Did you know?

Did you know that cows eat turnips, citrus pulp, molasses, cotton seed, and hominy—just to name a few things!? Check our resources listed here to find out more about cows and milk and dairy farms!

The cows at Cagle’s Dairy are Holsteins. Their day starts with the first of two milking shifts beginning at 3:30am. The second one is about 2:30pm. Before the milking, the cows are cleaned with a water spray sprayed on them by sprinklers. The animals drip dry and their udders are dipped in an iodine solution to sanitize and clean them, and then this is wiped away. The farmer then hooks the cows to milking machines that begin the milking process. The milk is suctioned out through the clear plastic tubes and into stainless steel pipe lines. The milk then flows into a refrigerated tank where it stays until it is ready for processing. It is then pumped from the milk barn tanks to the milk processing plant were it is processed and bottled.

• The average cow consumes roughly eighteen pounds of grain, thirty pounds of silage, eight pounds of hay and twenty to twenty-five gallons of water each day. One common source of feed is grain from local breweries, which the dairy farmer mixes with hay silage and other grain products.
• The average dairy cow can produce more than six gallons of milk per day.
• A dairy cow gives birth to one calf a year and produces milk for about the next ten months as long as she is milked regularly.
• The modern milking process is highly mechanized and sanitized. The suction cups use the same gentle pulsing action that hand-milkers used for years.

This is just one lesson that teachers could use in preparing their students for their visit to Cagle’s Dairy.  For additional lesson plans check out the ‘Lesson Plan’ page.  There is also a page devoted to links to websites that could be of benefit when gathering information for preparing the kids.  That page is called ‘Internet Resources’.  Check it out.

We’re dedicated to making your visit to Cagle’s Dairy a most productive one for the kids.  If you have suggestions or comments following your visit, as to how we could have made your experience even better, please email us or give us a call.  We are always on the outlook for other resources to add to our list and suggestions for other lesson plans.