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Oakvale cows are fed a diet of our own quality timothy, alfalfa, and orchard grass hay mix, and corn silage from corn grown on our farm. They graze on pastures, weather permitting. During wet weather, they stay inside the barn to preserve the pastures from getting trampled and eroding. Their diet is balanced by a nutritionist to ensure their health at all times. When a cow is 65-70 days from having a calf, she is “dried up”, which means we stop milking her to give her a break so that she can prepare for calving. When the cows are not milking, they rest up on fifty acres of pasture.
We participate in a testing program called Dairy Herd Improvement, Inc., a cooperative owned by dairy farmers. DHI sends a tester once a month to the farm and takes a milk sample from each cow and measures the volume of milk she gives. This identifies our top quality producers. It is an effective tool to help us continue to improve our milk as a whole. Also, every day the milk tank contents are picked up to be sold for fluid consumption and the milk is sampled by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
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