Establishing a demonstration dairy farm in Pennsylvania
As a member of Agritech New Zealand,
Dairy Projects International has been working with
the Lessee of Cove Mountain Farm owned by American
Farmland Trust, to establish a demonstration dairy farm in
Pennsylvania. The ultimate goal is to demonstrate the productivity
and profitability of pastoral dairy farming systems in this
region.
Several Agritech New Zealand companies are working together with
Cove Mountain Farm and Dairy Projects
International to establish a pastoral dairy farm utilising
New Zealand products. Companies include:
- Wrightson Ltd (pasture & seed)
- McInnes Manufacturing Ltd (calf rearing systems)
- FIL (dairy hygiene)
- Hansen Products (water reticulation fittings)
- Jobe Valves (water trough valves)
- Reese Agri (hay, silage, seed drills)
- Agricom (pasture seeds)
- TruTest (electric fence system, scales, pasture measurement)
- Agritour Associates (specialist farm technology tours).
Programme
During February, John Perrin spent a week at Cove Mountain with
David Fleig (the Lessee), Bryan Petrucci (American Farmland Trust
Field Representative) and some of the Agritech companies (Ampac for
Wrightson & Keystone Fence Supplies for TruTest).
Programmes for re-fencing the farm with permanent electric fences;
and for replacing the present high endophyte fescue pastures with
ryegrass, low endophyte
fescues and festuloliums in association with clovers and orchard
grass, were developed. The native fescue pastures will be replaced
over a 3-year period. Short rotation ryegrasses and brassicas will
be used over a 2-year period to exhaust the existing fescue
seedbed, increasing pasture productivity and quality at the same
time.
The programme combines a trial component, to identify the most
productive species and cultivars for the different soil types, with
data collection to establish pasture productivity.
Information
We will add information on the progress of this unique project to
this site regularly.
Through the practical application and adaption to local
conditions, Dairy Projects International will be better able to
assist other farmers or corporates realise the benefits of
sustainable farming systems.
