FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS)

Q: Can we come visit the farm?
A: We welcome visitors!. See information about tours. There is also a hayride and guided farm tour each year as part of Celebrating Agriculture.

Q: Does chocolate milk come from brown cows?
A. No, it doesn't. Chocolate milk is regular milk that has had melted chocolate, chocolate syrup or chocolate milk mix added to it. Other ingredients like sweetener, vanilla or salt may also be in it.

Q: Where can I buy The Farmer's Cow milk?
A: You can buy it at Fairvue Farms at our self-serve store, or at many retailers - see a list.

Q: How often does the vet visit your farm?
A: The vet from Tufts Vet Clinic comes to the farm once a week to confirm pregnancies. This can be done about 45 days after insemination. He also checks on cows that have recently given birth, and examines any cows that may need attention.

Q:  Do the cows get to leave the barn sometimes?
A: All cows being milked eat in their barns. When the cows are dried off 60 days prior to their due date, they are taken to pasture. There they graze on the green grass and get plenty of fresh air and exercise. They are brought back to the home farm 3 weeks prior to their due date. At that time, they receive feed in their barn, but do go out to an exercise field during the daylight hours.

Q:  Are those veal calves in the hutches? 
A: The white hutches you can see from the road are individual houses for female dairy calves. The hutches are turned to face south in the winter to keep them warmer, and face north in the summer so they can be cooler. The hutches provide shade and protect the calves from wind and rain .The hutches are bedded with sawdust, which stays dry under the roof.. The calves have free access to water and grain in their hutches. We keep them separated so that they do not touch each other, which could spread disease. The calves in the hutches are hand fed milk 2 times a day by bottle for 10 days and then by pail for an additional 6 weeks.

Q:  How soon can a baby calf stand up?
A: Most baby calves can stand up about a half hour after they are born.

Q:  How often does a cow have twins?
A: Cows have twins about  10% of the time on our farm.  We had 8 sets of twins in 73 calvings in August 2008. Actually, single births are preferred, as having twins is more stressful for the mother, and she is more apt to have problems during calving.

Q:  How much can milk can one cow produce?
A: Most of our cows produce about 10 gallons of milk per day, although some produce as much as 14 gallons a day. It is not unusual for a Holstein to produce about 25,000 lbs of milk per year.  An average gallon of milk weighs 8.6 lbs, so that is 2907 gallons per year, since a cow produces milk for 305 out of 365 days each year.

Q: Do different kinds of cows produce different milk?
A: Yes, there are differences. Holstein milk is 3.5% butterfat. Milk from Jersey cows is higher in butterfat, - over 4%. Holsteins are the most common breed of dairy cows. About 80-90% of the milk we drink comes from Holsteins.

Q: Why are the cows’ tails docked?
The tails are docked when the calves are 2 months old. This practice is approved by the Veterinary Associations. When the cow is laying in a stall, she tends to swat her tail in the manure behind her and it may flip that manure onto her or the cow lying next to her, causing the udder to get dirty. We want to keep the udder as clean as possible. The cows in our milking parlor are milked between the rear legs and the switch of the tail would be in the way. The tail is docked using an elastic band. The band causes the circulation to be cut off, so the end of the tail will wither and fall off.

Q: How do you make sure you get girl cows?
A: Some farmers use sexed semen, which can result in about 90% female calves (vs. 50%). This technology is expensive (it costs about twice as much as regular semen), but is becoming more popular as conception rates have improved. Fairvue Farms is not currently using any sexed semen as we found that the conception rate was not very good. If all dairy farmers used sexed semen, we would have a lot more dairy cows in the future and that would flood the market with milk.

For definitions of dairy farming terms like colustrum and freshening, see our glossary.