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DAIRY ST R
Volume 22, No. 10
July 11, 2020
“All dairy, all the time”™
Nosbushes prioritize three practices for high milk quality
Consistent management keeps SCC under 100,000 By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
FAIRFAX, Minn. – Milking cows is a balancing act between completion and perfection, and those of Nosbush Dairy have found a medium that gives them both. The dairy was recently recognized as one of the top herds in the state with a somatic cell count below 100,000 by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, with a monthly average between 50,000 to 70,000. “Premiums are not what they used to be, but cows are healthier and you can get more milk with a low SCC and that’s worth something,” Brad Nosbush said. “You can save a few treatments per month and cull a few less cows per month, that’s where it adds up.” Nosbush and his brothers, David
Turn to NOSBUSHES | Page 5
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
The team at Nosbush Dairy – (from leŌ) Brad Nosbush, David Nosbush, Brennen Albrecht and Paul ReƩmann – maintain an avereage monthly somaƟc cell count between 50,000 and 70,000 on their 770-cow dairy near Fairfax, Minnesota.
Toddler falls into manure pit Douviers grateful for local reghters who rescued son By Carol Moorman Staff Writer
CAROL MOORMAN/DAIRY STAR
Amanda (from leŌ), Carter, Alex and Jason Douvier gather June 24 on their dairy farm near Albany, Minnesota. Two days earlier, Carter was rescued from a manure pit by three Albany reghters.
ALBANY, Minnesota – Carter Douvier and big brother, Alex, played outside mid-afternoon June 24. Listening and watching from the kitchen table in their Farming Township home were the boys’ parents, Amanda and Jason, and grandma, Sally Douvier. The playful banter was a sweet sound after what happened two days earlier when Carter was rescued safely from the Douviers’ manure pit on their farm near Albany. “We believe his grandpa (Richard Douvier) and aunt (Karen Douvier), were there with him (in spirit),” Amanda said. “They told him not to move.” Moving could have caused this almost 2-year-old to break through the crust completely and sink into the pit which is estimated to be 8 to 10 feet deep. Turn to DOUVIER | Page 7
Page 2 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020
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 Consultant Jerry Jennissen 320-346-2292 Editorial Staff Krista Kuzma - Editor/Wisconsin (507) 259-8159 • krista.k@dairystar.com Andrea Borgerding - Associate Editor (320) 352-6303 • andrea.b@dairystar.com Jennifer Coyne - Assistant Editor (320) 352-6303 • jenn@dairystar.com Danielle Nauman (608) 487-1101 danielle.n@dairystar.com Stacey Smart - Staff Writer (262) 442-6666 • stacey.s@dairystar.com Maria Bichler - Copy Editor 320-352-6303 Advertising Sales Main Ofďƒžce: 320-352-6303 Fax: 320-352-5647 Deadline is 5 p.m. of the Friday the week before publication Sales Manager - Joyce Frericks 320-352-6303 • joyce@dairystar.com Bob Leukam (Northern MN, East Central MN) 320-260-1248 (cell) bob.l@star-pub.com Mark Klaphake (Western MN) 320-352-6303 (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 Julie Barnes (SE WI and Northern IL) julie.b@dairystar.com Megan Stuessel (Western Wisconsin) 608-387-1202 • megan.s@dairystar.com Ashley Curry (Northeast WI and Upper MI) 920-539-7268 • ashley.c@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.
A glance at the other side
Dairy Star likes to provide local stories, which is why we have two versions of the paper. Below are a few highlights from stories you will not ďƒžnd in this paper, but you can ďƒžnd online in zone 2. Find full editions on our website, www.dairystar.com, and click on the e-edition tab under the Dairy Star header. Curds for Kids receives national attention, donation Jackie Goplin and Beth Stay launched Curds for Kids to provide healthy, nutritious snacks to school-aged children during the COVID-19 pandemic while helping drive demand for dairy products. They were surprised to learn their local efforts garnered the attention of Returning the Favor, a national web reality television series hosted by Mike Rowe, resulting in a $15,000 donation to purchase and additional three tons of cheese curds from local creameries. Holstein USA names DJM, YDJM honorees Despite the cancellation of the National Holstein Convention, young Holstein enthusiasts were still honored for their project work by Holstein Association USA, via a Facebook Live event July 1. Connor Erbsen of Lanark, Ill., and Mason Jauquet of Pulaski, Wis., were among the six national Distinguished Junior Member Finalists named; while Colton Brandel of Lake Mills, Wis., Nevin Erbsen of Lanark, Ill., Jacob Harbaugh of Marion, Wis., and Naomi Scott of Westgate, Iowa were among the eight Young Distinguished Junior Member Finalists. Grosenick’s garden, raw milk soap appeal to many During the summer, Shelly Grosenick can be found selling her homemade jams, jellies, salsa, pickles, breads, raw milk soap and fresh produce from her garden at various farmers markets. This dairy farmer from Lebanon, Wisconsin, whose passion in life is to create a food experience, started Crimson Kitchen and Gardens in 2016. A lifelong gardener, she grows more than 1,000 plants in her half-acre garden and continually expands her product offerings. Last year, Grosenick began making soap from her farm’s waste milk, connecting the dairy to the garden. Roden Barnyard Adventures provides taste of farm life through camps, events Roden Barnyard Adventures in West Bend, Wisconsin provides kids with a hands-on farm experience all summer long. Offering four kinds of camps, Jacki Moegenburg started the agritourism business on her parents’ dairy farm after graduating from college. Now in its seventh season, the camps have become so popular they draw a waiting list. Moegenburg and her family also host tours and birthday parties and will begin offering horse-drawn sleigh rides this winter.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 • Page 3
It’s all inside... Columnists Ag Insider
Pages 8-9 First Section
Bon Yankton Homme
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Clay
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Dick
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Mitchell Howard
Hancock Cerro Gordo
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Floyd
Greene Guthrie
Bremer
Wright Franklin Butler
Boone
Black Hawk
Polk
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Jasper
Fayette
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Bu
Clayton
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Benton
Dela
Jones
Linn
Iowa
Jackson Clinton
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Muscatine
Scott
Dodge Center
Dairy Prole: Delvin Nolt
First Section: Page 39
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Dallas
Houston
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Grundy un Webster Hamilton Hardin
Au
Pottawattamie Cass Mills
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Kossuth
Fillimore
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Crawford Carroll
Harrison Shelby
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Freeborn
Faribault
Martin
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Monona
Washington
Hubbard
O’Brien
Sioux
Woodbury
Page 22 Second Section
Wadena
Osceola
Plymouth
Country Cooking
Jackson
e
Turner
Nobles
First Section: Pages 23, 25
Winona
iek
Hutchinson
Rock
Cottonwood Watonwan Blue Earth Waseca Steele Dodge Olmsted
ake
Charles Mix
McCook Minnehaha
Murray
Royalty role is Benrud’s way of giving back
Wabasha
sh
Douglas
Gregory
Moody
Brown
Goodhue
Goodhue
Rice
ne
Tripp
on
ns
Ha
Lake
Nicollet
am
Todd
Miner
Redwood
All
Aurora
Mellette
Sanborn
Brookings
Dakota
Scott
Sibley
Lyon
Adair
Adams Taylor
Madison Warren Marion Mahaska Keokuk
Union R
g ing
old
Clarke
Lucas
Decatur Wayne
Monroe Wapello e oos
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Davis
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Brule
Jerauld
Kingsbury
Carver
W in
Buffalo Lyman
Beadle
Hennepin
McLeod
Renville
Yellow Medicine
hin
Hamlin
Hand
Chippewa
Anoka
Wright
Meeker
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Louisa
Wa s
Hyde
Deuel
Kandiyohi
Isanti
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Jones
Hughes
Swift
Lac Qui Parle
Codington
Clark
Sherburne
Ra
Spink
Benton
Stearns
Pope
sh
Stanley
Day
Stevens
eu r
Sully
Big Stone
Pine
Mille Lacs
Morrison
Douglas
First Section: Pages 10 - 11
Carlton
Crow Wing
Todd Grant
Grant
Faulk
Potter
Otter Tail
Koltes Dairy going strong a decade later
Aitkin
Su
Edmunds
Ziebach
Bennett
Roberts
Marshall
McPherson
St. Cloud Cass
Le
Dewey
Haakon
Sargent
Brown Walworth
The “Mielke” Jackson Market Weekly Shannon
Pages 8 - 9 Second Section
Dickey
Richland
Itasca
Becker
Clay
Cook Lake
we
Fall River
Campbell
Corson
M
Ransom
LaMoure
McIntosh
Sioux
Pennington Custer
Cass
Emmons
Koochiching
go
Lawrence
Bames
First Section: Pages 1, 7
Douvier family thankful for help in rescuing son from manure pit
isa Ch
Meade Page 33 First Section
Stutsman
Logan
Grant
Adams
Come Full Circle
Kidder
Morton
Perkins Page 32 First Section
Butte
Burleigh
en
om ahn
Wilkin
Hettinger Page 31 First Section
Polk
Trail
Steele
Tra ver se
Veterinary Stark Wisdom
Griggs
Norman
Oliver
Making Cents of Dairy
Harding
Foster
Mercer
Lincoln
Bowman
Wells
Sheridan
First Section: Page 37 - 38
St. Louis
Red Lake
Eddy
McLean
Beltrami
Pennington
Grand Forks
Albany
Lake of the Woods
Marshall
Benson Nelson
Roseau
Pipestone
Slope
Page 30 Dunn First Section
Kittson
Walsh
Ramsey
McHenry
Ward
Pembina
n
Mountrail
Billings Golden Valley
Pierce
Dear County Agent Guy
McKenzie
Cavalier
Towner
Da vi so n
Williams
Rolette
io
Page 27 First Section
Bottineau
First Section: Pages 34 - 35
Third Section: Pages 6 - 7
Freeport
Maus represents family’s livelihood as nalist
Finalist position a part of direction for Craig
n
Second Section: Pages 16, 18 - 19
On the Road with Princess Renville Burke Kay
Padua
Minnesota’s state show set for July 20-24 in South Dakota
Un
Page 26 First Section
Divide
Brookings
A day in the life at Langerock Brothers Dairy
Clearwater
Marion
FSA News & Notes
Van Buren
Henry Des
Moines
Lee
Fairfax
Zone 2
Nosbushes prioritize three practices for high milk quality First Section: Pages 1, 5 - 6
FROM OUR SIDE OF THE FENCE: What are the most productive methods you use to reduce heat stress incidences in your milking herd? First Section: Pages 15 - 16
For additional stories from our other zone, log on to www.dairystar.com
Albert Lea
Larsons cherish 13-year-old cow’s personality, production, genetics
Second Section: Pages 3 - 5
Page 4 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 • Page 5
ConƟnued from NOSBUSHES | Page 1
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Dry cows lie in sand-bedded freestalls at Nosbush Dairy July 2 in Renville County near Fairfax, Minnesota. and Leroy, milk 770 Holsteins on their second-generation dairy farm in Renville County near Fairfax. Nosbush oversees herd management and nutrition, while David is responsible for crops and equipment maintenance, and Leroy, the youngstock. There are several factors that aid in superior milk quality, but the team at Nosbush Dairy prioritizes three areas of management that play a large role in obtaining a steadily low SCC. For this farm, milk quality begins with their transition cow protocol, herd cleanliness and milking equipment maintenance. “There are no hoops we go through to reach our goals and it’s not rocket science,” Nosbush said. “But it’s rewarding and more pleasant to milk when cows are healthy and doing well.” The focus on milk quality begins when cows are in the dry cow barn. The herd is housed in a freestall barn and bedded with sand. Stalls are raked once a day. “My one piece of advice for any farmer is to create a better environment for your dry cows,” Nosbush said. “We work hard to get those cows to come through healthy and that makes their whole lactation healthy.” In 1995, the family rebuilt their dry cow facilities from a loang shed to a freestall barn. They originally planned for mattress stalls but chose sand for nancial reasons. “We ran out of money and time
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when we were building and so we tried sand,” Nosbush said. “Twenty-ve years ago, our dry cow housing was not good enough, and now they’re spotless and clean as they go through transition.” A majority of the herd is housed on sand, including fresh cows and the few treated ones. Additionally, the lactating herd’s and dry herd’s barns are power ventilated. The milking herd is milked three times a day in a double-16 parallel basement parlor. “Because the pulsators are in the basement, gravity ensures every speck of sand ends up in the pulsator system,” Nosbush said. “Having a system which continuously monitors milking equipment performance is important for us.” The dairy’s senior herdsman, Paul Rettmann, is responsible for herd health, reproduction and overseeing operations in the parlor. Rettmann works with employees to make sure the milking procedure is being followed through, which begins with clean cows entering the parlor. While not all milking procedure experts would agree with the farm’s protocol, Nosbush said their procedure is efcient and effective. “Cows stay clean in the freestalls which makes the milkers’ job easier. Our milkers prep the cows to ensure teats are perfectly clean and provide stimula-
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Page 6 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020
ConƟnued from NOSBUSHES | Page 5
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David Nosbush reviews the lter of recent milkings July 2 at his family’s dairy farm near Fairfax, Minnesota. The Nosbushes monitor cleanliness of the lter for milk quality. tion for milk letdown,” Nosbush said. “They’re milking out quickly and completely.” Rettmann agreed. “Our milking team is incredible,” he said. The team is expected to maintain a SCC below 100,000. One of the ways they monitor milk quality is the cleanliness of the lter after each milking shift. “If we notice SCC creeping up, one of the best indicators is to look at the lter sock,” Nosbush said. “Typically, with 770 cows we’ll nd three or four strands of hair and a few small specs of dirt on the sock.” As a group of employees are designated to milk the majority of the lactating herd, Rettmann milks the treated and fresh cows in a separate parlor. The system was the farm’s original parlor built in 1973. Of the farm’s 770 cows, less than 2% have a SCC greater than 500,000. The milking team does not quarter milk or divert high SCC milk. Cows are seldom culled for high SCC alone. In a given day, Rettmann only has a small handful of cows to milk in the original parlor. Fresh cows are milked there for two days before joining the rest of the herd. The team at Nosbush Dairy tries to minimize the number of animals being milked in the treated parlor. They can turn
150 cows in an hour in the double-16 parlor, but it takes Rettmann the same time to milk 10 cows, whether treated or fresh. “The absolute worse job is treating sick cows. And then you spend time milking them just to discard the milk,” Rettmann said. “When there are zero cows in the treated pen, things are going smoothly.” Nosbush agreed. “Do the things that really matter like having clean dry cows, healthy transition cows, clean freestalls and milking clean teats,” he said. “Don’t get hung up on how to x the issue after a cow has mastitis.” One of Rettmann’s tasks is to monitor the milking equipment. By routinely cleaning equipment and xing it immediately, the dairy’s incidences of mastitis are very few. The push for a low SCC goes beyond monetary incentives for Nosbush Dairy. “There’s no better feeling than coming to work when things are going well,” Nosbush said. As Rettmann sees it, everyone’s diligence in doing their job has paid dividends in milk quality, but also herd health and the overall work environment for all employees. “We don’t do anything special,” he said. “We do things we think are important for our farm and work hard to meet them.”
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A dry cow stands in the pen July 2 at Nosbush Dairy near Fairfax, Minnesota. Sand bedding for the dry cows and keeping animals clean help keep a low somaƟc cell count once cows enter the milking herd.
Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 • Page 7
ConƟnued from DOUVIER | Page 1 Thankfully, three Albany reghters and rescue squad members – chief Gary Winkels, Steve Pelzer and Kurt Beuning – arrived at the dairy farm within minutes of Jason making the 911 call, and Carter was rescued unharmed. “They came straight here, and good thing they did,” said a teary-eyed Jason, not wanting to think of what could have happened. The Douviers are sharing their story to make people aware that incidents can happen on farms, in the blink of an eye, even when precautions are taken. “Everybody around here and our friends have gates like that on their pits,” Jason said. “When we put it up, we did it the way we were told to. It was more or less to keep the cattle out.” Amanda gets emotional when recalling their life-threatening situation. Jason was cutting meadow hay, while Amanda milked their 56 cows. Usually, Alex and Carter are in the barn with the family. On this evening, Alex was with his grandparents, Mary and Rick Rosen, so it was only Carter in the barn with Amanda. “I saw him, and he was ne, and then he was gone,” Amanda said. Amanda shouted Carter’s name. The barn fans were so loud she could not have heard if he was crying. She called to the house, asking Sally if Carter was with her. By this time, Jason, who came in from doing eldwork, helped Amanda search around the farm. “I had a gut feeling and looked in the pit,” Jason said. “I saw something blue and wasn’t 100 percent sure it was him. I just knew that blue thing wasn’t there before.” Jason ran around the pit calling 911 at 7:59 p.m., according to his cell phone record.
CAROL MOORMAN/DAIRY STAR
Carter Douvier loves life on his parents’ dairy farm June 24 near Albany, Minnesota. The inquisiƟve 2-year-old was rescued from the farm’s manure pit June 22. “I’m standing at the top of the pit and he’s down there, and my thought was I needed to get down there and pull him off and up the ramp,” Jason said. It still boggles the Douviers how their young son traveled roughly 500 feet from the barn through tall grass to their fenced-in gated manure pit in such a short time. They gure he crawled under the gate through an open gap a little more than 1.5 feet wide. Carter possibly slid down the steep embankment to the pit and, from the shoe prints on the crust, walked 4 feet on the crustedover manure pit before one foot broke through with the rest of his body lying
on top of the crust. Within a few minutes of the 911 call, Winkels, who was at his brother’s place a few miles away, arrived, followed by neighbor and fellow reghter Pelzer. Trained in ice rescue, Winkels and Pelzer developed a plan, as reghter Beuning arrived. They anchored a cord, taken from the back of Pelzer’s truck, and with Winkels and Pelzer holding the cord wrapped around Beuning’s waist, Beuning rappelled down the ramp to get close to Carter, who was crying and thankfully not moving. “Kurt said, ‘Buddy, can you grab my hand?’ and Carter reached back and grabbed his hand and he was lifted out,” Winkels said. By this time, more Albany reghters and rescue squad had arrived; two Stearns County Sheriff’s Ofce deputies and the Melrose ambulance were on scene. “It couldn’t have been more than 10 or 15 minutes before the rescue squad came,” Jason said of the 5-mile drive from Albany. “But we feel so fortunate that the reghters, who were close by, came when they did.” Winkels said with a rural re department, reghters are often scattered around the 103-square-mile area the Albany Fire Department covers and can respond quickly from where they are instead of going to the station. “We had him out before the trucks got there,” Winkels said. A good thing because who knows how long that crust would have remained unbroken. Following the rescue, Winkels wiped Carter down and carried him to the back of the rescue van. Carter’s vitals were checked, and he was found to
be OK. Winkels placed Carter, wrapped in a blanket, in his mother’s arms, safe and sound. “He was perfectly ne, other than a little shivering,” Jason said. “He was more scared than anything else.” “I said, ‘Thank you God,’” Sally said. Amanda gave their son a shower while Jason nished milking. Neither slept that night, thinking back on what had happened on their family farm. “I can still picture him lying there,” Amanda said. “I just can’t get it out of my head.” The next morning Jason placed a board over the gate gap and talked about putting barbed wire over the gate, at least until their boys are older. Jason has warned friends, who have similar manure pits, of the possible pitfalls, hoping to save them from what the family experienced. The Douviers celebrated Carter’s second birthday June 27, thankful their 2-year-old, who loves the outdoors, has no lingering effects of what happened to him and no concept of the danger he was in. Jason and Amanda will have a story to tell their son as he continues to grow on the farm his dad has lived on his whole life. A farm where the boys love to be in the barn for chores and milking. The Douviers will be forever grateful to the three reghters who saved Carter’s life during a heart-wrenching situation. They are happy Carter is here to play – and get into friendly ghts – with his big brother.
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Class III milk price moves higher Page 8 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020
The Class III futures spot market has approached ful,” Smith said. Some of those dairy provisions are $23 per hundredweight. That is a high mark for milk already triggering a challenge. “It goes to show how prices since 2014. “A lot of this is government related important it is to monitor these deals and make sure in terms of the Farmers to Families Food Boxes; that they get implemented the way they were intended has been helpful,” said Dan Basse, presito be implemented,” Smith said. “We dent of Ag Resource Company. “Milk shouldn’t have to be ghting these battles Ag Insider had the biggest run in June out of any right away, but we’ll keep pushing at it.” commodity.” Basse said it will be difcult for the futures price to break through USMCA positives highlighted in Farmthe $22-to-$23 cwt resistance level. ers for Free Trade roundtable Farmers for Free Trade hosted a virJune milk price nearly $9 higher than tual roundtable discussion on the U.S.May Mexico-Canada Agreement. The agreeThe federal order Class III milk ment went into effect July 1. House price averaged $21.04 cwt in June. That Agriculture Committee Chair Collin is $8.90 more than the price in May and Peterson said the implementation is a $4.77 higher than June of last year. positive in a time when positive action is needed. “Thank goodness we got it (the USMCA implications for the US dairy USMCA) done when we did,” Peterson By Don Wick industry said. “I would say that we need to be vigiColumnist Roughly 40% of U.S. dairy exports lant. There are troubling signs of people go to Canada and Mexico. International using the COVID-19 pandemic as a reaDairy Foods Association President and CEO Michael son to put up trade barriers. We’ve seen some monDykes said that adds to the signicance of the newly key business going on in Mexico, and we continue to implemented U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. There worry about Canadians and dairy policy. We need to is speculation Canada’s new Tariff Rate Quota plan be vigilant and make sure the trade agreement is enwill restrict imports of U.S. branded cheese and but- forced.” Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst was also part of the dister products. “Throughout the extensive negotiations cussion. “I do think it’s important to continue touting with Canada, the message was clear we need a new the success of this phenomenal trade deal. Hopefully, day in our trade relationships with Canada on dairy. this will lead to more in the future,” Ernst said. Let’s not have any funny business here; let’s make sure we do this above board,” Dykes said. IDFA has Butter, cheese inventories rise voiced its concerns to the U.S. Trade Representative’s According to the United States Department of Ofce. Agriculture Cold Storage Report, U.S. butter inventories topped 380 million pounds in May. That was up Minnesota senator said USMCA offers much need- 66.4 million pounds from May of 2019. Total cheese ed certainty inventories increased 5% year over year. American Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith said the U.S.-Mex- cheese inventories rose nearly 34 million pounds and ico-Canada Agreement is good news for agriculture. the other-than-America cheese inventories increased “No trade deal is perfect, but this trade deal will pro- 35.4 million pounds. vide some much-needed certainty at a moment where we could use some good news in agriculture. It has COVID-19 may have long-term impact on consome good provisions to help expand market access sumer behavior for dairy products in Canada, which would be helpA new report from CoBank said the coronavirus
has dramatically impacted consumer behavior, and the dairy supply chain will need to make adjustments. During the stay-at-home advisories, consumers bought more milk and cheese. Cereal sales are also up, which inuences milk consumption. Grocers are cutting back on their product selection to improve operational efciency. CoBank said that may inuence the testing of new concepts. A tighter economy will also impact disposable income and ultimately disrupt the dairy supply chain. Another round for the food box program USDA has approved over $1 billion in extended contracts and $202 million in new contracts for the Farmers to Families Food Box Program. In this second round of purchases, the program will purchase $288 million in dairy products. A total of 27.5 million food boxes have been delivered, below the goal of 40 million. DFA faces federal racketeering allegations Dairy Farmers of America leadership are being sued, facing claims predatory pricing strategies were implemented to eliminate competition. The lawsuit was led by a group of farmers and a Dean Foods shareholder. The complaint was led under the federal government’s RICO Act and asks for divestiture and dissolution of DFA. A spokesperson for DFA said the lawsuit is without merit. DFA purchased the majority of Dean Foods’ assets after Dean Foods led for bankruptcy. Borden Dairy sale approved The bankruptcy court has approved the sale of Borden Dairy to Capitol Peak Partners. Capitol Peak is led by the former CEO of Dean Foods and will have majority ownership of Borden Dairy. Borden’s lender, KKR, will have minority interest in the Dallas-based company. National FFA Convention will be virtual The National FFA Convention will be virtual this Turn to AG INSIDER | Page 9
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 • Page 9
ConƟnued from AG INSIDER | Page 8 year. The National FFA Organization said there were many pandemic-related challenges that made hosting an in-person event impossible this year. However, an in-person convention will return to Indianapolis in 2021. Rasdall moves from USDA to IDFA Effective July 7, Becky Rasdall took over as the vice president for trade policy and international affairs at the International Dairy Foods Association. Most recently, Rasdall has been a senior policy advisor for USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Rasdall concentrated on technical and sanitary/phytosanitary barriers for U.S. trade. Schmidt to lead Minnesota Beef Council The Minnesota Beef Council has named Kelly Schmidt its new Chief Executive Ofcer. Schmidt raises Simmental and SimAngus cattle. He previously served as an agribusiness instructor at South Central College in Mankato. Schmidt will be in the new role with the Minnesota Beef Council in mid-July.
Nutrition conference postponed The Minnesota Nutrition Conference has a history of 75 years-plus providing livestock nutrition research. Due to the uncertain times, the organizers of the event have postponed the conference until Sept. 22-23, 2021. A webinar for the dairy industry and other species is being planned for this fall.
DHIA: Now MORE than ever
Who is she?
Trivia challenge Pizza Hut was the rst pizza fast food chain in the United States, starting in 1958. That answers our last trivia question. For this week, when were ice cream cones invented? We will have the answer in the next edition of Dairy Star. Don Wick is owner/broadcaster for the Red River Farm Network, based in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Wick has been recognized as the National Farm Broadcaster of the Year and served as president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Don and his wife, Kolleen, have two adult sons, Tony and Sam, and ve grandchildren, Aiden, Piper, Adrienne, Aurora and Sterling.
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ANDREA BORGERDING/DAIRY STAR
The Koltes family (from leĹŒ) – Ken, Miley, Andy, Caden and Mike – stand in the yard of their farm Koltes Dairy near St. Cloud, Minnesota. Ken, Andy and Mike work in a partnership they formed 10 years ago in July 2010.
Brothers, father remain committed to partnership By Andrea Borgerding andrea.b@dairystar.com
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Dairy Star ďƒžrst visited with the Koltes family in July 2010 shortly after they started in their new partnership. We checked in with them ten years later. ST. CLOUD, Minn. – In July 2010, Andy and Mike Koltes started a business venture that was risky and highly expected to fail. Despite the odds the industry was offering for new dairy farmers at the time, the brothers partnered with their father, Ken, to start Koltes Dairy LLC. The brothers never looked back. “We are deďƒžnitely further than what we thought we would be 10 years ago,â€? Andy said. Mike agreed. “When I stop and look at the past 10 years, it’s been all about slowly making life easier,â€? Mike said. Today, the Koltes trio is milking 130 cows and raising 600 acres of corn, soybean and alfalfa on their farm near St. Cloud. The Koltes brothers attribute their success in surviving the industry’s ups and downs to a conservative outlook, each partner being able to specialize in areas of the farm and the willingness of their father to be open to new ideas. For much of the Kolteses dairying career, the average milk price has been less than what is considered proďƒžtable. This experience has helped the brothers manage the dairy for a modest milk price. “On average, we haven’t had good prices the last 10 years; we are used to that,â€? Andy said. “You can survive on $14-$15 milk if you are used to it.â€? With the odds stacked against them, Andy, Mike and Ken went in with a perspective of operating the dairy at low cost but sparing no expense in keeping the cows comfortable and producing milk. The Kolteses started out with a good herd and built on that foundation by focusing on genetics, cow comfort and quality feed. Today, they are at a 28,700-pound herd average. Andy and Mike have made few changes to their facilities that include a swing-10 parlor, tiestall barn converted to a freestall barn and an additional bedding pack barn. The facilities are the same ones their father milked in during his career. Ken sold the
family’s herd of cows four years prior to the Kolteses forming a partnership to start milking again. The parlor has been maintained and the freestall has been added onto since starting up 10 years ago. “We could’ve built a new barn sometime in the past 10 years, but I think we’ve been super conservative,â€? Andy said. “Dad is very conservative and that has rubbed off on us.â€? Andy and Mike credit their father for allowing them to take the reins on operating the dairy. The key to making their partnership work has been the ability to specialize in their own areas and having the freedom of making a decision to beneďƒžt the partnership. “I think what has made us successful is that it was the three of us starting from scratch,â€? Mike said. “That allowed Dad to let go and make it easier
“I think what has made us successful is that it was the three of us starting from scratch. That allowed Dad to let go and make it easier for the three of us to make decisions.� MIKE KOLTES, DAIRY FARMER
for the three of us to make decisions.â€? Andy feeds all the cows and calves and manages most of the ďƒželdwork. Mike does breeding, milking and herd health. Ken helps feed calves when Andy is in the ďƒželd in addition to milking every morning and some evenings. Despite physical ailments including arthritis, Ken enjoys milking and doing chores as grandchildren often help much to his enjoyment. Ken also plants corn and cuts and rakes hay. “Everyone goes out and comes in at the same time, but we all have our own areas,â€? Andy said. “We overlap when we are busy.â€? Turn to KOLTES | Page 11
Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 • Page 11
ConƟnued from KOLTES | Page 10
The Kolteses also have one fulltime employee, Eugene Nowak, who milks ve nights a week and on weekends if needed. Both Andy’s and Mike’s wives also help as needed, especially during eldwork. Missy, Andy’s wife, helps feed calves, and Brianna, Mike’s wife, milks and hauls hay. Andy and Mike are grateful for having had the opportunity to dairy farm and are even more grateful to still be farming today.
“We talk about how at some point we have to remember what our dad has done when it comes to the next generation to come in and take over.” ANDY KOLTES, DAIRY FARMER
“It was a stretch in the beginning so everybody had to be involved and committed,” Andy said. “Our biggest accomplishment has been getting it all to come together to the point where now everything works well together.” Milk production is something the Kolteses strived for from the beginning, and despite almost having a 29,000-pound herd average today, they are quick to mention that there is
always room for more production. “The ipside to that is we don’t need to buy our milk production either,” Mike said. “You have to nd a spot where you are making money.” The Kolteses strive to make quality hay and forages to drive production. In the future, the Koltes brothers will continue to buy more land from Ken to allow him to retire out of the partnership. At 63 years old, Ken is pleased the partnership worked out the way it did. “The people who are owning it are making the decisions which is the way it should be,” Ken said. “They listen to my opinion. They won’t always do it if it doesn’t suit them, but I can have an opinion and that’s all I ask.” Andy and Mike both agree their father has done a great job of letting them take ownership. “We talk about how at some point we have to remember what our dad has done when it comes to the next generation to come in and take over,” Andy said. To entice the next generation, the brothers realize a new facility is in their future. But for now they are biding their time and waiting for the right moment to take the next step – a process they feel has kept them in the dairy business. “It comes down to seeing the opportunities and trying to make the most of the opportunities that come up,” Mike said. “You have to realize when a good opportunity is knocking.”
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Page 12 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020
Prepare for market changes ahead Kohl discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic will change consumer behavior By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
The novel coronavirus and the COVID-19 pandemic has made impacts on almost every industry, including agriculture. Dr. David Kohl, gave his thoughts about the situation during a July 2 webinar, “Managing through the Black Swan Cycle,” hosted by the South Dakota Agriculture Foundation and the Central Plains Dairy Foundation. “Usually you’ll have a black swan about every 10 years, but this one really hit hard,” said Kohl, Virginia Tech professor emeritus, and owner of Homestead Creamery in Wirtz, Virginia. Kohl described the pandemic and its affects – both current and potential – in three phases. The rst phase includes happenings from March 1 to May 1. Many people lost jobs and states shut down non-essential businesses for preventative measures. Kohl said 40% of those businesses had sales plummet to 25% or below. “What happened around the world is the global economy was put on life support through the federal reserve assistance but also through the scal support,” he said. The second phase started mid-May and will continue through the end of the
year. “We’ve got disjointed recovery plans at the local, state, national and international levels,” Kohl said. “We’re also moving into the realization of job loss.” Kohl said millions of people will not get their jobs back and many who do will have a reduced salary. Businesses will also fail. “What you’re going to see is extreme volatility,” Dr. David Kohl Kohl said. “It’s Professor not going to be emeritus an option, but a requirement that we manage this volatility out there.” The third stage will be from January 2021 and beyond when businesses are working to move forward to being successful again. “One of the things we have to be really careful in the ag industry is concentration cannibalization,” Kohl said. “We have seen it with the big processors. They’re making the bucks, but the producers are hurting and the consumer paid an extra price.” Kohl foresees this phase to include an acceleration of deglobalization along with articial intelligence. “We’re going to see more energy, a commitment to move forward, innovation, adaptation and new business models for successes,” Kohl said. “It’s going to take creative leadership.” Part of this will be dealing with Kohl’s assumption of products being
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and November, people who have not planned could throw them for a loop.” So, how long did Kohl think the recession will last? “This is settling in for the longer turn,” he said. “There’s no pattern for corrective action. You can see what’s happening in various states around the country.” He foresees the upcoming months to continue to be volatile. “There is a disconnect to the stock market,” he said. “It’s very dangerous right now. We have to watch for reemerging bio shocks or cyber attacks, particularly in the southern hemisphere.” People’s behavior to focus again on the four basics of food, water, warmth and rest have changed consumer behavior. Kohl sees four types of consumers coming out of this pandemic. The rst will be a minimalist, going back to basic needs and taking pride in surviving on minimal items. The second will be a frugal consumer. This person will go back to basic needs but with some select expenditures and experiences. “They take a lot of pride in budgeting, savings and rainy-day funds,” Kohl said. “These rst two groups love Dave Ramsey and will follow him closely.” The third consumer is a carefree consumer that is impulsively and emotionally driven. “This is the group that scares me,” Kohl said. “They’re going to hit the wall … when the checks quit or the jobs don’t come back. And then they’re
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 • Page 13
ConƟnued from MARKETS | Page 12 going to go to the plastic credit card.” The nal consumer is the alpha spender and investor. “We see these in agriculture,” Kohl said. “They’ll go to the high-end purchases. They will be risk takers but focus on taking advantage of discounted opportunities. They have that wealth and income cushion that is a shock absorber to future black swans.” Through all this, Kohl said there are positives for agriculture. “I think the importance of a diversied safe food, ber and fuel source – the basics of life – we have got an opportunity and we need to expound upon this,” he said. Going forward, Kohl said farmers will need to work at setting up business plans to be successful into the future. Resiliency is the rst of four pillars of a successful business model according to Kohl. This includes knowing cost of production, and having a marketing and risk management program. “With this volatility, that (marketing plan) is your offensive strategy,” Kohl said. “Your defensive strategy is your risk management, your insurance programs.” The second pillar is agility. “Working capital is going to be important,” he said. “A big one here is having a market for that product. We saw a lot of euthanized hogs and cattle get backed up. One of the big things we have to think about is the optimization and efciency versus diversication and resiliency. The third pillar is having an entrepreneurial and innovative spirit. “Agriculture is a people rst business,” Kohl said. “And we’ve got to invest in people.” The nal pillar is having a strong business IQ, which includes 15 factors critical for a successful business (see
1. Know cost of producƟon 2. Know cost of producƟon by enterprise 3. Goals – business, family and personal 4. Record keeping system 5. Projected cash ow 6. Financial sensiƟvity analysis 7. Understand nancial raƟos, break evens 8. Work with advisory team and lender 9. MarkeƟng plan wriƩen and executed 10. Risk management plan executed 11. Modest lifestyle habits, family living budget 12. WriƩen plan for improvement executed and strong people management 13. TransiƟon plan/business owner plan 14. EducaƟonal seminars/courses 15. Aƫtude breakout box). Kohl said mental health and business planning are also important. “There is a correlation between developing plans and your emotional health,” Kohl said, citing a Canadian study. “The business planning and management will not eliminate stress, but it provides options and gives peace of mind.” Despite challenges, Kohl looks forward to the future. “Overall, I am optimistic about the industry of agriculture,” he said.
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Page 14 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 • Page 15
How do you reduce heat stress in your milking herd? Luke Dubbe Lydia, Minnesota Scott County 265 cows
Describe your facilities for your milking herd. We have a 4-row naturally ventilated barn with fans. We also have a holding area and double-12 parallel parlor that are positive pressure ventilated with six 4-foot fans. What are the most productive methods you use to reduce heat stress incidences in your milking herd? In this weather, we soak them in the holding area morning and night. In the mornings, if it’s cool enough, we don’t sprinkle them. We use stir fans, ďƒ&#x;y control and try to keep cows from bunching and standing all day. We feed Vita Plus’s Heat Shield, it’s a potassium carbonate product that replenishes the potassium level of the cows. That makes a visual difference. When I am trying to keep the feed from heating, I will face the silage more. We will also clean up the feed in the manger more often and not feed ahead. We will wait until the cows eat up their feed before their next batch. I will also cull more heavily. The coolest cow is the one hanging in the locker. It also lowers my population density in the barn and the fresh pen. I will also bed our third-plus lactation cows with sand just for the added cooling beneďƒžt that draws heat off the cow. We don’t bed all the cows with sand because we don’t need a lagoon full of sand and we don’t have a way to recycle it. How do you treat a cow when she experiences heat stress? I think heat stress is a preventative issue. In 2012, I had made the mistake of drying off and vaccinating cows before a period of hot weather, and those newly dried off cows got so hot they were borderline down cows. When I found them, I grabbed a bucket and started scooping water out of the stock tank and doused them down. I did that every half hour or so until they were stabilized. One of the biggest things is that we learned no vaccinations or drying off cows and try to avoid pen moves until there are two to three days of cooler weather in the forecast. What precautions do you take to prevent heat stress in your calves, youngstock and dry cows? Calves are in the old tiestall barn, so they have tunnel ventilation. We try to keep water in front of them. The youngstock have shade. The biggest thing with the dry cows is they eat outside, so I don’t feed them in the middle of the day. I will feed them early in the morning before it gets hot out or I will feed them in the evening when they have the shade of the old barn and the silos. I will also bring in an additional 5-10 pounds of haylage into what I am feeding them just to replenish their potassium and sodium levels; giving them a little more mineral. When they are extending and losing that mineral, I like to replenish them with some haylage in the dry cow diet. What is one tactic to reduce heat stress that you want to implement or wish you implemented sooner on your dairy farm? In the future it would be beneďƒžcial if I had better dry cow cooling. Describe the hottest summer you have experienced in your dairy career. How did that summer affect your milking herd? In 2012, production dropped pretty drastically, feed intake and manure output were cut in
John Meyer Rollingstone, Minnesota Winona County 800 cows Describe your facilities for your milking herd. We milk 800 cows on two sites. The home site has 500 cows in a tunnel ventilated barn where cows are calved and milked for about 180 days before they are moved to the valley site where they ďƒžnish their lactation. What are the most productive methods you use to reduce heat stress incidences in your milking herd? In 2015, we installed a tunnel ventilation system at our home dairy and saw an improvement in production and reproduction through the summer months. Last year at our valley site, we remodeled our freestall barn with insulation in the ceiling and roof vents to keep cows more comfortable in the extremes of summer heat and winter cold. How do you treat a cow when she experiences heat stress? I think prevention is the key – fans and sprinklers throughout the barns and holding area to prevent cows from experiencing stress. What precautions do you take to prevent heat stress in your calves, youngstock and dry cows? In the calves, we have our hutches facing north, offer water all the time and offer electrolytes at the ďƒžrst sign of them being off feed. Dry cows and pregnant heifers have fans and sprinklers. Younger heifers are raised by a heifer grower. What is one tactic to reduce heat stress that you want to implement or wish you implemented sooner on your dairy farm? The tunnel ventilation has probably been the biggest improvement we have made by providing a consistent air ďƒ&#x;ow and also with the polycarbonate on the walls to protect cows from the sun. Describe the hottest summer you have experienced in your dairy career. How did that summer affect your milking herd? I think it was the late 1980s when we were milking in an old facility with no fans and sprinklers. It was hot and dry for most of the summer. We lost a lot of milk and didn’t get cows bred. The positive is we learned from it and started implementing heat abatement. Tell us about your farm. Our dairy is a third-generation farm owned by my wife, Connie, and I. We have two daughters, Kate and Megan. We milk 800 cows and raise all of our forages. We raise our calves to post weaning, and then they go to the heifer raiser. They come back at 150 DIM. half when we had ďƒžve days of super hot weather. The cows that were already sick struggled to survive. It was a rough one for anyone that was sick. I think summer heat affects you for six months or until they calf back in. Tell us about your farm. I farm here with my parents, Jim and Julie, brother, Paul, along with his wife, Alyssa, and seven nieces and nephews. We also have a good bunch of kids who work with me doing mostly milking, and one that’s kind of a Jack-of-all-trades person. We farm 650 acres and we raise corn, alfalfa and a little bit of soybeans.
Dana Allen-Tully Gar-Lin Dairy LLC Eyota, Minnesota Olmsted County 1,750 cows Describe your facilities for your milking herd. We have a 50-stall carousel GEA parlor along with a single-12 herringbone treatment parlor. Cows are in a 160-by-200 cross-ventilated special needs barn and 4-row freestall barns with natural ventilation. There are thermostat-controlled fans and sprinklers, and mechanical sand separation. For calves, we have a 225-head autofeeder barn for calves 2-55 days of age. What are the most productive methods you use to reduce heat stress incidences in your milking herd? We aggressively use sprinklers and fans in our freestall barns. Our cross-ventilated barn has two phase-high pressure misters that run based on temperature and humidity. The holding pen also has sprinklers and fans along with a shower in the return lane. We are also cognoscente of additive animal/people stresses outside of heat such as: calm animal handling, vaccinations and tasks at cool times of the day, increased ďƒ&#x;y control/farm cleanliness, adequate clean water available, reduced lock-up times and morning/ evening feeding. How do you treat a cow when she experiences heat stress? We walk pens daily in the morning to observe cows for heat stress. If a cow’s temperature or respiration exceeds her herdmates, she is checked for lung congestion, temperature, abnormal heart rate and mastitis and treated according to our protocols. This could include separating her to reduce competition or improve comfort in our cross-ventilated barn. What precautions do you take to prevent heat stress in your calves, youngstock and dry cows? Providing a clean, dry environment with a lot of clean, fresh water is paramount. Just like in the cows, reducing additive stresses is our primary focus in the heat with particular attention to ďƒ&#x;y control. What is one tactic to reduce heat stress that you want to implement or wish you implemented sooner on your dairy farm? Further reducing lockup times by using our sort system to catch cows to check, vaccinate, breed, etc. We then move them to an area in their pen where cows have access to feed, water and freestalls. When we are ready to work with them, the headlocks are set and cows are locked up. Once ďƒžnished, cows are released allowing them to already be in their correct pen. Describe the hottest summer you have experienced in your dairy career. How did that summer affect your milking herd? It seems this year the summer heat started earlier and has had longer stretches of continuous heat and humidity. Tell us about your farm. We are a third-generation family dairy farm in southeast Minnesota. We milk approximately 1,750 cows (80% Holstein/20% Pro-Cross), have worked to right-size our heifer herd by using beef breeds and farm 4,100 acres of corn, corn silage, high moisture shell corn, alfalfa, sweet peas, winter rye, sweet corn and soybeans.
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Page 16 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020
ConƟnued from OUR SIDE | Page 15 Shaina Kirckof Belgrade, Minnesota Stearns County 80 cows Describe your facilities for your milking herd. I have an 80-cow tiestall barn. The new barn was built in 2012 after the original barn was lost in 2009 from a re. I put in 4-by-6 one-legged Berg stalls with rubber mats that provide the cows with plenty of room. I put hydrated lime down on the mats before bedding with straw each morning. The hydrated lime helps to keep the stalls dry while keeping bacteria down. I have curtains across the west side of the barn with seven 50-inch fans and two 36-inch fans on the east end of the barn. Half ways down the barn, there are two 36-inch fans that suspend from the ceiling. I have a large maternity pen at the east end of the barn with a 50-inch fan. During the hotter months, I put 3-foot fans down the center of the barn to help with air ow. The ceilings are 12 feet high. With high ceilings, it allows the heat to rise off of the cows and be blown out with the fans. What are the most productive methods you use to reduce heat stress incidences in your milking herd? Keeping the cows cool is one of the biggest battles during the summer months. The things I nd most effective are: getting the cows fed early in the morning before it gets too hot out; keeping the stalls clean and dry; maintaining clean drinking cups; keeping their backs free of dust and debris; and giving haircuts immediately once entering the barn to any cow or heifer that has a longer hair coat. How do you treat a cow when she experiences heat stress? If it appears a cow is under heat stress, I will put a fan directly on her. If needed, I will mist her with water to try and slowly bring down her body temperature. Most of the time the nights cool down enough that I do not deal with a signicant amount of extreme heat stress. What precautions do you take to prevent heat stress in your calves, youngstock and dry cows? My calves that are on milk have 24-hour access to fresh water. After feeding milk, I wash out, sanitize and ll their pails up with fresh water. I nd it extremely important that all stalls remain as dry as possible. This helps with y control as well. In my pole sheds, where I house my calves, youngstock and dry cows, the south side of the sheds are completely open while I cut out large rectangular openings on the north side to allow more air ow. All animals have an optimal source of fresh, clean water 24/7. All barns are kept as dry as possible. What is one tactic to reduce heat stress that you want to implement or wish you implemented sooner on your dairy farm? To install fans throughout all pole sheds where I house all my youngstock and dry cows. I would also like to open the back side of my calf barn to allow the smaller calves to utilize the pasture as well. Describe the hottest summer you have experienced in your dairy career. How did that summer affect your milking herd? I am not entirely sure which summer has been the hottest, but it has been a steamy one so far this June and July. Although I have high ceilings and good air ow, the heat does at times affect the cows. When this happens, the cows tend to not eat as well which means they will not produce as much milk. To help with this, I get the cows up every few hours, push feed up and scrape manure out from under them. I have found that decreasing the dry matter intake while keeping the protein and energy levels up during this time also helps. Tell us about your farm. I truly do love my cows. I love how the dairy challenges me. The lifestyle it offers is like no other. Being a dairy farmer means you get to learn something new every day. You get to assist the mothers giving birth, nurture sick animals back to good health and watch the babies kick up their heels after you put fresh bedding in. I am the daughter of a third-generation farmer. I am so fortunate to be able to farm alongside my mother, father and grandfather.
Lucas Schmitt Hawkeye, Iowa Fayette County 280 cows Describe your facilities for your milking herd. We house our cows in two 3-row freestall barns with sand bedding and natural ventilation. We also have a bedding pack for fresh and hospital cows. The barns are scraped using the skidloader twice daily. We have two Lely robots that milk about 120 cows, and a double-8 parallel parlor to milk the other 160 cows. What are the most productive methods you use to reduce heat stress incidences in your milking herd? The main way we keep cows cool is by running fans in the barns and holding pen. We run our fans manually. They are turned on if it gets over about 70 degrees. Having enough waterers and keeping them clean is especially important in warm weather. Another method we use is trying to keep the cows from bunching up in the barns. We spread around a y bait every couple days to kill ies and keep the population in check. We apply a Permectrin insecticide pour-on every two weeks on the milking cows to help with ies. Keeping weeds down around the buildings helps, too. The cows will bunch in the darker parts of the barns so I close the doors at the end of the scrape alleys on the hottest days. That helps the cows spread out more. The fans keep enough air moving with the doors closed. We don’t add anything extra to the feed during heat, but we do mix feed for the cows twice daily yearround; this is especially helpful to keep feed fresh during hot days. How do you treat a cow when she experiences heat stress? We don’t treat many cows for heat stress, but if they are struggling, they will get moved to the bedding pack so we can keep a closer eye on them. What precautions do you take to prevent heat stress in your calves, youngstock and dry cows? The dry cows and breeding heifers all have fans in their barns. Trying to get them fed earlier in the mornings while it is cooler is helpful. Our calves are fed with an automatic calf feeder, which uses milk replacer containing Clariy to help with the y population. The barn has open sidewalls, and having the calves in a bedding pack helps with airow. We also make sure all the calves have fresh, clean water. What is one tactic to reduce heat stress that you want to implement or wish you implemented sooner on your dairy farm? I think having sprinklers would help the cows. The concerns I would have is making more manure and possibly more mastitis cases. Also, I don’t think the Permectrin pour-on would be as effective with sprinklers. Describe the hottest summer you have experienced in your dairy career. How did that summer affect your milking herd? I don’t remember the year, but there was one summer that it was hot enough for a few days that we lost a couple of steers from the heat. We lost milk production that year, plus reproduction generally suffers during heat stress. Tell us about your farm. I operate our farm, Windsor Valley Dairy LLC, with my parents, Steve and Connie; one full-time employee; and my sister, Molly, recently returned to help on the farm. We milk 280 cows, raise our replacement heifers and nish all of the steers. We have about 850 acres of cropland where we grow corn, hay, oat and rye to feed the cattle. My parents bought the farm where we milk in 1988 and started milking 16 cows while still milking for my grandpa down the road. They have grown it to what it is now. Last year, we started an LLC to help with transferring ownership of the farm.
Jessica Schramm Garnavillo, Iowa Clayton County 800 cows Describe your facilities for your milking herd. Sand-bedded freestall barns with tunnel ventilation, fans and sprinklers. The barns were added on to for Lely robots in 2018. What are the most productive methods you use to reduce heat stress incidences in your milking herd? The milking barn was switched from cross ventilation to tunnel ventilation when we installed robots. This has improved air ow over the cows to keep them comfortable during warm weather. Each group of cows has fans above the freestalls. We have sprinklers over the headlocks along the feed alley. How do you treat a cow when she experiences heat stress? It is rare that we treat a cow for heat stress symptoms. As temperatures start to climb in spring and into summer, we keep a close eye on fan belts, temperature control settings and sprinkler settings to make sure we are providing the best environment to keep our herd cool. What precautions do you take to prevent heat stress in your calves, youngstock and dry cows? Our calves are housed in group housing barns. We have three barns with the all-in, all-out method. During high-temperature days, we remove the solid doors that lead into the calf barns and replace them with wire or berglass gates to maximize air ow. Side curtains are rolled up once the temperature at night stays above 45-50 degrees. We monitor each calf multiple times per day for any signs of distress. The use of electrolytes is applied to any calf needing an extra boost during the afternoon, and subcutaneous uids are given when a calf shows extreme signs of distress. Youngstock are in open air lots with windows opened in the sheltered areas. We bed these pens with sawdust. When the youngstock reach 11 months old and are appropriate size, they are moved into a barn with sand freestalls in a cross-ventilated barn. The dry cow barn is a sand-bedded freestall barn with cross ventilation and fans. There always seems to be a nice breeze in this barn which helps cool things off. What is one tactic to reduce heat stress that you want to implement or wish you implemented sooner on your dairy farm? I would like to add sprinklers above our far-off dry cows and also more fans to the calf barns we have now. We use sprinklers above our close-up dry cows and notice them spending more time spaced out. In adding sprinklers to our far-off dry cows, I would hope it would help with dry matter intakes to keep them consuming a steadier amount of feed. In terms of the calf barns, we have two hoop buildings and one mono-slope building with a side curtain. The mono-slope building seems to have better air movement and cooling than the hoop barns, and while all the calf barns have positive air tubes installed, they are not designed for heat stress weather. We are looking into the most benecial way to add more air ow/cooling to the calf barns to keep our youngest calves from experiencing the heat too much. Describe the hottest summer you have experienced in your dairy career. How did that summer affect your milking herd? This summer is shaping up to be the hottest one I have experienced. Our cows are slower to recover in the pounds produced department after hot spells. In years prior, it
Corwin Van Veldhuizen Rock Rapids, Iowa Lyon County 240 cows Describe your facilities for your milking herd. Our cows are housed in freestall barns that are bedded with sawdust. We milk our herd with four Lely A4 milking robots. What are the most productive methods you use to reduce heat stress incidences in your milking herd? Our most productive heat stress tools are our stir fans and our sprinkler system. The sprinklers cool the cows down, and the fans help keep the air moving over them. How do you treat a cow when she experiences heat stress? If an animal is experiencing a lot of heat stress, we will give her extra uids orally. If needed, we will also give her extra uids with an IV. What precautions do you take to prevent heat stress in your calves, youngstock and dry cows? We give a half gallon of water at noon during the hot days to all of our youngstock. We make sure our dry cows have shade and are given unlimited access to water. We also have stir fans in the dry cow pen. What is one tactic to reduce heat stress that you want to implement or wish you implemented sooner on your dairy farm? Our freestall barns have natural ventilation and stir fans. It would be nice if we could switch our barns over to tunnel ventilation to provide a more positive airow and better cooling during the hot summer months. Describe the hottest summer you have experienced in your dairy career. How did that summer affect your milking herd? It seems like every summer seems to have a hot period that we have to work through. There isn’t any particular summer that stands out for me. Tell us about your farm. My wife, Stephanie, and I have three children, Tyler, 20, Shelby, 16, and Trevor, 13. We milk around 240 Holsteins and raise the supporting youngstock. We farm about 500 acres and raise all of the crops for the dairy and youngstock. My parents, Arthur A. and Nellie, purchased this farm in 1971, so our family has been here for almost 50 years.
seems the heat waves came in short bursts with only a handful of very warm days followed by moderate temperatures that allowed the cows to rebound in terms of milk production. Tell us about your farm. Pattison Dairy has 700 head milking housed in sand-bedded freestalls with the use of 12 Lely A4 robots. The robots were installed in the fall of 2018. We are averaging 95 pounds per cow per day with 2.7 milkings per cow per day. We have a 4% butterfat and 3% protein content with a somatic cell count of 140,000.
Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 • Page 17
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Page 18 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020
Top Performers
Employees, genetics drive herd at Nichols Hill Dairy Skyler, Jenna, Lydia and Sawyer Buman, and Allen Kohn Nichols Hill Dairy Krakow, Wisconsin Shawano County 400 cows What is your current herd average, butterfat and protein? 30,652 pounds of milk, 4% butterfat, 1,223 pounds of butterfat, 3.1% protein, 949 pounds protein. How many times a day do you milk? If you do not milk 3X a day, have you tried it in the past? If you do milk 3X, how long have you done it? We milk 3X per day. Allen milked 3X for 20 years before the partnership. Do you contract your milk? Has it been successful for you? We have done futures contracting as well as DRP. Both have been successful, but we’ve done more DRP lately. Describe your housing and milking facility. The cows are housed in two, six-row naturally-ventilated freestall barns with mattresses with sawdust bedding. They are milked in a double-8 step-up parlor. What is your herd health program? We have a weekly herd check with Valley Vet. The cows are vaccinated with
Bovi-Shield Gold and J-Vac at 30 days in milk. They get J-Vac at dry off, then again 21 days before calving. At birth, the calves receive Bovine Ecolizer, Calf Guard, Enforce-3 and one gallon of colostrum. They get BSG at 5, 6 and 12 months. What does your dry cow and transition program consist of? We have faroff and pre-fresh dry cow groups that are both housed in freestalls. The diet includes dry hay, haylage, corn silage and a mineral mix. Cows get moved into pre-fresh 14 days before calving. The only difference in the diet is the pre-fresh get a product called X-Zelit. It is a calcium binding product that took the place of our negative DCAD diet. Once they are ready to calve, they get brought into a maternity pen. What is the composition of your ration? What has been one of your most recent changes that has been successful for you? We feed BMR corn silage, haylage, dry and high-moisture shelled corn, canola, Exceller meal, corn gluten and a vitamin pack. We have fed cereal rye and BMR sorghum in the past with success. The last few years we have been faced with winter killed alfalfa and had to utilize alternative forages. Turn to NICHOLS HILL DAIRY | Page 20
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Skyler and Jenna Buman, pictured with their children Lydia and Sawyer, operate Nichols Hill Dairy in partnership with Allen Kohn. They milk 400 cows in Shawano County near Krakow, Wis.
Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 • Page 19
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Page 20 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020
ConƟnued from NICHOLS HILL DAIRY | Page 18
Through the years you have been farming, what change has created the biggest jump in your herd average? We switched to BMR corn silage four years ago and saw an increase in milk production. Another change that made a difference was feeding some or all dry shelled corn. We ran out of HMSC last summer and saw a dramatic increase in components. We feed some HMSC but have went to half and half. What role does genetics play in your production level and what is your breeding program? Genetics is a big part of our production. We breed for milk and components with an emphasis on solid type and good health traits. We use genomic testing to identify our top individuals. Then, we have been using sexed semen on our top one-third of both cows and heifers and using beef on the rest. That has helped increase the genetic value rapidly and brought in more money selling a black beef calf versus a Holstein bull. Since we switched from conventional semen to sexed and beef, we saw a 5% increase in our pregnancy rate from 27% to 32%. What type of improvements would you like to make that would increase your rolling herd average even higher? To increase our herd average, we will continue with our breeding program to rapidly increase genetic value. Also, keep nding ways to increase cow comfort and use new technology that becomes available. List three management strategies that have helped you attain your production and component level. Our three factors are people, genetics and environment. Our employees do a fantastic job and know the importance
PHOTO SUBMITTED
The herd at Nichols Hill Dairy averages over 30,000 pounds of milk and 1,200 pounds of buƩerfat on three-Ɵmes-a-day milking. of quality cow care. We also use top genetics to be able to breed cows that have potential to produce high volumes of milk and to stay healthy. We strive to put up high-quality feed with good facilities that allow our cows to reach their genetic potential.
Tell us about your farm. Nichols Hill Dairy was started three years ago when I bought into the business with Allen Kohn. Allen has been on this farm since 1954 when his parents moved here. Allen has focused on breeding high-quality, registered cows all his life. This has made it possible to be able to sell a lot of high producing cows to other dairies.
We have 400 Holsteins and farm about 1,000 acres of cropland. We raise our heifers from birth to 6 months. They go to a grower and come back 60 days before calving. We couldn’t do it without our exceptional team of employees. Our herdswoman, Becky Bscherer, deserves a lot of credit for her hard work and dedication.
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Over 1200 items with pictures updated daily • Go to www.mmcjd.com COMBINES 4 JD 9770 STS, 2009, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 2604 hrs., 1878 sep hrs., #162933...$89,000 4 JD S760, 2018, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 586 hrs., 500 sep hrs., #163861 ............$289,500 4 JD 9870 STS, 2008, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, Yield Monitor, 3295 hrs., #160885 ....................................................................................................$101,900 2 JD S680, 2015, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1736 hrs., 1233 Sep. hrs., #167207 ....$250,900 2 JD 9500, 1996, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Singles, 4216 hrs., 2884 Sep. hrs., #171205......$29,900 10 JD S660, 2017, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 860 hrs., 741 Sep. hrs., #165798...........$225,000 10 JD S680, 2014, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1646 hrs., 1251 sep. hrs., #161855.......$209500 17 JD S660, 2015, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 797 hrs., 545 sep. hrs., #157075 ...........$229,500 17 JD S770, 2018, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 337 hrs., 243 sep. hrs., #156063 ...........$329,500 17 JD S660, 2012, 1342 hrs., 1025 sep. hrs., #155239 ...............................................$178,000 7 JD 9650 STS, 2002, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 5012 hrs., 3459 sep. hrs., #161213$35,900 7 JD S680, 2013, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 2116 hrs., 1391 Sep. hrs., #162070 ....$184,900 6 JD S680, 2015, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 2153 hrs., #169577 .............................$169,500 6 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 265 hrs., 199 sep. hrs., #169550 ....................$443,400 6 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 552 hrs., 398 sep. hrs., #154560 .........$399,500 1 JD S680, 2013, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1166 hrs., 815 sep. hrs., #164375.......$209,000 1 JD S680, 2017, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 858 hrs., 646 sep. hrs., #165255 .........$339,500 1 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 580 hrs., 324 sep. hrs., #157910 .........$409,500 15 Case IH 8230, 2012, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 2339 hrs., 1576 sep. hrs., #167306 ............................................................................................$129,500 15 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 684 hrs., 533 sep. hrs., #165090 ........$394,900 15 JD S780, 2019, PRWD, Singles, 333 hrs., 238 sep. hrs., #166357..........................$437,500 15 JD S680, 2015, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1434 hrs., 1000 sep. hrs., #166122...............$257,500 15 JD S780, 2019, PRWD, Singles, 166 hrs., 112 sep. hrs., #166356..........................$439,500 15 JD S680, 2012, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 2612 hrs., 1958 sep. hrs., #163765.....$159,400 15 JD S680, 2014, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1761 hrs., 1361 sep. hrs., #156460.....$205,500 15 JD S660, 2014, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Singles, 1056 hr., 702 sep. hrs., #155345 ........$189,500 9 JD S670, 2014, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1904 hrs., 1260 sep. hrs., #153514.........179500 16 JD 9500, 1995, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Singles, Chopper, 4741 hrs., 3048 sep. hrs., #166162 ........................................................................................................................$26,400 16 JD S670, 2013, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1584 hrs., 1190 Sep. hrs., #161854 ....$179,500 16 JD 9870 STS, 2010, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, Chopper, 3244 hrs., 2400 sep. hrs., #161419 ........................................................................................................................$99,500 16 JD S680, 2014, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1668 hrs., 1157 sep. hrs., #170663.....$179,500 16 JD S770, 2018, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 1500 hrs., 990 sep. hrs., #169225 .........$239,000 16 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1500 hrs., 990 sep. hrs., #169226.......$279,500 16 JD S770, 2018, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 1500 hrs., 990 sep. hrs., #169224 .........$239,000 16 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1657 hrs., 988 sep. hrs., #169233.......$279,500 16 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1500 hrs., 990 sep. hrs., #169229.......$279,500 16 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1500 hrs., 990 sep. hrs., #169232.......$279,500 16 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1500 hrs., 990 sep. hrs., #169231.......$279,500 16 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1655 hrs., 988 sep. hrs., #169230.......$279,500
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JD S770, 2018, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 1303 hrs., 990 sep. hrs., #169220 .........$239,000 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1500 hrs., 990 sep. hrs., #169227.......$279,500 JD S770, 2018, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 1500 hrs., 990 sep. hrs., #169223 .........$239,000 JD S770, 2018, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 1500 hrs., 990 sep. hrs., #169221 .........$239,000 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 1500 hrs., 990 sep. hrs., #169228 .........$279,500 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Singles, 317 hrs., 233 sep. hrs., #169827 ........$434,500 JD S770, 2018, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 1500 hrs., 990 sep. hrs., #169222 .........$239,000 JD S680, 2014, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 2434 hrs., 1781 sep. hrs., #159509....$187,400 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 416 hrs., 294 sep. hrs., #169509 .........$429,500 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 346 hrs., 234 sep. hrs., #171003 .........$429,500 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 307 hrs., #169507 ...............................$429,500 JD 9760 STS, 2005, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 2933 hrs., 1983 sep. hrs., #169323..$74,500 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 439 hrs., 300 sep. hrs., #169508 .........$429,500 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, Active Yield, 434 hrs., 324 sep. hrs., #154461 ....................................................................................................................$409,500 5 JD S660, 2014, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1066 hrs., 810 sep. hrs., #155826 .......$209,500 5 JD 9770 STS, 2011, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 3640 hrs., 2848 sep. hrs., #165662..$81,900 5 JD S680, 2013, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 2846 hrs., 1904 sep. hrs., #161858 ..........$159,500 5 JD S550, 2012, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 1438 hrs., 1077 sep. hrs., #161903 .......$154,900 5 JD 9510, 1999, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Singles, 2395 hrs., 1628 sep. hrs., #171234 .......$39,500 5 JD S680, 2017, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 930 hrs., 701 sep. hrs., #168849 .........$349,900 5 JD S680, 2017, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1491 hrs., 1044 sep. hrs., #169826.....$299,000 11 JD S670, 2017, 2WD, Duals, 1088 hrs., 496 sep. hrs., #146349 ............................$219,500 8 JD S670, 2013, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 1778 hrs., 1400 sep. hrs., #166863 .......$158,400 8 JD S760, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 142 hrs., 91 sep. hrs., #164924 ...........$339,500 8 JD S770, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 340 hrs., 235 sep. hrs., #164920 .........$369,500 8 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Singles, 329 hrs., 264 sep. hrs., #164921.......$409,500 8 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 109 hrs., 72 sep. hrs., #166067 ...........$435,000 8 JD S670, 2014, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1669 hrs., 1265 sep. hrs., #155388.....$199,500 14 JD S680, 2012, Corn/Bean, 2WD, Duals, 2406 hrs., 1579 sep. hrs., #152167 .......$139,500 14 JD S690, 2014, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 2142 hrs., 1563 sep. hrs., #153332.....$189,500 14 JD S680, 2013, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, Spreader, Yield Monitor, Contour Master (Lateral Tilt Feederhouse), Power Folding Bin Extension, 2037 hrs., 1638 sep. hrs., #166363 .....$185,900 14 JD S690, 2014, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Singles, 2220 hrs., 1638 sep. hrs., #161532 ..$189,500 14 JD S680, 2012, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1850 hrs., 1350 sep. hrs., #167937.....$174,900 14 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 697 hrs., 501 sep. hrs., #171104 .........$409,900 14 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 834 hrs., 615 sep. hrs., #171105 .........$399,400 14 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 693 hrs., 533 sep. hrs., #171103 .........$404,400 3 JD S790, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 469 hrs., 350 sep. hrs., #165456 .........$449,500 3 JD S690, 2014, PRWD, Duals, 1938 hrs., 1317 sep. hrs., #145222 ..........................$179500 3 JD S690, 2013, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 1625 hrs., 1161 sep. hrs., #167773.....$199,900 3 JD S680, 2012, Corn/Bean, PRWD, Duals, 2375 hrs., 1739 sep. hrs., #154637.....$169,500 COMBINE PLATFORMS 4 JD 620F, 2009, Platform size: 20 Feet, Platform Kind: Flexible, #162055.................$14,900
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2019 FBM shows $17.65 was average cost of production
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Minnesota Milk Producers Association (MMPA) hosted AgCentric Director Keith Olander for a dairy farm nances webinar, Review the Past to Plan our Future on Tuesday, June 22. The presentation summarized the 2019 ndings of the Minnesota Farm Business Management (FBM) report, breaking down the data for dairy farmers to easily understand so that they can make informed management decisions for their farm. Major ndings included an average cost of production of $17.65 in 2019 among FBM enrollees, compared to an $18.81 milk price. Farms with 50 cows and fewer saw a loss on average of $14,999, while farms with over 50 cows did stay positive after labor and management for the year. Across ve types of all 299 state FBM herds, the non-robotic 3x milking sort returned the most and organic the least in net returns. FBM leaders chose to include an environmental cohort for the rst time. The 53 dairy farms included in the Minnesota Ag Water Quality Certication Program showed very strong nancial results, leading to the question of following these farms as to whether environmental and nancial results are aligned. “Farmers are in a position that requires micromanagement of their nances to reduce the impact of an unpredictable market,” says Keith Olander. “As agriculture ambassadors, it’s important to communicate dairy farmers’ nancial condition to consumers to encourage a shared vision of dairy’s future.”
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 • Page 23
PRINCESS KAY FINALIST
Royalty role is Benrud’s way of giving back Goodhue woman represents county as Princess Kay nalist By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
GOODHUE, Minn. – Throughout her life, Emily Benrud has seen the generosity of other dairy farmers through her 4-H and FFA experiences. From giving her tips for showing to opening their farms to allow her dairy judging team to practice on-site, area dairy farmers have made Benrud’s experiences richer and more worthwhile. “I see serving as a dairy princess for my county as a way to give back to the farmers who have supported me,” Benrud said. “I like that I’m able to not only educate the public and support our dairy farmers, but I also like to feel like I’m giving back to them.” Now, Benrud is representing the county as one of the 10 Princess Kay of the Milky Way nalists. Benrud is the 20-yearold daughter of Roger and Michelle Benrud, who milk 100 cows on their certied organic dairy farm near Goodhue. This fall, Benrud will be a junior at the University of WisconsinRiver Falls where she is major-
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Emily Benrud is one of the 10 nalists for Princess Kay of the Milky Way. Benrud is the 20-yearold daughter of Roger and Michelle Benrud who milk 100 cows on their dairy near Goodhue, Minnesota. ing in dairy science and minoring in communications. Like many farm kids, Benrud grew up taking on chore responsibilities as she was able. This has included tasks such as feeding calves, milking cows, moving fence, moving animals
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Being a 4-H member further propelled her interest in the dairy industry. “4-H has been the best experience in my life hands down,” Benrud said. “I have met so many wonderful people and learned so many things
through 4-H.” Benrud has shown dairy cattle at the county and state fairs along with participating in dairy quiz bowl; however, dairy judging has been Benrud’s favorite part of her 4-H dairy experience. Her team won the state and national contests, which gave them the opportunity to participate in the international youth dairy judging contest. “That was a life changing experience to see dairy half way across the globe and see how similar it is to dairy back here,” Benrud said. “Dairy judging has helped me grow my communication skills, and I’ve been able to meet a lot of awesome people along the way.” The communication skills Benrud has developed have been particularly benecial on her journey as a dairy princess. Although many of the typical events Goodhue County dairy princesses attend have been canceled because of the pandemic, there have been other opportunities for Benrud to promote while wearing the crown. The rst was when the local American Dairy Association and a veterinary service donated dairy products to the county’s school lunch programs. The dairy princesses were at the schools to hand out butter, Turn to BENRUD | Page 25
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ConƟnued from BENRUD | Page 23 cheese and milk to families. ferent ways they can use it in Benrud handed out products in recipes. People were honestly Red Wing, where there are few- very curious and asking a lot of er people exposed to agriculture questions.” compared to her community of She also promoted dairy Goodhue, where many people at the drive-thru tour of the have direct connections to farm- Huneke family’s dairy, which ing. replaced the county’s breakfast “That was really fun be- on the farm this year. cause people didn’t know who “The interactions weren’t I was so I was able to help edu- super long, but I think just putcate them and explain to them ting a face to where your prodthat dairy is good for them and uct comes from can go a long very nutritious,” she said. “I had way for some people,” she said. good conversations with people Even if the dairy princess who were curious. I handed out experience is different than othbutter so I was telling them dif- ers have had in the past, Benrud
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Emily Benrud is pictured with her parents, Roger and Michelle, who milk 100 cows on their cerƟed organic dairy near Goodhue, Minnesota.
Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 • Page 25
is fullling a childhood dream. “Every little girl growing up on a farm has had the dream of being a dairy princess and a Princess Kay nalist to get her head carved in butter, but it is denitely something that has developed over time as my passion grew for the dairy industry,” Benrud said. With the pandemic, Benrud said many people are more health-focused than ever. “People are becoming more conscious of what they eat and consume to stay healthy,” Benrud said. “I can tell them how nutritious and affordable milk is as a protein source.” She likes to share how each serving of milk contains 8 grams of protein. “Compared to meat and other things, milk is super quick, nutritious and affordable,” she said. “And if you are lactose intolerant or have other problems digesting milk, there are so many options like A2A2 or ultra-ltered. Even if you have some digestion issue with milk, there are a lot of options that might be better for you.” This will be important even when the pandemic is over. “People probably won’t eat out as much even if things do change, so I think marketing towards consumers and the ease of at-home cooking is really important because people are at home and cooking more,” Benrud said. If crowned Princess Kay, Benrud wants to connect with
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Emily Benrud gives water to one of the calves on her family’s dairy near Goodhue, Minnesota. as many people as possible; however, she also wants to further promote bulk milk dispensers in schools. “Those kids in schools are our future consumers of dairy products, and if we can get those kids to enjoy drinking milk, they’re more likely to consume it later on in life,”
she said. “When it’s cold right out of the milk machine, it’s so good.” Even if she does not earn the title of Princess Kay, Benrud is thankful for the opportunity to represent her parents and other producers in the area as a way to give back to the dairy community.
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FSA county committee nominations open The United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency began accepting nominations for county committee members June 15. Elections will occur in certain Local FSA News & Notes Administrative Areas for these members who make important decisions about how federal farm programs are administered locally. All nomination forms for the 2020 election must be postmarked or received in the local FSA ofce by Aug. 1. “I encourage AmeriBy Ryan Brunn ca’s farmers, ranchers and forest stewards to nomi- Stearns Co. Exec. Dir. nate candidates to lead, serve and represent their community on their county committee,” said Richard Fordyce, FSA administrator. “There’s an increasing need for diverse representation, including underserved producers, which includes beginning, women and minority farmers and ranchers.” Agricultural producers who participate or cooperate in an FSA program and reside in the LAA that is up for election this year may be nominated for candidacy for the county committee. Individuals may nominate themselves or others, and organizations, including those representing beginning, women and minority producers, also may nominate candidates. Committee members are vital to how FSA carries out disaster programs, as well as conservation, commodity and price support programs, county ofce employment and other agricultural issues. Nationwide, more than 7,700 dedicated members of the agricultural community serve on FSA county committees. The committees are made of three to 11 members and typically meet once a month. Members serve three-year terms. Producers serving on FSA county committees play a critical role in the day-to-day operations of the agency. Producers should contact a FSA ofce to nd out how to get involved in their county’s election.
N i Nationwide, id more than h 7 7,700 700 dedicated members of the agricultural community serve on FSA county committees. Check with a USDA service center to see if your LAA is up for election this year. To be considered, a producer must sign an FSA-669A nomination form. The form and other information about FSA county committee elections are available at https://www. fsa.usda.gov/elections. Election ballots will be mailed to eligible voters beginning Nov. 2. Shannon Olson, county operations trainee contributed to this article. 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.
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share it with those around you, because a simple moment and a simple smile can make a big impact. Princess Kay of the Milky Way, Amy Kyllo, serves as the Minnesota dairy community’s goodwill ambassador. Throughout the year, Princess Kay helps people understand the dedication of dairy farmers to wholesome and nutritious food, and the way milk is produced. Princess Kay does many school presentations, represents dairy farmers at the Fuel Up To Play 60 events that are held in conjunction with the Minnesota Vikings, and is very active during June Dairy Month sharing the importance of dairy farming and dairy foods. Amy grew up in Byron, Minnesota, living and working on her family’s dairy farm. She is a senior at the Free Lutheran Bible College. She enjoys music, loves to read and is an avid Minnesota Twins baseball fan.
tel y
ed out a little after 11 a.m. alongside Tom Wheeler of the Wheeler Experience. I was announcing polkas, doing the weather and more. At noon, I recorded a Facebook interview with Jim Bartels for their Facebook page and recorded an interview with Craig Hanson for the KNUF FM Community Accent Show. At 1 p.m., I was back with Tom Wheeler. He was so gracious to give me a long and fun interview plus help me to do the weather a few more times. I learned so much about what goes into a radio program. Whether I was on air or just waiting on some downtime, I loved the opportunity to share all about dairy. I know radio listeners cannot see me, but I hope my words brought a smile to their faces. So, how about you? What about dairy brings a smile to your face? Is it a bowl of ice cream? A beautiful new heifer calf? First crop hay that goes up well? Whatever the reason is for your smile, I hope you
G e nt
A smile. That is what I hope everyone who meets me walks away with. This June has been no different. To reach that goal, I start with a smile of my own. This June, sometimes that smile has had to hide behind a mask, but no matter what I am wearing, there is still a smile. On the Road with The rst place I hope to bring a smile to Princess Kay everyone’s face is social media. I worked to post almost every day during June Dairy Month. There were posts about my farm, posts about where I am going and what I am doing, and posts about dairy nutrition. It is always a good challenge for me to look and nd great content By Amy Kyllo that will be interesting, 66th Princess Kay of the useful and smile worthy Milky Way for those who follow me. One of my most popular posts was a picture of a newborn calf with a crown on its head with the caption, “On dairy farms, we treat our cows like royalty. This is the newest member of our herd. #JuneDairyMonth.” That is what I am looking for, a post that makes people smile. Whether at the cuteness of a calf with a crown or a mouthwatering dairy food, a smile is a portal to being able to share dairy farmers’ priorities. Social media is not the only place I have been smiling. I was so blessed to virtually visit a group of senior citizens at a care facility. They were such an amazing group who listened as I shared about my dairy farm (and also some of the amazing technology on different dairy farms) as well as the important nutritional aspects of dairy foods. They also were willing to interact and answer questions. Because I usually present to elementary age children, I loved the chance to present a higher level of information with an adult group. I also had the opportunity to do several socially distant in-person visits. These past months have taught me what a privilege it is to have the opportunities I once took for granted. Two drive-thru dairy events captured many people’s attention and were awesome events to attend. The rst event was in Goodhue County at the Hunekes’ dairy farm. Participants were able to drive through a freestall barn and
pl e
I hope you smile
Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 • Page 27
i c k ly
and C
om
... a simple i l moment and da simple smile can make a big impact. a calf barn as well as go by machinery, silage storage and more. Of course, they also got to have some amazing dairy treats given to them. My job was to greet cars. Approximately 400 cars went through, so I was busy, busy, busy. I loved being able to talk to attendees all morning long. I was able to do a radio interview and TV interview with the media who were at the event. The second drive-thru event was in Fillmore County at the Mulherns’ dairy. Attendees were able to tour the dairy farm and could tune into a radio station for a tour. I was making sure cars with children got goodie bags and cow hats. Attendees received string cheese, milk, ice cream and deep fried cheese curds. That is a lot of great dairy foods. One of the biggest highlights of the month was the opportunity to co-host a radio show. I spent several hours in the studio at KNUJ 860 New Ulm. I start-
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Page 28 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 Joe Armstrong armst225@umn.edu 612.624.3610 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 Emily Krekelberg krek0033@umn.edu 507-280-2863 Claire LaCanne lacanne@umn.edu 507-332-6109 Brenda Miller nels4220@umn.edu 320-732-4435 Erin Royster royster@umn.edu Jim Salfer salfe001@umn.edu 320-203-6093 Mike Schutz mschutz@umn.edu 612-624-1205 M. Scott Wells mswells@umn.edu 612-625-3747
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What to do when veterinary access is limited By Joe Armstrong, DVM University of Minnesota
Lately, I have had several people talk to me about being in areas where there is a lack of cattle veterinarians. It seemed like it was time to put all my thoughts in one place. Are there not enough food animal veterinarians? Yes and no. The opportunity for students to study food animal medicine has not decreased. However, schools are producing more and more small animal veterinarians. Much of the transition from food animal medicine to companion animal medicine is due to the signicant debt load accrued by veterinary students. The payment schedule for young veterinarians demands a salary that can keep up when they get out of school. Often, companion animal medicine can provide this salary more reliably than food animal medicine. Areas of the country where we perceive a lack of food animal veterinarians are in some way due to this difference. Veterinary clinics are a business. As much as we would like to romanticize veterinarians and fantastic literature like the James Harriet novels have done, veterinarians need to make a living. We cannot continue to help animals and help our clients if we cannot pay our bills. What keeps a veterinarian from servicing my area? The lack of veterinarians in certain areas is often a product of not having enough business in that area. There is only so much time in a day, as all farmers know. This is also true for veterinarians. Time spent driving needs justication through compensation. If the area needing service has clients that are spread out and the number of animals at each location is low, a veterinary business is not sustainable. The size of an operation comes into play as well. If a vet has to drive 90 minutes, it is hard to justify the drive to pregnancy check 10 cows. A practicing veterinarian would have to charge an absurd amount to make that happen. Emergency services compound the issue. Once a practice area gets big, servicing everyone on emergency in a reasonable amount of time becomes almost impossible unless you have multiple doctors on call each night. Why do I need a veterinarian? I will skip the justication for the value of a veterinarian to your operation. Just know that involving your veterinarian is an incredible return on investment (small bias here). The bottom line is, you need prescription medications. To receive prescription medications, you need to have a veterinaryclient-patient-relationship. This means a veterinarian has to visit your farm at least once every year and must have enough understanding of your operation to feel comfortable prescribing for your use. Farmers can handle almost anything thrown at them. With that being said, a veterinarian is warranted for many situations
due to their specialized knowledge or expertise. This is especially true of surgery, pregnancy diagnosis and protocol development. What can I do if I am in an underserved area? So far, it may seem all I have done is make excuses for veterinarians. Granted, I am somewhat biased, but there are reasons veterinarians cannot be everywhere. Let’s get to actual advice on what to do if you are in an underserved area. – Talk to your neighbors. Likely your neighbors have the same struggle nding a veterinarian to conduct their VCPR and routine work. If a veterinary practice can visit multiple locations on a long drive, the drive time and cost can become justied. Coordinate with your neighbors and your potential veterinarian. – Have proper facilities. A long trip can be hard to justify, as I already discussed. If at the end of that drive, a veterinarian has to deal with unsafe or non-existent facilities, you can bet the drive will not happen a second time. There are many benets to having good working facilities in addition to making sure your veterinarian wants to come to your place. – Emergency haul-in facilities are a good option. Now more than ever, there is an economic opportunity for veterinarians to have haul-in facilities. Smaller producers can struggle to rationalize the cost of excellent handling facilities. Producers far from the clinic can utilize veterinarians’ time more efciently by driving the animal to the veterinarian. This gives the vet clinic a way to have consistently safe facilities when working cattle and to use time efciently throughout the day. Talk with the veterinary clinics in the area to see if anyone has this ability or would be willing to add it. If they hear from you enough, a clinic could be convinced of the value. – Be exible on timing and who you are willing to see. Emergencies need to be handled as quickly as possible, but other things do not need to be dealt with right away. The rst thing a veterinarian will do is look at their schedule and try to make their use of time as efcient as possible. So if the veterinarian asks if they can come out on a specic date, odds are it is because they are headed in your direction already. Everyone has their favorite doctor (and everyone has their least favorite doctor). If you are in a limbo area for veterinarians, your odds of getting someone to drive to you increase if you are not insistent on seeing someone specic. Be exible, be patient and denitely listen to No. 5 on this list. – Be a good client. There are all sorts of non-economical decisions made by veterinarians. When I was in practice, several clients were far from the clinic, but I would have bent over backward for them. Most important for good client status … be a pleasant person. If you are a jerk, do not expect a veterinary to want to drive to your place. Part of being a good client is paying your bill. There is no way around it; if you pay your bill reliably, your veterinarian will be more willing to drive.
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You can help cows manage heat stress by providing shade, plenty of fresh clean drinking water, increasing ventilation rates and air velocity at cow level, and using low-pressure sprinklers or high-pressure misters. Both low-pressure sprinkler systems and high-pressure misting systems produce cooling by evaporating water. Evaporation converts liquid water to water vapor. It takes energy to evaporate water, and as water evaporates, the energy source is cooled. With a low-pressure sprinkler system, the energy comes from a cow’s body through the skin which cools her. For a high-pressure misting system, the energy comes from the air which cools and lowers the dry-bulb temperature. Both systems are more effective if the air’s dew-point temperature is low and less effective when dew-point temperatures are high. Both low- and high-pressure cooling systems add moisture to the air and raise its dew-point temperature. You might ask if adding moisture to the air makes it harder for high producing cows to manage heat stress. Many people remember the saying it is not the heat, it is the humidity. The temperature-humidity index is commonly used to indicate heat stress. High producing cows begin to experience heat stress when the minimum THI exceeds 65 or when the average THI is 68 or more for 17 hours per day. A model describing how cows exchange heat by respiration, sweating, convection and radiant exchange was used to calculate respiration rates for cows at different milk production levels and similar THI conditions. Actual cow respiration rates will vary. Cows with respiration rates below 60 breaths per minute are not considered heat stressed. Table 1 gives lactating cow respiration rates in breaths per minute at three production levels and similar THI values. While the THI values are roughly 79, which is at the high end of the mild-moderate heat stress range, the dry-bulb increased from 82 degrees to 97 degrees while the dew-point temperatures decreased from 81 degrees to 37 degrees. As expected, respiration rates increase as milk production levels increase for all conditions. This is because higher producing cows eat more and generate more metabolic heat that has to be dissipated to maintain a steady body temperature. Respiration rates also increased as the dry-bulb temperatures increased and the dew-point temperature decreased while the THI value is nearly constant. This shows that while THI values were constant, cows can get rid of body heat more easily and keep their respiration rate lower at lower dry-bulb temperatures and higher dew-point temperatures than they can at higher dry-bulb temperatures and lower dew-point temperatures. These results show that THI levels do not consistently indicate a cow’s heat stress level. Cows do better at lower dry-bulb temperatures and higher dew-point temperature conditions if THI is constant. An evaporative cooling system that lowers the dry-bulb temperature while the dew-point temperature rises generally will help cows in hot weather. Obviously respiration rates would rise when both dry-bulb and dew-point temperature rise and THI values increase too. It is important to provide adequate ventilation air exchange when using either low-pressure sprinkler or high-pressure misting systems to bring in drier air and avoid excessively high dew-point temperatures inside the barn. Well-designed and managed cooling systems can help high producing cows manage their respiration rate and body temperature in hot weather. Low-pressure sprinkler systems wet a cow’s back to the skin with repeated brief three-minute showers followed by 12-minute non-sprinkling periods. During the non-sprinkling period the cow’s body heat is used to evaporate the water from the skin, just like sweating. It is critical to have the non-sprinkling period for the water to evaporate from the skin surface. The evaporative cooling effect is lost without a non-sprinkling period. Excess wetting wastes water, adds water to the manure system and can wet teats. Low-pressure systems operate at water pressures between 20 and 40 pounds per square inch and use nozzles with ow rates near 0.5 gallons per minute. Lowpressure nozzles produce large droplets that soak a cow’s back to the skin. Lowpressure systems are used in holding areas and along feed lines. Sprinklers along feed lines should be installed to avoid getting feed in the manger and bedding in the freestalls wet. Water lines need to be sized to provide adequate water ow for uniform distribution along a feed line or across a holding area based on the number of nozzles and their ow rates. High-pressure misting systems produce very ne water droplets in the air. As the water droplets evaporate, they take energy from the air, which cools it and lowers the air’s dry-bulb temperature. The cooler air temperature helps cows lose body heat. High-pressure misting systems can run continuously when cooling is needed. High-pressure systems operate at water pressures of 200 psi or higher. At low water pressures, droplet sizes increase so that the droplets do not evaporate before reaching the ground where they can wet bedding and feed. High-pressure systems require clean water and in-line lters to minimize nozzle plugging.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 • Page 29
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The trampoline Page 30 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020
When our two sons were teenagers, I developed a deep appreciation for the many talents that those budding proto humans possessed. I am not only talking about ordinary things like their ability to produce grotesque armpit sounds or their penchant for beginning mealtime conversations with the words, “You know what’s really gross?� The thing that awed me most was the knack that teenaged boys have for taking an activity that’s perfectly normal and turning it into something that’s insanely dangerous. One summer, my sister, Janet – bless her misguided heart – purchased a trampoline. The sinister device was installed on the lawn at our dairy farm where my widowed mother lived. It’s not like Mom was about to
take up aerial calisthenics, especially because she was well past 70 and had two artiďƒžcial knees. The idea was that the trampoline would be for the use of our two sons and Janet’s son, Adam, who was living with Grandma. The theory was that the trampoline would provide the three teenaged amigos with fun and exercise. It was hoped they would expend some of the youthful energy that boils off of teenaged boys like the midday heat shimmering from a blacktop road. The main problem with this situation was that it assumed Grandma or I would somehow supervise the trio of scalawags. Right. Like I could stop ďƒželdwork every few minutes, trot onto Grandma’s lawn and holler, “Quit it! Quit it! Whatever you’re doing, it looks
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like too much fun, so stop it!â€? Once, when I actually attempted to do some parental snoopervising, I discovered two of the boys were jumping on the trampoline at the same time. They had found that by timing their respective Dear County Agent Guy bounces just so, one boy would get what they had dubbed a power boost. By using this method, they could launch one another to such altitudes that they would appear on air trafďƒžc control radar. I marched over to the side of the trampoline and, in my best By Jerry Nelson authoritarian voice, orColumnist dered the boys to cease and desist their mindless fun. “This might seem like mindless fun to you,â€? I warned, “but just think of what could happen. Look! The manufacturer even posted a warning sign about it. See this cartoon of two guys jumping surrounded by a red circle with a slash through it? That means, ‘Don’t do this, you idiot.’â€? The youngest boy eyed me coolly and said, “Where do you think we got the idea?â€? That did it. I put my parental foot down and said, “Fine. But if you land on your fool head and become paralyzed from the neck down, don’t come running to me.â€? Compounding the problem was that teenaged boys spend entirely too much time watching TV and consuming way too many extreme sporting competitions. We’re talking about shows that involve young people with supernatural athletic abilities performing all manner of dangerous feats using ordinary household items. They would pull off such outlandish stunts as jumping the Grand Canyon on an ofďƒžce chair or rocketing down a near-vertical ski slope on a pair of egg cartons. It’s my belief that these types of televised activities are responsible for promoting innumerable obnoxious phenomena like body piercings and “The Jerry Springer Show.â€? Not that I have anything against television. Like most baby boomers, I grew up with TV, watching such nonviolent programming as “Popeye.â€? Well, OK, that show was not exactly nonviolent. But none of us could stand spinach, so “Popeyeâ€? was relatively safe. One midsummer day, I saw the youngest teenager rolling the giant inner tube from a rear tractor tire across the farmstead. At last, I thought, he has found something to play with that could not possibly result in injury. Wrong. Moments later, I heard the boy yowling in pain. I ran to the source of the howls and found him writhing on the lawn. Once his blubbering subsided and I had ascertained that his injuries were not serious, I asked what he had been doing. It seems that he had placed the inner tube on the trampoline, folded the big rubber donut in half and tried to ride it. The inner tube had other ideas and summarily tossed him across the lawn. “What were you thinking?â€? I scolded. “Where did you get such a lame-brained scheme?â€? The boy snufďƒ&#x;ed, “Remember when you took us to the rodeo? That’s how they rode the bulls.â€? Who would have thought that taking your kids to a harmless and peaceful event like a rodeo could lead to such behavior? An indelible lesson I learned from the trampoline is this: Whenever teenaged boys are involved with something, nothing is safe. Jerry is a recovering dairy farmer from Volga, South Dakota. 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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In the popular lexicon, gone viral means spreading really fast, and most commonly the phrase is used to refer to spread of a video. The last few months have seen both videos and disease spread rapidly and cause great pain and destruction Veterinary Wisdom around the world. Farmers hear quite a bit about viruses because of the variety of viral diseases animals can suffer from. But, just exactly what is a virus anyway, and are viruses actually alive? Viruses are an inert complex of molecules. They cannot replicate on their own. They require the cells of other organBy Jim Bennett isms to make their progColumnist eny for them. So, by most common denitions, they are not really alive. Yet they are known to infect all living organisms, not just animals, and a broad variety contribute to animal and human disease. There are so many different viruses in nature that most of them do not even have names. While the structure of viruses varies between viral groups, all viruses have an outer coat, or capsid, and genetic material, or genome, inside. Capsids are mostly made up of proteins. Enveloped viruses have an outer layer made up mostly of fats; the components of that layer may come from host cells. Coronaviruses are enveloped viruses. The type of capsid may be important when choosing a disinfectant to inactivate the virus, because some disinfectants work better on different capsid types. The viral genome is made up of either DNA or RNA. DNA and RNA exist in all living cells. RNA is kind of a single-stranded photocopy of DNA. RNA serves as a messenger between the genetic information coded in cellular DNA and the various cellular machinery that will begin the processes of performing the tasks coded by the DNA. Viral DNA or RNA is relatively simple, and typically only has coding for replication of the physical structure of the virus. Everything else needed for replication comes from the host.
Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 • Page 31
The rst phase of viral infection involves entry into sity of Minnesota, have adequate levels of protective a host cell. The virus needs to attach to and then pen- antibodies. Adequate levels of antibodies would also etrate the wall of the host cell. Once the viral genome have to persist for a signicant amount of time, likely is inside, the cell begins to synthesize proteins that will years; otherwise previously infected individuals would lead to assembly and release of new virus particles. be susceptible again. Coronavirus vaccines are nothing Viral entry and attachment usually does not require new in veterinary medicine, and include vaccines for energy on the part of the T TGE in swine, coronavirus virus. Once new particles S d diarrhea in cattle, feline inSo, every time i we h hear the h have been constructed, they fectious peritonitis in cats are released from the cell. words vaccine or vaccinate, we and canine coronavirus in The simplicity of vidogs. We can all hope that ruses explains, to some de- can remember that connection an effective vaccine is degree, the difculty we have and thank our favorite animal, veloped soon for humans in controlling them. It is and is made available in hard to kill something that the cow, for this particular sufcient quantity to vacis not alive. Destroying or contribution to human health. cinate most of us as soon as inactivating an organism ppossible. with complex machinery Yes, viruses are may only involve targeting small. They are simple, but one small part, but very simple organisms have fewer simple does not mean unimportant or of little conseparts to target. We do not have broad spectrum antivi- quence. ral drugs similar to broad spectrum antibacterial drugs Some of the information in this article comes readily available in human or veterinary medicine. from: Actor, J. Basic Virology: https://www.ncbi.nlm. Fortunately for us, effective vaccines exist for all nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7152364/. sorts of human and animal diseases. Vaccines are esBennett is one of four dairy veterinarians at Northpecially important for viral diseases because we have ern Valley Dairy Production Medicine Center in Plaso few ways to directly combat viruses once an ani- inview, Minn. He also consults on dairy farms in other mal is infected. The very rst vaccine was developed states. He and his wife, Pam, have four children. Jim by Edward Jenner in 1796. He used live cowpox virus can be reached at bennettnvac@gmail.com with comto inoculate humans against smallpox. Later the virus ments or questions. was called vaccina virus. In Latin, vacca means cow and vacinnae means of, or relating to cows. So, every time we hear the words vaccine or vaccinate, we can remember that connection and thank our favorite animal, the cow, for this particular contribution to human health. Your Mixer, Spreader, Hay Processor Headquarters The term herd immunity is used a lot in the media We carry: today in relation to the current human coronavirus pandemic. Of course, this, too, is borrowed from veterinary medicine. Effective herd immunity is unlikely to be www.rotomix.com LLC achieved in the human population without widespread use of an effective vaccine. This is because effective Dana Berreau herd immunity would require that a large percentage 507-879-3593 / 800-821-7092 of humans in any given herd, perhaps 60%-70% acBox 116, Lake Wilson, MN 56151 cording to Dr. Michael Osterholm from the Univer-
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We had COVID-19 at Ocheda Dairy
Page 32 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020
Sonia has milked weekdays morning shift for 14 work and fortunately called in sick Monday morning. years. Her husband, Robert, has worked for us for By Tuesday, she was tested, and it came back posi17 years. They live in their paid-for house on a quiet tive for COVID-19. I told her to take two weeks paid off and see how it goes. street in Worthington with She ended up taking three their three daughters and With h two morning i shift hif weeks off because she did one son. Their oldest daugh- Wi ter is a bilingual pre-med workers out, we were starting get quite sick, and she conferred with a doctor daily student at the local community college. Their son to get worried about everyone over the phone. She has no idea where she picked is 16 and makes pizzas at else. up the virus, but it was all our convenience store after over Worthington. Neither school. Sonia is quiet, reliable, works her shift, and goes home and takes care her husband nor her children ever got sick, and their of her family. In April, after Worthington was hit hard house is not large at all. A few days after Sonia got sick, another morning with the new coronavirus at the local packing plant, shift member, Jose, said he felt a little off. We immediSonia got sick. Sonia felt ill over the weekend when she was off ately sent him home and told him to let us know. Two
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days later, he was back working and said he felt great, and that he had called the guy who was substituting for him and told the substitute he was not needed. We had a major communication breakdown that morning. We told Jose to go home and also get tested. At Making Cents of Dairy that time, there were numerous testing sites in Worthington because of the high rate of infection. Jose notied us he tested positive but felt good, so he wanted to come back to work right away so his paycheck would not be so small. I told him to take two weeks paid off and enjoy being a single By Dave Vander Kooi dad to his two preteen Columnist daughters. His wife and his in-laws were killed in a horric car/train wreck about seven years ago. With two morning shift workers out, we were starting to get worried about everyone else. Our crew had not been very good at wearing the face shields we had provided them early on, and they were not good at spacing out their break room times as we had suggested. We hired a few temporary workers to ll in some spots, but we were very nervous about a major outbreak and how we would handle that. From the outset, I said I would rather dump milk any day than not get the cows milked. Every morning, after the two positive cases, Bry and I would ask each other: Get any sick calls? Did everyone show up for work that was supposed to? Do we have enough people for all three shifts? As each day went by with no new news, it felt like a new win each day until the two weeks passed, and Sonia and Jose returned to work. We do not know how many other employees were asymptomatic because no one wanted to get tested. The reason no one wanted to get tested was they all heard horror stories from their friends who had been tested about the long swab stick pushed into your nose so hard that it caused painful nose bleeds for hours. Why more of us did not get sick is a major mystery to me. I am terrible about wearing latex gloves even in the fresh cow parlor. I am in and out of the main parlor every morning and interact with all the employees on a daily basis. I take their hand-written time sheets to the computer to do payroll and touch everything they touch. I am also a huge believer in sunshine and vitamin D to help prevent COVID-19. Some of us get outside more often than those who only work in the milking parlor. The only major differences between a dairy operation and, say, a packing plant would be people are spaced apart better at the dairy, and there is a lot of ventilation at the dairy because the cows give off a lot of heat. I did force myself to wear latex gloves for about two months, and now I kind of like having a box of them available in my work truck. It so happened that Sonia’s three weeks off coincided with Jose’s two weeks off. They both came back to work on the same Monday morning. When I walked into the parlor to greet them, we all had big smiles of relief on our faces. I motioned to them with my arms wide open like we should have a group hug, and they both walked toward me until we were exactly 6 feet apart, and then we just plain giggled. Vander Kooi operates a 1,800-cow, 4,500 acre farm with his son, Joe, and daughter-in-law, Rita, near Worthington, Minn. Send him feedback at davevkooi@ icloud.com. Follow him on Instagram, @davevanderkooi.
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Useful ashbacks
Flashback to 30 years ago. We were milking in a 61-cow tiestall barn and contemplating building a freestall barn with a parlor. I was writing freelance articles for a national dairy magazine and providing dairy farm labor. Our barn was showing its age with leaky pipes and watering cups; and the teat injuries and swollen hocks caused by unyielding rubber mats and very large Holsteins were taking a toll. A few days ago, I was looking for a photo I had taken for a magazine in my stash in our ofce. I did not nd the photo, but I did nd the cover story about the Crave Brothers’ newly built freestall barn and the start of their operation. It was enlightening to re-read the article I had written. I remember the exciting interview with them in 1990 at their dairy operation in Waterloo, Wisconsin. Since that time, the strides the Crave Brothers Homestead Come Full Dairy Circle Cheese (operated as a separate entity), dairy farm and anaerobic digester operations have made require many to exclaim, “Wow,” for the family’s hard work and success. The Craves are legendary for their renowned mozzarella and other soft cheeses made on-farm, and because they host the National 4-H Dairy Conference attendees, a farm and cheesemaking facility tour that is a favorite part of the conference for many, including our three kids. I have not been back to see the Crave operation since 1990 when I wrote the article focusing on their By Jean Annexstad low-cost facility. Checking their website, I found a YouTube video shot in 2017 at their operation for a Columnist PBS program called, “Wisconsin Foodie.” George Crave gives the host a tour of the current astounding operation, which is run today by the family of four brothers and their families. Back to the barn article from 30 years ago. The gist of it was that the Craves had built a 200-cow, cold-housing, uninsulated, naturally-ventilated, four-row, center feed alley, curtain-sided freestall barn for $800 per stall, including the slats, pit and gravity ow to a manure lagoon. They did much of the construction work themselves and had researched the barn by touring other operations, talking to experts and spending two years in planning. The upsides of the barn were its low cost, opportunity to boost milk volume by adding cows, feeding a drive-by TMR and actually lowering the debt load per cow to a lower level for their operation than before they built the barn, even with the $10 per hundredweight milk price of that time. The Craves mentioned the new barn’s simplicity, the reductions in cow health costs because they had fewer mastitis cases, and how it had reduced their labor requirements. For context, all of the adjectives used to describe that barn were not as commonplace 30 years ago as they are today when many cows in all parts of the country are housed in similar barns. Yet those were relatively new concepts, and as George Crave described in the video, “It was one of the rst curtain-sided barns in the Upper Midwest at the time.” Well, it so happens that the timeframe was also when we had started the process of planning for a facility change, and the barn we put up is similar. I sure could see my biases as I re-read the article. Our kids are at home this summer and are providing labor on our dairy. They have gained insight as they have been out and about at other dairy farms in their college endeavors and their current jobs. They frequently ask good questions about choices we made with facilities and management styles. These questions cause us to reect on how those decisions were made and how they might be made differently if we were starting over again. Once again, our dairy facilities are aging. We have aged, too, which seems to make our work more difcult. Bovines take a toll on any facility. Roofs leak, parlor gates rust and malfunction, and curtains need to be replaced and repaired. Pretty soon all of the things that are not working right add more hours to the workload. Improvements to save labor are needed, yet scarce cash makes the next moves and changes even tougher to consider. Yet, a lack of capital was the same scenario 30 years ago when we made our major change from tiestall to our present set up. Is that an insurmountable roadblock? The questions today revolve around what might be the best model for the future of our operation. We have started researching options and thinking about what would be feasible for our business to remain a viable one. No answers have jumped out, mostly because of the economics faced on dairy farms. Maybe it will take the next 30 years to gure out the best choices, make the changes and then reect once again. Maybe while we are contemplating, we will nd our inspiration by another tour or article about other groundbreaking dairy facilities. Jean dairy farms with her husband, Rolf, and brother-in-law, Mike, and children Emily, Matthias and Leif. They farm near St. Peter, Minnesota, in Norseland, where she is still trying to t in with the Norwegians and Swedes. They milk 200 cows and farm 650 acres. She can be reached at jeanannexstad@gmail. com.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 • Page 33
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Page 34 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020
PRINCESS KAY FINALIST
A dairy gal through and through Finalist position a part of direction for Craig By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
PADUA, Minn. – When Mackenzie Craig’s family sold their dairy herd in 2015, that did not stop the young woman from being involved in the industry. In fact, her passion for the dairy community was only further ignited. Mackenzie, the daughter of David and Wendy Craig of
Alexandria, represents Douglas County as a nalist for the 67th Princess Kay of the Milky Way. “I was sad when my parents sold the cows, but through area farms and the county dairy princess program, I’ve been able to have dairy a part of my life,” Mackenzie said. “It’s a blessing to represent the farms in my county and now to be able to make a positive impact across the whole state.” The 19-year-old is employed at Jer-Lindy Farms in Stearns County near Padua, where she is responsible for milking the 200-cow herd and feeding the youngstock on the weekends. She also helps at
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
Mackenzie Craig is a 2020 Princess Kay of the Milky Way nalist represenƟng Douglas County.
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
Mackenzie Craig pushes up feed for a group of heifers at JerLindy Farms July 1 near Padua, Minnesota. Craig is employed on the 200-cow dairy.
the dairy’s on-farm processing business, Redhead Creamery. Mackenzie’s weeks are lled with travel as a reproduction technician for Genex, where she works with both dairy and beef farms across Minnesota. “It’s really cool to travel the state and see the variety of
farms,” Mackenzie said. “Every farm is unique, but they’re all doing the same thing.” She also nds time to milk cows, feed and care for youngstock on a 43-cow dairy also in Stearns County near Greenwald. “Quite often I’m milking in
the morning, breeding during the day and then milking and doing chores at night,” Mackenzie said. “Being able to work on farms is something I hold close to my heart.” After Mackenzie’s own Turn to CRAIG | Page 35
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Mackenzie Craig is the daughter of David and Wendy Craig, of Alexandria, Minnesota. The Craigs sold their cows in 2015, but Mackenzie has found several outlets to remain involved in the dairy industry. milking herd was dispersed, her ďƒžrst onfarm job was working for Alan and Jessica Klimek of Alexandria. Having grown up in Alexandria, a community with few connections to agriculture, Mackenzie has taken the opportunity as a Princess Kay ďƒžnalist to help consumers feel conďƒždent in knowing where their food comes from and how it is produced. “I’ve always wanted to help close the gap between consumers and farmers,â€? Mackenzie said. “Even in high school, I organized a petting zoo at school to talk about agriculture in our community.â€? The young dairy advocate has been involved in competitions through 4-H, FFA and Minnesota Farm Bureau, and participated in Midwest Dairy’s ambassador program as well as professional leadership programs at Ridgewater College where she studied dairy management. Mackenzie’s immense involvement throughout the industry propelled her into the position as a ďƒžnalist. However, her latest role in the industry is only another stepping stone. “Having a crown and being named a ďƒžnalist doesn’t deďƒžne me,â€? Mackenzie said. “It’s a part of the direction I’m going within the dairy community to leave a positive impact.â€? Throughout the summer, Mackenzie has used social media channels to connect with a larger audience. “Staying home right now is hard for any dairy princess to promote as they usually would,â€? Mackenzie said. “I’ve taken my personal Instagram and Facebook proďƒžles and have used them as a platform to see what people want to know about dairy. Plus, having the title of princess or a ďƒžnalist, people are a little more aware of my presence and are really engaging.â€?
Online, Mackenzie talks about feeding cows and the ingredients that make up a ration, cow care and herd health, such as breeding. “I once posted about the different breeds of dairy cattle and had more than 200 responses,â€? Mackenzie said. “Those are conversations I wouldn’t normally have.â€? If the pandemic allows for in-person events, Mackenzie would like to host an ag in the classroom activity this fall as a way to connect with children and parents about the importance of dairy. “I think more now than ever before, people need to know that what a farmer does is important work,â€? Wendy said. “It’s important for Mackenzie to use her role to share that message.â€? As much as Mackenzie enjoys interacting with consumers, especially those who are her peers, she takes even greater pride in knowing who she is representing as a dairy princess. In the past few months, Mackenzie has received gratitude from the farmers she sees often in her daily work. “We’re a part of such a welcoming community,â€? she said. “As a breeder, I’ve visited with a lot of farmers who think it’s really cool (I’m a ďƒžnalist). They really take to heart what I’ve been able to do and that makes me take this responsibility seriously.â€? She is making her family proud too. “Grandma and Grandpa would be thrilled to know the effort (Mackenzie) has put in to this,â€? David said. “She has a lot of ambition that comes from her grandma.â€? Whether on the farm in jeans and boots or on stage in a sash and crown, Mackenzie’s summer has been ďƒžlled with opportunity to further her involvement in the dairy industry.
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Women In Dairy Shauna Szymanski Cassel, Wisconsin Marathon County 45 cows Family: My husband, Tom, and kids, Henry, 6, Isabelle, 4, Amelia, 3, and Ivan, who was born at the end of June. Tell us about your farm. The farm we are on was my husband’s grandpa’s farm that we started renting in 2011 and bought in 2015. We became certied organic through MOSA soon after. It has been a lot of work since day one, with remodeling the house, building a new milk house, and updating machinery and the other buildings. We milk 45 cows and raise our youngstock along with four litters of pigs a year that we farrow from our own sows. We are on the path of having the cattle certied organic by fall with the plan of shipping organic milk soon after. Our farm also has 250 certied organic acres that my husband and I run by ourselves. We grow corn, hay and small grains which is fed to our animals. My husband works Friday, Saturday and Sunday in town so the barn chores and animal care fall on my shoulders with the help of our children. Our children are in the barn every day helping with feeding calves, scraping pens and doing other little chores that help show them the responsibility of farming. What is the busiest time of day for you? My busiest time of the day would be morning and night chore time, but depending on the time of year, it can be nonstop all day. Between milking, feeding, other barn chores, the four children and eldwork, my day is pretty much go-go-go all day long. When you get a spare moment what do you do? I like to either tend to my goats, poultry or garden. I love to raise bottle goats every year. They are awesome for weed control and are fun to have around the farm. We also have chickens, ducks, geese and, new this year, a couple turkeys. We do collect eggs for family and friends, but they also are fun to watch grow and free range around the farm. My children have really tamed down the geese and ducks that they walk up to them and pet them like dogs. Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. My most memorable experience working on the farm would have to be the day my husband got
down on one knee in the middle of the barn alley and proposed to me after we came home from a date and had to do late night barn check on a cow that was due to freshen. I will never forget that day and think of it often when I think of all the hardships we have overcome and the successes we have had since then. What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the dairy industry? The thing I enjoy most about dairy farming is raising our kids doing it all. It is just amazing the amount they pick up on and learn from growing up in this lifestyle. Watching them grow into the independent little people they are amazes us. How do you stay connected with others in the industry? The ways I stay connected to others is the dairy industry is by the Facebook groups Dairy Moms and True Moms of Agriculture, and taking a trip to the neighbors and chatting with them. Who is someone in the industry who has inspired you? I would have to say that my grandpa is who inspired me to get into this industry. Every weekend I would go to his farm and help him with his 50-cow dairy. Spending all my free time on the farm gave me my love for animals and farming. Without him and his farm, I would have never met my husband who happened to be farming with his family right down the road. If you could give a tour of your farm to a prominent woman in today’s society, who would it be? It wouldn’t matter who it was, I would want them to know the importance of the small family farm and what owning a farm means to us. It is more than a business to us, it is a way of life that we as family couldn’t imagine living without. What is the best vacation you have ever taken? Honestly, we haven’t had a true vacation since we have started farming in 2011. The closest thing we have to vacations is taking a drive to look at the eld and going to talk to the neighbors. We are planning on taking a well-deserved vacation in three years on our 10-year wedding anniversary.
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Katherine Maus is represenĆ&#x;ng Stearns County as a 67th Princess Kay of the Milky Way Finalist. Maus and her family dairy farm near Freeport, Minnesota.
Maus represents family’s livelihood as ďƒžnalist By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
FREEPORT, Minn. – Katherine Maus, the fourth generation on her family’s farm, graduated high school as one of several students with a farming background and then went to college only to ďƒžnd herself one of two peers with dairy experience. Now, Maus not only sees herself as a minority but also sees an opportunity. “I remember thinking how could there not be more people with a dairy background at my college,â€? Maus said. “But now I see that I can use this unique advantage to share my story.â€? The 18-year-old is spending her summer representing Minnesota’s dairy industry as a ďƒžnalist for the 67th Princess Kay of the Milky Way. Maus and her parents, Darrel and Lisa Maus, milk 60 Holsteins in Stearns County near Freeport. On her family’s farm, Maus is responsible for milking the cows, feeding both youngstock and cows, pushing up feed and scraping manure in the barn. “One of my favorite responsibilities
is sweeping the feed because I like when things are kept up and you can see the detail of work you put into the cows,â€? Maus said. “I guess that makes me, me.â€? As a Princess Kay ďƒžnalist, Maus has taken the opportunity to talk about the day-to-day happenings on a dairy farm and connecting her peers with the farmers who produce their food. “I’ve been on the farm my whole life. Dairy is a huge thing for me; it’s the center of my life,â€? Maus said. “Having that background has helped me bloom at college. I’ve realized how special and unique that makes me, and now people know someone they can trust to learn more about their food and agriculture.â€? Maus’ interest in representing her family’s livelihood was sparked at a young age. Growing up, she was involved in the regional 4-H and FFA organizations, and then watched as her mother was the county dairy princess coordinator. Her older sister, Ashley, also served as a princess. “I remember seeing these other girls
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Page 38 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020
ConƟnued from MAUS | Page 37 and they became role models for me,” said Maus, recalling how she has looked up to former Princess Kay of the Milky Way and Stearns County Dairy Princess Christine Reitsma. But even with the support of her county dairy community, Maus was unsure she would be named a nalist to represent all of Minnesota’s dairy farmers. She was in the living room with her family when the nalists were named in May. Maus was the ninth name called. “It was tense. After they named the eighth nalist, I started telling myself that I gave it my all and did my hardest to represent the dairy community,” Maus said. “Then, right as they started talking about the ninth nalist being the fourth genera-
tion on her family’s farm, I had a gut feeling it was me.” In tears of pure joy, Maus began addressing the congratulations from people near and far as she was named a nalist. “My dad asked me what was the rst thing I wanted to do,” Maus said. “I just really wanted to thank the people who helped me get to where I was. All the experiences on the farm and in the barn, my parents gave me those lifelong skills and it’s time to give back to them and the community.” As a representative of Stearns County, Maus hopes to represent her diverse dairy community – the largest in the state. “We’re the top county in the state for dairy,” Maus said. “Everyone has a place in the industry. Even the small farms can be
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
Katherine Maus is the daughter of Darrel and Lisa Maus. The family milks 60 cows in Stearns County near Freeport, Minnesota.
JENNIFER COYNE/DAIRY STAR
Katherine Maus sweeps feed in her family’s Ɵestall barn July 2 on the farm near Freeport, Minnesota. Maus is oŌen in the barn helping her family with chores. the mighty ones; my family is proof of that.” While the global pandemic has changed how dairy princesses typically interact with the public, Maus continues to share her dairy story with online audiences through educational videos. One of Maus’ staple messages is mindful of the nutritional benets of locally-produced milk. “Don’t just enjoy three servings of dairy today, enjoy it 365 days for a year,” she said. “There is no food found more local or fresh than milk.” The onset of the pandemic has only helped Maus share her
message and shed light on the important work of dairy farmers. “Dairy farmers work hard each day to provide top notch care for their animals to produce milk and cheese that is in people’s refrigerators in less than 48 hours,” Maus said. “People want to keep a healthy immune system, and milk can help keep them going every day.” While Maus has enjoyed connecting with younger audiences, talking about dairy farming in simple terms, such as saying her cows go outside during the day like kids go out for recess, she has embraced the opportunity to connect more with
her peers. Maus is studying business administration at Minnesota State University-Moorhead in Moorhead. “Younger people can look up to me as a role model, just as I did to former dairy princesses, but college students are also role models,” Maus said. “These people make their own decisions, and I think it’s important to include dairy in those decisions.” As Maus continues serving as a nalist and proudly talking about dairy to her peers and those unfamiliar with the industry, her hope is to represent her family’s livelihood well.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020 • Page 39
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Delvin Nolt Dodge Center, Minnesota Dodge County 130 cows How did you get into farming? I grew up here. When I was a kid, I did not like the cows. I preferred eldwork, so I worked for a crop farmer for 20 years; however, as my family grew, I had a change of heart. I value being home and working together as a family. Dairy farming provides that. So, my mom and dad, Warren and Lois Nolt, asked me to join the farm. We created a partnership along with my younger brother three years ago. One year ago, my brother left the partnership. The work scale of a crop versus dairy farm is totally different. Dairy is more consistent day in and day out. I enjoy being with my family every day. My wife, Christy, and I have four kids: Maleah, 14, Shawn, 12, Deklan, 6, and Breden, 5. The two oldest like to help with chores. What are your thoughts and concerns about the dairy industry for the next year? It has been tough, but in order to stay in the business, it needs to be protable. Some people will make it, and some will not. It is important to keep debt load low, stick to the basics and do not have a lot of extras.
What advice would you give other dairy farmers? There will be good times again. Hang in there and enjoy the ride. What has been the best purchase you have ever made on your farm? Switching from conventional silage corn to BMR corn three years ago. The switch increased daily milk production per cow by 5 to 8 pounds. It was a good nancial decision. What has been your biggest accomplishment while dairy farming? We have been able to accommodate our herd with the feeding system that works best for them. When Dad started in the late 1970s, he got a TMR mixer right away, which was new at the time. About eight years ago, we switched to baleage. We now own a bale wrapper. would ll those stalls rst, and the cows would even wait for others to move. We then put in 36 more and will slowly replace the last 50-some stalls in the near future.
What is the latest technology you implemented on your farm and the purpose for it? The wireless review camera in the skidloader. It is a small item, but it is a good investment for the safety of kids, cows and the life of a barn.
What cost-saving steps have you implemented during the low milk price? We have cut down on feed shrink and have minimized the spoilage in our bunker silo. Two years ago, we started using an oxygen barrier in addition to the plastic cover. That has helped cut down on spoilage. When we put in so much work to put up a good forage, it is important to use as much of it as we can. It needs to make it to the cow to be made into milk.
What is a management practice you changed in the past year that has beneted you? We started switching our stalls in the freestall barn from mattresses to sand. Two years ago, we switched 12 stalls to see how it would go. The cows
How do you retain a good working relationship with your employees? We do not have any employees, but we all have to work together as a family. It comes down to communication. A lot of it is impromptu, often times done in the barn
while milking or during feeding time. Tell us about a skill you possess that makes dairy farming easier for you. Farming brings out many of my skills – carpentry, mechanical work, computer work, among others. I get to try out and see what I like and do not like. I prefer carpentry and mechanics. While I don’t mind trying to gure out a small problem on a computer in order to save a service call, I do not like troubleshooting big problems. What do you enjoy most about dairy farming? I like being my own boss. Although I had an excellent boss for 20 years as a crop farmer, I now get to make my own decisions and see the consequences or rewards of those decisions come to fruition. One of these rewards is being able to sit down to enjoy a nice, cold glass of milk.
What are your plans for your dairy in the next year and ve years? We would like to milk more efciently. It takes us 3.5 hours to milk our herd in our double-3 individual stall parlor. We would like robots, but the expense is a lot right now. We are possibly looking at renovating our parlor into a parallel parlor. However, I would like robots at some point so whatever changes are made on the dairy, I always think about if it would work with robots. How do you or your family like to spend time when you are not doing chores? We used to go on vacation about once or twice a year. Some of our favorites have been Branson, Missouri, the Black Hills and the North Shore; however, this year has been different and not just because of COVID-19. My wife was diagnosed with cancer and underwent a bone marrow transplant. Our faith has been stretched, but we will get through this and be able to go on vacation again.
Great leafy corn silage
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Page 40 • Dairy Star • Saturday, July 11, 2020
Take-off arms: Drop-down or non-drop-down
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Your Local GEA Milking Equipment Dealers: #FXCPEGF &CKT[ 5QNWVKQPU /QPTQG 9GUVHCNKC5WTIG Advanced Dairy Solutions Leedstone, Inc. (WNNGToU /KNMGT %GPVGT +PE Monroe WestfaliaSurge Eastern Iowa Dairy Systems Richland Center, Lancaster, WI • 800-887-4634 Richland Center, WIWI Melrose, MN Monroe, WI • 608-325-2772 Epworth,WI IA •• (563) 876-3087 Monroe, 608-325-2772 608-647-4488 • 800-772-4770 320-256-3303 • 800-996-3303 608-647-4488 • 800-772-4770 Glencoe, MN J Gile Dairy Equipment .GGFUVQPG +PE Sioux Dairy Equipment, Inc. 5KQWZ &CKT[ 'SWKROGPV +PE Centre Dairy Equipment 320-864-5575 • 877-864-5575 Rock Valley, IA Cuba City, WI %GPVTCN #I 5WRRN[ +PE Melrose, MN Rock Valley, IA• (608) 744-2661 and Supply Inc. Plainview, MN • 800-548-5240 712-476-5608 • 800-962-4346 Baraboo, WI • 608-356-8384 Menomonie, WI •320-256-3303 • 800-996-3303 712-476-5608 • 800-962-4346 Sauk Centre, MN 715.231.8090 Colton, SD Service 800-944-1217 Preston Dairy Equipment Juneau, WI • 920-386-2611 Glencoe, MN Colton, 320-352-5762 • 800-342-2697 Edgerton, MN Chemical Sales Sparta,SD WI • (608) 269-3830 320-864-5575 Service 800-944-1217 Midwest Livestock Systems, LLC • 877-864-5575 507-920-8626 %GPVTG &CKT[ 'SWKROGPV CPF 5WRRN[ +PE Fuller’s Milker Center, Inc. Zumbrota, MN • 800-233-8937 Stanley Schmitz, Inc. Edgerton, MN Lancaster, WI • MN 800-887-4634 Menomonie, WI •/KFYGUV .KXGUVQEM 5[UVGOU +PE 715-235-5144 Central Ag Supply Inc. Chilton, WI • 920-849-4209 Sauk Centre, Chemical Sales 507-920-8626 WI • 920-386-2611 320-352-5762 • 800-342-2697Sioux Falls, MN • 800-705-1447 Menomonie, WI •Juneau, 715-235-5144 Beatrice, NE • 800-742-5748 Baraboo, WI • 608-356-8384 Tri-County Dairy Supply Owen, WI • 715-229-4740 #FXCPEGF &CKT[ 5QNWVKQPU Janesville, WI • (608) 757-2697 (KV\IGTCNF +PE Pine Island, MN • 800-233-8937 Richland Center, WI Elkader, IA • 563-245-2560 Sioux Falls, MN • 800-705-1447 608-647-4488 Beatrice, NE • 800-742-5748