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Farm Horizons • Feb . 6 , 2017 • Page 13
Mayer dairyman wins 2016 World Forage Analysis Superbowl
By Jennifer Von Ohlen Whenever they were able to attend , Tom Luebke and his wife , Jody , of Edgewater Meadows Dairy in Mayer always took time to admire entries at the annual World Dairy Expo in Madison , WI – though they never submitted anything themselves .
All that changed the winter of 2015 , when Luebke brought a ration of his alfalfa ( interseeded with Italian ryegrass ) into Munson Lakes Nutrition in Howard Lake for testing .
After analyzing the results – with a relative forage quality ( RFQ ) value of 289.86 – dairy and livestock sales nutritionist Mike Foust of Munson Lakes made the comment , “ This is really good stuff – you may want to consider entering it .”
Taking Foust ’ s advice , Luebke entered a 25-pound sample of a late-fall 2015 fifth-cutting into the World Forage Analysis Superbowl competition .
There , the sample was retested and received a RFQ value of 216 , and a value of 4,086 of pounds of milk per ton of feed , with a 30-hour neutral detergent fiber digestibility of 77 percent .
Initially , Luebke simply found it thrilling to enter an event he respected and enjoyed , but a new thrill awaited him as he learned his entry made finals .
By the end of the event , Luebke was declared Grand Champion Forage Producer , and was awarded $ 2,500 .
Luebke ’ s was one of 373 samples from 24 states and provinces entered into the competition . This was the second consecutive year a Minnesota sample won grand champion .
Edgewater Meadows Dairy While receiving the grand champion prize was a
surprise , Luebke said he has always tried to produce quality forages , since “ It ’ s very important to our success ,” at Edgewater Meadows Dairy .
Luebke ’ s days at the farm started after he graduated from Hutchinson Area Vocational-Technical Institute dairy program in 1977 . Later on , Luebke decided to partner with his father , and eventually bought the family farm in 1985 .
The dairy farm currently has 90 milking cows , which are housed in a bedded pack and are milked in a double four step-up parlor . Including young stock , there is a total of 180 livestock on the farm .
While caring for his milk cows , Luebke feeds each of them high-moisture corn and corn silage with an additional 10 to 15 pounds of hay per head per day .
“ To be profitable , a dairyman must put up ideal , high-performance forages to lower out-of-pocket costs ,” Foust stated . •
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Mayer Lumber Co . IN BUSINESS SINCE 1938
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