JUNE 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


35


Better management underpins farm improvement Technology lets farmers refocus their attention on individual cows


by DAVID SCHMIDT


ABBOTSFORD – How do you build a better dairy farm? Not necessarily with wood, bricks and mortar but with better management and better cows. That was the message WestGen members received during their dairy farm tour following their annual meeting in Abbotsford at the end of March. Good dairy farm management takes


more than just good farmers – it takes a team approach, they learned at Country Charm Farms in Abbotsford. Country Charm has long been recognized as one of the best- managed dairy farms, not only in Matsqui, but in BC and indeed in all of Canada. Last year, the farm ranked number one in BC and number 32 in Canada for herd management. In 2017, they ranked number four in BC. Now run by Chris Huizing and his


son, Joel, the farm was begun by Chris’s father in 1967, then taken over by Chris and his two brothers in 1985. Although the Huizings expanded the barn in 2013, most facilities are much older (the parlour was built in 2005). Clearly, you don’t need new facilities to have a successful dairy. And Country Charm is a success: their herd averages 38.5 kg milk a day with 4.25% butterfat and 3.17% protein. The 215 milking cows are divided


into four groups: a high group, a low group, a fresh cow group and a two- year-old group. Although cows are fed only once a day, an automatic feed pusher ensures cows always have feed available.


The high group is milked three times a day while other groups are milked only two times. “It keeps the night shift shorter,” Chris explained. The Huizings’ management team includes Dr. Lisa McRae of AgWest Veterinary Group, who conducts regular health checks and provides


genomics and other advanced genetic tools to constantly improve its herd. “We started using genomics four


years ago and it’s proving itself every day in the barn,” Korporaal says. “It’s shocking how accurate the genomic projections are.” The approach is paying off. Owner


George Dick notes Dicklands is still milking 285 cows, the same number it was milking five years ago. That means production has increased at the same rate as the huge increases in quota over that time frame. “We’re usually at about 40 kgs milk


Ben Korporaal, Marie Anne Dick and George Dick are the management team behind Dicklands Farms in Chilliwack. Dicklands is one of the first BC farms to use in vitro fertilization (IVF) to improve their herd genetics. DAVID SCHMIDT PHOTO


valued advice, and a nutritionist who visits bi-weekly to balance the rations. Herd health is extremely important.


All fresh cows, including fresh heifers, are tested for ketosis on day four and treated as needed. Since moving to the so-called Goldilocks diet, the Huizingas have significantly reduced their incidence of displaced abdomens – down to just one in the past year. “The close-up ration has a direct


result on the incidence of ketosis,” McRae notes. The Huizings’ breeding philosophy puts 40% of the emphasis on production and 30% each on health traits and conformation. Cow comfort is a critical component. Country Charm uses sand bedding in the cow barn and sawdust in the calf pens. Sand is added weekly and sawdust bi-weekly. Because the Huizings still house their calves in an


old barn, they installed a blower and perforated plastic ventilation tubes above the pens to keep the air fresh.


One on one While Country Charm manages


their cows in groups, Dicklands Farm in Chilliwack has gone back to managing cows individually. That used to be the way cows were managed but was largely abandoned when herds like Dicklands began to be numbered in the hundreds instead of the tens. After Dicklands installed robots over


five years ago, it was able to obtain the information it needed to again work with individual cows, herd manager Ben Korporaal explained. “You can milk two good cows for


three poor ones,” he says, noting Dicklands’ top cows fill 63% more quota than their bottom cows. As a result, Dicklands is using


a day with 4.3% to 4.5% butterfat,” Dick says. To step up production even more, and to take even greater advantage of the power of genomics, Dicklands has become one of the first BC commercial dairy herds to use the pooling service WestGen is offering through Boviteq West. After genomic testing their heifers,


Dicklands selected five with the highest genomic values for the program. After using ultrasound to determine whether they would be good donors, the five were taken to Boviteq West to have their eggs harvested and sent to Boviteq in Quebec where they will be fertilized in vitro (IVF) using pooled semen. The pooling program reduces the cost of IVF, putting it within reach of commercial farmers like Dicklands, explains Boviteq pooling and commercial options manager Melissa Bowers. “It gives commercial farmers the


opportunity to amplify the top 3% of their herd,” she says. Although they are confident the


program will bear dividends for the farm, Korporaal stresses the results will not be known for several years. “What you do today is three years


away – four years to the end of the first lactation,” he notes.


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