Illinois Farm Families Blog

If you have never been on a farm before, here’s your chance to experience the real deal.

Linda and Dale Drendel are again opening their Hampshire farmstead to the general public for a dairy breakfast and farm tour from 6 to 11 a.m. Saturday, June 15.

The Drendels offer this unique experience to visit a farm and provide others with a better understanding of the origins of their food, such as dairy products.

“This Saturday morning, family activity is meant to be enjoyed by all ages,” Dale Drendel said. “We welcome visitors and hope they see this as an opportunity to learn more about how we care for our animals and produce fresh and wholesome milk.”

A highlight of a visit to the farm, known as Lindale Holstein Farm, is watching some of the 150 dairy cows being milked in the milking parlor. The modern parlor accommodates 11 Holstein cows at a time and offers viewers an up-close look at the farm’s automation and the transfer of milk from the cow to the bulk tank.

Milking demonstrations will occur from 6 to 9 a.m. during the tour.

The farm visit offers a tour of the barns to see the young dairy calves, heifers and cows. And visitors get chance to milk a cow by hand just as farmers used to do many years ago.

Visitors will see all aspects of dairy production, from the feed used in their special diets to the care taken by farmers to assure their animals are comfortable and healthy.

Besides the cows, visitors to the farm will see farm equipment used on the dairy and grain farm, and get to sit on the seat of a modern tractor.

To top off the morning, a hearty farm-style breakfast will be served complete with pancakes, sausage, applesauce, cheese, milk, coffee and ice cream, from 6 to 11 a.m.

A donation of $8 for adults and $5 for children (5-10 years) will be collected at the farm. The price includes breakfast and the farm visit. There is no charge for children 4 and under.

The Dairy Breakfast and Farm Tour is being sponsored by local dairymen from DeKalb and Kane counties who are members of the Kishwaukee Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA).

The Drendels are avid promoters of the dairy industry, whether it’s welcoming visitors to their farm, showing cattle at fairs, serving in leadership roles or educating others about agriculture. Dale serves on the boards of the Illinois Milk Producers Association, Foremost Farms, Kishwaukee DHIA, and Dairy Lab Services. Linda, a former teacher, also has an active role on the farm and serves on the Midwest Dairy Association.

The Drendels are also participants in Illinois Farm Families and host Chicago moms for farm visits.

Their son, Jeff, works alongside them on their dairy farm. Their daughters are Carrie Corson, public relations project manager for COUNTRY Financial in Bloomington; and Julie Ashton of Marseilles, farm broadcaster for The Big Ag Radio Network and Nelson Multimedia Group.

As livestock caretakers for the past 40 years, Dale and Linda Drendel hold themselves accountable to the hundreds of dairy animals on their farm.

“We take personal responsibility for feeding and caring for our animals,” said Linda, “and providing top-quality milk for consumers.”

They grow corn, soybeans, alfalfa, oats and wheat, much of which is used for dairy feed.

To learn more about the Drendels, visit their farm website at www.lindaleholsteins.com.

The Drendel Farm address is 15N057 Walker Road. Handicap parking is available at the farm.

For additional information, call Bill Lenschow, Dairy Breakfast chairman, at 815-895-9690.

 Reprinted from the Beacon News.

 Indeed, over the next several days, "mad cow disease" dominated the airwaves. Cattle markets closed limit down every day – meaning, they dropped as far as they could until an artificial floor stopped them. This is very bad if you are a cattle producer, about to sell your crop. But miracle of all miracles, by the time our calves sold some three weeks later, the markets recovered. We sold calves at pre-scare price levels. Whew.

 This is, of course, the scenario that came to mind yesterday as news of the most recent BSE outbreak spread. It feels different this time, though. We seem a little more educated, a little more reasonable.

 I have noticed in the past 24-48 hours, the news cycle has been remarkably even and unbiased. News reports have stuck to the facts, quoting USDA officials, epidemiologists and food safety experts. As a journalist, little makes me more frustrated with my reporting brethren than a sensationalized news report (pink slime, anyone?!). And as a farmer, little makes me more disappointed in our society and their reaction to the food supply than a sensationalized news report.

 But I digress.

 I think there is much we can keep in mind here, including some really heartening facts:

 1.  A single dairy cow in California was discovered by a renderer to have an "atypical" presentation of BSE on Tuesday, April 24.

2.  This atypical presentation does not occur in animals that have been fed bone meal from infected animals. The practice of feeding bone meal was banned in 1997 with the full support of cattle producers, and in 2011 there were only 20 worldwide cases of BSE – a 99% reduction since the peak in 1992 of 37,311 cases. Essentially, the government and the industry took steps to control the disease before it became a real problem in the United States. This is good news. 

3.  The carcass never entered the food chain. It didn't even come close. The carcass was routinely tested at a renderer and discovered to be positive for BSE. Officials were immediately notified, and the carcass will be further tested and then destroyed.

4.  BSE is not transmitted through milk, says USDA Chief Veterinarian John Clifford.

5.  The system worked! If there's one thing we can take away from this entire situation, it's that the testing systems we have in place to protect our food supply worked. Amen and hallelujah.

So what does it all mean on our farm tonight? We will continue on with our normal veterinary care, and – I'm not gonna lie - we will rejoice that we don't have calves to sell in three weeks. Livestock marketing experts predict that markets will recover, but we can still be grateful to not have that kind of stress. We've got enough to worry about right now, what with planting a corn crop and all.

 But most importantly, we'll have steak tonight. And we'll drink a glass of milk. And we'll give thanks that we are part of the safest and most abundant food supply chain in the world.

 You should, too.

Holly Spangler
Marietta, Illinois

 

Let’s keep with cow’s milk (my favorite kind)!  First, “Vitamin D” milk is whole milk.  People think that whole milk is bad for you because it has all that fat in it, right?  Wrong!  Whole milk has a whopping fat content of 3.5% (the average fat content of milk right from the cow).  Look through your frig & pantry, and I bet you’d be hard pressed to find a lot of foods under 4% fat.  If you like the taste of whole milk, as dairy farmers, we thank you, but if not, you have lots of other options.  Reduced-fat milk (that being either 2%, 1%, or skim, 0%, fat) offers you the same nutrients with a little of the cream scraped off the top.  A good friend of mind once said, “Carrie, I’m desperately trying to drink the Vitamin D milk, because I know I need the Vitamin D, but I just can’t stand the taste!”  She was worried about maintaining her bone density, as should many young women, especially those who are busy professionals that don’t get a chance to sit down for supper with a glass of milk every night.  I had a giggle, as I told her ALL milk, whether it be chocolate or strawberry, whole, 2% or skim, has all the same vitamins and minerals (A, D, calcium and so on) in each glass!  

When an animal is sick, it is my responsibility to care for it.  Sometimes, the best way for me to do this is to use an antibiotic.  However, that animal product (be it milk, meat or eggs) is removed or withheld from the food supply until that antibiotic has cleared the animal’s body.  All milk is tested for antibiotics on the farm and at the processing plant. Any milk that tests positive for antibiotics cannot be sold to the public and is discarded. I won’t give anything to my animals that I do not feel is safe for them, my family, and yours.  Furthermore, all mammals (that includes you, me, as well as the cows and pigs) produce hormones in our bodies.  It is part of how our bodies work.  That means that things that come from those bodies will contain hormones.  They are broken down by our body, just like other things we eat.  Just remember to keep things in perspective, vegetables contain hormones too.

So, whatever your fancy, you will always get a nutritious, good-for-you glass no matter what jug it is out of.  The pick at our house is “Mixed Milk”, a white skim and chocolate (1 or 2%) mix, served alongside pork tenderloin!  

Carrie Pollard
Po-Cop Dairy
Rockford, Illinois

Visit Carrie's blog at http://www.mycowsandpigs.blogspot.com/

Of the 10 Field Moms, 7 were able to attend – a number that's not surprising given the number of small children and potential for sickness, family obligations and more. One extra Chicago mom and blogger, Emily Paster, also attended.

Saturday, if you'll recall, was incredibly windy in the northern half of the state so we started off our day inside, where Mike and Lynn Martz shared how they got their farming start. Let me just say, for the record, they operate one very impressive farm. Mike manages the cattle feeding operation (with 2,700 head on the farm on Saturday) and Lynn manages the 6,300-acre grain operation. Among many other things, they shared how circular their operation is: Lynn raises corn. Mike buys corn from Lynn for the cattle. Cattle eat corn and produce manure. Lynn injects manure into fields for fertilizer. Lynn grows more corn. Corn is used to make ethanol. Gluten and distillers grains are by-products of ethanol production. Mike buys gluten and distillers grains to feed to cattle. Who produce more manure. Which grows more corn.  And so on and so forth. I think the Field Moms were impressed by that. Heck, I was impressed by that.

While we were inside, Mike also gave a quick lesson in beef selection at the grocery store. He brought out several packages of the same cut of meat and talked about different quality grades. Higher grade=more marbling. More marbling=more flavor. He pointed out that marbling is mono-unsaturated fat.

"It's like eating olive oil," Mike said. "That's the kind of fat that's good for you, and we haven't done a very good job in the beef industry of telling you that." The bad fat is what most folks cut off – the thick stuff around the edge.

And before anyone could even ask, Mike talked about hormones and antibiotics. He reported that while he understood people's concerns, he suspected they might not know the whole truth: that a 3 oz. steak from an untreated steer has 1.3 nanograms of estrogen. That a 3 oz. steak from a hormone treated steer has 1.9 ng of estrogen. But the baked potato you'll eat with your steak? It has 225 ng of estrogen. (To note, a nanogram is one-billionth of a gram. So 0.6 ng is equal to slightly more than half of one billionth of a gram.)

Then he talked antibiotics. About how they only use them when an animal is sick. About how every drug has a withdrawal time – a period of time after the medicine is given before the animal can be slaughtered. How their computerized charting program flags every animal that's been treated and won't let them ship one before the withdrawal time is over. And how packers test and test, and if they find drug contamination, USDA can trace it right back to Mike's farm. "I don't need that. And I don't want to eat meat with drugs, and I don't want you to eat it either."

Really, we could have almost called it a day at that point; that's how valuable Mike's lesson was – and how good he was at relating it to the Field Moms. But it was only 9:30. Time to brave the wind.

We headed outside and to their cattle facilities where Mike pointed out their handling facilities were designed by Temple Grandin, noted for her ability to design equipment that calms the cattle. He showed how they ultrasound cattle, using it to design the exact feed type and amount that animal will need. We walked out to the cattle buildings, to the grain handling facility. We talked about grain quality and moisture and watched them dump a semi load of corn. We walked back to the field and each mom took a ride in the combine and in the tractor/auger wagon (driven quite handily by the Martz's daughter-in-law, Jamie). We talked yield maps and variable rate fertilizer application.

After lunch, it was on to Dale and Linda Drendel's dairy farm, at Hampshire. We talked milk safety, we wore snazzy bio-booties and we went into the parlor to watch them milk. We visited the baby calves. We checked out some fancy champion Holsteins, part of the Drendels' show cattle herd. Suffice to say, they've done well in the Holstein show ring, as evidenced by the wall of silver and purple in the farm office.

And among the highlights at the Drendel farm was the chance to visit with their herd veterinarian. He answered questions on hormones and BST and rBST, and how there's no discernible difference between the two. Indeed, milk cannot be labeled BST-free because every cow produces BST and it occurs naturally in milk. Instead, milk producers label it rBST-free (recombinant BST). He also shared how when one farm he consulted with decided to stop using rBST, it was a marketing decision and not a scientific one. "I don't think you should turn your back on technology. But I think consumers should have a choice and in that circumstance, they were saying they didn't want it."

It was a whirlwind of a day and in a nutshell, I think we were all better informed at day's end – myself included. I had some great conversations with some of the moms before they boarded the bus. We all experienced information overload, but those I spoke with were impressed with the technology and the care for the animals.

Sure, that's little surprise for farm folk. But with any degree of luck, given a few more days like Saturday, eventually it'll be little surprise for Chicago Field Moms, too.

 

Holly Spangler,
Marietta, Illinois

Want to know more about Illinois agriculture and life on a young family's farm? Check out Holly's Prairie Farmer blog.

Our granddaughter Olivia (age 5) and her mom, our daughter Carrie, will come see us this weekend. When Olivia comes, she helps me with the calf chores -- she loves the cows!  We visit the cows in the show barn; she knows them by name! She knows what to do in the calf barn and will pick up the milk buckets, push the grain cart, feed the bottle, etc.
 
Olivia "owns" three animals; she has shown each one in the show ring for three years now. Each phone call she asks me: How is Liv? Is she still giving 50 pounds (per milking)? How is Angelina? (She is expecting her calf next March and is now on another farm, but I see her once in awhile) How is Taz? Has she moved up to the next pen? (She is now in the heifer barn; the calves move through the pens as they grow.) Olivia is our farm girl!!!

Linda Drendel
Lindale Farms
Hampshire, Illinois

Linda and her husband, Dale, will be hosting some new visitors next month when the Illinois Farm Families Field Moms venture out on their first farm tour. Field Moms from the Chicago area will have the chance to meet Liv, Angelina, and Taz, as well as have conversations with Linda and her husband, Dale, about farming in Illinois today. Come back to watchusgrow.org to see the Field Moms' experiences and read about it on this blog!

 The cows needed a new barn.  (I mean REALLY needed a new barn!)  After nearly 40 years, the existing barn had simply run its course.  And, of course, we couldn’t just rebuild what we had.  You see, we’ve learned a lot about cows in the last 40 years.  The cow of today is not the same cow of 40 years ago.  She produces more milk, she is bigger, she eats more, she gets hot easier.  However, we hope to make life easier for our cows.  Unlike our house (or most other farmhouses I know), the cows’ house has ceramic tile under the feed bunk for easy plate-lickin’.  They also have bigger bed frames (we call them stalls), and more comfortable mattresses in those beds than the old barn.  We also added almost twice as much of everything to keep the cows cool in the heat:  natural air flow (via higher sides and bigger curtains), forced air flow (fans), and water space.  

 I’m sure within a couple years we’ll come up with the next thing that we’ve learned that will make life easier for the cows, and we’ll implement whatever that next thing is as soon as possible, because we always want what is best for our animals.  We are always learning, and we have to change or adapt whenever we learn something new.  We hope the cows will forgive us for temporarily disrupting their lives while we were under construction this summer, and hope that they will appreciate all these improvements, and thank us in the form of more milk.  The old adage holds very true.  If we take care of the cows, they’ll take care of us. 

Check out the process on Carrie's blog, My Cows & Pigs.

Carrie Pollard
Po-Cop Dairy
Rockford, Ill. 

 

Just after 5:30 the first family arrives. This is their second visit and they didn’t want to miss the milking this time. And it begins!! 

Guests stop in front of the parlor to watch Dale and Randy milk some of the 150 cows in our 11-stanchion parlor. They move through the milk house and watch the milk make its way from the parlor to the bulk tank. Others stop first for pancakes, sausage, fruit cocktail, string cheese, milk or coffee. Some go first to the calf barn with its newest member: a heifer born 6:00 pm Friday night. Some little ones offer suggestions for her name. . .  Halo, Heaven.

6:30. . . I bring out the calf cart, fill it with water and milk replacer and head to the calf barn. I have a lot of help feeding the 15 calves their milk and later their grain. My sister feeds our 6 babies still on the bottle. We explain the need to get the baby on her own as soon as possible for its vaccinations, first milk (colostrums) and her safety and comfort.

7:15. . .Orion Samuelson arrives with his WGN film crew. He makes a trip to the calf barn, enjoys breakfast, and then films a piece with Dale and I for his nationally broadcast TV show.

8:00. . .  “Forever Gold” is brought out for the milk-a-cow booth. Young and old get some suggestions on technique and then see how they can do! Also, “Desirae” is brought out for the cow photo booth. A bale of straw sits in front of the cow, families, little ones, or adults sit on the straw and pose for the picture (taken by their family). Our daughter is with “Desirae” and hears at least 5 families say this photo will be on their 2011 Christmas card!

Up to 11:00. . .the morning goes on. Guests go for their ice cream and cookie. They go out into the hay field to check out the machinery. Little ones climb into tractor cabs and the horns sound! The neighboring old car club has come with their cars for the visitors to check out. And before the visitors go home it’s another trip to the calf barn or some quiet time in a lawn chair or sitting on the lawn. There were just about 1000 who came out for the day!

11:15. .  . the clean-up begins. Every year Dale and I have hosted the breakfast, we notice the same thing – how neat and considerate the guests have been!

Special thanks to Bill and Kathy for organizing the food and to Otto and Nancy for organizing the workers and equipment!!

 

 

Hello all.  My name is Katie Pratt and welcome to our farm. Literally. Welcoming tour groups to our farm is a family tradition starting back in the early 1970s when my husband’s grandfather hosted students from Chicago-area schools on his dairy farm.
 
Some of my best childhood memories are those that include the people who visited our farm.  There were the formal “industry” groups – farmers from Asia, Europe and Australia – visiting in the 1980s to see how my father was raising mother pigs and their babies indoors sheltered from Mother Nature’s unpredictable mood swings. There were friends and family from the city who brought new playmates and cousins with whom my sister, brother and I had great fun, racing through the rolling wooded pasture that stretched south of our farmstead. 

Now that my husband and I are building a life and farm of our own, we continue to host a variety of groups from European farmers to a university class researching the use of corn stover (the stalk and leaves) as an energy source.  Every two years we welcome local teachers to the farm through the Summer Ag Institute program, a continuing education seminar based on agriculture. 

This May my family welcomed the fourth grade from St. Vincent Ferrer School. When students and parent chaperones gathered off the bus, I gave them three rules. #1: Have fun. #2: Have fun. #3: Ask questions!

Did they ever! “Who works on your farm?” “Did you sew this blanket?” “How much does this tractor cost?” Seeing my farm and the way we live through the students’ eyes was slightly overwhelming. I didn’t think such a divide existed between city and country, and yet this was illustrated by some of their innocent, simple questions. “Where do you shop?  Where do you buy groceries?  We haven’t seen a town all day!”

I explained that I shop just like they do, although I am not an enthusiastic shopper by nature. We just drive a bit farther to get to a town with a mall and a variety of stores.  Groceries?  Find them at the grocery store just like they do. While I do freeze and preserve some produce from my vegetable garden, I still make a weekly grocery trip to purchase the basics – milk, bread, deli meat, cheese and fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Our visit with the students ended too soon with so many more questions to be asked and answered. That is why I am so excited to be contributing to this blog. This is the perfect place to ask any question and get it answered by the people who know - Illinois Farm Families who are living the farm life and growing the food, fiber and fuel for your family and community. 

Katie Pratt
Grand Prairie Farms

We now live on Brent’s family dairy farm outside Rockford, where Brent farms full-time with his parents, milking 70 Holstein cows, and farming 600 acres of corn, soybeans, and alfalfa. Beyond helping on the farm when I can, I also work full-time for Bethany Animal Hospital, where I get to use my passion for pigs by helping pork producers across northern Illinois improve their farms.

I am excited to share with you where your food comes from, and hope you’ll ask us (those of us who spend each and every day raising food for your tables) all of the questions you have about where food comes from, and how it is grown. On this blog, there is no such thing as a stupid question! 

So, the other day, I called Brent while he was at the neighbor's to ask him to bring home a cup of milk for a recipe I was making for supper that night, as we were all out.  He laughingly replied, "You know we do have cows on our farm." We do have a dairy farm, with our own milk, but I still buy milk at the grocery store just like all of you. Why, you may ask?  We simply don’t like the taste of whole milk. Another reason is homogenization, the process of putting milk in solution, so that the cream does not rise to the top. This is simply a matter of preference, as Brent doesn't like the creamy stuff – and I have always had store-bought milk, so I don't know the difference!

I buy whatever milk happens to be on sale. I don't worry whether the milk comes from Holsteins or Jerseys, or whether it was produced on a farm with 16 cows or 16,000; I know that it is safe, full of essential vitamins and nutrients, and produced by farm families that care about their animals, just like the milk that is down the hill in our own bulk tank.

 So, I will remember to go to the store tomorrow to buy my own gallon (or two) of milk, and Pour One More! Read more about the day to day happenings at the Pollard Farm.

Carrie Pollard
Po-Cop Dairy
Rockford, Ill.