Dairy Farming 101

I have a hidden agenda. Well probably not so hidden since I'm blabbing it up front. Dairy farmers are some of the original sustainable food producers, a fact that they don't often get credit for. I want to help them get credit. So beginning at the beginning, here's an incredibly brief dairy farming primer.

Dairy farmers and their families live on the land and depend on their animals for their livelihoods. Since ninety-eight percent of the population has no direct on-farm experience, they aren't always aware of the ways that dairy farmers protect the land. As a matter of fact, people generally need to go back three or more generations to connect with any agricultural heritage they have. There isn't any longer a de facto connection or understanding of farming and farm life.

Dairy farming has been a part of agricultural life for thousands of years. Born as civilization transitioned from an agrarian to a more urbanized society, the farmers who remained on the land began taking their extra milk to the cities to sell it. Originally cows were milked by hand, but in the late 1800s, farmers were experimenting with automatic milking machines. Pasteurization, the process of heating milk to kill bacteria began to be adopted in the 1860s, giving milk a longer shelf life.

Today, 99 percent of all U.S. dairy farms are family owned and operated. They have taken on the tough responsibility of a lifestyle that demands 12 hour days and no days off, in a volitile, commodity-based industry. There is daily pressure to produce every-increasing yields to feed a hungry world. And some days it's just the pressure to make ends meet. Dairy farmers need their land and their animals to support their families. So join me on the journey to get back to our farming roots and learn how the farmers keep and protect the planet.