Nic Schoenberger (right) and Mike Schuler talked about aspects of their farm during a recent media day. Below, a cow tended to its calf born only about 20 minutes before this photo was taken.

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“Cows are milked three times a day and cow comfort is our top priority. Eighty percent of the cows spend their days resting in sand freestalls while the other 20 percent use rubber filled mattresses bedded with wood shavings. All the cows are bred AI and no bulls are used for the safety of our employees. All the heifer calves are raised in inside hutches and are fed powdered milk along with grain and hay until they are six months when they leave for The Heifer Authority in Colorado. They return just

prior to freshening, at about 16 months. The cows are fed a diet of corn silage, haylage, corn, cottonseed, corn gluten, wet brewer’s grain and protein mix, which is formulated by a professional nutritionist. Cows’ average daily production is 90 pounds.

Breakfast on the Farm is sponsored by the Manitowoc County Dairy Promotion Committee, The Manitowoc County Farm Bureau and The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

Stephen Groessel photos