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DAIRY ST R
October 10, 2020
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 22, No. 16
Growing with the next generation Riemer family on expansion, improvement track By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
The Riemer family – (from leŌ) Rob, Tammy holding Chloe, 1, Rachel, and Jordan holding Vanessa, 2 – milk 190 cows and farm 500 acres near Brodhead, Wisconsin. The Riemers have been growing and improving the farm since teaming up Jan. 1, 2016.
BRODHEAD, Wis. – When Rob and Tammy Riemer began farming with their son, Jordan, and his wife, Rachel, in 2016, it was full steam ahead in growing and progressing the farm. To accommodate the return of the next generation and sustain two families, the Riemers increased herd size, acquired more land, added buildings, invested in technology, updated management practices and made improvements to propel the farm forward. “We’ve been taking really big bites the last few years,” Rob said. The Riemers’ most recent addition included a 64-stall freestall barn with calving pen, sick pen and holding area, a 2.2-million-gallon manure pit, stacking pad and feed pad. Cows moved into the new freestall barn in February. “The new barn is really nice for fresh cows,” Rob said. “We lost a lot of cows from late summer ketosis the last two years, but the new calving pen has been excellent. We freshened a lot of heifers this year, and the barn is lling back up. We’re really happy with the new facility.” Completed in July, the manure pit replaced Turn to RIEMER | Page 5
A passion for pumpkins Sippel enjoys growing the giants By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
ST. CLOUD, Wis. – For Derek Sippel, bigger is better when it comes to pumpkins. This giant pumpkin grower does not concern himself with color or shape – size is what he values most. Growing the monster pumpkin is what this dairy farmer sets out to do every spring. “Six years ago, I got a seed from a friend who grows giant pumpkins,” Sippel said. “I planted it, and once I saw how fast it grew, I was hooked.” The giants average 1,500 pounds and are big enough to cover a pallet. The biggest pumpkin Sippel ever grew weighed over a ton at 2,047 pounds. Sippel is a member of the Wisconsin Giant Pumpkin Growers organization and participates in weigh-offs during
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Derek and Nicole Sippel and their 3-year-old daughter, Mae, sit next to giant pumpkins grown by Derek and his brother, Cole, near St. Cloud, Wisconsin. Derek farms with his parents, Earl and Yvonne, and they milk just over 100 cows and run 1,000 acres.
September and October. At these competitions, pumpkins are weighed to see whose is the biggest. Winners receive prize money, but that is not why Sippel continues to grow the pumpkins. “It’s more for bragging rights and just having fun,” he said. Sippel also takes his giant pumpkins on tour, traveling to schools and businesses. He and his wife, Nicole, shared the pumpkins with students at the school their 3-year-old daughter, Mae, attends. “The pumpkins only last a little while, so we show them off while we can,” Sippel said. “When I see the little kids’ faces light up, I know it was worth the drive.” Sippel is a fth-generation dairy farmer who farms with his parents, Earl and Yvonne, near St. Cloud. The Sippels milk just over 100 cows at Airy Point Dairy and run 1,000 acres. In his spare time, Sippel can be found working in his pumpkin patch down the road at his home known as Airy Point Farms. Turn to SIPPEL | Page 7
Page 2 • Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020
DAIRY ST R www.dairystar.com
ISSN 020355 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave. Sauk Centre, MN 56378 Phone: (320) 352-6303 Fax: (320) 352-5647 Published by Dairy Star LLC General Manager/Editor Mark Klaphake - mark.k@dairystar.com 320-352-6303 (ofce) 320-248-3196 (cell) 320-352-0062 (home) Ad Composition Nancy Powell 320-352-6303 nancy.p@dairystar.com Consultant Jerry Jennissen 320-346-2292 Editorial Staff Krista Kuzma - Editor/Wisconsin (507) 259-8159 • krista.k@dairystar.com Andrea Borgerding - Associate Editor (320) 352-6303 • andrea.b@dairystar.com Jennifer Coyne - Assistant Editor (320) 352-6303 • jenn@dairystar.com Danielle Nauman (608) 487-1101 danielle.n@dairystar.com Stacey Smart - Staff Writer (262) 442-6666 • stacey.s@dairystar.com Maria Bichler - Copy Editor 320-352-6303 Advertising Sales Main Ofce: 320-352-6303 Fax: 320-352-5647 Deadline is 5 p.m. of the Friday the week before publication Sales Manager - Joyce Frericks 320-352-6303 • joyce@dairystar.com Bob Leukam (Northern MN, East Central MN) 320-260-1248 (cell) bob.l@star-pub.com Mark Klaphake (Western MN) 320-352-6303 (ofce) 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 Hoeer (Eastern Iowa) 320-250-2884 • amanda.h@dairystar.com Julie Barnes (SE WI and Northern IL) julie.b@dairystar.com Megan Stuessel (Western Wisconsin) 608-387-1202 • megan.s@dairystar.com Ashley Curry (Northeast WI and Upper MI) 920-539-7268 • ashley.c@dairystar.com Deadlines The deadline for news and advertising in the Dairy Star is 5 p.m. Friday the week before publication. Subscriptions One year subscription $35.00, outside the U.S. $110.00. Send check along with mailing address to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378. Advertising Our ad takers have no authority to bind this newspaper and only publication of an advertisement shall constitute nal 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 ofces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246.
A glance at the other side
Dairy Star likes to provide local stories, which is why we have two versions of the paper. Below are a few highlights from stories you will not nd in this paper, but you can nd online in zone 1. Find full editions on our website, www.dairystar.com, and click on the e-edition tab under the Dairy Star header. Elsenpeters commemorate farm’s 150-year history Dan and Luke Elsenpeter and their families are humbled to be carrying on the family farm that was homesteaded in 1869 near Maple Lake, Minnesota. Over the years, the brothers have made improvements, including transitioning to organic production, to remain a viable entity in the dairy industry. Schirmers takes dairying experience out on campaign trail One of the candidates for District 12B for the Minnesota House of Representatives is taking his knowledge of dairy farming on the campaign trail in an effort to represent the area’s farming community. Ben Schirmers comes from a 120cow dairy in Stearns County near Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Farm Life Creamery With two generations on their small family dairy, the Blase family needed to make a change to keep their farm progressing forward. They decided on adding value to their farm by making products themselves with an on-farm milk processing plant, Farm Life Creamery, on their 110-cow dairy near Ethan, South Dakota. While cheese is their only product at the moment, they are also planning to bottle whole, unhomogenized milk along with ice cream and butter. Farther into the future, they would like to have an ice cream shop, mini golf course and petting zoo to make the farm a destination for families. Seykora captain of three sports teams In his senior year at Owatonna High School, 17-year-old Matt Seykora will be serving as a leader as captain of his three sports teams in football, wrestling and baseball. When he is not playing sports, Seykora works on the 50-cow dairy farm owned by his parents, Brian and Mary Beth, near Owatonna, Minnesota. Although Seykora likes different aspects of each of the sports, he likes being on the baseball diamond most and wants to continuing playing in college next year. While COVID-19 has put a damper on some of these seasons, Seykora has persevered to nd other opportunities to play and makes his role as captain even more important than ever.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020 • Page 3
It’s all inside... Columnists Ag Insider
St. Cloud
Third Section: Pages 10 - 11
First Section: Page 39
First Section: Pages 1, 7
Dairy Prole: Zernicke’s Landstad Dairy LLC
Quality feed a cornerstone for Jenson
First Section: Pages 23, 25
Juneau
Auction donations benet 10-yearold’s medical expenses First Section: Pages 34 - 35
d
Vernon
Viroqua
Pages 8 - 9 Second Section
Richland
Lafayette Green
on
go
eba
n Win
Do or
Open-air calf barn benets Webers, Guttmanns
First Section: Pages 28 - 29
Racine Kenosha
Kane
Lee
Broadhead
Riemer family on expansion, improvement track First Section: Pages 1, 5 - 6
Rock Island
ders on
Mercer
Hen
First Section: Pages 37 - 38
West Bend
McHenry
Ogle
Whiteside
Argyle
aun ee
Ke w
Walworth
DeKalb
Love for cows, kids earns Dammens the Green County senior breeder award
For additional stories from our other zone, log on to www.dairystar.com
Jefferson Waukesha
Rock
ens
ph Ste
Carroll
Zone 2
Green Lake Fond Du Lac
Dane
Iowa
Grant
go ba Calumet
e nn Wi
Columbia Dodge
Sauk
Jo Daviess
Zone 1
Waushara
ett e
La Crosse
O
Adams
Monroe
ie am Brown
g uta
for
The “Mielke” Market Weekly
Elk Mound
Shawano
Wood
aw
Page 33 First Section
Oconto
Portage Waupaca Jackson
te
ton S he bo Milwaukee Ozauk M yg ee an anito wo c
Buffalo
Menominee
Marathon
Clark
Eau Claire
et
ing
Pepin
Chippewa
in
Wa sh
Pierce
Page 22 Second Section
Dunn
Menominee
Langlade
ne
St. Croix
First Section: Page 36
Taylor
ar
Bo o
Women in Dairy: Rikki Van Dyk
Lincoln
ce
M
Forest
qu
Barron
ren
Oneida
Rusk
New Richmond
Just Thinking Out Loud
Dairy Good Life
Price
Delta
Dickinson
Vilas
Flo
Sawyer
Cr
Page 32 First Section
Polk
Iron
Ma r
ur Burnett
Page 30 First Section
Making Cents of Dairy
Ashland
n
Ramblings from the Ridge
Sippel enjoys growing the giants
Bayeld
Douglas
Trempealeau
Page 27 First Section
Bonduel
Kids Corner: The Zajicek family
hb
Let’s celebrate
North Freedom
Wa s
Pages 8-9 First Section
n
re War
FROM OUR SIDE OF THE FENCE: What projects are you involved with in 4-H? First Section: Pages 15 - 16
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Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020 • Page 5
ConƟnued from RIEMER | Page 1
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This 64-stall freestall barn featuring a calving pen, sick pen and holding area is one of the most recent addiƟons to the Riemers’ farm near Brodhead, Wisconsin. New faciliƟes have helped boost milk producƟon with cows averaging 92 pounds of milk per cow per day. a much smaller pit measuring 2,500 cubic feet. Because they did not have adequate manure storage, the Riemers hauled manure daily for more than a year. “That was horrible,” Rob said. “But we had to do it no matter what the weather was like. Now, everything is 100 percent contained, and a lot of runoff is sent into the pit.” The Riemers milk around 190 cows near Brodhead. When Jordan returned to the farm in 2013 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, they were milking 100 head. In 2015, the Riemers put up a new 120-stall freestall barn and prepared to double the size of the herd with cows Jordan bought before Christmas. He and Rachel joined forces with his parents Jan. 1, 2016. “It’s not an ofcial partnership,” Rob said. “Rather, we’re farming together separately. Everything is split down the middle. We each get our own milk check, but we pay bills together out of one account.” Some loans are in both couples’ names, while others are separate. Because Rob and Tammy also have a daughter who does not work on the farm, they created a revocable trust with Jordan in 2017. “This allows him to sign real estate and have some skin in the game,” Rob said. Rob and Tammy own the real estate while cattle and equipment are owned
50/50 with Jordan and Rachel, who pay rent for their half of the facilities and land. “We split the cost for anything new,” Rob said. “Tammy and I foot the bill on the rst barn, but we weren’t going to do that for the second barn. We put up half the money, and Jordan and Rachel put up the other half.” Jordan is the fourth generation at Jordan Prairie Holsteins, which became a century farm last year. He and Rachel have two daughters representing the fth generation – Vanessa, 2, and Chloe, 1. Open-minded and willing to try new things, Rob was happy to bring his son on board as a partner. “I’ve had hired men before but not a partner,” Rob said. “There’s a difference – partners push back. But I knew Jordan and I could work together because we hadn’t killed each other since he’d been back from college.” Introducing new ideas that he sees fundamental to the farm’s future success, Jordan has switched nutritionists, bumped milking up to three times a day, added a heat detection system and more. “A lot of things are different since Jordan came back, but that’s a good thing,” Rob said. “The new stuff is awesome. I was never resistant to change. If you sit still, you’re getting run over. The heat detection system is probably some of the best money I’ve ever spent. Heat
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Page 6 • Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020
ConƟnued from RIEMER | Page 5
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The Riemer’s new freestall barn includes this calving pen which has improved fresh cow health. detection is not stressful at all anymore, and we have better conception rates.” The change in nutritionist coupled with new facilities has boosted the bulk tank. One year after building the rst new barn, the Riemers gained 15 pounds of milk per cow. Milk production continues to climb after building their second new barn with cows in the high group occasionally averaging over 120 pounds and cows in the 2-year-old and late-lactation groups sometimes reaching near 90 pounds of milk. “We have 2-year-olds over 30,000 pounds of milk, and we also have some 40,000-pound cows,” Jordan said. “The tank average is at 92 pounds per cow per day. We expect that to go up this winter as we near the one-year anniversary of the new barn. Butterfat hovers around 4% and protein at 3.2%.” Milking is done in a step-up walkthrough parlor built in the mid-1990s. Starting out as a double-4, it was turned into a double-6 in the spring of 2019. The Riemers started running more ground in recent years and are working toward better conservation practices that include no till and cover crops. Acreage has more than quadrupled growing from 120 acres in 2016 to over 500 acres today. “We got more cows before we got more land,” Jordan said. “So we’re chasing ground wherever we can get it. Our farthest land is about 7 miles away.” The Riemers are members of the Farmers of the Sugar River watershed which provides cost sharing on cover crops. “We planted cover crops on almost everything this year, and it all looks fantastic,” Jordan said. “We plant triticale in the fall as a cover crop, and we’re double cropping all around our buildings.”
The Riemers always buy some hay off the eld, and one year when they found themselves short on feed, they bought a bunch of sweet corn. “It makes excellent feed,” Jordan said. “This year, we’re chopping 150 acres of sweet corn.” The Riemers are working on a farm succession plan to transition ownership to Jordan and Rachel within the next three to ve years. The family is receiving help from the UW-Extension Dairy Protability Center in navigating the transition process. Much of the management portion has already changed hands from Rob to Jordan, with Jordan in charge of cattle and planting crops. “That part went smooth for us,” Jordan said. “Money is the hard part. No one can give you very good answers for the money side.” When Jordan’s Farm Service Agency loan is up in three years, turning the farm into an LLC is an option the Riemers might consider. “That might make it easier for Jordan to buy in with a certain number of cows and equipment,” Rob said. “We have to meet with our tax people and run some different scenarios and nd out what’s IRS compatible. We don’t want a big tax liability. We have a lot of different ideas oating around, and we want to make it good for both of us. Tammy and I have to get some return on our investment.” Planning to pay down on debt over the next three years, the Riemers have also had discussions with their banker and have toyed with the idea of leasing equipment. “We want to get the assets transferred least painfully,” Rob said. “We’re struggling to nd the best way to accomplish this, and we know waiting for somebody to die is not the way to do it. We want to do this right.”
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Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020 • Page 7
ConƟnued from SIPPEL | Page 1 Sippel usually produces two big pumpkins each year. “It’s a lot of work,” he said. “I start with a lot of seeds and then whittle down to the ones I want. I planted six giants this year and then narrowed down to two I wanted to focus on.” The following year, Sippel will plant the seeds from his largest pumpkin. Seeds for this enormous fruit come from all over the world, but Sippel prefers to source his seeds from local growers. “There’s a big network of people who supply seeds, but I like to plant seeds grown in Wisconsin,” he said. “Pumpkins that do well in our state give me the best chance for growing the big one.” Seeds are planted at the beginning of April, and Sippel starts them in the house in 2-gallon pots. If weather cooperates, plants are transferred outside in early May into small greenhouse structures. Pumpkins are pollinated in late June, and growth occurs within a 90-day window. These massive pumpkins grow at an astoundingly fast rate, literally expanding right before a person’s eyes. In their prime, the giants can grow up to 40 pounds a day. “It’s fun to watch how fast they grow,” Sippel said. “It’s intriguing. When I look at them before chores in the morning and then look again at night, I can tell the pumpkin grew during the day. It’s amazing it can grow so fast.”
Sippel fertilizes the pumpkins once a week and does pruning. June and July are his busiest months when pumpkins demand the most handson care. “Each pumpkin drinks about 50 gallons of water per day, so you have to water them a lot,” said Sippel, who puts sand underneath the pumpkins to ensure proper drainage. In the summer, Sippel covers his giant pumpkins with a bed sheet to protect them from the sun, and on chilly fall days and nights, the sheet serves as protection from frost. The pumpkins are stored inside on cold evenings. The rst of his two giants this year weighed in at 1,525 pounds and took second place out of 20 pumpkins at Cedarburg Creek Farms Sept. 19, earning Sippel $100 in prize money. The other pumpkin is still growing in the garden and currently weighs 1,600 pounds. On Oct. 17, it will hit the scale at the Mishicot Pumpkin Fest. Weigh-offs take place in Wisconsin every weekend from mid-September through mid-October. Each pumpkin can only be weighed in one time. Therefore, the number of weigh-offs Sippel attends depends on the number of pumpkins he has. “A lot can go wrong when growing a pumpkin this big,” Sippel said. “A pumpkin with a soft spot one inch deep is disqualied.” Growing a bright orange
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
The Sippels sell decoraƟve pumpkins and sunowers at a roadside stand next to their house near St. Cloud, Wisconsin. giant is a bonus. Often times, the big ones are pale orange to light tan or nearly white in color. “Sometimes I get lucky and get a big orange one, like I did this year,” Sippel said. Moving pumpkins of this magnitude requires large equipment. A tractor with a special sling is used to lift up the pumpkin and set it on a pallet. Sippel also grows smaller decorative pumpkins on a 2-acre plot in a variety of colors. His passion for pumpkins is not a family tradition passed down from previous generations. Rather, it is a love of his own creation. Sippel’s younger brother, Cole, has also started
growing giant pumpkins. As a side business, Sippel and his wife sell the smaller pumpkins at a roadside stand on their property along with sunowers grown by Nicole. They also sell pumpkins to campgrounds and a garden greenhouse store. Nicole, a veterinarian nurse, began growing wildowers this year to sell at farmers markets and other venues. Her bouquet subscriptions – which included weekly or biweekly deliveries – were much more popular than she expected. Nicole has ve weddings booked to supply owers for in 2021. “My owers are perfect for people who like the wildower look and something a little less
formal,” said Nicole, who also caters to ower shops. “I have a unique selection of fresh owers – the kind that cannot typically be shipped.” Intrigued by regenerative agriculture, Sippel said he and his dad do a lot of no till and cover cropping, and he plans to implement no-till practices in the ower garden as well. “We try to be good stewards of the land,” he said. Smitten with pumpkins, Sippel looks forward to every growing season and the challenge and excitement of growing the giants. “I just really like pumpkins,” he said. “And growing the big ones is fun to do.”
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Food box program is strengthening milk prices Page 8 • Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020
The announcement that the United States inviting, in the future, people to take a hard look at Department of Agriculture will be hosting another what’s done with the CCC. This should be something Farmers to Families Food Box program is helping of a pause for everyone in the agriculture community boost Class III milk prices. The demand from the to worry about moving forward.” The CCC funds are used for traditional farm programs, including Dairy government program is expected to Margin Coverage. last through the end of November into Ag Insider December. “What’s going to happen NMPF welcomes CCC funding after the election is up in the air, but The National Milk Producers producers need to be aware cow numbers Federation is praising Congress for are on the rise and there will still be an their bipartisan work on the continuing ample supply of milk,” said Dan Basse, resolution to fund the government. “This president, AgResource Company. “Once measure not only avoids a government the government support program leaves shutdown; it also ensures that additional us, then we’re back into an oversupply COVID-19 assistance can be provided level going into 2021.” as further needs arise and provides important nutrition assistance to families Perdue discusses dairy issues at in need,” said Jim Mulhern, president/ Wisconsin farm By Don Wick CEO, NMPF. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue visited a Cedar Grove, Wisconsin, dairy Columnist Dairy receives $1.8 billion for CFAP 1 farm Oct. 2. Perdue elded questions on Payments for the rst round of Coronavirus Food a variety of topics, including trade, the second round of coronavirus assistance program payments and Assistance Program have topped $10 billion. That immigration. “This is real America, and this is real includes $5 billion for livestock, $2.6 billion for nonagriculture,” Perdue said. “We have people come to specialty crops and $1.8 billion for the dairy sector. D.C. and talk about things there, but you get a real The $10 billion gure is far short of the $16 billion sense (of the issues) when neighbors come together at budgeted for CFAP 1. a farm like this.” COVID lawsuit exemption sought The Dairy Business Association is seeking Stopgap spending bill signed into law Congress passed and President Donald Trump a liability exemption relating to COVID-19 for signed the continuing resolution, keeping the individuals, businesses and schools that follow public government running through Dec. 11. The vote was health orders and take reasonable precautions. DBA held up in a dispute over the funding for the Commodity president Tom Crave said the dairy industry has Credit Corporation. CCC funding has been approved faced signicant challenges due to the pandemic routinely in this way for the past 30 years. The Russell and the litigation threat is a concern. “Sometimes Group president Randy Russell expects the pushback circumstances can be beyond our control,” Crave over the CCC to resurface during the next farm bill said. debate. “It’s inviting people to look at the CCC and what it funds,” Russell said. “While this may be a MOU signed to enhance dairy exports USDA and Food and Drug Administration have partisan issue right now, in the past, Republicans have used the CCC funds and stretched its legal authorities. signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will Democrats have done the same. All it’s doing is establish an interagency process to support U.S. dairy
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Canadian leaders launch new session of parliament Canadian leaders kicked off the new session of parliament with speeches from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Governor General of Canada Julie Payette. The ongoing COVID-19 response and the economy dominated the agenda. The Canadian leaders also cited their commitment to free trade and promised to compensate farmers for losses incurred by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and other trade deals. Record pizza sales for Papa John’s Papa John’s is moving a lot of pizza during the pandemic. During the second quarter, the pizza chain had record sales. For its North American business, Papa John’s saw second quarter sales increase 28% from the previous quarter. Fonterra spins off China business The New Zealand-based Fonterra Cooperative has sold its farms in China for the U.S. equivalent of $368 million. One set of farms was sold to Inner Mongolia Natural Dairy Company and the other went to Beijing Sanyuan Venture Capital. Fonterra is responsible for 3% of the world’s dairy production. Job cuts for animal health company Elanco Animal Health is eliminating more than 900 jobs as part of its restructuring after its acquisition of Bayer Animal Health. Company ofcials said this move will reduce duplication and drive efciency. Excellence in ag nalists named The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Excellence in Ag Award nalists have been named. The nalists are Stephanie Abts of Manitowoc County, Natasha Paris of Green Lake County, Julie Wadzinski of Barron County and Kellie Zahn of Shawano County. Turn to AG INSIDER | Page 9
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Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020 • Page 9
ConƟnued from AG INSIDER | Page 8 The state winner will advance to national competition. DFA member of distinction Dairy Farmers of America has honored Brickstead Dairy of Greenleaf, Wisconsin, with its Member of Distinction Award. One DFA member farm is recognized from each of the cooperative’s seven regions each year. Brickstead Dairy milks 1,000 cows, emphasizing sustainable production. Berdak takes over leadership of Dairy Alliance The Dairy Alliance has named Geri Berdak as its new CEO. Since 2015, Berdak ran a consulting group called CloverQuest Group, which had food and beverage businesses as its clients. From 2012-15, Berdak was the senior vice president for nutrition strategy and business development with the U.S. Dairy Innovation Center at Dairy Management Inc. The Dairy Alliance works with schools, health professionals, retailers, processors and the public to promote dairy foods.
OCM names new executive director Pennsylvania farmer Mike Eby is the new executive director of the Organization for Competitive Markets. Eby will also continue in his role as the chair of the National Dairy Producers Organization. Trivia challenge Dairy cows generally consume 30-50 pounds of water per day. That answers our last trivia question. For this week, what is the optimum temperature for serving milk? 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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Page 10 • Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020
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HUTCHINSON, Minn. – Passing through McLeod County, a tallstanding silo tells the story of dairy farming for the Luthens family. “We wanted to do something that everyone could relate to whether you grew up on a farm or have never been to a dairy farm,” Melissa Luthens said. Luthens and her family worked with muralist Tony Stafki to repurpose a 100-foot stave silo on their dairy farm near Hutchinson. The mural features dairy cows and a traditional farmstead as well an array of dairy products from ice cream to ker to embrace Luthens’ family’s involvement in the industry. “The top of the mural takes everyone back to our roots where our farm started when Daryl purchased it in 1969. He and the family had a vision to grow it where it is today,” Luthens said. “The bottom of the mural reminds people of all the dairy options out there that come from all dairy farms, big or small, rst generation or a centennial farm.” Last spring, Luthens connected with Midwest Dairy to nd a muralist who could make her family’s vision a reality.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
A 100-foot stave silo is decorated to represent the dairy industry at Melissa Luthens’ family’s dairy near Hutchinson, Minnesota. The mural was a way to repurpose the old silo. their milk is used for,” Together, Luthens story. and Stafki developed a “Melissa gave me a Stafki said. “For them, it’s design that was both fea- tour of the farm and told a personalized piece of sible and told the family’s me what they do, what art, and the more family history, the better.” Then, after summer passed and Stafki had time to complete the project, he began. The mural took ve weeks and was nished Sept. 21. “The biggest challenge was working on a 100-foot tall canvas that was thin and tall,” Stafki said. The former software engineer has painted murals for 13 years and often does personalized home projects or larger, more public spaces. He has worked with 20 John Deere dealerships across the Midwest to personalize their businesses. “I’ve done a lot of exterior murals in tunnels and on brick walls but never painted a silo or barn up to this point,” Stafki said. Unlike other murals that Stafki is known for, the silo’s design and composition was a new advenPHOTO SUBMITTED Muralist Tony StaŅi paints the mural on the Luthens family’s 100-foot stave ture, particularly with the silo earlier this fall near Hutchinson, Minnesota. The mural took ve weeks to Turn to SILO | Page 11 complete.
Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020 • Page 11
ConƟnued from SILO | Page 10
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The painted silo can be seen from Minnesota State Highway 7 and the Luce Line and Dakota trails near Hutchinson, Minnesota. galvanized steel cables that embrace the structure. He worked with a professional paint representative to choose paint colors that would adhere to both the cement and cables. “We found an industrial paint that is very high quality, commercial grade and it has a high color retention,” Stafki said. “We didn’t want to put a varnish on that was going to drip on the Tony Stafki metal or react to Artist the metal. I wanted something that was good.” Stafki began the project by using a paint sprayer to spray on the base colors. He then worked from top to bottom, painting the details of the mural by hand with brushes and sponges. He worked as a one-man job using a boom lift to navigate around the structure. “I actually bought a digital wind reader to test the wind each day,” Stafki said. “It all depended on the weather.” The most difcult part of executing the mural was getting the details accurate on the silo, paying close attention to how the cables affected the design. “If those weren’t there, it would have been 100 times easier,” Stafki said. “Even at the bottom of the silo, there are over 2,000 blades of grass painted on. It took over two days to do just that portion.” Aside from the various challenges that came with executing the design, Stafki’s biggest concern was making the mural appealing when viewed from
any angle and having it be one cohesive scene. He was always cognizant of his client. “It’d be pretty obvious if it didn’t look like cows up there,” Stafki said. “(The Luthens family) is around this scenery every day, and it would stick out like a sore thumb if it didn’t work.” The depth of each design within the mural brings the painting to life with a selection of vibrant colors that can be seen from afar. For Luthens, it was what she imagined when thinking of ways to tell her family’s farm story. “Prior to the mural, most families probably passed by not knowing we were there or what kind of farm we were,” Luthens said. “Now, we have created an amazing opportunity to create conversation about dairy.” The silo can be seen from Minnesota State Highway 7 and the Luce Line and Dakota trails. It pairs well with the area community, bridging together agriculture and art. “Although agriculture is still an important part of our area, Hutchinson has started appealing to the art community. We even have a statue tour people can take around town,” Luthens said. “This is a way to embrace that and bring agriculture and art together in one place and t into the art evolution of Hutchinson.” For the dairy community, it has also created an opportunity for dairy farmers to continue telling their farming stories. Since the completion of the mural, Stafki has received many inquiries about murals, logos and other designs for farms. “I hope this opens up people’s minds of what they can do, even if it’s as simple as using a piece of the farm,” Stafki said. “I think this is an opportunity for farmers to do something really interesting.”
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Page 12 • Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020
Keep a cow thinking productively Understanding animal behavior focus of effective stockmanship By Andrea Borgerding andrea.b@dairystar.com
LITTLE FALLS, Minn. – Curt Pate said it is in everyone’s best interest to practice proper livestock handling or stockmanship. “Cows are going to produce more milk and recover quicker after milking if we have less stress while they are being milked or while they are coming to the parlor,” he said. Pate led a stockmanship workshop Sept. 17 at the Morrison County Fairgrounds in Little Falls. Pate is a consultant who travels nationally and internationally to conduct livestock handling demonstrations, clinics and on-site training for livestock businesses. During the workshop, Pate emphasized the benet of stockmanship and explained thought and movement processes in cattle. “Until the last 10 years, there’s been no real instructions for handling cattle,” Pate said. “There’s never been a plan on how to work livestock.” The Dairy and Beef Quality Assurance researched methods to explain a better way to get cattle to ow and work
through dairy systems. Pate presented practices to promote better stockmanship including understanding a cow’s thought process, how they perceive their environment and how a person’s reactions result in effective stockmanship. The single most stressful process for a dairy cow is getting to the parlor and getting the milking unit on. It is also where employees apply the most pressure. “It takes a certain amount of pressure to get her out of her stall, walk up to the parlor and get the milker on,” Pate said. Applying positive pressure is what Pate said gets a cow to the parlor and is most productive. “Think of livestock handling as the right amount of pressure for the job,” Pate said. “We are going to try to gure out how to create the right pressure from our presence to the cow to get them to do the job we want them to do.” There are three kinds of pressure in livestock handling – drawing, driving and maintaining pressure. Drawing pressure is what cows enjoy most. Driving pressure is one humans use most to move cattle. Maintaining pres-
ANDREA BORGERDING/DAIRY STAR
Curt Pate demonstrates how to approach a cow during a livestock handling demonstraƟon Sept. 17 at the Morrison County Fairgrounds in LiƩle Falls, Minesota. sure is the most important to understand as it is where the cow and human have an understanding. “A cow can think of only one thing at a time,” Pate said. “Once you have the cow’s attention, it’s important to understand how to keep that atten-
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so we have to read the cow to nd out what she likes and doesn’t like,” Pate said. “When you start getting this practice, it really becomes fun to read the cows and stockmanship becomes a lifestyle.” Turn to PATE | Page 13
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Knowing how a cow thinks, moves and processes its environment can build a better understanding of handling that can be used every day. When an animal is in thinking mode, it is processing what it is going to do next whether that is going to the parlor or going to the feed bunk. It is key to keep the cow in thinking mode versus survival mode when the animal is reactive and less productive. “When an animal is in thinking mode, I call that growth,” Pate said. “They are growing or increasing their ability to milk. That’s the mode a good stockman always tries to keep their cow in.” Keeping the cow in thinking mode is dependent on how a cow sees a person. The cow wants to keep a person in focus. Cattle like to see a person with two eyes that way they have depth perception and they can tell what direction a person is heading. “What happens is at some point we have to go behind cows to drive them,” Pate said. “Cows like us to approach from the front. We are creating stress when we approach from the back and she can’t see us.” Pate suggested compromising with the cow by working the side of her. The atter angle you approach a cow, the less pressure you create. A person has to have a good presence so the cow knows their intentions. The more a person comes into to the center of the cow’s eye the more in focus they become. Further out and they become out of focus. From the back, a cow cannot see a person, all they see is motion. “When you start up their side, they stop their feet and wait for you to get there,” Pate said. “They are waiting for us to get in focus so they can see us and then they’re more comfortable.” Pate said to approach a cow in a
Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020 • Page 13
way to let her know you would like her to transition or change her mind from what she is doing. Startling her will create fear. “You need to nd a noise that you can use, a ‘ch ch ch’ sound with your mouth or shufing your feet,” Pate said. “They will move away from it to see it but it won’t panic them. Yelling and jumping up and down aggravates them quickly.” The goal for a handler is to approach the cow, letting her know that he or she is coming, let the cow get ready to work, position the cow where the handler wants her to go and then ask her to go. “My pressure is not ight, it’s more of a changing of the mind and going somewhere,” Pate said. When a person approaches a cow, Pate suggested taking the angle necessary to obtain the cow’s focal point. Taking that focal point will get the cow’s attention and get her ready to go where they want her to go. “If you point her nose where you want her to go, she will go in that direction,” Pate said. “If a cow has to turn her head to look at you, you have to back up a few steps and approach her at a atter angle. That’s how you keep a cow straight.” The farther out a person works, the better chance of having the cow go where she is needed. “The cow will always tell you if your positioning is right or wrong,” Pate said. Low stress livestock handling not only sets a tone or mood but also effective stockmanship. “Good and effective stockmanship is the right thing to do,” Pate said. “When people handle their cows right, they last longer and the cows are more productive.”
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Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020 • Page 15
How has your experience in 4-H molded you?
Sydney Kauffman Parents: Kip and Jennifer Kauffman Stratford, Wisconsin Wood County 58 cows What projects are you involved with in 4-H? I have been involved in the dairy, swine and craft projects through 4-H. I also served as vice president and president from 2016-19. Which project is your favorite? My favorite is dairy, by far. I love our big group of dairy kids who exhibit through our 4-H. It makes for a fun, interesting time come county fair. Tell us about your favorite 4-H memory. My favorite memory is the ďƒžrst time our club won the dress-a-cow contest. My cow, Peep, was dressed up as a combine, and the two kids leading/handling her were corn cobs. What has your local 4-H organization done during the pandemic? We have been doing virtual meetings but miss getting together. Who is your 4-H mentor, and what did you learn from them? My general leader, Connie Folz, has helped me grow in my leadership skills. The moms of many of my friends in 4-H have been like second mothers to me. My dairy judging coaches share all of their knowledge with me, and the other 4-H members share their experiences with me; experiences that I can relate to. How has your experience in 4-H molded the person you are becoming? I am by nature more of a shy person, but being with a group of people I connect with has helped me reach out and learn to speak up and meet new people. As president of my 4-H club, running meetings has made me a more outspoken person. Tell us about your family and your farm. I live on a small dairy farm in central Wisconsin where we milk 58 head of rotationally grazed Jerseys. My mom and I and my two sisters, Sailor and Sadie, run the farm, and my dad works for a road construction company.
Mackenzie Carlson Parents: Alan and Heather Carlson Peshtigo, Wisconsin Marinette County 300 cows What projects are you involved with in 4-H? I am involved in beef, dairy and photography. I have also shown Legos, paintings, collage, string art and others. I am also looking into doing foods next year. Which project is your favorite? My favorite project would have to be a tie between showing beef and dairy because for both of them you have to put in a little bit more effort, time and work. You have to work hard for any of the other projects, but these ones can be harder which makes the reward more meaningful. Tell us about your favorite 4-H memory. I have a lot of wonderful, fun memories at the fair, but my favorite memory is when everyone plays games in the show barn together. Some of the games we played this year are the card game called spoons, sharks and minnows, and one year we played kickball in the horse area. I like playing these games. When we play, it is never with the same people. We play with kids of any age, any club, who show anything. I love hanging out with the new people I meet every year we do this. What has your local 4-H organization done during the pandemic? We have only had one meeting which was our club fair meeting, and we were all outside and social distancing. It is hard for my club to get together because my club is so big. With all of this going on, our 4-H leader is keeping us informed frequently. Who is your 4-H mentor and what did you learn from them? Every year there are 4-H members and 4-H alumni who are willing to answer questions or help when needed. So many people have helped me along the way including friends and family, but the biggest help was and still is Troy Van De Walle. He has helped us with our dairy and beef animals by showing us how to walk them, clip them, show them and even given us advice about what products we should get for these animals for showing and cleaning. He is also the one who encouraged us to start 4-H and got us going in this fun adventure. How has your experience in 4-H molded the person you are becoming? 4-H has molded me by teaching responsibility and has made me less shy around new people. Everything I am learning are things I will use throughout the rest of my life. 4-H
Summer Hammann Parents: Scot and Becky Hammann Barron, Wisconsin Barron County 50 cows What projects are you involved with in 4-H? I am involved in dairy, dairy judging, photography and baking. Which project is your favorite? Showing dairy is my favorite. It’s what I am surrounded by daily. You get to meet and make lifelong friends, and travel to many neat towns and cities for competitions. Tell us about your favorite 4-H memory. My favorite 4-H memory was placing ďƒžrst overall individual at the state dairy judging competition in 2017. It was such a fun team. What has your local 4-H organization done during the pandemic? Our local 4-H had us submit a photo with our fair projects as our fair was canceled, and we all received a prize. We have also stayed in touch through email with all the opportunities that are available. Who is your 4-H mentor, and what did you learn from them? I would have to say my 4-H mentor would be Steve Fronk. He puts his whole heart and soul into the dairy project and judging team. He has taught me that sticking with something and not giving up will lead to lifelong success. How has your experience in 4-H molded the person you are becoming? Being a 4-H member and experiencing what it has to offer has showed me how hard work pays off. Dedication is huge for all things in life beyond 4-H. Tell us about your family and your farm. My family consists of my dad and mom, Scot and Becky, older sister, Brooke, brother, Brody, and younger sister, Shyanne. We milk 50 Holsteins and Jerseys, raise steers, crop 500 acres of land, have a herd of 20 beef animals and also raise turkeys for Jennie-O turkey store. has made me comfortable around new people which will help me in the future with job interviews or a presentation for class. Tell us about your family and your farm. My immediate family consists of my parents, my two sisters and our pets. My grandpa, Kevin, and my grandma, Katie, own the farm, but my dad goes there every day to work. Also, my great-grandpa, Ron, mixes feed every day at the age of 86. Besides the cows on the farm, my aunt has a little hobby farm that consist of horses, alpacas, goats, sheep, potbelly pigs, chickens and ducks. My sisters and I go there as much as possible, but if we are not there to help, there are a lot of family members who like to help. Besides milking 300 cows twice a day, we do all of the ďƒželd work. There is about 1,200 acres between soybeans, corn, oats and alfalfa. We also raise all of our youngstock.
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Page 16 • Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020
ConƟnued from OUR SIDE | Page 15
Audrey Kamps Parents: Dean and April Kamps Hamburg, Minnesota Sibley County 40 cows What projects are you involved in within 4-H? I have been involved in the dairy, photography, crafts and ne arts, and needle arts projects. Which project is your favorite? My favorite project is the dairy project because I enjoy working with the animals, being in the barns at the fair, and talking with the public about the dairy industry. Tell us about your favorite 4-H memory. My favorite 4-H memory was showing at the Minnesota State Fair for the rst time in 2016 and being named Guernsey heifer champion with my fall calf. Showing at the state fair has always been one of my favorite parts of 4-H. What has your local 4-H organization done during the pandemic? Everyone has been really busy, and we have had a hard time nding a place to meet, so we have unfortunately not been able to do anything as a club during the pandemic; however, I do know we had members participate in virtual showing events during the summer. Who is your 4-H mentor, and what did you learn from them? Cherie Smith is my 4-H mentor. Not only has she helped me become a leader in and outside of 4-H, but she is also one of the many people that helped my family get into the dairy project. We have worked alongside Cherie and her family throughout our entire 4-H experience. She has taught us so much, and she is great at answering any questions we may have. How has your experience in 4-H molded the person you are becoming? Because of 4-H, I’ve had the opportunity to learn many skills that I have been able to carry into other parts of my life. For example, holding leadership roles in my 4-H club has inspired me to hold leadership positions in FFA, National Honor Society and sports. 4-H has also helped me prepare for interviews and has made me more condent in public speaking. Tell us about your family and your farm. My family is the fth generation on the farm. I am the oldest of four with two younger brothers and a younger sister. We milk about 40 cows and run about 450 acres of crop land.
Kristi Cleven Parents: Roger and Peggy Cleven Kendall, Wisconsin Monroe County 40 cows What projects are you involved with in 4-H? Youth development, swine, craft and dairy. Which project is your favorite? Dairy is my favorite project because I am growing up on a dairy farm and have always loved to watch the animals grow. As I got older, I have wanted to get all seven dairy breeds because each breed has its own character to them, and I like mixtures of characters and attitudes. Tell us about your favorite 4-H memory. My favorite 4-H memory is when I won grand champion Brown Swiss with a March calf at my local fair. Another favorite memory is all the times playing cards at the fairs with all the 4-Hers. We play at night, and it is a lot of fun trying to know when someone is lying and you can’t really tell because it is dark outside. What has your local 4-H organization done during the pandemic? We have not done anything during the pandemic. Who is your 4-H mentor, and what did you learn from them? There are too many people who have been a mentor to me. I have learned a lot of things from many people. How has your experience in 4-H molded the person you are becoming? My experience in 4-H has molded me by teaching me how to be a nice person, keep promises and just being there for help or to listen. Being in 4-H teaches you a lot about people and how to be nice even when it is hard. Tell us about your family and your farm. I have an older sister and brother. I am the youngest sibling. My sister is in the work force. My brother lives close to me and helps on the farm when he is done with work, if I need his help. My brother’s wife is also willing to help on the farm even though she didn’t grow up on the farm. My dad and I feed and care for the animals. I help milk the cows at night. My mom helps me feed the calves after milking.
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Gracie Ziegler Parents: Jay and Tami Ziegler Freedom, Wisconsin Outagamie County 13 cows What projects are you involved with in 4-H? I am involved in the photography project, the food project and the dairy project. Which project is your favorite? My favorite would denitely be the dairy project. It’s taught me a lot about dairy itself, and I have met many lifelong friends by showing and being a part of the project. Tell us about your favorite 4-H memory. My favorite 4-H memory would have to be from this August at the Brown County Fair where I won dairy showmanship and was the champion senior showman. What has your local 4-H organization done during the pandemic? They did as much as they could to keep some parts of the fair going so that the kids could have their projects judged. Unfortunately, the dairy show at Outagamie County was canceled, but Brown County had their full fair. Who is your 4-H mentor, and what did you learn from them? Alyssa Sietz is a person who helped me along during my rst few years in 4-H. I came in not knowing anything about showing cows or any of the other projects. She took me under her wing right away and got me started on a lot of things and was nice about everything. How has your experience in 4-H molded the person you are becoming? 4-H has taught me responsibility, especially with dairy. I have to put the work into all of my projects, not just let my parents do it. And the more work I put into them, the better I do or the more satised I am. It’s also given me a stronger drive to help other people, like so many people helped me when I was starting out. Tell us about your family and your farm. My family is one of a kind. We all work together on my grandma’s 70-cow dairy farm. It’s always been a family farm, and we wouldn’t want it any other way. We strive to take care of our animals in the best way possible, and each of us have our own part that we do to keep the farm running. Yes, it can be tiring and hard on some days, but to get to be a part of such an amazing process is awesome, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
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PJ and Alisa Finger Parents: Phil and Laura Finger Peshtigo, Wisconsin Marinette County 500 cows What projects are you involved with in 4-H? We are both involved in pigs and dairy calves. When we rst started out, we showed ducks, chickens and rabbits because they were little and easier for us to take care of when we were at the fair. Which project is your favorite? We both like pigs, but Alisa likes chickens a lot more. Tell us about your favorite 4-H memory. Our favorite 4-H memory is being at the county fair. We like showing our animals and playing with our friends who go there too. Our family also camps by the fairgrounds which makes it pretty fun. What has your local 4-H organization done during the pandemic? Our 4-H club tried to practice social distancing so we did things on our own like picking up garbage on back roads by our farm. We know another club in our area made face masks. Who is your 4-H mentor and what did you learn from them? Our older sister, Alana, is our mentor because she was also in 4-H and showed dairy cows and pigs. She showed us how to be responsible for our animals by taking care of them. How has your experience in 4-H molded the person you are becoming? So far, our 4-H experience has helped us learn new things, be responsible and have good teamwork. Tell us about your family and your farm. We have a family of six. Our older sister is in college, and our younger sister is in rst grade. We are in fourth and fth grade. Our parents are the fth generation on our dairy farm, and we are the sixth. Our jobs are to help our dad scrape barns and help our mom feed calves. This spring, when we didn’t have school, we helped our parents pick rocks from the elds because we like driving the side-by-side or riding in the tractor with our dad. We also take care of our chickens and collect eggs every day two times a day when we are not in school. During the summer, when we have our pigs, we have to take care of them by feeding and cleaning them all by ourselves. We like to jump on the round bales, catch chickens and spend time with our animals and pets. We also like to see our grandparents who live by us on the farm.
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Page 18 • Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020
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KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
The Piepers – (front, from leŌ) Emily, Nick and Brian; (back, from leŌ) Dan and Tim – farm together with their parents, Ray and Bridget, on their 450-cow dairy, Metogga Lake Dairy, near New Prague, Minnesota. The family’s herd has a rolling herd average of 30,330 pounds of milk with 1,225 pounds of fat and 985 pounds of protein.
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Page 20 • Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020
ConƟnued from PIEPERS | Page 18
fans and sprinklers. What is your herd health program? Our veterinarian comes every Tuesday for pregnancy checks. We vaccinate heavily in the dry period and pre-fresh heifers. Some vaccines are given in the milking herd as well. What does your dry cow and transition program consist of? First lactation heifers go dry one week earlier than second-plus lactation cows. We dry off every Friday; therefore, rst lactation cows are dry just over 60 days, and second-plus lactation cows are dry just under 60 days. Our pre-fresh heifers are moved two months
before they are due to the dry cow pen and go on the dry cow ration consisting of grass, straw, corn silage and mineral. Cows are moved to a bedded pack about four weeks before their due date. They stay in one of these four calving pens until they calve. It is important to us to not overcrowd our pre-fresh pens. Once they calve, we keep them in the hospital pen where they get the fresh cow ration for 21 days. What is the composition of your ration? What has been one of your most recent changes that has been successful for you? Our milk cows are fed haylage, corn silage, sweet corn silage, ground KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Cows rest in the bedded pack area of the transiƟon barn the Piepers built on their dairy three years ago. The barn has helped the herd reach higher milk producƟon. dry corn, cotton seed and mineral mixes. About 1.5 years ago, we went away from feeding earlage and started feeding ground dry corn instead. We saw a big increase in cow health and increased milk fat when we made this switch.
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
A double-10 herringbone parlor is used to milk the herd twice a day at Metogga Lake Dairy near New Prague, Minnesota. The Pieper family is in the process of installing seven robots which they hope to be using by this spring.
What is your average SCC and how does that affect your production? Our bulk tank SCC is averaging 94,000 right now. Having a low SCC means healthier cows which increases production.
Through the years you have been farming, what change has created the biggest jump in your herd average? Three years ago, we built a transition barn which really helped. Providing a clean, comfortable, stress-minimized calving place for the cows has bumped up the health of fresh cows and gotten them off to a great start resulting in higher peaks and more milk throughout their lactation. Another huge improvement was when we started feeding our calves milk balancer in
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JD S770, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 984 hrs., 724 sep hrs., #173995 .....$309,900 JD S770, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 1416 hrs., 945 sep hrs., #173398....$274,900 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 544 hrs., 388 sep hrs., #171379 .....$435,900 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 472 hrs., 307 sep hrs., #169507 ......$429,500 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 355 hrs., 234 sep hrs., #171003 .....$429,500 JD S780, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 732 hrs., 533 sep hrs., #171103 .....$404,400 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 591 hrs., 324 sep hrs., #157910 ......$399,500 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 488 hrs., 324 sep hrs., #154461 .....$399,500 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 798 hrs., 524 sep hrs., #171380 .....$399,400 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 680 hrs., 520 sep hrs., #171563 .....$399,000 JD S780, 2018, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 550 hrs., 383 sep hrs., #171851 .....$394,900 JD S790, 2019, Corn/Bean, PRWD, 763 hrs., 405 sep hrs., #171378 .....$441,400 ROW CROP TRACTORS JD 7210R, 2018, Cab, MFWD, 540/1000 pto, loader, 917 hrs., #163862$179,500 JD 7210R, 2018, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 540/1000 pto, Duals, 1918 hrs., #172425.....................................................................................$172,900 JD 7210R, 2018, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 540/1000 pto, 525 hrs., #172430 ....$169,500 JD 7210R, 2018, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 540/1000 pto. Singles, 1474 hrs., #172431 .....................................................................................................$153,900 JD 7215R, 2013, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 540/1000 pto. Duals, 2877 hrs., #167434 ......................................................................................................$114,900 JD 8245R, 2019, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 1000 pto, Duals, 578 hrs., #171965 $239,500 JD 8245R, 2019, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 1000 pto, Duals, 502 hrs., #171963 $239,500 JD 8245R, 2019, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 1000 pto, Duals, 1295 hrs., #169246$239,500 JD 8245R, 2019, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 1000 pto, Duals, 799 hrs., #169247 $239,500 JD 8245R, 2019, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 1000 pto, Duals, 1264 hrs., #169248$239,500 JD 8245R, 2019, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 1000 pto, Duals, 395 hrs., #169249 .$239,500 JD 8245R, 2018, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 1000 pto, Duals, 433 hrs., #148226 .$228,900 JD 8245R, 2017, Cab, MFWD, PS 1000 pto, Duals, 1882 hrs., #165918 $163,900 JD 8270R, 2020, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 1000 pto, Duals, 294 hrs., #172927 $259,500 JD 8270R, 2018, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 1000 pto, Duals, 1009 hrs., #172426$223,900 JD 8270R, 2018, Cab, MFWD, PS, 540/1000 pto, Duals, #163841........$209,500 JD 8270R, 2018, Cab, MFWD, PS, 540/1000 pto, 1259 hrs., #163842...$204,900 JD 8285R, 2013, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 1000 pto, Duals, 2587 hrs.,#167775$159,900 JD 8295R, 2018, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 1000 pto, Duals, 160 hrs., #166651 .$274,900 JD 8295R, 2019, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 1000 pto, Duals, 593 hrs., #172428 .... $265,400 JD 8295R, 2019, Cab, MFWD, IVT, 1000 pto, Duals, 697 hrs., #172427 .$264,900 JD 8295R, 2020, Cab, MFWD, Power Shift, 1000 pto, Duals, 293 hrs., #172,929 ......................................................................................$259,500
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Page 22 • Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020
DO YOU HAVE AN UPCOMING AUCTION? e It Advertis In The
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Brian Pieper holds a handful of ground dry corn, which the Piepers added into the herd’s raƟon 1.5 years ago to replace earlage. The switch has increased cow health and milk fat.
Visit DeLaval.com to hear more from Willem about how he made the new VMS V300 his Milking System, and discover why you should make it yours too.
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Mlsna Dairy Supply Inc. Cashton, WI 608-654-5106 Mondovi Dairy Systems Inc. Mondovi, WI 715-926-5777 West Salem, WI 608-769-2113 Professional Dairy Services Arlington, WI 608-635-0267 Redeker Dairy Equipment Brandon, WI 920-346-5579 The Scharine Group Inc. Whitewater, WI 800 472-2880 Mt Horeb, WI 800-872-3470
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is a registered trademark of Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A. and “DeLaval” is a registered trade/servicemark of DeLaval Holding AB © 2020 DeLaval Inc. DeLaval, 11100 North Congress Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri 64153-1296. Data collected at test and pilot farms. The testimonial in this advertisement is from a real life producer. Results will vary from dairy to dairy. Nothing in this document shall constitute a warranty or guaranty of performance. www.delaval.com
List three management strategies that have helped you attain your production and component level. It is important to manage cow comfort to keep animals healthy starting at birth and housing them in good environments throughout their life. Putting up highquality forages and working closely with your nutritionist for a balanced ration is crucial. Also, getting cows pregnant and breeding for long-lasting cows with high productivity and detecting your high- and low-end value cows is a good idea. Tell us about your farm. Our farm was started by our parents, Ray and Bridget, in 1973. They had 10 children, all of which are involved in agriculture today. Five of their children manage the farm today and are co-owners with their parents. Ray and Bridget started with a handful of cows in an old stanchion barn but evolved the farm to support the family. We milk 450 cows, raise our replacements and grow alfalfa, corn and soybean. We have taken many risks building the farm, but God has granted us the strength, wisdom and passion to succeed. Our family grew up working together and having fun while accomplishing the same goals. That is what family farming is all about.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020 • Page 23
Quality feed a cornerstone for Jenson First-time forage superbowl exhibitor earns corn silage, baleage awards By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
ELK MOUND, Wis. – Some might call it beginner’s luck. After all, taking top honors in one division and reserve champion honors in a second division during one’s rst year competing in the World Forage Analysis Superbowl seems unlikely. But Michael Jenson Jr. simply sees it as validation that what he is growing for his cows is the best possible forages. “This was our rst entry into the contest,” Jenson said. “We decided to enter after our Byron Seed (representative) kept telling us that we had the quality of feed that would compete well.” During a virtual awards presentation Sept. 30, Jenson Family Farms learned their entry was named the champion of the standard corn silage division, and that they received the second-place award in the baleage division. Jenson, who is the fth generation of his family on the farm that was established in 1857, operates Jenson Family Farms near Elk Mounds with his wife, Jenny, and
PHOTO SUBMITTED
The Jenson family – (front, from leŌ) Jenny and Kylee; (back, from leŌ) Michael, Jr., Michael III, Phyllis and Michael, Sr. – are the champions of the corn silage division and reserve champions of the baleage division of the World Forage Analysis Superbowl. The family milks 150 cows near Elk Mound, Wisconsin.
children, Michael III, 17, and Kylee, 14, and his parents, Michael Sr. and Phyllis. The Jensons milk 150 cows with two Lely robots that were installed in 2017. The Jensons farm around 250 acres of mostly sandy loam ground in eastern Dunn County. “Quality forage is the corner-
stone of the dairy diet,” Jenson said. “It is very difcult to maintain herd health, reproductive efciency and quality milk production without great forage.” That high quality of forage is what has helped the Jensons obtain a herd average of 90 pounds of energy corrected milk per day and a preg-
nancy rate of 30% throughout their herd. Winning the corn silage division for 2020 with silage grown during the 2019 growing season was no easy feat, especially given the difcult weather conditions that plagued Turn to JENSONS | Page 25
Page 24 • Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020
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Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020 • Page 25
ConƟnued from JENSONS | Page 24
Wisconsin dairy farmers throughout last year. “Though it was a challenging year to grow and harvest, we actually got lucky and hit a small window of dry weather at the optimal harvest time,” Jenson said of his 2019 crop. The winning corn silage was KingFisher 43c40 variety, a 93-day relative maturity that Jenson said he planted the second week of June 2019 due to the wet weather. Jenson said the silage was made in early October 2019 and yielded just over 18 tons per acre. The silage tested around 62% NDFd-30 and 3,740 pounds of milk per ton. “In addition to the variety, I give credit to my soil fertility program,” Jenson said. “I used composted dairy manure from our farm along with some mineral enhancement from Diamond t Ag.” Hiring a custom operator to chop
“In addition to the variety, I give credit to my soil fertility program.” MICHAEL JENSON, DAIRY FARMER
and bag their corn silage is an important management practice for Jenson, allowing for the crop to be put up quickly from start to nish which helps to maintain consistent quality. Jenson said he has not yet sampled this year’s corn silage, but noted it was planted and harvested ear-
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lier than last year’s crop. “The yield was roughly the same, perhaps with a bit more grain this year, but it looked just as great as last year’s crop,” Jenson said. In addition to their winning corn silage, the Jensons can rest assured knowing their cows had top-of-theline baleage in their rations as well, a fact validated by their second-place nish in that division. “I found out that the baleage actually tied for rst in the category, but since I had won the corn silage division, the top spot was given to the other entry as a tie-breaker,” Jenson said. Ideally Jenson likes to make baleage that runs in the range of 50% to 60% moisture. The baleage submitted for entry in the contest hit at around 52% moisture, 275 relative feed quality and the milk per ton was around 3,800 pounds. “Our baleage started out as Byron Seed YieldMax, which is a combination of sorghum-Sudangrass, Italian ryegrass and some clover,” Jenson said. “This was planted in June of 2019, and we harvested two crops of primarily sorghum-Sudangrass in 2019. As the weather turns colder, the Italian ryegrass and clover take over.” Jenson said in their climate in northwest Wisconsin, Italian ryegrass typically suffers winterkill but survived last winter, allowing for a nal cutting in May. As the 2020 harvest season wraps up, Jenson will be able to spend the DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR Cows eat a TMR at Jenson Family Farms near Elk Mound, Wisconsin. Michael long Wisconsin winter contemplatJenson considers quality forage to be the cornerstone of the dairy diet and is ing defending his titles in next year’s contest. key to maintaining herd health.
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Page 26 • Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020
USDA to provide additional direct assistance to farmers The United States Department of Agriculture is implementing the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program 2 for agricultural producers who continue to face market disruptions and associated costs because of COVID-19. Signup for CFAP 2 began Sept. 21 and will run through Dec. 11. CFAP 2 payments will provide eligible producers with nancial assistance that gives them the ability to absorb some of the increased marketing costs associated with the COVID-19 outbreak. USDA has incorporated improvements in CFAP 2 based from stakeholder engagement and public feedback to better meet the needs of impacted farmers and ranchers. Additional commodities are eligible in CFAP 2 that were not eligible in the rst iteration of the program. CFAP 2 payments will be made for three categories of payment calculations: – Sales commodities, including specialty crops, tobacco and aquaculture, use a sales-based approach,
where producers are paid based on ve payment gradations associated with their 2019 sales. – Price trigger commodities, including row crops, livestock and dairy, are major commodities that meet a minimum 5% price decline from January through July. – Flat-rate row crops that do not meet the 5% price decline trigger or do not have data available to calculate a price change will have payments calculated based on eligible 2020 acres multiplied by $15 per acre. A complete list of eligible commodities, payment rates and calculations can be found on www.farmers. gov/cfap. Producers can apply for assistance through USDA’s Farm Service Agency. Customers seeking one-on-one support with the CFAP 2 application process can call 877-508-8364 to speak directly with a USDA employee ready to offer assistance. This is a recommended rst step before a producer engages
with the team at the FSA county ofce. All USDA service centers are open for business, including some that are open to visitors to conduct business in person by appointment only. All Service Center visitors wishing to conduct business with FSA, Natural Resources Conservation Service or any other Service Center agency FSA News & Notes should call ahead and schedule an appointment. Service centers that are open for appointments will pre-screen visitors based on health concerns or recent travel, and visitors must adhere to social distancing guidelines. Visitors are also required to wear a face covering during their By Ryan Brunn appointment. Our program delivery staff will be in Stearns Co. Exec. Dir. the ofce, and they will be working with our producers in the ofce, by phone and using online tools. More information can be found at www.farmers.gov/ coronavirus. 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.
National Dairy Board Scholarship award winners announced
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The dairy checkoff has awarded 12 academic scholarships to students enrolled in programs that emphasize dairy and who have shown potential to become future dairy leaders. The National Dairy Promotion and Research Board (NDB), through Dairy Management Inc., which manages the national dairy checkoff, annually awards $2,500 scholarships to 11 students. In addition, the NDB awards a $3,500 James H. Loper Jr. Memorial Scholarship to one outstanding scholarship recipient. Eligible majors include journalism, communications/ public relations, marketing, business, economics, nutrition, food science or agriculture education. Scholarship criteria include academic achievement, a career interest in a dairy-related discipline, along with demonstrated leadership, initiative and integrity. Michelle Schmitt, a University of Wisconsin-River Falls student who is majoring in food science and technology, has earned the 2020-21 James H. Loper Jr. Memorial Scholarship. Students earning $2,500 scholarships are: Todd Allen (Virginia Tech), Kiara Gilardi (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo), Ashley Hagenow (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities), Theodore Jacoby (South Dakota State University), Brianna McBride (Iowa State University), Lynn Olthof (Michigan State University), Jack Palla (Oklahoma State University), Jessica Schmitt (Iowa State University), Margaret Socha (South Dakota State University), Anna Tarpey (University of Missouri), Sarah Thomas (Virginia Tech).
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Let’s celebrate When the COVID-19 pandemic began in the United States, there was chaos throughout every community. Panic ran wild as people planned to quarantine themselves and their families for a long period. People went to every store to grab supplies of toilet paper, sanitizer and other necessities that would provide comfort during this craziness. Of the many choices that provide comfort for families was milk. Milk was ďƒ&#x;ying off the refrigerated shelves, and many times the stores limited the quantities to make sure it was not being hoarded by a few. What By Tina Hinchley impact that was for the Farmer & Columnist an dairy farmers. The ďƒ&#x;uid milk consumption took off in a way that no one could have ever imagined. How exciting to know that the nutritious, wholesome goodness from our cows is considered a necessity and comfort food. When a stressful situation happens, they want to reach for a glass of real milk, not almond, soy or even soda. In fact, cheese and ice cream sales also peaked a new level, proving dairy is goodness that feeds our souls in times of disruption. As dairy farmers, consuming dairy is the backbone in our lives. We start our day with milk, lunch with cheese and more milk, and an evening meal is not complete without using butter, yogurt or sour cream. What is the choice most of us choose to have before bed? Ice cream. We support our own industry and are proud of what we do. How wonderful is it that our own communities are feeling that what we provide is safe and trusted? The reality of where milk comes
Th reality The li off where h milk ilk comes from is that it is from all of us. Dairy is solace.
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to be milked. Real people, men and women, working to get not only milk but meat, vegetables and fruit to the tables across America. As we approach Oct. 12, National Farmers Day, we have something to celebrate. This year’s Gallup Poll just ranked farming and agriculture as the best industry out of 25 assessed. This is the ďƒžrst time U.S. farming has been ranked No. 1 by Gallup in 20 years. How exciting is that? When I heard the news, I remember thinking about all of those nutrition facts: nine essential vitamins and minerals, iron and that per ounce milk is the most cost efďƒžcient nutritious drink. Consumers are getting to know that farmers are growing food for them. What does this mean to every farmer? Picture me with my arms up singing, “We are the champions,â€? but in a very poor rendition. Pride beams from within me.
I would like to see what we can do together as a powerful dairy industry and show our pride in our dairy farming heritage. I would like to propose we take a moment Oct. 12 to post a photo of our families, our cows and our beautiful farms to show we deserve this honor. I would be so pleased to see all of us ďƒ&#x;ood social media with our love of what we do and who we do it with. We have always thought of our lifestyle as farmers as No. 1, but it is nice to know consumers have taken notice too. 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.
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from iis that h iit iis ffrom all ll off us. Dairy i iis solace. l Along with comfort food of dairy products, beef and other meat were comfort foods that were swept out of the grocery cases. Butchers were working overtime to keep the high-protein products available. Families started shopping locally to ďƒžnd beef and often reached out to farmers themselves to inquire about purchasing direct. They found farmers in their communities who have been there all along. Reality hit consumers. Farmers are feeding the whole country. Milk does not just come from the grocery store. It comes from farms where families are working tirelessly. Pandemic or not, those cows need
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Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020 • Page 27
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Page 28 • Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020
Heifers growing big, healthy
Open-air calf barn benets Webers, Guttmanns By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
WEST BEND, Wis. – After many years of raising calves in a stonewall barn, Ira and Tammy Weber built a calf barn out of necessity in 2018. Weaned calves were suffering from severe respiratory issues, and the Webers knew a change in living arrangements was the only way to save these animals. “The ventilation was so bad in that barn; it was like a death sentence,” Weber said. Calves receiving milk were housed in Calf-Tel hutches inside a newer addition to the barn. It was not until they were weaned and moved to the older portion of the building that the problems began. “It was discouraging to spend two months feeding and raising the calves just to have them die,” Tammy said. On their farm near West Bend, the Webers and their son, Bill, raised primarily Angus-Holstein crosses to sell for beef
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
Amy (GuƩmann) Lapinski holding Mabel, (from leŌ), Russell Lapinski, Jake GuƩmann, Ira Weber and Huntz GuƩmann stand outside a calf barn on Weber’s farm near West Bend, Wisconsin. The GuƩmann family began renƟng the calf barn from Weber in March. Weber has chronic obstrucƟve pulmonary disease and congesƟve heart failure, and as a result, decided to stop raising calves earlier this year. and lost 18 head in 21 days from a respiratory infection in the spring of 2018. “This was an emergency barn,” Ira
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
The open-air structure alleviates severe respiratory problems Ira and Tammy Weber were experiencing in weaned calves. In 2018, the Webers built this calf barn on their farm near West Bend, Wisconsin.
said. “We had to put it up or get calves outside or get out of raising calves altogether. We could no longer make do with what we had and were forced to make a change.” That September, the Webers moved into their new calf barn built by Valley Building Systems . Measuring 24 feet wide by 165 feet long, the south side of the barn is open, and curtains on the north side can be adjusted according to season. Setting up two rows of calf hutches – one row on the north side of the barn and one on the south – along with four pens for weaned calves – the Webers used the barn to house calves from 3 days old to 6 months. “It was a night and day difference with how healthy the calves were,” Ira said. “Air was the secret ingredient. This is just as nice as being outside except the calves have a roof over their heads. I’m really happy with the way it turned out. I wish I would’ve put this barn up 30 years ago.” The versatile barn makes it possible to raise calves of various ages and was set up to be a one-man operation. Sorting and moving calves from one pen to the next is simple, and Bill often did it by himself.
All gates were custom made for a perfect t and swing inwards, allowing animals to be locked to the back of the pen so the building can be scraped from one end to the other. Each pen has two ways to load cattle in or out so as not to disturb other pens, and every pen is numbered making it easier to communicate information about animals to the vet. To help calves battle winter weather, the Webers put jackets on each calf. When the weather was bitterly cold, they also fed milk replacer three times per day. A gravel-lled cutout in the cement soaked up waste from the hutches. “The calves were always clean,” Ira said. “If you keep calves clean and dry, they can take a lot of cold. Winter in this barn can be a little bit of an issue with the openness. But what you lose in winter, you gain in summer with the ability to have a roof and curtains open. One thing I wish I would’ve done different is enclose the feed area to keep snow out. Snow coming from the lakeshore or the south can be pretty bad. We used to make a wall out of bales on the south side of the barn to block the snow.”
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Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020 • Page 29
ConƟnued from HEIFERS | Page 28
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The calf barn features ve pens measuring 24-by-24 feet each. The GuƩmanns house about 60 head at the facility near West Bend, Wisconsin. After dealing with failing health problems of his own for a couple of years, Ira’s condition took a devastating turn for the worst in 2017 when he was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and later with congestive heart failure. As a result, the Webers would only get a year and a half to enjoy their new facility before deciding to stop raising calves. Caring for the animals was too large a task for Tammy or Bill, who both work full-time jobs off the farm. However, the barn would never sit empty. In March, the Webers began renting the building to the farm across the road. Owned by John Guttmann and his sons, Huntz and Jake, the dairy would greatly benet by using the calf barn to raise heifers. The Guttmanns milk 180 cows and farm 550 acres and also do custom planting, combining, chopping and spraying. “The heifers are really growing well here,” Huntz said. “Before, we were raising calves wherever we could stuff them. They were so overcrowded and becoming stunted due to competition for food. Calves are much healthier here. We can spread out now and give them the room they need, and things are going much better.” Calves are moved over between 2-4 months of age once eating solid food. It is their rst exposure to social housing, and animals stay with the same group until about 9 months to 1 year of age. The Guttmanns feed pasteurized milk and nd it easier to keep wet calves at home and use the Webers’ barn for weaned animals. Instead of selling bull calves weekly, the Guttmanns are able to raise them as feeders. Renting their neighbor’s calf barn freed up space previously used to raise heifers. The Guttmanns house about 60 head at the Webers’ in ve pens that each measure 24-by-24. Calves spend two months in every pen, starting out on the east side of the barn and moving down to the west. The barn features heated waterers, small and large squeeze chutes and a head
lock panel the Guttmanns added. The barn also includes a warming room where Tammy cleaned and prepped bottles and pails. John Guttmann bought his farm from Ira’s father-in-law in 1994, which included a herd of 90 Red and White Holsteins. Ira milked cows with his fatherin-law for ve years but did not want to take over the farm. John was also a milk hauler and continued driving milk truck for six months after purchasing the dairy. Ten years ago, Huntz and Jake formed an LLC with their father. Their sister, Amy, also works part time on the farm. “We never really did a big expansion,” Huntz said. “We grew with our replacements.” The Guttmanns built an 80-cow 3-row freestall barn and retrot a swing-10 parlor into the stanchion barn. Huntz said they would like to explore robotic milkers someday. Eventually the Red and Whites were replaced with black and white Holsteins, and today, 20% of Guttmanns’ cattle are a MontbéliardeHolstein cross. Across the road, the Webers hope to keep their farm in the family to possibly pass along to a future generation. “My 4-year-old grandson, Charlie, said he wants to be a farmer when he grows up,” Ira said. “We’ll try to keep our foot in the door so he has a chance to do that down the road. I want there to be something here for him someday if he ever wants it.” In the meantime, the Guttmanns are happy to have a handy spot close to home to house heifers. The open-air structure built with comfort and convenience in mind has turned out to be a great place to raise calves. A barn where plenty of fresh air is always available is helping calves reach their full potential. “The Webers built this barn right when they did it,” Huntz said. “It’s open air and easy to use. We can’t ask for much better.”
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Book reports
Page 30 • Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020
This past week the weather has been dreary, damp, and in the words of the famous red t-shirt wearing book bear, Winnie-the-Pooh – blustery. It is just this sort of fall weather that makes me want to curl up and read books with the kids all day long. If we are planting the garden, I want to read and laugh at Tops and Bottoms. If the sky looks like a storm is coming, I want to read Thunder Cake and bake one up. If there are worms popping out and the mud is lovely to play in, I yearn to nd Split, Splat. When the late summer monarch chrysalises start hatching and ying south, I dig on the shelf for the catchy Gotta Go, Gotta Go. When the spring birds are singing and lling their nests with eggs, the exquisite An Egg is Quiet gets pulled off the shelf, quickly followed by A Nest is Noisy. There are books for every occasion, every season, every stage of life. The world has been in a whirlwind
for months now, and many people have made the decision to homeschool their children, or perhaps your school is entirely virtual. Reading to your children, with your children, or listening to books – all of these things can help calm them down, and by default, usually you calm down as well. If you feel as though your kids are spending too much time staring at a screen, nd them something with pages to turn during their downtime. Are you homeschooling for the rst time? You have so many more opportunities in the day to ll their brains with words and connect to characters in books. Here are some of the books we’re pulling off the shelf this fall, and ideas to enrich the reading experience with your children. The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams is a wonderful book with the repetition that small children adore. I read this to
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Ira’s class in Kindergarten and had them build their scarecrow with snack items as it progressed: a cheese slice shirt, Ritz cracker head, raisin shoes, and yogurt covered raisin gloves. Search your cupboards – your little ones will love it. Another favorite book with repetition, rhyming, and great read aloud rhythm is a witchy classic by the author of The Gruffalo, Julia Ramblings from the Ridge Donaldson. Room on the Broom is great fun to do with annel board pieces. Her website has graphics you can print out, then attach them to magnets, glue onto annel, or even tape to spoons. Little ones will benet from practicing retelling the story themselves. Miss Maple’s Seeds By Jacqui Davison is written and illustrated Columnist by Wisconsin-born Eliza Wheeler. It is so beautiful and tells of sweet Miss Maple traveling on the backs of birds to rescue seeds that didn’t nd the best place to be planted. She cares for them until they are properly ready to be released into the world. It even has a whole page with pictures of seeds for easy identication to help as you and your family peruse the woods for treasures. Her newest book, Home in the Woods, tells the true story of her grandmother’s childhood in Wisconsin during the Great Depression. Her illustrations are gorgeous and the colors on the pages increase as the story becomes happier and less bleak. Another Wisconsin author whose books highlight our autumn page turning is Lois Ehlert. Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf is great to read, then follow with a painting project. Paint leaves red or yellow then press them on paper for leaf printing. For added fun – and a bit more mess – roll a corn cob in paint then roll it across paper. It makes an interesting pattern, and kids love it. Nuts to You is about a clever squirrel and could be a good precursor to a walk in the woods to identify nuts or search out squirrels and observe their antics. Our favorite, hands down, is Leaf Man. All the illustrations in this book are done by using only leaves. Cows, sh, trees loaded with apples, mice sneaking about a garden with leaf pumpkins, and of course, a man all grace the pages of this bright book. We have been collecting leaves and pressing them the past week so we can make our own leaf men, or in the case of my children, leaf moose, leaf cow and such. I’m pondering a leaf rooster after collecting some bright red sumac leaves. Dry, at leaves work the best to glue to paper. Leaf art may not last forever, but it is a clever project for all ages to be creative with. Beth Ferry collaborated with the phenomenal illustrators, The Fan Brothers, to bring The Scarecrow to life. What a lonely life the poor scarecrow leads until he befriends a crow. He thinks all hope is lost, until his friend returns to him, with a need for a nest. Most of our farms have a plentiful amount of straw, old hay and a surplus of old clothes needed for building even the most rudimentary scarecrow. Another book written and illustrated by The Fan Brothers is The Night Gardener. It, like Home in the Woods, uses the colors in the book to show how the plot of the story is growing happier. The trees go through the seasons and show the beauty in the changing. It may inspire some creative pruning in your yard, so hide your shears. In the van on our nightly ride home from the farm, we have been listening to Roald Dahl reading some of his works. We’ve made it through Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Magic Finger, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Enormous Crocodile, and just started James and the Giant Peach. I wish I would have thought to play these earlier. The end-of-the-day ghting from being tired has ceased, and I don’t spend the drive lecturing them. From Cora to Ira, they all enjoy them, and I will admit, I love being read to as well. Get the pages turning as the leaves turn colors. Jacqui and her family milk 800 cows and run 1,200 acres of crops in the northeastern corner of Vernon County, Wisconsin. Her children, Ira (12), Dane (10), Henry (5) and Cora (3), 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.
Dehydration and uid therapy
Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020 • Page 31
Dehydration in cattle occurs when the amount of bodily uids is reduced from normal. Dehydration can cause hypovolemic shock and electrolyte imbalances. By far the most common conditions that cause dehydration in dairy animals are endotoxic mastitis in cows and diarrhea in calves. In fact, in both of those conditions, dehydration Veterinary Wisdom and accompanying shock may be one of the most common causes of death in affected animals. Correcting dehydration is thus critically important. Choosing the right uids, the amount to give and the method to administer are also important. In adults and calves, dehydration can be diagnosed by degree of By Jim Bennett enopthalamus, or sinking Columnist of the eyeballs. When the lower lid is pulled away from the eyeball there should not be a space between the globe and the socket. In dehydrated animals, there will be a visible space. The greater the space the greater the dehydration. Checking the degree of skin tenting is another technique. One twists the skin and counts the seconds until the skin returns to normal. Over 2-3 seconds indicates dehydration. Most people with signicant cow experience can probably diagnose dehydration by looking at the face and eyes. However, by any method, most observers will only be able to diagnose dehydration of 4%-5% or greater. The two most important goals of uid therapy are to replace uid volume in the blood and body tissues, and to correct acid/base imbalances. Volume replacement in cattle almost always requires uids containing electrolytes such as sodium, potassium and chloride. The total concentration should be equal or greater to blood plasma, otherwise the uids will not remain in the bloodstream. This is why giving water intravenously, or water with 5% dextrose, does
not work to correct dehydration. Volume can also be Since scouring calves are constantly losing uids, and replaced by using a combination of hypertonic, or since there are normal maintenance requirements, no more concentrated, uids IV and hypotonic, or less dehydrated, scouring calf should ever get less than 2 concentrated uids orally. Hypertonic uids must be liters of uid. A good rule of thumb is at least 4 liters, given IV though, because they are irritating to tissues. or roughly 1 gallon should be given in total, of IV If given subcutaneously, sloughing of the skin can and oral uids within the rst few hours, and followed occur. by at least 2 liters of oral uids at the next feeding. Acid/base imbalances can be divided into acidosis In severe diarrhea cases, calves can lose up to two and alkalosis. Dehydrated ggallons of uids in 24 hours. adult cows are rarely acidotic M Most dehydrated calves can Any d dairy i ffarm will ill h have cattle l tolerate 3 liters of IV uids while dehydrated calves A are rarely alkalotic. This or calves that suffer from given rapidly through a is important in choosing 14-gauge catheter or needle. the correct replacement dehydration. If one cannot manage to uids. Thus for cows, nonpplace a needle or catheter IV, alkalizing uids like saline iisotonic uids can be given are appropriate, while sodium bicarbonate would be subcutaneously or intraperitoneally. Almost anyone more appropriate for calves. Calves with diarrhea can be trained fairly quickly by a veterinarian to that are 1 week or less in age are less likely to be administer SQ or IP uids. A 1,500 pound cow that acidotic than older calves; however, they will not be is 5% dehydrated is 23 liters, or about 6 gallons, low alkalotic so using sodium bicarbonate is appropriate. on uid. Thus, any cow with detectable dehydration Lactated ringers can also be used in calves; it is mildly needs at least 10 gallons of uids. The simplest way alkalizing, so it is best used for very young calves or to do this is to use hypertonic saline IV followed by calves that have a strong suckle response. The suckle water orally. Cows that drink well within 10 minutes response is fairly well correlated with acid/base status of hypertonic uid administration usually do not need in calves, so if you put your nger in the mouth and to be pumped with more water. the calf sucks strongly, it is not likely acidotic. An Any dairy farm will have cattle or calves that important point is that acidotic calves given IV uids suffer from dehydration. Fluid therapy is a critical that are not alkalizing do not correct the acidosis on treatment and can save lives. The principles are pretty their own. Oral uids can be used to correct acidosis, simple but important. Ask your veterinarian to design and good quality electrolytes designed to treat calf uid therapy protocols for your farm. diarrhea will have alkalizing agents in them. Beware Information for this article came from Smith, though; there are plenty of calf electrolyte products Fluid Therapy in Calves, and Roussel, Fluid Therapy on the market that are not correctly formulated and in Mature Cattle, Veterinary Clinics of North America, should not be used. Also, severely acidotic calves 2014. with poor suckle response may not absorb oral uids Bennett is one of four dairy veterinarians at quickly or effectively. Oral electrolytes can be given Northern Valley Dairy Production Medicine Center before or after a milk feeding, or can be fed free in Plainview, Minnesota. He also consults on dairy choice throughout the day. farms in other states. He and his wife, Pam, have four Most people underestimate how much uids children. Jim can be reached at bennettnvac@gmail. dehydrated animals need. It is often difcult to com with comments or questions. diagnose less than 5% dehydration. A 40 kg calf that is 5% dehydrated is short at least 2 liters of uid.
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There was a tree of three
Page 32 • Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020
What a strange title for an article. Those three literally where my mouth is and decided to tutor words, there, tree and three, have pretty much Cort. summed up what has been occupying my very limThe rst book off the shelf to help Cort with ited downtime during this reading skills was a book busy harvest season. I have I detest because I do not Those three h words, d there, h tree like the thought of eating this wonderful 6-year-old Th granddaughter who is in and three, have pretty much green eggs and ham. Yet rst grade, and she missed I knew that “Green Eggs the last three months of summed up what has been and Ham” was the perfect kindergarten because of occupying my very limted book to gauge where Cort COVID-19, and when she was in her reading skills. started rst grade this fall, downtime. First, I read it to her slowshe was a little behind on ly, clearly and with a lot of reading skills. When I expression. Then I had her heard that, I said to her mom that no grandkid of read it back to me, and it was obvious she could mine is going to fall behind on reading skills be- easily read words like green, eggs, ham and Sam, cause reading is a life skill. So, I put my money but struggled terribly with words that are not easy
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to sound out like there, three, said, tree and that. Cort’s aunt, Sarah, who teaches teachers how to teach, told me some words just have to be memorized by the student when they cannot sound them out. We struggled Making Cents of Dairy through “Green Eggs and Ham,” and I made a list of 10 words she continually struggled with. Then I put those 10 words on ash cards so we could really work on memorizing them. She was not too excited about that until the second night of tutoring when I said I By Dave Vander Kooi would give her a quarColumnist ter for each word she mastered. I knew Cort wanted to buy a Barbie ambulance, and I also knew Cort likes money. After that, she calls me up at night to ask when I am coming over to work on reading, and she snuggles right up to me on the couch as we go to work. I think my $10-$25 investment in her education will pay back many times, and even if I have to dish out quarters, the snuggles are worth every penny. Since that second night, we are on to new books like “Hop on Pop,” which is a progressive book, meaning every few pages the words get a little harder. Tonight, we are going to master her three toughest words: there, three and tree. And, we are going to nd a harder book and make a new list of ash card words so Cort can make some more money. The second part of the tree of three l have worked on a little is my 96-year-old mother. She lives very independently yet in her own impeccably clean home. Last week she fell in between a table and a wall and was unable to get up. Fortunately, it happened shortly before the time when my wife stops to check on her every day. She did not break anything and only received a back bruise, but sitting there an hour really scared her. She immediately told us to bring her to a nursing home because she said she was done. We told her no; that we can get her a medical alert device to wear on her wrist, and if she is in trouble, she can push the button and one of us will be automatically notied and will come. The smile on my mom’s face when I installed that phone device yesterday was priceless to see. She needed that peace of mind knowing she would not be helpless if she fell again. The third part of the tree of three is teaching myself how to slow down from 50-plus years of hard farm work. On Oct. 1, I started teaching Guillermo, our Spanish herd health specialist, how to take over my early morning work with the fresh cows and calves. I am also trying to spend extra time teaching my older grandsons how to maintain and safely operate farm equipment. That time spent with them can also be used to explain the value of the life cycle of crops feeding livestock and livestock manure feeding the crops. Hopefully by teaching others, my physical workload will be decreased and new opportunities will arise. Vander Kooi operates a 1,800-cow, 4,500 acre farm with his son, Joe, and daughter-in-law, Rita, near Worthington, Minnesota. Send him feedback at davevkooi@icloud.com. Follow him on Instagram, @ davevanderkooi.
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Lending a helping hand Forages are all tucked in for the season at our dairy so there is a bit of time to breath before grain harvest and corn stalk bales. I was mostly caught up with calf barn work, so I decided to nd a volunteer opportunity. I like to help in the community, and I have had the Nicollet County Food Box give away on my radar. I had seen emails about the need for volunteers to help with the program three other times this summer. The fourth distribution was Sept. 28 and that date and time worked out well for me. I signed up along with my neighbor, Joni, a farmer and early childhood and family educator, making it extra fun. The food distribution event was called the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program and was open to all Nicollet County Come Full Dairy Circle residents. CFAP is a United States Department of Agriculture program operation by Second Harvest Heartland in Minnesota and is locally implemented by volunteer groups. When Joni and I arrived at the Nicollet County Fairgrounds, we parked in a special area, sanitized, masked up, listened to an orientation and signed off that we understood what was expected of us regarding being non-discriminatory in handing out the food. There were about 20 volunteers of ages from youth to retirement, staff from local agencies and two semi-truck drivers who handled By Jean Annexstad unloading the pallets of food boxes from the trucks as we needed them. Columnist Two lines of vehicles formed. The volunteers organized into two teams to check people in, ask people how many households to load per car and then to place boxes into their trunks or backseats. We quickly loaded two vehicles at once, they drove out and two more drove up. The event started at 11 a.m., but when we arrived at 9:30, a line of cars was waiting. At 10:20, we were ready for the rst cars to come into the loading area. Our teams placed a box of produce, a box of dairy and a box of frozen protein (turkey meatballs and pork sausages) per household into the vehicles. Listed on the side of the box of dairy were the contents: 2 gallons of milk, one large carton of cottage cheese, one large carton of yogurt and butter. I am not sure of the exact pounds of the butter, but the yogurt and cottage cheese looked like food service-sized containers through the clear tape on the top of the box. As an added bonus, one extra pallet contained boxes of cheese. We included one box per car and asked people to divide the cheese among the various households. I was able to see that the cheese boxes contained three packages of shredded cheddar, two 5-pound boxes of American processed and white cheddar cheese slices and a couple smaller blocks of cheese. We ran out of the cheese about half-way through the event. At noon, only a few cars trickled in. We had distributed 300 pounds of the 500 pounds of food boxes on the trucks. Joni and I left shortly after, so I do not know if all of the food was given out or what happened to whatever was left at 1 p.m. when the event was over. At the rst distribution for Nicollet County in June, 711 households were served. The program is a part of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue’s idea to purchase and provide boxes of excess food usually sold to food service. As we know well by now, there is a slower pace at food service venues since the March government shutdowns. No doubt this program, now called the Farmers to Families Food Box Program, implemented nationwide this summer has helped to buoy our milk checks after the wild milk price swings resulting from the COVID-19 shutdown. USDA signaled that it will spend up to $1 billion on dairy products alone, with the program to likely end as dollars run out in October. “When measured in terms of impact, this program stands out as the largest inuence on dairy markets today,” as reported in the Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative Market Newsletter, August 2020 issue. A chart in the article written by Mike North, principal, Commodity Risk Management Group, shows up to 3% of total U.S. milk production has been purchased by the government from May through September. The program has beneted our farm and likely many others for the time being. I wanted to see for myself what this program is doing in my community and to know if it is helping people. I believe it is. The best part of helping that day was to receive a spoken thank you or see smiles on the faces of the recipients. It felt good knowing the milk we work hard to produce and ship to a milk, butter or cheese plant actually is being provided to families who can use it for a satisfying meal or snack. Jean dairy farms with her husband, Rolf, and brother-in-law, Mike, and children Emily, Matthias and Leif. They farm near St. Peter, Minnesota, in Norseland, where she is still trying to t in with the Norwegians and Swedes. They milk 200 cows and farm 650 acres. She can be reached at jeanannexstad@ gmail.com.
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Page 34 • Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020
Local dairy community rallies to support burn victim
Auction donations benet 10-year-old’s medical expenses By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
VIROQUA, Wis. – The dairy farming community is a close and tightly knit group, and when one is in need, the rest gather and rally to the cause. Dairy community members in Monroe and Vernon Counties did just that to help a dairy farm kid in need. Gage Leis, 10, of Sparta, suffered burns over 30% of his body, ranging from rst- to third-degree, as the result of an accident on the farm the evening of Sept. 25. Gage is the son of Gabe Leis and Beth Wells-Leis, who operate Heritage Hill Farm and Wells-Holm Registered Holsteins along with three daughters, Madaline, 20, Addison, 13, and Haydn, 12. They milk 45 cows. The Vernon County Holstein Breeders had a daylight meeting scheduled for Oct. 4 at the farm of Rob and Gail Klinkner in rural Viroqua. While the Leis family lives in Monroe County, the long-standing friendship of the Klinkners and Leises, dating back to their
own 4-H and FFA days, has traversed the county line. That friendship has continued to the next generation, with their children developing close relationships. That bond of friendship led the Klinkners to donate a calf to be auctioned off during the daylight meeting program to benet Gage and his family. That donation set the wheels in motion and brought the dairy community out in full force, turning the gathering of Holstein breeders into a community event and benet auction which raised over $30,000 to help the Leis family offset the expenses they are now facing while their son recovers from his injuries. “This is just what farmers do,” Rob Klinkner said. “We rally around each other and support each other when times get hard. When we rst decided to host the event, it was about the cows and the farm. It’s about a whole lot more.” The outpouring of monetary donations and support the Leis family has experienced has touched the family, according to Beth Wells-Leis.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
The Wells-Leis family – (front, from leŌ) Gage, Haydn and Madaline Leis; (back, from leŌ) Addison Leis, Beth Wells-Leis and Gabe Leis – milk 45 cows near Viroqua, Wisconsin. The family has been overwhelmed by the support they have received from their peers in the dairy industry in the face of a farm accident that leŌ Gabe in the University of Wisconsin Hospital’s burn unit. “We can’t thank everyone enough for the outpouring of love, friendship and prayers the last few days,” she said. “In the livestock industry, we tread water a bit differently; this is
how we support each other in times of hardship. There are two special boys, a family with a heart of gold and countless friends behind this, who love our son and our family so much.
They are trying to offer him the world, and this is why I have always loved agriculture and the great people involved in the inTurn to LEIS | Page 35
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Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020 • Page 35
ConƟnued from LEIS | Page 34 dustry.” The Klinkners donated a September calf named Klinkner On Point Remember, an On Point daughter from a VG-85 Welsh-Edge Gold Chip Hold Up daughter. The family descends from Gail Klinkner’s rst 4-H calf purchased in 1990 at the Vernon County Holstein Sale. Remember was purchased and donated back to sell again a total of nine times, raising $11,800 from a variety of area businesses and families to benet the Leis family. Following the last fall of the PHOTO SUBMITTED gavel, the nal bid- Friends – (from leŌ) Garrison and Reagan Klinkner, and der gifted Remem- Gage Leis – gather in a barn. The long-Ɵme family friendber to Gage. ship between the Klinkner and Leis families spurred the Monroe County Klinkner family to donate a heifer to sell during the HolHolstein breeder stein gathering they were hosƟng. That donaƟon grew Bryan Stremcha and into a community event that raised over $30,000 to help Vernon County Hol- the Leis family. stein breeder Paul Buhr also added a just some of the things spurring Gage donation of a red registered Holstein forward in his journey to get back to the heifer, Pierce-Vale Jordy Sauna-Red, to farm. The road ahead of Gage is sure to the benet auction, with the twist of sell- be long and fraught with difcult days ing the naming rights to the heifer calf and surgeries, as the burns cover a great she is carrying, with the heifer and her deal of the front side of his body, and the calf being a gift to Gage. Adding to the doctors have begun the process of skin sentimental value of the gift is she is the grafting. daughter of a cow that Gage recently The Leises encourage parents to use bought, Pierce-Vale Spicey-Red, from their son’s misfortune as a teaching tool fellow Monroe County Holstein breeder for their own children, taking the time Lee Pierce. The naming rights ultimately to talk about the many dangers that can sold for $10,000 to a syndicate of do- be found on the farm and importance of nors that went by the name “Friends of farm safety. Gage.” “There are a lot of uncertainties, sur“The red heifer and her calf add to geries and unconditional care ahead of his Ruby cow family that he already us, but Gage really wants to be back on owned,” Wells-Leis said. “They hail the farm with his animals, tractors and from the Stelbro Renita Ranger-Red all the daily over-the-top activities he family. Older genetics, but Gage is super loves so much,” Wells-Leis said. “His proud of them.” journey back to where he loves to be is The two, and soon to be three, new going to take lots of strength and positive additions to his growing dairy herd are thoughts.” TRACTORS Kubota M135x w/ldr NH T7040, 1100 hrs NH T4.75 w/ldr, 140 hrs NH 37 w/ldr, 100 hrs Oliver 1600 AGCO 5650, 2900 hrs
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Women In Dairy Rikki Van Dyk New Richmond, Wisconsin St. Croix County 70 cows Family: My husband, Chris, and I have four boys, Tyler, 21, Derek, 17, and twins Landon and Lane, 11. Tell us about your farm. I joined the farm 12 years ago when I married my husband, Chris. Prior to that, Chris was farming with his parents, John and Eileen. We have Holsteins and Jerseys. We started raising and milking Jerseys about seven years ago, and prior to that we had only Holsteins. Five years ago, we went through a barn re. We didn’t lose any animals directly from the re but lost the barn. We have rebuilt and continue to love farming. We also have 18 chickens, ve goats, two dogs and barn cats. What is the busiest time of day for you? I’m busy all day long. Mornings start out with feeding calves, and after that, the cows get milked and fed, followed by cleaning mangers and pens. By this time, the kids are in the barn helping. Heifers are fed, cows are let outside and stalls are bedded. Breakfast is sometime in between all that. Once barn chores are done then house work, lawn work and other farm work gets done along with lunch. I might sneak in a quick nap. By afternoon, the cows come in and get fed. Calves and heifers are fed and milking starts. Once milking is done, the milking cows are fed one more time, everyone is checked on, and pens and the back of the stalls are scraped. After chores, we eat supper and relax. When you get a spare moment, what do you do? I like gardening and canning. I just learned to crochet so I’ve been working on granny squares. I enjoy spending time with my family, hiking, shing or having a camp re. Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. I didn’t grow up on a farm. When I started dating my husband, I wanted to see a
calf be born. I waited awhile, and it was so amazing. It’s still one of my favorite things on the farm. What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the dairy industry? I enjoy being able to work side-by-side with my husband and family and raising our kids on the farm. Our youngest have pretty much been raised in the barn. I work part time in a nursing home as a nurse, and the residents love to hear stories and see pictures of the farm and animals. How do you stay connected with others in the industry? Social media, attending cow shows and the county fair. Who is someone in the industry who has inspired you? My grandma. Her and Grandpa farmed until I was 11 or 12. I remember my grandma was such a hard worker, and she was always happy. When I started farming, we would talk farm talk all the time. She is gone now, but I think of her often when I’m in the barn. Also my husband. He has taught me all I know about taking care of the cows, heifers and calves. He would go out of his way to help someone or take care of an animal. If you could give a tour of your farm to a prominent woman in today’s society, who would it be? I can’t think of anyone, but the residents I take care of love to hear stories. I would invite all the residents who would want a tour to come out to the farm and sit and talk with them about their farming lives or answer their questions. What is the best vacation you have ever taken? We usually go camping once a year with the kids. During the county fair, the kids and I stay at the fair in the camper. We do barn chores at the fair until my husband is done with chores at home. My husband and I try to get away, usually a night, for our anniversary.
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Gary and Amy Dammen are recognized as the senior Breeder of the Year from the Green County Holstein Breeders. The couple milks 80 cows on their farm near Argyle, Wisconsin.
Love for cows, kids earns Dammens the Green County senior breeder award By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
ARGYLE, Wis. – Gary and Amy Dammen love working with children as much as they love working with cows. Whether helping at their county fair or opening their barn to kids who want to show, Gary and Amy have dedicated a big part of their lives to the youth of Green County. Spending many hours mentoring young people in the dairy industry, these farmers seize every opportunity to make a difference. Gary and Amy were recognized by the Green County Holstein Breeders Sept. 5, winning senior Breeder of the Year – an award that took note of the couple’s accomplishments as a longtime breeder in the Holstein Association and their involvement with the county’s youth through organizations. “We were very active in Junior Holsteins and anything else that came about,� said Amy, who is also a full-time teacher. “We served as 4-H leaders when our kids were growing up and still like to help out at the county fair.�
The Dammens’ three children are now pursuing careers off the farm. Katie, 26, is a nurse in the transplant unit at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee; Amber, 23, is employed by STgenetics in Middleton; and Mitchell, 21, works for JP Cullen – a construction company in Janesville. Tucked in the hills of Argyle, Inwood-Hill Farm is home to a 200-cow herd of registered Holsteins and Brown Swiss. The Dammens milk around 80 cows and farm 450 acres. Cows are housed and milked in a 70-stall tiestall barn and pastured in the summer. Gary and Amy and their children have shown their Holsteins extensively from World Dairy Expo to the Wisconsin State Fair, district shows and county fair. In 2012, the Dammens purchased their ďƒžrst Brown Swiss for their daughter, Amber. “She wanted a Swiss so that’s how we got started with the breed,â€? Gary said. “And it was history from there. We really like Brown Swiss and continued growing that part of our herd.â€?
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The Dammens milk 80 cows and farm 450 acres in the hills of Argyle, Wisconsin. Gary and Amy purchased the farm in 1993.
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Page 38 • Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020
ConƟnued from DAMMENS | Page 37
The 16 Brown Swiss cows include four Excellent and 10 Very Good animals. “We still have a girl who shows the Swiss for us, and any kid who would like to show is welcome here,” Gary said. “We’re open and willing to help out anyone who is interested in showing our cattle.” Gary was one of the founders of Green County’s dairy youth auction – an annual county fair event that kicked off in 2003. The top showmen and those at the halter of the grand and reserve champions, among other rst-place winners, are auctioned off to raise money. A total of 10 lots are recognized with each one garnering $2,000 on average. The high bidder receives a basket of cheese and a plaque. “The kid gets half of the STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR money, and the auction gets the Cows are housed and milked in a 70-stall Ɵestall barn and pastured in the summer at the Damother half to use for scholar- mens’ dairy near Argyle, Wisconsin. ConƟnuing to improve geneƟcs, producƟon and cow health ships, donations or to invest in are constant goals of the Dammens. the fairground,” Gary said. “It’s been a great thing and has went over really well.” Gary grew up on a farm in calves and bookwork, and helps plans shifted to online. Gary’s fun-natured person- Argyle and began farming at milk on weekends and during “When COVID hit, life here ality makes him a hit with the this location in 1983 in partner- the summer. She can also be on the farm never changed, but kids. ship with the owner, John Aues- found running the chopper and my life changed completely,” “I like to joke around,” tad. Gary and Amy married in helping where needed. Amy said. “I was lost. I really Gary said. “It keeps me young. 1991 and purchased the farm “When our kids were missed the kids. It was hard.” Amy and I really like the kids in 1993. For 27 years, Amy has young, I didn’t do as much As a teacher, it is not unand have a lot of fun working held a job as a teacher at Argyle farming,” Amy said. “I didn’t common for Amy to bring work with them.” Elementary School. have time between teaching and home. With both in-person and Gary and Amy also help “I love teaching 4-year- our kids being in sports. Now, virtual teaching responsibilities run Green County Junior Hol- olds,” Amy said. “They’re al- it’s not as hard, and I can do this school year, Amy’s job has stein Dairy Days in Argyle. ways excited to see me, and more farm work.” taken on a new dimension. Dairy Days is one of the ways their innocence and love of Amy admits that balanc“I have several students in which the county promotes learning makes every day great. ing farming with teaching can who I’m teaching online and the dairy industry. The Dam- My favorite thing about teach- be challenging some days, and doing both in-person and virtual mens help put on the dairy show ing is denitely the kids.” the COVID-19 pandemic made instruction can be difcult,” she which is part of the festivities. Amy also takes care of it even more stressful as lesson said.
Continuing to improve genetics, production and cow health are constant goals of the Dammens. The Dammens consign animals to sales like Heart of the Wheel – a local sale – and the Pioneer Club sale for the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and would like to get into merchandising more of their cattle. “We breed for type and feed for production,” Gary said. “Cows’ diets consist of corn silage, haylage, baled hay and shelled corn. Healthy cows are important to us, which is why we also select for health traits in our breeding decisions.” Much of the Dammens’ baling and chopping is done by custom crews run by two of their nephews. Besides one guy who helps with milking and some occasional weekend helpers, Gary and Amy are the primary labor force on their dairy. “I still take pride in planting crops, but I like it in the barn better,” said Gary, who prefers cows over tractors. The Dammens’ love for registered cattle and a soft spot for children merged into a lifetime of developing quality animals and guiding youth to greater things. “We love animals, and we love kids,” Gary said. “We’ve met so many great people while showing cattle including many of our closest friends. This has been our life, and it’s a good one.”
Dairy prole Zernicke’s Landstad Dairy LLC Derick and Amy Zernicke Bonduel, Wisconsin Shawano County 415 cows How did you get into farming? Derick was born into farming. Derick’s parents, Delmar and Rozanne, are active members in the LLC today. Amy married into farming when she and Derick married in 2002. What are your thoughts and concerns about the dairy industry for the next year? The milk price is our biggest concern. Everything else that goes with farming, like fuel, cropping, equipment and repairs have all consistently gone up in price, and milk price varies so much. It makes staying in farming difcult. Keeping employees is another big concern. It is getting harder and harder to pay a wage that makes your employees want to stay. They are always looking for easier jobs and jobs with benets, and that makes it hard to compete. We have been blessed so far to keep good-quality employees. What is the latest technology you implemented on your farm and the purpose for it? The most recent technology we added was the CowManager program. Our heifers are housed at Derick’s parents’ farm, and it makes it difcult to catch them in heat. The CowManager program has allowed us to monitor them via ear tags that catch them in heat for us. This has been a vital tool for making sure we are breeding on a natural cycle as much as possible. What is a management practice you changed in the past year that has beneted
Dairy Star • Saturday, October 10, 2020 • Page 39
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The Zernicke family milks 415 cows in Bonduel, Wisconsin. Pictured from leŌ are Amy holding Georgia, 2, Jack, 11, Chloe, 10, Allison, 12, Hailey, 14, and Derick Zernicke. you? We moved our herd checks to every two weeks so we are not cycling as many cows through at one time. This has proven to be benecial because when checking smaller groups, we have shown that our conception rate has increased. This has also allowed us to catch any problems sooner and get them taken care of in a timely manner, which in turn helps us get the cows bred back sooner. What cost-saving steps have you implemented during the low milk price? Due to the low milk prices, we have chosen to not update any of the equipment. We have been repairing things instead of replacing. We have also chosen to not cut all of our hay for another crop this fall, only the established elds, which will save on custom cropping and fuel. In the past, when an employee was gone on vacation, we would make sure to have them covered with a parttime employee. This past year, we covered the shifts ourselves to help save money. How do you retain a good working relationship with your employees? We try our best to
give them time off whenever they ask. If they have a child who has a school program, we make sure they can attend. We offer paid vacation after so much time here and double time on holidays. We try to hold meetings with them so we know how they are doing and see if they need anything. Having a daily conversation with them is also helpful. If they have suggestions for improvement, they know we are open to ideas and will look into it if it will make the farm work better. Tell us about a skill you possess that makes dairy farming easier for you. Derick can look at a group of cows or heifers and know which one is which. Even after 17 years together, it amazes Amy that he can do that. She has lost a few bets on thinking there is no way he knows which animal that is. Derick’s hard work ethic and persistence is also a huge benet to his profession. He goes and goes, and even after he comes in the house at night, he has a list a mile long he wants to get done. Amy’s ability to learn on the y has been helpful. She did not go to
school for farming or accounting and now does all the books for the farm, including payroll and taxes. What do you enjoy most about dairy farming? We are able to raise our ve children in the country and teach them a hard work ethic. We are blessed to be able to make it to all their school and sporting events. Derick likes that it is something different every day, and Amy enjoys being able to volunteer at the kids’ schools. What advice would you give other dairy farmers? Take a vacation. A good break from the farm, out of country if possible so they can’t contact you with problems, helps get you sane again. Surround yourself with people who are positive, willing to help on a moment’s notice, will talk through things with you and encourage you. What has been the best purchase you have ever made on your farm? Our pasteurizer. We have bigger and healthier calves because of it. We don’t have to purchase expensive milk replacer, and the milk is ready and waiting when you go to feed calves.
What has been your biggest accomplishment while dairy farming? Raising our ve beautiful children. It is amazing to watch them grow and learn on the farm every day. They are getting to the ages where they can help out more, and it is nice to see some of them show interest in helping on the farm. We were also Shawano County Young Farmers in 2016. We are proud to host school tours from elementary through tech school. We enjoy sharing the good news of agriculture. What are your plans for your dairy in the next year and ve years? The next year of farming on our dairy will be more along the cost savings line. We will continue to repair not replace things. We will do our best to pay down debt and continue to work as best we can with our employees to assure them of a secure job. Over the next ve years, we plan to update equipment. There may be some ownership transition from Derick’s parents to Derick and his brother, Dan. We plan to improve land we acquired by tiling and cleaning up ditches. How do you or your family like to spend time when you are not doing chores? Our children all show cattle, so some of that time is spent at dairy shows and our county fair. Our children also play sports, so a lot of time is spent in a gym or on a eld watching the kids play volleyball, basketball, football, softball and baseball. We enjoy camping although that has not happened much the last few years. When money allows, Amy enjoys traveling, and she makes Derick go along. We never go to a place twice, but we enjoy warmer weather when we can.
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