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Ysselstein Dairy big stop on three-state dairy tour Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Agri News staff writer
ROCK VALLEY, Iowa -- Ysselstein Dairy looks like its own little town when you are driving on U.S. Highway 18.
It is home to about 6,500 cows milked in four separate parlors.
It was certainly a big stop last week on the Central Plains Dairy Tour.
Shep Ysselstein, who co-owns Ysselstein Dairy, is originally from Canada. He grew up on a dairy farm with his father, who originated from the Netherlands. He moved here when he met his wife, Natalie. He started milking 300 cows near Rock Valley 16 years ago.
"At that time we were the largest dairy in Iowa," said Ysselstein. "We were the first dairy to build a confinement stall operation."
Ysselstein had seen the set up in Michigan. He thought if it worked there, he could make it work in northwest Iowa.
The operation has grown to 6,500 cows.
The Ysselsteins use management practices not normally seen in northwest Iowa and Minnesota. They have outside lots for about 2,500 of their lactating cows and loafing barns. Their ration also contains a limited amount of corn and corn silage.
Ysselstein Dairy pushes employee and cow comfort.The parlor uses natural lighting on both sides.
"If your employees are relaxed when they are milking, your cows will be, too," said Ysselstein.
Cows are bedded in the free-stall barn twice a day and cross ventilation is used. They also went away from headlocks.
"They are more comfortable eating when there are no headlocks," he said. "We want to keep things simple, effective and comfortable, which is important to be profitable."
"We aim to get our cows pregnant and have as few problems as possible," said Shep.
Brenda Halbakken of Pelican Rapids, Minn., looked forward to Ysselstein Dairy because it is so big. Halbakken is an AI tech on Trondhjem Dairy, a 500 cow operation. She also has her own dairy back home.
"As an AI tech, I wanted to see what they do for their breeding program," said Halbakken. "I was surprised they do everything naturally. They do regular heat detection, but do not use synchronization programs."
Halbakken also enjoyed seeing the enclosed calf nursery.
"It was neat to see the set up kept the calves cool," said Halbakken. "We have poly-dome hutches and it is hard to keep them cool during the summer in those. The tour has been a great learning tool for me."
Alongside the large dairy, the Ysselsteins also own a new cheese plant in Hull called Green Meadows.
There was a need for additional processing options in the area, and Shep was investigating what a cheese plant would do for them.
"This cheese plant exists because of Shep and Natalie," said Green Meadows General Manager Tim Czmowski. "We will be built to handle 120,000 pounds of fluid milk per hour or 2.4 million pounds of milk per day."
Green Meadows is still under construction, but will start production in fall 2008 where they will produce a multitude of cheeses.
"Next year we will be able to proudly sell our own cheese," said Czmowski.
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