Chat with a CA Holstein breeder – Dino Migliazzo
On Tuesday I had the opportunity to visit with Dino Migliazzo of Migliazzo & Sons Dairy in Merced, CA. Dino’s name was suggested to me by the Holstein USA Field Rep for Northern California, Dennis Edlund, as a dairy producer that has found the type of cow he wants within the Holstein breed. In fact, a number of cows in the Migliazzo herd are on the locator list and several more have been sold to other producers and gone on to do very well.
The Migliazzo herd operates under the Dinomi prefix and milks approximately 800 cows with about 800 youngstock raised on the farm. On 2x a day milking, the current rolling herd average is 30,000M, on an energy corrected scale.
“Purebred genetics have provided additional revenues to our farm over the years. Until recently due to increased feed costs, we were able to receive $175 over drop calf prices selling to commercial dairymen. There remains a strong demand for purebred genetics in our area.”
Given the crossbred population in California, I asked Dino if incorporating crossbreeding in their herd’s breeding program was ever considered. “We never gave the idea a thought. The short term financial gains that might be experienced won’t solve the long term problems that result. Those people who’ve decided to use crossbreeding quite possibly did not take advantage of the tools Holstein provides to combat the ‘problems’ of the breed.”
“About 5 to 7 years ago, we began working closely with Pete Blodgett to develop a selection formula that works for our breeding goals. We look at the traits of Calving Ease, Productive Life, Somatic Cell Score and Daughter Pregnancy Rate, without sacrificing Type & Production; more specifically, the Type traits of Udder Composite and Overall Type. Utilizing the Udder Composite trait as a selection tool provides a lot of positive attributes the commercial dairymen is looking for – teat size & placement, height, width, depth and udder cleft.”
Given these selection traits, the Dinomi herd has a strong influence of the following sires, in either their youngstock or as current service sires: Shottle, Ramos, Mac, Potter, Airraid, Pontiac, Final Cut, Billion, Merrill Lynch, Adam, Startit and Bret.
“A purebred Holstein breeding program, given all the factors on a dairy, has allowed us more ‘spendable’ dollars at the end of the day. Being involved Holstein USA’s Tri-Star program has also provided recognition for our farm and individual cows in a format that doesn’t require us to apply for the status – a delightful side benefit to using purebred genetics.”
