Published: July 24, 2008 11:41 am            

From the Fields: Mother Nature still calling the shots

Originally published in the July 11, 2008, print edition.

Catching a few moments with a 400-cow dairy farmer who also irrigates is about like squeezing your way into the FSA office without an appointment.

Nonetheless, Otter Tail County dairy farmer Bruce Stone was able to chat briefly via cell phone July 3 as he attended to a new center pivot system still in its “trial run.”

Two irrigation passes had already been made for the alfalfa; corn was just getting its first “irrigation shower” that day. Top soils are thin in most parts of the county, so about 450 of their total 850 crop land acres get nursed along with center pivot rain makers.

Thanks to irrigation, three cuttings of alfalfa are routine, sometime four even in this county noted for walleyes and its 1,048 lakes if the season is right.

The fickle finger of Mother Nature, however, still calls the shots. At the time of The Land’s first meeting with Stones in late May, they were about to start their first cutting alfalfa.

“Then it started raining so we had a 5-6 day delay,” Stone said. “Finally got that first cut off and we got insects in the alfalfa so we had to spray. Weather permitting we’ll get into our second cut July 7.”

About that insect infestation he mentioned last time? “I’ve never seen it this bad,” said Stone, referring to it as both a red clover worm and an alfalfa leaf aphid. “And yes, it’s going to affect tonnage off this second cutting.” He said they’ve sprayed in previous years, but never like this year which has required spraying every alfalfa acre. They’ve got a ground-rig sprayer so they haven’t needed to call in aerial applicators.

The cool, wet spring generated some good first-cut hay. Stone estimated they got about 4 tons on a 60 percent moisture basis. But because it lay cut for a few days, its not the quality that dairy farmers like to have for their high producing herds.

The Stones do 3X milking and even now with “summer heat” their herd is still doing about 80 pounds per cow. But cows are getting more creature comfort, too. “We installed more fans and a sprinkler system,” Stone said.

No surprise to livestock people, Stone noted that feed costs are already the key issue for dairy farmers, even for folks like themselves who raise virtually all their forage and grain needs.

“Proteins are up quite a bit,” he said. “We have to buy some corn so bottom-line revenue is taking a hit already. Our local elevator is talking $7 corn. They’ve got plenty of corn but how do you do dairy budgets at that price?”

Stone pays particular attention to the monetary side of things because he also is treasurer of the Minnesota Milk Producer’s Association.

The 80 additional cows recently added to their herd had been in their new compost barn one week as of July 3. “The cows seem to be okay in their new facility. We’ll be 4 to 4 1/2 feet deep with sawdust bedding.”

Stone said he isn’t aware of cow liquidation happening in the Upper Midwest but noted that relocations from some California areas continues. A neighbor recently purchased some heifers that came from the Golden State.

Milk prices dropped slightly since last month’s report, but Stone said he expects prices will come back simply because with these high feed prices, production is likely to slack off just a bit.

He’s okay with the new farm bill, at least that portion dealing with the dairy industry. Stone said there’s no time for taking animals to livestock fairs, but he does make a point to visit some of the good shows because it’s good PR and it also keeps him tuned to dairy news.

        

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