Kevin Souza and Herby Lutz work closely to select donors for the Jersey ART program.
Victory Farms values people and relationships and with a good working environment and culture, they have many employees with a 10 to 15 year history. As Souza says, “It’s all about people,” and he excitedly attributes the herd’s winning performance to a great team of employees.
Souza is the managing partner at Victory Farms, a 5,000-cow Jersey herd located in Milbank, South Dakota. With years of experience managing commercial dairies in California, Souza moved to South Dakota in 1998. In 2006, he began transitioning their Holstein herd to Jerseys to take advantage of a robust cheese market. Since then, Victory has made genetic planning and record tracking a priority. Combined with genomic testing technologies, this game plan has led Victory to a winning reputation.
Souza is data-driven with an aggressive genetic strategy. Zoetis performs twice yearly genetic audits to quartile cows and the herd works with Select Sires to prepare a genetic plan based on the herd breakdown. Souza often jokes that he “doesn’t want that fourth quartile,” showing his determination to improve herd performance at a quick pace. Sire selection prioritizes udder conformation traits and components with emphasis on health and fertility.
Victory Farms uses the industry’s top young sires with sexed semen going in about five percent of cows and the top 50 percent of heifers. The rest of the herd is designated as embryo recipients or to be bred with beef semen. To maintain herd numbers, Victory only needs 180-200 replacement females each month and Souza is capitalizing on beef x dairy opportunities with TD Beef.
Herd metrics, goals and awards
Energy Corrected Milk averages 107 pounds shipped per day per stall. Souza is honing in on genetics, management and reproduction to lower his cull rate and increase the percentage of later lactation cows within the herd. “Second and third lactation Jerseys make more milk,” says Souza. The lactation makeup has decreased from 46 percent first lactation cows to 38 percent. His goal is 33-35 percent first lactation cows.
In addition to stellar production records, Victory Farms has a phenomenal reproductive program. In 2018, they were awarded a platinum recognition by Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council (DCRC). They often report a pregnancy rate of 40 percent, rarely dipping below 38 percent. This is especially impressive considering their use of embryos.
ART at Victory Farms Dairy
Select Sires introduced the Aggressive Reproductive Technologies™ (ART™) program in 2009 to create new bloodlines for Holstein breeders. Since then, the program has steadily grown to add genetic variation to the sire offering and utilize genomic tools to slow inbreeding. The program has also expanded to include Jersey genetics.
Select Sires’ genetic pipeline of Jersey sires is divided equally among three main sources: Jerseyland Sires, farmer-owner breeders and the Jersey ART program. Herby Lutz, Jersey development manager at Select Sires, says, “To provide Jersey herds with genetic diversity while also meeting production and fertility goals, it’s important that our sire development and procurement include input from many top Jersey breeders.” Victory Farms is a valuable Jersey ART partner.
Souza manages the herd’s expansive IVF program while Select Sires implants 60-80 embryos each week. In 2020, Select Sires implanted more than 1,300 embryos at Victory Farms. Through this partnership, Souza and Lutz generate unique matings and focus on the specific genetic needs of the current Jersey genetics industry.
Top Cheese Merit (CM$) sires available today include: 507JE1820 HOLEINONE ($589), 14JE1850 JX RICKIE {4} ($587) and 14JE1851 JX KENDRICK {5} ($573). Leading combined Fat and Protein (CFP) sires include 14JE1840 JX BIRDIE {4} (+128) and JX KENDRICK {5} (+106). Daughter Pregnancy Rate (DPR) continues to hold great value to the Jersey breed and Select Sires offers eight Victory ART sires that are positive for DPR. Leading this rank is 250JE1852 LADSON (+0.7), 7JE1822 FRINGE (+1.1), 14JE1821 JX CHIP {4} (+0.8) and JX RICKIE {4} (+0.9).
08/21 CDCB/AJCA Rel%. Yield: JX BIRDIE {4} 74; JX KENDRICK {5} 74; DPR: LADSON 71, FRINGE 67, JX CHIP {4} 64, JX RICKIE {4} 66.