DECEMBER 2018 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


Tour showcases local farm


entrepreneurs Langley farmers highlight


by RONDA PAYNE


LANGLEY – Farmers are the ultimate entrepreneurs. They always have new ideas to make use of the land. The 10th annual Langley Environmental Partners Society (LEPS) farm tour showcased some of the ideas North Langley farmers have put into action.


Brian and Erin Anderson


own Eagle Acres Dairy and Pumpkin Patch in Fort Langley. They established the new farm a year ago after selling Aldor Acres. Erin Anderson says the transition was “not a fun process” but says it’s fabulous now that they are settled at the 40-acre site. They rent another 150 acres to grow corn and grass for forage as well as pumpkins. The additional acreage also assists with manure management. The herd has 110 cows, of which 55 are milking. The animals are from different breeds to show the diversity of cattle. “We want to show that


there are other types of cows [than Holsteins],” says Anderson. “About 35% are the coloured breeds and about 35% of that are Jerseys.” Cows have transponder collars to communicate with the six-year-old robotic milker brought from Aldor Acres. Production is at 53 kilograms of the 73 kilogram quota – there’s room in the barn for 10 more wet cows. In addition to dairy cows and pumpkins, the farm also has some beef cattle, a sow and various other animals to round out the educational side of the barn next to the medical and calf stalls. It’s a similar setup to Aldor Acres, but with more room. A new feature at Eagle


Acres is the DeLaval automatic milk feeder for the calves, who are socialized in a group rather than pair- bonded as they were at the previous site. “It’s a good system except they all share germs,” Anderson says. “We lost a lot of calves last winter. I think we’ve got it licked now. We’ll see what happens this winter.” The automated grain


system was something new for the wet cows. The animals had to learn that sounds from overhead meant food and


diversity, innovation weren’t something to fear. About 25% of their feed is grain, depending upon production levels. They eat corn at night and grass in the morning.


The barn features cow


mattresses, another new feature, but Anderson notes these have not been as beneficial as hoped. There has been an increase in leg lesions and other issues. They keep adding more sawdust to the base to compensate. “Cow comfort is of the


See LANGLEY on next page o


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Erin Anderson, co-owner of Eagle Acres, explains some of the challenges in moving a dairy to a new location. RONDA PAYNE PHOTO


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