Family Togetherness and Dedication run Gro-Lan Farm

Name: Jeff Grove

Family: Wife Linda; daughters Emily, Laura and Renee; and son Caleb

Location: Franklin County, Pa.

Dairy Operation:

Jeff Grove and his brother, Jay, are partners in Gro-Lan Farm located in Franklin County, Pa. The farm is distinctly marked by three large silos, one of which bears a cross, an icon of the family's values. This dairy operation runs on family togetherness, with a strong dedication to community.

The 370-acre farm has been in the Grove family for three generations. Both Jeff and Jay work in partnership in hopes of someday seeing their children continue the family business. Jeff oversees the employee needs, scheduling and equipment maintenance, while Jay manages record-keeping and finances.

The Groves grow approximately 100 acres of hay and 260 acres of corn. The remaining acreage is used for other grasses and grains, all of which is used to feed the animals on the farm. A total mixed ration (TMR) of corn, hay and minerals that is balanced by a nutritionist is fed twice a day from a large portable mixer wagon.

By having a closed herd - meaning they do not purchase any animals off the farm - the Groves avoid introducing potential diseases to the herd. The herd is made up of 200 milking cows and 250 young stock and dry cows. All breeding is done artificially by a Genex Cooperative technician, who comes every morning and sometimes again in the afternoon.

At 2:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., 200 cows make their way to the rotary milking parlor. Resembling a carousel, this rotating parlor holds a total of eight cows at one time. As one cow enters the parlor to be milked, another one leaves. According to Jeff Grove, one person can operate the parlor, but it is more convenient with two.

"The major restriction is that we put this parlor in 33 years ago when it was state of the art," Grove said. "We are now outgrowing its capacity."

The milk is pumped to a 3,000-gallon bulk tank, where it is cooled to below 40 degrees Fahrenheit before the Land O' Lakes tanker truck picks it up every other day.

Facility and Operation:

The Grove brothers decided a few years ago to expand the operation. They built a new barn with an emphasis on cow comfort, efficiency and longevity. The cows have been in the new 216-stall barn complete with soft, comfortable mattresses for more than a year.

"We made a huge investment when we built the larger facility to have cow comfort," Grove said. "We could have kept going the way we were, but the children wouldn't have had the opportunity to come back to the farm."

To keep the cows and stalls clean and dry, the barn floor is slatted, allowing manure and waste to drop through to a large pit below. The pit holds up to 1.5 million gallons, or nine months worth, of manure.

Family and Community: Milking at 2:30 p.m. allows the Groves to attend community meetings and school functions in the evenings, which usually start at 7 p.m. This also ensures time to sit down for family meals, often prepared by Grove's great aunt, Ester.

"Sitting down to eat family meals, usually at lunchtime, is really important to us," Grove said. "We eat really well here, thanks to Linda (Jeff's wife) and Aunt Ester, with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and other well-balanced foods."

The most impressive part of Gro-Lan Farm is not the new 216-stall barn or the immaculately clean and cow-comfortable facility, but rather the strong sense of family, togetherness and dedication to community.

"A lot of our best conversations happen during milking time," Grove said.

The Groves find it important to get away from the farm, encouraging everyone to get away even for a short weekend.

"We call it recharging your batteries," Grove said. "As a family, we like to get away on Sundays, that's just how this family operates."

Grove and his wife, Linda, are actively involved with their local church, serving as Sunday school teachers. Jeff is also a director of their church's Christian Retreat Summer Camp. In addition, he has served as a delegate for Genex and as vice president for the Franklin County Land Preservation Board. He serves on the nominating committee for AgChoice Farm Credit and on Pennsylvania Farm Bureau legislative committee.

Grove is a member of Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association's Dairy Farmer Spokesperson Network and is an advocate for dairy promotion. The entire family has been involved with dairy promotion in some capacity. Daughter Emily is a former Franklin County Dairy Princess and Pennsylvania Alternate Dairy Princess, and daughter Laura is currently a Franklin County Alternate Dairy Princess.

"We need to blow our own horn, because if we don't do it no one is going to do it for us," Grove said of promoting milk. "More exposure of dairy leads to more sales, which will generate right back to the farm."

National Attention:

Recently, the Groves acted as the host family to President George W. Bush at the annual Pennsylvania FFA Summer Convention at the Pennsylvania State University. Grove recalled the screening process as highly confidential, receiving limited information in the two weeks leading up to the convention.

"Although President Bush did not come here to our farm, we were asked to represent Pennsylvania as the host family," Grove said. "The fact that both my daughters, Emily and Laura, were both past FFA state officers may have had something to do with being selected."

Grove described his one-on-one conversation with the president, saying that Mr. Bush was very interested in the issues that Pennsylvania agriculture faces.

"When I met with the president, we talked about all sorts of different things. He asked about our farm, my family and agricultural issues," Grove said. "I tried to think of the single most important issue facing the industry as a whole that would represent everyone so I asked the president, 'Can we have a future for the next generation to farm?'"