A day in the life of the Von Rudens

WESTBY, Wis. — On a crisp fall morning, Brett Von Ruden walked across the driveway at his home and turns the lights on in the barn to prepare for morning milking. He is the fourth generation to flip that switch in the Von Ruden barn as he raises the fifth generation with his wife, Nicole.

The schedule for Oct. 23 included morning and evening milking, which sandwiched corn combining and a fundraiser event at his children’s school.

Von Ruden milks between 40 and 50 cows, primarily Holsteins. With corn measuring at 27% moisture and a bright and sunny forecast, it made for a picturesque day to fire up the combine.

“It was measuring at 33% on Monday, so I’m glad it’s gotten to where it is,” Von Ruden said. “We like to harvest between 25% and 30% so this is just about perfect for when we want to take care of it.”

Following morning milking, Von Ruden cleaned the barn. He turned on the barn cleaner, pushing manure from the gutters to a pit on the south end of the barn. While that ran, he pitched out a calf pen that housed his four calves still on milk, two on bottle and two fed via pail.

“Normally that’s our fresh pen, but we’re doing some work in the calf barn,” Von Ruden said. “This works for now, but we’ll get them moved back to their barn when we get that finished up.”

After laying fresh corn stalks in the calf pen, Von Ruden set out to make sure the chores that would precede evening milking were completed ahead of time.

“With combining today, I want to have this taken care of so we can combine all the way up until evening milking,” Von Ruden said.

Excess feed was removed from the alleys into wheelbarrows and eventually fed to the farm’s heifers. After dropping off a skid loader bucket at the heifer pen, Von Ruden scooped up some corn silage from the feed area and brought it back to the stationary total mixed ration mixer that is stationed in an adjacent room to the milking barn. Von Ruden feeds a mixture of haylage, corn silage and a mineral mix.

Traditionally, Von Ruden’s grandfather would come to the farm to help with these types of tasks, especially during harvest time. But a health scare has his grandpa taking some time away from the farm as he focuses on recovery.

“Grandpa always wants to help us,” Von Ruden said. “He likes the exercise he gets when he comes down here to feed the cows, but with his health scare, we want to make sure he’s feeling alright before he gets back into the barn if that’s what he wants to do.”

With morning chores finished, and a head start on the evening’s tasks, Von Ruden started up the equipment to get ready for a day of harvest. Fuel is first. He filled tanks for the tractor to run the blower and the tractor to haul the grain cart and makes the annual trip to the fuel barrel for the combine.

He then ensures the blower is in good operating condition, locating all the grease zerks to have it running in tip-top shape. The last step in preparation is climbing the silo to open a door on the roof to guarantee a smooth loading process.

The Von Rudens store their high-moisture corn in the shortest of their three silos, a stave silo measuring 40 feet tall and 20 feet in diameter.

For harvest, Von Ruden teams with his father, Darin. Darin takes his place in the cab of the combine and heads out. As the hopper fills up in the combine, Von Ruden brings out the grain cart. Darin unloads the combine for his son to take to the silo.

“We’re hoping to get 10 acres done today,” Von Ruden said. “It’ll depend on what it’s yielding, but I like what it’s been at so far.”

The Von Rudens took a quick break for lunch before continuing their fall harvest. At 2:00 p.m., Von Ruden parked the grain cart in the field for his dad as he has family obligations to attend in the afternoon.

Von Ruden heads to Cashton, where his daughter attends elementary school, to support the Parent Teacher Organization’s fundraising efforts for a fun run.

“It’s a unique experience for the kids,” Von Ruden said. “They introduce each class, take a photo and make it a big deal. My daughter enjoyed it, and it was nice to be there to support her and her school.”

Following the fun run event, Von Ruden returns to the farm to haul a few more loads of corn before evening milking. He begins the night milking routine by putting lime down on the center walkway before bringing the herd in from pasture.

As the cows fill the barn, he feeds a TMR mix that he has prepared using his taper board conveyor feeder to the bunk outside. With milking winding down, so does Darin in the combine. The Von Rudens finished with 13 loads of high-moisture corn, filling what was needed for their herd in the silo.

“We had a good day,” Von Ruden said. “The corn yielded well and we have what we need to feed for the year. I really appreciate having my dad around to run the combine during days like today. I can have that break to go be a dad and support my children and know that things are still being taken care of at the farm.”