I’ve never been to a dairy before. I mean…a REAL dairy. I’ve been to farms in the past that have included milking cows on their list of chores. Farms used to be more diversified than they are now. Most farms used to include cattle, pigs, chickens, and other animals as well as crops (wheat, corn, soybeans, etc.). Having animals on the farm requires so much more of the farmer’s attention than just the farming. Milking cows requires even more attention than cattle raised for beef which can be found on ranches. Dairy cattle need milked every day. They don’t care about the weather or the holidays or vacations. What they care about is being milked and that doesn’t happen unless they have a calf or human hands to do the job.

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit a local dairy (one that I didn’t even know existed) with the high school foods class. I was their bus driver for the day. It’s always hard for me to leave the world I have submerged myself in and jump into the bus driving world – even for a day. I struggle with the jump because I’m usually right in the middle of a job that I don’t want to leave. I have a tough time leaving a job until it’s finished.  However, once I’m in that bus and surrounded by the kids and the journey, I realize what I would have given up had I not been a part of their day. Today was one of those days!

The morning was chilly but better than it had been for quite some time. I was glad that I had put a sweater over my long-sleeved shirt AND wore a jacket. The predicted temps were supposed to be in the 50’s and I almost considered a t-shirt. We arrived at the dairy shortly after 9:00 a.m., unloaded from the bus and was immediately greeted by our tour guide. First stop…the barn.

Prairieland Dairy is located south of Lincoln, NE near Firth. It began as someone’s farm four generations ago in the early 1900’s with 27 cows. The current dairy houses 1,400 cows and has grown into a business owned by four families.  There are two barns which house 700 cows in each. The cows are free to roam (to a point) inside the barn and can eat at their buffet all day long.

The cows at Prairieland eat TMR (total mixed ration). According to Wikipedia, TMR is defined as “the practice of weighing and blending all feedstuffs into a complete ration which provides adequate nourishment to meet the needs of dairy cows.  Each bite consumed contains the required level of nutrients (energy, protein, minerals and vitamins) needed by the cow.” A nutritionist visits the dairy every two weeks to test the TMR for any nutritional needs or additives (if required).  The water these cows drink is of high quality. The people at Prairieland drink the same water the cows do. High quality feed and drink produces high quality milk.

TMR…it’s what’s for dinner.

Cows are creatures of habit. They have the ability to roam the barn (to a point) and yet go back to the same stall to lay down and will always go to the same spot at the buffet line. “Butting of the heads” is usually due to one cow thinking she needs to enter another’s spot in line. The cows can lay down whenever they want to. Their bed of choice is sand. Why sand? Because it conforms to their body and they really like that.

The cows are milked three times a day. Each time they are taken to the milking parlor, their stall is cleaned and the manure is washed away from the floor. There are fans inside the barns which provide air movement for the warmer months of the year. Cows get heat stress at 75 degrees. Once the barn temperature reaches 78 degrees, the water misters also kick on to help cool them off. If the cows get too hot, milk production goes down.

This shows the fans in the barn.

The cows wear a special ankle bracelet which works as a pedometer. Did you know the number of steps a cow takes can determine what she’s going through? Cows will take approximately the same amount of steps every day. As I said before, they are creatures of habit. Any idea what it means if she takes more steps than usual? It means she’s in heat. If she is taking less steps than usual, she’s probably not feeling well. There are no bulls at Prairieland Dairy; therefore, the cows are artificially inseminated. This usually happens every day which means they have calves every day.

This little guy was only 3 days old. 

The work at the dairy is 24/7. There are no holidays – cows need milked every day. Prairieland Dairy employs 50-60 people. Of those, 18 are employed at the dairy for two shifts. The milk stays local in Nebraska. They want to keep it local and source verified. Currently, Prairieland is the only source verified dairy in Nebraska.

Inside the milking parlor.

48 cows can be milked at the same time. It takes 4-5 minutes to milk one cow. In that time, she will produce 3-4 gallons of milk  3 times per day. That’s A LOT of milk! Did you know milk is 85% water? Dairy cows can become dehydrated due to the milking process. That’s why it’s important to provide them with plenty of water. One cow will drink about 50 gallons of water and eat 90 pounds of feed per day. Immediately after leaving the cow, milk’s temperature is 101.4 degrees.  The milk enters a cooler within 30 seconds of leaving the cow to be cooled to 60-70 degrees. From there, it enters another cooler which will drop the temperature to 40 degrees. This helps to preserve good high quality milk. After it has been cooled, it is loaded to a tanker which will hold 6,000 gallons and is tested for quality. When it has been tested and is determined to be of high quality, the tank is sealed. If something were to happen to a tank of milk and it had to be destroyed, it would cost the dairy $10,000.  Once in the tanker, it is transported to a different facility to be homogenized and pasteurized before being packaged and eventually taken to your local grocer.

The cream is separated from the milk to create skim milk. The cream is added back to the skim to create 1%, 2% and “whole” milk.  Vitamins are also added – which is the ONLY thing that is added to the milk. Milk is being drank less and less due to “alternative” drinks. Because of this, Rickets is becoming a problem again.

Because of my field trip to Prairieland, I will be looking for this label in the grocery stores that I visit. 

I learned way more than I EVER anticipated due to being the bus driver on this particular day. I certainly have a deeper appreciation for what it takes to get that gallon of milk to the grocer’s cooler! I am like everyone else and take it for granted that when I go to the grocery store, my milk will be in the cooler just as it has been every other time I’ve been there.  What if the dairy farmers of America decided it just wasn’t worth everything it takes to get it there? We depend on our farmers for everything we buy at the grocery store – we MUST protect these necessary resources (our farmers) before it’s too late!