Drink Local ~ Drink Dairy
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2010
DAIRY MONTH
Kleinpeter Dairy Farm HOLLEY LIPSCOMB watchmaneditor@bellsouth.net The Kleinpeter Dairy in Montpelier is a state of the art dairy that has been in business since the 1700's. Owner/operator Jeff Kleinpeter and his crew herd up and milk approximately 600 cows twice a day for the sweet tasting RBGH hormone free Kleinpeter milk and another 700 young heifers are growing up in the field learning to be dairy cows. The milk is processed and distributed throughout Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast regions. Kleinpeter Dairy Farms consist of 1,100 acres with over 800 acres of farming. The dairy distributes dairy products to over 3,500 retailers. The operation provides milk for 250 schools in Louisiana and supplies milk to nursing homes, stores and hospitals. The dairy was founded on August 12, 1774 in Switzerland and handed down from generation to generation in the United States. The Kleinpeter Dairy in Montpelier was founded in 1999. The Kleinpeter Dairy Farm also buys local ingredients to make the taste like no other. With his herd of cattle, one cow can produce seven to eight gallons of milk a day which is tracked by an electronic identification system to provide the gallons produced and the content, said Jeff
Kleinpeter. The process starts when the calf is born, it is taken away from the mother just a few hours after it is born. The mother then takes what Kleinpeter calls "a maternity leave" for 60-90 days to heal and enjoy time off of work. After maternity leave, back in the barn she goes for another round of producing Kleinpeter milk. The baby calf is protected in a baby nursery maternity ward for 24-70 days. It receives vitamins and care to maintain a good bill of health and to make them feel at ease from being away from its mother. At night, the doors are shut in the nursery to keep wild hogs and coyotes from entering and hurting the babies. Kleinpeter takes pride in their dairy cows. The barns are cleaned every 15 minutes with a wash down process to keep flies and other unwanted insects away from the herd. The dairy uses over 65,000 gallons of water a day, providing clean water for the cows and for cleaning the dairy. In the summer, the cows are cooled with overhead fans to give them a more comfortable feeling as they are milked. Kleinpeter said "A happy cow produces more milk," therefore all of his cows must be happy with this state of the art operaSee Kleinpeter Page 4
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DAIRY MONTH
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2010
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You Might Be A Dairy Farmer... s )F YOU KNOW THE PRICE OF MILK PER HUNDRED WEIGHT BUT NOT BY THE GALLON s )F THE MEDICINE CABINET CONTAINS A CONTAINER OF "AG "ALM s )F YOU VE EVER GOTTEN AN AWARD FOR FAT AND WERE PROUD OF IT s )F YOUR IDEA OF A POWER LUNCH IS A SANDWICH ON A TRACTOR s )F YOUR IDEA OF A NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH IS SOMEONE CALLING YOU TO LET YOU KNOW YOUR HEIFERS ARE OUT s )F YOU HAVE MORE THAN A DOZEN CATS s )F YOUR IDEA OF OVERNITE DELIVERY IS PULLING A CALF AT THREE IN THE MORNING s )F YOU CAN REMEMBER THE NAME OF EVERY COW ON YOUR FARM BUT THE NAMES OF YOUR CHILDREN ELUDE YOU s )F MANURE IS A DINNER TABLE TOPIC s )F YOUR BACKYARD ENDS AT AN ELECTRIC FENCE
Welding is a necessity on the farm HOLLEY LIPSCOMB watchmaneditor@bellsouth.net Welding, cutting and grinding is a job of the dairy and beef cattle industry almost on a weekly basis. Farmers and ranchers experience break downs on their equipment that calls for the attention of a good welder sometimes. If they are not familiar welding, or do not have the machine to do the welding for them, they could get seriously hurt and will also pay a lot of money to hire someone to fix their farming equipment, constructing a hay barn, building a hay trailer or a bumper for their four-wheel drive trucks or even welding a
fuel tank for their tractors. Usually, people associate welding with construction work or metal work, however this is not always true. Hay barns are usually formed up with metal posts that require bar joists and perlins to be welded together to apply the tin roof. Hay trailers are constructed with welded pipe. Sometimes the hay baler needs a little touch here and there with the welding rod and a cattle guard needs repairing. It's a good thing to know how to weld in this business, otherwise welding will become a farmers worst nightmare.
Ashley Ann Austin of Zachary is a little farm girl who rides horses, ropes goats and helps on the farm with her dad, Mark and travels to rodeos with her mother, Julie. Ashley competes in rodeos at the 5D Western rodeo arena in Zachary and attends Galilee Elementary. Ashley has been around the farming business all of her life. She is the granddaughter of Sam and Tops Womack on Tucker Road who once had a dairy farm and Joyce Austin and the late Willie Jay Austin of Zachary.
Curry Pharmacy South Plank Road P.O. Box 266 CLINTON, LA 70722
WIMBERLY R. GAYLE RPh
Phone: (225) 683-8188 Fax: (225) 683-9826
Owners: Bradley and Wimberly Gayle
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Kleinpeter continued from Page 2 tion. The Kleinpeter family are active members of the American Humane Association and have received perfect inspections from the health departments and the American Humane Society. They've also received the Department of Environmental Quality award for pollution
control for extracting the solid waste from the waste water system. The solids are then treated and placed back on the property as fertilizer and the water is used to irrigate the fields during dry spells. Kleinpeter Dairy has been like a family to Louisiana, providing a good quality product and service to all who know their name.
Rounding up cattle can be difficult without dogs, horses or four-wheelers; therefore, using a herding dog can be a vital component to a cattleman’s herding ability. A vast majority of herding dogs are also household pets. Otis, owned by Ken and Angie Lipscomb of Milldale, loves playing with the cows in the pasture in addition to herding them.
“You’re never too old to learn,� says cattleman Wilton Lipscomb of Zachary, as he offers a little tractor advice to his son Ricky. “A farmer’s work is never done,� said Lipscomb. Part of Lipscomb’s daily work as a farmer includes fixing fences, checking beef cattle, and making sure his herd is up to date on vitamins and worming.
Jeff Kleinpeter evaluates his crop of hay in the pasture for his dairy cattle. Kleinpeter observes his crops daily.
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2010
Womack Dairy Farm refuses to quit HOLLEY LIPSCOMB watchmaneditor@bellsouth.net The Womack Dairy Farm located on Reames Road in Zachary is the only working dairy in East Baton Rouge Parish that refuses to give up the dairy business. The Federal Government sets the price that the dairy farmers are paid each month. For the past two years, that price has been below break-even costs, so many dairy farmers have shut down, but not the Womack Dairy Farm. The global demand for dairy has decreased due to recessions all over the world, however the Womack Dairy Farm is still in operation. The Womack Dairy Farm milks over 102 cows twice a day and harvests more than 800 round bales of hay a year. The milk truck picks up their milk every other day and it is sent to the Kleinpeter Farms Dairy for processing. There is never a day that goes by that the Womack Dairy Farm doesn’t get up at 1 a.m. every morning and gather the cows for the day’s work. Easter, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas is just another day on the farm, according to Virgil Victor Womack III, who is working very close with his son Virgil Victor Womack IV (Vic). The Womack’s are very involved in farming and raising cattle on and off of the farm. They are members of the Farmers of America, Farm Club and Farm Bureau. Joy Womack, who is married to Victor, is heavily involved in the Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom and the Louisiana Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee. Victor is the President of the East Baton Rouge Parish Farm Bureau and a member of the St. John’s Men’s Club. Vic is the Chair for the Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers Program (YF&R). Vic’s role in the YF&R program is to help promote and strengthen the entire Farm Bureau organization by offering opportunities for training and leadership experience to younger producers. Through the YF&R Program, participants experience personal growth and achieve goals as Farm Bureau members, farmers and citizens. Participants are exposed to legislative activities, policy development, commodity promotion, marketing, political education and much more. The Womack’s won’t quit, says Joy and they have the will and desire to carry on the legacy to their children.
DAIRY MONTH
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FROM FOOTBALL TO FARMING!
Billy Andrews was born in Clinton and attended Southeastern Louisiana University. Andrews is a former American football linebacker who made his professional debut in the NFL in 1967 with the Cleveland Browns. He also played football for the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Diego Chargers over a course of 11 years. Andrews scored his only NFL touchdown in the first Monday Night Football game televised on ABC on September 21, 1970. Late in the fourth quarter, Andrews intercepted a pass by New York Jets’ Quarterback Joe Namath and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown to secure the Browns’ victory of 31-21. Andrews became an instant Country Creek Farms dairy farmer at the age of 15 when his father died in 1964. He and his brother Charles Henry learned the dairy business and kept it going with 115 head of dairy cattle and 400-500 beef cattle, until 2006. Before this, he suffered from open heart surgery and continued to run the dairy, raising beef cattle and taking care of a farm. He said "It was tough." Andrews said, “It was by the great providence of God to get out of the business when he did.” Andrews is now in the hay business, baling from 3,500 to 5,000 round bales during the months of March to November and selling them to local farmers. He owns Andrews Custom Farm Service in Clinton with his son.
“Big Country” has been working for the Womack Dairy Farm in Zachary for three years and it’s nothing for him to pick up a calf and carry it to the pen. Big Country spends a lot of time on the farm and cares for and carries them from one pen to another daily.
AN OLD FARMER NEVER DIES, THEY JUST BUY A NEW TRACTOR SEAT. A tractor seat is as comfortable as the farmer who sits on it. The sun shines through this worn old tractor seat that once seated a dairy farmer by the name of Thomas E. Carruth from Greensburg, La. As he sat down with his thermus bottle filled with hot coffee, he would round up his herd of guernsey cows for the morning milking. Hours of use of this old seat has carried him through the mud and thickets of his property at Myrtle Lane Dairy Farm, off of the Liverpool FireTower Road in Greensburg searching for his herd or for one curious calf who didn’t follow the mother back to the barn. Carruth woke up before dawn and ate biscuits and syrup with his wife Nannie (Sue) every morning before his day started. After the milking was done, he would bring back to the house a half gallon bucket of nothing but pure milk from the cooler that was covered with an inch of thick cream. By this time, he was hungry again and according to him, nothing could beat the taste of pure cane syrup and cream poured over cold biscuits. Carruth continued with his dairy business from 1948 to 1979. He died in 1981 leaving his legacy for friends and relatives to remember.
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2010
HOLD THE MAYO PLEASE! This baby calf just entered into the nursery a month ago at the Kleinpeter Dairy Farms. It is trying to decide which bucket to go to first.
MMM GOOD! Cows and calves love the sweet taste of cane syrup. It's been said that cows lick the molasses to make their milk sweeter. This calf belongs to the Womack Dairy Farm.
MUSTARD
KETCHUP
ADVERTISING s WENDY PATE CLASSIFIEDS/PROFESSIONAL SERVICES 654-6841 DUSTY BANKSTON
? s w e N t o G Louisiana Suburban Press staff back row from left are Becky Hilliard - St. Francisville Democrat Editor, Dusty Bankston - Classified Manager, Mark Smith - Zachary Plainsman News Staff Writer, Annie Greene - Advertising Assistant, Stacy Gill - Zachary Plainsman News Editor, Wendy Pate - Advertising Manager and Sissy Burge - The Watchman CSR. Bottom row from left are Ida Dugas - Billing/ Tearsheets, Holley Lipscomb - The Watchman Editor, Brittany Bankston - CSR and Kristi Lynch - Production Manager.
SUBSCRIPTIONS #,).4/. ZACHARY - 654-6841 ST. FRANCISVILLE EDITORIAL #,).4/. ZACHARY - 654-6841 ST. FRANCISVILLE
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DAIRY MONTH
Kids and cows make a TEAM! There isn’t a single more decorated bull rider in the PBR today thanks to two-time World Champion Chris Shivers. His wife Kylie and sons Christopher Brand and Parker Blayne follow him to support the bull riding competition. Shivers is from Jonesville, La. Pictured left is his son Blayne waving to the crowd at the Making homemade ice cream is a pastime that kids today don’t really know how to make. "It’s Baton Rouge River Center in too easy to go to the store and buy a gallon of ice cream," said Marlee," but they wanted to 2009 as his dad won the PBR make it anyway." Pictured left are Marlee and Jillian Lavigne of Zachary, making homemade competition. sea salt ice cream on Memorial Day.
WE SUPPORT OUR LOCAL DAIRY FARMERS