Good MOOrning!
I’m one of the cows that lives at Country Dairy, and I’ve overheard some of the humans saying that milk-drinkers wonder if cows have a good quality of life. Bless their hearts! I can’t speak for other farms, but let me tell you about an average day in my life here at Country Dairy. I think it’s pretty great.
1. Rise and shine
First things first: waking up in the morning. You might think that cows sleep overnight like humans, but we only spend about four hours out of every twenty-four hour period asleep!
Don’t worry though, we spend about ten to twelve hours lying down and resting. Here at Country Dairy we have freestalls, which means that we can choose to come and go from resting areas whenever we want.
We bed down in sand instead of hay because the humans say it is more hygienic. When they bring people on a tour, they say something about sand preventing the growth of bacteria and preventing infections like mastitis. I’m not a scientist, but that sounds good to me!
2. Eat and socialize
Here at Country Dairy, I’m one of about 1,200 cows. So I’m never lonely! We get to mingle with each other whenever we want, or if we don’t feel social we can lay down in one of the freestalls that only has room for one cow at a time.
I like to chat with my friends while we eat. Each of us eats around one hundred pounds of feed per day. Our humans at Country Dairy grow our food right here on the farm. I’ve heard somebody say “farm to table” food is popular – we do even better by keeping it all just “farm!”
What do I eat? Well, it’s a mixture of corn silage, alfalfa hay, soybean meal, and vitamins and minerals. Apparently you humans only have one stomach compartment? Sounds wild to me! We cows have four. The corn silage (the whole plant not just grain) and the hay help provide roughage for our rumen, which is one of our four stomach compartments. This is an important part of processing this food into milk, including the joy of chewing our cud to even further break our food down… totally delicious to us cows!
3. Get milked
I’m sure you’re wondering how my milk ends up on your table. My great-great-great-grandma was milked by hand, and my grandma was milked by a machine that humans attached to the teats on her udder.
But I’m a modern cow, and I am perfectly capable of managing my own milking, thank you very much. That’s right – whenever I feel like being milked, I just walk right up to the automatic milking system (AMS) and get milked!
It’s a pretty cushy job, I can’t lie. I get a snack while I’m in there, and the machine scans my collar so they know whose milk they’re getting. It also maps my udder to make sure that my teats are healthy and that the machine attaches in a pain-free way.
One time I heard a human say they work forty hours per week. My goodness, how do you have time for anything else? I only get milked about twenty-four minutes per day! The machine only lets us in for milking every five hours so we can’t get over-milked or just eat snacks all day. I guess it’s for the best, although I do like my snacks.
4. Special events
Sometimes something special happens during my day. The biggest event every year is the birth of my calf, which is why I’m able to be milked in the first place.
I met some pregnant humans and I learned that we carry our babies for the same amount of time – nine months – before they’re born. For the first seven months of my pregnancies I still get milked, and then I get a two-month break before my calf is born. Apparently you humans don’t get a two-month break from your jobs every year. Weird!
And oh, I almost forgot! My favorite part of any day is seeing humans on farm tours! The kids in particular love to learn all about cow life, which I think is very smart of them.
I’d love to meet you and your family here on the farm. I can’t really type or use a phone with my hooves, but my humans tell me you can call them at (231) 861 4636 x119 or email them at tours@countrydairy.com. I can’t wait to meet you!
For now, I’m MOOving on to the feeding trough. Bye!