Manske Farms hosted an open house, Saturday, June 14 to showcase its expanded facility.
The operation features doing things differently from the way things used to be done.
The cows lounge all day on sand beds under fans that turn on when it gets too hot. There are also curtains on the sides that can be raised to keep them warm.
There are areas for the milking cows, an area for the dry cows, an area for the heifers, and an area for the cows soon to give birth.
This allows the Manske family to keep a closer eye on them.
A walkway takes the cows to the milking parlor where 16 can be milked at a time.
After the cows have gotten used to how things are done, each cow will have a collar that has a sensor in it that will register them when they come to be milked and a computer will keep track of how much milk she gives each time.
The Manskes went from a 1,000 gallon bulk milk tank to a 4,000 gallon bulk milk tank in the new milking parlor. They are filling the tank to about half its capacity at this time. As they grow the herd, it will get filled.
The Manske herd features mostly black and white Holstein and some milking Shorthorns.
A trip to the farm isn’t complete without a visit to ‘calf village.’ There are about 27 ‘residents’ in the village at this time, the largest amount they have had to date.
The Manske family and their helpers are kept busy with feeding, milking, and cleaning, as well as growing crops. It’s a lifestyle that they love and wouldn’t trade for anything else.