Ontowa Dairy Farm

On Friday November 2nd the LEAF class went to Ontowa Farms in Elmira. Ryan & Lori Martin run this farm with Ryan’s brother and father. They have 105 milking cows and 120 young stock. They also have 100 steers and sell them at 1500lbs to the market. Thanks to biotechnology Ryan can use sexed semen to get only female calves. Ontowa Farm has an 8 year old barn and a parlor milking system. Ryan watches his cows so he knows when they are sick or in heat before the activity tracker system does. There is a huge difference from his new barn and his old barn. He talked a lot about making wise financial decisions on the farm. They could not build a barn and buy quota at the same time. The calf barn is facing south so it gets winter sun but not high summer sun providing a comfortable year round housing and better health results for the calves. Ryan saves money by doing many jobs himself such as welding, cement work and lumber. With their 285 acres of corn, alfalfa, wheat, and oats they produce 85% of their own feed. The cows lay on sawdust because it helps provide comfort and keeps them healthy. I enjoyed how nice the main barn looked and how clean it looked. It's clear that they care about their cows. LEAF would like to thank Ontowa Farms for letting us tour their farm and learning how they do their job.