Model 8916 Belt Feeder Success Story
Mooo-ving it in McBain, Michigan
It's chow time, and the mess hall is hopping at Benthem Homestead Farm in McBain, Michigan. For Steve Benthem, feeding is a key to achieving a rolling herd average of 31,513 M, 1,161 F, and 963 P with 136 cows on 3x/day milking.
Cows average 63 to 66 pounds of dry matter per day with 3x/day feeding. No corn silage is fed to the milking herd. Benthem has two groups of dry cows - far off and close-up (21 days before calving), and they are fed accordingly.
Cows are housed in a cold-type free stall barn and bedded with sand. The farm has been in business for 115 years, and the herd is about 50 percent registered.
Read more about Patz Model 8916 Belt Feeders.
Michigan Holsteins-on the cover
Photo by Rick Miller, Janesville, WI.
Reprinted by permission from the September 25, 2000 issue of Hoard's Dairyman.
Copyright© 2000 by W. D. Hoard & Sons Company, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.