In Europe, it’s put your money in, get your raw milk out

In Europe, buying raw milk can be as simple as putting some money in a vending machine and filling a bottle.

“In all of Europe you will find some form of milk machine,” said Sylvia Onusic, a nutritionist and food writer. The phenomenon started in Switzerland, and each European country establishes its own rules regarding vending sales. Italy alone has more than 1,300 such machines, she told attendees at the recent International Raw Milk Symposium in Madison, Wisconsin. Continue reading “In Europe, it’s put your money in, get your raw milk out”

March 1, 2010April 18, 2020

Turning dairy feeding wisdom on its head

Jim Gardiner adds molasses, but no grain, to great forage in making 16,000 lbs./cow

Otselic, New York — Talk to Jim Gardiner for any length of time, and you’ll realize he is turning conventional dairy feeding wisdom almost completely on its well-established head.

Jim says the ultra-fast breakdown of molasses in a cow’s rumen is a good thing, while the propensity for corn to slow the passage of grazed pasture is bad. Corn creates rumen heat and exacerbates summer overheating compared to a forage/molasses ration, he asserts. Corn actually increases the problems caused by urea in the blood of cows consuming high-protein forages, rather than reducing them as conventional science asserts. Continue reading “Turning dairy feeding wisdom on its head”

February 1, 2010April 18, 2020

Calf housing made cheap, easy and efficient

kurtenbachcalfhutch1 — These panel-and-tarp hutches offer a nice environment for the calves, and labor savings at a low cost for Lee Kurtenbach. The structures are dismantled after weaning, allowing bedding packs to be cleaned and the entire line to be moved a few feet for the next spring’s calf crop. Photo: Lee Kurtenbach

Mechanicsville, Iowa— With more than 400 cows to milk and not a lot of labor on hand, Lee Kurtenbach likes things simple, efficient, effective and cheap. That’s why he’s using wire stock panels covered with tarps to house some 90 separate groups of young dairy calves, five to a group.

Lee calves seasonally starting in early March, and keeps his Jersey bulls until they’re actually worth some money. He needs some shelter in his southern Iowa climate and likes portable calf housing, but in Lee’s view fiberglass domes and the like are too expensive and too much work. Continue reading “Calf housing made cheap, easy and efficient”

January 1, 2010April 18, 2020

Selling grass-fed meat in tough economic times

Tom Wrchota, Omro, Wisconsin — The increase in unemployed, underemployed, and fearful Americans has certainly affected overall spending on food. Here at Cattleana Ranch, meat sales are off slightly from our all-time record high of 2008. A decline in the dollar volume of our chicken and meat CSA sales offset slight increases in our beef, pork and lamb business. Overall, we feel like we’ve held our own through this economic storm.

The challenge these days for all grass-fed marketers is to hold on to the current customer base, keeping revenues at least even without diminishing profit margins. A direct marketer’s developed customer base is the stored “gold” of the business, and the customer’s continued loyalty during rough economic times is essential for success. It is critical to understand why these customers purchase from you, and how the economy is potentially changing their buying habits. Continue reading “Selling grass-fed meat in tough economic times”

June 1, 2009April 18, 2020

Small-scale irrigation offers alternative

Steve Guell would rather graze than feed more grain and hay

Waupun, Wisconsin—How much should a small-scale dairy grazier with limited acreage spend to ensure that his cows have full grazing through all those dry spells? If you have just 30 cows and maybe 40 or 50 acres of pasture, what would it be worth to keep that forage green and palatable straight through a long growing season — even in a region with enough rainfall to supposedly do the job?

How about $14,000? Continue reading “Small-scale irrigation offers alternative”

June 1, 2009April 18, 2020

Adding some nesting to our boomer mentalities

By Jim Van Der Pol, Kerkhoven, Minnesota — The telemarketer who was trying to convince me that I could “earn” a 90% return to a play on the stock market was surprised to hear that I didn’t deal with criminals. He was so surprised to hear this that he hung on long enough to hear me say that I made my living by working for it, rather than trying to cheat someone else out of it.

Telemarketers, who pop up about three per day on our two phone lines, are closely related to the mosquito in my view. Being a human invention, they may in fact be worse. If we think in Christian terms, we have to reckon with the knowledge that the mosquito is part of God’s creation, and that therefore He is well pleased with it even if we are not. Continue reading “Adding some nesting to our boomer mentalities”