12 CapitalPress.com
June 3, 2016
Farm makes move to where the feed is produced
dairied in Olympia from 1984
until 2001,” DeVries said.
By the late 1990s his farm
and his father’s farm were
both getting a lot of environ-
mental pressure.
“We set up a partnership
and moved both herds here
to Moxee (5 miles from Yaki-
ma),” DeVries said.
“We started building this
By HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
For the Capital Press
Tom DeVries grew up on
his father’s dairy near the
little town of Orting, Wash.,
and he continues that legacy
today.
“Dad started that farm in
1960, then helped me start
my own dairy near Olympia. I
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our dairy here in 2001. A
few years ago I bought out
my dad when he retired. We
farm about 1,500 acres (1,100
leased) and grow most of our
own feed — triticale, corn,
wheat and hay,” he said.
They also raise their own
heifers.
“They stay here until they
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are 3 months old, then we
send them to a custom feed-
lot to develop them. When
they are about 21 months old
and confirmed pregnant, they
come back and we calve them
out,” DeVries said.
“We have mostly Holsteins
but about 20 percent of our
cows are Jerseys and crosses.
We bought a lot of cows to get
to this size herd and ended up
with some Jerseys and kept
breeding them,” he said. “We
usually use sexed semen on
those, to produce only heifers,
because Jersey bull calves are
not worth much.”
The Jersey-Holstein cross
cows have done well. They
are smaller than Holsteins
and eat less feed while still
producing a lot of milk. Over-
all, they are more efficient, he
said.
Hybrid vigor is helpful,
and possibly adds longevity
to the cows.
“We used some Swedish
Reds some years back, for
that reason, to gain more lon-
gevity,” DeVries said.
His wife, Heather, is office
manager.
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Tom Devries
“Her son Reid started
helping us six months ago,”
he said. “We also have a man-
ager who has been with me
for 13 years. He takes care of
all employee issues, oversees
everything, and takes care of
the breeding. We have sev-
en managers below him who
manage different functions of
the operation — calf feeding,
manure management, feeding
cows and farming,” DeVries
said. “We have a good team
with great employees. It takes
a good team to run a dairy.”
The milk goes to Darigold,
which is based in Seattle and
owned by about 500 dairy
farmers who are members of
the Northwest Dairy Associ-
ation.
“They’ve had a plant here
in Sunnyside for about 20
years and just opened a new
facility. They also have plants
at Issaquah, Seattle, Chehalis
and other locations. We are lo-
cated on a highway and most
of our milk goes to the west
side of the state because they
can’t process all of it in the lo-
cal plant,” he said.
The area around Yakima
is ideal for dairying, with
good climate and a lot of feed
grown in the region.
“This is another reason
I moved from the west side
of the state; there wasn’t as
much feed available over
there. When I was at Olym-
pia I had to buy feed here and
DeVries Family
Farm Dairy
Owner: Tom DeVries
Farming: 1,500 acres
Location: Moxee, Wash.
Dairying since: 1984
Milking: 4,300 cows
haul it over there,” he said.
“About 50 to 70 percent
of our income goes for feed,
so if you can reduce that cost
you can be more profitable.
You are better off to be where
the feed is, and haul your milk
to the people, than to haul the
feed,” he explained.
There is a lot of pressure
on dairies to move away from
population centers.
“People don’t want to live
near a dairy. Dairies are mov-
ing farther and farther out
from the cities,” DeVries said.
“I wanted to be in the dairy
business since I was a kid. It
was more fun 20 years ago
than it is today, however, with
all the environmental rules
and paperwork. The regula-
tions and employee records
make it to where I never have
much chance to leave the of-
fice,” he said. “A person has
to be really dedicated to con-
tinue doing this, or so deep in
debt that you can’t get out!”
Dairying is a challenge,
every day, he said, but he still
enjoys the cows.