Organic, grazing good fit for Wedemeiers

Tillage tools once put away being used again

Scott, holding Jed, and Catherine Wedemeier milk 172 cows with Scott’s parents, Gary and Becky Wedemeier, near Maynard, Iowa. The Wedemeier family has found organic production and grazing are a good fit for their farm. PHOTO BY RON JOHNSON

Scott Wedemeier grazes his herd of Holsteins, Brown Swiss and crossbreds on his farm near Maynard, Iowa. The Wedemeiers switched to organic dairying to boost the farm’s income and for philosophical reasons. PHOTO BY RON JOHNSON

    MAYNARD, Iowa – When Gary and Scott Wedemeier of Maynard, Iowa pulled their rotary hoe out of the machine shed, its wheels would not work. The tillage tool had not seen the light of day for more than two decades.
    The father-son farming partners had not needed the hoe for years. They’d relied on spraying for weed control on their Fayette County farm. But the move to organic dairying and organic crop production made the rotary hoe useful again.
    Scott and Gary trace their switch to organic farming to a few years ago. Their dairy was part of a study comparing the economics of conventional dairy farms to those of hybrid dairies. The Wedemeier farm is a hybrid because it uses a combination of traditional cow housing and feeding plus rotational grazing.
    “I could continue with what I was doing,” Scott said of the results of the study. “But I could never buy the farm. So, we decided to change to organic.”
    The Wedemeiers’ 711-acre Grassway Organic Dairy grows corn, hay and a variety of cover crops. It has been certified organic since October of 2017. Its first load of organic milk was picked up one month later.
    Theirs is a herd of 172 milking cows made up of Holsteins, Brown Swiss and crosses of the two.
    Gary and Scott said they do not push their cows for high production. Instead, they are satisfied with a per-cow average of 55-63 pounds of milk per day, a 4.15 butterfat test and a 3.2 protein test, along with a somatic cell count at 145,000-200,000.
    Their move to organic dairying has generated more income, as intended. Scott estimated the base price they are being paid by their milk buyer, Organic Valley, La Farge, Wis., at $22.53 per hundredweight. With quality premiums and other incentives factored in, Scott and Gary can pick up another $3 to $4 per hundredweight, Scott said.
    The Wedemeiers’ organic milk price has dropped since they signed their contract last fall.
    “We’re still doing all right,” Scott said.
    A concern about the possible effects from applying products to their crops and land also entered into the decision to go organic.
    Gary underwent surgery for cancer in 2014. He said he cannot be sure of a connection between the cancer and the way he once farmed.
    “It made the decision easier for me when Scott approached me with the idea,” Gary said of the decision to farm organic following his cancer diagnosis.
    One thing Scott and Gary worried about and battled during the springs of 2016 and 2017 was armyworms. Scott said the destructive insects were not even noticed before the farm began its organic certification.
    But, armyworm problems began when the Wedemeiers stopped planting Bt corn. That type of corn has been genetically modified to kill the caterpillars of certain insect when they eat the corn. Since it’s genetically altered, it’s not allowed in organic farming.
    Two years ago, armyworms invaded and devoured some 50 acres of small corn plants. Last year, the worms hit the farm’s corn again. Where once rows of green spears were visible, the ground lay bare.
    “I could swear my corn was disappearing,” Scott said.
    Being organic, Scott and Gary could not launch a counteroffensive using a conventional insecticide. They found a product that was expensive, but OK to use. As of late May this year, armyworms had not shown up on Grassway Dairy.
    Scott said the move to organic farming was also a bit challenging because the Wedemeiers had to find people who could answer their new questions.
    “As a producer you create this group of people you know and trust,” he said. “Then you switch over to organic and it’s like you’re a kid in a whole different school and you don’t know anybody. There’s such a steep learning curve. … But I think we’ve overcome most of those issues.”
    Gary and Scott ceased their minimum tillage and no-till practices and went back to the way many farmers did things decades ago.
    “We had to relearn how to use tillage tools that we hadn’t used in 25 years or more,” Scott said.
    The rotary hoe now sees action three times each spring in the cornfields. The third pass might occur when the corn stands a mere three inches tall, so weeds are knocked back before they can gain much of a foothold.
    Along with the rotary hoe, the Wedemeiers rely on a heavy disk, row-crop cultivator, harrow and soil finisher.
    “We’re renewing a system of farming that we kind of had forgotten,” Gary said. “I’m amazed when I remember the things my dad would do and I relate them to what we’re doing today.”
    Managing the cows organically has not been as much of a challenge. Scott said they had already backed off on heat synchronization.
    “Our difficult breeders were already gone,” Scott said. “And our cows with higher energy needs were already gone.”
    One rough spot involved a disease during the first year of dairying organically.
    “The calves brought something home from the fair, and it wasn’t a trophy,” Scott said.
    Rotational grazing became a mainstay on Grassway Dairy in 2005 when Scott graduated from college. The Wedemeiers wanted to expand the herd at little additional expense.
    In their part of northeastern Iowa, the grazing season starts in April or May and the cows continue to graze into early December. Scott said the cows come into the freestall barns for a couple of hours each day, but head out to the paddocks again for the night.
    Grazing fits well with organic production. According to the USDA’s National Organic Program Pasture Rule, cows must get 30 percent of their dry matter from pasture during the grazing months, Scott said.
    Along with pasture, the Wedemeiers’ cows eat a total mixed ration that includes haylage and baleage, corn silage, high-moisture corn, dry corn, field peas, wheat and oats.
    Grassway Dairy milks in a swing-15 parlor that was retrofitted into the two-story barn. The parlor replaced a double-4, step-up parlor that took the Wedemeiers out of the 36-stall stanchion barn.
    One person, said Scott, can milk 85 cows an hour in the swing-15 parlor. Two employees handle the milking.
    Gary and Scott do not foresee any changes coming to the farm in the near term. Gary said his role with the management and labor will likely shrink, while Scott’s will grow.
    Overall the Wedemeiers are happy with their combination of organic farming and grazing.
       “I wish I was his age and starting into this,” Gary said.