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With these goals in mind we developed a plan to meet more specific goals as they related to our need for expansion…
1. We wanted a facility and an expansion plan that was economical and made sound business sense. We spent a large amount of time budgeting and running cash flow projections. After all, this is a dairy business, and if this project did not cash flow we did not want to make a decision to follow an expansion plan that would compromise the operation.
2. We wanted a facility we could be proud of, a facility that not only looked pleasing to the eye but also maximized comfort for the cows, employees and management. Maximizing cow comfort will increase health and production, while maximizing comfort and efficiency for employees and management will increase productivity and the overall production level of the staff and farm.
3. In keeping with our tradition of being environmentally friendly we wanted to develop facilities that would protect and enhance the environment in which we live. We make our living off this land and live on this land. We drink the water from this land and to pollute it would be harmful to our own personal and family’s health. We also realized that permitting would be required with the cow numbers that we would need. We wanted to be up front and work closely with government agencies to apply and comply with the proper permits. Realizing our proximity to the town of Mercersburg odor was also something that we wanted to seriously address. No one wants to live next to a facility that smells. We want to do everything that is possible to make our facility as odorless as possible.
With these three main goals in mind we set out to develop facilities to achieve these goals…
Meeting our first goal
To achieve our first goal of developing a sound business and cash flow plan, in the summer of 2000, we applied for a grant through the Pennsylvania Dairy Stakeholders for financial assistance in bringing on a neutral party to run cash flow projections. We began working with Purina Mills financial service who ran extensive cash flow projections. We looked at different layouts, site options, facilities, cow numbers, and feeding programs. Continued on next page...
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