Who: Joe Cardosa, General Manager
What: Rancho Teresita Dairy, milking 3,600 cows. Owned by Cornell Kasbergen and son, Case.
Where: Tulare, California
It's in the bag: Joe says that lately the dairy has been bagging corn silage fed to close-up and transition cows, rather than using their traditional corn silage pile for transition cows. "It's fresher and the cows have responded well," says Joe. "Milk peaks are a lot higher."
Joe also says incidence of D.A. (displaced abomasum) have been greatly reduced as well, due to better DMI among those cows. "The bagged silage is more expensive, but we're also reducing spoilage on the pile and getting more milk as well."
"Bagging has opened our eyes," says Joe, who bags 3000 tons at a time using a 9-ply plastic. "We may look at expanding bagging to the rest of the herd."
DCAD factor:
Managing hay nutrients is also part of the mix. Rancho Teresita is using low-DCAD hay; low potassium (from lower manure inputs) with added anionic salts. "We make sure to get it in our close-ups. It helps quite a bit," says Joe.
The employee factor: As general manager, Joe oversees 35 employees on the award-winning dairy. Over the 30 years he's been with the dairy, Joe has observed what works better in managing a staff. "We've got a lot of people working for us, and I've come to know that it's better to 'ask' people for their contribution then 'tell' them to do something. It's better for team building, better for employee relationships."
Joe also notes that sharing the rewards of good work and stewardship of quality pays a big dividend in building a team. The dairy receives a regular quality bonus from its milk coop for SCC achievement and other quality measures. That bonus is divided among the employees each time. Such incentives help team members work more closely with each other to productively maintain or improve the methods and outcomes that lead to the bonuses.
"Everybody helps out," says Joe. "It improves teamwork."
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Diamond V has hired Dr. Kevin Leahy as a dairy field technical specialist. 
