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DAIRY ST R
January 15, 2022
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 23, No. 22
A focus on transi�on cows New barn yields health benets, labor efciency for Bailies By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com
ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR
Ma� Bailie stands in the newly constructed transi�on barn on his family’s farm Dec. 20, 2021, near Livingston, Wisconsin. The barn houses over 200 animals and has helped improve herd health and labor efficiency.
LIVINGSTON, Wis. – Two years ago, when the Bailie family found their facilities nearing maximum capacity, they started thinking about the smartest way to accommodate the growing herd. In doing so, the family updated their housing facilities near Livingston where they milk 1,100 cows on two sites. “Pretty much all of this was revamped this summer,” Matt Bailie said. Six months into the setup – a new transition barn, an addition to their freestall barn for the milking herd, and upgrades to heifer housing and milking facilities for fresh cows – the Bailies are already seeing improvements in their herd. “The last two years we have focused on the transition period for the cows,” said Bailie, who farms with his father, George, and brother, James. “The cows
have been coming in stronger, and we’ve had less problems with fresh cows.” The new transition building was completed last summer and houses approximately 235 animals. One side has 114 stalls for dry cows and springing heifers. When designing the building, the Bailies decided to use Torenna free stalls, which are made of heavy-duty polymer piping. “We love the free stalls,” Bailie said. “You can get a few more stalls in because they are 45 inches as opposed to our metal stalls.” The other side of the barn is divided into three pens and a calving area. The rst pen houses cows that are 14-21 days from calving; the second group is seven to 14 days from calving; and the third pen is zero to seven days from calving and located directly next to the calving area. Cows move from pen to pen in the same group for the three weeks prior to calving. Previously, there was only one transition pen consisting of more animals, and there was more sorting and moving. “Before, every week we would move Turn to BAILIES | Page 7
Stepping up to the task Kling manages dairy after husband’s lung transplant By Abby Wiedmeyer abby.w@dairystar.com
TAYLOR, Wis. – When Patricia Kling’s husband, Steve, had a lung transplant six years ago, she thought they would have to sell the cows. The couple had always farmed as a team, but Steve was not able to go in the barn after the transplant due to a compromised immune system. But rather than ending their dairying career, Kling took over the management of the 40-cow farm near Taylor. “When Steve had his transplant, we were gone for 19 days,” Kling said. “When we got home, I stayed in the house the rst day because this was new territory. He seemed to be ne, so I went out to the barn the next morning, and I’ve been doing it ever since.” Kling milks in a swing-8 parlor and runs 160 acres of owned land and 240 tillable acres of rented land in addition to a pasture for grazing on her family’s dairy in Jackson County. While Kling does a majority of the work in the barn herself, she also works alongside part-time employee Yvonne Weihrouch. For the rst year and a half after Steve’s diagnosis and before the transplant, the Klings’ children, Joel and Sam, and some hired hands helped run the farm. Once Kling was at the helm, however, Steve wanted someone to be in the barn with her on a more consistent schedule.
“I was doing it by myself, and Steve was concerned about me down there (in the barn) by myself,” Kling said. “He put an ad for help on the radio, and (Weihrouch) answered it.” Weihrouch farmed with her husband until her son took over in 2018. Weihrouch said after a month without milking cows, she was bored. “People ask me why I don’t quit, and I say my brain would turn to mush for one thing,” Weihrouch said. “Plus, it gets me out of the house.” Weihrouch had always milked in a tiestall barn with her husband and was excited about the prospect of milking in a parlor. “When I rst showed (Weihrouch) the parlor she said, ‘You mean I don’t have to bend over to milk the cows? This could be kind of fun,’” Kling said. Weihrouch has helped the Klings with the morning milking for over three years and is a reliable employee if Kling needs to attend to Steve. “Having Yvonne here, she is like the Steady Eddie,” Kling said. “She knows the farm, she is here every day, she knows the cows, and we need somebody like that.” With Weihrouch’s help, Kling has made signicant changes to how the farm is managed. The rst thing she noticed when she took over was that Steve did not have any written herd health records. “He kept it all in his head,” Kling said. “He could tell the cows apart by the spots on their back. I needed a tag with a number.” Turn to KLING | Page 6
ABBY WIEDMEYER/DAIRY STAR
Yvonne Weihrouch (le�) and Patricia Kling stand in the parlor at Kling’s farm Dec. 16, 2021, near Taylor, Wisconsin. Weihrouch started helping Kling a�er Kling’s husband could no longer milk following a lung transplant in 2016.