Kid's AgMag - Dairy

Page 1

Mississi f o p s e p n I d c y u i r s i a t a ry ’ F D

THANK A DAIRY FARMER TODAY

s

Each year, U.S. dairy farmers provide milk to make more than:

Donald Lowery

Dairy Producer, Marion County

1 billion pounds of butter

What types of tasks do you perform on your dairy? I milk cows twice a day/seven days a week; feed and water cows; clean the milking barn and equipment; keep the equipment in working order; put up hay in the summer; and winter-graze cows during the winter months, depending on what the weather dictates. You can use knowledge that you learn in school – I took ag courses for two years in college – but you really need to be raised on a farm to fully understand all that needs to be done. Why did you become a dairy farmer? I grew up on a farm, and my grandfather also farmed. I enjoy it. I have a degree in finance, but I like the outdoors and being my own boss. Plus, a farm is a good place to live and a great place to raise your children. I lived in the city for a while and didn’t like it. What types of skills do you need to be a dairy farmer? A dairy farmer wears many hats, from electrician to plumber to veterinarian. You must have good management skills. You must be able to operate milking equipment and care for cows, without having to hire too much extra help. However, you will need seasonal help sometimes. How do you market your milk? I market through a cooperative called Dairy Farmers of America. But in the Southeast, dairy farmers are at a disadvantage. We only produce 50 percent of what consumers need, so we must truck in the rest from out West, and we must pay for transportation costs for that.

7 billion pounds of cheese 1 billion gallons of ice cream

Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation ÂŽ

DELICIOUSNESS! 1 billion pounds would equal about 227 fueled space shuttles!

The Amazing

Do A DOUBLE TAKE

Dairy cattle are called ruminants because they have multiple compartments in their stomach. Ruminant animals first chew their food to soften it, swallow it, and then return it to their mouth for continued chewing. This is called chewing the cud. After chewing the cud, it is swallowed a second time, broken down further, and digested. Cows will spend up to eight hours a day chewing their cud. Cows have a four-compartment stomach. The four digestive compartments of a cow’s stomach are the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum. RUMEN

OMASUM RETICULUM

Stan Welch Director of Milk Program Mississippi Department of Health What do you do? I inspect dairy barns and milk plants. Mississippi has 107 dairy farms and two dairy processing plants. I sample both raw and pasteurized milk.

What do you do? I help educate consumers about dairy farming and dairy products, and I promote dairy products to benefit farmers. I travel across four states: South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. What is your education? I have a bachelor’s degree in ag leadership.

>= >K :MBHG

: @ B

B ? † ? :K F ;NK>:N

II

Manager of Industry Relations, Southeast United Dairy Industry Association (SUDIA)

FBLLBLLB

Shaun Sosebee

> <E :LLKH MA H

F

G

Dairy Cow

Dairy cows are amazing animals. They can turn grass and grains into milk! Heifers are female dairy cattle and after two years, they give birth to their own calves. Once a heifer gives birth, it is called a cow. All female dairy cows must have a calf to produce milk. The gestation (pregnancy) period for cows is nine months. Newborn calves weigh about 80-100 pounds. Male dairy cattle are called bulls and do not produce milk.

e it h w d n a k c a l b ’s What and Red all over?

Dairy cows come in many colors. The black and white cows are called Holsteins. You’ll find mostly Holsteins here in the United States. Some other breeds include Jersey, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, and Ayrshire. They can be tan, brownish gray, golden brown, reddish-brown or shades of these colors with patches. Some breeds produce a lot of milk and some breeds produce milk with a lot of butterfat. Farmers consider this when choosing a breed of dairy cows. Farmers improve their herd through genetics and select cows that produce more milk or have a higher butterfat content in their milk.

How Hungry & Thirsty is a dairy cow?

This issue of AgMag is compliments of:

What types of skills do you need for your job? You need good computer skills and good communication skills. You must be tactful in certain situations so diplomacy is a good skill to have. Sometimes you are dealing with dairy farmers in an adverse situation.

DAIRY

An agricultural newsletter for kids from

That’s a whole lot of

ASUM ABOM

What did you study in school? It helps to have a dairy background, but I took a lot of science courses in school. You must have a science-based major in college, whether it is in production ag or dairy production.

g a M g A

What types of skills do you need for your job? I do a lot of communicating, so verbal and written communication skills are important. You must also be able to interact with and listen to consumers and dairy farmers. I do event planning, so you must have those types of skills as well, including budgeting. You must be organized, and you must have computer skills. You must keep up with technology.

Do you enjoy your job? I do. Working for farmers is fantastic. I previously worked with the Young Farmers & Ranchers and Women’s programs at Florida Farm Bureau Federation, and I taught high school ag for three years. I grew up in 4-H and FFA, and I’ve always had a passion for agriculture. Farmers work day and night to provide our country with the bulk of its food. I feel that educating consumers to the good of the dairy industry is very important. It is important that we support our industry.

Dairy cows eat hay, silage and grain. Silage is fermented corn, wheat or hay with the stalks and leaves. Cows eat 50 pounds of silage as well as 40 pounds of feed and hay each day, for a total of 90 pounds of food. Dairy cows also drink 25-50 gallons of water each day.

If one cow eats 90 pounds of feed each day, how many pounds of feed would a herd of 100 cows eat in a day?____ ____________________ If a cow drinks 40 gallons of water a day, how many cups of water does she drink? (16 cups = 1 gallon) ____________________

90 lbs. of food =

about 200 baked potatoes the equivalent to a bath s k n i r d w o c A t e t a r e w v f e o r y other day! ub full

Make your own butter

Try this activity to make your own butter! 1. Place a half-pint of room temperature whipping cream or heavy cream in a plastic or glass jar with a lid. One half-pint of cream will make about one-quarter pound of butter. 2. Shake the jar for five to ten minutes. 3. When a lump of butter forms, pour the contents of the jar into a colander to separate the butter from the buttermilk. 4. Eat the butter on bread or crackers. A pinch of salt can be added.

FOR MAGIC MILK, YOU WILL NEED: whole milk (not low fat) shallow pan

This is a really simple art activity with a gorgeous, colorful result and movement.

food coloring kit dishwashing soap

With your parents help, pour some milk into the pan (about 2 inches full). Squirt in a little bit of each color of food coloring into the middle. Add one drop of dish soap and watch the colors dance! Keep adding a few more drops in areas where colors are congregating. The fat particles are moving away from the soap taking color with them.

Enjoy this beautiful and colorful milk dance.

Did you know?

Low fat flavored milk like chocolate and strawberry has all the vitamins and minerals as white milk.

Milk comes out of the cow at 100˚ Fahrenheit and is quickly cooled to 38˚- 40˚F. to ensure quality and freshness.

From the farm to your Grocery store In 2 days or less! On the road

At the Farm

Special trucks haul the milk from the farm to the dairy plant. The trucks keep the milk cold—like a giant thermos on wheels. The truck drivers take samples of the milk to make sure it meets certain standards before they deliver it.

On today’s dairy farms, cows are milked 2 or 3 times a day with special milking machines. Farmers use automated equipment to milk the cows and take extra steps to keep the milk clean and safe. The udder is cleaned before rubber-lined cups are attached to the teats. Then a pump sucks the milk through the cups and into a pipe. This pipe takes the milk from the machine to a refrigeration tank that stores the milk at 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Before modern milking machines, a farmer could milk about six cows by hand in one hour. Now, farmers can milk over 100 cows in an hour!

DAIRY FARMERS, T T U O H H ER WIT E

This is where the milk is tested, standardized, homogenized, pasteurized and packaged.

• Milk is tested for butterfat content, flavor, odor and bacteria. Then it is pumped into a refrigerated storage tank. • The milk is moved from the storage tank to a clarifier, where it is standardized. Here, milk from several different dairy farms is mixed so it all tastes the same and has the same amount of cream. • Milk fat is broken into tiny particles that are evenly spread throughout the milk. This is called homogenization. Without being homogenized, the cream would rise to the top of the milk and it would need to be stirred or shaken before drinking.

W

LD OU BE NO PIZZA!

LA L E AR E Z Z MO HEES C

At the plant

Milk is never touched by human hands. All milk is tested before leaving the dairy farm, at the dairy plant, and again before it goes in your school or home.

Mozzarella is the most commonly used cheese in restaurants.

• Milk is pasteurized to kill bacteria and protect its purity and flavor. This is done by quickly heating, then cooling the milk. Pasteurization got its name from Dr. Louis Pasteur, who first discovered that heat kills germs. • Automated machines package the milk. The machines fill, seal and stamp the expiration date on each milk carton or jug. The milk is refrigerated until it is ready to be shipped out of the plant.

at the Store

Refrigerated delivery trucks pick up the packaged milk from the dairy plant and deliver it to grocery stores across the country. The milk you purchase is fresh. In most cases, only two days have passed from milking the cow to stocking the shelves at the grocery store. Long ago, milk was stored in jars, pails, cans and eventually, glass bottles. Paper cartons arrived in 1906 and plastic jugs followed. Today, we are lucky enough to find milk available almost everywhere, thanks to refrigerated tanks and trucks. Many other dairy products can be found in the grocery store, too. These include: ice cream, cheese, butter, yogurt, cream cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese and buttermilk.

In your body

Milk provides your body with calcium, which is needed for healthy bones and teeth. Calcium also helps our muscles and nerves work properly, and helps blood to clot. Milk products also provide us with carbohydrates, protein and Vitamin D. You should have 3 servings of nonfat or low fat milk and milk products each day. One serving of dairy is equal to 1 cup of milk, yogurt or ice cream and 1-2 ounces of cheese.

Mississi f o p s e p n I d c y u i r s i a t a ry ’ F D

THANK A DAIRY FARMER TODAY

s

Each year, U.S. dairy farmers provide milk to make more than:

Donald Lowery

Dairy Producer, Marion County

1 billion pounds of butter

What types of tasks do you perform on your dairy? I milk cows twice a day/seven days a week; feed and water cows; clean the milking barn and equipment; keep the equipment in working order; put up hay in the summer; and winter-graze cows during the winter months, depending on what the weather dictates. You can use knowledge that you learn in school – I took ag courses for two years in college – but you really need to be raised on a farm to fully understand all that needs to be done. Why did you become a dairy farmer? I grew up on a farm, and my grandfather also farmed. I enjoy it. I have a degree in finance, but I like the outdoors and being my own boss. Plus, a farm is a good place to live and a great place to raise your children. I lived in the city for a while and didn’t like it. What types of skills do you need to be a dairy farmer? A dairy farmer wears many hats, from electrician to plumber to veterinarian. You must have good management skills. You must be able to operate milking equipment and care for cows, without having to hire too much extra help. However, you will need seasonal help sometimes. How do you market your milk? I market through a cooperative called Dairy Farmers of America. But in the Southeast, dairy farmers are at a disadvantage. We only produce 50 percent of what consumers need, so we must truck in the rest from out West, and we must pay for transportation costs for that.

7 billion pounds of cheese 1 billion gallons of ice cream

Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation ÂŽ

DELICIOUSNESS! 1 billion pounds would equal about 227 fueled space shuttles!

The Amazing

Do A DOUBLE TAKE

Dairy cattle are called ruminants because they have multiple compartments in their stomach. Ruminant animals first chew their food to soften it, swallow it, and then return it to their mouth for continued chewing. This is called chewing the cud. After chewing the cud, it is swallowed a second time, broken down further, and digested. Cows will spend up to eight hours a day chewing their cud. Cows have a four-compartment stomach. The four digestive compartments of a cow’s stomach are the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum. RUMEN

OMASUM RETICULUM

Stan Welch Director of Milk Program Mississippi Department of Health What do you do? I inspect dairy barns and milk plants. Mississippi has 107 dairy farms and two dairy processing plants. I sample both raw and pasteurized milk.

What do you do? I help educate consumers about dairy farming and dairy products, and I promote dairy products to benefit farmers. I travel across four states: South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. What is your education? I have a bachelor’s degree in ag leadership.

>= >K :MBHG

: @ B

B ? † ? :K F ;NK>:N

II

Manager of Industry Relations, Southeast United Dairy Industry Association (SUDIA)

FBLLBLLB

Shaun Sosebee

> <E :LLKH MA H

F

G

Dairy Cow

Dairy cows are amazing animals. They can turn grass and grains into milk! Heifers are female dairy cattle and after two years, they give birth to their own calves. Once a heifer gives birth, it is called a cow. All female dairy cows must have a calf to produce milk. The gestation (pregnancy) period for cows is nine months. Newborn calves weigh about 80-100 pounds. Male dairy cattle are called bulls and do not produce milk.

e it h w d n a k c a l b ’s What and Red all over?

Dairy cows come in many colors. The black and white cows are called Holsteins. You’ll find mostly Holsteins here in the United States. Some other breeds include Jersey, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, and Ayrshire. They can be tan, brownish gray, golden brown, reddish-brown or shades of these colors with patches. Some breeds produce a lot of milk and some breeds produce milk with a lot of butterfat. Farmers consider this when choosing a breed of dairy cows. Farmers improve their herd through genetics and select cows that produce more milk or have a higher butterfat content in their milk.

How Hungry & Thirsty is a dairy cow?

This issue of AgMag is compliments of:

What types of skills do you need for your job? You need good computer skills and good communication skills. You must be tactful in certain situations so diplomacy is a good skill to have. Sometimes you are dealing with dairy farmers in an adverse situation.

DAIRY

An agricultural newsletter for kids from

That’s a whole lot of

ASUM ABOM

What did you study in school? It helps to have a dairy background, but I took a lot of science courses in school. You must have a science-based major in college, whether it is in production ag or dairy production.

g a M g A

What types of skills do you need for your job? I do a lot of communicating, so verbal and written communication skills are important. You must also be able to interact with and listen to consumers and dairy farmers. I do event planning, so you must have those types of skills as well, including budgeting. You must be organized, and you must have computer skills. You must keep up with technology.

Do you enjoy your job? I do. Working for farmers is fantastic. I previously worked with the Young Farmers & Ranchers and Women’s programs at Florida Farm Bureau Federation, and I taught high school ag for three years. I grew up in 4-H and FFA, and I’ve always had a passion for agriculture. Farmers work day and night to provide our country with the bulk of its food. I feel that educating consumers to the good of the dairy industry is very important. It is important that we support our industry.

Dairy cows eat hay, silage and grain. Silage is fermented corn, wheat or hay with the stalks and leaves. Cows eat 50 pounds of silage as well as 40 pounds of feed and hay each day, for a total of 90 pounds of food. Dairy cows also drink 25-50 gallons of water each day.

If one cow eats 90 pounds of feed each day, how many pounds of feed would a herd of 100 cows eat in a day?____ ____________________ If a cow drinks 40 gallons of water a day, how many cups of water does she drink? (16 cups = 1 gallon) ____________________

90 lbs. of food =

about 200 baked potatoes the equivalent to a bath s k n i r d w o c A t e t a r e w v f e o r y other day! ub full

Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.