"Where Fillmore County News Comes First"
Online Edition
Wednesday, June 19th, 2013
Volume ∞ Issue ∞
- 8:58:04, Jun 18th 2013 - cabraden1 - I salute you Colonel Overland. Your were my c.o. at Rockville Naval Air ... [Read More]
- 7:10:46, Jun 13th 2013 - chipperlee - Seems to be a well written article, except maybe Silica Sand is used in ... [Read More]
- 12:02:15, Jun 9th 2013 - getthefacts - The problem here lies in the fact that girls were repeatedly told "if y ... [Read More]
- 10:45:32, Jun 7th 2013 - Jo mom for 6yrs - Mr. Ehler hit the nail on the head. I agree with the religious con ... [Read More]
- 2:47:58, Jun 7th 2013 - hello - Hello, it's time you wake up. There isn't a community nearby that doesn't offe ... [Read More]
- 9:06:21, Jun 6th 2013 - hello - Hello, it's time you wake up. There isn't a community nearby that doesn't offe ... [Read More]
- 2:05:29, Jun 6th 2013 - Kim Wentworth - The number one rule in a debate: 1) if the person from the opposite si ... [Read More]
- 12:42:18, Jun 4th 2013 - EW - For someone that is always spouting religious rhetoric, you try to come off as a ... [Read More]
- 11:32:18, May 31st 2013 - JO PLAYER - This is unfair to us girls. Morrie Miller is not getting canceled but J ... [Read More]
- 8:25:34, May 29th 2013 - RP - Why is Mr. Ehler involving himself with non-school activities? Is he going after ... [Read More]
Back on the farm
Comments
Monday, June 5, 2000
At five o’clock every morning Melissa King gets up and goes to work and most days she doesn’t get done until eight o’clock in the evening. For Melissa, who is 26, and one of Fillmore County’s new-est dairy farmers, it’s a job that she wouldn’t trade for any other in the world.
"I enjoy being outside and working with the cattle," she said recently during an afternoon break. "I like everything about dairying. I definitely see this as my career."
Melissa attended the University of Wisconsin at River Falls where she majored in ‘broad area agriculture’ and took a double minor in horticulture and animal science. After graduating in 1997, she brought her degrees back to Sumner Township in northwest Fillmore County, where she grew up, and purchased 240 acres, about a mile from her parent’s (Les & Jesse King) farm.
"We milk right around 100 cows," Melissa said, "and I own thirty of those."
The milking barn, located at her parent’s place, was built about twenty years ago and has forty tie stalls in it, which makes it necessary to run three different groups of cows through it for each milking. Melissa usually does the milking, handling five milkers at once, while Les does the feeding and Jesse keeps busy with the calf chores. It’s definitely a family affair.
The Kings maintain a Grade A operation and sell their milk to the Plainview Co-op, from where it is marketed as a BST-free product. BST stands for bovine somatotropin and is a protein hormone produced in the pituitary gland of cattle. A synthetic version of BST is manufactured by Monsanto and its use was approved in 1993.
According to the USDA the average milk production per cow has increased 20% in the last ten years. The use of BST, along with improved nutrition management and more intensive management practices are the leading factors that have contributed to this increased production.
For Melissa, the BST approach just isn’t worth it. "I feel that in giving all those shots you’re going to end up stressing the cows out," she said. "I would rather not be pushing them to their max and have them last longer in the herd."
This spring Melissa has been taking some of the weekday evenings off as she’s been coaching track at Stewartville High School. She’s also putting her horticulture expertise to use by raising vegetables and flowers and selling them at Rochester’s Saturday morning farmer’s market.
"I’ve gone three weeks now and sold out of what I’ve had each time," Melissa said. "You can ask me at the end of the season if it’s been profitable."
Dairying though, is Melissa’s passion and even the low prices of the past few months do not appear to have dampened her enthusiasm.
"There’s always the ups and downs," she said philosophically, "We’re at a long ‘down’ right now and things do seem a bit uncertain, but the prices will come back."
Hoard’s Dairyman released a report last week showing that the average milk price paid to farmers in March, 2000, was down 22 percent from 1999. On the other hand, dairy retail prices were down only 1.5 percent. While the price paid to farmers for their milk in 2000 has fallen well below $10 per hundred weight (cwt) the USDA calculated in its most recent economic research report that the cost of production for the average dairy farm in the Upper Midwest was $12.15 cwt.
"It’s a tricky figure," Fillmore County Extension Agent Jerry Tesmer told the Journal, "some farmers’ cost of production is around eight dollars per hundredweight while others are as high as fifteen dollars."
Tesmer pointed out that the Minnesota state agricultural statistics in 1987 showed that Fillmore County had 468 dairy farms with 19,921 milk cows. By 1998, the number of dairy farms had fallen to 286 with a total number of milk cows at 16,400.
"We’ve got producers in the county who are optimistic about the dairy future and who are looking to expand," Tesmer said. "There’s others who will likely get out of the business once their facilities need too much updating."
It’s a decision facing Melissa King, too, as she con-templates her future in the in-dustry. The present milking facility is adequate for the cur-rent herd size, she pointed out, but doesn’t leave many options for expansion.
"It’s a challenge just keeping the herd around 100 cows," she said. "but if we go much over that I’d consider building a milking parlor."
One thing that is certain is Melissa’s enthusiasm for her future in the dairy industry. And another thing that’s equally certain is that come five o’clock tomorrow morning Melissa will be on her way out to the start the day’s milking. She wouldn’t have it any other way.
At five o’clock every morning Melissa King gets up and goes to work and most days she doesn’t get done until eight o’clock in the evening. For Melissa, who is 26, and one of Fillmore County’s new-est dairy farmers, it’s a job that she wouldn’t trade for any other in the world.
"I enjoy being outside and working with the cattle," she said recently during an afternoon break. "I like everything about dairying. I definitely see this as my career."
Melissa attended the University of Wisconsin at River Falls where she majored in ‘broad area agriculture’ and took a double minor in horticulture and animal science. After graduating in 1997, she brought her degrees back to Sumner Township in northwest Fillmore County, where she grew up, and purchased 240 acres, about a mile from her parent’s (Les & Jesse King) farm.
"We milk right around 100 cows," Melissa said, "and I own thirty of those."
The milking barn, located at her parent’s place, was built about twenty years ago and has forty tie stalls in it, which makes it necessary to run three different groups of cows through it for each milking. Melissa usually does the milking, handling five milkers at once, while Les does the feeding and Jesse keeps busy with the calf chores. It’s definitely a family affair.
The Kings maintain a Grade A operation and sell their milk to the Plainview Co-op, from where it is marketed as a BST-free product. BST stands for bovine somatotropin and is a protein hormone produced in the pituitary gland of cattle. A synthetic version of BST is manufactured by Monsanto and its use was approved in 1993.
According to the USDA the average milk production per cow has increased 20% in the last ten years. The use of BST, along with improved nutrition management and more intensive management practices are the leading factors that have contributed to this increased production.
For Melissa, the BST approach just isn’t worth it. "I feel that in giving all those shots you’re going to end up stressing the cows out," she said. "I would rather not be pushing them to their max and have them last longer in the herd."
This spring Melissa has been taking some of the weekday evenings off as she’s been coaching track at Stewartville High School. She’s also putting her horticulture expertise to use by raising vegetables and flowers and selling them at Rochester’s Saturday morning farmer’s market.
"I’ve gone three weeks now and sold out of what I’ve had each time," Melissa said. "You can ask me at the end of the season if it’s been profitable."
Dairying though, is Melissa’s passion and even the low prices of the past few months do not appear to have dampened her enthusiasm.
"There’s always the ups and downs," she said philosophically, "We’re at a long ‘down’ right now and things do seem a bit uncertain, but the prices will come back."
Hoard’s Dairyman released a report last week showing that the average milk price paid to farmers in March, 2000, was down 22 percent from 1999. On the other hand, dairy retail prices were down only 1.5 percent. While the price paid to farmers for their milk in 2000 has fallen well below $10 per hundred weight (cwt) the USDA calculated in its most recent economic research report that the cost of production for the average dairy farm in the Upper Midwest was $12.15 cwt.
"It’s a tricky figure," Fillmore County Extension Agent Jerry Tesmer told the Journal, "some farmers’ cost of production is around eight dollars per hundredweight while others are as high as fifteen dollars."
Tesmer pointed out that the Minnesota state agricultural statistics in 1987 showed that Fillmore County had 468 dairy farms with 19,921 milk cows. By 1998, the number of dairy farms had fallen to 286 with a total number of milk cows at 16,400.
"We’ve got producers in the county who are optimistic about the dairy future and who are looking to expand," Tesmer said. "There’s others who will likely get out of the business once their facilities need too much updating."
It’s a decision facing Melissa King, too, as she con-templates her future in the in-dustry. The present milking facility is adequate for the cur-rent herd size, she pointed out, but doesn’t leave many options for expansion.
"It’s a challenge just keeping the herd around 100 cows," she said. "but if we go much over that I’d consider building a milking parlor."
One thing that is certain is Melissa’s enthusiasm for her future in the dairy industry. And another thing that’s equally certain is that come five o’clock tomorrow morning Melissa will be on her way out to the start the day’s milking. She wouldn’t have it any other way.