Thesings have served dairy industry off the farm
By Heather Thorstensen
hthorstensen@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 03/04/2010 9:20 AM
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WINONA, Minn. — January Good Farm Neighbor Award winners Doug and Cindy Thesing began farming with Cindy's parents in 1986.
They took full ownership about 10 years later. Today, Ridgeview Dairy's 150-head herd of Holsteins and Jerseys are housed by breed.
Holsteins are in a free-stall barn that was built in 1995. Jerseys reside in an older free-stall facility that Doug and Cindy expanded in 2004, about the same time they brought the Jersey breed onto the farm. Previously, Ridgeview milked only Holsteins.
Both barns have sand bedding. After each milking, the sand is raked and alleys are scraped.
The Thesings raise their own replacements. Dry cows and springing heifers are on a compost pack. Young stock and dry cows spend time on pasture in warm months.
Doug and Cindy bumped up their milking schedule to three times per day in the last year. They have a double-eight parallel parlor, which replaced the farm's tie-stall barn in 2000. More milkings have worked well for their cows as well as their employees, who wanted more hours, said Doug.
"A lot of what we have become is due to our employees," he said.
Aaron, their youngest son, likes agronomy and is helping with crop decisions. They'll try no-till corn this year on alfalfa ground thanks to his suggestion. Doug doesn't mind trying something new.
"You're not going to succeed if you don't change," he said.
The interests of their older son, Brandon, is in cattle, Doug and Cindy said. He has done some embryo transfer work and he and Aaron both own animals in the herd.
World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis., was a highlight of 2009 for the family. It was the first time Brandon and Aaron both showed Ridgeview cattle there and they all got to go.
"You're with the best of the best," said Cindy.
Aaron's fall yearling Jersey placed second in her class, so he was in the junior champion group of the junior show. Brandon competed on the University of Minnesota's dairy cattle judging team at the National Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest at expo. The team took third place overall, and Brandon placed sixth individually in the reasons category.
Doug and Cindy have also taken time off the farm to serve on school and church committees as well as dairy-related groups. Both have served on the board of the Winona County American Dairy Association and Cindy has been the dairy princess coordinator for Winona County.
Doug is a former board member and past president of the Winona County Dairy Herd Improvement Association and he was on the board of Wilson Farm Service. They also participated in young producer programs for Accelerated Genetics and Wisconsin Dairies.
"Those young producer programs are essential," said Cindy.
Doug is currently on the board of directors for Accelerated Genetics. He has used business skills gained from that experience on the farm.
He said it's important to get involved in producer groups to meet peers and realize everyone is in the same boat when it comes to facing farm challenges.
"These things are very important," he said.
The monthly Good Farm Neighbor Award is presented by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.