75¢ COLBY Monday November 30, 2009 Volume 120, Number 186 Serving Thomas County since 1888 8 pages FFREEREE PPRESSRESS Family dairy marks 10 years in Rexford By Vera Sloan like being able to see forever.” Colby Free Press “We had no qualm about com- [email protected] ing here, so we sold the cows, the equipment, and the nonproductive For some of us, it might be a land in Pennsylvania, and basic- dream come true to live in rural ally just started from scratch once Pennsylvania and see the Susque- we got here. That was 10 years hanna River from your kitchen ago, in 1999, and by April of 2000 window — but not so if you’re a we were milking.” dairy-farming family needing to Today, sons Clay and Tom are expand. at the Rexford dairy, Mike is at That’s a scene the Tom and the newer Bird City location and Judy McCarty family was willing David does consulting for dairies to give up when they discovered and manages a dairy in the Syra- their sons wanted to carry on the cuse area. family tradition in dairy farming. Pennsylvania’s loss was a wel- The family had to expand to come gain for northwest Kansas, bring four sons into the opera- bringing jobs and income to the tion, and space wasn’t available area and students to the Golden in Pennsylvania. The winters were Plains School District. bad, and land to expand a dairy Pennsylvania has several milk- was practically nonexistent, Judy marketing cooperatives, she said, said. but here they are by default cap- The family had read about lo- tives of the Dairy Farmers of cations in Kansas in several dairy America cooperative. Still, she publications, and a friend of theirs said, Kansas has more opportuni- who had been to the state encour- ties for information and knowl- aged them to investigate the op- edge. portunities here. The McCartys, who milked The youngest son, Tom, was in about 150 cows back east, began school at Kansas State University, their dairy just west of Rexford and liked it, Judy McCarty said, milking 750 cows. Today it has so they came to northwest Kansas grown to 1,541, with 40 more to looking for an area with enough be added before the end of the land to build, along with land to year. grow what they needed for their The milking schedule is three VERA SLOAN/Colby Free Press cows. times a day, 50 cows at a time, Workers carefully and skillfully clean each cow that comes in County. The dairy has 1,541 cows in production and plans to add “On our first trip to Thomas Judy said. The milking parlor to the milking parlor at the McCarty Dairy in eastern Thomas 40 more before the end of the year. County, we knew we had to be holds 25 cows on each side. The here,” said Judy. “The weather is parlor floor is raised to make it the udders and hook up the milk- into a walkway that leads them to Fifty cows create a lot of heat bies from just days old to weaning so much better here, we like the easier on the workers, so that they ers. the lock stanchions. They put their in the summer, so cool water mis- at around eight weeks. The baby wide open spaces, and we really don’t have to bend over to clean The cows enter through a gate heads through the stanchions, ters are turned on to keep the cows calves are fed milk from cows which automatically snap shut. comfortable in the enclosed barn. who are being treated with antibi- Three workers clean udders, spray Tanker trucks from the co-op otics, since it can’t be saved and them with disinfectant and hook come about every eight to 10 hours sold. The process equates to good up the milking machines. to pick up the milk from storage economics, Judy said, saving the When the milking is finished, tanks, which can hold 7,000 gal- cost of commercial milk replacer. the cows are each treated with teat- lons. Production records are kept Bull calves are fed colostrum tip protection, the locks release on each cow, Judy said, and each for a couple of days and then are and cows step to freedom, with one gets a health check once a sold. 50 more right behind them. Like month with the newest cutting- “Cows are generally kept clockwork, it’s clean, spray, strip, edge technology. through three or four lactations treat. The whole process, from The family and crew of 20 em- before they are replaced,” Judy the time the cows step through ployees do everything from arti- said, “but the first cow to freshen the gate, takes about 12 minutes. ficial insemination to cesarean- here just left us about a week ago. They can process five “turns” an section deliveries. Insemination We had gotten rather attached to hour, Clay McCarty said, equating is calculated to produce female her.” to 250 cows an hour. calves to join the milking herd. Clay said building the heifer Why milk every eight hours? “We buy mostly gender semen,” yard this year was a good thing, The production just seems to stay said Clay McCarty, son of Tom because right now they are rais- up better when they’re milked ev- and Judy. “Because we’re raising ing replacement stock for the fam- ery eight hours, Judy said. our own replacement heifers, we ily’s second dairy at Bird City, and Every morning at 6:30 and ev- can justify to cost of the more ex- have 3,100 head in the yard. But, VERA SLOAN/Colby Free Press ery evening at 6:30, the milking pensive semen, because the preg- he said, a lot of their success lies Row upon row of baby calves wait to be transferred to the heifer yard at the McCarty Dairy near parlor and equipment is thorough- nancies turn out to be around 90 in good employees. Rexford as a part of the replacement heifer program at the dairy. They will leave the calf huts when ly washed and cleaned to be ready percent heifer calves.” they reach 3 months old and are eating three to five pounds of grain a day. for the next shift to begin at 7. Over 450 calf huts house the ba- See “DAIRY,” Page 3 Moore’s departure leaves uncertain race Police searching By John Milburn their eggs into one basket and focus on (GOP Gabby Adler of the Democratic Congres- Associated Press Writer freshman Congresswoman) Lynn Jenkins and sional Campaign Committee, said she doesn’t concentrate on helping Laura Kelly,” said Tom think the party should fear losing the seat just TOPEKA — Whether he intended to or not, Erickson of the National Republican Congres- yet. She notes that most analysts consider the for jail escapee when Rep. Dennis Moore announced that he sional Committee. “Now they have to start district a “toss up” despite Republicans hav- A prisoner from the Rawlins through the buildings, but the was retiring from Congress, he shook the Kan- raising money for the 3rd.” ing an advantage in voter registration. Moore County jail escaped Monday grade school office said students sas political landscape for the next year. Jenkins, the former state treasurer, won the carried the race by 16 points in 2008, and it while at the Colby Medical and were not locked down. Moore, the state’s lone Democrat in Con- 2nd District seat over Democrat Nancy Boyda was the only district in Kansas that President Surgical Center on Range Ave- Three teachers on playground gress, announced he would not seek a seventh last year. Jenkins faces her first re-election Barack Obama won. nue, near the Colby Middle and duty reported they had not seen term representing the 3rd Congressional Dis- challenge from Kelly, a Democrat state senator “This is the type of moderate suburban dis- Grade schools. anything. Later, officers ex- trict in northeast Kansas. from Topeka who joined the race this fall. trict that we have done well in,” Adler said. Crystal Hatfield, charged with panded the search, checking His decision had a ripple effect, causing “I think the environment has shifted favor- Even if Jenkins wins another term, there will arson, apparently escaped about around Walmart, Colby Com- Democrats to look to their bench for a replace- ably toward Republicans,” Erickson said. be plenty of turnover in the Kansas delegation. 11:45 a.m. while being escorted munity College and highways ment who could fill his fiscal conservative, Moore had served in Congress for 10 years, Two Republican incumbents are giving up by a Rawlins County sheriff’s out of town. At 1 p.m., the moderate shoes. It also gave Republicans who elected in 1998 when he knocked off incum- their seats to vie for the Senate vacancy left by deputy. Hatfield was wearing search continued and Hatfield were considering a run at the nomination but bent Republican Vince Snowbarger. In each Sam Brownback. He’s retiring to run for gov- an orange shirt and jeans with was still at large. were unsure if it was worth their time plenty subsequent re-election, he’s been able to build ernor and is considered the front-runner. holes in them, dispatchers said. According to the Rawlins of reason to reconsider. his margins against Republican challengers, in- Rep. Jerry Moran, a Republican in the 1st Colby Police joined the County Square Deal, Hatfield, And analysts say it may have given Republi- cluding former Attorney General Phill Kline.