Dairy Farmer's Thankful Thursday

Monday was 'test' day down on the dairy farm .

It wasn't a pass or fail test like you might have in school but rather 

a fact gathering test to give us information about the production of

each cow being milked on the farm.

Greg, our Mid-South Dairy Records technician, arrived 

before milking time to set up his meters and prepare to 

take a sample of milk from each cow.

All of the information gathered about each cow's milk is transferred into

a computer program that is part of our herd's record keeping system.

I'm thankful for the dedicated service Greg provides 

for our farm to assure we produce high-quality milk,

and for the years of friendship that make us more like family. 

Dairy Farm Test Day

Once a month our cows have a test day. I'm pretty sure  it's a lot easier and 

less stressful  being a cow on  test day than it is for students taking final 

exams at the end of the semester!

All our cows have to do is come to the barn and  be milked on their regular schedule.

 The real work for test day  is done by our  MidSouth Dairy Herd Improvement 

Technician Greg. He arrives before milking  to place his measuring meters

 in the barn, organizes his milk vials and  prepares to collect each sample.

When sampling is finished, information is typed into our computer system 

and   the samples will be shipped  to the lab for analysis.

 In  less than a week we will have information at our fingertips via email.

The test results provide us with an analysis of the milk volume and

 components of each cow's milk  and are used  as part of the record keeping 

 system to guide us  in the  management of our dairy herd.

Greg provides dairy herd improvement  service to dairy

 farms in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kentucky.

It's dedicated people like Greg that work with us down on 

the dairy farm to produce high quality milk.