Learning better calf care at a local working dairy
Calves require care, and if it isn’t administered properly, they can be vulnerable to diseases, pain and failure to thrive.
NexGen Dairy in Eden Valley ensures excellent cattle health at every stage of the animal’s life. “We’ve rarely lost a calf,” said co-owner Megan Schrupp, a veterinarian and University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine and CFANS graduate.
So it made sense for Schrupp to open up NexGen Dairy to Extension’s dairy team and more than 30 dairy farmers and professionals to see calf care in action, including Marcia Endres, an Extension animal scientist focused on dairy cattle management, behavior and wellbeing and Karen Johnson, an Extension agriculture educator in Meeker County.
“Participants saw a successful farm family operating a productive dairy and the role that calf care plays,” Johnson said.
Healthy and happy cows produce more milk.
Highlights
- Extension’s agricultural business management team delivered farmland rent workshops in Litchfield.
- 4-H’er Maisy Guerts earned a Purple Ribbon and Community Impact recognition for her State Fair project, Solitary Bee Day Camp. She led day camps teaching kids how to build bee bungalows for solitary bees, which make up the majority of bee species in Minnesota.
- U of M Farm Family of the Year: Ahlgren Dairy: The Rick and Sarah Ahlgren family milks about 220 cows and raises all of their own replacements and grows all the forage to feed the cattle. Invested in innovation, they installed robotic milkers and feeders in 2020 and solar panels in 2024.
- The AIS Detectors Core Course was offered at the Meeker County Government Center. The course is an introduction to aquatic invasive species (AIS) science, identification and surveillance. Participants receive credit for the course and become Certified AIS Detectors.
- SuperShelf locations: Dassel Area Food Shelf, Meeker Area Food Shelf (Litchfield)
- Extension provides financial capability education for participants in the judicial district’s treatment courts, including adult and juvenile drug courts, and courts for mental health, veterans, family dependency and DWI/DUI.
- The Climate Adaptation Partnership is making available new resources on future groundwater and soil moisture conditions for Meeker County, allowing communities to address issues like irrigation needs and drinking water availability based on long-term precipitation changes.
Meeker County office
Extension has 14 regional offices supporting all 87 counties in Minnesota.
Meeker County partners with Extension to deliver practical education and research you can use at home, at work and in your community. More about Extension in our county.
About the Minnesota 87 project
Spend time in any Minnesota county, and you will almost certainly encounter University of Minnesota Extension. Our faculty and staff, volunteers, participants, alumni and partners are woven into the fabric of rural, urban and suburban Minnesota life. This project showcases Extension in action through photos, stories and a sampling of the many ways Extension has touched the lives of people in every county.