Sign up for our New Newsletter
Dairy St r Milk Break
Email andrea.b@dairystar.com to sign up.
DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 19, No. 11
July 22, 2017
Until the cows come home
Martins receive help building barn after tornado By Brittany Olson
brittany.o@dairystar.com
CONRATH, Wis. – The evening of May 16 changed the lives of Lavern and Rhoda Martin’s family forever when a large and violent tornado struck their farm at milking time. Lavern and Rhoda were milking 92 cows on their farm a couple miles east of Conrath, Wis., before the twister struck. Unfortunately, they lost several cows to the storm, along with the tiestall barn and stave silos. The house and shop also were damaged. After the tornado passed, help began to arrive in droves and the Martins are well on their way to building a new barn with dozens of volunteers helping just about every day since. Rhoda was in the basement with their younger children, Audrey, Rosene and Larissa, when the power cut out Turn to MARTINS | Page 6
BRITTANY OLSON/DAIRY STAR
The MarƟns (front, from leŌ) – Audrey, Rosene and Kendra; (back, from leŌ) Keith, Lavern, Rhoda holding Larissa, Roxanne and Teresa – are building a new barn and milking parlor aŌer an F3 tornado on May 16 destroyed their dairy farm near Conrath, Wis.
Forever in their fields, hearts
Bike ride honoring fallen farmers a runaway success By Brittany Olson
brittany.o@dairystar.com
BLOOMER, Wis. – After dairy farmers Ram and Jeremy Seibel passed away as the result of being overcome by manure gases on their Bloomer, Wis., dairy farm in 2015, their family and friends wanted to create a way to simultaneously honor their memories, bring attention to farm safety awareness and highlight agriculture in Chippewa County. Ann Seibel, Ram’s wife and Jeremy’s mother, and Merle Richter, who taught agriculture education at Bloomer High School for over three decades, drew inspiration from a bike ride they had done last year in New Glarus, Wis. The inspiration turned into a bike ride in the Bloomer area,
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Merle Richter (far leŌ) and Ann Seibel (second from leŌ, kneeling) were part of the Tour ‘de Farm execuƟve commiƩee that planned a 37-mile bike ride on July 8 to bring awareness to farm safety, honor the memory of Seibel’s husband and son, Ram and Jeremy, and highlight agriculture in Chippewa County.
which took place on July 8. “I had Ram as a student and retired just before Jeremy had started coming up through the ranks in FFA. He went on to become FFA president,” Richter said. “We had 19 people from Bloomer who rode in New Glarus and said, ‘Why don’t we do this locally?’” Thus, the Tour ‘de Farm safety awareness bike ride was born. Seibel and Richter, with family members, friends, WAXX 104.5 farm broadcaster Bob Bosold and Chippewa County UW-Extension agriculture agent Jerry Clark formed a 13-member committee to spearhead the dream and make it a successful reality. “The vision we had was to make it a big thing,” Seibel said. While any funds raised would go towards the two “Forever in Our Fields” Ram and Jeremy Seibel scholarships from the Bloomer FFA Alumni and the University of Wisconsin Farm and Industry Turn to BIKE RIDE | Page 5