Consist of 160 acres with 120 milking and dry cows and 110 replacement heifers- Cropland in split in half. Half the farm is planted to corn and other half is double crop system. Double crop system is Fall Trical or Timothy after corn. Manure is applied after first cut of Timothy or Trical and followed by sorghum sudan. Corn follows the following year.
- All dry hay is purchased from a single grower and is typically a mix of alfalfa and tall fescue.
- The Timothy is dry baled for dry cow and heifer feed.
- Trical is harvest and stored as balage.
- Sorhgum sudan is harvested as haylage and balage.
How we become affiliated with Byron Seeds?
From 2000 – 2009 Tim worked for the Darke SWCD as a MNM technician along with working on the family dairy farm. In 2003 as part of expanding the dairy a liquid manure storage was constructed and it was obvious that manure application procedure would be critical for the farm because of Tim’s position at the SWCD. It was decided at that time that a double crop system using wheat would be used to avoid applying manure in October and November. In searching for a product to double crop after wheat, sorghum sudan was discovered at a farm show. The dairy’s only intention was to purchase the sorghum sudan through Byron’s until we got invited to one of their customer meetings. At the meeting it was presented how to effectively match forage types to maximize cow health. With the way the program was presented at the meeting it was evident that it could easily work into the dairy’s manure management program. After two years of utilizing their program and realizing the benefits, Brunswick Forage Seed Sales was started.
What this system has allowed us to do for the cropland – Soil Test
- Purchasing hay allows us to rotate fields yearly compared to every 3 to 5 years.
- This system allows for no corn on corn fields thus eliminating the need to purchase traits in our corn for both insect and weed pressure.
- High root mass of Trical, Timothy and Sorghum has increased organic matter in crop fields close to 1% over the last 5 years.
- Combined yield of Trical and Sorghum equals total yield of corn silage.
- Utilize more P and N from manure.
What this system has allowed us to do for the dairy cows?
Eliminated metabolic problems- ketosis, das- Increased butterfat production
- With feeding the high fiber diet through the grasses and MC Corn we have eliminated dias and ketosis while maintaining a 3.5% Fat Corrective Average of 70 lbs. This program allows us to cover up some of our facility down falls associated with over crowding. Milk cows are limited to 1.4 feet of bunk with no TMR and do not have 24 hour access to the bunk. High quality silage in the bunk and balage in a balage feeder helps maintain intakes thus eliminating metabolic problems and boosting production.
- This system helps lower the cost of production through lower veterinary bills and boosted production. The vet comes once a month for pregnancy check.