July 2023

Farm History & Evolution

Darryl and Tracy are the 4th generation of family farmers at Frasehold Farms. Darryl’s great-grandfather originally purchased the farm, and his grandparents on his mom’s side bought the farm and raised their 3 kids there while farming for over 60 years.

Growing up, Darryl spent a lot of time at the farm helping his grandparents and realized that’s what he wanted to do. He then purchased the farm from his grandfather in 1997 after renting it from him for several years. Darryl and Tracy moved to the farm in 1998 and raised 3 kids on the farm. Currently, their two daughters work off the farm but help out when they can, and one son is full-time on the farm.

Through the years, the farm has seen several stages of progress. As a child, Darryl fondly recalls his grandfather milking in buckets and cleaning gutters out by hand before adding a pipeline while milking around 20 cows. After they purchased the farm, they put in a stable cleaner and tore out their box stalls to add 2 more rows for milking cows. This allowed them to milk 42 cows and sometimes swing 10 cows in a 45′ x 60′ old bank barn while housing heifers at the neighbour’s farm. After a few years, they purchased the neighbour’s farm as well and continued to house their heifers there. They also rebuilt the floor upstairs in the bank barn so they could drive a tractor on it, upgraded milkers, and performed various small projects along the way.

Transition To Robots & Results

They knew they needed to make a change to move forward, and they began to consider options. They really liked the GEA R9500 milking robot because of the pit that makes it ergonomic and easy to get underneath cows to treat them instead of having to get down on their knees to do it. The all-in-one feature of the GEA R9500 milking robot was also intriguing as it allows for the most consistent milking possible with a robot in terms of cleaning and prepping the teats, milking and applying post dip to the teats, all within the milking unit!

Darryl says that,

“Dairy Lane Systems took the time to stop in and have a conversation with us, answering any questions we had about the GEA R9500 milking robot and then took us to see several barns they had already completed so that we could see it in action and talk with those farmers to learn about their experience. 2.5 weeks into the move, we had no fetch cows; our cows adapted very quickly to the new barn and robot. Now they seem much happier, feed intakes have gone up, and we see cows in heat more naturally, and there is less cramping in cows. The ventilation, along with the fans in the new barn, has taken the stress off the cows due to the heat, and as an added bonus, our workload is more flexible on a daily basis!”

In addition to the GEA R9500 milking robot, the new barn at Frasehold Farms features a 3 row barn deep bedded with recycled cardboard, complete with Jourdain Stabling, GEA Manure Equipment, DLS Fans and Curtains, Maximus Control System, DLS Tip Troughs and Easy Swing Cow Brushes. Heifers and dry cows are all under one roof now as well.