Cow Comfort Leads to Better Returns

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Creating a good environment for livestock has always been key to producing high-quality products in return. Jennifer Glover, co-owner of Mountain Fresh Creamery, says their investments in cow comfort have been critical to the success of their creamery and the quality of their milk.

Glover… “ It really goes back to cow comfort and how cows are treated on the farm. So that's a low somatic cell count and a high butterfat. With us being able to really create a TMR to feed our cows, having our cows out on pasture whenever is available, having comforts for them when they're not able to be outside in our freestyle barn like things like rubber matting, when they come up to eat and when they come up to drink, so they're not standing on concrete. We have waterbeds in our freestyle barn. In the South, we really have to combat the heat with cows, so that water bed really helps them regulate their body temperature and keeps them comfortable, keeps them off the concrete. We do fresh bedding in those every day, so it really keeps the cows' area of comfort where they're living clean. We have fans and misters that come on automatically when the temperature gets too warm for a cow. And then we also have things like cow brushes that scratch the cow's back that they can go up to that are automated. So for us, it's a business decision to really invest in these types of things on our farm for cow comfort, but we're getting our money back because the cows are giving more milk, and they're giving a higher quality of milk.”

Once again, that’s Jennifer Glover with Mountain Fresh Creamery.