MONROE - The UW-Extension Dairy Team in cooperation with the Green County Milk Quality Council are sponsoring Dairy Facility Farm Tours from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 27, in northern Green and southern Dane counties. The six host farms for the tours have all made recent modernization improvements in their dairy facilities to reduce labor, increase production and animal comfort.
The tour features an open house format in which dairy producers can visit any number of the six farms they wish. There will not be a central meeting place or any formal presentation. A representative will be on hand at each farm to answer questions for the tour participants.
Farmers can simply select which farms they would like to visit on their own time schedule.
The farm descriptions along with tour maps showing the farm location, can be received by contacting Mark Mayer, UW-Extension Dairy and Livestock Agent at 328-9440 or can be printed from the Web site at green.uwex.edu. Maps and farm descriptions will also be available at all of the host farms on Aug. 27. A complete listing of the host farms and a brief description of what can be seen at each farm follows:
Green County
• Voegeli Farm Inc. - N7422 Wisconsin 69, Monticello (160 Cows) - New Double 8 Parabone Parlor with low line and 60 degree slant stalls built inside two story dairy barn. Drive-by feeding with sand bedding and features long-day lighting. Manure is daily scraped into 36-foot by 50-foot by 4-foot pit with an access ramp that provides two week storage.
• Valley Mead Farms LLC - Duane Bernet and Joan Robert, N7054 Wis. 69, Monticello (350 Heifers) - Two new heifer buildings feature side wall curtains, with 400 self locking headlocks. This facility is designed to house heifers from six months to 20 months. Drive by feeding is utilized. A bedded pack is used, with a scrape alley that allows them to push manure into a NRCS approved 60 day holding pit.
• Wasserstrass Farms - N5344 Church Rd, Monroe (130 Cows) - Two new Delaval robotic milkers are featured on this farm. A new five row freestall barn featuring drive by feeding slatted floors, and a special needs area. Rubber mattresses are used with manure storage of almost one million gallons located in a pit under the building.
• Dan and Nancy Karlen - W4876 County C, Monticello (75 Cows) - New bedded pack Heifer Barn for ages two to 12 months with natural ventilation and drive by feeding. Double four flat parlor built inside existing dairy barn. Converted machine shed to freestalls for heifers and dry cow housing. Manure is daily scrapped into a mini-pit. Bunker silos are used for feed storage.
Dane County
• Sunburst Dairy - 1003 County PB, Belleville (480 Cows) - Double 10 Parallel parlor. Two six row freestall barns, with one using sawdust over mattresses for bedding and manure going into a two million gallon poly-lined lagoon.
The other freestall uses sand over mattresses for bedding and has 50-foot wide stalls. Manure from this freestall goes into a circular concrete storage.
• Prairieland Farms - 6736 Frenchtown Road, Belleville (340 Heifers) - Two new heifer buildings will be featured at this farm. A bedded pack barn houses animals from four to nine months of age and features inside feeding. The other building is a three-row freestall barn with mattresses and slatted floors that houses heifers from 10 months up to a few weeks prior to freshening. Both barns feature drive by feeding, locking headgates and curtain sidewalls.
The tour features an open house format in which dairy producers can visit any number of the six farms they wish. There will not be a central meeting place or any formal presentation. A representative will be on hand at each farm to answer questions for the tour participants.
Farmers can simply select which farms they would like to visit on their own time schedule.
The farm descriptions along with tour maps showing the farm location, can be received by contacting Mark Mayer, UW-Extension Dairy and Livestock Agent at 328-9440 or can be printed from the Web site at green.uwex.edu. Maps and farm descriptions will also be available at all of the host farms on Aug. 27. A complete listing of the host farms and a brief description of what can be seen at each farm follows:
Green County
• Voegeli Farm Inc. - N7422 Wisconsin 69, Monticello (160 Cows) - New Double 8 Parabone Parlor with low line and 60 degree slant stalls built inside two story dairy barn. Drive-by feeding with sand bedding and features long-day lighting. Manure is daily scraped into 36-foot by 50-foot by 4-foot pit with an access ramp that provides two week storage.
• Valley Mead Farms LLC - Duane Bernet and Joan Robert, N7054 Wis. 69, Monticello (350 Heifers) - Two new heifer buildings feature side wall curtains, with 400 self locking headlocks. This facility is designed to house heifers from six months to 20 months. Drive by feeding is utilized. A bedded pack is used, with a scrape alley that allows them to push manure into a NRCS approved 60 day holding pit.
• Wasserstrass Farms - N5344 Church Rd, Monroe (130 Cows) - Two new Delaval robotic milkers are featured on this farm. A new five row freestall barn featuring drive by feeding slatted floors, and a special needs area. Rubber mattresses are used with manure storage of almost one million gallons located in a pit under the building.
• Dan and Nancy Karlen - W4876 County C, Monticello (75 Cows) - New bedded pack Heifer Barn for ages two to 12 months with natural ventilation and drive by feeding. Double four flat parlor built inside existing dairy barn. Converted machine shed to freestalls for heifers and dry cow housing. Manure is daily scrapped into a mini-pit. Bunker silos are used for feed storage.
Dane County
• Sunburst Dairy - 1003 County PB, Belleville (480 Cows) - Double 10 Parallel parlor. Two six row freestall barns, with one using sawdust over mattresses for bedding and manure going into a two million gallon poly-lined lagoon.
The other freestall uses sand over mattresses for bedding and has 50-foot wide stalls. Manure from this freestall goes into a circular concrete storage.
• Prairieland Farms - 6736 Frenchtown Road, Belleville (340 Heifers) - Two new heifer buildings will be featured at this farm. A bedded pack barn houses animals from four to nine months of age and features inside feeding. The other building is a three-row freestall barn with mattresses and slatted floors that houses heifers from 10 months up to a few weeks prior to freshening. Both barns feature drive by feeding, locking headgates and curtain sidewalls.
