Calf housing made cheap, easy and efficient

kurtenbachcalfhutch1 — These panel-and-tarp hutches offer a nice environment for the calves, and labor savings at a low cost for Lee Kurtenbach. The structures are dismantled after weaning, allowing bedding packs to be cleaned and the entire line to be moved a few feet for the next spring’s calf crop. Photo: Lee Kurtenbach

Mechanicsville, Iowa— With more than 400 cows to milk and not a lot of labor on hand, Lee Kurtenbach likes things simple, efficient, effective and cheap. That’s why he’s using wire stock panels covered with tarps to house some 90 separate groups of young dairy calves, five to a group.

Lee calves seasonally starting in early March, and keeps his Jersey bulls until they’re actually worth some money. He needs some shelter in his southern Iowa climate and likes portable calf housing, but in Lee’s view fiberglass domes and the like are too expensive and too much work. Continue reading “Calf housing made cheap, easy and efficient”

January 1, 2010April 18, 2020

Selling grass-fed meat in tough economic times

Tom Wrchota, Omro, Wisconsin — The increase in unemployed, underemployed, and fearful Americans has certainly affected overall spending on food. Here at Cattleana Ranch, meat sales are off slightly from our all-time record high of 2008. A decline in the dollar volume of our chicken and meat CSA sales offset slight increases in our beef, pork and lamb business. Overall, we feel like we’ve held our own through this economic storm.

The challenge these days for all grass-fed marketers is to hold on to the current customer base, keeping revenues at least even without diminishing profit margins. A direct marketer’s developed customer base is the stored “gold” of the business, and the customer’s continued loyalty during rough economic times is essential for success. It is critical to understand why these customers purchase from you, and how the economy is potentially changing their buying habits. Continue reading “Selling grass-fed meat in tough economic times”

June 1, 2009April 18, 2020

Small-scale irrigation offers alternative

Steve Guell would rather graze than feed more grain and hay

Waupun, Wisconsin—How much should a small-scale dairy grazier with limited acreage spend to ensure that his cows have full grazing through all those dry spells? If you have just 30 cows and maybe 40 or 50 acres of pasture, what would it be worth to keep that forage green and palatable straight through a long growing season — even in a region with enough rainfall to supposedly do the job?

How about $14,000? Continue reading “Small-scale irrigation offers alternative”

June 1, 2009April 18, 2020

Adding some nesting to our boomer mentalities

By Jim Van Der Pol, Kerkhoven, Minnesota — The telemarketer who was trying to convince me that I could “earn” a 90% return to a play on the stock market was surprised to hear that I didn’t deal with criminals. He was so surprised to hear this that he hung on long enough to hear me say that I made my living by working for it, rather than trying to cheat someone else out of it.

Telemarketers, who pop up about three per day on our two phone lines, are closely related to the mosquito in my view. Being a human invention, they may in fact be worse. If we think in Christian terms, we have to reckon with the knowledge that the mosquito is part of God’s creation, and that therefore He is well pleased with it even if we are not. Continue reading “Adding some nesting to our boomer mentalities”

March 1, 2009April 18, 2020

From beef, to dairy, to a full-time living

Hudsons learned first, purchased later

Dublin, Virginia—When George and Julie Hudson took the Hoard’s Dairyman dairy knowledge test not too long ago, they both failed. Maybe that’s because milking cows is their means to an end, rather than the be-all, end-all of their existence.

“We’re not dairy people,” admits George, who actually did grow up on a confinement dairy. Shortly after high school graduation, at a time when other young men with agricultural backgrounds were studying pick-up trucks or fancy-uddered cows, George was taking classes in accounting and real estate. When others might have been trying to make a go of milking cows or working in town, George was driving a school bus, leasing land, and learning how to make money grazing a commercial cow-calf beef herd. Continue reading “From beef, to dairy, to a full-time living”

February 1, 2009April 18, 2020

The economics of once-a-day milking

Can OAD and no grain combine to create wealth and happiness?

Chambersburg, Pennsylvania—Let’s talk about radical change and alternative dairy economics. A dozen years ago, Cliff Hawbaker was milking cows three times a day, housing them in freestalls, earning and burning a lot of cash, and just starting to think about getting his cows out on pasture for a few hours each day between milkings.

Today, Cliff has completed his third year of owning and helping to manage an entirely spring-calved, 120-cow satellite herd that was milked just once a day (OAD) in each of those three seasons, and which last year was fed no grain during lactation. In 2008, Cliff transitioned the 300-head home farm over to OAD, with the only grain for a herd dominated by large Holsteins coming from seven dry matter pounds of corn silage per day. Continue reading “The economics of once-a-day milking”