EL-VI Farms has been a family-owned farm since 1953 at the present location. Prior to that, the name, EL-VI FARMS, was created in 1948 by Elmer and Viola Peck, when the farm was located near Phelps, NY. The company has 24 full-time employees, 18 part-time employees, and 4 students. We have about 1300 milking cows and they milk between 80-88 pounds/day (~35-40 kg). They milk three times a day. The
farm has two milking tanks containing 52,000 pounds(23,587 kg) and 48,000 pounds (21,772 kg) respectively. To reduce the noise in the milking parlor the milking machines are installed in the basement below the milking parlor. A milk "chiller" is being installed to instaneously chill the milk to 37 degrees before it enters the tank. The cows are sprinkled with water when it gets hot in the freestall barn. These cows barns also have tunnel ventilation. The cows mattresses are sturdy canvas-like material over either chopped rubber or rubber padding. Split rubber tires are being used as mattresses for the young heifers, as it's a cheap and functional method. The cows have transponders on their left leg which are identified by a computer when the cows come to the parlor. The system has worked fine, without any big problems. Dairy solids(manure with most of the liquid squeezed out) are mixed with lime to reduce bacteria and recycled as bedding in most of the freestalls. Straw is used as bedding in the maternity barn and in the calf housing. The liquid manure byproduct of manure separation is pumped to lagoons to be stored until spread on the fields at the optimum time.
