Udder fun down on the farm

By KIMBERLY M. WEYANDT

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY — Smooth and creamy milk spilled from the steel jug and into a bucket as Matt Gieger, working son of Stephen Gieger of Gieger’s Dairy Farm, prepared to feed the calves at the 25th annual of “Down On the Farm Day.”

Held at 15 or 16 dairy farms on a rotating schedule, the event sets consumers loose to explore farming equipment, tour the barn, watch a haying demonstration, meet the calves of the local 4H and sample ice cream.

“We do this to inform the general public as to the value of agriculture in today’s society and the economic value that a farmer has invested not only in his livestock but also in machinery,” said Joe Walsh of the Cornell Cooperative Extension. “We want to give everyone an idea of where their milk source comes from.”

The barn, separated into stalls, is set up on what is known as the pipeline system, in which the cow stays in the stalls to be fed and milked by the farmer. A large stainless steel pipe runs along the length of the barn, close to the ceiling of the room and operates like a large vacuum. The cow is milked with a piece of equipment known as “the claw,” which is made up of a tube and a series of cylindrical cups that fit over each teat of the cow’s udder. Each of the cow’s teats is disinfected with iodine before “the claw” is attached.

A pulsation of the vacuuming pulls the milk from the udders and sends it up the tube and down the pipe into a bulk tank where it is stored. The milking process takes between five and ten minutes per cow, and each cow is milked twice a day. On average, each cow produces about 11 gallons of milk each day. The milk is picked up every other day to be processed and sold.

A milking cow’s diet is made up of 40 pounds corn silage, 25 pounds haylage, 8 pounds hay, 30 pounds grain and 25 gallons water. Gieger’s family farm also produces the hay and haylage for the cows.

Peter Carey, field crops educator with the Cornell Cooperative Extension, gave groups a tour of the costly machines used in the lengthy process of cutting, fluffing, drying, baling and storing the hay. The baling machine wowed the crowd as they watched the hay go from loose piles to tight bales thrown out of the back of the machine by a fast moving conveyer belt and into an awaiting wagon. The wagon then transports the hay back to the barn where a large conveyer belt elevator sends the bales into the top of the barn to be stored.

Unlike hay, haylage is hay that is not dried out. Once it is cut, raked and chopped, a red machine attached to the farm’s silo blows it up a white pipe and into the top of the silo where it settles and ferments before being fed to the cows. The tower-style silo used at Gieger’s farm takes advantage of gravity to condense the haylage that will be taken from the bottom to feed the cows throughout the winter.

Outside, the local 4H group showed off their calves and a series of booths provided the public free information on conservation, farming and how to prepare fresh vegetable recipes. Free ice cream and ice-cold milk was most refreshing on the hot day.