Technology has changed how the herd is managed and decisions are made at Reuter Dairy in Peosta, Iowa, where Dan Reuter and his father, Rick, milk 900 cows with a 32,000-pound average and a somatic cell count (SCC) averaging 80,000 over the last 10 years.
“We installed the SCR system five years ago when we were learning more about the activity monitoring systems,” Dan Reuter says. “When [the company] came to me about installing the system, rumination was the new, big thing, and no one had dealt with it in the U.S.
We didn’t know if high rumination or low rumination was good or bad at the time, but I thought it was pretty intriguing, so that’s why we installed that system.”
The application of monitoring the rumen activity was helpful in several aspects of their management of the herd, but it was when Reuter figured out they could save money and manage their heifer population more efficiently that he changed several other management practices.
“As far as the reproduction, it really changed things when I realized that keeping our heifer numbers in order saved us a lot of money,” he says. While every farmer has a different way of managing their replacement heifer numbers, Reuter says the wheels in his thought process began to turn to using the new system as a way of managing their replacements.
“I began to look at the genetic progress we’ve made as far as the health and production of the cow, not to mention all the management tools that have been adopted, and that’s when I realized I didn’t need these cows calving in every year,” he says. “Nor did I need to get the cows pregnant at 60 days.”
Three years ago, after evaluating everything, Reuter stopped the reproductive shot protocols he had been using.
“Making that decision took a lot for me on the personal side because I was always wanting to have the best pregnancy rate and the best conception rate,” he says. “It took a lot for me to take all of that and set it aside and not worry about where my numbers were, but instead look at my input costs.”
While it took courage to change everything they had been doing, Reuter said it also took trust in the system. “We had been working with [the company] for two years, so I had trust in the system. I trusted the fact that it did not miss any cows in heat.
And I also realized that with the high production that we had been breeding for in these cows that were milking 150 pounds a day, I didn’t want them to come in heat, I didn’t want them to get pregnant.” In addition, Reuter was drying cows up that were producing 100 pounds a day, and he said it didn’t make sense to dry up cows that were bred to milk.
Reuter uses that wait-and-see philosophy with the cows and has increased his voluntary waiting period (VWP). While the industry standard is to breed cows 60 days into their lactation, Reuter has changed his VWP. “They are bred to milk; they are giving milk; and when they show a heat, that tells me they are ready to be bred,” he says.
Having changed their breeding protocol, Monday and Thursday mornings have changed drastically at Reuter Dairy. “I had to have an extra guy here, and when we stopped giving shots on Monday and breeding on Thursdays, we didn’t need that extra employee anymore,” he says. Now they are breeding a few cows every day.
Their flushing protocols changed as well. Reuter says, “We do a fair amount of flushing, but we don’t use IVF on heifers at six months. We really believe in letting the heifers tell us when they are ready to be flushed, and that’s usually at about a year old.”
Change is challenging for anyone, especially for those who go against the mainstream. “I was always worried that I would fail and that this would backfire on me.
And I had plenty of people tell me that this would fail, but they were people [who] don’t own cows and people [who] don’t own my cows and don’t pay my bills,” Reuter says. “So we went with it, and I told myself that I would make this commitment for nine to 12 months.”
Today, they have less than 10 percent of the cows on Ovsynch, and if a cow doesn’t come into heat by 100 days into her lactation, they check her. “If she checks out normal, then it becomes an individual cow decision,” he says. “If that cow isn’t milking really strong, then I will give her Ovsynch and breed her. But if that cow is a fourth-lactation cow and she’s giving 150 pounds, I’m not ever giving her a shot.
“We have some cows out here that are on my ‘do not breed’ list that are fourth lactation and have been milking for two years that are still giving 120 pounds a day.”
In Reuter’s view, with their former management system, those cows never had a chance to make money for the farm.
“The most stressful time on a cow is during calving, so if I can eliminate some of that, then I have eliminated two dry periods, four months of not milking, two calvings, and in my mind, I win, and we make money on that cow. And I’m still sitting here, a couple of years later, with more heifers than I know what to do with.”
Their overall cow numbers have never dropped. Their calving interval is 13 months, and that was the goal because they don’t want cows calving every year.
Monitoring rumination in the herd has caused Reuter to make other changes. “On the computer, a cow’s information is right in front of you,” he says. “I can have fresh cows tracked in five minutes. The system alerts you when something goes wrong, and I can get the cow treated sooner. It’s allowed me to eliminate our post-fresh group and everything goes into the general population. We don’t have to move cows and that makes things easier for the cows.”
The reaction after a cow is treated can be monitored as well. “When you treat an animal, you can see how she responds very quickly,” he says. “I can treat her at 8 a.m., and by noon, I can see if she’s back eating or not.”
Reuter’s belief in management and genetics is what changed other protocols. “About 12 years ago, I stopped treating mastitis; I don’t use dry cow treatments. I believe in just management and genetics, and it has saved me a ton of money,” he says.
Reuter concludes, “Every farm is different and how we make money is different. I had an old guy tell me one time that everyone gets the same thing for their product. The one who makes it the cheapest wins. It’s just the American way.” 
PHOTO: Dan Reuter of Reuter Dairy. Photo courtesy of Semex.
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Melissa Hart
- Freelance Writer
- North Adams, Michigan
