For more than 50 years, Tom Grimmius has been involved in the beef side of the livestock industry ... feeding, buying and selling quality cattle in California's San Joaquin Valley. The growing dairy industry during that time caused Tom, and now three of his four children, to focus on a very important niche in the dairy and beef industries.
They accept day-old calves and nurture them with specialized care through the first months of life. Heifer calves are custom-raised and then returned to their home dairies for further development. The bull calves are moved to pasture for backgrounding and continued feeding at Grimmius and partner feeding facilities or sold to feedyard operations.
The Grimmius Cattle Company is led by a team of Tom's children, Randall, Sharmae and Eric. Randall, who leads all cattle operations, says that the focused attention on the health and well-being of the youngest baby calves began very early in his life.
"Dad would bring home baby calves and we were responsible for taking care of them," said Randall. "From the time we were 10 years old through high school, we learned the responsibility of caring for life, the work ethic that's required and the economics of the cattle industry."
Those values are also required of their partner dairies.
"We look closely at the dairies for common values and philosophies," said Randall. "We want to work with progressive dairy producers who are interested in calf performance, health and quality. They find this service valuable, allowing us both to work together better and improve our businesses. We don't just take on anyone."
Attention to detail is obvious from the day calves are picked up from more than 45 dairies. For the first two months, calves receive care in individual living areas then are placed in community housing where they can interact with their peers before being returned to their home dairy at approximately four months of age. Veterinarians and professional nutritionists oversee the care and feeding along with a team of long-time employees. Managing the needs of many unique animals is made possible using electronic ID technology.
Like the wristband given to a baby in the hospital, baby dairy calves have their original dairy identification and are also given an Allflex HDX High Performance EID tag so that individual production and performance data can be shared as the animal progresses during their time at Grimmius.
"We tried different tags when we first explored EID and we've been very happy with how the Allflex tags perform," said Randall. "We needed tags that consistently work and Allflex delivers."
Calves are scanned with an Allflex handheld reader when they arrive and then are scanned through an Allflex panel reader alleyway (designed and installed by the Allflex Technical Team) when they leave.
According to Sharmae, their system of individualized care and feeding of the calves and the ability to track all of the performance data a dairy producer needs, gives owners the confidence their calves are receiving proper care.
Sharmae handles inventory management, purchasing and marketing responsibilities for the operation. Younger brother Eric handles the information systems that manage the individual records of all the animals in their care. The custom software he's designed helps them manage groups of animals for individual customers and provides performance data on an individual animal basis. At any one time, they may have 40,000 active animal records in their system. Keeping their software needs in-house also allows them to provide customized reports at the request of their customers.
"Producers get regular progress reports on how their babies are doing ... they know by looking at the data the quality of care their calves are receiving," said Sharmae. "We are able to provide great records and be good partners with our customers. This helps their operation and ours as well."
With seven years of experience as caregivers to baby calves, Randall, Sharmae and Eric continue to look to the future. They expect their specialized service to continue to grow but are adamant in maintaining the quality of the individualized care they provide to each and every animal. They also are mindful of the challenges ahead.
"This is a multi-generational family business. With nearly a dozen grandkids coming up through the ranks, we are looking for ways to stay on the cutting edge, to learn every day about how to do things better and to keep our tradition of integrity in a job well done," said Randall. "Along with our faith in God ... this is the legacy we want for our families."
Regardless of size, all dairies continually look for ways to save time and money. Dairies can have very different goals related to the availability of labor, time to make management decisions or efficiency and production of the dairy. In many cases, automating some of the dairy's day-to-day work is often part of the solution.
With the increased use of EID technology in dairies, there is more and more need for the installation of panel reader systems. The Allflex Technical Department has completed nearly 80 installations in the past two years and has developed a checklist of considerations for any operation considering a panel reader system in alleyways, for pen sorting, in the milking parlor or in the receiving or loading facilities.
Here are several critical areas to keep in mind when evaluating a location for your panel reader system.
- Components of the reader system. Consideration should always be given to both the tools needed for a reader system and the location where it will be placed. It will include the panel readers, data collection devices and the electrical equipment and installation required to create the read zone that animals will move through to be read. Proper planning is critical to best provide the expected performance of any system. Your Allflex representative can help you identify your needs, assess your facility, map the cattle flow and trouble shoot any areas that might interfere with the read zone and the read rates. If issues are identified, Allflex can suggest shielding techniques or other solutions to get the results you expect.
- Metal surfaces and structures. The panel reader uses radio frequency to communicate with ear tags. Metal objects, especially magnetic metals, objects with large surfaces and closed loop structures can seriously degrade the read range performance because these surfaces can absorb or deflect the panel reader's electromagnetic fields. Ideally, the reader should be mounted on or suspended from a non-metal structure and be free of metal surfaces that are parallel to the reader's plane. Good materials are wood, fiberglass, plastic and concrete (not containing rebar).
- Electrical machinery. Most AC operated machinery will not interfere with the reader's electrical signals. However, machinery that is electrically controlled with motor speed controls, light dimmers and solid state relays can produce high frequency emissions that cause interference. It's important to exercise all machinery in the vicinity during a trial of the reader to identify and alleviate potential sources of interference.
- Noise levels. Noise, particularly that caused by air blowing units, compressors or other equipment in the facility can cause interference. A good site survey will include a noise meter reading at the proposed installation site to identify potential issues.
- Distance from panel to data collection device. The further the distance between the devices, the more potential for problems. Your Allflex regional manager or technical team member can help brainstorm possible solutions during a site survey.
For more information about panel reader systems or questions about strategies to improve the read rates in your operation, contact your regional Allflex manager for more information. Be sure to learn more about the Allflex Technical Team by reading their profile on page four.
Mike Bourke, vice president of market operations for Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales Association based in Baraboo, Wisconsin, has no small task overseeing a dozen livestock markets in Wisconsin and Iowa. In one year's time, the organization will market approximately one million head of livestock. With more than 1500 sales per year, the average market will handle nearly 650 head per sale.
Equity received a grant to fund infrastructure for managing animal identification but as they considered their options, he was sure to ask lots of questions.
"To do this efficiently and be certain you're left with a system that works, you have the take care in planning and where to place your reader systems," said Bourke. "You've got to listen to your advisors and the experts. Allflex has a very professional team who knows how to get it done and get it done right."
In the past year, the organization has installed 10 panel reader systems in their network. While employees initially thought it would slow sales down, Bourke indicated that they haven't missed a beat.
"We've had no problems since the initial installation. Everything is working well and we haven't had any problems," he said.
Emerald Dairy II is a unique dairy facility in Emerald, Wis., that was designed to address transition cow management. The facility was built in March of 2001 as part of an arrangement between University of Minnesota's College of Veterinary Medicine (UM-CVM) and a commercial, family-owned dairy operation in western Wisconsin.
Vrieze Farms is a third generation dairy farm that celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2007. Vrieze Farms is partners in Baldwin Dairy, Emerald Dairy, and Emerald Dairy II. Throughout its 100-year history, Vrieze Farms has constantly tried new ideas.
Emerald Dairy II currently houses approximately 450 cows through the critically important "transition period." This is generally defined as three weeks prior to calving to three weeks after freshening. Approximately 2,800 cows calve at the facility per year. Proper management during this time period is critical for many reasons according to Dr. Steven Stewart, one of the veterinarians involved in the development of Emerald Dairy II.
The health, productivity and longevity of the cow herd can be permanently affected because the transition period is the time of greatest occurrence of common health difficulties during a cow's lactation cycle. It is also the time of greatest risk for establishment of chronic infections such as subclinical mastitis and laminitis.
Jim Lewis, the general manager of the Emerald Dairy II, said that while identification is very important to the overall operations, they have a very hands-on approach and use management numbers to link cows to their calves as they calve on the facility while following important care protocols during the cows' stay at the facility before returning to their home dairy. The dairy uses exclusively Allflex Double Matched Pair sets.
Transition cow management places emphasis on a long list of criteria according to Dr. Stewart.
- Maintaining excellent health
- Preserving production potential
- Providing a high degree of comfort
- Ensuring a high degree of well-being and high regard for general animal welfare
- Maintaining a high degree of cleanliness
- Minimizing sources of handling stress
- Minimizing negative impacts of manure handling and storage on environment
- Minimizing the risks of food residues and food pathogens
- Providing an excellent environment for its employees
According to Dr. Stewart, closely monitoring cows during this period requires intense monitoring that tracks both the biological and financial performance of the cows. Traditionally, veterinarians have looked only at the health aspects. As more and more in the industry focus on production medicine programs, both the financial and health aspects are linked. Veterinarians are increasingly considering the financial impact of the cows' performance and their recommendations on the dairy.
Over the past seven years Emerald Dairy II has been the site of a great many educational programs and has also allowed several applied research projects to be completed, including projects involving RFID and RFID readers.
If you asked dairy producers or dairy equipment manufacturers three or four years ago about the usefulness of RFID technology in modern dairy production, you may have gotten a doubtful response according to Dr. Stewart.
"I think that the tide is definitely turning," said Stewart. "This was a definitive study to demonstrate proof of concept; answering the question whether the technology would work. Clearly the answer is yes."
During his tenure at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Stewart initiated a project to test whether panel readers would read low frequency ISO RFID tags.
"This study, along with dairy producers' experience with RFID has opened the door and is building confidence in how it can work for effective dairy herd management. The technology is proving itself," said Stewart. "The high read rates demonstrate that these systems can meet the needs of the most demanding management applications."
The study was conducted in November and December of 2006 in a commercial free-staff barn at the Emerald II Dairy in northeastern Wisconsin. Animals used were 498 non-lactating females. The read rates were 99.9 percent successful using Allflex EID Panel Readers and Allflex Ultra Performance HDX EID tags. The study's findings were published by the American Dairy Science Association in 2007.
Challenging construction issues, frostbitten fingers and electronic mysteries are all part of the normal routine for Allflex's technical team.
Led by Chuck Rogers, Technical Service Manager for North America, the team manages all technical installations and repairs for Allflex's electronic identification systems including tags, handheld readers and a variety of different panel reader configurations. They conduct all quality control on reader products manufactured in Europe and get them configured for the US market. In addition, they do site surveys and installations for all panel reader systems, including single-lane, multi-lane and packing plant reader installations. Plus, this team of three fields a multitude of technical questions and repairs either in the field or over the phone.
"Seventy-five percent of the problems we can fix over the phone, but sometimes we can only fix it in the field," said Rogers. "Although we're a small team, we can keep the phones covered in Dallas while others are in the field working with producers and business owners."
A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Rogers runs an organized but intense department. His training includes degrees in information technology systems and electronic engineering.
Jay Lewis, EID Technical Support Specialist, has a background in technical support as well as logistics. He provides internal product support for hardware and software issues and will help customers with troubleshooting and/or repairs on EID systems.
Simon Alfaro, EID Technical Specialist, also has a military background specifically related to electronic repairs and installations. Alfaro has become the "go-to" guy for complex installations.
In the past year, the team installed 10 panel reader systems for Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales Association headquartered in Baraboo, Wisconsin. During three winter trips to Wisconsin in frigid temps, the team completed all the installations.
"After the first three or four installs, we quickly saw that the technology would work well in our operation especially once we configured the chutes the same way," said Mike Bourke, vice president of market operations for Equity. "These guys are a very professional team; they anticipate each other's moves and work extremely efficiently. It's obvious they love what they do."
On the horizon, the technical team will be incorporating more data loggers into reader systems for producers who want to collect data for shipping manifests at the field level. The team will continue to integrate with the global Allflex team for more consistent product standardization over time.
"When you surround yourself with great people, you get great results," said Rogers. "We're all proud of the work we're doing to support what our customers want and need."
