How North Dakota's youngest legislator is working to grow the dairy industry

Representative Dawson Holle is 18 years old and serving his first term in the North Dakota Legislature. He ran for a seat in District 31 because he wants to do what he can to help grow North Dakota's dairy industry.

With only 37 dairies still operating in the state, Rep. Holle says more doors have to be opened to keep the dairies we have as well as open new markets. He has sponsored two bills:

• HB 1255 regarding the definition of milk
• HB 1515 regarding the sale of raw milk directly to consumers

Rep. Holle explains both bills and shares why he feels they are necessary to help dairy grow in the state.

Contact Representative Holle at dholle@ndlegis.gov

Contact host Emmery Mehlhoff at emmery@ndfb.org

To sign up for NDFB's weekly legislative newsletter, Legislative Front, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page for the form.

Transcript

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[Straight Talk theme music]

[00:13] Emmery Mehlhoff: Welcome to Straight talk with NDFB. This is your host, Emmery Mehlhoff. In today's episode, I interview the youngest ever legislator of North Dakota, representative Dawson Holle. Holle is the son of a dairy farmer and ran for the House of Representatives because he was concerned about the future of the dairy industry in North Dakota. Join us for this conversation. 

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Emmery: Welcome to Straight talk with NDFB. I have Representative Dawson Holle on with me now. How are you, Representative?

[00:47] Rep. Holle: Well, thank you so much for having me on the show. It's a pleasure, and I'm doing fabulous.

[00:53] Emmery: So Representative Holle is from District 31, and he is the youngest ever legislator to serve in our North Dakota legislature, and so he just got elected this last election cycle, and so I am visiting with him today. Dawson, can you go ahead and tell us about yourself and your district and why you ran for the legislature?

[01:17] Rep. Holle: Of course, yeah. So I'm from District 31, so that is Sioux, Grant, parts of Hettinger and then Morton County. And it's been a crazy journey getting here. So what I ran for the state legislature because right now there are currently 37 dairy farms in North Dakota, and we lose an average of one to two every year. And I just couldn't sit by anymore and watch the dairy industry perish. So I was like, we have to do something. That's why I decided to throw my hat in the ring, is because we need change for dairy in North Dakota, and I believe I have the ideas to change it so we can have generations of good dairy in North Dakota.

[02:01] Emmery: Yeah, I knew the dairy numbers were down there, but I didn't realize they were in the 30s already. And so that's just crazy to think about. When you think about how North Dakota is, everybody thinks about it as an ag state, but then when you talk about the dairy situation, it's like, oh, man, most of our milk comes from Minnesota or South Dakota.

[02:26] Rep. Holle: That's the most depressing part, is that some parts of the state we're actually importing than what our state is actually producing. It's very hard to attract new customers to the dairy industry, because it's a very tough industry. The cows, they don't take a break. They got to be milked three times a day, 365 days a year. So it's not really attractive to the young generations, but it's attractive to the families that have had generations in North Dakota. And I think it's for the remainder, 37 families that are in North Dakota, it's definitely a heritage thing that we want to keep going in North Dakota, so I hope that we stay around.

[03:08] Emmery: So you grew up on a dairy, and it sounds like that's been in your family for a long time.

[03:14] Rep. Holle: Yes. So we're originally from New Salem. I'm a fifth generation dairy farmer. 2003, we sold the farmstead in New Salem and moved down to Northern Lights Dairy, which is 15 miles south of Mandan right now, and we have our milking, an 800 cow rotary parlor facility. And our milk goes to Prairie Farms in Bismarck.

[03:37] Emmery: The place that gets your milk. That's not the place that closed down a few years ago, is that right?

[03:42] Rep. Holle: No. So Cass Clay used to have a plant in Mandan. I believe it was a distribution plant in Mandan, but Land O'Lakes was on the verge of closing down. But then Prairie Farms bought it, I think, two years ago. So we're very fortunate that we have new ownership that wants to keep milk supplying in North Dakota.

[04:05] Emmery: Yeah. Okay, so since there are only 37 of you dairy farms in North Dakota, the majority of our listeners are either crop producers or cattle producers or various kinds, but I don't imagine that there's very many dairies listening. So can you just tell us a little bit about what all that goes into the dairy life and a little bit about your family, how you guys got started in dairy and then what the dairy industry is currently like in North Dakota.

[04:42] Rep. Holle: That's a lot of...that's a load of questions there!

[04:44] Emmery: Well, you pick and choose.

[04:46] Rep. Holle: Okay. So a dairy farm that we have set up is a parlor style milking facility. So it's basically a giant merry-go-round, and there's 36 individual stalls. So a cow walks up to get milked, and then the parlor keeps rotating like a merry-go-round, and the cow gets on and moves over. And there's a machine that disinfects the udder and cleans it of any dirt or bacteria. And then the cow keeps going around, and then people attach the milking units to the udders, and then the cow gets milked, and then it goes almost all the way around and it gets back to the other side, and it detaches when it's done milking, and the person wipes it off and then the cow backs out. It's kind of hard to explain if you don't see it in person because it's hard for someone to grasp the size of how this whole process works. But it's a very unique process that is very different from any other farms.

[05:48] Emmery: My grandparents used to dairy, and it definitely didn't look like that. It was by hand, and then it was with the milker, and you just put them all on by hand and one at a time.

[05:58] Rep. Holle: Yeah. What was the other part of the question?

[06:02] Emmery: How long has your family dairied in North Dakota?

[06:06] Rep. Holle: So we are five generations of dairy farming in North Dakota. I was visiting with my grandpa one time, and he told me that my grandpa was the first person to bring registered Holstein dairy cows in North Dakota. Wow. So we're really far back into dairy in North Dakota.

[06:27] Emmery:  As far as your dairy goes, I assume it's your parents. Do you have siblings involved too? Do you guys have employees?

[06:37] Rep. Holle: Yes, I have three siblings, and then my grandparents help out too. And then we have 14 hired hands that help out as well. They do various tasks from animal care to mechanical work to calf health. It takes a team to make a dairy farm this size operational.

[07:05] Emmery: Yeah, well, you're talking about you said 800 cows, right?

[07:08] Rep. Holle: Yeah.

[07:09] Emmery: So there's a lot going on, especially when you're milking three times a day because those milking shifts are how many hours apart?

[07:16] Rep. Holle: I would say three to four hours apart. It varies. Sometimes cleaning and such in between shifts, like, gets longer, but it usually is about three to four hours.

[07:27] Emmery: Okay. It's so exciting to me that you... you're such a good example of a young agriculturalist running for office to keep their industry alive. And it's really exciting to me to hear your passion for the dairy industry and how you saw a problem in North Dakota or at least a concern in the diminishing numbers of dairies. So tell me what you see as solutions for the dairy industry in North Dakota to make it more attractive.

[08:02] Rep. Holle: I've introduced a few legislation pieces which I feel like are key. At least get us in the door in the right direction because I feel like the door is shut right now in the dairy industry and locked. So my first piece that I have is that I define milk in the Century Code and update it to better national standards because right now we only have milk defined as a cow. And the goat farmers are getting mad because they're like, well, we're not even included in the dairy family right now. So I wanted to expand that definition and make it more encompassing for all the dairy mammals. And then there's also this war with soy on like, what is milk? And I feel that it's very hard for the dairy industry because you're not only competing with the soy industry, you're also competing with your other dairy farmers as well. Go ahead.

[09:00] Emmery: You mentioned soy, but when you're talking about milk right, as far as I'm concerned, I don't think little soybeans or even little rice or rice grains have those udders on them. You have to have really tiny figures to just sit there and milk.... [laughs from both]

[09:25] Rep. Holle: And a lot of people are actually like I saw an alarming statistic that is like a lot of people that don't grow up on a farm, they actually think that almond milk has the same nutritional benefits as mammal milk. And that's just staggering to me. So my first piece of legislation is just clean up. So then we stop confusing the consumer and we also encompass all the dairy industry.

[09:51] Emmery: That's really good. A couple of sessions ago, we defined what meat was and said that we can't just call... like meat has to be flesh from an animal. It can't just be some lab cultured thing and it's not something that is bean related. It has to be the flesh from a live animal. And so, no, it makes a lot of sense that we would define this is what milk is, and really understanding how that doesn't I mean, it obviously benefits the dairy producer to say, okay, this is what we're doing. But for the consumer as well, to realize that when you're purchasing milk, the real stuff, it's not the same as soy and rice milk. And exactly what you said, Representative Holle, that the nutritional value is just vastly different.

[10:40] Rep. Holle: Yeah, it is. And then my second key piece that I feel like is the second part to follow up on the definition of raw milk. I'm working on this bill where it legalizes the sale of raw milk in North Dakota, and it requires in the bill a Grade A facility and a Grade A permit, and the raw milk can only be sold on the farm to the consumer. And I feel like why I wanted to introduce this key piece of legislation is that another avenue we can give the dairy industry is another avenue in which it can thrive. And so a lot of producers in the dairy industry are very afraid of raw milk because of all the possibilities of disease and stuff like that. And that's why we pasteurize it is to get rid of any harmful bacteria or anything like that. But there's a really [big] swing in recent years to the organic side of people want raw milk. And raw milk in towns is actually like a desire and people want to use raw milk because it's great. And I drank raw milk all 18 years and I think it would be awesome if someone from Mandan or Bismarck wanted to go down to say, my farm and buy some raw milk in a safe way they could. And I feel like why shouldn't they? If we regulate it correctly and we have all the necessary process for it.

[12:10] Emmery: There is definitely a growing interest in this raw product and traditional foods in general just with milk. People say that oftentimes if it's raw, they'll say, myself included, that it is easier for them to digest.

[12:25] Rep. Holle: Well, I think because a lot of people are allergic to cow's milk, they're not allergic to goat's milk. And we don't really have a goat's market in North Dakota, but it's growing in Wisconsin and Minnesota for goat's milk. And I think if we would legalize raw milk then people that wanted to establish a small herd of goats, they could and they would be very successful. And this is just a way that say, you don't have to be an 800 cow facility like myself. You can be a 20 to 50 cow dairy or goat farm and you can be sustainable for yourself because you can sustain the community, because you would be supplying milk to your neighbors. And right now you can only get it from the grocery store or you have to have the cow share program. So this is just another avenue in which the dairy industry can thrive.

[13:18] Emmery: I really like that you're looking at connecting the consumer to the producer. To be able to access milk that fits their family's health needs is really exciting. No, I'm excited to hear about the progress of your legislation. We're in the first month of session still here. Where are your bills at and what do they look like for the future?

[13:49] Rep. Holle: So the milk definition bill, I had a really amazing hearing, so I think it'll come out with a "Do pass" and it should be on the floor within the next week. But my raw milk bill, I have not had a committee hearing scheduled yet, so they're just starting their legislative phase, so we're probably going to hear more of it towards the end of the session.

[14:13] Emmery: Do you have any goals for the dairy industry long term that you think legislation will be able to help out with?

[14:20] Rep. Holle: I think long term is cutting the red tape and just farms in general. And that's not even dairy like in beef and crop is so much government is holding your hand and telling you which way to go or direct your farm. And I feel if we would just cut that red tape, like the governor has said, and allow farms to do what they've done for centuries and just farm and they'll thrive like they have for generations, I think that's the main thing which North Dakota is lacking compared to other states. And we are a very pro ag state, don't get me wrong. It's just that there's just some key pieces that we just need to fix.

[15:00] Emmery: What are some of the red tape that you see that's holding the dairy industry back?

[15:05] Rep. Holle: I would say one piece is that we only have two milk processing plants in North Dakota. Now, that's not really a federal thing, but those are at max capacity, those dairy processing plants. So it's hard to sustain a whole state on milk if you only have two and they're at max capacity. So that's one issue. And we don't have a cheese plant in North Dakota. Winger Cheese from Towner closed down and cheese has been a hot topic. South Dakota has made some massive strides in their cheese industry, and cheese is on the rise. And I think North Dakota needs to look at that and if any investors want to jump on that boat, definitely get in the cheese market because cheese is only getting more and more popular.

[15:49] Emmery: Well, thank you so much again, Representative Holle, for being on with me and for being a representative to your district and your community and ultimately for being a dairy farmer and for representing the fellow dairies out there and appreciate all that you're doing to really take an honest look at the dairy industry in North Dakota. And how can we cut the red tape and encourage more young people to come back and farm? Because that's what my dad did. That's what my grandpa did way back, and that's what yours did, too.

[16:24] Rep. Holle: Yeah. Well, thank you so much for having me on the show.

[16:27] Emmery: Yeah. Hey, one last question. Are you going to be a dairy farmer for the rest of your life? Is that your plan?

[16:35] Rep. Holle: Well, I guess I have to arm wrestle with my brother over that because he wants to take over the farm.

[16:41] Emmery: So he's got dibs.

[16:43] Rep. Holle: Yeah, he's like, don't you dare even think about it. I don't know. I feel like I want to work on the legislative side because we need someone that knows the industry and someone that wants to be in the corner for farms and agriculture in the legislature.

[16:58] Emmery Mehlhoff: Well, hey, that's exciting, because you don't often hear about two young farmers, particularly dairy farmers, arm wrestling for the farm. So that's pretty good. Awesome. Well, you keep it up, Representative Holle, and we'll see you around the Great Hall.

[17:13] Rep. Holle: All right, well, take care. Thanks so much for having me on the podcast.

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[17:19] Emmery: You've been listening to Straight talk with NDFB. To get more updates about the legislative session, subscribe to our legislative front below in the show notes or visit us at ndfb.org.

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