She usually lies down as soon as her evening milking is through. At peak performance, she gives about 64 pounds of milk per day. In this room, the milking equipment is also washed twice a day with chlorinated soap and dipped in an acidic rinse. Every other day, trucker Tim Rouse stops by along his ten-farm route to empty the tank. Bromley and Bowen spend a good portion of that on feed concentrates and veterinary bills.
Newborn females take two years to reach milking age.
They may be used for anything from veal to fast-food burgers to bouillon. Currently, only about 50 of Fern Hill's 90 head of cattle are lactating. Like humans, cows' normal sexual cycle is every 28 days, with nine months of gestation. Most of the cows at Fern Hill are artificially inseminated, though there is a resident bull. He detects it very easily.