The message was clear: expand or get out of the business. A decade ago, third-generation dairy producers Cliff and Dave Obbink saw the writing on the wall. They had a tough decision to make, but growing and making some huge changes somehow seemed easier than leaving the dairy business behind.
Today, their Prairieland Dairy near Firth, Nebraska, numbers 1,500 cows, and ownership of the dairy is now shared with seven other family farmers. The Obbinks work alongside 22 employees and manager Dan Rice to care for the cows and 650 acres of cropland, and a new milk product.
“Just like a lot of other dairy producers, we’re a family operation hoping to give our farm a future,” said Cliff Obbink. “We’re trying to do that by creating a niche for ourselves.”
To fill that niche, a portion of the milk produced is custom bottled and sold under a private label, Original Foods a2 Milk™. It is the first milk product available in the United States certified to contain 2 grams per serving of a high-quality milk protein known as a2 beta-casein.
The a2 beta-casein protein is found naturally in only a small percentage of dairy cows. Its presence is determined by DNA testing of hair samples taken from individual cows.
Milk containing this protein may be more highly digestible, said Obbink, because of the unique amino-acid construction of the protein. This means that consumers who are lactose intolerant may be better able to digest the milk.
A New Zealand company, the a2 Milk Company, patented and licensed the commercial process of DNA testing for the presence of the a2 protein in milk. The owners of Prairieland Dairy formed a subsidiary company, The Original Foods Company, to become a sublicensee of the a2 Milk Company. This permits them to test for the presence of a2 beta-casein in their milk and to certify and market the milk as a unique product.
The Original Foods Company is the first company in the United States to label and market milk as a2-protein milk. The milk is presently sold exclusively at Hy-Vee food and drug stores in more than 200 locations across the Midwest. “Of our 1,500 cows, which are mainly Holstein, we’ve identified 380 head that test positive for containing the a2 protein in their milk,” said Obbink. “The trait is genetically transferable, and the Jersey breed tends to have a greater percentage of cattle that test positive. We have some Jersey crossbreds, and a greater proportion of these animals test positive than do the Holsteins.”
Prairieland Dairy is presently working with a semen supplier to encourage the DNA testing of sires for the presence of the a2 protein. “In our breeding program, we’re using more of those bulls that test positive,” said Obbink.
The herd of cows producing the a2-protein milk is penned and fed separately from the others. They are the first group through the parlor at each milking, and the milk is collected in a separate cooler. From there it is shipped once a week to a custom bottler in Iowa. The cows producing the a2-protein milk do not receive hormones. Along with the main herd, they are housed indoors in two free-stall barns, each holding 700 cows.
The expansions in herd numbers at Prairieland Dairy have occurred in increments and have come from a unique concept of partnering with other dairy producers. The first major expansion came in 1999, when the Obbinks purchased enough additional cattle to grow their herd to 700 head. That year they hired their manager Dan Rice.
In 2000, Prairieland Dairy was formed, and Rice became a partner in the operation.
In the years since, the cows that have been added to the herd have been contributed by other Nebraska dairy producers who have become partners in Prairieland Dairy, a limited liability company (LLC).
“One of the dairies that joined us had about 300 cows, and one had 150 head,” said Obbink. “These producers had been facing the same issues Dave and I faced before we decided to expand. Their facilities needed updating, and environmental issues were becoming a challenge. We were already permitted for 1,500 cows here at our location, so it was easier for us to grow our herd. The arrangement has worked out real well for all of the partners.”
Two of the partners who put their herds into the Prairieland Dairy operation simply shut down their own facilities and now raise cash grain crops. They also raise heifer calves from Prairieland cows. The heifers return to the dairy 60 days before calving.
As with all dairies, keeping feed costs down is a key concern at Prairieland. But controlling costs becomes increasingly difficult as demand for ethanol drives the price of corn to $4 or more a bushel.
Corn silage is also affected. “Last year we paid $17 a ton for silage; this year we’re looking at $29 a ton,” said Obbink. “Overall, our feed costs are about 30 percent higher than they were last year.”
To reduce feed costs, they plan to grow more of their own corn silage on the farm’s 650 acres. In a typical year, they have raised 350 acres of corn, with the balance of the land planted to soybeans and alfalfa. A custom operator plants and harvests the crops for the dairy.
“We have an economic advantage in growing corn because we have manure to spread on the land,” said Obbink. “That helps us keep the cost of crop nutrients in line.”
The dairy’s unique waste-management system increases the value from the manure. Water from the lagoon is run through a recycling process and reused for flushing the free-stall barns.
Solids are screened out and deposited in windrows on a pad to make compost. The windrows are occasionally turned to incorporate oxygen needed by the bacteria to produce finished compost in five weeks. The resulting material, looking and feeling like dark, rich top soil, is sold to gardeners and landscapers.
“Excess water from the lagoon is pumped onto the corn and alfalfa fields through a center-pivot irrigation system. “We haven’t put any commercial fertilizer on that ground for more than three years,” said Obbink. The water is our sole source of nutrients for the corn and alfalfa.”
The cornfields produce 22 to 26 tons of silage per acre, plus a rye crop to boot. Rye is planted in the fall right after the corn is cut. The rye overwinters as a cover crop, and the next spring it is ready to harvest by early May. It yields 6 to 8 tons per acre of hay silage.
Some cornfields are reseeded to corn, and others to soybeans. The crops are seeded with a no-till planter.
Alfalfa is being phased out of the operation. “The high price of corn is making it harder and harder to include alfalfa in our rotation,” said Obbink. “That’s especially true because we’re able to buy a good share of our alfalfa.”
With all the changes that have taken place at Prairieland Dairy in recent years, the partners place a priority on letting the public know what happens at the dairy. To promote dairying, they hold an annual Dairy Day the fourth Saturday of June.
“We have a corn maze, we give tours of the dairy, and we serve lunch to visitors,” said Obbink. “The day is all about education and letting people see where their food comes from. It has turned into a really big event. The first year it was just for our neighbors. But it has grown every year, and in June of 2007 we had 2,500 visitors.”
With more cows to milk and more partners in the family business, the marketing of milk with specific qualities, and the opening of the farm to the public, the Obbinks have learned to accept the process of change as a necessary means of survival in the dairy business.
“Once you accept some changes, it gets easier,” said Obbink. “I never would have dreamed I’d be doing some of the things I do today. But changing has been worth it. As a result of change, we’ve met many people, and the changes have opened up many opportunities.”
For more information, visit the dairy’s Web site at www.theoriginalfoods.com.
Article by Raylene Nickel
Photos by Mike Boyatt