A new dry cow facility is having a marked difference in the metritis cases.The unique thing about it is, the barn's animal population is kept at 3/4 capacity.  (MORE)

 A large drop in metritis incidents, courtesy of '3/4 full' dry cow barn

The Waybrights on their farm in Gettysburg, PA

Who:  Progressive, innovative, forward thinkers are but a few apt descriptions of Mason Dixon Farms in Gettysburg, PA. This family owned, 2400-cow dairy is currently managed by the eighth generation of Waybrights with the ninth generation working in the family business. 

Mason Dixon Farms started in 1948 as a general farm on 360 acres with dairy, swine and beef.  What began with only 12 dairy cows grew to 100 cows in the 1960s when the decision was made to concentrate on dairy production and phase out the other animal species. 

When: A timeline of the changes ocurring over the last six decades includes:

• First milking parlor in the 1950s with the installation of a Double 2 Walk-Through Jamesway.  About every 10 years, a new parlor was installed to accommodate the growing dairy.
• In the 1960's, the first free stall barn was built in addition to mixing a "crude" TMR with a chuck wagon.  Forages were loaded into the wagon with grain distributed across the top of the load.  As the feed was unloaded, the grain somewhat blended with the forages.
• By 1974, Doyle Waybright, current farm manager, returned to the home dairy farm where the cow numbers had grown to 600 cows.  Over the next 30 years, the dairy grew to its current size of 2400 cows.
• In 1979, a state-of-the-art manure digester was added which is still used today, making it the longest operating methane digester in the country.
• The first true TMR wagon with accurate mixing capabilities arrived in 1984.
• By 2005, the Waybrights built Phase 1 of a new, 500-cow robotic milking barn housing ten robotic milkers.  At the time, this was the largest, single site robotic installation in the world for DeLaval Voluntary Milking System (VMS).  Four years later, Phase 2 was completed with the addition of another 500-cow robotic milking barn.  The existing facility can be expanded to accommodate an additional 1000 cows, but there are no plans to do so in the near future.
• On August 30, 2011, the first cows were moved into the specially designed dry cow facility.  The decision to invest in this new barn came with much planning and forethought like all other capital improvements.  The farm's metritis cases averaged 23% year round with a spike in the summertime up to 50%.

How they tackled a problem: The farm was experiencing nagging, continuing metritis problems without any success in various feeding changes.  The farm's metritis cases averaged 23% year round with a spike in the summertime up to 50%. In 2002, Dr. Bob Fry, consulting dairy nutritionist, began to work with the dairy.  Under his guidance, the dairy was able to decrease the cases of ketosis and DA's. However, the high incidence of metritis cases plagued the dairy, regardless of various attempts to correct it. 

A poignant moment came one day as Doyle and two veterinarians stood over three fresh heifers, all dead from metritis.  Doyle became very interested in Dr. Ken Nordlund's work with the Transition Cow Index (TCI).  TCI is an objective, quantitative tool used for evaluating fresh cow performance with a tie back to the amount of space and comfort provided during the dry period. 

An imperative to innovate:  Dr. Nordlund, University of Wisconsin veterinary clinical professor, conducted an audit of Mason Dixon Farms' current facilities and management practices, then provided some recommendations.  Doyle then conducted his own trial, converting one barn to an experimental dry cow barn.  He made structural changes, bedded with deep sand beds and intentionally kept the barn 3/4 full.  In his experimental design, he formed cohorts of cows & heifers who were housed together for their entire dry cow period with no additions to the groups of cows after the group was initially formed.  The first four cohorts of cows (heifers only or cows only) to progress through the barn yielded positive results. He then ran two more cohorts of cows through the barn with the main difference being a built-in control group to measure the results more closely.  By the end of the sixth cohort of cows, the dairy's metritis incidences had dropped from a year round average of 23% down to 10%. 

The decision to invest in a new dry cow facility was a monumental task in convincing all family members.  The barn is never full and never will be as designed. The all-in, all-out concept capitalizes on normal cow behavior so as to keep the stress level to a minimum within the cohort of cows during their entire dry period. The December and January calvings were the first two months of cows to progress through the new barn.  Initially, the results appear very positive with a marked difference in metritis cases.  However, the summer months will provide the tell-tale signs of how well the dry cows handle heat stress in this new housing configuration.

Lesson: One thing is for sure after visiting with Doyle; their farm's motto, "change is inevitable, success is optional," is an enduring mindset.  Their dairy did not become the success it is by happenstance, but rather, by informed, decisive owners who are very calculated risk takers.