Ted and Karyn Hesters' new parlor

The farm has been certified organic since 2006, and the herd is also a seasonal grazing herd with calving occurring from March 1 to April 15 and whole-herd dryoff by Dec. 15.

The idea for the parlor and round holding area came during the Hesters' honeymoon in New Zealand in 1994 when they visited the dairy farm next to where they were staying.

"I walked into the pit and watched two guys running the system and it was pretty slick," Ted recalled. "It's like the round pen concept used to work beef cattle in the west and it has really made a big difference in the cow flow here." 

Ted and Karyn looked at other milking setups for grazing herds and put their ideas together around the concept of what they had seen in New Zealand 15 years earlier.

"We tried to put ourselves in the cows' position and look through the cows' eyes," he explained.

Today, it takes one and a half hours to milk 180 head through the system, and after wiping down and scraping, the firehose wash system requires just a few short minutes for wash down.

YonEd Farm 

Alice Lindborg gives  excellent calf care

"One thing we focus on is getting colostrum into a newborn calf within the first four hours of life," Yon related. "We think that is pretty critical, and our calf mortality has been less than 2%." He attributes low mortality to his wife Alice and others on the farm for their dedicated monitoring of cows in the calving area.

The Linborgs raise all of their heifers from calfhood to freshening.  In March, they began using neck-collar activity monitors to determine when cows are in heat for breeding.

"This has enabled us to identify the heats more regularly and to use the natural activity of the animals as opposed to doing the synchronization programs," he explains. Getting cows bred back in a more timely fashion prevents long lactations where cows can gain weight and be at risk for metabolic problems when they eventually freshen.

A high point for the Linborgs was having the high group average 107 pounds/cow/day this spring. "That was a new high for us and it was pretty thrilling," said Yon. He enjoys exerting energy in a direction and seeing whether the animals are successful or not with the outcome. "We love seeing our animals thrive."

Minich Dairy Farm

Jim Minich (right) discusses cow comfort

Coming back full circle to West LaPorte, the last stop of the two-day tour was Minich Dairy, where Jim and Valerie and their children Frank, Amanda and Charlie operate a 600-cow milking herd and utilize precision management technologies like Afimilk within their double-12 parallel parlor.

 

"We've had this system since 2004, and it has become important for heat detection and keeping track of all the milk weights," Jim explained. "We use it to help catch ketosis. The system knows fresh cows should gradually increase in production, and if it does not see that in a particular cow, she gets put on the check-list."

Another highlight at this stop was the unique Coverall six-row freestall barn.  "These aren't real common," said Jim, explaining that they went with the Coverall for light and the high roof allows more air in as well.

"We try to manage the herd's general health through the environment and nutrition," Jim explained. "We don't have a lot of extra help here... we try to manage the big picture so we don't have to worry about the little picture near as much." 

Next year's Kentuckiana Dairy Exchange will take place on July 29-30 in Kentucky. 

Somatic cell counts in milk bulk tanks have declined every year since 2007, according to a new USDA report.

In fact, the improvement has been rather dramatic, going from 260,000 cells per mL., on average, in 2007 to 194,000 in 2012. 

Between 2011 and 2012, the average bulk tank somatic cell count (BTSCC) fell 12,000 cells/mL., according to the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and Agricultural Marketing Service, in cooperation with the National Mastitis Council.

The data come from four of the nation's 10 Federal Milk Marketing Orders. 

In the United States, the legal maximum BTSCC for Grade A milk shipments is 750,000 cells per mL.

During 2012, more than 99 percent of milk and shipments monitored met that standard, and of the 28,274 producers, 96.5 percent shipped milk with BTSCCs below 750,000 cells per mL. through the entire year. In fact, BTSCC in 95.6 percent of milk was less than a lower standard of 400,000 cells per ml, and 64.5 percent of producers shipped milk below this limit for the entire year.

Since 1997, the milk-weighted BTSCCs in the United States have decreased by 101,000 cells per mL, or 34.2 percent. 

Click the link to download the full info sheet titled " Determining U.S. Milk Quality Using Bulk-tank Somatic Cell Counts, 2012".