America’s Land Auctioneer
Captivate and celebrate the dynamics of rural America, American Agriculture and inspire and teach others how to live a bold and abundant life in rural America. Background: The intrigue, endless opportunities, and romance of rural life in America have never been more on the minds of Americans. The recent pandemic and civil unrest have Americans of all ages earning for a more peaceful, less hectic life. Even billionaire Bill Gates is now the largest crop landowner in America. As many Americans look for peaceful refuge in the rolling hills and wheat fields they are faced with a richness of opportunities. But where do you begin to look? This show will highlight and feature endless opportunities in every state. What is it that is so unique about rural America, the land and what it produces? How can I live that life? The American Land Auctioneer will tell stories and weave into those stories a place for you to dream, live and enjoy the abundance of all that rural America has to offer.
America’s Land Auctioneer
From Dairy Dreams to Economic Reality: How Livestock Shapes North Dakota's Future
North Dakota stands at the crossroads of agricultural evolution, with livestock diversification emerging as a powerful economic driver for farms across the state. In this revealing conversation with Amber Wood of the North Dakota Livestock Alliance, we uncover how this relatively young organization (established 2017) is reshaping the future of animal agriculture across the Peace Garden State.
For a state dominated by crop production and beef cattle, the potential for dairy, swine, and poultry expansion represents an untapped frontier. Amber shares the remarkable story of two proposed dairy operations that could literally transform the industry overnight - a 12,500-cow facility near Abercrombie and a 24,000-cow operation near Hillsboro. Together, these projects would triple North Dakota's current dairy population, potentially attracting processing infrastructure that has been steadily disappearing from the region. This chicken-and-egg dilemma of needing processors to support farmers while processors need sufficient volume to justify investment highlights the delicate balance required for agricultural growth.
Beyond the economics of scale, we explore how livestock integration enhances land value through what Amber playfully calls "number two being number one" - the profound impact of manure on soil health. Beyond providing the basic NPK nutrients, livestock waste delivers micronutrients, organic matter, and moisture retention capacity that commercial fertilizers simply cannot match. This natural enhancement creates a virtuous cycle where crops feed animals and animals nourish the soil.
The NDLA offers a suite of services that remove barriers for producers considering livestock diversification. From free site analyses examining everything from power availability to road infrastructure, to guiding farmers through complex permitting processes that can span hundreds of pages of documentation, they provide the expertise many landowners simply don't possess. We also touch on current challenges facing livestock producers, including the recent spread of avian influenza into dairy herds and the promising developments in vaccination technology that could help control its spread.
Whether you're a crop producer considering diversification, a current livestock operator looking to expand, or simply curious about the future of North Dakota agriculture, this conversation illuminates the tremendous potential waiting to be unlocked. Connect with the North Dakota Livestock Alliance at ndlivestock.org to explore how livestock might fit into your agricultural operation.
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Contact the team at Pifer's
Welcome to America's Land Auctioneer. I'm Christian Miller, joined alongside Jack Pfeiffer today and we have our guest in studio. Amber Wood is with us today.
Speaker 3:Hello everybody.
Speaker 4:Thanks for being here. So Amber is with the North Dakota Livestock Alliance and I ran into you at one of the local trade shows and talked to you with with one of my co workers, cameron doctor. We talked for like oh, 10 or 12 minutes or something and I thought you know what? That would have been a great conversation for a podcast. And so, yeah, glad you were able to come in today and help us learn a little bit about your guys' organization and a little more about you, and so yeah, I guess we could go ahead and start with just telling us kind of about the North Dakota Livestock Alliance and your guys' mission and how long you guys have been around and all that good stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. So. I'm so glad we did get to meet and that you walked away from that conversation saying, well, that was cool and not wow, that lady's crazy. So the North Dakota Livestock Alliance is we're fairly new we just started in 2017 and we're a little bit different from most groups. Our organization is actually made up of other groups and then each group assigns a representative to compile our board of governing directors.
Speaker 3:So we have the North Dakota Soybean Council, north Dakota Corn Council, north Dakota Ethanol right Fun. North Dakota Pork Council got to have the pig folks involved. Midwest Dairy Association right Egg Tager Cooperative is our newest addition. And North Dakota Farmers Union. So that's our governing board of directors. And we also have an advisory board made up of NDSU Extension and Animal Science and North Dakota Department of Ag. So we have a really well-rounded, awesome group of people. And then we also to get our other animal ag organizations involved that they're actually members of the organization from the North Dakota Lamb and Wolf Producers Association and Milk Producers Association. As a diehard dairy girl, love to have surrounded by dairy folks Awesome.
Speaker 4:Absolutely yeah, and tell us a little bit about your dairy background, dairy background and kind of your, your upbringing and and all that stuff.
Speaker 3:Oh, my goodness, you guys just asked my most favorite question. So I actually kind of have a unique, a unique startup story. So I actually wasn't born into an agricultural family. So my, my grandpa, he was a licensed butter maker in Wisconsin and my dad was a licensed butter maker in North Dakota when he was 18. So that background on that side. But I was the first one to get into production egg. So I went through. I milked my first cow when I was 16. And I know there's a couple of folks out there that know this, but I always like to shout out it actually was a brown Swiss. Is that right? Yeah, a brown Swiss.
Speaker 3:She just I don't know man Just that time I spent with her I was like this this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. So I went to college and then I was blessed with the opportunity to get a mentor to take me under their wing. So it was a family from Northern Ireland that came to South Dakota to milk cows.
Speaker 3:And they were kind enough to take a rookie under their wing and show me the ropes. So I credit them a lot with where I am today and I'm blessed to still have them as very dear friends.
Speaker 4:That is awesome.
Speaker 2:Wow, that is incredible. So you were. You were born in Wisconsin, is that correct? That's where your grandparents were living?
Speaker 3:I actually was not. I was actually born here in North Dakota. I was born in Bismarck, yep.
Speaker 2:Okay, north Dakota native. North Dakota native yeah absolutely, and so your parents dairy farm. Then you're growing up years, not till you were 16. Is that right?
Speaker 3:I actually got a job as just a milker for a for a dairy over South of Mandan.
Speaker 2:Is that right? Yeah, very interesting and was that at that time was would that have been like a parlor, or was that like a stanchion barn or oh my gosh, can everybody look at me right now and say, oh my goodness, how old do they think I am?
Speaker 3:It was not a stanchion barn, it was actually a rotary. So you know the the merry-go-round style action. Oh yeah, yeah, it was. It was very cool. So that barn actually still does function now, just under a different ownership. So it's now Northern Lights Dairy with the.
Speaker 4:Holly family.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's wonderful, awesome.
Speaker 4:Well, and Christian, you grew up with a little bit of a dairy background too. I don't know if you'd want to share some of that with the listeners? Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, big dairy country Awesome and my family a lot of dairy cows on that side, and then they would raise the crops for the cows. So the means of production was a dairy farming and so there'd be silage in the fall, silage chopping and that sort of thing, and we do dry and wet hay. The wet hay we would wrap for the cows so that would have a fermentation process to it as well. But all of my uncles are still staunch and barn and so there'll be 80 to a hundred cows kind of depending on what cows are calving and that sort of thing. But yeah, I grew up in a dairy industry. A lot of local cheese makers there, a lot of local butter and those sorts of things produced as well. So it was kind of a. When I moved to North Dakota it was definitely an adjustment. I was used to going down the road to a cheese house, you know, and so, yeah, dad had to break the news to me we're going to Walmart or somewhere That'd be a shift.
Speaker 3:Yeah yeah, dairy is up here in the Midwest for our GDs. That'd be a shift. Yeah yeah, dairy's up here in the Midwest. I mean to see stanchion parlors is is almost not a thing up here anymore and, as you've seen, herds are getting larger. And now you know the, the rotary parlors are now robotic rotary parlors in some areas, including here in North Dakota. We had the, the second or third robotic rotary parlor in the U S.
Speaker 4:Oh well, yeah, that's really cool so yeah, that's really cool, so yeah that is really cool, that's wonderful, yeah. And for someone like me who has pretty much no livestock experience you know you talked about earlier about, you know, being lucky enough to have someone you know take you under their wing and mentor you you know that seems like just a really huge, a huge importance to really get started in in the livestock industry. And because you know there's just there's so much that you know if you're not the only way to learn, it is by doing it right. So that's pretty awesome that you had that opportunity.
Speaker 2:That is.
Speaker 3:With the Livestock Alliance. We actually do encourage them. It's an informal mentorship program but, for example, young producers that want to raise pigs for the first time up here in North Dakota, that's a big opportunity for us. We actually have pig producers that are either on our board or who are associated with us that they act as a mentor for the new producers to help them. Help them learn and get used and become established in their new swine operations. It's really fun to see.
Speaker 4:And is that kind of your guys's role as an organization is kind of, you know, helping new people start out, or you know what's kind of your guys's mission at the North Dakota Livestock Alliance.
Speaker 3:So we actually have a really fun one. So we work with all species of animal egg, all herd sizes, flock sizes, all the above and all species. So we will help. We do a lot of work with existing livestock producers that maybe want to diversify into finishing or even change to a new industry or add a new livestock industry. So one example is Justin Quant, who sits on our board as the corn council representative. He and his family added two 4,800 head pig barns to their beef and crop operation.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, is that right.
Speaker 3:Oh, the barns are beautiful. If you go to our website, ndlivestockorg, there's actually a full 360 degree virtual tour so you can see their barns. I'll have to do that for sure.
Speaker 4:There's actually a full 360 degree virtual tour so you can see their barns, I'll have to do that for sure, yeah, that's very cool. Yeah, yeah, that's a big operation too.
Speaker 3:Wow, yeah, and they hadn't raised. They hadn't raised pigs before, is that?
Speaker 2:right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So they learned brand new industry. They're doing great.
Speaker 2:Will you talk about that a little bit? Let's say somebody, somebody wants to do that, for example, and you said they were raising beef before. Is that correct?
Speaker 3:Yep still are Okay.
Speaker 2:So they have two different types of livestock then at their farm, and is that? Was that a difficult process for them? Where I'm from on the East Coast, there is a lot of regulations on when you put these barns up and the permitting that goes into it, and so when they did this, was it a difficult process. Were you involved in that process then?
Speaker 3:I am oh, awesome question. Oh, my goodness. So that is a large part of what the Livestock Alliance does too, is we will start from the very, very, very beginning. I mean we could be the matchmakers, helping a landowner who wants to get into pig production to meet a hog owner, a hog company that has the experience and, you know, make that right relationship. And then we also will go all the way through the entire permitting process and sometimes, in some situations, a producer will have to go through the township and the county and the state. Wow, so to give you an idea of one of our projects, that when it was completed it was almost a full ream of papers, 420 pages. So it is not a process that a producer wants to go through by themselves. So we happily, uh, we'll assist all the way through public hearings, through all all the above. Um, we actually I got the greatest compliment from James at the Sundale colony. He told he actually did an interview even, and said if it, if it weren't for Amber, we wouldn't have made it through this process.
Speaker 2:Is that right? It was so heartwarming. Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:It's a lot of work.
Speaker 4:Well, it seems like it, yeah, but we have an environment to protect and we're happy to follow the rules.
Speaker 3:You know it's just. It is a lot of work and a lot of you know a lot of footwork, a lot of paperwork.
Speaker 4:So it to help you through it, yeah, absolutely, Absolutely yeah. And the big part, you know, is is does location?
Speaker 3:come into play too. Is that a huge factor and you know where you can and can't start an operation like this? Or yes, absolutely. That's why I'm so glad to be in the room with land guys. So, um, you know, we always look at and you're actually holding the livestock development manual there. So there's a section in there of information like where is the nearest three phase power? Where is your nearest water source? Where is your nearest neighbors? Where do you have a road infrastructure that can support livestock? If not, how much are you going to have to build on yourself on your own? So all those different factors, yes, absolutely play in to where you're going to put a facility. And then, of course, when you're talking about pigs and now poultry, with some of the issues that have occurred health-wise with poultry is to make sure that you have a biosecured distance between you and your neighboring livestock facility as well.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Right.
Speaker 3:Right, yes, so like I mean you've, you know you've seen it in your state which has a higher in Pennsylvania, where they have a higher livestock population. You know folks have come to me when NDLA first started out like we don't want to look like Iowa. And it's like to be honest, you know Iowa has an incredible thing going. I mean you look at their land prices just start drooling right.
Speaker 4:Drool the roof.
Speaker 3:Livestock is so incredible for the value of land and for the health of the soil, but then also it's. You know we have to make sure that we don't want to accidentally step on our own toes right North Dakota is a blank slate for putting in hog operations, so we don't want to put folks too close together for fear of having a disease management issue for the pigs.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Right. So I mean, we have this incredible opportunity, this blank slate that we can do all these wonderful things with.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's wonderful and I know North Dakota. I'm sure you've had a great reception. I think we are a little bit behind in this state on on animal agriculture. I know we have a lot of beef out there, but when you do look around the Midwest Nebraska, iowa, pennsylvania, places like that there is a lot of animal agriculture in numbers with layer houses, pig barns and those sort of operations and I know we don't see much of that here. We see a lot of beef.
Speaker 3:Well and happily we're starting to see that. I mean North Dakota oh, you're good, okay, north Dakota. North Dakota is. I know beef is King up here. I mean our, our beef producers, our cow cow farber. They are second to none, right. So we have this incredible opportunity here in the state to diversify into backgrounding, diversify into finishing, finish those cattle here and then send them out for harvest, versus a lot of folks right now are sending to finishing in other States like Nebraska, and then the animal is harvested. So if we capture it here, we get to feed our own dried distiller's grains, our own soybean meal, our own corn and even if that potato plant happens, we're going to have all kinds of tailings and meat pulp, all the above.
Speaker 4:I hate to cut you off, but we're running out of time for this first segment. But we have a lot to get to. I want to thank Piper's Auction Realty for sponsoring today's show.
Speaker 2:We'll be right back after this break. Welcome back to america's land auctioneer. I'm christian miller, joined alongside jack piper, and our guest today is amber wood of the north dakota livestock alliance. Jack, I tell you what. We were in the middle of an interesting topic and during the break, amber said guess what? I've got something else that we could discuss, and so I think we should just dive right on in.
Speaker 4:Right, right. Well, you were talking a little bit about. You know your dairy background and how you know the logistics. Just made a little more sense where you were at right and how it just doesn't compare to North Dakota right. I don't know if you want to kind of dive into that a little bit what you were saying during the break.
Speaker 2:but yeah, what I was. We were talking about the size of some of these operations here in the Midwest to make it feasible, and my upbringing with Staunch and Barnes, which is something that we never see here in the Midwest. You're either a large parlor of some sort, whether it's a rotating parlor, even some of these robotic ones now and where I grew up it was a lot of staunch and barns. It's 150 acre farms typically and they're stacked in there. I mean the neighbors. You can just walk to the neighbors or a short walk. You probably have access to three or four dairy farms. You probably have access to three or four dairy farms, and so it was much easier to maintain that type of community because, for example, the milk trucks only going a couple hundred feet down the road before he pulls into the next driveway Right, and so those smaller dairies are able to make a living being.
Speaker 2:The logistics are a little bit different. And then Amber brought up that we do have some dairy projects going on here in North Dakota but that we're also losing processors because of the lack of dairy farming in the area. Do you want to talk a little bit about that, amber, of the lack of processors and then some of these dairy projects that are coming up and what that means for logistics.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. I mean NDLA. You know we obviously embrace new development. But then we also have our North Dakota Dairy Working Group that NDLA and the milk producers organized together to figure out how to keep our current producers in existence. Right, we want to figure out what kind of Hail Mary one can come up with to keep our remaining 24 dairies functioning in the state of North Dakota.
Speaker 3:So right now, like I said, there's 24 herds and about, you know, off the top of my head, maybe like ninety five hundred cows and lactation, sure, ok, so these, you know, it's really, really challenging to keep a processing plant going when one has to go, you know, multiple hours just to fill the tanker, right, so it's, I know the talk. I mean, regardless of what industry you're in, it's all about efficiency, right, all about efficiency. So, um, a first, first big hit that we took recently was the closure of the Prairie Farms milk processor in Bismarck. That was in September of 23. And then, less than 12 months later, the Dairy Concepts cheese plant in Pollock closed down in August of 24. So that leaves our right here in Fargo-Moorhead, the Cass Clay Creamery and then also the Bongards cheese plant in Perham, minnesota. So we have producers that are traveling upwards of five hours to get the milk from the farm to the processor and, as you know, we can't bin milk for a month until we're able to get a truck right.
Speaker 3:I mean we could do it, but you guys would probably not be very happy with us. So these two, you know these two farms that are proposed, one at Amaracrombie and one up near the Hillsborough area with the Riverview, with the Riverview family, they are larger. I mean, I personally will say, you know, as a as a person in the dairy background, that I did see large scale dairy farming for the first time in my life. Right, I remember that when I saw it for the first time. So I know it's it's intimidating a little bit to see a herd of that size. So people asking questions, people bringing forth concerns, is absolutely welcome, right? I mean, talk to NDLA, please, please, please, talk to us if you have questions. So the barn that's proposed near Ambercrombie is 12,500 head and lactation.
Speaker 4:Wow, yeah, look at those eyes right. And the one up in and you said right now the total for North Dakota was 9,500. Is that?
Speaker 3:what you said.
Speaker 4:Correct, wow, eyes right and the one up right now the total for north dakota was 9500.
Speaker 3:Is that right? Wow, this is a game changer, this is a game changer team. Uh, and the one up, proposed up by hillsborough, is 24 000 head and lactation. Wow. So, and I it's kind of funny to use this example right now. But, um, you know, people always say, well, what came first, the chicken or the egg? Yeah, well, in dairy it's chicken and the egg. You have to have cows to get processing investment right, but then you have to have a processor in order to get the cows. So out here in this on the Eastern stretch, here in the I-29 corridor, just as what was seen in South Dakota. You know this. This area is so unique because they can pull milk in from Minnesota and South Dakota to justify those expansions in processing capacity. So, north Dakota, getting these two barns gives us the opportunity to get some of our processing infrastructure back.
Speaker 4:Right, yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, so I mean it's. If anyone you know to the folks out there that I know there's a lot of questions, please, please, please, talk to us. I mean I am. I hope you can tell from here I'm a, I'm a friendly face, I'm kind, I you know there's not a question that is outlandish, because, remember, I saw it all for the first time in my life too, so I had the same questions at one point.
Speaker 2:I don't know. There are concerns from people out there of what that will look like. Hearing that side of things, I think that would be a huge benefit to our economy. It should add good jobs to the area to allow people to work. On those dairy farms I know even on smaller farms there's never a shortage of work, and I can't imagine when you get a 12 or 20,000 cow operation the amount of work it'll take with feeding and everything. It'll be huge. And so do you think that, besides the local economy they're adding, will we see a processor being built here, or will Fargo and Purim expand what they're capable of taking, or how will that play out?
Speaker 3:You know, I wish I had a crystal ball to say what would happen. But I mean, with that, many cows, many cows, I mean one would have to assume eventually that something is going to have to happen. So if we look at, you know, I like to look at the past. What happened in the past? What happened in other states, so the state of South Dakota, when, when the herd that I worked for first started up dairy concepts in Lake Norton or not dairy concepts, excuse me uh, the Lake Norton cheese plant, right so. So that was smaller, just starting up, right so that investment was placed with the Davis family, and then that processor is now processing 9 million pounds of milk a day.
Speaker 3:Is that right, right? So, as the farms grew, right, the herd that I worked for was milking. I think we were at 1,400 head. Now they're over 5,000. So, as these farms are growing, as you know, as these diversifications are taking place, you know, like the Modak dairy family, I mean, bless them, I love the most family. You know, they're a centennial farm, they've been in Eastern South Dakota for over a hundred years.
Speaker 4:Right, so incredible opportunity.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so all these plants are growing along with the, with the farms, and so we're just hoping that that growth, that enthusiasm, continues up in the I-29 corridor and these two new barns, that's North Dakota's. I mean, that's a huge chance that we have not seen in the past.
Speaker 2:That's incredible. And and to have something that's more local here if, if there were another processor put in North Dakota we were talking about margins earlier and and obviously shipping the milk is going to cut into the margin of what you can pay for that, for that milk, and what the producer can earn from from milking their cows, and that's we all know in the dairy business. Right, it's the game. While you're feeding out your cows, the game you're playing is how much milk can you get a cow to produce? And so if you have a way to earn more per pound, basically for your milk, it'll allow the farmer to put more money into his pocket, and obviously logistics play a big role in that, in what they're able to pay for that milk, and so I think having a plant here would be huge, you know to. If other dairy farms want to expand, well, that'll give them an option close by to ship that milk and have somebody that has the capacity to take that milk.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely, and you know we can't, you know we can't thank Cass Clay Creamery enough, for you know they're investing their keeping their plant up to date. We can't thank them enough for sticking with North Dakota's dairy producers and Minnesota's dairy producers. So we're just really excited to see where this goes, and hopefully this is the start of an incredible thing.
Speaker 4:Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2:It would be great to see more dairy farms in North Dakota.
Speaker 3:I love it. I love that there's another dairy nerd in the room.
Speaker 4:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. You bet All right.
Speaker 4:Well, we are running a little low on time for this second segment here, but Amber's agreed to stick around for the rest of the show, so we're excited to keep picking her brain a little bit. I do want to thank Piper's Auction and Realty and Land Management for sponsoring today's episode. If you want a free land consultation or want to talk to one of Piper's equipment salesmen, land sale agents or land managers, feel free to call over to Piper's and reach out to any of their good experts. So thank you guys for listening. We'll be right back after this break. Welcome back to America's Land Auctioneer.
Speaker 4:I'm Jack Pfeiffer, joined by my co-host, christian Miller, and we've got an awesome guest here today, amber Wood, with the North Dakota Livestock Alliance. We were talking at the end of the last segment because I was going through our our little outro spiel, talking about how Pifers does a free land consultations and stuff, and Amber was talking to us about how she or the North Dakota Livestock Alliance will do a free site analysis right For anybody thinking about adding livestock to their operation. So I don't know if you want to touch on that. A little bit about how that works.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, absolutely so. The North Dakota Livestock Alliance actually holds an agreement with A1 Development Solutions in Sioux Falls, south Dakota, and they've actually consulted on over 100 pig barns and dairy placement. So we have an agreement with them for if we have a landowner or a livestock producer looking at expanding or even building new operations, so they can actually view, you know distance from neighbors, check and make sure that you know those setbacks are in place for the permitting process and they'll look at where's your three phase power, where's near surface waters, so on and so forth, to make sure that that site would be viable for a livestock facility and then also what size of livestock facility could fit in that spot. So if anybody out there is curious, if it's something that you'd want to do, we certainly would be glad to help. And we also have people who call who are looking at purchasing land and before they pull, you know, pull the trigger on purchasing that land they want to site eval for for future livestock endeavors.
Speaker 2:Right, absolutely. I think Jack and I both know firsthand if you're going to, um, spend a good chunk of money on an investment, it's probably a safe bet to reach out to you and see if that uh, if that's viable to put money into that investment and make sure that the process moving forward is a, is a smooth process with permitting and that sort of thing, and so that's that's a really great service that you offer there at the Livestock Alliance.
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely yeah, I mean with the price of price of land right now, and then you know, obviously, just the risk of starting any new business endeavor, right, you want to make sure that you know you at least have have some idea of what you're getting yourself into before you dive into everything. So, yeah, it sounds like that would be a really great resource that you know. Hopefully we can, you know, work together on maybe sometime in the future, if we have people you know looking at land for specific operations that would line up with what you guys do. So that's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and we had another topic we were discussing. I know we're full of topics today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're have too much fun at this, we get a livestock expert in the house and we can't stop asking questions, but we were talking a little bit about how some of these livestock operations can actually add value to your land, and I know, as buyers, that's constantly what they're looking for, right? What? What will my return be when I, when I purchase this land, and how do I get my return? And so can you elaborate a little bit on that Amber of how they gain value from adding an animal agriculture to their property?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean it's. You know the big thing I always like to start with, and I know it's funny to talk about poo and on the radio with a group of people, but we're gonna. So one of our favorite sayings at the Livestock Alliance is number two is number one when it comes to soil health. Right, it's the original fertilizer.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Right. So you know, not only would you add value to your land through the manure application, because you're going to see a bump in your, in your production and your corn, your soybeans, you know, and then it can also be used in a rotation with sugar beets and potatoes. You know, we just want to make sure to work with your agronomist, make sure we keep the numbers right. So a lot of different things that you can do. But I mean the biggest thing is you're going to see a bump in production because not only are you adding your big three right, your nitrogen, phosphorus, your potassiums, you're going to be adding all those micronutrients and organic matter and water right, right, so important, especially when we're coming off of a dry year and probably going into another dry one a really important aspect to that and then you'll have a better water holding capacity in your soil from all that organic matter. And also, you know, then you're going to see less wind loss. I mean it's just overall adding value to your land through manure use. So, whether it's you who puts up the livestock facility or if you and a neighboring landowner work together and you can be part of the manure management program, or also called the nutrient management so many different ways.
Speaker 3:And then also, of course, you know we always like to talk about livestock are the ultimate recyclers, right? Nothing goes to waste when you've got cows around. Ultimate recyclers, right? Nothing goes to waste when you've got cows around. So an example from your neck of the woods the Skittles plant feeds their remnants and their rejects to dairy cattle. So here in North Dakota, you know we, we feed our dried distillers grains. After ethanol, are those two big soybean crush plants that joined us here in North Dakota huge asset to the livestock industry, right?
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:So I mean we can all tie together. And you know, it's just where North Dakota is making such incredible progress and it's taken decades, you know, to kick these kinds of things into gear. And you guys, it's happening. I mean it is finally happening. We're seeing this, you know, finally seeing these pieces fall together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's exciting it really is and that you make a great point with some of those things like distillers. They're kind of like a byproduct and if you weren't using them for livestock, it's something that who knows where we would use them for, and so to be able to fully use that product is huge, and to give our producers another source of nutrients to feed their livestock and to get that livestock to produce at its maximum capacity with different nutrients like that is that's really great.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely you know. And the soybean, you know the addition to the value of our soy production here in the state with these two new crushers, I mean pigs, they love them. Some soybean meal. I always joke I'm like soy makes bacon, so ain't nothing wrong with bacon. So you know, it's really important that you know. I know sometimes, with when there hasn't been livestock production in a family for multiple generations, they, you know, we kind of get out of the habit, right. But then you know, for somebody, you can start new with livestock. You can. I've done. It's exciting, it's fun, it brings fun, it brings an enrichment to your life as well and it's such an incredible ability for bringing future generations back to the operation. You know it's a job for them, right? It's you gotta, if you're gonna bring a kid back, kid's gotta have something to do.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:Right, so teach them to feed pigs.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Right.
Speaker 3:Right Loss of opportunity in animal egg.
Speaker 2:And you were. You were talking a little bit about we. We've talked about pig barns and and dairy barns and where I grew up, my uncle Ted, he had a layer house, which is something that many mornings when I was at my grandparents they live right up the hill and and I would wake up and go down the hill to Teddy's place and we would sort 60,000 eggs every morning and that was how we would spend hours every morning, you know. And so is there any of that happening here in North Dakota, or is it more primarily the hog barns and the dairy barns, or are there any layer or breeder houses going up at all?
Speaker 3:You know, poultry is a different animal, literally and figuratively. But when it comes to like a layer operation you have to have a consumer right Because you're not going to ship eggs very far because the margins are we talked about margins on milk, margins on eggs are even thinner and we're seeing what can happen sometimes when that you know when something disrupts the system. So we do have one commercial layer operation that I know of here in North Dakota and they actually have their own egg wash system.
Speaker 2:Is that right?
Speaker 3:Right yeah. So then they sell to their, to their local grocery stores and such so. I think, they're about 75,000 birds, but don't quote me oh wow, so a sizable operation then. Oh yes, quite Yep. And then we also have several turkey producers here in the state of North Dakota.
Speaker 4:Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I didn't know that either.
Speaker 3:Yep. Our Hutterite colonies actually produce turkeys, and some of them also produce pigs. Yep.
Speaker 4:So yeah and I they're really fun to work with. I know I've talked to some of the guys up in uh in Grand Forks County and every time I run into them I like to kind of pick their brain about their operation and they just have so much going on and, um, you know it works so well for them because you know they, you know work together as a community to get stuff done. And that's kind of what it what it takes in in the these different industries to, to make that stuff work.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely so. One could, I mean one could per or develop a layer operation or even expand into more egg production, EGG production. But you would have to be, you'd have to have a unique setup, Like you'd have to have your own processing, your own egg break, egg wash, that kind of thing, so you can go to consumer. You know, cause our nearest commercial market. I couldn't even tell you where our nearest chicken processor would be. Sure, so you could do it, but you'd have to be creative.
Speaker 4:Sure, yep, absolutely yeah, and so you know we've talked a lot about, you know, larger operations and how you guys can assist there, but do you guys kind of help with any size of, with people trying to look at adding some of this stuff to their operation?
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely yes. I mean, not only do we do on the, you know, the development side of things, we also help producers with accessing and applying to different financial incentives in the States, like the egg diversification and development program that's run by the North Dakota Department of Ag. That's a really cool resource for all of agriculture, but we especially use it on the livestock side. So we'll assist producers with, you know, figuring out how to write the applications and put their presentations together. You know, try to help assist them through the process, cause, again, it's not everybody can wake up in the morning to write a grant application. It's not everybody's cup of Joe. So, yeah, we're always, we're always game to help with producers and those incentives.
Speaker 3:And the Bank of North Dakota is a tremendous asset to the state of North Dakota. I believe it is the only state-owned bank in the US. So they have all those interest buy-down programs, right. So, yeah, all kinds of things like that. So we also assist producers with utilizing those. And then we also work a lot with our township and county leaders to go through if they're looking at reviewing any of their zoning, anything like that. You know, we're always, we're always happy to come and help, sure, and all of our services are free.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's wonderful to hear.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, that is really cool. Yeah, and I know, like Bank of North Dakota and some of like the FSA loans and stuff like that that are out there, we see a lot of our buyers and clients and using that stuff and especially for you know, beginner farmers, it's a, they're a great resource. So is there stuff like that out there too for you know beginner farmers or anything? Can they, you know, benefit from any of those? There's any special programs that they could benefit from? Oh sure, yeah, Get into this kind of thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. I mean Bank of North Dakota, like you said, has programs like that and Ag Country Farm Credit. We've had a lot of really good conversations with them about what they offer to beginning livestock producers. So it's been a really I mean we work with all banks, whatever banker our producer happens to be working with at the time. But you know there's so many assets here in the state of North Dakota that we just want to make sure people realize are there and to help them them access those, because if they don't get used we lose them right.
Speaker 2:Right, Absolutely. Education is key. Yeah, Folks, I tell you what. We are coming to the end of our third segment here. We do want to thank Piper's Auction Realty and Land Management for sponsoring today's show. If you have any questions or need a free consultation, reach out to our team at 877-700-4099 for your free consultation today. We'll see you. We'll be back right after this break. Welcome back to America's Land Auctioneer. We're on our final segment today, and I'm joined by Jack Pfeiffer, and our guest here in studio is Amber Wood with the North Dakota Livestock Alliance. Jack, I tell you what. We're on our final segment. That flew by pretty quickly. Yeah, Jack, I tell you what. We're on our final segment. That flew by pretty quickly. We had a great conversation so far, but I think we have a few more topics to cover before we're done yet.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, no, it's been a lot of fun. I want to thank you again for being here and joining us. It's been a really cool conversation and for me with no livestock experience, just to kind of learn, I'm probably going to go back and listen to this, as in the podcast forum, and and kind of see all the little things I missed. But you know, probably the biggest topic out there regarding livestock right now would be, you know, the bird flu that's going around right and how it's affecting the price of eggs and all that. So you know, I don't know how how much information you you have on all that, but you know anything you can, you can share about what's going on there. We'd be, you know, eager to learn.
Speaker 3:Sure, sure, I mean, it's a. It's a huge topic, obviously, and I am I am not a veterinarian, I'm not a DVM, but you know beans, as you know this this virus has really started hitting headlines and with the increased cost of eggs, with the recent strain that actually is causing, you know, causing some bird mortalities down there in the south and in the southeast neck of the woods with the larger poultry facilities, they are starting to see those egg prices increase. And you know the high path avian influenza virus is something that the it's not a new virus, ok, you know, just to make folks feel a little bit at ease, is that this virus is not new. It has been around for a very, very, very, very long time, and even before that very, very long time, because they didn't even know how to detect stuff yet, right, so this is not a new thing to the world, but it has been changing a wee bit over the years. New strains have been coming out and, you know, once something gets into the migratory bird population, it is challenging to, you know, to to handle that kind of situation. So, you know, things started out with, okay, poultry producers being your, your turkey and your chicken folks.
Speaker 3:You know, let's talk biosecurity. Okay, let's talk about. You know what comes in and out of your barn, making sure that equipment is clean and so on and so forth. And unfortunately, if the high path of influenza virus is detected in a flock, it is what we call depopulated. The birds are euthanized because the virus would most likely cause them to pass anyways, absolutely, so it's been a disease control issue to pass anyways. So it's been a disease control issue. And you know North Dakota is blessed with a state vet who is a very, very, very good communicator. So Dr Anders has been very good about informing us in the agricultural industry and the livestock industry here in North Dakota to keep us up to date as to what's going on. And so, like I said, you know the virus has been changing and in March of 2024, so basically a year almost to the day from right now it was detected.
Speaker 3:Hypath AI had actually progressed into dairy cattle. You know the U S milk supply. They have tested many, many, many projects products, thousands, I mean thousands of tests out there. And the milk on your shelf, the cheese in the shelves, you know your pasteurization works Okay, so your milk products are safe. They have tested meat. They know you know other than practicing your normal safe meat handling. You know they have not detected active virus right and North Dakota, thankfully, has not found any active virus in our dairy cows. So but the fact that it jumped into dairy it was a game changer for all of us.
Speaker 4:So Is that the first time, that's they've detected that and seen that happen? Yes, wow.
Speaker 3:Yep, and then that was, that was one type, one strain. And then now with the, the newer strain that actually just emerged in the last migratory population, that is one that's causing the, the issues and the egg prices going up. So that was actually. That's a different, slightly different strain, okay. So, um, please, you know, be be patient.
Speaker 3:We are doing our darndest in the animal egg industry to figure out how to get things sorted. And really exciting news was, you know a lot of it. We're actually getting the media with everybody else. So really exciting news is there's actually talks of vaccination possibilities for both for poultry and for dairy cattle. So we are very excited to see how those come out. And I learned a new term that I was so excited to learn. It's called DIVA, d-i-v-a, which is differentiating between infected and vaccinated animals. So then you know, when they develop this high path, even influenza vaccine for animals. And then let's say you're France or whomever right, and you're buying product from us, you would be able to test that chicken and be able to tell whether she was you know, if she had high path ai, was it from a virus or was it from a vaccine.
Speaker 3:So then that'll cure some of the concerns on the export discussions very interesting yeah right, I mean, our wow science is just so mind blowing right so another example of that would be like the Banks vaccination for brucellosis, so those metal tags you see clipped in cattle's ears, that vaccine. A person or a scientist can tell whether it was a vaccine or if the animal was actually coming to contact with the virus itself.
Speaker 2:Well, that is very interesting. I know it's been on everybody's radar with what they call the egg shortage, and the prices have gone up, and so to know kind of the source of that and why we're experiencing some of that is very interesting. Do you think that they're going to get this under control fairly quickly, or is this something that we can expect to see these higher prices for a while yet? Or what's the outlook on this?
Speaker 3:You know I wish I could guess, but you know I have I could guess. But, um, you know I have faith in our veterinarians in the United States. I mean our, you know our veterinarians in this country and and abroad, of course you know I mean, but they just blow my mind. I mean how they are able to assess and develop and respond to a challenge like this. I have, I have complete faith in our veterinary service. I really do. I mean, we have strong vets out there, smart folks, they're going to figure it out.
Speaker 2:Educating the producer, the producer implementing what they're taught and get this under control, and using the advice of the veterinarians.
Speaker 3:I like it. Our veterinarian is your best friend, right. I mean if you can't rely on your veterinarian, they're your absolute most valuable asset on your operation.
Speaker 4:Absolutely, and is our region kind of largely unaffected right now from the influenza?
Speaker 3:Well, just imagine, you know the influenza virus is for the most part carried by the migratory bird population. Okay, right, so I mean we're kind of in this respite period. Right now the birds are all in the south.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so I mean maybe we'll start seeing issues in our turkey flocks or in our chicken flocks and backyard operations, you know when the migratory pattern returns Right, we don't know Sure, but you know anybody who's listening out there. If you have questions about high path avian influenza and how to protect your animals from it, there is the USDA APHIS site is really good. We actually have that linked through the NDLA ND livestock page. So lots of really good information on the USDA APHIS site. And then also, I would recommend you know talking to our state vet. They are so good at communication and helping you troubleshoot and come up with a biosecurity plan for whatever your situation is.
Speaker 4:Awesome.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Well, I tell you what this has been. Quite the discussion here. I agree with Jack, I'm going to have to go back and listen to this and relearn some of the things that we went over.
Speaker 2:I am just really impressed by what we've been able to talk about today and to educate. You know beef is. We all know that there are so many ranches here in North Dakota, but you just don't hear much about these other producers. You know, and to have some education, that there is opportunity in this state and through partnering with you at the North Dakota Livestock Alliance, that can really open the door for somebody who wants to maybe start something new in animal agriculture or expand their current operation. To know that you have resources available should make it easier for a lot of these producers, regardless of what they want to do and how do they reach out to you. What's their best way to reach out to you and get the process started if that's what they want to do?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. I mean the best thing I would recommend just give me a buzz, shoot me a text, give me a call, whatever works at 701-712-1488. And we have so much information on our website, ndlivestockorg. And, as I mentioned earlier, there is a 360 degree virtual pig farm tour on our website. So if you want to see, you know the buildings that make bacon, check it out, cause it is.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's next level. It is next level. Those facilities need to know, need to know where the bacon's coming from right, Awesome.
Speaker 4:Well, thank you again for being here. Fortunately, we're out of time for today, but I do want to thank Piper's Auction and Realty and Land Management for sponsoring today's show, and tune in again next week for another episode of America's Land Auctioneer. Thanks everyone. Thank you.