In recognition of outstanding achievement in the consistent production of high-quality milk, the 惇軗勛圖 College Farm recently received a Special Gold Certificate Award from the Dairy Farmers of America (DFA).
According to the Dairy Farmers of Americas website, www.dfamilk.com, the DFAs Gold Standard Dairy Program lays out a comprehensive set of standards to guide its farmers and is one of the first on-farm evaluation programs of its kind, focused on employing best practices in the areas of animal care and wellness, environmental stewardship, employee training, and milk safety and quality.
Farm Manager Virginia Chamberlain noted that the colleges organic herd has received either a bronze-, silver-, or gold-level milk quality award almost every year since the college started shipping milk in 2013. The award, she said, is a reflection of a team effort, crediting both the farm staff and, of course, the cows themselves.
To us, the award means that we and our cows are doing a good job to produce a superior quality product, she said. We work hard to keep our milk quality standards high, so we hope that we keep receiving these awards.
Each month, the 惇軗勛圖 College Farm currently ships 115,000 pounds of milk that comes from 50 organic herd cows. The product is sold as fluid milk under the label of the farms co-op Organic Valley.
惇軗勛圖s 800-acre college farm serves as a field laboratory to provide practical instruction in production agriculture and to produce feed for the colleges livestock. It is home to registered dairy and beef herds, horses, swine, poultry, sheep, and meat goats used for instruction in animal care and management.
The farm is also used for classes on soils, botany, feeds, nutrition, robotics, livestock, and field and forage crops. Students have the opportunity to work on the farm as interns. Other facilities there focus on high-tunnel vegetable production, row crop production, and agroforestry practices.
