Milk a staple at historic race

BUFFALO, Minn. — Fast cars, bottles of milk and spreading information about the dairy checkoff were all on the schedule for dairy farmer and United Dairy Industry Association chair, Charles Krause, during the 110th Indianapolis 500.

The historic race occurred May 24 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, but the entire weekend was filled with festivities and meetings educating dairy farmers about the dairy checkoff, Krause said.

“I was just blown away by … how front and center milk was all weekend,” Krause said. “It’s all over the place, ‘Winners Drink Milk.’ ADA Indiana has really done a fantastic job of making that what it is.”

Since 1936, winners have quenched their thirst with a bottle of their choice of milk after the race.

“Milk is requested, it became a tradition, and it’s just part of what the race is,” Krause said. “It’s kind of like (how) we look at our Minnesota State Fair and how much amplification we get through the Princess Kay program without paying for any of it, and it’s the same there.”

Krause farms with his wife, Robyn, and his son and daughter-in-law, Andrew and Maggie, at Krause Holsteins. They milk about 400 cows in a double-10 parallel parlor.

Through Dairy Management Inc. and ADA Indiana, Krause and his wife and 10 other dairy farmers from across the U.S. were invited to attend the Indy 500 and share innovations the checkoff is working on. Krause said the other dairy farmers are not currently serving on a local or national board, but are larger contributors to the checkoff.

“(We were able) to give them an idea of some of the innovation and some of the great things that we’re doing,” Krause said. “It was really eye opening to make those connections and hopefully (in the future), if they had ideas or how they think things should be implemented (the dairy farmers can share that with us).”

Krause, Kris Wardin, who is the UDIA vice chair, and various staff members were available to answer questions during the weekend.

“We had organic conversations that … led in the direction that the farmers wanted to go,” Krause said.

As the group of dairy farmers arrived on Friday evening, they had the opportunity to have dinner with the winner of the 2013 Indy 500, Tony Kanaan.

On Saturday, during the festivities, the dairy farmers also watched the parade. ADA Indiana had a dairy float.

During the dairy checkoff conversations, several spoke about innovations the dairy checkoff is working on. Paul Ziemnisky, leader for business development, innovation, nutrition and product science, technology, and dairy growth platforms at DMI, spoke about the milk molecule project, where they have identified 1,500 micronutrients in milk. Heather Oldani, executive vice president at DMI, spoke about a new Parm bar, which is a protein bar made entirely from Parmesan cheese. The group also talked about the increase in demand for protein yogurts and drinks, and more.

On race day, Krause said his group was able to go onto the track before the event to see the cars up close.

“They’re really actually not that big,” Krause said. “Most of the (drivers) are small guys because there’s not a lot of room in those cars. … It’s to their advantage not to be big because they’re just crammed into this thing. … (Also) I suppose every pound makes you go …  slower.”

Each racecar weighs about 1,400 pounds and all of the cars are manufactured at the same factory, Krause said. Each car has either a Honda or a Chevrolet engine.

“It all comes down to strategy, driving and who’s making the right moves at the right time,” Krause said.

Right before the race, as the notes of the national anthem radiated in their ears, Krause said there were military jets flying over the stadium.

“I’d seen the race as a kid, but I’m always usually chopping hay or milking or something, so I’ve never really watched since I was a young boy, and it was all about America,” Krause said.

Once the cars started and were making their first round, going about 80 miles per hour following the pace car, a set of military helicopters flew over the race track, he said.

“These big helicopters (were) flying right at eye level,” Krause said. “(They were about) 50 feet off the ground over the cars. … That was right over our head, so it’s just really cool.”

As the cars were going around the track, Krause said they were maintaining about 200 miles per hour, which made a close call determining the winner of the race. According to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Felix Rosenqvist won the 200-lap race ahead of David Malukas by only 0.0233 of a second.

Rosenqvist, his family, his crew and the two dairy farmers handing off the milk were all on stage in the victory circle, Krause said.

“It’s more of a deal to get the milk than to actually get the trophy,” he said. “The whole crew, everyone that’s in the pit crew gets milk, it’s not just the winner that gets it. There’s a lot of milk and a lot of milk getting sprayed around.”

Aside from attending the race and educating dairy farmers about the checkoff, Krause said he had some takeaways from the weekend as well.

“It was nice for me to see how state and regions work with the national checkoff together to get a message across, build reputation and build trust,” Krause said. “It shows just how good local checkoffs can be, and then how big it can be on a local stage.”

Being able to hear concerns from farmers across the country was also beneficial, Krause said.

“I want to hear a farmer’s input if they have ideas or if they want to know what’s being done with their checkoff dollars,” he said. “It’s their right to know, and we want to make the information available to them.”