June 2, 2017
CapitalPress.com
Family-run dairy grows to
meet demands of industry
13
Lots of
used disks
in stock!
By HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
For the Capital Press
Riverbend Dairy is a large
family operation near Wen-
dell, Idaho. Arie Roeloffs, his
father-in-law and brother-in-
law built the dairy in 1992 in
partnership, but recently split,
and Roeloffs changed the
name to Riverbend Dairy.
“We currently milk about
5,200 Holsteins,” he said.
Milk is sold to Glanbia Foods,
a cheese company.
“We raise our own heifers
and rarely sell any, since we
are increasing our own herd.
Keeping heifers allows us to
cull heavier and improve the
genetics of our herd,” he said.
Sexed semen is utilized to
produce heifer calves. Any
male calves are sold to a calf
ranch after they’ve had their
colostrum and are off to a
good start.
“This is an open lot dairy
and we grow most of our own
corn silage and haylage,” said
Roeloffs. “We farm about
3,000 acres.”
This was one of the first
large dairies in Idaho, but now
there are many.
“The dairy industry has
changed,” he said. “Not that
there are more cows in Ida-
ho, but many of the smaller
dairies are selling out to larger
ones.”
There’s a reason for fewer
small family dairies, he said.
“The younger generation
isn’t going into dairying.
When the mother and father
milked 100 to 200 cows, there
was so much work involved
that their children never saw
the benefit of all that work and
were not interested in continu-
ing the legacy of dairying,” he
said.
“When the parents got old
and tired of working so hard,
the kids had good jobs in town
and didn’t want to come back
and dairy, to make $30,000 a
year when they could make
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Heather Smith Thomas/For the Capital Press
Arie Roeloffs, right, owner of Riverbend Dairy, and son-in-law
Jordan Jarvis at their 5,200-head operation near Wendell, Idaho.
$50,000 a year in town,” he
said. “The smaller farms were
labor-intense. When herds are
bigger you can have a few
more employees and a little
more freedom.”
Larger dairies have some
advantages and efficiencies
over the small ones, he said.
Land prices have also dis-
couraged young people.
“Land that sold for $900 to
$1,000 an acre 20 years ago is
$6,000 to $8,000 an acre to-
day, so it’s hard to start a dairy
or expand,” Roeloffs said.
“Dairymen need to adapt
and keep up with the times to
survive, which means more
production. Twenty-five years
ago, 50 pounds of milk per day
per cow was adequate and 60
pounds meant you were at the
top. Today, you’ll go broke if
your cows are only producing
60 pounds of milk. It takes 80
pounds now to make it work,”
he said.
You must have good cows,
and take good care of them, he
said.
“Cow comfort is a big is-
sue; you must have optimum
conditions for optimum milk,”
he said. “People say that this
kind of production means a
factory farm. But we’re not a
factory farm. Even though we
milk 5,200 cows we are still
family-owned and -involved.”
A son-in-law, Jordan Jar-
vis, runs the dairy as manager
and partner.
“My other son-in-law
works with me, too. My son is
currently in college and works
on another dairy. He may
eventually come back here to
work with us, but I want him
to get some good experience
on another dairy,” said Ro-
eloffs. His daughter Kristin
works with the United Dairy-
men of Idaho.
Roeloffs has four grand-
children.
“My daughter Julianna
Jarvis has four young children
(ages 5, 4, 2 and 4 months
old) and they are already very
interested in the farm. One
of them already knows every
tractor we have!” he said.
“Even with a good family
business, we must constantly
innovate and remodel; we are
continually fixing things up
and improving — doing what-
ever it takes to make it more
comfortable for the cows,” he
said.
He is on the Idaho Dairy-
men’s Association board and
on the National Dairy Board
promoting the dairy indus-
try.
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CELEBRATING 25 YEARS IN THE AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY BUSINESS.
D17-4/#17