Dairy cropping for soil health & farm success
Is your farm just surviving or thriving? Chris Wilson, business manager at Wilson Family Organic Farms, pondered that question when he began working on the farm in 2017; however, with some major changes, the family turned it around.
Wilson presented “Practical Systems, Real Returns: Dairy-Cropping Integration for Soil Health & Profitability” as part of the recent Cornell Organic Field Crops & Dairy Conference hosted by the New York State Department of Ag & Markets and Northeast/ Mid-Atlantic Transition to Organic Partnership Program.
Wilson is the eighth generation on his family farm established in 1848 in Cuba City, WI. The farm transitioned to organic in 1996. The farm operates on 4,000 acres and milks 700 Holsteins, along with agroforestry and other food, fiber and energy integrations on the land.
“It was a farm just sort of surviving,” Wilson said.
Nearly a decade ago, the farm had poor recordkeeping, which made it difficult to discover what worked well and what made the farm efficient. The farm also had an inconsistent cropping strategy.
“One year at a time focus” is what Wilson called it. “There was poor alignment between crops and herd needs.”
Underperforming soils were affecting the farm’s yields. Workers were overworked and grumpy. Financial pressure and low motivation plagued the operation. “We were working really hard, but not together,” he said. With their work siloed, they failed to see how one area of the farm affected other areas.
In 2017, the farm created a list of potential opportunities that could improve the operation:
• Huge seasonal swings in energy-corrected milk
• Hay harvest taking 10 – 14 days per crop
• First crop hay competing with corn and soybeans
• Too many heifers
• Poor pasture growth
• Weekly milk roller coaster of grazing in large paddocks
• Running out of forages
• Poor seedings and forage yields
• “Lost” fields from weeds getting away
• Taxes were late again and certification was always a train wreck
• No one had time off and everyone was burnt out
To start a change for the positive, the farm management began evaluating their strengths and weaknesses, along with what was important and what wasn’t important.
The farm began looking more closely at numbers, such as dairy comp herd data, DHIA milk testing, soil samples, feed samples, harvest yields on grains only, genomic testing, payroll hours and financials. They also added tracking forage yields and field level practices.
“Dairy farms have tons of data,” Wilson said. “We had a lot to work with. We settled on Granular software.” The farm management software helped the Wilsons plan and track results so they could more effectively analyze what worked and what didn’t.
“How do I make decisions on the cropping side?” Wilson posed. “That was a game-changer. I can tell you these meant good hay yields but not why.”
Further analysis helped the farm learn that they were mediocre grazers and not managing a high-producing herd because of poor forage quality, poor milk producing genetics and sub-optimal heifer raising – even though it felt like they were doing all of these things right.
Crop yields also lagged. Poor soil nutrient management, raising too many crops of corn and soybeans, failing to align rotation with the herd’s nutritional needs and using hay harvesting equipment that was too small all cost the farm.
On the positive, the farm had a skilled mechanical team, strong herd health genetics and high soil organic matter and soil function.
“They were in a position where they were ready to listen,” Wilson said of the elder farm owners. “They gave me grace to come in and fill that void. It started slow.”
Grazing was Wilson’s initial project after returning to the farm, and excelling in improving the grazing program gave him some credibility. He redesigned pasture systems, invested in infrastructure and eventually increased dry matter per acre yields from 2 – 5 tons to 4 – 5. He believes that a predictable daily intake from the pasture creates a consistent cow diet.
“It was a process,” he said. “What we identified are things where we were most deficient or had the most opportunity. We spend money to make money. It’s not just the grass but how the cows respond to it. Our summer slump is still there, but a lot of what we were doing was practice driven.”
Now, nearly all the farm’s land is in an eight-year rotation plan with crop acres separate from pasture acres. Before the farm was in a four-year rotation – a “hamster wheel” rotation, Wilson said. “Almost every year was a turnover. It wasn’t working.”
The present rotation starts with corn, followed by wheat as a frost seeded cover, corn snaplage, wheat with a rye cover, no-till soybeans, new seeding for forage and two years of alfalfa. The previous four-year rotation was alfalfa, corn, tilled soybeans and a new seeding of grain barley. By reducing half of the tillage passes, Wilson believes the soil health has improved.
The farm seeds its paddocks every 10 years. Better planning has helped the farm save significantly.
“Crop expenses are relatively flat except for equipment,” Wilson said. “We’re getting benefits from crop diversification. We have not added people. We’re getting more done.”
The farm has increased its hay yield by 40%, for example. One of the reasons is because they plan haying better. With only four days per week of workable weather and a short growing season, it’s vital to make every sunny day count.
The farm has nearly doubled its cropland productivity by its rotation plan and by planning planting dates more accurately.
Because of better management and nutrients, the milk solids sold per animal unit is about 50% more. “That’s the metric I like,” Wilson said. “Energy-corrected milk pounds per acre by year is roughly 60% more over five years. The return on assets is 4% to 11%. That is a financially stable place to be.”
The farm has seen an increase of soil organic matter of 0.08%. “It doesn’t seem like a lot, but it is a dividend,” Wilson said. “I like this longer rotation. It’s not just diversifying a crop.”
To help maintain the farm’s workforce, the Wilsons have been able to dedicate 14% of revenue to wages. “We’ve been able to take what was below a living wage to something that can support a family,” he said. “This will set us up for long-term success.”
The farm has maintained 100% employee retention since 2022. Currently the farm employs 13, eight of whom are family members.
They require everyone take two weeks off for vacation a year, Wilson said. “Morale is really good. You have to have those conversations. You have to look in the mirror.”
