Their bodies do milk good

Tom Forquer

How many gallons of milk does a cow produce daily? The answer to this

and many other dairy-related questions can be found at the cow

milking demonstration in the Millennium Barn at the Orange County

Fair.

On Tuesday afternoon, a mob of youngsters and a handful of adults

watched a machine milk two Holstein cows as educator Evy Edelo told

them about dairy cows and the milking process.

As the machine was being prepared for the cows, Edelo asked the

audience if it could guess how much the animals weighed. After taking

answers that ranged from 30.4 to 2,500 pounds, she said that

Holsteins, the most productive of dairy cows, typically weigh between

1,000 and 1,500 pounds.

The machine was turned on and the suction tubes were hooked up to

each of the cows’ four teats. Competing for the crowd’s attention

over the noise of the vacuum pumps, Edelo said the cows “get a

special treat every time they are milked.” The cows get to chomp on a

mix of oats, wheat, barley and molasses.

Because of the large amounts of cows used in the dairy, they

usually go unnamed and are referred to by their numbered ear tags,

she said. A short moment later, number 7069 dropped fibrous waste, to

which the children responded in unison, “Ewww!”

The flow of milk waned to nothing, and David, the man running the

machine and handling the cows, removed the suction tubes and dipped

the utters in an iodine solution, which Edelo said was for preventing

infections of the teats.

The demonstration ended with an explanation of the pasteurization

process and some statistics about U.S. and California dairy

production.

At the conclusion of the event, 12-year-old Kate Rusmussen of

Huntington Beach said, “I liked it; it was very informative.”

Aliso Viejo resident Jenelle Hayhurst, 5, who was at the

demonstration for her third year, said she liked everything.

“She likes to see the milk flow through the tubes,” her mother

said.

She dreads the questions about where baby cows come from, but

otherwise, Edelo enjoys teaching kids about dairy practices.

“It’s nice to know that kids are curious,” she said.

The demonstration is an extension of the Agidemics and Centennial

Farm Educational Tour that runs September through May to educate

elementary school students about agriculture.

* TOM FORQUER is a Daily Pilot intern. He can be reached at

Tom.Forquer@latimes.com.