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.”