Speak Up For Dairy Kind

Kudos to National Milk Producers Federation and Dairy Management, Inc. for speaking up. In an effort reassure consumers that their food is coming from animals who are well cared for and safe, they have created the National Dairy FARM Program - Farmers Assuring Responsible Management. An obvious response to the recent HSUSA and PETA campaigns in California (Prop 2) and Ohio, the industry is finally using its resources to get a positive message out about best-practices and the responsible animal care that family farms have been practicing for generations.

Fresh "Country" Air

As a kid, when I took car trips with my family from our suburban neighborhood to see our relatives in the country, we would joke about the fresh "country" air we breathed when we got out at our destination. In our minds, the smell of cow manure was synonymous with our country surroundings. In the future we may not have to make that distinction, as dairy farmers learn how to keep our air smelling sweet and clean.

One of the easiest ways to change the odor of manure's gas is through the diet of the cow. Working with a nutritionist, a farmer can formulate his feed to include grasses such as alfafa which are higher in sugar content. According to Professor Mike Theodorou of the UK's Science Development at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research in Aberystwyth, "These grasses present a better balance of nutrients to the microbial population in the rumen and are used more efficiently. In doing so, more of the ingested carbon and nitrogen will be converted to meat, milk, hide, and wool." More sugar, less methane. Not a good rule for a car trip, but seems like a good rule for a cow.

Other scientists are studying the use of plant-derived oils as food additives to abate odor. These additives inhibit the production of the volatile fatty acids (VFAs). VFAs are produced as a result of the incomplete degradation of food in the digestion process, and contribute to odors produced by manure. Manure containment facilities have also been targeted for improvement. Cows breeders use genetics to produce less gas. In fact, an entire publication is devoted to the management of manure issues.

So in the future, my granddaughter may not experience "fresh country air." It will just be one of those crazy "When I was your age..." stories from her grammy. And perhaps it is better that way.

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.