Dairy farming is a long family tradition for the Broekhuizens. The most recent chapter is unfolding in Essa township. About eight years ago, the Broekhuizens moved to Canada from their home in the Netherlands.

Originally running a dairy farm in Europe, the Broekhuizens left because expanding cities were putting increased strain on farmland.

"We've been a dairy family for generations and our son and daughter were interested (in farming)," said Henk Broekhuizen.

With increased urbanization putting the future of their operation in the Netherlands in question, the family began looking abroad for a new farm. They searched in France, Germany, Eastern Europe and Africa, finally deciding on Canada.

Along with his wife, Toby, and two of his adult children, daughter Carolien and son Roelof, Henk Broekhuizen relocated to a farm on the 5th Sideroad of Essa, at the corner of the 3rd Line.

The concept of a family farm is an important one for the Broekhuizens and it reflects in their operation. Along with a few hired employees, the four family members work strongly together as a team. Henk handles the feeding, Roelof works with the machinery and computers, Carolien manages the health and breeding of the herd and Toby handles some of the feeding, as well as the bookkeeping.

The Broekhuizens also have other full and part-time staff working on the farm.

In total, the family has a herd of about 500 head of cattle at any given time. Normally about 250 of them are full-grown cows, with about 220 in the milk production cycle.

A heifer is impregnated for the first time when she is about 15 months old. The gestation period is nine months, and the cow enters the milk production cycle about two months after giving birth to her first calf. After the birth of calfs, the cows are given a two-month break, before being rebred. The cows continue to produce milk through their subsequent pregnancies. With two months remaining before birth, the cows are pulled out of the production cycle so energy can be focused on the unborn calf.

The average lifespan for a dairy cow in Canada is about four years, said Carolien, although the oldest one at the Broekhuizen farm is 11 years old. In Europe, the average production time can be a little longer, because the climate isn't as hard on the cows, she said.

Work on Broekhuizen never stops. The cows must be milked twice a day - morning and evening - seven days a week. Between milkings there is feeding and caring for the animals and harvesting hay and alfalfa off of the 700 acres of farmland used to produce enough food for the animals to last the year.

There is also the cleaning and maintenance of a lot of the high-tech equipment used for dairy farming. Radio chips implanted in calves when they are young monitor and measure how much food an automated dispenser doles out. Once the animal enters milk production, that same chip allows computers to monitor how much milk is produced each day.

On average, one cow will produce between 30 to 40 litres each day.

An automated system milks up to 20 cows at a time, with the entire herd taking two to three hours to be milked.

While there are some similarities between dairy farming in Canada and the Netherlands, Broekhuizen said many things are different and it took a lot of getting used to.

"The climate, the cows, the people, the land," he said. "You have to start from the beginning when you start here."

One thing the Broekhuizens really like about dairy farming in Ontario is the distribution system. Every two days, a truck from the Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) arrives at the Essa farm and hauls the milk away. From that point on, the milk is out of the hands of the farmers to be distributed to processors. In the Netherlands, farmers are responsible for marketing themselves.

Along with distribution, the DFO also monitors quality control with inspections and sample tests, something that is very important to Broekhuizen.

"As dairy farmers, we want to have a nice, clean product in the shops," he said.

The Broekhuizen's experiences in the Netherlands have taught them how important it is that there be an open dialogue between the farming community and people living in towns and cities. To that end, they frequently have school groups, Guides or other people in to learn what dairy farming is all about.

Last week, a group of medical students from the University of Toronto was at the farm to learn about agriculture. By expanding those partnerships, they're hope is that dairy farming continues to be a long-time family tradition.