EDMONTON — The Crozier family has been on the same farm for 120 years and has always been willing to change and adapt.
Owned by Leonard, Jason and Brett Crozier, Cheslen Dairies west of Edmonton was among the first in Alberta to adopt robotic milkers.
As a result, it wasn’t a stretch for the farm to say yes when it was asked to test ProAction, a wide-ranging sustainability program initiated by Dairy Farmers of Canada.
Quality milk, animal welfare, environmental care, biosecurity and food safety modules are being introduced over time with standard operating procedures set down for every aspect of a modern dairy.
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“All this stuff is good for a farmer. It is a lot of extra paperwork and it takes more time, but consumers want to know where their food is coming from and they want people to be environmental stewards, so we have to give them what they want,” Jason Crozier told a tour group hosted by Dairy Farmers of Canada.
“It is a lot of common sense.”
Like many farmers, he wants a program with consistent operating procedures so that everyone takes the same approach.
“If we can make a template that is easier for the farmers, it is not so time consuming,” he said.
“There is nothing in the standard operating procedures that you shouldn’t be doing.”
The farm has introduced a computer network that monitors the operation from a smartphone, an environmental farm plan and new guidelines for animal care such as pain treatment for procedures such as dehorning.
“It is a changing dynamic and everybody has to get on board with it,” Crozier said.
Animal traceability is the newest component in ProAction. It requires a double ear tagging system and records filed with the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency.
Every animal must receive two tags by the time it is seven days old. Bull calves that are leaving the farm can wear the yellow button radio frequency identification tag from the CCIA.
The tag has an electronic component embedded with a unique 15 digit identifying number attached to a plastic dangle tag. One is in-serted to face forward and the other is backward.
The last four numbers of the identifier are visible on the dangle tag so they can be read at any time.
The Croziers attempt to tag their heifers within hours of birth. They receive an extra yellow management tag once they are bred to ensure that their 170 milking cows are well identified.
They also use the tagging system to activate robotic feeders with a panel reader that identifies the individual and determines how much feed it can have.
The traceability component also requires a premise identification number, and nearly all dairies have complied, said Melissa Lalonde of Dairy Farmers of Canada, who handles traceability within the ProAction program.
“We are at 99 percent compliance in Canada. That is the highest level of compliance of the commodity groups,” said Lalonde.
Tagging is proceeding well partly because all the breed associations want the animals to wear two tags as part of the registration process.
“The herd right now is 75 percent dual tagged already,” she said.
Double tagging is mandatory by Sept. 1, although it is already mandatory in Quebec.
