11/10/12-Zone 2-1st Section

Dairy Star Saturday, November 10, 2012

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Tom Forseth, Arena, Wis., Iowa County60 cows How did you get started farming? I got married, started farming and had a kid all in 1976. I was the second generation to farm. I went to a farm short course. It was just something I liked doing. That was a long time ago, and I still enjoy it. Please describe your farm. Its Locust Valley Organic Dairy. We have 600-plus acres. My son, Matt, and I do about 95 percent of the work. For a father-son operation, we get along pretty good most of the time. At the end of the day, we still like each other. Why did you want to farm? I went to college, and after living in a city a number of years, I really like the peace and quiet out in the country. Its a good place to raise kids, too. Whats your favorite farm job? One reason Im still farming is I got to the point in my life where I think I like cows more than most people. My son does most of the milking, but I like the cows. I like interacting with the cows. Theyre smarter than most people. They dont talk much, and the nasty ones you get to sell into Big Mac attacks. What are some of your goals? If not for the drought, we probably would have built a 100-cow loa ng barn this year. The longer I wait to build this stuff, the fancier it gets and the more stuff I think I have to have in it to make it work. I would like my farm to be successful for my son. I have three other sons and daughters and I would like them to be successful. They also have very close ties to the farm and they come out to spend time on it. I have no desire to live to be 100 years old. I would like to die when Im still working when I can still do something. What are your plans for the next ve years? We want to modernize our milking facilities and phase out of the old stanchion barn. We want to do a lot better job of what were doing. We just bought 85 acres, so weve got to pay some debt down. What are some of the other activities you enjoy? I sing and play in a community theater. Some of my buddies and I go out and drink some beer to support the grain farmers. Its been one of my lifelong goals to canoe the Kickapoo River without spilling beer. I like to travel. My daughter and I went to Germany. Are you doing anything thats a little different? We grow some camelina because we want to grow some of our own oil. Were going to keep experimenting with that and maybe try canola and sun owers.

DAIRY ST RISSN 020355

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the week before publicationSales Manager - Jeff Weyer

(National Advertising, Northern MN, East Central MN)

320-260-8505 (cell)[email protected]

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563-608-6477 [email protected]

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320-352-6303 (of ce) 320-429-1084 (cell)

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Published by Dairy Star LLCGeneral Manager/Editor/Sales

Mark Klaphake320-352-6303 (of ce)320-248-3196 (cell)

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Specializing In: Hot Dipped Galvanized Gating Fiber Glass Gates Crowd Gates Parlor Stalls Free Stalls Parlor Floors Parlor Remodels

Fax: 952-466-2268 513 W. Lake St., Cologne, MN www.stormsweldingmfg.com

Dairy Equipment By

Storms Welding & Manufacturing Inc. - The tie-stall barn

AFTERBEFORECorbin Rhodes

I knew I wanted to keep milking in a tie-stall barn. But, I knew if we put in new stalls I wanted to make the stalls wider, said Rhodes, who milks 49 cows near West Salem, WI.Storms replaced the original 40 stalls with 38 stalls, 19 on each side, increasing the

width from 48 to 52. They also installed Kraiburg mats.The way they come in and they had everything they needed and got right to work

was impressive, Rhodes said. There were no wasted steps. They knew what they were doing and went about doing it.

West Salem, WI

Cologne, MN In 2006 Jerry and Chris Buetows barn needed remodeling. After 40 years, their old comfort stalls were wearing out in their 65-cow tiestall barn. They were hoping to take out the posts behind the cows to allow for easier access backing out. No other stall company would have done the beams without the posts, Jerry Buetow said. Only Storms would have put the beams in. Its been 2-1/2 years since installation and the Buetows have no complaints about their renovated barn. The stepped on teats are less. The cows have an easier time backing out, Buetow said. Were very happy with it.

BEFORE

AFTER

Jerry and Chris Buetow

Sibley, IAAFTERBEFORE

Leroy Eggink was tired of fi xing and repairing the 34 stalls in his 40-year-old barn. Things were wearing out and I was spending time and money fi xing. After doing some studying, Eggink choose to have Storms Welding & Mfg. of Cologne, MN, install their custom-built loop stalls in late December 2011. When you fi rst look in, it looks like a brand new barn inside, Eggink said. Thats why you do it. To make people notice. If you have a poor facility and things arent kept up, it doesnt portray a good image. People notice that.

Leroy Eggink

SpecialistsRemodeling


A) How many acres do you plant and what type of crops did you plant this year?

B) How was the harvest in each crop? How does that compare to other years?

C) What were the weather and eld conditions like? D) What did you do with your crops? E) What will you remember most from the 2012 harvest?F) Tell us about your farm.

From Our Side Of The Fence

Duane TietjenBellevue, Iowa Jackson County 61 cows

A) This year we planted 125 acres ofcorn, 140 acres of hay and 30 acres ofoats.

B) The corn was really bad this year; our insurance adjuster estimated about30 bushels an acre which compares toabout 170 bushels an acre last year. Thehay was about half of what it usually is, and we baled the oats.

C) It started out great, we got our plant-ing done early and I was even thinkingwe might end up with a fth cutting of hay. Then we went day after day with-out rain. It was at least 30 days withoutany rain at one point and it just never came when we really needed it. When storms came through the area, they al-ways went to the south or to the northand left us high and dry. Guys ve or six miles away had 200 bushels an acreon their corn, but we were too dry.

D) We ended up chopping about three-quarters of the corn. We didnt havemuch for haylage and we wanted tomake up for that and it took twice asmuch to get what we would usuallyneed for silage. We did chop as muchof the hay as we could because we g-ured we could buy dry hay if we needed to. We baled up the straw for my sonshorses.

E) It was the type of year youd like toforget, and hope that next year isnt asdry. Ill remember this year for the lackof crops.

F) We have 500 acres, of which abouthalf is tillable. I farm with my wife, Ruth, and our sons, Troy and Terry. We have two grandkids, Faith and Ricky. We plant corn, hay and oats. We haveall Holsteins, and milk in a stanchion barn.

Joe Collins with ance Ashley HyovaltiAitkin, Minn.Aitkin County39 cows

A) We planted 25 acres of corn this year and raise 280 acres of hay and alfalfa.

B) We got a little less yield this year compared to last year.

C) Spring started out wet. We got our corn planted later than normal due to wet eld conditions and we got about 12 inches of rain after we planted corn. The oats and alfalfa were planted in the middle of May before it got wet. It dried out starting in July and we havent seen much rain since then. The summer months stayed consistently hot.

D) All the rst crop hay was put up into round bales. I did chop some sec-ond crop hay for the rst time this year and bagged it. The oats and alfalfa were baled into round bales and the corn was chopped and bagged.

E) It went from one extreme to the oth-er. It started out wet and then got dry and hot.

F) I started milking cows November 9, 2009. I cleaned up the dairy barn at my parents place and started farming. I often have help from my parents and brothers. I plan on building the herd to 50 cows or more. We are planning to get married next September.

Ken ScherpingFreeport, Minn.Stearns County90 cows

A) We plant 260 acres of our own land and rent 200. We planted 70 acres of soy-beans, 45 acres of oats, 70 acres of Myco-gen BMR corn and 30 acres of Jung HDS corn. The rest is alfalfa and mixed hay.

B) The soybeans averaged 56 bushels an acre this year, compared to 35 bushels last year. The early frost hurt the beans last year. The oats did 70 bushels this year and test weight was better this year. Corn av-eraged the same as last year about 170 bushels.

C) The elds worked up fairly good but than we got a hard rain that put a crust on the soil so we had to rotary hoe. Then it got hot and dry.

D) We made silage corn, shelled corn and roasted soybeans. The alfalfa was put up as haylage and we combined the oats. All of our crops are used for our livestock.

E) Considering the dry conditions, we had a very good crop year.

F) We live on a 260-acre dairy farm south of Freeport. We milk 90 Holstein cows and raise all our own replacement heif-ers. We grow corn, soybeans, oats and alfalfa. My wife, Mary Beth, and I have three sons. Two of them have full-time jobs off the farm, but help us almost ev-eryday. Our youngest, who is a sopho-more in high school, helps us on the farm. Our neighbor also helps us with morning clean-up and chores.

Lynn and Rachel MillerDodge Center, Minn.Dodge County 100 cows

A) We had 270 acres of crops 60 acres of alfalfa, 70 acres of soybeans and the rest corn. Forty acres of the corn were used for silage. Some of this land is rented and some is owned.

B) The harvest was really good this year. The corn on our rented land a lit-tle farther from the farm averaged 182 bushels per acre. On the home farm we averaged 226 bushels per acre. Silage averaged about 25 tons per acre. We got ve cuttings of alfalfa this year. That was the rst time that has happened. We averaged 52 bushels per acre of soybeans. This was the best yield for soybeans weve ever had. It was a very good year overall.

C) We had a very early spring. Overall, it was very dry, but we had timely rains and it seemed to come right when we needed it.

D) We sold about two-thirds of the corn. The rest of it we stored. We put the high moisture corn in a concrete, stave silo and the corn silage went into a 20-by-70-foot silo. All our alfalfa was chopped and put into two 10- by 250-foot ag bags along with one 18- by 70-foot silo. All the soybeans were sold.

E) We will remember that although it was very dry, we still had a good year with record yields. On a personal note, our son got married on Sept. 8 and we had beautiful weather for the day.

F) We have been farming here for 30 years. Ten years ago, we converted our stall barn to a double-6 step up parlor and built a freestall barn. We have six children: Yalonda, Carlin, Sherri, Wen-don, Rochelle and Brian.

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Dairy Star Saturday, November 10, 2012 Page 17

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Weve used Udder Comfort 3 to 4 years, and now it is a big part of the quality milk routine in our robotic milking system. Udder Comfort gets swelling out of udders better than anything else weve tried. Thats why we prefer it, says Norbert Hasheider. He and daughter Michelle take care of the 135-cow Holstein dairy herd at Elm Farms Inc., Okawville, Illinois.

The robot system automatically detects which quarters are high, he explains how the system monitors conductivity of the milk. I run those cows through the headgates to apply Udder Comfort on those quarters. I follow that through twice a day for 3 to 4 days and check to see that the readings are coming down.

Our somatic cell counts have come down from 250,000 to 169,000 to 113,000, Norbert reports. We also use Udder Comfort to relieve udder swelling in our fresh cows. Its a quality product that is convenient and worth-while to use in our robotic system.

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ELM FARMS, INC. THE HASHEIDER FAMILYPictured are Norbert & Betty HasheiderOKAWVILLE, ILLINOIS Milking 135 cowsProduction: 23,000 lbs (robot) SCC: 100-150,000


By Phyllis FramstadStearns Co. Exec. Dir.

FSA News & NotesThere were no payments earned for Septem-ber MILC.

County committee elections Watch your mailbox for your of cial county of ce committee election ballot. Ballots will be mailed to all eligible voters on Nov. 5, 2012. If, for some reason, you dont receive a ballot, feel free to notify the county FSA of ce. Completed and signed ballots must be returned to the county of ce by close of business on Dec. 3, 2012. 2011 SURE signup announced Signup for the SURE Program for 2011 crop losses began October 22, 2012 and will end June 7, 2013. SURE is available to eli-gible producers on: farms in counties with Secretarial disaster declarations, including contiguous counties, that have incurred at least a 10 percent crop production or quality loss, or both, for at least one crop of economic sig-ni cance, except grazed crops farms on which the actual production on the farm is less than 50 percent of the farms normal production. Producers are encouraged to contact their local FSA Of- ce for additional signup details.

IRS 1099 changes Calendar year 2012 has brought chang-es to the way FSA reports farm program payments to the producer and to the IRS. In past years, IRS Forms 1099-G would be is-sued to show all program payments received from the Farm Service Agency, regardless of the amount. Starting with calendar year 2012, pro-ducers whose total reportable payments from FSA are less than $600 will not re-ceive IRS Form 1099-G. Also, producers

who receive payments from more than onecounty will only receive one Form 1099-Gif the total of all payments from all counties is $600 or more. The same changes will ap-ply to producers and vendors who normallyreceive IRS Form 1099-MISC from FSA.

Upcoming deadlines for 2012 Nov. 5, 2012 - Ballots are to be mailedfor County Committee Election. Nov. 30, 2012 Emergency Grazingon CRP ends. December 3, 2012 Ballots must bepostmarked or delivery to the FSA of ce. More information about CRP, MILC,other FSA programs and where to nd your local USDA service Center can be found at www.fsa.usda.gov. Farm Service Agency is an Equal Op-portunity Lender. Complaints about dis-crimination should be sent to: Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250. Visitthe Farm Service Agency Web site at: www.fsa.usda.gov/ for necessary applicationforms and updates on USDA programs.

MILC Program has ended for 2012

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SKID STEERSMustang 2060, 4200 hrs, T-bar, new engine

TILLAGE/FIELD CULTIVATORSBush Hog 1445 disc, 21 JD 726 soil nisher, 249 bar spike harrowJD 2700 mulch ripper, 7-shank soil managment systemAllis Chalmers 1500 Min-Til, 7-shank chisel plowWilrich 657 DCR, 11-shank, 5 Deep Till, 6 chiselKnoble 4 row 36 row crop cultivatorKorvair 42 drag ex spike tooth

HAY & FORAGE, STALK CHOPPERS Agco 3312 discbine, center pivot, 12Agco 7433 baler, 3x3, roller chute, hayboss app., 2009JD 854 silage special, net wrapFrontier 16 wheel bi-fold rake (H&S)H&S 14 wheel hi-cap rakeH&S CR 12 wheel rakeH&S 12 wheel bi-fold rakeHesston 7500 forage harvester w/hay & corn headHesston 1085 9 haybineHesston 1150, 12 haybineNew Idea 5212 discbine

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Your cows need hock and knee-cushioning comfort every time they lie down, for maximum nutrientutilization and milk production. SuperStall encourages lying time with a body-hugging memory foam designed to remain permanently soft hour after hour, year after year. Unlike sand bedding, SuperStallswaterproof rubber top cover is super-easy to clean, with no need for expensive manure separators, sand slingers or dreaded hand work. Every SuperStall system comes with a 22-year track record and a 5-year warranty. For more information about cow comfort alternatives to sand, contact your North Brook dealer representative today, or visit us online atNorthBrookDairy.com

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By Kerry HoffmanColumnist

Getting Kerryd Away

Getting out of bed makes it all worth it, especially when our baby calves thrive.

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Joey, as a young child, had a shirt that said, I got out of bed for this? Consequently, that shirt was then passed on to Russell the following year. Monday, I was wish-ing I had that shirt. I would have had to wear that grey T-shirt as a tight- tting tube top and change the question mark to an excla-mation point, but it would have served its purpose. Most days here on the farm are rather unevent-ful. We go about our daily chores without nary a con-cern or problem. Some-times we even get a bit bored. Yes, its true, that does happen. Then there are days that are so crazy we want to quit dairy farming forever. Those times are few and far between. Other days we have so much extra work, but we dont let it put a damper on a persons mood as long as it doesnt interfere with other plans. Such was the case Monday morning; we had a clear schedule and a ton of extra work. Between two cows having three calves; our every-other-week herd check with the vet and vaccinations for more than half the herd, we were busy. The reason for the extra work was, as they say on television, Zach was on assignment. Steve and I have had to pick up Zachs work load for the past week. Russell did come out to do the feeding when he didnt have to go lift weights for football. Anyway, we had started milking the cows when Russell stuck his head into the parlor and informed us that a cow had calved out on the pasture and that he thought she had twins. Twins! I love twins! They are so tiny and ador-able. When it came time to bring the second group of cows into the barn for milking, I quickly volun-teered to go fetch them.

Dont spend too much time with the new twins, Steve shouted as I left the barn. Gosh, he knows me so well. One of the calves, the girl, was thriving. She was up walking around and making all sorts of noise. Her mother had licked her uffy-clean and showed her all kinds of love. The bull calf was a different story. He couldnt lift his head much less get up to walk around or drink from the mother. I just knew I had to go the extra mile to make sure he thrived. Using the skid loader, I brought the little bugger up to the milk house and washed him with warm soapy water. Once I had the calf all clean, I laid him on a clean towel and scrubbed the bejeebers out of him with a clean, dry beach towel. I was trying to get him as uffy-clean as his twin sister.

Hmm, I thought. I have to nd something dry and warm to cover him with to help maintain the heat of his body. I scanned the milk house and found Joeys jacket hanging by the bulk tank. It was perfect. Its a thick winter Carhartt coat and Joey will be none the wiser, because he is at college. I covered the calf and went to the house to have a warm breakfast of oatmeal. (I love oatmeal!) Now I have to wash Joeys coat before he returns. Apparently, the calf couldnt wait to relieve himself. By this time it was close to 10:30 a.m. Normally, I am nished with my work by 8 a.m. As I sat at the kitchen island stirring the walnuts into my creamy oatmeal, I couldnt help but think, I got out of bed for this!

By that evening, the bull calf was all dry and try-ing to stand on his own four feet. He is so uffy clean and sweet. Thats a good thing. Since then we have addedthree more calves to our repertoire and feeding them takes a bit of time. Getting out of bed makes it all worth it, especiallywhen our baby calves thrive. For questions, or comments, e-mail me at [email protected]

Kerry and her husband, Steve, along with their teenage sons, Joey and Russell, operate a 100-cow dairy farm south of New Ulm, Minn. In her spare time, she likes to read,read and read some more. They have three dogs, one gecko,one guinea pig and one house cat that is insane. The 11barn cats are normal except for Mitch. Theres somethingwrong with that cat.

I got out of bed for this?

Dairy producers have more lighting choices to consider when selecting new or replacement lights. Lights include the xture, lamp, electronics and housing. Lighting economics becomes more

complicated when comparing different lighting options (ex. light emitting diode (LED) vs. uorescent vs. metal halide) because of different useful life estimates, initial costs and electrical energy use for producing similar lighting levels. Proper lighting is important for optimum cow performance and providing a safe and pleasant work environment for workers. Fluorescent, metal halide, high pressure sodium and LED lights are being used by dairy producers in milking centers, animal housing and freestall barns. Cows and heifers are commonly recommended to have 20 foot-candles of light and 16 hours of light per day for optimal growth

and milk production. Workers need suf cient light for observing cows, performing cow care tasks and assessing cow cleanliness before milking.

New uorescent bulbs and lamps Water tight uorescent luminaries are commonly used in dairy facilities because they are energy ef cient and have good color rendition index values (70 to 95 percent, with 100 percent being the maximum value). They also have useful lamp lifetimes ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 hours. New smaller diameter and more energy ef cient uorescent bulbs, T-5, (5/8 inch diameter) are available. T-5s are roughly 10 percent more energy ef cient than T-8 bulbs (1 inch diameter). In the 1990s T-8s replaced T-12s (1.5 inch diameter) because the T-8s produced over 50 percent more light per watt of electrical energy used. The 10 percent increase in T-5 lighting ef ciency suggests that it may not pay to replace T-8s if the existing xture works. T-5 bulbs have a smaller diameter and produce more lumens so they can cause glare if they are close to eye level. Lamp diffusers and proper placement can be used to reduce glare from T-5 bulbs.

Economic considerations Lighting system economics becomes more complex as the number of barn designs, lighting options, light performance characteristics and initial and operating costs increase. For example, producers with cross-ventilated and tunnel ventilated barns with solid walls must provide the recommended 16 hours of light per day (5,840 hours per year) using lights to meet animal needs. Producers with curtain-sided freestall barns can use photocells and timers to turn off lights when natural sunlight provides light. There are roughly 4,450 hours of natural daylight per year when supplemental lighting can be reduced. For the following analysis, 2,190 hours of supplemental lighting per year was provided assuming an average of six hours of supplemental

Page 28 Dairy Star Saturday, November 10, 2012

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lighting per day; more in the winter and less in the summer. Barn size and lumen output per light impacts the number of lightsneeded, which impacts the initial capital and installation costs andelectrical operating costs. Some lighting companies offer lighting design services to lay out ef cient and effective lighting systems. Light characteristics that impact annual capital and operatingcosts include light output (lumens per luminaire), electrical power (kilowatt used per hour), xture life, useful lamp life, initial cost,and labor costs to change lamps. For example, LED lights cost muchmore but have longer useful lamp life. Electrical rates ($ per kilowatt hour) are also important. The average rate for Minnesota is $0.11 per kWh. An economic analysis was done to estimate annual capital andoperating costs of different lighting systems for a 200-foot by 110-foot freestall barn. Four lighting systems were compared: LED, uorescent, metal halide and incandescent. The analysis assumed thatall systems provided at least 20 foot-candles over the entire barn, andelectrical rates and xture and lamp replacement costs had an annualtwo percent in ation rate. Results in Figure 1 show that 20 LED lights, with an expecteduseful life of 60,000 (60 k) hours, had the lowest annual capital andoperating cost compared to systems with 24 uorescent or 20 metalhalide lights. Reducing annual light operating hours from 5,840 needed in cross-ventilated barns to 2,190 hours reduced annual costs by 47 to 56 percent depending on the lighting system. For comparison purposes, incandescent lights, which are not recommended, hadannual capital and operating costs over $19,530 for 5,840 hours oflight per year and $7,580 for 2,190 hours of light per year. The annual energy costs in Figure 1 are a bigger part of the

annual capital and operating costs of the uorescent and metal halidesystems. The annual electrical costs for incandescent systems were$15,400 and $5,780 for 5,840 and 2,190 hours, respectively. These results indicate that lighting costs are variable for differentsystems. Many assumptions were made. The assumptions impact theresults so each design needs to be analyzed. Technology changes andchanging prices for electricity and lighting equipment will continueto change the economics of lighting systems for dairy barns. More on lighting economics will be covered in future articles.

T-5 uorescent lighting and lighting economics

By Kevin JanniProfessor and Extension Engineer

Figure 1. Annual capital and operating costs and annual electrical costs forthree lighting systems for a 200-ft by 110-ft freestall barn.

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By Natalie SchmittColumnist

Just Thinking Out Loud Daylight saving time has of cially come to an end for the year. It will now take me at least a couple of months to adjust and then it starts all over again. At least in the fall it feels like Im get-ting more things done, but Im also starting earlier an hour earlier accord-ing to the clock. We have discovered over the years we just need to keep the cows to our own time schedule and let the rest of the world keep switch-ing back and forth. We used to switch the cows milking time to t the clock, now we just milk when we always do year round, regardless of what time the clock at the end of the barn in point-ing to. It is dark when we start and dark when we end. At least we dont feel like were wasting time in the barn because the sun is still shining. When daylight saving time comes or goes, the questions start. What time is it? Is that new time or old time? Our minds are constantly doing mathemati-cal gymnastics as we try to convert the time to the new schedule. I have four clocks in the kitchen alone and none of them agree. Some are off an hour, oth-ers are off by ve or 10 minutes, others by an hour and extra minutes. Despite our tricks to be on time, we always seem to be running behind schedule. Daylight saving time (DST) is one of those things you can love and hate at the same time. I have nally gured out time springs forward in the spring and falls back in the fall, but why? We can thank Benjamin Franklin and the railroad companies for getting us all on the same time schedule. The origi-nal daylight saving time idea is credited to Franklin in 1784. He is also credited with the phrase, early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. He gured if we moved the clocks ahead in the spring time, people wouldnt sleep in and waste daylight hours. It wasnt nec-essarily saving time as it was shifting an hour of daylight from the beginning of the day to the end. Franklins purpose was to make better use of the daylight hours. No one took his idea se-riously until World War I. Before DST could be implemented, time had to be standardized across the country. In the late 1880s, every town had its own time according to the sun or the local clock. Time was generally set by the courthouse clock tower with a time face pointing in each of the four directions for all to see. The chiming bells told those who couldnt see the community clock what time it was. It was a simple way to tell time for a lo-cal community, but a nightmare for the developing railroad companies. Since very few towns had the same set time, it was hard to determine arrival and departure times. In 1883, the railroad companies standardized time in cities along their routes, but many outlying communities still relied upon the posi-tion of the sun to tell time. In 1918, The United States estab-lished standardized time zones and daylight saving time to conserve energy during WWI. After the war ended, DST proved to be so unpopular that it was repealed in 1919. The largest opposi-tion was by farmers. They wanted day-light left in the morning hours. Making the day last longer just meant you had to work longer. Heaven forbid that you quit working while there is still day-light. Daylight saving time has continued to evolve over the years but not always

with ease. During the 50s and 60sthere was widespread confusion, since each community or state could start andend DST as it desired. On one bus route between Moundsville, WV and Steu-benville, OH, passengers had to change their watches seven times on a 35 miletrip. In 1965, St. Paul decided to beginDST early to conform to the rest of the nation. Minneapolis felt it should followMinnesota state laws which stipulated a later date. It must have been confus-ing for U of MN students to make it to classes on time depending upon whichside of the river their classes were held. President Lyndon Johnson signedthe Uniform Time Act of 1966 to es-tablish a uniform start and ending date for DST throughout the country. Dur-ing the height of the 1973 oil short-age, Congress extended DST from six months to eight months. It is estimatedit resulted in the savings of 10,000 bar-rels of oil each day. Moving the starting date from the last Sunday in April to the rst Sunday in April in 1986 resulted insaving 300,000 barrels of oil each year. The most recent change to DSTcame in 2007 when it was extended tothe second Sunday in March to the rst

Sunday in November. This shift was pushed through by concern for the safe-ty of children trick or treating. By end-ing DST after Halloween, there will bemore daylight hours in the evening foryoungsters to collect even more candy. Political junkies think the shift will alsoimpact voter turn-out with more day-light in the evening hours. 2021 will bethe rst year when DST ends after the elections and researchers can test their theory. All I know is I now have to wait tofeed young stock until there is enoughdaylight to make sure everyone is up to the bunk to eat, but Im back in thehouse for my breakfast at a much ear-lier hour as long as I do chores on old time and check the clock for the day on new time. As John Wayne says in myfavorite movie The Cowboys,were burning daylight. So I better get mov-ing. Dates and facts from www.webex-hibits.com Natalie, Mark and his brother, Al, Schmitt farm together near Rice, Minn.They milk 100 registered Holsteins un-der the RALMA pre x. Their four chil-dren are great help around the farmand are pushing Natalie out of several jobs. Therefore she is thankful to havesomething else to do. For questions or comments please e-mail Natalie at [email protected].

Old time? New time?

Daylight Saving Time is one of those things you can love and hate at the same time.

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The next issue of the Dairy Star is published November 24th.

By Sadie FrericksColumnist/Writer

The Next Generation Theres an old saying that goes, When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. As an eternal optimist, this saying resonates with me, because I al-ways believe that something good can come from a bad situation. When our rst Jersey-cross heif-ers started calving a couple years ago, we ended up with a little brown Jersey-cross bull calf. We named him Hershey and, to me, little was the only way to describe him. Compared to our Hol-stein and Holstein-cross bull calves, Hershey was tiny. We were more than a little bummed. There was no market and still isnt for Jersey bull calves. Since we were sure it wouldnt be pro table to sell Hershey at two to three weeks old, like we do most of our other bull calves, we talked about what to do with him. We considered keeping him until he was weaned and then selling him. But after a couple days it was decided that we would keep Hershey as a freezer steer. During one of my eld research projects in college, I had heard that Jer-sey beef was the best tasting beef of all the breeds. This would be our oppor-tunity to test that claim. And a chance to put something a little more tender in the freezer than the three cows who had previously occupied our freezer. This would also be a new experi-ence for me. Growing up, the only beef we ate came from mature cows who had experienced mishaps of one sort or another. My parents raised one steer when I was really young, but right after putting him in the freezer, there was a mishap with a cow and then we had to nd room in the freezer for twice as many boxes of beef. Dad gured it was one of those Murphys Laws of Farming deals, so that was the last steer raised on our farm. After that, ground beef and slow-cooker roasts were the only types of beef in our freezer. I cant remember ever having steak. Im not sure if thats because my par-ents opted not to buy it for price rea-sons or because my mothers penchant for cooking meat until it was very well done didnt work so well with steaks. As a result, I was never much of a steak lover. But Hershey changed that. We raised Hershey with our heifers. He didnt get any special treatment. He ate what the heifers ate high quality hay and just enough grain mix to supply adequate vitamins and minerals. We took Hershey to the locker the fall after his birthday. The guys who helped Glen unload him said he must have been a pet because he was so tame. We didnt treat him as a pet; we try to raise all of our youngstock to be calm. A couple weeks later, the boxes of beef came home to ll the freezer. Growing up, I remember having a hard time knowing that we were going to be eating Julie or Tulip or Dottie for supper. I dont know if its because of all the time I spent with them during milkings or because I just didnt like thinking about ending an animals life. As Ive matured, though, Ive come to believe that one of the greatest gifts we can give our animals is a lifetime of ex-

cellent care on our farm followed by a humane death. I think Trent Loos said it best when he said, Death with a pur-pose gives meaning to life. So, when I took the rst package of Hersheys ground beef out of the freez-er, I did so with respectful gratitude. But when I took the rst package of steaks out of the freezer, I did so with complete apprehension. I didnt know a thing about cook-ing steaks. So while the steaks thawed, I pored over the advice in The Joy of Cooking about how to properly cook steak. I dont like the taste of grilled meat probably because we never grilled anything when I was growing up so I decided the broiler would be the best way to prepare our new steaks. I preheated the broiler and broiler rack, then rinsed, dried and seasoned the steaks. I smiled as the steaks sizzled

when I laid them on the broiler rack. Following the timing directions in Joy, I turned the steaks half-way through and then checked carefully to make sure they would end up cooked medi-um-well instead of very well done. Im not sure Ive ever been so pleased with something Ive cooked. The steaks were melt-in-your-mouth tender and absolutely delicious. As the kids gobbled up their steak, I told them they were incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to enjoy steak at such a young age. Glen said it was amazing that some-thing so good had come from what we had originally thought was an unlucky situation. Weve only got a couple packages of Hersheys beef left in the freezer. But Hersheys cousin, Steak, will go to the locker next week. Weve raised Steak just as we raised Hershey. The only difference between the two is that, as much as wed have liked Steak to be a heifer calf, we were secretly excited to have another Jersey steer for the freezer. Sadie and her husband, Glen, milk 70 cows near Melrose, Minn. They have two children Dan, 5, and Monika, 3. Sadie also writes a blog for the Dairy Star at http://dairystar.blogspot.com. She can be reached at [email protected].

Lemonade from lemons

Glen said it was amazing that something so good had come from what we had originally thought was an unlucky situation.

Gl id i i

h I l id h h b il k


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All meetings are from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lunch will be provided. For info contact Larry at 608-516-0101

Building Consumer Con dence was the title of several recent meetings discussed in an October 13, 2012 Dairy Stararticle. Meeting topics included meat and milk residues and appropriate drug uses. There was a lot of useful information presented. These topics are important and timely because all of us will need to work a little harder to keep drugs out of milk and meat in the future. Why is this? What can we do? Consumers do not want drugs in their food. The anti-biotic testing of milk and meat began as a way to detect beta-lactam, (penicillin, ampicillin, amoxicillin, cephalosporins) antibiotic residues, because these antibiotics could poten-tially cause illness in suscep-tible individuals. Current and future testing has less to do with direct challenges to human health. Rather, testing is being done to assure consumers that milk and meat are not just safe, but also contain no violative residues of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals. Increased testing requirements are here to stay. Furthermore, we are now producing more milk for the world market. Importing partner countries have different re-quirements that we must now meet. For example, the Euro-pean Union requires testing for a whole variety of products including steroids, y control products, anticoccidials, anti-in ammatory drugs and much more. Thanks to dairy producers hard work the number of an-tibiotic positive milk tankers has been declining since 2008. This is great news. The bad news is that milk tankers are required to be tested only for beta-lactam antibiotics, which represent a minority of pharmaceuticals and antibiotics used in dairy cattle. This, too, will soon be changing. In the near future, FDA will release results from its surveillance program for 27 or more animal drugs from 1,800 farms. While we do not know any results yet, it is likely that required milk test-ing will be expanded as a result of this program. In addition, USDA has upped its meat testing program by testing more ani-

mals and by testing them for many more compounds. Clearly, times are changing and producing residue-free meat and milk is going to require more vigilance. There are things that every dairy producer can do to make this happen, though. For starters, every dairy absolutely needs to have a valid veterinary-client-patient relationship (VCPR) with a vet-erinarian. Determining just what constitutes a valid VCPR is, within regulations, up to the attending veterinarian, so if you are unsure, ask your veterinarian. While not required, it is a good idea to have a signed VCPR certi cate from your veteri-narian on the dairy. If do not have a valid VCPR you are strict-ly prohibited from using any drugs in extra-label fashion, and you are much more likely to have violative residues in milk or meat from your farm. In fact, FDA warning letters to farms with residues show that most commonly, residues occur be-cause drugs are not used according to the label. A valid VCPR allows you to use some additional drugs and to use approved drugs in different ways, but also requires that your veterinarian be responsible for providing you speci c labeling that outlines milk and meat withdrawal periods. Often, dairy producers do not understand the difference between approved, extra-label, and prohibited drug use. In part this is due to history. Prior to passage of the AMDUCA law in 1994, much of drug use by veterinarians and, to some degree, producers was technically illegal. However, FDA recognized that there were not enough approved drugs and applications for food animals, so the agency seldom enforced such drug use. After AMDUCA, extra-label use became legal, but spe-ci c requirements had to be met, and some drugs and some uses of drugs were designated as prohibited and thus illegal. For example, extra-label use of penicillin, such as giving more than about 15cc to an adult Holstein, is allowed with a valid VCPR and appropriate labeling, but use of Baytril in female dairy cattle over 20 months of age, or use of Baytril in female dairy cattle younger than 20 months for any condition except pneumonia (the label indication) is illegal. There are no excep-tions, and your veterinarian cannot legally prescribe the drug for such exceptions. Other examples of prohibited use are: unixin (Banamine) given intramuscularly or subcutaneously, sulfadimethoxine (Albon) given IV for toxic mastitis, or oral sulfadimethoxine given IV for anything in a dairy cow, ceftio-fur (Naxcel) given IV (a different route than on the label), or tetracycline in heifer feed at above the labeled dose.

Some extra-label uses are legal, but have different testingrequirements. For example, if you inject a 15 month old heiferwith NuFlor intramuscularly, the labeled meat withhold of 28 days will not cause a residue. However, if your veterinarian determines that it is legal to inject an adult cow with NuFlor,and you do so, you will have a violative residue if the cowgoes to market at 28 days post injection. In fact, there may bea residue for almost three months after the injection, becauseFDA does not tolerate any NuFlor in any tissue at any level inan adult cow, while they do have an established tolerance levelfor the 15 month old heifer. In fact, whether a particular drug usage is legal or not isnot always clear. This is because your veterinarian must go through the AMDUCA algorithm for extra-label use, and dif-ferent veterinarians will interpret the rule differently. The rules for drug use in food animals can be confusing, and they can change with little warning. Your veterinarian is the profession-al who is required to keep abreast of these requirements, so use him or her to help you design drug protocols on your farm. Furthermore, any extra-label use requires a record, kepton the farm for at least two years that indicates the cow, date, drug, and diagnosis, duration of treatment, and milk and meat withdrawals. You should also record the route of administra-tion and the name or initials of the person administering the product. Additionally, should you have any residue, you will nd that any, even an approved use of an approved drug needsthis same minimum record, because investigators will speci -cally ask for your treatment records, and they will look unfa-vorably on farms with only minimal records. Dairy producers have done a great job of preventing milkand meat residues. However, times are changing and it is goingto be harder to be residue free in the future. The good news is that there are lots of people and organi-zations with tools and dedication to help you achieve this goal.Your veterinarian comes rst, but do not forget the company orco-op that buys your milk, drug company representatives, ex-tension educators, your state agriculture department, and oth-ers. Together we can the produce quality, residue free productsthat markets demand.

Jim Bennett is a dairy veterinarian at Northern ValleyDairy Production Medicine Center in Plainview, Minn. He andhis wife, Pam, have four children. Jim can be reached at [email protected] with comments or questions.

By Jim BennettColumnist

Veterinary Wisdom

Revisiting appropriate drug uses

Documents

11/10/12-Zone 2-1st Section