OUR COWS
At Oakridge Dairy we have a long heritage of animal care enabling us to provide a healthy, safe and wholesome environment for our girls. With about 2800 Holstein cows (approx. 2400 milking and 400 dry/not milking), we have created a place for them to spend their days relaxing among their peers. If you come in for a visit, you’ll see that we have an open-stall barn that allows cows to walk around as they please whether to eat, drink, sleep or huddle together. Our 8 acre barn is essentially laid out similar to an outdoor area only it provides protection from the elements to keep the cows comfortable - shade in the summer and warmth in the winter. We also keep 2415 open stalls for space and natural ventilation. Needless to say, our cows have plenty of elbow room.
QUALITY IN = QUALITY OUT
Our cows are eating feed we’ve planted, grown and harvested. The girls are grouped according to milk production for best nutritional care. From there a professional nutritionist develops a special recipe that is typically a mix of hay, grains, proteins, vitamins and minerals. Water is also an important part of a cow’s diet and our team makes sure their cows have access to clean well water all day every day. While in the barn cows have food in front of them at all times. Any leftover feed is cleaned out the next day and replaced with fresh feed. In addition, manure is vacuumed out of the stalls on a daily basis (while the cows are away being milked) and fresh comfortable bedding is added.
WE LOVE OUR COWS!
First and foremost we are farmers who love our cows. We want our cows to thrive at Oakridge so we go to great lengths to make that happen. We have a dedicated vet area that monitors each and every cow, from their birthdays to vaccination records, who their parents are and how much milk they produce - we watch it all to make sure nothing seems off. We even have a spot for the cows to get their hooves trimmed (aka cow pedicure!) a couple of times a year. Our dedicated medical team, comprised of Oakridge technicians and certified veterinarians, are always there so our cows can receive preventive care and prompt treatment.
OUR NURSERY
Oakridge Dairy has a dedicated medical wing for individualized care and maternity attention for the herd. After giving birth the babies are fed their mother’s first milk called colostrum which is rich in antibodies that fight disease-causing bacteria and viruses. Female calves (heifers) live at our young stock facility until they are about 6 months old and young males (bulls) are raised out west. Once they leave the young stock facility they are raised until they are 2 years old and begin producing milk. Typically Oakridge has about 2000 calves a year, and 1200-1300 of them are females.
FARMING THE LAND
The planting and harvest seasons are an exciting time around the farm. Currently we farm around 2600 acres which includes corn silage, grass hay, rye and sunflowers. The exciting thing about our farm is that we can grow our own quality food that is then passed along to our girls who in return produce great tasting milk. Approximately 2300 acres are dedicated to corn that we plant in the spring with a 12 row no-till corn planter. A no-till planter drills through the ground to plant the seeds which preserves the soil and decreases erosion. During the months of June, July and August the corn grows and is then harvested in the fall. When it’s time to harvest the corn, an 8 row or 10 row Claas corn chopper chops the whole plant and blows it in the silage truck that drives alongside the chopper. The silage truck then drives it back to the farm where the load is weighed and dumped. Tractors pack the silage pile to help the corn ferment by squeezing out the oxygen. Hay is harvested in a similar process 4 times a year.
OUR BARNS
Let’s start with our biggest barn of all…it’s 318,000 sq. ft.! This barn is home to the majority of our cows with an attached milking parlor that houses a 72 stall carousel. It may seem a little out of place to say that our cows love our barn, but it’s the truth! Research and over 130 years of experience shows that cows do better in a controlled environment since cows are creatures of habit and like the same thing every day. They know the routine and enjoy the protection from the unpredictable New England weather. This building was designed and backed by science to truly raise happy cows, which in turn provides us with plenty of great tasting milk. Special curtains can be adjusted to keep heat in during the winter and raised during the summer accompanied by 180 adjustable fans across the back of the barn to keep the area cool. Oakridge has modeled the interior of the barn to reflect the layout outside by creating an open-stall barn that allows the cows to roam, huddle, lay, feed or drink where they wish. Over 82 water troughs house an unlimited amount of freshwater and cows constantly have access to fresh feed and bedding. Should we ever lose power our barn is 100% backed up with a generator so everything can continue to run smoothly. In addition to our main barn, Oakridge also has numerous other barns such as our dry cow barn and calf barns that provide the same level of comfort.
SUSTAINABILITY
While Oakridge is built upon 120 years of old school values and farming traditions, our facility is anything but old school. We believe in sustainable farming practices that will promote the land, our cows, and the community. Our dry cow barn is covered with 752 solar panels and offsets 25% of the yearly electrical usage! When we set out to build our 8 acre barn we went to great lengths to install maximum efficiency pumps, fans and light, etc. to keep our consumption as low as possible. In addition we have developed a sustainable practice for our manure. While the cows are being milked a manure vacuum drives through to clean the area. The manure is brought into a room and dumped into a pit. Liquid poop (the stuff that makes it smell but is packed with nutrients) is separated from the dry solid fiber (has no smell). From there the liquid is pumped to a big, covered (to decrease smell) lagoon on top of the hill to be used for fertilizing cropland. The solid material is a dry, soft sawdust fiber that is covered and stored for 1 year and is then used for bedding that is changed out daily.
