On October 27th, we had the privilege of visiting Kitzel farm. Kitzel Farm is family owned since 1950s. It is broken up into parcels because there is not enough space to have everything to be contiguous. In addition to their land in Surrey, they receive their alfalfa silage for the cows from Kamloops which is their parent’s ranch, says Casey Kitzel. The Kitzel farm is quite developed and have many improved systems in place. For example, open ditches and installation of tiling pipes are used to remove water off the fields in order to avoid excess of moisture in the soil (C. Kitzel, personal communications). This is done to avoid the loss of crops. The primary role of crops grown on Kitzel farm is for feed for cows (Fortin, personal communication).…show more content… The alfalfa silage which is particularly rich in energy and protein is transported from a parent ranch on a different farm in Kamloops (C. Kitzel, personal communications) which is why expenses must be made for transportation.
#5: In addition to feed quality, the comfort of the cows are particularly important in health of the cows which directly affects milk production (Shannon Kitzel, personal communication). The Kitzel farmers do their best to provide their cows the best shelter they could by providing them big and spacious stalls, soft bedding, clean environment as well as a high ceiling to maintain airflow.
#6: Since the Kitzel farmers don’t have the room capacity on their farm to raise calves, they are sold after 3 months (W. Kitzel, personal communication) which generates a revenue. In addition, Female cows who can no longer produce milk because they are old and/or ill are sold at auctions along with bulls (W. Kitzel, personal communication).
#7: Manure needs to be stored properly on Kitzel farm because of the limitation due to rainfall. Which means that the manure is stored in a manure pit when it can’t be applied to avoid
