Visit just about any dairy farm in North America and you’re likely to find familiar faces, with Holsteins and Jerseys making up the bulk of the cows.
But head to Academy Farm near Surrey, British Columbia, and the herd looks a little different. Here, about 150 water buffalo cows make their way through three DeLaval VMS 300 robots each day.
The buffalo are an unusual sight, but they’re only part of what sets this dairy apart.
A Farm with a Different Starting Point
The story behind Academy Farm starts with the John Volken Academy, a nonprofit organization built around a long-term residential program for young men working to rebuild their lives from addiction and other difficult circumstances. The organization operates campuses in Arizona, Utah and Washington, with each location giving students opportunities to work, learn and develop job skills.
The organization’s roots trace back to founder John Volken, who escaped East Berlin at 18 and came to Canada with little money and no English. He eventually built United Furniture Warehouse into a successful business before selling the company in the early 2000s.
Rather than retire after the sale, Volken and his wife directed their resources toward helping young men facing addiction and other challenges. Today, the John Volken Academy takes a long-term residential approach, using daily work, education and accountability to help students build the skills they need for life after the program. The program has a minimum commitment of two years, with some students staying longer.
Students at the different campuses take on a variety of jobs and responsibilities as part of their daily routine. Depending on the location, those opportunities can include working in businesses, horse and ranch operations, woodshops and other vocational settings.
In British Columbia, agriculture became part of that work.
Land development for Academy Farm began in 2019, and the farm opened in 2022. Here, students get hands-on experience caring for livestock and helping run a working dairy, while also building skills in areas such as welding, electrical work, construction and equipment operation.
The farm gives students a different kind of workplace experience. The work creates a daily routine while giving students a chance to earn income, continue their education and take on more responsibility as they progress through the program.
For Travis Peta, who manages the farm, the connection runs a little deeper. He went through the John Volken Academy himself and now works at Academy Farm, where he helps run the dairy and works alongside students going through the same program.
Building a Market Around Buffalo Milk
For Peta, managing the dairy means working with an animal that looks very different from traditional dairy breeds. Water buffalo produce far less milk than Holsteins, so the farm has to look beyond volume and find ways to make each gallon of milk work harder.
“When it comes to milk volume, water buffalo are not going to compete with a Holstein.” Peta says. “A good Holstein gives you 10 to 15 gallons a day. A water buffalo produces closer to 2.5 gallons per day. And I think it’s pretty much the same feed cost. So that’s why it’s more difficult to be profitable farming buffalo.”
With a tighter margin, the farm has to make more from each gallon of milk, and cheese is a big part of that strategy.
Buffalo milk can run around 8% butterfat at Academy Farm, giving it the high components needed for products such as cheese. That higher butterfat helps the farm capture more value from a lower-volume milk supply
“True mozzarella from Italy has to come from a water buffalo because it’s got twice the butterfat of a Holstein,” Peta says.
The farm also markets its milk as an A2 dairy product. Water buffalo produce milk with the A2 form of beta-casein, an attribute some consumers specifically seek.
“Although it’s higher in fat, it’s lower in cholesterol,” Peta says. “It’s like the champagne of milks.”
Academy Farm also spreads its milk across several products. About one-third of the milk goes into cheese, where the buffalo milk’s high butterfat and components can be put to work. Another third is sold as fluid milk, while the remaining milk goes into products such as yogurt and gelato. The mix gives the farm several ways to market the milk and make use of what the buffalo produce.
Robots Add Even More Diversity
Milking water buffalo through robots meant Academy Farm had to learn as it went. The DeLaval VMS 300 units were designed for traditional dairy cattle, so getting buffalo comfortable with the system required patience, repetition and a willingness to break the routine into smaller steps.
The decision to use robots fit the farm’s labor model. With students helping operate the farm as part of the John Volken Academy program, automated milking gives the operation more flexibility and reduces some of the labor tied to a conventional milking schedule. It also gives the team another way to collect data and manage individual animals through the milking system.
When the farm started, the team brought in 24 mature cows from a partner buffalo operation. Rather than turning them loose to figure out the robots all at once, they introduced the process gradually.
“We started with 24 cows, and we just ran them through the robots without even milking them,” Peta explains. “As they got more comfortable, we would add in addtional steps. Then we slowly integrated the milking unit as the animals got more comfortable. It was a steep learning curve for everyone.”
Today, the herd includes about 450 water buffalo, including young stock, with roughly 150 cows in milk. Those cows average about 2.8 to 2.9 visits to the robot each day.
Even with the robots, the system has not eliminated the need for labor or a backup option. Academy Farm also maintains a six-stall herringbone parlor for animals that do not fit the robotic routine, and housing includes both freestalls and a bedded pack barn.
Buffalo Bring Their Own Management Rules
Water buffalo may be hardy, but they are not the same as large dairy cows. At Academy Farm, this means herd health, calf care, reproduction and even facility design all have to be managed a little differently.
On the health side, the farm sees fewer problems with some common dairy issues and takes a somewhat lighter-touch approach to prevention.
“Compared to Holsteins, I vaccinate less and I see less mastitis,” Peta says. “They’re a hardier animal.”
Calf care also follows its own timeline. Calves remain on milk for several months before transitioning fully to solid feed.
“They’re four months old by the time they’re weaned,” Peta says.
Lactations average about 300 days, while heifers typically freshen around 30 to 31 months.
Reproduction looks different from a conventional Holstein operation as well. The farm uses artificial insemination with imported semen, including genetics from Italy, but keeps bulls available for natural service.
“I got semen from Italy,” Peta explains. “Artificial insemination is much more difficult on a buffalo than it is a cow. And then we also have bulls, and I can just swap with another farmer.”
Horns Change the Facility Design
One of the most noticeable differences between Academy Farm’s buffalo and a conventional dairy herd is also one of the most practical: the animals keep their horns.
Peta says horns play a role in helping buffalo manage heat because the animals do not sweat.
“They need their horns to release heat,” Peta explains. “They don’t sweat. That’s why they’re traditionally submerged in water all the time.”
Those horns also influence how the farm builds and maintains facilities. Materials need to withstand animals rubbing, pushing and working their horns against structures.
“Everything needs to be concrete and steel because they’re going to rub their horns on stuff and break it,” he says. “If there’s wood, they’re going to break it. Exposed metal, they’ll break it.”
Even water troughs need to withstand plenty of abuse.
“Their water trough’s got to be pretty bomb-proof because they’re going to pop out the plunger and break it,” Peta says. The farm also provides mechanical brushes for the herd, giving the buffalo a place for grooming and enrichment much like dairy cows would use.
The result is a facility and management style designed around the physical characteristics and behavior of an animal most traditional dairy farms were never built to house.
Tourism Adds Another Layer
The dairy side of Academy Farm is only one piece of the operation. Along with milking and processing buffalo milk, the farm has built an agritourism business around giving visitors a closer look at animals and equipment they may not see on a typical dairy farm.
Visitors can tour the farm, see water buffalo up close, watch the robots at work and learn how buffalo milk moves from the barn into products. For many people, the water buffalo are the main attraction, but the robotic milking system gives visitors a look at a different approach to dairy management.
Academy Farm currently sees roughly 250 visitors each week. That traffic creates another role for the students working on the farm. Along with caring for livestock and helping with daily chores, students can interact with visitors, answer questions and explain what happens around the farm.
A Different Kind of Dairy Operation
Spend some time at Academy Farm and the water buffalo start to feel a little less out of place. They may not be the animals most dairy farmers are used to seeing, but much of what happens around them looks familiar.
The farm is milking cows, making cheese and other dairy products and welcoming visitors through its agritourism program. Students are working around the livestock, learning new skills and helping keep the farm running. In many ways, it looks like a dairy farm. It just happens to have water buffalo in the barn.
For students, the farm provides a chance to learn through the work itself. For Peta, who went through the John Volken Academy before becoming manager, the work has come full circle. He now helps run the farm while working alongside students going through the same program he once did.
“It’s a place of accelerated growth and learning,” Peta says. “Here, we help you move on.”
The water buffalo may be what catches your attention first, but Academy Farm has plenty in common with the dairies most farmers know. There are cows to care for, products to make and visitors to welcome.
