For some of us, it’s easy to forget that most folks these days weren’t raised on farms and have no family members milking cows, raising corn or even living in rural areas. Thus, many readers of this column know little about farming and sometimes have questions about things they read here.

Here are some of the common questions that folks took time to call, write, e-mail or ask in person, and, hopefully, some logical answers.

How can I visit a farm? This recurring question has been asked hundreds (maybe thousands) of times during the near 20-year life of this column. And, every year it gets harder to answer,

The simplest answer is to attend a June Dairy Month Breakfast on the Farm: there is one held is just about every Wisconsin county. About mid-May, the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board posts a list along with directions at wisdairy.com.

This will provide with you and your children an overview of dairy farming and if you talk to some of the many dairy farmers attending, you may gain a new friend and an invitation to visit their farm.

Nowadays, you don’t just stop at a farm and ask to visit. Most farmers are busy and don’t have time to give tours to individuals. Then there are the concerns of liability and bringing in diseases on shoes. Certainly, many farmers, especially the larger family operations, are happy to have visitors and often give tours to groups like Kiwanis, Red Hatters, church and youth groups. The key is to call and make arrangements first.

Perhaps one of the best farm visits is provided by Duane and Tina Hinchley, who milk 90 cows and farm 2,300 acres near Cambridge. This operating dairy farm provides a first class look at dairy farming and raising crops. Thousands of school children and adults visit between April 1 and Oct. 31. Call Hinchley’s Farm Tours at 764-5090 or see dairyfarmtours.com. There are many other farms offering tours (for a small fee) across the state -- check the internet.

What are those big round and square things that sort of forlornly sit in some farm fields?

Those are hay or corn stover bales weighing 800-1,000 pounds or even more. Don’t worry, they will be hauled to a nearby farm and fed to livestock during the winter. The huge, tightly packed bales often wrapped in plastic sort of shed water so are sometimes a low priority on the work schedule.

You always write about 4-H members competing at the county fair with their cattle, sheep, baking and other projects. Can city youngsters join 4-H?

Yes, they can and do. In fact, there are more city kids than farm youth in 4-H.

O.K., then why do I read about young teenagers in Madison not having anything to do while the farm kids are so busy? Wouldn’t 4-H offer something to do?

This is an often-discussed question at county fairs. A 4-H club has volunteer leaders who are never paid. Many of them are parents or local people who help with the projects. A couple of veteran 4-H leaders remarked that if a club were set up in troubled areas in big cities, you’d need a city council committee, paid leaders, lots of rules and regulations and probably end up with too many “experts.” But, it might be worth a try.

Do cows like to be on exhibit at World Dairy Expo and county fairs?

The answer is a definite yes. Just ask anyone who has ever shown a calf or cow in competition, they’ll tell you that their animals love it. Even 12-year-old 4-Hers will tell you that their calves perks up their ears, raise their heads and parade with enthusiasm in front of a crowd. For sure, calves, pigs, sheep, goats, dogs and even some cats love being brushed, washed and petted.

What are those tires doing on top of the big, white, plastic-covered silage bunkers?

Those tires and half-tires are placed on the plastic covering to keep the silage stored in the bunker air-tight. The corn or hay silage is densely packed by tractors as it is put into the bunker. The plastic covering is carefully placed to make a tight seal and the tires keep the plastic from flapping in the wind. Any hole will let air in, which will make the silage rot and become unusable. Farmers buy the old tires from a provider who saws them in half.

I read about corn that became moldy because of the cool, rainy weather. Can farmers us it?

It depends on bad the mold is. So far it appears that most corn will be OK in spite of how it looks, but the feed value may be lessened. Many farmers will test the corn before they feed it. It’s another out-of- their-control challenge that farmers face.

Some time ago you wrote about a machine that looked like a chain saw on the end of a pole for trimming trees. Can you explain more?

The “Limbinator” was on display at World Dairy Expo and yes, it is a chain saw attached to an extension arm that mounts on a tractor, end loader or backhoe. A retired engineer, Wendell McCracken at Pauls Valley, Okla., was always frightened while standing in the bucket high in the air while trimming his pecan trees. And so was his wife, Donna, who was on the tractor.

Wendell, who is a longtime inventor, figured there was a better way, thus the Limbinator was born. Frank Casey of nearby Stratford, Okla., manufactures and sells the device.

What ever happened to those big paintings you wrote about and found years ago at the Wisconsin State Fair?

The huge 10-by-20-foot paintings telling the story of “100 years of Wisconsin agriculture” were created for the Wisconsin centennial celebration in 1948. Bob Hodgell, a UW-Madison art graduate student and a group of friends painted them in the old short course dormitory on campus.

After the fair, they were rolled up in a pile at the fairgrounds until my column came out. Jill Albanese, an employee at the fairgrounds read the story, looked around the fairgrounds and found them. Several were restored and one is on display at the Tommy Thompson visitors center.

A major state foundation is currently considering restoring and giving the some of the remaining paintings to someone who will put them on display. It is a truly fascinating story

What is that pile of green equipment at the junction of Wisconsin 78 and Interstate 90-94? It seems to be getting bigger.

That pile of equipment is a carefully stacked inventory of livestock feeders ready for shipment across the U.S. The S.I. Feeders are metal feeders that have wheels and are used for loose forage and bales of corn and hay. It’s about a normal inventory, the company says, and the pile will shrink in coming weeks.

Brothers, John, James and Donald Schoessow operate Schoessow, Inc., the factory located on that frontage road. John holds the patents for this feeder which is the leading cattle feeder in the country. The company moved to Portage in 1982 from Briarton in Shawano County.

Those are a few questions readers have pondered—there are many more. We may get to them later.

John F. Oncken is owner of Oncken Communications, a Madison based agricultural information and consulting company. He can be reached at 222-0624 or e-mail him at jfodairy@chorus.net.

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