(bright music) - Hello and welcome to "Farm Connections".

I'm your host, Dan Hoffman.

On this episode, we meet with Colleen and Jerry Kelm of the Kelm Farms to discuss the successes and struggles of running a modern dairy farm, and the University of Minnesota provides us with a new Best Practices segment.

All here today on "Farm Connections".

(gentle uplifting music) - [Announcer 1] Welcome to "Farm Connections" with your host, Dan Hoffman.

- [Announcer 2] "Farm Connections" made possible in part by- - [Announcer 3] Minnesota Corn.

Working to identify and promote opportunities for corn growers, enhance quality of life, and help others understand the value and importance of corn production to America's economy.

- [Announcer 4] EDP Renewables North America.

Owner operator of Prairie Star and Pioneer Prairie Wind Farms in Minnesota and Iowa.

EDPR Wind Farms and Solar Parks provide income to farmers, and help power rural economies across the continent.

- [Announcer 5] R&S Grain Systems, a family-owned business, serving its customers for 50 years with leading designs in the manufacturing and grain handling equipment and grain storage systems.

You can call him for a quote today.

(bright music) - [Announcer 6] Mower County Farm Bureau Association advocates for agriculture based on the policies and beliefs of its members.

It's dedicated to making the voices of its members stronger.

You can learn more about membership benefits at FBMN.org.

- We're in rural Faribault, Minnesota on my sister Colleen Hoffman-Kelm's farm, and what a farm it is.

She's gonna tell us all about it.

Welcome to "Farm Connections".

- Thank you for being here.

- Well, it's a joy, and thanks for taking time out of your busy day to do it.

We know you work late, and then you get up early.

What's happening on your farm today?

- Today, we're chopping silage.

Youngest son lives next door.

He came to help with, every morning he comes to help while we're doing other chores, milking, we milk cows with robots, but there's always other chores.

There's calves to be fed, and plenty to keep us busy, so we'll change over shifts in a little bit, and I'll take over hauling silage, and I unload, and I do a lot of the tractor work along with the guys.

- Well, it's an extra busy time because you're storing, making feed, and storing feed for all winter.

Tell us about that silage making process.

- This year, it's taking probably 100 acres more than normal years, 'cause it's shorter, because of the start of the season, with it being so wet here.

But we head out with the chopper, chop it into pieces, constantly checking the length of cut.

We have a kernel processor that rolls it and smashes the kernels, and then we pack it, so.

- Well, it looked like very good silage.

And Josh was actually checking it, and he was checking the kernels to make sure that each kernel had been damaged or broken open so the cows could get more energy, right?

- Right.

Right.

Easier for them to process it, yup.

- Looked like a very good quality coming in, just less tons is what we're getting?

- Correct.

Yup, tons per acre.

It's less this year.

But it happens.

That's part of farming.

- And you still need the same amount to get from now til June, right?

- Yes, yup.

- So you have a beautiful alfalfa crop coming in, it looked like as well.

- Yup.

That'll be fifth crop.

So that's coming great.

We could use a little shot of rain on that, but you know.

You take what you get.

- It is amazing to have five crops.

Sometimes in the past, we were lucky to get two or three.

- Correct, yup.

- Looked like quite a process in making silage.

After chopping, you're unloading it, and then you're putting it in a bunker.

Before that, you did silos.

Why are you packing it?

- That's to get the oxygen out to preserve it.

If you think of it in a tower silo, which ours are 80 foot, different diameters, it presses it down, and that squeezes the oxygen out.

So in a bunker, you're just dumping it and pushing it, so you have to drive over it to do the same thing a tower silo would do.

And we try to do the tower silos on weekends or on evenings when we don't have someone here to pack.

So we kinda keep both of 'em going at the same time.

- So you're squeezing all that oxygen out, making anaerobic environment, and then the silage goes through fermentation?

- Yup.

Goes through a fermentation, kind of same as sauerkraut, basically.

- And the cows like that?

- And the cows like that.

And it smells good.

The dog'll even eat the corn out of it, so.

- Neat.

Well, it looked like a very quality job out there.

Are you adding anything to that silage?

- We're putting a preservative on, so that's just a lactobacillus, put it on, we have a barrel on the chopper, so it sprays it on as it goes through the blower and then blows it into the wagon, and it's just a, yup, a bacteria, good bacteria, like we have in our stomachs, basically.

So that just- - Sounds like there's a lot of science in dairy.

- There is.

There is, yup.

- And you have Jason and Josh both helping with the harvest.

That's gotta be heartwarming for a mom.

- That is wonderful.

Yup, yup.

The son that doesn't farm here full-time, but he came when we needed him, and is helping out, and everybody just kinda fills in as needed, so I think it's kinda like a dance.

We have, one person stops and the next person takes over, and we just keep rolling.

- Trying to use resources, trying to use time, and make this farm move?

- Yup, you wanna do it as fast as you can as the moisture is good in the field.

- So this was originally Jerry's farm, and of course, when a farm spouse admits that she knows about dairy cows, and knows how to milk cows, things change, right?

- [Colleen] Right.

- [Dan] What changed for you?

- Actually, mom and dad had pigs.

The cows were gone by the time I was 12.

And the only tractor I had driven was a John Deere B raking hay, so I had to learn a lot, but it kinda started taking over with the baby calves, and of course, milking, you're helping with the cows, helping with the new ones, bringing them in, and progressed from there.

- What's your vision for the farm going forward?

- The next generation, just Josh is here full time.

We've changed, we put in the robots in order to make it a little bit easier for the next generation, so we can support two families, and two and a half, because our other son, too.

So and then hopefully the kids.

The grandkids.

I was put on earth to be a grandma.

So my five grandkids are here whenever they can be, and enjoying life, too.

- And it looks like you're doing whatever you can to incorporate them into the farm life, the work day, or the work day and night.

- [Colleen] Yup.

- But you're also worried about safety, 'cause you're doing some things.

What's a safety tip for people on farms?

- The kids know what to stay away from.

From day one, they've known, you know, the cows are okay, as long as you're in front of them, you don't crawl in with them.

They go in with the little ones, of course, but the bigger ones, they know.

So they're trained right from day one when they're in this, pushing them around in the stroller.

And as far as the equipment, same thing.

Stay away from the tractors, or be in with us in the cabs.

We have cabs on all our tractors, so that's something that's changed from when I had babies.

And then they liked to play on the silage bunker, and they have to wear their reflective vests if they're out there, and because we have cellphones, we text each other who's out there, and exact times, and then okay, they left.

And if they come to the farm on the four-wheeler, I get a text that they're on their way.

So thank goodness for cellphones.

- Big help.

And of course, part of your job, perhaps, as a farm spouse is working with the daughter-in-laws.

- [Colleen] Yup.

- You got Jamie and Britney.

- Jamie kinda keeps things going with Jason and the boys, and texts, "Hey, the boys can come over and play," 'cause the other ones are here, or whatever.

And Britney works full time selling beef that we raise all our steers, so that's kinda her little business, and part of being part of the farm.

- What do you see as difficult challenges in the dairy industry?

- Pricing.

Things cost so much more than they used to.

I mean, we bought the farm on 40 cows, and we had 320 acres.

Four row planter, open tractors, but we did it.

We got it done.

And we still had a life.

Now it's go, go, go.

Putting in longer hours, harder hours, even though the robots make it easier, there's still other things that we have to do that are taking more time and harder.

- There's a strong probability that technology costs money.

- It does, it does, yes.

Yup.

Yeah, hopefully the milk prices will go up.

I mean, it comes and goes, same as any commodity.

- And not only do you have to buy it, you have to maintain it, and bring electricity to it, and keep it clean, and put new parts on it.

But a small farm might not be able to afford the technology plus feed the entire family, right?

- Right.

Yeah, it's sad.

You know, from what it was 40 years ago, yeah.

- But you're still in the industry, and not many people can say that, so you must be doing something right.

What do you think you've done that's right?

- Just dedicated, you know?

There haven't been vacations.

But we make going out to eat, or going for parts, a vacation.

Not as much anymore as what we used to, but we did those things as a family.

- Colleen, as I've been on the farm today, I've heard a lot about quality.

Quality feed, quality products sold.

Can you elaborate on that?

What do you do to make sure we have good food?

- Quality, for the cows, is comfort, and just keeping them happy, giving them what they want.

They are in an enclosed building, and that is in front of a fan.

They can walk a couple feet to water.

They can walk a few feet to be milked as they want.

Quality feed in front of them at all times.

We have a feed pusher, too.

So there's always quality.

You want the best feed going into them.

It's kind of like an athlete, and what they eat.

Just eating good stuff.

You don't eat candy bars and expect you can run all day on it.

So we do have a nutritionist that comes out and checks the feed on a regular basis, and changes as needed.

Because as you go in the field, as you're chopping silage or hay, quality can change in the field.

So then the nutritionist helps make sure that that's all right, and they're getting what they need for that.

The quality milk, the robots do a fantastic job cleaning cows, so because of the environment that they're in, they stay pretty clean, but it's double insurance to keep them clean.

No human hands touch the milk.

It goes directly into a cooler, refrigerator type cooler, and is stirred, picked up every other day.

Everything is tested.

There are never any antibiotics.

If we do use, it's tested.

So nothing goes into the tank that can be harmful.

The milkman's, he takes a sample, and his milk, that sample is then checked for bacteria.

There's a plate bacteria, there's LPC is long plate count, so that's for the cool milk.

And there's a PI count, and that's another, whole 'nother bacteria also that is counted.

So between us and our co-op, we do the best we can to keep the milk extremely clean and fresh.

- Well, when we're in the barn, we see so much stainless steel, and also in the area where the cows are resting, close to that freshwater you talked about.

Your quality is really good.

And how do you keep and maintain good air quality?

- Running fans.

There's exhaust fans, there's fans blowing on the cows.

Water, too, is another thing that is tested, just to make sure everything is good with that.

I mean, those cows, you take care of 'em like you take care of a baby, not to compare an animal to a human, but you have to care of them.

- And they'll hopefully take care of you, right?

- Exactly.

Exactly.

- So Colleen, obviously everybody cares about food quality and how it tastes, and some people perhaps don't understand all that you go through to get that quality product.

Do you ever have any feedback from consumers that makes you think they don't understand what they need to know?

- Sure.

For sure I do, yes.

Yes.

And you know, all I can do, I mean, if there's questions, is try to explain to them, our barn is open to someone who sets up a tour with us, and to explain that kinda stuff.

Quality is very important, not only because we get paid on quality, but a cow that's taken care of is going to produce more, too.

- And you're right here.

You drink the same water out of the same well as your animals.

- Right.

Correct, yup.

- So you're monitoring it all the time, anyway.

- [Colleen] Exactly.

- So do you have a website, a Facebook page?

What if somebody wants to find out more about Kelm Farms?

- Sure, I do.

It's Kelm's Moostead.

And I put on pretty much what we're doing day to day.

We have the silage harvesting on there currently.

I put on some of the trouble that we had this spring with the water, extra rain, and drowned out spots.

I try to keep it very truthful, but also upbeat.

Things happen, you know.

If you have live animals, sometimes you have one die.

And I try to shield somewhat, but I do put on there if something happened.

Just trying to keep things real, and always open to questions.

More than happy to answer.

I won't get into an argument with people, because I don't believe in that, but if they're uninformed, I can try to explain.

- And that Facebook page again?

- Kelm's Moostead.

- Awesome.

Catchy name, catchy topic.

Catchy author.

- (laughing) We have fun with it.

- Thanks for the wonderful story, Colleen, and sharing it with us and our KSMQ "Farm Connections" audience.

Keep up the good work.

- Oh, this has been great.

Thank you.

- Stay tuned for more on "Farm Connections".

(upbeat music) - [Announcer 2] Best Practices brought to you by Absolute Energy and AgVantage Software.

- This is Brad Carlson, Extension Educator with the University of Minnesota Extension with today's Best Practices segment.

Today, we're gonna talk about the state's Nutrient Reduction Strategy.

That may be a topic that's familiar to some, and not to others.

Let me explain a little bit about what this is.

The US Environmental Protection Agency, through its efforts to reduce hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico, came out with an action plan for the Mississippi River watershed, roughly about a decade ago.

And that plan called for a 45% reduction in the amount of nitrogen running down the Mississippi River.

What they did is went back to the states and asked each of the states to write a plan for how they intended to achieve that goal 45%, so Minnesota's Nutrient Reduction Strategy was crafted with that primary goal in mind about a decade ago or so.

But in addition in Minnesota, they rolled in some goals for phosphorous.

There are some goals for phosphorous that also came out of the hypoxia action plan.

But we also incorporated goals for the other watersheds in the state, including the Red River going to the north, as well as the Lake Superior basin.

And so our plan had benchmarks in it that called for rewriting the plan in about 10 years.

And that's the point that we're at, and so you may be hearing about this process this winter, and the draft plan should be out sometime early in 2025 for comment.

I think what's important for producers to realize is, first of all, what's trying to be accomplished.

These are big overarching goals for the state.

They list, the plan itself is going to list various practices intended to reduce the loss of nutrients into water, primarily surface water.

It falls under several categories, one would be fertilizer management.

In a lot of cases, there's not a lot of gains to be made from that because the producers are already following recommended practices, and we probably reduced as much as we can, but there's other practices, such as edge of field practices, which in a lot of cases are retrofitted into drainage systems and intended to treat the water as it comes out of drain tile before it discharges into surface water.

These are things like bioreactors, saturated buffers, control wetlands, and so forth.

And then there's also the in field practices, the cover practices, which may relate to crop rotations, use of cover crops, potentially switching to perennial crops, and so forth.

And so the plan just lays out what the practices are, and what the potential reductions are.

Now where the rubber meets the road in Minnesota is going to be at our watershed plans.

In Minnesota, we had watershed plans that are developed for HUC 8 watersheds.

HUC stands for hydrologic unit code, and 8 is an eight-digit number that's not important.

But realize these are rivers that are roughly about one to two counties in size, and these plans are developed on the local level.

So they take these practices out of the state's Nutrient Reduction Strategy, and they look at what things are most applicable in the area.

And so we can look at, once the state's Nutrient Reduction Strategy revision is done, that as these plans get updated locally, that's where individuals are gonna have the opportunity to give input on what's going to work for them locally for practices.

And so I would encourage all involved, farmers and ag business, and really, anybody who cares about water quality, kinda stay in touch with this rewrite.

There'll be a comment period.

And then particularly get involved on the local level as the opportunity becomes available over the next several years.

This is Brad Carlson, Extension Educator at the University of Minnesota Extension, and this has been our Best Practices segment.

- Welcome to "Farm Connections".

We traveled to rural Faribault, Minnesota to the Jerry and Colleen Kelm Farm, and with me today is Jerry.

Jerry, thanks for having us.

- Thanks for coming out, Dan.

- Well, we know you're busy.

There's a lot going on, so thanks again for taking the time.

What's happening today?

- Well, with the nice weather, we're hot and heavy in silage harvest here on the dairy.

So that's our main focus.

Get the chores done and head to the field.

- Well, speaking of chores, there's a lot to do here.

What kind of chores happen on a dairy farm?

- Well, we've got a little over 200 cows to take care of.

Fortunately, we've got robots to help with that, and son and wife Colleen's main focus in the operation, too.

So yeah, there's milking cows, there's feeding calves, and young stock, and you know, a lot of chores that go along with that, so.

- Jerry, this is a beautiful farm, and you've put a lot of technology, a lot of hard work into it, and a lot of capital, and a lot of sweat.

What caused you to get into dairy farming?

- Well, obviously I grew up with it.

I'm the fourth generation here on this farm, so you know, there's a lot of others that have gone before me and set it up, and it's what I grew up with, it's what I enjoyed all along.

Being outside, working with the cattle, so you know, it was just natural to stay with it for me.

I couldn't think of a job that I'd be more happy with, and thankfully, wife came along with that.

It doesn't work unless there's a good partnership, and especially on a dairy farm.

If the rest of the family doesn't understand and go along with it, you can't always attend celebrations, or be there on time.

(laughing) I think I've got a chronically showing up late gene running deep inside of me, so.

But we get to events we can.

Lot of times, we stay a little closer to home, and family around us.

We're blessed.

- You are blessed, but you've also worked to get some of those things coming in your direction.

So this is the farm you grew up on, and your dad and maybe your grandpa before that?

- Yeah, yeah.

Grandpa's grandpa, great-grandpa.

Like I said, fourth generation.

Josh, our son that's farming with us actually lives on, that's the homesteaded property, the house where he's at.

So he'll represent the fifth generation, and he lives on the property that's six generations in the family.

So yeah, lot of years that we've been around here, and yeah, there's been good years, there's been poor years, and here we are.

- Well everyone seems to like milk and ice cream and dairy products.

That's gotta be a joy, being a producer of those things.

- Oh yeah.

No doubt.

You strive to produce quality products.

You know, the better care you take of your cattle, the better products they produce, and the more productive, so that's always been a focus.

You're producing food.

What better occupation do you want?

- Jerry, you mentioned it takes a lot of family cooperation, and if we go back not too far in time, there was a dairy farm on every quarter section.

There's four quarter sections in a section, 640 acres, so maybe on every 160 acres.

Why do we now have big dairy farms, and why not one on every corner?

- Well, takes a lot of dedication, first, to the farm, and like I said, there's been ups and downs in the industry, and every time an industry takes a downturn, there's some that just decide not to continue anymore.

When Colleen and I started on the farm here, Dan, we were milking 40 cows, and we were paying our bills, and we got our start.

Now we're milking 250 cows, and we've still only got two families.

There's still only three, we've got a little bit of part time help, but very little, doing the same work, but the workload is magnified how many times.

Technology, like I said, we're milking with robots.

The size of the equipment's changed.

That's the way everything's gone, and you don't see the mom and pop grocery stores on every corner like we used to.

Everything has gone that direction, and for the sake of efficiency, that's just what's dictated the flow.

- And certainly if you wanna buy technology and incorporate it in your farm, it takes a lot of money, doesn't it?

- No doubt.

No doubt.

Thankfully, that was our turn to robots.

I said if our son Josh wanted to continue in the dairy operation the way we were milking cows in tie stalls wasn't the way we wanted that to go, so you know.

And there's a lot of technology behind robotic milking, so I didn't grow up with that, I guess, and he enjoys it, and he does an excellent job with it.

- What's your greatest joy?

- Farming here with family.

- And watching the next two generations?

- Yeah.

Having our kids around us constantly.

Josh's family joins us daily.

Jason, our other son, lives right down the road here, and his kids are here real often.

Opened up a field with corn silage, and they're standing on the edge, just got home from school to wave at us.

How much nicer can you have it?

We don't have a lot of time to be away from the farm.

Thankfully, our kids and our grandkids are right here around us, so.

- Jerry, it's a delight.

Keep up the good progress, and thank you for the teamwork and the leadership you're showing on this farm.

- Thanks for joining us here today, Dan.

- You bet.

Well, that just about does it here for today's episode of "Farm Connections".

I'm Dan Hoffman.

Thank you for joining us.

(bright uplifting music) (bright uplifting music continues) (bright uplifting music continues) (bright music)