A start-up dairy model for the future

With an innovative approach, extension agent walks his talk

Kieler, Wisconsin—There are lots of people within the grazing community who talk about the need to help young people get into the game. Larry Tranel happens to be one of those who matched that talk with his own money, and his own sweat.

Tranel, dairy field specialist for Iowa State University Extension, has employed a series of innovative ideas in converting 70 acres of good Southwest Wisconsin prairie ground into a productive starter grass dairy. Last year Eric and Amanda Gaul, both in their 20s, registered more than $90,000 in net farm income and $83,000 in returns to labor – along with an eye-popping 51% return on assets. (As renters, they had just $1,593/cow in assets, including an average of $1,100 in each cow.) Continue reading “A start-up dairy model for the future”

May 1, 2004April 18, 2020

Learning in the CLA school of hard knocks

‘Grass-fed’ cooperative finds both promise and problems in developing market

Seymour, Wisconsin —Five years ago, Valerie Dantoin-Adamski was reading reports that milk and meat from grazed cattle consuming little or no grain had exceptionally high levels of congugated linoleic acid (CLA) and omega-3 fatty acids, both shown in animal trials to prevent cancer and other health problems. Valerie says the news was exciting to her, because producing quality food had long been a cornerstone principle at Full Circle Farm, which she operates with her husband, Rick.

“As farmers we have a responsibility to provide people with the most nutritious food we can produce,” Valerie explains. Continue reading “Learning in the CLA school of hard knocks”

April 1, 2004April 18, 2020

Opitz on grazing: Keeping up with spring grass

Spring pasture management may be the most difficult task in farming. The weather is so variable that a management tactic based on calendar dates and specific strategies that worked last year may fail miserably this year. Grass availability can turn from shortage to surplus in the space of a few days, and it can rain on that surplus for days at a time. Mistakes and bad breaks in spring can haunt grass farmers through the rest of the year, with poor summer production and lots of poor hay in storage. Yet fortune and good strategies can you give your pastures a chance to be productive during dry summer weather, and give you the ability to supplement with the quality forage made in spring.

While everyone screws up spring grass management at least once in a while, the Opitz dairy farm in southwestern Wisconsin probably screws up a lot less than average. With more than 2,000 cattle on 3,000 acres of rolling and rough ground, Charles Opitz, his son Mark, and herdsman Keith Ekstrom have their hands full every spring. But they usually come out of it with pastures set up well for the summer season, and a fair amount of decent quality pasture haylage in a pit or wrapped in bales. Continue reading “Opitz on grazing: Keeping up with spring grass”

February 1, 2004April 18, 2020

Different ‘grass-fed’ beef categories require differing strategies

By Tom Wrchota, Omro, Wisconsin — Ever since living and working in Costa Rica back in the early 1970s, I have greatly enjoyed the taste, smell, and texture of “properly” raised and prepared grass-fed beef. Once back in Wisconsin, it was one of my crusades to develop a beef herd and a grass management system that could service my acquired beef appetite … along with making a living selling it to other prospective affectionatos.

After 11 years of being part of this emerging sector, I’ve come to a few conclusions about what represents grass-fed beef quality, and how a northern grazier might be able to produce a relatively consistent product. They’re based on laboratory tests, blind taste panels, and my own, on-ranch observations. Continue reading “Different ‘grass-fed’ beef categories require differing strategies”

December 1, 2003April 18, 2020

Musing on Dad’s mistakes

By Jim Van Der Pol, Kerkhoven, Minnesota — I was raised to farming. Most of my “indoctrination” was carried out by my father. He truly believed that he who could farm certainly would, and that others would just have to be satisfied with a lesser lot in life. When I was a little boy, three or four perhaps, the instructions given for locating me were to “find Jake and look down.” The barn my parents built to replace the one that blew down on our former farm a few miles down my road still bears my three-year old footprints in the concrete.

Dad is gone. So is Mother now, and I have been amazed at how very intimidating it has been to find myself in the predicament of being the oldest, at least in that my generation is the oldest. The idea that I am or ought to be speaking from experience is confusing. How did I get so far so fast? My confusion is worsened by the knowledge that I do not in any sense “know” what my parents knew, even though all of us are, or were, farmers. Continue reading “Musing on Dad’s mistakes”

December 1, 2003April 18, 2020

Year-round, Corn Belt grazing

Cliff Schuette employs annuals and fescue in 12-month beef grazing program

Breese, Illinois — “If you’re paying for the ground year-round, you might as well try to graze it year-round.” While Cliff Schuette’s rationale may be sound, this grass-farming grail is simply not attainable for northern graziers.

Then again, Cliff and a few others like him are showing that perhaps year-round grazing — or at least something very close to it — is not quite the mirage many graziers made it out to be. In recent years Corn Belt graziers have been employing annual crops and stockpiling tall fescue in successful efforts to graze at least some stock 12 months a year, thus cutting feeding costs to levels far below conventional norms for their areas. Continue reading “Year-round, Corn Belt grazing”