Brent Czech New Heights Dairy LLC UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA DAIRY PRODUCTION CONFERENCE Background -Grew up on 500 cow dairy, dad started in 1980 with 23 cows -Graduated from University of MN in May 2006 -New Heights Dairy LLC is a 50/50 partnership with parents 112
New Heights Dairy from 30,000 feet Rice, MN 1,370 milking and dry 1,120 heifers Generally production in mid 80 s with a 4.0 and a 3.2 200 SCC Sand bedding, 3x, bst Minnesota Top 10 Milk Dairy Producing Herds By States Size: 2003 in the vs 2014 US State 2014 Milk Production (lbs) CALIFORNIA 42,337,000,000 WISCONSIN 27,795,000,000 IDAHO 13,873,000,000 NEW YORK 13,733,000,000 PENNSYLVANIA 10,683,000,000 TEXAS 10,310,000,000 MICHIGAN 9,609,000,000 MINNESOTA 9,127,000,000 NEW MEXICO 8,105,000,000 WASHINGTON 6,584,000,000 113
Minnesota Dairy Herds By Size: 2003 vs 2014 Minnesota Dairy Herds By Size: 2003 vs 2014 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 1-49 Cows 50-99 Cows 100-199 Cows 200-499 Cows 500+ Cows 2003 2730 2403 495 211 45 2014 1006 1638 362 261 75 2014 Milk Production Per Farm: Top 23 Milk Producing States 70,000,000 60,000,000 50,000,000 40,000,000 30,000,000 20,000,000 10,000,000 New Mexico 62.3 mil lbs/farm Florida 19.3 mil lbs/farm Kansas 9.9 mil lbs/farm South Dakota 8.3 mil lbs/farm Michigan 4.9 mil lbs/farm Minnesota 2.5 mil lbs/farm - 114
Minnesota Milk Production Growth: 1990-2014 Minnesota Milk Production Growth: 1990-2014 10,500 State 10,000 9,500 Growth 92-14 Minnesota -7.4% South Dakota 27% Iowa 16% 9,000 8,500 1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 2011 2014 8,000 Wisconsin 16.5% Pennsylvania 3.2% Vermont 6.1% Michigan 77% 115
New Heights Dairy 2 Lactating sites Rice -Started May 2006 as a stand alone dairy -900 through parlor -has pre-fresh and post fresh for both sites Foley -Started March 2008 -grew into slowly -320 through parlor -mostly 1 st lactation and moderate sized cows that are greater than 20 DIM 116
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New Heights Dairy Pierz -Started November 2010 -all heifers post weaning and far off drys -400 acres -helped change production model to a more traditional Midwestern model -After 2009 decided we needed to raise our own heifers and control some land Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. Arthur Ashe 120
Thought Process The 80/20 Rule 80% of the benefit for 20% of the cost Cow Comfort Enhanced 121
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Starts with calves 3x feeding Accelerated feeding (waste milk with balancer added) Keep the pedal to the metal Breeding as soon as 10 months (started when we purchased the dairy, had no heifer program, the sooner we calved our own the sooner we could quit buying springers) Worked very well, still doing it (Claas Factory) 127
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Crossbreeding 131
Everyone s first concern consistency NHD Crossbreds vs Holsteins HOLSTEIN Milk-89 Fat-4.0 Prot-3.2 ECM-96 SCC-283 DOPN-115 CROSSBRED Milk-84 Fat-4.3 Prot-3.4 ECM-95 SCC-180 DOPN-104 132
NHD Crossbreds vs Holsteins Holstein $18.36 (Dec Prices) 23% pg rate 73% of herd Dollars of product was close, but the SCC premium gave the advantage to the crossbreds Crossbreds $18.67 (Dec Prices) 31% pg rate 27% of herd Moving toward all crossbred Breed Rotation Procross HO x MO X SR 3 breed continuous rotation I Replace Montbeliarde with Jersey in heifers and for cows after 3 services In my milk market Jersey is a viable option Currently the 3-way crosses are doing as good or better than the first crosses 133
How do I select bulls -Good Holstein base is the reason for success of crossbreeding -In all breeds I select for udders(especially udder depth) and components -Improved health from hybrid vigor Internal Growth Focus on good repro Fresh cows 4% still birth rate Calf Health Closed Herd Crossbreeding Roadblocks Mycoplasma Prototheca 134
Manure System Recycling sand for bedding Organic Load <6% Samples to OARDC in Ohio Saves $ in MN Manure is pumped with a drag line and sold to crop farmer next door Saves me 9,000-10,000 per month in bedding cost, 9-10 months of the year Foley and manure is daily hauled and applied to my land 135
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The next generation I was able to have many different experiences prior to graduating from college Encourage kids to go to college and develop a attitude for continuous learning Don t make them wait to be middle aged before they have control, they will be past their most innovative years Let them make mistakes, college is the cheapest education they will have Don t end up ready to retire without an exit strategy Final Thoughts What works for me in MN might not work in Florida Home runs are great, focus on hitting consistent base hits Protecting Margin The larger you business gets and the faster you want to grow it seems like it is more important to perform close to budget rather than hitting a home run one year and a failure the next, depending on your situation 138