The OTHER Kingsmill!
Julie Brown and I had a chance to visit the other Kingsmill Farm yesterday — Kingsmill DCF in Liberty, NC, about an 85 mile drive from their well-known dairy in Durham. The Liberty farm, a large dairy formerly owned and designed by Arlin Butke, is home to 1,100 cows and 400 acres. We chose, what I considered to be, one of the hottest and most humid days to visit…but I””m sure many in the south would laugh at my weather complaints. For as hot and humid as it was outside, inside the barns, the breeze from hundreds of fans was so intense that our hair and shirt collars were continually moving. The cows were extremely comfortable on their sand beds, with plenty of large, open drinking areas…so large in fact that some of the cows enjoyed dunking their entire heads under the water! Management is key and the managers at the dairy - Eddie Patrick and Charlie Lloyd - not only show extreme dedication to the cows, but an intense interest in always learning new things. Yesterday, Mitch Hockett was at the farm flushing some cows, for the fourth day in a row. He explained that once the weather turns terribly hot, they usually just flush heifers and flush cows, not any milking cows. Mitch is teaching Eddie and Charlie to flush, find eggs and implant all embryos used at the farm - a tremendous advantage in terms of labor and efficiency. For their overseas embryo orders, their certified vet continues to do this work.
New technologies used on the farm — manure recycling at its best. Mr. Falk is building a new recycling center for manure that”’’s already used in the swine industry. It takes the solids of manure and converts them so that they can be used to make black plastic. And the liquids from manure are converted from a black substance, to crystal-blue pond water. A fascinating process that I””m sure you””ll hear more about soon. Another really interesting tool at the dairy - a series of catwalks above each pen of cows in the milking barns. Not only can you see every cow within a matter of minutes, but you do so without disturbing them one bit. In addition, the feed alleys were designed so that feed trucks/tractors never cross an alley-way that the cows use, thus eliminating the chance of getting manure mixed into the feed.
They are continuing to add more cows, and hope to be at 1,300 soon, and in fact just had a load arrive from Arkansas the day before.
Cows at the big dairy are used as recipients for some of the high-profile cows housed in Durham. While we were watching Mitch flush some of the cows in Liberty, other Kingsmill employees were flushing in Durham, and in fact, got 25 #1 eggs from the well-known Sweetie Rae.
Continuous communication and a vision of how to manage high-profile individuals and a tremendous group of recipients, is the glue that holds the system together.
The Liberty crew milks three times a day - 24 hours a day. With an 87 pound a day milk average in very intense, humid, Carolina heat, they””re doing an outstanding job! Look for photos coming soon.