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August 10, 2024
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 26, No. 12
A generational expansion Abels double in size to secure farm’s future By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Bill (from leŌ), Allen, Steve and Nate Abel gather in their milking parlor Aug. 3 at Abel Dairy Farms near Eden, Wisconsin. The Abel family milks 3,850 cows on their farm that was founded in 1857.
EDEN, Wis. — Fifthgeneration dairy farmer, Steve Abel, is looking forward to bringing his son, Nate, into the operation as a sixth-generation owner one day to continue a tradition started nearly 170 years ago. This desire to bring on the next generation drove a recent expansion at Abel Dairy Farms. In a project that more than doubled the size of their herd, the Abels grew from 1,800 cows to 4,400 cows while building new facilities that emphasize cow comfort. Two new freestall
barns, a rotary parlor and a manure digester were the highlights of the expansion. The family showcased the end result June 23 when they hosted Fond du Lac County’s Breakfast on the Farm, welcoming more than 4,400 people to the dairy. “This was a generational expansion,” Steve Abel said. “My dad expanded 25 years ago, and he did it for the next generation, too. We didn’t want to be a terminal dairy. My family has been here since 1857, and we didn’t want my generation to be the last to farm here.” Abel farms with his father, Allen, and his brother, Bill. Nate works on the farm while also attending college, and Abel’s wife, Deb, is the ofce manager. The Abels milk 3,850 Turn to ABELS | Page 6
A real-life survivor series
Crop season 2024: the good, bad and ugly By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
The weather this summer has presented challenges for many Wisconsin farmers. Across central Wisconsin, many elds have been left unplanted and hay harvests have fallen behind schedule. “We nished rst crop haylage last week and we’re still working on baling dry cow hay,” Ben Seehafer said. “Our second crop is ready to cut now too.” Seehafer operates Seehafer’s City View Dairy near Marsheld. They milk 270 cows on his Marathon County dairy farm, located near the Wood County line, and farms 600 acres. Seehafer admits he has lost track of how much rain has fallen at his farm since the abnormally wet weather began in late April, noting that the nearby Marsheld Research Station in Stratford
documented 18.82 inches from April through June. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, Marathon County received 16.89 inches of rain from April through June, making 2024 the third wettest April-June in the past 130 years. Neighboring Wood County received 18.58 inches during the same time period, making it the wettest AprilJune period in the past 130 years for that county. A local television station reported that the Marathon County city of Wausau saw 5.87 inches of rainfall in July, nearly two inches more than average. August 1, Seehafer said he measured four inches of rainfall at his farm and heard reports of as much as seven inches received only a few miles away. Signicant rainfall was expected to impact the area again on Aug. 5. “It’s such a kick in the butt, every time it rains, it’s nearly an inch or more,” See-
hafer said. “Going in, it was dry, scary dry. We had a busy spring. We hosted a tour for the local technical college and the local FFA alumni dairy breakfast in June. I thought we were going to hit it hard. I remember thinking, ‘I bet we’ll be done with rst crop before the breakfast.’” Reality was different. “We didn’t start planting corn until June 10,” Seehafer said. “The last corn I planted this year was July 20. That breaks my previous record of July 17. We didn’t get everything in we wanted, but mainly what didn’t get done was hay elds we had planned to terminate after rst crop. We just left those in hay. We planted around 300 acres of corn and had to replant over 30 of those.” Seehafer’s corn crop this year runs the gamut from corn that looks exceptional to corn that has barely sprouted. Turn to CROPS | Page 2
DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
Water covers nearly two-thirds of corn plants in a Wood County eld Aug. 1 near Marsheld, Wisconsin. Nearly six inches of rain fell near the Wood, Marathon and Clark County lines.