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Beef-on-dairy Part of Congress Lake Farms’ Operation

The invitation was too good for Mike Rufener to pass up -- an all expenses paid trip for three days to Las Vegas to learn more about ABS Global’s beef-on-dairy initiative. The year was 2012 and Mike, a dairy farmer in northeastern Ohio, had already been dabbling in adding beef genetics into his dairy cows via artificial insemination to create calves that could be sold for more money than male Holsteins. That’s because the carcass quality of the dairy-beef animals typically grade much higher than that of the dairy steers. A big believer in sustainability, Mike was considering at the time expanding his beef-on-dairy herd to help the farm’s bottom line. After three days of what he described as productive meetings, he was convinced Story & Photos by Amy Beth Graves

that beef-on-dairy was the way to go. “(ABS) showed us the money they had spent on making this program and building it up. I had already started doing this a bit and now it’s really taking off,” said Mike, who manages the 700-head dairy cows and 700 beef-dairy animals at the family farm, Congress Lake Farms in Portage County. The family farm dates back to 1884 in Suffield Township with three generations currently involved in it. The farm, which also raises corn, soybeans, wheat, triticale, alfalfa and hay, is spread across four counties and has almost two dozen employees. Mike’s father, Kenny, helps manage all aspects of the farm, his brother, Kenny Jr., manages the crops, employees and maintenance and his son, Cole, works full-time on the farm. Mike’s moth

er, Linda, and his wife, Carol, are in charge of bookkeeping. “The Rufeners are quite progressive. They were way out ahead on beef-ondairy before everyone else was. Mike was ready to stick his toe in it and it’s really turned out wonderful for them. They are top-notch in this field,” said Zachary Berry, ABS Global’s district account manager for eastern Ohio. For the last few years, Mike has been participating in ABS’s Beef InFocus program, which offers top beef sires to dairies based on their research of fertility, calving ease, gestation length and stillbirth results. Beefon-dairy has been a focus of ABS for about 10 years since dairies stopped keeping as many of their heifers as replacements, opening up the market for more to be bred with beef bulls. At first dairy producers were leery of beef-on-dairy because as Mike says, they “are afraid to change what they’re doing.” But with many in the dairy industry struggling the last few years to be profitable, they’re looking for ways to boost their bottom line and have started looking into beef-on-dairy. That’s where companies like ABS and others come into play. They’re working at developing genetics that provide calving ease, fertility on the bull side and ultimately result in an animal that grows quickly, is feed efficient and financially worth more. “Our beef-on-dairy sales grow every quarter. There’s tremendous

“When you can go from selling a dairy bull calf for $50-$75 to selling a beef-dairy one for up to $250, it makes sense.”

growth,” Zachary said. “Beef genetic fertility on Holsteins is not the same (as on beef ), and we’re doing genetic testing to figure it out,” Zachary said. “It’s definitely a challenge because of 10 bulls tested, only one or two can get that cow pregnant and grow the desired carcass.” Mike said his beef-on-dairy feeders typically sell for about $200 more than the dairy ones and at birth are worth at least $100 more. He does artificial insemination on 95% of his cows and uses cleanup bulls for the rest. “A lot of people think we’re going to flood the beef market if all dairymen do this and I try to explain that no we’re not adding more animals -- we’re just trying to improve the quality of the carcass,” he said. As Mike walked through the finishing barn, he pointed out the difference between the Holsteins and beef-on-dairy animals. The Holsteins were much taller and lankier than the beef-on-dairy animals, which were heavier and rounder in the areas that produce desired cuts of meat. “The frame size is dramatically different, and they feed out three months earlier than Holsteins on average and provide bigger ribeyes,” he said. “A major advantage is that the cow can be producing milk 10 months out of the year and we give her two months off before she calves, so we’re still profiting most of the time by selling milk. That can really help your bottom line.” When it comes to carcass quality, Mike said 80% of beef-dairy animals typically grade choice or better and at least 20% grade prime. They also tend to be more uniform and predictable in what the end product will look like. “I think in the future we’re going to see a lot more black calves than black and white calves,” Zachary said. “When you can go from selling a dairy bull calf for $50-$75 to selling a beefdairy one for up to $250, it makes sense.” Over the years, Mike has used different types of cleanup bulls on his heifers, starting with Angus and shifting to an Angus-Simmental cross as he ramped up beef-on-dairy production. He tried LimFlex for a few years but found calving ease more difficult than the Angus cross breeds. “Beef genetics have improved a lot and now there’s a good selection of genetics that are proven on these dairy cows and they can pinpoint the right genetics to use to make the right cross,” he said. “I really like the Simm-Angus cross, which has higher fertility than pure Angus and gives us a quality product and also allows us to capture the certified Angus market. The calving ease is tremendous -- these dairy cows spit calves out and take off right away. There are no problems at all with calving and it really helps the cow.” Mike said feeding can be challenging at times and he has to be careful not to overgrain the heifers and make them too fat. He feeds them high corn silage, TMR ration of soymeal with a bit of fruit waste that’s dropped off at the farm by restaurants as well as free choice hay. The average finishing weight of the beef-dairy animals is 1,300-1,400 pounds with a goal of being finished before 14 months. Almost all are sent an hour away to the livestock auction in Bloomfield where they will eventually end up at large processing plants like Tyson or JBS. Sustainability has long been a goal of the farm with the Rufeners putting in cover crops and waterways over the years to better take care of the soil and cut down on erosion. Focusing on beef-on-dairy is helping them be sustainable and efficient on the animal side of the operation. “We’re big on diversification,” he said. “We raise finished beef and feeders and have dairy for milk. We have our hands in a little bit of everything and not all in one.” As the quality of beef-on-dairy continues to improve, Mike anticipates that some day he may want to add embryo transfer. “Our future plans are to keep doing what we’re doing -- to keep striving for efficiency and make a quality product,” he said. “As long as there’s a market for this, we’ll stay where we’re at. But as more dairies start doing this, we may want to step up our game and go to embryos. We’re always striving to stay one step ahead.” For somebody who grew up in the dairy industry, learning about beef production has been both challenging and rewarding for Mike. “I’m really into the dairy and am now learning all about the beef. I enjoy the genetic side of it,” he said. “I’ve farmed my whole life and always liked cows. At the end of the day, I guess you could say I was born to do this.”

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