Shortly after New Year's Day, forty-eight animal science students and faculty from the Universities of Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island gathered for the annual Winter Dairy Travel Course. This collaborative trip has existed for more than 25 years and has included prior excursions to Florida, California, Washington, and Prince Edward Island, Canada. It is a unique opportunity for students from various institutions to network with other students and faculty from peer institutions while also gaining a greater understanding of trends and best practices within the dairy sector. This program is made possible by the generous support of the Northeast Farm Credit's AgEnhancement Program, the hospitality of the farms and businesses visited, and the patience of the tour bus driver.
The 5-day tour began on Monday, January 8th, 2024, at the W. H. Miner Institute in Chazy, NY. Here, students lunched while hearing a comprehensive presentation about the internship opportunities offered at Miner. Following the presentation, they took walking tours of the calf barn and the cow barns, including a state-of-the-art facility that houses ~100 calves on a bedded pack and a research cow barn that houses ~550 cows and boasts a double-12 parallel milking parlor. When their tour concluded, students hopped on the bus for the 7-hour trip to a hotel in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, which became home base for the next three days.
On the second day, they began at Fraeland Farm. In 2019, this farm switched to two milking robots. This herd has some of the best genetics in the region, and they conduct embryo transfer on these cows to later sell the calves, which are highly sought after.
The students then went on to tour Wallenstein Feed Supply. The company began in 1958 and today the company is the largest independent feed supply company in Canada, with over 280 employees and 85 delivery trucks. The company employs several nutritionists and veterinarians to develop diets formulated for a variety of animals with various nutritional needs - Wallenstein has produced over 900 different ruminant feeds alone!
The last stop of the day was Summitholm Holsteins. It is a modern operation that consists of ~500 cows, a double-16 parlor, and on-farm processing, which they market independently, including a home delivery service. Their store -- recently built on-site -- hosts monthly community events and sells a variety of delectable items, including homemade strawberry and chocolate milk. A unique feature of Summitholm Holsteins is that they genomic test their cows to breed those still producing A2 milk, a potential niche market catering to consumers who prefer the nutritional value of this product.
Day three began at Scenic Holsteins, a farm featuring its own cheesemaking plant on the property. In addition to learning about cheesemaking and touring the facility, the students were offered samples of the farm's award-winning cheeses. The farm boasts a unique parlor flush system that enables its wastewater to be collected, cleaned (separating the sand and solids) and then recycled for repeated use.
The next visit was to Boernview Farm, which boasts 11 robotic milkers and over 450 cows. Roger Boersen, the owner of the immaculate facility, met the group in their impressively cross-ventilated barn. Roger informed us that the airflow in this building was the best of all of their facilities, with an average airspeed of 7mph where the cows stand at the feed rail, and 3mph in the stalls.
At Hogendoorn Dairy, a farm that has an impressive 60-cow rotary milking parlor and other state-of-the-art technology, students spent time in each barn, which, according to the owner, were all constructed entirely by the Hogendoorn family. A unique feature of the farm was its sand and manure separator, which separates and cleans the bedding sand for reuse.
The last day's visits took students to the University of Guelph's Elora Dairy and Ontario Beef Research Centre. This research facility focuses mostly on animal nutrition, welfare, and behavior. Every cow in the entire facility is part of a research study at least once during her lifetime. One of the bulk tanks was an impressive 8,000-gallon capacity tank, and the barns were extremely large with a very low stocking density at both the feedbunk and stalls. They also employ a 24-cow rotary milking parlor as their primary milking system. Robotic milking units were also evident and being used for cow behavioral research.
Hopping back onto the bus, the students made their way over to the university beef barns, essentially two identical barns joined in the middle to form an H-shape. The barns each had several maternity pens and could house up to 115 Angus beef cows. Historically, the cows have been genetically selected for calm temperament as much as for growth traits. Across from the beef barns were the feed bunks, but the extraordinary feature of these was that there were ~48 of them, and each was covered by a permanent roof to protect the many different research trial diets, an impressive and thoughtfully planned system.
On the way to their final destination of their five-day trip, the group stopped for a quick photo-op in front of a special statue in the heart of Woodstock: the commemorative statue dedicated to "Springbank Snow Countess," a cow who lived from 1910 to 1936, and was Ontario's highest bovine producer for many years. Within 10 lactations, she produced 207,505 lbs of milk, 9,062lbs of butterfat, and an average protein test of 4.57%.
The final visit of the week was to Karnview Dairy, who bring their own achievements to the Holstein breed. In vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer are the primary economic drivers of this herd, thus integrating new genetics with each cow generation. The highlight of this show barn was seeing "Karnview Gunshow Chief Beyonce," or, as the owner referred to her, "The Chief." This cow holds titles in both the show ring and also in provincial and national production records. Compared to the lifetime production of the famous Springbank Snow Countess, The Chief has already produced a considerable portion of that production record in just 3 years!
The return home was bittersweet. As students parted ways with the students and faculty from other schools in Chazy, NY, each student bid farewell, thankful for the good company on this incredible journey.