Kids Ask, I Tell...Part 2

Highlighting more great questions from the tours last week, here's a couple more!

3. How come the calves sleep alone in the calf huts? Where's their mommies?
Great question!  Calves are moved to calf huts within hours of birth.  We house our calves in huts, as we do not have an adequate calf barn.  These huts allow us to house our calves individually, protecting them from germs from other calves (like kids in kindergarten).  They are able to stay healthy in these environments.  It may seem lonely, but calves and peak outside their huts and see herd mates down the row.  Each of these huts work like individual "bedrooms" for the calves, where they enjoy space to run around and plenty of soft and dry bedding.  Their mommies, the cows are in the milking barn, where we are able to better care for our cows.  We can focus on giving these cows the nutrition and care that they need after having a calf, instead of the cow worrying about the newborn calf. 

4. Can you drink the milk fresh from the cows?
Well, that's a good question too.  And yes you could drink the milk fresh from a cow, but it would be very warm, about 100 degrees.  It would also be very thick-as most cow's milk has a higher butterfat content that that milk that we buy in the store.  Also, milk from cows should always be pasteurized before people can drink it.  Milk that is pasteurized is guaranteed to be free of disease causing bacteria.  Bacteria is everywhere in food production, pasteurization allows us to insure that those bacteria (good or bad) are not present. I don't know about you, but I would like to drink milk that is cold and free of bacteria. 

More fun questions to come tomorrow~!