Mary L Farm

The last farm we visited was the Mary L Farm. The Mary L is a dairy farm that has been in the family for 4 generations. It is the first dairy farm in North Carolina to be certified organic.
The whole family was very nice and friendly and gave us a lot of interesting information about their farm.










First we had a tour of the milking parlor. Rick Parker, one of the farmers, was very proud of his heat exchanger. And I have to admit, I think it's pretty nifty too. (I even took a picture of it.) It allows him to use the heat from the milk (body temperature of a cow averages 101.5˚) which has to be cooled anyway, to warm the water he needs to clean the cows and the dairy parlor. How cool is that?











Next, the milking parlor itself, where the cows come twice a day to be milked.
The cows come in on either side with their feet about level with our heads in this picture. Then after each udder is cleaned, this contraption next to Nora is attached and milk is extracted very efficiently. For any one who has ever used a breast pump, this strikes a little too close to home :)







Organic dairies are required to allow their cows access to pasture. These cows spend most of their time on fresh grass, but also get haylage (fermented hay, which retains a much higher proportion of its nutrients than dried hay). This beautiful building is where they come for haylage and also shade or shelter. It should be beautiful, according to Rick's son, because his dad spent 2 years sitting out here at this site on a 5 gallon bucket contemplating the exact location, orientation and design of the perfect cow barn. Most dairy cows (the non organic variety) spend ALL of their time in a barn like this, except when they make the trek to the milking parlor. In this barn, there were about 150 cows. When this was a traditional dairy farm, 400 cows were housed in this same space. Which kind of cow would you rather be?











The two labrador retrievers had a great time greeting the guests. The black lab chased the 4 wheeler from one part of the farm to the other, but the yellow lab preferred to take the easy way and ride inside!
What a life!







We also spotted one of the farmer's peacocks perched on the porch of the family home.












The Mary L Farm was a quite interesting and the whole Farm Tour was a great experience. I hope we get to do it again next year!