February 11, 2023 Dairy Star - 1st section - Zone 1

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Volume 24, No. 24

Creating clean energy

Three Iowa dairy farms partner to make renewable natural gas

MAURICE, Iowa – A trio of northwestern Iowa dairy operations are teaming up to install a pair of anaerobic digesters that will make methane from their cows’ manure.

In a unique twist, the renewable natural gas produced by the dairies will be sold directly to the nearby town of Sioux Center.

The three dairy farms include Maassen Dairy, which

Aaron Maassen and his family milk 2,000 cows on their farm near Maurice, Iowa. The Maassens are installing a manure digester that will provide renewable natural gas to the nearby town of Sioux Center, Iowa.

is milking about 2,000 head; Brian Roorda Dairy, which is home to about 1,500 head; and Hoogland Dairy, an op-

eration that has about 3,000 head.

Construction of the two digesters will begin this spring. It is hoped they will start producing renewable natural gas by mid-2024.

“One digester will be built north of our manure lagoon and will handle the manure from our dairy and the manure from Brian Roorda Dairy, which is located a mile away,” said Aaron Maassen, a fth-generation farmer who, with his family, operates Maassen Dairy.

A pair of 6-inch pipes will be installed between Maassen Dairy and Brian Roorda Dairy. One pipeline will carry manure from Brian Roorda Dairy to the Maassens’ digester, while the other will carry the ap-

February 11, 2023

propriate amount of digestate back to Brian Roorda Dairy.

The second manure digester will be built at Hoogland Dairy. The Hoogland Dairy digester facility will also feature a renery that will remove impurities from the raw methane. The resulting product will be no different than the natural gas that is obtained from traditional sources.

“The renery is the most expensive part of producing renewable natural gas from manure, so it makes economic sense to have just one renery to serve all three farms,” Maassen said. “A

Turn to

Two sisters for two brothers

Bushman families dairy in NE Iowa

WAUKON, Iowa –

When Fritz Bushman and Alyssa (Nessa) Bushman locked their siblings Zack and Rachael in the mudroom together until they decided on a rst date, they sealed their fate of two brothers marrying two sisters.

Fritz and Alyssa Bushman and Zack and Rachael Bushman are organic dairy farmers in northeast Iowa. Fritz farms with his parents and another brother on their 160-cow dairy where they milk twice a day near Castalia. They also farm 700 acres

and raise 14,000 laying hens.

Zack and Rachael’s organic farm is located near Waukon, about half an hour away from the family’s home farm. They have 120 cows, 400 acres and milk three times a day.

The two farms collaborate together for eldwork.

The Bushman brothers met the Nessa sisters through church when the Nessas’ dad came to be the pastor where the Bushmans attended. Fritz and Alyssa were the rst two to fall in love.

The farm played a part in their love story.

“Our dating life revolved around milking and eldwork,” Fritz said.

Though unconventional, Alyssa said it did the trick.

“Our rst date was plowing together,” she said.

Fritz even let her drive the tractor, and Alyssa became confused in the dark and accidentally took a few tines off of a rake that was sitting at the end of the row. They were married less than a year later

in 2013.

Zack took a little more prodding to get a relationship going with Rachael.

| Page 6

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The Ofce of the U.S. Trade Representative is moving forward and seeking a second dispute settlement panel against Canada and its dairy policy. The United States won its rst dispute panel over Canada’s unwillingness to obey the tariff-rate quota provisions of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Canada revised its approach to TRQs this past year, but the USTR contends the new policy also provides unfair advantages to Canadian dairy processors. “Canada’s TRQ allocation system is not only a violation of USMCA, it directly harms American dairy farmers, processors and other workers by unfairly restricting access to their market,” said Jim Mulher, president/CEO, National Milk Producers Federation.

Ready to complete the farm bill this year

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson is committed to passing a new farm bill this year. “An extension is not what I prefer; I want to get the job done,” Thompson said. “I’m condent that if we lean in together and we do this in a bipartisan way and a bicameral way, we get this done before it expires at the end of September.” A divided government often brings fear of gridlock. Thompson said the thin margin will keep Congress more realistic and thwart unreasonable amendments. “This is probably the most important bill for people that eat,” he said. “Oh, that would be every American.”

Federal order reform coming Federal Milk Marketing Order reform will be part of the farm bill debate. “You can’t keep doing what you’ve always done and expect different results,” Thompson said. “We’ve been bleeding dairy farms; (Without change,) we will get to the point where we will be buy-

ing uid milk and dairy products from other countries and that is food insecurity.”

Thompson said Dairy Margin Coverage has worked well, but his committee will learn more during the hearings and regional farm bill listening sessions.

An opportunity for legislation that everybody needs

Neither party has an overwhelming majority in Congress. Minnesota Rep. Michelle Fischbach sees a silver lining to the situation. “I see it as an opportunity because I think then you’re going to get bills that reect what everybody needs and what the country needs,” Fischbach said. “We can’t just put something out and say take it or leave it; we’re going to have to be talking about it and make sure it ts what people need.” Speaker Kevin McCarthy has agreed to an open rule, leaving the possibility for hundreds of amendments to a bill. That could be a negative situation with a complex farm bill. Fischbach is a member of the House Rules Committee and believes this can be addressed. “Each bill gets a different rule,” she said. “I think the farm bill is probably a little bit more delicate, so you’ll probably see either a structured rule or potentially a closed rule where there won’t be amendments on the oor but amendments in the other committees.” Fischbach is also a member

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of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction on everything from taxes to trade.

House ag committee passes RFA funding bill

The Minnesota House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee approved two identical bills that would appropriate $50 million from state bond proceeds for the Rural Finance Authority. HF103 is sponsored by Badger, Minnesota, Republican John Burkel, and HF463 is sponsored by Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, DFL’er Samantha Vang. RFA funds can be used for beginning farmer loans, loan restructuring, ag improvement and livestock expansion loans. The House Capital Investment Committee is the next step for these bills.

Bill guarantees paid family leave

The beginning of the legislative session typically happens at a slow, methodical pace. That has not been the case this year in St. Paul, Minnesota. One of the bills on a fast track would require Minnesota businesses to provide up to 12 weeks of paid family leave and up to an additional 12 weeks of paid sick leave. Cory Bennett, of Bennett Government Consulting, said this proposal would impact farmers. “That’s certainly something that employers are going to have to provide if they’re not providing it already at a certain level; the same with sick time as well,” Bennett said. “After 80 hours, employees can start to accrue hours (for paid family leave), and they will start to have to provide that sick time as well.”

EWG highlights lenders in latest farm payment database

The Environmental Working Group is out with its latest farm subsidy database. Rather than releasing the names of farmers receiving government payments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is now releasing the name of the bank or nancial institution nancing the farm’s operating loan. EWG said the Price Loss Coverage program paid out the most money to lenders, accounting for 6% of farm subsidies from 2019 to 2021. The Farm Service Agency received the most payments in 2021 at $87 million. AgriFund, which does business as Ag Resource Management, received nearly $35 million. AgCountry Farm Credit Services is ranked third at $18 million.

EWG database described as ‘misleading’

The Environmental Working Group’s so-called Farm Subsidy Data-

base has been highlighting farm program payments since 1995. Rather than releasing the names of all farmers receiving payments, USDA now lists the lender. AgCountry Farm Credit Services President and CEO Marc Knisely said the EWG information is misleading. “The only time a lender is listed as having received this support payment is when the farmer actually makes an assignment to a lender,” Knisely said.

“This money does not come to the lender for the lender’s benet. It is provided on behalf of the farmers and ranchers as a payment to be applied to their loan.”

Knisely also takes issue with the EWG characterizing farm program payments as a subsidy. “It is just unfortunate; causing a rift by using terminology like that is disappointing,” he said.

IDFA names chief economist

Mike Brown is the new chief economist for the International Dairy Foods Association. Previously, Brown was the director of the dairy supply chain for the Kroger supermarket chain.

Peterson to consult for IDFA

The International Dairy Foods Association has added three dairy policy consultants. The trio includes former House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, who now leads The Peterson Group. In addition, Chip English of the Davis Wright Tremaine LLP law rm and Steven Rosenbaum of the Covington law rm have signed on with IDFA. Both have experience with federal milk marketing orders.

AgriGrowth executive committee elected

The 2023 AgriGrowth ofcer team is in place. Associated Milk Producers Inc. CEO Sheryl Meshke succeeds Rod Hebrink of Compeer Financial as AgriGrowth’s chair. Jake Hamlin of CHS is vice chair.

Trivia challenge

Poutine is a classic Canadian dish featuring fries, cheese curds and gravy. That answers our last trivia question. For this week’s trivia, what year did John Deere start producing and selling lawn and garden tractors? We will have the answer in the next edition of Dairy Star.

Don Wick is owner/broadcaster for the Red River Farm Network, based in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Wick has been recognized as the National Farm Broadcaster of the Year and served as president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Don and his wife, Kolleen, have two adult sons, Tony and Sam, and ve grandchildren, Aiden, Piper, Adrienne, Aurora and Sterling.

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pipeline will carry raw biogas from our farm to Hoogland Dairy, which is located about 3 miles away. The puried renewable natural gas will then be piped to Sioux Center.”

Ypsilanti, Michigan-based Novilla RNG will build the manure digesters at Maassen Dairy and at Hoogland Dairy. Novilla RNG has formed a separate entity called West Branch LLC that will manage the operation of the digesters and market the dairies’ natural gas.

“We were referred to Hoogland, Maassen and Brian Roorda dairies as great dairies that did not have an RNG project,” said Jared Williams, co-CEO of Novilla RNG. “When we were looking for a natural gas pipeline to inject the gas into, we saw that Sioux Center was nearby and had the capacity to handle the gas injection. Once we started working with Sioux Center, we were impressed by their speed and forward thinking and decided that’s where we wanted to inject our product.”

The dairies received a down payment after signing letters of intent with Novilla RNG. The dairy operators will receive a second payment when construction of the digesters reaches approximately the sixmonth mark and another payment when the digesters are completed. Participating dairy farmers will receive their rst royalties a year after gas production begins.

“The majority of the revenue for this project comes from being able to sell negative carbon intensity gas to end customers,” Williams said. “A CI score is a measure of how much greenhouse gas emissions are released to create a unit of energy. As a reference, the CI of gasoline is +92, geological natural gas +67, solar and wind, near zero. The gas being generated at these dairies is expected to have a CI score in the negative 200s. This is an energy equivalent to roughly 1,025,000 gallons of gasoline per year.”

Adam Fedders is the assistant utilities manager for the city of Sioux Center, a growing town with a population of 8,583.

“During the summertime, the dairies will be capable of suppling

100% of Sioux Center’s natural gas needs,” Fedders said. “There hasn’t been any pushback against this project. People are happy to have a local, dependable source of renewable energy. It benets our local economy and increases Sioux Center’s natural gas capacity.”

Sioux Center’s utilities department will break ground this spring on a 6-inch natural gas pipeline that will run from Sioux Center to Hoogland Dairy. It is hoped that the pipeline project will be completed by this fall. The estimated $5.2 million cost for constructing the 8-mile pipeline will be covered by Novilla RNG.

“During the wintertime, the dairies will supply only a portion of the natural gas used by the people of Sioux Center,” Fedders said. “This is not only due to higher demand during the colder months, but also because the dairies will need to burn more of their gas to heat the digesters.”

Maassen said there will be three or four West Branch employees onsite at all times to manage the digesters and the renery.

“Our only job is to send fresh manure to the digesters every day,” Maassen said. “They want the manure to be as fresh as possible to increase methane yields and to decrease the amount of gas that will need to be burned to maintain optimal operating temperatures in the digesters.”

The nutrient value and the volume of the digested manure will remain unchanged.

“The only difference is that the nutrients in the manure solids may be more available because they have been predigested,” Maassen said.

The amount of revenue the dairies will receive for their renewable natural gas will vary according to market conditions and the quantity of methane produced.

“We have entered into a 20-year contract with Novilla RNG, so it’s a long-term relationship,” Maassen said. “The digesters have been sized to allow for the future growth of our

Construc on of the two digesters will begin this spring. Once completed, the digesters will look similar to the one above and produce renewable natural gas by mid-2024.

dairy herds. At peak capacity, the two digesters will be able to handle the manure from a total of 8,000 cows.”

Maassen Dairy beds their free stalls with sand. Preventing waste sand from entering the manure stream will create some managerial and technical challenges.

“Keeping sand out of the digesters is a big concern,” Maassen said. “We will be installing additional equipment, such as slope screens, to help us recover 100% of our waste sand. This will result in cost savings for us and better bedding for our cows.”

Brian Roorda is looking forward to the project.

“This project is good for us, good for the local community and good for the environment,” he said. “It became very exciting once I learned that the town of Sioux Center is going to be involved.”

Maassen agreed.

“Our focus is caring for our cows and our land,” Maassen said. “We are in the business of producing milk, not renewable natural gas. We were looking to partner with someone who knows the renewable natural gas business, and Novilla was a good t.”

Roorda said the digesters will help the three dairies remain protable well into the future.

“It just feels good to do something good,” he said.

Maassen said the amount of carbon-neutral energy the dairies will produce will be the equivalent of taking 8,800 cars off the road.

“The digesters will simply be capturing the gas that is naturally produced by the manure,” he said. “The development of new technology has now made that economically feasible.”

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“I knew that he was going to ask me out that day,” Rachel said. “So, I followed him around kind of like a puppy dog. … He never asked me out. He had all these opportunities.”

Thankfully, their already married respective siblings came to their rescue. When Rachael’s parents got ready to leave on Thanksgiving from the Bushmans’ house, Fritz and Alyssa offered to take Rachael home. They got both Zack and Rachael inside the mudroom, and Fritz guarded the outside door while Alyssa guarded the inside door.

“We thought, ‘They’re in there. They have no choice,’” Alyssa said.

The ploy worked. A year and a half later, they too were married.

Though they married brothers, the sisters have very different personalities and joke they married each other in male form. Rachael said their husbands each have a personality that seems to correspond to their respective sister-in-law.

“I’m similar to Fritz, and Alyssa is similar to Zack,” Rachael said.

All four of the Bushmans are involved on their respective farms.

Fritz and Zack farm full time. Fritz does morning milking and works with the calves. He also is the mechanic of the family since he

mes a day.

completed the John Deere training program at Northeast Iowa Community College in Calmar.

Alyssa is a stay-at-home mom. She takes care of their four children: Cyrus, Dulcy, Estelle and Gracia. She also helps with eldwork when they need an extra hand.

Rachael is also a stay-athome mom for their four children: Sophia, Briella, Joanna and Elliana. Rachael helps

with the bookwork, taxes and payroll for the farm. In the barn, she helps with one of their three milkings and also helps with calf feeding. Zack and Rachael have a full-time employee and one part-time high school student who helps. Zack takes care of everything else. He also does custom merging and manure hauling.

have found that raising their children with this lifestyle has provided its own unique experience.

“They learn a lot of responsibility,” Rachael said.

by the reality that Fritz cannot stop by for breakfast or lunch, and the kids do not get to go off with him in the tractor on a whim.

Alyssa and Rachael have broadened their understanding of dairy farming since their marriages. “I didn’t know that farmers never stopped working,” Rachael said.

Alyssa said she realizes now that some of her early conceptions of farming were incorrect.

“I didn’t realize how much technology has gone into farming,” Alyssa said.

Both couples have hopes and goals for their farming operations. Fritz and Alyssa hope to buy into the family farm and also build a house on the property. Zack has dreams of expanding the freestall barn. His current freestall capacity is 130 stalls spread throughout three buildings. He hopes to increase that to 150 stalls or more.

Both couples have marriage advice for other farming couples.

“When working cows, don’t take things seriously,” Fritz said.

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Change creates challenges

Henkes staying steadfast in ND’s Oliver County

Editor’s note: This is the second story in a series highlighting families who are the last dairy farm to operate within their respective counties across our coverage area. Dairy Star hopes to shed light on the industry’s landscape surrounding these farms and how these isolated farms thrive.

In the Jan. 28 issue of Dairy Star, we featured Scott and Darlys Albrecht and their youngest son, Dallas, of Mizpah, Minnesota. They milk 90 cows in a double-10 parabone parlor in Koochiching County. Read their story at www.dairystar. com.

HANNOVER, N.D. – Randy Henke calls Oliver County home. His is the only dairy farm that does so.

Henke’s closest dairy farm neighbor hails from Morton County 10 miles away, but that farmer is

considering ending his dairy career.

“Oliver and Morton counties used to be big for dairy farming,” Henke said. “That’s why Morton County has Salem Sue, the big Holstein statue.”

Henke, and his wife, Sue, and their children, Wilton and Sigryn, milk 200 cows in a double-7 herringbone parlor near Hannover.

Once a hub of the dairy industry in southcentral North Dakota, the future of dairy in Oliver County

and the region, and North Dakota as a whole, is unclear; yet, the Henkes continue on.

The Henkes’ herd consists of Holsteins with a few Jerseys and Guernseys, and they raise 70 Hereford-Simmental cow-calf pairs. They farm 2,400 acres of corn, wheat, sunowers, soybeans and alfalfa. The Henkes also manage 800 acres of pasture.

“One thing I like about Oliver County is that land values aren’t

quite so crazy like they are other places,” Henke said. “Also, we can still raise pretty good crops up here. We don’t get 50-bushel beans every year. In fact, I only got that once. Most of the time, it’s 30-bushel beans, but it works out because our land values aren’t so high. But, that’s changing too.”

Henke said he struggles to nd needed supplies, repairs and employees for the farm and wonders whether there will continue to be a place to sell his milk. He is also concerned about how to transition the farm to the next generation.

When Wilton graduates from college this spring, he will farm with Henke full time with plans to take over the farm. However, decisions about the future are out of the Henkes’ hands.

“Our facilities are getting old,” Henke said. “We’re talking about robots or maybe a different parlor, but that’s going to be a very difcult decision to make because we have one processing plant, and we almost lost that a few years ago. We thought we were done (when it closed), but then Prairie Farms stepped in.”

Every other day, Land O’Lakes picks up the Henkes’ milk and hauls it to Prairie Farms Dairy in Bismarck. They also pick up milk for four dairy farms in nearby counties and a few more farms farther away. All is used for uid milk.

“We remodeled

springing heifer barn and replaced the

steel stalls and switched to TORENNA 40” stalls, we were able to increase from 72 to 100 stalls. With the old steel stalls, a lot of heifers were laying in the alleyways but with the TORENNA stalls, that problem is solved. We like the TORENNA stall flexibility which allows the stalls to be narrower and larger cows can easily move the stalls to the width they need.”

BUILT TO KEEP GOING.

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PEOPLE MOVING PRODUCT

Cheese as a love language

By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com

VIROQUA, Wis.

– The rst time Sarah Clemens tasted artisanal cheese, she knew she could never go back to eating mild cheddar. When she began working in a specialty food shop in her early 20s and discovered the connection between local cheeses and the farms they came from, her perspective changed and an appreciation for quality cheese and dairy farming was formed.

“I’m not really sure what about it (dairy farming) pulled at my heart so much,” Clemens said. “But once I made the connection of where our dairy products come from, I was just fascinated by it.”

The St. Paul, Minnesota, native has made a home in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area as a cheesemonger. Her cheese shop, Noble Rind Cheese Company, celebrates its oneyear anniversary in February.

The cheese case takes center stage at Noble Rind Cheese Company, with a large variety of cut-to-order cheese options. There is everything from local raw milk cheese to elite cheeses imported from Europe. In between, there are classic cheddar and havarti cheeses, among others.

with milk and butter in the recipe. All of the dairy products used in the kitchen are sourced from Organic Valley, Westby Cooperative Creamery and Grassland Dairy.

While Clemens is not a licensed cheesemaker, she does make her own version of American cheese. The process involves shredding Organic Valley cheese and mixing it with butter, milk and a couple other ingredients. The mixture is then blended to create a creamy, melty texture. It is portioned out and used on sandwiches.

ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR

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While there is always a rotation of varieties of cheese, Clemens said that Widmer’s Cheese Cellars brick cheese, Pleasant Ridge Reserve and havarti are among the top sellers.

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‘08 Agco 3000 Corn ‘21 Bobcat S76, 344 hrs. ‘19 Bobcat T595 ‘17 Bobcat T770, 1800 hrs. ‘18 Bobcat T770, 2400 hrs. ‘05 Bobcat T300, 4900 hrs. ‘19 Bobcat 3400 side-by-side, 4100 miles ‘19 Bobcat T595, SJC,CAH 1300 hrs.

Customers can taste cheeses before buying them. Once a selection is made, the order is hand cut from the wheel.

“I wanted to have the more interactive buying experience where people could taste cheeses before buying them,” Clemens said. “They could learn why one cheddar tastes so different than another cheddar, which

“You really have a personal connection to the product and the land where the product is coming from,” Clemens said. “I really love that.”

Along with the cheeses on hand, Noble Rind Cheese Company also offers a menu of soups and sandwiches where all the ingredients are made from scratch, including the bread. One popular bread is a white loaf

“Cooking is denitely my love language, and I have a real passion for cheese,” Clemens said. “I have been very fortunate that my passion and interests lined up with my work.”

Other dairy items used regularly in the kitchen include heavy cream, half-and-half, Westby Cooperative Creamery French onion dip and a local cream cheese that is used in the homemade

Clemens also uses her platform to educate customers about cheese. Some tips she offers include wrapping cheese in cheese paper instead of plastic, serving cheese at room temperature and that all rinds are edible except for wax or cloth rinds. Clemens offers demonstrations for how to build cheese or charcuterie boards as well.

Future plans for the shop include expanding the menu to include breakfast items.

Noble Rind Cheese Company is located within the larger Historic Fortney Hotel building with newly renovated boutique hotel rooms. Guests will be able to stay over-

Turn to NOBLE RIND | Page 11

night this spring.

Once that is up and running, hotel guests will be able to come downstairs to have a simple breakfast at Noble Rind Cheese Company.

“Though we’re not big enough to offer hash browns, eggs and a full farmer breakfast just yet, I’m excited to nd a good local yogurt to use in addition to offering pastries, fresh fruit, toast, and meat and cheese for breakfast,” Clemens said.

Clemens said she has seen the trend of dairy alternatives start to dwindle and believes it is a wave that will settle down. This is important to her because she values real dairy as a vital part of her business.

“I do think the trend will ease up especially as more and more education gets out there about how livestock and dairy operations are a vital part of our lifestyle and our environment,” Clemens said.

Clemens plans to promote dairy through her shop and her support of local cheese producers. She continues to be enamored with the romance of dairy farming and the quality cheese that comes from it.

“I think what fascinates me, too, is that milking animals is one of the most ancient traditions that we have in our civilization,” Clemens said. “That’s just really compelling to me. This is our survival, and this is life.”

What counties or area do you cover? I work for Wabasha and Olmsted counties, plus I test a few herds for the state. With a herd in LeRoy, Minnesota and 30 minutes north of Menomonie, Wisconsin, I get to see a lot of eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

Don Heise

17 years with DHIA

What do you enjoy about the farmers you work with? Some of the farmers I deal with have become very good friends. There have been invitations to baptisms, graduations, weddings and, unfortunately, a few funerals.

What do you like about your work for DHIA? DHIA has given me the exibility to set my own schedule; If one of the grandkids has a ball game, I can usually schedule my day so I can go. DHIA, as an organization, has put together a great team for support. Support is just a phone call away.

What do you do in your free time? We have 30 beef cows. My wife raises a rare breed of horses (8) called Nokotas. 3 Border Collies, and the best hobby ever, 15 grandkids!

“Some

“Land O’Lakes called us and wanted our projections for the next three to ve years,” Henke said. “Our fuel provider asked us what our plans are down the road. Until they can tell me for sure that there will be a place for me to sell my milk, why would I want (to make plans) if I can’t move my milk in a month or a few years? We have no infrastructure up here anymore for dairy supplies.”

It makes dairy farming challenging.

“We’re not like the I-29 corridor in South Dakota where it seems like every other year a processing plant is expanding or they’re building a new one,” Henke said. “They have so many more options to sell their milk there.”

Infrastructure for the dairy industry has long been gone from Oliver County and the surrounding area.

Hannover used to have a creamery before it closed in 1970. Nearby Hazon had a cheese plant, and there were a number of businesses selling dairy farm equipment. But by the mid-1980s, a decline of the dairy industry was in motion. Now, it is difcult to nd parts or repairs. Henke said he twice dealt with fuel pump issues that affected his ability to milk cows because of his location.

“I had a milk pump go out and couldn’t get the new pump until that night,” he said. “I couldn’t milk (for the evening milking) until 2 a.m.”

Another time, a dream saved him from giving up on morning milking after already having to skip the eve-

ning milking when he could not nd someone to repair the pump.

“I dreamt about when someone had told me that the (pump’s) motor had a shaft that was a quarter inch too long, so I went out a few hours later, cut the shaft shorter and got it to work,” Henke said. “That was the rst time in my life that we skipped milking. If I would have been in Sauk Centre, (Minnesota), I could have had someone there in 20 minutes.”

Another obstacle for Henke is

nding employees.

“We live in coal country here, so

you can’t compete with wages people are getting at the coal mines and power plants,” Henke said. “Our local people can’t nd people to work at the convenience stores. Labor is a huge problem.”

The Henkes have two full-time employees and four part-time employees. Most of their part-time employees are from Mexico. They go to their home country in December and return to the Henkes’ farm in March; a few have kept this work schedule for more than 12 years.

“Right now, you could say we’re

shorthanded,” Henke said. Sue works on the farm with Henke. She does the bookwork and helps with eldwork including combining and chopping. The Henkes are looking forward to when Wilton will be an everyday presence on the farm. Henke said Sigryn prefers milking to eldwork, but she is busy with high school and sports.

“Sigryn likes to work with animals,” Henke said. “Both kids have enjoyed showing cattle. They both have some of their own cattle here on the farm.”

However, Sigryn is still deciding her future and has other careers beside dairy farming in mind.

Therefore, the dairy operation continues with the future being uncertain.

The Henke farm would not be located in Oliver County if it had not been for a decision Henke’s grandparents made more than a century ago. His grandfather emigrated from Germany and settled in Fairmont, Minnesota. There, he married Henke’s grandmother and started farming.

“For some strange reason, they decided to leave Fairmont and go to Oliver County,” Henke said. “We always have the joke, ‘Why did they ever leave Fairmont?’”

In 1907, Henke’s grandparents homesteaded the quarter of land where the farm is now. They ran the dairy farm until Henke’s father took over. Turn

“When I was a kid, we always had 21 cows in a tiestall barn that we milked,” Henke said. “By the time I was in high school, my parents built a freestall barn and then milked 40 to 50. As an adult, I always thought, ‘The more the merrier,’ so that’s when we really began increasing the herd.”

In 1978, the Henkes built their milking parlor, which has been expanded and remodeled through the years. In 2002, they built a larger freestall barn.

“I bought my rst heifer when I was in the eighth grade and knew then I wanted to be a dairy farmer, but I think even then my rst love was (crop) farming, and it probably still is,” Henke said. “When Sue and I got married, we thought as our acreage increased we would get out of dairy like everyone else has around here, but for whatever reason, that never happened. I am probably more of a dairy farmer now than I ever was.”

Henke is looking to the future. In 10 years, he will be 73 years old. By that time, Henke said he intends to be helping his kids on the farm or with their chosen career paths.

“When I was young, I almost (was required) to dairy farm because my dad didn’t have a lot of acres,” Henke said.

Henke wants to give Wilton the choice.

“If you wanted to make a liv-

ing on a farm then, the milk check is what paid everybody’s farm off, and that was ne because I liked the cows and milking,” he said. “I guess I thought Wilton should have that same opportunity to take over (a dairy operation) as I did, so it will be essentially his choice as to how long the cows are going to stay.”

Henke said among the challenges there is also pride in dairy farming, which he is reminded of when he travels to land the Henkes own near Hazen and stops by the Cenex store in town.

“They have an ice cream machine there, and I get such a kick in the summertime seeing all those kids that are so crazy about the ice cream; they all have ice cream cones and big smiles on their faces,” Henke said. “We do produce a very valuable product, and it kind of makes you proud that you’re part of providing that.”

Henke said he does not see himself moving from Oliver County any time soon.

“It’s home; you take what you were born into,” Henke said. “I always think about if (my grand-parents) would have stayed in Fairmont how much easier it would be to farm. Remember that show, “Back to the Future,” when one thing changes years ago and it changes the whole projection of your life? It’s where we’re at.”

The Fence

Brandon Felling Elrosa, Minnesota Stearns County

750 cows

What is your favorite winter hobby? Restoring two-cylinder John Deere tractors. I’ve done four so far in the last 10 years. I just work on them mechanically to get them running. I don’t paint them to do the full restoration. My kids like to watch and help out so it is a fun activity to do with family.

How did you get introduced to this activity? About 10 years ago, I wanted to get my dad’s old tractors up and running because they were just sitting around. One was a John Deere B which was my dad’s rst tractor. He bought it brand new in 1990 when they started dairying. That one has all original parts.

How do you balance farm work and your hobby? I just make designated time for them in the winter because there is more down time in the winter. My good friend, who also works for us on the dairy, helps me out to x up the tractors.

What is the value of you having an activity away from the farm? It brings family and friends together. It is a good history lesson and helps teach the kids how things work.

Tell us your best story associated with this hobby. Restoring the John Deere B was a big highlight as that was my parents’ rst tractor, and I remember driving it when I was younger. It was a hand clutch so I could run the PTO for my dad when needed.

What else occupies your spare time during the winter? Taking care of our ve horses, snowmobiling and spending time with family and friends. We take the kids out snowmobiling around the yard and up north to my in-laws’ place.

Tell us about your farm. We milk 750 cows in a double-16 herringbone parlor. We farm 1,600 acres of corn, alfalfa, oat and sorghum. We ship our milk to First District Association. My mom, dad and brother, Kyle, help us daily along with my wife, Tessie. We also have 11 employees. Tessie and I have three young kids who also help as they are able. They like to feed calves and go for tractor rides with grandpa. My other brother, Shawn, and sister, Carrie, both live in the area and help when needed.

100

What is your favorite winter hobby? I collect coins. I collect mostly U.S. coins minted from the mid1800s to the mid-1900s.

How did you get introduced to this activity? When I was a kid and the bicentennial coins came out, I thought they were pretty cool and would save the quarters and half dollars when I got them for change. At that time some wheat pennies were in circulation, and I always saved any that I came across. Eventually, I started getting coin magazines and began buying coins through the mail.

How do you balance farm work and your hobby? Farm work always comes rst. Coin collecting is just something done on the side when there is free time.

What is the value of you having an activity away from the farm? Most people that dairy spend too much time on the farm. That's just the nature of the business. Everyone needs something to do away from the farm even if it's not very big. It's good for your overall attitude and mental health.

Tell us your best story associated with this hobby. Years ago, I got an opportunity to tour the Denver Mint. I found it quite fascinating to see how our coins are minted and to nd out some of the history behind U.S. coins.

What else occupies your spare time during the winter? I enjoy spending time with my family, especially our grandson, Lincoln.

Tell us about your farm. We raise corn and alfalfa on about 150 acres. Our milk is sold to Plainview Milk Products Cooperative and gets shipped directly to Kwik Trip. My son-in-law, Josh Herricks, works full time with me. We get part-time help from my daughter, Adriana, and from high school student Sam Koeller.

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200 cows

What is your favorite winter hobby? I like to go coyote hunting in the winter. I go out at my place at night with a call after chores are all done. It’s best to go when there is a full moon. There is a neighbor kid that comes with me sometimes too.

How did you get introduced to this activity? I always wanted to catch one because they can be so elusive, and they don’t make much noise. I was into trapshooting as a kid, and it evolved into this. I have been actively coyote hunting for about 10 years now.

How do you balance farm work and your hobby? Because I hunt coyote at night, it is easy to balance with dairy farming. As soon as I get evening chores done, I get all my white hunting gear on and go out. The next day, I am a little tired, but it’s worth it. What is the value of you having an activity away from the farm? It refreshes you. Just being out there gives you time for your mind to reset. When there is a full moon and everything is just so calm and still and peaceful; it’s a really cool feeling. It always amazes me how these animals can survive out there on these 20-below nights.

Tell us your best story associated with this hobby. One night, when I was walking out to go hunting, a big white owl came up and started hovering right above my head. I got kind of scared that he was going to attack me. I shooed him away, and thankfully, he ew away. There was another time a bald eagle came down and swooped at my electric call.

What else occupies your spare time during the winter? I also enjoy reloading bullets. I buy my own powder, primer and the empty bullet cases. I have been doing that for 15 years. It’s getting harder to nd the powder, so I might not get to do that one as much in the future.

Tell us about your farm. We farm 460 acres of corn and alfalfa. I farm with my brother, Russ, and together, we milk 200 cows in a New Zealand style swing parlor. We even had a guy from New Zealand come here and install it. My wife, Julie, and kids, Ingrid, Greta and Sam, help as needed. We have one full-time employee. We ship our milk to First District Association in Litcheld, Minnesota.

200 cows

What is your favorite winter hobby? I like to watch, play and coach football.

How did you get introduced to this activity? At a young age, I loved to watch my cousins play and watched the Vikings play on TV. When I entered the seventh grade, I started to play football myself.

How do you balance farm work and your hobby? During my free time on Sundays, my boys and I watch NFL Redzone in the house, and when we have to go milk cows, we will watch it on my phone. This way, we never miss out on how our fantasy team is doing. My employees help when I have to go to practice. I help coach the fourth, fth and sixth grade football program in Waverly, South Dakota. Usually, we are about done with chores, but our employees ll in if I do have to leave early, especially on a game day.

What is the value of you having an activity away from the farm? Having an activity like this helps get my mind off of the farm and gives my boys and

Goodridge, Minnesota Pennington County

175 cows

What is your favorite winter hobby? We have two winter hobbies, watching NASCAR and snowmobiling. It is funny how both involve motors and speed. One allows us to enjoy our cozy living room; the other the invigorating, beautiful Minnesota winters.

How did you get introduced to this activity? NASCAR grew slowly. We had a mild interest but started paying more attention and got hooked. We have followed it seriously for more than 20 years. Getting to races in person is rare, but we are excited to be attending the Daytona 500 Feb. 19. On the other hand, snowmobiling has been Mike’s passion since he was 13. He introduced me (Linda) to sleds when we met 35 years ago and have spent many days riding northwestern Minnesota trails between morning and evening milkings.

How do you balance farm work and your hobby? NASCAR is easy since we watch on TV and try to take Sunday afternoons off for viewing. In warm weather during busy times, we listen to the NASCAR radio channel. This year’s Daytona trip is possible because we have two sons farming with us and will leave with condence the cows are well cared for. Snowmobiling is usually a last-minute decision. We leave right from our front door, catch groomed trails within a mile and ride anywhere from 40 miles to 200 miles. We trade off riding opportunities, so someone is always home. Milking and feeding robots also allow exibility without rigid start times.

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Tell us your best story associated with this hobby. This last October, my wife, Emily, two oldest sons, Trent and Eli, and my oldest daughter, Mikayla, took a trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to watch the Pittsburg Steelers play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Trent, my oldest, is a Steelers fan, so we gured it was a great opportunity to get away for a few days and make memories for a lifetime. Seeing the excitement on their faces from the moment when we took off to being at the game is something I will never forget.

What else occupies your spare time during the winter? I am on the volunteer Goodwin Fire Department and teach the conrmation class at Holy Rosary Parish in Kranzburg, South Dakota. We also do our own butchering so usually one week in January we are busy with that. It usually takes me two weeks once I do the curing and smoking. We did four beef and seven pigs this year.

Tell us about your farm. I farm roughly 1,000 acres. We raise corn, soybeans and alfalfa and have a little pasture ground. We sell our milk to Associated Milk Producers Inc., which is currently shipping our milk to Paynesville, Minnesota. The everyday work is being done by my dad, Gerald, brother Kennedy, uncle Rod and myself. My two oldest boys, Trent and Eli, help on weekends and in the summer when they are not in school.

What is the value of you having an activity away from the farm? Mostly putting the day-to-day worries and stressors away for a while. Farming, particularly dairy farming, can be fairly isolating so getting out and about with others is uplifting and usually relaxing. We love what we do but nd refreshment in not having the farm and cows be the topic of conversation all the time.

Tell us your best story associated with this hobby. In 2004, we attended the spring NASCAR race in Las Vegas, Nevada. We were following a new young driver, Kasey Kahne, at the time and saw him run and nearly win a terric race. Fast forward to summer 2021. Kahne, after a successful NASCAR career, retired from Cup but still runs Sprint cars. A close friend of Mike’s, a shing guide, guided a party that included a promoter of Sprint car racing. Long story short, the conversation revealed this promoter knew Kahne personally, and we got free tickets and pit passes to races in Fargo, North Dakota, and a personal meet and greet with Kahne. Not a Cup race but lots of fun anyway.

What else occupies your spare time during the winter? There really isn’t much spare time, but we enjoy movies, old TV shows, a good book and other sports on TV. We are active in our church and the snowmobile club. We are busy with responsibilities as a soil and water conservation district supervisor and local cooperative board member.

Tell us about your farm. We farm 2,800 acres of cash crop soybeans, spring wheat and oats. We raise corn silage and alfalfa to feed the dairy herd. We are a Land O’Lakes producer, but the milk is hauled to Bongards in Perham. In 2016, we built a new facility with robotic milking and feeding systems to accommodate our three sons desiring to farm. Two are here with us and fully engaged in the farm, Matthew with the dairy and Steven handling crop duties. David farms with his in-laws in southern Minnesota but participates in decision making, exhibits the show cattle, works on the farm as able and markets our genetics with Matthew. David’s wife, Ashley, does our embryo transfer/ in vitro fertilization work and straps the show cattle. Matthew’s wife, Malena, a teacher, helps if we are gone and readily lls in when needed. We have no hired labor.

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Mark and Pat Towns; Scott and Nancy

Towns Farms

Towns family breeds for high components, functional type

Towns

Janesville, Wisconsin

540 cows total; 480 milking

Describe your facilities and list your breeding management team. Our milk cows are housed in a sand-bedded freestall barn and milked three times a day in a double-10 parallel parlor. We also have a special needs barn for close-up and early fresh cows that is located close to the parlor so these animals are easier to see and access. Dry cows are housed in our old tiestall barn which has been converted into free stalls. We raise heifer calves to 6 months of age. From 6 to 12 months old, they are sent to our neighbor who is a custom heifer raiser. They come home to be bred. We have a pack shed for heifers and a lane of headlocks outside. After they are conrmed pregnant, they are sent to a different neighbor and return home one to two months before calving. Our breeding management team consists of Marley Malkow from CentralStar Cooperative, our primary A.I. technician Alfonso Perdomo, our herdsman and relief breeder Dr. Haley Prohaska from Evansville Veterinary Service, and Mark and Pat Towns.

STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR

Pat and Mark Towns own and operate Towns Farms near Janesville, Wisconsin, with Mark’s brother and sister-in-law, Sco and Nancy Towns. The Townses milk 480 cows.

What is your current pregnancy rate? The pregnancy rate of heifers is 47% and the cows are at 27%.

What is your reproduction program? We use a double ovsynch program on all cows after a 70-day voluntary waiting period. We have it set up so that

if a cow shows heat on the rst Lutalyse shot after 70 days, we will cherry pick and breed off that. This is our highest repro code. If she’s in heat, it saves on shots. Before we give the second Lutalayse shot, we do have the vet, during a normal herd check, to check those cows for a corpus luteum. Typically, 10% to 15%

of cows don’t have a corpus luteum, so we will use a CIDR on those animals – about one to two cows per week. This is why double ovsynch is probably better than single ovsynch because hormones get where they need to be. We do not do an ovsynch program with our heifers. We may give Lutalyse sometimes

but almost all are bred off natural heats which we use tail chalking to help determine.

Describe your breeding philosophy. We don’t individually mate our cows. We use the computer system the bull studs offer to help stay away from inbreeding. We like a moderatesize cow that ts our facilities and produces milk that is high in protein and fat. We’re using young genomic bulls. Are they as good as proven bulls? Probably not. But with genetic progress, generations turn over faster. I like our 2-year-olds; they are milking well. They look like cows that are going to last. I think average is good versus breeding for extremes which can create problems. A 1,400- to 1,500-pound cow is a nice size for us. I think it’s more important to have a wide cow than a tall cow. I used to be happy to have cows that were immature. We didn’t expect as much out of them as 2-year-olds; we just wanted them to milk well as they got older. We don’t have that luxury anymore. They have to come out of the chute milking.

Robot Barn

“We have been using Udder ComfortTM a long time. Today, we use the Udder Comfort Battery-Operated Backpack Sprayer to apply it quickly and easily on all animals in our fresh groups daily,” says Britney Hill (above), herd manager and part of the next generation operating Four Hills Dairy, Bristol, Vermont.

They milk 2300 cows, calving 10 animals a day, applying Udder Comfort to fresh groups daily for a 5-day course. They also love Udder Comfort for their award-winning show cows.

“With the Udder Comfort Battery-Operated Sprayer, we can do all in our fresh groups without slowing our parlor throughput,” Britney reports.

“It’s convenient, efficient, easy to maneuver, and the battery charge lasts,” she says.

“With Udder Comfort, our fresh cows are more comfortable, and our fresh heifers adjust to milking much faster with better letdown. Doing all in our fresh groups helps keep our SCC around 130,000,” Britney explains.

What guidelines do you follow to reach the goals for your breeding program? Every time the new proofs come out, which happens three times a year, we change the group of genomic bulls we are using. That’s our safeguard in case we get a bull that is not that good. We stick within a certain price range and use bulls in the 80th percentile –not the highest bulls of the breed. We shoot for the best value. We use higher-priced genomic bulls on our heifers because heifers have better conception rates.

What are the top traits you look for in breeding your dairy herd and how has this changed since you started farming? It’s crazy how things have changed.

When I was in 4-H and showing cattle in the 1960s and ‘70s, we were all about pretty cows. We wanted milk too, but cows had to be so big. We went far away from that philosophy. If you’re making a living producing milk, you need to do it efciently. I think feet and legs are equally important to udders. I don’t like bad-uddered cows, but if we can get them through the parlor, we can milk them. If a cow has bad feet and legs and can’t get there, then we can’t milk her. I also breed for width so cows can gain capacity without getting so tall. If cows are not wide, they don’t have enough strength and don’t have as good of circulation. We also place emphasis on components. We are over 7% on combined fat and protein and use that as a metric to judge ourselves. Our cows average 91 pounds of milk, 4.4% butterfat and 3.3% protein. We used to average 100 pounds of milk but

Marley Malkow,

What is the greatest lesson you have learned through your breeding program? You can have the best of intentions genetically, but if a cow doesn’t settle, what good is that? We believe it’s best to start with conception. We used to struggle with conception. Days in milk would get long, and then you don’t get replacements. We had a young herd we were trying to grow, and if reproduction isn’t good, then it’s a battle.

What is the age of your heifers at rst service? 14 months.

herd. Our ideal cow is moderately sized with adequate depth and width, giving her the capacity to eat. We also like cows that get pregnant on the rst service and are aggressive eaters. They have to be in order to be a good cow. A cow with high components is another important quality we strive for.

25% sexed and 10%-15% beef.

Farms near Janesville, Wisconsin. Heifers are bred off natural heats star�ng at 14 months. had lower components. Our nancial consultant told us to focus on components. There was a change in emphasis from pretty type to functional type. We used to give registered cows a pass because they’re pretty, but we can’t afford that anymore. We used to try to get bulls into stud also. We had several that made it, with Townson Lindy being our most famous bull. Our No. 1 emphasis is now on production. Cows have to pay their way.

What are certain traits you try to avoid? Big cows; high pins; too straight legged or too set in the legs; meaty udders as cows carry edema then; and short back teats that cross because these cows squeak when milking.

Describe the ideal cow for your

What role does genetics have in reaching the goals of your farm? I think genetics are important. A cow cannot do something that is not in her. You have to do a good job with their environment too so they can reach their potential.

What percentage of your herd is bred to sexed, conventional and beef semen? Heifers: 60%-65% conventional,

Cows: 65%-70% conventional and 25%-30% beef. We have bred some 2-year-olds to sexed semen that showed a good heat after their rst Lutalyse shot. If cows are not pregnant after the third breeding, we breed them to beef semen for the fourth and fth breedings. If they are not pregnant after that, we usually let them go. We have not done any embryo transfer or in vitro fertilization since we’ve been in our current facilities except for a few beef embryos.

What is your conception rate? How does this differ with different types of semen? Heifers: 69%. Conventional 63%, beef 60% and sexed 50%. Cows: 45%. Conventional 49% and beef 40%.

How does your heifer inventory affect your breeding program? We only breed for how many heifers we need to calve every month and keep tight to a specic number. We shoot for 16. We would like to start with 18 in case we lose a calf or one does not settle. We like to have that wiggle room or cushion in there, but we don’t want more than 20. Our facilities can’t handle it.

Tell us about your farm. Our 495-acre farm became a sesquicentennial farm in 2001. We can’t raise enough feed, but we grow as many of our forages as we can. Half of our crops are corn and half are alfalfa, and we also grow a little bit of rye. We expanded in 1999, building a freestall barn and milking parlor. Prior to that, we were milking on two separate farms in tiestall barns. We ship our milk to Rolling Hills Dairy Producers Cooperative, and we love the people there. Switching to Rolling Hills was one of the best decisions we ever made on our farm.

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JD S660 2014, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, 1727hrs., 1317 Sep hrs., #532082 ........... $189,500

JD 9500 1989, 2WD, Duals, Chopper, 6463 hrs., 4553 Sep hrs., #543952................$20,000

JD 9500 1990, 2WD, Singles, Chopper, 5984 hrs., 3564 Sep hrs., #547007 .............$27,900

JD S690 2016, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, 2544 hrs., 1820 Sep hrs., #547267........... $219,900

Case IH 1660 1987, 2WD, Singles, Spreader, 5259 hrs., #547901 ..........................$16,500

JD S680 2012, 2WD, Duals, 2631 hrs., 1790 Sep hrs., #548165............................ $147,500

Case IH 2388 1998, 2WD, Singles, 3876 hrs., 2943 Sep hrs., #549406 ...................$34,900

JD S690 2017, PRWD, Duals, Chopper , 1433 hrs., 1028 Sep hrs., #549457.......... $280,700

JD S780 2019, PRWD, Duals, Spreader, 1562 hrs., 1131 Sep hrs., #549680 .......... $328,800

JD S780 2019, PRWD, Duals, Spreader, 1559 hrs., 1058 Sep hrs., #549682 .......... $333,900

JD S780 2019, PRWD, Floaters, 1604 hrs., 1145 Sep hrs., #549684 ...................... $339,100

JD S790 2018, PRWD, Singles, Spreader, 1452 hrs., 1055 Sep hrs., #549846 ....... $359,900

JD 9760 STS 2007, 2WD, Duals, Chopper, 2943 hrs., 2141 Sep hrs., #550117 .........$63,900

JD S780 2020, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, 1440 hrs., 941 Sep hrs., #550187............. $393,600

JD S790 2019, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, 1220 hrs., 944 Sep hrs., #550196............. $396,500

JD S690 2015, PRWD, Tracks, 2400 hrs., 1615 Sep hrs., #550872 ......................... $232,900

JD S680 2013, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, 2485 hrs., 1604 Sep hrs., #551147........... $165,000

JD S690 2012, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, 2311 hrs., 1645 Sep hrs., #551148...........

JD S780 2018, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, 1521 hrs., 1130 Sep hrs., #551736...........

JD S680 2014, PRWD, Singles, Chopper, 2709 hrs., 2076 Sep hrs., #551975 ........

JD S660 2017, 2WD, Duals, Chopper, 1575 hrs., 1180 Sep hrs., #552261 ............. $219,900 JD S780 2022, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, 449

Duals, Chopper, 427 hrs., 302 Sep hrs., #552839............... $589,900

JD S780 2020, PRWD, Floaters, Chopper, 1018 hrs., 803 Sep hrs., #553375 ......... $434,000

JD S780 2022, PRWD, Floaters, Chopper, 392 hrs., 323 Sep hrs., #553546 ........... $549,900

JD 9500 1990, 2WD, Singles, Chopper, 3900 hrs., 2600 Sep hrs., #553583 .............$24,000

JD S780 2022, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, 462 hrs., 345 Sep hrs., #553598............... $567,000

JD S790 2022, PRWD, Tracks, Chopper, 38 hrs., 21 Sep hrs., #553771 .................. $719,900

JD S780 2022, PRWD, Tracks, Chopper, 295 hrs., 238 Sep hrs., #554013 .............. $675,000

JD S770 2022, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, 270 hrs., 195 Sep hrs., #554014............... $560,000

JD S770 2021, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, 565 hrs., 486 Sep hrs., #554050............... $405,000

JD S780 2022, PRWD, Duals, Spreader, 240 hrs., 183 Sep hrs., #554094 .............. $587,500

JD S660 2012, 2WD, Duals, Chopper, 1643 hrs., 1188 Sep hrs., #554132 ............. $179,900

JD S670 2012, 2WD, Duals, Chopper, 2774 hrs., 1883 Sep hrs., #554281 ............. $129,900

JD S680 2014, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, 2260 hrs., 1355 Sep hrs., #554365........... $189,900

JD S790 2022, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, 334 hrs., 269 Sep hrs., #554381............... $610,000

JD S780 2022, PRWD, Floaters, Chopper, 236 hrs., 170 Sep hrs., #554623 ........... $599,000

JD S790 2018, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, 1314 hrs., 940 Sep hrs., #554633............. $354,900

JD S780 2022, PRWD, Floaters, Chopper, 216 hrs., 169 Sep hrs., #554706 ........... $579,500

JD S780 2022, PRWD, Floaters, Chopper, 243 hrs., 177 Sep hrs., #554707 ........... $578,500

JD S780 2022, PRWD, Floaters, Chopper, 138 hrs., 91 Sep hrs., #554708 ............. $589,500

JD S780 2022, PRWD, Floaters, Chopper, 183 hrs., 131 Sep hrs., #554709 ........... $584,500

JD S780 2022, PRWD, Floaters, 182 hrs., 139 Sep hrs., #554710 .......................... $583,500

JD S790 2020, PRWD, Tracks, Chopper, 804 hrs., 584 Sep hrs., #554727 .............. $529,000

JD 9870 STS 2010, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, 3394 hrs., 2260 Sep hrs., #554931.... $118,900

JD S680 2012, PRWD, Duals, Chopper, 2500 hrs., 2000 Sep hrs., #554973........... $129,900

FIELD CULTIVATORS

ft., 5-Section Folding, #190857 ................................................ $57,500

JD 2210 2005, 38 ft., 3-Section Folding, #191986 ................................................... $28,000

JD 2210 2009, 55.5 ft., 5-Section Folding, #531369 ................................................ $44,900

JD 2210 2004, 27 ft., 3-Section Folding, #531751 ................................................... $29,900

Case TM 14, 55 ft., 5-Section Folding, #532837 ...................................................... $23,000

JD 2210 2012, 58 ft., 5-Section Folding, #533062 ................................................... $57,500

JD 985 2000, 50.5 ft., 5-Section Folding, #535303 .................................................. $15,500

JD 2210 2010, 57 ft., 5-Section Folding, #542886 ................................................... $47,900

JD 980 2000, 44 ft., 5-Section Folding, #545689 ..................................................... $16,500

JD 2230 2021, 60.5 ft., 5-Section Folding, #545925 ..............................................$162,000

JD 980 2000, 44 ft., 3-Section Folding, #546434 ..................................................... $16,900

JD 2210 2005, 43 ft., 5-Section Folding, #551803 ................................................... $33,500

JD 2200 2002, 60 ft., 5-Section Folding, #551815 ................................................... $29,500

Case IH TIGER MATE 200 2009, 54 ft., #552287..................................................... $43,500

Sunflower 5055-50 2012, 50.5 ft., 5-Section Folding, #552837 ............................ $39,900

JD 2210 2006, 60.5 ft., 5-Section Folding, #553154 ................................................ $29,900

Case IH Tigermate 2 2007, 44 ft., 5-Section Folding, #553875 ............................. $29,900

Case IH Tigermate 200 2009, 50 ft., 5-Section Folding, #554055 ......................... $39,900

JD 2210 2014, 25 ft., 3-Section Folding, #554138 ................................................... $42,500

Case IH 200 2014, 60 ft., 5-Section Folding, #554255 ............................................ $52,500

JD 2230FH 2019, 65 ft., 5-Section Folding, #554291 ............................................$152,000

JD 2210 2008, 33 ft., 3-Section Folding, #554294 ..........................................$39,900

JD 2210 2014, 41 ft., 3-Section Folding, #554297 ................................................... $47,500

JD 2210 2006, 45.5 ft., 5-Section Folding, #554617 ................................................ $29,900

Case IH

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A father’s challenge answered

Person brothers fulll promise for 45 years

CLEAR LAKE, Minn. –Forty-ve years ago, the Person brothers’ father gave them an ultimatum.

“Dad said you guys need to be committed for 10 years, or I’m not going to switch the barn to cows,” Kris Person said. “We agreed, and 45 years later, here we are.”

The duo was in their 20s when their dad, Neil, who was a hog farmer and milk hauler, decided to venture into dairy farming and purchased cows in 1976.

With a combined 90 years of dairy farming to their names, Ray and Kris Person milk 43 cows twice a day in the original 24-stall tiestall barn built in 1919.

“Originally, we had 24 cows in the tiestall barn, but in our prime, we milked 70 cows,” Kris said.

The brothers agreed they are glad their dad bought a farm all those years ago.

“The farm is my life,” Kris said. “We lived to farm;

we didn’t farm to live.”

Ray agreed.

“It’s a way of life,” he said.

Out of all the types of farming the brothers have done, Kris said dairying is part of who they are.

“It’s a family affair,” Kris said. “There’s something about farming, especially dairy farming. The dairy barn is a gathering place, and it’s not worth much to anyone else. But, it’s the No. 1 place I want to be.”

The barn is the family’s meeting place, and during morning chores, family members discuss what they have going on during the week such as doctor appointments and school functions with children and grandchildren.

The Persons own 615 acres and raise corn, alfalfa, soybean and rye on 400 tillable acres. The farm site is nestled along the Mississippi River and includes many wooded acres.

The Persons, along with the help of neighbors, put up 2,000 small square bales of rye each summer. The neighbors have the equipment to harvest the grain, and the brothers make straw from the rye to use as bedding in the tiestall barn. The youngstock are bedded with corn stalks and soybean straw.

The brothers are not as young as they once were, and Kris’ son, Andy, farms full

time with his dad and uncle.

“Sometimes the cows get to be too much, but without them, I don’t know what I would do,” Kris said. “Andy wants to keep it in the family.”

Ray and Kris milk the cows at 7 a.m. every day. Andy comes later to help switch the cows. They repeat the task at 7 p.m. Kris’ wife, Diane, takes care of all the calves.

“We’d like to keep it go-

ing,” Kris said. “To have Andy helping out feels really good.”

Kris and Andy take care of the eldwork, and Andy also takes care of all the equipment maintenance.

“I used to work full time 80 hours a week for LG Seeds then come home and help on the farm,” Andy said. “Now, I farm full time and work part time as an agronomist.”

Andy also takes care of physical tasks such as gathering wood for the wood-burning stove, articially inseminating the cows, cleaning calf pens and scraping down sides in the silos.

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Andy is raising his family on the farm and is instilling the same values that were instilled in him. Andy and his wife, Kristy, have three children. Andy said his daughter loves the cows and knows exactly which ones to bring in. She checks the barn daily for newborns.

Andy’s favorite memories of growing up on the farm are from the gatherings they used to host in the 1990s.

“We used to have a plowing bee and would have old antique tractors and plows come out,” Andy said. “We have 20 restored antique tractors in the shed of all kinds. Some are from my

grandpa.”

The farm has a unique history.

Ray and Kris, along with their sister and parents, were living in Big Lake until their parents purchased the farm in 1963. At the time, their dad worked as a milk hauler and hauled area farmers’ milk in cans.

The brothers said their parents wanted to raise their family on a farm.

At rst, they raised only crops and eventually added livestock when corn prices fell.

“Dad was told you’re a lot better off putting that corn in an animal, so we got hogs,” Kris said.

Four years after purchasing the farm, their dad quit driving milk truck to farm full time. He raised 500 hogs. Ray said his parents installed irrigation in 1969.

“We were one of the rst farmers to start,” Ray said. “There wouldn’t be any farming in Sherburne County if it wasn’t for irrigation. You couldn’t survive on this soil.”

They switched to dairy cows and added stalls to the barn in 1976. At the time, the brothers had their own jobs off the farm but worked around chores on the farm.

“We did it to get a steady paycheck so Ray and I could still farm,” Kris said.

After high school, Ray went to college and worked at a restaurant while helping on the farm.

“I never left the farm,” Ray said.

Kris drove school bus and worked for another farmer until their dad bought the cows. They also had beef cows. He continued driving bus and did so for 35 years for Becker School District. Kris eventually retired from driving so he could farm full time.

“I would get up and do chores till 6:30 a.m. then go drive bus,” Kris said. “I did that until 2007 when Dad wanted to retire from farming. He was 82.” Looking back, Ray and Kris agreed all their best memories revolve around the farm.

“I used to keep up with the cows, milk them and feed them, drive school bus, have 500 hogs and restore a tractor every year,” Kris said. “Now, I do eldwork and milk the cows.”

Leading her way to the top

Miron nishes second in national Excellence in Ag competition

HUGO, Minn. – Kristy Miron’s involvement in the Minnesota Farm Bureau has had a ripple effect.

From engaging with consumers to advocating for the dairy industry, Miron sees the importance of the organization.

“As a farmer and as a person in industry, it gives me a lot of condence in the Farm Bureau with the level of rapport that Farm Bureau has on Capitol Hill with individuals to have inuence on key issues,” she said.

But now, Miron’s involvement has landed her the title of runner-up in the American Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers and Ranchers Excellence in Ag competition Jan. 6-9 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

To advance to the national competition, Miron, of Hugo, rst won the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation competition during the MFBF 104th annual meeting Nov. 17-19, 2022, in Bloomington.

For the national competition, Miron completed an application and gave a presentation about challenges facing agriculture. She focused on the challenges of farming in a suburban area, generational transfer of the fam-

ily farm and sustainability.

“I identied three core issues,” Miron said. “One local, one state and one at the national level.”

According to Farm Bureau, participants are judged on their involvement in agriculture, leadership ability, and involvement in Farm Bureau and other organizations. The award is judged 80% on the application and 20% on the presentation.

“To me, it was a really big reection of my experiences and skill sets I have developed through Farm Bureau membership and other opportunities,” Miron said.

Miron’s second place win earned her $25,000 toward a Case IH product of her choice.

“I was pushed by our eld representative to apply for the award this year,” Miron said. “I am very grateful for the push and the encouragement and support.”

Miron’s family farm is located 25 miles northeast of downtown St. Paul. Miron’s experience of urban sprawl affecting agriculture gave her a clear message for her presentation. Miron said the circumstance also presents an opportunity to engage with consumers.

Miron said even their hometown of Hugo has grown from a population of about 5,000 20 years ago to a population of over 16,000 today.

“We have an opportunity to have some unique farm visits,” Miron said. The Mirons have hosted school groups and offer an adopt-a-calf program to area schools.

Don’t miss this all dairy event, highlighting valuable updates in the dairy industry and new products and services giving you successful ways to improve your dairy operations.

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Women In Dairy

185 cows

Family: Our family includes my husband, Greg, and sons, Brandon and Caleb. Brandon helps us farm after getting his degree in computer science and business. Caleb is in his last semester of college studying software engineering. Greg’s parents are Leo and Kathy Conway.

Tell us about your farm. My husband and I, along with our son and an employee, milk Holstein cows on Greg’s family’s home farm which has been in the family for more than 100 years. Greg is the fourth generation. We farmed in partnership with Greg’s parents after we were married, until taking over full management in 2010, with Greg’s parents’ help when needed. We farm 475 acres of crop land with a mix of corn, hay, soybeans and a fall cover crop. We raise feed for our dairy herd plus sell surplus forages to neighbors’ beef and dairy farms to help their operations grow. Our milking herd is housed in a 6-row freestall barn with slatted ooring. We work closely with our veterinarian, nutritionist, milk equipment dealer and our A.I. representative to maintain a healthy herd.

What is a typical day like for you on the dairy? I’m usually up at 4:30 a.m. getting ready to start my day by checking our herd activity system, having breakfast and watching the morning news. At 5:30 a.m., I’m getting the parlor ready while Brandon checks the close-up dry cows and helps get the freestall barn ready for bedding. Greg takes care of mixing the feed for the milking and dry cows, hauls manure, does A.I. of cattle and eldwork. Brandon helps milk, takes care of the baby calves and helps in the eld. After morning chores, I take care of bookwork for the dairy herd, make meals (sometimes for a chopping crew) and do other household chores before chores come around in the evening at 3:45 p.m.

What decision have you made in the last year that has beneted your farm? We switched our high-moisture corn silo to dry corn storage so we have a better opportunity to market our corn.

Tell us about your most memorable experience working on the farm. I have a lot of memories on the farm besides working alongside our boys and Greg’s parents. The most memorable one was when I took a chance on ushing a Holstein cow. We got 12 embryos. Out of the 12, we had four really nice cows, one of which is our top cow today. Last lactation, she had 42,000 pounds of milk.

What have you enjoyed most about dairy farming or your tie to the dairy industry? Working alongside my husband and watching our lives grow just like his parents did. I also enjoy the great support from the Dairy Moms on Facebook while my mother-in-law has been ill. She has enjoyed the cards that she has received.

What is your biggest accomplishment in your dairy career? We reached a 31,000-pound herd average milking twice a day.

What are things you do to promote your farm or the dairy industry? Every summer, we share our sweet corn crop with our family, neighbors and the local nursing home.

What advice would you give another woman in the dairy industry? Working on the dairy farm is hard work and can be very stressful at times, but the rewards of sharing it with family are priceless.

When you get a spare moment, what do you do? I have many different crafts I do in my spare time: embroidery, machine knitting, quilting and the latest, macramé. I also like to play my kalimba, or I like taking a drive in the country for an ice cream cone.

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Another look at days dry

When workers compare jobs, the number of days of vacation is sometimes a benet that helps the decision of where to be successful.

Traditionally, dairy farmers seemed proud of their number of consecutive years of never missing a milking. We now know that taking a break once in a while is good for our mental and physical health.

Of course, dairy cows need some vacation as well, and we call that the dry period. But, how long should that dry period be? Keeping on with the vacation analogy, sometimes things happen that force people to delay their vacations, such as another employee leaving, a big work order coming in or events being cancelled.

With the modern dairy cow, the vacation – dry period – can be extended by early dry off or reduced by failure to dry off in time. As the dairy industry has dramatically improved reproductive success through estrus synchronization, use of heat detection technology and improved fertility, many cows are reaching their planned dry off dates sooner because of reduced number of days open. In turn, cows are likely producing more, which

often makes drying off more of a challenge.

What is the dry period? Technically, it is simply the number of days from dry off to calving. The traditional tendency of the dairy industry was that cows should calve annually, so they should produce milk for 305 days and be dry for 60. So, 60 days dry became a standard and has remained a pretty good benchmark.

A lot happens during the dry period. Milk production ceases and reduces the metabolic stress on the cow which provides an opportunity to direct more energy to the rapidly growing fetus rather than to lactation. Also, there is involution of the udder as milk secretions stops, and there is time for the udder to regenerate and add milk secretory tissue. The dry period also provides an opportunity to stop mastitis infections. Milk withholding times for dry cow antibiotics must be a consideration in determining appropriate dry periods.

Days dry is one of the key items dairy consultants check when reviewing herd performance records. It can give a quick look at whether the herd’s target is being met. Too many cows open more than 70 days can indicate problems with getting cows bred, and too many cows open fewer than 30 days can indicate that breeding dates are not being properly recorded. In that regard, days dry is primarily a management trait that is largely driven by the decision of the herd manager.

However, days dry does have a ge-

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netic component. When adjusted for other effects, studies from Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have found a low to moderate heritability of around 7%, indicating some genetic progress could be made to increase or decrease days dry. Genetic selection for this trait is probably not advisable because of a strong association with days open and different associations with milk yield in the preceding or succeeding lactation.

The USDA research on 459,075 records of 295,067 cows in 3,527 herds from throughout the U.S. revealed interesting information about other characteristics that affect days dry. Cows calving in December or January had average days dry of 61.5 vs. 59.2 for June. Average days dry was 57.1 between the rst and second lactations, 60.6 between the second and third lactations, and 61.1 between the third and fourth lactations. While difference in days dry for those effects were small, as expected, the impact of days open was much greater. The third of cows with the longest days open were dry 55.6 days, while the third of cows with the greatest days open were dry 66.9 days, on average. Clearly, managing number of days open has the largest effect on days dry.

What should be the ideal dry period?

That may be affected by many factors, such as whether a herd is feeding one or two dry cow rations, herd production lev-

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el and number of days open. In general, the USDA research reached several conclusions. First, to maximize production in the preceding and following lactations, days dry of 40 to 45 days was required after the rst lactation, and 55 to 65 days dry was needed after the second and third lactations for Holsteins. This difference probably reects the increased persistency of rst-lactation cows. Second, when looking at lifetime milk yield, production was maximized at 51 to 60 days dry for rst lactation and 31 to 40 days dry for the second and third lactations in Holsteins. Third, in Jerseys, days dry less than 30 days had a large detrimental effect on somatic cell score in the following lactation. Fourth, for Jerseys, dry periods of less than 45 days should be avoided. Fifth, avoid dry periods of less than 30 days and more than 70 days because those are detrimental to milk production in the subsequent lactation and especially to lifetime milk production for both Holsteins and Jerseys. Sixth, more than 80 days dry was more costly than very short dry periods of 30 days or less.

In summary, the old standard of 60 days dry is expected to work pretty well across breeds and parities. However, if high producing cows, especially in the second or later lactations, are producing well at their targeted dry off date, reducing the dry period to 45 or 30 days should not be detrimental.

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What is your communication style?

Raise your hand if you think you are a good communicator. Now, raise your hand if you think there’s room for improvement. You are correct. There’s always room for improvement in everyday communication avenues. We do so by understanding the communication styles of people.

pieces work together in the puzzle of understanding how you communicate and how to work best with other personalities and communication styles.

Figure 2

Coping With Other Communication Styles

A. Communicating with an action oriented person:

B. Communicating with a process oriented person:

We recently held two individual “Planning Your Dairy Farm Future” sessions in central Minnesota titled “Who’s the Boss?” We talked about personality traits, communication styles and core values. All of these

Why would it be important to know and understand the communication styles of colleagues, employees, family members or friends? Everyone operates differently; it is what makes each of us unique. If we know what type of communicator we are and the style of those around us, then we can have more effective conversations.

There are four communication styles: action, process, people and idea. To nd out what communication style is your own, there’s a short quiz with 40 pairs of questions. For each question, you have to choose the one that best ts you, and you have to be quick about it. No over thinking it as

• Focus on the results rst (state the conclusion right at the outset).

• State your best recommendation( do not offer many alternatives).

• Be as brief as possible.

• Emphasize the practicality of your ideas.

• Use visual aids.

C. Communicating with a people oriented person:

• Allow for small talk (Do not start the discussion right away).

• Stress the relationships between your proposal and the people concerned.

• Show how the idea worked well in the past.

• Indicate support from well-respected people.

• Use an informal writing style.

there is no wrong answer. When you are taking the quiz, it will seem that most of the options within the pairs of questions do not really have anything to do with each other. For example: I enjoy reading very much, or I perceive myself as a facilitator. Another one: I enjoy playing with ideas, or I dislike wasting my time. At the end of the quiz, you will circle your answers on one of the communication style lines and add up your totals. The style with the highest total is your communication style. However, it may happen that you have two or even three styles that are tied, and that is OK. You are a well-rounded person in the communications department.

Once you gure out which style you most closely relate to, then you can look at the chart (Figure 1) to see what you often talk about and what kind of person you are. Then, go to the second chart (Figure 2) to nd

• Be precise (state the facts).

• Organize your presentation in a logical order;

• Background b) present situation c) outcome.

• Breakdown your recommendations.

• Include options (consider alternatives) with pros and cons.

• Do not rush a process oriented person.

• Outline your proposal (1, 2, 3 ... )

D. Communicating with an idea oriented person:

• Allow enough time for discussion.

• Do not get impatient when he or she goes off on tangents.

• In your opening, try to relate the discussed topic to a broader concept or idea (in other words be conceptual).

• Stress the uniqueness of the idea or topic at hand. Emphasize future value or relate the impact of the idea or the future.

• If writing to an idea oriented person, try to stress the key concepts which underlie your proposal or recommendation right at the outset. Start off with an overall statement and work toward the more particular.

the best ways to communicate with other styles. Action-oriented people like short and to-the-point statements. Processors want the facts, steps to the project and need to think about it before making a decision. For the people-oriented person, they like to chat, so explain and elaborate the task. Lastly, idea-oriented folks like to brainstorm and think, so be sure to allot extra time for discussion.

Feel free to take this communication quiz with your family, colleagues, employer and employees. Print a copy at: z.umn.edu/communicationstyles. Effective communication encompasses verbal, written, body language or hand gestures, among other aspects. However, in my opinion, the most important part of being a good communicator is listening. We were given two ears and one mouth so we can listen twice as much as we talk.

Miron also talked about generational transfer. Her husband, Paul, is the fth generation on their family farm. He also farms with his brother, Andrew, and their father, Fran. Together, they milk 160 cows and farm 800 acres of corn, soybean and alfalfa. They also utilize cover crops. Paul and Andrew plan to take over the farm once Fran retires.

“For us, that is very critical for our ability to be a part of the family business,” Miron said.

Thirdly, Miron spoke about sustainability.

“Sustainability has been, and will continue to be, a huge area of focus not only at the national level but also at the state and local level,” Miron said. “It will continue to be an area of focus from industry and from the individual producer.”

Miron is knowledgeable about sustainability both from a producer and industry stand point. She has a full-time job as an animal care and sustainability execution manager with Land O’Lakes. Miron and her team are responsible for implementing any on-farm projects or programs as they pertain to sustainability.

The Mirons rst became involved with MFB after they married at the urging of Miron’s father-inlaw. They now have three children, James, Josephine and Joy.

“(He) and others in our county strongly encouraged us to join Farm Bureau for the sheer networking opportunities and also for the leadership opportunities” Miron said. “Farm Bureau fosters that sense of condence, acumen and advocacy.”

Miron and her husband are not only involved with Farm Bureau, they have taken a role in other organizations as well. They both serve on their county American Dairy Association, where Miron helps with the county dairy princess program. Additionally, Paul is on the county Dairy Herd Improvement Association board, and Miron is involved with their church.

While attending the national contest, Miron stayed busy as she advanced on in each round of the judging process. She said she enjoyed meeting farmers from across the country, attending sessions and sharing stories with like-minded people.

“Making those connections across the country and being able to lean on those, that is such an amazing part of Farm Bureau,” she said.

Miron said she values her Farm Bureau membership and is thankful to have an organization that supports farming families.

NEW & USED EQUIPMENT ON HAND

“Farmers do what farmers do best, and that’s caring for their livestock and being good stewards of the land,” Miron said. “Most farmers do not feel comfortable going to Capitol Hill representing their farm. That is where Farm Bureau comes in. They create this unied voice for all sectors of agriculture.”

Lesa and Wayne Engel Frazee, Minnesota Becker County

50 cows

How did you get into farming? Wayne: I was born into it. I am the second generation on this farm. After high school, I farmed with my parents. Now, Lesa and I farm with the help of my dad. Lesa: I grew up on a dairy farm in New York Mills, Minnesota. I met Wayne and have been farming with him for 19 years.

What are your thoughts and concerns about the dairy industry for the next year? Seems like farms are getting bigger and bigger. Hopefully milk prices will remain stable so everybody can survive the increase in input costs.

What is a recent change you made on your farm and the reason for it? We had just recently purchased a parcel of land with a small grain bin site. We are hoping we can store grain on hand instead of selling it right out of the eld. Tell us about a skill you possess that makes dairy farming easier for you. Wayne: I don’t necessarily have a specic skill that I am good at. I know just enough about things to make it look like I know what I am doing. Lesa: Patience when feeding new calves. Sometimes they can be stubborn and need a little extra attention.

What is the best decision you have made on your farm? Probably the best decision on the farm is switch-

ing from bull breeding to articial insemination. I like to pick bulls for the cows to try and make the perfect calf. It is also nice not to have to worry about a bull being around on the farm, especially with young kids.

What are three things on the farm you cannot live without? The skid loader because it is used every day. It will never replace a tractor and loader, but it seems like the farm revolves around it. The second thing would be the automatic takeoffs for the milking units. This allows for one person to milk and be consistent. As a result, it should lower the somatic cell count. The third thing would be automatic steering for the tractors and combine. There is less operator fatigue and it is very accurate. I was a little skeptical at rst, but now I can’t live without it.

What strategies do you use to withstand the volatile milk prices? We try to be as efcient as possible and don’t over spend on stuff that is not needed.

How do you maintain family relationships while also working together? We are fortunate to work as a family every day for a common goal. It is good to listen to one another as their idea or plan might be better than our own. The farm would not function as smoothly without everybody’s help, big or small.

What do you enjoy most about dairy farming?

Wayne: Being your own boss

and not having to drive to work. Also, there are no two days the same. You can have the day all planned out, and those plans can change in a blink of an eye. Lesa: Watching our kids grow up living on the farm. They get so excited to help with calves or help with driving a tractor or skid loader. The simple pleasures are something we may take for granted. I also enjoy watching the calves grow up and join the milking herd.

What advice would you give other dairy farmers? Make sure you have a good working relationship with your

vet, agronomist and nutritionist. There are good people out there who want to make your farm successful. Also, try and make the best product you possibly can. It doesn’t matter if it is milk, forage or a commodity. It will make things less challenging for your farm. Don’t worry about what your neighbors are doing. You won’t always be the rst one in the eld.

What are your plans for your dairy in the next year and ve years? Things will probably stay about the same for the next year. Just keep trying to make the best qual-

ity milk we can. In the next ve years, I would like to a build a heated shop. It sure would be nice to do some preventative maintenance on equipment in the winter.

How do you or your family like to spend time when you are not doing chores?

The kids have just started 4-H and enjoy going to meetings once a month. On evenings, we like to play games and have popcorn. Sometimes we listen to music and pretend to have a wedding dance in our living room. The kids love to dance.

Eliminatebackbreakinglabor

My favorite cow

I was 10 years old when I bought my rst calf. She was a registered Holstein named Hopscotch. I will never forget the day we met.

It was an unseasonably hot, sunny Saturday in April – the day before Easter. My dad asked if I wanted to go to a cattle sale with him. Of course I said yes and hopped in his Ford pickup truck. Away we went, headed to the Show Opportunity Sale in Weyauwega, Wisconsin. I was on the lookout for a show calf, and when I saw her, it was love at rst sight.

She was tall and long and every bit dairy. She held her head high above the box stall and stared at us, catching our attention from far away. She was super friendly, and when I pet Hopscotch for the rst time, I knew we were going to be best friends.

When Hopscotch entered the sale ring, my dad told me to start bidding. The auctioneer did not know if he should take me seriously at rst. But when my dad nodded to him, he took my bid and kept taking it until no one was bidding against me. When he struck the gavel and yelled, “Sold,” I was ecstatic. I paid $1,025 for Sky-M Simon Hopscotch with money from my savings account. In the weeks and months that followed, I had so much fun caring for her. I practiced leading her and getting her ready for the fair. Hopscotch was the center of my world. When I wasn’t spending time with her, I was thinking about her. She lled my daydreams at school, and I could not wait to get home each day so I could run down to the barn and be with her.

That summer, I showed Hopscotch at both of our county fairs and our district show. She cleaned house at the rst fair, winning the fall heifer calf class and being named grand champion. We also won the showmanship class for my age group. At the district show, she earned a blue ribbon, standing in the top half of a rather large class. At our second county fair, she was top of her class once again and earned reserve grand champion honors as well as best junior owned.

Hopscotch was special, and she knew it. She became part of the family, and on Christmas Eve, 1988, she had her rst calf – a heifer I named Hope. She was one of the best Christmas presents I ever received. Hopscotch had many calves in her lifetime, and her offspring helped pay for my rst car and also helped pay my way through college.

For every birthday, she got a cake made out of grain, haylage, corn, etc., with pieces of hay acting as candlesticks. We also sang to her, and she received a homemade birthday card, balloon and present, such as a new collar. She always had a different collar than the rest of the herd – usually something bright and ashy. On her golden birthday when she turned 11, we celebrated with two cakes –one for her and one for us humans. On the only birthday I could not make it home for, my dad held the phone up to Hopscotch’s ear so I could sing “Happy Birthday” to her.

I regularly groomed Hopscotch and gave her baths, clipped her tail and udder, and made sure her switch was freshly washed. She basically looked camera-ready at all times. I often took her for walks around the farm – a tradition that did not die as we both grew up. I also made a point of visiting with her after every morning and evening chore time before heading to the house.

She had a personality everyone liked, was nice to look at with a score of VG-89 and also paid her way by what she put in the bulk tank. My dad used to say, “I wouldn’t mind having a barn full of Hopscotches.”

Hopscotch’s favorite stall was the last one on the side of the barn that faced east. If another cow dared to take it before she could get there, Hopscotch would patiently wait in the aisle for one of us to back the other cow out of the stall so she could have it.

We grew up together, and Hopscotch was around for many of the major milestones in my life, like when I graduated from high school and college, when I got married and when I had my rst child. As time went on, I noticed the hair on her face starting to turn gray. When she was 15, Hopscotch retired from milking and had the freedom to spend her days how she pleased.

Hopscotch lived to be 17 years old, passing away peacefully of old age while resting in her favorite pasture. She is buried on my parents’ farm. We held a funeral service when she died – complete with music, prayers, photos, owers and a eulogy. After all, she was part of the family.

Hopscotch was a friend I could always count on, an astute listener and a condante that always brought a smile to my face. This unforgettable animal was an important part of my childhood and beyond, and we made countless memories together. She lived a full and happy life, and I am so thankful for all the wonderful years I had with my favorite cow, Hopscotch.

Close to the heart

As Valentine’s Day approaches, I think about some of the things I’ve held close to my heart over my life.

On the Road with Princess Kay

students I interact with and the conversations we have are so fullling. I love to see a student’s face light up when they see me and as they ask, “Are you a real princess?”

It’s the little moments in people’s lives that I get to be a part of. The smiles, waves and hugs I receive and the tiny gestures to say hello and the thank-you drawings all make me feel special. It is so rewarding to share what I love, and I am excited to continue to interact with those around me. These are the moments I will forever hold close to my heart.

Princess Kay of the Milky Way Rachel Rynda serves as the Minnesota dairy community’s goodwill ambassador. Rynda grew up in Montgomery, Minnesota, on her family’s dairy farm. She attends University of Wisconsin-River Falls, studying agriculture business with a minor in dairy science, with plans to assist farmers with their nances. She enjoys participating in sports and singing in church with her dad.

Princess Kay is active doing school visits, representing dairy farmers at the Fuel Up To Play 60 activities in conjunction with the Minnesota Vikings and sharing the importance of dairy farming and dairy foods at appearances across Minnesota.

69th Princess Kay of the Milky Way

Whether it was ice cream runs after a softball game, my family’s Sunday night popcorn nights or chicken Alfredo on my birthday, there are so many little things that have such signicance to me. Dairy has always been at the heart of what I love, and it has added meaning to all the tiny moments of my life. During my break from school in January, I hit the road for events around the state, and I drove through many beautiful snowy sceneries. The frosty landscape on a calm winter day is an absolutely beautiful sight as ice crystals glisten when the sun peeks through the clouds. The smallest things, like a beautiful winter day, instantly turn around any day. It is those tiny moments of life that can make someone’s day special.

I visited Holy Redeemer’s third- through sixthgrade classrooms for a virtual farm tour and to make a yummy dairy treat. Along the virtual tour, we learned about all the different stops from milking, making a dairy cow’s ration and caring for calves. Together, we rounded out the tour with the milk leaving the farm to get made into all the delicious dairy products. Students got their own chance to make delicious homemade ice cream right in their classroom.

My next visit was to Jordan Elementary School’s rst grade and third grade classrooms. The students were so excited to talk about life on the dairy farm and the importance of dairy foods in their diets. They loved hearing about how dairy farmers can monitor their cows’ health through activity monitors. From Jordan, Minnesota, I headed to Eden Prairie High School and their AgX 4-H Club. The AgX 4-H club was a new addition to the school this past fall and is open to all students interested in agriculture. Students got the chance to talk to me about growing up on a dairy farm and my journey to Princess Kay. Each student made their own butter and got to taste their creamy creations with Saltine crackers. Everyone gave their butter two thumbs up.

I enjoyed a fun day of dairy learning with Sunset Terrace Elementary School’s rst graders. At each of the four classrooms, we talked about the many important jobs dairy farmers have so that tasty and nutritious dairy foods, from our cows, can get to them and their families. In between classrooms, I was able to spend time in the lunch room with the elementary students. The students thought it was such a good treat to have a real princess come visit them at school.

I met up with my trusty gopher friends, Fairborne and Fairchild, the Minnesota State Fair mascots, for the St. Paul Winter Carnival Grande Day Parade. Even though the weather was quite chilly, together we enjoyed the coldest celebration on earth waving to the crowds of smiling faces. At each of my appearances this month, I have made the day of so many people, especially the students and their classroom visits. Not only are the visits the highlight of the kids’ day, but they are also mine.

The curiosity owing through the eyes of the

Al and Lorraine

Everyone knows of at least one ideal couple. They are folks who seem to have been made for each other, a pair of people who are a perfect t. Some of the more well-known examples of this might be Adam and Eve, George and Gracie, and Siegfried and Roy.

One of the most ideal couples I have ever known was Al and Lorraine Warnes, next-door neighbors who lived on the farm west of ours. Al and Lorraine (which only sounds right when it’s pronounced as one word) were an unlikely couple in some respects. For one thing, Al was a 40-yearold bachelor farmer when he rst started courting Lorraine. For another, Lorraine was 20 years Al’s junior and, as she put it, a totally clueless town gal.

But love somehow nds a way. Al and Lorraine were perhaps the happiest married couple I have

ever observed. And, I had plenty of opportunities to observe them while I was growing up.

This was because I spent a lot of time over at Al and Lorraine’s farm when I was a kid, playing with a certain red-headed boy who spent summers at their place. I had been introduced to the red-headed boy, at Lorraine’s suggestion, as a prospective playmate. She must have had an intuitive sense about such things because it’s been over ve decades now, and the red-headed kid and I are still best buddies.

Childless themselves, Al and Lorraine took on Steve (the red-headed kid) and me as their surrogate progeny during the summertime. As a result, I was privy to many of the secrets of Al and Lorraine’s marital success. One of them was to have similar opinions on important issues.

Steve and I were prone to coming up with half-

baked, half-witted and sometimes downright dangerous schemes involving the construction of such things as cars or tree houses. But no matter how foolish our plans might be, Al and Lorraine never said anything to the effect of, “Stop that. You keep on pulling stupid stunts like those and you’re going to break your fool necks!”

Al and Lorraine’s attitude instead seemed to be, “Either they break their fool necks or they don’t, and there isn’t much we can do about it.” I always admired them for that.

It wasn’t all serenity, though. I remember once, when we were having lunch, Al said something that Lorraine regarded as out of line. (You married guys know how easily this can happen.) A sharp rejoinder fell from Lorraine’s lips. Al responded by cocking his ever-present seed corn cap to a goofy angle and by saying to Lorraine in a clownish voice, “Oh c’mon now, ‘Ainnie. You know I didn’t mean it!”

Lorraine responded with a stern look. But within moments, her harsh expression melted as she tried in vain to stie a giggle.

The lesson there was simple: A little bit of humor can go a long way when (and I do mean when) a guy messes up.

Steve and I eventually grew up, and those magical summers at Al and Lorraine’s farm became a thing of the past. But Al and Lorraine continued to be a part of our lives – maintaining their roles as a second set of parents – long after Steve and I matured into adulthood. It seems they weren’t yet nished with teaching us lessons.

For instance, when I became engaged to be married, a group of female friends and relatives threw my ancée a bridal shower. Lorraine stole the show when she presented my bride-to-be with a massive marble rolling pin.

“Now, remember,” Lorraine instructed the ladies, “you don’t use this thing to roll out pie crusts or lefse. You use it to keep him in line!” With that, she swung the rolling pin in a graceful arc, exerting all the force her 98 pounds could muster. My ancée later related that everyone at the gathering laughed and cheered with approval.

The lesson: Women are powerful creatures and are not to be tried with.

Lorraine passed away nearly 30 years ago followed by Al seven years later. The red-headed kid and I were among those who helped carry Al to his nal resting spot. As Al’s cofn rolled into place, I glanced down at Al and Lorraine’s headstone. I saw their names etched into the polished granite and in between a wedding ring upon which is carved the words “Together forever.”

And so, Al and Lorraine passed on one nal lesson: forever means forever.

Jerry is a recovering dairy farmer from Volga, South Dakota. He and his wife, Julie, have two grown sons and live on the farm where Jerry’s great-grandfather homesteaded over 110 years ago. Jerry works full time for Dairy Star as a staff writer and ad salesman. Feel free to email him at jerry.n@dairystar.com.

Progesterone

Progesterone is a steroid hormone that is produced by the corpus luteum, or CL as veterinarians commonly say. Progesterone prepares the uterus for pregnancy and helps maintain the pregnancy by its effects on the uterine lining. Progesterone is also produced by the placenta later during pregnancy. Progesterone is important for successful conception and maintenance of pregnancy. However, the presence of progesterone at the wrong time can make getting cows pregnant more difcult. Thus, the correct amount of progesterone at the right times is important to ensure adequate reproductive performance in dairy cows. This is critical for successful use of timed A.I. programs.

High progesterone is benecial at the time of the rst GnRH injection of an ovsynch protocol, while low progesterone is benecial at the time of the second GnRH injection and at breeding. Many modications to timed A.I. protocols have been researched or recommended to attempt to increase the percentage of cows with optimal progesterone levels at the right time. For example, if the rst shot of an ovsynch protocol is given randomly to normal, cycling cows, a signicant percentage will not ovulate, will not form a CL and hence will have a low concentration of progesterone during the follicular growth phase, resulting in subfertility and higher risk for pregnancy loss and twinning. Pre-synchronization protocols were developed to reduce the percentage of cows that are in a low progesterone phase at the rst GnRH injection. However, even pre-synchronization protocols will not necessarily

synchronize cows that are not cycling and ovulating normally. Thus, more elaborate pre-synchronization protocols have been developed, such as double ovsynch for example, in an attempt to induce ovulation and create a functional CL that will be producing progesterone at the time of the rst ovsynch GnRH injection. Though not originally de-signed for this purpose, CIDRs can be used to provide progesterone in ovsynch protocols where no CL is present. A CIDR essentially replaces the functional CL, and its use can achieve similar conception rates to cows with a CL.

In normal, fertile cows, blood progesterone levels decline rapidly near the end of the estrus cycle. This occurs because the CL regresses due to prostaglandin release. In ovsynch, we inject prostaglandin to regress the CL. However, a young CL, as found when a cow has ovulated following GnRH seven days prior, does not necessarily fully respond to prostaglandin. Also, for unknown reasons, young CLs respond better if there is another, mature CL present at the same time. When the CL does not fully regress, progesterone levels stay too high, which can drastically reduce fertility. A variety of strategies have been used to solve this problem, including an additional prostaglandin injection 24 hours later and an increased dose of prostaglandin. Studies mostly have shown that an increased dose does not work as well as an additional dose to regress the CL, so an additional dose of prostaglandin has become a very common practice in ovsynch protocols today. An additional prostaglandin dose was rst shown to be effective in a double ovsynch protocol, and it was believed that it would be more effective there than in a simple ovsynch protocol because cows in the double ovsynch protocol are much more synchronized and thus a greater proportion of them will have young CLs. However, a recent study by Holper, et. al, in the January Journal of Dairy Science showed an increase in the percentage pregnant per insemination of over 6 points

in a standard ovsynch protocol. An additional dose was particularly effective in cows that did not have a CL at the time of the rst GnRH injection in an ovsynch protocol. Cows with no CL that received two doses of prostaglandin had 47.9% pregnancies per A.I., while cows with a double dose had 32.7%. In this study, cows that were given CIDRs that had more vaginal discharge had higher rates of pregnancy per A.I., and the overall accuracy of detection of a functional CL by transrectal ultra-sound was 87.2%. The optimum cutoff was a 20 mm diameter of the CL. Increased vaginal discharge might be due to higher vaginal blood ow that may result in increased hormonal absorption. Accuracy

The correct amount of progesterone at the right times is important to ensure adequate reproductive performance in dairy cows.

of diagnosis of a CL capable of producing progesterone is important if one wants to use CIDRs to increase fertility in cows without mature CLs.

The estrus cycle of a cow is an intricate dance of hormones and other factors. Understanding the role of progesterone and other hormones is critically important to designing timed A.I. protocols for herds. The best source to answer questions regarding the optimal reproductive protocol for your herd is your veterinarian. Do not be shy about asking.

Bennett is one of four dairy veterinarians at Northern Valley Dairy Production Medicine Center in Plainview, Minnesota. He also consults on dairy farms in other states. He and his wife, Pam, have four children. Jim can be reached at bennettnvac@ gmail.com with comments or questions.

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Free concrete

They say nothing is free, but then, maybe those people never lived in Minnesota.

For anywhere from four to seven months of the year, our soil magically turns to concrete. This is handy if you don’t have quite enough concrete to keep all the critters and feed out of the mud. Just wait for November or December to roll around, and suddenly, mud problems disappear as the freezing temperatures blow in. For free, your whole farm has turned to one giant, quite hard, concrete-like surface.

I dislike mud. Partly, I dislike it because we store feed in bags, and feeding out of bags when it’s muddy is a nightmare. Partly, I dislike mud because we are a grazing farm, and half the year, the cows are in the pastures harvesting their own food and spreading their own manure which means they do a lot of walking down paths to get to the pastures. Those paths are not fun for us or the cows when it’s muddy. Also, on a farm where the cattle have no reason to be in a barn most of the year, the facilities tend to be a bit conservatively sized. No sense in spending money on barns no one is in most of the year. Free concrete solves both those problems.

Manure handling is a time-consuming task especially if you don’t have a manure pit to just

squeegee the poo into. I know, for people with liquid manure systems, frozen manure chunks are a pain and create extra work, but for me, frozen manure is a blessing. We clean our freestall twice a day, and it takes entirely too much time. Regularly, we’re scooping up half-full buckets of sloppy manure that splatters on everything when dumped in the spreader. When it’s cold though, I can scoop big full buckets of now semi-solid manure and pile ve days’ worth of manure where usually I can only t one to two days’ worth. Another bonus is we can

From when I started writing this article to my nishing it, the temperature has swung from 20 degrees below zero to 30 above. No more frozen manure but at least the ground is still nice and hard. Soon though, the sun will be out long enough to get some warmth going and we’ll transition to spring. Here’s hoping the mud season will be short and the grass starts growing early. After the drought we had last summer, and also the previous summer, feed supplies are pretty tight around here. We could use an early spring even if it means the free concrete melts and we have to deal with mud.

load the frozen manure in our dump wagon and pile it in a eld to be hauled on the elds or pastures when the snow melts off, and the nutrients will actually stay where we put them. It’s crazy, but the inside of that pile will still have chunks of snow in it when we haul it in April or May, sometimes even June.

Speaking of big temperature swings, Emily and I are headed to a much warmer and more mountainous country for a week. It seems based on the weather forecasts we’ve been following that it has been raining there constantly and probably will be when we are there too. Even if it’s muddy, I’m pretty sure we’ll enjoy the trip. Hopefully our Spanish-speaking skills will be good enough to chat with some of the dairy farmers there. Look forward to an article in the future about dairying in a different part of the world. In the meantime, you’ll have to guess where we’re headed.

Until next time, keep living the dream, and don’t put away those insulated Carhartt overalls. Winter cold probably isn’t over yet. It’s just taking a little vacation for a week.

Tim Zweber farms with his wife, Emily, their three children and his parents, Jon and Lisa, near Elko, Minnesota.

Concrete Silos

“Thank you for sponsoring my trophy. This is my rst time winning a trophy. I really appreciate it. It meant a lot to me.”

Manure handling is a timeconsuming task especially if you don’t have a manure pit to just squeegee the poo into.

Technology will play a greater role on the modern family dairy farm

Technology tends to evoke various emotions in people especially in our industry which has a foundation built on values and tradition. These aspects are what make our industry priceless. However, we must remember what has

The NexGen: Adventures of two dairy daughters

Columnists

carried us successfully through generations of dairy farming and must continually discover new ideas and implement changes – changes that seem to be occurring at an increasingly rapid pace.

Technology in dairy now appears to be everywhere. The types of technology that a dairy can decide to implement are immense, ranging from cow wearables to robotics, in-line milk sensors and cameras using machine learning, to name a few. Dan Weiland, Alltech’s dairy business manager, correctly said technology will take dairy to the next level.

That has proven accurate at our dairy, altering the course of our farm and what we thought success could be. It’s allowed us to see what limits we can push while enhancing cow welfare, milk quality, and our cows’ natural behaviors. Our conversations have changed from, “Can we meet our goals this year?” to “How lofty can our goals be?”

So, what has led to this change?

The single most signicant transformation began when our dairy installed an automated monitoring system that records individual cow activity and rumination, milk conductivity, daily milk weights and group breathing rates.

Utilizing the data to make daily management decisions has been, as Malcolm Gladwell said, the tipping point. At NexGen, we focus on the three things that we know our cows need to do exceptionally well to be successful. They need to eat, sleep and drink. To do that, we need to maximize cow comfort and let our cows be cows. Rather than our team handling or examining the cows, we rely on our AMS to gather information on each cow and the herd, eliminating touchpoints and stress. Our cows are monitored 24 hours a day,

with real-time data reported directly to our phones. Advanced health alerts are even sent via text to our team, enabling them to identify and aid a sick cow early in the disease process. Research has proven that AMS systems can detect diseases accurately up to two to three days earlier, depending on the disease process. Earlier detection of disease processes leads to better outcomes. Cow longevity at NexGen is essential, and technology has enabled us to increase our average lactation goals for our herd, reducing our number of replacements.

That being said, the cow health data is not the only factor that allows us to strive to reach our goal of milking older cows; successful reproduction also plays a key role. The AMS technology has altered our reproduction goals to new heights. The system has improved the quantity and accuracy of our heat detection and conception rates. Our timing of insemination is much more accurate, and we now segregate our timing of A.I. by the type of semen being used. Both monitoring cows for heat and implementing synchronization protocols take large amounts of time and labor. Implementing the AMS system in our cow herd and breeding heifers has allowed us to reallocate much of the labor spent on reproduction.

When looking to implement technology in any form, we would advise dairies rst to identify the most signicant bottleneck that needs to be corrected before subsequently spending time evaluating a specic technology. Other considerations should be on how data are reported. Is it easily interpreted? Reported data that isn’t used to make any management decisions is useless. Can the technology be used to aid in multiple areas? Our AMS system aids our team in herd health and reproduction, milk quality and time management of our employees. When considering a specic technology, the nal areas of inquiry are data integration, the lifespan of the hardware and software, maintenance and technical support, and the return on investment for a specic technology.

Technology in dairy is here. The technology we have seen in the last few decades is just a stepping stone to the new heights that dairy will reach. And that’s the one thing that will not change: Our drive to collaborate, innovate and be more efcient while building on those generations before us.

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

FEATURES:

• 3-in-1 – The BOBMAN bedding machines scrape the slats, sweep the stalls and spread an even layer of bedding all in only one pass!

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• Time and labor saving

• Save on the amount of bedding materials used

• Clean and dry cow resting surface

“CowScout pays for itself. We’re improving reproduction and finding health issues sooner, before they escalate into something more severesaving treatment costs and lost production while saving labor and being more efficient with our time. CowScout is one of the best investments we’ve made.”

MISSED HEATS

CONCEPTION RATE

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CowScout™ has improved our pregnancy rate by 7%