My Beef on Dairy

First thing I can say is : I never knew anything could smell so bad!  We have had beef cattle from the beginning.  They don't smell.  Our pastures are big.  It averages two acres per cow of pasture.  We supplement as needed with hay, but usually that is just the winter months.  Our beef animals are our highlands.  They will come right up to you to get what ever treat you bring to the pasture.  They do not stink.  When we decided to get a dairy cow, we did all the stuff you are told to do.  The dairy ration, the feeding schedule.  Clean shavings everyday, getting out the poop a few times a day.  WOW!  None of it made a difference.  Jillian stunk, the barn stunk, your clothes stunk if you went in there.  It wouldn't come of your hands, nothing.  For many months we thought it was something we would have to live with.  I had been to several dairy operations.  They all smelled the same.  The smell will eventually come out, but it lingers, for a long time.  In the beginning we didn't have a separate building for milking.  My hubby milked Jillian in the barn.  So, guess what.  The milk smelled like it.  I wouldn't drink it.  Everyone else got used to it.  I, being the city girl I was, couldn't.  No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get past any of it.  Hubby was great though, he would keep as much of his outer clothing outside as possible.  Cant tell you how many times he had rain in his muck boots just because I wouldn't let them in the house.  I have smelled some pretty bad things in the past.  But this "dairy barn" smell sure takes the cake.  We'd had so many different animals in the barn in the past and never anything like this.  I finally set out on a mission.  I was going to find out why it stunk.  Cause, my city thinking is things only smell bad like that when something is wrong.  Now I know it isn't anything wrong, but it can be changed.  Barley is used because of its nutrients.  It is seen as being better then many other grains.  I also couldn't understand why a cow (remember, city girl) had to be fed grain all the time when the beef cows get big and fat on grass.  Well, learned that over time and selective breeding dairy animals developed they way they are to take the nutrients from the grain and not the grass.  So, back to the point.  The smell.  All this learning was because I just couldn't take it anymore.  I had fed Jillian and I brushed her regularly.  Her feed was kept in a bin in the barn.  I was pregnant when she came here to be with us, so I never lifted her dairy ration from the truck into the barn.  Now, several months later, baby is here and I can do things again.  So, I am lifting the feed, I notice a smell.  It smells, sweet.  But under that, there is this awful medicine cleanser type smell.  Now, this was a very short time after the baby had gotten here, so I still had that pregnant woman, some smells stick out more them others thing going on.  Later that day, I ask hubby to tell me what exactly is in the dairy ration.  We get the label off and read it.  We go through each thing on there.  Very shortly, we discover that it is mostly barley.  Then hubby's mother comes out to the barn while we are talking about it all.  She makes a comment about barley always having a sick medicine type smell to it.  I could have been knocked over with a feather.  HELLO PEOPLE!!!  The smell is the barley!  Stop giving the cow barley!!!  I wanted to slap who ever started giving it to dairy cows and then putting them in a barn all day long.  After this experience, we decided to treat out dairy cows, like cows.  No barley is allowed to be fed to them.  EVER!!!  We also found that feeding them sprouted grains gave much better, richer, and higher volume of milk then the dairy ration ever did.  Guess what, there is no more smell.  It is very ironic.  The dairy cows actually don't smell.  Just like the highlands.  So, my first battle with the stench was won.  I also have a theory on their bodies.  I mean come on, I know they put most everything they eat into their milk, but does it have to look like it will die from being too thin?  For an example, look at Jillian's pictures in Jillian's big romp.  Jillian's body condition has improved drastically since taking her off barley and off the dairy ration.  Now, it is home grown grains, hay, and special treats. 

However, there is more to this story.  Recently, hubby got a part time job to help cover things in the winter.  You see, it is illegal for us to sell any milk, butter, cheese, or cream here.  So, when the winter rolls around, it is crunch time.  Well, his part time job is AT A DAIRY!!!  And so the smells start again and we are on for round two.  Now it is only a matter of time before I figure out how to get the smell out of his clothes and off of him.  Because of course, like every dairy out there that I have been to, they feed mostly barley.