LOOK INSIDE FOR OUR WORLD DAIRY EXPO PREVIEW EDITION!
DAIRY ST R
Proposed rule changes to livestock siting law
September 14, 2019
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 21, No. 14
Rohlfs thrives despite childhood farm accident
Eden farmer
DATCP holds public accustomed to hearings for input By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
ONALASKA, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection recently held 12 public hearings on the proposed rule changes to ATCP 51 regarding livestock facility siting in the state of Wisconsin, including an afternoon hearing Sept. 4 in Onalaska, Wis. The public comment period ends Sept. 13. The goal of the livestock facility siting law is to provide uniform local regulation of the siting of livestock facilities and the expansion of those facilities. The law was rst enacted in 2006 and has not been changed or updated since that time, although the law requires that DATCP must review ATCP 51 every four years. Reviews were previously done in 2010, 2014 and 2018. “The law directs the state department of agriculture to do several things, one of which is to create the administrative rules which species what standards actually apply to livestock facilities that are permitted by local governments,” said Chris Clayton, DATCP livestock siting program manager. The standards were created using eight objectives including being protective of public health and safety; that they are practical and workable; cost effective; objective; based on available scientic information; designed to promote the growth and viability of animal agriculture in the state; designed to balance the economic viability of farm operations while protecting natural resources and other community interests; and that the rules are usable by local ofcials that actually use the rules for the permitting process. “Local governments choose, and it is a choice, to permit livestock facilities by adopting ATCP 51 as part of their local ordinance, either through zoning or licensing ordinance.” Clayton said. “They need to include the standards that are in ATCP 51, as well as the actual permitting process that is a Turn to SITING | Page 6
life with one arm By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
EDEN, Wis. – John Rohlfs was just 3 years old when he lost one of his arms in a farm accident. On a fall morning in 1974 during corn harvest, Rohlfs’ left arm got caught in a feed grinder and was severed just below the shoulder. “I was supposed to be in the barn with my mom, but instead, I ran off to see what my dad was doing,” Rohlfs said. “My dad picked me up, and while he was holding me, I stuck my arm in the opening between the two Turn to ROHLFS | Page 7
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
John Rohlfs milks 90 cows and farms 200 acres with his sister and brother-in-law, Julie and Tim Narges, and their children in Eden, Wis. Rohlfs lost his arm in a farm accident when he was 3 years old and grew up learning how to do chores with one hand.
Champions drink milk
Caledonia football coach promotes dairy as beverage of choice By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Coach Carl Fruechte (center) holds cartons of chocolate milk with players on the football team at Caledonia High School in Caledonia, Minn. The athletes are – (from leŌ) Jed Kasten, Blake Morrow, Logan Banse, Isaiah Reinhart, AusƟn Heaney, Jack Strub and Luke Twite.
CALEDONIA, Minn. – When it comes to a refueling drink, what do the nine-time state football champion Caledonia Warriors choose? Chocolate milk. For the last ve years, head coach Carl Fruechte has offered chocolate milk to his football players after practice and games. The football team’s booster club and the school’s food service staff help keep a stocked refrigerator in the coach’s room at the high school in Caledonia, Minn. “The science shows it’s just as good or equal to giving them a protein shake,” Fruechte said. “That protein will replenish and rebuild the muscles and makes recovery better.” As head coach since 1997 and a part of the coaching staff since 1988, Fruechte Turn to CALEDONIA | Page 5
Page 2 • Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019
DAIRY ST R www.dairystar.com
ISSN 020355 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave. Sauk Centre, MN 56378 Phone: (320) 352-6303 Fax: (320) 352-5647 Published by Dairy Star LLC General Manager/Editor Mark Klaphake - mark.k@dairystar.com 320-352-6303 (ofďƒžce) 320-248-3196 (cell) 320-352-0062 (home) Ad Composition Nancy Powell 320-352-6303 nancy.p@dairystar.com Amanda Thooft 320-352-6303 amanda.t@dairystar.com Consultant Jerry Jennissen 320-346-2292 Editorial Staff Andrea Borgerding - Associate Editor (320) 352-6303 • andrea.b@dairystar.com Krista Kuzma - Assistant Editor (507) 259-8159 • krista.k@dairystar.com Jennifer Coyne - Assistant Editor (320) 352-6303 • jenn@dairystar.com Ruth Klossner (507) 240-0048 cowlady@centurylink.net Danielle Nauman (608) 487-1101 danielle.n@dairystar.com Danna Sabolik - Staff Writer (320) 352-6303 • danna.s@dairystar.com Maria Bichler - Copy Editor 320-352-6303 Advertising Sales Main Ofďƒžce: 320-352-6303 Fax: 320-352-5647 Deadline is 5 p.m. of the Friday the week before publication Sales Manager - Joyce Frericks 320-352-6303 • joyce@dairystar.com Jeff Weyer (Northern MN, East Central MN) 320-260-8505 (cell) jeff.w@dairystar.com Mark Klaphake (Western MN) 320-352-6303 (ofďƒžce) 320-248-3196 (cell) Laura Seljan (National Advertising, SE MN) 507-250-2217 fax: 507-634-4413 laura.s@dairystar.com Jerry Nelson (SW MN, NW Iowa, South Dakota) 605-690-6260 jerry.n@dairystar.com Mike Schafer (Central, South Central MN) 320-894-7825 mike.s@dairystar.com Amanda Hoeďƒ&#x;er (Eastern Iowa) 320-250-2884 • amanda.h@dairystar.com Laura Seljan (Southern WI) 507-250-2217 • laura.s@dairystar.com Megan Stuessel (Western Wisconsin) 608-387-1202 • megan.s@dairystar.com Deadlines The deadline for news and advertising in the Dairy Star is 5 p.m. Friday the week before publication. Subscriptions One year subscription $35.00, outside the U.S. $110.00. Send check along with mailing address to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378. Advertising Our ad takers have no authority to bind this newspaper and only publication of an advertisement shall constitute ďƒžnal acceptance of the advertiser's order. Letters Letters and articles of opinion are welcomed. Letters must be signed and include address and phone number. We reserve the right to edit lengthy letters. The views and opinions expressed by Dairy Star columnists and writers are not necessarily those of the Dairy Star LLC.
The Dairy Star is published semi-monthly by Dairy Star, LLC, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246. Periodicals Postage Paid at Sauk Centre, MN and additional mailing ofďƒžces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246.
A glance at what’s inside Fall harvest is just around the corner. With the busy time for farmers, it’s also an important time to remember steps to stay safe while working on the farm. Farm Safety Awareness Week is Sept. 15-21. To help remind farm workers of farm safety, John Rohlfs told his own personal story of losing a limb in an auger when he was just 3 years old. Rohlfs talked about how he manages to run a dairy farm today and how he has overcome challenges that come with farming and working with one hand. In From Our Side of the Fence, farmers shared information about their favorite equipment they use on their dairy farms. From a cell phone to a combine and everything in between, there are many pieces of equipment and tools farmers rely on to get their daily tasks done. Read about all of them on pages 15 and 16 in ďƒžrst section. Robert and Kate Kreidermacher gave us insight about the challenges in the industry since starting their careers six years ago on their dairy near Altura, Minn. The young couple shared what they have changed on their dairy in order to reduce costs along with the difference in what the milk price was when they started compared to recently. Read about the Kreidermachers in Dairying in Tough Times on pages 10-11 in ďƒžrst section. During the warmer months when not tending their cows, Troy and Ashley Schlender will more than likely be found in the ďƒželd – although not always their own. The couple owns a custom harvesting business in addition to their 200-cow dairy near Watertown, Wis. Each year, they cut, chop, merge and bag the crops, harvesting about 6,000 acres from start to ďƒžnish. Read about their enterprise on pages 23 and 25 in ďƒžrst section. Keith and Jeanna Welgraven along with their daughter, Katelyn, had a busy day Sept. 6 for our Day in the Life feature. Along with typical chores, Keith spent time ďƒžlling holes in the cattle yard with gravel and watching a farm auction online for any good deals on his 100-cow dairy near Ruthton, Minn. When he has a little downtime, the dairyman likes to keep up with the Facebook group, Dairy Farmers of Facebook, of which he is a moderator. Read about how the day worked out for the family on pages 16, 18-19 in second section.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019 • Page 3
It’s all inside... Columnists Ag Insider
Pages 8-9 First Section
Tradition
Arcadia
Page 27 First Section
Weltzien siblings serve on Wisconsin FFA ofcer team
Page 30 First Section
Evers, Baldwin visit organic dairy
First Section: Pages 23, 25
First Section: Page 28
Arcadia
Ramblings from the Ridge
Merrillan
Soil health, fertility part of the same puzzle
Second Section: Page 5
Veterinary Wisdom
Bayeld
Douglas
Page 31 First Section
Iron Ashland
Malone
Dairy Prole: Tyler Thome
Burnett
W as
Polk
Barron
Page 32 First Section
Come Full Circle
hb
ur
n
Making Cents of Dairy
Sawyer
Price
First Section: Page 39
Rusk
Page 33 First Section
Taylor
Proposed rule changes to livestock siting law
The “Mielke” Market Weekly
St. Croix
First Section: Pages 1, 6
Pages 10 - 11 Second Section
Country Cooking
Page 22 Second Section
Pierce
Dunn
Pepin Buffalo
Chippewa
Marathon Clark
Eau Claire Trempealeau
Onalaska
Eden
Hodorff family excels at creating positive working culture
Wood Jackson
Second Section: Pages 3 - 4
Adams
La Crosse Monroe
Juneau Vernon
Genoa
Grazing dairy goats despite challenges
Zone 2
First Section: Pages 37 - 38
ford
Richland
Sauk
Craw
Iowa
Fond Du Lac Columbia
Dane
Grant Lafayette
Green
Dodge
J
n
so
er eff
Rock
Eden
For additional stories from our other zone, log on to www.dairystar.com
Watertown
Schlenders harvest hay, silage for more than half-dozen farms
Rohlfs thrives despite childhood farm accident First Section: Pages 1, 7
Second Section: Pages 34 - 35
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Page 4 • Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019
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ConƟnued from CALEDONIA | Page 1
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Carl Fruechte, head coach of the Caledonia High School football team, reaches for a chocolate milk in the refrigerator in the coach’s room at the school in Caledonia, Minn. has followed a lot of research over the years. Milk is a part of the football team’s success, The Warriors have won nine state champion titles, with four of them consecutively from 2015 to 2018. “Taking care of your athletes and making sure they recover quicker and better is a huge part of what we try to do,” Fruechte said. “The milk and proper protein ts into that.” Fruechte and his team of coaches go beyond teaching physical health when coaching the young players. “Our coaching staff is very much into not only athletic health, but also brain health and the wellness of the players as they get to be older men,” Fruechte said. “We want them to be active when they’re older so they can hunt, sh and have fun with their kids.” Caledonia students who are on the football team are not allowed to drink pop, Fruechte said. “We have kids that go through 7-12 grades never drinking pop,” he said. “That includes energy drinks. Parents thank us. Dentists in town thank us. We want to give them a better alternative and that’s chocolate milk.” Fruechte said he follows the lead of many college football programs, including Washington State University, that encourage players to refuel with chocolate milk after practice and games. For the rst few years, Fruechte could only offer the milk to high school players. The small refrigerator in the coach’s room could not hold any more
milk to accommodate more players. Last year, the booster club remedied that situation and used the club’s money to purchase a bigger refrigerator and more milk for players starting in seventh grade. “We’re a small school, but our booster club does an outstanding job,” Fruechte said. “This was a good investment. We don’t want to be foolish with our money. My big deal is I don’t want to waste any milk. I’m old school. But the kids did a good job drinking it.” When the milk is gone, the coaches know. “The kids love it,” Fruechte said. “They want it. It goes fast.” Each week, the football team goes through eight crates of chocolate milk. In future years, the school’s food service staff hopes to replace the cartons with a bulk dispenser so players are not limited to 8 ounces at a time. Plus, it will help save on waste, Fruechte said. When it comes to being a champion team, Fruechte does not take all the credit. “It’s a we thing,” he said. “We have a great staff. We have great coaches and great kids. We feel blessed because our parents really trust us. They know we love their boys and we’re not going to try to beat them up. We’re hard, but we don’t mistreat them. Our parents really support us and that’s a key.” But chocolate milk helps. “We like to research what’s the best for our kids,” Fruechte said. “To us [chocolate milk] is a no brainer.”
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part of ATCP 51.” The standards set forth in ATCP 51 include parameters for nutrient management, waste storage facilities, runoff management, odor control and setbacks. The livestock facility siting law states the minimum permitting threshold is 500 animal limits, although there was a period of time when local governments that had other threshold limits could grandfather in their particular rule. Several key rule changes have been proposed for each standard. For nutrient management, proposed changes include updating the standard to meet the technical standard set in ATCP 50. It also adds the 2011 cropland performance standards in place in NR-151 which includes 5-foot tillage setbacks from rivers, streams, lakes and other bodies of water; as well as a phosphorous index standard for cropland. The key change for the waste storage facilities is an update to the 2017 NRCS 313 technical standard for manure storage facilities. More effective evaluations of manure storage structures will be required to help prevent structural failure and signicant leakage. “We’re looking to put in place some provisions, to bolster the evaluation process of existing structures to make sure all existing storage structures are in good repair with no structural failures or leakage,” Clayton said. “The rule may require a visual inspection of an emptied facility or a full investigation and reevaluation of facilities at different time intervals.” The runoff management standard rule change includes updates to technical standards that apply to runoff controls for animal lots and feed storage structures, with exceptions that will give exibility to smaller livestock producers. The proposed rule changes will allow the use of vegetative treatment areas at existing animal lots, as well as allowing VTAs or other runoff controls at new or expanded feed storage structures that are less than one acre in size. In terms of odor control, a new system for managing odor is being proposed, based on setbacks, using the OFFSET model, which focuses on higher odor producing structures and allows for setback reductions to be taken for odor control practices. Current standards for setbacks for manure storage structures are 350 from a property line, while proposed rule changes would change that setback to 600 feet for facilities under 1,000 animal units; 1,000 feet for facilities with 1,000 to 2,499 animal units; 1,400 feet for facilities with 2,500 to 3,999 animal units; and 1,700 feet for facilities with 4,000 animal units, plus an additional 200 feet for every 1,000 animal units over 4,000; but with no more than 2,500 feet of total setback. Livestock structures, including barns, milking parlors, feed storage, feeding facilities and animal lots currently have existing setbacks of 100 feet from a property line or public road right-of-way for less than 1,000 animal units; while facilities over 1,000 animal units are currently required to have a setback of 200 feet from a property line or 150 feet from a public road right-of-way. Proposed changes to those setbacks would divide the structure type into one of two categories, increasing the setbacks by at least 300 feet to as much as 1,000 feet. Several dairy farmers in attendance expressed concern about the lack of representation of any anyone from animal agriculture on the committee who determined the proposed rules. They spoke out against the proposed rule changes, siting an undue nancial burden that would result from the new rules. They said the proposed setback rules were impractical and would deter many dairy farmers from being able to expand their businesses. “This draft rule is the result of recommendations from a technical expert committee which convened to review the rule with reference to the eight standards established in statutes. Of note, there is not representation from production agriculture on
this committee,” said Vernon County dairy farmer Robert Nigh. Nigh went on to point out that the very similar rule revision was drafted in 2017 and rejected by the DATCP board, asking the department to provide data the impact those proposed rule changes would have on siting new farms and expanding existing farms. “It is my understanding that the department has failed to provide that data,” Nigh said, stating concerns he has about the negative impact the rule changes would have, particularly in terms of the proposed increased setbacks. “This will ultimately impede the growth and reduce the competitiveness of Wisconsin’s production ag industry.” Buffalo County dairy farmer Joe Bragger spoke about the challenges of dairy farming in the Driftless area and how the increased setbacks would be nearly impossible to meet with the unique topography in western Wisconsin. “In the … Driftless area, building sites are hard to come by because of the topography,” Bragger said. “During the addition of my brother’s second poultry barn, he was faced with a 200-foot setback from a neighboring property. Following multiple attempts at designing the facility, the only way to be able to build it, due to excavation costs, was to move it closer by 50 feet. That 50 feet made all of the difference in that building going up. The proposed setbacks are much larger than that and could create some real difculty.” Bragger also voiced concern about the lack of input from farmers. “Farmers need to be involved and invited to the table,” Bragger said. “Farmers can and will use their expertise to develop sound policy that is protective of the environment and their neighbors.” Monroe County dairy farmer Jack Herricks said in his dairy farming career, his herd has grown from 34 to 620 cows, and he wants to ensure his family will be able to continue to grow and expand their business as they see t. “I believe this rule revision will negatively impact livestock farmers in Wisconsin, especially in the specic areas of increased setbacks, runoff management standards and reverting to local control,” Herricks said. “The proposed rule changes provide no reason why the current system should be replaced.” Duane Chapman, another Monroe County dairy farmer, voiced his opposition to the proposed rule changes. “The current rule works the way it was intended. It contains good things for all of us, it provides consistency for local governments and farmers alike,” Chapman said. “Local governments have a practical method to regulate larger farms and farmers have the reassurance that we can continue our business and grow our business if it makes sense to us.” Chapman feels putting more control back into local governments, with variances and increased monitoring, would make for difcult and confusing situations for farmers. “We need a level and steady set of guidelines for our state, which is what we have now,” Chapman said. “Please do not disrupt this.” First-generation La Crosse County dairy farmer, Justin Peterson, expressed concern about the future of farming and agriculture in Wisconsin if the proposed rule changes are enacted. “If we don’t make it feasible for farming to continue, and agriculture in Wisconsin, the farms are going to leave. Our infrastructure is going to die, our small towns are going to go away,” Peterson said. “I see both sides of this. I understand we need to have a diverse industry, and I understand we need to work together. We live in a challenging part of the state. If farms can’t continue to grow and expand, they will exit.” Full details on the proposed rule changes are available by visiting the DATCP website for livestock siting, http:// livestocksiting.wi.gov.
Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019 • Page 7
ConƟnued from ROHLFS | Page 1
augers. In that split second, the feed sucked my hand down into the auger and cut off my arm.” Because he was so young, Rohlfs has no memory of the event other than hearing his dad yell for his mom while wrapping Rohlfs in towels to control the bleeding. “They didn’t stop to call 911 and just took me straight to the hospital themselves,” Rohlfs said. “That’s the only thing I remember from my pre-kindergarten days.” Agriculture is consistently ranked one of the most dangerous industries. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 581 people died in farm accidents in 2017, which is equal to 23 deaths per 100,000 workers. Thousands more were injured. Since 1944, the third week of September has been declared National Farm Safety and Health Week. Designed to increase awareness of safety issues on the farm and make farmers and farm workers more safety-conscious, this year’s Farm Safety Week will take place Sept. 15-21. Promoting safe and healthy practices that prevent accidents is the goal. Rohlfs, who has farmed his entire life with one arm, milks 90 cows and farms about 200 acres with his sister and brother-in-law, Julie and Tim Narges, and their children, Austin, Nick and Shayley. The farm has been in the family since 1896, and Rohlfs purchased it from his parents in 1994 at the age of 23. “Doing stuff with one arm comes natural to me,” said Rohlfs, who
grew up feeding calves and doing other farm chores with one hand. “I grew up doing everything that way.” Rohlfs never let the fact he only has one arm slow him down. As a kid, he did everything other kids did, including playing sports like baseball, basketball and football. Rohlfs was even the point guard in basketball because he was such a good ball handler. Sports became lifelong interests of Rohlfs, who played basketball until he was 30 years old and baseball until just recently. “Sports were a big thing when I was younger to get me doing stuff,” Rohlfs said. “I wasn’t any better than the other kids, but I wasn’t any worse either. My football coach told me that he would never forget what my dad once told him: ‘Don’t give John any special treatment because he has one arm.’ But my coach said he didn’t have to because I was right there with everyone else in my ability.” Rohlfs used to wear a prosthetic arm to school and church but found it to be more of a hindrance than a benet and stopped using it when he was in the seventh grade. Losing a limb as a young child required Rohlfs to have his upper arm bone shortened to prevent it from growing out of the skin – a grueling procedure he sometimes endured on a yearly basis. “That was the worst part of it all,” Rohlfs said. When Rohlfs was 14 years old, a new type of procedure put an end to these regular operations. The UW-Madison hospital performed a
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“What I do looks amazing to some people, but to me it’s just normal, everyday stuff. I think with one arm instead of two.” JOHN ROHLFS, DAIRY FARMER
neighbor’s kid who also has one arm how to do the same. Rohlfs also has no problem milking cows. “Milking is easy,” said Rohlfs, who mastered the technique of milking with one hand when he was 16 years old. “I do it every day.” Rohlfs is in the process of building a milking parlor after a tornado ripped through his farm on Aug. 28, 2018. The tiestall barn suffered major damage and is being replaced by a swing-12 parlor. “Learning to milk in the parlor will be a new challenge for me,”
Rohlfs said. “But I’m condent I can gure it out.” Pounding in a nail or greasing something with a grease gun are a couple tasks Rohlfs does nd somewhat complicated. “I’ll shove the nail in rst and then start pounding,” Rohlfs said. “I manage to nd a way around most everything and learn how to do it with one hand. I just keep trying until I gure it out.” Rohlfs can also operate all the farm’s equipment but said his skid steer has been specically adapted for use with one hand, featuring modied hand and foot controls. Rohlfs’ accident often puts safety top of mind for the Fond du Lac County dairy farmer. “I worry most about the young ones,” Rohlfs said. “Little kids are so curious, and that can be dangerous.” Rohlfs said machines like the one he was injured in have a cover over the opening now to make them safer. Ever since he was little, Rohlfs has relied on the use of just one arm and hand to complete all kinds of tasks – where most people would require two. “Life with one arm is all I’ve ever known,” Rohlfs said. “To me, it doesn’t even seem like I have just one arm. What I do looks amazing to some people, but to me it’s just normal, everyday stuff. I think with one arm instead of two.”
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Page 8 • Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019
Despite tight margins, dairy industry drives WI economy According to a new study from the University of but the reality is what the United States is asking ChiWisconsin-Madison, the dairy industry is responsible na to change is something that is fundamental to their for nearly half of Wisconsin’s agricultural revenue. This economy,â€? Vilsack said. “That’s not going to be an easy report, called The Contribution of Agriculture to the ask or lift for the Chinese. I’m not conďƒždent at this point Wisconsin Economy,’ is compiled every ďƒžve years. In we’ll see a breakthrough in the discussions.â€? Vilsack 2017, the dairy industry had a $45.6 billion said there is a different attitude in China Ag Insider impact on the state’s economy. compared to Japan. Japan is acting as an ally, and there may be a better opportunity August Class III price moves higher in Japan to reach a mini agreement to proUSDA has announced the Class III vide greater market access for U.S. agriculmilk price was at $17.60 per hundredtural products. weight in August. That’s a nickel higher than July and $2.65 higher than August of Dairy exports decline last year. This was the highest base price During July, U.S. dairy exports totaled for Class III milk since December 2014. 378.7 million pounds. That is down nearly 22 million pounds from July 2018. Total Cow numbers decline cheese exports were steady with last year. In August, the dairy herd declined Exports of nonfat dry milk and skim milk 9,000 head from the previous month. Compowder dropped nearly 11 million pounds. By Don Wick pared to one year ago, milk cow numbers Dry whey exports declined 9.6 million Columnist are down 82,000 head. At 9.3 million head, pounds. Whey protein concentrate exports the U.S. dairy herd is the smallest since were down 663,000 pounds, whole milk January 2016. powder exports declined 1.6 million pounds and butter sales were down 2.1 million pounds. Positive outlook for cull cow market After a big increase earlier this year, dairy cow DMC deadline approaches slaughter has dropped below year ago levels. In August, The signup deadline for Dairy Margin Coverage dairy cow slaughter is 1 percent below last year. Beef is Sept. 20. DMC is guaranteed to pay all dairy farmcow slaughter is up nearly 1 percent with some earlier ers enrolled at the maximum $9.50 per hundredweight culling this year. As slaughter moved lower, cow prices coverage level for every month of production this year have edged higher. Texas A&M Extension Economist through July. The National Milk Producers Federation David Anderson said the number of dairy cows that President/CEO Jim Mulhern said DMC offers better went to market during the ďƒžrst half of this year may support than the former Margin Protection Program. reduce the potential numbers going to market this fall. “It’s worthwhile for every farmer.â€? USDA UndersecreCow weights are also down from 2018 levels, support- tary Bill Northey concurred. “We all hope the margin is ing the cull cow price and the 90% lean fresh beef price. much better than a $9.50 margin coverage level, but if it is not, for a small premium, you get coverage. For most Relationships are vital to trade producers, it makes a lot of sense to be covered.â€? Tom Vilsack, President and CEO, U.S. Dairy Export Council, is back in the United States following a AFBF market intel highlights block-barrel spread trip to China and Japan. Vilsack said it’s important both Block and barrel cheese prices traditionally traded governments and industry professionals understand in line with each other. The spread between block and the value of the relationship between countries. There barrel cheese began to widen in 2017. A new report is still uncertainty in discussions between the U.S. and from American Farm Bureau Market Intelligence said China. “There is hope that things will get worked out, increased barrel cheese production and the demand for
Record interest in Holstein registration Holstein Association USA reports dairy farmers registered and identiďƒžed an all-time record of 749,000 head in 2018. Holstein USA CEO John Meyer credits the increased interest on proper identiďƒžcation of dairy cattle. “The number of dairy farms in this country has dropped considerably to under 40,000 over the last 15 years, but we continually register and identify more cattle,â€? Meyer said. “We’ve grown our identiďƒžcations by 90 percent over the last 15 years in a market where the number of dairy farms has dropped over 47%.â€? Funds released for counseling services The joint ďƒžnance committee for the Wisconsin legislature has approved $200,000 to be used for mental health counseling services for farmers. The funds will be administered through the Wisconsin Farm Center, which is part of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Dairy research farm planned The largest research dairy farm in the United States is being built in Idaho. The University of Idaho is planning a 2,000-cow dairy operation with an additional 1,200 acres for agronomic research, feed production and nutrient management. The project is expected to break ground in 2021 and milking the ďƒžrst cows by 2024. Hughes to lead WEDC Governor Tony Evers has appointed Melissa Hughes as the chief executive ofďƒžcer for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. Hughes has been the general counsel for Organic Valley for the past 15 years. Oct. 1 is the start date for Hughes in her new role.
Turn to AG INSIDER | Page 9
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Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019 • Page 9
ConƟnued from AG INSIDER | Page 8 WFU hires watershed coordinator Bill Hogseth has been hired as the Wisconsin Farmers Union’s watershed coordinator. This is a new position for WFU and is designed to increase farmer engagement, expand participation in incentive programs and inuence issues within the Mississippi River watershed. Hogseth is a former biologist with Wisconsin DNR. Trivia challenge On a per-capita basis, West Virginia leads the nation in pizza consumption.
That answers our last trivia question. How many slices of pizza does the average American eat per year? We’ll have the answer in the next edition of Dairy Star. Don Wick is owner/broadcaster for the Red River Farm Network, based in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Wick has been recognized as the National Farm Broadcaster of the Year and served as president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Don and his wife, Kolleen, have two adult sons, Tony and Sam, and ve grandchildren, Aiden, Piper, Adrienne, Aurora and Sterling.
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Editor’s note: In this series, “Dairying in tough times,â€? Dairy Star is catching up with dairy farmers who began milking cows in the last ďƒžve years. These farmers are sharing how they have been able to weather the market conditions and why they see promise in today’s changing industry.
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ALTURA, Minn. – Despite enduring four years of the industry’s economic downturn, Robert and Kate Kreidermacher were not willing to give up their dairying life. “We said, ‘We’re in this for the long haul,’â€? Robert said. “We’ll ride it out and try to do the best we can and try to improve without setting ourselves too far back.â€? The young couple, along with their two young children, Oliver, 3, and Reagan, 1, milks 250 cows with four robots on their dairy near Altura, Minn. While Robert farms full time, Kate works off the farm as a registered nurse and helps on the farm when she is able. To help make it through the low milk prices, the Kreidermachers have tighten management strategies, used marketing tools, talked to other dairy farmers about what has worked for them and worked together with a team of professionals in the industry to strategize ways to continue towards their farm’s goals. “It is extremely tough ďƒžnancially, but it puts you in a different perspective of how do we tighten the ship so next time when this happens – because it will happen again – we are better prepared,â€? Robert said. The Kreidermachers have been farming on their own since they bought the cows from Robert’s family in 2013. They set goals for their farm to be proďƒžtable, family friendly and continue to try to breed for high quality genetics in their herd. “The ďƒžrst year was by far one of our best years [for milk price],â€? Robert said. “The one downside is we had a year like this year where it was a lot of winter kill and low inventories. But we also had $22 [per hundredweight] milk that fall, so it helped compensate.â€? However, after 2014, the Kreidermachers did not see an annual average over $17 per cwt. Along with the dairy price downturn, the Kreidermachers needed to make a decision about their milking facility. “It was either call it quits or build,â€? Robert said. “We wanted to continue forward. We thought if we could achieve what we needed to achieve and still be family friendly and ďƒ&#x;exible then it was worth it.â€? The couple knew the ďƒžrst ďƒžve years would be
tough with the amount of overhead they would be taking on. “We had to do something different because of labor,â€? Robert said. “Labor was very undependable. The quality of labor was terrible. You only need a couple good workers.â€? To reduce labor and make their farm more family friendly, the Kreidermachers chose to install four robots along with a sand-bedded freestall barn to replace their double-5 herringbone parlor and old freestall barn. They began using their new facility in November 2017. “The great things about farming with robots is we can be more ďƒ&#x;exible than we used to be,â€? Robert said. “It’s still a huge commitment. It’s hard to get away. That’s no different. But we are able to make more time for family.â€? However, they did not ďƒžnd that family-friendly aspect of the robots right away. Plus, they really started to feel the ďƒžnancial pressure as the milk price sank lower and other commodities took hits. “In the past we’ve had pretty good heifer inventory to allow us to be able to improve facilities and move forward with projects, but last year that all took a hit,â€? Robert said. “Markets went down on everything.â€? The milk price in 2018 did not reach above $15 for the Kreidermachers. “Especially a year after building this [new milking facility], that was really tough,â€? Robert said. “You have to have some understanding people around you.â€? The couple had more stress in 2019 when the extreme winter weather caused their dry cow barn to collapse in February along with ďƒžnding mycotoxins in their feed shortly after. To try to stay aďƒ&#x;oat, the Kreidermachers tightened their management strategies. Although they had already cut back on labor because of the robots, they reduced it further and took on more jobs themselves. “On the downside, we ended up overworking ourselves at the same time,â€? Robert said. They also ďƒžne-tuned their ration. They cut back on corn gluten at times along with other higher cost commodities. They also tried to make a more efďƒžcient forage diet and cut back from 15 to 10 pounds per cwt. for their robot pellets. “That’s an extremely expensive commodity we were able to reduce and not lose production,â€? Robert said about maintaining the herd’s 29,000-pound rolling herd average. “That’s where having a great nutritionist is key in these robotic dairies. It helps set us up for the long run.â€? Turn to KREIDERMACHER | Page 11
Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019 • Page 11
ConĆ&#x;nued from KREIDERMACHER | Page 10
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KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
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Cows rest in the sand-bedded freestall barn the Kreidermachers began using November 2017. Another strategy they have used to keep their farm going is marketing. “It just seems like in the last three years, the market has been so much more unstable,â€? Robert said. “This helps.â€? They work with their nutritionist to ďƒžgure out what kind of commodities they will need and then lock in the lowest price they can. They have done this for robot pellets, Amino Plus, cottonseed and corn. “Right now you can set yourself a pretty nice base line,â€? Robert said. “That way if it does take a dip you’re protecting your cost.â€? The Kreidermachers also will frequently protect their milk with puts. “This puts in a ďƒ&#x;oor price,â€? Robert said. “We can at least maintain a low end so it doesn’t destroy us.â€? Another helpful strategy has been working with the Minnesota Dairy Initiatives program, which puts together a team of industry professionals – for the Kreidermachers this includes their nutritionist, veterinarian, creamery representative, farm business management instructor and banker, among others – to help them brainstorm ideas or use as a resource. “It’s like your inner circle of people who you can trust,â€? Robert said. “If you have the right people in there, they have your best interest in mind, as well.â€? Talking to more veteran dairy farmers, especially those who endured the
low milk price in 2009, has also been a good support network for the Kreidermachers. “You have to be extremely patient to ďƒžgure out what your intentions are, what your goals are and stick to them, but try to ďƒžnd ways to be more efďƒžcient at achieving them,â€? said Robert about advice given to them from other dairy farmers. “It’s hard in tough times to see the end goal, but stay true to them.â€? Within the last few months, the Kreidermachers feel a little more positive about the direction of the industry as they have ďƒžnally seen $18 per cwt. “It comes at the right time because we’re going through the summer expenses with harvest and paying off fertilizer bills,â€? Robert said. “But, it will take awhile to recover. It’s not going to happen overnight.â€? It gives the couple hope to continue working towards their goals for their farm and that they can make it in the industry. “Everything happens for a reason,â€? Robert said. “If you learn from it, you’ll be better at managing, and you might come out a better person as well. It can prepare you for the future if you allow it to. And if you don’t look at it as preparing you for the future, it probably would sink you.â€? The Kreidermachers have not let the low markets sink their goal for a family friendly and proďƒžtable farm.
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Page 12 • Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019
A dream worth working towards
Monroe milks own herd, two others to pursue dairy goals By Kate Rechtzigel Staff Intern
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Caleb Monroe milks 45 cows on a rented farm near Ossian, Iowa. Monroe also works at two nearby dairies for addiƟonal income. the hay conveyor that runs the length of the barn peak broke,” Monroe said. “So, I didn’t get much sleep that week. But, nobody said farming was easy. If it was everybody would be doing it.” While Monroe grew up in town, he
would often tag along with his dad, Leland, who was a relief milker for farmers. He also spent a lot of time helping his uncle, Randy Buddenberg, and later on his aunt and uncle, Julie and Bruce Buddenberg, with weekend chores.
“I really enjoy milking cows,” Monroe said. At the age of 14, he pursued another nearby job opportunity at Dennis Turn to MONROE | Page 13
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OSSIAN, Iowa – When Caleb Monroe looks at his herd, he thinks of all the effort and hard work it took to get him to this point. “You have to do what you have to do in order to make it work,” Monroe said. Monroe milks 45 registered Holsteins and Jerseys in a 50-cow tunnel ventilated tiestall barn he rents near Ossian, Iowa. In order to make his dairy dream work, Monroe milks four nights a week at two other area dairies: Buddenberg Farms owned by Bruce and Julie Buddenberg and their family, and Countryside Dairy, owned by Zack and Rachael Bushman’s family. “I really wanted to help these people out and didn’t want to get behind on bills, so I kept the jobs,” Monroe said. Managing his own herd and working for two others forces Monroe to keep a tight schedule. “I milk my herd at 6 p.m., get to Buddenbergs’ or Bushmans’ by 8:45 or 9 p.m., milk until about 1 a.m., sleep a few hours and then milk my own herd again,” he said. After working long night shifts, Monroe tries his best to nd a time for a nap. “A few weeks ago, we lled the barn with straw, hauled hay and then
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ConƟnued from MONROE | Page 12 and Eileen Linderbaum’s farm where he worked for six years until the week before he started milking his own herd. They milked 85 cows in a 39-stall stanchion barn just outside of Ossian. “I learned to really love it,” Monroe said. “That’s where I learned and obtained valuable skills and knowledge I still use to this day.” After high school, Monroe pursued education in the John Deere Tech Program at Northeast Iowa Community College in Calmar, Iowa. “I was planning to get a job after that, but the economy was so bad the local Deere dealers were not hiring,” Monroe said. “So I said forget it and decided to pursue my true passion.” To start his career as a dairyman, Monroe bought heifers and looked for a barn to rent. Monroe inquired at several farm sites in northeast Iowa, but to no avail. “Then one day [my current landlords] Jerry Olson and Dianna Mueller called me and said they had a dairy barn I could use that was only empty for ve years,” Monroe said. “They let me use his tractor and skid loader to help keep me from having too many loans at rst. They have been very good to me, and I’m very thankful for everything they have done for me.” Even though the barn was still in fairly good shape, there was still work Monroe needed to do before he could build a herd of his own. He bought a barn cleaner, xed the milking equipment and did lots of cleaning, among other things, to prepare the farm site. On May 15, 2017, Monroe started milking after purchasing 12 cows to put milk in the tank. His parents were there to support him. “I was nervous because I had to haul cattle to the farm that day and still
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Caleb Monroe looks over one of his favorite cows in the barn he rents near Ossian, Iowa. get to my night shift job on time,” Monroe said. “It was pretty cool though. It wasn’t like turning somebody else’s pump on. Nothing else compares.” From June 2016 to December 2017 Monroe also worked overnights at a factory job from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. “I would sometimes pull all dayers or only get two hours of sleep,” Monroe said. It is what he had to do in order to make his dream work until he had the barn almost full. “I really have a passion for what I do,” Monroe said. “I love the small herd aspect because you get to know every cow.” Since then, there have been a lot of ups and downs and learning curves along the way. “Farming has always been a challenge with milk and hay prices the way they are, but, there’s been a lot of good,
too,” Monroe said. “I started calving in my rst heifers with the MON-ROE prex and I really enjoy that. It makes me feel really good knowing I’ve brought the Monroe name back into the dairy industry.” Monroe purchases all the feed for his herd. Recently, he has made changes to the cows’ ration. Monroe used to feed dry hay and a grain/protein mix, but has since changed to feed dry hay, corn silage, a base grain mix and two different top dresses. One is four to six pounds of two fat products and distillers grain each day to select cows and the other is one pound of soybeans each day spread over four feedings. He also lets the cows out once a day to eat corn silage from the outdoor feed bunk. “I think the biggest challenges have been nancing, getting the fresh cows and heifers up and going, and nding
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What are your three favorite pieces of equipment?
John Offer Auburndale, Wis. Marathon County 60 cows What are your three favorite pieces of equipment on the farm? Our skid steer that we have had for about four years is the ďƒžrst piece. We have had two others over the past 15-20 years. A Hesston 55-56 tractor we purchased about 15 years ago is my second favorite piece. Our Polaris Ranger UTV would be my third favorite. How do you use each of them? The skid steer is used for scraping the cow yard, loading manure, and moving and loading big bales. We also use it for moving snow. Our Hesston tractor is about 60 horsepower. It isn’t our biggest tractor by far, but it is used the most. In the spring we use it for planting corn and on the grain drill. We use it to haul wagons, for unloading chopper wagons, and for raking and tedding hay. The Ranger is used for checking ďƒželds, hauling small items and basic transportation on the farm. What kind of maintenance do you do to keep them working properly? Regular oil changes, checking ďƒ&#x;uid levels and other basic maintenance is done on all three. How have these three pieces of equipment beneďƒžted your farm or made your work load lighter? The skid steer has made handling manure much easier and quicker. The Ranger has made it more convenient to check ďƒželds and saves time doing many small tasks. The tractor has never had a down day for repairs since we have owned it. It is just a handy piece of equipment for our size farm. What piece of equipment would you want to buy if money was not an object? Why? I would get a large square baler. We have a small square baler, which is reliable. In the past we have had some custom big bales done as well as making small squares. The past two years we have done fewer big bales because we have the small baler and it is cheaper than hiring someone to make the big squares. A big baler would be a time and labor saving beneďƒžt. Tell us about your farm. My wife, Shauna, and I, along with our three sons, Hunter, Peyton and Tanner, and my parents, Phillip and Gladys, operate Foggy Valley Ayrshires. We milk 60 cows with about 80% of our herd being registered Ayrshires. We farm 330 acres.
Joe Statz Sun Prairie, Wis. Dane County 5,000 cows What are your three favorite pieces of equipment on the farm? Knight feed trucks – 4 years old, purchased new; White corn planter – 1 year old, purchased new; Case IH 4-wheel drive tractors – 3 years old, purchased new. How do you use each of them? The feed trucks are used to feed all the cattle. The truck has a scale on it so you know how much each group gets. I fed cows on our farm for many years, and it was always fun to see the cattle line up at the bunk to eat. Then you could walk behind them to get a good look at everyone. The corn planter is 24 rows and is used to plant the corn. It is 60 feet wide, and it was always fun to plant the corn and see how many acres you could do in a day. I also enjoy watching the corn grow. The 4-wheel drive tractors are used to pull the corn planter, pull all the diggers to work up the ground, and pack all the bunker silos. What kind of maintenance do you do to keep them working properly? They all need to be greased every day and have all the oils checked. We also have to keep them somewhat clean so we can see out the windows. The radiators also have to be cleaned to keep the equipment cool. How have these three pieces of equipment beneďƒžted your farm or made your work load lighter? They all have made work easier, faster and more efďƒžcient. The corn planter has a lot of technology, including GPS. It knows where you have already planted and will shut off if you return to a spot that was previously planted. The cabs of the feed trucks are pretty fancy and very nice inside. The scales are easy to run and keep track of the feed and how much you feed each group. The tractors also have nice cabs and features, such as auto steering, air conditioning and heat to improve operator comfort. The tractor seats are very nice, as well; almost as nice as a fancy car. What piece of equipment would you want to buy if money was not an object? Why? We could really use new tractors and skid steers. Our small tractors are very old and are not as nice as the new ones today. We have 11 skid steers, which are also all old. Because of milk prices, we have not been able to buy a new skid steer in four years. Usually, we trade three per year. Tell us about your farm. I farm with my sons, Zach and Austin, and my cousins, Troy and Wes Statz. We have about 100 employees and farm 8,000 acres of land, raising corn, hay, winter wheat, winter rye and soybeans. We have all our own equipment and do all the work ourselves. We have two manure digesters to produce all our bedding for the cows. We milk 4,500 cows three times per day and average about 90 pounds of milk per cow per day. About 20 calves are born on our farm daily.
Steve Rozeboom Rock Valley, Iowa Sioux County 600 cows What are your three favorite pieces of equipment on the farm? Topping the list would be our pay loader, a Volvo L60E we bought new in 2005. It has 40,000 hours on it and has not given us a bit of trouble. Next would be my Samsung cell phone. I trade in my phone for a new one every two years. Finally, there is our AGCO mixer wagon tractor, which we purchased new in 2005 and has 28,000 hours on it. How do you use each of them? The AGCO tractor spends eight hours a day mixing feed for our cattle. It seems like I use my Samsung phone for everything; it is my mobile ofďƒžce, my personal assistant, and a photo studio all in one. The pay loader is an indispensable part of our operation. It is running constantly and handles all types of materials around the farm. What kind of maintenance do you do to keep them working properly? I regularly check for updates on my cell phone. We service all our farm machinery on a regular schedule based on the calendar, not operating hours. We change the ďƒ&#x;uids and the ďƒžlters, grease all the bearings and conduct a thorough inspection of each machine. How have these three pieces of equipment beneďƒžted your farm or made your work load lighter? They have all made things much more efďƒžcient. I couldn’t not imagine operating our dairy farm without any of them. What piece of equipment would you want to buy if money was not an object? Why? I would buy a set of robotic milkers to save money on labor costs. That is probably the direction the dairy industry is going, but it just does not pencil out for us right now. The brand of robots would not matter so much as long as they have good service behind them. Tell us about your farm. I operate the dairy with my brother, Brian, and our father, Glenn. We farm 540 acres and raise alfalfa and corn. We also buy an additional 180 acres of corn and 80 acres of alfalfa from neighboring farmers. We do most of our own planting and harvesting. We raise all of our own replacement heifers and feed out all our steers. We save money and time by doing much of our own machinery repair work.
Turn to OUR SIDE | Page 16
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ConƟnued from OUR SIDE | Page 15
Darrel Mosel Gaylord, Minn. Sibley County 50 cows What are your three favorite pieces of equipment on the farm? My favorite equipment includes a 2016 New Holland discbine, a 2012 1760 John Deere planter and a 1990 9400 John Deere combine. How do you use each of them? The discbine is used for cutting our alfalfa and meadow hays. We grow corn and soybeans so the planter has precision units and is capable of varying the fertilizer rates. The combine is used for harvesting corn, small grains and soybeans. What kind of maintenance do you do to keep them working properly? For the discbine, we regularly replace or reverse the cutting knives and also routinely check the oil reservoir in the cutting units and maintain the cleanliness of the crimping rollers. Each spring, I inspect all of the wear parts on the planter and replace them as needed. I regularly inspect the planting units for accuracy at least once every three years. I have the combine inspected by the machinery company and they will advise me on what needs to be replaced or adjusted. How have these three pieces of equipment beneted your farm or made your work load lighter? Before purchasing a discbine, I was using a haybine. The discbine has allowed me to cut faster and with less maintenance. The planter has allowed me to improve my seed placement and more appropriately place fertilizer. The combine ensures I have the independence to harvest when I want to as opposed to custom combining. I’ve also equipped this combine to monitor yield data, which will save me money and improved my efciency. What piece of equipment would you want to buy if money was not an object? Why? I would like to purchase a new nitrogen application unit. Currently, I use a 12-row cultivator for applying nitrogen. This is not always practical, especially if cultivating conditions aren’t ideal. Tell us about your farm. We currently raise corn, soybeans, small grains and alfalfa. We chop corn silage and haylage and make round bales as well as small squares of alfalfa and straw. We also put high moisture corn in the high moisture silo. We use minimum tillage as well as some no till. We are using the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) to improve our conservation practices as well as making the farm practices more efcient. We have a rotational grazing system for the cattle and have utilized EQUIP dollars to improve our pastures. We also have applied contour strip farming practices to reduce erosion on our more erodible soils.
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Joe Bragger Independence, Wis. Buffalo County 330 Cows What are your three favorite pieces of equipment on the farm? The rst piece is a Knight 3450 TMR mixer on a Mack 986 Garbage truck Chassis. The mixer is 20 years old and the truck has 20,000 hours. This TMR mixer setup was built by Chris Lindstrom and his team at Practical Applications in Durand, Wis. It is absolutely bullet proof. Other than routine liner and auger re-ighting this unit never lets us down, with extra weight for traction in winter we are able to quickly feed at our remote farms. Our skid steers are the second: John Deer 320D skid steer/ New Holland L170 skid steer. The 320D has over 7,500 hours with several repairs over the years and the L170 is older with lower hours. We bought it used in 2018. A skid steer to me is an absolute love-hate-hate relationship. I listed both skid steers as it is hard to favor one over the other when it comes to most makes and models of skid steers, A farmer once made a good comment: “It doesn’t matter which skid steer you get. Just get the one you are used to. They all break down.” Having been somewhat disparaging to our most used item on the farm, we could not farm without our skid steers. Our Hitachi EX200 excavator is the third piece of equipment. Without this machine, I would quit. It has 11,400 hours and has been owned with a partner for about eight years. An excavator is not normally considered a common farm machine, but they are starting to pop up more and more. How do you use each of them? The TMR mixers weigh, mix and deliver a complete ration to our dairy cows and heifers. It is nothing new or complicated, but it has to be dependable. The skidsteers do everything from cleaning and bedding stalls to feeding and moving material around the farm. There is never ending work for the skid steer and much of it is probably harder on it than it was built for. The excavator is an absolute blessing as it is always tiling, ditching, moving brush and of all things is a very useful portable hoist. We use it to repair equipment and set rafters on building projects. We even use it to transfer feed from a bunker silo very quickly. Each fall the remaining corn silage from the previous year is quickly loaded onto trucks and transferred to the front end of another bunker to allow us to feed well fermented corn silage as the new silage goes through fermentation and starch breakdown. This has helped us avoid a drop in milk production associated with fresh corn silage. What kind of maintenance do you do to keep them working properly? We have a lot of well-aged equipment. This is only possible with a lot of good preventative maintenance. All equipment is on a routine service interval. One of the best things you can do for your skid steer is show it love by constantly washing out the engine compartment and radiators. Skid steers work in a lot of dust that can quickly cause cooling problems and pose a possible re hazard. How have these three pieces of equipment beneted your farm or made your work load lighter? From feeding to cleaning to repair work, none of it would be possible without these three pieces of equipment, or at least it would certainly be much more difcult. What piece of equipment would you want to buy if money was not an object? Why? A telehandler would be on my list; however, we still have a lot of smaller buildings as well as our chicken coops. So
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Tom Miller LaCrosse, Wis. LaCrosse County 70 Cows What are your three favorite pieces of equipment on the farm? I have a 5-yearold Gehl skidsteer I have had for ve years; a 1999 New Holland chopper I have had for six years; and a 1991 John Deere 4555 tractor I’ve had for about six years How do you use each of them? I use the skidsteer to mix TMR and scrape freestalls, and I do a lot of digging and pushing brush with it. The chopper we use to chop haylage, oats and corn silage. The tractor is used for tillage and hauling manure, and it’s always the tractor on the chopper. What kind of maintenance do you do to keep them working properly? I change the oil regularly, keep them blown clean and pressure wash them. We go over everything thoroughly at least once a year. How have these three pieces of equipment beneted your farm or made your work load lighter? The tractor has denitely made us more efcient in the elds so we can cover more ground and get more done in a day. The chopper has done the same. It is bigger than the one we used to have and can take in more hay. The skidsteer has also been more efcient than using the loader tractor to accomplish the tasks we use it for. What piece of equipment would you want to buy if money was not an object? Why? I would buy another tractor – brand new 100-horsepower, with an enclosed cab, and all the bells and whistles. Tell us about your farm. We run 300 acres and milk 70 cows. My daughter, Erin, takes care of the cows, doing daily record, the A.I. work, etc. My son, Riley, helps with a lot of the xing and maintenance when he’s not at his job; and my other son, Tyler, helps with running equipment – roundbailing, running the chopper, etc. – when he’s not at work. we will be stuck with skid steers for the considerable future. We should consider milking parlor upgrades. It is kind of interesting that many of us will spend a huge amount of dollars on tractors and equipment when in reality the most used piece of equipment on the farm is the milking center. Improvements in cow ow efciency of labor and data generations would quickly provide a good return. Having said that, being on our fth year in a dairy economic downturn will provide a nice backlog of equipment upgrade or replacement wishes. Tell us about your farm. Bragger Family Dairy consists of 330 cows, started by Swiss immigrants Josef and Hildegard Bragger. It is now operated by two of their sons, Joe and Dan, along with their families and a great team of employees under the ever-watchful eye of Hildegard. Joe and Noel Bragger have four children, Rosli, John, Tessa and Allison. Noel teaches at St. Boniface Catholic School and raises 60,000 pullets annually for Pilgrim’s Pride. Dan and Mary have three children, Anna, Morgan and Gavin. They also operate two poultry barns. Bragger Family Dairy is tucked away into the hills and valleys of the driftless area of Buffalo County. The topography of region dictates much of the size, scale and no-till farming practices of the farm.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019 • Page 17
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Page 18 • Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019
Designs for a robotic facility
Dougherty presents considerations for barns with automated milking By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
CALMAR, Iowa – Brian Dougherty, University of Iowa extension ag engineering eld specialist, presented “Design considerations for robotic milking barns” Aug. 27 during a Dairy Design Workshop at the dairy center in Calmar, Iowa. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach hosted the workshop. When designing a robotic barn, Dougherty said the main priorities should be cow comfort and health to promote high milk production and functionality in order to achieve an efcient work ow. “A robot doesn’t solve animal health, welfare or labor challenges – it’s all about barn design and management,” Dougherty said. The goal with robots is to get the cows milked three times per day. There are two ways to design a barn for cows to go to the robot: free trafc ow or guided trafc ow. In a free ow barn, cows have access to all areas – robot, feed alley, stalls or water – at all times. In a guided ow set up, cows can only have access to feed and stalls after passing through the
robot. There is also a guided ow with pre-selection design, which allows access to the feed and stalls if they have been milked recently. There are benets to each design. A free ow design promotes longer resting time while guided ow reduces the number of fetch cows. “With good management, both designs can work well,” Dougherty said. However, each design also has challenges. A guided ow means more standing time and less eating for the cows. The free ow means more fetch cows. Dougherty said there is a preference among farms for free ow designs. In order to make this type of design work, there needs to be at least 20 feet of open space in front of the robot along with escape routes for timid cows. Cow trafc in front of the robot should be minimal. “You want that area to be comfortable, but you don’t necessarily want that area to be a lot more comfortable than the rest of the barn because you don’t want all the cows hanging out in that area and creating crowding in front of the robot,” Dougherty said. Also put brushes away from the robot entrance and
give high quality feed in the robots in order to entice the cows in to be milked. For a successful guided trafc ow design, provide multiple routes to the robot if possible, create open space on all sides of selection gates for good cow ow and avoid commitment pens. “That way if that cow was milked just a few hours ago and she can’t go through the robot again, she can go back and lay down or go eat rather than being stuck in the commitment pen,” Dougherty said. When retrotting, Dougherty said farmers need to be careful not to take the easy route short turn. Many times location is chosen to minimize disturbance during construction. “Obviously that’s a concern, but you want to be careful you don’t do a design primarily because that’s what works during construction and ends up costing you in the long run,” Dougherty said. The facility also needs to be up to par to handle the robots. “If that old barn has poor ventilation, poor cow comfort, the robot’s not going to solve any of those challenges,” Dougherty said. Once the trafc ow is chosen, there are many robot orientation options: sideway, crossway, L-shape, tollgate and herringbone.
A general recommendation for cow entry direction is to face all robots the same way if possible. There are three options for footbaths. “Footbaths can be a real challenge in robotic barns,” Dougherty said. It can be placed in the robot exit lane, but it can discourage visits to the robot. A second option is to put it away from the robot in a crossover alley and walk all the cows through one to two times per week. The third option is to have a dedicated lane coming out of the robot just for the footbath. Gate design is a critical element of the design process. Custom-made gates will increase cost but save on labor if it allows the movement of cows with only one person. “Really think through your gating design about how you’re going to move those cows around with one person,” Dougherty said. “That will save you a lot of headaches in the long run.” There are several types of gate designs, including ip, sort pole and nger. “Fetch pens are another component that’s really important,” Dougherty said. Dougherty suggested a split entry fetch pen with a training gate. “This is a good way to train heifers and get them used to the robot before they start
milking,” he said. Group handling can be complicated with no set milking times. Dougherty said most farmers use headlocks. “It makes life easier, but it has a lot of drawbacks,” he said. It disrupts cow ow. Another option is to have a dedicated sort area after the robot with a few headlocks so certain cows can be programmed to sort into that pen on a specic day. For manure management, try to avoid tire scraping in robotic barns. “It’s a huge hassle to scrape a barn when the cows are in there,” Dougherty said. The ideal situation would be to use automatic scrapers, a ush system or slated oors. Perimeter feeding has a lot of advantages, Dougherty said. Cows can be moved easily between groups and they do not have to cross the feed alley. Group sizes can also be more exible. The robots can be in the center of the barn, which makes it easier for labor to have it all in one space. There is extra feed and headlock space and no stalls on the perimeter means they are protected from the elements that get in from the sides of the barn. “There’s no such thing as an ideal barn,” Dougherty said. But it can get close by following recommendations from others in the industry.
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VANDE HEY DAIRY, Bruce Vande Hey WRIGHTSTOWN, WISCONSIN 490 Holsteins and Jerseys 91 lbs/cow/day 130,000 SCC “Udder Comfort™ doesn’t cost money, it makes money. It’s a no-brainer when you see how quickly it softens up the udders,” says Bruce Vande Hey, milking 490 cows and raising and selling fresh heifers near Wrightstown, Wisconsin. The herd produces 91 lbs/cow/day, with 130,000 SCC. “People try to switch me to other products, but I’m not interested. Udder Comfort is the one. We started out 10 years ago using it just for mastitis. Then we went to spraying just the fresh udders with obvious edema. Now, for more than 7 years, we use it routinely on every fresh udder. “From the time they calve until they leave the fresh group (6 to 8 days), fresh cows all get Udder Comfort 2x/day. “We also start our prefresh 2-year-olds with Udder Comfort. We put balage down that they love, lock them in, and spray udders 1x/day for a week before calving. They also get it in the parlor while in the fresh group. It’s amazing how it works. Trust me, if Udder Comfort didn’t work, I wouldn’t be using it.”
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Page 20 • Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019
LEGENDARY COW
No. 188 stands out in the herd
Regnier impressed with cow’s longevity, durability
producing well. “She’s just an all-around good cow,” Regnier said. “She’s very durable.” ST. CLOUD, Minn. – No. 188 was born as a Dave Regnier approaches set of twin heifers. Her sisa huge Holstein with calm- ter lasted a couple lactations ness, and she looks up for a before she left the farm, scratch on the nose. producing nowhere near the He is, of course, petting level of No. 188 at the time. No. 188, the top-producing This cow was listed on and longest-living cow on Stearns County Dairy Herd Hunstinger Hillcrest Farm. Improvement Association’s “She’s always been one list of top 25 milk producers of the best cows,” Regnier in the county, with 287,000 said. pounds of lifetime producRegnier milks 80 cows tion in January 2019. on his father-in-law, Carol She is a presence in the Hunstinger’s, farm site in barn: a large, mostly white Stearns County near St. animal with wide hips and a Cloud, Minn. relaxed demeanor. One can approach her with“She’s had 10 lactations out much excitement. and she’s 13 years old, For as old as she is, she is quite so we can always count mobile and gets around ne. on her for a calf.” The only issue Regnier has DAVE REGNIER, DAIRY FARMER had with her is a few cases of mastiNo. 188 is a farm favortis along with a bit higher soite. She has been around for matic cell count as she ages. a long time, too. In fact, the “She’s in great physical 13-year-old Holstein is on her 10th lactation and still shape for her age,” Regnier By Danna Sabolik
danna.s@dairystar.com
DANNA SABOLIK/DAIRY STAR
No. 188 relaxes in the barn Sept. 10 on HunsƟnger Hillcrest Farm near St. Cloud, Minn. No. 188 is the oldest and has the highest lifeƟme producƟon on the farm, which is run by Dave Regnier.
said. “She always settles, milks well and her production is easily over 300,000 pounds in her lifetime.” No. 188’s fertility is very reliable, and Regnier doesn’t have to worry about her during pregnancy checks. “She’s had 10 lactations and she’s 13 years old, so we can always count on her for a
calf,” Regnier said. In her lifetime, this cow has had a pretty even split between producing heifer and bull calves. Of her offspring, their longevity has also been unprecedented. “She has a couple daughters and a couple granddaughters in the herd with her now, and they are also
good cows; but they’re not her,” Regnier said. Not only is she a great milking cow, her disposition is also something to note. “She’s very friendly and never gets too worked up,” Turn to REGNIER | Page 22
Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019 • Page 21
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3 JD S690, ‘14, PRWD, Dls, 1732 hrs., 1303 Sep, #145222$224,900 17 JD S770, ‘18, 2WD, Dls, 304 hrs., 228 Sep, #156063 .....$329,500 14 JD S770, ‘18, 244 hrs., 190 Sep, #155380 .....................$389,500 7 JD S780, ‘18, PRWD, Dls, 385 hrs., 268 Sep, #159539 ...$421,900 6 JD S780, ‘18, PRWD, Dls, 343 hrs., 259 Sep, #153997 ...$439,500 15 JD S780, ‘18 PRWD, 333 hrs., 241 Sep, #157785...........$430,000 16 JD S780, ‘18, PRWD, Dls, 342 hrs., 279 Sep, #154461 ...$425,000 16 JD S780, ‘18, PRWD, Dls, 401 hrs., 327 Sep, #154560 ...$425,250 16 JD S780, ‘18, PRWD, Dls, 400, 283 Sep, #157911..........$420,000 10 Pickett Twin Master, ‘14, #159226 ...........................$148,500 COMBINE PLATFORMS 14 Case IH 1020-30F, ‘04, 30’, #161430 .............................$10,900 4 JD 620F, ‘12, 20’, #152753..............................................$23,900 7 JD 625F, ‘08, #155436 ....................................................$19,900 6 JD 625F, ‘12, 25’, #142196 ..............................................$23,900 5 JD 625F, ‘14, #155236 ....................................................$25,900 17 JD 630F, ‘14, #155241 ....................................................$31,000 7 JD 630F, ‘15, 30’, #161556 ..............................................$33,900 6 JD 630F, ‘06, 30’ #161535 ...............................................$13,500 1 JD 630F, ‘06, 30’ #143427 ...............................................$21,500 5 JD 630F, ‘04, 30’ #151382 ................................................$11000 5 JD 630F, ‘14, 30’, #154411 ...............................................$33900 8 JD 630F, ‘17, #155371 .....................................................$38900 3 JD 630F, ‘04, 30’, #159502 ................................................. $9900 4 JD 635F, ‘08, 35’, #150767 ...............................................$18900 10 JD 635F, ‘05, 35’, #151340 ...............................................$13500 17 JD 635F, ‘12, 35’, #144268 ...............................................$18900 17 JD 635F, ‘10, 35’, #157461 ...............................................$22600 7 JD 635F, ‘06, 35’, #140683 ...............................................$11900 7 JD 635F, ‘09, #156903 .....................................................$20900 6 JD 635F, ‘10, 35’, #148646...............................................$21900 1 JD 635F, ‘12, 35’, #143927 ..............................................$18900 1 JD 635F, ‘08, 35’, #145292 ...............................................$14900 1 JD 635F, ‘13, #155656 ....................................................$28900 15 JD 635F, ‘11, 35’, #147914 ...............................................$23650 15 JD 635F, ‘04, 35’, #150449 ..............................................$12,900 15 JD 635F, 35’, #153335 .....................................................$27500 15 JD 635F, ‘12, #155219 .....................................................$23500 15 JD 635F, ‘13, #155556 .....................................................$27500 16 JD 635F, ‘12, 35’, #161644...............................................$33500 5 JD 635F, ‘11, 35’, #152874 ..............................................$21900 5 JD 635F, ‘11, 35’, #153865 ...............................................$22900 5 JD 635F, ‘10, #155411 .....................................................$21500 14 JD 635F, ‘14, 35’, #153334 ...............................................$35425 14 JD 635F, ‘14, 35’, #161782...............................................$27900 14 JD 635F, ‘09, 35’, #161084 ...............................................$18900 14 JD 635F, ‘10, 35’, #161778 ..............................................$21900 8 JD 635FD, ‘14, 35’, #145209 ............................................$59500 16 JD 640FD, ‘14, 40’, #144272.............................................$64900 5 JD 640FD, ‘13, 40’, #153979.............................................$58500 11 JD 640FD, ‘15, 40’, #150113 ............................................$69500 14 JD 640FD, ‘14, 40’, #144274.............................................$64900 16 JD 645FD, ‘17, 45’, #154190.............................................$89500 10 JD 920F, ‘91, 20’, #161327 ................................................. $4500 7 JD 930F, ‘01, 30’, #151145 ................................................. $9750 7 MacDon FD75-40, ‘14, 40’, #161695...............................$45900
209,500
JD S690, 2013, 1318 hrs.,967 Sep $ Hrs., #140845
CORN & ROW CROP HEADERS 7 JD 893, ‘95, 8R30” #146709 .......................................... $15,900 14 Case IH 1083, ‘94, 8R30”, #161429 .................................$5,900 6 JD 1291, ‘05, 12R 22”, #152339 .................................... $15,900 4 JD 1293, ‘96, #156056 .................................................. $17,500 10 JD 606C, ‘13, 6R30”, #151339 ....................................... $45,900 2 JD 608C, ‘13, 8R30, #149199 ....................................... $54,500 17 JD 608C, ‘11, 8R30”, #145585....................................... $44,500 17 JD 608C, ’14, 8R30”, #154118 ....................................... $62,000 6 JD 608C, ‘13, 8R30”, #150550 ....................................... $56,000 6 JD 608C, ‘14, 8R30”, #153953 ....................................... $62,000 1 JD 608C, ‘09, 8R30”, #143428 ....................................... $35,900 5 JD 608C, ‘12, 8R30”, #148141........................................ $49,500 5 JD 608C, ‘16, #156127 .................................................. $72,500 11 JD 608C, ‘12, 8R30”, #143875 ....................................... $49,500 8 JD 608C, ‘16, #155387 .................................................. $72,500 14 JD 608C, ‘11, 8R30”, #149076 ....................................... $45,900 1 JD 612C, ‘13, 12R30”, #151998 ..................................... $52,800 15 JD 612C, ‘14, 12R30”, #151308 ..................................... $83,500 15 JD 612C, ‘13, #155555 .................................................. $54,500 16 JD 612C, ‘09, 12R30”, #144257 ..................................... $41,900 16 JD 612C, ‘17, 12R 30”, #154189 .................................... $99,500 11 JD 612C, ‘15, 12R30”, #145281 ..................................... $82,900 8 JD 612C, ‘13, 12R22”, #151723...................................... $77,500 8 JD 612C, ‘14, 12R22”, #153843 ..................................... $87,500 17 JD 612C StalkMaster, ‘11, 12R30”, #151602............... $46,325 16 JD 618C, ‘13, 18R22”, #157585 .................................... $109500 16 JD 618C, ‘13, 18R22”, #161699 ..................................... $94,500 5 JD 618C, ‘13, #156664 ................................................ $109,500 14 JD 618C, ‘14, 18R22”, #160535 ................................... $116,900 3 JD 618C, ‘14, 18R22”, #154665 ..................................... $95,900 8 JD 708C, ‘18, 8R30”, #143017 ....................................... $82,900 8 JD 708C, ‘18, #155386 .................................................. $84,900 8 JD 712C, ‘18, 12R22”, #158176 ................................... $123,900 16 Geringhoff RD 600, ‘06, 6R30”, #161526 .................... $17,500 RIPPERS 2 JD 512, ‘07, #153699..................................................... $18,900 14 JD 512, ’13, #150305 .................................................... $29,500 14 JD 512, ‘99, #151026..................................................... $12,900 7 Case IH 870, ‘12, #160721 ........................................... $43,900 1 Case IH 870, ‘13, #146717 ............................................ $49,500 14 Case IH 870, ‘15, #156293 ........................................... $45,000 14 Case IH 870, ‘14, #157580 ........................................... $39,750 15 Case IH 875, ‘14, #150892 ........................................... $62,900 15 Case IH 875, ‘14, #153971 ........................................... $59,500 17 JD 2700, ‘07, #151561 .................................................. $17,900 1 JD 2700, ‘04, #160784 .................................................. $10,900 8 JD 2720, ‘14, #155362 .................................................. $37,900 8 JD 2720, ‘13, #161404 .................................................. $34,900 4 JD 2730, ‘16, #143847 .................................................. $59,500 7 JD 2730, ‘15, #152025 .................................................. $87,205 11 JD 2730, ‘15, #143523 .................................................. $79,500 8 Kuhn 4850, ‘15, #154000 ............................................. $34,900 17 Sunflower 4233-19, #161667 .................................... $29,500 10 Krause 4850-18, ‘07, #152120.................................... $19,500 3 Tebben DT7M24, ‘16, #155258 ................................... $10,995 5 Wil-Rich V957DDR, ‘05, #143841 ............................... $15,500
176,000
JD S780, 2018, $ 337 hrs., 279 Sep Hrs., #154461
425,000
Page 22 • Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019
ConƟnued from REGNIER | Page 20
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PHOTO SUBMITTED
No. 614 is a daughter of No. 188, Dave Regnier’s topproducing cow on HunsƟnger Hillcrest Farm near St. Cloud, Minn. No. 614 is on her rst lactaƟon while No. 188 is on her 10th.
Regnier said. “She’s a very reliable cow. We sure like her.” Regnier did keep a bull calf of hers to breed to a few of the heifers, allowing the family to keep her genetics running through the herd at Hunstinger Hillcrest Farm. The farm is in a bit of a transition now, having
“And, she had a great lineage going, which will be fun to watch as they get older.” DAVE REGNIER, DAIRY FARMER
downsized from milking around 115 cows. “We want to be self-sufcient, which is hard when you continue to grow,” Regnier said. “Right now, there are a few family members and a neighbor who help out, but that’s it.” They also run 500 acres of cropland to corn, hay and soybeans. “We also wanted to be able to sell a little grain,” Regnier said. “We’re trying to diversify. Our production took a little hit, but our feed costs went way down, which was the goal.” While No. 188 is not yet bred back, Regnier plans to keep her around as long as possible. “She’s a great cow,” he said. “And, she has a great lineage going, which will be fun to watch as they get older.”
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Contact one of the following dealers to learn more: IOWA Kramer Bros. Monticello, IA 319-465-5931 Prairie Land Ag Supply Inc. Rock Valley, IA 712-476-9290 United-Suckow Dairy Supply West Union, IA 563-422-5355 Postville, IA 563-864-7417
WISCONSIN Advanced Dairy/Bob’s Dairy Supply Spring Valley, WI 715-772-3201 Ederer Dairy Supply Plain, WI 608-546-3713 Joe’s Refrigeration Inc. Withee, WI 715-229-2321 Mlsna Dairy Supply Inc. Cashton, WI 608-654-5106 Professional Dairy Services Waunakee, WI 608-849-5043
Mondovi Dairy Systems Inc. Mondovi, WI 715-926-5777 West Salem, WI 608-769-2113 The Scharine Group Inc. Whitewater, WI 800 472-2880 Mt Horeb, WI 800-872-3470 MINNESOTA & SOUTH DAKOTA D&D Ag Supply Pennock, MN 320-599-4466
East Central Dairy Supply Mora, MN 320-679-1029 Farm Systems Melrose, MN 320-256-3276 Watertown, MN 605-886-7401 Sioux Falls, SD 800-284-0015 S&S Dairy System LLC St. Charles, MN 507-932-4288 Professional Dairy Systems Wadena, MN 218-632-5416
is a registered trademark of Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A. and “DeLaval” is a registered trade/servicemark of DeLaval Holding AB © 2019 DeLaval Inc. DeLaval, 11100 North Congress Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri 64153-1296. www.delaval.com
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Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019 • Page 23
Evers, Baldwin visit organic dairy
Gearings share farming story By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
MERRILLAN, Wis. – Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin visited Rod and Dan Gearing’s Oakdale Farm Aug. 21 in Merrillan, Wis. It was part of the Farm Discovery Tour hosted by Organic Valley Cooperative. The purpose of the day was to promote a discussion about food and agricultural policy and how it relates to organic dairy farmers, the cooperative and the organic marketplace. The Gearings’ century farm was established by Rod and Dan’s grandfather, who built their existing dairy barn in 1915 and farmed until his death in the mid-1940s. His sons, including Rod and Dan’s father, operated the farm until 1973, when Rod and Dan, along with their brother, Tom, took over. The brothers farmed together for about 10 years, when Tom took a job off the farm, leaving Rod and Dan to run the farm. The farm completed its organic certication in 2008 and joined the Organic Valley Cooperative. “We had some cousins who had been organic for about 25 years,” Rod said. “My cousin said to me, ‘Why don’t you just do the paperwork and change a couple of things?’ We were already leaning that way.” The Gearings decided to dip their toes in, growing some corn organically.
DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
Rod Gearing (right) explains how his family’s organic dairy is surviving the tough dairy economy to U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (from leŌ) and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers Aug. 21 at Oakdale Farm in Merrillan, Wis. The Gearings’ farm tour was a part of the Farm Discovery Tour hosted by Organic Valley CooperaƟve. They discovered the yield was similar to growing it conventionally, and made the decision to begin transitioning their farm. While on the tour, Doran Holm, a regional pool manager for the hosting co-
operative, told Evers and Baldwin about organic certication. “Organic food is the most regulated food in the United States,” Holm said. “The regulations were created by an act of Congress, the things these people
have to adhere to, both by the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.” Holm said organic farmers are required to farm without pesticides, insec-
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Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019 • Page 25
ConĆ&#x;nued from GEARINGS | Page 23 ticides, herbicides, antibiotics, GMOs or synthetic hormones. Organic dairy farmers are also required to graze their herds, with the cows on pasture a minimum of 120 days per year. “The great thing about it is not only do they have to graze, they love to graze,â€? Holm said. “Our cooperative goes way beyond the minimum for grazing requirements. When it comes to water quality, grazing cattle is one of the best things you can do.â€? Rod told Evers and Baldwin about the farm’s milking herd, which is comprised of a variety of breeds. “You’ll notice our cows are not mainly black and white,â€? Rod said. “We have some Brown Swiss, a couple of Line-
backs, some Dutch Belted and some crossbreeds. We are equal opportunity employers.â€? Rod said the diversity works well in their herd and they have plans to breed a few cows to a South American breed well-known for grazing and milk production. He also explained how their herd is grazed, as the governor and senator looked out over the cows on pasture. The Gearings use eight paddocks to graze with each paddock sectioned using moveable wire. A water wagon is used to haul water to the pasture for the cows. The wagon is moved each day, minimizing damage to the paddocks by trafďƒžc from the cows drinking. “When we get done milk-
ing, the cows come down to one of these paddocks. Every time they come to a paddock, we have a wire that we move along so that they get fresh feed every time they go to pasture,â€? Rod said. “They might be in this pasture for ďƒžve days, but every time they come out, they have access to new growth.â€? Rod told Baldwin and Evers how the pastures are rotated, and how the family can interseed into the pastures if needed, without using any tillage. “We rotate our pastures so that it is like a big clock,â€? Rod said. “We wish we had more land here to pasture. We have close to 100 acres of pasture, but we have heifers pasturing behind the barn and some smaller heifers pasturing by the
DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
Governor Tony Evers and U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin learn more about organic farming with other aĆŠendees of the ďƒželd day Aug. 21 at the Gearings’ farm near Merrillan, Wis.
DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
Organic Valley Regional Pool Manager Doran Holm speaks about the cooperaĆ&#x;ve at the company’s ďƒželd day Aug. 21 at Oakdale Farm in Merrillan, Wis. calf shed.â€? The family has a buffer strip between their farm and their neighbor’s conventional farm where they have planted a Karner blue butterďƒ&#x;y habitat. “It never gets mowed, so it is good for the environment and for endangered species,â€? Rod said. The herd is typically very healthy without much need for visits from their veterinarian, Rod said. “I got a call from our vet and asked if we still had cows,â€? Rod said. “[Being organic] makes a difference in cattle health. You just don’t have the problems. When we were conventional, we knew the vet and their children on a ďƒžrst-name basis because we talked to them quite often.â€? Like all dairy farmers, manure management is a priority for the Gearings. “In the summertime, most of our manure is spread by the
cows on pasture, except for when they are in the barn or the feed lot,â€? Rod said. “In the summertime, we usually have a hay ďƒželd that is kind of poor, and we take the hay off that and then spread manure on that ďƒželd. In the winter time we store our manure and try not to spread on frozen ground or in deep snow.â€? The Gearings treat the manure in the barn with a rock phosphate to help stabilize the nutrients in it, so the nitrogen does not leak during storage. “Manure is just another asset to the farm,â€? Rod said. “We do raise some corn for silage and grain, so the manure is a valuable asset to that land. We try to keep as much of the nutrients on the land as possible.â€? The Gearings use stripcropping for their row crops, with a hay ďƒželd on each side of a corn ďƒželd. The Gearings also use cover cropping to help maintain soil health.
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Page 26 • Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019
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Agricultural producers are reminded to consult with Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service before breaking out new ground for production purposes as doing so without prior authorization may put a producer’s federal farm program beneďƒžts in jeopardy. This is especially true for land that must meet Highly Erodible Land and Wetland FSA News & Notes Conservation provisions. Producers with HEL determined soils are required to apply tillage, crop residue and rotational requirements as speciďƒžed in their conservation plan. Producers should notify FSA as a ďƒžrst point of contact prior to conducting land clearing or drainBy Ryan Brunn age type projects to ensure the proposed actions meet Stearns Co. Exec. Dir. compliance criteria such as clearing any trees to create new cropland, and then these areas will need to be reviewed to ensure such work will not risk your eligibility for beneďƒžts. Landowners and operators complete the form AD-1026 - Highly Erodible Land Conservation and Wetland Conservation Certiďƒžcation to identify the proposed action and allow FSA to determine whether a referral to NRCS for further review is necessary. As a reminder, enrollment for the Dairy Margin Coverage for 2019 ends Sept. 20, 2019. If you have not yet made your decision, please contact your local FSA ofďƒžce and set up and appointment to complete your 2019 enrollment before the deadline. 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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My father-in-law, Keith, would have been 91 years old on Sept. 1. My mother-in-law, Ruth, would have been 89 years old. After Ruth passed in 1993, my husband, Duane, took over most of the responsibilities on the farm, and Keith’s adventures started. He drove all over the United States in search of Oliver tractors he could restore. As everyone knows, when you are retired, it is important to keep busy. He would call us to let us know he was leaving to go look at a tractor, and then return with a new project on his trailer. All along the way, he made new friends at every stop. With all this passion for these Oliver tractors, he started a collection, and boy what a collection it became. Annually he began taking a few of his favorites and displaying them at Badger Steam and Gas, By Tina Hinchley Rock River Thresheree and a Farmer & Columnist few other Old Iron Shows. The Rock River Thresheree is always over Labor Day Weekend, and would usually fall on Keith’s birthday. As he got older, many of his friends would meet up with him and have a party. This was important to do, while everyone was still around. His party was the highlight of the summer! Food, music, friends and family would all show up at his place and party until late in the evening. There was laughing, sharing stories, and making memories that would last forever. Keith’s party became a tradition. As the years went by, and friends passed, Keith’s party became even more important. The few that were left would get together and celebrate new marriages in the family and arrival of grand babies. The family was growing and the older folks were slowly not able to make it due to health issues or passing on. No one was forgotten. The photos of past parties were always brought out, and the good times were vividly recalled. When Keith unexpectedly died in 2009, he was the one who passed on that year. His many friends and family members attended his funeral and also the auction that followed months later. His display of over 70 Oliver tractors was put up for sale. We were all amazed how many tractors were in his collection! He had them packed and parked in his shed so tight it was like taking puzzle pieces out. It was a sad day when all were sold and everyone took home a part of Keith Hinchley’s Olivers. Everyone seemed to purchase a tractor or a few at the auction. As family members, we still try to bring his old tractors to the events. Mike Hinchley, a cousin, has a nice collection of tractors, and they have a little get together on the Saturday night of the Thresheree, but not like Keith’s. We nally made it happen after many years of saying “We need to all get together. We need to have a family reunion.” Just as it was when Keith was around, every year we seem to wish we spent more time with each other. It is important for our children to get to know who their relatives are and how we all t together. My sister-in-law, Marcia, put a few posts on Facebook, made a couple phone calls, checked on dates and rearranged things so everyone could attend. The plans all fell together very well. Our daughters, Anna and Catherine, helped tidy up the shed, and we all worked together to make the pulled pork, cowboy beans and lemonade. Duane secretly ordered a birthday cake from his favorite bakery because the party just happened to land on my birthday. It was a wonderful day to have a family reunion. We actually needed name tags because for many of us it was the rst time we had met or we have changed so much we didn’t recognize each other. Everyone brought a dish to pass: Grandma’s potato salad recipe, the favorite Special Klemp Bars, Catherine’s Cowboy Beans, so much food, and of course my birthday cake with ice cream. As the day went on and the photos came out, we all wondered why it took so long to get together. We visited and laughed about old stories. We watched the little ones just starting to walk and the young kids running, playing tag and just being kids. Cousins played together for just a few hours, while we remember when our kids were little did the same things. Time goes on, and we all recognized the importance of what the day brought to all of us. We are family, and we need to keep this party going. After taking a family photo, we all ate a plate or two of food. It didn’t take long for the little ones to get squirmy and need to get out and go for a walk. All of us walked over to see the cows and the robots. We took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch and watched the young parents help their little ones get a pumpkin. We took photos, laughed, and just enjoyed the day together. Just as Keith saw the importance of his party, we all agreed “this needs to be a tradition.” Tina Hinchley, her husband, Duane, and their daughters, Anna and Catherine, milk 240 registered Holsteins with robots. They also farm 2,300 acres of crops near Cambridge, Wisconsin. They have been hosting farm tours for over 20 years.
Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019 • Page 27
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Soil health, fertility part of the same puzzle Potassium, phosphorous, pH all play a role By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
ARCADIA, Wis. – UWDiscovery Farms and the farmer-led Elk Creek Watershed Group teamed up to host their fth annual Soil Health Field Day Aug. 14 at Maliszewski Dairy, operated by Ed and Darin Maliszewski, near Arcadia, Wis. Dr. Carrie Laboski of the University of Wisconsin-Madison soils department told those in attendance that soil health and soil fertility go hand-inhand. “Soil is amazing. As a soil scientist, I get excited about soil,” Laboski said. “It’s the most important resource that we have on this planet. A lot of people will say air or water is most important, but are we eating anything if we don’t have soil? Not really. Hydroponics will only go so far, and there are only so many sh out there. Soil is critically important.” According to Laboski soil has many functions. It serves as a medium for plant growth;
tell the difference in how different soils regulate water,” Laboski said. “Sandy soils don’t hold as much water. Deeper silt loams can hold water for quite a long time when it gets dry. We don’t think about that as much here in Wisconsin because we have a lot of precipitation, but if we lived in a place like Colorado, we might be thinking about soil as water storage a lot differently.” Laboski said many people tend not to think of soil fertility as a part of overall soil health, but in reality the two factors are pieces of the same puzzle. “Soil fertility ts into soil health in a lot of different categories,” Laboski said. “We need fertility, nutrients and pH for plant growth. When we think about habitats for organisms, soil pH is a huge driver for some organisms. We think about how well it recycles and the nutrient composition. The bigger picture of soil function does come back to soil fertility.” Soil pH plays a large part in soil fertility. Soils with lower pH have more hydrogen,
“We need to have that combination of having good soil fertility with good soil management practices to keep soil in its place.” DR. CARRIE LABOSKI, UWǧMADISON
a regulator of water supplies and a recycler of nutrients and raw materials; a habitat for soil organisms; and an engineering medium. “When you think about your different elds, you can
which impairs the soil’s ability to hold potassium, calcium and magnesium. Laboski said pH inuences the soil bacteria and fungi, and generally a pH of 6 to 7 is best for nutrient availability.
DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
Dr. Carrie Laboski, from the UW-Madison soils department, speaks at the Soil Health Field Day Aug. 14 at Ed and Darin Maliszewski’s dairy farm near Arcadia, Wis. Laboski told those in aƩendance that soil ferƟlity and soil health are two parts of the same puzzle. “Soil pH is the master variable because it does control so many different things going on in the eld,” Laboski said. The downside to having soil with low pH is lower productivity and increased erosion. Laboski encourages farmers seeing decreasing pH in their soils to make sure they apply lime to stabilize pH and possibly forgo the application of other nutrients if necessary economically. “Soil health is complex, it’s not just one thing, its many little things to work on,” La-
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boski said. “You really have to mind your Ps and Ks. You have to keep an eye on potassium and phosphorous levels in your soil.” A study Laboski has been conducting on a no-till eld at the University’s Arlington Research Center Farm since 2011 is providing her with interesting results over the years. “We have different levels of phosphorous and potassium: low rates of phosphorous, high rates of potassium, all the different combinations,” Laboski said.
Laboski said the study shows the importance of potassium in soil fertility and reported that in her study, soybeans only achieve about 40 to 70% of their maximum yield with no application of potassium, and corn only obtains about 5 to 20% of its maximum yield with no potassium application, excluding data from the 2012 drought. The study found soybean yield response to phosphorous only occurred when at least 80 pounds per acre of potassium was applied annually. Laboski found soybean production was the most protable when phosphate was applied at the rate of 60 pounds per acre. In the study, corn yield response to phosphorus only occurred when at least 120 pounds of potassium were applied per acre each year, with the ideal application rate occurring between 60 to 90 pounds of phosphate and 120 to 160 pounds of potassium applied per acre. “Based on how we look at this, my hypothesis is that when we have good fertility for phosphorous and potassium, maybe we’ll actually need less nitrogen,” Laboski said. Laboski said the plots where potassium and phosphorous had been applied to soybean growth and residue in properly balanced ratios, more crop residue remained on the ground, further helping with erosion control, allowing for the soil to better use the available nitrogen. “If we don’t provide adequate crop nutrition, it doesn’t matter if we use practices like no-tilling, we’re still going to get lots of erosion,” Laboski said. “We need to have that combination of having good soil fertility with good soil management practices to keep soil in its place.”
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Let your barn breathe easy Every barn that houses animals needs to exchange air between inside and outside so that the animals have plenty of fresh air to breathe easily. Lactating cows have respiration rates that range from below 20 breaths per minute (bpm) to over 125 bpm. Higher respiration rates are associated with higher body temperatures and heat stress. The amount of air inhaled and exhaled per breath can range from around 0.078 cubic feet per breath when panting to 0.155 cubic feet per breath when taking slow deep breaths. Cows can breathe between 2.3 cubic feet of air per minute to 9.8 cubic feet of air per minute. As cows breathe, oxygen is absorbed and transferred to their blood in the lungs and carbon dioxide is expelled. Respiration also helps cows remove body heat because the respiration air is heated and water evaporates from the respiratory tract. The amount of heat a cow eliminates by respiration ranges from around 15 to 30% of the total heat a cow By Kevin Janni must lose. More heat is expelled by respiration during heat U of M Extension stress conditions. However, excessive open mouth panting and drooling can lead to rumen acidosis. Barns have to breathe, too. They must continuously exchange air between outside and inside. Barns need to take in fresh outside air to maintain the oxygen level inside the barn and to expel carbon dioxide from the cows. Barn ventilation must also expel moisture from the cows that results from respiration, sweating and evaporation of urine and spilled water. Ventilation air must also exhaust other gases, odors, bioaerosols and dust. Finally, ventilation air helps remove heat that the cows generate. Farmers who fail to let their barns breathe adequately and exchange enough air will have more heat stressed cows in warm and hot weather. They will have higher humidity levels and gas concentrations and more condensation on cold surfaces in cold weather. Barns, like cows, need to breathe all the time all year round in all kinds of weather. Air exchange is required all day, every day Barns breathe in different ways. But in all cases, fresh air must come in and warmed humid air loaded with carbon dioxide and other gases must be expelled. Barns need air inlets and outlets. Many barns use natural ventilation for air exchange. Natural ventilation relies primarily on wind for air exchange. Wind blows fresh air in through inlets and stale air out through outlets. There is some natural ventilation due to air density differences which cause warm and moist air to rise in what is called a chimney effect. In warm and hot weather there is little air density difference to cause air exchange. One of the major problems with relying on natural ventilation is that wind speed and direction is highly variable so the amount of air exchange through a naturally ventilated barn is also highly variable. Sometimes the barn is well ventilated and sometimes the barn is poorly ventilated. Mechanically ventilated dairy barns rely on fans to exchange air. Many mechanically ventilated dairy barns use exhaust fans that blow air out of the barn. The fans create a slight vacuum in the barn which causes fresh air to enter through inlets. Inlets are key to good fresh air distribution. Inlets need to be properly sized and well distributed to get uniform conditions throughout the barn. Tunnel ventilated and cross-ventilated barns are mechanically ventilated barns. Some calf barns have positive pressure tube systems to blow fresh outdoor air uniformly into a calf barn without creating a draft and exhaust fans that blow air out of the
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Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019 • Page 29
PHOTO SUBMITTED
A naturally-venƟlated dairy barn uses mixing fans to generate air ow.
barn. There are some barns for lactating cows that have fans that blow air into the barn and fans that blow air out of the barn at the same time. These are sometimes called push-pull ventilating systems or neutral-pressure barns. With mechanical ventilating systems the amount of air exchange can be well managed year round as weather conditions change using good equipment and properly set controllers. Some dairy producers forget that their barns need plenty of air exchange year round. Sometimes they close up the barn too much in cold weather to keep the barn above freezing to avoid frozen manure or water pipes. This commonly leads to insufcient air exchange. Calves in calf barns do not generate enough heat to keep a calf barn warm in cold weather when providing sufcient fresh air for the calves. Lactating cow freestall barns that are at full capacity can be kept above the outside temperature, but the barn will usually be pretty humid and may have condensation problems on cold exterior surfaces. In all of these cases the barns are not breathing easy and neither are the animals housed in them.
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And then there was one Page 30 • Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019
The calendar page turned to September and the big yellow bus came down the road. Three excited, nervous, and happy boys stood giggling and dgeting in front of the zinnias only to pacify their worried, thrilled, and scared mom as she snapped customary rst day of school pictures. The mom hugged them, smooshed obnoxious mom kisses onto their cheeks, and scooted them onto the bus with last minute reminders of how to behave and to have a great day, and took a deep breath. The littlest, a spunky two and a half year old girl was still sound asleep upstairs. And the mom thought—and then there was one. Only one to keep track of in the barn today, only one to feed lunch, only one to pack barn snacks for, and only one to make me smile. It was a bittersweet observation. Ira is now in seventh grade, and is as obsessed with bow-hunting as many of his adolescent counterparts are with Minecraft and girls. He checks for deer in the morn-
ing, gets out the binoculars in the afternoon. Sneaks up to look out the attic window for a better view in the evening, has his hunting days marked on the calendar, and watches hunting videos any spare moment. He became an integral part of the farm this summer. He packed silage for all of third crop, can help in the parlor for a few-hours shift, and is my go-to guy if I need a skid steer job done. I’ve also promoted him to sorting cows with me – a job that he is in the learning stages of, but mastering quickly. He still likes to direct sandbox play according to his specications, and run amuck with the little boys, but is starting to show some maturity and strength. He had to pack the pile after school two days this week for fourth crop, and though it’s like pushing a cement block out the door to get him to move—once outside, he does a good job, impressing himself and the chopping crew. Dane entered fth grade, and is my chief babysitter. Cora loves her brothers dearly, but it’s Dane who she grav-
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itates towards. He will tote her around, sit and play or read, and is the most attentive brother if I need to run out and do something. When he wasn’t keeping track of her this summer, he was running around with Oliver, conducting intense scientic experiments on grasshoppers, or mowing lawn. He’s also very much my child when it comes to reading. If he has a book in his hand, he is oblivious Ramblings from the Ridge to present day happenings as he enters the world of Percy Jackson and the Greek Gods. He will help with baking in the kitchen, take the boys for a walk, and hang out laundry. He’s adding more barn skills to his repertoire, and according to Ira is never working enough. Yet, he is a great help in one of the most difBy Jacqui Davison cult jobs—Cora containColumnist ment. Henry took the leap into Kindergarten this fall, one of the biggest adjustments in school life as far as I’m concerned. He went from napping daily to no naps. Playing outside most of the day to having to sit, listen, and behave. The exhaustion and volatile temperament that follow my boys during those rst weeks of school is miserable for all. Pair this with farming life, and the instability of chore time, and uffda. He curled up with a kitten in the cozy chair in our vet room after the rst day of school and slept for an hour. Kindergarten is hard work. He has been the chief teacher for Cora, as she learned the art of farming in the sandbox this summer. That mostly means her learning not to wreck the bunkers and roads, or take certain tractors. I already miss our naptime book reading with Henry and Finley as they begin to learn to read for themselves in school. And then there is my littlest one, Cora. She is watching everything, repeating everyone, and is like having a play-by-play sports broadcaster attached to my hip. She has a few cows that she can recognize on the spot and it blows my mind. We had a tiff last week as I carried her through the dry cow pen searching for cows to move. “Mom, that’s Dia!,” she exclaimed. Without looking up, I told her Dia couldn’t be in this pen, she belongs in transition. She was insistent. I ignored. Until I walked into Dia’s oversized butt as we rounded the corner. She was right. I should have known better. Cora is fast, ery, and lls the barn with smiles. All the employees love to greet her in the morning, and she chatters away about cows. She kicks her boots off to run the feed alleys, and there are days when she’s wearing far less than that. She’s in her glory when she’s covered in dirt, sand, and food—making her a true pint-size, pigtail-sporting “Pigpen”. I will admit, I was more ready for them to return to school than usual this year. They were starting to become annoyed with each other faster, and tempers were aring, mine included. Though, on the ip side, I worry about how I am going to keep track of a speedy Cora when only my eyes are on that task. I also fret about school and all of the busyness it brings, along with the schedule changes. I already miss their help, and lunch time is a bit quieter with only one child. It’s the rst time in years that I only have one little one in the barn with me for all of morning chores. Cora and I will get along ne, and I’m sure the boys will do well in school. In the meantime, I’m going to soak up all the alone time with Cora that I can get. As soon as I blink, she’ll be jumping on that big yellow bus, too. Jacqui and her family milk 800 cows and run 1,200 acres of crops in the northeastern corner of Vernon County, Wis. Her children, Ira (12), Dane (10), Henry (5) and Cora (toddler), help her on the farm while her husband, Keith, works on a grain farm. If she’s not in the barn, she’s probably in the kitchen, trailing after little ones, or sharing her passion of reading with someone. Her life is best described as organized chaos – and if it wasn’t, she’d be bored. Esgate Rd., Anamosa Silo 8827 Maquoketa, IA 563-652-5125 Repair, LLC
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What to do with chronic high SCC cows
Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019 • Page 31
There are a variety of options for cows with chronic high somatic cell counts. You can sell them. You can ignore them and hope they get better. You can culture milk and treat appropriately. You can treat of them. You can do Veterinary Wisdom all a combination of things. But what should you do? Do you have a plan? Some farmers do not have any sort of plan and only address cows like this when the herd SCC gets too high. We can do better. First, why the heck do cows become chronically high, why do some By Jim Bennett never show clinical masColumnist titis and why do many show no bacterial growth on milk culture? Dr. Pam Ruegg from the University of Wisconsin-Madison believes these chronic cows are animals with failed inammatory responses that did not fully clear the organisms from the udder. Cows that are culture negative likely have low levels of organisms, below the detection limit. Clinical mastitis happens when the inammatory response causes changes in the appearance of the milk, swelling of the udder, or in the case of toxic mastitis, signs of systemic illness. Back to the plan: what to do with them? One method is to develop a subclinical mastitis plan for your dairy. It might look something like this: Following test day, subclinical cows are sorted into lists. The rst list is new infections. These are cows that were low on previous test, or in the case of fresh cows, low at the last test in the previous lactation, but are high on the current test. The second list is chronic cows. These are cows that have been high for two consecutive tests, or if fresh, high at dry up and after calving. Examine the list of new infections. Remove any cows that have been treated for clinical mastitis since the last test since they will be managed by your clinical mastitis plan. You might consider removing cows that are more than about 200 days in milk or more than 150 days pregnant since these animals will be dried up in the near future. There are not many lactation days left to pay for possible improvements in milk production due to treatment, and they will be treated at dry up soon anyway. The remaining animals on this list would be good candidates to examine for signs of clinical mastitis or to take samples for milk culture.
C l i the Culturing h milk ilk only l makes sense if you plan to do something with the results. Culturing the milk only makes sense if you plan to do something with the results. That something might be antibiotic treatment, or it might be culling if your reason for culture was to look for Prototheca, Staph aureus or other contagious organisms. Treating cows with subclinical mastitis is not usually recommended because of poor economics. The biggest reason is because you do not need to discard milk from untreated, subclinical cows since the milk looks normal, and thus, the cost of treatment is greater when the value of discarded milk is considered. However, if your farm typically has excellent milk quality and you need milk to feed calves, there may be no additional cost from discarding milk. A specic treatment plan for subclinical mastitis needs to be developed for your farm by your veterinarian, but consider that some cows infected with some organisms are likely to self-cure, while cows infected with other organisms are more likely to become chronic or show up with clinical mastitis in the future. For example, according to Ruegg, infections caused by E.coli spontaneously cure 80-95% of the time, but infections caused by environmental Streps only cure spontaneously 28-30% of the time. Facts like this are important when devising a treatment plan. Now look at the list of chronic infections. First, identify fresh cows that had a high rst test and high
last test in the previous lactation. Look at their records from the last lactation. Cows that had more three or four consecutive high tests last lactation should be considered as do-not-treat cows. This means that should they get clinical mastitis this lactation, they will not be treated, but milk will just be discarded until the appearance returns to normal. Understand that the appearance of the milk has little to do with infection status, and most cows’ milk will return to normal four to six days after abnormal milk rst appeared, treated or not. Cows that have persistent high somatic cell counts are not likely to respond to treatment, so marking them as “do not treat” saves money and hassle. Next, examine cows that have had at least two consecutive high tests. Cows that have four or more high consecutive tests (on herds that test monthly) are not likely to respond to treatment for clinical mastitis, so they should be marked as do-not-treat cows as well. Cows with two or three high tests should be put on a watch list. Once they have three or four consecutive high tests they should be marked as do not treat. Many dairies treat cows with clinical mastitis without looking to see if they have chronically high somatic cell
counts and thus treat cows that have little change of responding to treatment. To complicate matters, since milk returns to normal whether cured or not, owners and managers often think treated cows responded when in fact, they did not. Part of the subclinical mastitis plan should be monthly monitoring of the big three SCC indicators: New infection risk, percent chronic infections and percent high on rst test. They tell the story of udder infections on your dairy, and when combined with monthly rate of new clinical infections and herd SCC, indicate the overall udder health status on your dairy. Subclinical infections are a much larger part of that story than clinical mastitis, so having a subclinical mastitis plan will have an outsized impact on udder health. Bennett is one of four dairy veterinarians at Northern Valley Dairy Production Medicine Center in Plainview, Minn. He also consults on dairy farms in other states. He and his wife, Pam, have four children. Jim can be reached at bennettnvac@gmail.com with comments or questions.
What’s under the concrete
Page 32 • Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019
Imagine a scene 50 years from now. A demolition sand recycling lane and sand storage basin. The 200contractor is hired to tear down the rotted and by 100-foot basin was constructed 19 years ago where dilapidated remains of what once was Ocheda Dairy. sandy manure settled out between the freestall barn I’m long gone, Joe may or may not be around or and the earthen lagoon. As the dairy expanded and cognitive, and the third sand lanes became popular, generation may or may not we added the ume to the remember why Dad and IIn b freestall barns, and added a between county ffair i time i Grandpa did what they did. sand separation lane on one The contractor running the and silage harvest is always a side of the basin. We were remote controlled 50-ton good time for us to address a very fortunate the original excavator from the cab of basin was the right elevation his all electric Prius pickup major project on the farm. and size to make the sand will ask Vince why on earth lane work without adding there is a concrete oor any pumps. Even today, our three feet below another concrete oor with black manure system uses only one 30 hp oating pump in smelly sand in between. the lagoon. In between county fair time and silage harvest is The existing sand storage basin had two major always a good time for us to address a major project problems. The concrete we poured in the oor 19 on the farm. This year was the year to improve our years ago was designed for a skid loader and in
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places was less than four inches thick. Now we are moving sand around in it with a Class 6 payloader with a 3-yard bucket that is causing the thin concrete to crumble. I think every 20-30 years new concrete gets doubled in thickness, because I can remember pouring a feeding oor as a kid where we would Making Cents of Dairy place eld rock side by side inside the forms so the screed board would barely slide over the rocks. This was done, of course, to save money as concrete might have been $15 a yard back then. The new oor we just poured is 8 inches thick with slightly used packed sand for a base. By Dave Vander Kooi The second major Columnist problem with our basin was it was basically at. This made it harder to dry the recycled sand, because after it comes out of the ume water, it needs to weep gray water out for about seven days before being put back in the stalls for bedding. We also restack the sand at least twice in that week to help the weeping process. Joe, the site planning engineer we consult, and the concrete contractor all agreed a 4% slope on the basin sloped towards the sand ume lane would be the ideal way to stack and drain the sand. To start the construction, we needed to remove and replace the 4-inch concrete in the sand lane. This was the tricky part because cows create more than just milk seven days a week, 24 hours a day. We devised a temporary sand lane from some 24-inch dual wall tile pipe elbowed onto a sand wall sided lane angled into the pit. Fortunately, there were no major pipe malfunctions while the new 8-inch thick oor was poured. After that, the pours were literally all uphill. Once we had enough clearance for 8 inches of concrete, we did not have to remove the old oor. We kept packing more slightly used sand in between. In the corporate world, every project needs a payback, so let’s take a look. The project cost $120,000. That’s out of pocket not including the three or four people we supplied daily, or the payloader, telehandler, two excavators, track teleskid, light tower generator, air compressor, jack hammer and rolling packer. Yes, we have a lot of stuff. Corey thinks we should start a construction division. Back to payback, running a skid loader in 8-inch deep ume water with sand in it for two hours every day is hard on any skid loader. Figure $20,000 a year savings there, but add back in $8,000 wear on a payloader doing the same job in 20 minutes. Also, save 100 minutes labor a day for $11,000 a year savings. Our sand should drain better in the colder months resulting in buying less new sand in the winter. We still might have to buy some in January and February, but not in December or March. I’m guessing that is 20 loads of sand, which is an $8,000 savings. Add it up, and that’s $31,000 a year savings, or just under a four-year payback. I don’t care that much about the corporate payback way of thinking, so many good projects like this pay back in quality of sand, time saved and frustrations of a broken skid loader. Hopefully in 50 years, the third or fourth generation will have built a new dairy on a new site already before they destroy the old site. And I’m sure the new site will have places with concrete 16 inches thick. 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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Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019 • Page 33
Fall is for judging Fall is here with the cooler night temperatures, the mellow gloaming light of September evenings and later sunrises for morning chores. This time of year always makes me feel nostalgic for my fall University of Minnesota dairy judging team experience. The judging trip practices were some of the best memories of college days for me. There was something magical about traveling with the other like-minded team members to elite farms in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin to judge classes of animals from their herds that were their pride and joy. They told us about their farms and specics about their cattle. The rounds of team member introductions at every stop often included lots of laughs. Memories also included the special high-fat milk straight from the tank at a Guernsey farm, homemade doughnuts at another stop and all of Come Full Dairy Circle the team bonding travel time from farm to farm. Giving sets of oral reasons were the important part of every evening after a full day of judging classes. The feeling of relief when the last set for the night was given. Judging teams and contests remain a special activity for many 4-H, FFA and collegiate teams. The teams are practicing and preparing for the national contests all across dairyland. Teams will travel to contests at the National Collegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest at World Dairy Expo, in Madison, Wis., the All-American Dairy Show, in Harrisburg, Penn., the North American International LiveBy Jean Annexstad stock Exposition in Louisville, Ky. and the Accelerated Genetics Contest in Viroqua, Wis. Columnist The 4-H and FFA teams, as well as the collegiate teams, have likely worked hard all summer to get to the contests. Their coaches have arranged practices, listened to many sets of reasons and have taken teams to contests held at county fairs to get ready for competition at state contests. The team members are making memories of their own, and along the way they are learning life skills. The coaches, assistant coaches, host farms, contest volunteers and organizers all have many other options of how to spend their time in the summer. They have families, demanding jobs, cows to milk, sports, family gatherings and many other commitments. Still, they devote time and energy to dairy judging and are glad to do it. They believe in the values judging instills in youth. The kids also have other options, yet choose to be a part of a team, learning and doing their best. This, to me, is amazing. As I’ve coached our county team over the years, I have been surprised to learn of the people who are in many varied professions today who had been on dairy judging teams as youth. One who comes to mind is our high school choir director who judged in a national contest as a 4-Her, and who uses judging techniques to run his choir practices and performances. People talk about how the skills learned help them in their technical consulting, teaching, sales and marketing, or their dairy-related careers. Public speaking, quick thinking, decision making, condence and understanding another point of view are examples of what judging can teach. Knowing how to quickly analyze and make decisions with the ability to defend your point of view with direct and concise words is useful every day. The experience of being on a team and working together on a goal is another skill judging brings to some who may not have it otherwise. The networking aspect of traveling to farms and contest participation is also a plus. Rolf and I are excited to have our three children a part of the University of Minnesota Dairy Cattle Judging team this fall. Emily is a senior and the boys are just starting as sophomores. They are busy now with practices; and the contests will follow. The team has a rich history of competing in 96 of the 98 years of national intercollegiate contests. Mike, my brother-in-law, set the judging bar high as a member of the U of M Dairy Cattle Judging Team winning the national collegiate contest in 1978. We admit our built-in bias for the team as we were members in college. No matter the 4-H county, FFA chapter, community college or university team that dairy judging youth and young adults compete in, the skills learned and memories made will surely last a lifetime. No matter which contest a team competes in or what the nal results are, it is the experience and skills gained that count. It has been great fun to watch the teams succeed in the contests over the years. More importantly, it is totally exciting to watch the team members launch successful careers, coach youth teams, serve as ofcial judges at shows around our dairy region, and share their skills and passion for judging and the industry they love. Jean dairy farms with her husband, Rolf, and brother-in-law, Mike, and children Emily, Matthias and Leif. They farm near St. Peter, 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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Page 34 • Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019
Working double duty as farmers, custom harvesters Schlenders’ enterprise serves half-dozen area farms By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
WATERTOWN, Wis. – Troy and Ashley Schlender picked the perfect name for their farm – Never Rest Dairy. The duo runs a custom harvesting business in addition to their 200-cow dairy farm. Therefore, time to rest and relax is scarce. From Memorial Day weekend through nearly the end of October, the Schlenders are busy harvesting hay and
silage for approximately nine farms, including their own. They cut, chop, merge and bag the crops, harvesting approximately 6,000 acres per year from start to nish. “My dad started doing custom work in 1998, chopping silage for a couple close friends and uncles,” Troy said. “The business took off, and at one point, we were harvesting various crops for 27 different farms. Today, we have fewer customers but a larger number of acres. We lost some smaller farms due to the tough dairy
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
Troy and Ashley Schlender dairy farm and also run a custom harvesƟng business near Watertown, Wis. The couple milks 200 cows with robots and harvests 6,000 acres of hay and silage for area farms.
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
Custom harvest work requires high-capacity equipment like Schlenders’ New Holland self-propelled chopper. The chopper can ll a 15-ton truck in 3 minutes.
economy, which forced some farmers to sell out and retire early.” Never Rest Dairy is located near Watertown, Wis. Troy grew up here and began the transition of buying the farm from his dad in 1998. He
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Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019 • Page 35
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The Schlenders chop a eld of silage as part of their custom harvest business. – about a 40-minute drive. The dairy does not advertise its custom harvesting services and typically acquires new customers via word of mouth. The Schlenders set rates according to the UW-Extension custom chopping rate chart, and the recommendations of their bank and other consultants. Custom harvest work requires high-capacity equipment. The Schlenders cut hay with a New Holland tractor featuring a 30-foot triple
“We put in a lot of hours. But we love the work. Custom harvesting has been a great way to supplement our farm income.” ASHLEY SCHLENDER, DAIRY FARMER
mower and chop silage with a New Holland FR500 self-propelled chopper, which can ll a 15-ton truck in three minutes. They also use a 30-foot Oxbo merger and three trucks equipped with front and rear unloaders and one semi for hauling feed. The Schlenders try to be as efcient as possible with their time, purchasing equipment that can get the job done quickly, such as rear loading baggers. They also buy new equipment whenever possible to
avoid downtime expenses and the cost of replacing parts on used equipment. “We can do in one day what it would take someone else one to two weeks to complete,” said Ashley, who grew up on a dairy farm near Jackson, Wis. “And the farmer gets good-quality feed as a result. When you make hay in a shorter timeframe, the quality is more consistent. Also, it’s a huge time-savings for the farmer.” The Schlenders have one fulltime and four part-time employees on the custom side. Troy said the seasonal work can make it a challenge to nd help, especially drivers. The Schlenders receive a lot of help from friends and family members, including Troy’s three brothers. “We have a lot of equipment going to each job and need a minimum of six to seven people for chopping,” Troy said. Five years ago, the Schlenders started milking their cows with robots, which Ashley said has given them more exibility to complete chores around their harvesting schedule. Balancing the work of both their farm and custom harvesting business is anything but easy. However, the Schlenders embrace their hectic lifestyle. The couple also has two sons, Trent, 11, and Duke, 8, who are eager to follow in their parents’ footsteps some day. “We put in a lot of hours,” Ashley said. “But we love the work. Custom harvesting has been a great way to supplement our farm income.”
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Page 36 • Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019
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Family: My husband, Kyle, and I have two boys, Zach, 4, and Brady, newborn. Tell us about your farm. In addition to milking cows, we farm 247 acres. My husband and I, along with a few employees, take care of the day-to-day chores on the dairy farm. My husband takes care of feeding cows, heifers and dry cows, He also takes care of nances, does eldwork and maintenance on equipment. I take care of the calves, breeding and overall herd health. I also do some milking. What’s the busiest time of day for you? Typically early mornings and afternoon/evenings. Some days it is busy all day depending on what we have going on. Right now is especially busy getting into a new routine with a newborn. When you get a spare moment what do you do? I like to spend time with family, take naps or read a book. Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. I really enjoy watching our 4 year old run around the farm and help us with chores. He enjoys every-
Your hopes. Your dreams. YOUR LEGACY.
thing about farming, and it makes me happy to see he is getting the same opportunity we had as children growing up on a farm. It is nice to be able to raise our kids while doing what we love. What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the dairy industry? My favorite thing to do on the farm is milking cows. It is a great time to just think and it is relaxing for me. I enjoy watching the heifers become cows and seeing them develop as they get older.
Agriculture isn’t just a market we serve. It’s what we’re founded on. It’s who we are. Whether you have 5 or 5,000 head, our team members from Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin share an unwavering commitment to making your hopes and dreams very, very real. Let’s get started today.
How do you stay connected with others in the industry? Through social media or through neighboring dairy farmers. I am part of a dairy moms group on Facebook, and I have learned a lot through other dairy moms. It helps me stay motivated when times are tough. Who is someone in the industry who has inspired you? Why? My parents. They have led by example, showing me what it’ is like to be a farming family, how to work hard together and make time for important things in life even if they are little things. If you could give a tour of your farm to a prominent woman in today’s society, who would it be and why? Oprah Winfrey. I admire her. Her words and advice are inspiring. I think it would be a fun day to have her on the farm. What is the best vacation you’ve ever taken? Explain. We do not get away very often, but this summer we were able to go to the lake with my family. It was a very relaxing weekend. It was nice to get our son away from the farm to do something different.
Learn more at compeer.com. (844) 426-6733 | #CHAMPIONRURAL Compeer Financial, ACA is an Equal Credit Opportunity Lender and Equal Opportunity Provider. ©2019 All rights reserved.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019 • Page 37
Grazing dairy goats despite challenges
Prokschs overcome ďƒ&#x;oods, predators By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
GENOA, Wis. – Ethan and Jade Proksch are determined to adhere to the rotational grazing program they have embarked on for their herd of milking dairy goats, despite the challenges the topography and location of their farm, nestled in a valley deep in Vernon County, might present. The Prokschs shared their story of the challenges of rotationally graz-
DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
Ethan Proksch shares the problems his family has faced because of a major ďƒ&#x;ood event they experienced last fall. Proksch and his family milk 180 goats on their farm near Genoa, Wis.
The Prokschs’ goats are grazed within electric fencing on the dairy farm near Genoa, Wis. The family hosted a pasture walk Sept. 7. ing their dairy goats, particularly in the tion. herd consists of several breeds: Alpine, wake of last summer’s ďƒ&#x;oods and this About nine years ago, the Prokschs Nubian, Lamancha, Sable and Saanen. year’s heavy rains, at a pasture walk began their dairy careers milking goats, “I started out with two fainter-NuSept. 7, put on by the Great River Gra- and have grown their herd to its present bian cross babies,â€? Ethan said illustratziers and the Kickapoo Grazing Initia- size of 300 total head. At the peak of ing his journey milking dairy goats. tive. their milking season, the Prokschs have “That turned into 20 goats, and that Ethan and Jade are the ďƒžfth genera- about 180 milking does, with about 150 turned into 300 goats.â€? tion of his family to operate the farm. milking currently. In the winter, they The goats are milked in a swing-14, The couple’s children, Brantley, 4, and plan to have anywhere from 110 to 130 Turn to PROKSCHS | Page 38 William, 1, comprise the sixth genera- does milking at any given time. The
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Page 38 • Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019
ConƟnued from PROKSCHS | Page 37
WHICH BARN IS BEST FOR YOUR HERD?
Birds just love this barn. The webs in these trusses are easy nest areas for birds. They also restrict air flow which leads to poor ventilation and moisture buildup in the building.
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DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
Ethan Proksch explains the milking procedure in a swing-14 parlor Sept. 7 on his family’s dairy farm near Genoa, Wis. The Prokschs updated the milking facility about three years ago.
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manual rapid-exit parlor, which the Prokschs upgraded three years ago from a single-12. The Prokschs recently started using DHI testing to use as a tool for determining production of each individual. The herd average is currently about 6 pounds per doe, with the top doe having 14 pounds of milk on her last DHI test. “My goal is to get to a consistent 8-pound average,” Ethan said. Over the past year, the Prokschs have seen their milk price drop about $0.75 to $1.00 per hundredweight. They have also started seeing increased charges for milk pick-up and handling fees. The farm is about 210 total acres, 48 of which are cropland. Ethan uses 22 of those tillable acres to devote to rotational grazing paddocks for the Prokschs’ herds of dairy goats, hair sheep and beef cows. Prior to the ooding and the winterkill they experienced this past winter, the majority of their grazing pastures consisted primarily of alfalfa, orchard grass and brome. Ethan estimates the farm experienced about 50 to 75% winterkill of their alfalfa. “The milk production is better off of the alfalfa, orchard grass and brome mix than it is off of other grasses,” Ethan said. In addition to grazing, the Prokschs feed their goats a grain mix made of corn, beet pulp, and a goat protein pellet mixed with a prebiotic and a probiotic. The Prokschs are looking to make changes to the complexion of their herd, reducing size, as winter approaches with a potential feed shortage. “This year is going to be very, very interesting purchasing feed,” Ethan said. To help remedy that situation, they plan to only raise about 30 to 40 replacement kid does, with the rest either being sold or raised as meat goats. The Prokschs typically run about eight pastures to graze their herds, but after the ood damage they experienced last fall, they have not been able to use all of their paddocks, which have presented challenges with potential overgrazing and compaction of the lots they have been able to use this summer.
“This valley is ood-prone and there has been a lot of ooding, and a couple of extremely signicant oods that did a lot of damage,” said Vance Haugen of the Great River Graziers. “That is an unfortunate part of the story.” In order to help repair the ood damage, Ethan plans to no-till drill winter rye, red clover, tillage radish and turnip into three of the paddocks. “That way we can at least get something out of it this fall, plus in the spring we’ll have something to get everything turned out on to a lot sooner,” Ethan said. “From there we’ll go back to our alfalfa, orchard grass and brome.” Fencing for goats was one challenge the Prokschs faced when they decided to start rotationally grazing their goats, but they solved that problem with good fencing and training the goats to respect electric fence. “People say you can’t fence for goats,” Vance said. “Nothing could be further from the truth. Of course you can fence for goats, but you have to fence for goats. That’s the key to it.” The grazing paddocks the Prokschs run their animals in are fenced using ve-strand, high-tensile electric fence; however, much of that fence was damaged during the ooding. Ethan has received grant money from the Farm Service Agency to help rebuild fencing destroyed in the oods. The new fencing will be three-strand, high-tensile electric fence. The goats graze typically every day, however they don’t like going out in the rain. The Prokschs have also learned the goats will not go outside to graze at night, which they think is because of predator pressure. “The coyotes start howling at night,” Jade said. “I’m sure they won’t go out because they don’t want to be out there with them.” To help safeguard their herd the Prokschs have three livestock guardian dogs to patrol the paddocks and keep the predators at bay. Despite the challenges that grazing their goat herd brings them, the Prokschs are determined to continue to graze, feeling it is the best way to help make their dairy farm succeed.
Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019 • Page 39
Dairy prole
with Tyler Thome of Malone, Wis.
Tyler Thome Malone, Wis. Fond du Lac County 1,250 cows How did you get into farming? I grew up on my family’s farm, Red Tail Ridge Dairy, and became coowner with my parents, Joe and Diane, three years ago. What are your thoughts and concerns about the dairy industry for the next year? Prices and labor. What is the latest technology you implemented on your farm and the purpose for it? GPS auto-steer for corn planting, which features automatic shutoff and improves operator comfort. The tractor basically steers itself, and the technology shuts off rows according to eld shape ensuring no overlap, which saves input costs. What is a management practice you changed in the past year that has beneted you? Using fewer antibiotics. We carefully watch how we are using them and when. Antibiotics are expensive and not always needed, so before we give a shot, we want to make sure an animal really needs it. What cost-saving steps have you implemented during the low milk price? Watching our spending on new equipment. We only buy what we absolutely need. How do you retain a good working relationship with your employee(s)? Be interactive and do not expect them to do something you would not do yourself. Tell us about a skill you possess that makes dairy farming easier for you. My love of farming and willingness to work the extra hours because I enjoy it so much.
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What do you enjoy most about dairy farming? The variety of tasks there are to do. From animal care to eld work and even electrical work or plumbing, I could be doing any of these jobs depending on what needs to be done that day. What advice would you give other dairy farmers? Do not overcomplicate things. Keep things simple and try to make the work easy enough that someone else on the farm would want to do it. What has been the best purchase you’ve ever made on your farm? Teat scrubbers for the parlor. They are easier on the milkers and more consistent for the cows. Another great purchase would be fans and sprinklers for keeping cows cool during the summer heat. Energy-saving items like new lights and a variable speed milking pump are also purchases we are happy to have made.
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What has been your biggest accomplishment while dairy farming? We were the top herd in Fond du Lac County in 2017 for milk production, and we continuously produce high-quality milk. What are your plans for your dairy in the next year and ve years? We plan to build a bigger calf barn in the near future and possibly expand the dairy someday, not necessarily in size but perhaps through diversication. How do you or your family like to spend time when you are not doing chores? Taking drives around the neighborhood, going out to eat, and doing outdoor activities like snowmobiling and 4-wheeling.
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Page 40 • Dairy Star • Saturday, September 14, 2019
Classic 300E Milking Units
GEA Pulsators
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Now is a great time to save on GEA milking equipment upgrades Trade out your old milking equipment and immediately benefit by trading up to a better milking performance. Pick one item or upgrade your whole system. Ask your local GEA Milking Equipment Dealer for a quote and take advantage of the special offers going on right now! Your Local GEA Milking Equipment Dealers Advanced Dairy Solutions Centre Dairy Equipment Richland Center, Sauk Centre, MN WI 608-647-4488 • 800-772-4770 320-352-5762 • 800-342-2697
Fuller’s Milker Center, Inc. Monroe WestfaliaSurge Sioux Dairy Equipment, Inc. Fuller’s Milker Center, Inc. Midwest Livestock Systems Lancaster, WI • 800-887-4634 Monroe, WI • 608-325-2772 Rock Valley, IA Lancaster, WI • 800-887-4634 Menomonie, WI • 715-235-5144 712-476-5608 • 800-962-4346 Pine Island, MN • 800-233-8937 Leedstone, Inc. Sioux Dairy Equipment, Inc. Colton, SD J. Gile Dairy Melrose, Equipment, Sioux Falls, SD • 800-705-1447 Central Ag Supply, Inc. MN Inc. Rock Valley, Service IA 800-944-1217 Central Ag Supply, Inc. Cuba City, WI • 608-744-2661 Beatrice, NE • 800-742-5748 Baraboo, WI • 608-356-8384 320-256-3303 • 800-996-3303 712-476-5608 • 800-962-4346 Edgerton, MN Baraboo, WI • 608-356-8384 Juneau, WI • 920-386-2611 Glencoe, MN Chemical Sales 507-920-8626 Colton, SD Monroe WestfaliaSurge / Juneau, WI • 920-386-2611 Leedstone, Inc. 320-864-5575 • 877-864-5575 Service 800-944-1217 Koehn, Inc. Melrose, MN Centre Dairy Equipment and Supply Inc320-256-3303 Baraboo, WI • 608-356-8384 • 800-996-3303 712-476-5608 Tri • 800-962-4346 County Dairy Supply, Inc. Monroe, WI • 608-325-2772 Eastern Iowa Dairy Systems, Inc. 877-608-3877 • 800-996-3303 Juneau, WI • 920-386-2611 Glencoe, MN Janesville, WI • 800-822-7662 Colton, SD Epworth, IA • 563-876-3087 Glencoe, MN 320-864-5575 • 877-864-5575 Preston Dairy Equipment Service 800-944-1217 Centre Dairy Equipment and Supply Inc. 320-864-5575 • 877-864-5575 Sparta, WI Fitzgerald, Inc. Plainview, MN Sauk Centre, MN Midwest Livestock Systems, Inc. Edgerton, MN 608-269-3830 • 1-888-863-0227 Elkader, IA • 563-245-2560 507-534-3161 • 800-548-2540 320-352-5762 • 800-342-2697 Menomonie, WI • 715-235-5144 Chemical Sales 507-920-8626 Woodville, WI • 866-467-4717
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Owen, WI • 715-229-4740 Pine Island, MN • 800-233-8937 Sioux Falls, MN • 800-705-1447 Beatrice, NE • 800-742-5748