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The real recyclersFor the third consecutive year, the Oesch family has outdone themselves with a community celebration at their dairy farm near Alto, Mich. They are a traditional farm family with Grandpa Joe and Grandma Melve, their three sons with the third generation of sons, daughters and son-in-laws all starting to come into the ranks of working at the dairy. Granddaughter Annie Link has spearheaded a Dairy Discovery program with one mission: Educate neighbors about what they do everyday on the dairy. This year, by simply inviting all neighbors with local ads and word of mouth, they had over 600 visitors who came to the farm for a tour, a meal, some information and, most importantly, face-to-face contact with the owners of the dairy. I personally took on a different approach in explaining what we do in animal agriculture. I explained that cows, in this case dairy cows, consume three basic nutrients: protein, energy and fiber. We feed those building blocks of nutrition to the cow and she gives us milk every day. I then held up a carton of whole milk and, reading the label, I shared that the cow has turned items, we as humans cannot really consume, into milk which in one serving we get 12 percent of our daily requirement of energy, 17 percent of the protein and 2 percent of the fiber. The cow is a super recycler that converting converts products otherwise useless for humans into one that meets our daily needs. And then we come to what is left behind: Mt. Manure. Swiss Lane Dairy Farm, in existence at this location since 1915, continues to apply cutting-edge technology in all aspects of their operation. Today, they bed their cows with sand. Sand keeps the cows cleaner and typically works extremely well with one hang-up-it gets in the manure supply. The Oesches at Swiss Lane Farm are collecting all the manure in one location, separating the solids from the liquid and then separating the sand from the liquid. They actually wash the sand and return it to the barn to start the process over. The mountain of dry manure that is separated is re-applied to the crop fields to supply the building blocks of nutrition for their plants. The water is used to irrigate these fields. Once again, today's modern livestock facilities are recycling all of the nutrients and putting them to good use. My assessment on how to best present the day-to-day activities on the farm to members of the community, after working with Annie for the past two years, is not some complex formula. Invite folks in; tell them that the milk goes from cow to cold in less than five minutes to prevent bacterial growth in order to ensure a safe, wholesome food product for their family. Yes, I believe you need to present enough of the facts to build credibility with that consumer. Honestly, they won't remember the details of what you shared with them, but you will have the opportunity to impress on them that you know what you are doing and then they will trust that you are doing the right thing. It doesn't require any in-depth media training or even public speaking skills. Simply tell them what you do every day. At Swiss Lane Dairy's gatherings, the person who quite possibly makes the biggest positive impression on the largest number of attendees at this event and events all throughout the year is Grandpa Joe. Joe has an ice cream wagon and he regularly attends local celebrations, receptions and graduation parties and puts smiles on a ton of people's faces about dairy. He is doing an incredible amount of education simply by putting a face on the local dairy, without even promoting the benefit of this great connection. In fact, on the night they had over 600 people visit the dairy, Joe served 35 gallons of vanilla and a dozen gallons of chocolate ice cream out of his wagon. Whether you are explaining the basics of nutrition, the way cows recycle ingredients or how some of the finer things in life, like ice cream, can build neighbor relations, it is all accomplished by simply saying, "Here we are and this is what we do on our farm. Come see for yourself." Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com. 10/6/08 Date: 10/2/08 Advertisement
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