Locavore Brunch

On Thursday our class met at the dairy lane pavilion and ate local dishes that our groups made. There was a lot of good food there, and i tried things i've never had before like vegan cookies. It was nice to support the local community and talk about where our ingredients came from. We also talked about some of our past field trips as a class to wrap up our last day of class.This brunch was a nice end to the quarter, and i really enjoyed all of the speakers and field trips throughout the quarter.

Holter's Holstein Farm

On Tuesday our class toured the Holter's Holstein dairy farm. The tour was led by the farmer's daughter, who is the third generation of dairy farmers. We started out in the main office and learned about the technology involved in keeping track of their many cows. We toured the calves area first and actually saw a one week old calf. We then toured the old barn property, and finally the milking room. There is a lot of food safety procedures used to ensure safe milk handling. The milking room follows HACCP guidelines.The milk holding tank is constantly monitored for temperature and sanitation. The milk is tested for bacteria and the nutritional breakdown of the milk is also analyzed. The farmers are paid for their sold milk. They actually get a bonus if their milk is higher in fat. As a dietetics professional i think it would be interesting to learn more about animal nutrition and the milking process. If an RD is interested in working in the dairy business they could help with the process and also work in milk advertising or promotion with the National Dairy Council.