Dairy Cows

During this session the students will learn all about dairy cows. They will get to see a cow being milked using a milking machine as well as by hand. They will learn what they eat as well.

Here the students are learning about what cows eat including hay, baleage, water, and grain.

Did you know that cows consume the equivalent of a bathtub full of water and 40 pounds of food each day?

Cows have 4 digestive compartments

the rumen holds up to 50 gallons of partially digested food. The bacteria in the rumen helps digest the cows food.
The reticulum is called the hardware stomach due to the fact that if cow accidentally eats a piece of hardware like a scrap of fence it will lodge in the reticulum causing no further damage to the cow.
The omasum acts like a filter.
The abomasum acts in the same fashion as our stomach.

Here the students are learning about milking a cow and milk production.

Did you know that before milking machines were invented in 1894 a farmer could only milk 6 cows per day?

With today's milking technology farmers are able to milk up to 100 cows per day.

Dairy cows supply 90% of the world's milk supply.

A cow does not produce milk until after she gives birth to a calf.

Here the children are taking a turn at trying their hand at milking a cow. This wooden cow was created to illustrate and to give the students an opportunity to try to milk a cow on there own.

Did you know a cow can produce 25 gallons of milk per day which is the equivalent of 400 glasses of milk.

A cow will produce nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.