Modern dairy farming is not what it used to be when our grandparents farmed. Anyone that has driven by a dairy farm lately would probably agree. From the road, they look and appear to be very different. As a farmer, I would agree my farm is very different than my grandparents was. I think dairy farming is monumentally different, but in good ways.
When thinking about antibiotics in milk we all agree that we do not want to be drinking them. If you are interested in learning more about how we prevent antibiotics from getting into your milk I would love it if you would read this blog post I already did. Today, I want to talk more about the prevention end. In dairy farming today we work hard to even prevent the use of antibiotics. I want to discuss how that and why we do that.
The First Step to Prevention is their Environment
One way we prevent the use of antibiotics is by making sure their housing provides everything they need. Making sure cows are comfortable and in an environment that keeps them healthy is essential. Through the years we have found out cows love consistency.
On a lot of farms cows are kept inside barns the majority of their life. This is not because we do not care about our cows. This is because the weather can be brutal on them. How would you feel standing out in the hot summer sun wearing all black and a coat? I bet you would be hot and miserable. That is how cows feel, they are hotter than we are, have a much thicker skin and are much larger in size which makes cooling themselves even harder. Because of these factors the sun is even more brutal on them than it is us. We build barns that keep cows cool in the summer, warm in the winter, dry during rain and comfortable every day of the year.
We make sure the barns have excellent ventilation, just like your house. You probably have an HVAC system in your house. We build our barns to take advantage of natural ventilation and we incorporate things like fans and movable curtains to enhance it during times of the year that it needs. By giving the cows an ideal environment all times of the year in a barn we are keeping our cows healthy, content and comfortable. Those three things mean we use less antibiotics because we have very few sick cows.
When I started writing I realized this one blog post was going to turn into a series. This is part 1 of at least 3 parts, maybe 4 depending on how it writes up. I hope you enjoyed this start of the Modern Farming Series.
What is something you are hoping to learn about in the series?
