Dairy Farmer Milks 10 Months, Then Takes Vacation

Dairy farmer milks 10 months, then takes vacation LIVESTOCK Dairy (17) 14-4-23 You can net $36,000 with 60 cows on 60 acres and take a 2-month vacation, every year, according to dairy scientist David Zartman at Ohio State University who's set up a research farm promoting the idea of breeding all cows in a herd to freshen in March and April. The idea is to give dairymen a break from milking in January and February. Zartman got interested in seasonal milking when he spent a year in New Zealand, which he says has the most efficient dairy industry in the world. Farmers there synchronize milking so that cows are at their most productive stage when the maximum amount of forage is available, during summer months. New Zealand style dairying also involves rotational grazing and minimum investment in facilities. Zartman says New Zealand farmers don't measure efficiency in milk per cow. They measure it in cost per hundred-weight. Zartman's theories are being tested by dairyman Steve Shoemaker with a 30-cow herd (half Holstein and half Jersey) on 42 acres of pasture. Cows in the study are allowed enough pasture (about 3/4 acre) so that they can consumer roughly 60 percent of the available forage in a 24-hour period. Then they are moved to new pasture while their yearling daughters are turned into the pasture just grazed by the cows. The heifers consume about 30 percent more of the for-age during the next 24 hrs. Moving the polywire and nylon step-in posts that separate each day's pastures takes Shoemaker only about 15 min. Pasture rest periods range from 15 to 30 days, depending on forage regrowth. In spring, excess forage is cut as hay for winter feeding. In the first year, the Holsteins averaged 15,154 lbs. of milk and the Jerseys 11,353. In the second year, after pasture quality was improved, the Holsteins averaged 17,865 and the Jerseys 12,458. The best part of Zartman's system is it's low capital requirements. "All you need is a barn, some pasture, a manure spreader, a tractor with a front-end loader, a wagon to haul water, and a pickup and trailer to haul animals. You buy the grain and supplement, and the hay and silage you can have done custom," he says, noting that there are fewer and fewer entry level dairymen be-cause of the high capital cost of getting started and because many young families aren't willing to make the year-round committment. Zartman says his research has convinced him a 60-cow herd on 60 acres could net $36,000 per year. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dr. David L. Zartman, Dairy Science Dept., OSU, Columbus, Ohio

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