|
Farm/dairy name: Arrowhead Farms
Owners: Dave and Andy Johnson
No of dairy cows: 220
Breed of cows: Holstein
Housing: 6 row loose-housing system
Milking system: Cascade™ parallel parlour
Number of milkings per day: 2
“DeLaval treats us fantastic! DeLaval has a great product line and great service. If I had to do it all again – I’d go for DeLaval!”
Arrowhead Farms was named that because numerous Native American arrowheads were found buried on it. The farm dates back to 1876 under that name and spans five generations to the current owners. “Our dad passed away 22 years ago so we’ve been running it a long time already. Our mother kept it going for us when he died. We formed the partnership in 1993 and we already owned most of the cattle by then. Right now we owe Mum a little more on the land but we are mostly fully in the clear,” says Dave.
The brothers' mother says she is amazed with the changes her sons have implemented on the farm. “It’s amazing to me that it’s so nice and clean all the time. You can just spray it out and I like that. It’s a beautiful and amazing parlour. This parlour means less time milking for the boys and more time with their families. This system gives them free time, plus it saves their arms, backs and legs so they’ll stay younger longer,” she laughs. “We started with about 42 cows. I’m very proud of what they have done here. My husband died in 1982 and my oldest twin sons were 13. That was hard, but we hired a man and me and the twins farmed this place together until they were old enough to take over.”
Back to top
“The year we built this barn we had 140 cows and a 90 pound average,” says Dave proudly. Today Arrowhead Farms utilizes a double-8 DeLaval Cascade™ parallel parlour which Dave adds is “expandable to a double-12”. The farms rolling average milk production is currently 25,500 pounds, with butter fat at 1071 pounds and protein at 855 pounds. Milk is collected from the farm’s bulk tank on a daily basis and its SCC is “anything between 120,000 to 200,000”.
Dave says Arrowhead Farms has always used DeLaval and says “we liked what we saw, heard and read about this parlour and we were right about it”. The parlour has been running on the farm for two years and Dave says it has been “outstanding”.
In 2003 it cost $8.04 to gain 100 pounds of milk on Arrowhead Farm but Dave expects it to “improve a lot” this year.
“We have a DeLaval TMR system and that has an inbuilt computer that accurately weighs everything going in. We feed grain, hay, silage, proteins, fat and all the minerals in a ration that every cow gets. We feed alfalfa, corn silage, high moisture corn, bailey and some bailed hay on the forage side.” The farm also uses a feed consultant.
Back to top
The brothers grow all their own forages including 160 acres of alfalfa, 200 acres of corn and 50 acres of new seeding “with a little barley mixed into it”.
Calves are raised on the farm until they are eight weeks old then taken to a contracted heifer raiser where the brothers pay $1.45 per day, per calf for the service. “Our cows weigh an average of 1450 pounds each. The average age is 4.5 years old and the herd is evenly split between first, second and third lactations. Average days in milk is 220 days, with five lactations and the calving interval is about 325 days. The herd is also 100 per cent AI bred,” summarizes Dave.
A consultant hoof trimmer means “little if any hoof problems” and the brothers use two foot baths which they refill daily. “We use copper sulphate in the footbaths and find rubber gloves are a sufficient safety measure.”
Manure management includes two separate pits, with one pit holding manure for two weeks and the other for a month. All the manure is spread between crops or during the winter months. “Some of it we give to the neighbours if they need it or we spread it on a monthly basis,” says Andy. He adds, “The DeLaval manure scraper with crowd gate is awesome - we don’t even need to wash down afterwards”.
The brothers make the farm decisions equally and “basically sit down and talk with each other within a partnership basis”. Dave says Arrowhead Farms has a team approach where “we all work together as a team - including one full time man and one part-time man”.
Back to top
“In 1996 we built the first free-stall with 76 stalls, then the other half in 2001 before adding the back end in 2002. We can further expand the free-stall to include another 400 to 500 cows if we want to. Our old barns are used for freshening.”
The farm uses covered pasture mats filled with rubber, fans for airflow and a low-cost demister to keep the herd cooled. “We just keep an eye on the herd and do what we can to keep them comfortable. You have to keep each cow as comfortable as you can because that definitely raises production” Dave adds that the butt-pan and indexing also help keep cows more relaxed in the parlour.
Back to top
“The DeLaval crew who put our system in, are always there for us and we all get along great. If I’ve got a problem I tell them and they do the same for me. There’s no beating around the bush and as yet we have had no problems. We talk on a one to one basis, to get everything done. DeLaval treats us fantastic! We chose the DeLaval stall and its equipment because we felt it would be strong enough to last a long time over many hours of use."
“DeLaval has a great product line and great service. We have no problem with any of the equipment. If I had to do it all again – I’d go with DeLaval. They are good at fixing problems and we use all their hygiene products. We change the liners once every 40 days and DeLaval gives us a preventive service every six months on contract.”
Andy says this years milk prices been “pretty decent” but adds that last year was “our worst year for prices”. He says the future will see higher milk prices because of inflation. “Our future aim is to get herd production to 30,000 and have the SCC at a 250,000 average. To achieve this herd production we intend to get the cows bred sooner and put better quality forages up. To get better quality milk we are trying different milking techniques and hygiene procedures”.
Dave is also positive about the future. "Things are going great since we put the new parlour in. We are producing more milk and spending less time milking.”
Back to top
|
