YOU N G P RO DUC E R S : R E G IO N O N E
RONY ODERMATT GLENGARRY The Efficiency Expert By Treena Hein EFFICIENCY, ESPECIALLY IN TERMS OF GENETICS, IS RONY ODERMATT’S SPECIALTY. Breeding has been his responsibility since he began farming fulltime with his parents, Joseph and Karen, in 2015. Odermatt has used breeding to increase milk production efficiency of his 190 Holsteins, lowering the age of first insemination from 15 months to 13 months, and moving the voluntary waiting period to generally between 80 days and 100 days based on milk production. He also chooses sires for functional traits. “You have a lot more control versus having someone else come in,” he says, of doing breeding himself. “You can look at the data for each cow and understand the herd at the genetic and performance level a lot better when choosing sires. I also use an activity monitor which saves me time. It sends me a text whenever cows are in heat and I can plan out my day better. It also monitors their rumination and their location in the barn so I can find the right cow quickly.” To gain further breeding efficiencies, Odermatt is hoping to conduct genomic testing of the heifers this year. “I need to be more accurate in which cows I should have in the herd and which to breed to beef,” he says. “Right now, a breeding program like ours is almost like a guessing game. You try to pick the right sires to put in the right cows but you need the testing to bring it to the next level. I think it will improve not only production but the genetics of the herd as a whole, because we are raising the right ones up into the herd for the right traits such as longevity, health and DPR, along with so many other things.” A spirit of continual improvement and higher efficiency is one of the things Odermatt inherited from his parents. “We had rocky ground and when my Dad started cropping here 29 years ago. He wanted to do no-till as they didn’t have extra help to till the ground and pick stones,” Odermatt says. “But he wasn’t afraid and 23 years ago he modified a conventional planter to make it no-till and bought a used no-till planter six years later. It saves us time in the field and we gain more time with the cows.” Odermatt adds that Joseph built an extension to the tie stall barn to double the herd to 60 cows in 1995, built a free-stall barn and parlour in 2004, and expanded it in 2008. “We added another milk cow barn in 2018, with fans, great lighting and deep beds, so cow 6 • L A T E S U M M E R 2 0 2 2 • W W W. M I L K P R O D U C E R . C A
comfort is a lot higher because they are not overcrowded,” he says. “Now, cows can calve in quieter conditions as well.” The Odermatts also have a self-propelled feed mixer which saves a lot of time. The family bought the first one used in 2015 and then upgraded it in 2018 with a bedding slinger. The machine can finish 100 stalls in 10 minutes or less, says Odermatt, while using a SkidSteer would take three times that. Influential author and management consultant Peter Drucker once said that “efficiency is doing better what is already being done,” and Odermatt has it down to a science.
75%
of 25 to 34-year-olds
buy their cheese in the dairy section of a grocery store. Mintel, Cheese – Canada – 2022
