How Cows Are Milked


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Cows at the Kerfeld farm are housed in a free-stall barn, meaning they are able to roam freely in the pens and choose a stall of clean sawdust to rest on when they are not eating or being milked. Typically, cows like to be milked 3 times per day and each cow produces about 8 gallons of milk each day. The cows enter the milking robot and their “FitBit” is scanned. Then the cow’s weight and temperature are logged while her teats are being cleaned before milking. Milking takes about 7 minutes, and when completed a conditioner is applied so when the cow returns to the pen no bacteria can cause an infection.