March 1 Shamrock Farms

 We toured Shamrock farms just south of Phoenix. They milk 10,000 cows on this operation twice a day. Cows are milked for 6 months and are dry for 3 months before giving birth. Calves are kept on a separate area of the farm for 6 months and then the heifers that they are going to keep are are moved to an area of the farm that has all of the dry cows and young stock. Each area hold between 200 and 300 head. These groups are kept together through out their life

Shamrock farms is privately owned by the McClelland Family. The 4th generation has just become part of the management this year. They celebrated 100 years in business last year.

They are a privately owned Fortune 500 company.

Each yard has a covered area about maybe 30 or 40 feet wide. There are sufficient feeding spots spots for all of the cows to eat at once under the roof. My guess would be that the uncovered area would be about 100 feet wide. 

In the summer they drop curtains at the edge of each roof to protect them from the sun, as well
 the large fans mist water into the air, as a result the temperature doesn't rise above 80 even
when the outside temperature is over a hundred.

When the cows are moved to the milking area twice a day, the yards are scaped to remove all of the manure. The manure is taken to an on site unit where the methane is captured and used to generate 
electricity

These barns are built in pairs with a 25 foot feeding aisle down the center where the hay or silage is
dropped. Every cow has a chipped tag around her neck that corresponds to the ear tags. This contains
all of her records. Age, calves, milk production, and medical history.

The milking barn holds 200 cows, 4 rows of 50. Two rows are milked by the same crew of 5 people.

the lead cow walks to the end of the row, turns into her stall and the next one line moves in beside her, with no prodding or coaxing. As they walk down this aisle they are spray washed on the underside to remove any dirt. .

Once they are all in place a person moves down the aisle dipping each teat in an iodine solution, then another person follows, taking one squirt of milk from each teat to make sure the milk is good The next person  wipes of the iodine solution with disposable cloths, one for each cow, and finally another person puts on the milking machine. When the milk stops flowing the milker automatically drops of. If not some one walks down the aisle and removes any that have not dropped off.
About 8 minutes.

  

When the milking is finished, the gates open and the cows move forward  into an aisle that takes the back to their yard. The milking area is the pressure washed down, disinfected and the process start over .
They milk 1 thousand cows per hour ,so about 12 minutes from start to finish. The milking process takes 10 hours each, twice a day with 2 hours between each cycles.

The milk is shipped to their own plant in Phoenix by tanker truck. The cream is separated from the milk, pasteurized and homogenized. The cream is then added back in at 3%, 3.5% or for half and half.
Within 48 hours it is completely packaged and labeled ready for shipping.

The different flavors of ice cream they produce

Flavored milk drinks


They also produce cottage cheese and sour cream.   No regular cheese.