UW-Extension will be sponsoring Dairy Facility Farm Tours on Monday, October 30th , 2023. The tours will
include seven dairy farms located in Green and Lafayette Counties that have all made modernization
improvements to their dairy facilities to increase productivity and animal comfort as well as reduce labor.
The tours are popular with dairy farmers as they feature an open house format in which dairy producers can visit any number of the seven farms they wish between 10:30am and 3pm. There is no central meeting place or any formal presentation for the tours. Farmers can select which farms they would like to visit between 10:30am – 3pm on October 30th . A farm representative will be on hand at each farm to answer questions for the tour participants.
The tours will feature various sizes of dairy farms with herds ranging from 120-1800 cows. For producers
interested in upgrading their milking facilities, the tours will also include robotic milking systems, swing parlors, parallel parlors, and other milking setups.
Multiple types of freestall sheds will be available at these farms including 3 and 4 rows with headlocks,
mattresses, and alley scrapers. Others may also include sand bedding, waterbed mattresses, and recycled sand creating various kinds of cow comfort.
One farm features an automatic calf feeding system utilizing milk replacer and the nursery calves receive
pasteurized milk. Another farm features a calf barn with a pasteurizer and bottle cleaner.
Several manure handling systems will be included on the tours. Some of the host farms on the tour have daily scraping systems with mini manure pits for short term storage. One farm features a sand separator and utilizes polymers to keep the water clean to ensure the sand being reused is clean. One farm also uses bedding from manure solids on the mattresses made with an EYS screw press.
These tours will also help generate ideas for dairy producers who are considering future improvements and modernization in their own dairy facilities. Host farmers will be on hand to share their experiences in the building process and to explain what they like about their facility and what they might change if they were to do it again. Tour participants will also be required to wear plastic boots which will be supplied at each of the farms.
The complete farm descriptions along with tour maps can be obtained by contacting Jackie McCarville, UW-Extension Dairy Educator at 608-328-9440 or [email protected]. Tour information and maps can also be downloaded from the Green County
UW-Extension web site at http://green.extension.uwex.edu/
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