By Kay Ledbetter
The annual Southwest Dairy Day on Oct. 8 at the Del Rio Dairy near Friona will be hosted by the Gingg family and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.
Del Rio Dairy, with 3,800 milking cows and 2,850 heifers, is located just south of the intersection of State Highway 214 between Friona and Muleshoeand State Highway 86 between Bovina and Dimmitt.
“Southwest Dairy Day is an annual event conducted by AgriLife Extension,” said Dr. Ellen Jordan, AgriLife Extension state dairy specialist in Dallas. “We rotate locations throughout the state to address new technologies that meet the needs of the industry. We also feature an area dairy that has adopted some of those technologies.”
Danny Nusser, AgriLife Extension agricultural and natural resources regional program leader in Amarillo, said the High Plains dairy industry has unique needs created by dairy size and complexity, and many of the AgriLife Extension county agents have had to become part of the dairy team addressing dairy issues and questions. They will be onsite to learn and help answer questions.
The program, free and open to the public, will begin at 10 a.m. and feature tours, exhibitor booths, product testing and lunch courtesy of Hi-Pro. It will conclude at 3 p.m.
Tours will include a Saudi-style cow barn, which is a covered open corral; a double-45 parallel milking parlor; a double-8 parallel parlor in the special needs facilities; the latest in cow comfort and cooling; and the dairy’s composting operation.
In addition to tours, speakers and stops throughout the day will include:
Composting Manure Solids and Their Nutrient Composition, Dr. Saqib Mukhtar, AgriLife Extension engineer, College Station.
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