Top Performers: Kellercrest Registered Holsteins

Mark, Tim and Sandy Keller of Kellercrest Registered Holsteins  

Mount Horeb, Wisconsin | Dane County | Currently milking 293 cows and 37 dry cows | Total 330

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 current rolling herd average is 34,518 pounds of milk, with tests of 4.6% butterfat and 3.3% protein. We peaked last June at 35,420 pounds of milk, with 4.6% butterfat and 3.3% protein, and an energy-corrected rolling herd average of 41,611 pounds of milk.

Describe your housing and milking facility. Our primary barn is a 6-row, sand-bedded free stall with tunnel ventilation. The fresh cow barn is a single-row, 20-stall barn that’s also has sand-bedded free stalls. Both barns have long-day lighting. Cows are milked in a double-12 parallel parlor.

Who is part of your farm team, and what are their roles? Tim oversees employees and helps his wife, Sandy, with bookwork and does the clearing of the heifer shed and waste management. He also works with the veterinarian for the herd. Mark does the record keeping of cattle vet work and mixes feed while managing the repro vet work and records. Sandy is the farm bookkeeper and handles calf care. Andrew, Tim and Sandy’s son, also works as part of our crew. He helps with the day-to-day chores, feeding calves and other daily duties.

What is your herd health program? We use weekly pregnancy checks and utilize a double ovsync program for breeding. Fresh cows are vaccinated every 28 days with Bova Shield and J-5. At dry off, cows get J-5 and SRP Salmonella vaccine. Calves and heifers get Bova Shield and Ultra Back-7 twice.

What does your dry cow and transition program consist of? Dry cows are housed in our old dairy barn set up with tunnel ventilation and sand-bedded free stalls.  Far-off dry cows are fed a dry cow diet with low-potassium grass hay, corn silage, hay silage, winter rye and a mineral mix.  The pre-fresh group gets a milk cow ration along with some Reashure and X-Zelit for two weeks before calving.  We have about a 50-day dry period.  Cows calve in a large pack pen next to the pre-fresh group.  Heifers calve in a pack next to the pre-fresh group.  After calving, both heifers and cows are moved to our post-fresh cow barn for 3-4 weeks.  Post-fresh cows get fed the milk cow ration along with some Nutra Cal and Reashure and a top dress of some nice grass hay.

What is the composition of your ration, and how has that changed in recent years? The main cow diet is a total mixed ration of corn silage, hay silage, winter rye silage, cotton seed, dry distillers grain, high moisture corn and dry corn, both ground fairly fine, 5 pounds of alfalfa hay and some liquid molasses along with a protein mix with all the goodies in to balance the ration. Over the past several years, it seems we are going to more of a corn silage-based diet and less alfalfa hay silage.  The ration is balanced by our nutritionist, Bob Hagenow, with Vita-Plus.

Tell us about the forages you plant and detail your harvest strategies. Alfalfa has been Harvest Extra seed for about 13 years and we try to run a 5-cut system on 28 day cut.  For corn silage, we plant conventional corn that is tall with high grain yields. We believe this gives us high starch feed and higher tons per acre.

What is your average somatic cell count and how does that affect your production? Our somatic cell count generally is around 120,000. Our goal is to produce very clean, high-quality milk.

What change has created the biggest improvement in your herd average? Our single-row fresh cow barn added a couple thousand pounds to the RHA 14 years ago.  In the spring of 2021, we updated the ventilation system in our main barn to a tunnel ventilation system and that added another 3,000 pounds to the RHA.

What technology do you use to monitor your herd? We have the DelPro Activity system from DeLaval to help monitor cows, both high and low activity.  With the DelPro system we also have daily milk weights. With both activity and milk, we can follow if cows are in heat, sick or humming along just fine.  We have Dairy Herd Improvement approved meters, so each time we test cows the 7-day running average is what DHI uses for a cow’s milk weights.  This makes for a very accurate and reliable test.

What is your breeding program, and what role does genetics play in your production level? Our breeding program is simple: use good bulls. We have had this philosophy for 50 years now. We mainly use high Type Production Index bulls that are 1,200-1,500 pounds plus for milk, plus for fat and protein, and 1-2 points for type with sound feet and legs and good udders. We like pretty cows, but they must work. We also look at Net Merit and have an understanding of where it comes from. We are looking more at Cow Conception Rate. We are a very genetic base herd. We like our high production, putting bulls in bull studs but also enjoy making a nice show cow or heifer for showing.

List three management strategies that have helped you attain your production and component level. Our top strategy is to use good bulls that have a high genetic base that will set you up for the long haul. Cow comfort is our second strategy. We love our sand bedding. As Bob Hagenow of Vita Plus says, “Clean, dry and comfortable.” We say, “We take care of our cows so they can take care of us.” Our third strategy is using high-quality forages. You need good forages to make optimal and economical milk.

Tell us about your farm and your plans for the dairy in the next year. Kellercrest is a genetic-based herd. We believe in longevity and old cows. We just had our 21st cow go over 300,000 pounds of milk lifetime. We work as a leader trying to protect our local watershed from waste runoff. We have planted cover crops for almost 20 years now, and contour farmed for 50 years. We take care of our cows and land so they can take care of us.  As for plans for this year, we just want to continue to try to make high-quality, economical milk.  At some point, we would like to upgrade our dry cow facilities.