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DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 19, No. 4
April 8, 2017
Componentdriven Bigler uses breeding, nutrition to maximize butterfat production By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
DECORAH, Iowa – Fifteen years ago while trying to brainstorm ways to make his dairy more efcient, Brian Bigler thought back to his genetics class at Iowa State University. “We learned that butterfat is one of the most heritable traits in bovines. It’s easy to make progress when it’s that heritable,” Bigler said. With that knowledge, Bigler changed his herd’s breeding and nutrition philosophy to make components a top priority on his dairy where he milks 130 cows with his dad, Dave, near Decorah, Iowa.
Since the change, his herd of Holsteins has increased butterfat nearly 1 percent, now averaging 4.37 percent butterfat, up from 3.5 percent. Bigler started to focus on components after realizing his herd wasn’t going to get much more for production. Bigler thought he could increase his rolling herd average, which hovers around 30,000, by milking three times a day. A thought he didn’t like. “I envisioned our herd remaining on two-times-a-day milking because we’re at that awkward size where it’s pretty hard with just family help to
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Brian Bigler has been breeding and feeding his cows to maximize their buƩerfat potenƟal on his 130-cow dairy near Decorah, Iowa. His herd of Holsteins average a 4.37 percent buƩerfat test. milk them three times a day,” Bigler said. Although the farm hires part-time employees, Bigler couldn’t justify making the
jump to full-time milkers. “For milking in our parlor it takes two people. To have two people come in the middle of the night with where
we’re located – an isolated spot in the middle of nowhere – would be a challenge seven Turn to BIGLER | Page 7
A perfect t
Gernes family adds four robots to freestall barn, hangs up milkers in double-12 parlor By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Doug Gernes points out a few of the features of the robots installed on his family’s 231-cow dairy near Winona, Minn. The Gernes family began using the robots in August 2016.
WINONA, Minn. – The Gernes family likes to joke that they knew their future dairying plans years ago. “When we started looking at robots everyone said the barn was built for robots way back then [when we built it in 1997]. It was a perfect t,” Steve Gernes said. In August 2016, the Gernes family – Steve and Margaret along with their son, Doug, and his girlfriend, Melissa DeVroy – hung up the milkers in their double-12 parallel parlor and began using four DeLaval robots added onto the end of their freestall barn to milk their herd of 231 cows near Winona, Minn. Since installing the automated facility, the family’s herd has dropped in somatic cell count and increased in production. In the parlor, the cows ranged in SCC from 175,000 to 225,000. Now the SCC ranges between 100,000 to 150,000. “And we’ve only treated two cows for mastitis since we’ve been back here in the robots,” Steve said. Part of that is due to how they are milked, Margaret said. “I love that the robots milk each quarter by itself so we’re not overmilking the other ones,” Margaret said. Another factor is increased milkings per day. In the robots, the cows are averaging 2.7 milking per day, which has also helped with production. While milking two times a day in the parlor, the Gerneses’
Turn to GERNES | Page 5