January 13, 2024 - 1st section - Zone 2 by Dairy Star

WANT TO WIN $100 CASH? See page 4 of this section for details!

C E L E B R A T I N G

2 5

Y E A R S

DAIRY ST R 25

January 13, 2024

“All dairy, all the time”™

Volume 25, No. 22

A historically golden day for Guernseys Malt becomes breed’s rst-ever Excellent 97 cow By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com

CUMBERLAND, Wis. — Some children growing up on dairy farms may dream of having cows that accomplish once-in-a-lifetime achievements. Some dream of having an All-American, some dream of having a World Dairy Expo champion, and some dream of having a cow obtain the ultimate pinnacle score of Excellent 97. Brandon and Kim Grewe each grew up with those goals, Brandon on his family’s northwestern Wisconsin dairy farm and Kim on her family’s farm in southwestern Missouri. Together, they have ridden the whirlwind of accolades accomplished by their bred-andowned Guernsey cow, Valley

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW HETKE PHOTOGRAPHY

The Grewe family — Brandon (from leŌ), Kim and Brynn — celebrates with Valley Gem Atlas Malt Oct. 4, 2022, aŌer claiming her third World Dairy Expo championship banner in Madison, Wisconsin. Malt was recently made the rst-ever U.S. Guernsey to achieve an EX-97 classicaƟon score. They milk cows near Cumberland, Wisconsin. Gem Atlas Malt, a daughter of the cow that brought the cou-

ple together over 15 years ago. “Malt has made all of our

wildest dreams and goals come true,” Brandon said. “What

she has done, and how she has done it, it is really just amazing. She is an amazing cow.” The Grewes operate Valley Gem Farms in partnership with Brandon’s parents, Roy and Gina, near Cumberland. The Barron County dairy farm is home to 170 head of Guernseys, Jerseys and Holsteins. The Grewes crop 500 acres as well. Malt has spent the past ve years claiming titles and banners galore. On Dec. 27, 2023, Malt was cemented in the history of the Guernsey breed by being conrmed by Holstein Association USA classiers as the rst-ever Guernsey cow in the U.S. to be assigned a nal score of Ex-97. With the mark, she joins an elite group of dairy cows. Before the American Guernsey Association joined the Holstein Association USA classication program in 2017, the top Guernsey had a score of Ex-96. Turn to GREWES | Page 2

Doing the Pulaski polka in Pasadena High school band, choir entertain at Tournament of Roses Parade By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com

PULASKI, Wis. — With horns blaring, drums pounding, happy voices sounding and an accordion or two, the Pulaski Red Raider Marching Band and the school’s choir took the city of Pasadena, California, by storm with their energetic brand of bombastic music. Over 250 students packed up their instruments to celebrate the new year in the Golden State as one of 15 marching bands to perform in the 135th

PHOTO SUBMITTED

The Pulaski Red Raiders Marching Band performs in the Tournament of Roses Parade Jan. 1 in Pasadena, California. One of the students, Jacob Betley, is a 17-year-old junior at Pulaski High School whose family operates Betley Family Farms, a 3,000-cow dairy farm near Pulaski, Wisconsin. Tournament of Roses Parade Jan. 1. In addition to their performance in the parade, there were a bevy of performances at Universal Studios and Disneyland. They also participated in the Tournament of Roses Bandfest

at Pasadena City College. This year’s trip marked the band’s fourth invitation to perform in the Tournament of Roses Parade. The band previously marched down the streets of Pasadena in 2007, 2012 and 2017. For the rst time ever

in the history of the event, the Pulaski High School choir was invited to attend alongside the band. The process the Pulaski marching band followed to attend this year’s event went back nearly two years and in-

cluded the submission of audition videos. The choir’s pioneering invitation came after the president of the Tournament of Roses Parade came to Wisconsin and watched a performance. Turn to PULASKI | Page 6

Page 2 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024

DAIRY ST R www.dairystar.com

ISSN Print: 2834-619X • Online: 2834-6203

522 Sinclair Lewis Ave. Sauk Centre, MN 56378 Phone: 320-352-6303 Fax: 320-352-5647 Published by Star Publications LLC General Manager/Editor Mark Klaphake - mark.k@dairystar.com 320-352-6303 (ofce) 320-248-3196 (cell) 320-352-0062 (home) Ad Composition - 320-352-6303 Nancy Powell • nancy.p@dairystar.com Karen Knoblach • karen.k@star-pub.com Annika Gunderson • annika@star-pub.com Editorial Staff Maria Bichler - Assistant Editor maria.b@dairystar.com Stacey Smart - Assistant Editor 262-442-6666 • stacey.s@dairystar.com Danielle Nauman - Staff Writer 608-487-1101 • danielle.n@dairystar.com Abby Wiedmeyer - Staff Writer 608-487-4812 • abby.w@dairystar.com Tiffany Klaphake - Staff Writer 320-352-6303 • tiffany.k@dairystar.com Jan Lefebvre - Staff Writer jan.l@star-pub.com Amy Kyllo - Staff Writer amy.k@star-pub.com Emily Breth - Staff Writer emily.b@star-pub.com Consultant Jerry Jennissen 320-346-2292 Advertising Sales Main Ofce: 320-352-6303 Fax: 320-352-5647 Deadline is 5 p.m. of the Friday the week before publication Sales Manager - Joyce Frericks 320-352-6303 • joyce@saukherald.com National Sales Manager - Laura Seljan (National Advertising, SE MN) 507-250-2217 • fax: 507-634-4413 laura.s@dairystar.com Assistant Sales Manager - Kati Schafer (Northeast WI and Upper MI) 920-979-5284 • kati.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 Megan Stuessel (Western Wisconsin) 608-387-1202 • megan.s@dairystar.com Julia Merten (Southeast MN and Northeast IA) 507-438-7739 • julia.m@star-pub.com Bob Leukam (Northern MN, East Central MN) 320-260-1248 (cell) bob.l@star-pub.com Mark Klaphake (Western MN) 320-352-6303 (ofce) • 320-248-3196 (cell)

Deadlines The deadline for news and advertising in the Dairy Star is 5 p.m. Friday the week before publication. Subscriptions One year subscription $40.00, outside the U.S. $200.00. 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.

ConƟnued from GREWES | Page 1 Malt had been recommended for evaluation for the score in November 2023 during the Grewes’ regular herd classication at the age of 8 years and 9 months and freshening Aug. 20 with her fth calf. The 30 days until the conrmation visit was a long month for the Grewes. “You were afraid to be too far from the phone, worried you might miss the call about when they were coming,” Brandon said. “It was a long month, nerve-wracking, worried something might happen or go wrong.” Kim agreed. “It was another month of managing her in such a manner to keep her looking her best, ready at a moment’s notice,” Kim said. “Normally, this is the time we would let her be able to just be a cow.” Malt sailed through the long month with no hiccups. She presented herself to the conrmation committee of classiers in such a fashion that she met their criteria for the nal score. “The whole experience was really interesting,” Kim said. “There was a lot of great discussion about Malt and the breed’s ideals. They were very thorough, making sure that not only were they doing the right thing for their classication program but for the cow herself and the Guernsey breed as a whole. Turn to GREWES | Page 5

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAIRY AGENDA TODAY

Brynn Grewe shows Valley Gem AP Might Get Lucky-ETV Nov. 5, 2023, at the North American InternaƟonal Livestock ExposiƟon in Louisville, Kentucky. Lucky is a daughter of Valley Gem Atlas Malt, now scored EX-97.

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The views and opinions expressed by Dairy Star columnists and writers are not necessarily those of the Dairy Star / Star Publications LLC.

The Dairy Star is published semi-monthly by Star Publications LLC, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246. Periodicals Postage Paid at Sauk Centre, MN and additional mailing ofces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Dairy Star, 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave., Sauk Centre, MN 56378-1246. © 2023 Star Publications LLC

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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 3

Luxemburg, WI

Agropur produces 350,000 pounds daily at Luxemburg plant First Section: Pages 12 - 13

Rose Creek, MN

Top Performers: Chad Felten First Section: Pages 18, 20

Fond du Lac, WI

Wisconsin Junior Holstein Association celebrates its members First Section: Pages 23, 25

Madison, WI

Fennimore, WI

Grocers look to improve sustainability First Section: Page 26

Dry does an important part of the herd First Section: Page 27

Wisconsin Dells, WI

Ripon, WI

Fennimore, WI

Muscoda, WI

Dairy Prole: DuWayne Badtke First Section: Page 33

Goat producer panel shares ideas for success Second Section: Pages 8 - 9

FROM OUR SIDE OF THE FENCE: What are the benets of the mild weather for you and your farm? First Section: Pages 15 -16

Managing cover crops in harsh conditions proves to be a learning experience Frist Section: Page 32

FFA Inside the Emblem: Riverdale FFA Chapter Third Section: Pages 6 - 7

For additional stories from our other zone, log on to www.dairystar.com

Zone 1

Zone 2

Columnists Ag Insider Page P 10 First Fi s Section Fir

R Ramblings ffrom the Ridge Page 36 First Fi Section

Vet Veterinary V W Wisdom P Pa a 37 Page Firs Fir s Section First

From the F Zwe Zweber Farm P Page 38 Fir Section First

The NexGen Page 39 First Section

The “Mielke” Market Weeklyy Pages 5 - 6 Second Sectionn

Country C C Cooking P Page 18 Second Section

Page 4 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024

DAIRY ST25R C E L E B R A T I N G

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Y E A R S

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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 5

ConƟnued from GREWES | Page 2 They understood they were setting a precedent — the standard for what a 97-point Guernsey cow should look like.” Holstein Association USA classiers use a system of ve categories to arrive at the nal score. Malt broke down at 98 points for dairy strength, 97 points for front end/capacity, 96 points for mammary, 92 points for rump, and 98 points for feet and legs. “It is still hard to believe it,” Brandon said. “We have so much respect and admiration and appreciation for this cow and what she has done for us.” Malt has claimed four All-American titles to-date with three being unanimous. She was named the reserve AllAmerican junior 3-year-old in 2018 and has been nominated All-American as a lifetime production cow for 2023. Malt was named grand champion of the International Guernsey Show at World Dairy Expo in 2019, 2021 and 2022 and is the reigning reserve grand champion. Malt is also credited with being a three-time grand champion of the National Guernsey Show held at the North American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville, Kentucky. She was the rst Guernsey to win supreme champion at NAILE, earning laurels in 2020 and 2021. Adding to her credits are grand champion titles at both the 2019 Wisconsin State Guernsey Show and Minnesota State Fair, where she also earned a supreme champion banner. Not only a beauty queen walking across the colored shavings, Malt is writing another chapter of her story as a brood cow. With her accolades, there has been demand for her genetics from

Guernsey breeders. “She has been working pretty well for us,” Brandon said. “We have 10 or 12 daughters on the ground at home and have sold six or eight over the past couple of years.” Malt’s daughters are following in their mother’s footsteps. Valley Gem HC Magnolia has already achieved an Excellent classication score and was nominated All-American junior 2-yearold in 2021. Valley Gem Top Gun Merlot VG-88 placed third in the senior 2-year-old class at World Dairy Expo in 2023. Valley Gem Legend MeringueETV was named the 2021 All-American winter calf. Two of Malt’s sons are in stud: Valley Gem Missile-ET, a Mar-Ral Royal Mentor son at Semex, and Valley Gem Richard McDreamy-ETV, a Dairyman Legend Richard son marketed by Guernsey Gold Sires. Several other Malt sons are on the farm. The Grewes plan to offer two of them in their upcoming sale May 18 at their farm. Thankful for everything Malt has accomplished, the Grewes plan to retire her from the show ring and continue working with her to produce embryos. “There really isn’t anything more she could do for us,” Brandon said. “She’s done everything we ever dreamed or wanted her to do and so much more.” Smiling and thinking about the moments she has shared on the colored shavings with the cow, who at times can be a little strong-headed, Kim agreed. “We will just celebrate her,” Kim said. “(We will) let her retire, with our focus being to make babies and get the next generation rolling.”

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Page 6 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024

ConƟnued from PULASKI | Page 1

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Jacob Betley leads his Red & White spring heifer calf in the show ring Oct. 4, 2023, at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin. Betley was a member of the Pulaski High School choir that performed at the Tournament of Roses.

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The Pulaski High School choir performs with the Pulaski Red Raiders Marching Band at the Tournament of Roses Bandfest Dec. 30, 2023, in Pasadena, California. The choir’s performance marked the rst Ɵme a choir had been invited to perform. The Tournament of Roses Parade performed renditions of “On Wiscondates to 1890 and is well-known for the sin,” “Burlesque” and the “Pulaski Polunique ower-covered oats and vari- ka Medley,” a song that Betley said was ety of entertaining marching bands that specically arranged for the school’s roll down the parade’s 5.5-mile route band and choir. through the city of Pasadena. “The choir didn’t perform in the Jacob Betley, a 17-year-old junior parade, that was just the band,” Betley at Pulaski High School, attended the said. “But we were able to watch the paevent as a member of the choir. rade. It was really long and really neat.” “It was really a fun trip,” Betley Betley was quick to say his favorsaid. “The rst three days were full of ite part of the parade was watching his performances, and there was just so classmates perform their marching roumuch going on and things for us to do tine. and see.” “All of the bands were great and Betley’s family operates Betley a lot of fun to watch, especially our Family Farms, a 3,000-cow dairy farm band,” Betley said. near Pulaski. Betley said that the oats the paBetley performed with the choir at rade is famous for were an amazing several performances during the trip sight to see. and said that performing with the band “The oats are huge, and they are at Bandfest was his favorite. so neat being made out of owers,” “That was really neat, to perform Betley said. “My favorite was one from together with the band,” he said. “It a zoo that had all kinds of animals on it. was the rst time a choir had ever per- There was a lot of detail.” formed at Bandfest, and being a part Besides their performances, Betley of that was awesome. All of the bands said they were able to sight-see around performed music that was unique to the Hollywood and saw the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. state or country they were from.” Returning home from sunny CaliTogether with the band, the choir fornia, Betley said he brought home many good memories. “The whole trip was really fun, and being a part of the rst choir to ever be invited to perform is something I will never forget,” he said.

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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 7

Dairy Star’s year in review A look back at stories that dened 2023

AMPI plant suffers re Jan. 14, 2023

Three times the luck on two the roof of the freestall barn Wisconsin farms Half housing the milking herd collapsed PHOTO SUBMITTED

April 22, 2023

PHOTO COURTESY OF PORTAGE FIRE DEPARTMENT

Fire departments work to exƟnguish a re at the Associated Milk Producers Inc. cheese packaging plant Jan. 2, 2023, in Portage, Wisconsin. Contained to an area on the second oor, the re was exƟnguished that night, and nobody was injured.

June 8, about 90% of the state was considered abnormally dry, and a quarter of the state was in moderate drought. June is typically Wisconsin’s wettest month, but from June 1-16, the state received 40% of normal rainfall.

On April 4, triplet Brown Swiss heifer calves were born at the farm of Morgan and Sandy Long near Brillion, Wisconsin. The next morning, a set of polled Red and White Holstein triplet heifers entered the world at West Croix Holsteins and Jerseys owned by Chris and Rikki Van Dyk on the other side of the state near New Richmond, Wisconsin. Neither farm was expecting triplets, but were happy that the dams and babies were doing well following delivery.

On the evening of Jan. 2, the Associated Milk Producers Inc. cheese packaging plant in Portage, Wisconsin, caught re. Thirty employees were in the plant at the time. The re was contained to an area on the secMay 27, 2023 ond oor, and nobody was injured. Crews were on the scene until 3 a.m. Two Clark County dairy farms Jan. 3, as a total of 10 re departlost signicant portions of the ments worked to put out the re, freestall barns that house their milkwhich started in a room where milk ing herds after a spring snowstorm fat was being stored.

A double dose of bad luck

during a snowstorm April 16-17, 2023, at Maier’s Acres near Thorp, Wisconsin. Because an employee reported hearing creaking in the barn, cows were moved before the collapse.

dumped over 2 feet of wet, heavy snow across a narrow band of the county April 16-17. Sander and Amy Penterman’s 850-cow Dutch Dairy LLC and Brandon and Meredith Maier’s 200-cow Maier’s Acres, located just over 2 miles apart from each other near Thorp, Wisconsin, fell victim to the storm.

Drought threatens Wisconsin

Giving his neighbor a second chance at life July 8, 2023

June 24, 2023

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Following the wettest winter on record, Wisconsin experienced the fourth driest May in its history. June continued with the same dry pattern, pushing Wisconsin into what is known as a ash drought. As of

Troy SteƩenbacher (leŌ) and Dan Liner discuss haylage quality June 22, 2023, on Liner’s farm near Van Dyne, Wisconsin. Liner donated a kidney to SteƩenbacher.

Dan Liner showed resounding generosity when he donated one of his kidneys to his neighbor and cusTurn to YEAR IN REVIEW | Page 8

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Page 8 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024

Con�nued from YEAR IN REVIEW | Page 7

tom harvester, Troy Stettbacher. The life-saving act was performed April 6, and within hours, the kidney turned Stettbacher’s life around. Stettbacher, who suffered from polycystic kidney disease, was a week or two away from needing dialysis when he received Liner’s kidney. Liner, who farms with his parents, Tim and Kathy, and his brother, Mike, near Van Dyne, Wisconsin, milks 250 cows and farms 700 acres. Liner barely skipped a beat at the farm following his procedure. He spent one night in the hospital and went back to work not long after.

Farming in silence Sept. 9, 2023

Sept. 23, 2023

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

New state budget gives nod to agriculture

The Rickert family — Micah (front, from le�) and Jonah; (back, from le�) Jim, Kelly, Emma, Miles, Shannon and Andrew — milk about 1,000 cows and farm nearly 2,100 acres at Rickland Dairy near Eldorado, Wisconsin. Andrew has been deaf since around 20 months of age a�er contrac�ng spinal meningi�s.

Aug. 26, 2023

Being deaf has never been a deterrent for Andrew Rickert. The full-time farmer milks 1,000 cows and farms 2,100 acres with his family near Eldorado, Wisconsin, while also hauling the farm’s milk and working at Saputo. Rickert’s world turned silent around 20 months of age after contracting spinal meningitis. In 1987, at the age of 4, Rickert received a cochlear implant. He is good at reading lips and can understand much of what people say. Never content to settle for a mediocre life, Rickert was a go-getter who always pushed himself to achieve everything he was capable of — a trait he carries with him today.

On July 5, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed the 2023-25 state biennial budget into law. With dollars invested in areas including agricultural infrastructure and meat processing, the budget contained a variety of items seen as wins for agriculture and the dairy industry. A highlight was the Agricultural Road Improvement Program which allocated $150 million to improve agricultural roads throughout the state. Funding for the cover crop insurance rebate program doubled from $800,000 to $1.6 million. The budget also included increased funding of $500,000 for the dairy processor grant program

of sand per week to buying six loads

per year for their 1,800-cow dairy. The Hastings Joneses are reclaiming 52 tons of sand day and using sand ve days after Creamery suffers itpercomes off the auger with the Stjernholm sand separator. Once sand is remajor re moved from the manure, the manure is processed through a 2.5-million-gallon

Less than one month after the 110-year-old Hastings Creamery closed its doors, a re broke out the evening of Sept. 13. Fire crews from at least 10 departments fought the blaze which caused a roof collapse and a signicant amount of damage. The four-alarm re was a challenge to put out because of the construction of the building and the conned spaces where the re was located. The creamery was not in operation; therefore, no one was on-site, and no injuries occurred during the re. The creamery was forced to close Aug. 21 after failing to meet waste discharge requirements.

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Ken and Joellen Heiman display 8-ounce milk pouches Oct. 19, 2023, at Weber’s Farm Store in Marsheld, Wisconsin. The Heimans are focused on developing a new genera�on of milk lovers by providing 16 central Wisconsin schools milk in appealing packaging.

Ken and Joellen Heiman, of Marsheld, Wisconsin, are focused on developing a new generation of milk lovers by offering milk in appealing packaging. The dairy farmers are providing milk in 8-ounce plastic pouches to 11,000 children in 16 central Wisconsin schools. The Heimans operate a trio of dairy-related businesses: Heiman’s Holsteins, where they milk 500 cows and focus on breeding for A2A2 milk; Nasonville Dairy, an award-winning cheese plant and Weber’s Farm Store, a retail store location where they also process uid milk and make a variety award-winning dairy products. The milk pouches come in white and chocolate and allow children to easily insert a small straw.

Recycling the highest quality of sand Oct. 28, 2023 The Jones family, of Berlin, Wisconsin, is reclaiming 99% of their sand bedding — going from buying 14 loads

digester. The farm is one of only three in the U.S. using the sand separating system and the only farm in the country using it with a digester.

Fully immersed in dairy Nov. 11, 2023

ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR

Emma (from le�), Laura and Brian Vine wait for milk to unload Oct. 13, 2023, at the Grassland Dairy Products plant in Greenwood, Wisconsin. Emma and Brian both run separate milk routes, and Laura rides with and helps with mechanics. Brian’s other two daughters, Samantha and McKenzie, work in the processing plant The Vine family of Neillsville, Wisconsin, has been immersed in the dairy industry for a long time. They used to produce milk as dairy farmers, and now they are on the other side of the industry as haulers and processors. Brian and his daughter, Emma, both haul milk while Brian’s daughter, Laura, rides along and helps with mechanics. Brian’s two older daughters, McKenzie and Samantha, work in the processing department at Grassland Dairy. Every member of the family is proud of the work they do and the support they offer each other and the dairy industry.

Things that go bump in the night Dec. 9, 2023

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Sweetheart destroyed the dresser she landed on when she fell through an egress window into the Sutliﬀs’ basement the night of Nov. 18, 2023, near Boyceville, Wisconsin. The Sutliﬀs milk nine cows and operate Taste & See Creamery LLC. On Nov. 18, the Sutliff family of Boyceville, Wisconsin, awoke to quite a surprise. After hearing a crash in their basement, they were stunned to nd an 800-pound Guernsey-Holstein crossbred heifer in the bedroom shared by 12-year-old Borden and 8-year-old Barrett. The heifer had fallen through a basement egress window. Getting the animal out of the house was a dilemma that required ve men, the creation of a make-shift ramp, removing a window, a combination of straps and chain and a skid loader.

Dairy Star’s digital review

Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 9

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Prospering from challenges

Fully immersed in dairy

Total reach: 745,556

Patrick Plante, of Little Falls, Minnesota, never intended to buy a farm. But when Plante purchased a farm in 1989 without seeing it rst, he had his work cut out for him. After improving nearly every facet of the property, Plante moved his rst herd of 20 cows into the barn in 1991. Today, a herd of 50 can be found in the tiestall barn. Plante said he enjoys his life and never has a day where he wakes up complaining about his job.

Total reach: 198,841

The Vine family of Neillsville, Wisconsin, has been immersed in the dairy industry for many years. They used to produce milk as dairy farmers, and now they are on the other side of the industry as haulers and processors. Brian and his daughter, Emma, haul milk while Brian’s daughter, Laura, rides along and helps with mechanics. Brian’s two older daughters, McKenzie and Samantha, work in the processing department at Grassland Dairy.

Selling happiness

Total reach: 38,647

Jamieson Lindquist and Kevin Korbel, who both grew up in generational farm families, launched Udder Buddies, a premium ice cream brand in southern Minnesota. Udder Buddies sources its milk from the University of Minnesota dairy herd, but the partners hope to use milk from the 40-cow herd operated by Korbel’s family. In August 2023, Udder Buddies made and sold its rst ofcial batch of product.

Fresh milk is served

Total reach: 23,386

Students at Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa High School live in the heart of Minnesota’s dairy country, so most are familiar with the pleasure of drinking fresh milk. On Oct. 24, 2023, two milk dispensing machines were added to the school’s cafeteria, providing a local, fresh product. A few weeks later, a third milk machine became available to students using the weight room.

Value-added products provide additional revenue Total reach: 23,098

Tucked away in the rolling hills of Rusk County sits Maple Hill Farm, the home of Brian and Tammy Michielson where they milk 70 dairy sheep, primarily East Friesian with a few Lacaune mixed in. The Michielsons also raise beef, sheep and poultry for direct market sales from their on-farm store along with a variety of value-added products made from milk produced by their sheep.

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Things that go bump in the night

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On Nov. 18, 2023, the Sutliff family of Boyceville, Wisconsin, awoke to nd an 800-pound Guernsey-Holstein crossbred heifer in the bedroom shared by 12-year-old Borden and 8-year-old Barrett. The heifer had fallen through a basement egress window. Getting the animal out of the house required ve men, the creation of a make-shift ramp, removing a window, a combination of straps and chain and a skid loader.

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Located 3 miles from Pagel’s Ponderosa Dairy is the facility where all of the farm’s youngstock are raised. At this specialized site, heifers spend their rst year of life. These animals are the future of Pagel’s Ponderosa Dairy, which milks 6,000 cows on three sites near Kewaunee, Wisconsin. The calf facility houses 3,650 heifers — from 1 day old to 11.5 months — in 23 calf barns, ve bed-pack barns and two freestall barns. There are 900 calves on milk.

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The new barn constructed on Nathan Lund’s 10-acre farm near Brandon, Minnesota, is not like most barns being built today. It is not a parlor, and there are no robotic milking systems. Instead, Lund went the traditional route, choosing a tiestall design. On Sept. 27, 2023, Lund began milking his herd of 40 cows in his 58- by 160-foot tiestall barn that has room for 60 milking cows plus dry cows. Lund designed the barn to allow him to do all necessary chores on his own.

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Honoring tradition

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Total reach: 13,562

Clyde Seibert might not get on the tractor as quickly as he used to, but the fact that he does get on it is simply remarkable. Seibert, 92, is a mainstay in the eld helping his son, Ray, and granddaughter, Allyson, on their 80-cow dairy farm in Wadena County near Sebeka, Minnesota. Seibert has been helping his family with eldwork since he stopped milking cows in 1990.

10.

Down to dairy Total reach: 12,822

When CJ Sachs rst started to help on the farm at 5 years old, he could not carry out the day’s chores without ample help. Now, about 20 years later, Sachs remains farming and has mastered his work as a dairy farmer. Fourth-generation dairy farmer Sachs works full time alongside his parents, Charlie and Carrie Sachs, at Towerview Dairy where they milk 112 cows near Eyota, Minnesota.

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Page 10 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024

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DMC, DRP offering a lifeline

Dairy Margin Coverage and Dairy Revenue This is the rst time the WFBF and Rural Mutual Protection programs have blunted the pain of $15 Insurance have had different presidents. Class III milk. Ever.Ag President Phil Plourd said these programs have had a major impact. “The bot- Wisconsin resolutions to be heard at AFBF meeting tom line is that the steady stream of The WFBF is bringing two fedDMC payments this year has been a Ag Insider eral resolutions to the American Farm lifeline for a lot of small- to mediumBureau Federation policy discussion. size producers,” Plourd said. “And, if WFBF delegates support easing Farm you look at the DRP program on top of Service Agency farm loan requirements that, it paid out more than $400 million for young farmers pursuing the purthrough Q3 in net indemnities. For prochase of a farm. They also support an ducers using that program, that’s also increase in the weight limits for drones. been a big help.” U.S. dairy export demand is stagnant. Domestic demand is FAFSA change impacts farmers, also at. “If you look at the three big pizza chains that report publicly, none small businesses of them had a good quarter in Q3,” An attempt to simplify the governPlourd said. “Consumer credit card ment’s student aid process could make By Don Wick debt is at all-time record levels so while college more costly for farm families, Columnist things aren’t terrible, the consumer has thanks to an omnibus bill that passed gotten a little more conservative in this this past year which included a change economic climate.” In Plourd’s view, all segments in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. of the dairy industry struggled in 2023. The export Previously, there was an exemption for families outlook has the potential to improve, offering opti- who owned farms or small businesses. American mism as we get into 2024. Farm Bureau Federation Director of Government Affairs Dustin Sherer said that exemption is now Planning for the next 20 Years or next 12 months gone. “The example that’s been given is for a farm Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative Managing Di- that’s valued at about $1 million, under the old rules rector Lucas Sjostrom said the price received by that family would have been expected to pay about dairy farmers is more variable than ever. “We’ve $7,600 toward the education under the old rules,” been in a weird spot over the past 24 months where Sherer said. “Under the new rules, that same family you may have a $5 variance from one farm to the would be responsible for more than $41,000, which next, which is unprecedented,” Sjostrom said. “It is essentially would take you out of the Pell Grant and all due to market conditions and the processor you federal and state aid programs and force most peosend to.” Minnesota lost 58 dairy herds during De- ple to take out student loans.” The FAFSA change cember 2023, which is one of the worst months on takes effect for the 2024-25 school year. Legislarecord. “Dairy is really in a spot today where farm- tion has been introduced in both chambers of Coners are making plans for the next 20 years or just gress to reinstate this exemption. planning on how they make it through the next 12 months,” Sjostrom said. The farms in the middle, EATS bill will be reintroduced Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley is reintroducing the with 300 to 1,000 cows, may be having the biggest issue with the low milk prices. Sjostrom said Ending Agriculture Trade Suppression Act. This the most successful dairies in the mid-range have proposal would undo California’s Proposition 12 found a niche. That may include dairy beef produc- legislation that limits the connement of breeding pigs, veal calves and egg-laying hens. Grassley said tion or custom harvesting. the California law will hurt the farm economy. Farm income down from 2022 record high As farmers close the books on 2023, many of Risk management training for the underserved The USDA is making up to $3 million availthose spreadsheets are showing farm income came down signicantly from the record highs of one able to provide risk management training to underyear ago. U.S. Department of Agriculture Chief served, small-scale and organic farmers. Nonprot Economist Seth Meyer said net farm income will groups and land grant universities can apply for total $158 billion this year, a 21% drop from 2022. these grants. The deadline for applications is March “That’s still well above the average of the last cou- 4. ple of decades,” Meyer said. New ownership for Horizon Organic A private equity rm, Platinum Equity, is acFederal order reform hearing to resume USDA will reconvene its public hearing to con- quiring Horizon Organic. Horizon Organic is a USsider changes to the Federal Milk Marketing Orders DA-certied organic dairy brand that is now owned Jan. 16. This hearing process began in late August by Danone. Terms of the deal were not announced. 2023 near Indianapolis, Indiana. Signicant changes have not been made to the federal orders in more Kwik Trip Inc. expansion Kwik Trip is investing more than $150 milthan 20 years. lion to expand its business throughout Wisconsin. The convenience store chain’s capital investment Raw milk bill to be heard in Madison During the legislative session, Wisconsin law- will include the expansion of its dairy facilities and makers will consider changes to the state’s regula- the addition of 168 retail locations. The Wisconsin tion of raw milk. The bill would allow dairy farmers Economic Development Corporation made the anto apply for a license from the Wisconsin Depart- nouncement. ment of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to sell raw milk through delivery, retail or from Trivia challenge Grade AA is the highest quality grade for butthe farm. A Grade A permit or a butter-maker or cheesemaker license would not be required. State ter. That answers our last trivia question. For this Rep. Elijah Behnke and State Sen. Duey Stroebel week’s trivia, what is the No. 1 pizza chain in the United States? We will have the answer in our next are sponsoring this proposal. edition of Dairy Star. Don Wick is owner/broadcaster for the Red River Olson leads WFBF in national policy debate Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation will have Farm Network of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Wick new leadership participating in the American Farm has been recognized as the National Farm BroadBureau Federation delegate session at the annu- caster of the Year and served as president of the Naal meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah. Polk County tional Association of Farm Broadcasting. Don and farmer Brad Olson was elected during last month’s his wife, Kolleen, have two sons, Tony and Sam, and WFBF annual meeting. Kevin Krentz was at the ve grandchildren, Aiden, Piper, Adrienne, Aurora helm of the WFBF from 2020-23 and continues to and Sterling. lead the Rural Mutual Insurance Company board.

Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 11

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How long have you been testing with DHIA?

Our family has used DHIA as far back as I can remember. I think my grandpa may have started testing in the 1950’s. What tests do you use and what do like about those tests? We use the SCC and pregnancy tests each month, and have occasionally tested for Johnes and Leukosis. I wouldn’t want to go without testing for somatic cell. Each month I can identify any problem cows and which ones are contributing the most to the bulk tank SCC. The milk pregnancy test is convenient and inexpensive compared to having regular vet checks for a smaller herd. Which is your favorite and why? The SCC is the most important test. It’s the Àrst thing I look at each month. Cows that are showing signs of mastitis, we all know about. But, sometimes a cow that you would never expect to be a problem may have a very high cell count. Now that she has been identiÀed, there is an opportunity to do something about it. How does testing with DHIA beneÀt your dairy operation? DHIA provides us with a large amount of data each month with the various reports that are generated. Reproduction, SCC, action lists, and the other reports are all great tools to help with the management of the herd and to make culling decisions. It’s nice to have this information all available on your phone. Tell us about your farm. My wife, Teresa, and I have a 150 acre farm that has been in my family for over 100 years. We raise corn and alfalfa. Our milk is sold to Plainview Coop and is shipped 30 miles to the Kwik Trip plant in La Crosse, WI. Adam Stoehr and Sam Koeller provide part time milking help. Our daughter and son in law, Adriana and Josh Roger Aldinger Herricks and their son Lincoln live on the farm Winona, Minnesota and lend a hand when needed. We also have a Winona County • 110 cows daughter Hannah, that lives in La Crosse.

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Page 12 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024

Making cheese on a large scale Agropur produces 350,000 pounds daily at Luxemburg plant By Stacey Smart

stacey.s@dairystar.com

LUXEMBURG, Wis. — Farmers shipping their milk to Agropur’s Luxemburg plant are key contributors to the more than 2 million pounds of mozzarella and provolone made weekly at the 85,000-square-foot facility. “We really appreciate the relationships we have with our producers who ship to us,” said Keith Braun, director of farm sustainability, cream sales and milk procurement excellence at Agropur. “We wouldn’t be here without them. It’s a relationship we cherish a lot.” Agropur was the last of three stops Oct. 26 on the Professional Dairy Producers Dairy Processor Tours. Agropur Dairy Cooperative is headquartered in Quebec, Canada, and its U.S. headquarters are located in Appleton. The Luxemburg facility is one of three Agropur plants in Wisconsin and one of seven in the U.S. In

addition to cheese, this site also makes whey protein isolate, permeate, whey protein concentrate, pro-cream and deproteinized whey. “We make the world’s best provolone here,” said Jim Schuster, plant manager. “We enter one cheese contest every year and always seem to take rst, second or third place.” Other Agropur plant locations in the state include Little Chute and Weyauwega, and other U.S. plant locations include Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Idaho. About 350 farms ship their milk to Agropur across all of its plants. Wisconsin plants take in milk from 220 farms. The Luxemburg plant receives milk from 70 producers. The plant receives 3.5 million pounds of milk per day and makes 350,000 pounds of cheese daily. Milk enters one of six silos, each with a capacity of 70,000 gallons. Intake occurs 14 hours per day, and milk is processed 20 hours a day. At the end of the day, the silos are emptied. Braun said that 90% of

PHOTO SUBMITTED

The Agropur milk processing plant receives 3.5 million pounds of milk per day from 70 producers and makes 350,000 pounds of cheese daily in Luxemburg, Wisconsin. In addiƟon to mozzarella and provolone cheeses, this site also makes whey protein isolate, permeate, whey protein concentrate, pro-cream and deproteinized whey.

the milk is sourced within 30 miles. “The furthest we’ll go out

is 40 to 45 miles,” Braun said. “We’re picking up milk closer than we used to. We used to

go 90 miles for a lot of milk.” The Luxemburg plant was built in 1948 and was purchased by Agropur in 2008. “Agropur made a big investment here — the biggest they ever made as a company,” Schuster said. “It was a $120 million investment in this plant. They’ve been a great partner.” In 2014, the plant tripled in size in response to an increase in milk from area farms. Agropur spent over $100 million to accommodate that growth. The ve-story facility is technology-driven and built with automation in mind. As a result, fewer employees are required. The plant operates 364 days per year, 24 hours per day and employs 170 people. “We’re in the middle of farmland, and the work ethic in this region is incredible,” Braun said. “Plants located in cities struggle a lot more to nd help than we do.”

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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 13

ConƟnued from AGROPUR | Page 12

Cheese is made into cylinders or uct being made. Agropur sells the exround logs, 4- by 4-inch squares or tra cream and markets 100 truckloads 20-pound squares. All of the cheese of cream per week among all its locamade at the plant is known tions. Two loads of cream as pasta lata, meaning it is are shipped daily from the cooked. After the cooking Luxemburg plant yearprocess is complete, cheese round with about 90% of enters a salt brine for ve the product staying in Wishours at 40 degrees. consin. “As it cools, the cheese Whey is also turned absorbs more salt,” Schusinto a saleable product after said. “We use 6 tons of ter going through a whey salt every day.” separator to remove the Cheese is tested for fat. fat, protein and salt con- Keith Braun “That’s the cream we tent, and in the test kitchen, Director of Farm sell to a butter maker, and cheese is analyzed to see Sustainability, Cream it is pasteurized as well,” how it stretches and per- Sales and Milk Schuster said. “We remove forms. Cheese is vacuum Procurement Excellence proteins from the whey, sealed and shipped on reand what’s left are solids turnable trays to protect it like lactose and permeate from molding. that get dried down and All of the cheese Agcondensed and sold also. ropur makes is sold by priA lot of our permeate goes vate label. Therefore, its for animal feed.” name does not appear on The plant also features any packaging. a store for selling fresh “A lot of the mozzareldairy products and offers la and provolone you buy cheese not only from Agdoes come from this plant; ropur but from other proyou just don’t know it,” Jim Schuster cessors as well. Schuster said. “If you eat Plant Manager “That’s the neat thing breaded mozzarella sticks, about the dairy industry,” there’s a high probability Schuster said. “We’re all Agropur cheese is in there.” competitors, yet we work together to Milk comes in at 4% butterfat or promote the dairy industry and suphigher. The cream is separated and port each other.” added back in proportion to the prod-

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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 15

from our side OF THE FENCE What are the beneﬁts of the mild weather for you and your farm? Tyler Bortle Whitehall, Wisconsin Trempealeau County 50 cows

Jason Sperfslage, pictured with Hillary Morarend Greeley, Iowa Delaware County 40 cows What projects have you been doing during the abnormally warm fall and winter? With the warmer weather, I have been catching up on cleaning around the farmyard as well as xing fences, doing equipment repairs and taking care of general maintenance. What are the biggest benets of the mild weather for you and your farm? The biggest benets are feeding the cows hay in the pasture, which is saving on bedding and creating less manure to haul. It has been dry as well, so the cows are staying a lot cleaner. What challenges do you face on your farm and with your cattle because of mild weather? When it is warm, we have more mud and slop. Normally keeping the cows clean would be a big challenge this time of year when it is this warm, but this year, that has not been much of a problem because of how dry we are. Tell us about the mildest winter you have experienced. This has been the mildest winter I have experienced, so far. On Christmas morning, I milked cows in a T-shirt. It was 50 degrees outside, and having the barn all closed up for winter made it a stuffy 70 degrees in the barn. That was a rst for me. Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy this year. I milk 40 cows and farm on 80 acres that was my grandpa’s. This July will be four years since I started. I do most of the work myself with some help from my parents. I milk in a 20-stall stanchion barn and pasture the cows in the summer. I have free stalls and a bedded pack in the winter. So far, it has all worked very well. I recently started selling milk to Scenic Central Milk Producers with the Cows First program and have been very happy with them. Overall, I am hoping we see some rain or snow to get us out of the drought we have been in all summer. If we can get that, 2024 will be a good year.

What projects have you been doing during the abnormally warm fall and winter? One of the big ones is making sure all the pens are clean all the way down to the cement. It’s easier this year because things are not frozen as hard. There’s been a couple building projects like moving tin and removing old lumber from down buildings and basically cleaning up old messes that would normally be under snow. What are the biggest benets of the mild weather for you and your farm? The mental health aspect along with the physical. Not battling the cold physically and mentally because there are warmer days and more sunshine. It gives you a better attitude about things. We’ve had a couple winters of 100 inches of snow and some with extreme cold. Dad would call me and say, “Get your mind right, we’ve got a couple weeks below zero coming.” It has also been nice to not have to worry about the milk truck getting up the hill. What challenges do you face on your farm and with your cattle because of mild weather? We've had to deal with mud at times that normally would have frozen over. The biggest issue is making sure that any calves or youngstock that are conned in a barn are getting enough fresh air and, like always, have clean bedding. They were ready for winter, and now we’re not getting it, which can be hard on them. Tell us about the mildest winter you have experienced. This is probably the mildest winter that I remember. I remember not getting snow at Christmas a couple times growing up, but not to this degree. I’m 32 years old, and this is the mildest one I have experienced so far in my life. Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy this year. We are organic and ship our milk to Westby Cooperative Creamery. We pack our cows outside, so this winter has been nice for that. I run the farm with my family. My parents are both involved as well as my wife, Callie, and our three kids.

Pam and Joe Glisczinski Belle Plaine, Minnesota Scott County 50 cows What projects have you been doing during the abnormally warm fall and winter? With the continued cooperation of the weather, we are in the process of completing a new shop which will be very useful for working on equipment when it gets cold. What are the biggest benets of the mild weather for you and your farm? Our greatest benet from this mild weather has been getting chores done more quickly and easily with less layers of winter clothing and not having to deal with the snow and ice. What challenges do you face on your farm and with your cattle because of mild weather? Luckily, this weather has proven to be more benecial than problematic for us. Tell us about the mildest winter you have experienced. If our memory serves us right, this winter has for sure been the easiest one so far. Hopefully the good luck continues. Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy this year. We milk in a double-5 herringbone pit parlor. We are blessed to have two daughters, Megan and Mallory, who are always around to help with chores, hauling hay and other fun things happening on the farm. We are happy to be able to ship our milk through Bongards, thanks to our hauler, the Klingbergs. We hope to continue milking until the time feels right for us to call it quits.

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Page 16 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024

ConƟnued from OUR SIDE | Page 15 Ron and Kristi Snodgrass Oregon, Illinois Ogle County 120 cows

Laura Holtzinger and Matt Linehan River Falls, Wisconsin Pierce County 30 cows What projects have you been doing during the abnormally warm fall and winter? We’ve been feeling grateful for this abnormally warm winter. We both work off-farm, so we haven’t had as much time as we would like for tackling farm projects. We moved to a new facility this fall, and the beautiful weather helped make the transition smoother, simpler and safer. The transition has required a lot of time, but not having to work against the elements like snow or ice has been a blessing. Working and hauling cattle; moving tack and supplies; setting up gates and pens; sourcing, unloading and storing hay; and all the other tasks involved with the transition have been easier thanks to the warmth and clear skies we have experienced. Feeling comfortable clipping throughout the winter has been an advantage. It has been easier having animals clipped off, too, as we traveled back from exhibiting at World Dairy Expo and the North American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville, Kentucky. What are the biggest benets of the mild weather for you and your farm? Since we do not live where our cattle are, we have enjoyed a safer, faster commute with this mild weather. We and the animals are all enjoying the moderate temperatures, and it has been glorious to not have to worry about anyone slipping on ice or the waterers freezing. The warm temperatures have kept our spirits high, especially since we’ve been able to continue letting our show cows onto the paddock and pasture. What challenges do you face on your farm and with your cattle because of mild weather? Mud can certainly be a frustration amid the usual winter cycle of thawing and freezing, but thankfully, the facilities we farm at are blessed with concrete, so we don’t have to worry about too much mud. Since the ground has hardly had a chance to freeze, we did get the truck stuck when we were moving heifers one day. Likewise, despite our best efforts, we tore up the grass a bit while scraping the barn during an especially wet and warm day. Tell us about the mildest winter you have experienced. Matt is a western Wisconsin native, and I’m from central Pennsylvania. We have been together since 2016, and we have moved several times to follow opportunities in both of our home states, New York and Minnesota. Last winter was the worst we can remember, with a surplus of wind, snow and ice. We had real-feel temperatures sometimes at 40 degrees below zero. This Midwest winter feels more like a typical Pennsylvania winter, with lows in the teens and highs in the 40s, and I am loving it. Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy this year. We have high hopes and ambitions for our cattle and show program this year. We are looking forward to continuing to enjoy our off-the-farm work, including Matt’s role with Animal Health Vision, and continuing to breed, develop and market our Linehan Jerseys-Big Time Genetics high-type, show-style cattle. We’re proud of our herd’s deep pedigrees and are psyched to calve in an exciting group of yearlings this year, including four Sid and Unstopabull sisters of our homebred, EX-94-2E, two-time honorable mention AllAmerican Linehan De Prince Fahrenheit; and daughters and sisters of our nominated ABA All-American Jersey produce of dam. We have consigned several promising offerings to high-prole sales this spring. We enjoy selling our genetics privately too. We are excited to have a facility of our own and aspire to tap into agritourism. We hope to begin selling our own milk and dairy products off the farm. We are passionate about marketing, and I especially love sharing our ag story to both the public and within our dairy show cattle community.

What projects have you been doing during the abnormally warm fall and winter? We put in a robotic milking system that went online Oct. 30, 2023. It took a month to get cows and people acclimated, and as a result, harvest was pushed back. We still have about 150 acres of standing corn to combine. The nice weather last fall helped us focus more on the dairy herd and getting the cows acclimated to robots before moving into the elds. We spent all summer putting in robots; therefore, minor projects were pushed off, but now we can start working on them as well, weather permitting. We have also been hauling a lot of manure. What are the biggest benets of the mild weather for you and your farm? We’re doing a lot of calving on the dairy herd side of things, and the warmer weather is appreciated for that. Even though our animals calve inside, the building is not heated. If it’s warmer outside, then it’s going to be warmer inside. Calving has been going well in the mild weather. What challenges do you face on your farm and with your cattle because of mild weather? Warm weather and up and down temperatures bring respiratory issues in cattle, especially youngstock in group housing. It might be in the upper 30s or 40s one day, but then cooler at night, and then in the upper 20s the next day. The uctuations in temperature have been challenging, and we are constantly watching for heavy breathing, etc. Manure is another challenge of the warm weather. The yards and sheds are not freezing, the sun doesn’t shine, and everything is a sloppy mess. We’re constantly bedding and hauling manure to try to keep cattle happy. We also have to either haul manure early in the morning or later at night when the elds are rmer. Tell us about the mildest winter you have experienced. I don’t remember the exact year, but a few years ago, we had a very mild winter and did a lot of tree work. Many of our elds have timbers in the corners or timbers around them, so we would go around the edge and pluck out new saplings that were starting to grow. Over time, you can’t farm right next to the tree line because the limbs hit your machinery, which is why we moved tree lines back to where they should be. Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy this year. I am the fth generation on our farm, Valley View Dairy, where I farm with my wife, Kristi, and my parents, Tom and Myrna. We have a registered Jersey herd that is milked by two DeLaval robots, and we ship our milk to Prairie Farms Dairy Inc. We farm about 1,700 acres and do a lot of cash cropping. We raise our bull calves into beef steers. The last couple years, we’ve been breeding all rst-calf heifers to Wagyu, so we don’t have an overabundance of heifers coming into the herd. We’re trying to control cattle numbers better. Whenever we have rst-calf heifers or heifer calves for sale, we don’t seem to have a market. There is always a market for beef, and that’s been working really well. We also operate a beef cow-calf operation that includes 30 Angus cows and a bull. We sell feeder calves in February, and cows calve again in April. This summer, we have plans to put a new roof on one of our silos. We had clostridium in that silo last fall and lost six cows because of that, which brought this project to the top of our to-do list. We are also going to put in a new wet bin in our grain facility this year.

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TOP PERFORMERS Chad Felten, of Twin Spruce | Rose Creek, Minnesota | Mower County | 72 cows

How many times a day do you milk, and what is your current herd average, butterfat and protein? We milk twice a day at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Our current herd average is 31,135 pounds, and our butterfat and protein are 3.3% and 4.4%, respectively.

60 days using Spectramast and ORBESEAL. I should go back to Quartermaster, but I don’t like the slaughter withhold if you have an incident with a cow aborting. Once they are dried off, they go into a pen with the pregnant heifers with a loose housing cornstalk bedding pack. Their ration is corn silage, straw and baleage. They stay there until about three weeks pre-calving, and then, I have a pre-fresh pen I put them in. After calving, the cows return to the tie stalls, but heifers are put in a pen at the end of the barn for a week or two until I have a strap on them and/or there is room in the stalls.

Describe your housing and milking facility. We have a tiestall barn. We just switched to bedding with shavings. We put this on top of waterbeds and pasture mats, which we have had for a long time. We graded the gutter about a month ago. We milk with six units in the tiestall. Who is part of your farm team, and what are their roles? My older brother, Ryan, works with the crops mostly. My dad does the feeding. My wife, Heather, milks and feeds calves as well as other needed tasks. My stepson, Greg Crumb, helps us with everything. He milks, feeds calves and makes it possible to get chores done when one of us wants to leave. I work on everything in general. I help milk, I am in charge of herd health, and I will mix feed when my dad is gone.

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Ryan Felten (from leŌ), Deb Felten, Tom Felten, Heather Felten, Greg Crumb and Chad Felten smile in the barn at Twin Spruce near Rose Creek, Minnesota. Their 72-cow herd average is 31,135 pounds with 3.3% buƩerfat and 4.4% protein.

What is your herd health program? We preg check and ultrasound once a month. We give our cows Bovi-Shield 50 days after calving. At dry off, we give our cows Alpha-7,

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What is the composition of your ration, and how has that changed in recent years? Our ration has powdered corn, cottonseed, soybean meal, molasses, brown midrib corn silage, haylage, baleage and barlage. I normally run in the range of 22 pounds of dry matter corn silage. I started putting in molasses in about two years ago. I probably started doing baleage two or three years ago. I Turn to TOP PERFORMERS | Page 20

Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 19

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Page 20 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024

ConƟnued from TOP PERFORMERS | Page 18 like the baleage because you bud. We cut and then merge it have more exibility. I would a day or two later. For hay, we not do it, however, if I didn’t keep the harvester full and the have a crop cutter and the rest of it is made into baleage. baler. What is your average soTell us about the forages matic cell count and how you plant and detail your does that affect your proharvest strategies. We har- duction? Our somatic cell vest all our forage ourselves count is around 100,000. It because I do not like to have has gone higher the more and to wait for the custom har- more milk I’ve been getting. vesters. My brother and I farm I used to be able to keep it about 450 acres rented from down at the 60,000 range, but our dad and other farmers. I it’s been higher for the last usually have 50-55 acres of few years. It could be because corn silage and 80-100 acres their udders are fuller or beof hay. We cut our hay at cause of dirty straw. I want about 28 days when we start to see what happens with our to get a little purple and are new shavings bedding, bejust starting to see the alfalfa cause the barn stays cleaner.

AMY KYLLO/DAIRY STAR

A cow lies in the barn Jan. 5 at Twin Spruce near Rose Creek, Minnesota. Cows are bedded with shavings on top of waterbeds and pasture mats.

What change has created the biggest improvement in your herd average? Heather coming to work full time on the farm has helped me be more consistent on time. Everything is probably getting done a little quicker and chores are not dragging out all day long. We also switched our ration to have better feed as well as changed the professional who helped with our ration to nd someone who better t our farm’s vision. What technology do you use to monitor your herd? We use DHIA to track our herd, but no specic technology. What is your breeding program, and what role does genetics play in your production level? We use ovsynch or G6G ovsynch on our entire herd. However, if we see a heat, we will also breed off of that, but it can be kind of tricky. We started using G6G ovsynch about nine months ago, and it seems like it is going to work better than ovsynch. We try to have our rst service after calving at 75 days. When I was breeding sooner, I noticed that they seemed like they were milking too much when I needed to dry them up. When choosing bulls, I look for milk,

AMY KYLLO/DAIRY STAR

Chad Felten uses the pill gun on a heifer Jan. 5 at Twin Spruce near Rose Creek, Minnesota. Felten is in charge of herd health.

components and type. I do not pay attention to productive life. I generally will not use a bull with under 1,000 pounds of milk. List three management strategies that have helped you attain your production and component level. Having the right quality of feed and consistency of milking and feeding times. Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy in the next year. I do not have plans for the year. Last year,

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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 21

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JD 1750 2008, 6 Row, 30” Spacing, #574798 ............................................$27,500 JD 1760 2008, 12 Row, 30” Spacing, #568124 ..........................................$29,500 JD 1770 2000, 12 Row, 30” Spacing, #571891 ..........................................$24,000 JD 1770 2001, 12 Row, 30” Spacing, #574758 ..........................................$22,000 JD 1775 2018, 12 Row, 30” Spacing, #570817 ........................................$108,000 JD 1775 2022, 12 Row, 30” Spacing, #574581 ........................................$139,000 JD 1780 2001, 16/31 Row, 15/30” Spacing, #565242 ...............................$21,900 Case IH 2150 2021, 16 Row, 30” Spacing, #569307 ...............................$199,900 Case IH 1250 Early Riser 2008, 24 Row, 30” Spacing, #560487..............$49,500 JD 1770NT 2014, 12 Row, 30” Spacing, #574774 .....................................$99,500 JD 1770NT 2014, 16 Row, 30” Spacing, #574541 ...................................$116,900 JD 1770NT 2003, 16 Row, 30” Spacing, #561832 .....................................$39,900 JD 1770NT 2014, 24 Row, 30” Spacing, #573926 ...................................$146,900 JD 1770NT 2012, 16 Row, 30” Spacing, #562337 .....................................$71,900 JD 1770NT 2014, 24 Row, 30” Spacing, #568251 ...................................$194,500 JD 1770NT CCS 2023, 16 Row, 30” Spacing, #554234 ............................$194,900 JD 1770NT CCS 2012, 16 Row, 30” Spacing, #573922 ..............................$89,900 JD 1770NT CCS 2008, 24 Row, 30” Spacing, #571890 ..............................$79,500 JD 1770NT CCS 2013, 24 Row, 30” Spacing, #571367 ............................$109,900 JD 1770NT CCS 2014, 16 Row, 30” Spacing, #571366 ..............................$97,900 JD 1770NT CCS 2008, 24 Row, 30” Spacing, #574675 ..............................$89,900 JD 1775NT 2018, 16 Row, 30” Spacing, #566455 .....................................$97,500 JD 1775NT 2022, 24 Row, 30” Spacing, #565368 ...................................$269,900 JD DB44 2010, 24 Row, 30” Spacing, #574432 .......................................$211,000 JD DB60 2017, 24 Row, 30” Spacing, #553950 .......................................$334,900 JD DB60 2013, 24 Row, 30” Spacing, #553953 .......................................$340,900 JD DB60 2018, 24 Row, 30” Spacing, #559752 .......................................$340,900 JD DB66 2012, 36 Row, 22” Spacing, #559754 .......................................$340,900 JD DB66 2010, 36 Row, 22” Spacing, #540276 .......................................$399,900 JD DB80 2012, 32 Row, 30” Spacing, #565582 .......................................$368,900 JD DB90 2014, 36 Row, 30” Spacing, #566100 .......................................$425,900 Wil-Rich PT2200, 24 Row, 22” Spacing, #554171 .................................$359,900

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JD 8R 370 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 300 hrs., #5572534 .......$455,900 JD 8R 370 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 300 hrs., #5574122 .......$449,000 JD 8R 370 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 461 hrs., #5557154 .......$496,900 JD 8R 370 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 518 hrs., #5563621 .......$496,900 JD 8R 370 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 553 hrs., #5565771 .......$478,500 JD 8R 370 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 300 hrs., #5565775 .......$478,500 JD 8R 370 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 157 hrs., #5565776 .......$478,500 JD 8R 370 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 546 hrs., #5565777 .......$478,500 JD 8R 370 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 185 hrs., #5565779 .......$478,500 JD 8R 370 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 300 hrs., #5565780 .......$478,500 JD 8R 370 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 1192 hrs., #5566118 .....$509,900 JD 8R 410 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 350 hrs., #5566119 .......$509,900 JD 8R 410 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 225 hrs., #5566120 .......$509,900 JD 8R 410 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 400 hrs., #5566261 .......$512,500 JD 8R 410 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 400 hrs., #5566264 .......$512,500 JD 8R 410 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 400 hrs., #5566266 .......$499,900 JD 8R 410 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 444 hrs., #5566267 .......$499,900 JD 8R 410 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 400 hrs., #5566268 .......$499,900 JD 8R 410 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 400 hrs., #5567657 .......$481,900 JD 8R 410 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 300 hrs., #5568206 .......$496,900 JD 8R 410 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 300 hrs., #5569121 .......$525,900 JD 8R 410 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 300 hrs., #572535 .........$478,500 JD 8R 410 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 498 hrs., #5573303 .......$514,900 JD 8R 410 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 546 hrs., #5573308 .......$514,900 JD 8R 410 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 300 hrs., #5573311 .......$499,900 JD 8R 410 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 450 hrs., #5574127 .......$452,000 JD 8R 410 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 501 hrs., #5569759 .......$151,500 JD 8R 410 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 190 hrs., #5562192 .......$249,900 JD 8R 410 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 327 hrs., #5550243 .......$149,900 JD 8R 410 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 148 hrs., #5573437 .......$289,900 JD 8R 410 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 300 hrs., #5556901 .......$205,900 JD 8R 410 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, 323 hrs., #5554085..................$175,500 JD 8R 410 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 525 hrs., #5571885 .......$232,900 JD 8R 410 2023, MFWD w/ Suspension, 600 hrs., #5547540..................$169,900 JD 8R 410 2022, MFWD w/ Suspension, Duals, 715 hrs., #5572626 .........$32,100

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Page 22 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024

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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 23

Wisconsin Junior Holstein Association celebrates its members

Mess, Ulness claim top awards at convention By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com

FOND DU LAC, Wis. — The Wisconsin Junior Holstein Association celebrated the achievements of its members at its annual convention Dec. 29-31, 2023, in Fond du Lac. Junior Holstein enthusiasts gathered to take part in a variety of activities and contests during the event. The top awards bestowed by the association, the Wisconsin Outstanding Holstein Boy and Wisconsin Outstanding Holstein Girl, were presented to Sam Mess of Rosendale and Clarissa Ulness of Valders. Mess, the son of Austin and Deb, is a second-year student at Fox Valley Technical College. He will graduate next fall with an associate degree in agribusiness, animal science and agronomy. While attending school, Mess is working on his family’s 120-cow dairy farm in Fond du Lac County. After completing his schooling, the 19-year-old

plans to return to his family’s farm full time and eventually take over the farming operations and assume ownership. Mess began as a dairy bowl competitor at the urging of county advisor, Joseta Halbur, whom he credits as continually pushing him to grow his skills and involvement. “I started doing dairy bowl and attended Cow Camp when I was about 12 years old, and my involvement grew from there,” Mess said. “I started participating in dairy jeopardy and showing at state fair, and I show at our county fair each year.” Through those experiences, Mess said he has grown personally and professionally. “I have gained a lot of industry knowledge through practicing for dairy bowl,” Mess said. “More importantly, I’ve gained a lot of friends and contacts. I have met a lot of people I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet if not for my involvement with the Junior Holstein Association.” Because of the benets

PHOTO COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HOLSTEIN ASSOCIATION

Clarissa Ulness and Sam Mess are honored as the Wisconsin Outstanding Holstein Girl and Wisconsin Outstanding Holstein Boy Dec. 30, 2023, at the Wisconsin Junior Holstein ConvenƟon in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Mess’ family operates a 120-cow dairy farm in Fond du Lac County, and Ulness’ family manages an 80-cow dairy farm in Manitowoc County.

he has reaped, Mess said he would encourage others to embrace the opportunities a membership offers. “You’ll never regret getting involved with as many aspects of the association as possible,” Mess said. “I wish I would have gotten involved sooner, but I am grateful for the things I have been able to accomplish as a junior member.” Ulness is the daughter of Mark and Angie. She is a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison majoring in dairy science with certicates in life science communication and art studio. She is involved with the Association of Women in Agriculture, the Badger Dairy Club and Collegiate Farm Bureau. She is also a member of the dairy judging team. “It was denitely exciting and always a dream of mine,” Ulness said of the award. “When Matthew (Gunst) began announcing the winner, his speech was very vague — it could have been any of us. My nervousness continued increasing until he began referencing things I wrote in my Turn to WI JR HOLSTEIN | Page 25

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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 25

ConƟnued from WI JR HOLSTEIN | Page 23 application. Then the emotion, the pressure and excitement just overwhelmed me. I don’t think I’ll ever have an experience like that, with that kind of build-up and excitement.” Growing up on her family’s 80-cow Manitowoc County dairy farm, the 20-year-old said she was attending dairy bowl and judging practices and junior conventions before she was old enough to participate. “I was very shy,” Ulness said. “Joining the Manitowoc County Junior Holstein Association and 4-H program, I was lucky to have many inuential role models and mentors.” Ulness developed a love for the competition that her junior experiences offered. “I learned so much, not only about our industry but about myself,” Ulness said. “You are competing with your friends. In the moment you are all competitors, each trying to win, but it is really just friends pushing each other to be their best.” Ulness has reveled in the travel her membership has provided. “Through my dairy-related activities, I have had the opportunity to travel throughout the country,” she said. “I have attended National Holstein Conventions from coast to coast since I was 9, and I went to Europe with my dairy judging team after winning the national 4-H contest at World Dairy Expo.” Ulness said all young peo-

PHOTO COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HOLSTEIN ASSOCIATION

Wisconsin Junior Holstein members — Evan Jauquet (front, from leŌ), Jacob Harbaugh, Sam Mess, Christopher Gunst and Catherine Gunst; (back, from leŌ) Emily Stumpf, Ainsley Noble, Madeline Hensel, Courtney Glenna, Sara Dorshorst, Emma Bangart, Ashley Brandel and Clarissa Ulness — are honored Dec. 30, 2023, as DisƟnguished Junior Members at the Wisconsin Junior Holstein ConvenƟon in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. ple should nd what it is they are passionate about and pursue that passion. “If I were to tell my shy, 9-year-old self about the things I have been able to do and see, I’m not sure she would have believed it,” Ulness said. “The best advice I could give is to always stick with the challenges and to keep working toward your goals. Treat perceived failures as a learning experience.” Distinguished Junior

Member awards were presented to Emma Bangart of Stratford, Ashley Brandel of Lake Mills, Sara Dorshorst of Marsheld, Courtney Glenna of Amery, Catherine Gunst and Christopher Gunst of Pine River, Jacob Harbaugh of Marion, Madeline Hensel of Pittsville, Evan Jauquet of Pulaski, Ainsley Noble of Lancaster and Emily Stumpf of Appleton. Mess, Ulness, Glenna and Jacob Harbaugh were selected to represent Wisconsin in na-

tional competition. Younger Distinguished Junior Member awards were presented to Macie Abraham of Plymouth, Justin Brandel and Katie Brandel of Lake Mills, Kayla Buttles of Lancaster, Gavin Carncross of Lodi, Alison Gartman of Sheboygan, Madison Harbaugh of Marion, Vivian Lichty of Beaver Dam, Leah Mess of Rosendale, Abby Meyer of Chilton, Brooke Mueller of Brodhead, Rebecca Murphy and Peyton Voegeli of

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Poynette, Ella Raatz of Colby and Cameron Ryan of Fond du Lac. Justin Brandel, Katie Brandel, Raatz and Ryan were selected to apply for national recognition. The 12 and Under Member Recognition award was presented to Royce Booth of Plymouth, Evan Brey of Sturgeon Bay, Ian Brick of De Pere, Katelin Freson of Watertown, Elise Gilbertson and Naydeen Gilbertson of Hollandale, Rubi Klinkner and Lexi Metzler of Viroqua, Adella Loehr of Eden, Braelyn Sarbacker and Reagan Sarbacker of Verona, Madison Sarbacker and Melanie Sarbacker of Whitewater, and Chesney Speich of Orfordville. Lauren Breunig, of Sauk City, was named the 2024 Wisconsin Holstein Princess and Madison Wiese, of Wrightstown, was named the Wisconsin Holstein Princess Attendant. Four representatives were elected to the Junior Activities Committee. Kelsey Hardy, of Dodgeville, was elected to join Paige Sweatt, of Dane, to represent the southwest district. Aspen Hagen, of Loyal, was elected to join Madeline Hensel, of Pittsville, to represent the northwest district. In the southeast district, Tessa Schmocker, of Whitewater, will join Ashley Brandel. Garrett Ulness, of Valders, will join Jacob Harbaugh in representing the northeast district.

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Page 26 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024

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consin and across the country are really prohibitive in terms of what we can give away.” It can also be difcult to nd organizations that will accept food donations, By Abby Wiedmeyer in part because they may not have a abby.w@dairystar.com workforce or transportation that can pick up food or a grocer who is able to deMADISON, Wis. — Food waste is liver it. One successful donation agreemore than a societal problem, according ment that Scholz has seen is grocers who to Brandon Scholz, president and CEO donate produce, beef and bakery items of the Wisconsin Grocers Association. to the zoo. Another grocer was donating For grocery stores, food waste is also a food to a pig farmer who fed his stock business challenge — one that is not al- with the waste. Grocery stores can eliminate waste ways a challenge they can solve. Often, food is wasted by the consumer, not the by repurposing items that can no longer be sold as an ingredient. Overripe grocer. “When you waste food, when you bananas from the produce department have to throw it away, you will never can be made into banana bread, leftover rotisserie chicken can be made nd a way to get that money into chicken salad in the deli, back,” Scholz said. “For a groand beef can be trimmed and cer, that’s tough.” ground in the meat departScholz spoke Nov. 28, ment. 2023, at the Professional Dairy “Those are things they Producers Dairy Insights Sumcan save money on and things mit in Madison. He said grothat consumers most likely cery stores are more likely to don’t know what’s happened avoid wasting food than anyto that product before it got one else, due to tight margins. to the store,” Scholz said. Scholz said for every $100 Brandon Scholz “There’s nothing wrong with of food that a grocery store Wisconsin Grocers what’s going on here.” sells, the grocer is left with 80 Inventory control is a way cents after expenses related Association to reduce expenses as well as to wages, health care, cost of goods, cost of nancing, credit card fees waste. There are companies that specialand the rest of the paydown. And that ize in going to stores to help control inventory and rotate products to try to bet80-cent margin is before taxes. The dairy section probably has ter appeal to the customers. While the coronavirus pandemic the best inventory control of the store, Scholz said. First, it has a cooler. Sec- made it harder for grocery stores to manond, it is different from other depart- age inventory and prices, it did help to ments like produce, meat and deli in educate consumers, Scholz said. Many customers were more conscious about terms of supplier and delivery. “When we look at waste in the dairy the quantity of items they were purchasaisle, it’s very little,” Scholz said. “Milk ing. They were also more careful about making a list, meal planning and cookis (delivered) on a fairly routine basis.” When there is potential food waste ing at home. While impulse purchases in other departments, a grocer must be and ash sales are a necessary part of a careful about how it is handled. Most grocer’s business, educating consumers consumers assume that leftover products on how to shop smarter can eliminate can be donated. Scholz said that is easier waste as well. “It costs money to throw stuff in the said than done when trying to keep products moving on the shelves and honoring dumpster, but there is a responsibility that grocers have to their community,” the sell-by dates. “There’s no question that grocers do Scholz said. “They are an integral part of what they can to support a cause wheth- their community, and the last thing they er it’s the food bank or a food pantry,” want to do is be someone who doesn’t Scholz said. “Food safety laws in Wis- try to make their community better.”

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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 27

Dry does an important part of the herd Goat management, nutrition essential to successful lactation to non-lactating. More specically, the active stage refers to the rst 24 abby.w@dairystar.com hours after the last time the goat was milked. The active stage typically FENNIMORE, Wis. — When it lasts for 2-3 weeks. The second stage — the steady comes to the commercial dairy goat industry, Sarah Varney sees dry doe stage — is when the cells are starting management as a bottleneck. As a to rejuvenate and the creatine plug is dairy goat nutritionist for Vita Plus, being built. The chances of developVarney helps dairy goat producers ing mastitis decrease the longer this stage lasts. The length manage their herds efof the steady stage defectively. She shared best pends on the length of practices at Southwest the dry period. Wisconsin Technical The last stage is reCollege’s annual Goat development and colosManagement Academy trum production. This Nov. 3, 2023, in Fennistage starts two weeks more. prior to kidding and “I know it’s easy to ends with the birth. think that dry does are Varney said that not giving milk and not while most producers making money, but we assume that a 40- to 60cannot think of them day dry period is sufSarah Varney as freeloaders,” Varney cient, it needs to be said. “She is doing two Vita Plus closer to 60 days. If the things. Her udder is rebuilding all those cells and getting active stage and colostrum producready for that next lactation, and she tion stage take a total of 35 days, then is growing your next generation of a 40-day dry period only allows ve days for the steady stage. kids.” “If we shoot for 60 days and we Besides working with farms get 50, that’s great,” Varney said. “If through her position, Varney also works alongside her father on their we shoot for 50 and get 40, OK. But 240-goat dairy near Milton. Between if we shoot for 40 and we’re only her experience on her own farm and getting 30, you’re really going to do working with others across multiple more damage to that mammary sysstates, Varney sees people transition tem than good.” To get a more effective dry petheir does in various ways. Some farms simply dry does up as riod for a doe, Varney suggested using a few tools soon as their promore preduction drops to “If we shoot for 60 tocisebewhen drying 8 pounds per day goats off. One, and are 60 days days and we get utilize ultrasound from kidding date. technology to They are moved 50, that’s great. If conrm a doe’s to the dry doe pen due date. An adand are not milked we shoot for 50 and ditional benet again until after of an ultrasound they kid, regardget 40, OK. But if is the ability to less of whether when their udders are we shoot for 40 and determine a doe is pregnant full of milk or not. with multiple Varney and her father take a we’re only getting 30, kids. Ultrasounds also help detect more gradual apyou’re really going false pregnancies, proach to dry off can end up by reducing the to do more damage which costing money milking times to when a goat goes once per day for to that mammary dry and then does does ready for dry off. Then, they system than good.” not kid. Varney also will milk a doe encourages hand 2-3 times a week SARAH VARNEY, VITA PLUS breeding to if she needs to be achieve a more milked and evenaccurate due date for does. She mantually end the lactation. If the goat is not dried off by 30 ages this at her farm by keeping a days out, Varney returns to the proto- buck penned in the corner of her lowcol of milking twice a day and skips producing and yearling pens. Every day when does are fetched for milkthe dry period. “We have found that if we give ing, they are observed for heats. If her too short of a dry period, she’s go- one is agging, they check the DHIA ing to have a worse lactation than if I records to make sure the doe eligible just continue to milk her and not give for breeding. Then, the doe is placed with the buck for a few hours after her a dry period at all,” Varney said. The length of the dry period is im- milking. For producers that pen breed, the portant because there are three stages through which the goat must transi- due date is harder to determine betion. The rst stage is the active stage, cause a buck often stays in a pen with which is simply going from lactating the does for an entire month. If a doe By Abby Wiedmeyer

is bred on the last day the buck is in the pen, she will end up with a much longer dry period than necessary, which inevitably costs money. If a doe is bred on the rst day the buck is in the pen, the doe might end up with too short of a dry period. Varney endorses hand breeding whenever possible. “It really doesn’t take as much time as you think,” Varney said. “You just have to be diligent when you’re in your barn that you’re watching.” In addition to precise timing, nutrition has an impact on the health of dry does. Because their rumen capacity is inhibited by the growth of the kids, Varney stressed the importance of dry doe rations that include a fortied pellet. Because she will not be

able to consume as much volume, the dry goat needs denser feed. Forages play a huge role in dry goat nutrition as well, Varney said. She has seen the best results with lower potassium forages, which aid in the prevention of pregnancy toxemia. If a producer must resort to low-quality forages, it is best to mix them with high-quality forages. “I am a huge believer in forages,” Varney said. “As a nutritionist, I will tell you there is nothing I can do in your grain ration that can duplicate good forage. Low-quality forages aren’t going to cut it.” Fresh water intake complements the nutritional needs of dry does as well.

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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 29

women

IN DAIRY

Tell us about your farm and family. My husband, Ron, and I dairy farm with my parents, Gary and Rosie Hillesheim, and children, Sidney and Nick. We milk cows and raise our heifers on-site. We have a compost barn that houses our dairy cows. We grow our own feed. What is a typical day like for you on the dairy? I arrive to milk cows at 5 a.m. with my parents. After milking, I eat breakfast and get the kids up for school. Then, we head back out to feed, scrape manure, grind feed and bed heifers. Depending on time of year, we make hay, do other eldwork or x whatever needs to be xed, treat cows or move heifers, etc., after chores. When I get done at the dairy, I head to where I live (4.5 miles away) and tend to the animals there (beef calves and steers). I then return to the dairy around 4 p.m. to milk, feed, etc. What decision have you made in the last year that has beneted your farm? Planting cover crops, winter rye, sorghum and oats after sweet corn. It’s benecial to the soil and to the feed inventory. Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. In July, when my nephew, Kyle, was 3 or 4, he decided he needed to bring me and my dad a popsicle in the 40foot silo we were setting together to get raised up to get lled. He crawled up the silo, with no one knowing, with two popsicles, both in his pocket, and appeared in the open door all smiles and said, “Hi,” and offered us the now mostly melted popsicles. What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the dairy industry? I was born and

Stacy Tauer

Sleepy Eye, Minnesota Brown County 75 cows

raised on a dairy farm. I have worked alongside my parents, my biggest role models. They literally showed me most everything that I stand for. They are the best parents, in my eyes. Working next to my siblings as I grew up made cherished memories I still hold with me. Now as a mother to two wonderful 15-year-olds, it really tops the cake. The love we all have for what we do shows daily. Then we throw in my siblings and their families that still show up (almost daily for some) and work alongside us. I am a part of their lives, and no other occupation would allow me this opportunity. Don’t get me wrong, we have had mountains to climb, but at the end of the day, we cherish what we have. There is something to be said when there are little square bales of straw to be made in the heat of July and August and my nephew says, “You better let me know when we will be unloading.” When we are nished for the night, we all look at each other, drained, and say, “That felt good.” What is your biggest accomplishment in your dairy career? Being able to be the fourth generation to carry on the dairy torch. Milking cows is my favorite task on the farm, just like my dad who still milks morning and night at the age of 78. I cannot predict the future, but I can dream that someday there will be a fth generation, God willing. What are things you do to promote your farm or the dairy industry? I am, and have been for the last two years, the Brown County Dairy Princess Coordinator. I organize events for the four ambassadors and ve princesses that the county is so fortunate to have. We do anything from nursing home, day care and school visits to

parades and farm tours and a visit to the Sleepy Eye Auction Market. What advice would you give another woman in the dairy industry? Woman or man, makes no difference in the dairy industry in my eyes. Its exible, versatile and very accepting.

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Page 30 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024

www.extension.umn.edu/dairy

Making those New Year’s resolutions stick It is 2024, and the ritual of making in the third element, a reward. A simple New Year’s resolutions is upon us. Sur- example is when paying for fuel, you see veys show that nearly half of all Ameri- and smell the donuts, chips and candy cans make resolutions. Research also bars (a cue). Your automatic response shows that about 80% of people aban- is to purchase a candy bar (a behavior). don their resolutions by March. Your reward is the brief feeling Why is that? We all have good of satisfaction that the candy intentions, and most resolubar generates. tions are to improve ourselves Habits are very hard to or improve our business. Here change because the cure solicits are a couple of the main reaan almost automatic response. sons why resolutions may fail. It also explains why new habits Resolutions or goals fail are difcult to develop. All habbecause they are not that imits, even bad habits, provide us portant to us in the rst place with reward. The cue of seeing or not well thought out. What By Jim Salfer the candy when paying for fuel are we trying to accomplish University of triggers the (automatic) behavby setting a particular goal? Minnesota ior of buying that candy bar at How would achieving these the gas station that tastes great goals improve your life or business? If and gives us a feeling of satisfaction, you cannot answer these questions eas- even though we know it is empty caloily, you may need to consider clarifying ries. Developing new habits re-quires a your goals prior to setting them. It is im- new routine or behavior followed by a portant to begin with the end in mind. new reward for the good habit. The goal Have a clear vision of where you are go- is to replace the old behavior (purchasing ing and how you are going to get there. candy bars) with a new behavior (purGoals that are written down with an end chasing an apple), and the reward is that in mind are more likely to be achieved. you feel better for eating healthier. Another reason is that we do not Even though many goals are difcult take the necessary time for our goals to stick with, it is not impossible, and it is to develop into habits. Charles Duhigg, the best way to propel yourself and busiwho wrote “The Power of Habit,” ex- ness forward. Here are some ideas on plains there are three common elements how to make your resolutions become in habit formation. reality. The rst element is a cue. The cue — Identify the reason that the resotriggers the second element, an automat- lution matters. What is the value of makic response or behavior, which results ing the change? Trying to change more

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than a couple of items at a time can be overwhelming. Identify items you or your farm team are motivated to change. Success at a few goals will increase condence and motivation to make further changes. If it is a farm goal, get everyone on board. — Make a detailed action plan. Just hoping and wanting improvement will not make it happen. Developing a well thought-out plan with specic actions and key metrics to monitor progress will greatly increase the chances of success. — Turn it into a new habit. It is important to reward yourself or your farm team for small steps toward reaching the goal. This will keep the momentum going. We all like to celebrate successes and feel we are part of a winning team. — Do not get discouraged by setbacks. Progress is often not as fast as we expect. Most research indicates that it takes about 60 to 90 days for a new habit to become automatic. The difference between people who are successful and unsuccessful is often resilience. We all have setbacks in our personal lives and businesses, but people who have a good plan and continue to move forward despite setbacks are more successful. Do not give up.

It can be challenging to think about setting personal or business goals and looking forward to the future after a year like 2023. Many farmers are struggling to stay current on bills and will lose net worth in 2023. However, it is always easier to manage through difcult times if we can change our focus to the positive, non-economic advantages of farming. I am surely not trying to minimize the economic pain that many people are facing. However, we can give gratitude for the good in our lives. It makes living through tough times a little easier. There are many advantages of living and working in rural areas. We have neighbors we know, and we help each other. We have views out our windows that people living in large cities only see on vacations. Try to remain positive and think about the advantages in life. There are many things we cannot control, but the one thing that we can control is our attitude. Set personal goals that help you appreciate your friends and families. Just remember: How we earn our living does not count for nearly as much as how we do our living.

Dana Adams, adam1744@umn.edu 320-204-2968

Brad Heins hein0106@umn.edu 320-589-1711

Isaac Salfer ijsalfer@umn.edu 320-296-1357

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Heat stress effects on dairy cows during 2023

Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 31

By Bas Josten and Brad Heins University of Minnesota

During 2023, we had unprecedented drought as well as high temperatures during the summer. No doubt all cows experienced some sort of heat stress. So, we set out to evaluate heat stress in our dairy cows at the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center dairy in Morris, Minnesota, during the summer of 2023. Heat stress occurs when a cow gains more heat from the environment and metabolism than it can lose through radiation, convection, evaporation and conduction, and negatively affects rumination time. Due to genetic selection and prolonged periods of heat, heat stress is not limited to tropical regions, but also applies to animals in countries in more temperate zones. In addition to reduced rumination, heat stress may prompt other physiological and behavioral responses, leading to disorders that negatively affect a cow’s productive and reproductive performance and general health and well-being. Therefore, reducing heat stress is essential not only from a welfare standpoint but also for economic reasons. However, the effect of heat stress is often solely based on a reduction in milk yield, neglecting its effect on the cow’s wellbeing. In recent years, consumers have become increasingly concerned about farm animals’ welfare, health and living conditions. Wearable sensors for animals have improved agricultural conditions and

farm management since the introduction of precision livestock farming by aiding the farmer in early disease detection and preventive health measures. An emerging precision technology company, smaXtec, has recently launched a bolus which is able to measure data on various parameters such as body temperature, rumination behavior and activity levels. To ensure the usefulness and usability of this technology for farmers and scientists, it is necessary to validate this system independently. Therefore, data on daily total rumination time derived from the smaXtec system was validated by determining its agreement with rumination data acquired by Rumi-Watch noseband sensors, which are seen as a golden standard in monitoring rumination. This study was conducted at the WCROC from April 24 to Aug. 17, 2023. The rumination data measured by the sensor was found to have a high correlation and agreement with the rumination data. We concluded that the smaXtec system is a reliable tool for measuring rumination time on a large scale. Many practices and standards in the dairy industry are based on a cow’s productivity, which raises the question of whether this is in line with the increasing concern for animal welfare. Therefore, the effect of heat stress on the rumination of cows was investigated. In addition, the herd was divided into three groups to substantiate results found in the literature on factors affecting rumination. These cows were grouped as young conventional,

old conventional and young organic cows. As the smaXtec system has proven to give accurate data on rumination, a large portion of each group was equipped with a bolus. The mean rumination time for the three groups was calculated for each day during the study. Daily heat stress was estimated through a mean Temperature Humidity Index, which was calculated using data acquired by a weather station on the farm. The rumination time was matched with the corresponding THI for the three groups. The results indicate that the current classications for heat stress are outdated, as cows show signs of heat stress at lower THI values. The gure shows the mean daily rumination time for the groups by heat stress classications. In the absence of heat stress, higher levels of rumination are detected in the organic herd. This can be ex-plained due to their diet having a higher forage neutral detergent ber content. Heat stress negatively inuences the rumination time of all cows, as the cows change their rumination behavior af-

ter a certain THI threshold. This study showed THI thresholds of around 64 for both conventional groups and 58 for the organic group, with the daily total rumination time decreasing by about 5.6 minutes for every in-creasing unit of THI in all groups. Daily rumination time seems to be a usable tool to detect heat stress in dairy cows. With the rise of commercial sensors able to monitor rumination and an increasing interest in improving the welfare of dairy cows, monitoring rumination may play an essential role in assisting the dairy farmer to get the best out of their herd. However, the primary intent of this study was not to predict the daily rumination time of an individual cow with accuracy, but to give a clearer picture of how heat stress affects a cow’s behavior, both visible or subclinical, and if this is in line with older classications of heat stress levels that are often based on reduction in milk yield. These results indicate that the current classications for heat stress are outdated, as cows showed subclinical signs of heat stress at lower THI values.

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Page 32 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024

Working alongside Mother Nature Managing cover crops in harsh conditions proves to be a learning experience By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. — With the exceptionally dry season that the Midwest experienced in the 2023 growing season, producers are looking at data to determine what worked and what they need to improve for 2024. Producers and industry professionals gathered Dec. 7-8, 2023, at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells for the Wisconsin Water and Soil Health Conference, which was a combination of the Wisconsin Cover Crop Conference and the Discovery Farms Conference. A farmer panel Dec. 7 included Brad Clark from Clarkview Farms near Prairie du Chien, Brent Petersen from the Brown County Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation and Andy Bensend of Dallas. Bensend farms 4,000 acres in northwest Wisconsin and said that cover crops were a natural progression from no-till farming. He uses a predominantly corn and soybean rotation on most of his acres. He has utilized a variety of cover crops including cereal rye, winter wheat, clovers and several varieties of brassicas. While planting conditions were nearly normal for Bensend, rainfall ceased by the middle of May 2023. The

ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR

Three panelists — Brad Clark (from leŌ), Andy Bensend and Brent Peterson — discuss their experiences in managing cover crops through the harsh drought condiƟons that the Midwest experienced in the 2023 growing season at the Wisconsin Water and Soil Health Conference Dec. 7-8, 2023, in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. Clark, of Clarkview Farms, lives near Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin; Petersen is from the Brown County Wisconsin Land and Water ConservaƟon; and Bensend is from Dallas, Wisconsin. rst signicant rainfall thereafter did not come until October. Without that rain, Bensend was convinced his crop would be poor. “When we got to the end of the season and we did our harvest and looked at our yields, it was nothing short of miraculous that we raised the crop that we raised on how little water we had to use,” Bensend said. “It was just incredible.” Bensend said he was creative with how he managed the crops in the extreme conditions. One of his elds was not planted with soybeans until June 30, which was much later than his typical planting date. He had used rye as a cover crop and decided to roller crimp it down when planting the soybeans to see if he could achieve broad leaf weed control

without herbicides. He was successful. “We live in an area where we struggle with giant ragweed, and that eld was clean,” Bensend said. “To me, that’s proof of concept.” Bensend said it was benecial to increase the planting population when putting seed in the ground so late. Clark said that timing is critical when dealing with extreme weather conditions. In one case, he terminated the rye before manure was applied in preemptive measure, in case it did rain after the manure was applied. “In extreme conditions, if Mother Nature came in after the manure was applied, that rye would explode,” Clark said. “It would be hard to terminate.” Because of the dry conditions, Clark also discovered that the residual herbi-

cide did not work on the main crop. Instead, it was tied up in the cover crop. For this year, he said that, depending on the type of spring he has, he may not use residual herbicide at all and will instead terminate with the cover crop. Peterson agreed that timing will be even more critical going into 2024. “We’re going to be shorter on moisture next year than we were this year,” Peterson said. “We really pulled a lot from deep down this year. It’s going to be pretty important to pay attention this spring to the weather, of course, but also the timing of getting rid of that cover crop early might be benecial this year. I don’t have a crystal ball, but we really have to be paying attention to that.” For Bensend, the one exception to terminating cover crops early is when he plants clover because it is planted with the intent to increase nitrogen. He tends to let clover grow as long as possible with the understanding that it is drawing moisture and he is risking a penalty in yield. Peterson said that when encouraging farmers to start experimenting with cover crops, he tries to get them to try a little bit at a time and hold themselves accountable so they can see the results. Once they see the benets of added nutrients and water retention, they tend to want to plant more cover crops. Bensend agreed. “It takes a change in the way you think in order to realize what’s happening,” Bensend said. “That’s the beauty of what we’re doing. If you’re willing to learn from what you do, you will have no alternative but to continue to practice and nd more things that are going to be hugely benecial.”

DAIRY PROFILE

Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 33

DuWayne Badtke of Ripon, Wisconsin | Fond du Lac County | 80 cows How did you get into farming? I was born into it. This has been the home family farm since 1848. I am the sixth generation on this farm, and my son, Ethan, is the seventh generation. I worked for my dad after high school and went 50/50 with him on cows starting in 1997. I have been milking cows for 40 years and bought the farm from my parents three years ago. My dad helps with eldwork when we need him.

How do you maintain family relationships while also working together? There are struggles some days, and things aren’t always great, but for the most part, we work well together. We try to give each other time away from work and a day off if you need it. When unexpected things happen, we work through them together as a family. What do you enjoy most about dairy farming? I love being my own boss and creating my own schedule. I can start when I want and nish when I want. I was born into farming, and it’s all I know. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have any cows.

What are your thoughts and concerns about the dairy industry for the next year? I hear a lot of people say that milk prices are down, but in November, I was getting $19 per hundredweight, so I’m not complaining. The problem is a farmer can’t jump ship because nobody else will take your milk. The little guys are stuck where they are. Milk prices are not stressing me. I feel pretty optimistic going into 2024. What is a recent change you made on your farm and the reason for it? In February 2020, we bought SCR collars for monitoring heat detection and health in our cows. It has been a great investment that we should have done sooner. We are able to get cows bred earlier and save more cows. Before the collars, we had a hard time catching them in heat, and we were having problems keeping cows around. We didn’t have enough to ll the barn. The collar tells us if something is off, and as a result, we are catching sick cows quicker as well, which has saved us money on vet bills. The collar tells me more than what I can visually see. We’re only culling now if a cow can’t get pregnant or to make room for better cows by culling lower-end animals. Tell us about a skill you possess that makes dairy farming easier for you. We barely have any mastitis because I am diligent about making sure cows are milked out all the way. I try to solve mastitis problems on my own without the use of drugs. I don’t treat any cows for mastitis or give any vaccines for mastitis. All cows get a teat sealant which seems to make a difference in preventing bacteria from entering the udder. Cows with a high somatic cell count of over 100,000 receive Quartermaster. We also try to do our own repairs and mechanical work on the farm to save money. Ethan does welding for us.

What advice would you give other dairy farmers? Don’t overspend. Don’t buy something just because you think you need it. Prioritize, and keep debt low. When I was deciding between purchasing a milking parlor or a combine, we chose the parlor because it is something we use every day. We would only use a combine four to six weeks per year. Therefore, the parlor was a better investment for our farm at the time.

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

The Badtke family — Izzy (from leŌ), DuWayne, Amy and Ethan — break for a photo Jan. 3 in their milking parlor near Ripon, Wisconsin. The Badtkes milk 80 cows on their farm. What is the best decision you have made on your farm? Building a milking parlor in 2012 was one of the best decisions I have ever made on the farm. It has made milking much easier, especially handling rst-time heifers. My wife wouldn’t milk in the stanchion barn, but she has learned how to milk in the parlor. The SCR collars were another great decision. What are three things on the farm that you cannot live without? Our skid loader, milking parlor and SCR collars. The skid loader is handy, and we do a lot of things with it. We used to do a lot of shoveling and pitching, but we don’t do that much anymore. With the skid loader, we’re working smarter not harder, and we get done twice as fast. Instead of one little shovel full, we can t hundreds in the skid loader bucket. The parlor reduces time spent milking, and it’s easier to hire someone if we need to take a day off. Last year, we took a week off as a

family to attend a wedding in Montana. It would have been more work for someone if they had to milk in a stanchion barn. The SCR collars have allowed us to retain more cows, and they make breeding easier. The system sends us a text when a cow comes into heat. The breeder gets the same text, so we don’t even have to call him. What strategies do you use to withstand the volatile milk prices? I don’t know what to say about that because it hasn’t been a problem for us. Pretty much everything is paid for on the farm, which helps a lot. I’m making farm payments, but we don’t have much debt and have no problem making ends meet. We’re not rich, but we’re making a go of it. Amy works off the farm for insurance reasons, and we also sell corn. We are not relying on milk. It helps to have diversity.

What are your plans for your dairy in the next year and ve years? In the next year, we would like to achieve higher milk production and attain a stronger rolling herd average. We believe we can do this through better genetics and improvements in feeding. We switched milk replacers ve years ago and are getting better calves. In the barnyard, we used to feed heifers ground corn with everything in it — the same as what the cows were eating. Heifers were getting fat and not breeding well. Now, we’re feeding protein and minerals, and our heifers are taller and growing better. Heifers are currently bred by a bull, but someday we would like to breed them via A.I. In the next ve years, I would like Ethan to come into a leadership role and handle more of the chores so I can cut back. How do you or your family like to spend time when you are not doing chores? I like to go bowling, and I am on a bowling league every Thursday. My wife and I like to play cards and have supper with friends. It’s also nice to go out to eat. I would like to try to get away a little more and do traveling. I like history and would like to see historical places out east.

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Cows at Badtke Family Farms eat in the freestall barn Jan. 3 near Ripon, Wisconsin. The farm has been in the Badtke family since 1848.

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It’s the middle of January, but Christmas is alive and well at my house. The Christmas trees — one for the living room, another for the basement and one in each bedroom — are fully decorated and aglow with lights. The Nativity remains a xture in our home, while Christmas villages add a special coziness to the living and dining rooms. The outside of our house is equally festive so that anyone driving by at night By Stacey Smart will nd it glowing with Christmas cheer. Staff Writer I know we are the exception. I see occasional trees lit up in windows I pass by, but for the most part, Christmas trees have been stripped of their lights and decorations and now line the city boulevards waiting to be taken away. I always feel sad for those trees. Some have the misfortune of being tossed out the day after Christmas, while others might be lucky enough to hang on until New Year’s Day. You’ll be hard-pressed to nd a Christmas song on the radio once the clock strikes mid-night, signifying the end of Christmas Day. In so many areas, Christmas is gone once a new calendar year begins. Of course, retailers are already on to Valentine’s Day and Easter and have been since Dec. 26. Actually, in one store, I saw these holidays competing with Christmas. I have never understood the urgency of dismantling Christmas so soon after the 25th of December. What’s the hurry, people? Is January that glamorous on its own that it doesn’t need twinkling lights to brighten gray days? Maybe in more tropical areas it is, but not here in the Midwest. Nightfall comes early during this month, begging for a little extra light. Add some snow, and the Christmas lights dazzle even more. Decorating for Christmas can be a lot of work. For me, it often takes weeks to complete, so I’m certainly not going to turn around and take it all down a few weeks later. Because our trees are articial, perhaps we can leave them up a little longer than most. I realize a real tree becomes a re hazard after a while, but even if the tree has to come down, can’t some of the other decor and lights stay up? I often have more time to sit and appreciate all the decorations after the busyness of the holiday season is behind me. Once the cards are mailed, the gifts are gifted, the cookies are baked and the celebrations are in the past, I have more moments to soak up the beauty of the season. The lights of Christmas can lift a person out of those post-holiday blues. Christmas is a season — it’s not just one day — which means saying “Merry Christmas” in January is perfectly acceptable. The Feast of the Three Kings, also known as the Epiphany, is celebrated Jan. 6 on the 12th day of Christmas. The 12 days of Christmas actually begin Dec. 25. Therefore, in the popular carol with the same name, the 12 drummers are drumming in January rather than in December. I am happy to report that I have noticed Christmas lights lingering longer in recent years. I love looking at people’s light displays. It makes me smile and lls my heart with gladness. Something as simple as Christmas lights can do that. When you hang lights, think of the joy you’re bringing not only to your own family but to others who pass by. During my Dairy Star travels the rst week of January, I was delighted to see beautiful displays of Christmas lights. It’s clear I’m not the only one spreading Christmas cheer into January. While it may be hard to beat the anticipation of the holidays, there is a lot to be loved about what comes after as well. If Christmas really is the best time of the year, why not make it last a little bit longer? MATHER’S

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Our old farmhouse

I really like living on the farm in our very old farmhouse. We believe it was originally built in 1906. My husband, Duane, grew up here. His parents bought the farm in 1958. Many other families have lived here prior to them, and many stories have been told about this farm and farmhouse. Years back, we had a few sisters who were in their late 60s or early 70s who stopped in to visit and requested to see what the house looked like. Their memories dated back to when there was an outhouse out back. There was an upper story stairway that led out to the outhouse beyond the summer kitchen by the orchard. Those ladies recalled running up the main staircase through the door to the private quarters and racing down the back stairway to get to the outhouse rst. Our house has changed a lot since they lived in it. It is a typical farmhouse with two stories, four bedrooms upstairs By Tina Hinchley Farmer & Columnist and four rooms on the rst oor that include a dining room that I use as my ofce and laundry folding area, a parlor where we had a baby grand piano when the kids were home for them to play and the living room where we have a recliner, couch and oversized chair to watch TV. We also have a large kitchen and 2.5 bathrooms. One of my favorite parts of this home is that it has a front porch and also a lovely side porch with a deck for our rocking chairs to relax and enjoy summer evenings. There have been improvements made to this old house. The deck was added on to the house and the rst kitchen remodel were done in 1980, when Duane was graduating from high school. The summer kitchen was opened up and made into an ofce, but it really wasn’t used because there was carpet installed. Every farmer knows that if you are running to the house for the checkbook, the barn boots stop before going on the carpet. So, it really wasn’t used for its intended purpose. The southern windows were great for growing plants, so we called it the sunroom. Eighteen years later, we needed to change a few things to accommodate our growing family with newborn twins. We made the ofce/sunroom into a big bathroom with a shower, two-hole vanity sink and restored a clawfoot bathtub. This proved to be a great decision with four farm kids using this new big bathroom for bath time and teeth brushing. It was — and still is — perfect. The kitchen also got Amish-made cabinets and a kitchen table along with a laundry room bathroom makeover too. New linoleum and carpet were installed, and the kids would take off their barn boots outside and carry them down to the basement. There is a hallway with hooks and storage space for school shoes and backpacks that was out of sight and easy for them to grab and go after cleaning up after morning chores to catch the bus. Well, we are onto the next 20 years, ready for another makeover. The carpet has to go. I had been saying that we would not get any new carpet until all of the kids were out of the house. The hallway where their coats were hung up and back packs piled has stains from soda and fake blood from Halloween props. Not to mention, all of the dust and other things that are living in that carpet make our allergies are up every winter. Perhaps a nice wood oor would be good. There are nice, real wood or fabricated oors that would be easy to clean and look great with accent rugs. Oh my, if we are getting new ooring, perhaps this would be the time to get that replace that I have been dreaming about. Just down the road is an amazing showroom with displays of many kinds of replaces with real or articial stone, big or little mantels, and

Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 35

short or tall hearths. There are so many choices and decisions to be made. We know we don’t want to have a wood-burning replace but rather one with natural gas ames that can be turned on or off. So, if we are going to get a replace, we need to open up the two rooms and open up the wall to see the beautiful wooden staircase. This remodel project just became big. This will be a job for professionals. We have been moving furniture, sorting and boxing up books from the shelves. We have been taking down curtains and old aerial farm photos that have been hanging on the wall since they were purchased. We lifted a corner of the carpet to nd that the outside of the oor has a beautiful wooden oor underneath, but the middle has other painted boards where they must have had an accent rug way back when the

house was built. Removing the outlet covers and the thermostat was also enlightening. The wall was a dark green in the past, and I like it. This is very exciting to be remodeling again. How long before we have an open room with a replace and new oors? The project will most likely last all winter, and a completion date isn’t known yet. We will be ready to help haul out the old carpet, plaster and lathe in the next few days. We will all be waiting with anticipation of our new living room for all of us to enjoy. Tina Hinchley, her husband Duane and daughter Anna milk 240 registered Holsteins with robots. They also farm 2,300 acres near Cambridge, Wisconsin. The Hinchleys have been hosting farm tours for over 25 years.

Editorial disclaimer: The views expressed by our columnists are the opinions and thoughts of the author and do not reect the opinions and views of Dairy Star staff and ownership.

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Courage to be old-school Page 36 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024

We have hung calendars. I have ceased baking cookies by the dozen. This is not to say we don’t have plenty of cookies left rattling around in the tins on the porch, only to note I’m not adding any more to the available sugar rations. We have celebrated Christmas a few times over, and now that it’s all unwrapped, it’s time to reect and resolve. Which cookie tins emptied fastest? Which Christmas traditions will my children remember for years to come? How many books will we try to read this year? How am I doing with the parenting gig I have? How do Keith and I raise children who share our values in such a fast-paced world of technology? The answers come easy for some of these ponderings. Linzer cookies always win. From the time the tin was lled to the last crumb being snatched up, it was less than two days. They are a delicious favorite of all entrants to the house. I also tried a new lemon cookie recipe, with ricotta cheese as an ingredient, and they were fabulous.

Two girlfriends and I accomplished our tradition of taking the kids caroling. Our list of houses to visit gets longer every year. We stick to singing “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” As always, it was such a wonderful success, on both the parts of the children loving it and the people we visited. Those we caroled greeted us with such surprised, appreciative grins. It is a simple, old-school activity that is worth every ounce of effort. When Ira and Dane were young, I wrote every book we read on a slip of construction paper and built an elaborate paper-chain that stretched back and forth across our kitchen by the end of the year. Realizing that I had never done this with Henry and Cora, we discussed doing so again. One look at Ira and Dane and their surging growth in height made me realize this would not be a great plan. We will be writing them all down in a notebook instead. Dane and I also pondered the goal of reading our bookshelves — as in reading every picture book we have on a shelf in Henry’s and Cora’s bedrooms.

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One of my biggest resolutions, that I make and fail at each year, is to get home early each night from the farm. Eight o’clock is my bewitching hour, which means after that, all things go south. I have less and less patience, less energy to read aloud, and absolutely no humor left in me; and if you have ever tried to get four tired children ready for bed at night, those things are crucial. Working on my patience is an exercise I engage in daily. Some days I do far better than others, and then there are the days when I’m certain that I should not be allowed to parent because my fuse is so short. The last question I ask myself is the toughest one to answer. If you are a long-time reader of my column, you know that I’m a tad bit nostalgic and often wish Ramblings from the Ridge I could go back in time. This carries over into our child-rearing logic. We happen to be fans of the low-tech, high-nature type of upbringing we were raised in, and we battle to give that to our children. As children, my siblings and I were not involved in every extracurricular activity that was available, and we turned By Jacqui Davison out ne (I think). We Columnist played outside, we created games, we disappeared for hours on end in the woods, and we did chores. Keith told the boys that he went through a bucket of .22 bullets in the span of a few months when he was young, wandering the woods in search of small game. We had active imaginations and probably made our mothers crazy with our antics, but we had a childhood worth remembering. I read an article that mentioned you should “take charge and have courage to be the odd parent out.” The author wasn’t exaggerating when he said it would take courage. I tell myself that being the odd parent out who doesn’t involve their children in everything is teaching them how to ght peer pressure. It is a struggle for me not to be overwhelmed by all of the activities and think that our children will be decient in something due to their lack of involvement. Our children are in the minority due to their lack of access to gadgets and because they are of a handful of kids who are associated with a farm and the work that comes with it. Even then, our kids are spared a fair dose of farm chores because of how our farm operates. Our society doesn’t do much to support this stance on parenting. It seems most people agree that the addition of a phone in the hand of a young teenager (or younger) isn’t doing much to connect them to the world; rather, it is helping them disconnect. Few dare to stop it from happening. Ira has a phone, and he drives. He works, and it is quite helpful in tracking him down to run errands. Dane, a freshman, is begging for one. I don’t think he would even care, if not for the fact that every teacher and coach automatically assumes he has one. I want our children to be able to converse at family parties without a phone attached to their hand. I want them to look back at their childhood as I do: recalling the afternoons spent playing basketball in the shop, going sledding, disappearing to the creek to check for ice and just being kids. I want them to tell their children all of those magical memories that they are making for themselves with their family and friends — all of those in which technology plays the supporting role, not the major one. Jacqui Davison and her family milk 800 cows and farm 1,200 acres in northeastern Vernon County, Wisconsin. Her children, Ira, Dane, Henry and Cora, help 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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Treatment of gram-negative clinical mastitis

Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 37

Many dairy farms practice culture-based treatment of clinical mastitis. This is great, because judicious use of antibiotics requires us to use antibiotics only on animals that are likely to benet from anti-biotic treatment, and on most farms, less than 50% of cows with mild or moderate clinical mastiVeterinary Wisdom tis meet this criterion. It is also great because it saves a whole bunch of money. Most of the available veterinary literature suggests that treatment of grade one and grade two clinical mastitis caused by the most gram-negative organisms is of little value. This is because the spontaneous cure rate is about the same as the cure By Jim Bennett rate following treatment, Columnist and other outcomes, culling, for example, are similar for treatment or no treatment as well. Most farms that practice culture-based treatment do not treat grade one and grade two clinical mastitis caused by gram-negative organisms. A recent paper in the Journal of Dairy Science (2023 Bruno, et. al.) might make us think a little differently. For this study, causative organisms were rst identied as gram-positive, gram-negative or no growth by on-farm culture, and then conrmed by MALDI-TOF. MALDI-TOF is a new system that offers increased capabilities to correctly identify organisms. Cows with any gram-negative organism conrmed by MALDI-TOF were then allocated to one of three groups: no treatment, treatment with Spectramast LC for two days and treatment with Spectramast LC for ve days.

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Mastitis cases were scored as grade one: mild, with only abnormal milk, grade two: abnormal milk plus changes in the udder, and grade three: severe. Only grade one and grade two cases were used in the study. A total of 423 quarters were enrolled in the nal analysis. Of these, 135 were not treated (CON), 133 were treated for two days (SP2) and 155 were treated for ve days (SP5). E. coli was isolated in 87% of the gram-negative cases, Klebsiella was isolated in 7%, and the remainder classied as other. Out-comes measured were bacteriologic cure on days 14, 21 and 28 post treatment by assigning a clinical score based on clinical signs at multiple days post treatment, mastitis recurrence and by looking at culling and death rates. Bacterial cure rate was higher for treated groups, both for two and ve days than for controls. However, if results were sorted by clinical score at enrollment, almost all of the improvement in treated groups was due to increased cure rates in cases of moderate mastitis. The differences in cure rates for grade one cases between controls and treated cows were not signicant. Clinical scores were better for cows in both treated groups compared to control cows. The return of milk to normal appearance was no different between treated groups and the control group. Since treated and non-treated both resolved by day ve, there was no difference in the number of days of discarded milk for the control group versus the SP2 group, though milk was discarded for eight days in the SP5 group. The proportion of quarters with recurrence of clinical mastitis was greater in the control group as compared to the SP2 and SP5 groups, but there was no difference in recurrence between SP2 and SP5 groups. Treatment also reduced culling. Culling within 14 days after diagnosis and through 30-, 60- and 90-days post diagnosis was less in both the SP2 and SP5 groups compared to the control group.

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Thus overall, treatment with Spectramast LC for either two or ve days had better outcomes than not treating. It would have been valuable to be able to compare outcomes for cases caused by E. coli versus Klebsiella, but the small number of Klebsiella cases did not allow for that analysis. There has only been one other peer-reviewed study that showed benet from treating non-severe gram-negative mastitis. In that study, the benets were mostly reduced culling. Thus, this is really the rst study suggesting that treating non-severe E. coli mastitis infections makes economic sense on a dairy. It is particularly interesting that there was no difference in the required milk discard between the control group and the SP2 group. There were few benets for extending the treatment to ve days, and the increase milk discard with extended treatment would be expected to easily outweigh the benets of ve-day treatment. While bacteriologic cure rates were improved by treating moderate cases and not mild cases, clinical scores were better for treated mild cases versus the controls. In addition, the authors point out that in a non-research setting, farms may have difculty correctly characterizing cases as mild or moderate and suggest that it would be advantageous to treat both mild and moderate cases for two days. Science is always changing, but on the other hand, one study does not necessarily mean one needs to change any particular practice. If you think you may benet from changing your current treatment protocols, you should discuss this with your herd veterinarian. Jim Bennett is one of four dairy veterinarians at Northern Valley Dairy Production Medicine Center in Plainview, Minnesota. He consults on dairy farms in other states. He and his wife, Pam, have four children. Jim can be reached at bennettnvac@gmail.com.

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Page 38 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024

Those jobs

There is a lot of time to listen to music, podcasts and audiobooks while doing eldwork and running skid loaders to take care of the cows. I recently read a great book, “The Dawn of Everything” by David Graeber and David Wengrow. In the book, the authors explored present and past social and nancial inequality, agriculture vs. hunter gatherer societies, and a number of other topics related to how our society ended up the way it is, or could be different if we chose. I enjoyed the book enough that when my cousin suggested another of Graeber’s books, I immediately borrowed it from the library. I gured the topic of the book wouldn’t be too far from what interested me in his previous book. I wasn’t disappointed. According to Graeber, our world is full of completely useless jobs with people carrying them out every day at varying degrees of peace with that fact.

The author had written an opinion piece about worthless jobs which resulted in him receiving many stories from people about their experiences working jobs they felt had no value whatsoever. This would have been a completely unbelievable concept to me when I was growing up as everyone I interacted with had a job that at minimum, was a positive contribution to society even if they maybe didn’t enjoy doing it that much. Being surrounded by people in agriculture, the trades and education, it never occurred to me that there are literally jobs where you just show up and do busywork so a manager has someone to manage, thus justifying their own job. Around the end of high school, and denitely in college, I started to run into people whose employment’s impacts on society, positive or negative, were nebulous at best. You know who you are, and good for you on scoring a minimal responsibility

gig. If someone is willing to pay you to sit around and learn how to crochet or whatever, then you my friend have won the occupational lottery. I’ve been trying to gure out a way to get paid the most I can for the least amount of effort for years and have yet to succeed even moderately. A question brought up at the beginning of the book is that with all of our technological im- From the Zweber Farm provements making tasks super-efcient, why aren’t we all working something like 15 hours a week and spending the rest of our time on leisure activities? A famous economist, John Maynard Keynes, suggested in By Tim Zweber 1930 that the 15-hour Farmer & Columnist work week could be a reality by 2030. Society as a whole is far from that mark, and in agriculture, we’re not even in the same zip code. It seems instead of settling for less stuff and more leisure time, people increased their desire for more possessions and also created whole lines of so-called work to do which does not actually provide much value to society. I have heard lots of people in agriculture, including myself, brag about how many hours they work as if that’s something to be commended on. Working hard and getting an important job done in the amount of time it takes — even if that’s well past Keynes’ three or most people’s eight hours — is commendable, but working more than 16 hours in a day for the glory of working 16 hours seems silly. Perhaps some of those hours are spent on jobs that, if you assigned them to someone else, would be seen as breeding stock excrement. Until next time, keep living the dream, and remember that the most precious resource any of us has besides our health is time. It’s impossible to know how much you have, so place a high value on it and spend it on people and things worthy of the investment. Tim Zweber farms with his wife, Emily, their three children and his parents, Jon and Lisa, near Elko, Minnesota.

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Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024 • Page 39

Forging forward with focus A new year. A new start. After the challenging year we have experienced, we are ready to close the chapter on 2023 and forge forward into 2024. The year arrives as a welcome nale to the busy harvest and holiday seasons, bringing with it a period of much-needed rest. As such, these next few weeks are a great time to reect on the previous year, reassess where we are currently and develop a vision for where we want to go. Setting intentions and goals for the upcoming year is crucial to the success of our dairy and is one thing that we are intentional about each January.

The NexGen: Adventures of two dairy daughters

By Megan Schrupp & Ellen Stenger Columnists Spending time identifying and reecting on the previous year’s bottlenecks and missed opportunities is important. Setting goals for the future of our dairy is the direction we give our team to steer our operation in the upcoming year. There are a few important keys to the process of goal-setting. First, a positive and open mindset for all involved is crucial during this time. It’s easy to come up with a list of all the things that went wrong. We must remember in this process to be grateful for what we have and where we are while discussing our opportunities for improvement this next year. Focusing on things that kept us from achieving the next level of success is where we need to place our attention. Gather the key employees together and facilitate a discussion. Start by listing everything that went well. Then, create a list of what kept the dairy from being better. A positive, open mindset that allows for free thinking is crucial. After the team has listed things they believe should be improved in the upcoming year, identify which item on that list is the one, specic limitation to the increased success of the operation. Identifying that bottleneck in the dairy is the key. There will be other issues that could be addressed, but they may not be the factor limiting progress. If you are new to this process, we

suggest selecting one item from the list to focus on and use it to create your goal. Goals should be clearly dened and specic. A goal we are focusing on this year is eliminating pneumonia in our post-weaning calves. In our example, we have chosen a specic group of animals, a specic disease process and a specic level to which we would like to reduce the incidence. If this process seems challenging, another great place to start is to ask those closest advisors to your operation for their thoughts. A nutritionist, veterinarian or other consultant are great people to include in this process. Once a goal has been set, write it down. Hang it up. Post it in the ofce, the vet room and the calf room. Hang it up wherever involved team members spend their time. Our goals are posted in our ofce as well as at face level above the counter in our veterinary room, so team members see them and remind themselves every day of where we need to focus our efforts. Earl Nightingale wisely put it decades ago in “The Strangest Secret” where he said, “You are now, and you do become what you think about.” Choose your goal, and post it up for all to see and think about every day. We like to take an additional step in our goal-setting process. After we have identied a bottleneck and set the goal we would like to achieve in the upcoming year, we then brainstorm a list of daily action steps that would allow us to move toward our goal. These do not need to be big action items. Steve Jobs hit the nail on the head when he said, “Start small, think big. Don’t worry about too many things at once. Take a handful of simple things to begin with, and then progress to more complex ones.” Brainstorm simple action items that can be implemented every day for a month or two, and then review them. Do not try to do all the things at once. Choose one or two things, and do them well. In a month or two, the team can review the progress toward the goal and add more action items or pivot in a new direction if the results have been minimal. The key to success at the end of the year comes down to this: daily, small steps that make your dairy better today than it was yesterday. That’s it. These small, daily wins will add up to a year of improvement and success. The goal sets the direction. It’s the North Star, the guiding light for the team. Join us in setting the course for a new year, a new adventure and the next generation of success. Megan Schrupp and Ellen Stenger are sisters and co-owners of both NexGen Dairy and NexGen Market in Eden Valley, Minnesota. They can be reached at Nexgendairy@gmail.com.

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Page 40 • Dairy Star • Saturday, January 13, 2024

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