STE. ANNE DE PRESCOTT — Alain Lavigne never wanted to have the highest producing herd in Ontario. He was aiming to improve the farm’s efficiency and profit because he didn’t have enough room on the farm for a major expansion.

"High production was a by-product of efficiency," he says.

When Farmers Forum told him he had the number one producing herd on Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) in the province he asked the editor to check again. "We weren’t targeting that," he said.

Based on 99 records, his herd produced 14,232 kilograms of milk and had a Breed Class Average (BCA) of 309, production about one and one half times higher than the average herd in Ontario.

He’s elated with the honour. "It’s like winning the Stanley Cup of the dairy world," he says.

Remarkably, he has achieved expansion through increased production per cow rather than through the physical expansion of facilities. The estimated quota required for an average cow is one kilogram. On average, his cows require 1.4 kilograms. That means he has 100 cows in the milking line producing the equivalent of 140 average Ontario cows.

Alain’s quest for efficiency took flight with his brother Remi back in 1990-1991 when they were milking 55 cows. They were improving the herd through Artificial Insemination (AI) but improvements came slowly. They bought 12 heifers from the Lifetime Profit Index (LPI) and today 90 per cent of the herd is descended from three of those heifers. (The index measures profitability over the lifetime of an animal.)

One of the dams of those heifers, A Eric-Dew Mark ET, classified as Very Good and produced seven Excellent daughters. In the looks’ department that’s a perfect 10.

But his son Et Jean-Tierre says the farm is not about producing show cows. Cows are bred for conformation but are "somewhere between a barn cow and show cow." They use mostly semen from Eastern Breeders, with Goldwyn and Titanic as favourites.

On average, the cows milk about three lactations.

The cows are divided into two groups for feeding, the high and low producers. Both groups are fed between one and 1.5 kilograms of dry hay in the morning and a Total Mixed Ration is before them the rest of the time.

Et Jean-Tierre says the ration is formulated by Agri-Est with one distinguishing feature, an expensive special supplement. The supplement for the high producers cost about $1,000 per tonne and contains minerals, buffers, enzymes and fish protein. "It doesn’t take much more milk to pay for the supplement," he says.

Three years ago Alain brought a proposal to change from twice a day milking to three times a day before his Ontario Agricultural Management Group. Three times a day milking wasn’t for everyone, he was told. But the group helped him with the figures and suggested he try it for a few months. Three times milking maximized his income, he says.

Today, the farm milks at 6 a.m., 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. with Alain, Et Jean-Tierre and his wife Shanna each taking a turn.

The farm hires two workers to help with the milking and chores in the 100 tie stall operation. Alain says the system is profitable, noting that a freestall barn and parlour would cost close to $2 million.

Along the way to higher production, the Lavignes renovated the barn, increasing the size of stalls, improving water bowls, raising head rails. After they put in tunnel ventilation five years ago, milking chores in summer became a pleasant relief from those sultry days that make all of us suffer a little.

The Lavigne family migrated from the French Flanders in 1665 and settled at Pointe aux Tremble, Quebec. The family migrated to the Prescott County area in 1857. Alain’s current farm has been in the family since 1930. Every generation in Canada since 1665 has had farmers, he says proudly.