About Dairy Science at NWROCThe Holstein dairy heard consists of 259 head (includes 47 large sired cows and 66 small sired cows) and along with the dairy facilities continue to demand and increment of time. This includes barn personnel, feed supplies, equipment, buildings, animals and coordinating active learning laboratories (hands-on activities) for the college. The addition of the double 5 herringbone milking parlor and updated milk meters installed recently, with a state-of-the-art computerized milking system greatly facilitates our research data collecting and teaching mission. AnimalsLactating and Dry Cows 113 Animal Capacity: The remodeled portion of the dairy facility houses 66 cows in individual comfort tie stalls. Another 40 cows are housed in the new south wing in the same type of stall with cow mats on the floor. The same wing provides six maternity pens. The calf barn is divided into two separate areas which includes a separate environment for 24 individual pens for baby calves and separate area with six maternity pens to house close-up dry cows. Other animals including larger heifers, dry cows and growing dairy males are housed in a bedded loose housing pole barn and the former sheep barn. FacilitiesDouble 5 Boumatic milking parlor 66- Tie comfort stalls (4.5' x 6.5') Milking Facility: A double-5 Boumatic herringbone parlor with fast exit gates and rails is utilized for milking and equipment with automatic cow identification and milk weight recording. Automatic detaches are utilized to remove teat cups from the cow. Separate spray hoses are used for washing the udder and for post-milk teat sanitation. Cow information, milk weights and milking times are electronically transferred to computers in the herd manager's office for storage of the individual cow data. The washing system for milking equipment is CIP (cleaned-in-place). Milk is cooled and stored in a 2,000 gallon stainless steel bulk tank. Holding areas include both an incoming area with crowd gate and a return holding pen for up to 30 cows. Handling & Weighing: A specific area (room) is utilized for handling and weighing cattle. Equipment includes an electronic livestock scale with entrance traffic lane and gating. A working squeeze chute and hoof trimming table is incorporated in the system. Four animal tie rings are available along one wall. The area is also designed for teaching dairy management skills and techniques. Ventilation: Ceiling air intakes pull in air from the attic ducts through adjustable inlets which are located on one side of the barn. This air is pulled across the barn and exhausted with both summer and winter exhaust fans along the wall of both barns housing the lactating dairy cows. The calf barn utilized heat tempered air in the winter which is ducted to adjustable ceiling inlets and then exhausted via wall fans. Fresh outside air replaces tempered air during the summer and is exhausted by thermostatically controlled fans. One exhaust fan runs continuously regardless of outside temperature to keep air moving through the barn. Waste Management: All manure from the dairy cows and parlor wash water is stored as liquid in two manure tanks; one below ground tank is 30' W x 90' L x 8' H and one above ground tank is 40 feet in diameter and 20 feet high for a total of five months capacity. Animal waste from the dairy confinement barn is also handled as liquid manure and stored in a pit directly below the slats which is 40' W x 50' L x 8' H. The calf barns and dairy pole barn wastes are handled as solid manure. A pollution control storage tank is also utilized in the dairy pole barn outside lot for collection of barnyard runoff. Feed Storage, Blending and Mixing: Cows are fed TMR (total mixed rations). All forages and high-moisture corn are stored in upright silo. Corn is rolled directly as it comes from the silo. Protein supplement (soybean mail and whole sunflower seeds) is stored in steel grain bins. Other supplements such as TM salt, Dicalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate magnesium oxide (oxide, meat and bone meal, vitamin premix) are stored in bags in the Agsco building adjoining the barn and silo complex. A truck mounted reel-type mixer blender is utilized to prepare all TMRs. The truck is equipped with load cells and an electronic scale for weighing all ingredients. Feed from the truck (TMR) is delivered to self-propelled, self-unloading carts equipped with an electronic scale. The running gear on the cart is separated from the hopper with four lead cells; on on each corner. The TMR is weighed to each individual cow and recorded. Weighback is taken with a cart equipped with an electronic scale to record the dairy oats of each row. Cattle in the warm confinement slatted-floor barn and cattle in the outside dairy pole barn lots are fed directly in the bulk from the truck hopper. Teaching Use: This facility is also designed to facilitate teaching of students in the various dairy management practices and skills they need to hopefully become a proficient and trained individual in their field of study. This facility does help enhance the applied and practical aspects of their education. Additionally, the barn serves as a place for practicing dairymen to learn modern methods of management and be able to observe new innovations and ideas that might be adaptable to their own dairy enterprise. |