The Hilmar experience

If you take a trip to California and find yourself surrounded by thousands of little, curious brown cows, you know you’ve entered Hilmar country. This past week Hoard’s staff had a chance to visit Hilmar and some of the dairies that make up Hilmar Cheese Company, which annually produces more cheese from one site than any other manufacturer in the world.

We visited the Charles Ahlem Ranch, owned and operated by Chuck and Mark Ahlem, where 5,000 Jersey cows make their home. This farm features a 50-cow rotary parlor with a robotic postdipping system, and also uses RFID implants in the rear leg to track the animals. The Ahlem Ranch has been a pioneer farm in the dairy industry making use of cutting edge technology such as the robotic postdipper, RFID implants, running a stationary TMR mixer, and being ahead of the game in environmental stewardship.

Chuck is one of the founders of the producer-started Hilmar Cheese Company, which averages nearly two million pounds of cheese made per day.

We also had a chance to visit with the Hilmar farm interns who are scattered across different operations throughout the area. These interns are learning the ins and outs of large-scale farming and are hoping to take home management skills and professional relationships that they can use in the future. Look for more information on the Hilmar internship program in an upcoming Young Dairyman article.