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Hi. My name is Ella Zimmerman, and I am a Dairy Maid for Juniata County Dairy Promotion. Did you know June is National Dairy Month? Dairy products are some of my favorite foods -- milk, cheese and ice cream are a few of my favorites. Because I have so many dairy products that I like, I can eat them all day long. I am going to share with you more about Dairy Month and the process of how milk gets to us so you will be more informed for National Dairy Month.
In 1937, grocer organizations launched the movement to distribute extra milk during the warm months of summer. Then, it was called National Milk Month. By 1939, it was officially named National Dairy Month. The movement was initiated to encourage everyone to add one more serving of milk to your diet to encourage you to get three of the nutrients most people typically lack -- calcium, potassium and Vitamin D. Many people know that drinking milk is important to build strong bones and teeth, but it is also great at preventing heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and osteoporosis.
In Juniata County, we still have 40-45 families with dairy farms who help support the dairy industry. The average dairy cow produces between six to seven gallons of milk every day. That means they need to drink a lot of water to make that much milk! Each cow drinks about 35 gallons of water every day. We often will tell people that it’s like drinking a bathtub full of water. Once the farmer collects the milk from the cow, the milk is transferred to a milk tank.
Then, the milk leaves the farm in a tanker to go to a plant to be pasteurized, a process that heats the milk up to kill any bacteria, and then homogenized, the process that breaks down the milk fat into smaller particles. Then, the milk gets bottled up and sent to the stores where we can buy it.
At the grocery store, a gallon of whole milk costs about $4.80. You can get 16 eight-ounce glasses from a gallon of milk. Even with rising costs of food, an eight-ounce glass of milk will cost you only 30¢. That is a great value for a nutritious drink. You can support our local dairy farmers by drinking a glass of milk every day. Even after National Dairy Month is over, keep up this habit to support your own health.