Where Milk Comes From: Our Visit to Wolf Creek Dairy

Caelan meets a cute calf

In early August I was lucky enough to take my daughters to tour a working dairy. I grew up a “country girl’; my grandparents owned a dairy and my family raised hogs. And while my girls still get to visit my grandparent’s farm they no longer milk cows- and they never had an operation like Wolf Creek Dairy in Dundas, MN.

Wolf Creek Dairy is owned by Paul and Barb Liebenstein. They, with their daughters and about a dozen employees, care for and milk 400 head of cows around the clock. Barb took us around the farm, patiently answered my daughters' questions and showed us every aspect of the dairy.

Our first stop was the grassy plot covered in miniature barns – friendly, adorable calves. In a nearby barn a new calf had been born not long before we arrived; we got to see her stand on wobbly legs for the first time and pet her still- wet coat.

The new calf stands for the first time

Wolf Creek Dairy has two large, open barns; one for pregnant cows and one for the cows being milked. Each barn is equipped with bedding, large fans and sprinklers for hot days, and rotating brushes for a relaxing body massage. The cows even have a nutritionist – something I wish I had! – to ensure they have a well balanced diet.

I was kind of surprised that the cows didn’t roam a field until Barb told me something I didn’t know: cows lay down an average of 14 hours per day. That’s a lot of down time! And since the barns are cleaned 3 times daily and protected from sun, wind, rain and snow it’s a pretty posh life the cows lead.

This cow is getting her hooves trimmed- it brings a new meaning to "cow tipping"

The milking barn was unlike any I had seen. Sure, I had seen automatic milking equipment, but it has been 30 years. The cows file into the milking area and, not unlike an amusement park ride, a safety gate slowly lowers to keep them from moving too much during milking. The milking room is on two levels so the milking machines can be placed easily on their udders without back strain. The entire process, from entry to exit, takes 7 minutes for the group of cows, as opposed to 30 minutes, per cow, by hand.

State of the art milking barn

Milk is pumped into holding tanks, picked up by a tanker truck and hauled to Land O’ Lakes, the dairy’s milk processor where it is packaged and distributed.

Our tour concluded with fresh baked cookies and, of course, milk in the Liebenstein’s inviting kitchen.

Milk and cookies

Our thanks to Midwest Dairy for arranging this tour for us. We had a great time and learned a lot. And the girls loved the hats!

My little cows moo-ing