Family Farm Story - Cohen Jacob & Sons Farm
Farm name: Cohen Jacob & Sons Farm
Type of parlor: Parallel parlor 12X2 (with an option for 16X2).
Type of parlour/Equipment: AfiLite milk meters, AfiWeigh and AfiSort.
Number of heads: 230 dairy cows and heifers, and 400 beef cattle
Details
Owners: Cohen family- grandfather Jacob Cohen and his three sons: Michael, Baruch and Eli.
Breed of cows: Holstein cows.
Number of milkings per day: 3 milkings per day.
Quote
"afimilk is a home, all the way through, there was and there is a listening, caring cooperation and someone to talk to."
Farm Story
Moshav Patish is located in the southern Negev, west of the town of Ofakim. It was established in 1950. Cohen's family - Jacob, Noseret and the two eldest sons, immigrated to Israel from Kurdistan in 1950 and first settled in a temporary camp accommodation in Pardes Hana. Later, the family was sent to Moshav Patish. It was a difficult period for the family, it was a remote area, a tiny village surrounded with wilderness. Each family that arrived to the Moshav received an "agency cow" (Jewish Agency) and a plot of land for agriculture. When the one cow calved, the family took care of the calf inside the house together with the family. Otherwise, the calf would have got lost. Step by step, the number of cows grew. The burden of taking care of the cows and the farm fell on the mother Noseret and her son Michael, because the Jacob father was working at a very demanding job - he was away from Sunday and returned home at the week's end.
As the number of cows grew, two milking stalls jars were built. By the mid 70's a new parlor was built which enabled the farmer to milk about 70 cows at once, it had 6 milking points with jars. The major change began in the late 90's, with the beginning of the Agricultural Ministry's milk reform plan. By that time the family could purchase a milk quota and increase the number of cows in the farm to the current number.
In 2000 they bought a new AfiMilk system which included Heat Detection. The decision was based on recommendations of farmers from the area. In 2007 they built a 24 stall parallel parlor with an option to upgrade to 32 stalls, putting in all the latest technology, including weighing and sorting systems. In addition to the dairy farm, there is also a place for fattening calves, where both the farm's calves and new calves they buy are being raised.
Today the farm is managed by Yigal Cohen who is a third generation of the founders of the Moshav.
Annual milk production averages
Milking yield yearly per cow: 11,500 liters a cow.
Milking yield average per head: 32-38 liters a day depending on seasonal changes.
Herd Management
The herd management is done with Afifarm and Noa, although Yigal has only used the program for a few months and still feels that he is learning, he knows that now his control of the farm is much better. He can always know if all the cows where milked, know about udder infections, check on his milkers' performance and so forth.
In addition, thanks to AfiMilk's program conception rates have improved, milk quality is better and the amount of liters which each cow produces went up by 2-3 liters in 3 months. The health of the cows (early detection of udder infections and ketosis) has improved dramatically.
Customer Service
One of the reasons for buying afimilk®'s system was the quality of the service and the relationship with the service man. The farm manager is very pleased with his improvements, the system, the parlor and the management program.
