A Good Nature flash pasteurizer is used to pasteurize waste milk from Farm 1. Milk is heated to 165 degrees and held there for 60 seconds which kills any bacteria that may be harmful to the calves. When there isn't enough milk to feed all the calves, milk replacer is mixed in to extend it. Pasteurized milk is then transported to the calf facility using the bulk trailer seen here.

Calves from Farms 1 & 2 come to the calf facility and enter either barn #2, 3, 4 or 5.  They are fed milk 2x/day, along with free-choice water and calf starter. Calves are weaned off milk when they are about 6 weeks old.

Barns #4 & 5 (shown at left) are also receiving barns for newborn calves. 

Barn #1 (shown to the left) is the post-weaning barn for ET calves from Barn #4.  Calves are moved to this barn around 10 weeks of age.

At left is Barn #7, where calves are moved 2 weeks post-weaning.  They remain here for another 2 months before moving to Barn # 6 (bottom picture).

In these transition barns, calves are on a complete TMR (Total Mixed Ration) made up of haylage and corn silage, specially balanced for their nutritional needs.

At approximately 5 months of age calves are moved to the heifer facility 5 miles away in Alabama, NY.

This barn was built in 1998 and now houses pregnant and springing heifers.  The 8 row, outside feeding design maximizes space and is very cost effective to build. Manure from all barns is manually scraped into 3 storage lagoons where it is then irrigated on nearby fields. Several different barn designs have been experimented with over the years.

The main office greets you as soon as you walk through the door.
A combination of several networked computers provides access to all kinds of records.

'Peach Tree' software keeps all the accounting records straight and generates paychecks for the farms' 90 full and part time employees.

The break room is between the office and the shop. This room is a buzz of activity at break time and also serves as an excellent place to organize the field crew before starting the day's work. An overview of the farm's 9,000 acres is on the wall to make sure everyone knows where they're going.

The shop is often crowded and is usually a very busy place.
In the center of the shop is an overhead crane that helps manage heavy jobs.
Large overhead doors allow entrance for most pieces of machinery to be worked on inside rather than out in the weather. A dedicated parts room helps keeps the parts inventory organized.

As with all sectors of our farm, record keeping is vital to our success. Maintenance records are kept on all equipment using 'ERL' maintenance software and parts can be looked up via high speed internet.

The shop Forman and the feeding manager share an office and both use computers to keep records. The feed manager uses 'EZ Feed' to organize his records. In the crop office, detailed field, crop and manure application records are kept using 'KISS' crop software.