|
Jackson, Mo. Area Chamber Hosts 37th Annual Agri-Business Tour
 The 37th Annual Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce Agri-Business Tour,
which is one of the longest running agricultural tours in the state of Missouri,
were provided a delicious meal at The Barrens Winery in Perryville for the
125 individuals on the tour. Shown from left to right are Julie Huber; Darrell Aufdenberg;
Jeff Slinkard; Erin Larimore and Roger Eakins.
Photo by Jack Thompson
PERRYVILLE, MO.
July 20, 2016 marked the 37th Annual Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce Agri-Business Tour. This is one of the longest running agricultural tours in the state of Missouri. This year’s tour posted four stops at local farming operations in southeast MO.
Aufdenberg Polled Herefords, Darrell Aufdenberg was the first stop. He has a registered Hereford cattle operation north of Jackson. Darrell runs around 20 head of cows, breeds his cows by artificial insemination, and sells bulls and females at a local Hereford breeder’s sale, the American Royal, and by private treaty. Last year, with the help of NRCS and the EQUIP program, Darrell installed a cattle grazing system. This included fencing and cross fencing to divide his acreage into 8 paddocks, a centralized water system, and forage management. James Hunt, District Conservationist, discussed the grazing system, funding available, application process, and implementation process if an individual is chosen. Darrell said he can tell a major difference in the forage production on his acreage and thinks he will be able to increase his carrying capacity.
Second Stop: Schoen Farms is a dairy cattle operation that was established in 1857 by Ernst Schoen. The present farm is a family corporation consisting of John and Teri Schoen, their children Matt, Corvin, and Melinda, David and Cathy Hemmann and their son Kyle. The operation employs several other individuals due the intense labor required of a dairy operation. Their tour included stops at 6 buildings: the main free stall barn housing 220 cows, the milk barn, a barn for cows to rest before they calve, a transition barn for animals to be housed after calving as they transition to milking, the calf barn, and commodity feed storage shed. Schoen dairy has been milking continuously for 48 years – 2 times per day. They milk 16 cows at a time and the average production is 8.5 gallons of milk per day. Schoen Dairy contracts their milk with Prairie Farms and their main priority is producing high quality milk. They have implemented new technologies over the years to keep this family farm profitable. Ice cream bars were provided courtesy of Schoen Dairy and Prairie Farms.
Steinbecker Livestock, located in the Perryville, Missouri area was the third stop on the tour. Steinbecker Livestock is a cattle background and finishing operation. We toured their feed storage sheds and their nutrition consultant described some of the products they use in the cattle diets and how they change the diet depending on the size and age of cattle they are feeding. Steinbecker Livestock receives cattle from across the U.S. and also ship cattle to be fed in Illinois, Kansas, and Nebraska. Dave Steinbecker took the group through the cattle working barn which was equipped with a Silencer chute where the cattle are worked. The group viewed one of their feeding barns which was complete with feed bunks and manure storage area that was built to hold 400 head of finished cattle.
The Barrens Winery in Perryville provided a delicious meal for the 125 individuals on the tour!
Fourth Stop: McClure Farms is a registered Angus cow/calf operation located in Perry County. They recently utilized one of the NRCS programs to erect a feeding barn. Their barn was constructed to hold 40 head of cow/calf pairs. The cattle are free to come and go into the feeding barn as they please, but said they spend the majority of their days inside the barn. NRCS has provided funding opportunities for buildings such as these to control the collection and distribution of manure. A manure storage area was located at the back of the barn. They bed with chopped straw bales and a new bale is added about every 5 days. They scrape the barn and push up the manure to the storage area every 15-20 days. The barn houses a bale ring feeder where they provide free-choice hay and also has head stations where they provide a total mixed ration. The feeding barn improved the reproductive success of their herd, increased the weaning weight of their calves, decreased hay cost due to no waste, and lowered their commercial fertilizer cost. McClure Farms also allowed the group to tour their working facilities.
Many thanks to our hosts for the opportunity to view their farms and learn about their operations! Participants were able to tour at no charge. This was made possible by the many supporters of the Jackson Chamber Ag Tour, Thank You! ∆
|
|