IN BLACK & WHITE
Carldot Farms Ltd. NAME: LARRY KRANTZ HERD SIZE: 70 MILKING OPERATION TYPE: FREE-STALL ROBOTS LOCATION: STRATFORD, ON
1. What is your family’s history with Holsteins?
show ring and in sales. They’ve sold every embryo available.
My dad started with purebred Holsteins in the late 1950s. He always classified and went on test in the late 1970s/early 1980s. My 9. What is one thing you would tell a young farmer starting out? I would say you have to get the most out of anything you have, cows, grandfather started on this farm, it’s a century farm now. calves, and crops. I never had too much money to play with, so I 2. What are your breeding goals? maximized everything I had. Ultimately, I want to breed good cows that give lots of milk and have long bodies that walk well. They must also have well attached 10. How do you use genomic information in your herd and what are udders. The current classification of the herd is 10 ME, 12 EX, 35 your thoughts on the future of genomics? VG and 18 GP and the current herd production is 12,969M 544 4.2F I do a bit of testing. If I knew I had one that was high, I’d try and follow along with her. I still think bull dams should be classified, 430 3.3P 288-326-301. milk recorded and from good families. I do have an interest in polled and A2A2 genetics. I think they will become more prevalent. 3. What genetic tools are most important in your breeding program? I milk test with DHI through the robots and classify. I think these I do have some calves that are A2A2 and A1A2. are the most important. I also study bull proofs before selecting 11. How many cows do you flush each year? How do you market your sires to use. embryos that are for sale?
For the last couple of years, I’ve flushed one to two per year. I moved I still like cows to be tall and wide through the chest, no matter what a lot of embryos in the past, but the market has changed a lot and I people tell you. This allows them to eat a lot of feed and milk well. I don’t think it will come back. I’m using a bit of sexed semen to get also want them to have great udders, particularly the fore udder. That daughters out of top cows. I sell a lot of fresh heifers for milk. is a longevity trait in my mind. Overall conformation must be solid. 4. Describe the ultimate/ideal cow for your operation.
5. What cow in your barn is currently the “Heart of the Herd”? The current “Heart of the Herd” would be Carldot Windmill Layla EX90-4YR, out of Carldot Doorman Lindsay EX-93. Layla gives a lot of milk and went Excellent at just over four years old. She has a tremendous will to work, making over 18,700 litres of milk in 365 days. We dried her up giving 40 litres a day. She will make 19,000 litres this lactation. She has three nice looking yearling daughters that I’m quite excited to see how they turn out.
12. Being in the breeding business, what traits do you find sell the best? What trait do you value most?
They must have a good udder and be milking well when they are for sale. The cows also to have good mobility. A good cow will always sell. I recently sold Carldot Bautista Emma to Kingsway who sold her to Ducketts. She went through their sale. She was 6th at Madison, 3rd Sr. 3-Year-Old at Wisconsin Summer Championship Show and nominated All-American. That was neat to see.
6. What are you most proud of in your herd/operation?
I’m proud that all my cows are deep pedigreed and have a real will to milk. I like my pedigrees! There is only one cow in the barn that has a Good Plus dam (and that was Good Plus 84 when I sold her), she is Excellent herself. All the other cows have dams with multiple generations of Very Good. I’m also proud to be a three-time Master Breeder (1988, 2000 and 2016).
13. Which bulls do you feel has had the most impact on your herd over the years and today?
Bulls that have the most impact over the years are Lee, Outside, Goldwyn, Windbrook and Doorman. The Windbrook daughters really had a will to live and work hard. Today I’m using Fuel, Alligator, A2P2 and Barolo. I’ve just bought some Comestar Lemagic, possibly for a flush.
7. If you could improve one thing in your operation, what would it be?
I would maybe build a calf barn for baby calves. The hutches work 14. What are the management practices in place on your farm that you ok, but a calf barn would be nice. I’m happy with how things are at feel contribute the most to the success of your operation? Why? I try to get feed made right. Getting the crops off at the right time the moment. gives the cows the opportunity to maximize milk production. I also 8. If you could have ANY cow standing in your barn, who would it be? use the data from the robot. It gives me a head’s up if something Knonaudale Jasmine EX-96-4E 11*, she is a tremendous cow. She is coming on with a cow and I can get a head start on treatment if breeds and has shown well and her offspring do very well in the need be.
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SUMMER 2022
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