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Agricultural Education Farm Tour

Agronomy is a big word that means managing soil and crop production. Students learned about many pests and insects that can damage the crops. Worms and weeds are on the list. The students also discussed how crops are processed for the animals.

Farm animals depend on the farmer for food. An adult cow will eat up to 100 pounds of grain/silage and 50 gallons of water on an average day. The students talked about what cows like to eat. Silos store food for the cows. Minerals and other nutrients may be added to the silage to make sure the cow is healthy.

A student volunteered to taste some nutritious food that is added to cow feed. What looked to be a scary taste turned out to be molasses, which is very tasty to humans as well as cows.

Students learned that brown cows (Jersey, etc) don't give as much milk as a Holstein and that the average cow will produce between 8-10 gallons of milk a day. With the newer milk lines and vacuum system of milking, it only takes about 4-6 minutes to milk each cow.

Prior to and after milking, the teats are dipped in iodine to kill bacteria. A cow will have a calf at about two years old and then start producing milk. They usually have a calf once a year.

The students enjoyed a cool yogurt snack following their visit to the milk transfer station.