Guest Blog: A Day with a Pa. Dairy Princess

This month, we welcome Katie Anderson, the 2016-2017 Pennsylvania Alternate Dairy Princess. She gives us a glimpse into the daily life of a Pa. dairy promoter.
This month, we welcome Katie Anderson, the 2016-2017 Pennsylvania Alternate Dairy Princess. She gives us a glimpse into the daily life of a Pa. dairy promoter.
February: a month dedicated to love, lovers and all things red and heart-shaped. As Americans, we’ve taken the call to express our love in February to heart and show our love to our partners, our children – even our pets! But, what do you do if you have a few hundred dairy cows? As we close out the month, it’s a good time to recognize how dairy farmers love their animals all year long. Taking care of these bovine beauties is a love story worth telling.
Being a cow on a dairy farm has its perks – never having to clean my room or worry about dinner are a couple. But, just what do we do all day? Here’s an entry from my diary of a recent day to give you an inside peek.
The autumn season is full of family fun – pumpkin picking, costume parties, pumpkin lattes and leaf peeping. However, for dairy farmers, autumn is also harvest season. They are hard at work ensuring that dairy cows have a store of high quality, nutritious food for the winter months.
A Cow’s Balanced Diet
While you may think of cows grazing in the pasture eating grass, today’s cows receive balanced feed that includes grass, corn and other nutrients. Exclusively pastured cows will have their diets supplemented with corn grain and hay in the winter months.
Guest blogger, Jessica Peters, is a 5th generation dairy farmer in northwest Pennsylvania.
It’s no secret that dairy farming has recently gotten a bad rap, and it’s our own fault. It’s so easy for dairy farmers to get caught up in our day-to-day lives that we’ve completely neglected, well…. you, our customers!
Dairy farmers understand that some of what we do looks and sounds scary even though it is safe and has a positive end goal. The problem is that farmers rarely take the time to explain those scary things to you, our customers.
Thank goodness for social media. Through Facebook, blogs, Instagram and even Snapchat, dairy farmers have taken to the internet to share their story and to explain the why of what we do. And, oh boy, is there is a lot to share (and I’m not just talking about the adorable cow photos).