While Doug is always looking for the next purchase, he is always looking for ways to market, too. The Lemkes have had cattle in sales at the county, state and national levels, and have been exceptional supporters of the Wisconsin county sales. When not running a dairy or looking after the heifers and donors, the Lemke family is busy with the kids’ sporting activities, including football, soccer, baseball, and basketball. The kids are also active on the county judging team, 4-H and FFA, and Gina is a 4-H leader in the dairy program. Doug admits his father, Donald, has played a big part in his passion for good cows. He cared for the cows while Doug traveled early on, and was always a positive role model in the business. His primary goal is to breed a ‘great one,’ and his passion and drive for genetics should pave the way to accomplish just that. The Lemke’s are excited for the future, with the hope of many more appearances on the colored shavings to come.
Merkline Holsteins – Gerald & Ty Merkel
journalism. The drive to succeed in the dairy business brought Ty to the home farm immediately after graduation. The first ‘modernization’ change he made on the dairy was putting in a freestall and parlor in 1998. The tie-stall barn was converted to a double eight herringbone parlor, and the 150 milking head were moved to a freestall with pasture mats. A few years ago, Ty and Gerald added a heifer freestall on with drive-through feeding connecting the barns. All heifers are housed on site, with calves housed in the old stall barn through four to five months of age before they’re transitioned to the freestall. The cows are milked twice a day and run a rolling herd average of 25,515 pounds milk, with 3.7% 947 fat and 3.1% 795 protein. The Merkline herd has been recognized twice with 10-year awards for somatic cell counts, as they consistently run a count of 65,000 or less. Since his return to the home farm, Ty has invested in the cattle, with future plans to enter a land contract and purchase the rest of the farm and machinery from his dad. He truly enjoys the breeding aspect of the business, and has been a 5-time Progressive Breeders’ Registry recipient since taking over the mating of the herd. The challenge of staying ahead of the genetic game is most intriguing, as he selects for cattle that are medium in size, with good feet and legs and udders. Sires currently being used include Doors Open, Oktoberfest, High Octane, Millington, Dozer, and Jump, in addition to proven sires Numero Uno, Moonboy, and Marcelon. The ratio of genomic to proven semen used on the dairy is approximately 70/30. The Merkline herd is still home to a few cows that can be traced back to the Klein’s cows. Merkline Andrew Tavaras, GP-83 with over 155,000 pounds lifetime milk, and Merkline Raider Tsala, VG-86 with over 209,000 pounds lifetime milk, are both descendants that have offspring Ty is working with now. Another cow family that has done well for the Merkels is from an embryo purchased from Tom Kestell – Broeks AJF January-ET, VG-85 at 2-07. January had a record at 2-02 2x and 305 days of 30,130 pounds milk with 3.8% 1143 fat and 3.0% 915 protein. Her granddaughter, Merkline Paul Juno, is producing some high genomic daughters that Ty is excited to work with. The Merkel’s highest scored cow right now is Merkline Buckeye Montana, VG-88. She has over 150,000 pounds lifetime milk to date, and had a 5-02 record at 2x and 305 days of 36,720 milk with 3.7% 1344 fat and 2.9 1052% protein. Montana has all the right parts to be an Excellent cow in the future. A few years ago, Ty made a purchase at the Roma Acres Dispersal, and he is now working with Merkline M Portugal-ET, a first lactation Mayfield daughter that’s on the locator list and has not seen the classifier yet. Her dam was a Dorcy lost in her second lactation but she is backed by four generations of high VG and EX dams, including one DOM and two GMDs. Three of Portugal’s daughters are over +2400 GTPI. Some of the standout daughters in the latest genomic run include a +2445 GTPI Gambler, and two Kingboy daughters at +2443 +2420 GTPI. Ty likes the look of his Kingboy calves, and has nice young cows milking by Bookem, Brewmaster, and Shampoo. It is truly an exciting time for the Merkel family as they continue to grow the genetics and cow power of their herd. Ty has many young cows that need to be scored again, and after walking the herd it’s easy to see the quality and consistency of the breeding program through the outstanding legs and youthful udders. When asked about the future direction of the farm, Ty and Gerald admit that robots are not out of the question. They have done a lot of research, and believe they could be a potential game changer in the operation. Ty also hopes to keep improving the genetics, including purchasing embryos and breeding cows to be able to market in the future. He’d like to fill contracts and possibly send bulls to AI as well.
he Merkel family and Merkline Holsteins is a traditional Wisconsin farm rooted in over 100 years in the dairy business. Now in its fourth generation of ownership with Ty Merkel at the helm, the farm is primed to continue to thrive for years to come. The Merkels have called Random Lake home since 1901, when Otto emigrated from Germany. With no banks to loan money in those years, Otto borrowed funds from the neighbors to purchase the home farm. The Merkels still have the year-to-year logs that are a part of the farm’s early years, and at that time the herd size was 17 cows. Otto’s son Erwin was the next to take ownership of the farm, but fell ill while his son Gerald (Ty’s dad) was in college. Gerald was born in 1944 and said he’d never be a farmer, but after his dad got sick he spent more time at the farm before eventually buying his dad out in 1971. He started with herd that had grown to 42 cows and the machinery, and in 1974 he purchased the land on a land contract. The first Registered Holsteins were brought into the herd in 1974, when Gerald purchased his wife’s (Janice Klein) family herd from Peter Klein. By 1978, the Merkline herd was 100% Registered Holsteins, a process that was expedited through additional purchases of springing heifers and select sale animals. The first facility updates at Merkline came in 1978, when a new 60-cow tie-stall barn was built. The next year the old stanchion barn was converted to a calf facility, and in 1980 a loose housing barn was converted to freestalls for heifers. The farm currently consists of 300 owned and rented acres, with 255 tillable. Gerald and Janice’s children, Ty and Tara, grew up showing cattle in 4-H at the local and state levels. Tara now teaches fourth grade in Stoughton, and Ty has become a part owner in the farm. Ty is a 1997 graduate of UW-Madison, with a degree in international business and double Gerald & Ty Merkel major in agricultural economics and agricultural
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wisconsin HOLSTEIN news/June 2015-15