Brent Czech New Heights Dairy LLC UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA DAIRY PRODUCTION CONFERENCE

Background -Grew up on 500 cow dairy, dad started in 1980 with 23 cows

-Graduated from University of MN in May 2006

-New Heights Dairy LLC is a 50/50 partnership with parents

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New Heights Dairy from 30,000 feet Rice, MN

1,370 milking and dry

1,120 heifers

Generally production in mid 80’s with a 4.0 and a 3.2

200 SCC

Sand bedding, 3x, bst

Minnesota Dairy Herds By Size: 2003 vs 2014 Top 10 Milk Producing States in the US

State 2014 Milk Production (lbs)

CALIFORNIA 42,337,000,000

WISCONSIN 27,795,000,000

IDAHO 13,873,000,000

NEW YORK 13,733,000,000

PENNSYLVANIA 10,683,000,000

TEXAS 10,310,000,000

MICHIGAN 9,609,000,000

MINNESOTA 9,127,000,000

NEW MEXICO 8,105,000,000

WASHINGTON 6,584,000,000

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Minnesota Dairy Herds By Size: 2003 vs 2014

1-49 Cows 50-99 Cows100-199

Cows200-499

Cows500+ Cows

2003 2730 2403 495 211 45

2014 1006 1638 362 261 75

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500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Minnesota Dairy Herds By Size: 2003 vs 2014

New Mexico 62.3 mil lbs/farm

Florida 19.3 mil lbs/farm

Kansas 9.9 mil lbs/farm

South Dakota 8.3 mil lbs/farm

Michigan 4.9 mil lbs/farm

Minnesota 2.5 mil lbs/farm

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10,000,000

20,000,000

30,000,000

40,000,000

50,000,000

60,000,000

70,000,000

2014 Milk Production Per Farm: Top 23 Milk Producing States

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Minnesota Milk Production Growth: 1990-2014

8,000

8,500

9,000

9,500

10,000

10,500

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93

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99

20

02

20

05

20

08

20

11

20

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State Growth ’92-’14

Minnesota -7.4%

South Dakota 27%

Iowa 16%

Wisconsin 16.5%

Pennsylvania 3.2%

Vermont 6.1%

Michigan 77%

Minnesota Milk Production Growth: 1990-2014

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New Heights Dairy 2 Lactating sites Rice

-Started May 2006 as a stand alone dairy

-900 through parlor

-has pre-fresh and post fresh for both sites

Foley

-Started March 2008

-grew into slowly

-320 through parlor

-mostly 1st lactation and moderate sized cows that are greater than 20 DIM

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New Heights Dairy Pierz

-Started November 2010

-all heifers post weaning and far off drys

-400 acres

-helped change production model to a more traditional Midwestern model

-After 2009 decided we needed to raise our own heifers and control some land

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”

Arthur Ashe

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Thought Process The 80/20 Rule

80% of the benefit for 20% of the cost

Cow Comfort Enhanced

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Starts with calves

• 3x feeding

• Accelerated feeding (waste milk with balancer added)

• Keep the pedal to the metal

• Breeding as soon as 10 months (started when we purchased the dairy, had no heifer program, the sooner we calved our own the sooner we could quit buying springers)

• Worked very well, still doing it (Claas Factory)

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Crossbreeding

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Everyone’s first concern consistency

NHD Crossbreds vs Holsteins

HOLSTEIN

Milk-89

Fat-4.0

Prot-3.2

ECM-96

SCC-283

DOPN-115

CROSSBRED

Milk-84

Fat-4.3

Prot-3.4

ECM-95

SCC-180

DOPN-104

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NHD Crossbreds vs Holsteins

• Holstein

• $18.36 (Dec Prices)

• 23% pg rate

• 73% of herd

• Dollars of product was close, but the SCC premium gave the advantage to the crossbreds

• Crossbreds

• $18.67 (Dec Prices)

• 31% pg rate

• 27% of herd

• Moving toward all crossbred

Breed Rotation Procross

HO x MO X SR 3 breed continuous rotation

I Replace Montbeliarde with Jersey in heifers and for cows after 3 services

In my milk market Jersey is a viable option

Currently the 3-way crosses are doing as good or better than the first crosses

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How do I select bulls -Good Holstein base is the reason for success of crossbreeding

-In all breeds I select for udders(especially udder depth) and components

-Improved health from hybrid vigor

Internal Growth

• Focus on good repro

• Fresh cows

• 4% still birth rate

• Calf Health

• Closed Herd

• Crossbreeding

• Roadblocks

• Mycoplasma

• Prototheca

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Manure System

• Recycling sand for bedding

• Organic Load <6%

• Samples to OARDC in Ohio

• Saves $ in MN

• Manure is pumped with a drag line and sold to crop farmer next door

• Saves me 9,000-10,000 per month in bedding cost, 9-10 months of the year

• Foley and manure is daily hauled and applied to my land

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The next generation

• I was able to have many different experiences prior to graduating from college

• Encourage kids to go to college and develop a attitude for continuous learning

• Don’t make them wait to be middle aged before they have control, they will be past their most innovative years

• Let them make mistakes, college is the cheapest education they will have

• Don’t end up ready to retire without an exit strategy

Final Thoughts

• What works for me in MN might not work in Florida

• Home runs are great, focus on hitting consistent base hits

• Protecting Margin

• The larger you business gets and the faster you want to grow it seems like it is more important to perform close to budget rather than hitting a home run one year and a failure the next, depending on your situation

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