How Thorndale Operates

 
The cows are now housed at Wilkins Dairy near Bath, NY where Scott and Barb Wilkins are providing housing and care for our milking herd.  The cows are milked in a tie stall barn and rotate through the newly built freestall barn every other milking.  All milking and dry cows are housed at the new facility.  As our springing heifers are about 6 weeks before calving we move them from Batavia to Bath to allow for adiequate time to adjust.  State of the art technology is being used to monitor reproduction on the cows as they are ultra-sounded for pregnacy.  Upon calving, new calves are returned to Batavia to be raised at the home farm.
 
Great care and enthusiasm has helped our cows look the way they are bred to look.  Future plans with Wilkins to flush some of the young cows, especially Feeling Blu.
 
In Batavia, calves are housed in individual hutches, and fed milk replacer, calf starter grain, and alfalfa.  At weaning, calves are moved into the calf barn and penned with others close in age. They receive a diet of grain, and hay until leaving the calf barn. At breeding age heifers are moved to the outside group, or back pasture depending on season, and location of the herd bull.
   During the summer months when school is out, Don and Scott split time doing most chores, field work, and machinery maintenance.  The whole family and many friends all kick in to make sure we have everything covered during the numerous weeks of the show season.  When school is in session, Don and Kristen have always found a way to get chores done before going to work during the week since Scott lives an hour away.  However, Scott does return on weekends to cover most weekend chores.   Additional thanks again to Jeremy, Bill, Michelle, Grandpa Partridge, Kevin, and especailly Gabe for all the help they continue to offer when it is needed!
 
    The biggest thanks goes out to Bill Lawerence for the years of care he has provided our cows, and we wish him to best in the future after retirement! Thank you Bill.
 
 
 
     
Shawnee  Ex 91 with 92 MS
Love Ex 90 with 91 MS