On Saturday, Hubby & I spent several hours at a local farm whose incredibly tasty products we recently fell in love with. I wrote about this yesterday. If you haven't read it yet, do it now. Really. It will make you all warm inside.
During our time there, I learned a lot of new information about dairy production, and I learned a lot of information I thought I knew about dairy production. Here's what I learned, in no particular order. As you'll soon see, a lot of hot button issues really simply depend on the dairy and their individual practices.
1. Mechanical milking is not necessarily bad for cows. In reality, there is no way to physically express all the milk from a cow's udders by hand milking, nor can a single calf drink all the milk in her udders. A milking machine most efficiently expresses all the milk, reducing a cow's risk of developing mastitis. As Todd Moore (owner/operator of Lavon Farms, which supplies the milk for Lucky Layla Farms' delectable products) pointed out, his cows show up willingly in the mornings at the sound of his voice to be milked. If the machines hurt them, they wouldn't be such willing participants.
2. Different cows satisfy different priorities. Just as different breeds of beef cattle produce different grades of meat, different breeds of dairy cattle serve different purposes. Moore's family farm has been raising Guernsey and Jersey cows since the 1930's. These breeds were chosen, Moore points out, because their milk is of exceptional quality, with high butter-fat and protein content, though the quantity is much less than other breeds. For example, Guernseys & Jerseys produce about five gallons of milk daily, whereas Holsteins produce at least twice that amount but of lower quality.
3. Pasteurization is necessary, but somewhat evil. We tasted raw milk while we were at the farm, and it was absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, the law prohibits any farm that has a creamery from selling raw milk in addition to the finished, pasteurized products, due to possible cross-contamination. Pasteurization, unfortunately, kills a lot of luscious flavor in addition to the germs. If run in a clean, safe manner, dairies can produce raw milk that is as safe as pasteurized, but the law is designed, I'm guessing, to protect consumers from the farms who are operating for quantity of sales, not quality of conditions.
4. "Antibiotic-free" is a marketing ploy which ultimately means nothing. Having organic certification means that we are guaranteed that cows are not being given a steady stream of antibiotics to try to prevent infections, thus possibly increasing antibiotic resistance in humans. Sounds okay so far, right? However, it also means that a farmer cannot give a single round of antibiotics to a cow who has a non-transmissable, but still painful, infection like, say, mastitis. Additionally, milk is so highly regulated that farmers have to submit milk for testing on a regular basis; if any antibiotic is found, the milk isn't accepted. Antibiotics very rarely will ever make it into the food chain; you may as well buy "gasoline-free" milk. Knowing your dairy is very important, as is being able to ask them questions. If you can't find a local dairy, try Organic Valley. They are a sort of co-op situation that works with individual family farms. Horizon Organic may as well be a factory farm; they've been questioned numerous times for pushing the limits of technicalities for their organic certification.
5. The national average lifespan of a dairy cow is a pitiful three years. I wholly believe this is due to the stress of constant antibiotics and growth hormones given to increase productivity; sooner, rather than later, those cow's bodies wear out. Moore's cows live fully twice the national average, and this cow, named Sybil, who was getting ready for an appearance at Whole Foods, is ten years old. And due to calf in June. Happy cows apparently live longer lives. Imagine that.
6. Calves weigh between 40-100 pounds at birth. I never, ever would have guessed this. Looking at these "adolescent" calves, at about 12 weeks old, I wouldn't guess their weight to be 200-400 pounds, either. Guernseys & Jerseys weigh in at adulthood between 1000-1300 pounds.
7. Gestation for cows is nine months, the same as humans. Sometimes human intervention is required for calving, but most often cows handle delivery all on their own. Hubby, who is an anesthesiologist, and I found it quite amusing when Todd relayed that his wife, after giving birth the first time, came home and proclaimed that all the cows should be given epidurals when they labor.
8. Calves do not stay in the pasture with their mothers. The first surprise that greeted us as we drove up the driveway was the area where calves are kept. I wanted to be appalled; after all, the calves are kept tethered to their own individual "cow house" (my term) and the ground cover is large pea gravel, not grass. Upon inquiry, however, we learned that the babies are separated very early to prevent sickness. Just like sending a kid to daycare, if one baby, with a weaker immune system than adults, gets sick, it can spread like wildfire. After 10-12 weeks, the babies are moved to a pasture with other youngsters for a time before heading out with the big cows. The pea gravel was very clean, and the babies were well-fed and well-tended.
9. Horns are removed almost immediately. While many claim it is barbaric, it really is for the safety of the cows. If there is ever a "disagreement," these cows will fight to the death to settle it, so horn removal is necessary if the cows are kept communally in a pasture.
10. Cows are very smart and each has its own distinct personality. Some of them were timid, some of them were curious, some were very loving, and others were simply indifferent. (This one, whom we nicknamed Bucksnort, would snort and hop around if Hubby quit petting on her.) But all of them, Moore insists, are very, very smart. Do not be fooled by the somewhat vacant expressions (I personally consider it "serene," not "vacant"); it's all an act.
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