MARL Class VIII at the Mayo Clinic, pictured with Rebecca Hinchley and Jim Checkel
MARL Class VIII started out early on the second day of this seminar. We were picking up Ralph Kaehler in St Charles at the Coffee Cabin, where Ralph (Class I) and Mena (Class IV) treated us to a hot drink. Ralph was volunteering as our area-expert and tourguide.
We arrived at Daley Farm and met up with Shelly DePestel (Class V) to find out that some of the plans had changed. The cows had decided to check out the grass on the other side of the fence! It is one of those days when you have to roll with the flow. Shelly did a great job of explaining what happens on her dairy and working with family.
Shelly DePestel, host and co-owner Daley Farms
Shelly DePestel watching Ralph Kaehler grabbing recycled sand; Jeff Vetsch and Corey Hanson listening.
The dairy has a 48 stall rotating milking parlor. The cows are milked 3 times a day for the last 2 years. The dairy has put in sand bedding in the free-stalls. At first they had a few stalls done with sand, but it was a mad dash for the cows to get there first. Happy cows mean more milk. To help cut down on sand, the dairy put in a reclaiming system for the sand. Moving from 100 loads of sand to 4 per month works well for our resources.
Chad Kieffer answering questions
Our next stop was to Chad Kieffer Dairy. Chad and his family have installed robotic milking systems. This allows them to do more with less. The Lely robots were installed in 2011 because of limited availability of labor. Chad figured that for the cost of the milkers, 7 years of labor had been prepaid. The cows were well cared for and it looked like everything had a place.
Kieffer a candidate for MARL?
After seeing how robots do the work we turned the corner and visited Jake Shelter and his Amish wood cabinetry shop. Here the old ways of making cabinets are handed down for one generation to the next. Jake explained to us how the Amish community works. There are 90 families in Jake’s district. The Amish look to each other to make it through hard times such as illness. Many people make the load lighter, according to Shelter. Faith is one of the Amish’s cultural pillars. “Use your God given talents and you will succeed”, was Jake’s point to us.
Our afternoon was spent at the Mayo Clinic. This was an eye opener for many. Jim Checkel from MARL Class IV was our personal tour guide. He started out at the bottom of the system and rose to the ranks. Whenever there was a challenge, Jim met it head on and there was no quitting in him.
Jim Checkel (Class IV); a personal MARL tourguide at the Mayo Clinic
Three dimensional wall art at Mayo Clinic
While at Mayo, we were introduced to Rebecca Hinchley. She showed us the Proton Beam Project. This new therapy targets cancer cells in a new way never used before. This new therapy is nothing short of a game changer for all who face cancer.
The class had dinner at the historical Hubbell House in Mantorville. This was the half way point from the river landing at La Crosse and St Peter, the territorial capital of MN. A big THANK YOU to Jim Checkel for sponsoring this supper. All of us had a good opportunity recapping the days adventure.
Chris Hill
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