A Dairy Diary

Now that I finally have cable in my apartment, I've become much more aware of commercials and what they advertise. And it's amazing to think about how much we absorb from them. After all, that's why the companies pay so much to put them in front of us!

The one that has stood out to me the most this week was one produced by California Dairy Farmers. Although I've seen agriculturally related commercials on other channels, the CDF Association have decided to place their ad on primetime TV spots. For example, one came on during "Dancing with the Stars". Yes...I watch it. Another one aired during the evening news. How much do you want to bet that viewers watched and learned from those commercials? I'd put my money on it! Even if the slightest bit of information was absorbed from that minute ad, it helps agriculture. It's awesome agricultural advocacy. Therefore, I'm dedicated this blog to dairy, dairy cows and dairy farmers. Here goes!

                            Another commerical from the California Happy Cows Campaign


                 Great video from the Dairy Herd Network produced by Michigan Dairy Farmers!

Here are some great facts courtesy of http://www.greenmeadowfarms.com/cooldairyfacts.htm :

- It takes more cows to produce milk annually for Pizza Hut cheese (about 170,000) than there are people living in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

- Cows have an acute sense of smell, and can smell something up to six miles away.

- Vanilla is America's favorite ice cream flavor.

- The average cow produces enough milk each day to fill six one-gallon jugs, about 55 pounds of milk.

- Each person in America eats an average of 46 slices of pizza a year.

- All 50 states in the United States have dairy farms.

- The natural yellow color of butter comes mainly from the bets-carotene found in the grass cows eat.

- The average cow drinks from 30 - 50 gallons of water each day - about a bathtub's worth.

- It takes 12 pounds of whole milk to make one gallon of ice cream.

- A cow can't vomit.

- It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs, because a cow's knees can't bend properly to walk back down.

- The greatest amount of milk produced in one year was 59,298 lbs by a Holstein cow named Robthom Sue Paddy.

- Dairy cows can produce 125 lbs of saliva a day.

- A cow chews her cud (regurgitated, partially digested food) for up to 8 hours each day.

- The oldest cow ever recorded was a cow named "Big Bertha", she died 3 months short of her 49th birthday on New Year's Eve, 1993.  She also holds the record for lifetime breeding as she produced 39 calves.

- A cow has to be a mom before she will produce milk.

- Contrary to popular belief, cows do not have 4 stomachs; they have 4 digestive compartments in one stomach:

             - The rumen holds up to 50 gallons of partially digested food.  This is where cud comes from.  Good bacteria in the rumen helps digest the cow's food and provides protein for the cow.

             - The reticulum is called the hardware stomach because if cows accidentally eat hardware (like a piece of fencing scrap), it will often lodge here causing no further damage.

             - The omasum is sort of like a filter.

             - The abomasum is like our stomach.
- Cows only have teeth on the bottom

God Bless,

Hannah