About the counter
Nine people have matched dairy parts by measurement since 2011.
Foremost Farms is a parts counter and inquiry-only catalogue for dairy work, trading at foremostfarms.net from 8401 GREENWAY BLVD SUITE 600 · MIDDLETON, WI · 53562, United States. We sell milking machine parts, sanitary fittings and consumables to farms and small processing rooms. We are a stockist, not a manufacturer and not a dealer for any brand.
How a local counter became a catalogue
Short version: herds kept ringing from further away, and the answer to their questions was always a number.
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01
2011: a counter for local herds
It started as a parts counter serving dairies within driving distance of Middleton. Liners, gaskets, filter socks, the odd pulsator. People walked in with the worn part in a bag and walked out with the new one, and most of the day went on working out what the worn part actually was.
That is where the habit came from. A set of calipers lived on the counter from the first month, because the fastest way to identify a gasket nobody could name was to measure it.
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02
The phone started ringing from out of state
A parts desk that asks for the ID in millimetres turns out to be useful at 800 miles as well as at eight. Parlour technicians passed the number around. Small creameries and cheese rooms began ordering sanitary fittings. Co-op plant maintenance crews started sending lists of six of this and four of that.
Packing and dispatch became a job of its own. Later came a written catalogue, so buyers could see the ten categories without calling first.
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03
A catalogue that still works like a counter
Today the catalogue ships across the United States, and it still runs on inquiries. There is no cart because there was never a counter where you rang up a part before someone had checked it fitted. Every order still goes through a person who reads the part number or the measurement and matches it against the shelf.
What we sell, and to whom
Consumables and wear parts for the milking parlour, the milk line, the bulk tank and the small processing room. In small quantities, shipped fast.
The catalogue covers ten categories: liners and claws, pulsators and vacuum regulators, milk transfer pumps and their seal kits, clear milk hose and discharge assemblies, sanitary tri-clamp fittings, sanitary valves, tri-clamp gaskets and heat exchanger gaskets, CIP spray balls and brushes, bulk tank outlet valves and agitator seals, and milk filter socks and strainers.
Buyers are herd managers, parlour technicians, small creamery and cheese-room operators, and the maintenance people at co-op plants. The typical order is a restock. Six gaskets by Thursday, not a pallet by next month.
Every sale starts as an inquiry. You send a part number, a measurement or a photo against a ruler; we answer with stock, a price and a lead time; you accept; the office invoices. Prices on this site are indicative bands. The detail is on how ordering works.
Compatibility is stated the honest way. A part "fits" or "cross-references to" a given machine. We don't claim to be an authorised dealer for anyone, and we don't hold ourselves out as the maker of anything on the shelf.
The thing that separates this desk is measuring. Most returns in this trade come from someone ordering by what the old part looked like. A 1.5-inch gasket on a 2-inch ferrule closes and still weeps. A liner with the wrong mouthpiece bore slips and crawls, and the cow pays for it with a week of poor milk-out and sore teat ends. So we ask for the number. It takes one more minute on the phone and it saves the herd the week.
Silicone liners last about 2,500 milkings; rubber about 1,200. We will tell a caller that, even when it means they order the cheaper set.
The nine, by what they do
Roles, not titles. When you ring, one of the four on the desk picks up.
4
Parts desk
Take the inquiry, cross-reference it by number or by measurement, and send the confirmation. They own your order from the first message to the tracking number.
2
Packing and dispatch
Check every line against the confirmation, bag the rubber away from light, sleeve the stainless, and get stocked orders out the same afternoon when they can.
1
Parlour technician
Answers the fit questions the desk can't settle from a photo. Pulsation ratios, claw volume against peak flow, why a check valve chatters.
2
Office
Invoices, accounts, warranty claims with manufacturers, and the returns that need a reference and a label.
Who we suit
A herd that wants its liners changed on the count and needs the right set by the end of the week. A cheese room that needs four 1.5-inch ferrules in 316L and a gasket for each. A co-op maintenance crew with a list.
If you want a whole new parlour designed and installed, we are the wrong people. Go to a dealer. Come back to us when the liners wear out.
What the desk refuses to stock
- Used rubber
Liners, gaskets and o-rings that have been fitted have already taken the set they're going to take. We don't buy them, sell them or restock them.
- Parts nobody can identify
If there is no number, no measurement and no clear photo, there is no quote. We'd rather ask one more question than ship the wrong liner.
- Whole milking systems
We don't sell or install complete systems. That is dealer work, and doing it badly would take the desk away from the restocks it exists for.
- Mystery-grade stainless
Fittings are 304 or 316L and sold as such. If we can't state the grade, it doesn't go on the shelf.
Reach a person at the desk
Calls and emails are answered by the parts desk during the working day in Middleton. A message left after hours is picked up the next working morning, in the order it arrived.
MIDDLETON, WI 53562
United States
The same email address handles data requests, warranty claims and exchanges, so put a word in the subject line and it reaches the right person faster: "inquiry", "exchange" or "data request".
For a part question, the chat on this page goes straight to the desk. Send a part number or a measurement and they'll tell you what we have.