(La Porte County, IN) - An investment by a dairy farm in La Porte County paid off again during the recent heavy winter storm as shown by cows, headed for milking, no longer slipping and falling on a snow and sometimes ice-covered surface.

           

Eko Acres, located near Rolling Prairie, had two new barns constructed and connected with an existing barn in 2020.

 

Mike Ekovich, who operates the family-owned farm at 1752 N. 350 East, said the cows are now able to remain indoors and stay sure-footed while being escorted to the milking barn under the same roof. Previously, the cows were housed in separate barns and had to be walked along an outdoor concrete surface to the indoor milking station. He explained how the concrete walkways outside, after a frozen precipitation event, had to be plowed, if not had salt and sand applied so as to help the bovine animals maintain traction.

 

"That’s no longer the worry around here,” he said.

Eckovich noted that it wasn’t uncommon for a dairy cow weighing 1,300 pounds or more to be seriously hurt from slipping and falling, explaining how the cows that didn’t have to be put down would be hoisted up with a lifting device and taken back to a barn to see if they could mend while manually being fed and given water to drink.

 

He also said tending to cows injured in slip-and-fall accidents took time away from running the operation efficiently, plowing snow after a storm in a timely manner for tanker trucks coming for milk, and semis delivering feed to get in and out of the farm without delays.

 

During the recent storm, Ekovich said none of his cows were injured due to having an indoor and dry concrete surface to walk on.  The only extra work was removing snow for delivery trucks to get in.

 

“It was just like a normal day other than plowing the driveways out and stuff like that,” he said.

 

The farm uses a tractor with a 12-inch wide plow on it, along with three payloaders to move snow.

 

The lake effect bands produced as much as 30 inches or more of snow in Michigan City and the immediate rural areas. Snow accumulations were closer to 20 inches in La Porte and its surrounding communities, while lesser but still heavy amounts were reported in places like Rolling Prairie, New Carlisle, and Mill Creek.

 

Ekovich said there was about a foot of snow with just light winds at his farm, which milks about 1,000 cows and keeps another 400 or so young cows to milk when they’re ready to do so in the future.

 

He said plowing is probably the biggest concern now after a winter storm with tankers coming typically every 18 hours for milk.  Ekovich said he tries to keep a five or six-day supply of feed before another order arrives.

 

“It’s a different experience now. Before, you dreaded the cold weather. Now, it’s not quite such a tiresome event,” he said.