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DAIRY ST R
is celebrating 20 years!
See our special four-page section inside the Second Section of this issue. i
DAIRY ST R ng
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“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 21, No. 1
February F b 23, 2019
Quality milk production while supporting research UW Marsheld Research Center wins NMC platinum award By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
MARSHFIELD, Wis. – Producing high-quality milk is a priority at the University of Wisconsin’s Marsheld Agricultural Research Station. The farm received a platinum National Dairy Quality Award designation at the National Mastitis Council’s annual meeting Feb. 1 in Savannah, Ga. MARS is a research facility owned by the University of Wisconsin and is home to 124 Holstein cows which are milked twice daily. Nancy Esser serves as the station superintendent and the herd manager. She works together with livestock supervisor Will Cordes to maintain the herd. This is the second time the herd has earned this designation, having won the award in 2016. “We were very pleased to learn that we received another platinum award,” Esser said. “We have pretty stringent protocols for everything, including cow comfort, animal care, calving management and milking procedures.” The milking and mastitis protocols followed at MARS are identical to those used at the other university dairy herd locations in Arlington, Wis., and on campus in Madison, Wis. All dairy protocols are designed by university dairy science staff and veterinarians. According to Esser, a large number of people milk Turn to RESEARCH | Page 7
DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
Will Cordes (leŌ) serves as the Livestock Superintendent at the University of Wisconsin Marsheld Agricultural Research StaƟon (MARS) dairy, working with StaƟon Superintendent and Herd Manager Nancy Esser (right). MARS was named as a PlaƟnum recipient of the NaƟonal MasƟƟs Council’s NaƟonal Dairy Quality Award earlier this month. The facility is home to 124 cows near Marsheld, Wis.
Challenges faced, diversification embraced
Prahls receive Wisconsin Farm Bureau award By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
PHOTO SUBMITTED
The Prahl family (from leŌ) Lydia, Aubrey, Ryan and Warren received the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Young Farmer and Agriculturist Achievement Award. They milk 140 cows near Wausau, Wis. Not pictured: Lindsey.
WAUSAU, Wis. – The challenges Ryan and Lindsey Prahl have faced have led them to believe that diversication is the right path to follow on their fth-generation Granite-Vu Farm near Wausau, Wis. The Prahls, along with their children Lydia, 8, Warren, 5, and Audrey, 4, milk 140 Holsteins, Red and Whites, Jerseys and a few Linebacks on their farm in Marathon County. They are expecting their fourth child in March. They farm
a total of 625 acres of land, both owned and rented. The Prahls were awarded with the Wisconsin Farm Bureau’s Young Farmer and Agriculturist Achievement Award during the bureau’s annual meeting in Wisconsin Dells in December 2018. Ryan is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Farm and Industry Short Course. Lindsey graduated from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls with a degree in agricultural education. She spent 8 years working for the Farm Bureau before joining Ryan on the farm fulltime. In 2002 at the age of 19, Ryan purchased cows while working as a milk truck driver and part-time dairy farmer in conjunction with Turn to PRAHLS| Page 5
Page 2 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019
DAIRY ST R www.dairystar.com
ISSN 020355 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave. Sauk Centre, MN 56378 Phone: (320) 352-6303 Fax: (320) 352-5647 Published by Dairy Star LLC General Manager/Editor Mark Klaphake - mark.k@dairystar.com 320-352-6303 (ofce) 320-248-3196 (cell) 320-352-0062 (home) Ad Composition Nancy Powell 320-352-6303 nancy.p@dairystar.com Amanda Thooft 320-352-6303 amanda.t@dairystar.com Consultant Jerry Jennissen 320-346-2292 Editorial Staff Andrea Borgerding - Associate Editor (320) 352-6303 • andrea.b@dairystar.com Krista Kuzma - Assistant Editor (507) 259-8159 • krista.k@dairystar.com Jennifer Coyne - Assistant Editor (320) 352-6303 • jenn@dairystar.com Ruth Klossner (507) 240-0048 cowlady@centurylink.net Danielle Nauman (608) 487-1101 danielle.n@dairystar.com Danna Sabolik - Staff Writer (320) 352-6303 • danna.s@dairystar.com Maria Bichler - Copy Editor 320-352-6303 Advertising Sales Main Ofce: 320-352-6303 Fax: 320-352-5647 Deadline is 5 p.m. of the Friday the week before publication Sales Manager - Jeff Weyer (Northern MN, East Central MN) 320-260-8505 (cell) jeff.w@dairystar.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 Amos Denman (Southern WI) 563-608-6477 • amos.d@dairystar.com Megan Stuessel (Western Wisconsin) 608-387-1202 • megan.s@dairystar.com Deadlines The deadline for news and advertising in the Dairy Star is 5 p.m. Friday the week before publication. Subscriptions One year subscription $35.00, outside the U.S. $110.00. Send check along with mailing address to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378. Advertising Our ad takers have no authority to bind this newspaper and only publication of an advertisement shall constitute 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 what’s inside Twenty years ago, I was preparing to send out the rst Dairy Star. It was exciting and nerve-wracking all at the same time. But it was fun being at the start and getting the paper off the ground. It’s hard to believe the efforts of a few of us squeezing in more hours to turn out the rst 12-page paper has now turned into a three-section, four-state publication put together by a team of full-time staff members and read by nearly 17,000 people. To celebrate these 20 years of bringing dairy farmers news, we have put together a special four-page tab in our second section about Dairy Star. It features a column from me, a look at how By Mark Klaphake the paper has Editor expanded and changed over the years, and special memories from staff members. Being a part of Dairy Star has been a fun experience, along with a humbling one, as I have interviewed so many dairy farmers and talked to so many dairy businesses along the way. The journey of Dairy Star would not have been possible without all of you – the businesses advertising with us or the dairy farmers sharing stories. You all are the reason we work every day to tell stories from the dairy community in the Upper Midwest. It has been a memorable 20 years The Dairy Star staff ’s rst group Christmas photo in December 1999. Pictured le�, Steve Dold, Mark Klaphake, Deb Freiborg, Jeff Weyer and Jerry Jenand we look forward to all the from nissen. years to come.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Page 3
It’s all inside... Columnists Ag Insider
Pages 8-9 First Section
Our Expansion Project Page 22 First Section
Wausau
Finland farm ourishing for the future
Prahls receive Wisconsin Farm Bureau award
Second Section: Pages 18 - 19
The Transition Pen
Second Section: Pages 1, 5-6
Page 27 First Section
Ramblings from the Ridge
Bayeld
Douglas
First Section: Pages 15 - 16
Page 31 First Section
n ur
From Our Side of the Fence
Burnett
Polk
Just Thinking Out Loud
hb
Something to Ruminate On
Iron Ashland
Blair
Sawyer
W as
Page 30 First Section
Price
Marsheld
UW Marsheld Research Center wins NMC platinum award
Rusk
Barron
Taylor St. Croix
Dairy Good Life
Pierce
Page 33 First Section
Dunn
Pepin Buffalo
The “Mielke” Market Weekly
Pages 10 - 11 Second Section
Arcadia
Weltzien savors year serving as state vice president First Section: Pages 23, 25
First Section: Pages 1, 7
Chippewa
Marathon Clark
Eau Claire Trempealeau
Page 32 First Section
Wood Jackson Adams
La Crosse Monroe
Juneau Vernon
ford
Richland
Sauk
Craw
Iowa
Zone 2
Fond Du Lac Columbia
Dane
J
Heart for Dairy Second Section: Pages 4 - 5
Lafayette
Green
on
rs
e eff
Grant
Brodhead
Dodge
Rock
Watertown
Restructuring repro program doubles pregnancy rate for Rosy-Lane Holsteins First Section: Pages 18, 20
For additional stories from our other zone, log on to www.dairystar.com
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Page 4 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Page 5
COLD CALVES NEED MORE ENERGY!
ConƟnued from PRAHLS | Page 1
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Ryan and Lindsey Prahl and their children – (from leŌ) Warren, Lydia and Aubrey – milk 140 cows and operate 625 acres of owned and rented land in Marathon County, near Wausau, Wis.
his parents, Bob and Mary Jo Prahl. When Ryan and Lindsey joined the dairy enterprise, the family formed an LLC in 2010. The Prahls took full ownership of the farm in 2014. “We were working together, but didn’t have any type of formal agreement,” Ryan said of his arrangement with his parents. “I’m blessed with parents who have wanted to work with me and help us succeed. We’ve had four generations
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Page 6 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019
ConƟnued from PRAHLS | Page 5
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Ralph & Sara Trego, Owners Whispering Springs Farms LLC in Turbotville, Pennsylvania 232 Acres and 150 Steers
in 2004 to less than 14,000 pounds by the spring of 2006. They eventually determined stray voltage was the issue, caused by a dead well and an off-farm current. Determining the causes and remedying the problems were not easy tasks, but a new well was drilled in 2010. “Once we drilled the new well, we started to climb out of the funk of dealing with the stray voltage,” Ryan said. “But, it had eroded so much equity. It took several years to start to rebuild from what we had lost cow-wise.” Today the farm’s herd average is up to about 25,500 pounds of milk, and the farm is once again a sustainable entity.
“Our family is very important to us and it really centers us, and makes us continue to push to farm.” LINDSEY PRAHL, DAIRY FARMER
“That battle with stray voltage is probably the biggest challenge we’ve faced, along with the ups and downs of the dairy prices,” Ryan said. Sound management practices have helped the Prahls gain back the ground lost during the stray voltage problems. Lindsey makes most the mating decisions for the herd, takes care of the calves and the bookwork. Ryan does the majority of the herd work, feeding, eldwork and general maintenance. They have six parttime employees, all ages 14 to 19. “They are the best high schoolers money can buy,” said Ryan of his staff. “One is leaving to milk on his own and another is very interested in the dairy industry. I’m adamant about helping the next generation out.” The Prahls place their focus for breeding on high components and milk as well as placing her focus on health traits, particularly DPR. “My goal is to have a heifer born that is going to settle on the rst service,” Lindsey said. “We want an animal that is going to be healthy for multiple lactations, and produces excellent components and milk during those lactations, and
hopefully more heifers.” Ryan and Lindsey are not strangers to looking outside the box for ways to solve the problems they have faced and accomplish their goals. In addition to growing the feed needed for their herd, Ryan cash crops some corn and soybeans and sells hay to help bring in additional income for the farm. In 2015, Ryan started a custom hay mowing business that has helped the dairy operation through some of the recent low-prices. This past year, he hired out to mow over 4,500 acres for other farmers. In addition to the mowing, he has done some custom manure hauling and custom tillage. “We are looking for whatever will turn us a prot,” Ryan said. The Prahls hope to be able to grow the prot on the dairy side of their farming operation and are open to the possibility of becoming involved in direct-marketing from the farm. In the next ve years, they would like to be able to build some additional feed storage as well as a shop. Robots are something the Prahls said are in their ve- to 10year plan. “We don’t really have plans for expansion, but you can never say never,” Ryan said. “If we did, it would probably be to double our milking herd and use our existing barn for a heifer facility.” While being a young dairy farming family is challenging, the Prahls said being in the dairy industry is not without certain benets. “Our family is very important to us and it really centers us, and makes us continue to push to farm,” Lindsey said. “Some days are harder than others, but the family and community support we have is amazing. It keeps us going. Out employees feel like family members, and we are very grateful to have youth interested in agriculture that help us continually improve our farm. Ryan agreed, echoing Lindsey’s sentiments about connecting with peers and community members. “We’ve had so many opportunities to network with people through social media, community activities and the Farm Bureau,” Ryan said. “We’ve made so many friendships and been able to communicate with other people who are dealing with the same issues we are dealing with. It’s a fresh perspective.”
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Page 7
Con�nued from RESEARCH | Page 1 at all the university herds, and they are trained to do things in the same manner. During milking, the parlor staff at MARS follows the procedure of stripping, pre-dipping, wiping off predip and applying milkers, working with groups of four cows at one time. University protocol dictates allowing the automatic take-offs to do their job properly as opposed to massaging the udder during milking. The pre-dip used in the parlor is 0.5 percent iodine, while the post-dip is 1 percent iodine. “It’s a simple protocol, but it works well,” Esser said. “We focus on calmness for the cows and try to eliminate their stress. The lead staff in the parlor is great in making sure things are done correctly.” In addition to their milking protocols, Esser and Cordes focus on managing fresh cows and surveilling them for any potential problems. Fresh cows are milked ofine for three milkings, and any milk having an abnormal appearance is cultured. Somatic cell counts are tracked to help determine any sub-clinical issues. The university protocol states they must treat sick animals, so mastitis is treated as necessary. “We have mastitis, but we don’t have a lot of mastitis,” Esser said. “There are a lot of neat tools out there to help farmers identify mastitis. We don’t currently do on-farm culturing. We’ve looked at it, but we don’t have enough incidences to justify it.” The herd SCC is currently at about 34,000. At the time the application for the NDQA was submitted, the SCC was between 51,000 to 54,000. “We had an issue years ago with animals having a lot of edema, and we tweaked our steam-up concentrate,” Esser said. “It actually has more ax, which is high in Omega-3, an antiinammatory. That’s one of multiple
PHOTO SUBMITTED
The University of Wisconsin’s MARS staff adheres to simple but strict milking protocols in their parlor, that are consistent throughout the university’s three dairy herds. These protocols have allowed MARS to be recognized twice with pla�num Na�onal Dairy Quality Awards from the Na�onal Mas��s Council. ways we’ve addressed it. We’re just trying to make sure the animals are healthy before they calve and when they calve.” When looking at the recent reduction of their SCC, Cordes thinks credit is due to implementing a vaccination for Klebsiella mastitis. “We just nished giving boosters,” Cordes said. “We’ve seen a 20 percent drop in our SCC from pre-vaccinations to post-vaccinations.” University protocols forbid the research center to be overstocked. The facility has room for 128 milking cows and 550 heifers, and they raise all of the heifers for the university herd. While the research center helps ll the needs for research animals at the other facilities, they try to keep animal movement as minimal as possible. “Our purpose is to support the university’s research,” Esser said. “We provide scientists with a population of
animals to conduct their studies on.” When animals are sent to another facility for research needs, they typically will not come back to the Marsheld center. However, in order to keep numbers constant, animals from one of the other facilities will be sent to ll those spots. The research center relies on milk income to pay the staff working at the facility. Currently there are no studies on lactating cows being conducted at MARS; however, in the past they have been part of various studies, including a bedding study which was in progress at the time of the award application. “At the time of the application, we were using primarily clean, deep-sand bedding,” Esser said. When the facility qualied for their rst award, they had a SCC of 70,000 using deep solids. Over the course of this past summer, Pasture-Mat mattresses
were installed, and they are now using kiln-dried sawdust to bed. “The cows aren’t as clean as they were with the sand bedding,” Esser said. “But, the cows seem very comfortable and hock lesions are still minimal.” The herd is mated by an A.I. consultant, with additional input being provided by the university’s dairy herd use committee. “Primarily we are selecting sires based on health traits, milk, daughter pregnancy rate and net merit,” Cordes said, adding that all bulls being used are +900NM$. “We average around a 31 percent pregnancy rate with a 78-day voluntary waiting period.” Approximately 70 percent of the herd is bred using sexed semen, 20 percent is bred with conventional semen and 10 percent is bred using beef semen. The herd is genomic tested, and the information is used to help determine the university’s strategies in improving the herd. “What’s neat about genomics is that new traits are being discovered routinely and new ways to use that information,” Esser said. “The reliability of genomic testing has improved. It’s a super useful tool, and it’s becoming more accepted and used.” Both Esser and Cordes acknowledge their Foremost Farms eld representative Kaitlin Heusel is an asset for MARS. In addition to nominating them for the NMC award, they said Heusel is available to help them problem-solve if issues arise and to help them continue to improve in the area of milk quality. “We’re very different from a commercial herd in our purpose and how we manage our cows,” Esser said. “But in the end, we’re producing milk for food, and quality matters to us just as much as any other producer.”
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Page 8 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019
Peterson: New dairy program needs a serious look For House Agriculture Committee Chairman legislation that would change trade and tariff Collin Peterson, farm bill implementation is a priority. policy. This bill would tighten the rules for Section And at the top of that list is the implementation of the 232 tariffs, giving the Department of Defense the new dairy program. “The old dairy program didn’t authority to investigate national security threats. work and people got soured on it,â€? Peterson said. “I’m It also gives Congress a larger role in the Section a little concerned people aren’t going to 232 tariff policy. The current national Ag Insider security tariff process was used to impose sign up for the new program because duties on imports of steel and aluminum, they aren’t going to seriously look at it. which resulted in retaliation against U.S. Whenever the sign-up happens, if it’s in agricultural products. Ohio Senator Rob February or March, it’ll be retroactive Portman, who is a former U.S. trade to Jan. 1.â€? Peterson said the partial representative, said the current Section government shutdown inďƒ&#x;uenced farm bill implementation. “It has delayed us 232 process is being misused. probably a good month and a half on the Dairy groups endorse Section 232 dairy stuff, which could be fatal. I think reform it’s a real problem.â€? The National Milk Producers Federation and U.S. Dairy Export Council Looking at 2020 and beyond supports the proposed Trade Security With the new Democratic majority By Don Wick in the House, Minnesota Congressman Reform Act. This bill is sponsored by Columnist Collin Peterson is back as chairman of Wisconsin Democratic Congressman the agriculture committee. Peterson has Ron Kind and Indiana Republican 12 new Democrats on his committee, including 10 Congressman Jackie Walorski and Ohio Republican freshmen. ProFarmer analyst Jim Wiesemeyer is Senator Rob Portman and Alabama Democratic already looking at 2020 and beyond. “Collin Peterson Senator Doug Jones. It calls for the Section 232 rules is the House Agriculture Committee and he knows to be used only for a true national security threat. A agriculture like the back of his hand, but I don’t study conducted by Informa Agribusiness Consulting know if he’ll run for reelection in 2020,â€? Wiesemeyer estimates lost dairy exports of $1.1 billion over the said. “He wants to educate his bench now because next ďƒžve years if the current retaliatory trade tariffs when you look at the Democrats on the committee, against U.S. dairy products are removed. “The bill’s they need some staying power and Collin is a good sponsors should be applauded for ďƒžnding a commoneducator.â€? On the Senate side, Kansas Senator Pat sense process to a complex issue,â€? said Tom Vilsack, Roberts will not run for reelection in 2020, which chairman and chief executive ofďƒžcer of the U.S. Dairy should put Arkansas Senator John Boozman at the Export Council. helm of the agriculture committee. Canada seeks end to tariffs Seeking changes to Federal Section 232 tariff Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland policy met with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced an event in Europe. Freeland told Pelosi Canada is
in the process of ratifying the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum should be lifted. U.S.-Mexico trade relationship in danger According to an editorial written by American Dairy Coalition CEO Laurie Fisher, the ongoing trade war between the United States and Mexico may be causing irreparable damage. Mexico imports nearly 25 percent of the U.S. dairy industry’s exports each year, worth $1.4 billion. “It’s one (relationship) that President Trump continues to risk damaging permanently and unnecessarily. This should have changed in November when Trump declared success with the newly rechristened U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. In retrospect, it was a disingenuous statement. The administration has not lifted steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexican and Canadian products and in response those countries are refusing to sign the pact or lift retaliatory tariffs, impacting dairy products and other items.� Farm Bill listening session scheduled USDA will host a farm bill listening session February 26. The public is invited to offer input on the programs overseen by the Farm Service Agency, Risk Management Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service. The three agencies are looking for ideas to simplify farm program implementation and improve customer service. Wisconsin loses 800 herds in 2018 As of January 1, Wisconsin had 8,110 dairy herds. That’s a loss of nearly 700 dairy herds in the past year. Clark County has the most dairy herds in the state with nearly 800. The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection says 89 percent of the state’s dairy herds are Grade A operations. The remaining 11 percent are licensed as Grade B. Turn to AG INSIDER | Page 9
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ConƟnued from AG INSIDER | Page 8 Fear-based marketing claims affect the farmer With every trip down the supermarket aisle, consumers are inundated with conicting messages about the health, safety and sustainability of food. Speaking at the American Sugarbeet Growers Association annual meeting, National Milk Producers Federation senior vice president Chris Galen said food companies are often trying to build market share by making a social claim. “We saw a great example of that during the Super Bowl when Budweiser said it doesn’t use corn syrup in one of its products.” Marketing decisions, such as the anti-GMO movement, have signicant ramications back to the farm. “We’ve seen this move before (with rbST in the dairy industry) and it will not end well for farmers if the same trend affects GMOs that impacted rbST 20 years ago.” PDPF hires Keller Janet Keller is the new executive director of the Professional Dairy Producers Foundation. Most recently, Keller was CEO and president of Accelerated Genetics and led the merger process and transition to the new unied cooperative with Select Sires.
DBA elects new ofcer team Tom Crave of Waterloo is the new president of the Dairy Business Association. Amy Penterman of Thorp was elected vice president. Former DBA President Mike North is now president emeritus.
Trivia challenge The oldest cow on record is an Irish Holstein named Big Bertha. When she died, this cow was just a few months shy of her 49th birthday. That answers our last trivia question. What English dairy breed is a cross of Norfolk Red and Suffolk Dun? 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, February 23, 2019
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Jason and Chris Schutz milk 140 cows on their farm near Richmond, Minn. The brothers purchased the dairy from their parents in 2012. By Jennifer Coyne and Mark Klaphake Staff Writers
Editor’s note: In this new series, “Dairying in tough times,” Dairy Star is catching up with dairy farmers who began milking cows in the last ve years. These farmers are sharing how they have been able to weather the market conditions and why they see promise in today’s changing industry. RICHMOND, Minn. – Last summer, Jason and Chris Schutz juggled the responsibilities of dairy farming with concrete and landscaping work in an effort to make ends meet. “That helped us, nancially,” Chris said. “But still, there were about four months this year we didn’t take any money from the farm.” With changes to the incoming farm bill, the brothers are cautiously optimistic they may be able to spend more time on the farm this summer. “We’re glad [the farm bill] passed and now we’re just waiting to see what will happen,” Jason said.
“It will help out a lot to have an idea of what you could get for your milk. For so long, it’s been month to month with the same amount of milk and varying prices.” The Schutzes milk 140 cows on their family’s fth-generation farm near Richmond, Minn. The brothers purchased the farm equipment and 27 cows from their parents, Jerry and Deb, in August 2012. Despite the nancial strain the entire dairy industry has underwent the last four years, the Schutzes founds ways to expand their herd size and buy the farm site and 120 acres of tillable land. “Mom and Dad and the lender have really worked with us, especially this last year,” Chris said. “Our parents have let us skip every other month on payments for the farm, and in the past, we’ve paid just interest on the loans at the bank.” Jason agreed. “You do whatever you have to to make it work,” he said. Turn to SCHUTZ | Page 11
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A freestall barn houses the enƟre lactaƟng herd. The facility, which was built in 2014, replaces a bedded pack.
Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Page 11
ConƟnued from SCHUTZ | Page 10
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The Schutz brothers use a three-breed cross of Holstein, Montbéliard and Jersey to capture more components in their milk, which gives a $1.75 premium to their base price. Both Chris and Jason always wanted to farm. When Chris was attending college, he was also helping his dad milk and would return full time shortly thereafter. Once Chris came home, Jason joined him and the brothers formed JC Dairy. “I’ve always wanted to do this,” Chris said. “I enjoy being outside and being my own boss.” When the brothers purchased the livestock and began developing their own dairy career, they had great visions for the farm. But, with the quick onset of slumped prices, they had to carefully decide what were necessary improvements and what would wait until there was more cash on hand. “We try not to think about the prices,” Chris said. “It only makes the days worse.” Jason agreed. “When milk was $24, we were milking 90 cows,” he said. “Now, we have 140 cows, and we made $20,000 more back then. And, we didn’t have loan payments or 50 more cows.” Animal care and facilities were at the top of the Schutzes’ priority list.
“We try not to think about the prices. It only makes the days worse.” JASON SCHUTZ, DAIRY FARMER
“We don’t change how we manage the cows because we know it works so well,” Jason said. With steady practices, including providing quality feed and maintaining a consistent milking routine, the Schutzes have lowered their somatic cell count to 135,000 and rarely treat cases of mastitis. “Every three months we go through our books with our farm business management instructor and can see where every penny is going,” Chris said. “Vet bills have been our greatest savings.” For the past few years, the brothers have changed how they bed youngstock. They work with another area farmer and reuse his brooder litter. “The bedding is 95 percent dry, so it works really well, and it’s cheap,” Chris said. “We just store it outside and use it to bed calves and heifers.” In 2014, shortly after beginning dairy farming, Chris and Jason built a freestall barn. This construction replaced a bedded pack. Then, two years later, the brothers
tore out their modied 10-stall at parlor and replaced it with a single-15 parlor. “Honestly, we needed it,” said Jason of the milking facility. “The stalls in the old at barn were completely shot. And, it was really hard on our bodies.” The Schutzes also put up a heifer shed following a damaging summer storm, which allowed them to keep their heifers on site longer before relocating to a different farm for breeding. These on-farm upgrades were possible because of the Schutzes’ candid relationship with their lender. “We talk quite a bit,” Chris said. “We’re honest and don’t try to make it sound better than what it really is.” While their working relationship has made it possible for Chris and Jason to make long-term investments for the dairy, it has also stopped them from pursuing other opportunities. As beginning farmers, the brothers struggle to nd enough feed. Most of their 120 acres of owned property and 30 rented acres is made into corn silage, which leaves the Schutzes needing to purchase corn for grain. At one point, they had the opportunity to purchase land but opted out. “Land is really tough to come by around here,” Chris said. “We had one offer and went to our lender. She said she’d give us the money, but don’t come back asking for another penny. We ended up passing on the purchase, and then were able to build the parlor later that spring.” Since purchasing the farm from their parents, the Schutzes have made a lot of changes to better reach their goals. However, they have also looked to their dad for advice and continue some of the practices he implemented. Previously, the brothers maintained a three-breed cross of Holstein, Montbéliard and Swedish Red. Recently, Jason and Chris incorporated Jersey in place of Swedish Red. This breeding strategy has helped maintain components and provide an average added premium of $1.75 to the Schutzes’ base price. In maintaining a herd management style that works for the brothers, incorporating facility upgrades when able, and remaining honest with their lenders and parents, the Schutzes have found a way to bear through the last four years and are looking forward to an uptick in the market. “We’re hanging out and waiting for a price recovery,” Chris said.
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Page 12 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019
Vilsack optimistic about US dairy economy An increase in exports hinges on trade agreements By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
Tom Vilsack is optimistic about the dairy markets in the year ahead. “I think we’re turning a corner,” Vilsack said. “There’s light at the end of the tunnel.” The president and chief executive ofcer of the U.S. Dairy Export Council said the organization is working to reach its goal of U.S. dairy export reaching 20 percent in the upcoming years. With U.S. exports currently at a record high of 16 percent, Vilsack said this year USDEC is focusing on more promotions, new partnerships and doing better at what they have been doing before. In Mexico, USDEC wants to partner with Costco to promote more sales of U.S. cheese products. This partnership with this business has already been successful in China, South Korea and Japan. USDEC also wants to create recipe videos to help show Mexican consumers how to best use American cheeses in a variety of meals to further increase sales. The organization also wants to develop new partnerships with universities in China to showcase dairy ingredients and cheeses. There is also discussion about developing a center for excellence, a permanent location with a
full-time staff dedicated to showcasing the versatility and functionality of U.S. dairy products to consumers and potential business partners. There is also a lot of potential to grow the market in Japan and Korea. “We’re seeing a lot of consumers want to see grab and go meals, beverages and bars that play in the strength of our whey proteins and protein concentrates,” Vilsack said. “On the cheese side we’re seeing a lot Tom Vilsack of urban consumers President, USDEC wanting to have fast food … that means more cheese sales.” There is still work for USDEC before it reaches its export goal. “It will take another couple years before we begin to see how close we are to the 20 percent,” Vilsack said. “Obviously there are a lot of factors we don’t control.” This includes the United StatesMexico-Canada Agreement. “Mexico is somewhat dependent on USMCA ratication and retaliatory tariffs lifted,” Vilsack said. So far, the United States has been able to keep 75 percent of Mexico’s dairy import market. “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about losing market share, but we have to make sure we take full advantage of the increased consumption levels that
are going to take place in Mexico as populations increase, as people become more urbanized and as middle class is growing in Mexico and Latin America,” Vilsack said. … “If we have a USMCA that results in elimination of retaliatory tariffs then we’ll have a financial advantage in that market and continue to see growth.” Having the USMCA agreed upon and ratied would also open up additional market access in Canada, Vilsack said. Vilsack is also hopeful the United States can come to an agreement with China about lifting current tariffs against U.S. dairy products. “… We wouldn’t see additional tariffs being assessed by the United States that
“I think there are a lot of hopeful signs, which is why I expect 2019 to be better than 2018.” TOM VILSACK, USDEC
would ratchet up the tensions between the two countries,” Vilsack said. A free trade agreement with Japan would also be benecial to the U.S. dairy export market. Japan’s dairy consumption grows by 4 percent each year. “There’s terric opportunity for us, … which is why it’s important for the administration to nish its free trade
discussion with the Japanese quickly,” Vilsack said. The United States would be able to double the market share in Japan and triple the value of the dairy products sold, Vilsack said. “… Or, we can be faced with a loss of market share if we don’t have a free trade agreement because our competitors have some tariff advantages that we don’t have,” Vilsack said. “It really is a situation if we’re not aggressive, if we don’t have the right trade policy, if we don’t continue to promote and partner, we’re going to lose opportunity for growing markets in Asia, in the Middle East and north Africa, and potentially in our own neighborhood in Mexico and Central America.” Within the United States, Vilsack sees hope for better prices, especially now with the new farm bill’s Dairy Margin Coverage and that the European Union’s stockpile of powdered milk is sold down. “I also think the dairy export assistance program the administration announced will give us the opportunity to expand the areas we haven’t been as aggressive because of resource constraints,” Vilsack said. “We can go into Chile, Peru and the Middle East more effectively.” Overall, Vilsack wants U.S. dairy farmers to have hope. “I think there are a lot of hopeful signs, which is why I expect 2019 to be better than 2018,” Vilsack said. “And, I think we’re going to continue to see more positive feelings in the dairy industry.”
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Page 13
Evolving dairy regions in the U.S. Stephenson addresses state of industry, trends By Danna Sabolik
danna.s@dairystar.com
NORWOOD YOUNG AMERICA, Minn. – The dairy industry has been experiencing shifts and changes. All this commotion has caused many farmers concern as they struggle to nd a foothold on moving ground. Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, addressed these concerns, trends and current state of the industry as part of his keynote address at the Carver County Dairy Expo Feb. 18 at the Norwood Young America Mark Stephenson High School in Norwood Young UW-Madison America, Minn. Stephenson spoke on the changes he thinks are impacting prices and what producers are seeing on their milk checks. One of the biggest shifts to the U.S. dairy industry has been regional changes in production and productivity, said Stephenson. Export sales and tariffs also inuence milk price, but Stephenson focused on changes within the country. “The ground is shifting in the dairy industry,” Stephenson said. “I imagine we’ll look back 10-15 years from now and say this was a turning point for us.” In 1940, Wisconsin was the top-producing dairy state in the nation, until the late 1980s when things started turning a corner and moving west. Not only did the state lose its share of milk production, but actual milk production was down, said Stephenson. This trend continued until the early 2000s when Wisconsin’s milk production turned a corner again and many farmers blamed the low milk price for low production in the state. “It was a structural problem,” Stephenson said. “There were little things we could have been doing on individual farms and individual plants that weren’t being done and once a change was made, milk production turned around.” Current milk production pace is rising faster than it was in the slump from 1980-2000, so farmers may be in a similar situation once again. Looking at what happened during the 1980-2000s slump in Wisconsin, a lot of the loss can be credited to California’s developing dairy industry, a huge shift in the country’s milk production. “Although milk production happens in all 50 states, it doesn’t happen uniformly across the country or even states,” Stephenson said. “It’s all in regions. Wisconsin has an inverted triangle. Minnesota has the I-29 corridor and central belt, and in New York it’s in the west.” Milk production has concentrated in regions over time and so have the customers. Generally, the customers are not where the milk is being produced. “Believe it or not, there are areas in the country where we are in a milk decit right now, specically in the southeast and northeast coastline from Boston to Washington D.C.,” Stephenson said. This is not due to a lack of milk in the country, but a lack of milk in specic areas. Areas like the Upper Midwest and northeastern quadrant are in a milk surplus. This is due to milk processing plants and their capacities. There are a signicantly smaller number of dairies in the decit regions, thus less processing plants, which leads to the problem of nowhere to send milk and lead to farmers selling. “Plants don’t have enough capacity to handle milk production that is demanded and when that happens, it puts a lot of downward pressure on prices,” Stephenson said. “We’ve had production growth that’s been happening in our exclusively larger herds out west for a long time, and in some regions of the country where we’ve had a lot of growth, we’re leaving behind excess capacity and some regions might need it.” Looking at milk production over time, in 1960, the geographically weighted center of milk production was in southern Illinois. Ten years later, it moved a bit southwest, inching its way to where it was in 2010
in northeast Kansas. While the 2020 estimate is only speculation, Stephenson predicts it will have moved east some and even a little north. “These regional shifts and changing pattern of production … are changing the tilt of milk prices, lowering the value of milk prices in the Upper Midwest, and increasing value in far west,” Stephenson said. Some of the changes that could bring milk production back to the Upper Midwest are the climate in the Upper Midwest and northeast. “This is an agronomically superior region to produce milk,” Stephenson said of the Upper Midwest. “It’s cooler here, cows like it better, and we can grow great forages for these animals. It’s hard to beat this area.” As milk production is tightening, states like New York, Wisconsin and Michigan are producing 15 mil-
lion pounds of milk a day while California is losing 7 to 8 million pounds of milk per day. Processing plants are closing in the west, hindering the opportunity for farmers to sell their milk. With less milk in the model, a tighter milk price should follow, said Stephenson. Ending on a hopeful note, Stephenson is optimistic about the future of the dairy industry in the Upper Midwest and believes the current slump is on its last legs. “The future of the dairy industry in the U.S. is in better management of the distribution of products throughout regions in the U.S.,” Stephenson said. By focusing on processing plants and what individual farms and plants can do, a solution can be managed like in the early 2000s, until the distribution of stocked goods can be distributed to regions in decit.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Page 15
From Our Side Of The Fence Lenders: How are you working with your dairy clients? Steve Esser Vice president, agricultural loan ofcer Peoples State Bank 17 years of experience Prairie du Chien, Wis. What trends have you seen in ag lending in the last 10 years? Term loans and operating loans have gotten larger. Equipment and some crop inputs have gotten nanced
through the dealer. How are you working with your dairy clients to get them through the current dairy economy? We have renanced some operating debt into term debt. We have restructured term debt to extend the amortization. We have gone to interest-only payments for some producers. We have also benchmarked their expenses to help them see where some savings could be realized. We talk to them about the farm programs and futures markets where they can protect some prices both on the milk and input side. How are the future markets helping you make lending decisions? The futures give us a base line for what income we can expect for the next year to 18 months. This helps our producers and us know where they have to be from an expense standpoint to break even. What are you optimistic about in the dairy economy? Most producers are good at what they do. With some streamlining, planning and risk management they will be able to get through this economic cycle and be positioned well for the future. How does this downturn in the dairy economy compare to ones in the past? This lower milk price period is probably a little longer than past ones. The other aspect of this one is that it also coincides with processors reducing premiums and passing on the true cost of hauling to the producer, making their mailbox price smaller than in the past. How do economic downturns in dairy affect your lending decisions? Economic downturns affect cash ow and land and equipment appraisals. We base our lending decisions on these criteria all the time. What steps can your farm customers take before visiting with you about securing an operating loan for 2019? Know what your cost of production is per hundredweight. Have a plan for what cash ow is going to be and how you plan on repaying the loan. If cash ow has been an issue, tell us what is different. What are the nancial habits of your more protable dairy farm customers? Our most profitable dairy customers know what their cost of production is and strive to generate income above that whether it is using futures, Dairy RP, contracting with the milk plant or controlling costs. Tell us about your lending institution. Peoples State Bank is a community bank located in Prairie du Chien, Wis. We have 20 locations in southwest Wisconsin and northeast Iowa.
Andrea E. Hanson Assistant vice president, ag loan ofcer Union Bank of Blair 3.5 years of experience Blair, Wis. What trends have you seen in ag lending in the last 10 years? In the small amount of time that I have been in ag lending, the major changes I have seen include stricter regulations, the perception of ag in the radar, an increase in interest rates and the tone in the farmer’s voice. As we all know the journey through this cycle has been tough and longer than most, which has caused our farmers to question what they can do to survive and continue in the agricultural industry. How are you working with your dairy clients to get them through the current dairy economy? We have worked with our farmers in various ways by rebalancing their debt to help in cash ow, running interest only loans, getting FSA guarantees and thinking outside of the box. We try to be an advocate for our farmers in working with them during these difcult times. How are the future markets helping you make lending decisions? We are trying to be as optimistic and realistic with the future markets as we can be. We appreciate steps farmers are taking to minimize as much risk as possible by taking advantage of contracting their commodity or taking part in various pricing programs. We try to be proactive rather than reactive. Ultimately, it would be nice to see all commodities have a favorable oor, which would be helpful on generating cash ows. Anything above and beyond the oor would be extra in the farmer’s pocket. What are you optimistic about in the dairy economy? Things can only improve from this point on in the dairy industry. With the discussions that are on the table with the farmers, farm organizations, legislators and ag advocates, all this knowledge and passion will lead to the success of positive change. Family farms and the farmers individually are the backbone of small rural communities like Blair. How does this downturn in the dairy economy compare to ones in the past? This downturn in the dairy economy is different from the common 18-month cycle we have seen in the past. This cycle has lasted for 3-4 years. It has hit harder and has caused the farmer to decrease their equity. Hopefully, moving forward with change these types of cycles can be a thing of the past for the dairy economy. How do economic downturns in dairy affect your lending decisions? The economic downturn in the dairy industry has made it more difcult to look at any new dairy prospect client since ag has been in the radar. We have found ways to work with our current clients to aid with cash ow by rebalancing debt or interest only; however, with new clients it’s all about the tax returns. The past three years have been hard for many farmers to show a positive term debt service off of their tax returns, which makes it hard to prove repayment capacity to our approval committee and examiners. What steps can your farm customers take before visiting with you about securing an operating loan for 2019? Have a 2018 tax return, an updated balance sheet and their crop budget/plan. It’s never a bad idea to put your request in early as the time frame in approval
Dustin Krotzer Branch manager First National Bank of Milaca Eight years of experience Milaca, Minn. What trends have you seen in ag lending in the last 10 years? Obviously, we have seen prices trending down, but we have also seen farmers nd ways to operate more efciently. I feel this bodes well for protability in the long term for these operations. How are you working with your dairy clients to get them through the current dairy economy? We have been actively looking for ways to improve cash ow and help them make investments into items that help their bottom line. How are the future markets helping you make lending decisions? The future prices do show some promise, but until those numbers hit the milk check, it’s hard to put any weight to them recently. What are you optimistic about in the dairy economy? I am optimistic that it can turn around. The new farm bill looks to provide some relief for family farms in the short term, but we really need the market to correct itself sooner rather than later. How does this downturn in the dairy economy compare to ones in the past? It seems that this one has changed the industry more so than ones in the past, and the effects will be felt for years to come. How do economic downturns in dairy affect your lending decisions? It denitely plays a role, but also reminds us we have seen downturns before, and we need to do the best we can to help weather the storm. What steps can your farm customers take before visiting with you about securing an operating loan for 2019? Get in early, have pricing on your inputs and have a plan. There are many programs available for lenders to utilize, but they take time, so the sooner you get in, the better. What are the nancial habits of your more protable dairy farm customers? They have a good handle on their margins and break evens. They are also diversied and have other enterprises that help support their cash ow. Tell us about your lending institution. We are a community bank with three, soon to be four, branches in central Minnesota. We have been in business since 1897 and pride ourselves on supporting the communities we operate in. times can vary dependent on the volume of loan requests coming through. What are the nancial habits of your more profitable dairy farm customers? Paying down debt when the market prices are high. Minimizing risk by getting a xed rate product, contracts, etc. Understanding and knowing their cost of production, and being proactive. Tell us about your lending institution. Union Bank of Blair is a small community bank that has been in business for 120 years. As of December 2018, we had 108 million dollars in assets, with one branch location. A new branch will be opening in Whitehall, Wis., in 2019. Turn to OUR SIDE | Page 16
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Page 16 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019
ConƟnued from OUR SIDE | Page 15 Rodney Krantz Vice president, business banker Plains Commerce Bank 13 years of experience Sioux Falls, S.D. What trends have you seen in ag lending in the last 10 years? Expansion has been the common theme across the ag sector regardless of the segment. Volatility has led to the desire by many to get bigger to become more efcient and ultimately put themselves into a position to be more protable. How are you working with your dairy clients to get them through the current dairy economy? We strive to build relationships with our customers and provide as much value as possible. I view myself as one member of the client’s leadership team along with their accountants, nutritionist, etc. My role within that management team is to analyze how the client’s nancial numbers are changing from period to period and help relay that back to the client so they can make management decisions. How are the future markets helping you make lending decisions? The futures markets help me to have an idea of what the client’s potential milk revenue will be for the coming year. They also help me to validate what the client is projecting for income and to assess the level of risk management they have in place at any given time. What are you optimistic about in the dairy economy? I’m admittedly not an economist so what I focus on are the people involved and that’s what I’m most optimistic about. In my experience, dairy operations are as committed to staying on top of their nancials as any other segment of the ag production industry. There’s also a great deal of peer group analysis completed. This attention to managing nancials and comparing an individual’s results to its peers gives clients great information to make management decisions and to navigate through these challenging times. How does this downturn in the dairy economy compare to ones in the past? One of the primary differences I see in this downturn is that many of the customers I deal with are more experienced and better managers. They have been through prior downturns and have learned how to better manage risk through these challenging periods. How do economic downturns in dairy affect your lending decisions? Challenging markets naturally lead to some level of challenges to protability and increase in risk on the lending side. When risks start to increase, lenders tend to lump all customers into the same bucket. My preference is to key in on which borrowers stand out among their peers to determine which ones do the best job of managing their risks so I can determine with customers are less risky within each segment of agriculture. What steps can your farm customers take before visiting with you about securing an operating loan for 2019? Be prepared. The more information they can have ready to go through the better. Have an updated balance sheet, updated income statement and a detailed projection. What are the nancial habits of your more profitable dairy farm customers? My most successful dairies do a great job of managing risk, whether that’s doing an excellent job of locking in milk prices, controlling costs and debt levels or both. Many of my most protable customers work hard to provide good nancial information to the bank to analyze. Overall, the best customers manage at a high level and value the support of good team around them. Tell us about your lending institution. Plains Commerce Bank is a community bank with over 80 years of history. PCB is headquartered in Hoven, S.D., and has locations in eight eastern South Dakota and North Dakota communities. We have deep roots in agriculture and are focused on building and maintaining strong relationship.
Chris Stelling Vice president Foresight Bank Six years of experience Plainview, Minn. What trends have you seen in ag lending in the last 10 years? Ag lending with Foresight Bank has remained consistent through the ups and downs of the ag cycles. We perform extensive cash ow work with each of our customers and work with them to make the best nancing decisions for their operation. Some of the trends in the dairy industry have been increased cow comfort, more production per cow, fewer farms, an emphasis on components versus pounds of milk, greater awareness of expenses and whether each additional dollar of revenue is worth the expense it creates, a wide range of creamery mailbox prices, increased pressure from mega-dairies that are over 10,000 cows and trade volatility. How are you working with your dairy clients to get them through the current dairy economy? The majority of our attention is on the cash ow projection. The projections are used to help clients determine their breakeven cost of production and whether it is competitive and sustainable in the industry. Restructuring loans can improve a cash ow projection, but this is only a good decision if the lender and the borrower believe it will allow the operation to be competitive and sustainable in the industry. Foresight Bank also works with Farm Service Agency and Small Business Administration to help facilitate loans when cash ows show potential, but other metrics are outside of what a bank is able to work with. How are the future markets helping you make lending decisions? Future markets provide the bank and the borrower a starting point when projecting cash ows. What are you optimistic about in the dairy economy? The new government programs, Dairy Margin Coverage and Dairy Revenue Protection, appear to be steps in the right direction to help put a oor on the milk price at reasonable rates for the producer. How does this downturn in the dairy economy compare to the ones in the past? The current downturn has been longer than those experienced since the 1980s. Although interest rates have increased, they are generally lower than past downturns. How do economic downturns in dairy affect your lending decisions? Sound lending decisions are not affected by ups and downs in the ag economy. Many articles mention ag banks are tightening up their lending practices. Foresight Bank continues to use the same lending policies and procedures during a downturn as we did when the ag economy was doing better. When a downturn occurs, the value of certain farm assets declines, and this can affect the dollar amount available to borrow on a particular item, but does not mean we will lend a different percentage of the value. What steps can your farm customers take before visiting with you about securing an operating loan for 2019? Preparing a balance sheet, gathering prior year and year-to-date income and expense information, and drafting a cash ow projection for the coming year. Breaking the numbers down by business unit is helpful, too. What are the nancial habits of your more profitable dairy farm customers? They have a good grasp of their numbers (whole farm and by business unit) and know where their breakeven cost of production is. They also have the ability to x items with existing labor and are less dependent on third parties for repairs. They spend signicant time working with livestock and leading by example with their employees. They also have a conservative cost of living along with non-farm income to offset some or all of the living expense. Tell us about your lending institution. Foresight Bank was chartered in 1902 as The First National Bank of Plainview, and for generations has remained a locally owned and managed independent community bank. In 2013, we converted from a national to a Minnesota bank charter and changed our name to Foresight Bank. Foresight Bank employs 40 people at our locations in Plainview and Rochester, Minn. Our assets of over $200 million have grown steadily due to our commitment to our customers and communities.
Terry Harder Vice president Dubuque Bank and Trust 15 years of experience Farley, Iowa What trends have you seen in ag lending in the last 10 years? We have continued to see expansion of operations coupled with smaller operations that closed. Operations have felt the need to expand to support increased family living costs, bring in the next generation, and spread xed expenses and costs over more animal units or acres. How are you working with your dairy clients to get them through the current dairy economy? Some of it depends on the operation and what they have for land base or overall debt load. We are having to restructure debt by taking shorter-term debt and stretching over time. We are encouraging them to sell non-essential assets that may not be adding value to the overall protability of the operation. How are the future markets helping you make lending decisions? We look at the futures markets as a one tool that can help to make a good credit decision. Unfortunately, most of our dairy producers are not as active with forward marketing or price protection as we would prefer. My hope is more of our dairy producers would take an active role in milk marketing. What are you optimistic about in the dairy economy? The last three years in the dairy industry have been the roughest I have seen in any industry in my 15 years of lending. I absolutely have no doubt producers will see protable times again milking cows. The question is not if but when. And, the follow-up question producers need to ask themselves is: Can I survive until it turns protable? How does this downturn in the dairy economy compare to ones in the past? Without looking at the charts showing milk margins over the last 50 years, it would be pretty easy to see that margin volatility in recent history has gotten worse. This volatility coupled with extended periods of low followed by shorter periods of high have put a lot of pressure on liquidity. How do economic downturns in dairy affect your lending decisions? Unprotable operations come with increased scrutiny. When an entire industry struggles it makes it hard to get excited about dumping more capital into operations and taking on new customers. We have found sometimes we can pick up some excellent long-term customers when their lender decides they no longer lend to a particular industry. What steps can your farm customers take before visiting with you about securing an operating loan for 2019? Have a plan that is conservative and makes sense. Also have a plan B. Nothing frustrates a lender more than a borrower that comes in asking for an operating loan without doing their homework ahead of time. What are the nancial habits of your more protable dairy farm customers? They control expenses in good times, but especially in bad. Many are diversied. They sell some cash grain, or have beef cattle or something other than milk and culls. Most have some off-farm income preferably with health insurance with modest family living costs. They know what it costs them to produce a pound of milk and have good recordkeeping. They are constantly looking for ways to increase prots not just pounds of milk. It’s all about the margin at the end of the day not just the size of the milk check. Tell us about your lending institution. We are a $1.6 billion bank with six locations in eastern Iowa. We have an ag department consisting of ve lenders with a portfolio of $225 million. Heartland Financial USA is a $11.4 billion holding company with 11 community banks in the Midwest and western U.S.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Page 17
Page 18 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019
Repro Leaders
Restructuring repro program doubles pregnancy rate for Rosy-Lane Holsteins Jordan Matthews, Tim Strobel, and Lloyd W. and Daphne Holterman Rosy-Lane Holsteins, LLC Watertown, Wis. Jefferson County 980 cows What was your average pregnancy rate last year? 36 percent. What is your voluntary waiting period for cows? For heifers? For 2018, it was 72 DIM. It has changed since then.
What is your rst service conception rate? For rst lactation, it is 58 percent. For twoplus lactations, it is 52 percent. What is your reproduction program? Do you use a synchronization program? Yes, all breeding is synched. There is no heat detection. First service is double ovsynch with double PGF. We resynch with a shot of GnRH before 32 days pregnancy check. Then, if
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Partners of Rosy-Lane Holsteins – (from le�) Jordan Ma�hews, Tim Strobel, and Lloyd and Daphne Holterman – have a herd of 980 cows in Jefferson County near Watertown, Wis. Last year, the herd’s pregnancy rate averaged 36 percent.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
A cross-ven�lated barn ensures a more constant temperature and climate for the cows despite the extreme weather uctua�ons.
open, animals are continued on an ovsynch program if a corpus luteum is present, or we do a CIDR synch if no structures are present.
How do you observe for heat? Heat detection in virgin heifers is by A Milk pedometers. Zero visual heat detection done on our farm
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How do you conrm pregnant or open cows? An ultrasound is performed at 32 days since last heat. Turn to REPRO | Page 20
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Page 19
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“... takes swelling out faster ...” — Jacob Hornberg
HORNBERG DAIRY FARM WINONA, MINNESOTA The Hornberg family 50 cows: 75 lbs/cow/day, 80,000 SCC “We have been using Udder Comfort™ as long as it’s been around. We put it on fresh udders for the first couple days after calving, or until the swelling is gone. It takes the swelling out faster than anything, which helps with our milk quality,” says Jacob Hornberg, noting Hornberg Dairy Farm’s SCC consistently runs low, around 80,000. Jacob and his brother Andrew, sister Cassandra and parents Ron and Renee operate the 50-cow dairy near Winona, Minnesota. Jacob enjoys the genetics and believes that helping cows have a comfortable, smooth lactation start also helps them reach their genetic potential. “Udder Comfort is really the one that works,” adds Jacob. “Fresh cows do better when we can remove that swelling and set them up for a quality lactation.”
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Keep the milk in the system 1.888.773.7153 1.613.652.9086 uddercomfort.com Call to locate a distributor near you. For external application to the udder only after milking, as an essential component of udder management. Always wash and dry teats thoroughly before milking.
Page 20 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019
ConƟnued from REPRO | Page 18
What is your breeding philosophy? How do you select bulls? What traits do you focus on? Does fertility play a role in bull selection? We select bulls based on net merit. Our goal is to make margin cows. Those that make us margin and are trouble-free and efcient at making milk, using less inputs. DPR is key (fertility included here), and PL are also key traits. We need lots of cows with second, third, fourth and fth lactations. Livability, kappa casein, beta casein and mastitis resistance are secondary traits we are trying to bring in now. How are cows and heifers bred? Do you have a different philosophy for breeding both? We have the same philosophy for both. High net merit females (greater than $800 NM$) are bred with sexed semen at least two times. Mid-range net merit ($700800) get sexed semen once or twice then conventional Holstein. If $600-700 NM$, one of three things happen: bred with Holstein conventional; or, they become a recipient; or, if open, bred to Angus. If below $600 NM$, all are used as recipient or bred to Angus. What do you do to settle hard breeders? Third and greater lactation cows are put on the do not breed list at over 200
DIM and open. Younger cows that are high NM$ will get another chance. No special effort is made to get these cows pregnant. Culling infertile cows is the best long-term solution. How many times do you try to breed a cow before you sell her? We use DIM as our criteria so we can reduce problems at the next calving. Young cows are not as susceptible to milk fever and ketosis as old cows so we can give them more time. Older cows should not have long calving intervals as they get heavier and have more problems as a result of long calving intervals, especially now without rbST. Is there anything you have done or changed that brought about a signicant improvement in your reproductive program? We restructured our repro program about four years ago. We went from a complete pedometer-based heat detection breeding program with a back end 110 DIM ovsynch for animals not found in heat to our current program of intense synchronization. We worked with the University of Wisconsin-Madison to implement this. We love the success we have achieved. Our pregnancy rate has changed from 18 percent to 36 percent. We slowly saw it increase over the course of about a year.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
A large number of high genomic calves are born each year at Rosy-Lane and a great deal of focus is placed on giving them the best starts possible. Tell us about your farm. Great people. Great cows. Great returns. This is the reason I (Jordan) get up every day. Our objective is to nd, retain and build people. We want people who are great team members, great members of our community and great to our cows. Nothing matters at our farm if we don’t have great people working with our animals each and every day. Lloyd gets most of the credit with his genetic program of creating the cows we work with. Our goal is to
create a hands-off cow. An ideal cow in our world would have four events on her cow card: fresh, bred, pregnancy and dry, in addition to regular vaccinations. We want a cow that doesn’t need assistance. If we put great people in front of cows like this, we see great returns. We see smiling faces going home every day knowing the cows are healthy, and the day was a success. We see visitors stopping by and loving what they see in the dairy food production system here.
We have neighbors watching our crops grow and coming to our open house with questions wanting to learn the innerworkings of our farm, and why different tractors and implements go down the road at different times of the year. These are true returns that will keep us in the farming community for many years to come. Great returns are returns to our community, environment and our team.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Page 21
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AIR DRILLS AND SEEDERS 14 JD 1990, 2011, #155512 .........................................................................$68,500 ARTICULATED 4WD TRACTORS 17 JD 9370R, 2015, Power Shift, Duals, Guidance-ready, 950 hrs., #154699 ................................................................................................$219,500 1 JD 9410R, 2014, Power Shift, Duals, 1561 hrs., #146677 ......................$219,500 1 JD 9560R, 2014, Power Shift, Duals, Guidance-ready, 2076 hrs., #151486 ................................................................................................$229,500 1 JD 9360R, 2014, 908 hrs., #155423 ......................................................$229,000 11 JD 9300, 2001, 4925 hrs., #155208.........................................................$67,900 8 JD 9570R, 2017, Power Shift, Duals, 746 hrs., #150670 ........................$355,900 14 JD 9630, 2009, Power Shift, Triples, Guidance-ready, 3918 hrs., #151999 ................................................................................................$154,900 14 JD 9420, 2005, 3900 hrs., #155848.......................................................$123,000 BOX DRILLS 5 JD 455, 1999, Width: 30, Spacing: 10”, #150258 .....................................$18,900 11 JD 455, 2018, Configuration: Folding, Width: 30, Spacing: 7.5”, #143110 ..................................................................................................$63,900 FIELD CULTIVATORS 4 JD 2210, 2008, Size: 60 ft, Kind: 3-Section Folding, #146682 .................$34,500 4 JD 960, 1994, Size: 36 ft, Kind: 3-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #148486 ....................................................................................................$7,500 10 JD 960, 1994, Size: 26 ft, #148845 ............................................................ $5,500 10 JD 1010, Size: 31 ft, #150876.................................................................... $2,825 10 JD 1010, Size: 25.5 ft, Kind: 3-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #151724 ....................................................................................................$3,495 7 JD 960, 1988, Size: 44 ft, Standards: C-Shank, #150157 ...........................$7,215 1 JD 960, 1993, Size: 33 ft, Kind: 3-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #154535 ....................................................................................................$6,500 1 JD 2210, 2011, #155650 .........................................................................$29,900 1 CIH 690, 2014, #155651 .........................................................................$18,900 1 CIH TIGERMATE 200, 2013, Size: 30.5 ft, Kind: 3-Section Folding, #155652 ..................................................................................................$33,000 12 JD 1000, 1978, #156035 ...........................................................................$3,950 15 CIH 4800, #155715 ...................................................................................$5,100 16 JD 980, 1995, Size: 45 ft, Kind: 5-Section Folding, #145326....................$14,000 16 CIH TIGERMATE 200, 2012, Size: 42 ft, Standards: C-Shank, #151915 ...$44,500 16 CIH TIGERMATE 200, 2014, Size: 60 ft, Kind: 5-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #154507 ..................................................................$59,400 16 CIH TIGRMATE 200, 2014, Size: 60 ft, Kind: 5-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #154508 ..................................................................$59,400 16 CIH TIGERMATE 200, 2014, Size: 60 ft, Kind: 5-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #154509 ..................................................................$59,400 16 CIH TIGERMATE 200, 2014, Size: 60 ft, Kind: 5-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #154510 ..................................................................$59,400 16 CIH TIGERMATE 200, 2014, Size: 60 ft, Kind: 5-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #154511 ..................................................................$59,400 16 CIH TIGERMATE 200, 2014, Size: 60 ft, #155901....................................$59,400 5 JD 980, 1997, #155850 ...........................................................................$11,500 11 JD 2210, 2010, Size: 50.5 ft, Kind: 5-Section Folding, #146707 ..............$49,500 11 JD 980, 1997, Size: 26 ft, Kind: 3-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #151565 ....................................................................................................$9,900 8 DMI Tigermate, Size: 48 ft, #147786 .....................................................$14,500 8 JD 2210, 2009, Size: 53 ft, Kind: 5-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #154393 ..................................................................................................$48,000 8 JD 2210, 2014, Size: 55.5 ft, Kind: 5-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #154394..................................................................................................$58,500 8 JD 2210, 2009, Size: 50.5 ft, Kind: 5-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #154537..................................................................................................$43,500 14 JD 980, 1997, Size: 44 ft, #145571 ..........................................................$16,500 14 JD 2210, 2007, Size: 58 ft, Kind: 5-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #151055 ..................................................................................................$32,900 14 JD 980, 1997, Size: 26 ft, Kind: 3-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #153320 ....................................................................................................$9,900 3 JD 980, 1994, Size: 33 ft, Kind: 3-Section Folding, Standards: C-Shank, #151027 ..................................................................................................$12,000 PLANTERS: DRAWN 4 JD 1775NT, 2017, 16R30, Frame: Flex Fold, Metering System: Vacuum, Hopper: Central Fill System, Row Command, #150734...........................$152,500
58,500
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4 17 17 7 7 7 7 6 15 16 11 11 11 8 8 14 14 14 17 6 16 8 4 4 2 10 10 10 7 15 15 5 5 5 14 3 3 4 7 15 16 16 8 14 14 4 4
JD 1760, 2013, #156200 .........................................................................$52,500 JD 1765, 2015, #155243 .........................................................................$54,500 JD 1750, 1997, #156043 .........................................................................$12,500 JD 1760, 1997, 12R30, Frame: Wing Fold, Metering System: Vacuum, Hopper: 3.0 Bushel, #137790 ...................................................................$28,050 JD 7000, 1981, 12R30, Metering System: Finger Pickup, Hopper: 1.6 Bushel, #149569 ....................................................................................................$7,215 White 8180, 2004, #154647 ..................................................................$29,500 JD DB60, 2015, #155825 ......................................................................$172,500 Great Plains YP2425, 2007, 24R30, Frame: Flex Fold, Metering System: Vacuum, Hopper: Central Fill System, #152236 ......................................................$65,000 JD DB66, 2008, #155284 ......................................................................$139,900 JD DB44, 2014, 24R22, Frame: Flex Fold, Metering System: Vacuum, Hopper: Central Fill System, Row Command, #151691...........................$159,000 JD 1775NT, 2018, 16R30, Metering System: Vacuum, Hopper: Central Fill System, Row Command, #140328.......................................................................$149,500 JD 1750, 1999, 6R30, Frame: Rigid, Metering System: Finger Pickup, #153700 ..................................................................................................$19,800 White 6100, #155671 ..............................................................................$5,000 Wil-Rich 24-22, 2009, 24R22, Metering System: Vacuum, Hopper: 1.6 Bushel, Row Command, #139224.........................................................................$49,500 CIH 900, 12R30, #150606 .........................................................................$6,500 JD DB44, 2004, 24R22, Frame: Flex Fold, Metering System: Vacuum, Hopper: Central Fill System, #154547 ......................................................$56,000 Kinze, 2000, #155343 .............................................................................$15,540 JD 1780, 1999, #155446 .........................................................................$33,500 PLANTERS: INTEGRAL JD 7300, 1988, Row Spacing: 22 in, Frame: Wing Fold, Hopper: 1.6 Bushel, #148843 ..................................................................................................$14,600 White 5100, #155511 ..............................................................................$6,700 JD 1720, 2004, #155857 .........................................................................$26,000 JD DR24, 2018, 24R22, Metering System: Vacuum, Hopper: Central Fill System, Row Command, #150773.......................................................................$179,500 PULL-TYPE SPRAYERS Hardi NAV 1100, #137543 .....................................................................$14,000 Raven 1000 Gallon, #149597 .................................................................$6,100 Hardi RANGER 2000, 2014, #155294 ....................................................$20,500 Fast 7400, #130185 ...............................................................................$18,900 Top Air 60, #140416 .................................................................................$5,000 Redball 580, 2006, #151074..................................................................$18,900 Summers ULTIMATE 120, 2012, #155256.............................................$27,900 Wil-Rich Blumha, #148336 .....................................................................$5,500 Top Air TA1200, 2008, #155358.............................................................$16,650 Hardi COMMANDER 1200, 2004, #148536 ...........................................$19,900 Hardi Commander 1200, 2002, #150043.............................................$14,900 Wil-Rich 500 GAL, #150604.....................................................................$6,000 Summers 500, 1996, #145350 ................................................................$4,500 Top Air TA2400, 2014, #156122.............................................................$49,500 Top Air TA2400, 2015, #156123.............................................................$49,500 SELF-PROPELLED SPRAYERS JD R4038, 2017, Boom Width: 120-Foot, Boom Leveling, Tank: Stainless, Nozzle Spacing: 20 in, 289 hrs., #141223 ...............................................$329,500 JD 4930, 2009, 4269 hrs., #156042.........................................................$99,510 JD 4940, 2014, 1764 hrs., #155452.......................................................$199,500 JD 4830, 2013, Boom Width: 90-Foot, Boom Leveling, Tank: Stainless, Hydraulic Tread Adjust, Traction Control,, Nozzle Spacing: 20 in, 1423 hrs., #150080 ................................................................................................$169,500 CIH 4430, 2013, Boom Leveling, Tank: Stainless, Tire Width: Narrow, Guidance-ready, 2655 hrs., #154198 .....................................................$209,500 JD R4038, 2018, Boom Width: 120-Foot, Nozzle Spacing: 20 in, 494 hrs., #150887 ................................................................................................$339,000 JD R4038, 2017, Hydraulic Tread Adjust,, Guidance-ready, 508 hrs., #143961 ................................................................................................$346,500 JD R4038, 2018, 100 hrs., #155379 ......................................................$340,200 UTILITY TRACTORS JD 5115M, 2018, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Mid, Loader, 175 hrs., #143684 .............$78,900 JD 6135E, 2016, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Tire Width: Wide, 196 hrs., #142599 ........................................................$71,900
59,400
4 JD 6130M, 2018, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Mid, 208 hrs., #143700..........................$94,900 4 JD 5100E, 2018, 238 hrs., #143682.........................................................$65,900 4 JD 5115M, 2018, 304 hrs., #143686 .......................................................$78,900 4 JD 6120E, 2018, 36 hrs., #143692...........................................................$79,500 4 JD 6120E, 2018, 100 hrs., #143694.........................................................$79,500 4 JD 6135E, 2018, 100 hrs., #143696.........................................................$84,900 4 JD 6135E, 2018, 100 hrs., #143698.........................................................$84,900 4 JD 5115M, 2018, 113 hrs., #143688 .......................................................$71,900 4 JD 5115M, 2018, 113 hrs., #143690 .......................................................$71,900 2 JD 6125R, 2014, 780 hrs., #155293 ........................................................$67,500 10 JD 6130R, 2016, Configuration: Narrow, Cab, Partial Power Shift, Guidance-ready, MFWD, Tire Width: Mid, 160 hrs., #124987....................$96,900 10 JD 6120E, 2016, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Tire Width: Mid, 259 hrs., #124310 ..........................................................$69,500 10 JD 6135E, 2016, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540, Tire Width: Mid, Loader, 131 hrs., #124870........................................................................$76,900 10 JD 6120E, 2016, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540, Tire Width: Wide, Loader, 272 hrs., #124936........................................................................$69,500 10 JD 6120E, 2016, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540, Tire Width: Wide, Loader, 222 hrs., #124867 ............................................$69,500 10 JD 6130M, 2016, Configuration: Narrow, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Loader, 195 hrs., #124993 .......................................$99,500 10 JD 5065M, 2012, Partial Power Shift, 2WD, Rear PTO: 540, 4975 hrs., #151388 ..................................................................................................$21,900 10 Farmall Super C, 2WD, Rear PTO: 540, #151487 ......................................$3,500 10 JD 6420, 2002, 6900 hrs., #154564.........................................................$52,500 17 JD 6110R, 2017, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, Guidance-ready, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Wide, Loader, 364 hrs., #144495..................................................................................................$99,500 17 JD 6110R, 2017, Configuration: Standard, Cab, IVT, Guidance-ready, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Mid, 257 hrs., #144497..........................$97,900 6 JD 6130R, 2016, Cab, Partial Power Shift, Guidance-ready, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Mid, 363 hrs., #142596..........................$99,500 12 JD 6120M, 2016, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Narrow, 116 hrs., #141879 ....................$92,900 12 JD 5115M, 2017, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540, 540/1000, Tire Width: Mid, 130 hrs., #140105 ..........................................................$71,900 15 JD 6110R, 2016, Cab, IVT, MFWD, 338 hrs., #144500 ..............................$95,900 15 JD 6130R, 2017, Configuration: Standard, Cab, IVT, MFWD w/ Suspension, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Mid, 403 hrs., #144505........................$109,500 15 JD 5100E, 2016, Cab, Power Reverser, MFWD, 2075 hrs., #149334 .........$46,900 16 JD 6110M, 2016, Configuration: Narrow, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, 292 hrs., #144493 ...................................................$79,500 5 JD 5100E, 2016, Cab, Power Reverser, MFWD, 1971 hrs., #145220 .........$46,900 5 JD 6135E, 2016, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Tire Width: Narrow, 263 hrs., #142600 .....................................................$74,900 5 JD 6105R, 2013, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Wide, 1425 hrs., #156129......................$71,900 11 JD 6110R, 2017, Cab, IVT, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, 345 hrs., #142813 ..................................................................................................$99,500 11 JD 5115M, 2016, Cab, Power Reverser, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Loader, 290 hrs., #149192 ....................................................................................$79,500 11 JD 6135E, 2016, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540, Tire Width: Wide, 62 hrs., #142602 ...................................$72,900 8 JD 6130R, 2017, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Loader, 156 hrs., #147778 .....................................$109,500 8 JD 6130R, 2015, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, Guidance-ready, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Wide, 262 hrs., #142595 ..................................................................................................$99,500 8 MF 3545, 1983, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Mid, 4279 hrs., #151182 ........................................................$19,500 14 JD 6110R, 2017, Cab, Partial Power Shift, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Loader, 409 hrs., #144496 ....................................................................................$99,500 14 JD 6110R, 2017, Cab, IVT, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Loader, 378 hrs., #144499 ................................................................................................$104,900 14 JD 6130R, 2017, Configuration: Standard, Cab, Partial Power Shift, Guidance-ready, MFWD, Rear PTO: 540/1000, Tire Width: Wide, 193 hrs., #144503 ..................................................................................................$99,500
189,000
CIH QT500, 2011, $ 2950 hrs., #155272
134,900
JD 6155R, 2016, $ 319 hrs., #144516
Page 22 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019
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Weltzien savors year serving as state vice president
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Collin Weltzien is the 2018-19 Wisconsin State Vice President for SecƟon 3. Weltzien grew up on a dairy farm in Arcadia, Wis. By Jennifer Coyne jenn.c@dairystar.com
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ARCADIA, Wis. – The FFA organization has expanded opportunities for adolescents across America, and as National FFA Week is celebrated Feb. 16-23 one Wisconsin youth is feeling especially grateful. Last June, Collin Weltzien was elected the Wisconsin State Vice President for Section 3. “It was denitely one of the biggest adrenaline rushes I’ve ever had,” Weltzien said, recalling the moment he was named a state ofcer. “It’s a true honor to know you are one of 11 individuals with the privilege of representing over 21,000 FFA members across the state of Wisconsin and the rich traditions of those who’ve come before.” Weltzien,20, grew up on his family’s dairy farm where his dad, Keith, and uncles, Dan and Russ, milk 180 Holsteins in Buffalo County near Arcadia, Wis. The college sophomore is majoring in agricultural business with a minor in dairy science at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls with dreams of returning to his family’s farm, becoming the fourth generation to operate the dairy. Over the past eight months, Weltzien and his ofcer team have coordinated and presented several leadership workshops across the state, attended National FFA Convention and other national conferences, visited an array of industry events, and interacted with thousands of FFA members. This March, Weltzien and the state president, Amelia Hayden, will also be attending the National Ag Day Program in Washington D.C. They will use this opportunity to advocate for agriculture at the Capitol with members of other youth agriculture organizations. “It’s been a wild ride so far, but it’s, without a doubt, been worth it,” Weltzien said. Personally, Weltzien has visited 25 chapters within his section, which encompasses Buffalo, Jackson, La Crosse, Monroe, Trempealeau and Vernon counties. During these visits, Weltzien highlighted FFA opportunities and facilitated a variety of leadership activities with students. Weltzien rst joined his local FFA chapter as a high school freshman. “I remember listening to stories from my dad and Turn to WELTZIEN| Page 23
Con�nued from WELTZIEN | Page 22 uncles about their FFA days, so it was a no brainer for me,” said Weltzien of joining FFA. He dived into the organization with the creed speaking competition, which he participated in at the state contest that rst year and placed third. Then, Weltzien’s involvement soared. As a high school sophomore, he was chapter parliamentarian before serving as chapter president his junior and senior years. Weltzien continued his involvement in speaking competitions, qualifying for state in the prepared and extemporaneous speaking contests each year following. He also took part in the dairy judging Career Development Events, was a member of the school’s national soil judging team, and was a member of the parliamentary procedure team. “There’s denitely been a lot of people along the way to get me where I am today,” said Weltzien, who credits his parents, Keith and Karen, and his FFA advisors, Kevin Whalen and Steve Schank, for much of his FFA success. “I’ve been pretty fortunate to have the support system I do. They’ve pushed me to nd out what I’m really made of.” As Weltzien’s high school career was approaching its end, Weltzien toyed with the possibility of running for a state ofcer position. He went to college, but in the spring of 2018 made his decision. “I decided it was now or never, so I gave it a shot,” Weltzien said. “And, it’s been everything I hoped for and more.” Weltzien now balances a full course load on campus along with his duties as a vice president. “I’ve had to stay focused to balance school and FFA, but I continue to cherish this experience more and more as the year progresses,” Weltzien said. “The people I’ve met and the places I’ve visited are special memories that I’ll never forget.” Serving as vice president has not been an easy task, but a challenge Weltzien willingly accepts. “I’m not the most outgoing person in the world, so it was a challenge to push myself into engaging with others at rst,” Weltzien said. “I’ve grown a ton in that respect because of the different situations I’ve been put into.” Throughout Weltzien’s high school FFA career,
Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Page 23
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Collin Weltzien’s officer team a�ends the inaugural State Officer Summit in July in Washington D.C. Here, state officers from across the country came together to learn how to be effec�ve advocates of FFA and agricultural educa�on. he participated in several events with a focus on preparing himself for future success. Now, he has realized the organization serves a greater purpose. “I’ve taken much more of a servant leadership approach as I try to help members nd their own place in FFA, and that seless mindset is something that will be important down the road,” Weltzien said. As he interacts with other youth and shares his personal story, Weltzien is always reminded of his rich heritage in dairy farming. “When you look back in your family history and see the generations that farmed the same land before you, it’s pretty easy to decide you’d like to do that
too,” Weltzien said. “I take pride in the work my family does. To see the dedication and grit my dad and uncles put into the farm day in and day out, I’d hate to see it go. Weltzien is condent his journey in FFA is preparing him for his career by providing networking opportunities with members and industry professionals, while also developing skills he will take with him long into the future. “My time on the farm and in the blue corduroy jacket leave no doubt in my mind that the future of agriculture is a bright one,” Weltzien said. “And, I can’t wait to be a part of it.”
Page 24 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Page 25
This is a winter we will remember and tell our kid and how comfortable it was to lay in the snow. We if this was a sign that the calves were angry. Some of grand kids about. Bitter cold, freezing rain, ice, snow, used to play outside in the snow for hours, sliding on the kids were holding their noses, and others had on rain, more freezing rain, more ice and more snow. the ice and digging holes in the snow piles to make masks. When we got to the old milk house, there was a Lots of snow. igloos or see if we could get to the other side. My kids little confusion about milking calves. But, that got I have been trying to walk carefully through the did it, too. Winter was not always a bad season. snow that is laying on top of 3 inches of ice, movI have been nervous about a reservation we had cleared up quickly. I do not know if they have ever ing like a comedy skit from Tim Conway for student visitors from southern China seen where milk comes from or if they consume much as Dorf. I have been shufing from the who were staying with host families from milk in China. We went into the kitchen area where the windows house to the calf barn then to the loang Rock County. I know that a fall can mean shed and to the freestall barn. a liability issue. We had heard that the are face to face with cows. They were able to see the Last weekend, I was walking around emergency rooms have seen more broken robots milking cows right in the pen. These kids have the loang shed through the snow. I was wrists and hips in the last two weeks than never seen a cow before either. The parents were instepping in someone’s footprints. As I all year put together. I was glad I was not terested in the robots. I led the way to the robot room. As the cows came in, the chattering calmed down went around the corner, I noticed that among the injured but did not want to person must have taken a fall. I could see have anyone get hurt while visiting our and their eyes were focused on the robot attaching the inations. Questions came from the kids: Does the ice from under the snow and the obvifarm. ous body print of someone that was not These students had spent their morn- this make their milk taste different? Do they like the trying to make a snow angel. ing in Madison, Wis., where they visited brushes? What is this, and what is that? By Tina Hinchley When we were done, I left the robot room to see I knew it must have been from Seth, Farmer & Columnist the capitol and ate lunch at the University that the gate and the door were both left open. As I a high school boy who helps us. He is in of Wisconsin. that awkward stage where he is growing This was their rst time seeing a fro- walked over to see, I saw hoof prints in the hallway. an inch a week and tends to be a little clumsy. This kid zen lake. They were out sliding around, falling and There was a cow standing at the end of the hallway would love to live on a farm. He asks almost daily if having a great time when I called the contact person right by the milk house door. She had managed to turn around without taking there is anything I need help with so he can come over for the group with plans to do some busy work; cleaning pens, fetching cows to cancel the visit. He was off any of the barnboard we Kids are the h same world ld over. have on the walls, and she and feeding calves. He is also tech savy. He helps me condent there would be Kid with my phone and even went out of his way to do no issue with any liability. They will always leave the did not poop. I looked back some research on the error messages on the discovery These kids needed to see a to see all of the kids taking robots that push the manure through our slatted oor farm while in Wisconsin, doors and gates wide open. photos and videos of her. in our new barn. He is a great kid to have around, and we were where they We laughed a lot. but if there is an area where he could slip and fall, he wanted to go. This cow was not worried. will. He has a wonderful outlook and laughed about Upon their arrival, they came into the shed for She walked right back into the barn as if she owned his snow angel. He said he had fallen four times that an introduction and brief history of the farm. The the place. We all agreed. Kids are the same world day, and his boots are to blame. His mother is buying kids put their names on a map to show where they over. They will always leave the doors and gates wide them big, because he keeps growing out of them so live. We shufed to the tiestall barn to look at the old open. fast. Tina Hinchley, her husband, Duane, and their barn. Then, we headed through the barn and off to the daughters, Anna and Catherine, milk 135 registered It was not but a few hours later that I found my- calves. self laying in the snow, thinking I should have tried These kids have never been around animals. The Holsteins and farm 2,500 acres of crops near Camto put on the ice cleats I got for Christmas. As I was cats were exciting to some but scary to others. The bridge, Wis. They have been hosting farm tours for laying there, assessing if anything was hurting, not in calves were happy to see the kids, and were mooing over 20 years. a hurry to get up quick, I remembered when I was a and kicking up their straw. The students did not know
Page 26 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019
Farm Storage Facility loans coming in
We have been receiving numerous new Farm Storage Facility Loans which is fantastic. I wanted to remind producers that an environmental review is required to be completed before loan approval and any earthwork can be completed. The National Environ- FSA News & Notes mental Policy Act requires federal agencies to consider all potential environmental impacts for federally-funded projects before the project is approved. For all Farm Service Agency programs, an environmental review must be completed before actions are approved, such as site By Ryan Brunn preparation or ground disturbance. These programs Stearns Co. Exec. Dir. include, but are not limited to, the Emergency Conservation Program, Farm Storage Facility Loan program and farm loans. If project implementation begins before FSA has completed an environmental review, this will result in a denial of the request. There are exceptions regarding the Stafford Act and emergencies. It is important to wait until you receive written approval of your project proposal before starting any actions, including, but not limited to, vegetation clearing, site preparation or ground disturbance. Remember to contact your FSA ofce early in your planning process to determine what level of environmental review is required for your program application so that it can be completed timely. Applications cannot be approved contingent upon the completion of an environmental review. FSA must have copies of all permits and plans before an application can be approved. FSA is cleaning up our producer record database. If you have any unreported changes of address, zip code, phone number, email address or an incorrect name or business name on le they need to be reported to our ofce. Changes in your farm operation, like the addition of a farm by lease or purchase, need to be reported to our ofce as well. Producers participating in FSA and NRCS programs are required to timely report changes in their farming operation to the county committee in writing and update their CCC-902 Farm Operating Plan. If you have any updates or corrections, call your FSA ofce to update your records. Farm Service Agency is an Equal Opportunity Lender. Complaints about discrimination should be sent to: Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250. Visit the Farm Service Agency Web site at: www.fsa.usda.gov/ for necessary application forms and updates on USDA programs.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Page 27
How I stay organized The Transition Pen
By John Rosenhammer & Laura Scholtz Father/Daughter Farming Duo While dairy farmers are not lucky enough to have snow days, when the frigid low temperatures and howling wind postpone my outdoor plans, I try to make the best of my situation and get organized. I have picked up organizing ideas from working internships. First, on our barn desktop computer I use PCDart to keep our herd records up to date. I have learned how to utilize this program to the fullest, scheduling it to print off weekly vaccinations, ovsynch shots and cows to watch for heat every Monday. When I arrive on Monday mornings, I simply grab the lists off the printer tray and put them on the corresponding clipboard. Besides this, I have created shortcuts on the home screen for all of our go-to websites, such as our creamery data, CowScout activity and rumination collar data, calving pen cameras, select sires bull search and CME milk futures market. This allows my dad and I to look up information quickly throughout the day and keep up to date. Teamview is another favorite program of mine, as it allows me to log into the barn desktop from my laptop at home, which came in handy often while I was home with Morgan. In my ofďƒžce, I have several binders. Pregnancy checks, hoof trimming records and DHIA summaries are the three binders I use most often. I use tabs to write dates on the DHIA summaries so I can quickly ďƒžnd a certain month. We often go through pregnancy checks when a question arises such as if a cow was diagnosed with twins or not. Hoof trimming records allows me to compare the total number of wraps and blocks each month to see if we are making improvement. On the walls of our parlor, I have three dry erase boards. First, a calendar that includes upcoming birthdays, hoof trimming, DHIA testing, workshops and other signiďƒžcant dates. Second, a Medicated cow board where treated cows are written down along with their pen, type of antibiotic and which days they need treatment. For example, if a cow has written ‘RF spectramast MTW,’ her right front quarter needs a spectramast tube on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. This information is easy to view while milking cows and ensures cows will receive treatment on the correct days. Typically we give all treatments during morning milking to avoid any confusion. The third board is huge and divided into 12 sections. Cows to cull, dry up, calve, hoof trim, vet check, heats and high SCC, as well as supplies to order, projects to work on, things needing ďƒžxing, a weekly todo list and my own section where I list my tasks to accomplish that week. I love the convenience of this board as during milking I can easily make notes of a cow that needs trimming or is in heat. Next to our supply shelf we have a cork board. We have stapled our yellow DHIA barn sheet and monthly lists of cows due to calve, cows due to dry up, heifers to breed, cows to watch for heat and cows set up to breed each week on our ovsynch program. This board is located in our utility room right next to the parlor door which makes it easy to run in and glance at a list while milking or grab the cows due to calve list before sorting dry cows to our transition pen. Two of my favorite Christmas presents included
a digital label maker and a laminator. I keep my label maker in my barn ofďƒžce so I can print off labels any time I need. I make labels for our supply shelf, vaccine refrigerator and breaker panels. The laminator works for projects as small as my car insurance card and as big as this newspaper page. For example, in our old milk room, which stores all of our calf feeding supplies and pasteurizer, I have laminated instructions posted on how to operate the pasteurizer, cleaning protocols, symptoms of a sick calf and our treatment protocols. I keep track of any antibiotics given to calves in a notebook, which has water resistant paper. Even if the notebook gets soaked in water, my writing will not smudge, and I can look up previous calf treatments without running over to the barn ofďƒžce. Finally, as a true millennial I would be lost without my cell phone. From looking up a phone number, being able to call the vet to order supplies while I am in the barn or call in a LDA before I have even left the cow’s pen, my phone saves lots of time. I often look up info,
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such as our DHIA web report or a haylage sample result in an email, when I am walking the barn with a consultant. When I am in the heifer pens, I can easily text my dad the number of a heifer in heat, and I have a list in my notes app of any heifers that need to be looked at by the hoof trimmer. Best of all, I can watch our calving pen cameras via an app and be able to call my dad if a cow is calving late at night or rest peacefully knowing all is calm. Adding mother to my titles certainly added many responsibilities to my life the past three months, but luckily my organization skills have made the transition easier. I am proud of where I am at and always anxious to add new ideas. My goal is to make life in the barn as efďƒžcient as possible, so I can have more time with my sweet baby girl. Laura Scholtz farms with her father, John Rosenhammer, and uncle, Greg, on Roseview Dairy near Sleepy Eye, Minn. They milk 200 Holsteins and run 580 acres of cropland.
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Page 28 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019
www.extension.umn.edu/dairy
Luciano Caixeta lcaixeta@umn.edu 612-625-3130
What can you do to be a top dairy farmer?
Hugh Chester-Jones chest001@umn.edu 507-835-3622
January and February are always a busy time of the year for dairy farmers. Thawing out water pipes and sliding around your farm on newly frozen ice or freshly fallen snow is always a fun activity. But, maybe the most enjoyable activity this time of year is getting your nancial records ready for loan renewal and tax season. OK, maybe an agricultural economist enjoys these activities, but it is a necessary part of running your dairy operation. Regardless of what you are doing at the beginning of 2019, many dairy farmers are asking themselves, “What management and nancial characteristics will allow me to succeed in the dairy industry in 2019?” This same question has been asked by University of Minnesota Extension educators, faculty members and farm business management instructors across Minnesota. Through a joint collaboration across these groups, a survey was distributed in 2017 to By Joleen C. farms that participate in the farm business Hadrich management program to help identify manUniversity of MN agement characteristics of top Minnesota farmers. The survey responses were combined with nancial data in FINBIN to provide a comprehensive list of management and nancial factors affecting their success. The farms were ranked against their peers based on their net farm income ratio. This ratio measures the amount of net farm income retained on the farm as a percent of the value of farm production. Higher ratios are preferred since the farm is keeping more of their revenue generated as prot which can be re-invested or used to build equity. The survey asked questions about management decisions made from 2014 to 2016. Financial data were averaged over the same time period to help balance uctuating prices. Fiftynine dairy farms returned a completed survey and had data from 2014 to 2016 in the FINBIN database. The highest performing dairy farms (top 25 percent) had 210 cows that produced 18,919 pounds of milk and received an average milk price of $22.25 per hundredweight. This is compared to the farms in the lowest 25 percent who had 84 dairy cows producing 17,372 pounds per year with an average milk price of $16.52. The average age of the dairy operators for the high prot farms was 45 years compared to 56 years for the low prot dairies. Two differences exist between these groups. While the milk production levels are similar, herd sizes are more than double for the high prot farms. Second, the milk price is 35 percent higher for the dairy farms in the top 25 percent. Three of the high prot dairy farms are organic with an average milk price of $33.74 per cwt. for the study period. When the organic dairies are removed
Gerard Cramer gcramer@umn.edu 612-625-8184 Marcia Endres miendres@umn.edu 612-624-5391 Sandra Godden godde002@umn.edu 612-625-8177 Joleen Hadrich jhadrich@umn.edu 612-626-5620 Les Hansen hanse009@umn.edu 612-624-2277 Brad Heins hein0106@umn.edu 320-589-1711 Kevin Janni kjanni@umn.edu 612-625-3108 Karen Johnson ande9495@umn.edu 320-484-4334 Claire LaCanne lacanne@umn.edu 507-332-6109 Brenda Miller nels4220@umn.edu 320-732-4435 Kota Minegishi kota@umn.edu 612-624-7455 Erin Royster royster@umn.edu Jim Salfer salfe001@umn.edu 320-203-6093 M. Scott Wells mswells@umn.edu 612-625-3747 Emily Wilmes krek0033@umn.edu 320-255-6169
from the high prot average the updated milk price is $18.31 per cwt. with milk production of 21,304 pounds per cow. A milk price that is 11 percent higher than the low prot farms introduces the question of milk quantity versus quality as an overall business strategy. As milk pricing continues to evolve within the industry, these results suggest there may be ways to take advantage of milk premiums while holding yields steady. Debt is an important business characteristic. The high prot dairy farms are solvent with an average debt-to-asset ratio of 33 percent compared to the low prot farms with a debt-to-asset ratio of 68 percent. Input cost management is always one of the rst recommendations to improve prot. The highest performing dairies spend $0.65 of every $1 of revenue generated to cover operating costs while our lowest performing farms are using $0.92 of every $1 of revenue to cover operating expenses. From a management perspective, the top performing dairy farms update accounting records on a monthly or quarterly basis and review nancial plans and projections on a monthly or annual basis. Education, both inside and outside of the classroom, plays a factor in the nancial success of these farms. The largest difference exists with attending extension and outreach workshops. The high prot dairy farms attend three times the number of events compared to the low prot farms. The most popular events attended include agronomy, animal science, cost of production and business planning sessions. Many of the high prot dairy farms indicated they had a nancial or strategic business plan with formal written goals. Based on this information, what can you do to be successful in 2019? First, create a projected cash ow for the year and then monitor those projections. Reviewing costs on a monthly basis allows you to have a quick record of your nancial position which creates a proactive rather than reactive approach. Second, identify cost benchmarks and write them down. This holds you accountable, not only to yourself, but also your lender if additional nancial resources may be needed. Our instinct is to avoid our records when we know the numbers are not what we want to see. Fighting this instinct and studying your numbers will help you be successful. Third, attend one new extension or outreach event. A series of extension workshops are scheduled for February and March to help dairy producers consider new ways to add value to their dairy without adding more cows, evaluating different risk management strategies through the dairy margin coverage and revenue protection programs, ways to improve record keeping, and strategies to handle personal and nancial stress. Many of these events are free of charge, so do not hesitate to attend.
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Cold weather mastitis management
When we think about mastitis management, we think mostly about the summer months. After all, that is when we see the highest prevalence of mastitis. However, mastitis still occurs every month of the year. It may not be a top priority during winter when we have to battle the cold and snow, but it is still something to which you should be paying attention. There are many health and economic impacts related to mastitis, so why jeopardize your cows and your bottom line? You have your typical mastitis routine: dry cow treatment, monitoring fresh cows, keeping stalls clean and the like. However, are you managing for the specic threats and stressors that only winter brings? First, we know it is cold. We started the winter with pretty mild temperatures but have been experiencing some cold spells lately. I would not be surprised if we had a few more By Emily Wilmes before the winter ends. When it is cold, make sure your cows have access to shelter and an ample amount of clean, dry bedUniversity of MN ding. These are not only for mastitis prevention but are important factors to managing cold stress in the winter. Like with any season, the ultimate goal is to keep the amount of stress on your cows low. Making sure your cows are properly sheltered and that barns have adequate ventilation will keep them comfortable and will prevent them from needing to use extra energy to keep warm. Cows can handle fairly cold temperatures; wind chills are what really bother cows and make them use extra energy. At the very least, keeping cows out of the wind will help keep them comfortable. Providing clean, dry bedding is always on the top of my list for proper management. It is especially important cows are kept dry and clean in the winter. If they enter the parlor with a particularly dirty udder, it will require more cleaning. If the udder is not properly dried, there is a risk of frostbite. Long hair can also make udders difcult to keep clean and dry. If you do not already, consider singeing or clipping udders. On the subject of udders and teats, teat dip can also put your cows at risk for frostbite. Of course, you need to dip your cows, so what can you do? Continue to dip your cows, but ensure you are not applying excess dip; a good way to check for that is to see if teat dip is dripping from the teats. With 20 degrees below zero wind chills, you may be tempted to not post dip your cows. Even in the winter, do not skip it. If you do not post dip, you are losing one of the major steps in preventing infections. The post dip is too important to leave out, but the way you manage post dipping in the winter may need to be tweaked. You may remember from one of my past articles that optimum contact time for pre-dip is 30 seconds. After the 30 seconds, the dip has done its job and can be wiped off to continue the milk prep routine. Similarly, a strategy you could implement in the winter is to put post dip on for a 30-second contact time, then dry teats before sending cows out of the parlor. You will still get the protection of the post dip, but will not run the risk of frost-bitten teats. This practice will add some time to milking, but it only needs to be implemented in extreme cold weather. One last tip I have for you. Consider nutrition. Cows are systemic creatures; every system in a cow’s body and environment needs to be working and maintained properly for optimum comfort and health. Proper nutrition will ensure the cow has enough energy and other nutrients. With enough energy, she will not be battling cold stress. With no cold stress to ght, her immune system will not be suppressed, and she will able to effectively ght off an infection. Feed your cows rations that are formulated to supplement forages. Take into consideration the cows’ requirements for protein, energy, vitamins and minerals, including vitamins A, D and E; macrominerals calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and sulfur; and microminerals selenium, zinc and copper. Winter can be a tough time on producers and cows alike. Ease your burden by managing for mastitis year-round. Keeping cows out of the wind, providing bedding that is clean and dry, ensuring udders are dry, and maintaining a balanced ration will help your cows get through winter without mastitis, without frostbite and without problems from cold stress. So if you nd yourself asking, “Do I need to manage for mastitis in the winter?” The answer is always yes.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Page 29
ADVERTORIAL
J. Gile Dairy Equipment, Inc. has earned ExpertCare® Certification from GEA! A!
We are pleased to announce that J. Gile Dairy Equipment has been awarded certification as a GEA ExpertCare® dealer. ExpertCare® dealerships undergo an extensive training program to perform a broad range of services for your milking operation, using the latest evaluation and analysis technology. Through continuous monitoring of Key Performance Indicators (KPls) that are related to milking or that influence the milking process, your ExpertCare dealer can identify variables impacting performance and make recommendations for improvements. They will work with veterinarians, nutritionists, herd consultants, and the milking staff to enhance and protect operational efficiency and milk quality on the dairy operations they service. “At GEA, we set the bar high when it comes to qualifying as an ExpertCare® dealer. J. Gile Dairy Equipment has spent the last few months tackling over 75 hours of technical training sessions and account management review to elevate the services their team provides to their customer base,” explains John Brooks, GEA Sales Manager for Dairy Farming Hygiene & Service (East). “Therefore, we can say with confidence that J. Gile is trained and certified to work with your dairy operation in a highly professional manner, and partner with you to meet your goals for future success - protecting your valuable milking investment.” As an ExpertCare® dealer, J. Gile Dairy Equipment is more proficient in optimal cow milking analysis, milk quality trouble-shooting, animal care and environmental evaluations, milking operator trainings, and equipment maintenance. “This is an accomplished milestone for J. Gile,” adds Brooks. “We are extremely proud to add their name to our list of valued GEA ExpertCare® dealers”.
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Page 30 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019
When the barn roof collapsed
“It could have been so much worse.” This is my standard response to concerned neighbors and friends when they offer condolences regarding our unexpected excitement this past Wednesday afternoon. In our area it snowed from midnight Monday, throughout the day and into the night on Tuesday. Wednesday brought warmer temperatures, but the mercury didn’t creep up high enough, nor fast enough, for us. Peter had just sat down to eat a quick lunch around three o’clock when one of the employees called in a panic. Peter managed to decipher that a barn roof had collapsed. Peter, Dad, and I looked at each other in disbelief; then moved to action. Dad and Peter rushed out to discover that half of our transition barn roof had collapsed due to the overpowering weight of the snow. After putting three little ones down for naps, I hurried to the barn with my heart in my throat. This is the barn where I spend the majority of my time. I envisioned attened cows in the calving pen and calves speared with crashing debris. Thank goodness my overactive imagination wasn’t even close to what we actually found.
Our 135 post-fresh cows are housed on one side of the barn and the transition cows, hospital, and calving pen are on the other. Miraculously, only one cow from the postfresh pen was stuck underneath the carnage of wood and tin. She had to be extracted with the help of chain saws. Judging by the tufts of hair left on the stalls, most of the cows had streaked through the stalls to get out of harm’s way. The opposite side of the barn held three very nervous cows in labor, one cow just fresh, and curious heifers in transition wandering around oblivious to the sharp edges of tin and boards strewn about. As Jamie, who works on our calf barn team, and I were trying to wrangle the new calf and mom out of the pen we heard a crack. We jumped back away from the pen as another section of the roof came down on our side of the barn. Peter emerged from the other side of the wall, smiling that he was lucky as well. I began milking cows in an effort to beat the sun going down. A portion of power was shut off to my end of the barn, and the lights were on one of the lines. Thankfully, the milk pump, cooler, and pasteurizer were all able to run.
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Every boom, crack, and creak made me jump. I was contemplating where the safest hiding place was if the roof of the hospital parlor came down. Outside of my cave the real action was taking place. Dad made a trip down the hill to rustle up helpful Amish neighbors and Peter and I made a few phone calls. The result was a small army of helpful humans arriving with warm clothes, positive attitudes, hammers, chain Ramblings from the Ridge saws, and drills. The skid steer assisted in ripping the mangled tin from the roof to make it safe for cows again. The re department sprayed water on the roof in an effort to persuade the remaining snow to slide, but to no avail – it was too cold out. The milking schedule was in our favor and the pen that had the most damBy Jacqui Davison age was next in to milk. PeColumnist ter and Dad made the decision to switch pens of cows for the time being. They brought our dry pen up (50 cows and heifers), and moved the post-fresh cows to warmer quarters in the tunnel ventilated barn. This way, the fact that a percentage of the stalls are frozen isn’t an issue. As the piles of wood, metal, and tin grew outside, I kept at my chores. A cow that was hit with a board was so wound up she wouldn’t lie down to calve, and who can blame her. As I put her in the headlock to pull her calf, her two pen mates laid down to deliver. The result was three beef-cross calves born in ve minutes. Another calf was born shortly after in the transition pen. The arrival of new life in the midst of a barn that was lled with the buzzing of saws, crashing of tin, and cracking of wood was paradoxical. I milked the fresh cows by ashlight and Stacy took care of feeding all of the calves. The fast-working cleanup crew was trying to beat the dark as well. The open air barn we have at present is simultaneously beautiful and cruel. The brilliant light from a full moon oods the barn at night, as does the sun rise in the morning. Soft snowakes trickle over the ledges and down on the cows. With this also comes the cold air that freezes up waterers, and turns the parlor wash water into an instant skating rink for the cows. While the snow is sparkling and pretty as it falls— when two inches of it settle on the calving pen, it’s not near as lovely. We’re trying to tap into our creativity to come up with some temporary plans until we have a functional roof again. Unexpected disasters in the world of farming often restore one’s faith in humanity. We had so many willing hands cleaning up the barn that it only took four hours. The strength of family and extended family can’t be overlooked. A pizza delivery from Stacy’s mother-in-law fed our crew, and she stayed to make sure the children in the house were safe. Stacy left school early. Thomas came down from La Crosse. Tony handled wrestling practice by himself, then brought Ira home. It sounds so cliché to say, ‘It could have been much worse,’ but it is true. I had walked the post-fresh pen for an hour that morning with Cora on my hip, but no people were in the vicinity at the time of the collapse. No cows were injured and a barn can be rebuilt. A few inches of snow where it isn’t welcome is a small price to pay for everyone being safe and sound. Jacqui and her family milk 800 cows and run 1,200 acres of crops in the northeastern corner of Vernon County, Wis. Her children, Ira (11), Dane (9), Henry (4) and Cora (adventurous crawler), 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.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Page 31
Fresh cow success goes beyond nutrition
Transition dairy cows go through many stressful changes within a short time. After calving, the cow has large energy demands for lactation and cannot consume enough feed to meet these demands. Feeding a ration specically formulated for fresh cows and targeting specic nutritional additives for this group is valuable and will be expanded upon in Something to Ruminate On future columns. However, it is important to realize management can reduce or add stressors, positively or negatively impacting rumen dynamics and cow health. Focusing explicitly on fresh cows will help minimize this stress. Separate fresh cow groups help producers target resources to those cows who will respond the most. A fresh cow pen should provide cows with a clean, comfortable environment to recover from calving and minimize social stress associated with moving into new groups. Establishing a well-located fresh cow group makes sense from a herd management standpoint. By Barry Visser Grouping fresh cows separately from the main Nutritionist herd is more labor efcient and allows targeted monitoring and treatment. The primary goal of a fresh group is to minimize health events to allow cows to reach their production potential. Limiting the stocking density throughout the transition period is critical. Research has shown that fresh cow dry matter intake declines as stocking density increases. Aim for at least 30 inches of feed bunk space per animal in both the prefresh and fresh cow pens. Headlocks are useful for individual cow observations and treatments, but this should not be the rst time a fresh heifer sees headlocks. Providing uninterrupted access to properly sized, well-bedded free stalls or a well-maintained bedded pack will also allow fresh cows to transition well. When planning a fresh pen, determine the number of cows it accommodates based on predicted maximum calving ow. Dairies that undersize transition cow pens typically struggle with more health events during periods of peak calving. If the fresh pen is undersized during high calving periods, you may need to reduce the number of days in the fresh pen for cows that are transitioning well. Heat stress and cold stress are both considerations for maximizing fresh cow comfort. Often our fresh cow pens are not in the same location as the main milking herd and can be more prone to the elements. Provide plenty of fans and sprinklers to keep your fresh cows cool in the summertime. Temperatures the past few months have reminded us how valuable it is
to provide protection from the extreme cold as well. Ice around waters can severely limit water intake and increase the risk of injury. In addition, exposure to extreme cold and wind can result in chapped or frozen teats. First-calf heifers with mild to excessive edema are at greatest risk to teat damage with reduced blood ow to their mammary systems. In addition to housing, postdipping strategies can help alleviate some of these issues. Dening how long cows stay in the fresh pen is specic to each dairy. I typically recommend that dairies have a 21-day fresh cow pen. The ebbs and ows of calving will dictate this on many farms. If cows stay in a fresh pen for more than 30 days, we need to make a nutritional compromise between maintaining bulk ber ll (which helps only the recently fresh cows) and raising ration energy concentration (to maximize production and reduce weight loss of high-producing cows). Thus, shortening the length of time cows stay in the fresh pen is often the better choice. When considering a fresh cow group, work closely with your nutritionist and veterinarian to design a program that ts your herd’s dynamics and goals. The ability to provide individualized attention, adequate space and targeted feed additives will help your fresh cows transition into the high cow milking group and reach their production potential. Barry Visser is a nutritionist for Vita Plus.
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Page 32 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019
Weathering the storm
Just when we thought we were going to get off deep corn stalks and had no intention of stepping out with an easy winter, February showed up ready to to get a drink of water in the middle of the night. Forght. The gloves came off. This was going to be a tunately, no calves arrived during the polar vortex. bare-knuckled brawl of windswept snowstorms and There were enough concerns without nursing a new knock out temperatures against our stamina and stub- little one through this winter ght. bornness. A month ago, we The only things had no snow. A year ago, we needing nursing through know that h sometimes i iit ffeels l this arctic blast were the silo were enjoying 50 degrees I k above zero. But, this year’s like we keep getting knocked unloaders. Mark gave up winter ght is a new round. counting how many trips he When the mercury fell down again and again. has made up the silo chute out of the bottom of the to replace busted shear bolts thermometer, Mark adjusted or to help the unloader make his sleep schedule. It was almost like calving season. a round as it bounced and pounded its way across the Every couple of hours he went out to warm up the frozen feed. It takes almost an hour to get enough sitractors and bobcat so they would be ready to work in lage down for the feed ration, lowering it one crank at the morning. He walked around and checked to make a time so as not to bury the unloader and make another sure the waterers were closed over night to keep in trip up the chute. We are learning patience on a daily the heat. The cattle were all snuggled down in belly basis.
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As you look across the elds, you can see the waves of snow swirled on the landscape. It is such a peaceful and artistic setting. I always hate disturbing the snow when you break open a new track across the eld. Fortunately for us, Austin has taken on the responsibility of spreading manure every day, and Just Thinking Out Loud he gets to make tracks in the snow. Well, they say you should never drive through ooded streets because you do not know how deep the water is. Same thing holds true for snow. Just because it looks level on the top, does not match the terrain underneath. It is easy to forget where there are By Natalie Schmitt dips in the elds. Austin Columnist found one of those dips and had the tractor buried in snow up to the steps. After he walked back to the yard, he and Mark grabbed the heavy chains and the big tractor with duals. Just like when he was a kid, his dad pulled him around in the snow, or should I say out of the snow. We have a few smaller snow piles in the yard. Nothing like when the kids were moving the snow building their own sledding and jumping hills. With no one in school, snow days do not mean as much fun, rather more work. To cut back on some of the work, Mark has been using the tractor to blow most of the snow out of the yard. He did notice that if we get much more snow, we will not be able to drive through the elds for a while. And, if a wind comes with a new round of snow, driveways and roads are going to ll in quickly. The snow banks along the road will catch and bring the snow to a dead stop. I do not know where much more snow will go. So far, our water lines have been OK. I hope I did not jinx us. The milk truck driver was picking up at his brother’s farm as the polar vortex was about the come in. As he was walking around his truck, he noticed steam was rising from underneath it. It was an underground leak that had nally bubbled up to the surface. Joyce said it is never good news when Ronnie calls that early in the morning. At least they caught it early and were able to repair the line. It is a miserable job, but, if you look at the bright side, at least when you are working on it, you are out of the wind and 8 feet closer to the center of the earth and all the heat. We did not have a line leak, but we did have a ooded barn on Monday morning. You know it is going to be a long morning when the feed is oating in the feed manger. At least it was only 10 degrees below zero and not minus 30. But, it was the morning when we had to be done early due to farm meetings, deadlines and other commitments. We got the mangers swept out, barn clean, cows milked and fed. We were a little late for the meetings and deadline, but we stuck it out and nished out the round. I know that sometimes it feels like we keep getting knocked down again and again. Just as you dig out from one storm, another one is bearing down on you. Will it ever end? Remember, every storm runs out of rain or snow. The skies will clear. The sun will shine, and you can keep moving because you made it through. Natalie, Mark and his brother, Al, Schmitt farm together near Rice, Minn. They milk 100 registered Holsteins under the RALMA prex. Their four children are great help around the farm and are pushing Natalie out of several jobs. Therefore she is thankful to have something else to do. For questions or comments please e-mail Natalie at mnschmitt@jetup.net.
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What’s your chocolate prole?
If your house is anything like mine, the evidence of Valentine’s Day is still fully displayed. Pink and purple construction paper hearts on the fridge. Extra valentines from classroom exchanges waiting to be put away. There might even be some tasty treats left somewhere. Our kids usually give their friends string cheese or snack cheese for Valentine’s Day. But this year, two classrooms asked that valentines be brought to school early, so cheese wasn’t an option. They selected the next best Valentine’s Day treat: chocolate. Faced with all of the chocolate options in the candy Dairy Good Life aisle at our grocery store, we ended up with the original Hershey’s milk chocolate fun-sized bars. Monika reasoned that milk chocolate was as close to a dairy product as candy gets. I love her devotion to dairy. Dan’s rst choice was Twix bars – his favorite – but he agreed to give Hershey’s so that we could split a bag between their classes. Bless his practicality. Turns out, several of their school friends chose chocolate, as well. Our kids came home with quite an assortment of chocolate treats. Observing the chocolate consumption tendencies of my family, I was reminded of the personality proles we recently completed for an extension class Glen and I are By Sadie Frericks taking. Surely there’s a correlation between chocolate Columnist preference and being a lion, otter, golden retriever, or beaver. Daphne’s chocolate personality can best be illustrated by this: By the time she got home from school her bag of Valentine’s Day candy was essentially all empty wrappers. There were a few packages of fruity treats left untouched, but the chocolate had disappeared. Daphne will eat anything made with or enrobed in milk chocolate, but her favorite pairing is chocolate and caramel (aka Rolos). Monika, in some ways, is the opposite of her little sister. Monika still has a stash of candy from Halloween hidden somewhere in our house. No doubt, there’s also chocolate from Christmas. And now her Valentine’s Day candy will be added to the collection. She self rations her treats and constantly rotates her hiding spots to make sure her dad and her little sister don’t nd her stash. Monika likes any kind of chocolate – except dark chocolate. She prefers milk chocolate so much that when we made Valentine’s Day brownies, she asked if we could make some that weren’t so “dark chocolatey”. My usual brownies have an intense dark chocolate avor and fudgy texture. We found a recipe that resulted in brownies on the milk chocolate end of the spectrum. All of the kids thought they were perfect. (I’ll keep my dark chocolate fudgy brownies for myself.) Dan falls into the same can’t-wait-to-eat-it chocolate category as Daphne. His Valentine’s Day chocolate was consumed almost instantly. He, too, likes any type of chocolate candy, but given a choice, he prefers his chocolate with caramel and the crunch of a cookie base. I think he asks me weekly to make homemade Twix bars. Glen’s chocolate personality is both eat-it-now and hide-it-for-later, with a side of not-above-sneaking-chocolate. He often has chocolate stashed somewhere in the barn – usually a bag of chocolate chips from my baking cupboard. (I’ve learned to pick up chocolate chips every time I’m at the grocery store, lest I go to bake something and nd the cupboard bare.) As implied above, Glen’s been known to sneak chocolate from the kids’ holiday candy. I often wonder if Dan and Daphne’s chocolate consumption is motivated by their desire to eat all their candy before Dad nds it, rather than put forth the effort to hide it. Glen would be hard pressed to choose a favorite chocolate candy – he’s not picky. But I have noticed that when presented with a full Halloween bucket or Valentine’s Day stash, he goes for the Snickers and Twix bars rst. My chocolate prole points to all things dark chocolate. As a kid, I didn’t like chocolate at all, so I’m not sure how I arrived at my love for dark chocolate, but it’s undeniable now. It also works out very well for me. I can keep a package of intense dark chocolate in the house in plain sight and nobody snitches from it. I enjoy dark chocolate all by itself, though I often savor it with a cup of hot tea. My favorite dark chocolate has notes of mocha, blackberry, and dark cherry. Did you know that all varieties of milk and dark chocolate have underlying avor notes? What’s your chocolate prole? Do you eat your chocolate right away or save some for later? Do you like milk chocolate or dark chocolate? With caramel, nuts, or other llings or all by itself? There might not be a proven formula for correlating chocolate preference to personality type. I’m sure there are as many different chocolate desires as there are different personalities. But, it would be a delicious way to conduct a personality test. Sadie and her husband, Glen, milk 100 cows near Melrose, Minn. They have three children – Dan, 11, Monika, 8, and Daphne, 5. Sadie also writes a blog at www. dairygoodlife.com. She can be reached at sadiefrericks@gmail.com.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Page 33
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Page 34 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019
Six decades of dairying Schweers detail history of Milbank dairy By Jerry Nelson
jerry.n@dairystar.com
MILBANK, S.D. – The year 1958 was eventful. Congress voted to admit Alaska as the 49th state, the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles and the Barbie doll was patented. That year was also when Don Schweer started dairy farming near Albee, S.D. The dairy operation that Don began continues to be run by his family Don Schweer to this day. Don served in the Navy from 1954-58. After his discharge, Don rented a farm and started milking cows. He was following in the footsteps of his parents, Herman and Alma, who had operated a diverse farm that included dairy cows. “I started out with eight head of Holsteins and sold their milk in cans,” Don said.
Don and his wife, Mildred, were married September 1959. Don and Mildred had ve children: Kevin, Randall, Kathryn, Neil and Richard. Mildred passed away April 2015. She and Don had been married for 55 years. In 1961, Don and Mildred purchased a quarter-section dairy farm located a few miles southeast of Milbank, S.D. They named their farm DonMil-Dale Holsteins. “We started out with a small Farmer’s Home Administration loan,” Don said. “We used it to buy the land, some machinery and a few more Holsteins.” The barn on the Schweers’ new farm had room for 17 cows. After lling their barn, they turned their attention toward bettering the quality of their herd’s genetics. “We bought our rst two registered Holstein cows from Bob Ferris at Osakis, Minn., in 1967,” Don said. Don, 86, retired from farming about a dozen years ago due to back problems. He remains a font of family lore and an inspiration for his grandchildren. Kevin joined the operation in 1978, and the Schweers added onto their tiestall barn, boosting its capacity to 40 head. They also continued to focus on improving the genetics of their herd. “We did our rst embryo
JERRY NELSON/DAIRY STAR
Richard Schweer stands beside one of his top Registered Holstein cows, Don-Mil-Dale Coach Cookie. During her most recent classicaƟon, Cookie was given an EX 92. The Schweers milk 40 cows near Milbank, S.D. transplant in 1981,” Kevin “We were glad to be given various farmers in the area. said. “It was the rst ET ever the opportunity to come back This included eight years performed in Grant County.” home and join the family dairy working for his brother RanHealth problems made it operation,” Michelle said. “We dall, who had operated a registered Holstein dairy a few difcult for Kevin to carry the are very happy to be here.” farm’s workload, so Richard Richard said one of their miles south of Watertown, and his wife, Michelle, moved rst goals was to update the S.D. The Schweers have used to the farm in 2009. Richard herd’s registration process. By and Michelle have three chil- 2012, the entire herd was regis- some top sires to help improve dren, Kendra, 18, Kaden, 13, tered Holsteins. and Kayla, 10. Richard had worked for Turn to SCHWEER | Page 35
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ConƟnued from SCHWEER | Page 34
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The Schweer family – (from leŌ) Kendra, Kayla, Michelle, Kaden and Richard – milk 40 registered Holsteins on the dairy that was started by Don Schweer in 1958 near Milbank, S.D. their genetics. Schweer operation produces quality “Type is our rst consideration milk. Their butterfat is averaging 4.1 when we mate our cows,” Richard said. percent with a somatic cell count that is “We like a well-balanced cow that has 100,000 or less. strength, open ribs, good feet and legs “We take pride in producing the and a superior udder. We like pretty good quality milk that we sell to Valcows. And, we aren’t afraid to spend ley Queen Cheese Factory in Milbank,” money on quality sires.” Michelle said. The Schweers’ focus on type has The Schweers save on operating been rewarded. When the 40-cow herd expenses by doing exchange work with at Don-Mil-Dale Holsteins underwent neighborhood dairy farmers. They also its most recent classication, 13 head raise all of the feed for their herd, exwere classied as Excellent, 16 head cept for small amounts of purchased were classied Very Good and six cows protein and mineral supplements. were rated Good Plus. “We feed our cattle a diet of ground Holstein Association USA ranked ear corn, choice long stem alfalfa hay the Schweers’ herd at 106th in the na- and corn silage,” Richard said. “Our tion for breed average age. The herd land is rich and productive, as long as it has a BAA percent of 110.2, putting it gets enough rain.” at 18th in the region that includes South The quality cattle at Don-Mil-Dale Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Holsteins have caught the attention of Iowa and Nebraska. other dairy farmers. “Our herd is small enough that we “We used to sell a lot of registered can name the animals,” Richard said. bulls for herd sires,” Don said. “We’ve “All of our cows are special, but some sold bulls as far away as Ashley, N.D. A are more special than others.” lot of dairymen are now using A.I. The One example might be Don-Mar- demand for breeding bulls has shrunk.” Dale Coach The family Cookie, a also sells some cattle cow who to other dairy farmwas given a ers for use as rescore of EX placement animals. 92. CookThe Schweer ie is one family remains dediRICHARD SCHWEER, DAIRY FARMER of the top cated to the dairy cows in the farming life. Schweers’ herd. “I love walking into a barn full of Richard and Michelle’s children cows,” Richard said. “There’s nothing help with chores and milking. All three better in the whole world.” of them are active in 4-H, and Kendra is Don agreed. a member of the Milbank FFA Chapter. “I am proud of what we have ac“We don’t ask our kids to help complished,” he said of his 61 years around the farm,” Richard said. “We of dairying. “And, I am happy that we demand it.” have been able to keep this dairy farm Along with superior genetics, the in our family.”
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Dairy farmer Brenda Rudolph and her children, Evereďż˝ and Vivian, deliver milk to Pierz Healy High School Jan. 23 in Pierz, Minn. Rudolph started the Morrison County Milk Project with a goal of bringing awareness to the agriculture industry and food choice.
Rudolph distributes dairy at extracurricular activities
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LITTLE FALLS, Minn. – For the last month, Brenda Rudolph’s evenings have not been ďƒžlled with family dinners and relaxing couch-time. Instead, Rudolph has braved snow-covered roads and frigid temperatures as she makes her way across Morrison County for one cause: to get milk in the hands of kids. Rudolph, who milks 80 cows in rural Little Falls with her husband Nathan and children Everett and Vivian, has distributed free milk to over 500 children in the last four weeks as part of the Morrison County Milk Project. The “Raising a Farmerâ€? blogger attends extra-curricular practices, events and games and distributes pint-sized white whole and 2 percent chocolate milk to participants. The youth can take as much milk as they want. “I’m really happy with how it is going,â€? Rudolph said. “I wasn’t anticipating it to be so successful. It’s pretty amazing to see an idea turn into something amazing in a short amount of time.â€? The Morrison County Milk Project, which encompasses both athletics and non-athletic extra-curricular activities, was an idea that lay dormant in Rudolph’s mind. Come December 2018, she decided to put her thoughts into actions. With the struggling dairy industry as motivation and a well-thought-out plan, Rudolph contacted superintendents from each of the county’s ďƒžve school districts – Little Falls, Pierz, Royalton, Swanville and Upsala. “Right off the bat, I had tremendous support from the schools,â€? Ru-
PHOTO SUBMITTED
A dairy-themed basket sits on a counter in Liďż˝le Falls, Minn. Baskets are raed o at events as part of the Morrison County Milk Project. dolph said. “I was surprised of the immediate feedback that, yes, they wanted to participate in this.â€? Once the schools were on board, Rudolph enlisted sponsorships from Kemps, Coborn’s Inc., Central Minnesota Credit Union, Dairy Farmers of America, Associated Milk Producers Inc., Bongards’ Creameries and First District Association. Rudolph was clear about three things: Milk would be available to both athletic and non-athletic activities, she would serve whomever attended varsity practice, and milk would be free choice – no one would be forced to take milk and no one would be turned away. “In order to get kids excited about milk, you have to give it to them,â€? Rudolph said. “I thought a good way to promote milk would be to go to activities, after practice and tie it in with refueling your body.â€? Rudolph has coordinated her efforts with the intention of reaching each winter season team or club from each district. She makes it a point not to disrupt practices or games by arriving at a time which is convenient for the coach rather than convenient for her. “My No. 1 focus was to get milk in the hands of kids,â€? Rudolph said. “(AfTurn to MILK PROJECT | Page 38
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Page 38 • Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019
ConĆ&#x;nued from MILK PROJECT | Page 37 ter practice or events) kids are tired. They want to get home. The distributing of the milk takes about 10 minutes. I don’t give a presentation or anything. Then, through Facebook and social media I share the why – to bring awareness that dairy farms have a huge impact on our communities, and we are here.â€? In addition to the handouts, a dairy basket has been rafďƒ&#x;ed off at area events. The
proceeds, which were to originally be used for boosters, have spread goodwill beyond school walls. “It’s turned into something more amazing than I could have ever imagined,â€? Rudolph said. “Teams are actually requesting to donate the money to someone in need. It’s created a life of its own. I think it’s important because it teaches our kids that small things do matter. The decisions we make matter. Supporting people we know and love matters in many ways.â€? Proceeds have been donated to a student whose family lost its home to a ďƒžre, a student who needed a surgery and other acts of kindness. The project has had a good response. Rudolph said students rush to her milk-packed cooler each delivery, laying to rest the myth that kids now-a-days do not like milk. “One kid took like six of them,â€? Rudolph said. “Which is good. I like to see that, PHOTO SUBMITTED and I like to see Athletes grab milk from a cooler aĹŒer a re- they are excited. cent Morrison County sporĆ&#x;ng event. The ‌ Kids want Morrison County Milk project distributes milk. They do. If free milk to students involved in extra- anything, at least curricular acĆ&#x;viĆ&#x;es at the county’s ďƒžve districts.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
The Rudolph family – (from leĹŒ) EvereĆŠ, Nate, Vivian and Brenda – milk cows in Morrison County near LiĆŠle Falls, Minn. in Morrison County they do.â€? Rudolph has even had school staff comment on the lasting impact – students are talking about milk in the hallways. Rudolph said she is bringing awareness to the importance of agriculture through her project, but she is also helping to educate people about food choices. “Just looking at food in the grocery store people are confused as to what to put in their cart,â€? Rudolph said. “We are constantly exposed to don’t eat this, don’t eat that. We don’t even know what to put in our cart anymore. The point is to get milk into the hands of kids,
and they can say, ‘Hey this is milk with a red cap on it, and I really liked it.’ Then, when they now go to the store, they can ďƒžnd what they like and know.â€? Rudolph’s biggest hope is her idea catches on. She said whether rural or urban, the idea can be applied anywhere. “Just because you don’t understand farming, does not mean you don’t understand good food,â€? Rudolph said. “I just happen to be a dairy farmer.â€? Rudolph is happy she enacted the project. “I’m constantly teaching my children small things do matter, but they aren’t going
to know that unless they see me in action,� Rudolph said. “It’s important we create the community we want. Instead of complaining about our community, I think we need to do something about it. If you see a need in your community, do it. Don’t be afraid to act. Don’t be afraid to make the phone call. Just do it. We have that mentally that someone else will, but sometimes you are that somebody else.� From an idea to an action with a huge impact, the Morrison County Milk Project is making a difference in the lives of more than dairy farmers. Cheers to milk.
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Dairy Star • Saturday, February 23, 2019 • Page 39
with Doug and Jamie Carroll of Ryan, Iowa What do you enjoy most about dairy farming? The people. I don’t know of any other group of people that will drop what they’re doing, come over and do your milking if you need them.
Doug Carroll Ryan, Iowa Delaware County 120 cows How did you get into farming? This is the family farm. I’ve been milking cows since eighth grade when I milked with my mom.
What advice would you give other dairy farmers? Get more involved in your industry. It’s about more than milking cows. We have to get the farmer to the consumer. I operate with the mentality that you can always learn something new from others.
What are your thoughts and concerns for the dairy industry for the next year? Price. And, there is so little optimism right now to get us all to focus. We’re all in this together. People seem to think they’re out there by themselves.
What has been the best purchase you ever made on the farm? The skid loader.
What is the latest technology you implemented on the farm and purpose for it? It’s been awhile since we updated any technology, but the internet and apps are giving us immediate info. You can do your own research so easily.
What has been your biggest accomplishment while dairy farming? Being appointed to the National Dairy Board has been a highlight. I was able to represent dairy farmers at the farm to table event at the Iowa State Fair, partaking in one-on-one conversations with consumers. I have also had the opportunity to attend the National Milk Producers Federation annual meeting and accept an award on behalf of fellow AMPI member-owners for the coop winning the top two cheese awards.
What is a management practice you changed in the past year that beneted you? The big thing we’ve changed is that we’re always switching commodities back and forth to help us improve the bottom line. What cost-saving steps have you implemented during the low milk price? Everything we do has been about the low milk price the past three years. Whatever business decision we make, there has to be a payback.
How do you retain a good working relationship with your employees? I do everything my wife Jamie says.
Tell us about a skill that you possess that makes dairy farming easier for you. I’m pretty mechanically inclined. I’m able to x things and keep them going. I do a lot of our repairs myself.
What are your plans for your dairy farm in the next ve years? We have two sons who are helping us. I want to see them get more involved. How do you and your family like to spend time when you’re not doing chores? My wife’s parents have a cabin at Lake Delhi. We have a boat and like to spend time there. VISIT US AT WI Public Farm Show & Central Plains Dairy Expo!
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