Wisconsin Welcome
Dan Siemers
Newton, Wisc.
Dairying with 2,700 cows, Siemers Holsteins has been operating at the same site for more than 120 years.
**Extended comments in blue
Siemers Holsteins is a 2,700-cow family corporation located in Newton/Cleveland, Wis., a rural area between Green Bay and Milwaukee. We predominantly milk Holsteins, but several years ago, we experimented with crossbreeding and still milk 200 Montbeliarde and Swedish Red crosses. There are advantages to crossbreds, but overall we felt we were giving up too much milk to continue with them.
Our family started milking cows in 1890 at the buildings my parents still call home. Today, these facilities include our show animal barns, IVF (in vitro fertilization) center and recipient housing for around 300 heifers.
In 1994, we started constructing buildings 1½ miles away at what is now our main facility. It includes feed storage, calf housing, heifer housing (we utilize two heifer growers), a 2×36 parallel parlor, a hospital parlor that produces pasteurized milk for the calves, manure storage and sand lanes to reclaim sand.
Four years ago, we remodeled all freestalls and introduced sand bedding. The results have been tremendous, with herd SCC around 100,000 and an RHA of over 33,000 lb. milk (1,200 fat and 1,000 protein). In addition, because of lower herd turnover, we sell roughly 600 milk cows a year to other dairies. Our herd is mostly registered and we are very active showing cows as well as selling embryos, bulls and breeding stock. We are looking forward to hosting our second sale event on March 30, 2012.
We grow primarily three crops on 4,700 acres: 350 acres of wheat, 2,100 acres of corn and 2,250 of alfalfa. We have a tremendous staff of 40 employees, whom we are very grateful for and proud of.
Along with myself and my wife, Janina, our management team consists of family members: Sherry, Paul and Jenny. We all specialize in different areas that we have been educated in and have strong and passionate interests in. I have a dairy science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and am involved with the Land O’Lakes leadership team and Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin.
The sixth generation is also quite involved and interested in different areas of the dairy operation. As the president of our fifth-generation farm, I believe how we set up and transition to the next generation could be our most important long-term project.
| Siemers' Most Recent Prices | |
| Milk (3.75% bf, 3.03% prt) | $21.51/cwt. |
| Cull cows | $52-$62/cwt. |
| Springing heifers | $1,500-$1,900/head |
| Alfalfa hay (milk cow) | $250/ton |
| Cottonseed | $250/ton |
| Ground corn | $215/ton |
