Genetics push production higher for Kollwelters

Jarrod Kollwelter of JC-Kow Farms Whitewater, Wisconsin | Walworth County | 240 cows

How many times a day do you milk, and what is your current herd average, butterfat and protein? We milk three times a day, and our herd average is 38,300 pounds of milk, with tests of 4.3% butterfat and 3.1% protein.

Describe your housing and milking facility. All cows are housed in a sand-bedded freestall barn. We have pens for lactating cows, dry cows, transition cows and hospital cows. Cows are milked in a double-9 parallel parlor that we retrofitted into our original tiestall barn. All our youngstock four months and older are housed in three different freestall barns.

Who is part of your farm team, and what are their roles? My dad, Jerry, helps me on the farm along with my three daughters — Paige, Brianna and Jaclyn. In addition, we have seven employees, including five full time and two part time.

What is your herd health program? We do a herd health check every two weeks. Cows receive a Bovi-Shield vaccine once a year and a J-VAC vaccine four times per year. Heifers receive both of those vaccines twice a year.

What does your dry cow and transition program consist of? First-lactation animals go dry 55 days before calving, and older cows are dry for 50 days. Dry cows are housed in a separate pen in the freestall barn and fed a ration of corn silage and ryelage and a little distillers and mineral. Cows are moved into the pre-fresh pen three weeks before calving, whereas heifers are moved in one month prior to calving. Pre-fresh animals receive a ration of straw, corn silage, and pre-fresh protein and minerals. Animals are moved into the calving pen one or two days before freshening. After calving, fresh animals are moved into our hospital pen for a minimum of one week for cows and 10 days for heifers before being housed with the milking herd. We try not to overcrowd our transition animals.

What is the composition of your ration, and how has that changed in recent years? Our milking ration consists of 60% forage with a 55%:45% corn silage to haylage ratio.  The ration also includes high-moisture corn and protein mix. I am also adding 1 pound of baled hay per animal currently because I have it after baling sixth-crop hay for the first time this year. I have changed the protein content in recent years to get more butterfat. We changed the type of minerals and now feed more palm fat. We also started feeding a little dry corn through the summer this past year to help with foot health. Dry corn doesn’t go through the cows as fast as high-moisture corn does. 

Tell us about the forages you plant and detail your harvest strategies. We plant haylage, corn silage, oatlage and ryelage. We are going to plant brown midrib corn for the first time this year. In the past, we always planted conventional corn silage, but now we’re going to give BMR a whirl. We’re switching because the numbers and the experts are saying we should be able to get three more pounds of milk out of our cows. We harvest our forages as fast as we can. We cut it all down in one day and chop the next, and then we are done. Corn silage is harvested in two days. We don’t have a lot of acres, and we also have the equipment to get it done quickly. We have 180 acres of hay and 90 acres of new seeding. I turn the field over after three years. Almost all our hay is used for haylage, and I take a fifth crop every year. We cut hay on a 27-28-day interval. As soon as we take the crop off, we irrigate the field. Last year, we averaged over 10 tons per acre of dry matter on our hay ground. We consistently run around 60% moisture. Our feed is stored in bags on blacktop.

What is your average somatic cell count and how does that affect your production? Our cell count is 75,000. We only treat a couple cows per year for mastitis, which helps keep milk production higher. Our somatic cell count was around 150,000 until we changed milk processors. In the past, it was hard to get rid of a cow with a high somatic cell count if she was a high producer. When we switched processors, we had an incentive to lower our SCC because we got paid for doing so.

What change has created the biggest improvement in your herd average? Genetics. Every animal is genomic tested, and we have done more and more with genomics over the last five years.  The top 5% of our animals have 65%-70% of the calves born here through our embryo program. Any animal with a Total Performance Index under 3,100 receives an embryo. We are trying to have elite animals across the board based on TPI, which has also helped me earn a premium on the heifers I sell.

What technology do you use to monitor your herd? We don’t really use any technology in that area. Ten to 15 years ago, we used an activity monitoring system, but it didn’t pan out for us and didn’t deliver enough on the breeding side. I know these systems have come a long way since then, and I have contemplated going back, but we have good enough help here who are monitoring the cows with their own eyes.

What is your breeding program, and what role does genetics play in your production level? We are very into genomics, and we do a lot of embryo work. We work with Sunshine Genetics on a close basis for our embryo program and herd health. We are focused on production and cow health. We want higher components and milk without having problems with cows. A healthier, more productive animal is what we strive for. This creates a big difference in quality milk as well as fat and protein. Our herd average was higher in the past, but now we focus on higher components and the health of the animals. We have a young herd, so that also brings our herd average a little lower. We use sexed semen or embryos along with a little bit of Angus on problem breeders. I use the highest genomic bulls available and have had good success doing that. I pick 3-4 bulls every proof run, and whether she is our best or worst cow, she is getting bred to the same bull. I breed for TPI and production. I don’t breed for udders anymore. If she has high enough TPI, she’s going to have type too. The only physical or type characteristics I breed for are strength and feet and legs. To be in the top TPI, a cow has to have health and fitness traits. I keep my best heifers and sell the rest, only keeping one out of four heifers that calve.

List three management strategies that have helped you attain your production and component level. Genetics, feed and cow comfort. We put up quality feed within the right windows. We have tweaked this over time to get what we want. Our focus on cow comfort includes sand bedding, rubber flooring, fans and sprinklers. Our barn is naturally ventilated, with fans over the stalls and sprinklers over the feed bunk.

Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy in the next year. I am the third generation on the farm that was started by my grandpa in 1954. I came back in 2002 when we were milking 50 cows. We have a registered herd and never bought an animal to get to where we are today. From my dad to me, we have always used the best genetics. We ship our milk to Rolling Hills Dairy Producers Cooperative. We farm 650 acres, and everything is tiled below and has irrigation above. We also sell replacement heifers and sold 200 head this year. My plans for the next year are to get all the heifer barns full and keep trying to breed more elite genomic heifers. We have had as high as the No. 5 heifer in the breed and have a lot of calves coming out of her. I would also like to put more bulls into A.I. stud. We have put three into stud in the last year and a half. We are also hosting the Walworth County Dairy Breakfast June 14 to give people more knowledge of the dairy industry.