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Volume 19, No. 15
“All dairy, all the time”™
September 23, 2017
Fire destroys dairy barn
TPI adjustments aim to make a more protable Sixty Holsteins Holstein By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
RICE, Minn. – For years, the Genetic Total Performance Index (GTPI) formula has evaluated Holstein animals and their potential to impact the breed, taking into account 14 traits that reect production, health and fertility, and conformation. In July, Holstein Association USA approved changes to the formula suggested by the association’s genetic advancement committee. These changes positively reect the direction breeding has taken to produce the modern Holstein cow. “This formula is the industry’s gold standard and it puts a more protable cow in that barn, and that’s what every dairy producer strives to breed for,” Spencer Hackett said. “The sole purpose of us tweaking the formula is to help improve the way genetics are going for the breed – for everyone, not just the registered herds.” Hackett milks 140 cows near Rice, Minn., in a partnership with his wife, Stacey, and parents, Melvin and Darlene, at Melarry Farms. Hackett recently completed his second year serving on the genetic advancement committee. As of Aug. 5, the GTPI formula reects a greater emphasis on fat and feed efciency, and less on protein; emphasis on productive life is reduced and a new trait, cow livability, measures the animal’s time alive on the farm; and adjustments made to both udder composite and foot and leg composite decouple them from stature. “This committee sits down and gures out what the breed needs, and these changes are examples of what we’re constantly doing as a committee,” Hackett said. “With rBST going away, producers are looking closer at genetics. We need a better racehorse to put in a stall and make more milk Turn to TPI | Page 5
lost in early morning blaze By Jerry Nelson
jerry.n@dairystar.com
RUSSELL, Minn. – At 4:20 on the morning of Sept. 5, Brad Johnson looked out the window of his farmhouse and uttered the words that no dairyman ever wants to say. “The barn is on re,” he said to his wife, Brad Johnson Dianne. “Call 911.” Johnson normally rises at 4:30, but was awakened on that particular morning by unusual noises coming from his farmstead. “The dog was barking like crazy and I could hear cattle bellowing,” he said. “I thought
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Only a small porƟon of Brad Johnson’s dairy barn sƟll stands aŌer it was destroyed by a re during the early morning of Sept. 5. Johnson and his wife, Dianne, lost 60 cows on their farm near Russell, Minn. that maybe it was the bull or that the cows had gotten out. But, then I saw the orange glow coming from our dairy barn and the ames leaping out of its doorways. My heart fell right into my stomach.” Johnson ran to the barn and tried valiantly to save his cows. “There were so many dead cows piled up against the gate
that I couldn’t budge it,” he said. “And the heat coming from the re was just unbelievable.” Fire crews from the cities of Russell, Tyler, Ruthton, Balaton and Lynd responded to the call. During the 15 minutes it took for the rst re crews to arrive, Johnson and his wife could not do anything except watch helplessly as the inferno
continued to grow in size and intensity. “We could hear things inside the barn creaking and popping as the re spread,” Johnson said. “By the time the re crews got here, the barn was pretty much engulfed.” It took several hours for the Turn to JOHNSON | Page 6
“As a farmer, I know Mother Nature giveth and taketh away, and I’m still in awe of her power.” - Matthew Lussier
Hurricane Irma tears through Florida dairies By Jennifer Coyne jenn@dairystar.com
HAWTHORNE, Fla. – Growing up in northern Vermont, Matthew Lussier has survived bad weather where temperatures drop well below freezing and snow piles high above front doors. But, nothing could prepare him for the fury of a hurricane. “I’ve lived through blizzards, and I laugh at them … the violence of a hurricane is something to behold,” Lussier said. Lussier and his wife, Linda, and son, Kevin, are recouping after Hurricane Irma passed through their 650-cow dairy in Alachua County near Hawthorne, Fla., Sept. 10 and 11. As Hurricane Irma formed in late August, it quickly became the strongest storm on record in the Atlantic Ocean and made landfall in southern Florida Sept. 10. In the following 24 hours, the storm traveled onwards through the sunshine state. While many ed for shelter, dairy farmers across the state secured facilities, relocated cattle to safety, and hunkered down until the eye of the storm passed. Turn to IRMA | Page 7
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High winds from Hurricane Irma caused severe damage to Butler Oaks’ freestall barn near Lorida, Fla. The dairy also experienced extensive ooding. The hurricane arrived Sept. 10 and swept through the state in the days that followed.