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Written by: OSCIA provincial office

At Chieftain Dairy Farm, cleanliness and food safety is the highest priority. Sam Loranger is a fifth-generation farmer, milking 100 cows and cropping about 700 acres in New Liskeard, Ontario along with his wife and parents. The family is proud of their role producing and providing safe, clean milk to Ontario consumers. That’s just one of the reasons the Loranger family invested in a new pressure washer for their barn.

“We make food for human consumption, and we take food safety very seriously,” says Loranger. “Our family is accountable to the safety and quality of our milk, and that’s just one of the reasons everything in our barn needs to be spotless and clean.”

The dairy farm was able to purchase a new, more efficient pressure washer with the help of cost-share funding from the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (the Partnership). “Cost-share programs like this one make upgrading our equipment more viable,” says Loranger.  “The online application process was straightforward, and it turned out we were able to purchase a new pressure washer that has improved our cleaning process and our standards.”

Image sourced from Pressure Washer’s Guidebook cleanertimes.com

It’s not an easy job, but Loranger explains that every area of their dairy barn needs to be constantly washed to maintain a high standard of cleanliness. “It’s not a question of what do we need to wash, it’s a question of what don’t we wash in our barn. From milking equipment to floors, and walls to gates, pretty much anything that’s not electronic gets washed to ensure the safety of our milk,” he says. Thanks to the new washing equipment and its ability to heat water while in use, the family’s cleaning regime is now more effective and efficient. “We’re always trying to improve, and the new washer has helped us maintain our high standard of cleanliness. And I can get the job done faster, so that means I can spend time elsewhere on the farm,” says Loranger.

Thanks to a second application to the Partnership, the family was also able to purchase a new minimum till seed drill to seed their field crops and help improve their soil management and conservation efforts. “It’s just better for the soil, and I think we’re even getting higher yields thanks to the improved seeding equipment,” says Loranger. The family is already seeing a difference after only a few seasons using the new seed drill, including fewer passes across the field that have saved time, fuel and reduced soil compaction.

“We’ve had a great experience through this program and encourage other farmers to apply for funding too. These opportunities don’t come along that often, and if farmers don’t apply, they won’t continue to be available,” says Loranger.

The Partnership cost-share funding is administered to producers by the Ontario Soil & Crop Improvement Association. The Canadian Agricultural Partnership is a five-year investment by Canada’s federal, provincial, and territorial governments to encourage innovation, competitiveness, and sustainability in Canada’s agriculture industry.