Udderly Wonderful!
I have always wanted to milk a cow. It was all part of my “living on a farm” fantasy I shared in my “surprising egg” post. When milking a cow was added to my list I lived in Washington and had students who had cows, so I figured one of them would allow me to milk their cow. Then I moved to Florida closer to family. I discovered my Aunt, Uncle and cousins have cows; I thought “sweet, that’ll be easy.” I evacuated during Hurricane Irma to their farm and found out their cows are beef cows- not milking cows. This was becoming quite a challenge to find a nice family who had a cow I could milk. I put on my networking hat and emailed the Florida Dairy Farmers and wrote “This probably sounds crazy but, I'm looking for a cow to milk.” With much delight they responded and found me a wonderful dairy farm to help me on this quest.
I felt like a kid counting down to Christmas as I was anticipating my day at the farm. The Rucks family of Milking R Dairy was graciously willing to help me milk a cow. This was their family farm. Both Sutton and his wife Kris were born into the dairy business. They decided to continue the family work as did their two children Lindsey and Garrett who both work at the dairy.
I arrived on Thursday morning with eager anticipation of sitting on a stool with a stainless steel bucket under a cow. Little did I know, I was in for much more than just milking a cow. I met the family and heard their story of growing up on a dairy farm and how the dairy business has transformed with more knowledge about breeding, nutrition and technology. They asked if I was ready to meet the special Jersey cow, Rosie, they had prepared for me.
We went to a small barn where Rosie was waiting. At first glance all I saw were her big brown beautiful eyes. I gingerly approached her and we became acquainted. She was so sweet and tender. I too was trying to be sweet, tender and gentle with her. I gave her lots of love pets and sweet talk, before we got down to business. I sat on the little stool and stooped down to reach her teats. At first, I kept one hand on her side, so she knew I was there- I didn’t want her to be surprised since this isn’t typically the way cows are milked now. I reached under and grabbed her teat and firmly yet gently pulled it down and surprisingly, but not too surprisingly, I heard the milk spray into the new stainless steel bucket. Success!
I continued to milk sweet Rosie. I would switch to different teats. I had thought I was doing a good job until Buck, the soon to be son-in-law, was on the other side of Rosie and started milking from that side,. The milk I was getting was a nice little squirt, his sounded like a soda fountain filling a glass. Obviously there are techniques and skill which helps to release more milk. Before long I had both hands on separate teats and I was fully milking her. After a while, Sutton asked if I’d like to have her finish milking with a portable milking machine. I was allowed the opportunity to hook her up to the machine. I was amazed- the machine was gentle, fast and able to retrieve lots of milk!
After we finished, Sutton and Kris offered a tour of the farm. Their farm is about 1,200 acres with around 1500 milking cows. They have three open air barns plus a barn for babies. I was able to hang out in the nursery with calves who were at least one week old. In the nursery they use technology to ensure the calves have proper nutrition. Each calf has a RFID on their tag and when they are hungry, they are trained to walk into a stall which has a fake teat. This teat is attached to a milk machine which knows how much milk each calf is supposed to get. This is all recorded on a computer so the staff can monitor the growth of their calves. Next we went into the nursery with calves under a week old. Here they are feed by hand. This allows staff more knowledge on how each baby is doing. While I was petting a little one, she grabbed my fingers and started suckling on them like a pacifier. While there we heard a calf had just been born! We hurried up to their “maternity ward” and saw the new calf being cleaned up by her mama. As we watched we had the privilege of see the calf’s first steps. This was a normal daily occurrence at the farm, but for me this was a real treat!
Throughout the entire tour I was amazed at how clean and sanitary everything was! The design of the open stalls and walkways allows the cow’s sand to remain clean, while their waste is dropped in the walkways. The walkways then become a flushing system which removes the waste into a retention pond. Sutton shared how much they work to be stewards of the environment. They have four ponds they move water through to remove waste before reusing it on the farm. I later learned Milking R was awarded with the Commissioner’s Agricultural Environmental Leadership Award in 2014.
Throughout my entire experience with Sutton and Kris I learned how much they care for their cows. The cows are critical for the business, but to this family they are much more. The cows’ well-being is the number one priority. Seeing how well the Rucks family manages their farm reminds me of why I still have my farming fantasy.
I continue to have the utmost respect for our country’s farming families. They keep America well fed with integrity and heart. I won’t ever enjoy a glass of milk the same again. #14✔
Check out the video the Florida Dairy Farmers made of my experience: https://youtu.be/9AHTeHHRSMU
Meet the Rucks family: http://www.floridamilk.com/on-the-farm/meet-our-farmers/rucks-family.stml
