Farm Horizons
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June 6, 2016
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Page 4
Doing what he’s always wanted to do
For farmer Ted Grangroth of Cokato, owning a dairy
farm is something he always knew he wanted to do. He
has now been farming for 22 years, having more than
doubled the size of his milking herd. Taking good care
of his cattle is part of his success in running a profitable
operation.
Having been raised on a farm, Grangroth was familiar with farm life, yet, he said, “I didn’t know if I could
make a living milking cows.”
So, he went to college at St. Cloud State University,
where he earned a degree in finance. He then worked in
cost accounting for several years.
And then, he recalled, “I realized my heart was on
the farm.”
So, he returned to his parents’ farm in 1994 and rented from them for five years.
Grangroth then built his own barn and added to the
herd of Holstein cows with his parents’ help. He started out with 60 milking cows. He now has 135 milking
cows, with about 120 cows being milked twice a day.
“The cows calve once a year, so they have a 45- to
60-day resting period before the calf is born when they
aren’t milked,” Grangroth noted.
From December to February, he can sometimes have
as many as 40 new calves born.
Cows are sometimes productive enough that they are
milked from seven to nine years, but the average tends
to be from two to six years.
Once the cows are beyond their productive years, they
are auctioned off, or used for beef.
On average, Grangroth’s cows produce 80 pounds of
milk each day, with some producing as much as 140
pounds a day.
With the cows producing so much milk, it’s not surprising that one cow drinks from 30 to 50 gallons of
water each day.
“The cows also eat 50 pounds of dry matter each day,”
Grangroth added. This is made up of haylage and corn
silage, both which he chops up with a chopper; highmoisture corn; protein mix, which contains vitamins
and minerals; and dry hay, which adds needed roughage.
Grangroth grows 80 acres of alfalfa and 50 acres of
corn, which is usually enough to feed his herd for the
year. “All of the high moisture corn I need comes from
my neighbor,” Grangroth said.