Grazing creates competitive edge

KELLOGG, Minn. — Duane Hager and his son, Wesley, have always wanted to farm. Now, Duane is working on his next dream: passing on the farm and helping Wesley take his dream forward.

“My early goals in life were to farm and make that a business,” Duane said. “That has worked out for me, but then I’ve got this final goal of having somebody else take it over. … That’s probably harder than actually getting established myself.”

The Hagers milk 49 cows in a 40-stall tiestall barn near Kellogg. During the summer, their milk herd gets most of its forage grazing 25 acres of pasture. The ration is supplemented with hay, grain and balage to maintain milk production. The Hagers also raise 85 acres of corn, 110 acres of grass and alfalfa, and about 12 acres of small grains for grain or forage.

For Duane, a grazing system is more than just a way of feeding his cows; it is a way to stay economically viable. He said with a smaller operation, he does not have the same efficiency of scale that a larger herd can afford, so he uses lower-input systems.

“That’s why we graze,” Duane said. “It’s a way of being competitive still. You don’t have the expense.”

Wesley has been farming alongside his dad his whole life. He said he has always wanted to farm, except for the time he wanted to be Santa Claus as a young child. One of the big reasons Wesley wants to farm is the product he makes.

“(I like) drinking milk,” he said.

Now, three years after graduating from high school, Wesley is the next generation for the Hager dairy farm. Duane said he wants their current roles to reverse, although they have not reached this point yet.

“I don’t want to be in partnership with Wesley,” Duane said. “I want him to take over. … I’d rather back out of the situation. I want him to be the boss.”

Duane wants the flexibility of being able to do things off the farm if he wants to while still staying connected to the dairy.

“I want to work with the farm and try to keep improvements going,” Duane said. “(I want to) do more stuff that I want to do, rather than stuff I have to do.”

Duane said he recognizes that there will be challenges for Wesley in farming.

“Things have changed over the years,” he said. “Feasibility of stuff isn’t what it used to be.”

One tool the Hagers may employ is going organic. Their farm is already following many of the organic principles, such as grazing their cattle, and they have never used any herbicides on their fields or pastures. Hager said the most difficult thing about going organic for their operation would be calf health.

“It’s a big advantage of getting started, the fact that we’re running close now,” Duane said. “There’s the mindset of people, they want to go organic and think it’s just a windfall and they get into it and they find out it (isn’t). … You have to really pay attention to what you do.”

Wesley said he is unsure whether he will transition the farm and that the decision will be dependent on the financial needs of the dairy. Right now, he does not have any specific changes he wants to make on the farm.

(My dad) is a pretty smart guy … probably got most things fairly dialed (in),” Wesley said.

The Hagers milk twice a day, starting around 6-7 a.m. The cows’ ration is supplemented with a corn and soybean mix in the barn, which the Hagers grind themselves, as well as dry hay. Outside, free-choice baleage is available. In the winter, the cows also receive corn silage.

Duane and Wesley do all the work themselves without the assistance of employees.

In the barn, the colors of their partially cross-bred herd are mixed. Their herd includes Holstein, Jersey and Montbeliarde bloodlines as well as remnants of Swedish Red that they have used in the past. They also have bred some of their dairy cattle to beef bulls to develop a beef herd.

“We just have to have a little fun with the crosses,” Duane said.

They use Select Sires Inc. for their matings and bull recommendations.

“We just go with what they’re finding is working,” Duane said. “It seems like the crosses fit pretty well into the grazing system.”

Duane started dairy farming on his own with 10 heifers in 1985. Before that, he had worked for about five years in a welding shop while helping his dad milk.

“I always longed to go to farm full time,” Duane said.

The farm Duane owns was the farm his father had grown up on, however, the dairy had passed out of their family for a while. When Duane first started, he rented for several years before buying the farm in the late ‘80s.

In the early 1990s, Duane added onto the barn and gutted the original portion of the barn. He remembers locking in 12% interest for the project. He also bought his dad’s herd of cows since he was retiring.

Duane said he had a good, respect-filled, working relationship with his dad. Now, he works to have a similar one with Wesley.

“I don’t know what his goals are going to be,” he said. “He doesn’t have to follow everything I did. … Maybe he wants to go to 500 cows and I respect that, but I’m not going to do it. It’s something that he would have to figure out.”

For now, Duane’s next goal will be to make Wesley his boss.

“I’ll feel I’m really successful if I can get it turned over to somebody else,” he said.