A baby calf is able to stand within an hour after it’s born.

Our calves are fed milk in a bottle until they learn to drink it from a bucket which could take only a few days.

They stay on milk until they are about two months old and eating lots of grain then they are weaned to water, grain, and hay.

All cows are born with horns but are removed for safety reasons.

Cows are called a “ruminant” animal which means they eat their food then they regurgitate it and chew it some more after they are done eating. A healthy cow will chew their “cud” at least 50 times before re-swallowing.

Like we have a food pyramid of the proper servings of each food group a day, a cow also has guidelines. They have to exceed a certain amount of dry matter, protein, carbohydrates, etc. To maintain a healthy body so she can produce a lot of milk. The milk cows are fed a total mixed ration that consists of: Corn silage, Haylage, Protein supplement, hay, and High moisture Corn. How much is mixed depends on the amount they need for the day.

Our feed nutritionist is here weekly to look over the cows and run tests on our feed so he can make up the proper diet for our cows.

Only female cows will produce milk. A cow will not produce milk until she has given birth.

We like to see our heifers have their first calf at about 2 years old.

Our cows are milked on THEIR own schedule by robots!

On average our cows produce 7 gallons of milk each day (per cow).

Cows have a gestation period of 9 months.

A milk cow will go “dry” two months prior to having a calf. This gives her time to prepare her body for the birth.

The vet visits our farm every other week to do a routine check up on the cows.