It’s Cow Appreciation Day! How are you celebrating? A glass of cold milk? Cream in your coffee? Butter on your toast? A steak on the grill? Ice cream for dessert? You can thank a cow for all that.
Each year, the second Tuesday of July marks the day highlighting the importance of cows in our lives, not only for the milk and meat that they provide but for the work they do on farms like pulling carts and plows. They are also helpful when it comes to growing things, as their manure can be used as fertilizer or as fuel. Cowhides are used to make products, including shoes, wallets, and jackets.
Something in the way they moooove us
I grew up on a horse farm, so I’ve been around animals all my life, but when my family would travel, I can still remember getting excited when we would pass a pasture full of cows. “Oh, look, cows!” We would point excitedly and ask my Dad to slow down for a better view. If we were on a country road with little to no traffic, sometimes we would even stop, get out and run over to the fence and start our best mooing imitations, hoping for a response.
So what is it about them that attracts us like no udder? We decided to ask the experts at Mountain Fresh Creamery and Glo-Crest Dairy located in Clermont. While it’s not straight from the cow’s mouth, it’s about as close as we could get.
The folks who run it, Scott and Jennifer Glover, are outstanding in their field. Scott is a 4th generation dairy farmer. I asked him why we are so fascinated with cows.
“Well, most people probably don’t understand them. They’re big animals, weighing in around 1200+ lbs., and unless you live in the country, most people just don’t see them a lot.”
And how could you not love that face?
Holy cow!
Scott had dairy farming in his blood all his life. What started for him as a rented farm and buying about 80 head of cows to milk became a way to make a living for his family. He knew the dairy industry was growing, and he has expanded over the years. In 2011 Glo- Crest dairy farm was joined by Mountain Fresh Creamery.
At the center of this success story is taking care of the cows.
“Their care is our number one priority. They have a nice barn that we keep cool in the summer. At night we turn them out to graze in lush fields. We think of them as athletes, our stars who will produce only if we nourish them and care for them,” Glover explained.
Tours and ice cream
The Glovers have also focused on the agri-tourist business. Apparently, lots of folks from here, there, and yonder want to get up close and personal with the cows. The past year of COVID was tough, but the tours are back on schedule, and they stay pretty booked for field trips, personal tours, and family visits. This link will steer you in the right direction to book a tour for your herd.
And while you are there, don’t forget to say hi to Dipsy!
We conducted a random survey with kids between the ages of five and seven and asked, “Where does ice cream come from?” The responses will make you laugh till the cows come home.
Four-year-old Ellie pointed to her mom. Cause you know, Mom brings her the ice cream. Six-year-old Jason said, “Well, duh, it comes from the freezer.” After about 14 replies, we finally got a hit from seven-year-old Ethan, “Everyone knows it comes from milk, and milk comes from cows.”
If you are planning to hoof it to Mountain Fresh Creamery, don’t miss their ice cream. It gets rave reviews. It’s made from milk that is less than 12 hours old, so it couldn’t get much fresher than that.
“We have vanilla, butter pecan, peach, strawberry, cotton candy, and a special flavor each month,” says Glover, “but chocolate is our best seller.”
The cows say: Eat Mor Chikn
We would be remiss if we didn’t mention Chick-Fil-A, after all, their cow billboards advocating for us to Eat Mor Chikn have been a magical marketing campaign. In the past, you could dress up like a cow, and the popular chain would give you a free meal. The past year has been different due to COVID, and Chick-Fil-A is taking an abundance of caution and will not be participating this year during the Cow Appreciation festivities.
One final thought. It would be udder nonsense to miss celebrating Cow Appreciation Day. They give us so much! But if you do choose to celebrate, don’t wait till it’s pasture bedtime.
The end.
