The Glacial Ridge Cattlemen’s Association hosted close to 1,000 visitors this summer for the Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association summer tour.

The annual event is the highlight for cattlemen and -women, providing the opportunity to learn from each other, see another region of the state, and bring the family along for vacation.

The state’s west central Glacial Ridge area, formed when the Wadena Lobe of the last glacier melted 30,000 years ago, is well known for its distinctive hills and lakes. Cattle producers in the area believe it is a natural area to raise beef.

Tourgoers visited three beef operations, a dairy farm and learned about local agribusinesses. Several of the stops included were Clear Springs Cattle Co., Starbuck, Minn.; Highland Acres Cattle, Starbuck; Bakko Brothers, Glenwood, Minn.; Bar J Ranch, Brooten, Minn.; and Redhead Creamery, Brooten.

Clear Springs Cattle Co.
Jim and Twyla Wulf own Clear Springs Cattle Co. and raise registered Simmental and Simmental-Angus females. In addition to marketing cattle, the Wulfs and sons Travis and Brady have been busy developing 35 paddocks for rotational grazing, complete with underground water lines and hydrants. The ranch’s rolling hills and spring-flowing waterers provide an ideal environmental for raising livestock and cover crops.

Brady, who also works off the farm as a nutritionist, says there are seven natural springs on the farm —providing fresh water 24/7, which prevents 6-foot-deep waterlines from freezing.

Improving soil health and completing specific conservation practices are high priorities for the Wulfs. They’ve worked with various local state and national agencies on native prairie restoration projects. They planted 30,000 potted prairie plants on hills to improve plant diversity. They seeded various cattle-friendly pasture mixes, and they have a 10-year lease to graze Department of Natural Resources land. They started no-tilling soybeans to conserve moisture, and interseeded cover crops this season into foot-high corn.

“The cover crops are better [for grazing] than stover and corn stalks these days,” Jim says.

Adds Brady: “It will be six years in November that we’ve been here. And my favorite part? It’s the view.”

Highland Acres Cattle
Randy and Vickie Anderson purchased the Starbuck family farm from Randy’s parents in 1991. They manage a 100-head purebred Simmental cow-calf herd. Last year, they applied for a state livestock expansion grant and built a barn to house show cattle. The facility has Wi-Fi and a security camera system — features much appreciated by Randy, who works off the farm as an ag loan officer.

“Images can go right to my cellphone,” Randy says. Once when a cow was having calving problems, his son sent him a photo, and Randy immediately came home to assist with the delivery.

With the farm having some original prairie, the Andersons work to care for the unique native short grasses, while implementing conservation and wildlife enhancements where possible. They’ve implemented rotational grazing, restored wetlands, seeded food plots and are participants in the Conservation Reserve Program, the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.

Bakko Bros Inc.
Bakko Bros Inc., Glenwood, is a family-owned business that was founded by brothers Steve and Loren in 2002. They started out by repairing trucks and machinery for others. It wasn’t long after that they expanded to add sales and repair for tub grinders, hay-busters, manure spreaders, bale shredders, seed drills and rock pickers.

As their business grew, so did the need for additional space. By 2014, they constructed a new building that includes a fabrication area, blasting and painting rooms, and a repair area with three 10-foot-ton cranes.

Bar J Ranch
When John and Joanne Reed purchased their first 320 acres in 1979 near Brooten, there were pasture and bare ground, and an old barn to house five registered Angus cows. Today, the couple, in partnership with son Jake, manage more than 1,000 acres owned and rented; operate irrigated (22 paddocks) and dryland pastures (divided into four to nine units, with four to six paddocks per unit); and maintain 200 Angus cows and 50 Lowline and Moderator cows.

In 1997, the first Lowline cattle were born in the U.S. on the ranch from embryos imported from Australia and Canada.

“They’ve been successful for us,” he says. “We’ve sold them in 31 states and in show competitions.”

Reed says Lowline cattle fit well on small-acreage farms and have a niche with direct marketers. He says they have less backfat, a bigger rib-eye and more tender beef. They require less maintenance and are easy-fleshing, holding weight from milking to breeding back.

“On dryland, we can double-stock the rate with rotational grazing,” he adds.

Redhead Creamery
What started as a teenage dream has become reality for Alise Sjostrom of Brooten.

After visiting a farmstead creamery in Wisconsin when she was 16, Sjostrom knew what she wanted to do: use her family’s dairy herd milk and make cheese.

Her parents, Jerry and Linda Jennissen, have milked cows for more than 30 years, breeding registered Holsteins, and later some Brown Swiss, specifically for milk components to create the most efficient cheese-producing cow herd they could.

“Fat and protein content in milk is where the ‘food’ is,” Jerry says, when asked about his herd’s breeding emphasis over the years. Milk components average 4% butterfat and 32% protein for a herd that’s averaging 24,000 pounds of milk per cow. Higher amounts of these components in milk are a big plus — they help boost cheese yield and add to the taste.

“It usually takes 10 pounds of milk to make a pound of cheese,” Alise adds. “For us, it takes about 8 pounds of milk to make a pound of cheese.”

Sjostrom, who partners with her husband, Lucas Sjostrom, and her parents in the business, gathered cheese-making experiences and training in the Midwest, the Northeast and in Switzerland. They decided in 2013 to build a cheese plant and small retail store. To help them with startup costs, they launched a crowd-funding campaign via Kickstart.com and raised more than $40,000 from contributors in exchange for cheese, on-farm dinners and even cow-naming rights. The plant opened in 2014 and is now known for its aged cheddar, cheese curds, Brie and whiskey-washed Muenster.

They were already planning for Christmas orders in July during the summer cattlemen’s tour. The couple makes cheese three times a week with 7% of the milk production from the 180-cow herd. The remaining milk gets picked up twice every other day and heads for Bongards Creamery.

Redhead Cheese is sold in the Twin Cities and throughout the Midwest. A new distributor in Chicago has plans of getting their cheese into seven states.

The coolest part of this adventure for Elise? “I get to see the milk coming right from our own cows,” she says. “It may be a little yellow or white in color [depending on the feed and breed]. That influences the cheese flavor. It’s fun to see.”