Johnsons utilize sexed, beef semen to breed their top 60%

Mark, Bradley, Richard, Trinity, Lee and Zac Johnson    
Johnson’s Rolling Acres
Peterson, Minnesota
Fillmore County
1,315 cows

Describe your facilities and list your breeding management team. We have two power-ventilated barns. We have a cross-ventilated barn, and we converted our natural ventilation barn to a tunnel-ventilated barn. All cows, including dry cows, are housed in the main dairy facility. Our breeding team involves Mark and Trinity Johnson and our transition cow manager, Walter Laumb.

What is your reproduction program? We use a presynch protocol on our fresh cows. We use ovsynch on the cows for breeding, and we resynch the cows. All cows receive GnRH at day 32. All cows are bred first service on timed breeding. We have a voluntary waiting period of 67 days. Cows are not bred prior to this. All cows are checked prior to breeding for a valid corpus luteum before being bred the first time. If they have a good CL, they continue in the protocol and are timed bred. We pregnancy check at 39 days post breeding, and open cows are already set up to be in the ovsynch protocol to be bred at day 42. We utilize SCR ear tags for health and breeding to help catch the repeat breeders.

Describe your breeding philosophy. We want a high-producing cow that will breed back with little issues. We want to maximize every animal to allow them to reach their full potential.
 
What guidelines do you follow to reach the goals for your breeding program? We never cherry pick any cows earlier than the voluntary waiting period to maximize milk peaks. We work closely with our ABS Global team member, Casey Nelson, to pick the best bulls to reach our goals. We utilize sexed and beef semen to only reproduce from our best cows.

What are the top traits you look for in breeding your dairy herd and how has this changed since you started farming? When we started it was all about milk, milk, milk. We have changed that to focus on components, somatic cell count and health traits. We also look for positive conception on SCR and daughter pregnancy rate.

What are certain traits you try to avoid? The biggest trait we try to avoid is straight legged bulls. We have gotten some that are too posty and now are trying to fix them in the next generation.

Describe the ideal cow for your herd. We like a medium-statured cow with good legs that will breed back one of the first times to stay around for a long time.

What role does genetics have in reaching the goals of your farm? We have been using ABS Global’s Genetic Management System for more than 30 years and have also added genomics through ABS in the last four years to make sure we are achieving our goals with top genetics only from our best animals.

What percentage of your herd is bred to sexed, conventional and beef semen? The top 60% is bred with sexed semen, and the bottom 40% is bred with beef semen. We no longer use conventional semen. The top animals get bred two times to sexed semen, and the top 85% of this group will also get a third service before being switched to beef.

What is your conception rate? Our conception rate is 44%, and our pregnancy rate is 30%.  
                               
What is the greatest lesson you have learned through your breeding program? We have learned with a combination of genomics and GMS mating that we can get a better animal all around. It is our experience that the environment can have a big impact on the animal so we don’t want to solely go off of genomics. We always want to verify the full genetic potential has been reached by physically looking at each animal individually.

What is the age of your heifers at first service? We are breeding heifers at a minimum of 13.5 months but usually closer to 14 months old. All of our heifers are eligible for embryos the first two services before being bred to sexed semen or beef semen.

How does your heifer inventory affect your breeding program? Our heifer program is a lot more consistent now that we are using sexed semen. We can control the number of heifers that are born a lot easier and are getting a better price on the beef calves that we sell.

Tell us about your farm. Johnson’s Rolling Acres was established in 1979 when LeRoy and Darleen and their sons formed a corporation. Over the years, all six of the boys were part of the farm and one son-in-law. As of today, the farm is made up of six partners. The three senior partners are Mark, Bradley and Richard Johnson. The three junior partners are Trinity, Lee and Zac Johnson. We also raise pigs and have enough land to feed all the animals and have grain for sale also. We have 21 employees who are key to making it all happen on a daily basis. The current partners have areas we are in charge of: Mark and Trinity manage the dairy, Bradley manages the pigs, Richard is the farm manager, Lee manages the shop, and Zac manages agronomy. When we are busy, it is all hands on deck no matter the job.