Emerson kicks off her annual farm tour Tuesday

U.S. Representative stops in Southeast Missouri counties

MATTHEWS -- U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson kicked off her annual farm tour Tuesday with stops in New Madrid and Stoddard counties.

After visits to the Delta Research Center Field Day in Portageville and the groundbreaking to extend the New Madrid Riverfront walkway, Emerson toured Tiller-Cohen Farms near Matthews.

"I'm fascinated by this," said Emerson, who met with Peter Gaul, chief executive of Tiller Management LP, for an hour Tuesday.

Emerson said part of the reason she wanted to tour the dairy farm was because she wanted to see irrigated pasture land.

"We never irrigate pasture land (in Southeast Missouri). It's a different philosophy, and it's fascinating," Emerson said during the tour.

The Tiller-Cohen dairy farm, which commenced in August 2007, consists of 965 acres located a mile east of Interstate 55's Matthews interchange.

Unlike the traditional, confined dairy, Tiller-Cohen is a pasture-based dairy. Cows are in the pasture 24 hours a day except when in the parlor for milking, which takes place twice a day, said Gaul, who lived in New Zealand before moving to Dexter in 2007.

Gaul said groups of dairy cows, after grazing for a period of time in one area of the farm, are moved to another area of the pasture daily while the grazed areas grow back again over several weeks. The pastures consist of permanent rye grasses and seasonal crops.

"We're trying to nurse the cows back to what they're designed to do. Some of the cows that were put in the field have never been in a field in their life. It's a culture shock for them," Gaul said.

The operation currently milks 1,500 cows twice daily. The farm's milk is supplied to Dairy Farms of America, Gaul said.

The Tiller-Cohen Farm is a U.S.-based limited partnership with a mixture of investors from the United States, New Zealand and Ireland.

The goal is to fully staff the farm with local residents -- something that hasn't been very easy, Gaul said. It's hard to find workers who are experienced with the dynamics of large-herd movement to work on the large scale pasture-based dairy farm, he said.

"We're very serious about the training and development of the dairy," said Gaul.

Gaul discussed with Emerson the shortage of large animal veterinarians in the area and visa issues for businesses. Emerson said she would look into these topics.

Emerson, who is a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee of Agriculture in the U.S. House of Representatives, said the farm tour is just one way she keeps in touch with state-of-the art methods being used to make Southeast Missouri competitive in markets around the world.

"It's important to listen and learn from our producers," Emerson said.

Following her visit at the dairy operation, Emerson made stops at Hamra Hydroponics Farm in Advance and Butler County John Deere Implement in Poplar Bluff.

Emerson's tour will conclude Friday in Cape Girardeau County.