Manager Dairy Interview Preparation Guide

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Working in the morning. I get up at 2:30am to feed cows and get things rolling. I have the whole world to myself!

Ice cream! Favorite flavor? Chocolate almond.

Cattle, pigs, chickens, and bees. The cattle are baldy Angus. The pigs are various heritage breeds. The bees are Italian honey bees.

No, the milkhouse to parlor door must be tight fitting and solid. It can be double acting, but it must be self-closing, and it must be solid.

Strainer pads, parchment papers, gaskets, and similar single service articles are stored in a suitable container or cabinet and protected against contamination and in a location convenient to their use.

Yes, if you have an open-ended parlor. If your parlor only has three walls, with the holding pen opening into the cowyard, the holding pen is considered part of the parlor. The parlor must be cleaned after each milking. If doors at the end of the parlor area are kept shut, the area outside the parlor is considered to be a part of the cowyard. The cowyard must be maintained to control fly breeding and prevent the soiling of the cows' udders and flanks.

Bovine somatotropin (bST) is a hormone that occurs naturally in all cows. Its physiological function is to help young cattle grow, and adult cows to produce milk. A small amount of bST is naturally present in all milk, including organic milk.

A synthesized copy of bST – recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST) – is available for farmers who choose to use the hormone as a farm management tool to boost their herd’s milk production. Health authorities such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have determined that milk from cows treated with rbST is both nutritious and safe.

On the farm we have a lot of different things cows can eat. The following are a few of the feeds that we have on the dairy.

· Corn Silage, (chopped and fermented corn)

· Oats Silage, (chopped and fermented oats)

· Alfalfa Hay

· Cottonseed, (the seed from growing cotton)

· Almond Hulls, (the outside shell of an almond)

· Distillers Grain, (leftovers from the ethanol plant)

· Brewers Grain , (the mash from beer making)

The main food cows eat is silage, which is chopped oats or corn. When we harvest corn or oats, we chop it into very fine pieces, and put it into a large pile. The pile ferments so it will stay good all year.

Animals eat, therefore they produce manure. Manure has an odor. Dairy farmers work hard to minimize these odors by maintaining clean facilities, following proper manure storage practices, and properly applying manure as a natural fertilizer for cropland.

In some cases, farms are required to implement an odor management plan. Research and development has inspired new practices and innovative technologies to help farmers maintain clean air for everyone. Dairy farmers care about air quality; their families live and work on their farms and breathe the air, too.

Dairy farming is something I have wanted to do as long as I can remember. I love being my own boss, working with the cows, planting and harvesting the crops, and working outside. (Except, of course, when its minus 20 degrees with a wicked wind!)

We drive red tractors around here.

I’m proud to say that we do not.

Many small farms try to be all things in the beginning. You get some chickens (the gateway drug to farming), then add a farm dog to ride in the farm truck of course. Then a miniature milk cow, or milking goats. Then a couple of pigs, then meat goats. Then a donkey because somebody heard a coyote, then some alpaca, or turkeys, or geese, or ducks. You get the idea. When I go to a farm and see that there are two of everything, I see a farmer who is running a zoo, not a farm. There’s nothing wrong with that but as time passes, most farmers will find the animals they work best with and focus on that.

Yes, but both rooms would be considered as a part of the milkhouse, and both must be constructed and maintained in the same sanitary condition as a milkhouse.

Milk has consistently been found to contain either no pesticide residue whatsoever, or levels that rank among the lowest of all agricultural products. Stringent government standards ensure that all milk – whether organic or regular – is safe, wholesome and nutritious.

The cows live in large barns, and we make sure to keep them very comfortable. The barns are called free stall barns, because there are open stalls in the barn where the cows can sleep. They can choose whatever bed they want to sleep in.

We keep their beds soft by fluffing their beds every day. It’s a lot of work keeping the beds soft, but comfortable cows are happy cows so it’s well worth the extra work.

I work between 60 and 80 hours, depending on the season.

I walk through the barns to make sure everything and everyone is OK

We feed everyone except the chickens grass, produce, sunshine, and water. The bees pretty much feed themselves. We do give them honey/supplement in the winter.

The loafing area should be scraped often enough to control excessive fly growth in summer. Otherwise, the cleanliness of the cows is the guide that should be followed. If the cow's udders, flanks and bellies are dirty, scraping should be done more often. Likewise, if udders, flanks and bellies are dirty, free stall bedding should be changed more often.

More than just calcium, milk, yogurt and cheese also contain other essential nutrients needed for health and wellbeing. While a calcium supplement may help you meet your daily calcium needs, you likely miss out on these other important nutrients that dairy foods provide. Good nutrition depends on overall healthful eating and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, National Institutes of Health and the American Academy of Pediatrics believe that individuals should attempt to meet their nutrient needs through food first.