In the name of progress

MADISON, Wis. — From their use of technology to practical approaches for sustainability, four dairy farmers shared how they run progressive operations Oct. 2 during World Dairy Expo in Madison.

National Milk Producers Federation’s National Young Cooperators Program hosted the seminar “Progressive Farmer Panel: Innovation, Strategy and the Future of Dairy Farming.” The panel featured Dr. Megan Schrupp, Rodney Fowler, Laura Raatz and Joel Eigenbrood.

Schrupp and her husband farm with her parents at NexGen Dairy near Eden Valley, Minnesota, where they milk about 1,200 Jerseys and Jersey-cross cows while farming 1,400 acres.

“We try to do most things in-house, including raising our replacements, doing our own forage harvesting, manure application and hoof trimming,” she said.

Schrupp is also a practicing veterinarian.

Fowler is a first-generation dairy farmer who farms with his brother and son near Chesaning, Michigan, where they milk 220 cows and farm 1,200-1,300 acres.

“We started with one cow and a Surge bucket,” Fowler said. “Now, we’re 10 years into milking with robots. We strive for high production per cow and grow a lot of our own feed.”

A year and a half ago, they started roasting high-oleic soybeans, which Fowler said has improved milk production and component levels.

Raatz is a fifth-generation dairy farmer at Wagner Farms near Oconto Falls, where she farms with her parents, brother and husband. The family milks 950 cows and farms 1,500 acres with help from 17 full-time employees.

“We are passionate about innovating and finding ways we can do our jobs better,” Raatz said. “We are also passionate about connecting producers and consumers.”

Eigenbrood is the chief financial officer for a family in central Michigan that operates five dairies and farms 13,000 acres.

When asked what risk management looks like for their operation, Eigenbrood said it starts with understanding risk tolerance.

“We tend to think of risk management as milk price and feed price, but there’s a lot more, like insurance rates and interest rates,” he said. “How we manage equipment, whether leasing or owning, also falls under that. Risk tolerance depends on our overall financial position, lifecycle, and how much working capital we have to absorb shock.”

Eigenbrood said their farm adopted Dairy Revenue Protection and other risk management programs initially, but today they are more opportunistic.

“We’re not consistent, which I think most brokers would tell you that you need to be, but I find DRP very expensive,” he said. “Milk prices have to be pretty decent and the premium reasonable for us to use it. But that’s because we know we can absorb some shocks. We do all our own cropping, which helps manage our feed cost risk a lot. …There is no risk management that comes without a cost.”

Fowler forward contracts milk and has used Dairy Margin Coverage. He also forward contracts feed when it seems advantageous.

“We utilize forward contracting quite often and have our feed mill locked in right now for a year,” he said. “A lot of our risk management at our level is growing our own feed. Especially with the new soybean roaster, we control even a larger portion of our feed by growing it ourselves and having a year’s worth on farm in the bin.”

As labor continues to be a top concern for producers, panelists were asked how they are addressing workforce challenges.

“For us, it’s focusing like we always have on our labor and investing in people,” Schrupp said. “Finding good people and putting them in the right spots and giving them the tools they need is a big part of that. The biggest change for us is the advancement of technology. We use a lot of technology on our dairy.”

Providing employees with technology allows Schrupp’s family to be more efficient with the labor they currently have, she said. For example, they are going to be adding more stalls to the parlor without adding labor.

Fowler said technology has also been a labor saver on his farm. Prior to installing robots, they invested in a time-saving activity monitoring system.

“We’ve used heat detection for 13 years, and our heifer conception rate went way up,” Fowler said. “With robots, ketosis dropped from around 20% to less than 5%. Technology has helped us do more with the same amount of labor. With ketosis, it’s helped us do less because I don’t treat as many cows. It helps manage the workload.”

Raatz said they focus on building a positive culture and creating an atmosphere where people want to come to work and feel valued and important.

“We invest a lot of time into training and sharing knowledge with team members,” she said. “We want to give people the skills they need to succeed both on and off our farm.”

Raatz said they embrace technology and utilize it for cow comfort and in other areas to help them do their jobs faster, easier, smarter and better.

When it came to sustainability, Fowler said he and his brother look at sustainability and profitability as one entity.

“The farm has to be profitable to be sustainable, and you have to be sustainable to be profitable,” he said. “We grow a lot of cover crops. Our organic matter in our soil compared to people who chisel plow and crop around us, we’re a couple percent, sometimes 3%, higher in organic matter than they are. Cover crops do have a return.”

When looking at how to be more sustainable, Fowler and his family break everything down on a per unit basis — per bushel, acre and cow — and try to maximize each area. Before trying a new sustainable practice, Fowler runs it through a cost analysis.

Schrupp said they put in solar panels in 2020 to power their dairy and are looking at a manure digester in the next year possibly.

“Sustainable practices have to fit into the economics of our farm and into the long-term goals,” she said.

Raatz said sustainability is an important topic at her family’s farm.

“Sustainability has been a part of our culture and way of life for many generations,” she said. “For us, it’s about people and culture as much as about the cows and crops and being the best stewards of our land. It’s about building something that’s going to last for our team, families and the next generation.”