SILVEIRA DAIRY
Encouraging the Next Generation L
ocated in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley of California, Silveira Dairy of Chowchilla celebrated their 30th year of dairying in November 2021. Originally from Hanford, Johnny Silveira began farming with his father Jose while finishing his senior year of high school. After marrying Terianne, who grew up on her family’s dairy in Tulare, they moved the dairy 70 miles north in 2003. “We wanted to grow the herd and farming operation and had an opportunity up north,” commented Terianne. “We have mild winters and warm summers that are ideal conditions for cattle and in the summer, we get an evening breeze that helps with cooler temps than further south.” Chowchilla is just 30 miles north of Fresno, which is considered the heart of the 100 Mile Circle, the most vital and productive growing region in the world. Although this 100 Mile Circle covers less than 1% of the total land mass of the U.S., it produces nearly one-half of its fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts – more than 250 different crops rich in the vitamins and nutrients essential to human survival. This area also produces more milk than the entire state of Wisconsin.
Today, the herd consists of 1500 Holsteins and 400 acres of almonds, along with corn and wheat for silage. The entire herd was originally grade, but when Johnny and Terianne’s children, Logan and Lauren, began showing, they joined the Holstein Association USA in 2017 and started registering a handful of show cattle. Meanwhile, they had already been genomically testing Logan, Terrianne, Johnny and Lauren Silveira. the herd and once they began seeing favorable results, they Proven cow families that work and increased the number of cows they the history on these animals is key to registered. Today, nearly 1/3 of the herd breeding a better dairy cow and their is registered, including 200 head that future progeny,” added Terianne. Logan and Lauren own personally, and The Silveira herd is milked twice a day in 100% of the herd is genomically tested. a Double-20 parallel parlor with over a “We’ve been genomically testing our 30,000 lb. milk RHA (3.95% fat and 3.15% animals for the past eight years,” said protein). They are just under 100 lbs. of fat Johnny. “It’s interesting to see animals corrected milk. One of their main goals is that tested high as a calf and watch their to improve their herd average every year growth and performance just as the tests and build an overall better herd. And predicted. We feel the genomic tests are they seem to be doing just that. In 2020, very accurate and the cattle we register they were the 8th highest averaging are superior cows above the average herd for Tulare DHIA, the largest dairy Holstein breed.” These county in the U.S., and in 2021, they’ve claims are further proven improved to 4th overall with a herd by the herd being named a average of 30,900 lbs. ECM. While the Progressive Genetics Herd cows are excelling in production, their Award winner from HAUSA, type numbers are following suit as well. which recognizes the top Of the registered animals, there are 12 500 herds with the highest Excellent and over 200 Very Good cows average TPI for females in to date. the herd. The Silveira family has earned this recognition since 2019.
The Silveiras recently opened a Boviteq IVF facility at their heifer ranch. 16 « COWSMOPOLITAN Summer 2022
“Raising registered purebred Holstein cattle adds a premium to their value. You have the lineage and history of that animal that allows you to mate her correctly.
In the grand scheme, the Silveiras do not focus on specific cow families, rather, they look for genetic traits overall that will work with their breeding program for that specific mating. By evaluating all their cow families, they can pull from the best. “We feel this approach has helped improve our herd both genomically and in the show string.”
