by Trisha Ingalls
IRASBURG — Milking time is play time for the Holsteins at Nelson Dairy Farm on Route 14 in Irasburg. That’s because the Nelson family has made major investments to upgrade their dairy farm — including the addition of a massive rotating milking parlor the cows ride on — so it can keep pace with modern milking practices and sustain the family business into the future.
Standing by the side of the road in front of the huge new barn and milking parlor, Dylan Nelson, the third generation of his family to work on the farm, said just two years ago the entire area was a cornfield.
“My grandfather [Doug Nelson] started Nelson Farms, Inc., a long time ago with 13 cows,” he said. “He started farming on his own, was a large farm back in the ’80s. Back when nobody else was really that size he was milking 2,000 cows even back then. His kids went into farming, at least his sons did, and their kids’ kids, which would be me. I’m a third generation here.”
The family was milking cows at four different dairy facilities, all of which were outdated….
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