September 2021 January 2021
The POINT “Having rumination information available is a great way to monitor cow health. Finding cows on the front-end of a health challenge is critical to getting them back to ruminating quickly, keeping them healthy and profitable members of the dairy." United Dreams Dairy, LLC North Freedom, Wisconsin
Photo: Jim Galstad, Tim Evert, Jeff Evert, Michael Niemann, Rick Lehman, Chris Meyer.
United Dreams Dairy, LLC
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artnerships are created for a lot of reasons. Regardless of why, knowing who to partner with can be a more difficult decision. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case for Sauk county dairy producers, Tim and Lisa Evert, and Rick and Ronda Lehman. “Our parents were good family friends and Rick and I were the only ones in each family interested in dairying,” reflected Tim. “We both knew our small tie-stall herds were not a sustainable model for us, so in 1997 we decided to unite and created United Dreams Dairy, LLC.” Making partnerships work can be tricky, and while Tim says theirs isn’t perfect, there are a couple elements that contribute to making it work. “One thing we do that helps our partnership be successful is a monthly meeting with our business consultant where we discuss options before decisions are made,” said Tim. “Something else is while we manage the dairy together, we have our own family corporations allowing us some independence, though I admit we run things pretty similar.”
Bringing both herds together initially required Tim and Rick to build a parlor and a 360-cow freestall barn. Then, in 2018 a 400-cow cross-ventilation barn was erected, and the herd doubled in size. That same year Michael Niemann, Rick and Ronda’s nephew, and Jeff Evert, Tim and Lisa’s son joined the dairy as owners. In addition to the dairy, Rick and Tim each maintain a family corporation, LD&R and Evert Farms Inc., that raise young stock and crops which are sold back to the 825-cow dairy.
system for one that provided rumination insights. “Having rumination information available is a great way to monitor cow health,” shared Tim. “Finding cows on the front-end of a health challenge is critical to getting them back to ruminating quickly, keeping them healthy and profitable members of the dairy. We have a lot of confidence in Chris (Meyer, CentralStar A.I. Specialist) and wanted to stay aligned with Select Sires so we chose CowManager® for our new system.”
This partnership of two unrelated dairies was a unique approach in 1997, however it represents the mindset the Lehman and Evert families have for positioning for the future. “This team is very forward thinking. They aren’t afraid to implement a practice, make a management change or try something new if it can provide better results,” shared CentralStar Team Leader, Jim Galstad.
Responsible for managing the cow herd, Tim and Michael shared, “By using the alerts, we don’t have to be in the parlor at a specific time to see the cows, which means we can manage our time based on demands. CowManager does a great job identifying cows that aren’t feeling well, which we see through a decrease in rumination, allowing us to treat them sooner. It’s also very effective at identifying cows with mastitis before they really get sick.”
With that way of thinking, earlier this year the United Dreams Dairy team decided to upgrade their electronic activity monitoring
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