National Grid : Milk Money

Nathan Mitchell, John Mueller and National Grid's Jay Snyder show off a new plate cooler, which is used to chill milk.
As the Bloomfield dairy farm continues to grow, they will continue working together to determine oportunities for energy effciency incentives.

Every year, Willow Bend LLC in Bloomfield, N.Y. produces what seems like an infinite supply of milk.

One might even say that they can make milk until the cows come home ... and even then, it appears that milk will flow long after they've arrived and are settled.

That's because in May, 800 cows moved from Willow Bend-owned farms in nearby Manchester and Hopewell to their new digs in Bloomfield. They're being added to a plush, state-of-the-art milking operation that results from company growth and a $12.5 million expansion that increased cow headcount from 1,000 to 1,800.

Willow Bend Partner John Mueller said that the expansion - made necessary because of increased demand by regional manufacturers of cheese, yogurt, butter and other products - was aided by National Grid energy efficiency and economic development programs.

"National Grid has been a great partner in our expansion," Mueller said. "Working with them has been a game-changer."

Mueller said that shortly after his father began growing beans, wheat, vegetables and grains in 1957, they began milking cows at the home farm in Manchester. Since Willow Bend acquired the Bloomfield site in 2016, the company has been continually implementing its modernization strategy.

"Equipment there had become outdated and needed to be upgraded," said Mueller, who added that since 2016, Willow Bend has built three new barns. More recently, construction began on a fourth barn that should be completed by the end of this year.

Beyond those, Mueller has plans for one additional barn that could house up to 3,000 cows. However, in recent months the No. 1 goal was to provide for the 800 new Bloomfield cows a streamlined, more efficient operation that includes extra land, new equipment, and increased feed storage at the three farms that employs around 90 people and produces around 130 million lbs. of milk - approximately 15.1 million gallons - every year.

To make its expansion vision a reality, Willow Bend worked with Auburn, N.Y.-based Complete Dairy Service LLC, which works with New York dairy farmers who have a range of needs that can include installing fans that keep cows cool to providing plumbing, milk harvesting, electrical equipment, and building barns from the ground up.

For the Willow Bend project, Complete Dairy's Nathan Mitchell worked with National Grid Energy Efficiency Specialist Jay Snyder on a variety of aspects, including how the new facility would be organized and how equipment would be arranged. Over the years, Mitchell has become aware of the variety of programs that National Grid offered.

"Jay is a great coach; he's able to identify items that could be eligible for incentives," Mitchell said. "The list of what might be eligible for incentives is always evolving, and Jay kept in touch with us to look at ways to take advantage of incentives."

Added Snyder, "The farm earned around $100,000 in energy efficiency incentives for new fans, a chiller, plate cooler, lighting and variable frequency drives on pumps."

Mitchell and Snyder continue to work to determine other incentives that may be available for elements of the expansion, a task that's become challenging since changes in product offerings and technology occur so frequently.

The new parlor design includes a carousel, above, that can milk up to 450 cows per hour, an increase from 250 under Willow Bend's previous setup.

"Compared to our old facility, the new stalls are better ventilated and therefore cooler, making it more comfortable for the cows," Mueller said. "The expectation is that if the cow is happy and content, we become more efficient, the cost per cow should decrease while milk production increases."

Mueller is grateful for Snyder and National Grid Lead Economic Development Representative Mary Grace Welch for their roles to achieve the farm's goals. In addition to energy efficiency incentives, Welch said that National Grid provided a $300,000 economic development grant, through the company's Three-Phase Power Incentive program.

"The Three-Phase Power Incentive program was developed for small business and agribusiness customers whose growth may be limited due to lack of three-phase power at their sites, which often are located in rural areas," Welch said. "The program funds extensions of three-phase electricity service for customers like Willow Bend who are expanding their operations."

National Grid's economic development programs align with the goals of the company's Project C initiative, which was developed to create positive change in communities served by the company. In addition to customers and those who create or support economic development initiatives National Grid - through Project C - partners with charity and other organizations, fosters employee volunteering and provides communities with grants to support social, economic and environmental development.

And with new buildings in place, and more cows producing more milk than ever, the future looks bright in Bloomfield. As for that future, Mueller said that he and Welch will discuss how other National Grid economic development programs may be available for the newer projects that he and Mitchell have planned.

"Jay and Mary Grace made it easy for us; they've gone above and beyond to make sure that we can invest and grow in Western New York," he said.