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Day 12 began with an in depth tour of the dairy facilities on campus. We
were able to see the barns whenever we had our orientation on Monday,
but this time the vet took us through and explained the entire process
from start to finish. After looking down at our feet and sort of
smirking at our Chacos and tennis shoes, he gave us some lovely plastic
boots to wear through the barns.
We started the tour hearing about the breeding and genetic selection process at the dairy. Much like American diaries, the breeding is performed with artificial insemination and bulls are chosen to best suit each female. We then went past the calf barn. Here the heifers are fed out until they are ready to enter production. The bulls are also fed out; some of them are sold to local farmers but most of the bulls have no use on the farm and are sold for meat.
Then we entered the milking parlor which is a 10x1
herringbone style (one row that fits 10 cows at a time). Traditionally
it would be a 10x2, but AFS has a single row so that people can watch
from the viewing room. Last, we looked at the production room. The cows
are milked twice a day at 3 a.m. and 3 p.m. It takes approximately 3
hours for all of the cows to go through and then the milk is taken
straight to production. The milk is then taken to the market the same
day. I actually purchased a bottle of the milk tonight at the
supermarket and was pleasantly surprised -- it was AMAZING!
We started the tour hearing about the breeding and genetic selection process at the dairy. Much like American diaries, the breeding is performed with artificial insemination and bulls are chosen to best suit each female. We then went past the calf barn. Here the heifers are fed out until they are ready to enter production. The bulls are also fed out; some of them are sold to local farmers but most of the bulls have no use on the farm and are sold for meat.
Then we entered the milking parlor which is a 10x1
herringbone style (one row that fits 10 cows at a time). Traditionally
it would be a 10x2, but AFS has a single row so that people can watch
from the viewing room. Last, we looked at the production room. The cows
are milked twice a day at 3 a.m. and 3 p.m. It takes approximately 3
hours for all of the cows to go through and then the milk is taken
straight to production. The milk is then taken to the market the same
day. I actually purchased a bottle of the milk tonight at the
supermarket and was pleasantly surprised -- it was AMAZING!After our tour of the dairy, we went back to the dorm and got ready for a beautiful day at the beach. Our driver took us to the same beach that we went to on Sunday, but this time we had nothing but clear sunny skies. The weather was absolutely perfect. We enjoyed lunch at a tavern across the road, and then grabbed some pillows and beach chairs right on the water. We spent the afternoon lounging around, relaxing seaside, and getting in and out of the refreshing water. It was definitely a relaxing break before our hike up Mount Olympus tomorrow.
On our way back to the college, we stopped at a supermarket and purchased snacks and food to take with us to the mountain. We are looking forward to the next two days as we try our hand at hiking once again.
--Kylee
--Read more from these students at http://bumpersingreece.weebly.com/
Find our more about the U of A Faculty-Led: Food, Agriculture and Sustainability in Greece program at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/aggreece
