Welcome everyone to Midday Magazine for this January 25th, 2024.
Got your host James J. Maleff and we're going to talk right now with our great friend Matt Lippert,
Wood County Ag Agent with UW-Madison Division of Extension Wood County. Matt, good to see you.
Good to see you. Your title's getting longer. It's going to take 20 minutes to get to you
with this title that I got to go through. But I have all respect for you sir,
so I want to make sure to get it all in.
UW-Madison Division of Extension, very good.
It's great to talk with you Matt. I know that you have a couple of talking points we want to
get to today, but if you don't mind, I wanted to start with the news that we had just about a
week ago that Stratford Family, Stratford Family Farm is going to host the 2026 Wisconsin Farm
Tech days. This is going to be taking place at Radetski's No Joke Dairy in Stratford.
Great name, by the way. I love that name. They're going to host the 72nd annual Wisconsin
Farm Technology Days. This will be in July of 2026. I'm curious about a couple things about this
Matt. Just one, you know, for those that don't know, is this something that happens with farm
tech days and it tours and goes to different farms every year and the importance of farm tech days
and what this brings, not only for this family and their farm, but what it does for the industry.
So I think you said 72nd?
Yes, the 72nd annual Wisconsin Farm Tech Days.
So other states also have similar events, but ours is one of the very few that actually does
rotate, goes to different counties. So obviously different host farms and that's a unique part of our
show is that people can go to different parts of the state and see different things. We've been
blessed in the central Wisconsin area. We have pretty good crowds and so we've had quite a few
well. So Wood County, what was that? I can't remember what year it was, but 2018?
Oh, yes, yeah. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was 18.
Yeah, that we had farm tech days and before that, the next previous time that Wood County had,
it was 1960. So that was a long gap, but I've been involved with farm technology days in
Portage County in the Clover area. I've been involved the most recent one two years ago was in
Clark County and this year Chippewa County is not so very far away and I've been involved with
the show previously and it was practically in Wood County. It was a Marshfield address,
but that was also a Marathon County farm tech days. And there's, oh, Clark counties had it two
other times. Marathon County, I think said it three. So we've had it in those 72 years. We've had
quite a few of them in the central Wisconsin area. Yeah, one of the things that I and many of our
listeners have learned in the years you and I have been talking about is the way that the tech
now tech world and and agate world have worked together and helped our both industries really,
but especially helping the ag industry going forward. But also the importance of celebrating
these farms and getting an opportunity to so they're roving the the fact that this tours and
everything gets to help, you know, a chance to talk about I being honest, I hadn't heard of this
farm before. Now I have and I know a little bit more about it. I think that that kind of stuff
goes a long ways as well, but the sharing of information, the things that go on a farm tech days,
that seems like an integral part into the to the ag industry. Well, it's certainly an honor to be
not to be selected as a farm. When we had in Wood County, we had six farms that even considered
applying and I think a lot of others surely would have wanted to, but they just didn't think they
were we're going to make it. So it's certainly an honor. And all the other things you said there,
the technology sharing, the celebration of agriculture, that's all, it's their great events.
We, the good ones have been having 40,000 people or more over the three days. Wow. So there's
a lot of things to see and do at these shows. So it's pretty exciting that it's coming back to
Marathon County. This is not the largest farm. Some people assume well, it's going to be a great,
great big farm, but it's not always. I mean, there are requirements that you have enough land
assembled that you can park all the cars that you can have the tent city. So if you're three acres
with an orchard, you better have a pretty big neighbor or you're not going to be eligible. But
otherwise they don't have to be the largest farms. And it's usually nice stories of
family success and modernization and history and pride and what they're doing. So yeah, it's a very
fun event. It's a celebration of that. And as a chance to share information, share ideas, it seems
like. Yes. So there are several components. I called it tent city. So it's an anchor of it is
you have this grid of its outdoor farm show. So you have a lot of farm equipment manufacturers,
tractor manufacturers, and other businesses, businesses that sell seed, sell chemicals,
that sell services. They're all on this area. And then of course it's the summer. So you
have to have some place in the midst of the ground where people can eat. And then usually the
host county, when we had in Wood County, even though we had it up in Marshfield, we made quite an
effort to talk about our cranberry industry because it's pretty unique in Wood County. So usually
the local county, in Old Claire County, they talked about horse radish because they have the
world's largest horse radish production. Wow. That's pretty cool. I didn't know that.
Yeah. So there's usually a little bit to celebrate about the local culture and diversity in the
county as well. We're really looking forward to this and we'll be building up to it talking
certainly more and more about it as we get closer to this. Matt, I know that you brought in some
notes and things you wanted to touch on. What do you get? Yeah. The first one I don't have
down is notes. Okay. Yeah. It fits really well with the farm technology days. Wisconsin Rapids is
hosting OIF. That's outstanding young farmer program. So last year, an applicant from the
Vesper area won the state outstanding young farmer. I don't know if there's a connection there,
there used to be OIF used to be sponsored by the JC's organization. And now it's on its own,
but there's been people that were involved with the program. It's got this history pretty comparable
to farm technology days. It goes way back. And so we're having a beautiful banquet. I think there's
maybe a dozen couples that have been nominated and selected that'll be getting interviewed and
getting selected to be who is going to be the outstanding young farmer. It's going to be right here
in Wisconsin Rapids. Right on. That is really cool. So I get to welcome them to Wood County and tell
them about what a wonderful place is for farming. Awesome. Very cool. This seems like a fantastic idea.
Almost feels like a no-brainer for a lot of reasons. Certainly we are always looking to get young
people and younger people involved in agriculture industry and farming. We want to encourage more of
that and celebrate that. Yeah. So I think they don't have to be extremely young with it. It's called
outstanding. I think because you know they need to have obtained some level of success. And so I
think it's a 40-year-old maximum. Okay. Yeah. So I'm pretty excited that it'll be a wonderful
evening at this coming Saturday. Yeah. Really looking forward to that. We'll keep on bringing
it reminding people about it. Make sure we get a good turn off for that. How did this come about, Matt?
Well, like I said, I think our chamber here is involved with it. Yeah. But I don't know how
obviously we have a great location here in Wisconsin Rapids for being central in the state.
And this doesn't need a great big crowd of people. It's pretty intimate event. It's mainly about
the applicants. So you know, if it's a big event, usually Steven's point has a bigger convention
center and they get that from us. But we were well-suited location-wise to host a lot of events.
Yeah. Something like this also feels like a great opportunity again to share information, to
make connections, and conversations with you. I've found how important that is in the farming
industry. So it also seems like a great opportunity for that. Well, those couples are usually
couples. You don't have to, it's not a requirement that you're married to be an outstanding young
farmer, but usually many of them are. Those people get to know each other. They'll cross paths for
many years in the future. Right on. That's a great one. When is the date and time of that again?
That's the Saturday. So what is that date?
This Saturday. Yeah, it is the 27th, 27th. Yes, it's at the hotel meet. There is a social hour
and a banquet. So I think it spans from about six till it's probably it's done about nine.
It's going to be a fun event and all events at the hotel meet are always nice and well-attended.
That's going to be a good event. Speaking with Matt Lippert, UW Extension's Ag Asian and Matt,
what else you got over there? Yeah, so we're right at the height of winter meeting season and so
I actually have a couple. They're not real close. They're in Marathon and Clark County this next week,
but do you know what a KFO is? No, I don't. KFO is an acronym for Concentrated Animal Feeding
Operations. When people talk about factory farms and kind of taint it with, I don't know, a
prejudice title to it. They're large farms. What is the significance of a KFO is that they are
of such a size which is 1,000 animal units. So you can be a KFO with turkeys, but you need more
than 1,000 of them because they Turkey isn't at up to be what is officially defined as an animal
unit. It's more similar to what a full-size cow is about an animal unit. They fall under a
different set of regulations. Extension is working with the DNR to work with consultants that work
with these large operations and with the producers. And so on January 30th, our most local
choices in Curtis at El Norteño. Otherwise, it's also meeting in Rice Lake, Green Bay,
Fondelac, Manitouac, Jefferson, and Darlington. So all around the state. So we're going to have some
topics on maintaining water quality, just the facilities off the roofs and near manure storage
and so forth, how they handle their livestock waste and so forth. Our topics, their feed storage
for cattle, their silage storage and so forth. So that is coming up next week.
Excellent. With the amount of different places, this is taking place in everything.
It seems like a pretty important one. It seems like something they're doing this for a reason.
Well, so it's a partnership between Extension and DNR. So DNR is an enforcement agency.
And typically, they're a little hesitant to suggest to people how to comply with their rules.
They provide the rules and so Extension is a good partner with the DNR is that
we can work in a lot of the speakers are from the DNR, but we can work with them to help people
do a better job of being in compliance or improving basically the environmental
soundness of their interaction of their operation. With Matt, I don't want to sound like I know what
I'm talking about here, but just talking to you and talking to some people in the industry.
Some of the time, some of that information just seems like it's not a matter of ill intent
as much as I just didn't know that this could cause this or something, that the cause and
effective things. And some of that stuff that we're even still learning some of those things,
is that the case? I think that's true. Obviously, a larger producer has a larger standard
of they don't get away with it while I just didn't know. Let's go through a little bit of some
of the topics. There's developing a high quality nutrient management plan. Well, they all have
to have a nutrient management plan when they apply manure, which they're all livestock organizations
of some type. So they have livestock manure. That's got lots of nutrients and that's great because
we want to recycle those so we don't have to buy commercially produced fertilizer. So that's about
that's a topic about manure management. Positively addressing production area concerns,
addressing common concerns found during inspections. So emergency response planning, let's say you
had a flood, let's say you had eight inches of rain and some of your manure storage overflow
or you had a piece of manure hauling equipment that ruptured or burst and had some sizes spill.
Or maybe it's not an environmental concern, or maybe it's on a road, you know. Right. Yeah.
It could be, so these are issues that don't just affect large operations. Small operations
have manure as well. I've done a lot of work with pesticide applicator training and we do a lot
of work with, so I have these herbicides, these insecticides or these fungicides, which collectively
are the class of pesticides. And I have them in storage and it catches on fire or a tornado hits it.
Yeah. Or I'm hauling it home from the co-op where I bought it and I have an accident. So that's
some urgency planning. Right on. So anyhow, we have that topic going on. It seems like that already
there's a couple of topics there, the cover gray areas. Areas that we may not always know,
you know, the answer the A to B of? Well, planning for emergencies, right?
The emergencies are usually unplanned. It usually goes that way. Yeah, but you know, if you look
with your local fire departments and so forth, they go not just an agriculture in industry as well,
you know, that might have solvents or things that they're, they go to those places and learn
what risks they might have in advance. So much that is important to when, I don't know, it feels like
every minute of a farmer's day counts. It goes for something and being able to make sure that your
time is not not only used valueably, but smartly. An accident happens that's going to take up time
of your day, being able to solve that as quick as possible is very important. And the audience at
this event, because larger producers are certainly busy, they actually often rely on consultants that
help them manage their compliance and help them design their manure storage or their just their
general farmstead. So a client telling this is large CAFO producers, it's also people that are
thinking they might be a CAFO, but it's also consultants that advise farmers on how to
develop better plans. With some of these things that are going to be discussed, are they things that
have changed over the years that maybe far, maybe people that have knew this information or new
things years ago, the way they did it might have changed by now or changed over the time. Well,
CAFO, boy, I think that term has been around 20 years, I think, but certainly the standards
continue to change, and usually it becomes more refined. It's not like we're relaxing,
right? It's usually increasing of standards. So yeah, there's always updates, or we found
these things that need to be changed. We've got about five or six minutes left, Matt,
is there anything else you want to touch on? The next day on January 31st,
the Thorpe area, we're having a soil health meeting, and I'm speaking about potassium
in forages, and I'm a livestock person, so why am I talking about soils? Well, there's some
metabolic cattle need a lot of potassium, and potassium affects their balance of calcium. When
they have a milking cow has tremendous draws of calcium, the better the cow is the more she
demands, and if you don't have enough calcium in your bloodstream, you lose control of your muscles,
all of a sudden can't stand, or if it gets worse, you become recumbent, and you get sleepy,
and if we don't treat that cow, she dies. So we found that potassium is a good way to manage
blood calcium, and potassium is needed to grow crops, but you want low potassium to survive that
cow, but there's some other feed interventions you can do because to grow a bunch of acres without
potassium means you're reducing yield, and once they get milking they need lots of potassium.
So we'll talk about that dynamic in that discussion. Is that something that you, I know you mentioned
you have a different type of pharma, is that something that you yourself have dealt with,
or just do you understand the topic? So maybe I didn't even say that, when the cow gets sick
like that at calving, it's called milk fever, and it's a misnomer because the cow with that has
no milk, and she has cold ears, so she has no fever. So it's a very timeless in the 1800s already,
the University of Wisconsin was addressing, because it's usually your best cow, that gets milk
fever, and they didn't know what to do with it, and they used to like say, well we got to drive
that calcium, that milk back into the cow, and so they'd inflate, they'd attach something to the
teeth, and they'd try to inflate the udder and think if they were, they would be forcing the
calcium back in the cow. Oh, it didn't work. Then we tried low calcium diets, and it didn't work
well enough, and then we tried, this manipulating potassium, which we can do pretty effectively,
so even though cows are milking more, we're having fewer problems with milk fever than we once did.
So that's a positive story. Yeah, and very much looking forward to that, that's going to be a
great presentation, that's going to be good. And when is the date and time of that again?
Yeah, that's midday, so like 10 o'clock, it's in the thorp, and it's January 31st.
Excellent, excellent. Any other ones you wanted to touch on? No, I know you're good, you're good,
okay. So with the last couple of minutes we have here, I want to ask you a question that
takes 20 minutes to describe now. Sure you do. I always do, I always do this to you, bad, but
I make it last 20 minutes, that's the problem. I appreciate that of you, I like that.
We understand that this is going to be, and we're hearing it from meteorologists,
this winter is going to be a little bit warmer than most, have a little less snow than most.
Are we going to see a major effect come spring from that in the ag industry, in the ag world?
So you're going to tell me for sure what kind of winter we're having going ahead.
Yeah, right, yeah, I'm acting like I know exactly how it's going to happen.
It's been very mild until 10 days ago, right? We had a very mild, and of course the second and
third week of January are usually our coldest, so we were at least at average to a little colder
than average, so we did get our cold. We in Central Wisconsin have escaped some of that snowfall,
you know, you usually think the further north you go, the more snow, or the closer to Lake Superior
or Michigan Lake effect or whatever. But the Madison area in South Eastern Wisconsin has had
quite a bit of snow, and there's quite a few stories of farmers having their roofs collapse,
because if you heavy snow or if you get snow and then what rain on top of that makes that snow
so much more heavy, and that's a horrible thing to happen to a farmer in the middle of winter.
Usually they don't lose many cows, but what do you do with the cows after the roof is collapsed
and it's winter? So we've already got true winter effects going on. We already got that.
I am not so sure. You're talking about relation to El Nino,
southern oscillation and all that, and it's predicted that we're not going to have a lot of
snowfall. You know, we were dry last year, so we certainly do still need some recharge.
I guess we'll have to see. The other thing is our perennial crops, so corn and soybeans aren't
perennial, but our L-felf on our clover and so forth, will benefit from nice snow cover,
and they need a little more moisture in the ground. So we'll have to see what happens.
We just got to let it play out. We got to wait and see. Matt, we always appreciate the time from
you. People have followed questions. They want to know more about some of the things we've
discussed. How can they get in touch with you? Yeah, so we're in the courthouse, and you can walk
in there. We're on the ground floor. University of Wisconsin, Madison Division of Extension,
or you can call us, and our numbers are on our website, so that would be the best place to look.
You can visit them at that UW-Madison Extension office at 400 Market Street in Wisconsin
Rabbits, or get them a call at 715-421-840-421-8440. Thanks again for the time, Matt.
Thank you. Well, a more midday magazine for you tomorrow, right here on 97-5 FM-1328-AMWFHR. We
are locally grown radio.
