Building it from scratch

MILLADORE, Wis. — Ryan and Sherri Goedken moved to central Wisconsin three years ago to chase their dream of building a herd of highly productive registered Holsteins with deep pedigrees.

The Goedkens milk 60 cows at G-Crest Genetics, their Wood County dairy farm near Milladore, where they also raise all their own replacements. Cows are housed in a tiestall barn and average between 75 and 80 pounds of milk per cow per day, without the advantage of a total mixed ration.

“We aim for roughly 70% corn silage and 30% haylage,” Ryan said. “At one point, we fed high-moisture corn, but we switched back to dry corn because we like the consistency.”

Ryan grew up on an Iowa dairy farm, while Sherri is a central Wisconsin native.
They first met at World Dairy Expo in 2018 and were married in 2021.

To make their dream pencil out, Ryan is full-time on the farm, while Sherri holds employment off the farm. They are milking in a rented barn and purchase forages from their landlord.

“We basically started off brand new up here,” Ryan said. “We bought some cows from sales and sale barns. We went to a sale on a Wednesday and bought two cows, then we went to one on Thursday and bought 11. Within two months we were up to 60.”

While the Goedkens had good luck buying their initial herd from sales, they soon learned they preferred buying animals through private treaty.

“At a certain point you get tired of going to sales,” Ryan said. “We found out buying privately is nice. You can go in, see what is there, pick a few out and negotiate a price. We’ve bought that way from a few local farmers and it’s done us well.”

They continue to work on improving their herd by improving genetics.

“We pretty much quit buying cows when they got high,” Ryan said. “We’ve bought a couple at on-farm herd dispersals, but not many, and when we did it was because we were buying cows with pedigrees we were interested in.”

They continue to work on their goal of a fully registered herd and are about 60% of the way there, the Goedkens said.

Most of the cows purchased through sale barns were recently fresh,, Ryan said, which came with some unforeseen issues in the transition.

“Buying a lot of fresh cows was probably the hardest part when we started,” he said. “We had so many fresh cows, it came to the point where it was hard to get them all bred back on time.
Our theory was to let the ones we thought would milk the longest be open for a bit, and breed back the ones we thought would drop off quicker. Now we’ve got everyone back on a rotation, and they’re breeding back first or second service.”

The Goedkens are looking forward to the next step in the progression of establishing their dairy farm: calving in heifers they bred.

“There’s really something to be said for calving in heifers that are the results of your matings,” Sherri said. “It’s a very tangible way to see the results of your work.”

Holsteins are the couple’s breed of choice, they said. The herd includes several Red & Whites.

“We want a herd of cows that look nice and milk well,” Ryan said. “When we’re making our matings, we focus the most on feet and legs and then udders. We kind of watch Daughter Pregnancy Rate, because it’s best, financially, for a farm to keep animals around that breed back easily.”

Adhering to those criteria will help them achieve their secondary goals, Sherri said.

“If we can breed good-uddered cows that are mobile and fertile, those are the kind we will be able to build cow families from and eventually market animals that other breeders will want,” she said.

 While they both like larger-framed cows, the Goedkens said they also appreciate moderate-sized cows as they may potentially be the most profitable.

“Our big cows make money, but they probably cost a little more to feed and maintain,” Ryan said. “Moderate-sized cows have worked well for us, both to fit our facilities and to meet our production goals.”

The Goedkens said one of their most profitable cows is one they purchased through a sale barn.

“She breeds back first service every time,” Ryan said. “She’ll milk 95 pounds a day until a month before she dries off. She’s easy to work with and takes care of herself.”

The Goedkens are using sexed semen on their higher-end cows for two services before switching to conventional semen. To continue to improve their herd, they use beef semen on their low end cows and trouble breeders.

“That whole first year we were pretty strictly using only sexed semen,” Ryan said. “We were trying to get heifer calves to build the herd. Now we’ve got a decent inventory of heifers, with about 60, but we know that we’re going to be wanting to sell cows from the lower end of the herd to keep improving.”

As they continue working toward the future, the Goedkens hope to eventually purchase the farm they are currently on, having already invested in enlarging stalls to improve cow comfort.

The Goedkens are committed to putting in work to reach their goals.

“When you start from scratch and build something from the ground up, you can take a lot of pride in what you accomplish,” Ryan said. “It comes in small steps, but you can count each one as a victory, and that gives you the determination to keep moving forward.”