Stats of the Dairy
The
parlour The Inseminator
The Food The
calves A bit about cows in Israel
Back
to the start
(piccie of dairy ages
ago)
The Dairy on Ein Gev
was set up some sixty years ago after the founding of the kibbutz
in 1938 .
(info) have to interview
a few people
In the early eighties we
finally entered the twentieth century and became computerized. We threw
out about two trees worth of paperwork , set up our very speedy "286"and
put all relevant details about the cow on to our enormous 50 megabyte hard
drive. What a revelation,instead of rifeling through 300 dirty insemination
cards and counting in our heads to figure out how long the cow was pregnant,at
the touch of a button we had all her details , including, from when she
was a calf all her vaccinations, veterinary visits birthing details and
television preferences. (well almost). Also all the dietry needs of the
cow were put on the computer making the selection of foodstuff precise
to the nearest gram. When this was combined with the automatic self feeder
that Dick drives ,it gave us total control over all aspects of of her food
intake. In other words Ein Gevs cows are spoiled rotten. I guess this is
why they give so much milk.
Milk
As to how much milk we have?,
it's coming out of our ears!!
Unfortunatly Ein Gev is not
the ideal place for raising dairy cows. Cows like the cold! They eat more
therefore they produce more. Ein Gev is a hot place!! In the summer months
the temperature resides in the high thirties and frequently dips into the
early forties. To get the maximum from the cow we structured a seasonal
system whereby the majority of the cows give birth during the winter. So
during the winter the average of the herd is around 43 litres (figure
in pounds) in the sweat months we're lucky if we reach 30 litres
(figure in pounds) . With a quota of around 3,000,000 litres a year
it means that our cows have to give us 12,000 each. In other words they
work just as hard as we do for their keep.
(picci of 323)
Of course there are our queens.
Cow number 323 (Betsy) (stats)
Dairy
statistical info. The lowdown
on the crew . The
Kibbutz .
A few links.
Back
to the start
Kibbutz Ein Gev , Jordan Valley , 14940 Israel.
Tel: 066658863
Fax:6704230
Drop me an "E"
at home if your feeling chatty
Chat
to us while we're working
