Innovation, Education and Perseverance in Dairy Farming

Today's episode highlights how dairy farmers are adapting, persevering and educating consumers in addition to hearing manure sampling tips ahead of this year's North American Manure Expo. We begin with Monica Enyart, who discusses the automation technologies her family added to their farm as their children grew and responsibilities both on and off the farm grew. The Enyarts used a Choose Iowa Dairy Innovation Grant to help with the cost of adding the automation. The grants are awarded each year to farms looking to adopt technologies that reduce labor and increase on-farm processing of Iowa dairy products. Next, Sara Ruehling shares the story of the Scott County Fair's Miracle of Birth Center, which was founded by her father, Ken Gliszcinski. Visitors to the exhibit can watch animals give birth, pet newborn calves, milk a fiberglass cow made by Ken and ask volunteers questions. Ruehling discusses her favorite aspects of the exhibit and how it helps educate consumers about the dairy industry. We then hear from Andrew Golberg of Golberg's Lakeview Dairy in Minnesota. Andrew and his wife began their operation with about 50 cows in a compost barn after graduating from the University of Minnesota in 2006. Despite starting from scratch and experiencing many challenges, the couple never gave up on being dairy farmers, or expanding their farm. Closing today's episode is Melissa Wilson, who previews an upcoming session at the North American Manure Expo in Wayne, Nebraska. Wilson shares manure sampling best practices and explains why collecting a representative sample is essential, given the wide variability in manure nutrient content. She also offers a perspective on viewing manure and fertilizer nutrients as assets in a bank account with resources that can be measured, managed and maximized for operational efficiency. New episodes are released every Monday after the newspaper is published, sharing the many conversations from the dairy community! Send story ideas or your comments to [email protected]. Subscribe to the podcast for reminders of episodes about the dairy community and leave a review! We look forward to bringing you this brand new way to consume Dairy Star. This is Dairy Delivery. All dairy, all the time. This episode is sponsored by DRMS. Visit www.DRMS.org/HerdHQ/What-Is-HerdHQ for more information.