How many times a day do you milk, and what is your current herd average, butterfat and protein? We milk three times a day. We average 98 pounds of milk per cow with tests of 4.6% butterfat and 3.3% protein. Our energy-corrected milk average is 109 pounds.
Describe your housing and milking facility. Our parlor currently is a Boumatic double-15 parallel. Milking and dry cows are housed in two sand-bedded freestall barns with sprinklers and alley scrapers. One is a 6-row tunnel-ventilated, the other is cross-vented.
Who is part of your farm team, and what are their roles? We employ 16 people to help with barn duties. My son, Josh, manages the cattle and barn employees along with herdsman Magdalano Rodriquez. Jose Lopez Cruz is our feeder and manages the bunkers. I manage the bookkeeping and the crops, along with the repairs. My wife, Lynn, is a full-time nurse but will help where needed. Josh’s wife, Hannah, is also a nurse and our information technology and human resources go-to. Others are full-time milkers and calf feeders, along with cow pushers.
What is your herd health program? We have herd health checks once a week, doing pregnancy and dry-off checks, along with weekly timed A.I. shots and vaccinations. Heifers are also pregnancy checked the same day.
What does your dry cow and transition program consist of? Our dry cows are housed in sand-bedded free stalls with headlocks in a cross-ventilated barn. They are dried off weekly, 60 days before their due date. For the first 30 days at dry-off, they go to a pen that is fed the “Goldilocks” diet, consisting of corn silage, minerals and lots of wheat straw. During this time, they are vaccinated and their hooves are trimmed. After their 30 days are up, they are moved to a steam-up group. We do just-in-time calving, meaning that when a cow is about to calve, she is moved to a bedding pack for calving. Our dry cow pens are walked every 30 minutes by employees. After calving, the cows are moved to the fresh-cow pen. This pen is the closest to our parlor. The new momma will stay in this pen for two weeks. After two weeks, if she is having no issues, she will go to another pen with cows in the same lactation.
What is the composition of your ration, and how has that changed in recent years? Our ration consists of brown midrib corn silage, alfalfa haylage, high-moisture shelled corn, a dry corn-protein-mineral mix and roasted Plenish soybeans. This is the first year we started feeding Plenish soybeans.
Tell us about the forages you plant and detail your harvest strategies. We grow straight alfalfa and implement a 4-cut system. Our dairy has been planting BMR silage corn since 2006. Now the seed companies are discontinuing the variety that we have had a lot of success with, so this year we are experimenting with several different varieties to see what the cows produce best on.
What is your average somatic cell count and how does that affect your production? Our average somatic cell count is 105,000; we are constantly working to lower it to keep healthy udders.
What change has created the biggest improvement in your herd average? There are several basic factors to getting good milk production. Getting harvested forages stored on concrete or asphalt, and off dirt, is obviously No. 1. Putting up quality feed and always feeding fermented feed is another. Closely monitoring and checking fresh cow temperatures daily is important. Cow comfort is a priority, including things like sand bedding and tunnel or cross-ventilation in the barn.
What technology do you use to monitor your herd? CowManager is used on all our milk cows and breeding-age heifers. We also use Feed Supervisor. We have installed cameras around the barns, inside and out, to monitor pens and entrances.
What is your breeding program, and what role does genetics play in your production level? Our herd is mated through our genetics company. Everything is bred A.I. We implement a double-ovsynch program and use CowManager to detect heats also. The bottom 30% of the herd is bred to beef.
List three management strategies that have helped you attain your production and component level. Having quality forages has helped our dairy’s production, along with focusing on cow comfort. We have sand-bedded, well-ventilated stalls and have short holding area time to prevent lameness. Parlor management is another priority, keeping equipment working properly and ensuring employees are following proper milking protocols.
Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy in the next year. Lynn and I purchased our current farm in 1998. We built a new house and a new double-8 parlor, with a 216-stall barn. In 2016 our son, Josh, joined the dairy after graduating from the University of Wisconsin short course. We added 330 stalls onto our existing freestall barn and grew to 800 cows. In 2023, we put up a 712-stall cross-ventilated barn and added on to our parlor, making it the current double-15. As for the future of our farm, we just want to keep improving on what we have.
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