Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Now, here’s a story about something happening at the Illinois State Fair that is udderly mooving…
This reporter is from a part of Illinois once designated the Hog Capital of the World — Kewanee, IL. So, what would I know about milking a cow?
Turns out, it’s easier than you might think. No bull. But, there’s not a lot of margarine for error. And, if you do it right, you don’t have to butter the cow up.
“You can see the udder. It gets big,” says Amanda Kistinger, president, University of Illinois Illini Dairy Club. “She’s ready. If you see a before and after picture of them being milked, you can see how much smaller it is after they’re done being milked.”
After a few years of the opportunity not being available, the club brought it back this year. It’s their cow you can milk at the fair for just $2 to help fund club activities. You also get your choice of a small carton of white or chocolate milk.
Kistinger wouldn’t STEER you wrong, either. She’s a veterinary student from, of all places, the Chicago suburbs. It started as something she knew she had to learn, but the first time she milked a cow, she says, she fell in love with the bovine beauties.
“They each have their own quirky personalities. I love milk. I love ice cream. So, that helps,” said Kistinger. “I don’t know if it was just because it was my first experience working with livestock, or if it’s just the industry as a whole, how welcoming they are, how important they are, they’re just a very unique animal to work with, and they’re super sweet.”
How sweet? Kistinger says some of the club’s cattle haven’t minded when she has put her head down on their soft bodies for a brief snooze.
Milking a cow, while it can still be done by hand, is often done with the help of machines. And Kistinger is okay with that.
“Milking out by machine, especially when you have a heard of 100, 200 head of cattle, will be a lot faster, and a lot more efficient,” said Kistinger. “It’s also a lot easier on the cattle, because then they are not standing there as long.”
And that can be a good thing, Kistinger says, because cattle can give seven to nine gallons of milk a day. It’s not like old movies you might see where milkers carry milk by the bucket.
But there’s one interesting note about milking: more adults than kids have not had a “beef” with milking a cow. The adults, Kistinger says, seem to have been more excited about the chance then youth. But in some cases, she says children’s eyes have lit up at the chance.
The milking booth is in livestock building number 25Q.
