Oak Ridge Dairy details harvest operations, A2 milk shift and new packaging plans

Seth Baylor, chief executive officer of Oak Ridge Dairy in Ellington, discussed the farm’s seasonal operations and product expansion during an interview on the Town of Ellington show. He described silage harvest schedules, equipment investments, steps to process milk through the Modern Milkman distribution network, and plans for new packaging and retail distribution.

Baylor said Oak Ridge farms roughly 3,000 acres and that corn silage season began the day before the interview. “We usually bring around 1,200 to 1,500 loads in a 10 day window,” he said, describing the chopping and storage process used to preserve whole plants for cattle feed. He added the farm will combine about 500 acres this year, leaving some corn seed in the field to be harvested later.

The scale of equipment for that work is substantial, Baylor said: a corn chopper recently purchased cost about $680,000, with the header attachment about $200,000, “so you’re close to a million dollars,” he said. Baylor noted those machines are used intensively…