Silly dispute lands couple in police report

By Tyler Trieglaff

Notes from the Chief

Notes from the Farm…A few weeks ago, Barry and I went to a seminar for some quality learing. The University of Minnesota Beef Team has an annual Cow-Calf Days at several locations across the state. This is a four hour seminar with lunch about beef operations that deal with the mama cows and their babies. There are different topics each year. This year one of the topics was a good mineral program for your herd. One point of quality learing that I had not known in the past is that 20 percent of the cows will eat 80 percent of the mineral. These numbers sound a little lopsided, but that is what some studies have shown.

Mineral supplements for the beef herd can come in many different forms. Free-choice mineral supplements are the most common when cows and calves are out on pasture.  The mineral is in a loose powder form, and it is placed in special mineral feeders, and the cows utilize the mineral at their leisure. A mature cow should have 2-4 ounces of mineral per day. Most loose minerals also have salt in the recipe. Salt is what the cows desire so hopefully they are getting their daily supplement needs met. However, when the mineral is free choice, some cows may not eat what they need every day, and some may overindulge as the study above shows. Sometimes I will mix some salt in the mineral to extend the mineral as it is an expensive bill on the farm. But, with proper mineral needs being met means healthier cows and calves for this year and the year to come.  

When we feed the cows at the farm, we feed corn silage out of a feeder wagon. With this practice, we mix the mineral in the feed, sort of force feeding the mineral. This is to ensure a more uniform mineral distribution to the cows. The calves in the feedlot also get their mineral in the TMR, Total Mixed Ration. This helps with the consistency of the feed to avoid digestion issues. When we force feed minerals, we also provide free choice salt blocks in case they don’t get quite enough salt in the ration. The salt blocks act as a little back up insurance.

Another point of interest, when we feed the free choice mineral, we do not feed free choice salt, it is mixed with the mineral as I stated above. Given the choice of mineral or salt, the salt will disappear first. I saw this firsthand when we first started our mineral program. The mineral ration most likely does not taste as good as plain salt, so the animals go for the salt first. I will talk more about the mineral program soon. At present time, we use six different mineral supplements for the cows and calves, depending on the time of year and the stage of pregnancy the cows are in. Stay tuned for more quality learing in future articles.

Friday, Feb. 6

1:37 p.m. Assist with a 911 hang-up just out of town.  

4:41 p.m. Complaint of a vehicle that was driving backwards on Main Ave W. Officer stopped vehicle and learned that the vehicle only had reverse. Driver was moving to the area of the demo derby so he could load it onto a trailer safely.

8:13 p.m. Assist with a chaperone who got locked out of the school.

Sunday, Feb. 8

9:31 p.m. Assist with a medical.

Monday, Feb. 9

12:23 p.m. Report of a suspicious vehicle by a business. Officer was able to contact the vehicle owner who said she was dropping off recycling.

5:15 p.m. Background check for landlord.

6:17 p.m. Assist with a medical.

8:27 p.m. Report of a vehicle theft outside of town. Officer located the vehicle and made contact with the driver. The driver had picked up the vehicle to do some work, which was confirmed by the owner. Owner just did not know the vehicle was being picked up.

10:15 p.m. Disturbance at an apartment building. Mother and daughter were drinking and got into an argument.

11:05 p.m. Vehicle at a park after hours. Mother and daughter were out for a drive and stopped to talk.

Tuesday, Feb. 10

11:42 a.m. False fire alarm at the high school.

12:15 p.m. Background check for landlord.

Wednesday, Feb. 11

12:56 p.m. False alarm at the high school.

1:24 p.m. Assist with background check for another jurisdiction for a pistol permit.

4:40 p.m. Disturbance with a husband and wife arguing about whose birthday was more important.

Thursday, Feb. 12

11:12 a.m. Business reporting that a male had written several checks on a closed account. Report will be sent to the city attorney for charges.

2:28 p.m. Officer assisted local couple with getting in touch with Becker County Human Services as they were looking for some help.

4:41 p.m. Local resident calling about stray cats in her neighborhood. Officer explained that we do not pick up stray cats as we do not have a city ordinance.  

5:21 p.m. Felony warrant arrest of Jazze Gilles, 39, Frazee. Warrant is out of Otter Tail County.