His wife encouraged him to keep on doing what they’re doing

COCHRANVILLE, Pa. — “As my interest in cattle genetics got greater and greater as a teenager, I got this arrogant idea that I wanted to breed this great herd of cows so everybody would know who I was.”

So declared Dean Good on July 21 as he spoke of his life with cows at the Chester County Holstein Association’s summer picnic.

But his attitude soon changed for various reasons as he matured and began to understand that cows aren’t the most important thing in life.

“Until we got through the 1980’s, I didn’t care if anybody knew who I was other than my wife; and my banker still hadn’t shut me off, and that God was in the picture,” he firmly acknowledged.

“Breeding-wise, we’ve made plenty of mistakes already,” he admitted, adding: “But we try to learn from them.”

What he and his wife, Wanda have learned is what he wanted to share during the meeting, including a math assignment. “Let’s have a good time together and see what we can learn,” he announced.

“Have you ever had a cow with a really good udder that didn’t give any milk? At the end of her life, you say, wow, that other cow down the row, she gave twice as much milk, and she only lived half as long. I like cows with good udders, and I like cows that live long.

“About 25 years ago, I was asked to give a talk to a group,” Dean continued with that aforementioned math problem still on his mind.

“It was a tour group coming through from the tech college, and I was trying to figure out what in the world  someone like me would have to say to a bunch of college-educated people.

“But as I was walking down through the barn, I pointed out two cows that were both scored excellent, I think they were both EX-92 at the time  and they had 250,000 pounds of milk each.

“If I remember right, they were about 12 years old, so they’d been in production for 10 years.

“The one cow had 4.5% butterfat and  3.5% protein lifetime and she ended up with 319,000 pounds of milk total.

“The other cow finished with close to 300,000 pounds of milk lifetime but with  3.2% butterfat and a 2.8% protein,” Dean shared.

“In the world of numbers, that’s not a huge difference (in milk)  when you first look at it. But 3.2% and 2.8% adds up to 6% total solids combined.”

Bottom line: “4.5% plus 3.5% makes 8%.”

“So, if we’ve got 250,000 pounds of milk with 2% difference (in total solids) over a lifetime of 10 years we get 5000 more pounds of components,” Dean noted emphatically and pausing to let the reality sink in.

Then he went even further, suggesting that an average lifetime for a dairyman to enjoy his cows might be 40 years. “So, if we’ve got 5000 pounds of extra components in 10 years’ time … that’s 20,000 pounds in 40 years.

That’s per stall. With a 50-cow milking herd, and at approximate prices paid per pound of butterfat and protein these days, the additional income comes to over $1.6 million over that 40-year period.

“We can choose to breed a cow that lives for a long time. But if she has 3.2% butterfat, she may not be paying as many of her bills. And we still like that cow because she’s really nice. She’s got a nice udder and she lives a long time.

“But when you go to see the banker, do you want to tell him: ‘Well, that cow lived for a long time, but she ended up with 120,000 pounds of milk at 12 years of age and she had a 3.2% butterfat test and 2.8% protein.”

“When I gave this speech the first time, there was a young man in the crowd, and I’ll just say he was college-educated, because there was a bunch of college people there that day.

“And he said: ‘But you can’t have a herd of Holsteins that average 4.5% and 3.5%’.

“And I said: “Well, young man, you’re right. But would you settle for half of that? What is half of $1,600,000?

“Could you make an extra $800,000 at the end of 40 years? Would that help pay some bills?”

“And I also told that young man … after I told him he was right … that there’s one thing for sure. If you don’t try, you’re never going to get to 4.5% butterfat and 3.5% protein.”

Speaking of his own breeding and economic strategies, Dean said he has been breeding for components for decades, even  through the late 1980s when market observers said that butterfat will never be worth anything again. “Well, in the last couple of years, butterfat got really valued,” the  internationally renowned Registered Holstein breeder reminded.

Continuing, Dean revealed that his wife “never has cared anywhere near as much for cattle genetics as I have.

“But every once in a while I would kind of deviate from my breeding plan and say, you know, they say butterfat will never be worth anything again. And she would say: ‘But are they still paying us for it? Maybe we should just keep doing what we’ve done before. And so, we’ve kept on breeding for components. And, yes, we do like nice cows.

“I don’t mean to sound like I’m bragging, but in January of this year, we shipped 100 pounds per cow every day, milking two times a day. We averaged 4.93% butterfat and  3.58% protein for that whole month and that’s what they pay us for. It has run high for many months.

“We’re still running over 8 pounds of combined components during the heat in the middle to late July. It is possible, but we have to have a plan and stick with that plan.

“And I’m just very thankful my wife came along beside me a few times in life and just said: ‘Maybe we should keep doing what we’re doing.

To be continued.