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Scott County farmer uses irrigation to improve operation.

Mindy Ward, Editor, Missouri Ruralist

June 7, 2012

2 Min Read

Peter Gaul is using grass to produce milk on his Scott County, Mo., dairy farm.

Gaul started farming this arid land just five years ago. In order to get the maximum production from his sandy soils, the New Zealand native placed 8 center pivots around is 1,000 acre operation.

"You cannot grow any crop or forage without irrigation down here," he says. "But with irrigation, it is providing quite enough feed for our cattle."

Gaul milks 930-head of Holstein/Jersey cross cattle. His goal is to maximize milk output based on forage production.

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Cows spend more than 80% of their time in the fields. Gaul has a strict policy of no more than 20 percent of time on "concrete." Because of the weather extremes in southwest Missouri providing hot summer conditions, Gaul built a shade shed.

Cows will come to this centralized barn twice a day prior to milk and then "as needed" when the weather warrants. Gaul says he has seen an increase in milk production during the summer months since the barn was erected.

In the shade barn, cows graze on haylage, however when they arrive at the parlor they are offered grain. "We feed very little grain," he says. "They get some when they come to the milking parlor."

The parlor is a rotating 54-capacity carousel system. "The cows are quite comfortable during milking," he says. Automatic milking units are placed on the cows udder once they step on the carousel platform. For the 360 degree ride the units track just how much milk each cow producers.

Gaul has other unique aspects of his operation from calf management to manure management. In this exclusive, Missouri Ruralist offers a pictorial tour inside his operation.

About the Author(s)

Mindy Ward

Editor, Missouri Ruralist

Mindy resides on a small farm just outside of Holstein, Mo, about 80 miles southwest of St. Louis.

After graduating from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural journalism, she worked briefly at a public relations firm in Kansas City. Her husband’s career led the couple north to Minnesota.

There, she reported on large-scale production of corn, soybeans, sugar beets, and dairy, as well as, biofuels for The Land. After 10 years, the couple returned to Missouri and she began covering agriculture in the Show-Me State.

“In all my 15 years of writing about agriculture, I have found some of the most progressive thinkers are farmers,” she says. “They are constantly searching for ways to do more with less, improve their land and leave their legacy to the next generation.”

Mindy and her husband, Stacy, together with their daughters, Elisa and Cassidy, operate Showtime Farms in southern Warren County. The family spends a great deal of time caring for and showing Dorset, Oxford and crossbred sheep.

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