Select Sires Member Cooperative (SSMC) organized the Northeast Iowa Progeny Performance Tour on July 30. Over 70 dairy producers from Minnesota and Iowa joined the excursion, which included stops at Top Deck Holsteins in Westgate, Stempfle Holsteins in Maynard, and Foresight Farms LLC in Decorah.
Top Deck: Jake Kempel, Jason Decker, Derek Decker, Devin Decker, Justin Decker, and Lars Sivesind.
The first stop was Top Deck Holsteins where Jason, Derek, Justin, and Devin Decker manage 730 cows that are milked in a double-12 herringbone parlor. On the last official test, the herd was averaging 105 pounds of milk with 5.0% Fat and 3.3% Protein. Equally impressive was the 169,000 SCC. Top Deck is one of the top Energy Corrected Milk (ECM) herds in the Midwest with a 365 RHA of 33,060M 1,616 F and 1,058P.
Lars Sivesind, the District Sales Manager for SSMC, works closely with the herd. “Top Deck aggressively uses sexed semen on both cows and heifers. They have a 51% first service conception on cows and 57% on virgin heifers.”
Top Deck featured 600 cows and represented daughters of PARSLY, TROOPER, ZYTHOS, DOC, MOONRAKER, ALPHABET, and BARCLAY. “The cows are consistently producing over that 100-pound threshold, even through the heat and humidity that we have been experiencing,” shared Jake Kempel, SSMC Genetic & Reproductive Advisor for the herd. Stempfle: Lars Sivesind, Mary Fliehler, Scott Stempfle, Paul Stempfle, and Jake Kempel.
Stempfle Holsteins: Lars Sivesind, Mary Fliehler, Scott Stempfle, Paul Stempfle, and Jake Kempel.
Just 10 minutes away, you will find Stempfle Holsteins where 880 Holstein cows call home, with an additional 150 dry cows and 1,100 head of young stock. The operation is owned by Paul and Jody Stempfle and Scott and Alannah Stempfle.
Also, a high production herd, the Stempfle RHA is over 30,000M 1305F and 979P. Cows are averaging 95 pounds a day, 4.5% – 4.8%F, and an impressive SCC that hovers between 100,000 and 150,000 SCC.
Stempfles use a variety of products and services available from Select Sires Member Cooperative, including top young bulls from the NxGEN® program and ProfitSOURCE® (elite beef on dairy genetics). Calves are raised in individual pens and hutches where they are given Tri-Start Jr+ at birth and First Day Formula® when colostrum is not available. Tri-Start Jr+ and First Day Formula are both products sold through their SSMC District Sales Manager, Lars Sivesind.
“Fertility and production are our number one priority while continuing to breed for functional type and balanced cows,” stated Stempfle. “The majority of our cows are bred off natural heats and have a 50% pregnancy rate on sexed semen on the milking herd, and generally 55-60% first service pregnancies with the virgin heifers.”
Cows on display at Stempfle Holsteins included 800 cows with sires including ALPHABET, DOC, LUSTER-P, SERTOLI, TROPIC, and ZZ TOP.
After the daughter tour, guests were treated to a complimentary lunch by Select Sires Member Cooperative before heading on the one-hour drive to Foresight Farms in Decorah. This operation is owned by Dave and Jean Wise, son Ethan and wife Allie Wise, and son Jared Wise, and assisted by herd manager Ben Guevara.
Foresight Farms: Lars Sivesind, Jared Wise, Ethan Wise, and Dave Wise.
The facility milks 1,170 Holsteins, which are mostly first-lactation cows in a double-16 parlor. The herd currently is averaging 94 pounds per day of 4.2%F and 3.2%P. Another location milks the second-lactation and older cows.
Foresight Farms utilizes CowManager® on the cows and breeding age heifers and installed the “Sort my Cow” gates in early 2023 at this location. They are also participating in CowManager’s lifetime monitoring (calf tags) trial. The other dairy uses robots and is looking to install CowManager technology at that facility in the future.
“We select for RobotPRO® bulls that are high in HHP$ and A2A2. We also want cows with functional type and udders with good components,” shared Wise.
The first service conception rate is 56% on cows with sexed semen and 65% on virgin heifers. They have a 35% and 37% pregnancy rate on cows and heifers, respectively.
Cows that were highlighted included daughters sired by LUSTER-P, TROOPER, CRUSHER, ZYTHOS, and CONWAY.
“Having a progeny tour to showcase well-managed herds has allowed other producers to see daughters of bulls that they may or may not have used in their own herds. It also exposes people to the technology and products that SSMC can provide to its customers in addition to cattle genetics,” mentioned Mary Fliehler, Genetic and Reproductive Advisor for SSMC.
Twenty SSMC employees and interns assisted with the three-stop event, making it a seamless activity. Dairy producers could see milking daughters in their working attire and appreciate the high volumes of component-rich milk they are producing.
SSMC Group: Numerous members of the SSMC team helped organize and assist with the event.
Front Row: Darrell Lee, Maria Knutson, Sophie Stelling, Kelcy Nagel, Katherine Hills, McKinzie Neitzke, Jordan Pahl, and Rhonda Lee.
Middle Row: Lars Sivesind, Jack Saemrow, Ben Butikofer, Leif Annexstad, Jake Kempel, Royce Demmer, and Paul Tveten.
Back row: Murray Sinclair, Anne Shoemaker, Mary Fliehler, Kendra Waldenberger, and Kayla Frieler.
