On the way home one of my favourite things about living in the country: I had to stop and wait for a herd of cows to cross the road. Paddock on one side; milking shed on the other. Actually, the cow cockie stopped the cows and let me pass. I would have been just as happy to wait.
@Miraz would you mind sharing a photo of a cow shed please? When we were in NZ, we knew there were many dairy farms but couldn’t see where the cows were milked. Here, we have giant barns where the cows live most, if not all, of the time.
@Stevsmit Oh, OK. Cows here live outdoors (and often with infuriatingly insufficient shelter from the elements)! I don’t have a photo of a cow shed, I’m afraid. What I meant was a milking shed though. This would be the place to start: teara.govt.nz/en/farm-b…
@Miraz Thanks for the cow background. Farming is very different between our countries. Dairy farms in this part of Canada average about 84 head with some farms having 500 head. The animals are usually housed inside year round. Most of our old wooden barns have fallen down and have been replaced with monstrous, steel clad structures. The side walls of these buildings are often curtain-like so they can be opened in better weather. Cows are commonly fed by a computer-controlled system that identifies the cow by a neck tag with her ration calculated based on her milk production. The same tag identifies the cow when she enters the automatic milking parlour which may milk up to 50 cattle at a time. Robots sweep the floors in many set ups.