Health professionals learn about dairy farms, product development

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Using ultra high temperatures to process milk has several benefits, including significantly extending the shelf life of milk.

“A conventional gallon of milk has a shelf life of 16 to 22 days, but with UHT processing you get 60 to 90 days of shelf life without damaging the quality,” said Charlie Mack, corporate quality/product development manager for Prairie Farms Dairy.

“The UTH processing heats the product above 280 degrees for two seconds,” said Mack during a panel discussion at the 12th annual St. Louis District Dairy Council “Let’s Talk Dairy!” Workshop.

Another benefit of the UHT processing is extended runs for processing plants.

“Instead of the processing plant shutting down their equipment for cleaning every 24 hours, the plant can go 48 hours between cleaning cycles without any damage to the quality of the product,” said Mack, who helps develop new products at Prairie Farms.

Prairie Farms has two facilities that are equipped to do the UHT processing.

“No chemicals are ever added to any product,” Mack said. “Whether you’re buying a gallon of milk or a shelf stable product, remember that once you open the product container, the shelf life is seven to 10 days.”

Marcoot Jersey Creamery

Amy Marcoot talked about her family’s dairy operation during the event for health professionals.

“I am the seventh generation of Marcoots to have Jersey cows,” Marcoot said. “My family brought a Jersey calf with them on a boat when they came from Switzerland in 1840.”

Marcoot graduated from the University of Illinois in 2000 and had no plans to return to the family farm. However, that changed in 2007 when she received a phone call from her mom saying they were planning to sell the farm.

“I asked what would happen if we tried to figure something out,” Marcoot recalled.

“My dad said we’d have to become a large dairy or add value to the milk,” she said. “So, we decided we wanted to add value to the milk.”

On June 5, 2010, Marcoot Jersey Creamery opened to the public.

“The creamery is owned by my sister, Beth; Audie, who has been my best friend since I was 10; and I,” Marcoot said. “We thought making cheese would be a great way to honor our family and our heritage.”

All the milk from the family’s Jersey herd is used make cheese.

“We built a manmade cheese cave underground to reduce costs on electricity,” Marcoot said. “It has a concrete floor, walls and roof with six to eight feet of dirt on top and a hole that goes to a dry well to bring in cool, fresh air all the time.”

It didn’t take long for the cheese makers to learn that in the Midwest they were competing with a commodity market.

“It is not like on the coasts, so we had to create products that are different and grow beyond our region,” Marcoot said. “So, now we sell products to Kansas, Michigan, Kentucky and Ohio.”

One of those innovative products is Dog-O’s.

“This is a dry cheese and dogs love cheese,” Marcoot said. “It is in about 1,500 stores now and it will be in 3,000 stores in the next six months. It’s the fastest growing product we’ve ever made.”

Another innovative product made at the creamery is Extreme Ice that consists of fresh whey, whey protein isolate and crushed fruit.

“It comes in a 5-ounce container and it has 20 grams of protein,” Marcoot said. “It has no added sugar and it is not ice cream.”

Extreme Ice helps with workout recoveries and is great for athletes.

“The St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers love it and we are also selling it to university teams,” Marcoot said. “We sell about a pallet per month to the Mercy Hospital system because they like it because of the ability of patents to swallow it.”

Reinhardt Dairy

Cows were milked by hand in 1954 at the Reinhardt Dairy and today that process for the 230-cow Holstein herd is done by four robots.

“Josh’s grandparents started the farm and in 2014 Josh and his dad decided it was time to buy robots,” said Emily Reinhardt, the third speaker on the panel and Josh’s wife.

“In January 2015, the first dirt was moved for the new barn and March 16, 2016, was the first day for milking with the robots,” Reinhardt said.

In addition to the cowherd, the operation includes 1,000 acres where the family grows corn, soybeans, wheat and alfalfa.

“We make all our silage, hay and produce all the corn used in the feed,” Reinhardt said.

“Our barn is designed with cow comfort in mind,” she said. “It is bedded with sand that replenished every two weeks, there are large fans throughout the barn that are on a thermostat and curtains on the walls that open in the summertime to increase the air flow and shut in the wintertime.”

A lot of preparation occurred before the switch was made from the milking parlor to the robotic milkers.

“A week or two before we starting milking with the robots, we guided every animal into one of the robots to get them familiar with the process,” Reinhardt said. “It took a lot of time and effort, but I think this helped start-up run a bit smoother.”

Cows have the opportunity to visit the robots whenever they want.

“Our herd average is 2.86 robot visits per day,” Reinhardt said. “About 99% of our cows navigate the barn without needing any help, but we have a few girls that require a bit of guidance.”

Typically, these are the younger animals.

“It takes about two to three weeks and then they are good to go,” Reinhardt said.

When a cow walks into a robot, the robot identifies it based on a chip every cow has in its left ear. That information includes the cow number, expected milk yield, lactation number, days in milk and milking information from the past few days.

“The cow gets a pelleted feed and the more milk she produces, the more feed she gets,” Reinhardt said. “Cows are food-motivated animals, so the pelleted feed keeps them coming back to get milked.”

The robot cleans the teats of the cows and the robot arm has a camera to locate each of the four teats to hook up the milking cups.

“Once all four quarters are finished, the cups detach and the robot sprays a post iodine mist on the udder to act as a protective barrier,” Reinhardt said.

“The front gate opens to release the cow, the cups rinses with water and the next animal walks in to be milked,” she said.

“There are many pros and cons to robots, but overall it was a really good choice for our farm,” Reinhardt said. “It makes our time more flexible for us to be able to manage the cows, fieldwork and family life.”