producer panel - vita plus
TRANSCRIPT
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Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Producer Panel: Building the Heifer-raising Strategy That Best Fits Your Farm
Dairy Summit 2013 Preconference SessionModerated by Ann Hoskins, Vita Plus calf products coordinator
Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Meet our panelists
• Dan Smits, Double S Dairy, Wisconsin– Home-raised heifers
• Chad Carlson, Carlson Dairy, Minnesota– Custom-raised heifers
• Dr. Don Niles, Dairy Dreams, Wisconsin– Genetic Technologies in Heifer Management
Decisions
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Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Home-raised HeifersDan Smits
Double S Dairy • Markesan, Wisconsin
Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Business Overview• 1250 milk cows
• 1200 heifers
• 3000 acres of land
• Double S Dairy in partnership between Dan & Steve Smits
• Double S Heifer Operation in partnership between Dan, Steve and Mark Smits
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Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Bringing Heifers Home• The current heifer raiser was doing a great job
• However:– We wanted to take advantage of the land base that we had
– We had adequate labor
– Opportunity to manage our own heifers
– Getting to the point where we were outgrowing our heifer raiser
Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Facilities - Young Heifers
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Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Facilities - Older Heifers
Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Current Performance Statistics
• 95.6% of all heifer calves born alive to the dairy in 2010 either calved or sold as springers
• Overall ADG: 1.8-1.9#
• Average age at 1st breeding: 15 months
• Average age at 1st calving: 24.5 months
• AI conception rate: 57.8%
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Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
How is Performance Monitored?
• Weight is measured at birth
• Weight is recorded at 9 weeks when moved to another facility
• Either weighed or taped before breeding
• Weighed when they come back for calving
• In addition, health records are important information to have to determine why an animal may be undersized
Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Changes in Cropping/Feeding System
• Did not need to buy more land
• Specific heifer forages/feeds will change depending on the year:– Have planted rye in the fall
– Also, have utilized sudan grass, peas & oats & sweet corn silage
– Stalkage/Pea Vines
– Marsh grass/Stalklage/distillers grains
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Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Daily Feed Costs• Super Hutch: $2.12
• Grower Pen: $1.45
• Breeding Pen: $1.68
• Early Bred Pen: $1.50
• Late Preg Pen: $1.54
Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Changes in Labor
• Added 2 full-time employees– Both are considered managers
• 1 part-time employee
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Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
If Your Dairy Business Grows, How Do You Plan to Deal with More Heifers?
• I don’t plan on growing anymore??
• May need to build facilities for older animals instead of having them in open lots
Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Home-raised Heifers - Advantages
• You are in control
• Maximize assets/land/labor
• Economics
• Biosecurity– Reluctant to send animals to custom raiser who is raising
heifers for multiple farms
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Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Home-raised Heifers - Disadvantages
• Can’t blame anyone else if something goes wrong
• Do need more land & labor
• Manure management
• Dealing with the DNR
Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Questions???
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Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Custom-raised HeifersChad Carlson
Carlson Dairy LLP • Pennock, Minnesota
Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Partners
Curtney & Louise Carlson
Chad & Kindra Carlson
Carl & Kellie Carlson
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Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Wrestling Rules!Wrestling Rules!
Photo by Steven’s Shutter Shoppe
L’il Partners
Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Our Mission
To Operate a , , INNOVATIVE,
and dairy.
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Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”
A favorite Mark Twain Quote:
Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Business Overview• 1500 milking and dry cows
• Sand-bedded, cross-ventilated barns
• 1000 acres farmed; 700 acres owned
• 25 employees
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Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Custom-raised Heifers• Started using a customer raiser: 2001/2002
– Current raiser started in 2008
– Have used a total of 3 custom raisers in the past
• Sent to customer raiser at 4 months
• Paying a flat rate of $/head/day
• Custom raiser only raisingfor CarlsonDairy
Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Current Performance Statistics
• Age at 1st calving: 23 months
• Overall ADG: Not measured but expect an overall 1.8-2.0# per day
• Age at 1st breeding: 13 months
– All heifers bred by 15 months
• Cull Rate: Very low– Custom heifer raiser will communicate about poor doers and
decisions will be made on individual animals
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Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Custom Raising Reasons
• First made the decision in 2001
• Lack of facility space
• Lack of land base
• These are still the primary reasons today
• However, Carlson Dairy is building an automatic calf feeder barn to increase capacity for younger heifers
Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Communication with Custom Raiser
• On an as-needed basis
• Most of communicate takes place when springers are moved back home once per month
• We visit customraiser 4 timesper year– 200 mile
distance
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Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Technologies Used
• Heifer raiser uses Scout program
• We receive inventory numbers back on a quarterly basis
• Not using sexed semen today but may consider using it again
Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
If Your Dairy Business Grows, How Do You Plan to Deal with More Heifers
• Process of adding new calf barn on home farm– Goal is to house as many young stock on site as possible
• May be opportunity to expand the custom raiser facilities
• Access to pasture at custom raiser which allows for greater capacity in summer months
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Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Feeding Program
• Forages:– Pasture utilized in summer– Haylage/grass mix; sorghum, oatlage– Small amount of corn silage– Corn stalks to dilute the energy level in older heifers
• No corn added but receiving heifers will receive calf grower
• Very few byproducts used
Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Custom-raised Heifers - Advantages
• Custom raiser can focus on just heifers
• Lower labor costs
• Less issues with feed procurement
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Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Custom-raised Heifers -Disadvantages
• Animals out of your hands and eyes
• Relying on someone else to get the job done
• Risk:– These replacements are the future of your herd
– If it is not done properly, the dairy will feel the effects for years to come
Employee-Owned • TheSky is the Limit • Dairy Summit 2013
Questions???
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Managing our Replacement Resource
Mother nature makes a very poor calf manager!
Replacement Resource Defined• All heifers from birth to delivery of their first calf
• Dairy Dream’s heifer resource is $2,244,350
• Traditionally this resource is managed with numerous tactics but little strategy
• More strategic thinking could be of benefit in managing this area
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What are replacement needs?• Assumptions
• 50% heifers (n0 sexed semen)
• 100% survival rate to successfully freshening
• A 50% cull rate could be supported without purchasing additional animals
• A 35% cull rate would allow for 30% extraneous heifers to be sold. It would also allow for strategic alternatives
What are replacement needs?• Assumptions:
• 50% heifers (no sexed semen)
• 70% survival rate to successfully freshening
• A 35% cull rate could be supported without purchasing additional animals
• If 35% is exceeded, then buy replacements or, worse, don’t cull those that should be culled (Mother Nature makes a lousy heifer manager)
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Industry metrics• Stillbirths‐ 8.1%
• Birth to pre‐weaning mortalities‐ 10.5%
• Weaning to fresh mortalities‐ 3%
• Infertility‐ 5.5%
• Abortions‐ 10.2%
How high can we go in heifer survivability?
• DOA rates of 2%, calf and heifer mortality rates of 2% and heifer preg rates of >50% becoming achievable.
• We are starting to see herds with >90% survivability.
• This opens an opportunity to use innovative tactics to better manage our heifer resources
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How much excess resource?• With 90% survival, no sexed semen, 50% heifers and a
45% cull rate can be supported.
• Therefore, with a 35% cull rate, 30% of the heifer resource will be extraneous.
• How can that excess 30% be put to most profitable use?
• If my heifer resource is worth $2,244,350 I am talking about managing $673,305 for greater profit.
What options are available?• Raise and freshen all the heifers and sell more cows
for a higher culling rate and younger herd.
• Raise all heifers and sell springers.
• Cull heifers much earlier based on an established plan.
• Breed some animals for non‐dairy off‐spring
• Use some animals as surrogates for other dairy’s embryos.
• Make greater use of a strategic DNB program.
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Raise and freshen all the heifers and sell more cows for a higher culling rate and younger herd.
• Traditional default strategy?
• With good management tends to be a small difference between cull and replacement.
• Is a younger herd a problem?
Raise all heifers and sell springers.
• Common strategy
• In current conditions may be breakeven at best.
• How long will current conditions apply?
• Why settle for a breakeven return on such a large asset?
• Virtually guarantees a sufficient replacement pool
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Cull heifers earlier based onan established plan.
• What age is best to sell supplemental heifers?• Birth – low investment
• Weaning
• 5 months
• Prebreeding
• Breeding
• Springer
• The market is about $1.00/# for the whole range. Therefore, if it costs >$1.00/# to raise, sooner the better.
Cull heifers earlier based on an established plan.
• What data is available?
• Birth – pedigree
• Weaning – some growth and health
• 5 month – more growth and health
• Prebreeding – even more growth and health
• Breeding – fertility
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Breed some animals for non‐dairy off‐spring
• Beef cross calves• Potentially greater value for beef cross than dairy beef
• Greater efficiency
• Positive market due to historically small US beef herd
• Removes an animal from future replacement herd a year or more sooner than voluntary culling program
• Current Dairy Dreams program• ABS In Focus beef on dairy
• Used on cows with a DDINX less than 100
• CME Market price for 400#. $5.00 commission/head
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Use some animals as surrogates for other dairy’s embryos.
• “Rent a Uterus”
• Market appears to be $700‐$1500
• Faster return than most options
• Removes an animal from future replacement herd a year or more sooner than voluntary culling program
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Make greater use of a strategic DNB program.
• Aggressive, focused DNB program
• Examples
• >3 lact
• Relv < 90
• Mast/SCC
• Save cost of tx and higher risk of reoccurance
• This is the only tactic which doesn’t require a dry period (cost $250?)
• High value fat cull vs low value fresh cull (difference?)
• Best in a BST environment
Dairy Dreams’ Genetic Plan• All animals assigned a genetic score (DDINX) at birth,
based on pedigree
• DDINX composit of DPR (50%), prot (40%), fat (10%)
• Based on DDINX top 10% of calves are genomically tested.
• Those that remain in top are bred with sexed semen 1x.
• The top 4‐5 in each test period are flushed
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Dairy Dreams current program• 5 month voluntary culls ‐
• >1 treatment for resp disease
• Poorest weight gains
• Breeding –• Not settled in 5 breedings are culled
• Cows with DDINX<100 are bred to Angus
• “Poor” breeding cows are flagged “D”• Show up as “Do not breed if open” on preg check
• “Poor” predry Preg cows are flagged “W”• Assigned as DNB with poor start to next lact
Concluding Thoughts and Needs• All tactics require some anticipation of replacement
needs.
• Least for selling springers
• Greatest for beef, embryos and DNB’s
• A tool is needed to help track how many future replacements have been already gained (sexed semen) or lost either to random “Mother Nature” or planned events.
• Needs to be broken down by anticipated month of freshening.
• An economic model is needed to weigh these tactics under various economic conditions