On Thursday, Jan. 24, the B.C. Dairy Expo seminar will be held in the BMO Room at the Tradex from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This year’s seminar will focus on forage and environmental management. Speakers include:
Keith Bolsen
Professor emeritus, cattle nutrition and forage management Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas.
Bolsen was raised on his parents’ grain and livestock farm near the small town of Bement, Illinois. He received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from the University of Illinois in 1966 and 1967, and received a Ph.D. in cattle nutrition from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 1971.
Bolsen began a 32-year teaching and research career at Kansas State University in 1971, and he served as the major professor for 39 graduate students. Most people know Bolsen as The Silage Man, and he has probably had his hands on and evaluated more silage than anyone else since “ensilage” was introduced into the Western Hemisphere in the 1870s.
Bolsen consults with individual dairy and beef farmers throughout North America on ways to achieve safe, efficient and profitable silage programs.
Making your best silage in 2019 – Important management practices you control
Bolsen’s first talk will focus on silage management practices dairy farmers control but which are sometimes poorly implemented or overlooked entirely.
These include applying the appropriate inoculant at the forage harvester, achieving an optimum silage dry matter density, eliminating visible surface spoilage by sealing with oxygen-barrier film and minimizing dry matter loss during feedout by using proper silage removal techniques.
Silage safety – How to send everyone on your silage team home safe at the end of the day
His second talk will present common hazards encountered in managing silage in bunker silos and drive-over piles and detailed accounts of case study accidents involving these hazards.
Guidelines for ways each hazard can be eliminated or controlled are discussed. After all, the most important goal of every silage program on dairy farms today is for all employees to return home to their families safe every day.
Margaret Crowley
Senior environmental management officer, environmental standards branch Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, Victoria, British Columbia.
Crowley works on agricultural and agriculture-related environmental policy and regulations.
The Ministry has been reviewing the Agricultural Waste Control Regulation (AWCR) with the goals of updating the regulation and associated guidance to enhance and improve water and air quality, ensure watercourses and groundwater are protected, and provide certainty – through clear, unambiguous requirements.
What’s new in agricultural environmental protection?
A summary of the changes and new requirements will be covered in Crowley’s talk. The new regulation applies to all agricultural operations and activities in the province.
Chad Shipmaker
Corporate development lead Valid Manufacturing Ltd., Salmon Arm, British Columbia
Shipmaker has worked as a global food and agriculture adviser for the United Nations, the Howard G Buffett Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Currently, he is back living in his hometown of Salmon Arm, British Columbia, working to bring innovative solutions to local industry challenges with Valid Manufacturing Ltd.
BC solutions to support BC agriculture – manufacturing centrifuges for the BC dairy industry
Shipmaker will talk about how Valid Manufacturing is prototyping a made-for-BC manure centrifuge that will soon provide British Columbia dairy farmers with an additional option for nutrient management. 
Farm tours
The B.C. Dairy Expo farm tours will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 23, at eight different farms. It is a self-guided tour, and producers are welcome to stop by during the times listed for each farm.
Everyone is asked to wear the biosecurity boots provided at each location as well as follow instructions and obey signage at each farm. Used boots should be discarded in containers to ensure any winds don’t blow them around the farm site.
Owners, building contractors and equipment suppliers will be on hand to answer questions at each stop.
A complimentary lunch will be available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Bredale Farms, Toop Farms Ltd. and Pacific Dairy Centre.
For more information on the seminar or tours, visit the BC Dairy Association or contact Carla Soutar, BC Dairy Association by email, or (800) 242-6455.
—Compiled by PD staff from event-supplied materials
Bredale Farms
Chilliwack
Hosts: Ike and Ben Bredenof
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
*Visiting areas limited to new barn construction.
- DeLaval 50-stall PR3100 all-stainless rotary parlour with teat spray robot automatic pre-dip and ADF auto post-dip
- Three-way sort gate and automatic footbath
- MM27 milk meter (no moving parts) uses infrared light technology
- Artex Y2K stalls and lockers, Breeze and Storm fans
- GEA scraper systems including 8-inch floating flush pump for flush flume and holding area flush, sand lane and roll press
- CST Slurrystore manure storage with GEA Houle agitation system and leak detection system
- All-in-one control box with cellphone access by Daritech
Lone Prairie Dairy
Chilliwack
Hosts: Richard and Ashley Vanderkooi
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- US Farm Systems electric pump and automatic flushing system
- Sand lane with mixing box for reclaiming sand bedding and pre-conditioning manure for separation
- US Farm Systems sloped screen separator with automatic pressure washing system to separate sand from scraped manure or flush manure
- New barn construction and barn renovation
- Mid Valley Manufacturing supplied gating, super-comfort stalls and highlift crowd gate
- Arntjen curtain systems
- Grooved rubber flooring from Legend Rubber
Oroby Holsteins Ltd.
Dewdney
Hosts: June and Costante Parapini, Silvia Parapini
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- GEA Monobox robotic milking system with 3D time-of-flight camera and in-liner clean, prep, forestrip, quarterly discard, conductivity and post-dip
- GEA CowScout herd health with rumination and activity system monitoring
- Rovibec Ranger feed pusher
- Three-row free-choice barn for 120 cows with mattresses and sawdust
- Eze Roll curtains and weather station
- New grain bin and auger system installed by United Agri Systems
- West Coast Stabling headlockers
- Y2K Stalls supplied by J&D Farmers
Toop Farms Ltd.
Chilliwack
Hosts: Allan, Richard and Devan Toop and family
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Three BouMatic Robotics MR-D1 double-box milking robots and one BouMatic Robotics MR-S1 single-box milking robot with auto sort system
- BouMatic RealTime+ RL herd health tags including activity, rumination and cow-positioning GPS beacon system
- Calf Star Milk Jug waste milk cooling system and Holm and Laue 260-litre milk taxi
- AP chain disk feed system installed by Jonkman Equipment
- Hetwin Stallboy feed pusher with grain feeder attachment
- Two Lely Discovery SW barn cleaners
- Renovated five-row 310-stall milking barn with hospital pack
- Milking parlour converted into 48-stall dry cow pen
- 220-stall heifer barn outfitted by Meinen Brothers Agri Services
Kelton Holsteins
Abbotsford
Hosts: Craig and Tony VanGarderen
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Existing 2009 barn retrofitted with two DeLaval V300 robots (first models installed in B.C.)
- DeLaval InControl monitoring and updating cow data, herd health, etc., on smartphone
- DeLaval body conditioning score (BCS) camera for daily cow scoring and OCC on-board lab for true somatic cell counting
- The barn itself was built in 2009 with Y2K comfort stalls, Artex lockers, automatic footbaths, JOZ scrapers for alleys
Four Sons Dairy
Chilliwack
Hosts: Martin and Samantha Romeyn
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Lely A4 robot, MQC-C SCC tester, Gravitor weigh floor, feed presence sensor
- Footbath sort lane
- Sick pen vacuum line
- Jamesway cable scrapers and pump with automated transfer
- Secco curtains and fans
- West Coast Stabling headlocks and stalls
- Feed bins and augers
- Solid auger and water for mixer wagon has wireless remote start.
Pacific Rim Dairies
Chilliwack
Hosts: Albert Klop
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Existing robotic dairy upgrading to Lely A5 milking robots, featuring self-teaching first-time attach with reverse scan technology, laser-guided teat dip for accurate dipping, 20 percent reduction in air consumption, high-resolution laser
- Long-distance rumination and heat detection, MQC-C SCC testers, butterfat and protein sensing
- Three-way sort for footbathing and animal separation
- Gating by Level Fab
Pacific Dairy Centre
Chilliwack
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- New 40,000-square-foot facility on 4 acres built to support the growing needs of Fraser Valley dairy farmers
- It includes the usual warehousing and manufacturing areas as well as a very well-stocked dairy farm store and parts department
- The building is concrete tilt-up with ASCHRA-compliant energy-saving lighting and heating automation
- A 60’x62’ Britespan fabric building to keep equipment dry
