Page 16 Dairy Star Saturday, February 27, 2016

What are some of the preventive measures you currently do that you feel are critical in keeping your SCC low?

Boesl: Regular vacuum level checks, keep-ing cows clean and being diligent on vaccinations. Keeping routines consistent and reducing stress on cows is also key.

Gehl Acres Farm: We use dry cow treatment and Orbeseal at dry off. We vaccinate with J-Vac. We have a sound dry cow nutrition program, mak-ing sure of good levels of trace minerals and vita-mins in the diet. We keep dry cows well bedded with straw. When cows freshen, we use a strip cup to check milk quality. DHI testing is very important for managing our milk quality. The SCC reports are usually the rst reports we look at. We also use a CMT paddle to check for abnormal milk. We also have used DNA-PCR testing to culture cows. We may use this in addition to traditional culturing, to get good answers as to what pathogens are causing mastitis. If we suspect a Staph cow, we milk her last, and we are happy when she is culled. We also make sure our feed quality is high and our rations are well balanced to keep good immune function in our cows. Leiding: We have a tiestall barn, so we make sure cows are scraped behind several times each day. We make sure they have clean straw under them and when they go out. The freestall barn has clean, fresh sand bedding also. We use lime to keep the stalls dry and clean. We CMT problem cows of-ten. Merdan: We CMT all fresh cows and heifers before putting their milk in the tank. We also CMT any cows and heifers that we feel are questionable. There are many times when a cow will not visibly show mastitis, but the CMT test will pick it up. We also receive texts from AMPI with each milk pickup showing the SCC and other information. This alerts us if there is a sudden increase in the SCC. We also look at DHIA records identifying high SCC cows. All cows are dry treated with Spectramast Dry Cow and Orbeseal.

Schumacher: There are many things to keep our SCC low. It is important that the cows are clean and healthy. We provide quality feed for them from the time they are born. The bedding for the freestalls stays clean and well groomed. Milking equipment must be clean and working correctly. Consistency of the milking processes is also important, as well as a good quality pre and post dip. We also dry treat the cows and heifers before they calve. Because I do most of the milking myself, I know the cows and

I can tell which ones need extra attention.When your SCC starts to go up, what are the rst things you do to keep it in check? Boesl: It is usually just one cow that can throw the numbers quickly. Extra attention is given to the stripping step in udder prep to nd the problem cow. Teat ends are also examined. Gehl Acres Farm: If SCC starts to creep up, we start looking to see who is causing the problem. We will check cows with the CMT paddle and use DHI testing to nd the high SCC cows. We work with our vet on a treatment plan when needed. We may end up culling the cow if she is a persistent problem. Leiding: We pay attention to details and the hard work pays off when we see it in our milk check. The extra $.80 to $1 for a milk quality pre-mium helps with todays low milk prices. It means the difference in making a pro t or breaking even. Merdan: If our SCC goes up, the rst thing we try to do is really focus on each and every cow we are milking. We make sure there is absolutely no swelling or hard quarters especially on cows that have one quarter that nishes before or after all of the other ones. Also, we focus on cows that have had issues in the past, and look at a recent DHIA test. We CMT any cows that we have concerns about. Schumacher: The rst thing I do is to nd out what cow is causing the problem and then I decide what action I should take to care for the cow. If it is a repeating factor of many cows, I like to make sure my equipment is working correctly. Sometimes all you can do is blame the weather and ght your way through it. I can have months where I am be treat-ing a lot of cows for mastitis and I can have months when I have no cows to treat. It can be a roller-coaster ride.What advice do you have for someone who is trying to lower their SCC? Boesl: Take a look at how many band-aids you have on your farm. There are hundreds of products out there that are supposed to x the problems. Sometimes taking a step back and simplifying things can result in healthier animals. It could be as simple as a small adjustment in timing of vaccines or reducing use of some additives that can go a long way. Gehl Acres Farm: My advice to anyone trying to lower their SCC would be to DHI test to nd what cows are causing the problem. Use culturing to nd

Con nued from FROM OUR SIDE OF THE FENCE | Page 15what pathogens you are dealing with and develop an effective treatment protocol. Cull the cows thatare chronic problems. Make sure you have a sound milking routine and cows are calm and clean. Reg-ularly service your milking equipment by someone who is knowledgeable and experienced. Dont be afraid to ask questions. We like the UW-Madisonmilk quality website and use UW-Extension people to gain information that will help our farm.

Leiding: We pay attention to details and the hard work pays off when we see it in our milkcheck. The extra $.80 to $1 for a milk quality pre-mium helps with todays low milk prices. It means the difference in making a pro t or breaking even.

Merdan: I would advise them to rst make surethat they have a consistent milking routine. Look atyour recent DHIA tests and identify problem cowsand then CMT them. It is often just one quarter on a cow that is causing an extremely high count. Youthen have to decide whether you want to treat thatcow, quarter milk that cow, or cull it. I also feel that it is very important to CMT all fresh cows and heifers to identify any problems right away. TheCMT test is a very cheap and quick way to identify a problem cow. You also need to make sure that youare making it a goal to produce quality milk.

Schumacher: Start with the basics. Most of itis common sense keeping the cows clean and do-ing a thorough job. Dont take short cuts to try tosave time. It comes back to haunt you later and canbecome a bigger problem than you had before.Why is it important for you to have a low SCC?

Boesl: We take pride in having healthy animals. The SCC count is one way for us to know that whatwe are doing is working. We want to know that we are doing our part in giving the consumer a highquality product.

Gehl Acres Farm: It is important for our farmto have a low SCC because the milk check premi-um is so very important to pro tability. With tightmargins we need to focus on doing a great job onmilk quality and production.

Leiding: Its a good feeling to know that yourhard work is paying off and youre producing a quality product.

Merdan: The most important reason to have alow SCC would be to receive the quality premiumsfor milk.

Schumacher: I feel that it is important to pro-duce the best product that I can for the consumer. The extra money for making a better product helps,too.

The National Dairy Shrine is again looking for applications for its annual scholarship program. Applications are accepted from March 1 until the dead-line of April 15. Of cial scholarship ap-plication award forms are available on the NDS web site, www.dairyshrine.org under scholarships. The National Dairy Shrine Student Recognition Program recognizes and rewards graduating seniors planning a career in the dairy industry. There will be a $2,000 cash award given to the winner, a $1,500 reward for second place, and three to seven $1000 cash awards depending on the number and quality of applicants. The National Dairy Shrine/Dairy Management, Inc. (DMI) Milk Mar-keting-Dairy Products Scholarships are available to encourage students to pursue careers in the marketing or de-velopment of dairy products. The win-ner receives a $1500 scholarship while the other winners receive $1000 schol-arships. Up to ve winners are recog-nized annually. The National Dairy Shrine/Dairy Management, Inc. (DMI) Education & Communication Scholarships are avail-able to encourage students to pursue

careers in the education or communica-tion of the value of dairy products and the dairy industry. The winner receives a $1500 scholarship while the other winners receive $1000 scholarships. Up to ve winners are recognized an-nually. The Kildee Scholarships are of-fered in two categories. Graduate study applicants may include the top 25 All-American contestants in one of the past three National Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Contests plus the First and Sec-ond Place teams in the North Ameri-can Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge National contests. These students are eligible to apply for two $3000 gradu-ate school scholarships. Undergradu-ate students may apply in their junior or senior year of college for one $1000 Kildee Undergraduate scholarship. Ap-plicants for this scholarship must have been one of the top 25 contestants at the National 4-H or FFA Dairy Judging Contests. The National Dairy Shrine Junior Merit Scholarship recognizes and re-wards current college juniors planning a career in the dairy industry. There will be a $1,500 cash award given to the winner and two to ve more $1000

cash awards depending on the number and quality of applicants. The National Dairy Shrine Sopho-more Merit Scholarship recognizes and rewards current college sophomores planning a career in the dairy industry. There will be a $1,500 cash award giv-en to the winner and two to ve more $1000 cash awards depending on the number and quality of applicants. Two NDS/McCullough scholar-ships of $2000 and $1,500 are awarded annually to high school seniors intend-ing to enter a four year college or uni-versity and major in: Dairy/Animal Sci-ence with a Communications emphasis or Agriculture Journalism with a Dairy/Animal Science emphasis. Up to two NDS/Iager Dairy Schol-arships will be awarded in the amount of $1,000 to second year college students enrolled in a two-year agricultural col-lege. This scholarship is sponsored by a fund created by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Iager of Fulton, Maryland. There will be two NDS/Maurice Core Dairy Scholarships awarded in the amount of $1,000 to a freshman col-lege student in a four year agricultural college. This scholarship is sponsored from a fund created in honor of Mau-

rice E. Core long-time industry leaderand past Executive Director of National Dairy Shrine. There are three NDS/Klussendorfscholarships given in the amount of$1,500 to students in their rst, second, or third year at a two or four year col-lege or university. Applicants need tomajor in Dairy or Animal Science withintentions to enter the dairy cattle in-dustry. There are four NDS/McKownscholarships given in the amount of$1,500 to students in their rst, second, or third year at a two or four year col-lege or university. Applicants need tomajor in Dairy or Animal Science withintentions to enter the dairy cattle in-dustry. If you would like to apply for anyof these scholarships, please visit theNDS website at www.dairyshrine.org to download the applications. If you have any questions, please contact the NDSof ce at info@dairyshrine.org. Win-ners of these awards will be announced this summer, with the presentation ofawards to be held at the annual NDSawards banquet in Madison, Wisconsinon Thursday October 6, 2016.

NDS scholarship applications due April 15

Dairy Star Saturday, February 27, 2016 Page 25

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of Agriculture doing side-by-side research for nitrogen growth rates. Theyre looking at what levels the plants are getting the best use of nitrogen, Roys said. Its been fun being a part of their research project on our farm and seeing the results rsthand. When it comes to applying pesticides, the Trauts use drift-reducing nozzles on their sprayers and apply it at a low pressure, between 30 to 35 pounds, to avoid drifting. It comes out in a ner mist at a lower pressure, Roys said. It helps keep the chemicals where they belong. Another conservation practice the Trauts implement is planting cover crops. We just started planting rye as our cover crop this year, Roys said. The Trauts are already seeing the bene t. Its making a difference, Roys said. The cover crop stops the wind from blowing the soil away. Its working, so were going to keep doing it. Reduced tillage is another key conservation practice the family has been doing for the past 20 years. Thats big for us. We want to leave as much residue as possible on top of the soil to hold the moisture, Roys said. To accomplish that, the family uses a chisel plow instead of a moldboard plow. It reduces wind erosion, Matt said. Its nice not seeing our soil blowing away as much. Besides minimum tillage, the Trauts use natural windbreaks to reduce wind erosion in their elds. Those windbreaks consist of Jack Pine trees and Norway Pine trees. Those trees were planted back in the 1940s by my family, Roys said. Since the trees are older, the Trauts are managing them and planting new trees to maintain a strong windbreak for the eld. Its a positive for wildlife and it still does its job by keeping the wind out, Roys said. Another way the family works at reducing erosion is by being intentional with their crop rotations. Especially on our highly erodible land, we do a alfalfa, corn rotation since it provides constant cover, Roys said. We do have some corn on corn rotations on some elds for three to ve years but most of it is in a alfalfa, corn rotation. Some of those highly erodible soils are found on slopes and hills in their elds. When we rotate from alfalfa to corn, we purposely leave some of the alfalfa in areas that are more susceptible to erosion as a grass waterway, Matt said. Keeping the strips of alfalfa in the soil with the corn has helped reduce soil runoff. The soil still moves but those strips slow it, Roys said. It helps. With the sandy soils and the need for irrigation, the Trauts began working with the Soil Water Conservation District four years ago to set up an irrigation scheduling program. They use computer software as a tool to manage their water use. After entering the plant size, daily temperature and rainfall levels, the program calculates the soils moisture level. This data helps us manage the irrigation schedule and ef cient use of our water, Roys said.

This past year, the Trauts took their conservation practices a step further by doing an energy audit on their farm. We wanted to nd the areas on our farm that we could save energy, too, Roys said. The Trauts recently installed LED lights in their barn. These will be nice to have, Matt said. They are also in the process of putting up variable frequency drives on the pivots of their irrigators. The whole purpose there is to conserve energy and get the best use of our water, Roys said. In addition to their 420 acres of cropland, the Trauts have 15 acres of land in the Conservation Reserve Program. It used to be a pasture for our cows. It wasnt amounting to much and wasnt going to be farmable, Roys said. We thought, why not take the non-productive land, make it the best it can be and preserve it. For the past 30 years, the family has been planting trees and managing the land to make it conducive for

wildlife. We trim the trees, keep the dead brush and put itinto piles for the wildlife, Roys said. I love plantingtrees. It adds to the landscape, and Im planting them for the next generation. Along with the brush piles and new trees, theTrauts have built duck houses, put in food plots tohelp increase the population of wildlife on their CRP land and raised and released pheasants for ve yearson their CRP land. It didnt happen overnight, Roys said. It took20 years. Now, we are seeing more turkeys, deer, foxand other wildlife there. Matt agreed. Its nice to see that and know we had a hand init, he said. Even after receiving the OutstandingConservationist award, the Trauts plan to continuetheir conservation practices. We want to do the right thing, Roys said. Weare going to keep doing the best we can and keep improving the land.

Con nued from TRAUTS | Page 23

MISSY MUSSMAN/DAIRY STARThis irrigator has a variable frequency drive on the pivot to conserve energy and get the best use of wa-ter. The Trauts are in the process of installing them on all of their irrigator pivots.