Listening to the cows, soil

GREENWOOD, Wis. — Joseph and Emma Nolt began their dairy farming career in 2003, purchasing their current farm and a herd of Red & White Holsteins in 2007. Since then, they have focused their efforts on listening to their cows to determine how best to meet their needs.

“They might not be your typical grazing herd, but I have found that the Holsteins have been the ideal cow for me to graze with,” Nolt said.

Nolt hosted a pasture walk and farm meeting on his farm Oct. 9. The event was put on by the Clark County office of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension.

The Nolts milk 52 cows, which they calve year-round. In 2013 they transitioned their farm to organic production and began shipping their milk to Organic Valley. They average around 60 pounds of milk per cow per day on twice-a-day milking. The herd runs a 4.4% butterfat and 3.0% protein test.

The Nolts farm 200 acres. They grow 30-35 acres of corn each year for corn silage and commit everything else to pasture for hay or grazing. The Nolts recently purchased an additional 80 acres of land located across the road from their home farm and have begun the process of transitioning that property to organic production.

The majority of their cow’s diet comes from grazing and forages. While on pasture, the cows are supplemented with a total mixed ration mix consisting of snaplage, corn silage and baleage mixed with minerals. No additional protein supplementation is fed while the cows are pastured.

Nolt moves his milking herd to new paddocks twice daily during the grazing season. Those paddocks are equipped with water access, allowing the cows to eat rather than travel for water.

“They spend most of their time grazing, day and night,” Nolt said. “I will bring them into the barn on very hot days. I know I’d rather be inside on a hot day. Maybe it’s just my cows, but they bunch up if it’s warm and humid and there are lots of flies. Those things affect their production.”

Dry cows are also grazed on new paddocks once daily. The dry cows must return to the buildings to access water.

When the Nolts began their farming endeavor, they purchased a herd of Red & White Holsteins to launch their dairy. Over time, Nolt says those cows have continued to work well in his management system.

“There are now some Linebacks and some Jersey crosses in the herd, and we are breeding some to Angus,” Nolt said. “But most of the herd remains bred to Holstein bulls.”

Most of the herd is bred using A.I. Nolt does not used sexed semen. For nearly a dozen years, he has utilized the Animal Analysis Associates program to help determine the bulls to use within his herd to create the cows he considers optimal for grazing.

Developed by Bill Weeks in 1950, aAa serves as a guideline for producers, identifying traits that would improve the daughters of a cow using a series of three numbers that correspond to those traits. Bulls are also evaluated, with their three-digit aAa code identifying the traits they would bring to the mating.

During the summer, the Nolts raise the resulting calves with much the same philosophy they use to care for their dams. Calves are raised in pairs, in pens created of cattle panels, which are moved daily. Calves are fed a gallon of milk twice daily. They are weaned at 3 months of age. While they are on milk, they are fed no calf starter, only dry hay and the grass they graze.

Weaned calves and heifers are kept in two groups on Nolt’s farm. Both groups are rotationally grazed, moving pastures every 3-4 days a needed. During non-grazing months, the heifers are housed in a barn with outdoor access.

While on pasture, Nolt’s heifers must also return to the buildings to access water. There they are fed the manger cleanings as a supplement to the pasture they consume.

“I have had people ask me why I don’t put water out to the heifer paddocks,” Nolt said. “I like to see my heifers every day. If they don’t have to come up for water, I might not see them every day. They sometimes won’t even come back for water on cooler or wetter days. You start to wonder if they are still there.”

The organic principle of requiring livestock to have free access to pasture throughout the grazing season suits Nolt’s farming philosophy well. Building organic matter within the soil and providing the soil with the nutritional supplementation it requires to produce the quality forages his herd requires is something he puts thought into.

Using visual cues and soil testing, Nolt said he lets his pastures and soils tell him what they need to be productive.

“Once or sometimes twice a year, I’ll supplement pastures with a little bit of sulfur and some boron,” Nolt said.

Nolt said he enjoys watching the pastures and fields on his farm thrive while building organic material in the soil. He experiments with different cover crops and grass mixtures, seeding in varieties he believes may be enjoyed by his herd.