Generalismo

There are approximately 65,000  dairy farms in the US. That amounts to about 9,000,000 cows, Numbering less than 200 head at most farms, about 99 percent of the dairies in the US are famiy owned. Each milking cow produces 6-7 gallons of milk daily, the average number of gallons having risen about 59 percent from 1975-1995.

I got a chance to visit a small, family run dairy not too long ago and one of the owners let me help him milk. It’s a fairly simple process, but it takes a lot of time to milk 120 cows twice a day, plus look after the other duties of the farm. First the cows are let into milking stalls. I was surprised that the cows seemed to know (they had done it before, I’m sure!) just where to go, and moreover that they even seemed eager to come and be milked. I had originally thought that the cows full of milk felt uncomfortable and wanted to be milked for that reason but this article says that it’s been found not to be the case and that it’s more likely feed related.

Milking takes place in a place called a milking parlour. After the cows are positioned - business end toward the middle aisle - the cleaning of the teats begins. A bottle containing blue sanitizing fluid is applied to the cow’s four teats, left on for a minute or two and then dried off. Wiping it off minimizes traces of the chemicals in the finished milk. On a lot of farms in Europe and Canada, milking is now done but machine, but this article (Robot.com, 2006) says “Robotic milking systems are just beginning to show up on U.S. dairy farms, in part because strict federal and state guidelines must be met before the systems can be sold. ”

The milking vacuums are hung on wires that automatically come down as far as you pull them when the vacuum button is pressed. The small, silver tubular things you can see in the picture at right are placed up to one of the four teats. Each milker is applied and the milk starts flowing into piping that will go into a tank. On this farm the tank holds 2,000 gallons of milk. The milkers sense when the cow is done milking and releases the vacuum. The air controlled automated wires that hold the milkers now return to their starting position. The teats are again cleaned, the cows leave, and another batch comes in. The process continues until the last of the cows are finished. Then the milkers are pulled down and attached to tubing that will fill them up with water (and I assume, clean the whole system out).

That’s it, until the next morning’s milking (we milked in the late afternoon.) I’m not sure when that wakeup typically is but I know it’s early, and at this farm it’s around 4:30am.

According to Foodintol.com, 75 percent of people have some sort of sensitivity to dairy products.

Check out annual dairy consumption rates in US.

Posted by Bonnie under agriculture, statistics