Working at the Cow Wash

Ask any farmer around and they’ll be the first to tell you they’re not in it for the money.  Some of them have a passion for the outdoors… some of them care about clothing and feeding the world… and you might even find a handful that love animals.  In fact – make that most of them love the animals they raise.  When a farmer goes out at 2 in the morning to pull a baby calf – and then brings the calf into their home to keep it warm until morning - that is pure love.

How far will a farmer go to keep his livestock happy?  As a huge animal lover, animal welfare is very important to me.  Livestock owners often get a lot of slack from the media for the treatment of animals involved in production agriculture.  There is controversy over naturally fed cattle, pigs raised in pens vs. pastures, and cage sizes for chickens – the list goes on and on.  Now I could really care less if the cheeseburger I ate was once “organically” fed, but something that is important to me is the quality of life the animals had on the farm.

 

So back to my question: how far will a farmer go to enhance the quality of life for his or her livestock?  An article posted on our first year vet school message board caught my attention.  There is now a machine that washes your cows, similar to a car wash.  And over 30,000 of these Swedish machines have already been sold.  That’s a lot of clean dairy cows.  If the “cow-wash” makes the cows happy, they produce more milk – now I’d say that’s a win-win situation for all.  Check it out for yourself!

http://newslite.tv/2010/07/22/cow-wash-machine-helps-boost-m.html

Enjoy!

Alex

UNDERCOVER: Dairy Farms Exposed!!!

From a friend:

http://www.holsteinworld.com/story.php?id=4964


Best,

Tera Rooney

Diary of a Dairy Farmer

In 1944 the US Dairy Industry produced 117 billion pounds of milk from 25.6 million cows.

In 2007, 9.2 million cows produce 186 billion pounds of milk.

If that’s not actively practicing sustainability in an industry for both production and the environment, I don’t know what is!

Congratulations to American Dairy Farmers during Dairy Month!

June is Dairy Month...straight from the Holstein's mouth!

You've all heard the saying, "I heard it straight from the horse's mouth!" Well this is an article that I ran across today and thought what better way to celebrate National Dairy Month than to recognize a hard working, American dairy farming family.

Go check out what this Dickson County farmer has to say about the dairy business and you'll get it straight from the Holstein's mouth this time!

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110601/DICKSON01/110601023/Dickson-County-s-last-dairy-farm

Enraged: Animal Abuse Video

Agriculturists are enraged when a video documenting animal abuse is released. We are enraged because of two main reasons:

1. It's NOT OKAY to treat animals that way.
2. It's NOT representative of our industry.

The recent Mercy For Animals video disappoints me even more because I know the hard work dairy ranchers across the US have signed on for. The dairy business is one that has to be taken care of EVERY SINGLE day. There is no day off from milking, so if equipment breaks or weather gets bad, you can bet that the dairy man is out there working to make sure his cows are getting milked and cared for. Family get-together planned? Doesn't matter. National holiday? Not on a dairy farm.

Another reason for disappointment is that Mercy For Animals had evidence of animal abuse for almost a month and is just now making it public. If true care for animals was the intention of finding the evidence, I would've turned it over to officials immediately because animal abuse is not okay.

This is a great blogger who has more experience in the dairy industry. I encourage you to check out her response to the video:

http://www.causematters.com/agriculture/mercy-for-animals-calves-animal-abuse/

Also, I felt it important to comment on several news stories that covered the video. This is my response on the Examiner:

This video is nothing short of enraging. As a rancher from Kansas, I am disgusted. I also want people to know that this is NOT THE NORM in the livestock industry. People who choose to make a living raising animals for food love the life they have and respect the animals they care for because it is their livlihood - food on the family's table. Dairy ranchers, more specifically, have signed on for a 365-24-7 kind of job. Dairy cows must be milked every single day, regardless of the family get-together planned or the winter storm coming on. Dairy ranchers are dedicated to the welfare of the animals they raise and there are many great examples of the kind of true welfare standards that exist in the industry that brings your family milk, cheese and ice cream is availible on these websites:

http://www.fofarms.com/en/home

http://www.fofarms.com/en/home

http://www.gilmerdairyfarm.com/

I am dissapointed in the fact the MFA had evidence of animal abuse occuring on a farm in form of this video for almost a month before turning it into the authorities. Animal abuse is not supported and should be prosecuted. The employees depicted in this video do not deserve the honor of working with food animals.

I don't treat animals this way and I don't know any rancher who does. Please don't let one bad apple represent the bushel.



Cordially,

Tera Rooney

tera.rooney@gmail.com

I think it is important to respond to articles on the internet because I don't believe the video is a good representation of our industry. I encourage you to do so as well with your opinions.

My Best,

Tera

If you liked this post about experiencing agriculture first hand. You have to check out this place!

Fair Oak Farms

Bringing the consumer on to a farm to view how dairy products go from farm to fork is the best way to educate...now booking birthday parties!

What is sustainable farming?

Sustainable agriculture is a buzz word that seems to fly frequently when talking about food production these days. It is truly important because we have to think about feeding the current population as well as the future.

What does sustainability mean to an agriculturist?

Sustainability means that a farmer's son can come home to farm the same acres of ground he inherited from his father. Sustainability means that a rancher can turn his cows out on the same pasture year after year. What could be more important to an agriculturist than the sustainability of his or her family business?

To further explain sustainable farming, I think it's best to use a real life example from my back yard.

Royal Farms Dairy is near Garden City, KS is managed by Kyle Averhoff and the Irsik family. They milk around 6,000 cows each producing around 6.7 pounds of milk per day. That is a total contribution of about 14,673,000 gallons of milk to consumers in a calendar year! When I visited Kyle's dairy farm, he talked about the environment and the measures that Royal Farms take to ensure that they are doing things correctly. By taking these measures, he can provide a sustainable approach to producing milk and I know that Royal Farms Dairy will be around for years to come.

Royal farms uses a milking parlor like this and water is flushed down it to keep it clean. It's important to keep the parlor clean to help maintain food safety standards. The water that cools the milk is also re-used to clean the feed alleys outdoors and is ultimately pumped in to a center pivot to water the nearby corn fields. Royal farms irrigates 1,600 acres with the water from their dairy. The manure that is hauled away from the farm is also incorporated into the soil to increase water holding capacity and provide natural fertilizer for the crops.

Air quality is always something that gets brought up when a large number of dairy cows are kept in one area. One thing that I thought spoke to Kyle's dedication to properly maintaining his dairy farm is that his house is literally across the road. He raises a family using the same ground, water and air that his dairy does. Air quality was superb when I visited Royal Farms Dairy.

One of Kyle's best examples of sustainability and something that really hit home for me was when he brought up a simple relationship. I don't remember the numbers exactly, but Kyle related the amount of water that Royal Farms Dairy uses in a year and compared it to the 62 employees his farm provides jobs for. In a rural community, if you look at the number of children that will be enrolled in the local schools because of the increased employment at a nearby farm, you can't get a better deal! Enrollment numbers are important to rural schools and farms like Kyle's boost the economy of a small town and help add to those numbers. The amount of water used really becomes minuscule when you think of it from this angle.

Sustainability at it's finest at Royal Farms Dairy.

For more information about the dairy industry, I've found this site really useful.

http://www.midwestdairy.com/0t2p8/all-about-dairy/

Kyle's farm was honored at the World Dairy Expo and there is a lot more information on this site.

http://www.worlddairyexpo.com/seminars-tours-virtual-farm-tours.cfm

All my best,

Tera

California Girls, We're Unforgettable

You know the song...it's been on repeat mode on the radio for weeks!

For some strange reason, I don’t think Katie Perry is singing about the type of “California Girls” this post is about. In fact I know she wasn’t because she spelled “gurls” wrong, and besides, cows don’t wear daisy dukes.

California Girls, or dairy cows, make up the largest sector of the U.S. dairy industry. Only seven countries in the world produce more cows’ milk than California cows alone. Bringing in around $4.6 billion dollars a year, they are responsible for the largest portion of sales among California’s over 250 food and fiber products within the agriculture industry.

California does a great job of advertising this important industry and you’ve seen a lot of their commercials on TV. The move to introducing consumers to Real California Farm Families is a great step in putting the right face on the Dairy Industry.

Something I found really neat on the website is a wine or beer and cheese pairing tool. You can just put in your favorite cheese and it suggests beer or wine that pairs well with the flavors of the cheese. You can also go at it from your favorite wine or beer and find the cheeses that go well with it.

Also, remember that 99% of California dairy farms are FAMILY OWNED! Maybe the grass is really greener where the California Girls produce the largest portion of our dairy products!

My Best,

Tera

Foodie Feature: Gilmer Dairy Farms

This foodie feature is of Gilmer Dairy Farms

With the recent publishing of Mercy For Animals video on veal production in Ohio, I would like to point out that there are better and more accurate references out there.

Get your information about the dairy industry from the source. These people raise dairy cattle and are on the farm day in and day out ensuring the health and well-being of their animals. I think that Gilmer Dairy Farms does a particularly good job of helping consumers, like myself, understand what it takes to get milk and milk products from farm to fork.

When I see videos, like the ones published by organizations like Mercy For Animals, it raises questions not concern. Instead of being concerned about the dairy industry and the products it provides my family, I went to the Gilmer Dairy Farms website and brushed up on a little day in the life of a dairy farmer.

A fellow Food for Thought member also featured this dairy in a post on this blog with a video about nutrient management. It is another great example of what great things the Gilmer Family is doing and you can check out Buzzard's Beat for additional posts that Brandi has written about the agriculture industry.

My best,

Tera Rooney

Efficiency in Ag Benefits Environment

Efficiency, in my opinion, is what made our country so dominant in the past. The productivity that comes from American companies innovating new ways to do more with less is what spurred our international success.

However, somehow, efficiency has become a dirty word when it comes to food and agriculture. There's a scene in Food, Inc. where the narrator talks about McDonald's revolutionizing the way hamburgers were made by bringing efficiencies such as training to do just one thing to the back of the restaurant. "It was inexpensive food, and it tasted good," the narrator says - like that's a bad thing.

I propose that turning away from efficiency when it comes to agriculture is not just regressive but also dangerous. Just 1/32 of the earth’s surface is arable land we can depend on to produce food. This is a finite resource – one that is decreasing with urban sprawl. Additionally, this land is going to have to feed a rapidly growing world population.

Feeding more people with less land? Sounds like efficiency is going to have to play a pretty big role.

Critics of modern agriculture claim current mass production practices are wasteful. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Being efficient means doing more with less – which includes using less environmental resources. A recent study backs this up.

According to the study released last month, advances in productivity over the past 30 years have reduced the carbon footprint of modern beef production in the U.S. The study was conducted by Washington State University assistant professor Jude Capper and compared the environmental profile of the U.S. beef industry in 2007 to its historical production practices in 1977.

Capper’s research revealed improvements in nutrition, management, growth rate and processing weights significantly have reduced the environmental impact of modern beef production and improved its sustainability.

Another study shows the dairy industry reduced its overall carbon footprint by 41 percent from 1944 and 2007. Improved efficiency has enabled the U.S. dairy industry to produce 186 billion pounds of milk from 9.2 million cows in 2007, compared to only 117 billion pounds of milk from 25.6 million cows in 1944.

Celebrate: June is Dairy Month!

Since June is Dairy Month I thought it might be good to get a post up about milk and milk products. I'm no dairy farmer, but these people know a bit about the industry:

National Dairy Council 

Since 99% of American households purchase milk and the average American consumes 25 gallons per year, today might be a good day to sit down and learn more about the farmers and ranchers who produce all of that creamy deliciousness:

Dairy Farmers of America

And if you just need a laugh, turn down your Pandora and get ready to laugh at this funny advertisement put out by the Dairy Farmers of Ontario:

Milk Rap Song Video

Drink some milk!

 - Tera Rooney

Tailgate Lectures: Milk Man

The sun settles into the horizon signifying feeding time, Grandpa starts up the old white feed truck that goes an astounding 15 mph on a good day and we head to the North Pasture. After dumping out the alfalfa cubes for the cows to munch on, we take a seat on the tailgate and watch the calves milk during the communal “treat time”. I loved seeing the frothy white mustaches the calves would acquire during this time and have Grandpa explain to me which cows were good mothers. 

You’re probably thinking this post has something tied to milk and the process involved in getting it from the cows and poured into the glass you just dunked a cookie in. While it is a logical follow-up, you’re wrong. I’ve had nagging questions about this post’s topic for a few weeks and it is time I share the answers I was able to find.  In all actuality, it has little to do with the milk-related scene I remembered from my past. Same beverage, different animal.

Have you ever wondered why we don’t drink pig milk?

That’s right, pig milk. Or sow milk, as sow is the term used for a female pig that has given birth to at least one litter of piglets. Pigs give us a lot of food products. They give us bacon, ham and pork chops. Pigs are mammals so we know that they lactate, but why don’t we harvest it so that they can give us milk too?

From researching this topic I have learned a few things about the pitfalls in the logistics of a pork dairy industry. Likewise to any discussion, there are a few pros, like the fact that pig milk would taste great. It has 8.5% butterfat content, compare that to the 3.5% in cow milk and you know it’s a good thing! It has the same percentages of lactose and water as cow milk. The cons I came up with are as follows:

•            A pig will only produce 12 pounds of milk on an average day. A cow will produce 60. While pigs consume less feed in a day, it’s not a big enough difference to swing a staggering 48-pound deficit in  milk production.
•            Piglets must be weaned for the sow to become pregnant again. Cows can still be lactating while in gestation. You would have to take a 113-day hiatus from collecting milk every time the sow needed to have a litter.
•            Sows have around 14 teats. Cows only have 4. Can you imagine a 14-teat milking machine?
  
•            Speaking of milking machines. The hormone that stimulates milk to let down in mammals is called oxytocin. A cow will continue to let down milk after the onset of this hormone transmission for 10 minutes. The sow is stimulated to let down milk from the suckling that piglets provide. The ejection time is around 30 seconds. Now imagine a 14-teat milking machine that can collect milk from a sow in less than 30 seconds!
  

Now that is some food for thought. Meanwhile, support the cow dairy industry and dunk that chocolate chip cookie you were about to eat in a glass of cold, refreshing milk today!

I read it in my Parent’s Magazine…

Walking through the aisles of an Overland Park grocery store, I was helping my older sister make the grocery run a little quicker. We were in the dairy aisle and I had seen, “milk” on her list and grabbed a gallon of 2%. She said, “Oh no, I don’t buy that kind.”

Hmmm…I thought to myself. Mom bought 2% because her mom bought 2% and I’m pretty sure that is why we buy 2%. What kind of milk do you buy, whole?

Well, she had read in her Parent’s Magazine that milk in the grocery store has an added protein referred to as recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST) in it and that it is bad for her kids. At first I was mad, she was raised in the exact farm family I was raised in. How could she make uninformed food choices like this?  After I thought about it some more, she wasn’t so wrong:

-       My sister subscribes to a well-known magazine that prints articles to help her learn more about healthy choices for her family.

-       Even though rBST that is used in dairy production is identical to the natural protein produced in a cow’s body, it is only used to help the cows efficiently produce more milk for us to drink.

-       She, along with millions of other moms, made the decision without reviewing an article written by a dairy farmer, a reputable University’s dairy department or the USDA. Maybe the baby crying in the next room took precedence over time available to research milk.  

I think this is a lesson to agriculturists in accessibility. Our information needs to be more accessible to consumers. Our entities need to be the source for sound food choices for moms, but they need to be able to find it.

If you are a consumer who wants to learn more about the milk you drink and what the scoop is on rBST, I thought this website has an abundance of facts that are even printed in real English rather than scientific jargon!

Water and Poo

Nope - that's not a typo. That's the title of a You Tube video posted by a dairy farmer who was singing and spreading 'water and poo'. His ingenuity is a superb example of how you can turn a chore into a way to educate the public about the good things the agriculture industry is doing to preserve the environment, manage our nutrients, produce a safe and nutritious food supply and earn a living. The song is extremely entertaining -- I encourage you to watch/listen to it pronto and who knows, maybe it will spark your creative genius to write your own song! Enjoy!




Until next time,
~Buzzard~