There’s always some anxiety when helping a cow deliver twin calves, especially when the first one is breached. Try doing it on a day when there are nearly 3,000 visitors at your dairy farm for an open-house event.

This is what North Dakota dairy farmer Kenton Holle experienced during his family’s annual breakfast on the farm event to celebrate June Dairy Month. His son, Andrew, was leading a group through the barn when he saw a cow in labor and the first calf’s tail was pushing through.

Andrew stopped the tour, giving visitors an up-close experience at how a dairy farmer’s day can change in an instant.

The calves and visitors all survived.

“He got the calves cleaned up and jumped back on the wagon and continued the rest of the tour,” Holle said. “Thank God everything turned out all right.”

Open-house opportunities allow dairy farmers to give consumers a glimpse into what it takes to produce milk every day, in addition to caring for their animals and land. Most consumers are generations removed from the farm and the true source of their food.

Checkoff-created materials and training programs, such as Telling Your Story, help farmers with communications skills and ways to build consumer confidence in dairy.

The Holle family, and particularly Holle’s daughter-in-law Jennifer, spent months preparing for the event. They worked with Midwest Dairy Association to arrange for checkoff partner Domino’s to provide 250 pizzas to visitors.

The Holles served pancakes topped with strawberries and ice cream, plus plenty of cold milk. About 60 local businesses contributed donations and prizes. Another area farmer brought a petting zoo.

The Holles and their employees led guests through the milking parlor and barn and encouraged them to ask anything that was on their minds. Some asked about tail docking while others asked how far the farm’s milk traveled to be processed. Someone even asked if Holle owned or rented his cows.

Every question allowed an opportunity to share the family farm’s story and educate consumers about the dairy industry. Though the event required a lot of work, it was worth it, according to the Holle family.

“It’s important we do this,” Holle said. “A lot of people make a connection to the farm. There was a little girl about 4 or 5 who had to be bribed by her mother with pizza to get her out of the parlor. She just loved watching those cows on the rotary.

“You can run as many ads as you want, but there’s nothing that compares to the on-farm experience. Any time people come to our farm, it’s always worth it.” PD

Local spotlight

Here are some examples of how state and regional checkoff staffs worked with farmers to celebrate June Dairy Month and build consumer confidence in dairy.

Pennsylvania dairy farmers bring farm experience to museums
Pennsylvania dairy farmer Shirley Herr and her son, Philip, staffed Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association’s “Ask Me, I’m a Dairy Farmer” exhibit at Philadelphia’s Please Touch Museum. Mid-Atlantic raffled three signed copies of a book Philip wrote called “Walk a Mile in My Farm Boots.”

The Herrs brought cow feed samples and a calf bottle to help educate consumers about dairy farming. Mid-Atlantic also hosted an event at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia with dairy farmer Erin Wismer. She joined Mid-Atlantic at its dairy exhibit, where she displayed samples of feed, a milker unit, a calf bottle and a photo album of her family’s farm.

Minnesota farmers host breakfast, open house events
Minnesota dairy farmers opened their barn doors to media members and thousands of visitors during various breakfast and open-house events in June with assistance from Midwest Dairy Association.

Haubenschild Dairy of Princeton, Krause Holsteins of Buffalo and Twohey Dairy of Stewartville were just a few of the farms to collectively host more than 7,500 visitors at their events.

Attractions included a pancake breakfast, wagon rides, farm tours, petting zoos, scavenger hunts and appearances by Princess Kay of the Milky Way and Viktor the Viking.

Iowa farmers draw awareness to ‘Great American Milk Drive’
Midwest Dairy Association hosted an event at the Iowa capitol in Des Moines to recognize the importance of milk in a diet and the Iowa dairy industry’s contributions to the state.

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds joined dairy farmers Dan Hotvedt and Pam Bolin to bring awareness to the Great American Milk Drive, the first national program to help deliver gallons of milk to hungry families. Branstad and Reynolds led a milk toast and signed a June Dairy Month Proclamation.

Farmers support Dairy MAX blood drive promotion
Dairy farmers in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas helped drive blood donations through a partnership between Dairy MAX and blood centers in June called “Passion for Pints.” The program helped draw awareness to the importance of blood donations and put a face on the dairy industry with farmers appearing at various blood centers.

Donors received a gallon of milk, plus ice cream, a dairy-friendly recipe book and a “Passion for Pints” T-shirt. Dairy MAX projected more than 7,000 pints of blood would be donated through the month-long promotion.

Southeast farmers give boost to sudia events
Dairy farmers appeared at various Southeast United Dairy Industry Association (SUDIA) events during June. The Putnam County Dairy Festival featured a 5k and family fun run and dairy farm families involved in different aspects of the event.

Dairy farmer Darlene Lockett teamed with SUDIA to host the Hart County (Ky.) Dairy Day held on the courthouse lawn. Also in Kentucky, the Dairy Farmer Appreciation Picnic was supported by 23 dairy farm families and SUDIA. Two radio stations visited dairy farms to celebrate June Dairy Month.

Your Dairy Checkoff in Action – The following update is provided by Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), which manages the national dairy checkoff program on behalf of America’s dairy producers and dairy importers. DMI is the domestic and international planning and management organization responsible for increasing sales of and demand for dairy products and ingredients.

PHOTOS
PHOTO ONE: Visitors to the Holle family’s breakfast event toured various aspects of the North Dakota farm to learn about modern dairy farm practices.

PHOTO TWO: Pennsylvania dairy farmer Erin Wismer educated children about a cow’s diet during an event at a Philadelphia museum.

PHOTO THREE: Minnesota dairy farmer Bryan Haubenschild hosted a Minneapolis television station at his farm for a story on June Dairy Month.

PHOTO FOUR: Iowa dairy farmers Dan Hotvedt and Pam Bolin were at the state’s capitol to help bring attention to the need to provide milk to hungry families.