By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
MANSFIELD — U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy visited the Telaak Family Farm in Mansfield Friday to promote the 2024 Farm Bill, a $1.5 trillion package of legislation designed to fund federal agriculture programs over the next five years.
Langworthy, a freshman member of the House Agriculture Committee, said he fought for several programs vital to Western New York and Southern Tier agriculture.
The bipartisan bill drew support from four Democratic members of the committee, he said. It passed out of the committee on a 33-21 vote.
Langworthy said one piece of legislation he sponsored that is included in the Farm Bill is the Dairy Pricing Opportunity Act, which will add transparency to milk pricing. It also includes a provision to revert to a previous pricing system more favorable to dairy farmers. The Dairy Forward pricing plan is also included in the House bill.
Mike Telaak, a partner in the farm and Cattaraugus County Farm Bureau president, and his wife, Kim, and uncle Don Telaak gave Langwiorthy a tour of the farm. Don Telaak’s wife, Lynn and his brother Dave and his wife Joyce were away from the farm.
Mike Telaak said the farm currently milks about 350 cows with robotic milkers. They are planning a new 120-cow facility less than a mile away that would have two more robots.
The robots milk cows 24/7. Some cows go through the milkers as many as five times a day. All this activity plus the quality and quantity of milk is measured by computer every day.
The robot milkers show up for work every day and never take vacations. They go through a daily one-hour cleaning cycle.
There are about 100 dry cows, or ones that are not currently milking.
The farm breeds not only for a replacement herd, but for a crossbreed with an Angus beef gene that will be sold to beef farmers. The calves can bring $800 instead of $200.
Mike Telaak said construction of the new 120-cow barn will begin soon and be completed this fall. It will be a world class dairy facility, he said.
The current milking barn has robots to scrape up cow manure. The new barn will have a vacuum to do the job more cleanly.
Everything is aimed at cow comfort. Fans keep the cows cool during hot summer days. There are sprinklers to cool them off further if necessary. They have comfortable rubber mats to sleep on. Robots push their food closer to them each hour.
His wife said the farm has enough land to support the additional 120 cows. The new barn is designed to be expanded. “We’re just trying to make it a better environment for the cows,” she said. In turn, the cows stay healthier and produce more milk.
Langworthy also touted Farm Bill provisions he sponsored that would:
- Reauthorize USDA Distance Learning and Rural Tele-Health programs.
- Creating the Access to Rural Employment and Education for Resilience and Success (CAREERS) Act, which supports rural career pathways to aid agribusiness.
- The Making Agricultural Products Locally Essential (MAPLE) Act, which adds maple syrup to the list of eligible products under the Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program.
- The Supporting App Producers (SAP) Act, which supports research and education related to maple sap production.
- The Grape Research and Protection Expansion (GRAPE) Act, which will help hard-hit grape farmers in the Lake Erie Grape Belt where an April frost caused major damage.
