Featured Breeder

ONE MILLION

By David Jons

One million is a number that many of us may never need to concern ourselves over.

If you had one million, one dollar bills and laid them end to end, the line would be nearly 97 miles long. One million seconds would take over a week and a half to elapse. One million pounds of milk would equal 116,279 gallons.

Four Brown Swiss cows at Hilltop Acres Farm, owned and operated by Dennis, Barb, Josh and Tanner Mashek, Calmar, Iowa, have achieved a combined lifetime production of one million pounds of milk, actually over one million pounds of milk at 1,124,620. Until a few weeks ago all four cows were alive and still part of the Hilltop herd. Hilltop Acres Vig Serena, Hilltop Acres V Dolly ET, HF Bonanza Blaze and Hilltop Acres Zeus Nibs, who left the herd a few weeks ago, make up the four cows that achieved the impressive production total.

Hilltop Acres Vig Serena V85, a Sun-Made Vigor daughter, with a best record of 6-06 365d 3X 40,370 4.6 1837 3.5 1396 and lifetime production of 277,890m 12,393f 9,675p in seven lactations. Serena’s V87 dam had a best record of 3-05 365d 3X 31,230 4.5 1411 3.5 1081. 2nd dam 2E-E91 with lifetime production of 233,600M. “Serena was a great, average-sized brood cow,” said Tanner.

Hilltop Acres V Dolly ET 2E-E93, a Sun-Made Vigor daughter, with a best record of 9-01 365d 3X 39,440 5.0 1960 3.6 1412 and lifetime production of 227,070M in five lactations. Dolly’s 3E-E92 dam had a best record of 7-00 365d 3X 38,000 4.3 1638 3.4 1304 and lifetime production of 201,260M. 2nd dam 3E-E94 All-American with nearly 200,000M lifetime. “In 2008, Dolly was the number one genomic heifer in the breed,” stated Tanner, “We did a lot of embryo work with Dolly.” Numerous sons of Dolly were placed in A.I. and the Hilltop herd has many EX and VG daughters of Dolly.

HF Bonanza Blaze 4E-E91, a Mort Legacy Bonanza daughter, with a best record of 9-00 365d 3X 37,530 5.0 1874 3.4 1273 and lifetime production of 332,380M 16,848F 11,775P in ten lactations. Blaze’s V86 dam had a best record of 7-11 349d 3X 31,090 4.4 1366 3.4 1069 and lifetime production of 288,880M. 2nd dam V85 with a best record of 4-02 365d 2X 22,290 4.4 978 3.5 777. “Blaze was purchased as a heifer and used as an embryo receipt,” said Tanner, “She just kept breeding right back every year and milking great.”

Hilltop Acres Zeus Nibs V88, a Red Brae Prelude Zeus daughter, left the herd just a few weeks ago. Her best record is 8-07 365d 3X 38,270 4.5 1713 3.4 1311 and lifetime production of 287,280M 12,605F 10,552P in seven lactations. Nibs V87 dam had a best record of 2-05 365d 3X 28630 4.4 1250 3.6 1039. 2nd dam 3E-92 with lifetime production of 183,420M. “Nibs was an average-sized brood cow that lasted a long time,” explained Tanner.

The 392-head Hilltop cow herd currently has 25 cows over 10 years old. “I want average-size cows with good feet and legs,” mentions Tanner, “That’s where the longevity comes from.” One thing Hilltop has done to help develop long-lasting, high-producing cows is to increase the size of the free stalls. “We kept the free stalls the same width, but made them longer,” said Tanner.

The four cows above are not the first or only Hilltop cows that have developed into long-lasting, high-producing cows. At one point in 2020, Hilltop had 4 more cows in the herd with over 246,000 lbs. lifetime. Aflac, a Brown Swiss X Holstein cross sired by Dynasty with a lifetime production of 419,325M in 9 lactations. “Aflac has the highest total lifetime production in the state of Iowa,” said Tanner. Dovetail, a Brown Swiss X Ayrshire cross with a lifetime production of 300,411M in 8 lactations. Gredel 3E91, a Vigor daughter with a lifetime production of 290,751M in 7 lactations. Jaelin V86, a Mr. Snick daughter with a lifetime production of 246,233M in 7 lactations.

These 8 cows produced 2,381,340 pounds of lifetime milk AND were all in the herd at the same time in 2020!