Milking ‘a favorite time of the day’

UTICA, Minn. — As eight members of the Gingerich family gather in their tiestall barn to milk 17 cows, it is one of the best family moments of the day.

Rudy and Betty Gingerich, their five children who are still at home — Erma, Susie, Gertie, Joni and Edna —and their married son, Joseph, and his wife, Sarann, milk cows together near Utica. The Gingeriches, who are Amish, milk by hand twice a day.

“I enjoy the milking with the whole family out here in the barn,” Betty said. “That’s a favorite time of the day. We talk about things that are going on, how our day went, and what tomorrow might bring.”

Rudy agreed.

“For some reason when you’re in the barn there’s a lot of communication,” he said.

Not only is milking time a time to spend together as a family, it is also a way to teach their children life lessons.

“We think it’s good to have responsibility,” Betty said. “Milking cows is a good way to have that because it needs to be done morning and night.”

If everyone is there for milking it takes about 30 minutes to complete. Milk is carried in buckets to the milkhouse and poured into the bulk tank, where it is cooled using a reefer unit. The milk is picked up every other day and sold to Organic Valley.

Rudy moved to the farm when he was 6 years old. Now, at 53, the husband, father and grandfather has dairy farmed his whole life. Betty also grew up in the area, and the couple met at school. Her family had a farm as well, although her dad’s main occupation was operating a machine shop.

Besides dairy farming, the Gingeriches also train horses. While they own some of the horses, many come from owners who bring them for training. They train on average 10 horses a month. Betty also owns a vitamins, supplements and health business besides growing a garden and caring for the family.

“There’s no dull moment down here,” Betty said.

The couple first started dairy farming alongside Rudy’s parents. In the early ‘90s, they built a barn with 21 tie stalls where they milk today.

“We used to milk over in the old barn in nine stalls,” Rudy said. “(We) changed cows all the time. I turned 21 and I decided if I’m going to milk cows, I’m going to build a dairy barn. … It’s worked out well.”

The couple fully took over the farm in 1999. Rudy and Betty started out milking dairy cows, then switched to dairy goats for a decade. Now, they have been back to dairy cows for 10 years. Rudy said he does not plan to switch to goats again as cows fit better with his pasture setup.

The herd is grazed in summer on three large pastures of seven acres, 14 acres, and a 30-acre section with some woods. In addition to the grass, the cows receive high-quality hay for the protein content year-round, along with dried ground corn in the summer. In the winter, the cows live in the barn and receive hay, corn silage, soybean meal and high-moisture corn.

Rudy said he does not push his cows, aiming for about 50 pounds of milk per cow per day. In the summer, this is harder to maintain, he said.

Besides the cows they are milking, they also have five heifers to freshen. The herd is crossbred with Holstein, Fleckvieh and Jersey bloodlines.

“I like my crossbred cows,” Rudy said. “Fleckvieh cows in the summertime, they can take the heat better than a Holstein can. … They go out and graze where a Holstein likes to just stand around.”

The cows live outside in the summer and stay inside in the winter — except during winter chores when they are let out for fresh air. Winter days in the barn are one of Rudy’s favorite moments in dairy farming.

“The barn is nice and warm … (the cows) are all in there munching their hay, and it’s nice and cozy,” Rudy said.

The Gingeriches raise part of their feed. Their operation is 160 acres between two farms, with about 100 acres being tillable. Part of those 100 acres is in pasture, the rest is either hay, oats, corn or soybeans. Some of the corn and all of the soybeans are sold as cash crops. The oats are fed to the horses. Rudy buys most of his dairy hay because he can get higher-quality hay from out of state.

Weeds are controlled via a cultivator as well as through hand weeding if necessary. This summer, the Gingerich family hand weeded 26 acres of soybeans. Taking a crew of about 10, each person worked on two rows at a time. Betty said their main focus was pulling ragweed and buttonweed.

“If it’s not too weedy it doesn’t take real long,” she said.

Looking to next year, Rudy is planning on trying rotational grazing on 14 acres of new seeding pasture, which he will break up into three paddocks. He plans to move the cows every three days.

“I’ve always wanted to do this rotational grazing, but it’s harder when you don’t have electric fences,” Rudy said.

However, in spite of the challenges, he plans to put up two strands of barbed wire with the fence posts further apart to make it easier to take down and with that give rotational grazing a try.

“They say your pasture lasts longer and it’s better for the cows,” Rudy said.