Dairy Facts

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Dairy Facts by Lissa Coffey

The Food Pyramid recommends that we have 3 servings a day of milk, cheese or yogurt. Here are some fun facts about milk, and our friend, the cow: 90% of the world’s milk supply comes from cows. A cow is able to give milk after she has given birth to a calf, and provides about 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime! Cows need a lot of food to fill up their four stomachs, and they eat as much as 90 pounds of food a day. When a cow eats grass, corn and hay, she can make up to 100 glasses of milk a day!

Cows used to be milked by hand, but in 1894 milking machines were invented. With these machines, formers can now milk more than 100 cows per hour. From the farm, milk is cooled to 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and is sent in a refrigerated truck to dairy processing plants across the country. At the dairy plant, the milk is never touched by hair or human hands. That’s what keeps it fresh ad tasting good!

Lactose is the sugar that is present in milk. For those who are lactose intolerant, or find it difficult to digest milk, there are options. There are several brand names of milk available that are lactose free. And you can get many of the same nutritional benefits from soy milk, or rice milk.