A dairy operation that uses 'all the automation we could find'

Friday, April 4, 2014

The Pastinks' 600-cow herd and rotary milking parlour consolidates the efforts of two generations and employs all the automation they can muster. And it gives them the confidence that they can survive if supply management disappears

by JIM ALGIE

In the 30-or-so years since Maria and Henk Pastink began dairying together, they've gone from a 60-cow, tie-stall operation and one hired man to 600 cows on a rotary milking parlour, 20 employees and as much automation as they can muster.

The Pastinks' southern Grey County operation, Henria Holsteins Inc., centres around a collection of bright, new, single-storey barns on more than 3,000 acres of cropland. They grow corn, alfalfa, grains and grass on mostly tile-drained Harriston Loam between Mount Forest and Dundalk, all of it organized to support the cow herd.

The current Henria herd consolidates Maria's parents' holdings with the Pastinks' own operation, begun in 1988. New facilities completed in 2010 – including installation of their 50-cow DeLaval/Rota Tech milking parlour – represent a capital investment of about $4.5 million, not including land, cattle and quota. But the farm's large scale – the Canadian Dairy Commission herd average is 77 cows – and its commitment to automation should mean that Henk and Maria can keep milking cows no matter what happens to supply management, Henk told me in a recent interview at the farm.

Henria's technical evolution reflects the owners' mutual interest in cows, a potential future in farming that they see for their two teenaged children, Reba and Gerrit, and a hedge on current uncertainty about the future of Canada's supply management system for milk.

It also consolidates the efforts of two generations of dairying in western Ontario, which began with Maria's parents, Berendt and Wiechertje Flinkert. They emigrated from Holland to Ontario in 1950 to farm and started with five hand-milked cows. Henk, a Dutch agriculture school graduate, met Maria when he arrived to work for the family's operation on a work permit in 1982.

The current form of business amalgamated the Pastinks' operation in 2006 with Flinkert Farms and followed a four-year ownership transition into retirement by Maria's parents.

The cows caught on quickly to rotary milking, but that conversion went more smoothly than calf management. The herd generates 80 calves monthly on average. Bull calves go to market at three months of age, while heifers remain on the farm for consideration as potential milk cows.

Gradually, the Pastinks converted away from a laborious housing system for calves in 400 individual hutches and an older barn which required full-time management by two employees. A computer-controlled, automated milk-feeding system in specialized, newly built, calf-rearing facilities has streamlined the process, but required a series of trial-and-error ventilation experiments to make it work. With full automation and elimination of early ventilation problems, calf management has become a one-person job.

New-born calves receive colostrum from bottles in two feedings within 24 hours. They are then moved to individual pens in the calf barn, where they continue to receive whole, bottled milk – as much as six litres daily. They move within three days to a training pen with five other calves to prepare them for machine feeding, before moving to larger pens in groups of 20.

In each pen, DeLaval automatic calf feeders supply milk from a segregated cow herd and record each feeding through radio-frequency ear tags. Computer records help quickly identify illness by tracking "exactly what the calf drank, how much and at what time," Henk says.

Calves remain in groups of 20 until eight weeks of age, adjusting gradually to a textured starter feed with molasses provided in open troughs, before weaning and segregation of bull calves from heifers.

Since the Pastinks began designing their calf barns, ventilation recommendations have changed. Initially built with natural ventilation through chimneys, the long barns have been retrofitted with fans to move air more directly. Perforated "positive pressure tubes" now run centrally in the buildings and have greatly improved fresh air distribution. They've added propane heaters to maintain a constant five-degree temperature in winter and they close exterior curtains to avoid drafts that contributed to initial respiratory problems.

"The professors who do these studies didn't know what they know now," Henk says of the initial ventilation plan. "We knew what we had in the first year wasn't working," he adds, referring to excessive rates of respiratory illness among calves.

Automation both for milking cows and rearing calves is less about lowering production costs than managing labour, which is a big part of Henk's work these days. The choice of a rotary parlour came from a period spent studying options. "We wanted all the automation we could find," Henk says. "It's hard to find somebody to milk cows in the middle of the night."

The cows caught on to the new rotary system within three milkings. By now, it's a smooth routine with one person wiping cows, one attaching milking equipment and a third managing animal movement.

Computers track output from each animal, which retires afterward to a nearby 60,000-square-foot free stall barn. There, automated plate cleaners remove manure every three hours from central walkways. The cows recline on either side on beds of sand, which mould to their bodies.

Waist-high Lely pushers sort feed for cows. The spherical, battery-powered unit cruises the feed alley at regular intervals. By following a head rail beam, it pushes up scattered feed within reach of cow ranks. Large fans ventilate the cow barn. Thermostatically controlled curtains open and close to manage temperature.

It's too early to say whether Reba and Gerrit will farm, but they both have 4-H calves and work for wages in the family business. Reba applied this year for the University of Guelph's agriculture programs.

"When we decided to build the new facilities, we knew we were going to stay in milk for a longer time," Henk said. "We knew we could make money under supply management. But we would be in pretty good shape even if supply management disappeared." The existing milking parlour could handle as many as 1,200 cows with an additional barn, he notes.

"We like the cows," Henk says. "My wife has lived on a dairy farm since the day she was born and all I have ever done since I came to Canada is work on a dairy farm." BF

Henk Pastink can be contacted on his cell phone at 519-323-6888 or home phone at 519-323-3148. The farm website is www.henria-holsteins.webs.com

It's open house for visitors at Henria Holsteins
Even four years after their open house, the new barns at Henria Holsteins remain the talk of Southgate township.

There's a guest book just inside the exterior door of the 1,600-square-foot milking parlour and signs welcome the visitors. A line of windows along the interior office corridor allows spectators to watch safely as 50 cows at a time take their 12-minute, roundabout ride – 240 cows per hour – at eye level on a DeLaval/Rota Tech milking machine. Stacks of Norwell Dairy Systems' four-page brochures about Henria's history sit on a table near the guest book.

A group of New Zealanders dropped in one day last summer. Neighbours with visiting family, area service clubs, other farmers and curious visitors who find their way to the door through the Henria website are welcome, Henk Pastink says over coffee in a spacious lunch room.

"This is a way of educating the public about dairy farming," Pastink says of his hospitality. "Our markets come from the customers who drink our milk. So we want to tell our customers how milk is being produced. We want to make sure the word gets out that we look after the animals and we like to have a market for our milk." BF