• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Dairy Farmer Says New Computerized Parlor Helps His Bottom Line

Posted on: Sunday, 11 December 2005, 12:00 CST

By Larisa Brass, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.

Dec. 7--At 3 a.m. and 3 p.m. each day Blan Dougherty's cows walk into the milking parlor the way his herds have done for 17 years. But 17 years ago he couldn't at a moment's notice discern which of the 125 cows on his McMinn County farm weren't producing as much milk, or showed signs of mastitis or were more restless than usual.

That's possible today thanks to the technology Dougherty has installed in his brand new milking parlor, completed last year. It's one of the reasons Dougherty can keep his herd relatively small, he said, and still make enough to support his family, including a daughter who started college this year. And dairy experts say that while many farmers complain about milk prices and an industry shift toward corporate dairies, adopting new technologies and staying on top of current practices allow family farms to stay in business.

In Dougherty's case, he said the ability of his new parlor to closely monitor the health of his cattle has improved the management of his herd, which translates into more milk. After building the new milking parlor, Dougherty said, his production "jumped to three pounds per cow, just like that." At a selling price of about 15 cents per pound for milk, that adds up to about $20,000 in additional revenues per year.

"Really what I think it is, where it used to take four hours to milk, now it takes three hours," he said. "(Before), that last hour of cows just didn't get the attention they deserved."

Thanks to radio frequency tags imbedded in bracelets on the cows' front left feet, the system identifies each cow as it enters the milking stall and can provide Dougherty with numerous data sets from which he can receive regular reports.

Dougherty pays close attention to the amount of milk a cow produces; the cow's activity -- an indicator of illness, depression or that a cow is in heat -- and the conductivity of the milk, which can show the presence of mastitis, a bacterial infection that causes the udder to become swollen and requires treatment with antibiotics. He said the new system picks up indicators before they're ever clinically visible.

"That computer gives him more information than he's ever had in his entire life," said Dougherty's wife, Kathy.

"And it does it when I'm sitting in the house talking to you," Dougherty added, which means he doesn't have to get up at the 3 a.m. milking to personally monitor the herd.

Dougherty has three employees who help him tend the farm. Technology is one way business-minded farmers are staying competitive and solvent in a time when milk prices fluctuate and the cost of doing business is increasing, said Gary Rogers, professor of dairy cattle and genetics in the animal science department at the University of Tennessee's Institute of Agriculture.

"We have some producers who have upgraded or are in the process of upgrading their technologies, whether it be housing or milking parlor or feeding facility," he said. "Dairy farming is a business just like any other kind of business so there's a lot of things that come into play that benefit the economics of the situation."

In addition to computerized milking parlors, some producers are renovating dairy barns in order to make animals more comfortable or adjusting their feeding regimen. Dougherty testifies that his previous purchase of a feeding mixer also immediately bumped up his production.

"There's a lot of things that can be done," Rogers said.

And federally-monitored milk prices can't be held entirely to blame when it comes to the plight of local dairy farms, which have been closing at a rapid clip for the past decade, said Rogers and Dougherty.

"I think some Southeastern producers' cost of production is too high," Dougherty said, adding that there now are more tools to get that production.

Rogers said he sees the "entire spectrum" of dairy farming practices in East Tennessee.

"We have some producers (who) are very much keeping up with new technologies and keeping up with what new technologies might bring," he said. Others, Rogers said, take the attitude of "we've done it this way for 30 years" and don't see the need to modernize.

But with a $100,000-$200,000 price tag, building a new parlor isn't a decision a dairy farmer can make lightly. Dougherty said he chose to invest in a new facility because at 49 he plans to be in the dairy business for the next 15 to 20 years.

"One of the things that to some extent limits the investment in new technologies around here is that for some of these producers, the (land) development pressures are significant," Rogers said, referring to choice prices farmers and their heirs can get for farmland considered to be prime real estate for residential and commercial development.

"Can you justify sinking sometimes $100,000 or more into new and improved facilities if the next generation might not operate the dairy?" Rogers said. "(For) most of these improvements like milking parlors, etc., that's a 20-year type investment. It's just not going to happen unless you see a pretty significant future."

Dougherty said he doesn't know if his children will carry on the family business. His choice to build a new facility was simply about keeping the farm competitive during his lifetime.

"These are our prime earning years," he said.

-----

To see more of The Knoxville News-Sentinel or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.knoxnews.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Knoxville News-Sentinel

More News in this Category