A Tale of Two Farms

Last week I had a chance to visit a large dairy farm in east central Wisconsin, while a month earlier I was at a small specialized farm in west central Wisconsin.  This post will be about the commonalities and differences of these two strikingly different agricultural operations.  As I was at the large dairy farm last week, it also made me think of the many changes that have occurred over 100 years of farming.  100 years ago farm operations were smaller, but more diversified, and to a degree it had to be since those farms did provide much of the food for the family.  Today, with refrigeration, improved transportation, and food preservation techniques food from overseas can be bought and placed on our tables.  Today farms are not as diversified as they once were, but there is diversity in farming.  The two farm examples are  tale of two farms in Wisconsin.

1915 Iowa Farm census for
Rudy Hovel
Source:  Familysearch.org

Farm operations have changed over time from 100 years ago.  First, they are more mechanized, and second, they usually are much larger.  We know that farmers 80 years ago put in a great deal of time, but even with mechanization, that has not changed.  In February 2017 I did a post, which you can read here, on the three sons of my great grandfather and great grandmother Martin and Amelia Hovel.  The youngest of the three is my grandfather.  That post compared and contrasted their farm operations over a span of time.  While farming has changed the difficulties encountered today may actually be greater.  Just as mechanization has allowed more larger and more complex operations, such operations need person power.  Many occupations are seeing a shortage of human power these days, and farming, particularly dairy, with its every day operation and and grueling work is no exception.  But, manpower is only one part of the equation that makes farming difficult.  Internationalization has also changed the enterprise.   It was but a few years  ago that the US became a NET importer of food.  Where once the US was the producer sending products overseas, the countries that benefited are now starting their own farms.   One example, a recent news article said that countries that benefited from US dairy have started their own dairies, and with much cheaper labor, land, and other factors, they can produce at less cost.  Internationalization also brings about the possibility of trade wars, think the current situation with China.

One Hour Old Heifer Attempting to Stand (it was successful)

It is not only internationalization that affects present day farm operations.  While weather conditions have always affected farming, today the large more common storm events wreak havoc with farms.  Many young calves were lost in mothering farms in Nebraska due to massive spring floods.  Just this past week in Grant County farmers were having to pick up the pieces, yet again, from their 5th 100 year storm event this year. As I write this on a rainy Sunday morning it is raining and my yard is flooded, and when I checked the rain gauge at about 9:30 am we had 2".  (A 100 storm event is defined as a rainfall amount over a certain period of time having a 1% chance of occurring. In the Madison, WI area 6" over 24 hours is a 100 year event, as is 3" over a one hour period.)  The increasingly common wet weather and flooding can damage crops, flood animal pens, and affect transportation of goods and products.

Milking Operation

Diversification on a farm today can be difficult due to the varied equipment, methodologies and management skills required.  Forty years ago I did my senior year college Field Methods paper on the effects of urbanization on farm fragmentation and farm operations.  One farmer I visited in my research, just east of Sun Prairie, had a very large dairy herd (and it is in operation today, but even larger), which was unusual for that time, and he spent most of his day in the office.  His brother who oversaw much of the on-hand field work which left him to do pricing, ordering, and undertake management of future trades.

Young Heifers less than 6 Months Old

The farm couple that my wife and I visited last week grew their operation over the past few decades from a small herd in the 30 head range to one of 450 today.  They now farm about 850 acres of land.  This 450 head operation is much larger than the eleven milk cows my grandfather reported in the 1915 Iowa census.  This farm operation is complex and cows are able to be tracked by computer through ear tags.  My head was swimming just thinking about all the logistics involved in the operation, not to mention that management skills required for the staff, and regulations.* There is, I am sure, more than that which meets the eye on this farm operation.

For example, while the cow will provide birth on the farm at about six months of age the young heifer calves are transferred to a Nebraska mothering farm until about two months before they give birth to their first offspring.  About 80 calves are born, on average, a month at this farm. I guess it is like sending your offspring to boarding school.  The cows at this farm are milked 4 times a day, and that pretty much means a 24 hour operation.  This is where manpower is critical and times are such that it is now more difficult to find persons willing to take on a dirty and grueling occupation.  There is of course the poor male calf which generates only about $50 in proceeds today, probably not enough to cover the cost of insemination of its mother and the effort spent during pregnancy. Makes you wonder why beef costs is so high.

Cow Barn

Of course, all farms are dependent upon market conditions for fuel, feed, equipment and of course the price of goods they sell.  The price for dairy has been down for some time, and many blame the ever present Millennial population for not sufficiently using dairy products as did earlier generations.  Times are a changing, and in which many assess blame to the Millennial generation.   If one can anticipate a change some money may be had.  But, as history shows benefits of change can be fleeting.  For example, after the cinch bug affected the Wisconsin wheat crop many farmers moved into hops, but the market would become saturated, and production took a large decline.  After this agricultural crisis dairy would become the primary farm industry of Wisconsin leading to the moniker "America's Dairyland."  Although California, yes California, now produces more milk than Wisconsin and their farms make large ones in this state seem small.  Today some farmers are moving into hemp for industrial production and of course the Millennial generation seemingly cannot exist without, CBD oil.  Time will tell if this trend hits the same over-saturation as did hops in the later part of the 19th century in Wisconsin.

Hitting the proper timing of a market segment brings us to the second farm. One would call it a hobby farm, as the owner/operator has a full time day job.  This farm grows hazelnuts, which have seen increasing demand due to health benefits, and due to the popularity of Nutella. A recent news story on this operation can be found here.  Given the six years it takes for a hazelnut bush (or tree) to produce, one needs some other income source on which to live, so in a  sense it is a good hobby crop.  This hazel nut farm, which is just south of  La Crosse, has about five acres in hazelnut bushes.  I think this is its first year with a significant harvest.  The geography of  parts of Southwest Wisconsin with fragmentation of fields due to topography is suited to smaller cultivation.  Such a crop fits well those niche fields where large crop production is difficult due to slope or other factors.  Hazelnuts are a good riparian crop for use near streams.

Cow 

Hazelnut operation, however, is not the traditional farming of annual crops, such as corn and soybeans where the soil is cultivated each year.  The bushes are planted and will produce for 20-25 years.  Yet, they need pruning, and tending.  I suspect, they can be subject to late frosts and other maladies as apple farms, and grape production.  Harvesting hazelnuts requires specialized equipment, not found at your neighborhood implement dealer.  The farm in La Crosse uses a former blueberry picking machine to harvest the hazelnuts.  Then there is the manner of removing the husks of which another specialized piece of equipment is required.  Plows, corn harvesters and balers are pretty ubiquitous at implement dealers in Wisconsin, but a hazelnut husker is not.

While many farms today may not be as diversified as that of my grandparents in 1915, there does exist diversification in type of farm operation.  It is (or was) not uncommon that farmers purchase or inherit a farm from their parents.  Due to land prices this is becoming less common as the upfront capital cost of land and equipment for major farm production can price those few young farmers that have interest out of setting up an operation.  Many children who grew up on a farm, yes Millennial age young adults seem to look elsewhere for occupations.  Community Supported Agriculture and other niche farm operations also exist.  Wineries have become popular in Wisconsin, but most import the vast majority of their grapes from out west, and in most cases it is the grape juice.  When I was doing my field methods report forty years ago Exclusive Agriculture zoning and farmland preservation agreements were the new in-thing to preserve farms.  While such zoning is still in place in some areas today its effectiveness has been reduced over time by a variety of factors.  Sometimes these benefit not so much the farmer as a land developer.

Photo shows scale of Hazelnut Harvest Machine
Photo by AM Hovel

This post focused on two different farms, but that tale is not unique to Wisconsin.  Farmers struggle with a variety of influences which seem more bad than good.  It is almost as if the words that Agricultural Economist Curtis Stadfield writing of his parents farm in the first half of the 20th century is as true today as it was then:  that there was "a genuine belief that things would be better"

Now, to end on a somewhat funny note, sixteen cows got loose and visited the parking lot of New Glarus Brewery, which brews the Farmhouse Ale, Spotted Cow.  Click here to see a news article on this, with a short video at this link. I sent this to the dairy farm I visited, and the comment came back that "The way farming has been going, looks like the cows needed a drink, too!"

* Some analysts say the answer to the farm crisis is agri-tourism, but that too demands time which is already is short supply.  Anyway, how many corn mazes can be supported?