Ag Over Easy Podcast

Janice Person:
Welcome to "Ag Over Easy," the podcast from Channel where you get breakfast with a side of agronomic insight. I'm your host, Janice Person, and today we're covering cinnamon rolls and rolling herd averages. We're gonna talk all things dairy with my friend Mary Mackinson-Faber, a fifth-generation dairy farmer. Mary works at Mackinson Dairy Farm, her family's operation in Central Illinois. Her father, brother and uncle run the operations while she's the voice of the business and an extra hand wherever it's needed. From telling their story online to representing them at events, if it's public-facing, Mary is probably there. She's a perfect guest to help us unravel the dairy industry and find those gooey insights at the center. So grab yourself a glass of milk, and let's get rolling. All right, so Mary, is there anything better with a nice cinnamon roll than a nice, cold glass of milk?

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
No, there is not.

Janice Person:
Do you have yours with you? I've got mine.

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
I do, I am enjoying some ice-cold Prairie Farms milk to go with my local bakery's cinnamon roll. So, I'm really excited to have breakfast with you today.

Janice Person:
Me too, I'm excited about it. So tell me about the dairy. Tell me a little bit about Mackinson Farms.

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
Yeah, Mackinson Dairy Farm is in Pontiac, Illinois. And we have plenty of dairy cows, red and white, black and white. In addition, we grow corn and soybeans for our cows, and we also do market the excess throughout our community. So, we are plenty busy, but we love every day.

Janice Person:
Yeah, and it's gotta be kinda cool working alongside family.

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
It is. It is so exciting that you get to spend time with your family. There are times when you have to remember that you're co-workers and at the end of the day they are still your brother, your uncle and your dad. So, it's exciting but I'd be lying to say if it wasn't incredibly hard work but it's worth it.

Janice Person:
So, knowing that your job on the farm is not to be one of the milkers, not to be a tractor driver. What is your job like on a day-to-day basis?

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
My job is, you know, when the guys are super busy when we're harvesting, when they're planting, when they're trying to bail, in their super busy times is to be that person that can step in and feed calves or run them from field to field, run them a box of corn or soybeans when they're planting, and maybe just run to town and get a part 'Cause unfortunately breakdowns do happen. But my favorite job is just stepping in and feeding calves. I was actually, I was over at the dairy last night. They were could use a hand, so I got to feed the calves with my kids. And so that's, on the physical aspect, I do that. And they also represent the dairy online on our digital platforms. We have virtually opened our barn doors and shared a glimpse of our farm online for a couple years now. And that is to me, a great way for people to get a snippet of farm life when their schedule allows and when they're at their home.

Janice Person:
Perfect, perfect. So, you said you were at the dairy yesterday helping with feeding. How does that kinda come together sort of looking at feed rations and things along that line?

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
Yes, when you take a look at what our dairy cows eat, a fun fact is that we actually grow 75% of our cows' ration. When I say a ration, that's their diet. We grow 75% of it on our farm ground. The remaining 25% would be byproducts that we would purchase and then minerals, vitamins, et cetera, those type of things. And we purchase those from local businesses. And so the remaining 75%, we grow. So, it's incredibly important to produce amazing crops that, you know, we can turn into cattle feed. And we work very, very closely with our nutritionist. He helps us pick the correct varieties to grow, you know, the ideal, the optimum time to harvest them, so we get the highest-quality feed. And then on the back end, he sits down and takes feed samples, looks at those ingredients, and then comes up with a recipe for us to feed our cows, you know, that will optimize or maximize, you know, their production and efficiency. So, we work incredibly close with our nutritionist. He's out to the farm at least once or twice a week. And he is literally a phone call or a text message away if we have questions or problems arise.

Janice Person:
Yeah, yeah that nutritionist really becomes a partner in the business a lot of times, right? Working hand in glove.

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
Absolutely, yes.

Janice Person:
So can you tell me about your rolling herd averages? Have they changed over years or what you're seeing there?

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
Yeah, rolling herd average could be how much our cows produce in one year. So, over the course of years, we have seen our production increase, which is

Janice Person:
Yes.

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
awesome, it is awesome. And there are numerous things that I can attribute, you know, looking at that, from what the guys are doing every single day. First one would be cow comfort, animal care. Making sure our cows are comfortable, you know. Are they relaxed? Making sure they aren't stressed out. Another big component is their diet, which we kinda just talked about. And are the calves healthy? Another partner in our operation is our veterinarian. We work incredibly close with them, you know. Just like with my kids, preventative is the key. And it's the same thing with our cattle. So, you know, we are a family operation, but, you know, we have a lot of vital partners

Janice Person:
Yeah.

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
in our community.

Janice Person:
Yeah, so when you talk the term "rolling herd averages," what about it makes it rolling?

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
Rolling, that is each cow is different. So, you know, each one cow may give 75 pounds amount today and the other one might be 50. There is a lot of different factors. But, you know, it kinda, it literally just rolls. And then the goal is that as a cow increases, you know, from one lactation, so from one year to another, that it increases. So, you know, between all those factors that I mentioned, each year our cows have, and we hope to continue to give a little bit more milk because they are efficient. It's a marathon.

Janice Person:
Yeah, so you really think about it, it's like the Rolling Hills, right? So, you know there are gonna be some valleys, but you don't want like the Grand Tetons you don't want big peaks and big valleys.

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
Absolutely, you know, 'cause sometimes a good thing is we're rolling along this summer and we had some pretty impressive heat and dairy cows are not a fan of heat. A perfect day for a dairy cow is about 50 degrees Fahrenheit and no sun.

Janice Person:
Oh.

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
I know. That is not my ideal diet

Janice Person:
Not mine either.

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
at all. So when it gets crazy hot, our cows, their production will drop off and we have to try and minimize that as much as possible. We do that by always having incredibly cold water, we have sprinklers, we have fans in the barn, we have bedding that is cool, so, sand bedding, and just try and minimize, you know, heat stress and for us too.

Janice Person:
Yeah, well we all need to manage some heat stress it seems like these days. So when you talk about cow comfort, those are some of the things you can really help control or the bedding and things like that. What other pieces can you control?

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
The way the buildings are designed. There's a lot of experts out there that work with us to make sure our barns are the most efficient, they're the most comfortable. Technology is always changing, and with new research, you know, it shows, OK hey, why don't you tweak this just a little bit or do this, and we follow along on all that information and try and stay, you know, cutting edge as much as we can and can afford, but everything we do is to maximize, you know, the comfort of the cows. So,

Janice Person:
Yeah.

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
keep them happy.

Janice Person:
Yeah. Does technology come into sort of monitoring and things on the cattle as well or?

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
Yes. On our farm, kind of a fun thing is we have cameras in our maternity barn. So each corner of our maternity barn there is a live feed camera so that we can monitor the cows calving. And so, whether it be in the middle of the night and you don't have to actually go out there, you can pull up the cameras and see and that's a good indicator. If you see something, you can then head to the farm instead of just heading there and not needing to be there. Our cows also wear collars and a good comparison would be there is a Fitbit that we as humans wear to monitor and track their activities. So, if they're not as active, it's kind of a red flag that maybe they're not feeling well. But if they're super active, maybe if they've had a few too many cinnamon rolls, maybe that's a indicator that we need to take a look and

Janice Person:
Yeah.

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
see what's up.

Janice Person:
Yeah. You talked about cow comfort earlier with the farm, but you also talked about like comfort level with consumers. Can you tell me what you're seein' in that space?

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
Yeah. 2020 has kinda put a new focus on local. To purchase products from, you know, businesses or people that are in your local community. And while a consumer might not realize, but dairy is truly a local product. The milk will leave our farm and be on a grocery store shelf within 48 hours.

Janice Person:
Yeah. So how do you open up that conversation with people? I know you've tried several different venues. What do you find really works for you guys?

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
There is nothing like face-to-face contact, you know, to sit down and have a conversation. And just kind of sitting down and answering their questions, putting a face to, you know, that carton of milk or that block of cheese, you know, kind of maybe calming their questions and concerns. If that face to face isn't possible, and the beauty of the internet, you could always reach out and look online, social media. There's dairy farmers from all across the country, and there is so many different styles that's the beauty about it.

Janice Person:
Yeah, so if a farmer was thinking, "Maybe it's time for us to get started on social media," would you have some resources that you might be able to suggest that they check out?

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
Absolutely. My first step would be to number one, reach out to your local checkoff. And then at the same time, reach out to the folks at Dairy Management, which would be our national checkoff. Both of them will do an amazing job.

Janice Person:
Yeah, I would agree. It's a really good community. Would you suggest how they figure out which channel to focus on first?

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
Oh, absolutely. I enjoy beautiful pictures. So, Instagram is a natural fit. We do a lot on the farm page, which is a Facebook page and we do have the website, which is our landing platform. So I try not to do everything.

Janice Person:
Right.

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
I just try and hopefully do the one or two that I have and try and do them as well as possible. So, I'd say pick your favorite and then rock it.

Janice Person:
Yeah, pick something that works for you. So, if you really enjoy video and you really enjoy being on camera, then YouTube might be the fit for you. If you like being behind the camera, YouTube or Instagram. If you're looking more to connect with locals and others, it may be Facebook. There's plenty of choices out there, and I like that you say you don't have to do everything.

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
Yes.

Janice Person:
What do you think the next 10 years holds for you?

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
You know, that's a great question. Right now, I've kinda taken a little bit of a step back and focused on the kids. Being a mom, doing the homework at home. I've taken a little bit, not planned, but vacation from telling the dairy story online for maybe the last three or four months and I miss it. So, I'm kinda thinking of about ways to getting back into that because I watch my kids and watching them, their excitement, and listening to them tell their friends and others about the dairy industry, it gets me excited. So, I'm not sure exactly what the next 10 years hold. My daughter starts 4-H next month, so.

Janice Person:
Nice.

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
Yeah, so it's kinda one of those things I'm really excited about that. My son won't be too far behind her. So, I guess that's how I started telling my farm story was when we were at the fair and we took our calves and, you know, "Can I pat your calf?" And then, maybe them asking questions and stuff like that. But, you know, my kids are right there with us. They see the good. There's a lot of good living on a farm. They also see the bad, it's hard. But I wouldn't change it at all.

Janice Person:
Well, Mary, I don't think I could have picked a better place to end this. Thanks for sharing all your wonderful insights about dairy and for joining us on this episode of "Ag Over Easy."

Mary Mackinson-Faber:
Thank you so much for having me.

Janice Person:
Today, we learned it's called rolling herd averages because of the ebbs and flows. But to keep production high, Mary says you have to keep your cows happy and healthy. There are a lot of ways to improve cow comfort from fans and sprinklers to a barn's layout and design. And it's a group effort. The Makinsons' nutritionist recommends the best possible diet, and the veterinarian is always on hand. As far as outreach, Mary says in person is the best way to talk about such a local product. But social media is your friend too, just don't try and do it all. Pick a couple of platforms that suit your needs and do 'em well. That's it for this episode of "Ag Over Easy," the Channel podcast where you get breakfast served with a side of agronomic insight. Be sure to subscribe to "Ag Over Easy" wherever you listen to podcast or at agovereasy.com.