Veeman and Sons Dairy, Second Farm visited on Wednesday, Oct 22

Follow this link to the bio of each farm listed in alphabetical order:

http://www.pdmp.org/cDT_FarmTours.htm

Pictures taken at Veeman Dairy:

http://picasaweb.google.com/dbrogdonagchoice/VeemanDairy#

Veeman Dairy

Mike and Derrick gave us an informative tour. They were gracious hosts and kept us on the bus as much as possible to shelter us from the Colorado winds and blowing sand. It was awesome to drive around their 1800 cow milking herd. The view from the bus was very good.

This was as dry lot / feed lot type dairy. There are wind breaks in each lot to help shelter the cows. Compared to PA, the temperatures are similar in Colorado but the rainfall is only about 12 inches per year. The low rainfall/low humidity allows for dry lot housing. This management system requires less building investment.

Mike gave us a quick lesson on water and water rights. He told us the most viable option for them was to purchase city water taps. They purchased 4 taps at $130,000 per tap. Start up costs for water at the site would be about $520,000. Annual water utility bill is about $75,000. We take water for granted here in the east. The whole Colorado system is complicated and water rights are more valuable than the land itself.

We were most impressed by the critical area of their new dairy: The 300' X 140' transition barn.
This was the first tour I've been on where the tour bus actually drove through the barns. The transition barn was well planned and an area for calving and special needs animals. This area of the dairy was a seperate zone and special needs animals were milked in a seperate double 8 parlor. Cows are moved to the transition pens about 1 week pre-calving.

The Veemans realized how critical this barn would be to the success of their dairy. They wanted it to be an area that cows could get special care and shelter and the employees would be comfortable and want to stay with the cows throughout their shift. The high sidewalls and large pens allow the barn to be cleaned FAST with a big pay loader. We hopped out of the bus and got to see the pens close up.

After the touring the transition barn, we moved on to the milking parlor and management office. It was interesting that the dairies referred to their milking center as a "barn", where here in the east we call them parlors.

Our gracious hosts treated us with refreshments (milk of course!). In the office, Mike gave us an overview of items he felt they did well in building the new dairy. They included:

· Put together a good team

· Long term planning that worked

· The Rotary Parlor was a good choice

On his list of "Do Overs":

· Protocols where not being followed as prescribed

· Would put in backflush system at start-up

· Managing work/life balance

The "To Do" List

· A Machinery Shop

· Shades for the feed lots

· More Cows

· 2 More Pivots

Mike closed the meeting with some sound advice: "Know your style is. Be dedicated and committed to it"