Cow Milking 101

Good morning class. Today our lesson is on the basics of cow milking.

Our farm milks 120 holsteins (black and white cows). We milk at 6:00AM and 5:00PM each day, seven days a week, and holidays too. The cows wait in a holding pen until a door opens to our milking parlor, at which time 8 cows are let in at a time.They file in to the stalls and have their udders and teats washed, sanitized, and dried before the milking machine is placed on them. It takes about 5 minutes to milk each cow. While this is happening, another 8 cows are brought in to fill the other side of the milking parlor. When the first 8 cows are finished, the milking machine is automatically removed and the person milking will again sanitize the teats. A door opens at the opposite end of the parlor, and out they go. Fifteen more rotations of this procedure, and we're done!

A cow can produce about 90 cups of milk each day. When the milk leaves the cow it is a warm 101 degrees. Sanitized pipelines carry the milk straight from the cow and milking machine to our bulk tank which holds 1,000 gallons, and cools the milk to 40 degrees. Our milk is picked up by a milk hauler (refrigerated tanker truck) every other day, and delivered to a local milk plant. The milk is never touched by human hands throughout this entire process. This helps to ensure that you can enjoy a wholesome, delicious dairy food. Our milk is in your grocery store within 2 days of leaving our farm.

Class, are there any questions? 

Your homework today is to enjoy a glass of cold milk. Class dismissed.

A Day In the Life

" Hi, it's Flat Aggie again. Today I want to share with you a few more things that are done every day on the farm I am visiting."

"Every morning and every evening, every day, the cows are milked. Cow milking 101 will tell you all about how it is done. Dad John and son Michael milk in the morning and John and Jan milk at night. If you remember the other day I told you that Jan, Sara, and Michael work off the farm too. With this milking schedule, everyone is able to do the farm chores, as well as their job off the farm!"

Ready for the milking to begin

I got to help put on the milking machines!

"After morning milking, it is time to do the feeding. Grandpa Roy uses a big machine called a feed mill that mixes corn and oats and other nutrients together. Besides this feed, the animals eat hay and drink lots of water. Did you know a cow drinks about a bathtub full of water each day?"

Grandpa lifted me up to see the feed through the little window.

Dad John is feeding some of the heifers (that's what cows are called when they aren't old enough to milk.) 

"After the feeding is finished, it's time to clean up. Grandma Karen cleans the milking barn and John or Michael clean the animal pens. The manure (cow poop, in kid language) is removed everyday to keep every animal as clean and healthy as possible. The manure is loaded into a wagon (pulled by a tractor) called a manure spreader that spreads the manure on the fields. This helps the fields get back the important things called nutrients that help the crops grow. John said the crops will be planted again in the Spring and I can come back and learn about that too!"

Mike and I used a skid steer loader to put the manure into the manure spreader.

"Today I say good bye to Minnesota, but I am not heading back to California just yet. Jan has made arrangements for me to visit Susan and her family farm in Arkansas. Although I am sad to leave Minnesota and my new friends here, I am excited for my Arkansas adventure. And to Miss Sarah and her students- Jan sent you a package full of surprises for each of you, and there is something tiny and purple in the package too!"

You've Got Mail!

 

Hi Jan! 

I'm a 4th grade student and we are learning about farming in the Midwest.   One of my homework questions is, "If you could interview a farmer, what type of farmer would you interview and what things would you ask them?" I said dairy farmer. Would you mind answering my questions? Thanks so much! 

Miya, 

Woodbury, Minnesota

• How many cows do you milk? We milk about 120 to 130 Holstein (black and white) cows. 

• How do you milk the cows? Our cows are milked each morning and evening. Many years ago farmers milked by hand, but we milk 16 cows at a time using milking machines. Usually 2 or 3 people do the milking. You can learn all the steps by clicking HERE. 

Me in our milking barn.

 

 

• Has a cow ever kicked you, especially when you are milking them? I have never been kicked by a cow, but we do have cows that may kick. Usually cows only kick when they are first learning to be milked or if something frightens them. I've also seen cows kick when flies bother them, but perhaps that's their way of swatting those pesky flies just like when flies bother us!

• Are the cows nice? Our cows are nice because we are nice to them. Since we spend many hours caring, feeding and milking them every day we get to know them very well. Just like people, cows have personalities. Some cows even give us "cow smooches." 

• What do you do with all of the milk you get? Our milk is sold to Land O'Lakes  in Woodbury, Minnesota, the same city where your school is located! Land O'Lakes may package it to be sold as the milk you drink, or it may become butter, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, ice cream, or many other dairy foods. Do you have a favorite dairy food?

This tanker truck comes to our farm every other day to take the milk to the Land O'Lakes processing plant.

 

What else do you do on the farm when you're not milking cows? Twice each day we feed our animals. We plant and harvest the crops. These crops are the food we feed our cattle. We grow all the feed on our farm. Each day we also clean the animal pens. We want our cows and calves to stay healthy and happy, so we keep their barns very clean! Every day is super busy on a dairy farm, but we also take time to relax and have fun with our family. What do you like to do with your family?

Preparing the soil to plant the next crop.

Thanks for all the great questions, Miya. Let me know if you, your family, or any of your classmates have any other questions. Please visit My Barnyard View again, as I am always sharing our adventures of life on our dairy farm. Enjoy your summer, and best wishes in 5th grade!

Sincerely,
Jan

To learn more about dairy farming and dairy foods visit Dairy Makes Sense.

Dairy Farmer For A Day

 Even though we have a great employee, there is always a family member on duty during morning and evening milking. So what happens when it's the employee's night off and only daughter Sara is available to milk? 

You hope you have a great, ready-for-an-adventure, co-worker like Kailey. She and Sara are Language Arts teachers at our local Middle School. When Sara mentioned that brother Michael had to work at his TV job, and Mom and Dad were attending a funeral, Kailey offered her help.

 Now keep in mind, Kailey has never helped on a farm, but she was eager to learn and help us out in a pinch! She was pretty excited to feed our calves, and the calves always like seeing a new face in the barn!

Next it was on to milking. Those of us that milk cows every day never think about the fact that cows weigh about 1,500 pounds, but I'm sure to most first-time farmhands it can be quite intimidating! But Kailey donned her purple milking gloves, grabbed the pre-milking dip for the cows udders, and was ready for step one.

Milking is complete but there is always clean-up. This city girl dug right in!

Calf feeding, cow milking, and clean up - what more is there to do? Kailey's first day as a dairy farmer was complete. Not quite -

Kailey had never been to Fleet Farm...until now!

Kailey's (with Sara) inaugural visit to  Fleet Farm

We always enjoy sharing what we do on our farm, and this first-time farmhand got a close-up view. Kailey got the opportunity to see what we get to see and do every day. It's a great way to learn where and how your food goes from our farm to your table. I believe we taught this teacher a thing or two!

Thanks for your help Kailey. When are you available again?

G Is For Growing

I'm taking you on a journey from A to Z through the land of dairy! 

There's no need to pack your bags, just come along!

  G is for Growing.

A newborn calf weighs about 90 pounds and can stand and walk, all within minutes of being born. The newborn calf is fed colostrum, which is the first milk from a cow. It receives colostrum within hours of birth to receive antibodies from its mom, which protect the calf against disease in its early life. Our calves are housed in individual pens and fed milk twice daily until they are about 2 months old.

At this time the calves are moved to group pens and no longer drink milk, just lots of water, grain and hay. Size and age are used to determine when heifers should be bred. Typically this is when they are 12-15 months old. She will be
pregnant for 9 months. A cow gives birth to her first calf at about 2 years.

Cows usually have 1 calf per year and usually one calf at a time, but they can have twins or even triplets. When a dairy cow gives birth, it is called calving or freshening. A cow must give birth to produce milk. If this is not the first time a cow is giving birth, she will already be a milk cow. If so, two months before a cow gives birth, she takes a rest from milking to grow her calf. At this time, she is called a dry cow. 

No matter what stage of life our "girls" are in, their care and comfort is our number one priority; after all they are the future of our herd!

Source- University of Minnesota, Google image search

  

Learn more about dairy at Dairy Makes Sense

 
I am making a commitment to share as much as I can with you each day this month, about the life of our dairy farm family including what we do, how we share our passion for dairy, and dairy foods we enjoy.

 See you here tomorrow...H is for Holstein.

U Is For Udder

I'm taking you on a journey from A to Z throughout June Dairy Month.

So come on in...the barn doors are open!

  U Is For Udder

I'm sure you know that milk comes from the udder of a cow, but how does it get there? 

Cows, like all mammals, begin to produce milk when they give birth. Cows typically have their first calf when they are about two years old. About 10 months after calving, the amount of milk the cow gives naturally decreases substantially and the cow undergoes “drying off.” About 12 to 14 months after the birth of her previous calf, a cow will calve again, thus providing milk.

Cows that are milking drink a bathtub of water each day and eat about 100 pounds of feed including hay, silage, grain and proteins. All this food and water to help them produce about 8 gallons of milk each day. That's 128 glasses of milk!

And just like you, we buy pasteurized milk from the store. Now I can fill my udder pitcher. Sara got this for me for Mother's Day. Us dairy moms are suckers for stuff like this  ;)

To learn how our cows are milked visit Farming 101-1 Cow Milking.

 You may also want to read my previous years posts for June Dairy Month...

U Is For United 

and

U Is For Unexpected