IT'S ALL ABOUT THE COWS!

Andrew, Joshua, Suzanne, Kaitlyn, and Rachel joined me for June Dairy Day. A beautiful overcast day with a light wind welcomed us to s neat farm experience. And, believe me, it was worth the wait to get the strawberry or chocolate ice cream sundaes.

JUNE DAIRY DAY was held this year at Gordonville Farms, only about 10 miles from our home. Along with Andrew and Suzanne and their three kids, we went to take a look. And it proved for me to be a great learning experience.

Newborn calves are immediately separated from their mothers (don't know why). Probably, by the end of the day, they are taken to the little calf shelters - looks just like a village of little calf houses. With a herd of over 1,000 cows, it's common to have multiple births in one day.

These calves will spend the next two months in these little houses, or until they are about 250 lbs. All the female calves (heifer calves) from the birthing center are brought here. The bull calves are sold soon after they're able to be on their own (most of them will be "fed out" in order to be sold as beef products in our supermarkets). I would guess that there were about 150 houses in this area.

The little calves are cute. Some were eager for the touch of a human hand.

From the little calf houses, the young animals will be moved to larger pens, able to hold
four or five animals. They will live here until they are 400 to 500 pounds, and then moved
to the heifer (young female cows) area until they are old enough to be bred.

After they have delivrered their first calf, within about 18 days, they will be artificially inseminated once again to begin raising their next calf. Two months before that calf is born, the "dry" cows (not giving milk because of the imminent birth of their calf) are moved to another barn where they just eat and sleep and await the arrival of their new calf.
Then, two weeks before their calf is born, the cow is moved to an area near the birthing site. Believe me, there is not much guesswork in this process. Breeding date, gestation time, birth antiipation date, and a whole lot more information is accounted for by computer. Seems like nothing is left to chance. The ear tag numbers are important. for that record keeping.

Catch a view of the noisy MILKING PARLOR (video) where lots of people are watching and cows are being milked.

Compared to years ago (my recollections from Grandpa Mueller's farm), these machines and tractors are HUGE! Look at the man in blue leaning against the implement.

Like an open-air cavern, this giant bunker stores "haylage." Like silage (made from corn), this alfalfa hay sours, in a good way, and makes for a delicious meal for the cows.



Fortunately, there's more to a cow's diet than some "soured" grass. The above nutrients are also added to their daily rations. Why, who could consider giving milk three times a day without a very substantial diet of healthy goodies!



Once the cows have been milked, THEY HEAD BACK (video) into the very large barn where they can rest and eat. I have no idea what signal they have for the next time they need to come in to be milked. All I know is that they looked very docile and obedient, and, I'm sure, a bit lighter from the milk weight lost.

Nevertheless, the whole morning was a "moo"ving experience. I learned lots from this rather "hands on" tour.