Wisconsin Holstein Association

Wisconsin Holstein members gathered on March 19 and 20 to hear from Denton Ross of Arizona Dairy Company. These events were held in Iron Ridge and Merrilan. 

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Denton is the fifth generation to run his family’s farm in Arizona. The dairy was started in 1973 with 2,500 cows being milked in a double-24 parlor. The herd size doubled in 1980, and at that time, they were one of the largest dairies in Arizona. Today there are about 47 dairies in the state.

Recently, Arizona Dairy moved their dairy herd from their farm in Mesa to Gila Bend, about 85 miles away. With the city around them growing and large companies like Google and Facebook building offices next door, their team decided it was time to move. At that time, they were milking about 6,500 cows and the new facility could only handle about half of that. 

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They sorted through the herd to find the best cows to keep and negotiated sales of others. This new facility has better cooling than the last so in the heat waves of the Southwest, cows have been able to get pregnant and keep feed intake up all summer. 

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Genomic testing has been an important part of the dairy to identify the best cows. Graison Schmidt,  originally from Wisconsin, served as a genetic consultant and helped the family Since it’s so hot in Arizona, developing show cows is a much bigger challenge than heifers. Their connection with Graison led them to Maple-Leigh, where their show cows are housed today. 

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Denton’s daughters Hadley and Jacey were really involved with the show aspect of the dairy. Today, Hadley is still involved and helps run the genetics programs while Jacey works off the farm as a hair stylist. Denton’s son also helps on the farm as well as his brother, and stepfather, Justin Stewart. In addition to milking cows, they operate 6,000 acres around the dairy to provide all forage. Grain is sourced from outside the state. Beef on dairy Angus cross calves are kept and fed out in Texas. 

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All embryo work at the dairy is done in house and they have their own IVF lab. Embryos from the top cows are put in the bottom half of heifers. They work with about 40 donors a week. 

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In addition to GTPI, they consider linear traits, positive DPR and components when choosing service sires.  

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Denton says that they have always been early adopters of technology on the farm. At the time of the move, they started using SCR activity monitoring collars. This has given them greater amounts of data to use for managing cows. They also have robotic feed pushers to limit stress on cows. 

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Cows are milked three times per day on 12-hour shifts in a double 40 parlor with five milkers at a time. They ship 300,000 pounds of milk a day, marketed through United Dairyman of Arizona and shipped primarily to Fairlife.Crowds at both events were very engaged and had plenty of time to ask questions. Check out Arizona Dairy Company on Facebook to learn more about the farm and see videos and pictures of the cows and setup. 

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Supper Club Socials are hosted every other year opposite of the State PIcnic. Funds for both events are provided by the Treasure Quest raffle. Watch for details on the Wisconsin Holstein State Picnic in 2025.