Dallmann East River Dairy
Image Credit: R Braun Inc.
Farm Story
East River Dairy is a family farming operation on the line between Calumet and Manitowoc Counties. Nick Dallmann, along with his sister, and parents farm 3,300 acres of cropland and milk 3,000 cows. The farm was established by Nick’s grandparents, Terry and Darlene Dallmann back in 1964 with 80 acres and 15 cows and has been growing ever since.
Nick grew up working on the farm but decided to try wildlife biology his freshman year of college. He quickly realized that “once you leave farming for a little bit, you just realize how much you love it.” Nick changed his major to agriculture, earned his degree Animal Science and returned to the farm to help manage operations. Nick enjoys working with both the cattle and the crops, and says the late nights, early mornings, sub-zero temperatures don’t phase him as they’re all just a part of the job he loves.
Steps Towards Conservation
Nick values the natural world and its resources and works to protect them. He lives on a lake near the farm and likes to hunt and fish in his spare time. He also recognizes things are changing, and says that in order to keep farming, conservation and taking care of our soil are “something that you have to do. It’s the only way you’re going to be able to survive [as a farmer]. We can’t keep just doing things the way the generations before us did it, we’ve got to be able to change as the weather’s changing.”
These interests led Dallmanns to start doing conservation practices on the farm. They began dabbling in cover crops, and in 2013, the farm installed a feed area runoff collection system and storage pond to redirect and capture rainwater. This facility collects 100% of the bunker leachate, and runoff water that falls onto the feed pad and bunker area. Additionally, the rainwater is separated out, and held in a storage pond to be used as irrigation water later. This water is distributed onto the field by center pivots, which Nick says, “gets a lot of attention because you don’t see a lot of center pivots in Eastern Wisconsin.”
The families’ use of innovative practices led Joe Smedberg and Tony Reali, conservationists from the Natural Resource Conservation Service and Calumet County who Nick had worked with for years, to ask him to be a part of the newly formed Between the Lakes Demonstration Farm Network in 2019.
With the help of the demo farm network, Nick plans to add more no-till acres, expand his use of cover crops, and continue testing what works in his area (such as which cover crops, and how best to apply manure to those cover crops). He also wants to help educate non-farmers about positive practices farmers are doing. “I want to show people what we’re doing and how we’re managing things. We’re not just dumping manure out there, we’re not just putting fertilizer out there and not testing anything. That’s part of the reason [I’m involved in the demo farm network],” he explains.
Nick’s looking forward to having a network of other farmers to chat with. He says, “certain things will work well on our farm, but won’t work well on others. It’ll be great to bounce ideas off each other. I think that’s the biggest benefit for everybody in this program.”
Benefits of Conservation Agriculture
Nick has experienced many benefits from conservation agriculture. He says he’s gotten a slight bump in yield over when he was doing conventional tillage. By reducing his tillage, Nick does fewer passes across the field. He noticed this lessened his soil compaction and saves him diesel fuel. His cover crops help hold the soil in place, and Nick has noticed less erosion, especially during the 4-5” rain events that are becoming more common. His soil is also able to hold more water, making it available for crops later in the season. Nick knows he’s going to see increased soil structure over time by continuing to reduce tillage, and keeping his soil covered.
Advice for Others
Nick wants farmers to know that you can do conservation on your land too. He recalls, “15 years ago, people said that we’d never be able to no-till around this area.” However, the Dallmanns found ways and now have over half of their corn acres in no-till. Nick encourages farmers to be open minded and consider altering what they’re doing so they can work smarter not harder. He explains that, “a lot of people think ‘let’s just run the chisel plow across the field, that’s easiest.” However, he says “just stop and think about that a little bit. You can save time, money, and energy if you just change up a few things on your farm.” Plus, he mentions that, “there’s a multitude of things that make conservation easier now, like better seeds and different equipment.” Remember, “people may say it can’t be done on your farm, but it can. There may be things you’ve got to change to make it work, but it can be done,” Nick encourages.