May 29, 2012

Today for class we went to the Holter's Dairy Farm in Pomeroy. Alyssa Holter gave us a tour of their facilities along with her parents and her sister. Also, there was a women with the American Dairy Association. The Holter's have over 200 cows. This tour was very interesting and I learned about dairy farmers. Their facilities were very nice and clean.  I was surprised with how much work and dedication it takes to keep a dairy farm up and running.  There are so many specific rules they have to do so they do not contaminate any of the milk. When we first arrived we saw an area where they keep the baby cows all together. Until they are 6 weeks old, they are in pens of their own so they can bottle feed them the mothers colostrum and then switch to milk replacement after three days. As the calfs get older they are moved up a pen until they can go to pasture. They then can roam their land, which is a few hundred acres.   It was a great experience and I really enjoyed it.