Forging a new direction

DENMARK, Wis. — Jeremy Schlies is the reason cows still fill the barn at Old Settlers Dairy. The 23-year-old’s passion for bovines is reflected in the decisions he makes and the tasks he does.

“I kind of always knew I wanted to farm,” Jeremy said. “I don’t know what the heck else I would do. I love it.”

Jeremy farms with his dad, Dave, on their 90-cow dairy near Denmark. Even before he graduated from the Farm and Industry Short Course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2022, Jeremy had a knack for herd management and finding ways to get more milk out of the cows.

“The cows are the priority of every day,” he said. “They’re our bread and butter and how we structure ourselves. At the end of the day, it’s satisfying for me to do a good job with them. I’m very hands-on.”

Jeremy is the fourth generation on the farm that Dave and his brother, Don, own in partnership. Dave owns two-thirds and Don owns one-third. Don hauls milk for R. Schlies Transfer Inc., which he owns and operates as a full-time business. Don’s and Dave’s father started the business in 1968 as a can route. 

“Jeremy is the main culprit of why there are cows here,” Dave said. “He’s the driving force.”

With his forward mindset, Jeremy has taken the farm in a new direction.

“I had some ideas and felt we needed to make some changes to set the building blocks for more production,” he said.

His dad said he can relate to his son’s thinking.

“Jeremy has different ideas than me, I had different ideas than my dad, and my dad had different ideas than his dad,” Dave said. “That’s just the way it is. At our size, you can’t meet benchmarks, you have to exceed them. You have to do better each day.”

Jeremy agreed.

“We have to stay viable with the times,” he said. “If I can make some small improvement, that means a lot to me. Facilities only mean so much. What are the meat and potatoes behind it?”

The Schlieses milk twice a day in a tiestall barn, with father and son milking together every morning.

“Dad and I do quite a bit together,” Jeremy said. “I couldn’t do it by myself.”

They also receive help from four part-time employees.

Jeremy’s mom, Julie, is a fifth-grade teacher and drives the chopper in the summer. The Schlieses farm 490 acres. Don and his sons, Jacob,  Jeffery and Ryan, help with fieldwork as well. Don’s wife, Wendy, works for a law firm in Green Bay.

Dave is in charge of feeding calves, and Jeremy takes care of feeding cows.

“I took a lot of time in school to learn how to manage and improve on that,” Jeremy said. “I take pride in putting a good ration in front of the cows, and I’m big into watching dry matter. That has made a huge difference.”

As he worked to get more feed into the cows, Jeremy increased feed pushups. Their cows eat an average of 62 pounds of dry matter per day, which has risen by 7 pounds. The increase in dry matter intake has given way to an increase in milk production as well.

The farm has a rolling herd average of 34,600 pounds of milk, 1,281 pounds of butterfat and 1,102 pounds of protein. Jeremy said he aims for 7.5 pounds of solids per cow. A total mixed ration is fed to nearly every animal on the farm and customized for milk cows, dry cows, heifers and steers.

The tiestall barn is tunnel-ventilated and features timed LED lighting. Jeremy also installed more fans to improve ventilation.

“I take a lot of pride in making sure the cows are comfortable,” he said. “Cows also get exercise year-round, which is a big priority for us.”

Dave saw the future in Jeremy, and from making enhancements in the barn to updating the milkhouse, he gave his son a foundation to take him into the future. Adding new stalls, mangers and plumbing to the barn in 2013 is one such example.

“My dad could tell when I was young that I had interest in the farm,” Jeremy said. “I give him credit for seeing that in me and building respectable facilities for these animals.”

Jeremy makes all breeding and health decisions. The Schlieses follow an extensive vaccination program and recently rewrote their vaccine protocol.

Jeremy is 10 years into developing a herd of registered Holsteins and has bred several Excellent cows.

“I only have one grade cow left,” he said. “I have an interest in value-added, and registered cattle is that for me.”

Building pedigrees and solid production is Jeremy’s focus, and he hopes to market more of his cattle going forward.

“I want quality production when it comes to selling cattle so someone else can make a profit off her as well,” Jeremy said.  “We make our farm run on milk and want to do that for others.”

When looking at linear type evaluations, Jeremy does not look for extremes in sires.

“I’m looking to build a functional, profitable cow,” he said.

Jeremy said heifers are averaging 103 pounds of milk per day.

“Work and thought went into improving the next generation, and it’s nice to see those results standing in front of me,” Jeremy said. “As long as I see some type of small improvement, it’s very satisfying.”

Jeremy utilizes a double ovsynch breeding program, switching from standard ovsynch nearly five years ago.

“I have a long list of good things to say about double ovsynch,” he said.

Their pregnancy rates rose from 16% to 40%-45%. Problems with fresh cows, including retained placentas and ketosis, have reduced significantly.

“We really noticed the health benefits of double ovsynch, especially at freshening,” Jeremy said. “Cows are getting into the barn and working right away. They have better intakes, and things clicked into place. The improvement from what it was is second to none.”

Jeremy also implemented a computer program to simplify recordkeeping on the farm.

“I was writing everything by hand before, and it was inconvenient having things spread out,” he said. “Now it’s all in a central location.”

Jeremy uses the VAS PULSE Platform. Using a cloud-based app on his phone, he records vaccinations and keeps track of other health records and breeding information.

“Everything is on here,” he said. “It’s how I run the place, and it improved how we manage the dairy. It’s a great program.”

Jeremy continues to build on his successes as he takes hold of his career.

“I have my hands in everything we do,” Jeremy said. “Everything in the bulk tank reflects our choices and efforts, and that’s pretty darn neat. I find that to be the most rewarding part of being a small operation.”