Family farm owners often struggle with handing off business responsibilities and decisions to the next generation, not to mention the farm itself. Visalia dairyman Gregory O. “Butch” Dias Jr. was no exception. It wasn’t easy, but he says he feels good about how his two sons are handling their Delta View Farms & Rachelle’s Jerseys operations.

Darren Dias runs the dairy and has just been through one of the biggest projects a dairyman could encounter – renovating and upgrading his milking parlor. They replaced their old double-16 parabone parlor with a state-of-the-art 50-stall rotary, but it wasn’t your routine rotary project.

Darren, along with his brother Greg, who handles the farming side of the family business, did the overall planning and decision-making, which led to going with the rotary parlor concept. “The boys researched every aspect of the project and made the decisions throughout the renovation,” Butch says.

These decisions included one huge one, a going-out-on-a-limb kind of decision: contracting with a company that had an excellent reputation but was proposing something they had never before done.

BECO Dairy Automation, Inc., of Hanford, California, had proposed building the rotary without using parts manufactured and shipped in from overseas, which had been general industry practice. Rather, BECO would manage the engineering, designing and manufacturing of all the components of its own rotary – “Made in America” – to its own stringent specs.

That proved to be a surprisingly wise move. And Stan Brown, BECO owner, and his team, led by project manager John Hayne, delivered.

“The design work for the BXR was conducted on Solid Works, a three-dimensional drafting platform. This allowed us to see exactly how every piece would fit and work together before anything was actually manufactured,” Brown says.

They started at the retaining wall, designing piece-by-piece from the ground up, implementing new design changes that BECO had identified from their research of other platforms. The initial “Made in America” project began in February 2013 and took a year to engineer, design, build and install.

Good contractor histories
“We selected Stan and BECO for the simplicity of their milking equipment and their track record for serviceability. We believed we could trust them to deliver what they promised, and we weren’t disappointed,” Butch recalls.

BECO’s local dealer in Hanford – Avila Dairy Equipment Inc. – brought another friend into the rotary project to install the rotary and milking equipment. Butch and Richard Avila grew up together, lifelong friends.

They also saw the preparation and cement work that JAM Construction had done on three recent conversions of flat barns to rotary barns. They liked what they saw and asked them to join the project.

“These guys don’t sit in an ivory tower somewhere, and you don’t have to go through three secretaries to talk to them. Besides, you can trust them,” Butch declares.

Good communication essential
Butch says he attributes much of their decision-making successes to consultant and friend Gabe Azevedo, who has acted as a sounding board and go-between when the three Dias men had issues to work through.

“I wanted the boys to be able to express their real feelings and concerns and not be shy about sharing their ideas. It has worked well and given us a good way to debate the issues as they arise. I wanted us to be able to work together and still be friends, and when we get away from the ranch and dairy we could have a good time together and forget about business,” Butch recalls.

Together with Azevedo, the four toured a number of Jersey and Holstein rotary dairies in the Hilmar area for some good ideas and direction. And when the time came, they contracted with companies they had personal connections with over the years.

Top priority addressed
In 2009, Delta View Farms participated in the National Dairy Challenge. The collegiate teams’ biggest recommendation was to fix their inability to get all their cows milked each day. “We knew we were losing valuable production and while addressing that was a top priority for us, the industry as a whole hit the skids; feed costs were skyrocketing and milk prices were in the tank,” Butch says.

Eventually, Darren and Greg were able to move forward and produced a conservative financial plan for paying off a new milking parlor. They determined they needed only a 2-pound increase in milk production per cow to make it pencil out. Payoff of the new parlor debt would take 11- and-a-half years. The banker agreed it was a good investment.

“The old parlor was so narrow with no extra space to widen it and go with a parallel design,” Darren says. “Since the east side of the old barn had all the electrical and water lines to the vacuum pumps, chillers and compressors, the renovated parlor with the new rotary could utilize everything. We could continue milking in the old parlor while building the rotary a few feet away.

“When the rotary was finished, we made the switch the very next day and really had no big hiccups or equipment issues. Today, milking begins at 7 a.m. and we finish at 12:40 p.m.,” the dairyman says. “I’m really happy with the performance of the new parlor. It could not be better.”

They are currently milking 1,550 Jerseys 2X – about 270 cows per hour. Now they milk the entire herd in six hours and 2X in 12 hours. Gone are the days when they couldn’t get their herd milked 2X in a 24-hour period.

Milk production is now 61 pounds of milk per cow per day, and Darren saw a 4-pound increase per cow per day in the first two months the rotary was in use. “It makes a big difference when cows are milked on time and are not under stress,” he says.

“Downtime is not a bad thing. Before the rotary we had to run 24/7, and it was no fun,” Darren declares. “We had no options in the parlor. Now we have options and might do some 3X milking in the fall when the weather cools down. We are happy with where we are at right now – keeping things efficient.

“After the third milking, all but three of the older cows were doing well on the rotary. Those three were moved to our other facility where they could feel more at home,” Darren says.

All contribute to dairy’s success
Greg calls himself a hands-on guy. He chose to stay on the ranch and attended College of the Sequoias in Visalia where he earned his certification in agriculture education. His responsibilities include farming 500 acres of corn for silage and winter wheat, a triticale. They grow all their own forage and don’t feed alfalfa – haven’t for the last six years, he says.

Greg also is using fewer commercial fertilizers these days. They compost their manure solids and spread some over their crop acreage and use much of it for bedding in the freestalls.

“Dividing the areas of responsibility into farming and dairy was an easy split and keeps us from stepping on each other’s toes. We each have our own things to worry about, but we cover for each other when needed,” he says.

It was fitting that the new rotary parlor was dedicated to the memory of the late dairy founder, Gregory O. Dias Sr., 1929-2013. PD

Ron Goble is a long-time ag writer and owner of Ron Goble & Associates/Goble Communication in Visalia, California.

PHOTOS
TOP: Family farm owners, from left, Darren, Butch and Greg Dias, with their dog, Rozlyn, recently renovated and upgraded their milking parlor from an old double-16 parabone parlor to a 50-stall rotary.

BOTTOM: The new rotary parlor at Delta View Farms & Rachelle’s Jerseys is the first of its kind to be engineered, designed and all components manufactured in the U.S. Photos courtesy of Ron Goble.