Photo caption: Scotch Burn Farm celebrates their 2024 Green Pastures win with a photo at The Big E. Pictured (L to R): Whitney Hull, Erin Nelson, Ethan Nelson, Bryn Nelson, Susanna Nelson, Ewan Nelson
By: New England Green Pastures Committee
Scotch Burn Farm, an eighth-generation dairy operation in Ryegate, Vermont, has been named the 2024 Vermont Dairy Farm of the Year.
Ethan and Erin Nelson were recognized for their high-producing herd, milk quality, excellent crops and topnotch management. The judges also were impressed by their many recent farm improvements including installation of a 4-million-gallon concrete manure pit, remodeling the milk storage capacity and changes to the calf and heifer barn to improve efficiency and comfort.
The Nelsons currently milk 270 cows on a twice-daily milking schedule in a double-12 herringbone parlor. Their rolling herd average is between 24,000 and 25,000 pounds. Butterfat is 4.5 to 4.6 percent with protein averaging 3.25 to 3.27 percent, enviable numbers for a primarily Holstein herd. They ship their milk to Agri-Mark/Cabot Creamery, consistently earning quality awards for their milk.
To help maximize milk production, the higher-producing group is fed highly digestible BMR (brown midrib) corn silage and grass, usually at a 2 to 1 ratio, and higher concentrates once they slow down. The low group, who produce less milk and generally are in late lactation, get conventional corn and grass.
The farmers raise all their own replacements with heifers bred to have their first calf at 24 months. They use SCR ear tags to monitor rumination, feed intake and activity, which tells them if a cow is in heat or ill. Use of the tags, they say, has doubled their pregnancy rate.
They strive for a 1.5 conception rate with a 70-day voluntary waiting period between calving and next breeding although if a high producer comes into heat earlier, they will service her then. The farm has an added advantage when it comes to monitoring herd health and pregnancies as Erin and her sister, Anna Morrison, are licensed large animal veterinarians.
The Nelsons purchase grain but grow all their forages, doing all their own crop work but hiring out for custom manure spreading. They hay and chop 300 acres of grass, aiming for several cuts a season, and 40 to 50 acres of alfalfa.
They grow 240 acres of corn with their best fields averaging 22 to 23 tons of silage per acre, 15 to 17 tons for the less productive fields. In the fall, they plant winter rye as a cover crop. Any fields with a slight slope are put in rotation of two years in corn, then eight years in grass and alfalfa.
The success of the farm can also be attributed to good employees. The Nelsons employ three full-time and 10 part-time workers, including several high school students. Their children, Susanna, 17, Bryn, 14, and Ewan, 11, also help out on the farm along with several family members.
The award is presented annually to an outstanding Vermont dairy farm by University of Vermont Extension and the Vermont Dairy Industry Association, in cooperation with the New England Green Pastures Program.