Jade Wennlund
109 University Vlg
Unit D
Ames, IA 50010
May 8, 2013
Ms. Lorilee Schultz
Mil-R-Mor Farm
765 E. Rock Grove Road
Orangeville, IL 61060
Dear Ms. Schultz,
First off I would like to thank you for allowing me to assess your herd. I’d also like to thank you
for the wonderful tour that you gave me. I found that the information I gained from the on farm
evaluation was invaluable as I reviewed different aspects of the herd.
As a capstone course the purpose of the class was to develop critical thinking skills. Some of the
goals I had for myself in the class were to apply knowledge gained in previous classes to a
commercial dairy farm, be able to use the different records to determine the strengths and
weaknesses of an operation, and lastly to be able to provide sound recommendations in order to
help improve the operation. I believe that I met my goals in the class, but I also learned more
than that. I think the most important thing that I learned was that a good consultant doesn’t just
make recommendations, but prioritizes them. The best suggestions are those that have been
organized by those that are short, intermediate, and long term. They also must be economically
feasible and be able to provide a profit. I believe that I have learned all of those things in this
course and that is the greatest benefit that I have gained.
I believe the following are the strengths of your herd:
•
•
Components in milk
Udder health
The weaknesses of your herd are as follows:
•
•
•
Reproductive efficiency
Replacement heifer rearing
Low production
The details of these strengths and weaknesses will be provided within the report as well as
recommendations for improvement. Once again, thank you very much for allowing me to assess
your herd.
Sincerely,
Jade Wennlund
Mil-R-Mor Farm
Jade Wennlund
May 8, 2013
Strengths of the Herd
Components in Milk
One of the areas your operation is doing very well in is components. As far as fat percentage,
you are in the top 15% of Holstein herds in Illinois with 100-500 cows and a rolling herd average
between 17,000-22,000 lbs (a copy of the Dairy Metrics report can be found at the end of this
report). The fat content of your milk is very high for a predominantly Holstein herd. Your
protein percent is high as well. You are doing better than more than half of the herds in protein
percent as well. These values have remained consistent over the last few years as well which is
great, and they have been improving over the past few years.
Udder Health
Another of the areas that your operation is doing well in is udder health. When compared to
other herds you are doing better than about ¾ of herds as far as the actual somatic cell count.
You are doing better than more than half of the herds in SCC score for all lactations. The SCC
score has also been consistently at or under 3.0 for the past few years. Over the last few years
you have also remained at or below 5% of cows with a SCC score of 7-9 for the most part, which
is great. Eighty five percent of the herd has an SCC score of less than 4.0 as well.
Weaknesses of the Herd
Reproductive Efficiency
One of the weaknesses of the herd is reproduction. I compared a few baseline reproductive
parameters to the other herds in the Dairy Metrics report. You are among the herds with the
highest projected days open, highest calving interval, lowest conception rate, and lowest heat
detection rate. There is a lot of room for improvement as far as reproduction goes. To begin
with, your average days to first service is 121 days which is probably due in part to your low heat
detection rate of 21% on average. You should be shooting for a heat detection rate of 60% or
more and ideally your average days to first service should be 66 days. Moving on to conception
rate, your yearly average is 35%. Your goal should be 60% for the first service and 50% for
second and consecutive services. Concluding with pregnancy rate, your yearly average is 8%
although your latest at 20% is very good. To be in the top 25% of herds you should shoot for
15% and to be in the top 10% you should shoot for a preg rate of 19%. An excellent preg rate
would be over 25%. Due to flush cows these values are likely to be skewed, however.
The following graph shows heat detection rate (red bar) and preg rate (green bar). It shows that
heat stress is a factor in the summer as the preg rate is lower, so keeping the cows cool in the
summer should be a priority.
Replacement Heifer Rearing
The average age at calving for first lactation heifers is 27 months. That represents 3 months of
lost income due to lost milk. There is also extra cost associated with raising heifers longer. It
has been estimated that it will cost an extra $68.58 to feed each heifer that calves at 27 months
rather than 24 months (Source: “Management of Dairy Heifers”, Penn State Extension). There
were 51 heifers that calved. Assuming an average age at calving of 27 months, the extra cost of
raising them those 3 months would be approximately $3,500. Realistically this value would be
higher since there are quite a few heifers that are calving above 27 months of age. Based on the
March 23rd test date there were 36 heifers that calved over 24 months in age. Since there is a
loss of about $26.10 for each month over 24 months, the total loss is about $4,775 for those 36
heifers. The values are probably low as well since feed costs have increased since these values
were estimated. There is a lot of money to be saved by getting the heifers to calve at 24 months.
Low Production
As far as production goes you are in the bottom third of herds with a rolling herd average of
19,407 lbs. Since you have been expanding, the herd rolling herd average has decreased which
is understandable since you have to be less aggressive with culling in order to expand. Peak milk
has also decreased over the last few years. There is also too much of a separation between the
first lactation cows and subsequent lactations. This means that the first lactation cows are
underperforming. The Dairy Metrics report also shows that the first lactation cows are doing the
worst compared to your peer group as compared to subsequent lactations. Another factor
contributing to low production is that the percent of cows in milk is too low. On average you
only have 78% of your cows in milk. Ideally you should have around 85-90% in milk.
Recommendations
Short Term:
1. The first recommendation I have is to decrease the dry period length. Currently your
average days dry is 102 days. Decreasing the days dry will help to increase the percent of
cows in milk as well. The longer days dry also represent lost income since you are
missing out on days that the cows could be making milk. In order to decrease the amount
of days dry I would recommend being more aggressive with improving the reproductive
program of the cows. The reason for the long days dry is mostly likely related to the long
days open.
2. If by decreasing the days dry there becomes the problem of too many cows in the barn I
would recommend culling the older, lower producing cows. By getting rid of the low
producing cows your rolling herd average will go up.
Intermediate Term:
1. In order to improve in the next couple years you need to reduce the age at first calving to
24 months. This will save you a lot of money that you can use to improve other aspects
of the farm. In order to do so I think the first thing you need to do is improve heat
detection. I would recommend using an estrus synchronization program on the heifers to
improve reproductive efficiency. I would also suggest that you keep accurate records of
heats so that you can anticipate consecutive heats. You should also be more aggressive
trying to detect heats and make it more routine in order decrease the amount of missed
heats. I would also assess your AI technicians to see who is having the most success
getting the heifers bred and try to stick to that person or find someone new if no one is
performing at a level you’re satisfied with.
2. When I made my on farm visit one of the goals you expressed for the herd was to
decrease the calving interval. I kept this in mind for my next suggestion. I would
recommend using an estrus synchronization program for the cows as well. It is especially
difficult to detect heats in a tie stall environment and a synch program would help
drastically. A lot of your problems are stemming from a low heat detection rate and a
synch program would help immensely since you would be able to know when the cows
come into heat. The cost of a Select Synch program would be $3.57/dose for
prostaglandin and then $2.48/dose for GnRH. GnRH would be given on day 0 and then
prostaglandin on day 7. You would then heat detect and AI. Based on the 69 cows in the
breeding herd it would cost $417.45 for those cows. If the preg rate were to increase by
just 1% that would be an increased income of $25/cow or a total of $1,725. That is a
profit of $1,307.55. There will be increased labor requirements in order to administer the
drugs as well as needing to keep records of the injections. From there I would echo my
statement about using the best AI technicians available to you.
3. Lastly I would recommend that you closely monitor heifer growth. Part of the reason
they are not giving enough milk could be that they are being under or overfed. Weight
tape and height sticks are two inexpensive options that will help you keep your heifers at
optimum weight. By doing so you will get better performance out of them come milking
time. I would only input this recommendation if you have the labor available to you as it
is fairly time consuming. I would definitely recommend addressing the reproductive
inefficiencies of the herd before tackling heifer growth.