Ready for the next generation

GREENLEAF, Wis. — When the fourth generation made a long-term commitment to the dairy farm, the plan for a new generation of facilities and updates was set in motion at Country Aire Farms.

The expansion included a new 80-stall rotary milking parlor and two new freestall barns to house nearly 3,000 cows. This was accompanied by a large-scale remodeling project of the farm’s four existing freestall barns, holding area and rotary parlor. Both projects incorporated the latest technology.

“Our old parlor was limping along, and we didn’t know where we were going to milk more cows,” Mike Gerrits said. “Our boys all committed to staying, so we decided to expand.”

The Gerrits family milks 6,000 cows and farms 7,640 acres near Greenleaf. Country Aire Farms is owned by brothers Mike and Tom Gerrits and their sons, Craig, Matt, Nick and Jon. Craig is the operations manager, Matt is the chief financial officer, Nick is the shop manager and Jon is the field/crops manager. The Gerrits family operates the 102-year-old farm with help from 49 employees.

“I’m blessed to have four boys who are enthused about agriculture and that the farm will go on to the next generation,” Mike said. “I didn’t think we were going to have four who were interested.”

Mike’s grandfather started the farm with nine cows.

“Our goal is to get to 8,000 cows with 7,200 milking,” Mike said.

To create capacity, the Gerrits family built an 11-row barn for housing 2,055 cows and an 8-row barn to house 855 cows. Once their 80-stall rotary parlor was built, they gutted their original 40-stall rotary and replaced it with a 50-stall rotary.

“Building was the easy part,” Mike said. “The remodel was the harder part.”

While remodeling the existing rotary, cows were transferred to the new 80-stall parlor, which hosted its first milking June 3, 2024. Cows were moved into the new barns the same day. Work on the old parlor began July 5, and it was up and running Nov. 11.

The new DeLaval parlors are equipped with Evanza milking units that deliver a milk out of 3.5 minutes. Craig said the cluster collapses and is lighter weight than what they used in the old parlor, resulting in fewer kickoffs and squawking. He especially likes the comfort start tap on the unit, which starts the vacuum without the use of a button.

“We’ve never had it before, but we won’t get another parlor without that feature,” Craig said. “It won’t work if the guys start drifting. The parlor is always on point — from the iodine dip to the time the unit attaches. In the old rotary, guys would drift, and cows wouldn’t get the prep time they needed.”

Cows ride for an 11-minute rotation, and the parlor moves the crowd gate every 12 stalls. Everything is timed and synced, Craig said, eliminating the need to watch a camera in order to move the gate. Both parlors are parallel style.

“We had a herringbone rotary before, but parallel is better for cow entry and flow,” Mike said. “They get on faster because they walk straight in instead of making a turn.”

The two parlors are identical in features and include pre- and post-dip automation. One robot pre-dips while another post-dips.

“We love the robots,” Mike said. “They provide excellent teat coverage and savings on teat dip. We don’t have to worry about a person being there; the robot is always there.”

Cows are milked three times a day and average 106 pounds of energy-corrected milk and over 7 pounds of solids. Somatic cell counts are 69,000 in the 80-stall parlor and 90,000 in the 50-stall. Milk from the 80-stall parlor is shipped to Arla Foods, and milk from the 50-stall is shipped to Sartori Cheese.

The farm’s existing freestall barns, which each house 1,200 cows, were updated with a new ventilation system, a new water system, new self-locking headlocks, new sprinklers and larger free stalls. In addition, several barn roofs were replaced.

“These barns needed an upgrade, and now they are a carbon copy of the new barns,” Mike said.

Each tunnel-ventilated barn features a fully automated ventilation system for controlling temperature and humidity using fans, sprinklers and curtains.

As part of their expansion and remodel project, the Gerrits family also brought hoof trimming in-house, trimming cows as they come from the parlor.

“We try to stay in sync with the parlor,” Craig said. “It’s super-efficient.”

They also switched to automatic footbaths.

A full remodel was completed on the maternity barn as well, which features new pens, a warming room, calf pens and a small milking system for immediate colostrum collection.

In addition, the Gerrits family improved cow comfort in the holding area by replacing the slatted floor with a solid floor and adding a sprinkler system. A flush system was installed in both parlors and the holding area to flush the floor with recycled water.

Switching to a new activity monitoring system has also benefited the operation. An automatic sort system that allows them to sort within a sort is a new feature they are using. The rumination collars are providing a 99% catch rate when sorting.

“The idea of the sort is to keep work out of the parlor and holding pen and have a sorted pen within a pen,” Craig said. “The cows in the sort group have feed, water and can lie down. Cows can be cows, and it’s efficient with labor.”

The herdsman goes through the list every day that is generated by the activity monitoring system while Craig looks at daily eating and rumination minutes.

“That’s a big indicator of dry matter intakes and changes in feed,” he said. “We have higher conception rates now too. The system is an upfront cost, but it’s worth it.”

The family has also switched from bedding with sand to bedding with separated solids. The solids come from a digester project that Country Aire Farms contributes to, piping manure to a digester owned by BC Organics.

Previously, the Gerrits family milked in three locations and five parlors. Bringing everything together at one site has boosted efficiency.

“We’re letting the boys pave the way,” Mike said. “Technology-wise, they’re much more advanced than I was. They’re all incredibly tech-savvy. I think there’s going to be more change in the industry in the next five years versus the last 25, and the boys are ready to roll.”