Sustainability Moooves This Dairy Farm
October 15, 2020
On the Bateman family’s dairy farm in Elberta, Utah, the cows are treated as one of the clan. With thousands of cows to milk daily, it takes a big family. The Bateman’s Mosida Farms is the largest dairy operation in the state of Utah, with nine family members involved in the operations and a history that spans four generations and 150 years.
A Glass of Milk with Cat® Products
The right equipment is a must for projects on the farm, especially while living and working in part of the United States where the norm is to move a hill or a mountain in order to build a corral or a building. The family does most of their construction and dirt work, and although you will see a mixed fleet in the family’s operation,the Bateman’s buy mostly Cat products.
Why Caterpillar?
“You always take care of us,” explains Chance Bateman. “Sure, having the lowest owning and operating cost is important, but it is the dealer service and the people we work with there,” he says.
Dairy Farm Fun Fact:
Dairy cows are usually either Jerseys (brown and smaller, big eyes, and produce creamier milk) or Holsteins, which are massive, spotted black and white, and can produce 56 pounds of milk in one milking (up to 170 pounds in one day).
Jersey Cow
Holstein Cow
SUSTAINABLE WAY OF (FARM) LIFE
The seeds of innovation, sustainability, and continuous improvement were planted long ago by the Batemans, and it continues to grow today.
Nothing is wasted at the Bateman’s farm operations. Their dairy farm is a model of efficiency and modernity. For example, all the cow manure is processed in a tank where the solids are separated from the liquids. All the solids are sent to compost piles where they will age for a year until they produce incredibly fertile soil, which is then spread on fields that grow the feed for their cows. They also installed a solar farm that generates power for the dairy and the surrounding community.
But, it's the personal attention paid to each milk-producing cow. There is constant biological testing for individual bovine, and pedometers strapped to every cow's legs – tracking gigabytes of data to support and sustain thousands of cows which operate in a specialized choreographed operation to ensure that each animal is milked three times per day. Focused on sustainable practices and continuing to look for better, more efficient ways to farm, the Batemans are ensuring their ever-expanding operation will be around for generations to come and leaving things better than they found them.
COUNTING ON CAT
At Caterpillar, we know that customers, like the Batemans, count on our equipment to keep their operations running. That’s why we’re committed to services that set us apart and make our customers more successful. We are continuously evaluating new types of services offerings and aftermarket products and investing in digital capabilities that will help our customers be more successful.
Did you know a cow takes 12,000 steps per day? Now that is some exercise!
RAISE A GLASS OF MILK
The Bateman farm started in the early 1800s when less than 20 cows made up the herd and were all milked by hand. “Grandpa and Grandma would do the milking, then Grandpa would deliver it into a nearby copper mine with a team of horses and wagon filled with cans of milk,” says Jason Bateman, who is a third-generation farmer. Today, around 115 employees work for the Batemans. Besides the massive dairy operation, they also run a trucking company and a meat business.
Automation makes it possible to bring about 7,600 cows through the milking barns – three times a day – with 160 cows being milked at a time, done over two work shifts. There are a total of 17,000 animals on the farm, with the remainder of the cattle being raised for beef. So how do you feed all those cows? The farm covers about 4,000 acres, and the Batemans grow most of the grain that’s ground into the massive amounts of feed required to keep the herd happy.
Want to know more about Bateman’s Mosida Farms? Check out their website.
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