Friday, November 23rd, 2018
2,000 cows arrive at MVP Dairy
By Nancy Allen
About 2,000 cows have been moved into MVP dairy, a planned 4,200-head dairy northwest of Neptune, company spokesman Kyle VanTilburg said this week.
The remaining cows should be moved into the facility in about two more weeks, he said.
The 82-acre operation, planned along Hasis Road south of U.S. 33, is a partnership between VanTilburg Farms of Celina and McCarty Dairy LLC of Colby, Kansas.
VanTilburg said the first cows arrived last week, and workers began milking them the same day. The first batch of milk was shipped to Minster's Dannon yogurt plant the following day, he added.
The dairy will provide non-GMO milk for Dannon.
"We have to have them (cows) on non-GMO feed for 30 days before the milk is certified non-GMO," VanTilburg said. "So after the first of the year, we should be certified."
VanTilburg said the cows are coming from numerous locations.
"We did get in a group of 1,600 rotary (milking) trained cows from New York that came in," he said. "That's why we're keeping the doors shut, to train them to get on the rotary."
The dairy uses a rotating milking carousel that the cows climb onto and off of for milking three times a day.
About 20 employees have been hired so far, VanTilburg said, adding officials plan to hire a total of 30 to 35. Dairy manager Brock Peters moved with his family to the area in June.
VanTilburg said "no major hiccups" have occurred so far when the cows moved in.
"It's going good. It's just a lot of work," he said.
The local dairy is the fifth McCarty Family Farms facility and its first in Ohio. Until now, VanTilburg farms had been mainly a grain and agronomy operation. The VanTilburgs are lifelong Mercer County residents. Both farms have received awards and recognition for agricultural innovation and conservation. The McCarty family started milking cows by hand in a small barn in northeast Pennsylvania in 1914. The McCarty operation milks 8,500 cows among four sites, three in Kansas and one in southwest Nebraska.
At an April Mercer County agriculture breakfast meeting in Celina, Peters said MVP is exploring opportunities to identify local farm sites to grow heifer calves for MVP's herd and market bull calves.
The dairy also will include a visitors center that will host area school tours and other educational events, Peters said. VanTilburg said MVP officials are looking to partner with Wright State University-Lake Campus to allow its students to use the center.
The dairy has a Facebook page, and the McCarty Dairy website is McCartyfamilyfarms.com.
The dairy initially was met with strong opposition. About 140 people attended an Aug. 8 Ohio Department of Agriculture open house and public meeting in Celina to allow the public to air its concerns.
