While dairy farms today may not be the same as your parents or grandparents may have told you about, 98% are still family owned and operated. The trend over recent years is for the total number of dairy cows to hold relatively steady while the number of farms decreases. Though the average size of the dairy farm has increased the same values of caring for the animals and land still exist. In fact, technology and research have enabled us to do a better job of these.
Those of you familiar with operating a small business know it can be difficult to have children join the family business. The modernization and increased size of farms has made this possible in the dairy industry. With current land values and availability, expanding operations is often the only way for younger generations to be a part of the production side of the dairy industry. Adding younger generations is important to the long-term existence of dairy farms in the United States which is critical to the future safety and affordability of dairy products.
An advantage larger farms can offer is specialization. Many farms today either purchase more of their feed for the cows or hire other farmers to plant, fertilize, and harvest their crops for them. This gives farm managers more time to for the care and nourishment of the animals. A developing technology is to convert cow waste into electricity with what is a called a methane digestor. Digestors are wonderful but cost millions of dollars and cannot be afforded by smaller farms.
A major topic in the dairy industry for many years now is "Cow Comfort". I'll tell you more about that in my next blog.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
All Milk is Antibiotic Free
As it is the most frequent topic brought up to me while I'm out showing off one of our beautiful cows, I figure antibiotics in milk would be the ideal topic for me to start my blog. When you visit the dairy section of the grocery store these days you'll see many different varieties to choose from. One of the options that is available is organic milk. Everyone I speak to has a clear understanding that organic milk doesn't have antibiotics in it. Not everyone I speak to realizes that traditional milk is also completely free of antibiotics, when in fact it is.
The difference in organic versus traditional milk is not antibiotics in the milk, but whether or not antibiotics are used to treat cows on the farm. Traditional milk comes from dairy farms that use antibiotics to treat a cow if she becomes sick. Cows are very similar to people in that they can get sick with many different types of infections. As with people different medicines are used to treat different illnesses. Which medicine is used is determined by a licensed veterinarian with a prescription.
When a cow becomes sick and she is treated with an antibiotic she is clearly identified and often separated from the rest of the herd (At our farm we tie a piece of bright blue plastic around a rear leg). While a cow is being treated her milk is sorted into a separate bucket and dumped down the drain. Every medicine is labelled with how long after her last treatment her milk is to be dumped out. Before a cow's milk is put into the main tank with the rest of the cows' milk it is sampled and tested to make sure there isn't any antibiotics in it.
"But what if someone makes a mistake?!" We're all human and mistakes eventually will happen. This is why a sample is taken of every tank of milk from every farm before it goes onto the milk truck so it can again be tested for antibiotics. Another sample is taken from the truck before it unloads at the milk plant and if any of these samples are positive for antibiotics, all the milk is dumped out.
As I get a little more savvy with this I plan to bring photos and maybe even videos from our farm but until next time remember, ALL MILK IS ANTIBIOTIC FREE!
The difference in organic versus traditional milk is not antibiotics in the milk, but whether or not antibiotics are used to treat cows on the farm. Traditional milk comes from dairy farms that use antibiotics to treat a cow if she becomes sick. Cows are very similar to people in that they can get sick with many different types of infections. As with people different medicines are used to treat different illnesses. Which medicine is used is determined by a licensed veterinarian with a prescription.
When a cow becomes sick and she is treated with an antibiotic she is clearly identified and often separated from the rest of the herd (At our farm we tie a piece of bright blue plastic around a rear leg). While a cow is being treated her milk is sorted into a separate bucket and dumped down the drain. Every medicine is labelled with how long after her last treatment her milk is to be dumped out. Before a cow's milk is put into the main tank with the rest of the cows' milk it is sampled and tested to make sure there isn't any antibiotics in it.
"But what if someone makes a mistake?!" We're all human and mistakes eventually will happen. This is why a sample is taken of every tank of milk from every farm before it goes onto the milk truck so it can again be tested for antibiotics. Another sample is taken from the truck before it unloads at the milk plant and if any of these samples are positive for antibiotics, all the milk is dumped out.
As I get a little more savvy with this I plan to bring photos and maybe even videos from our farm but until next time remember, ALL MILK IS ANTIBIOTIC FREE!
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