Sunday, November 8, 2009

Windsor Dairy

Yesterday we got to visit Windsor Dairy, the dairy where we get our milk. We had a tour of the milking parlour and watched them milking the cows:
We saw lots of goats and got to go inside the goat pen and pet three one week old kids:

The cows on this dairy are 100% grass fed. We got to see the pasture where they live. I love this picture of Mitch with his girls walking out towards the pasture:

We said hi to some of the cows as they came out of the milking parlour. This is Cupcake:

Right now, with the weather what it is, the cows are mostly fed hay in the barn. There's not much grass in the pasture. The owner, Meg, took us into the barn so we could see the cows some more. Ruthie was fascinated by the cows and not intimidated at all. It was actually Ruthie that Meg wanted to take to see the rest of the cows. Here we are with Cupcake again in the barn:
They have 150 cows in their herd. I don't know if this number includes all the calves we saw and the few bulls or not. They rotate through which cows are being milked at any given time in the year based on when they had their calf, if they're pregnant or if they're soon to be pregnant. They have 70 cows that are actually being milked right now. So amazing to actually see where our milk comes from, and to see all the other life on the dairy that we don't usually get to see around us everyday: chickens, goats, kids, calves, bulls, cows, the whole operation that happens so that we can drink milk. Thank you, Meg, for all the work you do to bring us good, fresh milk.

3 comments:

akamilby said...

How fun to go to the dairy/farm! And to see where your milk comes from! That's very cool, and looks like a great family outing. I'm jealous.

Why did you change your comment method? Were you having commenting problems? Just curious.

TnT said...

are you a raw milk family????? i'm envious! you'd think living out in the country in Texas that I'd be able to find all sorts of places to get fresh milk, but the ones that are willing to give it to you raw are few and far in between. i can get a gallon here and a gallon there. basically i just need to get my own cow!

katie said...

Raw milk family, yes we are! We love it. But you are right, you do have to get your own cow, at least in Colorado. We own a share of the herd, since it is illegal to sell raw milk in Colorado but you can drink your own milk raw. This dairy is pretty amazing, owned by two veterinarians who take such good care of the herd and are committed to being 100% grass fed. Bummer there aren't more dairies like them, but hopefully they'll be coming!
If you truly get your own cow I'll be jealous!