Dr. Cardoso to participate in Southern Illinois Dairy Tech Showcase on July 28

The Illinois Milk Producers’ Association (IMPA) will host its annual Dairy Technology Showcase Tuesday, July 28. Hosted by dairy consultant Dave Fischer, the tour will highlight dairy technology and dairy management on two farms in Washington and Clinton Counties.

The first farm stop is Finke Dairy, owned and operated by Craig Finke and his wife Tricia.  The tour will be from 10:00 a.m. til noon. This 5 generation family farm is operating in a state-of-the-art new 5-row free stall barn with GreenStall dividers, sand bedded, flush system, totally automated milking and feeding system and long day lighting.  The milking system is the Galaxy Astrea 20.20 which has one robotic arm that preps and attaches in two boxes to milk 120 Holstein cows.  Feeding is accomplished with the robotic Trioliet Triomatic T30 Automatic Feeding System which delivers a TMR after gathering feed from 4 bays and 1 bulk bin.  It also has robotic feed push-up.

 The second farm stop will be Arentsen Dairy Farm, owned and operated by Jerry and Phillip Arentsen.  The afternoon tour will run from 1:00 p.m. til 2:30 p.m.  Arentsen Dairy houses 150 Holstein cows with a RHA of 25,000m.  In the summer 2014, Arentsen Dairy retrofitted their freestall barn to a 3-row with drive-by TMR feeding.  They installed two Lely Astronaut robotic milking stations to milk their 120 lactating cows.  In 2012, the farm constructed a new bedded pack calf feeding barn with curtain sidewall, tube ventilation, and ceiling fans.  This automated liquid calf feeding barn houses two groups of preweaned calves using the Lely Calm automated calf feeder with two feeding stations.

Each farm stop will include an organized tour conducted by the dairy owners, along with management discussions and Q&A sessions, which will be led by Dave Fischer, former University of Illinois Dairy Educator.  Also joining Fischer will be Dr. Phil Cardoso, University of Illinois Dairy Specialist, Dr. Mike Hutjens, retired Dairy Specialist, and Jim Fraley, manager, IMPA.

The schedule will be:

  • 10:00 a.m. – noon at Craig Finke Dairy, 12344 State Rte. 127, Nashville, IL 62263
  • Lunch on your own (Finke is located at intersection of Rte. 127 and I-64.  Nashville has a couple of places to eat near I-64.  Arentsen farm is about 2 miles off I-64 at Albers exit with total travel time of 20 minutes between the two farms).
  • 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. at Arentsen Dairy Farm, 6612 Hunter Rd., Albers, IL 62215

Participants may attend one or both of the tours and are not required to register for the showcase, however, travel and lunch arrangement must be made by each individual participant. For more information, contact Jim Fraley, manager, IMPA, at 309-557-3109 or Dave Fischer at 618-830-4957.