Top Performers

How many times a day do you milk, and what is your current herd average, butterfat and protein? We milk three times a day. Our rolling herd average is 33,431 pounds, which equates to 101 pounds per cow. Our energy-corrected milk is 116, and our combined fat and protein is 7.9 pounds of solids.

Describe your housing and milking facility. Our cows are housed in sand-bedded, 4-row free stalls which are naturally ventilated. Our main barn was built in 2006. The parlor is a double-10 DeLaval herringbone parlor.

Who is part of your farm team, and what are their roles? My parents, Troy and Sandy Madland, and my sister, Theresa Holloway. My dad focuses on the cropping and machinery, and my mom does all the inventories and ordering of feed and supplies, bookkeeping and payroll. Theresa is our calf and youngstock manager and milks the hospital cows daily. I am the main herdsman on the farm and have taken over most of the daily operations management. Benito Gomez is our assistant herdsman. We have a dedicated group of employees who have been with us many years and are invaluable.

What is your herd health program? We have bi-weekly herd health with Ashley Kruse, DVM. We check cows that are fresh 28-41 days. We check for pregnancy at 30 days and recheck pregnancy at 44 days to catch any early embryonic deaths. We also do a late pregnancy confirmation check at 180 days. Our cows are vaccinated after their fresh check with Bovi-Shield and J-VAC. Cows going dry are vaccinated with Bovilis Guardian.

What does your dry cow and transition program consist of? Our cows are dried up between 45 and 60 days before calving, depending on production level. Since we can detect twins with ultrasound, those cows are given a 60-day dry period. We use Quartermaster for dry treatment and Lockout teat sealant. Our dry cows are housed in a 3-row freestall barn with sand bedding and 52-inch stalls. They have access to pasture in good weather. We have one dry cow ration mix which is corn silage, sorghum sudangrass and grassy hay with a mineral mix. This mix is dietary cation-anion difference balanced. We shoot for a 33-pounds of dry matter intake for this group, and that intake is pretty high for a dry group. We want them to have an easy transition to our post-fresh ration. At 14 days before calving, dry cows go into a bedded pack on the same ration. We use just-in-time calving, and cows are moved to an individual pen when labor has started. After calving and cleaning up her calf, a fresh cow goes into our hospital pen for a few days until her milk tests are clear of antibiotics.

What is the composition of your ration, and how has that changed in recent years? We feed a 50% forage ration. The forages consist of two-thirds corn silage and one-third haylage. We use high-moisture corn silage and purchase cottonseed and corn gluten to stretch inventory of haylage. We also feed whey permeate and protein and lactating mineral mixes. Our ration has stayed pretty consistent the last few years. We do have some light soils, so drought is always a worry. When things were looking pretty dry this past summer, we started sourcing alfalfa baleage to have on hand. Our nutritionist comes every other week, and we talk through any changes or challenges we may be having.

Tell us about the forages you plant and detail your harvest strategies. We grow conventional corn silage and pure alfalfa haylage. We cut hay four times. The first cutting is not usually until Memorial Day. We do all of our own fieldwork, so we have to get corn and soybeans planted before we can start hay. We shoot for 55% moisture on haylage and 65% moisture on corn silage. I run the chopper and have continually made better quality feed with upgrades in equipment and experience. Cover crops are also grown; usually a triticale-rye mix and sorghum sudangrass for youngstock feed and a bit to the dry cows.

What is your average somatic cell count and how does that affect your production? Our SCC averages around 45,000. We have held a very low SCC for quite a few years. We have the lowest SCC in our Dairy Herd Improvement Association and our milk cooperative. Our emphasis on cow comfort helps our cows have strong immune systems and a low disease incidence. A combination of low cell count and strong reproduction numbers keeps our herd at about 160 average days in milk, and that allows us to consistently produce over 100 pounds per cow.

What change has created the biggest improvement in your herd average? We were milking in our double-7 parlor and maxing out our milking time along with a long walk for the cows back and forth from the freestall barn. We had plateaued in milk output for about three years and knew our facility was our limiting factor. In 2015, we built the DeLaval double-10 milking parlor. The new parlor made a tremendous difference. We had a good milking routine in the old parlor, but the new one was so much more comfortable for the cows and the milking crew. In 2022, we were able to build a transition cow barn. It had been on our wish list for a long time. Prior to that, our cows in transition had to make do in our oldest barns. We knew they deserved better. The new barn is 104- by 172-feet with maternity through post-fresh under one roof. Since being in that barn for a little over a year, we have seen less metabolic issues post calving, resulting in a 10-pound increase in peak milk production.

What technology do you use to monitor your herd? Our herd is on DHIA official test. We also are longtime DairyComp 305 users. We have the FeedWatch system and really like it to dial in our rations for changing pen counts and dry matter on feeds. About four years ago, we started using CowManager to track rumination and activity.

What is your breeding program, and what role does genetics play in your production level? Heifers are bred at 13.5 months on natural heat and some CIDR synch. Cows are enrolled in double ovsynch with a voluntary waiting period of 77 days. We use the resynch program with CowManager to catch repeats. Our herd is registered, and we take advantage of the Holstein association’s classification program. We also have had ABS Global evaluate and mate our cows for almost 30 years. Genetic focus is on net merit, combined fat and protein, and cow conception rate with balanced linear for moderate-stature cows. We have gained good ground on our milk components through focused breeding. We do our own breeding in house.

List three management strategies that have helped you attain your production and component level. Improving cow comfort. There are always things on the wish list, but we are very happy with our new transition barn. We strive to make the best quality forages. The better quality feed we can make, the less purchased feed we have to buy. Feed is the biggest expense. If we can keep our feed costs down, then we have more room in the budget for our cow comfort wish list. We make the most out of the technology we have. We have not always been the first to try a new technology, but we read a lot of articles and follow social media to get tips and tricks on what works and what is worth the investment.

Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy in the next year. My parents are first-generation farmers and purchased our farm in 1994. They started with grade Holsteins and now have a registered herd. We raise all of our youngstock and also keep half of our bull calves to feeder size. Our cropping operation is about 1,900 acres, and we do all our own fieldwork. We have one irrigation rig on our main corn silage acres. We also have on-farm grain bins. Our milk is shipped with Scenic Central Milk Producers Cooperative. Our next big project will be more manure storage.