Those of us who are involved in the dairy business know that dairy cows are as complex as the dairy business itself. Today, I would like to share with you some interesting dairy trivia.
Dairy cows first arrived in America with the Jamestown settlers in 1611. The most common breed of dairy cow in the United States is the Holstein, but Jersey cows produce milk with the highest butterfat content. The average cow produces about 350,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.
Tank trucks for transporting fluid milk were first introduced in 1914.
A cow has four stomachs and 24 teeth. The average dairy cow weighs 1,400 pounds and consumes about 50 pounds of dry matter (e.g. hay, grass, silage, grain) each day. She also drinks from 30 to 50 gallons of water each day - about a bathtub's worth.
Most cows chew at least 50 times per minute and spend 10 hours a day chewing their cud in order to aid in digestion.
Cows have an acute sense of smell and can smell something up to six miles away.
Cheese, please! Americans eat the equivalent of 10 acres of pizza (and mozzarella cheese) every day. Total cheese per capita consumption was 31 pounds in 2004. Forty percent of all cheese is served at restaurants and cafeterias.
The tradition of making Swiss cheese in 200-pound wheels began in the Middle Ages when the Swiss government taxed cheesemakers on the number of pieces they produced rather than according to the total weight of the cheese they made. Cheddar cheese was first developed in the town, yes, of Cheddar Gorge, England, more than 400 years ago.
Plastic milk bottles were first introduced in the United States in 1967.
To get the same amount of calcium provided by an eight ounce glass of milk, you would have to eat 2 1/4 cups of broccoli, 6 3/4 oranges or six slices of wheat bread.
Just ate spicy food? Milk is better than water for cooling your mouth. A protein in milk called casein cleanses the taste buds.
If you open the refrigerator in 96 percent of all U.S. households, you will find a container of milk, and 94 percent of all households will have cheese.
The dairy farmers across America send many thanks to consumers who buy milk, cheese and all the other dairy products!
Mary Smallsreed is a member of Trumbull County Farm Bureau and grew up on a family dairy farm in northeast Ohio.