A volunteer prepares a dairy cow to be milked at the Milking Parlor at the State Fair, (Carol Bryant, Central Nebraska Today)
GRAND ISLAND – Roger Henrichs of Beatrice gives a presentation filled with information in front of the Milking Parlor at the Nebraska State Fair.
“All dairy cows have four parts to their stomach,” he said. “A thin dairy cow is producing a lot of milk.”
He said a dairy cow produces 80 to 100 pounds of milk a day, which is about 10 gallons of milk. The cow consumes 50 to 60 gallons of water and 60 pounds of feed a day.”
When a dairy cow reaches 2 years of age, it is time to start having calves.
Dairy cows are milked 305 days a year.
“We rest her for 60 days a year,” Henrichs said.
A dairy cow lives for seven to eight years.
The newest development in the dairy farm industry is a robotic milker.
Cows may be milked up to five times a day, Henrichs said.
He said the largest dairy herd in Nebraska has 4,500 dairy cows. The smallest has 30 dairy cows.
Henrichs said he has been giving presentations about dairy cattle at the Nebraska State Fair for about 15 years.
“We try to educate people about the dairy industry,” he said.
There are five Milking Parlor demonstrations per day. Six or seven breeds of dairy cows are at the State Fair, he said.
Holstein cow at the Nebraska State Fair, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)