AG LINK - June/August 2007

Incubator Farm Project Hatches its First New Offspring

The Marathon and Lincoln County Agribusiness Incubator Project was started in late 2003. Its mission was to provide “opportunities, processes and resources that facilitate the entry of new farmers and farm businesses into the agricultural community of North Central Wisconsin.” Several initiatives began with that mission in mind. One of them used real farm transfer situations to explore different legal arrangements and decision making tools that could be used in successfully incubating a new farm. The first farm to take part in this project, the Guralski-Martin Farm near Edgar, was hatched in June—one year ahead of schedule. Beginning as an employee-employer relationship in 2005, the established farmer Lyle Guralski, moved into a lease with option to buy arrangement as the young farmer, Enos Martin, developed his equity in cattle. The goal was to put Martin in a position to buy the farm by June of 2008. Martin was able to keep his overhead low and used management intensive grazing. As a result, he was able to buy the farm a year early in spite of low milk prices and high fuel and feed prices in 2006. If you’d like to learn more about the lease arrangement and decision-making spreadsheet tool that was developed as part of the project, please contact Tom Cadwallader at (715) 536-0304 or check out the Agribusiness Project Incubator website >>>

Dairyland State Academy

Progress continues on a dairy education program serving North Central Wisconsin. Pending final approval, the Wisconsin Technical College System will invest approximately $390,000 over several years to develop and implement a dairy science associate degree program at Northcentral Technical College (NTC). NTC has committed to the long-term fiscal support of dairy education. The school is developing collaborative high school programs to be offered this coming academic year. A similar effort elsewhere led to an increase in student enrollments in high school ag programs of 20% to 100%. Students are attracted to the clearly defined production dairy educational and career path in the dairy science program.

A group from North Central Wisconsin met with dairy science students at Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC). Last year 35 students graduated from NICC with two-year associate degrees in dairy and 80 students were enrolled this year. Of these students, 80% want to be owner/operators. They are working with the Iowa Farm Bureau to initiate a farm mentorship and farm transfer program. The program provides promotional and screening services, legal models, financial contacts, and progress assessment to match graduates with retiring farmers and to facilitate a business transfer. The students we met, including two from Wisconsin, were very happy with their education and confident they could be successful in production agriculture. They cited the following reasons for going to NICC and for their success:

• Comprehensive production-oriented curriculum
• Attractive farm/classroom facility
• Hands-on learning of production skills
• Quality, caring faculty/staff
• Ability to try, make mistakes, and try again
• Touching cows every day
• Learning while working on the farm
• And credits transferable to a university program.

The program has a low drop-out rate, although some students graduate after one year with a technical degree.

Similar to the Iowa program, the Dairyland State Academy (DSA) Board is planning an industry realistic teaching farm
and has solicited proposals to do design and cost estimation work. This will be a challenge. The facility has to be both a selfsustaining dairy operation and a farm classroom where students can experiment, make mistakes, and practice until they get it right. Additionally, the design team will be challenged to design a facility that is of a reasonable cost, has low operational costs, and is attractive for students and guests. The DSA plans to have a design and estimate available for review and comment by this fall. For more information about the Dairyland State Academy contact Eric G. Hurley, Marathon County UW-Extension, at (715) 261-1236.

Keeping Dairy Cows Cool Takes Multiple Strategies

According to Brian Holmes, Extension specialist at the Biological Systems Engineering Department, UW-Madison/ Extension, the list of heat-related illnesses for mature livestock is long and complicated. It includes summer slump, poor reproductive performance and low feed intake. Holmes says every day of inadequate animal cooling can compound performance problems.

Holmes urges producers to learn to recognize the symptoms of heat stress. Elevated respiration rates, abnormal body temperatures, avoiding food, playing with waterers and crowding into shaded areas are common signs that animals are overheating.

To combat heat stress, Holmes recommends several techniques: Reduce the heat load on the animals. Provide shade especially during the midday and afternoon. Shade is critical for high producing dairy animals. For confined animals, the western exposure of a building must adequately shade the animals in late afternoon. Use shade cloth or other materials that do not block airflow to block late day sun, or move the animals to a cooler place.

Manage feed to keep animals from overheating. Check with your nutritionist to get useful hot-weather nutrition tips.

Provide easy access to plenty of cool fresh water. Place waterers in the shade to protect animals from the sun and to keep the water cooler. Animals cool off by evaporating water from their skin and by panting, so they need opportunities to drink as much as they need. At dairies, provide water in the parlor return lane and at least two separate watering locations in the freestall barn. Consider additional watering locations, Holmes advises. In stall barns, make sure waterers are cleaned regularly and delivering water to the cups.

Use evaporative cooling wisely. Water evaporation from wetted skin is one of the most effective ways to cool animals. This technique relies on fairly dry air moving at a high speed over the wet area of the animal's body. The system should get animals wet to the skin, then shut off the water to allow it to evaporate from the animals' skin. Use a thermostat to activate the sprinklers when the temperature rises above a certain set point - for dairy cows this temperature is 70°F. Research at Kansas State University showed that wetting the animal without providing a breeze was more effective at relieving heat stress than the breeze alone. However, the combination of wetting and wind provided the most heat stress relief.

Move the air. To effectively cool a cow or a pig you need a sustained wind of at least 300 to 500 feet per minute (3.5 to 5.5 miles per hour) over much of the animal's body. Holmes says there are several ways to get that air speed on the animal, but unless the locale has a dependable wind and a shade tree, you will need mechanical fans to move the air.

Circulation fans typically throw air about ten times the fan diameter. Producers should install fans accordingly. One frequent problem is having enough exhaust fans and air inlets or natural ventilation to get the heat out of a building, but inadequate air speed at the animal level to get a good cooling effect. Holmes cautions producers to pay attention to air speeds and recommends using a smoke stick, insect fogger or an inexpensive anemometer to help find areas where air speeds are not adequate.

Use animals' body thermal capacity to advantage. Humans (100-200 lbs) can heat up and cool off fairly quickly compared to a 400 or 1,400 pound animal. It can take several nighttime hours for an overheated dairy cow to get her body temperature down to normal. On days when conditions make it difficult to cool animals in midday, it is vital to start cooling the animals early in the morning, and cool them aggressively with fans in early evening when temperatures moderate. In short, Holmes says, "Use every opportunity to remove body heat and get the animal back to normal." To avoid neglecting an area where conditions are less than optimal, Holmes recommends observing animals throughout the building and considering the use of outdoor cooling pens at night.

If you need of more information regarding heat stress and ventilation requirements of dairy cows, please contact Mike Wildeck or Sam Zimmermann by phone at (715) 261-1230.

Farmers Invited to AgrAbility Assistive Tech Awareness Day

Are you a farmer farming with a disability? Does your injury or illness make your farm chores difficult to do? If so, then AgrAbility can help you!

AgrAbility of Wisconsin is hosting an educational Assistive Tech Awareness Day on Wednesday, July 18, in Wausau, Wis., for area farmers and health care and rehabilitation professionals. The day starts at 1 p.m. and concludes at 5 p.m. During this awareness day, farmers and healthcare professionals will learn about the many services offered by AgrAbility and other organizations and resources available to farmers. “We want farmers with disabilities and serious health conditions to know there are resources that they may not be aware of available to them,” said Cally Ehle, the Associate Outreach Specialist for AgrAbility.

Farmers and other participants will also have the opportunity to talk to other farmers with disabilities and hear their stories about how AgrAbility has helped. Farmers will have the opportunity to meet with representatives from organizations such as UW Extension, WisTech of the Department of Health and Family Services, the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and Wisconsin FARM Center. AgrAbility will also have information about the program and examples of equipment modifications and comparisons.

Farmers will also have the opportunity to meet with other farmers who have participated in the AgrAbility program.

Since it began in 1991, AgrAbility has worked with over 1400 Wisconsin farmers and their families who have experienced the effects of disabling conditions including back injuries, arthritis, respiratory impairments, and amputations. AgrAbility services may include recommendations for worksite and equipment modifications, referrals to different funding sources and service providers and access to a peer support network. Services are free of charge to the farm family and are completely confidential.

AgrAbility is a partnership between the Easter Seals Resource Center for Farmers with Disabilities and the UW Extension. It combines the disability expertise of Easter Seals Wisconsin with the educational networking capabilities of Extension services to provide a comprehensive program for farm families affected by disabilities. AgrAbility can help farmers and their families continue to farm safely and successfully.

AgrAbility of Wisconsin Promotes Success in Agriculture for Farmers with Disabilities. For more information contact Cally Ehle at (608) 262-9336.

Communicating for Success
This article was first published in the Wisconsin Farm Center Newsletter, 2007 Summer Issue. The author, Jo Ann Prust, is the Farm Mediation and Arbitration Program Coordinator.

In today’s hectic world people often look for an easier way to handle stress and conflict. Most of us look for ways to make our lives fuller, more successful financially and more satisfying emotionally. There are many “self help” books on the market to help us with this including the best seller The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne. The book promises success and fulfillment if we change our thinking, that we will attract what we think about. The reason many of us are not as successful as we would like to be is because our negative thoughts attract negative experiences.

While there is some truth to the theory outlined in the book because a positive attitude does indeed help us to achieve goals, any farmer can tell you that that is only one aspect of success. Farmers are generally called the “eternal optimists”. This is probably true or farmers would leave farming in droves after the first dry year, the first time the milk price falls, etc. You get the picture. As most farmers would agree, despite our best efforts we have to deal with the difficult issues outside of our control. It is how we deal with these situations that becomes important. Conflict is one result of what happens when things don’t go as planned. The skills needed to deal with conflict are not achieved by positive thought but by patience and practice.

This article and ones to follow will present ideas for improving your communication techniques and your conflict resolution skills. One of the first and easiest techniques to learn is the “I” message. People generally respond more positively when the person speaking to them phrases their concerns in “I” messages. Using “I” statements encourages the recipient to explain more about whatever is concerning them. “I” statements don’t blame the other person but show that what you are expressing is coming from your perspective, that you need additional information or need to get across to the person how you feel about a situation.

For example: Saying to an employee, “It makes me angry when you’re late” may feel differently than saying “When you’re late I worry that we won’t get things done on time.” “I” statements follow the format: “I_____ (feeling word) when ________ (tell what causes the feeling).”

Stay tuned for the next tip in next season’s newsletter.