Milking to the Music

What kind of music do the cows like? That was the question from one of the visiting University of Arkansas students a couple of weeks ago. We were standing in the milk parlor watching the cows being milked when the student spotted the radio suspended from the ceiling. I quickly responded,"Country, of course, and sometimes in Spanish!"

After laughing about the music, we did have serious discussion about how the cow's environment affects their production performance. In past studies about the affect of music on cows, it has been found that cows adjust to reasonable levels of continuous sound. Farmers and researchers have also agreed that continuous radio play with a variety of talk and music can actually have a calming effect and may stimulate the milk let down reflex.

Our dairy cows have always been exposed to music at low volume while they are being milked. Low volume is important because loud or alarming sounds can startle cows, causing erratic behavior. We make a point to use a calm gentle voice and keep the music at a pleasant level. No matter what kind of music is played in the barn while the cows are being milked, we are committed to our cow's health and well being everyday because that is how we provide you with safe,high quality milk and dairy products!

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

My Mother celebrated her 80th birthday just a month ago. She has always been an inspiration to me, an encourager when times are tough, and a true mentor to me through my lifetime.
I am thankful for the special relationship that we enjoy and the fact that we will be celebrating Mother's Day together.
Happy Mother's Day!

Flavored Milk Memory

One of my favorite memories about first grade was drinking chocolate milk after our afternoon recess. When my boys started school, I found out that afternoon milk was a thing of the past. I was shocked. Thankfully they could still have their choice of white or chocolate milk for lunch. That choice was important to me then and now because as a mother I know that not every day's school lunch would be eaten by my child or any child. Milk,flavored or white, always offers a great nutritional package. As things evolve, will flavored milk completely be removed from the school menu? I hope not and here are the reasons why:

• Studies show that children who drink flavored milk drink more milk overall,have better quality diets, do not have higher intakes of added sugar or fat, and are just as likely to be at a healthy weight compared to kids who do not consume flavored milk.



• Flavored milk contains the same 9 essential nutrients found in white milk.



• With school lunch budgets feeling the increasing stress of high food prices just as our family food budgets, it would be even more costly for schools to add the additional food it would take to replace the important nutrient package of flavored milk.
  

As in all decision making, we need to look at the sound science and research that support decision making about nutrition. You can find more factual information about flavored milk and a great blog post written by Midwest Dairy's registered dietician Caroly Hudson titled "Flavored Milk=Nutrition in Disguise" at http://www.midwestdairy.com/0p48b1be47/dairy-makes-sense/airy.com/Op48b1be47/dairy-makes-sense.

Birthday Cake Traditions

As I was mixing birthday cake batter for my oldest son's birthday, I thought about the many birthday cakes my mother-in-law baked for our family and friends during her lifetime. For every birthday in our family, she baked an angel food cake and iced it with seven minute frosting. When my sons were little, she would make miniature angel food cakes, frost them and allow the boys to decorate them with sprinkles and eat them with their fingers. Icing would be from head to toe and anything they touched. As the boys grew older, the angel food cake was an expected part of every birthday. Since the passing of my mother-in-law, I now proudly continue the birthday cake tradition. Cody's requested cake today was Chocolate Sheath Cake. I hope that I don't get the request for the seven minute frosting because although it is beautiful to look at, I'm more of a powdered sugar and cream cheese icing kind of dairymom! Chocolate Sheath Cake is a family favorite and a great cake for any occasion.

Chocolate Sheath Cake

Ingredients:

1 stick butter

1/2 cup Crisco

4 Tbsp cocoa

1 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. soda

2 eggs slightly beaten

Bring butter,Crisco,cocoa and water to a rapid boil. Pour over the sugar and flour and beat well.

Add buttermilk and soda, vanilla and eggs. Beat, then bake at 400 degrees F. in metal loaf pan for 20 minutes. Cover with icing.

Icing:

1 stick butter

4 Tbsp cocoa

6 Tbsp milk

1 cup pecans (optional)

1 tsp. vanilla

3 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar

Bring butter,cocoa, and milk to boil. Add the powdered sugar,vanilla and pecans. Beat well and pour over cake while hot.

Just before serving, add a great big dip of vanilla ice cream!

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Earth Day on the downtown Bentonville square was a great time to share how dairy farmers work to produce nutritious milk and protect the environment everyday on the farm. I am thankful for my dairy friends who volunteered their time to share their dairy story with students from local elementary schools.

Double Fun Milking

What can be more fun than watching 500 kids milk Sophia, the Midwest Dairy cow? My answer would be to take a dairy farmer to talk with the kids milking Sophia! I wasn't counting on having a case of allergy related laryngitis when I volunteered for this event, so asking husband/dairy farmer Ryan to assist was a true necessity. Students at the school were learning about Arkansas history and Sophia had an important role in educating students about MILK-the Arkansas state drink!
We arrived at the Apple Glen Elementary in Bentonville at 8:30 to set up and be ready for our students by 9 a.m. As the students arrived, we had sheer organized chaos. Ryan talked with the children briefly about what cows like to eat, how much they drink and then proceeded to assist those that needed help or instruction on how to milk the cow. My job was to give the I Milked a Cow sticker to each child. With each group of children, our dairy talking and milking procedure began to flow with ease.
We had some great conversations with these children and their teachers about how we produce milk on our farm. Sophia was the hit of the day! As we loaded Sophia on the truck and headed for the farm, the dairy farmer decided that a day of milking real cows was a lot less tiring. Can you still see that I'm smiling about my double fun day with the dairy farmer? You can find more information about Arkansas dairy farming and the nutritious product we produce at http://www.midwestdairy.com/.

Every Day is Earth Day to Dairy Farmers

Raise your glass of milk today to dairy farm families across America who are committed everyday to bring science and technology together in an effort to feed more people using less land,water and other natural resources!!