SELECTIONS - Fall 2006
Professional Technicians Offer Reproductive Solutions
 Select Sires’ mission of helping dairy producers achieve genetic success first requires accomplishing reproductive success. The goal of Select Reproductive Solutions™ (SRS™) is, simply, to get the cows bred. SRS offers a Portfolio of Reproductive Solutions™ and one of the most important parts of that package is the professional technician. Across the country, Select Sires technicians have become integral parts of successful dairy herds because of their dedication to their customers and outstanding reproductive skills.
One excellent example of that is Grammer Jersey Farm in Sebring, Ohio. Bill Grammer’s herd can be described as high in production (RHA of 20,630 Milk), and high in reproduction with a minimal injection program in use. He has experienced nearly 100 percent internal herd expansion as a result of high pregnancy rates. In 1992, he milked 35 cows. Now at 542, he has sold more females than he has purchased within the past 14 years.
"The whole key to any farm growth is getting your cows bred and getting the calf on the ground," Grammer said. "It all starts with getting the cows bred. If you can’t do that, you can’t grow. We give that a top priority."
 |
Rachel Tucker, herd manager, and Bill Grammer, owner, couldn't be happier with the results they achieve with their COBA/Select Sires professional technician. |
His technician, Micah Hartong, makes that a top priority, too. Hartong has an uncanny ability to detect cows in heat and breed them anywhere in the barn, which has no headlocks. He takes a great deal of pride in keeping his numbers high. Under Hartong’s guidance, Grammer experienced a 21 percent pregnancy rate with summer heat and typically averages above 25 percent in the winter.
Hartong graduated from Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute, Wooster, Ohio, with an associate’s degree in dairy science. He worked as a herdsman before becoming a technician for COBA/Select Sires. In 2005 he was recognized for his outstanding work with Select Sires’ Super Achiever Award.
 |
 |
| Professional and highly-trained technicians like Rick Ellerbrock (left) and Micah Hartong (right) are equipped with a complete portfolio of Reproductive Solutions to help maintain your successful breeding program and give you one less thing to worry about. |
Hartong attributes much of his success to adhering to the fundamentals of breeding. A part of sticking to those fundamentals is a good tail paint program. Grammer uses green Mark-Her Tailpaint™ to mark pregnant cows and blue Detect-Her Tailpaint™ for heat detection.
"Painting is just another tool that adds to our successful reproduction program," Grammer said. They began using the paint five years ago and find it more successful than chalk, especially because Jerseys have a tendency to lick the marks, which is no longer a problem with Detect-Her Tailpaint with Bitterguard® added. Tail paint has also allowed Grammer to go from twice per day services to once per day, without a decline in reproduction.
 |
Grammer and Vissers both use Detect-Her Tail Paint as a part of their successful reproductive programs. |
Grammer adheres to a 60-day voluntary waiting period. A pregnancy check is done weekly with the herd’s veterinarian and herd manager, Rachel Tucker. If at day 75 a cow is not bred, a prostaglandin injection is administered and if she’s still not bred at day 120, she is synchronized using Ovsynch. With sound management and good heat-detection, Ovsynch breeding is kept to less than 1 percent of all services.
Hartong believes in order to be successful, you must be confident a cow is definitely in heat before breeding. "I use the $100 rule. If you wouldn’t bet $100 of your next paycheck that she’s in heat, I don’t breed her." If he doubts heat after observing the paint and the cow’s behavior, he checks with the computer. He will only breed the cow if the timing confirms that she should be in heat.
Grammer couldn’t be happier with Hartong and the results he is getting with his services. "Micah does such a tremendous job catching them in heat and getting them painted. He comes in and the cows get bred; the herd is on autopilot."
Grammer’s veterinarian, Sean Kelleher, D.V.M., agrees. "They do a fine job. With 70 to 80 percent palpation rate and 34 percent all breeding conception rate, the numbers speak for themselves."
Maintaining the successful breeding program at Grammer’s is definitely a team project. Together, Grammer, Kelleher, Tucker and Hartong keep accurate breeding records and make informed decisions. Grammer is more than satisfied with the total package he is receiving from Select Sires. "COBA/Select Sires has the best genetics and services at reasonable prices," he said.
 |
Maintaining a successful breeding program is a team effort at Grammer Jersey Farm. Team members Micah Hartong, Bill Grammer and Adam Hahlen discuss the reproductive program above. |
Technicians also Beneficial in Larger Herds
When Paul Vissers, Mark Center, Ohio, took over an existing dairy in July 2005, he simply didn’t have the time to do the breeding himself. During this period, he, along with his wife Corinne and young family, was milking a herd of 422 cows and had an undesirable pregnancy rate. Vissers aspired to expand and with all the headaches that come from buying cows and building new facilities, he felt he needed a professional technician to improve both efficiency and pregnancy rates; and, he wanted to have one less thing on his plate of growing responsibilities.
The dairy was using a competitor’s genetics when Vissers took over, so he contacted them first. "They were willing to train us, but I wanted a professional," Vissers said.
Then he contacted COBA/Select Sires and found the answer he was looking for. Due to the growing cow population in Northwest Ohio, COBA/Select Sires was planning to add a technician in the area. With Vissers request, Adam Hahlen, reproductive and technician supervisor for COBA, knew there was enough demand to hire the new technician Vissers wanted. In the meantime, Hahlen trained an employee until a technician could be placed. "Vissers realized and knew the importance of having a professional technician," Hahlen said. "He knew as a manager the challenges to come with expansion and we wanted to do anything we could to help."
Vissers’s pregnancy rate improved by 4 percent immediately with Select Sires semen, along with the in-house A.I. training and the implementation of tail painting. Then, the reproduction went to a whole new level when Technician Rick Ellerbrock was hired. Ellerbrock worked part-time for Select Sires in the summer of 2005. In December of that year, he graduated from Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, with a bachelor’s degree in animal science. He started breeding full-time in January 2006. In his first six months, Ellerbrock obtained a 21 percent pregnancy rate.
Vissers is very satisfied with Ellerbrock’s work. "He’s a good guy and does a good job here," Vissers said. "He takes a lot of work away from us. He walks the pens everyday and since he is only looking for cows in heat, he is better at seeing that. That is the benefit."
The numbers don’t lie – Ellerbrock is producing positive results. He has a first service standing heat conception rate of 40 percent and an overall conception rate of 37 percent. He inseminates 60 percent of the time from tail paint and 40 percent of the time from Ovsynch.
The herd’s veterinarian, Brian Harr, D.V.M., is also happy with the program. "The technician service is a very valuable asset and management tool," Harr said. "While Paul was so busy and spread so thin, the breeding was being taken care of at an extremely high level."
Ellerbrock uses Detect-Her Tailpaint as a critical part of this successful program. A growing trend, he uses a different color of paint for each pen. In a large herd, incidental mix-ups could lead to missing a cow, but with color-coded pens, they always know where the cows belong. Ellerbrock walks the herd every day and breeds right in the free-stalls with no headlocks. Vissers even added gates in the cross alleys to help facilitate the breeding program, which Ellerbrock definitely appreciates.
Vissers also takes advantage of Select Mating Service™ (SMS™) to have the cows professionally mated. They are currently using 7HO6834 Art-Acres Mtoto DALE 448-ET, 9HO2831 Kings-Ransom M DUCE-ET, 7HO6750 Canyon-BREEZE Lantz Anch-ET, 7HO6177 Mig PARNELL-ET and 7HO6042 Crest-View-Acres BW SIR, as well as Super Samplers™ for clean-up breeding.
Ellerbrock sums it up nicely, noting the outstanding services offered as a part of SRS. "Everyone should use our resources," he said.
™Detect-Her Tailpaint and Mark-Her Tailpaint are trademarks of and manufactured by the HWP Company, Salem, Ohio
™Select Reproductive Solutions, SRS, Select Mating Service, SMS and Super Sampler is a trademark of Select Sires Inc.
®BITTERGUARD is a registered trademark of Burlington BioMedical & Scientific Corp., Farmingdale, N.Y.
Return to SELECTIONS Table of Contents |
