Q. Where did cows come from?

Just like people whose ancestors came from other countries, the dairy cows that are commonly found in Canada originally came from overseas. As people moved here, they brought dairy cattle with them. The most popular and common breed of dairy cow in Canada is the Holstein.

You can recognize these cows by the large black patches on their white bodies. This breed makes up 95% of the dairy cows in Canada. There are also red Holstein cows, which have reddish brown spots.

Q. How much food does a cow eat?

Even though the average dairy cow weighs about 590 kg (1300 lbs), you may think it looks skinny because its bones stick out. But it's not underfed - a cow eats tonnes of food each year. It's true!

You won't believe the food an average cow eats in a day; 4 kg of hay (about the size of a small microwave), 16 kg of silage (about half of a child's backyard swimming pool), 10 kg of mixed grains, salt, vitamins and minerals (2½ ice cream pails full) and 60 litres of water (2/3 of a standard bathtub).

The reason why cows have very little fat on their bodies is because most of the food they eat is turned into milk instead of muscle or fat.

Q. How does a cow make milk?

To make milk, cows have the help of not one, not two, not three, but four stomachs!!

When a dairy cow eats her food, she chews it only enough so that she can swallow it, and she will keep eating until she is full.

The food enters her first stomach called the rumen. Then the food goes into the second stomach, the reticulum, where it is formed into a lump called a cud. Something rather strange happens then! The cow brings the cud back into her mouth and chews it again! In facts she spends about 8 hours a day, chewing her cud.

After she swallows it a second time, the well chewed cud enters her third stomach, the omasum where all the moisture is squeezed out. When the food reaches the cow's fourth stomach, the abomasum, it is finally digested like the food in our stomachs is digested.

Q. How do you get milk from the cow?

Farmers used to milk their cows by hand but now it is much easier, faster and more sanitary to milk the cows by machine. The milking machine has four cups (called a cluster), .one cup for each teat. Before the cups are fitted on, the farmer washes the cow's udder and teats with a disinfectant solution, then rinses and dries each teat.

Milking each cow takes about 5 minutes and the cow feels much better when her udder is not so full. Some farmers milk their cows two times a day and others do it three times, but no matter what, they have to milk cows every day of the year.

Q. What happens to the milk after the cow?

The raw milk is carried through pipes to a refrigerated storage tank in another room in the barn. Every second day, the raw milk is piped from the storage tank in the barn to a big, insulated milk truck for its journey to the dairy. When the milk truck arrives at the dairy, the raw milk is piped into another cold storage tank. A sample of milk is taken and it is tested for its milk fat content, flavour, odour and bacterial count.

Raw milk must first be pasteurized before using. This process, which consists of heating milk quickly and then cooling it quickly, eliminates bacteria without changing the milk's nutrient value.

Q. How long does it take to get the milk from the cow to the grocery store shelves?

ANSWER: 3 days from the cow to the store, ready to drink!

Q. Is chocolate milk as good for you as white milk?

Yes! Chocolate milk has calcium and vitamin D for strong bones and teeth as well as 13 other essential nutrients for healthy bodies. Chocolate milk only has the same amount of sugar as an equal amount of unsweetened apple or orange juice.