Farming '90, 1990-03-21, Page 8A8. FARMING ‘90, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21. 1990.
Verburg dairy farm a successful family operation
The Verburg dairy farm at RR1, Auburn is a real family farm. Two brothers
who live across the road from each other own the farm and manage the
250-acre operation with the full-time help of Tony’s son Raymond and Koos’s
son John. Together, along with part-time help from other members of the
family, they feed about 140 head of cattle and milk 70 cows.
The main task undertaken at their Holstein dairy farm is milking which is
done at five in the morning and five at night. Automated equipment makes
the preparation of the milking equipment easy but manual labour is required
to put on and take off the milking equipment. The Verburgs are working
towards farming all purebred Holsteins but currently have a mix of purebred
and grade cattle which have a 160 breed class average. The Verburgs are
constantly striving to improve this high average.
But besides milking, there is a lot of work to do on a dairy farm and they find
themselves working longer than an eight hour day. With feeding, bedding
and the field work needed to grow crops for the animals, dairy farming
doesn’t make a relaxed lifestyle. Here’s what the Verburgs’ chores are
time.
Hurry up1
This nosy cow just can’t seem to wait for her forkful of haylage
which Michael Verburg is distributing to all the cows. He also
gets help from his cousin Mark while feeding the cows their
daily ration of haylage that is stored in one of the silos at the
farm. Verburg’sother silo contains a grain mixture. Verburgs
grow all their crops and plant about 60 acres of grain and 80
acres of corn leaving the rest of the land for grass and pasture.
Thecowsarealso fed agrain ration called chop. Verburgs makethechop themselves with a mix mill
and use their own grown grain and corn while buying soybean meal and mi nerals to mix in. The chop is
stored in a bin at the barn. The total feeding time with the two boys takes about one hour every night
and is done before the milking begins.
re me some !
Thecalf of the right seems to think he should have some of his
neighbour’s milk during feeding time. Right after the calves
are taken from their mothers at birth, Verburgs start them
drinking out of pails instead of bottles. There is a special section
at the back of the barn for the calves who each have their own
little pen. All the calves are tagged with their birth number and
farm number.
Herd health
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Regular visits from the veterinarian are required to maintain
good herd health at Verburg’s dairy farm. This vet, Hugh
Clugston, specializes in checking the reproduction of the cattle.
Once a month he comes to the farm and checks cows for
pregnancy, and generally makes sure Verburg’s herd is
reproductive. He works for the United Breeders. Tony (right)
carefully records if the cows are pregnant and their general
productive health.
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