Have your students ever been to a dairy farm? Here is your chance to watch Fuel Up to Play 60 Player Ambassador, Dalvin Tomlinson, from the Minnesota Vikings, as he goes on his first dairy farm tour at Square Deal Dairy with the Otte family. He was very inquisitive and asked so many great questions! After you watch the pre-recorded tour with Dalvin, join us for a live Q and A with Tyler Otte on October 15th to ask him more questions on how they take care of their land and cows to bring milk , cheese, and yogurt to your cafeteria!
Square Deal Dairy
The farm shown in the video was started in 1997. However, the family is currently the fifth and sixth generations to farm with Tyler, his brothers and his dad. Square Deal Dairy milks about 550 Holstein cows 3 times a day. They raise corn, soybeans and hay that all go into the cattle's diets. Peas and green beans are a few of the specialty crops that are raised on the farm for human consumption.
They raise about 620 young stock and pregnant cattle on their farm. The young cattle are located on their parents farm site that they have had since the 1900s. Both the farms are located in the Randolph, Minnesota.
Learn More about Square Deal Dairy from the Q&A
How much do cows that are milked weigh?
Two year old cows are about 1,200 to 1,300 pounds. The herd average is about 1,500 pounds for a cow's weight once she gets to be about 4-5 years old.
What does you milk get made into?
April, May and June is when our milk goes to ice cream and sometimes to yogurt. Otherwise, it goes to milk.
Does a cow ever have bad milk?
99% of the time cows have extremely healthy. Sometimes their buddy steps on them or pushes them. If in that case, we don't sell that. However, in this case, we pasteurize it on site for the calves. We would never sell milk that our families wouldn't drink ourselves.
How long are cows milk?
As long as cows want to. We have some cows that are about 13-14 years old. However, as long as they are comfortable, we keep them as part of our farm.
Freestyle Barn Addition
This barn was built in 2019. There are 430 cows in the barn. It is tunnel ventilated. It allows us to have a lot of air exchange to ensure that the cows get plenty of fresh air. Cows get new sheets every other day to make sure that they are comfortable and healthy.
How much do calves weigh when born?
When a baby calf is born they average between 62-75 pounds. Cows that are bigger or smaller will average a bigger or smaller calf.
Is there any male cows on the farm?
We do have some males on the farm. But we actually sell them to local farms in the area that raise our male calves. On our farm, we keep the female calves and raise them out to be a future cow that will be milked in a few years.
To learn more about the Square Deal Dairy farm, watch our Q&A with Tyler in the video above.
