Wilkridge Farm becomes first in Eastern Ontario with GEA Monobox automated milking system
Ken, '81 Kemptville grad, and his wife Peggy Wilkes of Wilkridge Farm in Fournier say they are too young to quit farming. Ken is 54 and his wife is a year younger. Many of their friends have begun to retire but the Wilkes aren’t ready for that. Instead the opted to invest $2.3 million and construct a new state-of- the -art dairy barn. This will enable them to expand operations and increase yields.
With their former barn they didn’t have the space to milk more cows.” Unless we build, we can’t get more milk quota to grow,” said Ken
They decided to go with a GEA Monobox automated milking system because it requires the least amount of manpower and what they considered to be the best conditions for their cows. It is the first of its kind to be installed in Eastern Ontario.
The barn constructed and designed by Lawrence Dairy Supplies ( Mark McGrath ‘82 Kemptville grad) is 75 feet wide and 289 feet long.
There will be an Open Barn on Saturday Dec. 2nd , where you will be able to see the new facility.
Ken and Peggy purchased the dairy farm from Ken’s parents, Orville and Marie Wilkes in 1992 and have continued to expand and improve their farm. This is another success story of a Kemptville College grad!
