Farm tours

Rachelle Krienke has two major goals for her calves:  She wants them to be as healthy as possible and she wants to see good body condition at weaning.  She has designed a system that allows her to consistently reach both goals for her farm’s replacement heifers.

With Jonathon Hallock, MarBec Dairy
Jonathon Hallock, MarBec Dairy, shares some of the features of his recently completed calf barn addition as well as some of the challenges he encountered through the process.  Thank you to Jonathon for sharing his farm and calf raising strategies with us throughout 2017. 

Since installing autofeeders in 2015, JDR Farms, LLC in Marlette, Michigan has enjoyed a more flexible chore schedule.  But the team still makes sure they invest the time each day to observe calves and clean equipment to consistently raise healthy calves.

Healthy cows make healthy calves at Pfaffsway Farms
Raising strong, healthy calves doesn’t start on day one at Pfaffsway Farms in Alma Center, Wisconsin.  According to the Pfaff family, it starts a long time before then.

‘No-drama Calf Raising’ at McClellan Farms, Inc.
Tom McClellan is a fourth-generation owner of McClellan Farms, Inc. in Delavan, Wisconsin, where they currently milk 480 cows and average 90 pounds of milk per cow per day.  This level of production begins with successful calf care and McClellan believes in “no-drama calf raising” through a slow and deliberate program that starts in the calving pen.

Schilling Farms LLC Achieves Performance Goals with Calves Back Home

Developing and sticking to calf care protocols is the name of the game for Schilling Farms LLC in Darlington, Wisconsin. 

For 10 years, the farm sent all nursery calves to a custom grower before bringing them all back home within a two-week span in 2011.  The team established as many protocols as possible to “get it right from the start” and modified those protocols as they rebuilt the calf program.

Genetic Excellence Realized Through Consistent Calf Care
As you might guess from the name, Wittenberg Embryo Transfer in Wausau, Wisconsin is not your average dairy farm.  Owner Dr. John Prososki purchased the farm about 10 years ago with about 25 cows.  The old red barn remains, but everything else has been built new as the herd has grown to about 160 milking cows.

Prososki is a veterinarian and started his career at a large animal practice before he began working exclusively in embryo transfer (ET) a number of years ago.

We're pleased to introduce you to Jonathon Hallock and the MarBec Dairy team from Mondovi, Wisconsin.  Throughout 2017, Jonathon will share his calf program and experiences with us.

Focus on Calf Care Leads to Show Ring Success
Watch a cattle fitter work at a national show and you’d swear he focuses on each hair on that heifer’s body.  Every detail counts.

But, according to Jason Luttropp of Lost Elm Jerseys, raising those animals – from birth to show day – is really a matter of sticking to the basics.  He said cleanliness, good bedding and a nutrition program to match his Jerseys’ needs are the keys to his success.

In this edition of A Day in the Life of a Calf Raiser, Stacy Jauquet of Jauquet's Hillview Dairy LLC shows us her superhutches for weaned heifers and walks us through her nutrition program for these animals.

A different strategy to raise beef calves
Imagine two newborn Holstein calves on a farm:  a heifer that will be raised as a replacement and a bull that will be raised for beef.  Their care is similar in the first couple days, but the strategies used to raise them will quickly diverge as the animals grow.  Most notably, a focus on efficient growth tightens the curve for feeding and weaning dairy beef calves.

In this edition of A Day in the Life of a Calf Raiser, Stacy Jauquet of Jauquet's Hillview Dairy LLC explains how she communicates with the other members of the calf care team.  She also explains how they care for calves during dark mornings and nights.

Homestead Dairy, LLC Takes Calves to New Levels with Autofeeders
When you drive past Homestead Dairy, LLC in Plymouth, Indiana, you’ll see a row of hutches strung along a corn field about a half-mile from the main dairy.  No, these hutches do not house any calves. Instead, just across the road from the corn field, you will find three calf barns with autofeeders that can hold 200 calves each.  In the main office, you’ll find Brian Houin, the farm manager, doing everything in his power to never use those hutches again.

In this edition of A Day in the Life of a Calf Raiser, Stacy Jauquet of Jauquet's Hillview Dairy LLC talks about the steps her team took to give calves the best possible care after a shed fire at their farm.

By Progressive Dairyman Editor Peggy Coffeen
In the past few decades, North Florida Holsteins has figured out how to achieve more than 90 pounds of milk per day in an environment where extreme heat stress is the norm.

Schmitz Family Builds on Generations of Hard Work
Driving down a state highway in Bruce, Wisconsin, you’ll see an old dairy barn that has clearly weathered a lot of years.  On the opposite side, you’ll see a much larger freestall barn surrounded by construction materials.  A new addition on the freestall is near completion and much needed after the farm grew from 750 to 900 cows in the last year.