LACOMBE, Alta. — New ventures and new technology have proven vital to the success of this family operated dairy farm near Lacombe.
Hennie Bos and spouse Tinie Eilers added a yogurt making operation in 1996 to the dairy farm they established in 1994 when they immigrated to Canada from Holland.
Now up to 15 percent of Bles-Wold Dairy’s milk production from 270 cows is used for yogurt products that are distributed in 110 stores. The rest enters the Alberta milk system.
Bos is chair of the Alberta Milk Board and also serves on the Dairy Farmers of Canada board. The positions keep him abreast of industry developments.
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Bos and Eilers grew up on dairy farms but moved to Canada with their two children, Martine and Gerard, in a search for space, challenge and opportunity. Their first stop was Ontario, and then they visited Alberta.
“We stopped looking. This was it,” said Bos.
A sound older home, outbuildings, 450 acres of productive farmland and easy access to Highway 2 determined their choice of location.
The pair saluted their Dutch roots by naming their dairy after their two hometowns, Blesdijke and Steenwijkerwold.
Eilers started making yogurt when their daughter, Martine, developed diabetes.
“We couldn’t find a proper, tasty breakfast to give her before school,” said Bos. “It all started from there.”
Eilers gave some of her kitchen-made yogurt to neighbours, “and all of a sudden there was a demand,” Bos said.
They explored ideas for expansion and became Alberta’s first licensed farm yogurt processing operation.
A red barn, prominent in their logo, was fitted for the yogurt operation and now employs six people. A yogurt drink in mango and raspberry flavours was recently launched.
The product line also includes various sizes of yogurt in 10 flavours, although Eilers said plain remains most popular, followed by French vanilla. The products have no artificial additives.
Yogurt is made twice a week after stores place their orders, said Eilers. This eliminates returned product. Delivery provided by Bles-Wold keeps the operation in touch with customers.
“Quality is the most important thing, but service is also important to us,” said Bos.
Eilers said she enjoys the work.
“The fun part for me is working with a good team. They are very inspiring and motivated.”
Bles-Wold recently expanded to 270 cows from 220 and has room to grow to 350 if conditions are right. Half the herd is Holstein and the other half has Fleckvieh influence because Bos likes the additional fleshiness and beef quality of the Fleckvieh line. The cows move into milk production easily and the beefiness gives him a higher price for calves.
The cows are milked for six to seven years. Bles-Wold has a double 10 parallel milking parlour where cows are milked three times a day.
It also has added two voluntary milking systems on the other side of the barn, in which cows enter computerized units at will to be milked on their own choice of schedule.
The Lely system is fully computerized and provides data on milk volume per teat and per cow, milk temperature, animal weight, total milk yield and feed consumed while in the stall.
Bos said the cows like to be milked 3.6 times per day on average. One cow enters the milker 20 times per day, seeking the supplement that is offered to attract cows into the stall.
He said the voluntary milking system is part of a plan to reduce workload. His daughter and son-in-law, Martine and Ben Varekamp, are interested in taking over the operation but labour is always an issue.
“To keep the younger generation in farming, you have to find ways to reduce the workload,” he said.
He is generally pleased with the new system but maintenance is key so cows can be milked regularly.
“There’s more to it than I thought there would be,” he said. “I’m not saying there are problems but there’s more maintenance than I thought there would be. You have to stay on top of it.”
The farm grows much of its own feed and buys some from neighbours as needed.
Bos and Eilers have developed a mission statement for their operation that they post on their website: “To provide a comfortable and fun environment for the animals, the employees and owners.”
So far, so good.