Living the dream

MONTEZUMA, Ga. — Growing up in the Bronx did not prevent Pete Gelber from following his interest and becoming a co-owner of Barrington Dairies in Georgia.

“When I was a kid, my father bought this cabin in upstate New York next to a dairy farm and we used to go up there every summer,” Gelber said. “My older brother started working on it and I thought I’d follow after him. That’s how I got interested in (dairy farming).”

Gelber, along with his son, Richard, and business partner, Andre Coen, co-own and operate a 13,400-cow dairy. The Holsteins are milked three times a day in three parlors: a 120-stall rotary parlor, a double-42 parallel parlor and a double-35 parallel parlor. Richard manages crops, irrigation and engineering on the farm. Coen is a veterinarian and manages the cows. Gelber and his partners employ around 200 people.

The heifers are grouped in outside pens and the cows are in freestall barns. The barns are bedded with sand, with an open side, sprinklers and fans to keep the cattle cool in the summer amid high heat indexes. Even with the heat in summer, the dairy maintains a herd average of 29,300 pounds of milk.

“It sounds like an airport around here with the fans,” Gelber said.

At Barrington Dairies, milk is directly loaded into 25 tankers every day, with each tanker holding 50,000 pounds of milk. Milk is shipped through Dairy Farmers of America.

The cattle are fed a total mixed ration consisting of corn and wheat silage, grain corn, soybean meal, wet brewer’s grain, cotton seed and distiller’s grain. Most of the corn silage and all the small grain products are grown at the farm.

Gelber and his crew farm around 10,000 acres, with fields ranging from 300 acres in size to 1,000 acres. With the area’s climate, they can get in a three-crop rotation each year.

In March, corn is planted and then taken off in July and early August. Millet follows, with harvest in October. Wheat is planted for winter. The corn silage and millet are stored in bunkers and the wheat silage is in bags.

“We are very persnickety about our (forage) care,” Gelber said. “As we are filling (the bunker) we cover it every day. They come and fill 60 feet; we cover 60 feet.”

All acres are irrigated to prevent the corn from burning in the summer.

“With the climate down here, the peaches freeze in the spring, the corn burns up in the summer and the (University of Georgia) Bulldogs used to lose to the (University of Florida) Gators in the fall, but they beat them now,” Gelber said.

Barrington Dairies does a lot of their work themselves, something Gelber was used to from his start on the dairy back in New York.

“It was a 30-cow dairy, so I did it all,” Gelber said. “I pitched out the silo, ran the barn cleaner chain and bedded cows with a pitchfork. It had hard work built right into it.”

Gelber earned a degree in animal science and a minor in ag business. He started working for a dairy in western New York owned by Ron St. John. When St. John moved to Florida to dairy, Gelber went with him as a herdsman.

Over the years he was promoted. St. John bought two Georgia dairies and Gelber was given stock in them. By 2007, Gelber was a 10% partner and had moved to Georgia to manage the dairies. Gelber bought out his partners in 2013 to secure his first dairy herd.

“I’ve always enjoyed all the different hats I wear,” Gelber said. “I enjoy the science part of it. I’ve always been naturally good with people, and I like that I’ve been able to surround myself with good people to do the things I’m not good at.”

The people he surrounded himself with over the years are who he gives credit for enabling his accomplishments.

“I had really good parents that had really good values,” Gelber said “I’ve been able to surround myself with people who are good and stick around for a long time. We have a good culture.”