Clare Alderink is the operations manager of a 3,000-cow dairy in Michigan, but his experience is relatable to any dairy of any size.
Alderink recently discussed some of the technology used on the farm and explained what has worked – or not. He said the key to a farm’s success is the people who work there.
“Successful management starts with taking care of cows and people,” said Alderink. “Being passionate about the cows, with the people, so they know how much we all care. Technology is great but it doesn’t work if we don’t have the right people behind it.”
One of their most valuable tech assets is the AfiCollar feed efficiency tool, which all cows wear. “We can watch rumination and eating time, figure how much each cow eats daily and how much each cow is making regarding income-over-feed costs,” said Alderink.
Technology makes it easier to determine which individual cows are profitable. “I always thought any cow making 80 to 90 pounds is a profitable cow,” he said. “That isn’t necessarily true. With the feed efficiency tool, I can find the less feed-efficient cows.”
The current system allows Alderink to determine cows’ feed efficiency in the first 60 DIM; then he determines whether he wants replacement females from those cows. What doesn’t work is culling all inefficient cows, which results in not having enough cows. Over time, Alderink expects to improve herd efficiency by making cows that are better feed converters. While the process is lengthy, he said the research is compelling and accurate.
Another major change on the dairy was switching to high oleic soybeans (HOSB) when soybean meal hit $500. Before fully committing to the change, Alderink purchased locally grown HOSB to feed for several months.
“If I could buy beans before they make it to the processor, I would probably save money,” he said. “I can feed HOSB with minimal processing. We still roast and grind beans, but it’s been successful. We saw energy-corrected milk increase right away.”
The dairy grows hay and corn and purchases corn silage from neighboring farms – another cost-effective move to cut feed costs.
After having AI camera technology on the farm for several years, Alderink said its most effective use is for observing cow/human interactions and identifying problems. “Cameras can make it easier to manage a dairy,” he said. “They see everything. You might perceive things to be a certain way, then discover potential bottlenecks like from the holding area to the back of the parlor. It might not be the people and the cows – maybe it’s the spot.”
Alderink also uses cameras to catch bad habits that could lead to more serious animal handling issues, and uses unfavorable actions as training opportunities. “We haven’t had any major incidents, but we’re tracking human/cow interactions in all the sensitive areas like calf deliveries,” he said.
High heifer inventory is often the result of a successful repro program and can be challenging. “There are periods where repro is real good and there are too many [heifers], and they end up at the dairy,” said Alderink. “It puts pressure on the closeups and fresh pens. When heifer inventory is tight, heifers are more valuable.”
Alderink weighs heifers pre-breeding, and now has milk production data to tie to that information. The time it takes to weigh heifers is worthwhile to help identify replacements.
“If they aren’t hitting certain growth rates, they’re going to be in the bottom 5% to 10%,” he said. “I can make decisions on them before they come back to the dairy.”
To keep an eye on heifer growth, Alderink checks grower facilities several time each month, and said it’s easy to spot sick or poor-doing animals. “I sort animals that look like there’s something wrong with them,” he said. “Not many animals are unhealthy if the repro program is right, so you have to find things you can’t see by looking at them.”
One technology Alderink isn’t sold on is the solar array installed almost two years ago. “We thought we were going to make 100% of our energy 50% of the time,” he said. “We had to install a relay which made it so we couldn’t put power back on the grid, and it would never pay for itself. We disconnected 20% of the array, which doesn’t do anything now, so we would be under the size limit to get power back.”
He urged farmers considering on-farm solar to spend time researching and asking questions.
“Another area where I took things too far is the fully automated crowd gate,” said Alderink. “Our holding pen is long, and the guys can’t see it from where they’re driving into it. We put a camera on it so now they can see it, and there’s a monitor in the parlor.”
The holding area is equipped with numerous fans and sprinklers along with the electrical equipment it takes to operate, but none of it was set up for the environment it’s in. The first time the crowd gate was covered with snow, the encoder stopped working and it didn’t know where it was.
Alderink noted that some new technology isn’t proven on dairy farms, and if things don’t work, farmers should be prepared to do repairs on their own.
Alderink also tried feed software, but if the internet was down, he had to make plans to do without it. He also looked at other herd management software, but everything is already based on DairyComp 305 and Alderink isn’t willing to change the entire system.
“We have all this technology, we have the monitoring,” said Alderink. “You do better for individual cows by doing something better for all the cows. We can’t get too caught up in technology and reports. The most important thing to do is look at the cows and spend time with them. We have great people who work around the cows, and we give them a lot of great tools, but it isn’t the tools – it starts with people.”
