As my trip to this farm was coming to an end my uncle spotted one of the female cows that was giving birth to a new calf. As tired as I was from learning about the farm I couldn’t help but stay to witness the birth of this new calf. A farmer was getting ready to pull out the baby cow. The farmers wife was there with her three kids. She looked at me and said in amazement how it was my lucky day because they have being waiting to see a birth for months now. The birth process took about five minutes. When the new calf was born I couldn’t help but smile and think how the worst trip turned out to be the best trip I have ever gone to.
A Day at the Dairy Farm
Driving down a long road that seemed never ending I thought to myself how my trip to this dairy farm will be the worst trip I have ever gone to. This trip was supposed to inform me of where our milk comes from and how it gets from a cow to a gallon. I started to daydream and imagined myself being surrounded by muddy stinky cows in the middle of their maneuver. My day dream quickly came to an end when a horrifying smell was going through my nostrils as I approached the farm. The smell was like an overweight person who’s sitting next to you in a crowded bus on a hot summer day and seemed as if they had not heard of a bath before. As I waited for my uncle to come and meet with me for a tour around the dairy farm, all I could think about was that horrible smell. As my eyes glazed around the front of the farm all I could see were cows.
I was so distracted on that disgusting smell and the cows surrounding the farm that I had not notice my uncle standing next to me. My uncle named Ramon has being working for this dairy farm for about five years and it seemed as if he had gotten used to the smell. He welcomed me with a smile and a hug and then we started walking towards a corral that he referred to as “maternity”. He started telling me that they have over thirty thousand cows in the farm and this first corral was where they keep cows that are about to give birth within the next five days. He also mentioned that they identify the cows by numbers and tags which are either green or orange. The green tag represents female baby cows and the orange tags represent older female cows.
He then walked behind the maternity corral and pointed at a trailer that was old and rusty. As we approached it he said that inside that trailer there where little baby cows that where born last night around ten pm. He opened the back door of the trailer and allowed me to take a look. There were about four baby cows surrounded by red lights. I asked him what the red lights were for and he responded by saying that the red lights are small heaters that give baby cows warmth and energy. Once the baby cows are born they last one hour with the mother and then their separated and brought to this trailer where they stay for six hours.
We then left the trailer and walked passed the maternity corral. From a distance I saw what looked like little pen houses surrounded by a fence. As we walked closer I could see baby cows inside the fences. My uncle then proceeded in explaining that after they have completed their six hours inside the trailer they are put into these individual corrals. I asked if the baby cows where fed milk by their mother. He then responded that the baby cows also known as calf are fed milk from different cows but in bottles and never again do they have any contact with its mother. Once the calf has reached six months they are put into a special section where they are still being fed milk but in long trays. After two months they are then transferred to a corral on the other side of the farm. There the calves are being fed alfalfa and cotton along with different types of corn and vitamins.
We then walked back to his car and drove off to take a look around the rest of the farm. We started heading towards the back of the farm and then we approached a corral that had cows that weren’t adults but neither were they calves. One thing that amazed me during my trip was when my uncle mentioned that this section was for female calf and when they reach one year of age they are injected with cow sperm by a veterinarian to get them pregnant. I asked him why do they get them pregnant so fast and he mentioned because it makes the production of milk faster and that is exactly the purpose of this farm. We then stepped out his vehicle and as I looked at these female cows I realized a red line going down the middle of their head. My uncle mentioned that the red line let the rest of the farmers know that the cow has officially become pregnant.
The second thing that amazed me during my trip was that they put all the cows that have given birth in a corral that my uncle called “hospital”. This hospital holds cows that just gave birth for forty days. Once they reach those forty days they are put into a corral where bulls are ready to get them pregnant again. My uncle also mentioned that the milk that these cows produce is being taken away from them through machines. Before he drove to the small factory were the milk is taken away he explained how the cows that have the most amount of milk in their udder are put in corrals nearest to the factory.
As we approached the factory I didn’t seemed to realize that I had parked my car right in front. The building looked like a house rather than a factory. When we entered this building the sound of machines and pumps echoed through my ears. I then saw a long narrow hall that was full of pumps that where used to milk the cows. As I saw how the pumps took all the milk out of the cows I also saw a bucket full of what looked like blood. I immediately asked my uncle what it was and he responded that they call it “Red udder ointment” and they put that ointment in the cow’s udder before they are milked to prevent diseases from getting to the milk and the cow. The pumps consisted of two tubes that where connected to a circular object which the milk will go through. These tubes led the milk to pipes which led the milk to a big tank which contained all of the milk. Once the milk reached the tank it is kept to a certain temperature until a truck from different dairy companies come to retreat it and take it to another factory where it is then put into gallons and sold.
I had now answered my question of where our milk comes from and how it gets from a cow to a gallon, I was glad to know that my trip was finally coming to an end. Finally we had reached the maternity corral again and I started saying goodbye to my uncle when I saw a farmer running inside the maternity corral and what happened next was amazing. The farmer was running to help out one of the female cows that was giving birth to its new calf. As tired as I was from learning about the farm I couldn’t help but stay to witness the birth of this new calf. A wife whose husband works at the farm was there with her three kids. She looked at me and said in amazement how it was my lucky day because they have being waiting to see a birth for months now. When the new calf was born I couldn’t help but smile and think how the worst trip turned out to be the best trip I have ever gone to.
No comments:
Post a Comment