Jewart Family Cuts Milking Time In Half With New Setup DAVELEFEVER Lancaster Farming Staff HOME (Indiana Co.) For many years, the Jewart family milked their cows in a flat, 12-stanchion barn, requiring at least two workers and taking about six hours per milking. Renovations two years ago, including a new parallel double-8 parlor and electronic crowd gate, have cut that milking time in half for the 150-cow herd. Not only does the setup allow eye-level milking from the rear of the cow and provide four more units than the old system did, it has also eliminated the need for humans to be continually chasing cows in and out of the milking area. “You can just about milk in the same amount of time with one person as with two,” said Jayne Jewart, who helps manage the dairy along with husband Ed and his brother Ron Jewart. In addition to the crowd gate, which moves cows forward in the holding area at the push of a button, the new setup includes “lots of gates” in cow areas to allow ease of handling and access. “If something happens, we can get to the cows quickly,” Jewart said. Other features of the setup include a roll-up curtain that separates the parlor from the holding area. The parlor is also designed to release either four or eight cows at a time. The Jewarts are so pleased with the new facility that they scheduled an open house for Sept. 21 so others could have a look. The tour also offered a variety of demonstrations and information, including a feedstuffs display, ani mals for feeding and petting, West Nile virus informa tion, manure handling and soil testing information, lawn mower safety demonstrations, a vegetable can ning display, beekeeping and honey extraction dis play, and spinning and weaving demonstrations. In the Jewart’s parlor, cows can be released four or eight at a time. Ed and Ron Jewart work in their double-8 parallel parlor. The new setup, which includes an electronic crowd gate, has reduced labor significantly on the Indiana County farm. From Around LOL, Davisco Foods Partner In S.D. Cheese Plant NORDEN, S.D. Davisco Foods International re cently broke ground on a $4O million mozzarella cheese plant adjacent to its food ingredient plant in Lake Norden, S.D. The new dairy plant will initially support the milk production from 30,000 cows and eventually expand to require the milk production from 75,000 cows. Land O’Lakes, Inc. will market the cheese produced at the new plant, and will partner with Davisco Foods International in milk procurement for the plant. “This is a major investment for us at Davisco that represents an expanded partnership between the state of South Dakota, Lake Norden, Davisco, Land O’Lakes, and area milk producers,” said Mark Davis, CEO of Davisco Foods International.” Land O’Lakes President and CEO Jack Gherty said. In today’s highly competitive dairy industry environ ment, size, scale and operating efficiency are critical to success. The new plant, and our supply and marketing agreement, address all three of those issues.”
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