A lot of times when people think about farms in Wisconsin, they picture a red barn with the cows roaming in the pastures. The reality is that most Wisconsin dairy cows spend their time in freestall barns that a lot of times aren’t red, and they don’t go out on pasture anymore.
A big reason for this is that the freestall barns are designed to keep the cows comfortable in the harsh cold of winter and the humid heat of summer. Another reason is because there are government regulations in place that don’t allow cows to be on pasture in certain areas.
Because we’re a large farm, the DNR comes out for routine inspections to make sure we’re following all of the regulations and standards the government puts in place. The DNR says that we’re held to zero discharge in waterways. This means that any cows that are out on pasture, in definition, have a direct runoff to some waterways or streams if it rains.
Our dry cows – the cows that aren’t milking while they are getting ready to have their calf – have always been out on pasture. After our DNR inspection, we now have to keep them in the barn, because all of the pastures have some sort of stream or waterway nearby. If it rains, we need to avoid any discharge getting into those water sources. We need to be able to collect all of the waste to make sure the groundwater and surface water is clean and healthy.
Dry cows eating their ration in the pasture before we moved them inside.
People love to see the cows out on pasture. We loved to see the dry cows out on pasture too. But, because of the regulations that are in place, we have to keep them inside the freestall barn. A lot of times, people don’t understand the reason behind the action. In this case, it was government regulations that are keeping our cows in the barns.
To be honest with you, the cows are happy in the barns. They’re in the tunnel-ventilated barn, so it’s like the air conditioning is on in there. All summer, early in the morning, the cows would go outside to the pasture, but as soon as the sun came up they would go inside anyways. Cows like the shade. Well, I guess they are getting more and more pampered.
The dry cows will now enjoy their meals with a little bit different scenery.