Midwest Dairy Association and Heins Farms

I love cows. LOVE THE COWS. There are dairy farmers in my family and my husband's, so when the Midwest Dairy Association asked if I'd like to come tour a dairy farm, I couldn't wait. And I wanted to figure out where these cows send their milk regionally.

The Heins farm was started in 1951 with two cows by Paul's parents. Now the Heins farm has 665 Holstein cows who pump out 6,000 gallons of milk a day.

My friend and her son came along. The first thing we did was don Poo Boots (name mine) so we could step wherever we wanted without tracking it in, if you know what I mean.

Of course, my fashionista friend already had waterproof cowboy boots, as you do.

I thought their method for cleaning out said poo from the cows' living quarters was ingenious. Look! A huge toilet! That white tower is full of water.

So basically, it's a huge toilet.

 

We learned about what the cows eat, how they are vaccinated, whether or not they are given the hormones we all hear about (apparently these are naturally occurring in cows, but the short answer to my question was no, the Heins farm does not use hormones), how they calve and how often they are milked.

Gratuitous cow photos.

Even better -- BABY COWS.

Cute overload. Now for more cute. FARM KITTENS and SMALL CHILDREN.

Honestly, this sort of brings back memories of the little angel's babyhood.

 

The milk goes into a huge storage container that -- according to my daughter -- smells milky. Natch.

 

I have to admit, I sort of miss them.

 

I loved the Heins family and their cows. It is really impressive the way they've grown this operation and really thought through everything from the pitch of the buildings so all the cows can stay cool to using the run-off water to irrigate their crops.

Milk from the Heins farm is distributed via Midwest Dairy and used under the Roberts brand in the Kansas City area. Thanks to Midwest Dairy for compensating me for my gas and incidentals to come to Higginsville.