Dairy farmers hold fast in extreme weather

Even as the region enters comfortable spring temperatures, Calvin Yoder is still worried about frost.

It's not that Yoder, who handles the livestock at Echo Dell Organic Farm in Kalona, thinks the frost is going to come back any time soon or that it would directly affect the cows on the dairy farm. He worried about what might have already been done by the frost.

'The thing we're most concerned about would be the ice over the hayfields,” Yoder said, explaining that his concern is that the cold of January and February may have already killed plants.

It won't be until mid-April, when the crop starts to grow, that Yoder will know whether or not he'll be able to have a viable harvest. If not, he'll have to 'reseed” the land, which is where he'll take the biggest hit.

By his estimate, it would cost $100 per acres to reseed which could put them a few weeks behind.

'We have probably 100 acres of hay,” Yoder said. In a regular year he's able to get 'four cuttings,” meaning once a month, May through August, he's able to harvest hay.

'We're already having to buy feed because we didn't get enough last year,” Yoder said. Meaning that if his hayfields don't start growing he could be in for another shortage like last year.

The cows as a collective weren't extensivly hurt by the cold. Yoder estimates he only lost two calves born in the cold and only had to sell a few of his cows for meat after they were frostbitten, but not enough to move his bottom line.

At Hilltop Dairy Inc. in Mt. Pleasant, Madison Roth reported she and her fellow farmers were more bothered by the cold than the cows.

'Being a dairy farm, we have lots of facilities we can close up with doors or curtains,” she said. 'The cows were very comfortable inside the whole time.”

Over at Hilltop, no calves were lost, as those that were born were kept in the milk barn with the heater on during the polar vortex.

While there have been flood warnings across Iowa over the past few weeks, both Hilltop Dairy and Echo Dell Organic Farm have been steadfast. Roth said she hasn't had any flooding and Yoder has only seen a little bit on the edge of his fields, nothing that would bother the cows.

'To me the real disaster are the people who've got beef cattle out in Nebraska dealing with flooding,” Yoder said. 'I've heard some of those guys have lost 40 percent of their calves.”

Roth said the farmers she knows living along the Mississippi River and the Dubuque River have emergency evacuation plans in place for flooding. These plans would allow those farmers to bring their cows to other facilities to be milked temporarily. Though the biggest issues would come from trying to keep the feed dry.

'Feed's the most expensive thing on a farm for any farmer,” Roth said. 'It's our highest priority; we make sure to keep it fresh and keep it dry. We're thankful we're not on the western side of the state right now.”