Have you ever thought about what the milking process of a cow is like? Is it all done by hand? How many times a day do the cows get milked? These are all great questions. Well, the milking process is very unique to each dairy. Ours is special. Let us show you what goes on behind the scenes during milking time at RAW FARM dairy in Fresno, CA.

OUR PRECIOUS COWS

At RAW FARM, we have 900+ milking cows at a time. Not every milk cow is the same, depending on where she is in her lactation. We have milking cows that provide milk for all the wonderful products we sell. We also have newly calved cows (fresh cows in dairy lingo), and cows who stop milking to allow them to rest (dry cows). Our fresh cows receive extra special treatment before they deliver and during their 40-day postpartum period. We don’t use the raw milk from our fresh cows the first week after calving to make sure all of the raw colostrum has passed and the raw milk for our customers is pure whole raw milk. During that time, we test each fresh cow for these two pathogens: E.coli0157:H7 and Campylobacter. We wait until we receive lab results to confirm they are negative for these pathogens before their raw milk is used to make our raw dairy products. We are proud to be the only raw dairy producer with this extensive food safety and pathogen testing program! The safety of our raw milk is the most important commitment we have to our customers. The health of our cows plays an important role in our food safety program because healthy cows make healthy raw milk. A healthy diet plays a critical in having healthy cows, which is why they enjoy pasture grazing and a special supplemental diet full of extra nutrients to help them recover from their pregnancy and delivery.

See behind-the-scenes footage of our happy grazers:

THE UNDER BELLY SHOWER

Our cows, ladies as we like to call them, enjoy their daily pampering! They enjoy an “under belly” shower twice a day before each milking as part of our food safety program. This relaxing and soothing shower givens them a good cleaning before they enter the milking barn, but our cows think it’s all about the pampering! To be extra sure they are squeaky clean, we give them a second shower! Only the royal treatment for our lovely cows. Showering our cows before milking is one of the most important aspects of our food safety protocol. After a nice relaxing bath, the cows are calm before they walk into the milk barn sparkly clean and ready to be milked. This makes for clean milk, healthier cows, and a clean environment to produce safe TESTED raw milk. Our milkers work very hard to maintain cleanliness throughout the milking process.

THE MILKING PROCESS

Our sweet cows get milked twice a day: once in the morning and once in the evening. Did you know that each cow produces an average of 6 gallons of raw milk per day? Isn’t that amazing?

Our cows are called in to the barn by whistling and other inviting sounds. This allows the leader cows to start the walking. Some of our more experienced cows are already waiting to be milked and serve as a good cow leader. They get the milk walk moving , while the others follow behind. Our team members carefully inspect each cow for issues as they walk to the barn. For example, if a cow is walking too slowly, we wonder why? If we feel she needs to be observed, then instead of being walked into the barn to be milked, she is walked into the on-farm hospital pen for closer evaluation. This is part of our certified humane protocol. Read more about How We Keep Our Cows Happy & Healthy. Once the cows are showered and ready to be milked, they are inspected again before the automatic milking machines are applied for cleanliness, and pass all of our health inspections, including a quick milk assessment on each cow. This is quite extensive, but it’s a very important part of our food safety protocol. It takes only 3-8 minutes to get the milk out of the udder once the machine is attached. The milk goes from the cow into a stainless-steel pipe where it is immediately chilled to 46 degrees Fahrenheit to keep it sweet tasting. Once the milking process is complete, the cows walk back to a feeding area for an after-milking snack and plenty of water, then right back onto the pastures. Milking is a relatively quick process, and we take the upmost precautions to keep our cows, equipment, and raw milk as sanitary as possible.

SUMMARY

Our cows get milked twice a day, and our cows love the relaxing and pampering process. We take many special steps as a part of our food safety program to make sure we are producing only the highest quality products and giving our animals the cleanest, highest quality life possible. It’s the least we can do since they do so much goodness for us! When milking is complete, our cows are free to return to grazing the fields. Due to their optimal nutrition and high-quality life, we can say with absolute confidence that they produce the BEST raw milk products out there! Give them a try for yourself and let us know! 😊