Fredette to expand to 108 cows and will
bring the heifers home
PLANTAGENET Luc Fredette, of Ferme
Frederic, is getting a little more of his life back, thanks to his recent farm
expansion. He has been milking three times a day for nine years and shovelling
feed to the cows every day, while his replacement heifers were raised on a
neighbouring farm. He was putting in 13 to 15 hours a day. Thank God for the
relief milker, who was in every second weekend. That made things alright with
his wife Sonia, he says. They now have three children, aged 6, 3 and 11 months.
The new barn at 232 ft. by 85 ft wide will now allow Fredette to increase his
milking herd over the next month from 75 to 108 cows in tie-stalls. One end of
the new barn will allow him to bring home his 80 replacement heifers and
increase their numbers in the free-stall section to 125. But before he brings
the cows into the new digs, with tunnel ventilation 12 fans and rubber mats,
he was to hold an open house April 7, expecting more than 1,000 visitors. His
favourite feature of the new barn is the Rovibec feeding system, an overhead
track that automatically hauls the feed down the alley to each animal. Its not
only more precise than the shovel but he figures that this feature alone will
save him 90 minutes of work a day. "I hope," he chuckles. The young
calves, up to two months, will enjoy a feeding system that allows them to drink
as much milk as they want. Sticking to a tie-stall operation, he will bring the
milking system to the cows 10 portable milkers on a DeLaval Dual Carrier Rail
System, which also runs on an overhead track.