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2 DAIRY ST 5R C E L E B R A T I N G
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Y E A R S
May 13, 2023
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 25, No. 6
Boosting their bottom line Milking 4 times a day, cutting feed costs helps Laveys cash ow By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
MALONE, Wis. – Six years ago, the Lavey family went from milking twice a day to milking four times a day. Doubling the number of milkings required no additional labor and ironically reduced the amount of time cows spent in the parlor. Increased efciency resulted in higher milk production, earning a bigger return for a dairy that had been struggling. “I was borrowing $10,000 to $20,000 almost every month to make payments,” said Matt Lavey, who farms with his sons, John, Tom and Joe.
STACEY SMART/DAIRY STAR
The Lavey family – Joe (from leŌ), MaƩ and John – gather in their double-12 milking parlor April 25 on their farm near Malone, Wisconsin. The Laveys milk 600 cows four Ɵmes a day and gained 20 pounds of milk per cow since increasing from twice-a-day milking six years ago.
To gure out where they could obtain more income and cut costs, the Laveys worked with Pauly Paul – a
dairy management consultant with Complete Management Consulting. The Laveys leaned on Paul’s expertise to
guide them to money-saving and money-making opportunities on their farm near Malone where they milk 600
cows and farm 900 acres. “Milk production was not enough to sustain expenses, and we needed to nd a way to get more milk out of here quick,” Paul said. On April 25, Paul led a workshop, “What you need to know to cash ow,” which began with a tour of the Lavey Dairy Farm. The workshop was presented in partnership with Peggy Coffeen – Uplevel Dairy founder and podcast host. “When we look at where we can make more money on the farm, it’s usually the parlor,” Paul said. “The parlor was the key to making more money at this farm. When you get more cows through the parlor and create more milk income, you’re able to do other things.” Initially, the Laveys gained 10 pounds of milk per cow. Now, cows are milking 20 pounds more than when Turn to LAVEYS | Page 6
Bringing the work home Rotary parlors being manufactured in Wisconsin
ufactured in New Zealand and shipped to the United States abby.w@dairystar.com and Canada. The change is in response to the growing GALESVILLE, Wis. – demand for rotary milking Every morning at 6, the man- systems and logistics in shipufacturing crew at GEA Farm ping. Technologies in Galesville Matt Daley, the North gathers on the shop oor for American president of GEA a discussion about Farm Technologies, the agenda and any said it solidies challenges or ideas. the future of rotary The discussion manufacturing in will now include the North America for manufacturing of the global company. two types of rotary “It makes a lot parlors, which are of sense for us to starting to be made make this move at in the Galesville Matt Daley this time,” Daley GEA Farm Technologies said. “It shows plant. The GEA T8800 president our customers that and T8900 rotary we’re committed to parlors were previously man- the U.S. and Canadian dairy By Abby Wiedmeyer
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Cows ride a GEA rotary parlor like the ones now being manufactured in Galesville, Wisconsin. Manufacturing has moved to Wisconsin in response to shipping disrupƟons.
industry.” The rst stage of this manufacturing change includes building parlors for North American dairy farms.
“Our production volume depends on the year and the milk price,” Daley said. “But the general idea is to get up to speed here in the next 12
months and then manufacture for other markets that are in close proximity to the U.S. in Turn to GEA | Page 9