The largest June Dairy Month promotion in recent memory unfolded last Saturday at six farms in northern Indiana. Dairy farmers in Bremen, Goshen, Milford, Wolcottville and Kimmell simultaneously opened their barn doors to give the public a look at modern milk production and animal care practices.
Organized by a volunteer group known as the Northern Indiana Dairy Trail, the events featured farm tours, dairy history displays, and free milk and yogurt for visitors. At Gingerich Dairy in Mil-ford, one lucky group of visitors witnessed the birth of a Holstein calf. At two other farms, guests watched as robots, not humans, milked the cows.
"It definitely left an impression on the people who came," said Merrill Gingerich, co-owner of Gingerich Dairy. He speculated that most of the dairy trail visitors had never seen a cow give birth prior to last Saturday.
With 500 cows in the milking herd, Gingerich Dairy attracted the largest crowd of the six farms participating in the first Saturday of the dairy trail (five more open houses are planned for this Saturday). The Gingerich farm drew 457 people during the five-hour open house.
Overall, the six open houses attracted approximately 1,700 people.
In addition to seeing a newborn calf, visitors to the Gingerich farm learned that dairy cows eat a balanced diet containing protein minerals, vitamins, soybean hulls, canola meal, corn distillers, high moisture shelled corn, alfalfa haylage and silage. Nutritionist Dean Andres told visitors the feed smells like pickles, because of the fermentation that happens with the corn silage. The fermentation in silage is similar to the canning process for vegetables, he said.
At Beer Dairy, approximately 370 visitors saw how dairy farmers are using technology to increase milk production and increase cow comfort. Co-owner Regg Beer said each cow in their herd of 800 wears a podometer that keeps track of their activity. The device serves two purposes, according to Beer. First, it identifies each cow, and second, it alerts the family if that cow is sick and needs attention.
The Beers also have a cross ventilated barn that keeps cows cool during the summer months. According to Beer, fans blow cool air from one side of the barn to the other. The air is cooler due to evaporation panels.
Near Goshen, John and Cynthia Adam of Knollbrook Farm provided tours of their 111-cow dairy with a robotic milking system. With robots, cows decide when they want to be milked. This reduces the animals' stress level.
For many of the visitors, it was fun to watch the robots in action. John said he heard many "oohs and ahhs" from people who have never seen cows milked by machines.
"I heard a lot of good questions," he said.
Robert Kelly, Elkhart County Extension agriculture educator and a member of the Northern Indiana Dairy Trail steering committing, said the purpose of the dairy trail is to give farmers an opportunity to tell their stories directly to the public and to show how they care for their animals.
"Most people are two to three generations removed from the farm now and don't have an understanding of modern production agriculture," Kelly said. "The dairy trail has allowed us to help tell the story of the dairy industry and agriculture."
Kelly said the people who attended the open house at Knollbrook Farm walked away with a better under-standing of how the Adams feed their animals, how they care and maintain the health of their animals, and how they care for the environment.
Other host farms included Nor-Bert Farm in Bremen, Perkins Twin Creek Farm in Wolcottville and Metzger Dairy in Kimmell.
The Northern Indiana Dairy Trail continues this Saturday (June 25) at Homestead Dairy in Plymouth, T&K Hesters Jersey Dairy in Walkerton, Oneeda Farms in Syracuse, Phares Farms in Albion and Stutzman Dairy in Shipshewana. For more information, visit dairytrail.com.