By Jolene Farley
The "new" Wieneke Dairy, north of Adrian, officially began operation on Sept. 27 of last year after months of planning and construction.
The building may be new but brothers Chad and Kevin Wieneke, are the third generation of Wienekes to milk cows, despite a nine-year break when Wieneke Farms got out of the business in the early '90s.
The Wienekes began to consider re-entering the dairy business in 1998. Many steps later the dairy became a reality. The largest hurdle was obtaining a state permit and meeting environmental standards, according to Chad.
"It was two years from the day we started the process to the day we started building," said Chad.
"Grandpa milked cows and my dad milked for 20 years," Chad said when asked why they wanted to get back into dairy. "It was something we both wanted to do."
Both Wienekes graduated from Willmar Tech with a degree in dairy science.
Chad and Kevin formed a corporation with their dad, Dale Wieneke, and uncles John and Joe, to finance the dairy operation.
The equipment installed in the dairy added the most to the cost of the project. "It's priced to run 20 hours per day, not just one hour in the morning and one hour at night," said Chad.
Wieneke Dairy started during an all-time low in milk prices - $11 per hundred pounds. Current prices are $15 per hundred.
Three different herds were combined to come up with the 250 cows needed to fill the dairy. Chad and Kevin started with 180 cows and added the rest before Thanksgiving.
The major difference between milking now and milking in his grandfather and dad's day, according to Kevin, is "you save your back."
The cows are elevated so milkers stand up and do not bend over to connect and disconnect the cows.
"The cows come to us whereas in the Ôtie stall barnÕ you brought the equipment to the cows," said Chad.
With the "double 10 parlor" they built, the Wienekes can milk 20 cows at a time. Currently a 5,000-gallon milk cooler is emptied every other day.
Chad and Kevin came up with what they consider an equitable division of labor.
Chad handles the feed and helps with milking. Kevin keeps all the reproduction records and helps with milking.
"My body is just like a built-in alarm clock," Chad said. "I wake up at 4:30 a.m. and start milking at 5. I am done at 6:45 at night. I watch TV, eat supper and am usually asleep by 9:30."
The dairy currently employs one full-time person and three part-time people other than the brothers. Milking begins at 5 a.m. every morning and is repeated at 4 p.m. every afternoon.
In the future, Chad and Kevin hope to specialize in milking and move away from raising calves and heifers.
On the Wienekes' wish list is an Individual Cow ID System, which records each cow's day-to-day milk production.
"It's just a better management tool," Kevin said. With an ID system, any changes are detected quickly before a cow has "totally crashed" in milk production, according to the brothers.
Mastitis, which is an inflammation of the udder, is "the biggest battle that dairymen fight," according to Chad. It is the No. 1 cause of reduced milk production.
Despite all the battles, both brothers say the new dairy is a dream come true. "It's a good life. Milking cows is a way of life," said Chad. "It's not a job or anything else; itÕs a way of life."