Henry Schmiesing’s dairy farm near Minster, OH has been a user of CRYSTALYX^® off and on for many years. In the spring of 2004, the farm was undergoing some feeding changes and problems where CRYSTALYX^® proved very beneficial. At this time, CRYSTALYX^® was not being used but by reintroducing the CRYSTALYX^® Dry Cow™ formula and Dairy-lyx^® into their management, many metabolic problems were reduced.

Just prior to reintroducing Dry Cow™ formula, the dairy was experiencing a large number of retained placentas at calving and freshening. “Other feed suppliers told me that I didn’t need CRYSTALYX^® as everything we needed was already in our feed mix,” said Henry. “It was when we went away from using CRYSTALYX^® when we started seeing more problems. Since using CRYSTALYX^® Dry Cow™ formula again, during the dry period, there have been hardly any retained placentas at freshening. “They calve, and they clean within a half hour; the licking of the CRYSTALYX^® keeps our dry cows eating well and helps keep the digestive system in good tone.”

Reduced metabolic problems don’t only help the cows; it helps in keeping veterinary expenses low. Henry said, “My veterinarian told me this is probably the best my dry cows have ever looked, and we’ve reduced our veterinary and medicine cost by nearly 70%. I have a good vet but he wondered if I had switched to another vet because I was doing less business with him.”

CRYSTALYX^® Dairy-lyx^® is another product that has helped recently at this dairy. “We use Dairy-lyx^® in the entire milk string and the cows are now breeding better and utilizing feed better. We have changed our entire feed program to Hubbard and CRYSTALYX^® in the past few months and have watched our production climb ever since,” says Schmiesing. Henry Schmiesing has been happy with the good service from Hubbard feed products and would recommend that other dairy producers use CRYSTALYX^®.