Serge Island Dairies, part of the Seprod Group of Companies is investing over $200m in a locally designed, constructed and implemented irrigation system, with the aim of boosting their milk production. Serge Island Dairies sits on over 5,000 acres of land with at present, over 5,000 cows on the St Thomas parish-located property.

“The reason why we are putting in this $200-million irrigation system is to mitigate against the drought that we have been suffering from over the years,” Serge Island general manager, Dr Gavin Bellamy told Jamaica Observer North and East.

Dr Bellamy, while disclosing that Serge Island Dairies is trying to reduce production costs by 25 per cent said that consistent and brutal drought periods have seriously affeced the production of milk over the last four to five years.

Dr Bellamy indicated that with the new irrigation system in place to assist in combating the drought, Seprod is looking to increase the production of milk by 40 per cent.

“We produced nearly seven million litres of milk last year and we are now looking to up it this year. We are trying to increase production to 10 million litres,” Bellamy added.

Approximately 60 per cent of the cows that are milked twice daily on the farms are responsible for 80 to 90 per cent of the milk used in the production of the various milk based products produced at Serge. The remaining 10 to 20 per cent of milk used is provided by small private milk farmers who sell their milk to the Serge Island processing plant.

Dr Bellamy, a Russia-trained veterinarian who took over at Serge Dairies earlier this year believes that the company plays a pivotal role in the economic life of the parish and far beyond.

“We want the small farmers to grow, so too the other players in the industry.

“This provides employment and constant work for many and this is a role we have to play.

“At present, we employ over 400 workers mainly from adjoining communities, plus there is the production side where another 140 plus workers are employed.

“So, it is vital to increase our production and to maintain our costs and that is exactly why we are making this massive investment in the new irrigation system,” Dr Bellamy said.

The Serge Island Dairies’ general manager explained how the new irrigation system works and the impact it will have on the company’s production levels.

“First, we had to build wells which in itself, comes with a very hefty price tag. Water from these wells are pumped through the irrigation system under heavy pressure, which allows for the water to be spewed far and wide in the pastures via thick hoses and finally through what we call a rotating water gun’, which covers a wide area of pasture.

“These rotating water guns are on wheels, meaning we can move them from one pasture, to another. At present just over 1,000 acres are covered by the new system but in time, when all the components of the new system are in place, more acreage will be covered.

“You have to understand that to run a smooth operation here at Serge we must have adequate grass in our pastures for the cows to eat. So we have to be constantly planting the two grass varieties we use, namely the African star and the Mobasa.

“So we plant, we have grass growing in some pastures, plus we make hay,” Dr Bellamy explained.

A typical day on the farm starts early as 3:00 am, with milking at the various milking stations followed by feeding, followed by milking again in the early afternoon, with each cow giving approximately 10 litres of milk per day.

“Milk production from each cow now stands at 10 litres per day. Based not only on the new irrigation system but also on many other factors, including better efficiencies on the farm from every one of our over 400 workers, we are aiming to increase from 10 litres per day, per cow to 15 litres per day, per cow,” Dr Bellamy informed.

At present, the two breeds of cow used by Serge are the Jamaica Hope — which is closely associated with Dr Thomas P Lecky, the legendary Jamaican scientist who revolutionised the local dairy industry with his creation of several outstanding breeds of cattle — while the other breed used by Serge is the Holstein, which originated in Holland.

In addition to producing milk for the Serge Island plant, Bellamy explained that his side of the operations is also involved in the selling of calves.