Coulee Flats

Background

Case Vandermeulen started in the dairy business in 1991 with 100 cows. Today he’s the owner of Coulee Flats Dairy in Mesa, Washington which milks about 7,000 cows and raises all heifers on site. Making the most out of the interaction between cow, technology and people, Coulee Flats works to maintain consistent routines to keep the cows comfortable. “Keep the routine going,” Vandermeulen says. “Cows are a creature of habit and we try create the same environment day in, day out. If we take care of her she will take care of us.”

Challenges

In addition to maintaining cow comfort, which includes having a good place to live and sleep, lay in a dry spot and staying cool in the summer, Coulee Flats understands that a dairy farm is a 24/7 business and requires 24/7 care but a staff can only put in 8 to 10 hours a day looking after the cows.

System

Utilizing Allflex monitoring systems to look after the cows when everyone goes home for the day gives Vandermeulen a peace of mind he didn’t have before. And in the morning when the staff returns they can start their day with reports generated by the system to know where to attend to first. 

Each cow receives two visual tags for easy identification and an EID tag for quick digital reads. “We can find animals easy. You know, with 400+ cows in a corral it’s really hard to go by a piece of paper and go cow by cow by cow,” Vandermeulen says. “That takes forever so that’s why we use EID.”

Benefits

Comfortable, high-producing cows with a consistent routine and an efficient staff able to treat animals when they need it. 

Reproduction efficiency has significantly increased with Allflex monitoring system as well. 

“Each cow is monitored every day. That gives me peace of mind at night when everybody goes home there’s still somebody watching the cows. That’s, in my opinion, priceless. “

Case Vandermeulen, Owner, Coulee Flats Dairy