Freezin' For A Reason!

Mornings like this make me happy I have an office job!

But alas, sometimes I have to put on my big-girl boots and take the cold like a farm girl, especially if I wanted to see what our Dairy Regional Account Managers (DRAM) do on a daily basis.

I arrived at Genex DRAM, Derek Kolpack’s house for an early morning departure on his route to a few of his north eastern Wisconsin farms. I quickly discovered there is not a typical day, but I got a great look into some of what our Genex representatives have to offer dairy farmers. We made a couple of stops at potential customer's farms and spent time with Reproductive Program Senior Technician, Jeff Jahnke, in addition to doing a lot of observation and note taking.

The day made me take a step back, (literally-I had to step back a few times in the free stall barns to prevent a minor wardrobe malfunction!) and think about dairy farming as a whole.

Today's farmers are required to wear so many hats

First and foremost - they are an optimist!

Then they are scientists, veterinarians, accountants, truck drivers, nutritionists, general farm laborers and the list goes on...

Reasons for a farm's success or failure can be just as varied as the jobs a farmer must take on: feed quality, housing, animal health, environmental factors including weather, a particular cow's disposition, the humans the cattle encounter, soil conditions, and (insert your farm variables here).

Since the margin of error has become so narrow on today's farms many, if not most, farmers rely on a host of outside individuals to provide knowledge and expertise for their operation.

Genex recognized the need for farmers to have trained cattle reproductive experts available and expanded their lineup of staff. We not only offer individuals to breed cows and provide advice on which sires to use, we offer services such as: 

• Visual heat detection
• Chalk-and-walk heat detection
• Synchronization protocol management
• EAZI-BREED™ CIDR® management
• Artificial Insemination
• Breeding data input and analysis
• Reproductive consulting services
• Herd benchmarking
• Corrective dairy mating through MAP

all with the intention of helping farmers reach their farm's goals.

After today, I am confident the only hat you need to wear when talking about cattle reproduction and genetics is a Genex one (if it is anything like today's temperature, I would recommend it being a warm fuzzy one too!). Let our staff deal with the constant change, worry, hassle and confusion of the industry, you can worry about the weather!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author Brenda Brady is our Communications Specialist.  Brenda graduated from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls with a degree in Agricultural Education.  She went on to teach high school agriculture for 13 years. Brenda grew up on a small Registered Holstein farm in central Wisconsin and now farms with her husband and in-laws.