Starting a dairy farm with 30,000 cows on 30,000 acres halfway across the United States could have been a logistical nightmare without meticulous planning. Sue and Mike McCloskey not only successfully made the move but opened a whole new enterprise in agritourism.
The keynote speaker for the annual Indiana Logistics Summit held in Indianapolis recently, Mike McCloskey repeatedly used the term "we" when referring to the Fair Oaks Farm and tourist attraction, and other business ventures.
The decision to move their dairy operation from New Mexico to Indiana depended on a number of factors. McCloskeys knew that they needed a large tract of good farmland in an area close to the Eastern Seaboard, a modern transportation system and located in the Corn Belt. Also, the farm had to be near large population centers to attract tourists.
"We looked at South Dakota and Nebraska, but logistically Indiana was the best spot we could find," Mike said.
A 30,000-acre tract of farmland became available in Northwest Indiana after plans for a third Chicago airport fell through. The tract straddled Interstate 65, so it would be accessible to Chicago and suburbs, Northwest Indiana and Indianapolis as a tourist destination. A nearby interchange not only simplified the transportation of milk products and farm supplies to and from the farm but also made it easy for tourists to find Fair Oaks.
McCloskeys had previously hosted tours for school children, the Rotary Club and other groups at their New Mexico dairy farm to fulfil their mission of public education. They had a good idea of what it took to both inform and entertain the 98 percent of Americans who have little or no farming experience. Sue and Mike envisioned a place where people could encounter farm life by taking a bus ride through a free stall barn, see cows milked or watch a calf being born. All of these activities took careful planning—from training employees to transporting visitors around the farm campus.
This year, half a million people, including roughly 70,000 children, will tour the Dairy Adventure and/or the newly opened Pig Adventure. To get farming's message out to people who have had little contact with agriculture, a U-Pick orchard is nearly ready for opening, with beef, sheep and chicken farms yet to come.
Preparing to milk 30,000 cows and all of the attendant issues was a challenge for the McCloskeys and their partners. Plans and permits for dealing with odor, manure and water requirements all had to be worked out in detail. Mike gives the credit to local and state governments of Indiana for their assistance in the process.
One of the biggest problems for a large dairy farm can be manure and the odor, flies and nutrient runoff, Mike said. Fair Oaks' solution was to invest in bio-digesters that would produce methane to run engines for turbines that would generate electricity. All of the buildings on the farm run on this electricity. However, the monetary return was barely breakeven and there was biogas left over.
Mike said that these facts forced the company to be innovative. First, technology had to be improved so the methane could be purified to become 99 percent methane or bio methane and similar to natural gas. The company had to go to New Zealand for the solution. Next, their nine-liter engines for the milk trucks needed to be redesigned to run on this fuel. This process involved Kenworth, Cummins and 34 other related manufacturers. Mike said all of the parties worked together until the nine–liter engine became a 12–liter engine in 18 months. In a recent cost analysis, these trucks with the new biogas-powered engines are outperforming the farm's diesel trucks, he added.
In a related development, the McCloskeys have partnered with other investors to build a network of compressed-gas fueling stations across the country for their own fleet and other vehicles. The fuel comes not just from cow manure but also from landfills and other bio-waste products.
Once the methane is harvested, there is still a nitrogen and phosphorus problem that needs to be solved by Fair Oaks, said Mike. He believes that Fair Oaks is a leader in clean water technology. In the last 10 years, researchers have been able to extract crystallized ammonium sulfate out of the manure as well as manufacturing phosphorus pellets. Future plans include growing forage, such as high protein duckweed or algae, in the brown water after all else has been removed from the manure.
Mike gives his wife the credit for a new milk product called Fairlife. The soft filter technology already existed, but Sue saw how it could be applied to milk. She thought that milk could be made even more nutritious by filtering out the lactose and most of the sugar. The remaining milk has a greater percentage of calcium and protein than regular milk. However, marketing the product proved to be a challenge.
In an interview after her husband's presentation, Sue explained how Coca-Cola got involved. Through networking, the McCloskeys connected with Coca-Cola at a time when the company was looking to produce healthier beverages. Coca-Cola took over the marketing campaign as Fairlife appeared in local groceries. Both organizations are benefitting from the partnership, she said.
In his presentation, Mike said, "To be financially viable while taking into account social and environmental responsibilities and to make these two factors as important as the financial part has been the most rewarding part for me in my career."
Sue talked about how rewarding it is to see the reactions of kids and adults to the birth of a calf. Many of the children have never seen an animal born.
"Some people have said that we are the 'Disneyland' of agriculture. It's a very respected brand and that is what we hope to be but with an educational bent to it,." She added.