Rodney Elliott - Owner, Drumgoon Dairy LP
Rodney Elliott along with his wife Dorothy and son David own and operate Drumgoon Dairy LP in Lake Norden, SD a single site multi barn dairy farm consisting of 6400 milking cows. Originally from Northern Ireland, The Elliott’s migrated in 2006 and built a 1400 cow facility. In the past 15 years the site has been added to and not consists of 3 separate dairies with the latest addition being a 1500 cow robotic facility. Equipped with 20 Delaval VMS 300‘s they milk 75 cows 2.5 times a day on average.
The goal of this unit is to provide a better environment for the cows which will result in hopefully a longer productive life. Additionally, the robotic facility provides a new set of challenges for our employees and allows for career advancement for more qualified and experienced staff. Drumgoon milks mostly cross breed cows to provide milk for the local cheese plants. In the past three years Drumgoon Dairy has eliminated antibiotic use on lactating cows, invested in and grown a 60,000 calf ranch the southwestern Kansas and was awarded the 2020 DRC gold award for an industry leading reproductive program.
