FROM STABLE TO TABLE

Kurt the dairy farmer, gets up quietly. It's four a.m. He hurries to the barn, where he meets Howard, his hired man. Howard is already feeding the cows. Later in the day, the two men will crush and mix another truckload of grain. But right now it's time to milk.

One by one, the Holsteins take their turns in the milking parlour. Kurt washes each cow's udder with disinfectant. He checks for signs of injury or disease. Then he attaches the milking machine inflations to the teats. The cows stand still because they are used to this.

A pipeline carries the fresh, warm milk to a large stainless steel tank where it is cooled quickly. The temperature must be down before the tank truck comes. The tanker takes the raw milk to a processing plant in the city. There it will be tested, pasteurized and processed into skim milk, 2% milk, sour cream, yogurt cheese, ice cream, etc.

Kurt gets a good price for the milk he ships, but he also pays a good price for the milk products he buys at the local grocery store. And he works hard for what he gets. At three p.m., for instance, he goes back to the barn and starts all over again.