Team effort at Sandhill Dairy

PERHAM, Minn. — Many hands make light work. For Sandhill Dairy, they decided to get creative about how to get those helping hands.

On Sept. 30, 65 people showed up to help Sandhill Dairy cover their silage pile. Members of the Perham High School cross-country team and the Crosspoint Alliance Church youth group, along with several coaches and parents, came together to lend a hand.

“My youngest daughter is in cross country, so the idea popped in my head,” said one of the owners of Sandhill Dairy, Bob Dombeck. “I approached the coach and he was excited about it.”

Dombeck, who operates the 360-cow dairy farm with his brother, Steve, and brother-in-law, Jeremy Lackowitzer, near Perham, had 3,500 tons of corn silage to cover this year. What normally takes them 3-4 hours to complete with a handful of family members and employees, was done in just over an hour this year. Chopping ended at 2 p.m., the groups showed up at 6 p.m., and the pile was covered around 7:15 p.m.

“It was a little overwhelming at first; it’s kind of like herding cats,” Dombeck said. “The coaches were good at helping to steer [the kids] in the right direction. Once we got going, it was good.”

Dombeck instructed the group on how to pull the plastic over the pile and where to stack the tires to keep the plastic in place. The crew worked together to get sections of plastic pulled over. Some started laying tires while others began pulling the next section of plastic. Before long, the crew had the nearly 100- by 40-yard pile finished. For most of the helpers, this was their first time doing any sort of farm work.

“I honestly had no idea what we were going to do on this farm; I just wanted to help,” said Gracie Morris, a senior member of both the cross-country team and youth group. “After it was all done, it shocked me that farmers normally do these tasks with only five people.”

Matt Jorgenson was another senior member of the cross-country team and youth group.

“The best part of the whole experience was just being able to do a good deed and help someone out while hanging out with my friends and being able to do it all for God,” Jorgenson said.

While physical labor was the main focus of the evening, the experience also brought forth lots of questions and learning opportunities Dombeck said for both kids and adults.

“Lots of them were asking what they were covering; they didn’t know it was corn,” Dombeck said. “I was explaining why we do this, what it was, and that it was a year’s supply for the cows. After it was all done, several of them were interested in seeing the (robotic milkers), so we went to show them those. I think the adults were more curious than the kids.”

The crew’s effort did not go without reward. Dombeck offered to donate $1,500 to split between the groups for their assistance. Covering the silage pile was also an opportunity for the participating youth, grades 7-12, to work on their bonding and teamwork skills. After the work was complete, Sandhill Dairy provided everyone with a meal.

The satisfaction of a hard day’s work was felt by all Dombeck said as they talked and reflected over their dinner. He said he was happy to get an important task done while providing an opportunity for kids to work, learn and connect.

“It was very satisfying to have [the silage pile] done that fast, and done right, so we can move on to the next project of combining beans and keeping everything else moving,” Dombeck said. “There was absolutely zero complaining. The only complaining was when a mouse ran out a couple of times.”

Dombeck said he encourages other farmers to reach out for assistance to cover their silage piles.

“Hopefully this story will inspire a couple of other farms to do the same thing,” Dombeck added. “All they have to do is reach out to coaches, a church or other organizations. Just reach out, maybe there’s something there.”