Noblehurst Farms

Press release:

Noblehurst Farms recently directed a $5,000 Bayer Fund America’s Farmers Grow Communities donation to Pavilion Central School. The school will use the funds to purchase mountain bikes for outdoor physical education opportunities.

“The funds from this donation will help us in our goal of providing students with opportunities and skills to support a healthy lifestyle. Mountain bikes are just the start. We are planning a walking trail around the school property that will double as a mountain bike path. We hope to create a place that supports both our students and the community of Pavilion. We are grateful that Noblehurst Farms directed this funding to the district for this project. The generosity and support in this community for our school is inspiring.” said Superintendent Kate Hoffman.

Since 2010, America’s Farmers programs have awarded more than $65 million to nonprofits, aspiring ag students, and public schools across rural America. Farmers are leaders in their communities, which is why America’s Farmers programs rely on them to help identify the most worthy causes.

Dedicated to making a difference in rural farming communities, the Grow Communities program asks farmers across the country to participate by nominating nonprofit organizations with resources to strengthen their local communities. Last August, farmers entered for the chance to direct a $5,000 Grow Communities donation to a local eligible nonprofit of their choice. Farmers have directed donations to food banks, emergency response organizations, schools, youth agriculture programs and many others that reflect the spirit and support the vibrancy of rural America.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone, including those in rural regions, and farmers play a critical role in helping communities overcome challenges, like the ones we’re currently facing,” said Al Mitchell, Bayer Fund president. “Bayer Fund is proud to work side-by-side with farmers to identify local eligible nonprofit organizations that are able to provide their residents with solutions that leave a lasting impact.”

To learn more about how America’s Farmers programs are making an impact, visit www.AmericasFarmers.com. 

Photo: Submitted photo.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul paid a visit to Noblehurst Farms in Pavilion today to highlight the Nourish NY program, which purchased $25 million in agricultural products from farms throughout the state to distribute at food banks from New York City to Buffalo.

On Monday, Craigs Creamery/Noblehurst Farms in Pavilion hosted a milk giveaway. Every car the showed up got at least a gallon of milk for free, with a total of 2,000 gallons available. The distribution was in conjunction with Natural Upcycling, Dairy Farmers of America, and the Livingston County Farm Bureau and took place on World Milk Day.

The milk was processed by Pittsford Farms Dairy. When Billie and I lived in Pittsford, that was the only place we ever bought milk. It's the best. Below is a video about the dairy I produced in 2008 as a project for a video production class I was in at the time.

Press release:

SYRACUSE -- The 51st Annual Butter Sculpture at the New York State Fair was taken down, but it didn't go to waste.

American Dairy Association North East, in conjunction with Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners and Noblehurst Farms, dismantled the 800-pound sculpture today at the New York State Fairgrounds.

Ultimately, the inedible butter will make its way to Noblehurst Farms in Pavilion (and Linwood), a "Dairy of Distinction," where it will be recycled in the farm’s methane digester and converted into renewable energy to power the dairy farm and produce liquid fertilizer for crops.

Noblehurst Farms has been recognized for achievements in sustainability and community partnerships to divert food waste from local landfills. (For previous coverage of an example of these efforts, click here.)

This year’s sculpture, “Milk. Love What’s Real,” featured a grandfather and child dunking cookies into milk and a young couple sharing a milkshake, illustrating how our love for real dairy connects many cherished moments in our lives.

Here's a link to a time-lapse video of the sculpture's deconstruction, which actually took 90 minutes to do.

About American Dairy Association North East

The American Dairy Association North East (ADANE) is the local affiliate of the National Dairy Council^® and the regional consolidation of three promotion organizations including the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council Inc., Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association and Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program.  Committed to nutrition education and research-based communications, ADANE provides science-based nutrition information to, and in collaboration with, a variety of stakeholders committed to fostering a healthier nation, including health professionals, educators, school nutrition directors, academia, industry, consumers and media.

Funded by dairy checkoff dollars from more than 12,000 dairy farm families in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and Northern Virginia, ADANE works closely with Dairy Management Inc.™ to bring a fully integrated promotion program to the North East region. For more information, visit AmericanDairy.com

Nobelhurst Farms in Pavilion runs enough cows to produce 5,000 gallons of milk a day. That many cows also produce a heck of a lot of manure.

Manure means methane and methane can be a pollutant, or it can be a source of power generation.

At Noblehurst, reports the D&C, the manure is being fed into a contraption that turns the methane into electricity.

Over the years, Noblehurst has had to work out some bugs with its digester, but now it is running smoothly and pumping out about 788,400 kilowatt-hours of power a year. On a typical day, manure is moved from 1,700 dairy cows toward the center of the main barn, where it is pushed into underground tubes that feed into a 28,000-gallon pit. The manure is mixed with effluent and pumped into a large digester tank. At the top of the tank, gas accumulates and powers a generator that produces electricity and gives off water and carbon dioxide. Every half hour or so, new manure feeds bacteria that produce the gas. A spout releases gas if too much pressure accumulates.

"That way we don't have a mess," said farm president John Noble.

Nationaly, about 100 suggest manure-to-electricity machines are in use, and 17 or so in New York. Noblehurst received a $250,000 state grant to help pay for the $1 million machine.

Cattle thieves were strung up by their necks once upon a time.

“Yes, they were,” Sarah Noble-Moag acknowledged softly with a smile.

Nowadays the law investigates the matter and hopefully justice is found, maybe even the livestock.

That's the hope of Noble-Moag and others at Noblehurst Farms, Inc., after thieves made off with three female Holstein calves, valued at about $500 each. Because they will become profitable milk cows, they are more valuable than bull calves.

Their pens along York Road in the Town of Pavilion were found empty mid-morning Monday. Genesee County Sheriff Deputy J.L. Baiocco is investigating the larceny.

“They'll be looking at the livestock market (auction), the one outside Pavilion toward Pearl Creek,” Noble-Moag said. “(The calves) are tagged in their ears, and the tags would probably be removed (by the thieves), but you'd still be able to tell they'd been tagged.”

Noblehurst Farms, whose corporate headquarters is in Linwood, also had several calves stolen three years ago. Genesee County sheriffs solved that case, Noble-Moag said.

The black and white female calves taken this week were among 615 cows at the farm. The calves raised to be milk cows are initially kept in individual pens to prevent the spread of disease. Once their immune systems are strong, they are put into small groups until they are two years old and ready for milking.

The individual pens are about the size of a large dog house and the calves are about the size of a large dog, 100 pounds. The calves are collared to a lead that hooks on top of the structure. The pens are only a few feet from the roadway.

What about security?

“We have a light out there at night,” Noble-Moag said.

PHOTO: Used for file photo purposes. It is not a photo of one of the stolen calves. Copyright Ian Hayhurst.