🏡 Dairy farm

A dairy farm is a farm that keeps dairy cows or other milking animals to produce milk. A dairy farm is a farm that keeps a herd of milking animals and produces milk. A farm usually has a barn where the cows live, a milking parlour or milking machine, a feed store and a bulk milk cooler. Often there is pasture too.

Life on the farm runs on a schedule. Cows are fed and milked every day, usually 2–3 times a day. Right after milking, the milk is cooled and kept in a cold tank until the milk tanker collects it. There are farms with just a few cows and large operations with thousands of head. The people working on a farm include the farmer, milkers, a livestock specialist, a vet, a mechanic and a herder. Some farmers sell their milk themselves — at the market or in a farm shop.

Dairy farming is very widespread. According to FAO, about 150 million households around the world produce milk. From 1992 to 2022, world milk production grew from 524 to 930 million tonnes — by more than 77%. The largest producer is India, with about 22% of the world's milk. In most developing countries, milk comes from small family farms.