Profitability In Dairy Grazing

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Profitability In Dairy Grazing

• Howard Straub Jr.
• Triple H Farms
• St. Johns, MI.

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Triple H Evolution

• Started milking cows in 1972
• 26 cows
• Confinement feeding
• 3 stall side opening parlor
• 1974 built 4X parlor
• Grew to 84 cows

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Evolution Meets Revolution

• Attended the Michigan Grazing Conference in 1993
• Met John Cockrell, Wisconsin Extension Agent
• In spring of 1993 grazed 22 acres
• - 28 acres in 1994
• - rest of the farm in 1995

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Triple H in 2007

• Graze 140 acres of owned land
• Rent 66 acres for hay
• Rent 20 acres for additional grazing
• Milk 100 Holstein X Jersey cows

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Farm has Spawned Three Dairy Farms

• Three children have started grazing dairies of
  their own
• Howie in Fredricktown, Ohio
• Patti in St. Johns, MI.
• Terri in Pewamo, MI.

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Service to Grass

• Serve on the boards of
• - Michigan Grazing Lands Conservation
• Initiative
• - Michigan Forage Council
• - Michigan Integrated Food Fiber
• System
• - American Forage Grassland Council

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Member of the Pro-grasstinators

• 18 member national dairy grazing challenge group
  that shares all management, production and
  financial information

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Revealing Triple Hs Financial Numbers

• Financial Analysis for Pro-grasstinators compiled
  by Cornell Cooperative Extension
• Will compare to other comparable sized MI.
  conventional feeding dairies in 2006

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Conventional Triple HMI. Dairy Farms

• Avg. of cows 122
• Milk per cow 23,631
• Milk price 13.32
• Milk sales 384,128
• Total income470554

• Avg. of cows 96
• Milk per cow 10,994
• Milk price 14.64
• Milk sales 154,514
• Total income208,224

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Conventional Triple HMI. Dairy
Farms

• Hired labor/cow 699
• Purch. feed/cow 714
• Breeding /cow 24
• Utilities /cow 91
• Vet. Med/cow 79
• Mach. Dep./cow 215
• Total exp/cow 3,117

• Hired labor/cow 159
• Purch. Feed/cow 306
• Breeding /cow 2
• Utilities /cow 52
• Vet. Med/cow 23
• Mach. Dep./cow 127
• Total exp/cow 1,074
• high semen supplies carried over from 2005

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Conventional Triple HMI. Dairy Farms

• Total farm income per cow 3,857
• Total cash expenses per cow 3,117
• Net farm income per cow 740
• NFI less depreciation per cow 399

• Total farm income per cow 2,169
• Total cash expenses per cow 1,074
• Net farm income per cow 1,095
• NFI less depreciation per cow 963

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Conventional Triple H MI. Dairy Farms

• Net farm income
• 48,678

• Net farm income
• 89,559