Though Moores are financially investing a large amount into moving the Guernsey- and Jersey-based dairy to what will be known as Springville Farm, the general consensus in East Texas has been that dairies in the region are going extinct.
"They are going fast," Moore said. "But, part of the reason is there aren't any large land masses. These guys, and I have a lot of friends that are Dutch that have big, 1,000-cow dairies, and the problem is they are only on 300 acres. They are used to leasing 800 acres. Well now, that is chopped up into ranchettes -- you know, everybody has to have a house and a horse. That makes a 300-acre place into 30 places that are 10-acres a piece, and you cant' use it anymore for agriculture.
"As far as dairying here, this is one of the greatest places in the state to dairy," Moore said.
Moore has a positive outlook for the Rains County dairy, especially since none of the dairy's 1,180 acres are leased. Once the land was purchased, and all the plans were made, construction on the dairy started in September 2008 with about 14 months of dirt work. But for Moore, a passion for the dairy business started long before the Emory dairy's ground-breaking.
"I had my first ag project in 1977, and have been addicted to it ever since," Moore said. "My dad was a dairy farmer, milked Guernsies, started in 1950's. My grandfather had a couple of Guernsies, cause he liked butter milk. That was the only reason he had cows, was cause he liked to drink buttermilk, and it has just grown."
Moore took over his father's dairy business in 1996, and has been expanding since.
"We have grown all that we can over there (in Plano)," Moore said. "All of our services are over here, our feed services are over here, our veterinarian is over here, the milking equipment is here, so you know, it was a logical move."
In Moore's opinion, the environment is much healthier for the dairy.
It is 10 times healthier and it will be more efficient," Moore said. "You could milk 1,000 cows here efficiently, but I don't care to do that. We will grow within. Just as many as we can reproduce... We will probably max out at about 500 here."
Moore and his contractor spent a lot of time picking out quality, all-American, materials and paying meticulous attention to the details of the dairy's layout.
"It is built a little different than most dairies in east Texas," Moore said. "There is no Chinese steel in this barn. I bought all American steel and I paid more for American steel."
Moore has been able to make considerable upgrades with the Emory dairy to make it more efficient than the Plano facility.
"There was a little more money spent on a little higher-end, higher-tech equipment," he said. "Meters, we have meters that will monitor the milk out of every cow. We will be able to remotely access the computer here -- Anywhere I have a laptop connection adn internet connection, I'll be able to remotely access and check my milk weights."
In addition to the meters, Moore has installed a back flush system.
"Once all the cows have been milked and all the cows leave, this system is hooked to a system in the back which will actually inject a chemical iodine solution through the milk claw and then it will evacuate it with air so it is sanitizing the claw between every cow," Moore explained. "You will see some people dip them in buckets or they will take a hose and shoot up in it. Well this will be all automated so it will sanitize that claw automatically."
Moore is involved fully in everyday management, but there are about four full-time employees. When the new dairy is up and running, there will be approximately six.
Some of Moore's biggest reasons for coming to Emory has been his love of the country and knowing the environment will be healthier for the cattle.
"That (Plano) used to be the county," Moore said. "I have memories of when it was the country, but its not the country anymore. It is going to be nice to be out here. The air is cleaner its cooler here, when it is 100 degrees there it is 90 degrees here cause there's not as much concrete in the country; lots of grass here, so we will be able to graze a lot of cows here which we aren't able to do there as much as we would want to."
The Plano dairy has obtained a raw milk license. Moore said this may be something done at the Emory dairy in the future. To get a raw milk retail license, a dairy must first be a Grade A dairy. Once it meets the requirements in bottling, calving, testing, and food handling, the raw milk license can be obtained.
"You are getting a lot more nutrient value out of raw milk, you are getting the cream, so you are actually getting two products in one," Moore said. "It is just healthier."
While Moore believes in the benefits of raw milk, for the time being, the Emory dairy will be strictly a commercial dairy. At least until the dairy obtains a raw milk license -- which Moore has applied for. Even with the raw milk license Moore does not plan to produce raw milk on a large level, rather just for the locals that come to buy it from the dairy.
The potential raw products from the Emory dairy, or any of Moore's dairies, are not organic, they are all-natural. The difference in all-natural and organic is merely that if a cow gets sick they will be treated rather than taken out of the herd, and the cattle are wormed on a regular basis.
"I like to de-worm and that is the biggest thing that we do is de-worm, especially when you are grazing pastures," Moore said. "But there is no organic de-wormer out there, and we like to vaccinate and there is no organic vaccine out there. That knocks you out of being organic. But we don't use BST. See the misconception is that if it is not organic, then it has antibiotics in it, and that's just marketing."
Springville Dairy does not have a website yet, however, to find out more about the Moore family dairies and their products, visit www.lavonfarms.com, www.luckylaylafarms.com, or visit their stand at the McKinney farmers market any Saturday morning.
