IF YOU DO, THANK A DAIRY FARMER!
Virginia Agriculture
According to NASS (National Agriculture Statistic Service) Virginia has 47,300 farms with the average farm size being 170 acres. The total land in farms (acres) is 8,050,000.
As of Jan 1, 2011 the livestock held on these farms was as follows: 1,540,000 Cattle and Calves, 355,000 Hogs and Pigs, and 90,000 sheep. Milk cows (average head) is 95,000 with a milk production of 18,095 lbs per cow, that is a total of 1,719,000,000 lbs of milk per year.
BRFAL Chapter of Virginia Master Naturalist had their last field day en-training at Bowman Dairy Farm in Wirtz Virginia. This has been a family owned and operated dairy for over a century. Mr Bowman shared with us that this is how they make their living with each family member participating in the work load in the care and feeding of the cows, operating the farm, to the production of raw milk. He said that only 10% of the cows are lactating at any given time. The Bowman Family are milking these cows daily at 4am and 4pm and takes 3 hours!
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| Meet a few of the young ladies at Bowman Dairy Farm |
GOOD MILK REQUIRES GOOD FEED
