AMES, Iowa — The Iowa State University Dairy Farm will celebrate dairy month with its eighth annual open house on June 10 from 6 - 11 a.m. at the ISU Dairy Farm, located south of Ames.
The event is open to the public. Tours will be given every 30 minutes beginning at 6:30 a.m. and ending at 10:30 a.m. Tour stops include the milking parlor, milk house and trolley tour of the farm.
Visitors also can learn about commodity groups in the Ag Discovery Center, while sampling free dairy products. The open house includes demonstrations of current technologies and best practices in animal care, product quality, safety and environmental stewardship.
The ISU Dairy Farm has 400 milking cows. Each cow produces around 84 pounds of milk per day. The dairy farm opened in 2007 and provides teaching, research and outreach opportunities.
Iowa ranks twelfth in the nation in the number of pounds of milk produced, cow numbers and milk produced per cow. Iowa is home to approximately 1,400 dairy farms, which include 212,000 dairy cows and 200 dairy goat farms. Each cow provides $23,445 in economic activity to local communities for a combined annual economic impact of $4.9 billion in Iowa.
The ISU Dairy Farm is located on 887 acres at 52470 260th St. in Ames, three miles south of central campus. To get to the farm from Highway 30 take exit 146 on University Boulevard and go south one mile and turn right on 260th Street.
Sponsors of the June Dairy Month Celebration include Iowa State University, Midwest Dairy Association, Hy-Vee, Iowa State Dairy Association, Western Iowa Dairy Alliance, Swiss Valley Farms, the Northeast Iowa Dairy Foundation, and Hiland-Dairy Foods.
Visitors who have recently returned from a trip abroad are asked to wait five days before visiting farms with animals. If you have visited another farm you should change clothing and footwear before visiting the dairy farm and refrain from bringing any food items to the farm. For more information or for planning private tours contact the farm manager of the dairy operation at https://www.ans.iastate.edu/farms/visiting-farm.