In a bid to modernize operations and boost efficiency, a dairy farmer near Fremont has undertaken a significant rewiring project. He transitioned the farm to three-phase power and leveraged rebates through Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy to upgrade milking equipment.
Jake Hoewisch, who owns a 120-cow dairy near Fremont, said transitioning to three-phase will reduce costs and maintenance headaches, especially in extreme temperatures.
“There are no more capacitors on the motors, so the longevity of them is way better,” Hoewisch said about justifying the project’s upfront costs.
Luckily for Hoewisch, his energy utility, We Energies, offers rebates for projects such as this. We Energies covered about a third of the costs of the rewiring job.
“As far as measuring the difference in cost, over a year would be the way to do that,” he said. “We haven’t had the three-phase for that long yet.”
But he didn’t stop with the upgrade to three-phase. His operation also worked with Focus on Energy to utilize rebates to upgrade the farm’s milking equipment.
“Our electrician is real big on ag, so he’s always pushed us when we’re doing updates,” he said.
Through Focus on Energy the farm upgraded its receiver-drive motor from a constant-speed receiver to a variable-speed.
“As the receiver fills up, the motor will go faster, and then as it goes down, it’ll slow down instead of shutting off,” he said. “That way you don’t have those voltage drops when the motor starts up.”
Hoewisch said the upgrade will ultimately use less energy and increase the equipment’s longevity.
The farm’s other energy-efficient projects currently underway include a new shop with light-emitting-diode lighting and a wood burner to reduce its reliance on natural gas.
Matt Cullen, a spokesperson for We Energies, said the company offers rewiring programs as part of its commitment to how farmers use energy safely throughout their operations.
He recommends farmers work with an agricultural consultant to schedule a free inspection to assess how the farm uses energy.
“We visit farms throughout the year and help them understand how they’re using energy and point out some options that could be right for their farm,” he said.
We Energies offers livestock-farm customers a reimbursement of as much as 50 percent of an electrical-rewiring project, to as much as a maximum of $2,000. For dairy farms We Energies pays the first $1,000 and 50 percent of the remaining cost to as much as a total of $8,500.
Visit www.we-energies.com/partners/agriculture for more information on the rewiring rebates.
Visit www.we-energies.com/partners/agriculture for more information on the rewiring rebates.
Outstanding Young Farmers
Jacob and Jennifer Hoewisch of Fremont, Wisconsin, were selected as the 2024 Wisconsin Outstanding Young Farmers during the 70th-annual Awards Weekend held Jan. 26-27.
As long as Jacob Hoewisch can remember, he has wanted to be a farmer, he said. When he was in 4th-grade his dad and uncle combined their dairy herds. They built a freestall barn and milking parlor to create Hoewisch Homestead Dairy near Fremont.
That same year his parents decided it was best to homeschool him, which allowed him to be around to learn and observe what was happening on the farm while also concentrating on his studies. That opened the door for him to begin working toward his goal of joining the family business and eventually taking over. The family has a succession plan in place; Hoewisch’s official job is as a salaried manager of the business.
Since taking over management of the farm he has added cover crops and transitioned to no-till. As a result, everything on the farm is now green all year. On the dairy side of things he experimented with breeding the cows with A1 genetics to beef. He started in 2018 to genomically test the herd using tissue samples; he used that information to decide which animals to breed to beef. That led not only for the milking herd to be A2/A2 status, but also started the opportunity to direct-market beef.
Jake and Jennifer Hoewisch are active in the Waupaca County Farm Bureau. They are also Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation stat-committee members. Jake Hoewisch served as County Young Farmer and Agriculturist chair from 2011 to 2021. Both are youth-group leaders at their church. He is also a part of the town of Caledonia farmer-led watershed group. He serves on the Fox Valley Technical College Advisory committee.
The Hoewischs were sponsored by United Veterinary Services, GreenStone FCS, Swiderski Equipment, Service Motor Company, Becks Seeds and Farm First Co-op.
Visit www.wi-oyf.org for more information.
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