How a Trip to Canada Helped this New England Dairy Farmer Prepare his Cows for the Cold
Northeasterners know the drill. Snowplows and shovels are essential to survive the winter months. Just last week, people from parts of Massachusetts and New York were shoveling snow in frigid temperatures, as the "bomb cyclone" storm made its feisty impact.
Massachusetts dairy farmer, Mark Duffy, located 22 miles outside of Boston, needed more than just a shovel to dig out from the recent snowstorm that dumped two feet of snow on his 150-cow dairy farm, Great Brook Farm, over the weekend.
While Duffy is used to the cold New England winters, the heavy snowfall in his state tied single-day snowfall records.
“Before this past weekend, we haven’t had much snow,” Mark reports. “But temperatures have been quite variable. Overall, a cold winter with a lot of ocean-affect wind.”
Mark, alongside his wife, Tamma, run a state-of-the-art dairy that includes the first robotic milking system installed in Massachusetts. The family milks between 120-130 cows through two DeLaval robots that they installed more than 12 years ago. Prior to that they milked in a tie-stall barn.
Mark credits the state-of-the-art facility to protecting both the cows and humans from the weather elements.
Before installing robots, the Duffy’s requested to see similar installations in Canada. “We wanted to know how Canadian dairy farmers handled the cold weather and kept their robots going,” Mark replies.
They installed JanAire inflatable curtains with high-tech insulation and a buried gravity flow manure system. “The cows help keep the barn above freezing,” Mark replies. “We have hydronic and wall-mounted units where the robots are. We are not immune to winter, but we just have to be as prepared as we can be.”
Before the recent “bomb cyclone” storm came, like any other storm, the Duffy’s knew the drill. Make sure the generators are ready to go, diesel fuel is treated and equipment is either in the barn or plugged in and animals all have adequate feed. “We can be self-sufficient until the storm has passed,” Mark says.
With every other day milk pick-up, the Duffys always try to make sure that the farm is accessible. “The driver will call us if we need to plow and sand at a certain time,” Mark notes.
Great Brook Farm has been in operation for 35 years. Before Duffy’s arrival, the farm sat unused for 13 years. Nestled in a state park, Great Brook Farm is the closest dairy farm to Boston. “We grow crops in five different towns,” Mark notes. “We are blessed to farm in a community which supports local production agriculture, and a state which believes agriculture serves a public purpose.”
Like all dairy farmers, the Duffys are committed to caring for their cattle, 365 days a year, even during a winter storm. While Mark Duffy doesn’t plan to put his snow shovel away anytime soon, he is thankful that he made that trip to Canada before building a new barn – which has helped ensure that their cows are protected from the brutal New England winters.
