40th North American Alfalfa Improvement Conference
&
19th Trifolium Conference

Ramada Inn Airport at Mall of America in Bloomington, MN
July 16 – 19, 2006

Tours Descriptions

2006 NAAIC/Trifolium Conference Pre-Conference Tour

Innovative Forage Producers Tour

July 16, 2006, Sunday
Depart Thunderbird 11:30 AM
Return to Thunderbird 6:30 PM
Spend approx. 1 hour at each of 3 farms NW of the Twin Cities
Snacks and refreshments provided (but not a full meal)
Cost: $30.00 per person

1^st Stop (~1:15 PM):
300-cow, 1000-acre organic grazing dairy.  Tom and Joe Molitor Dairy.  St. Cloud (Stearns Co., ~1 hour NW of Twin Cities). 
This 75-year-old family farm includes 700 owned and 300 rented acres, with 550 acres of pasture.  The Molitors are pioneers in dairy grazing in the Upper Midwest, having grazed their heifers for 20 years, and their milking herd for 11 years.  The farm is transitioning to organic effective June 1.  They milk in a stall barn converted to New Zealand-style swing 29 with Irish Dairymaster milkers.  Joe and his wife Shirley have 8 daughters, and Tom and his wife Mary have 2 sons and 2 daughters.  These producers are respected by graziers and non-graziers alike.  The Molitors are passionate about the opportunities for pasture-based dairying.

2^nd Stop (~3:00 PM): 150-cow, 600-acre conventional dairy. 
Krause Holsteins Inc.  Buffalo (Wright Co., western Metro area).
Of the 600 acres in this family dairy, about 140 acres are alfalfa.  Warren has farmed there since 1959.  He, his wife Carol, and their son Charles and his family own and operate the dairy.  Their alfalfa is harvested mostly as haylage in bunker silos, but also some medium square bales.  They like to experiment with the latest forage technologies; eg. PLH-tolerant and hybrid alfalfa varieties.  They routinely plant a barley-pea mix for heifer haylage then apply manure and August-seed alfalfa.  They’re direct seeding some alfalfa mixed with tall fescue this spring.  They recently remodeled to double 8 parallel milking parlor.  The Krauses are consistently among the top 10 herds in Wright Co.

3^rd Stop (~4:15 PM): 1000-acre commercial horse hay and cubes. 
Idle Acres, Cokato (Wright Co., western Metro area). 
Harlan, his wife Mary, and two sons Mark and Richard are the 4^th and 5^th generations on this 135-year-old family farm.  Of the1000 acres farmed, 500 are in alfalfa and 100 in grass for small square hay bales and cubes.  They also contract feed hogs for a large neighboring farrowing operation.  They have a hay cuber on farm and harvest small square bales to market mainly to horse owners, but also for dairy and sheep.  Harlan experiments with different cube formulations, including a TMR cube, to target market opportunities.  They produce and market alfalfa mulch from rain-damaged hay.  The Andersons have a passion for conservation and the future of perennial forage-based agriculture.

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