Hopewell Dairy Opens With Ohio’s First Direct Load Operation

 

The family of Bert and Annette DeBruijn (pronounced DeBrine) came to the Rockford-area three years ago in the fall of 2004 from their homeland of the Netherlands.  Young entrepreneurs, they were looking to start their own dairy farm operation in the land of opportunity. After negotiations with local farmers for feed and manure removal, permits with the Ohio Department of Agriculture, and the construction of their new dairy operation at the corner of Tama and Township Line Roads, the DuBruijns moved 2050 head of dairy cows in on April 30 2007.  The largest herd came from a farm in Northwest Ohio while the rest came from 5 smaller herds from Southwest Ohio. They are 99.9% Holsteins with a few Short Horn, Brown Swiss and Guernsey cows mixed in.  They have been milking ever since.

The cows are housed in two separate barns and there are three shifts of milking with 80 cows milked at a time. There is a state of the art computerized tagging system (called a transponder) on each cow’s leg that reads everything the cow does from standing to resting to walking to eating, to when it is in heat, to the amount of milk it is giving and the milk quality.  The computer also tells Bert, head herdsman, if there is anything wrong so that he and his local herdsman assistant can deal with potential problems. They are experienced in calving, vaccinating, and caring for the cows, but always work with a certified veterinarian for prescriptions and to tend to a sick animal. As far as comfort goes, the cows have barn fans and sprinkling units in the summer to cool them. In the winter, their bodies produce heat to keep them warm, and there are plastic curtains that will go up when the weather gets cold to protect them from the winter elements. There are weekly meetings where they all gather and discuss cow health, the effects of the weather, quality of feed, cow mobility and activity – which all affect milk production. Bert and Annette are pleased that their cows are clean, quiet, happy and produce well.

The operation is the first ever in the state of Ohio to utilize a system whereby the milk (at cow temperature) goes directly from the cow through a cooling unit to reduce it to 34 degrees and moves right into the tankers and directly to market, all in one operation. Called a “direct load”, the dairy saves water, detergent, time and energy with this new system, which is the model for other new dairy farms.  He has had many visitors to see and hear about the new way of operating a dairy farm. The ODA is following his progress with regular checks as it is a learning process for them, too. Bert has now been licensed by the ODA to do his own milk sampling on a regular basis. It is done automatically during the milking process. One bottle is sent away, and he keeps one as back-up. “Accountability is important when dealing with the food supply,” says Bert.

The direct load is in use in Texas and Michigan, but, in Ohio, a new law had to be passed whereby a dairy did not need storage tanks. This law passed legislation in February 2006.

Norris Trucking in Wapakoneta carries the milk to market for them. With two trucks and four tankers, they rotate picking up 3 tankers full a day. Two tankers run in the morning; a third is filled after that; and the last one fills overnight. Hopewell Dairy milk goes to Dannon in Minster, Ohio to become yogurt, and to Kroger in Goshen, Indiana and Dean Foods in Anderson, Indiana for bottled milk.

In addition to milking, the farm breeds and raises calves; the bulls are sold off and the heifers stay to be raised for milking which takes 22 months. These young cows replace the older ones to give them a rest.

Mercer County area farmers are part of the Hopewell Dairy’s success. They raise straw, hay, corn silage, oats and wheatage.  Unfortunately, with the cold weather this spring, much of the alfalfa crop died around here, and Bert had to buy from further away.  A nutritionist is another person whom the dairy employs because they feed 250,000 lbs of food a day. They prepare a special mix with vitamins and minerals and the rations fed to each cow directly correlates to the milk output and quality. The cows are fed twice a day in the morning and afternoon using a mixer wagon that lays the food in a long trough easier reached by every animal. A feed supplier is also employed.

Mercer County farmers also provide Hopewell Dairy with land to dispose of the manure. The DeBruijn’s operation includes state-of-the–art management for manure.  The cows are bedded in sand. There are bed areas and each animal can roam freely to where they want to rest. As the sand gets dirty, a vacuum device sucks up the sand and drops it in the outer “sand lane” for flushing with water. The clean sand is returned after 10 days to the bedding areas, while the waste is moved via the cleaning lane to the settling ponds where it is stored until it goes to the 3^rd stage lagoon. It is kept here 1 year before it goes to the land to be spread as fertilizer. Bert says it is only spread during the growing season, since it is better for the environment. The nutrient value is best in the growing season and farmers have less chemicals to apply.

Bert serves as the head herdsman – his profession is working with cows, while Annette runs the office – bookwork, wages and payroll. Together they manage 25 employees – most experienced milkers. Some live locally. The workers, who do the milking, put each cow in a parlor stand. They clean it and otherwise prepare the animal from behind and below it in a concrete work aisle. Each cow is milked 3 times a day.  Workers do this all in 7 hour shifts with a one hour “down time” for cleaning and breaks. Eighty cows are milked each shift with 40 per side of the two-sided milking parlor. In this way, the workmen can do 360 to 400 cows per hour. It takes 4 minutes to actually milk a cow, but there is also prep-time to load the animal, clean it, dip the teats, attach it to the machines, and milk from beginning to end which takes 15 minutes altogether. Each team of workers has 8 cows to work with and one person can handle 4 cows at a time.

All of the cows that Bert purchased for the operation were experienced on the type of parlor (brand of milking machine) he is using. According to Bert, the De Laval parlor came originally from Sweden, but it is now a world-wide milking industry company. This parlor is designed for efficiency. Cows wait patiently in line for their turn and know exactly where they should stand.

Bert and Annette watch the local, USA and World commodities markets for milk prices. He says that there is a deficit of milk in Ohio as well as in the global market. For instance, one year ago, the price was low but has risen again due to demand. The demand will continue, and their milk is always sold. They watch the market because the price does fluctuate and the Free Market is never the same. According to Bert, European dairy production is down, but demand is up in Asia and Australia. This creates an export market. So, some milk and milk products, from the United States go to Asia.

Bert and Annette and their family are enjoying the community they call home now, Rockford. Their four children go to school at Parkway from pre-school through 6^th grade: Bieke is 11, Sanne is 9, Joost is 6 and Rémon 3. They attend church at Immaculate Conception in Celina. They all like to ride bikes, raise calves, read, and enjoy a country lifestyle with their dog, Bobby. Bert’s family had a dairy farm in the Netherlands but no longer do. Annette comes from a farming family where they raise sugar beets, potatoes, onions . . . . They have not been to their homeland in 3 years, but Annette's parents have visited them and a brother is planning to come at Christmas.. They miss their families but keep in touch via phone and email says Annette.

The county prepares to widen Tama Road in Nov 2006.	Construction begins in the summer of 2006.	Construction	Construction	Construction
Construction	Construction	Tama Road is widened by Spring 2007.	Spring 2007 construction is nearing completion.	Nearing completion.