Valedoorn Farm

A Unique offering for the Cycle Tour:  tour a large-scale, state of the art, commercial dairy farm. This Holstein farm boats a state of the art double twelve milking parlor. See cows, heifers, and calves! And if you’re lucky maybe you’ll even see a cow give birth! Got milk? Drink milk? John Hoogendorn, the farmer co-owns this farm with his brother, Tom. 

BC milk production rates in the top 10 percent of dairy production anywhere in the world.  The Fraser Valley is simply one of the best areas anywhere in the world to produce milk, as it has an ideal climate for cows and for growing the feed that they love to eat.  Also, excellent farming areas often attract great farmers, and the dairy industry in the Fraser Valley is no exception; we have excellent dairy farmers who practice very advanced herd management to ensure each cow is producing at top capacity.  The milk produced per cow is over 10,000 kg per cow on a 305 day or less record (lactation cycle).  This is higher than top US Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) herds that average around 20,000 lbs per cow (9,000 kg), located mainly in Washington, California, Arizona, and better than most other jurisdictions in the world.  The next highest in Canada is Alberta at 9,540 kg. 

Valedoorn Farms ranks as one of the top herds within BC on the DHI index, so here you are experiencing the best of the best.  It is a rare treat to actually see the home of one of these top herds and to meet and talk with the farmer who manages it.  Everything is about the cow on Valedoorn Farms.  John Hoogendorn strives hard to ensure his cows have the utmost in comfort, and are as contented as they can be.  John Hoogendorn pays meticulous attention to his herd management, and as a result, has a very high rating in herd management on the DHI index—you are really learning from an expert here!  The feed quality is also critical to his success, and he also works hard on growing grass and corn to make into the best quality feed, such as silage, for the cows to consume year round.  You will get a first hand explanation of how the feed is processed into sweet, palatable silage when you see this farm, and see his impressive bunker silos that store his feed year round.  And we can’t forget the milking parlour—here is a state of the art milk parlour that milks 24 cows at once.  You will get to see how clean and how efficient these modern systems are, and see how much information is gathered about the cow, her health, the amount of milk she is producing, etc. at each milking. 

Dairy farming is a cornerstone of food production in the Fraser Valley.  It is very important for the whole agriculture production system as it anchors several types of businesses that supply all farmers, such as machinery businesses, feed businesses, veterinarians, etc.  The dairy farms in the Fraser Valley are all family-run businesses, many are in their third, fourth and fifth generation, and have accumulated all the pride that goes with their history.  The milk-shed in Agassiz supplies British Columbians with about 1/6th of the milk they consume and is one of the main agriculture commodities in the district. 

For more information, call John Hoogendorn or email him at
.
604.819.0396