About Autumn Vista Dairy
Autumn Vista Dairy was started in 1893 by Chad Gernaat’s great-grandfather with one cow and 40 acres of land cleared by hand. Today, the farm is managed by Chad and Tonia Gernaat and Lori Van Haitsma. Chad and Tonia are charged with overall management and financial administration while Lori is primarily in charge of the reproductive program. About 40 years ago, Autumn Vista added their first parlor, a double-four herringbone, for their 90-cow herd. The herd continued to grow and reached 600 cows in the 1980s, prompting a new double-ten parlor to be built. The existing parlor is a double-30 parallel parlor that was built in 2005. That year, they also built their current freestall barns and combined several satellite farms to reach their current herd size of 2,000 cows. The farm employs 30 people including Jason Towers, farm manager, and David Judah and his assistant, Dan Zuiderveen, who manage fresh cows and hospital cows. Hands-on reproductive work is handled by Miguel Tinajero and Rob Harrington. Phil Hoekwater is in charge of field work. Providing quality jobs for their employees is one of Autumn Vista’s main goals. Although all cows are on an A.I. synchronization program, Miguel and Rob watch cows for heats twice a day. All cows are bred to timed-A.I. for first service, but after are bred on standing heats. In 2009, Autumn Vista received a Gold reproduction award from the Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council. Autumn Vista has received many quality awards from Dairy Farmers of America, including a Gold honor this year. The farm supports Friends Ministry’s calf project and the Northern Michigan Christian School. Mission Statement: Autumn Vista Dairy exists to provide quality milk, meat, animals and superior service while being aware of opportunities in an everchanging and demanding market. We will never knowingly offer for sale an inferior product. Our goal is to provide an above average living for those who partner with us in utilizing the natural resources God has entrusted us with. We will do this in such a way that by our actions there can be no doubt of our concern for the environment and our neighbors. Our prayer is that by all of our actions, our faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be evident and that we will always put His kingdom ahead of our own. Total Cows: 2,000 Facilities: Double-30 parallel parlor and four-row, sand-bedded freestall barns Acres Farmed: 2,200 acres with 1,100 owned and 1,100 rented acres. Primary crops include corn and alfalfa for corn silage and haylage. Rolling Herd Average: 29,875M 3.6% 1,076F 3.0% 896P Somatic Cell Count: 87,000 Pregnancy Rate: 33 percent Calving Interval: 13.2 months Service Sires in Use: 7HO9900 ABRAM, 7HO10228 GULF, 7HO10297 MCNUGGETS, 7HO10582 PAUL, 7HO10606 OBSERVER, 7HO10624 TEMPO, 7HO10643 DWAYNE, 7HO10725 HOORAY, 7HO10818 CALIBRATE, 7HO10849 SHAMROCK, 7HO9925 YANCE, 7HO10356 WATSON, 7HO10412 ENID, 7HO10429 MONTNEY, 7HO10702 EXCEL, 7HO10709 HUSKY and 7HO10721 BOOKEM.
“Select Sires has always been there for us. Whenever we’ve wanted to try something to benefit the dairy they were there with the answer. It has been a huge asset to our farm to have the Select Sires team involved.” Lori Van Haitsma, Autumn Vista Dairy
Rob Harrington, Tyler Gernaat and Lori Van Haitsma (left to right) are just a part of the farm's team.
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