Idaho’s loss is Iowa’s gain. Two dairies have relocated from Idaho to O’Brien County in Northwest Iowa. They plan to begin operations around the first part of 2008 near Sheldon, Iowa. The Harvey and Lisa Van Ess and John Roorda families will each be milking about 3,000 cows. Operations will almost double from what each family had in Idaho. Urban sprawl is preventing dairies from expanding in that state, and was a deciding factor in the families’ decisions to relocate.
Though friends, the two families didn’t plan the move from Idaho together. However, after each family visited several states, they ended up building only four miles apart in O’Brien County. Both operations are building cross-ventilated barns. Roorda stated in an earlier interview that lower feed cost was one of the deciding factors as to why they choose to locate operations in northwest Iowa.
