast on the Farm, June 2 Brown County is excited to host their Breakfast on the Farm on June 2 at DenMar Acres, 6489 County Road W, Greenleaf, Minn. from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. With a church service scheduled for 7 a.m. A breakfast will include ham and cheese scrambled eggs, porkies, deep fried cheese, cinnamon rolls, bagels and cream cheese, yogurt and milk, and sampling of cheese. There will also be an opportunity to tour the farm, activities for kids, frozen custard, music, displays, viewing dairy cows, kiddie tractor pull, petting zoo, pictures with calves and much more. Cost is $8 for adults, children 5-10 $4, and children 4 and under free. With all proceeds going towards providing free agriculture education programs to students attending Brown County schools and to county residents throughout the year. LegenDairy III, June 2 Join VanBedaf Dairy for the 3rd annual Open House in Carrington, N.D. on June 2 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Join North Dakota Dairy Farmers for this fun and enriching experience in which you will be able to learn more about where your milk and favorite dairy products come from. As well as participating in many activities which are at the dairy farm. Steele County Breakfast on the Farm, June 8 The Steele County American Dairy Association presents Breakfast on the Farm on June 8 from 8 a.m. to
12 p.m. at the Rick Balzer Farm, 5005 NE 60th Street, Owatonna, Minn. A $5 breakfast will be served and children 5 and under eat free. The rst shuttle will leave the Steele County Fairgrounds at 7:45 a.m. with the last leaving at 11:30 a.m. Barn tours, a petting zoo, and more will be offered. MoDak Dairy Open House, June 8 The Moes family invites you to tour MoDak Dairy which milks around 2,000 cows, enjoy a free grilled cheese and learn more about dairy in South Dakota. The event takes place from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. at MoDak Dairy, 46516 171st St. Goodwin, S.D., on June 8. From I-29 go 7 miles east on 212, turn north onto Kranzburg Avenue for 1 mile, then turn east onto 171st St. for three-fourths mile, and look for the signs. Some highlighted activities include farm tours, ice cream, and the opportunity to pet baby calves. This event is sponsored by South Dakota Farm families. Waseca County Taste of the Farm, June 11 Waseca County is set to host its Taste of the Farm on June 11 from 5–7:30 p.m. at Farmamerica, 7367 360th Avenue, Waseca, two miles west of Waseca. Parking is available onsite. With a free meal consisting of burgers- beef and pork, chips, milk, and root beer oats. A variety of kids’ activities will be available as well as tours, and machinery exhibits. For questions, contact Mary Jo Schoenfeld at 507-455-0745 or Maryjo. schoenfeld@fbmn.org. This event is sponsored by the Waseca County Farm Bureau. 12th Annual Dairy Farm Open House, June 12 To celebrate National Dairy Month, dairy farmers across western Iowa are inviting the public to a family-friendly event at J&S Dairy near Maurice, Iowa. The 12th annual event will include a dairy farm tour, free food, and kids’ activities from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12. Parking is available at the Terrace View Event Center in Sioux Center with transportation provided to the farm. The National Dairy Month Celebration is sponsored by Western Iowa Dairy Alliance and Midwest Dairy.
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Dairy prole Angie Connor Mayville, Wis. Dodge County 61 cows How did you get into farming? I am a third-generation farmer, working with my mother and father, Kathy and Michael Zastrow, on the farm where I was born and raised. What are your thoughts and concerns about the dairy industry for the next year? I wonder how all the little family farms are going be able to keep going. We work so hard to keep our passions alive, but times are really tough right now. What is the latest technology you implemented on your farm and the purpose for it? We are always making improvements to cattle comfort, equipment, nutritional needs and calf care because all these things add to the overall health and well-being of the cattle, which is ultimately what we want and strive for. What is a management practice you changed in the past year that has beneted you? The way we raise our calves. They are the future of the farm, and if they are not raised right, then the rest of their lives will not be as productive as they could be. What cost-saving steps have you implemented during the low milk price? We already run a strict management to keep costs low. We also have a crossbred herd that produces high butterfat and protein, and a low somatic cell count. How do you retain a good working relationship with your employee(s)? We don’t have employees as we are a family-run operation, but that in itself is hard at times. We all have our ways of doing things, old versus new, so you have to keep an open mind and work out new ways of doing things. Tell us about a skill you possess that makes dairy farming easier for you. Work smarter not harder. There are always ways to improve.
Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019 • Page 39
with Angie Connor of Mayville, Wis.
What do you enjoy most about dairy farming? The fact that my children are being raised the way I was. Yes, it’s not an easy life, but in the long run, they are learning the love of animals and the value of hard work. There is always something to do every day. I am denitely never bored. What advice would you give other dairy farmers? Don’t be afraid to try different ways of doing things. Farming is trial and error. What works for one may not work for others, but the only way you will gure it out is to do it. What has been the best purchase you’ve ever made on your farm? We are big into cow health the natural way, so I would say the best purchase has been probiotics and vitamins that we feed daily. My father has done his work on nding the best stuff out there for the cows. The overall health of the girls is huge. If they are functioning properly, it makes our job a whole lot simpler each day, and they are going to give us more milk. What has been your biggest accomplishment while dairy farming? We have always strived for quality not quantity, and we have made personal records in the last year with butterfat hitting an all-time high of 5.57 percent, protein at 3.63 percent and a one-month average somatic cell count of 60,000. Those numbers are what keep us going. Also, we’ve made many improvements to the way we raise our calves. So much has changed from when I was a youngster feeding the calves. I have done hours of research into calf care, learning the hows and how-nots. I love talking with people to see what they do in regards to raising
calves. If they want to talk, then listen. Keep your ears open. We are all in this together. What are your plans for your dairy in the next year and ve years? Hopefully we can keep going in the dairy industry. It is a hard career to be in right now. How do you or your family like to spend time when you are not doing chores? I love spending time with my family. I have an 8-year-old son, Hunter, and a 6-year-old daughter, Kenzie. My husband, Jeff, works a regular job off the farm, so when we get to spend time together, we make the most of it. In our spare time, we all enjoy shing, hunting, gardening, horseback riding, and baking or cooking. We each have our own hobbies, but family time is the best of all because we get to make memories.
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Bring out the best in your investment. facebook.com/Fastrack www.OLHS[OPLYSP]LZ[VJR JVT
Dealer Inquiries Welcome!
Dennis Thyen
46310 164th Street • Watertown, SD 57201 605.881.0647 • Email: ddthyen@gmail.com
Since 1967,
we've been committed to building long-lasting relationships and high performance machinery. As we continue to grow and move forward we want you to farm smarter with our most reliable and innovative farming equipment! Check out the DEALER LOCATOR on the H&S website for your nearest dealer!
hsmfgco.com 715.387.3414
Page 40 • Dairy Star • Saturday, May 25, 2019
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SL 100 SERIES PROTWIN® SLINGER® SIDE-DISCHARGE SPREADER • All-new discharge provides more consistent, even spreading • Exclusive twin-auger design eliminates material bridging ō ([WHQGHG DQG VLPSOLğHG VHUYLFH LQWHUYDOV VDYH WLPH DQG PRQH\ ō 9HUVDWLOLW\ WR KDQGOH WKH ZLGHVW YDULHW\ RI PDWHULDOV 1000, 1400, 1800 and 2400 gallon capacities • trailer models
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r Simple push-off design with no chains for fewer moving parts r Poly floor and sides promote self-cleaning to prevent material buildup r Wide, consistent, 25' to 30' spread pattern
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440 & 540 heaped cu. ft. capacities KuhnNorthAmerica.com
Salesmen: Shawn Martin (608) 778-4554 or Joe Ryan (608) 778-2900
4116 Hwy. 80 S. Platteville, WI
Office: (608) 348-9401 or Toll Free: 1(888) BUY-Patz www.steinhartsfarmservice.com
4116 Hwy. 80 S. Platteville, WI