The New Dairy Concept

Twenty-five years ago, former high school teachers Joe and Christy Tomandl started dairying on a shoestring near Medford, Wisconsin. “We started with 40 cows and 80 acres,” Joe Tomandl says. “From day one, we practiced managed grazing of the dairy herd. We were attracted to the economic and environmental benefits of grass-based dairying. One important consideration was that we didn’t have to invest in a lot of equipment.”

But the Tomandls invested plenty of energy and creativity in making their dairy the most efficient it could be, gradually building the main farm to encompass 320 acres of managed pasture and 150 cows.

Dairy Grazing Initiatives

Seeing a need for beginning dairy farmers to receive education in managed grazing, the Tomandls helped launch in 2010 the national Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship (DGA), a program that now matches beginning dairy farmers with mentors in 15 states. Tomandl serves as executive director.

Always having an eye on the challenges facing grass-based dairy farmers and small-scale dairies in general, the Tomandls also helped develop the DGA’s New Dairy Concept. The initiative aims to establish a Dairy Grazing Development Campus made up of midsize grazing dairies strategically aligned to comprise a 3,000-cow operation. It’s an effort that could be replicated across the country, Tomandl says.

Achieving an economy of scale for the marketing of milk is one aim of the New Dairy Concept. Pooling a great enough volume of milk to attract and retain large-volume processors is an increasing need for small and moderate-size dairies.

“It’s tough for small to midsize dairy farmers to market their milk, and every year it gets tougher because of the volume of milk that the markets want,” he says. “Hauling costs are suffocating small dairy farms and small processors. If a milk truck has to spend extra time to get a tank of milk, the farmer has to bear the cost of that burden. Costs in general are just scaling up, including the cost of labor. Those forces are causing the small dairy to just go away.”

Tomandl and the DGA hope the New Dairy Concept resolves that issue. The aim is to develop a cluster of midsize managed-grazing dairies that would provide an economy of scale for the marketing of milk while also providing opportunities for dairy ownership for young farmers and economic spin-off benefits to local communities.

Prototype Models

The Tomandls’ two satellite dairies already provide prototype modeling. Seeing the need a decade ago to modestly expand their own operation, they did it by “duplicating” rather than building new facilities that would concentrate cattle and manure at their main farm. In 2010, they bought a 200-acre dairy farm complete with facilities 4 miles from their main farm. They converted it from row crop production to managed grazing and now milk 175 cows at the second farm.

In 2020, they bought a third farm across the road from their main farm. The third satellite operation, which also came complete with milking facilities, comprised 114 acres of conventional row crops that the Tomandls converted to managed grazing. Adjacent to the new farm they rented an additional 160 acres for grazing and forage production. They milk 175 cows at the new farm.

The Tomandls employ a general manager to oversee the three-farm complex and three individual managers to handle operations at each farm. Ideally, the managers are graduates of DGA’s two-year training and apprenticeship program.

The three farms duplicate the management practices the Tomandls have evolved to ensure their operations remain economically viable over the long term. Building resilient, nutritious grazing forages that feed resilient and efficient dairy cows that thrive on grazing is key to their long-term success.

“We’re not heavy grain feeders; our whole system is based upon converting grass to milk,” Tomandl says. “We try to reduce our feed costs for six months of the year by relying on grazed forages to provide up to 75% of the cows’ dry matter intake. The more feed that the cows can harvest by themselves, the less feed we have to harvest and store, and the less manure we have to haul away from confinement areas. All of that plays into the efficiencies we’re looking for.”

A diverse mix of perennials makes up the Tomandls’ forage base. The perennials include bluegrass, fescue, perennial ryegrass, and white and red clovers. To refurbish forages, they reseed pastures by no-tilling into existing forage stands every two to three years.

Temporary fencing divides paddocks into grazing strips sized according to forage availability. They move cattle three times daily. “We graze our cows on a little longer rotation than some other producers,” Tomandl says. “We graze when the forages are a bit more mature, when the yield is about 4,000 pounds per acre. We graze it down to about 2,000 pounds so that we take half and leave half. We believe that letting the forage mature a bit before grazing and leaving plenty of residue on the surface gives us a more resilient sward of grass that’s more tolerant of drought.”

Haylage makes up the lion’s share of the Tomandls’ feed supply in late fall, winter, and early spring. “We harvest haylage from rented land and from grazing pastures producing surplus grass in the early part of the growing season,” Tomandl says. They also purchase some baleage and dry hay as well as grain.

Breed Matters

The cows they find most suited to their management system are New Zealand Friesians, a type of dairy cattle the Tomandls have found to be “efficient grass converters with a high level of fertility,” he says. The mature weight of the cows is around 1,250 pounds, and their milk production averages 14,500 to 15,000 pounds per cow per lactation.

In recognition of their management practices, the Sand County Foundation awarded them the Wisconsin 2022 Leopold Conservation Award. The national Leopold Conservation Award Program recognizes the conservation efforts of farmers and ranchers in multiple states.

The conservation benefits modeled by the Tomandls through managed-grazing dairying offer potential for dairy producers in the marketing of ecosystem services. “I believe the sleeping giant in grass-based dairying is ecosystem services,” Tomandl says.

As markets develop for these services, dairy farmers who practice managed grazing may potentially get paid for sequestering carbon, conserving soil, increasing water infiltration, decreasing phosphorus runoff, and increasing bird and pollinator habitat.

“Grass-based dairies can deliver to consumers the kinds of products providing the environmental outcomes they’re looking for,” Tomandl says. “I believe this is where the future of managed-grazing dairying lies.”