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Rachel and Kyle Zwieg farm near Ixonia, Wisconsin. They recently earned the 2022 Wisconsin Outstanding Young Farmer award.
Kyle Zwieg pulls a total-mixed-ration mixer to feed his dairy herd. He added the feeding system in 2011.
The milking herd’s current six-month average is 110 pounds of milk per cow per day, with 4.2 percent fat and 3.2 percent protein.
Radio-frequency-identification tags in cow ears identify which animal is passing through the robot or other electronic gates. Once the piece of equipment identifies the animal it collects that animal's information from a main computer and bases its actions accordingly.
Rachel and Kyle Zwieg spend some time with 'Trixie,' one of the farm's most affable bovines.
The Zwieg family has been farming in the Ixonia area since 1856. At that time the family purchased land from the state of Wisconsin.
Serving on the board of the Tall Pines Conservancy is one of Kyle Zwieg's passions. The sign is prominently posted at the entrance of Zwieg's Maple Acres.
Cows enjoy a rotating brush in the freestall barn. The Zwiegs have focused on improving cow comfort, which has helped improve milk production.
Zwieg Maple Acres LLC is home to a 70-cow milking herd housed in a freestall barn, at right. In addition to growing crops to feed their herd the Zwiegs sell cash-grain. About 50 percent of their crops are fed to the herd; the other half is sold as grain.
Kyle and Rachel Zwieg of Ixonia, Wisconsin, are selected the 2022 Wisconsin Outstanding Young Farmers during the organization's event in February in Neenah, Wisconsin.
Cows are milked by a DeLaval VMS robotic milker, installed in 2020. It has been the largest 'new practice' adopted at Zwieg's Maple Acres, Kyle Zwieg says.
The freestall barn is designed for the robotic milking systems. After cows leave the robot they walk counter-clockwise to their feed bunk and resting area. The system was designed by Kyle Zwieg and his brother, Kevin Zwieg, an agricultural engineer.
IXONIA, Wis. – Kyle Zwieg set clear goals even before he began farming. As a final class project in 2008 at the University of Wisconsin-Farm and Industry Short Course at the Madison campus, he was tasked with creating a five-year plan detailing financial and operational goals.
Lynn Grooms writes about the diversity of agriculture, including the industry’s newest ideas, research and technologies as a staff reporter for Agri-View based in Wisconsin.
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Radio-frequency-identification tags in cow ears identify which animal is passing through the robot or other electronic gates. Once the piece of equipment identifies the animal it collects that animal's information from a main computer and bases its actions accordingly.
Zwieg Maple Acres LLC is home to a 70-cow milking herd housed in a freestall barn, at right. In addition to growing crops to feed their herd the Zwiegs sell cash-grain. About 50 percent of their crops are fed to the herd; the other half is sold as grain.
The freestall barn is designed for the robotic milking systems. After cows leave the robot they walk counter-clockwise to their feed bunk and resting area. The system was designed by Kyle Zwieg and his brother, Kevin Zwieg, an agricultural engineer.
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