Arrowhead farm, Winsconsin, USA
The Farm:
- Located in Wisconsin, USA
- Owners: Dave and Andy Johnson
- 220 dairy cows (Holstein)
- Housing: 6 row loose-housing
- 2x8 Cascade parallel parlour
- 2 milkings per day
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.
Manure management:
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 manure scraper on the crowd gate is awesome - we don’t even need to wash down afterwards”.
Herd management:
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.”
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”.
Housing
“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 mattresses filled with rubber. In hot weather, fans increase airflow and a low-cost demister keeps 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.
Crops and forages
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”.
Feeding:
"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.
Milking:
“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 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”.
In 2003 it cost $8.04 to produce 100 pounds of milk on Arrowhead Farm but Dave expects it to “improve a lot” with the higher milk prices of 2004.
Future:
“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.”
Published: September 2004
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