Dairy Farm Moves To Once-A-Day Milking

Dairy Farm Moves To Once-A-Day Milking DAIRY EQUIPMENT & IDEAS “I’ve been trying new ideas to make a good living on our family farm for 30 years and the latest one is milking our cows once a day rather than twice ” says Minnesota dairyman Jason French “People think it’s a crazy concept but it’s working out just fine ” French made the dramatic decision for economic as well as personal reasons “With twice a day milking and cattle care at 2 locations my dad 3 of our kids and 3 employees were working our tails off and barely making ends meet ” French says “Now we have more time on our hands and our physical and mental state is much better even though our cash flow is down ” Their operation gave up 200 acres of rented farmland re-wrote their loans and let 3 employees go while transitioning to the single milking plan French says there’s still plenty to do on their farm starting with daily milking at 6 in the morning and then moving cows onto a fresh paddock of grass during grazing season Their workday is generally done by 6 in the evening allowing them plenty of time for other activities Jason and his family have been an organic dairy practicing rotational grazing for 30 years so that part of their operation hasn’t changed Cattle are on pasture about 200 days a year and when they’re not grazing they receive forage and hay but no grain Milk production for their herd dropped about 25 percent with single-time milking French says almost the exact amount dairy experts had told him “We’ve maintained the 5 percent butterfat and 3 8 percent protein levels for our herd which is primarily a cross between Holstein and Jersey cows Their cull rate went from 25 percent to less than 18 percent They continue to raise their own replacement animals with newborn calves getting fresh milk until they’re 5 months old much like a beef cow/calf operation About 2/3rds of their herd calves in April and the other 1/3rd in the fall “That approach has worked extremely well ” French says “Our cows and calves are very healthy and they look really good We have a very low vet bill ” French says the idea for once-a-day milking came after he and four dairying friends visited a Wisconsin farm in 2017 that was using the concept “It seemed like a radical idea but the more I thought about it and penciled out the pros and cons we made the switch ” One herd changed over in late 2018 and the other in spring 2019 both timed to coincide with calving seasons French says the transition went well and now he and his family are much happier with their dairying operation Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Jason French 19502 County Highway 24 West Concord Minn 55985

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