AMES, Iowa — The Iowa State University Dairy Farm will celebrate dairy month with its seventh annual open house on June 5 from 6 - 11 a.m. at the ISU Dairy Farm, located south of Ames.
Milk, cheese, ice cream and yogurt are a few of the samples available at the open house.
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 a trolley tour of the farm.
Visitors also can learn about the 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 and comfort, product quality and 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 is home to approximately 1,600 dairy farms, which include 1,399 farms with 210,000 dairy cows, 200 dairy goat farms with 31,000 milking does and one milking sheep operation. Each cow provides $25,000 in economic impact and activity to local communities for a combined $5 billion impact 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, Land O’Lakes Milk and Hiland-Robert’s Dairy Foods.