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Mulhern Dairy
Cory Mulhern, pictured with his children, Riley Mulhern, 19, Emma Mulhern, 16, Brynn Tweten, 12, and Miles Tweten, 14
Fountain, Minnesota
Fillmore County
960 cows

Describe your farm and facilities. We have two farm sites. Our original site has a double-14 parallel parlor and the newer site has a double-6 herringbone parlor. Both sites have freestall barns with sand bedding.

What forages do you harvest? We have 550 acres of corn we chop for silage. Then we have 70 acres of alfalfa, 130 acres of alfalfa interseeded with Italian rye grass, 100 acres of forage sorghum, 100 acres of winter tritcale and 100 acres of winter rye. We have 180 acres of Yield Max, a summer cocktail mix consisting of BMR sorghum/Sudangrass, Italian rye grass, medium red clover, Berseem clover and hairy vetch; along with 80 acres of Dairy Max, which is the same mix as Yield Max without the sorghum/Sudangrass. Yield Max is double cropped with winter rye and forage sorghum is double cropped with winter triticale.

How many acres of crops do you raise? We raise about 1,400 acres.

Describe the rations for your livestock. For our milking cows, we feed a ration of corn silage, dry corn, a custom mix and winter triticale or an alfalfa blend, and Dairy Max or Yield Max, depending on the season and what is available. We feed the dry cows corn silage, wheat straw and winter rye. The heifers are fed winter rye and corn silage. Forage sorghum replaces the winter rye after we harvest it.
 
What quality and quantity do you harvest of each crop? For alfalfa, we usually get 6 tons of dry matter at 22% protein with 160 relative feed quality. For the Yield Max, we get about 4.5 tons of dry matter with 15% protein and 170 RFQ on the first and second cutting, and 18% protein with 180-190 RFQ and 10 undigested Neutral Detergent Fiber for the second and third cutting. For Dairy Max, we get about 4.5 tons of dry matter with 18% protein and 190 RFQ.

Describe your harvesting techniques for alfalfa and corn silage. We have our own custom harvest business so we harvest on a regular basis. It consists of a mix of family and hired employees doing the job. The chopping job can range from eight to 16 guys depending on the need. We will do what we need to get everything cut and chopped in a timely manner. If we need two 230-foot mowers, we will hire them. If we need two mergers to get the job done, we will get them. We always make sure to have plenty of weight on the pile when packing. We also use CHR Hansen inoculant and spray the top with another inoculant called SiloSolve OS before covering the pile with a vaper barrier followed by plastic. All hay-type forages are chopped in one day so we cover piles in the same day. It helps with quality. The chopping crew knows this is standard procedure so we all work hard to get through the day efficiently.

What techniques do you use to store, manage and feed your forages? All our forages are stored in piles. The piles sit for about one month before we start feeding them. Our main feeder defaces the piles and keeps them clean with minimal waste. Cows are fed once a day.

Describe a challenge you overcame in reaching your forage quality goals. We know how important timing and competing with Mother Nature is when putting up a quality forage, so we have had to buy bigger equipment in order to get everything done more quickly. About four years ago, we starting spraying the second inoculant on the pile along with adding a vaper barrier as a second cover. It has significantly reduced our waste at the pile and is the reason for far less spoilage.

How does quality forages play a part in the production goals for your herd? Better quality forages keep us at the production level we want. Currently, our cows milk 90 pounds of milk per day with 4.3% butterfat and 3.2% protein. Having better forages also means having fewer byproducts to purchase, and a higher forage diet reduces the need to buy forages off the farm. Both of these things help reduce costs.

What are management or harvesting techniques you have changed that have made a notable difference in forage quality? Two years ago, we switched from using an alfalfa and corn rotation to the current forages. We were trying to make all acres available for manure every year and reduce tillage. The grasses require more nitrogen, which helps us use more of our manure. We are also able to have the quality crop production of first-year rotation corn every other year rather than once every four years like we had in our previous rotation. The grasses have improved digestibility. While pounds of milk are the same, we have better components. Rumination has also increased by 20-30 minutes per day.

Tell us about your farm. My wife, Billie, and I farm together with my aunt and uncle, Greg and Barb, and my grandparents, Gene and Beth. I am the third generation in my family to farm and started about 25 years ago. All our cattle are raised on our own farmsites. In addition to the dairy we also have a custom harvesting and manure pumping business.

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