Dairy Star’s year in review

Muths rejoice as toddler son’s cancer goes into remission

March 22, 2025

In the fall of 2024, Peter and Gina Muth received news no parent ever wants to hear: their son had cancer. Wade Muth was 18 months old when he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. After spending 4.5 months in the hospital undergoing four rounds of chemotherapy treatments, Wade returned home March 4, 2025, cancer-free. The Muths, who milk 200 cows and farm 700 acres with Peter’s parents, Kathy and George, near West Bend, Wisconsin, said they are grateful for the love and support from their community.

Schmidtke seeks proactive solutions to proposed manure spreading ban

March 22, 2025

Kevin Schmidtke hauls manure daily on his 100-cow dairy farm near Stratford, Wisconsin. However, high levels of phosphorus plaguing the Big Eau Pleine River Watershed could limit the number of days he can spread. Marathon County is considering banning winter spreading of liquid and slurry manure during February and March. Schmidtke feels the proposal unduly affects small-scale dairy farmers like him. He said he believes there are better, more proactive solutions to mitigate potential phosphorus runoff, such as creating buffer zones around surface waters.

Riewe savors NFL Draft experience

May 10, 2025

For as long as he can remember, Charlie Riewe has bled green and gold for his beloved Green Bay Packers. He said attending the NFL Draft, hosted by the Packers in April, was like celebrating a family holiday. Riewe and his brother, Kenny, milk 140 cows near Oconto, Wisconsin. Their dairy farm is a 35-minute drive from Green Bay’s Lambeau Field. An avid watcher of the draft for 30 years, Riewe made the half-hour pilgrimage when the event landed in his backyard. He took his wife, Keriann, and their sons, Bennett and Greyson. Riewe said the experience was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Communities rally to help Wisconsin dairies affected by 14-tornado outbreak

May 24, 2025

On the evening of May 15, Brenda Elsinger came up from the basement to find her farm’s freestall barn destroyed. The tornado that hit Lomira just after 6 p.m. was rated EF1 with winds up to 95 mph. As soon as the storm passed, hundreds of people swooped in to help the family. The Schwandt Family Farm, located southwest of Juneau, was also struck May 15 by an EF2 tornado, with wind speeds reaching 120 mph that caused significant damage, including knocking over a Harvestore silo. The storm system that swept across Wisconsin May 15 left a trail of destruction, with 14 tornadoes confirmed by the National Weather Service in Clark, Dodge, St. Croix, Portage, Sauk, Marathon and Columbia Counties.

Den Hoeds continue to recover from decade-long stray voltage battle

Aug. 23, 2025

When the Den Hoed family left their dairy farm in eastern Washington’s Yakima Valley to farm in northwest Wisconsin, they had no idea of the battle with stray voltage they would unearth. They would wage war with the invisible enemy for more than a decade. The Den Hoeds milk 500 cows near Frederic, Wisconsin. At its worst point, their mortality and cull rate exceeded 40%, and calf loss was over 50%. Milk production dropped to an average of 45 pounds per cow on 3-times-a-day milking. Once the Den Hoeds determined the problem, it took four years to get the electric cooperative to work with them to remedy the situation. The Den Hoeds now have a stray voltage meter that measures 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and they print the results to know their levels. The family hopes to regain some of the ground they have lost, as their herd average has climbed back to 80 pounds of milk per day.

Engels receive Holstein Association USA’s Elite Breeder Award

Sept. 13, 2025

Focused on elite type, brothers Joe and Matt Engel breed for high-scoring, show-winning cattle. Marketing their genetics worldwide, the Engels are known for creating cows of exceptional width and strength equipped with beautiful udders. In recognition of their accomplishments, Dennis and Beth, Matt, and Joe and Margaret Engel of Luck-E Holsteins were given the 2025 Elite Breeder Award by Holstein Association USA Inc. The Engel family milks 120 cows near Hampshire, Illinois, and has bred nearly 700 Excellent cows, including two EX-96, five EX-95, and 54 EX-94 animals.

Make allowances drive shift in Class III milk prices

Sept. 27, 2025

Five of the seven updates to pricing formulas in Federal Milk Marketing Orders were implemented June 1, and producers are seeing the effects on their milk checks. For many in the Upper Midwest, the mailbox price has been smaller than the pre-order changes. This is largely due to increases in make allowances — variables in the milk pricing formula that represent costs incurred by processors to convert raw milk into dairy products like cheese, butter, nonfat dry milk and whey. The increases, reflected in prices for Class III and Class IV milk, add up, especially for producers in the Upper Midwest, Central and Mideast FMMOs, which are heavy with cheese plants.

Panelists share how Trump administration is reshaping U.S. dairy policy

Oct. 11, 2025

Hot-button issues like tariffs, labor and the push to bring whole milk back into schools were the focus of a panel discussion Oct. 2, 2025, at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin. Speakers included Gregg Doud, president and CEO of National Milk Producers Federation; Sheryl Meshke, president and CEO of Associated Milk Producers Inc.; and dairy farmer Brian Rexing of New Generation Dairy in Indiana.

Van Dyk donates time as Halos of St. Croix Valley photographer

Oct. 11, 2025

A desire to support those suffering through what may easily be the worst time of their lives propelled Rikki Van Dyk to begin volunteering as a photographer with Halos of the St. Croix Valley. Halos of the St. Croix Valley supports parents emotionally and financially who have lost a child through miscarriage or in the first 20 years of life. As a volunteer photographer for the organization, Van Dyk provides her services to grieving parents who have either lost a child or are soon to suffer that loss, to capture photographic memories of their cherished life. Van Dyk and her husband, Chris, milk 65 cows on their St. Croix County dairy farm near New Richmond, Wisconsin.

Snodgrass survives double brain aneurysm; robots provide chore relief

Oct. 25, 2025

When Ron Snodgrass suffered a double brain aneurysm Dec. 15, 2024, the family’s two DeLaval V300 robots became more than a convenience for milking their 120 Jersey cows. Ron, who farms near Oregon, Illinois, with his wife, Kristi, and his parents, Tom and Myrna, said the robots were a blessing when he was laid up in the hospital following a 6-hour surgery to repair the aneurysms. The doctors called Ron a walking phenomenon after his recovery. Today, Ron is functioning at 100% with no lasting setbacks from the trauma his brain endured.

Heifer inventory at 20-year low

Nov. 8, 2025

Dairy replacement heifers are in short supply in the U.S., down 18% from 2018. The tight inventory has caused replacement prices to skyrocket to between $3,000-$4,000 per head. A report published by CoBank said dairy heifer inventories are expected to shrink further before rebounding in 2027. The heifer herd will plummet by approximately 800,000 head over the next two years. The authors of the report believe there is room for replacement heifer prices to go even higher than they are currently. Making up for the lack of replacements is the U.S.’s highest cow herd since 1993, which is numbered at over 9.5 million head. Cull cow numbers fell by more than 600,000 since Labor Day 2023, as cows are being retained for their ability to make another calf.

Professors at University of Wisconsin-Platteville turn waste milk into plastic

Nov. 8, 2025

Dr. Joseph Wu and Dr. John Obielodan of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville were recently awarded a patent for a process to convert proteins from milk into a plastic material. After years of researching how to create plastic from lignin found in plants, the professors recognized a chance to create 3D printed plastic from the proteins found in spoiled milk. They pivoted their study to dairy in 2021. With help from the Dairy Innovation Hub and the University of Wisconsin System, the professors discovered how to turn dairy into plastic. Since being awarded the pa-tent, Obielodan and Wu have been working with WiSys Technology Foundation Inc. to find investors. The professors hope to bring the technology to commercialization.

H5N1 HPAI detected in Wisconsin herd

Dec. 20, 2025

Nearly two years after it first appeared in a Texas dairy herd, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection confirmed Dec. 14, 2025, that H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected in a Dodge County dairy herd. The Wisconsin case brings the total number of confirmed cases to 1,084 in 19 states, since the virus was first identified March 25, 2024. The Wisconsin case was detected through Wisconsin’s compliance with the National Milk Testing Strategy, with no sign of clinical symptoms noted on-farm.