Cows consume a great deal of food to make the milk. The average milk-producing Jersey cow drinks about 25 gallons of water each day. To accommodate these colossal appetites, we bale, dry and store our hay in the mow above the barn. This feed is called silage. We store grain in the round metal bins behind the barn.
Grain is mixed and ground with the help of machines inside the steel building.
Cows are ruminants, which means they can convert cellulose to energy with their special four compartment stomach. This gives the cow a rest and allows her to gain weight before her calf is born and her peak milk production begins. Here we bottle feed them until they learn to eat solid foods. The large red section of our barn was built just after the Civil War in 1869. No metal nails were used to support the frame.