Patz Success Story
Mechanizing Advantages
Feed handling, manure-handling and milking are three daily chores that the Andersons have mechanized and automated.
"We try to keep about 75 cows milking all of the time. With young stock, we total about 160 head," says Neil.
Their increase in cattle numbers was made possible by a free-stall barn, a Patz liquid-manure-handling system, a milking parlor, and a Patz open-top, trailer-mounted tmr horizontal feed mixer.
"We used to feed grain by hand, so the mixer has really cut work for us," comments Bryan. "Also, we use the mixer to haul silage to dry cows in the field for fence-line feeding during the summer and we haul silage to the old barn for feeding heifers."
The Andersons grow all of their forage and grain on 300 acres owned plus 150 acres rented. Most of the acreage grows alfalfa and grass with 130 acres in corn for silage and high-moisture cob corn that is run through a roller mill before storage in two 14 by 30-foot silos. Both silos are equipped with Patz gathering-chain, surface-drive chain unloaders that date from the early 1970's.
"These unloaders have performed reliably, and still work well after 20 years," notes Bryan.
Corn silage and alfalfa-grass silage are stored in a 32 by 160-foot bunker silo. They purchase protein supplement and minerals.
"Our feed co-op balances the Total Mixed Ration (TMR)," explains Bryan. "We feed the same ration to all of the milking cows twice a day, but we have two groups of cows so we can top-dress extra grain for the highest producers."
Additional benefits from their TMR are:
- "We noticed vet bills have gone down. Last winter we did not have a single twisted stomach."
- "Fresh cows get on full feed without stress."
- "Our somatic cell count has dropped. We believe there is less stress on the cows now because they are no longer fighting for grain at feeding time."
The Andersons also note that their manure-handling system is "very efficient." A Patz barn cleaner with 440 feet of chain runs through both barns to collect manure scraped into the barn gutters.
Bryan explains, "We handle all of the manure from the free-stall barn and the heifer barn with one system and one storage area."
Local Patz dealer Lloyd Cross installed their Patz manure mover in 1980 and it is still working well, according to the brothers.
As the children of Neil and Chris are becoming involved in the operation, the future looks bright for this family dairy farm.