I recently shared what my typical day on the farm looks like. But what about a cow’s day?
A common misconception about dairy farms that have their milking parlors running for just about 24 hours a day is that the cows spend most of their time being milked. The reality is that a cow is actually being milked for about 20 minutes, total, per day.
On our farm, the cows go to the milking parlor three times a day, so their days are pretty much broken into eight-hour increments. Basically, a cow rests for one third of the time, eats for one third of the time, and is relaxing/socializing/being milked for one third of the time. That sounds like a pretty good life to me!
A group of cows eating and socializing at the bunk.
Cows are away from their pens for a maximum of three hours per day. When she goes up to the parlor to get milked, she has to wait her turn in the holding area, first. In the holding area, we do everything we can to make sure the cows are as comfortable as possible. On the hot summer days like we have now, we run a sprinkler system in the holding area. When the temperature reaches a certain point, the sprinklers turn on and water down the cows. Then, the fans come on so that they cows are fully cooled with evaporative cooling. The cows are very cool and relaxed when they get to the milking parlor. The cows are only actually being milked for about 6 minutes, and then they head back to the freestall barn to eat.
Sometimes, we mix it up for the cows. Every Tuesday the veterinarian comes for herd health. The veterinarian does some consulting on anything we might have questions for, and then he checks the cows for pregnancies, does ultrasounds, and makes note of anything we need to be aware of. The cows even get pedicures twice a year. They get their hooves trimmed to keep their feet healthy to walk on so they can get to the feed and parlor easily and comfortably.
When we had the Breakfast on the Farm in June, a kid asked me what I thought the cows thought about their life here on the farm. The truth is, I think the cows think they have a pretty cool life. The barn is nice and comfortable, and they have a free-choice buffet all day long. Wouldn’t you be happy if you had a buffet all day and didn’t have to worry about anything like gaining weight? I would be!
