1. Tell me do cows drink milk?

Cows don't drink milk, but we feed milk to the babies. The babies are fed milk twice a day. They really love drinking their milk, and it helps them grow really fast. When the calves grow older though, their stomach changes so then they can eat forages like grass and hay so they don't need to drink milk anymore.

2. Explain me how do you milk cows?

Milking cows is one of the most important jobs on the dairy. Cows must be milked 2 times per day, every day of the week. In the past, you had to milk cows by hand, which was a lot of work. Then in the early 1900s, the milking machine was invented to milk cows so people don't need to milk cows by hand anymore.

3. Tell me what do you want everyone to know about you – the dairy farmer?

Being a dairy farmer is a great way to live and raise our family, even on the worst of days. We are also very passionate about taking care of our cows.

4. Tell me do milkhouse doors have to open outward?

No, they do not have to open outward. However, if a screen door is, attached, the screen door must open outward.

5. Tell me do cows take baths?

Surprisingly the cows take a shower 2 times every day. So they stay pretty clean. Before getting milked, the cows wait in the wash pen, where sprinklers wash the cows. This makes sure that they are nice and clean before getting milked.

6. Tell me what challenges you as a dairy farmer?

Weather, for sure, and milk pricing. Two things I cannot control.

7. What is whey protein?

Cow's milk, a quality protein source, is made up of primarily whey and casein proteins. Whey protein is a high-quality protein. Compared to many other proteins, on a gram-to-gram basis, whey protein delivers more essential amino acids to the body and is absorbed quickly and efficiently.

8. Tell me do I have to sanitize the teats of the cow before I put on the milker unit?

Sanitizing of the teats shall not be required if the udder is dry and the teats have been thoroughly cleaned (not dry wiped) and dried (manually wiped dry) prior to milking. The determination of what constitutes a dry udder and cleaned and dried teats shall be made by the regulatory agency.

10. Tell us what is one thing you recycle, reuse or repurpose on the farm?

We recycle the local college's horse bedding. We mix the bedding with lime to kill any bacteria and use it for bedding in our barns. Once it has been soiled there, it is pushed into our manure pit where we are able to capture the nutrients in the manure to reduce the amount of commercial fertilizer we use.

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