For the 5,200 dairy farm families who call Pennsylvania home, they are focused on producing wholesome products for their communities and sustainable family businesses for generations to come. Leveraging funds provided by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Center for Dairy Excellence offers several grant programs throughout the year to help drive profitability, efficiency and growth on Pennsylvania dairy farms.
One of these programs is the Dairy Excellence grant, which has supported a collective reinvestment of more than $1.1 million into Pennsylvania dairy farms in the third round of funded projects alone. Accepted improvement projects focus on improving milk production per cow and/or enhancing overall farm profitability and efficiency. For Justin Gochnour, of JUS-DEN Farm and a Dairy Excellence grant recipient, he used the funds to enhance cow comfort with new fans and mattresses. He found the improvement projects helped him save time and money as well.
"Our goals were to increase milk production and longevity. The new fans alone paid for themselves in two months’ time last summer. In other years where we had heat waves, we could lose 10 to 12 pounds per cow. We hardly lost any pounds with the fans. It was amazing,” he says. “With the new mattresses, our cows don’t get cramped like they did before, and they have saved me a lot of time and money with bedding. I used to rely on sawdust for comfort before, so we went from bedding about every four days to just once a week with the new mattresses. The price of sawdust keeps going up all the time, and now I’m using less fuel and spending less time in the skid loader. It has been a huge help financially. I knew these improvements would have an impact, but it blew my mind just how they far they really went. Cow comfort really makes a difference.”
For dairy producers who want to enter the value-added space, the center has a list of experienced dairy decisions consultants (DDC) who have expertise in direct marketing, business planning, product marketing and labeling, and more. Producers who receive a DDC grant can work with a consultant to help make decisions that shape the future of their business. The Painterland Sisters, Hayley and Stephanie, worked with a consultant to develop their organic yogurt brand, using milk from their family’s Pennsylvania dairy farm.
“We knew what our inspiration was, but we didn’t know what exactly we wanted to do. When we started, we were basically knocking on doors and asking questions to all our connections. Someone told us to connect with the Center for Dairy Excellence. We really didn’t have a lot of money, but we received a grant, we were paired with a consultant, and we’ve been working with him ever since,” Hayley Painter says.
Stephanie agrees.
“The DDC grant really transcended us to where we are now,” she says. “By working with a consultant who has established businesses before, it changed our trajectory. And because of the center, we’re still working with that same consultant today. It gave us the opportunity to [figure out our next steps] through the funds. It was a great connection.”
Transformation often goes beyond value-added products. For many Pennsylvania dairy producers, they are looking to transform or modernize their operations with new technology such as robotics. The center’s Transformation Team grant program allows producers to work with a trusted team of advisers to determine the feasibility of their project and the potential next steps to make it a reality.
“We definitely found out where our edge is,” says Donny Bartch of Merrimart Farms, a previous grant recipient. “I would have hated to start this robotics project and then realize we need to cut out [certain aspects]. Now, we know how far we can go and how many extra things we can add to this barn. Especially for a farm our size, it’s invaluable just how far the grant money went and the information we were able to get out of it. It helped jumpstart everything. It gave me the confidence I needed to move forward with a project like this. It went from a pipe dream to a reality.”
Donny Bartch of Merrimart Farms in Pennsylvania worked with the Center for Dairy Excellence and received a Transformation Team grant as he determined if a robotics barn was the right fit for his operation. Courtesy photo.Transition and succession planning is also top-of-mind for many Pennsylvania dairy farm families who are managing multigenerational family businesses. The center’s Transition Team grants give families the opportunity to work with a trusted team of consultants who have experience navigating family dynamics and creating plans for the future.
“That initial team meeting really launched everything for the future,” says Jared Kurtz of Kurtland Farms, a previous grant recipient. “By using that group of people to brainstorm ideas, ask hard questions, look at opportunities to improve our cash flow and have conversations about restructuring things, that’s really what has allowed us to get to where we are today. Once everyone on the team got attuned to what was happening, we could talk directly with our consultant about the family dynamics piece, talk to our extension educator about cash flow, talk with our accountant about tax implications and talk with our attorney to structure things on the legal side. It involved a lot of side conversations and emails that happened throughout the process.”
Several of these grant programs may still be open this fall to Pennsylvania dairy producers who are looking to work with a trusted team of advisers or an experienced consultant. Visit the Pennsylvania Center for Dairy Excellence website to learn more about these programs.
To learn more about the Center for Dairy Excellence, or to get involved in our programs and support our mission, visit the website.
