Making technology work for him

Haas embraces new advances, ways of thinking

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COLBY, Wis. — When Jeremy Haas left the world of engineering to launch his dairy farming career, he was not certain what to expect. In the end, what he found was a way of life that suited him and his young family.

In 2009, Haas purchased the herd of cows, and eventually the farm, from his parents. Haas’s dairy career began by taking over milking 50 cows, three times a day in a tiestall barn.

Today Haas and his wife, Katie, and their four children — Emma, Kaden, Landon and Korbin — milk 200 cows with four DeLaval VMS V300 robotic milking machines. The herd averages 96 pounds of milk, per cow, per day. The Haases crop 600 acres, raising nearly all the feed required for their herd, with the flexibility of cash-cropping additional crops.

Haas credits much of his success to the integration of technology within his management system, and his willingness to share his story with others. The Haases opened the doors of their Colby farm for a tour hosted by the Professional Dairy Producers Aug. 21.

“Labor is what pushed us to robots,” Jeremy said. “When we started looking at options, visiting different barns and set-ups, looking at our options, robotics penciled in right for us.”

The Haases began their robotic journey in 2016, building a new barn complete with two DeLaval VMS Classic robotic milking units, and growing their herd to 120 cows.

The cross-ventilation in their barn plays a large role in cow comfort, Haas said, aiding his ability to keep production maintained at high levels even during the summer heat.

“It’s pretty nice in here when it’s hot out,” Haas said. “We don’t see too much of a drop in production when it’s hot until we get hit with a week or so of really miserable weather.”

Since starting up their robotic barn, the Haases have embraced new technologies they believe suit their operation.

“I thought we were set up to add a third unit before expanding by flipping the barn,” Haas said. “In 2021, we traded those Classics for two V300s, still with no plans to go beyond 75 cows per unit. Our goal had been to increase production by 15% and we got that making that switch.”

A new set of eyes viewing his barn changed Haas’s thought process.

“Shortly after we switched to the V300s, a friend came through,” Haas said. “Looking at the barn, he said, ‘If I had this many empty stalls in my free stalls, I’d double my cows.’ That got me thinking.”

Haas began to research his herd, installing cameras to monitor stall usage. He said he was surprised at what he learned.

“Even at peak stall usage, we were still averaging 16 empty stalls,” Haas said. “That peak use was happening around 2 or 3 a.m.”

Armed with that information, the Haases added a third V300 in 2022, without adding on to the barn. 

“We used the smallest footprint possible we could for that robot room and went up to 100 cows on that pen,” Haas said. “It worked and in 2023 we added a fourth unit and went to 200 head.”

The cows are housed in two groups: one for mature cows and one for first-lactation cows, Jerseys and cows that do not adapt well to changing pens.
The cows in each pen are averaging 3.1 milkings per day. Haas said the configuration has basically eliminated fetch cows.

“With the guided flow and pens being overcrowded, somehow it gets the animals to move a lot better, more efficiently,” Haas said. “If I have to touch an animal, other than a fresh heifer, something is wrong with her. Either she is sick, stuck in a stall somewhere or she’s got a bad foot.”

In 2022, Haas installed CowManager, a tool he calls very necessary.

“I was spending too much time checking (beta-hydroxybutyrate) on days seven and 12, taking temps on fresh cows and everything,” Haas said. “I wanted something that could kind of function as a herd manager and flag some of those animals for me. I think rumination is an absolute must for cow health and performance. It’s incredible what you see when rumination falls off.”

Haas keeps his post-fresh cows segregated for several days before allowing them to mingle with the herd.

“It’s a rumination-driven thing,” Haas said. “I allow them access to a regular pen during the daytime after a couple of days. You can get a (displaced abomasum) in a real hurry if you mess rumination up.”

Also in 2022, the Haas’s farm became a test farm for a progesterone monitoring program being developed by DeLaval, for use with their robots.

By January 2023 Haas gave up the double ovsynch program he had relied on for years and eventually gave up doing regular herd health checks.

“I really fell in love with that, and I feel comfortable relying on it,” Haas said. “I’ve gotten spoiled by not doing herd health, from a time standpoint. By the time you’ve given eight shots to a cow on a double ovsynch program, she knows you’re coming.”

With the progesterone monitoring system, Haas said his conception rate has been running around 42%, a figure that satisfies him. Haas’s cows are bred using A.I., with a focus on selecting for increased milk, fat and protein along with correct feet and legs and a positive udder composite.

The top 75% of his first-lactation heifers are bred using sexed semen, along with another 20% of the top animals identified in the herd. The remainder are bred to beef bulls.

Overall, Haas said he has been happy with the decisions made in building and developing his robotic barn.

“If anything, I wish I’d thought differently about expansion,” Haas said. “Ten years ago, when we were looking, there weren’t a lot of options out there. We traveled a fair distance to see setups that were successful and could get the kind of performance we expected. That has changed a lot in 10 years. There are so many options being created and new ways to increase results.”

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