Women, youths take farms tour

They get close look at milk, chicken, beef production

Mechel Wall of Pea Ridge watches a cow exit the milking parlor Tuesday at Anglin Dairy in Bentonville during the “Moms on the Farm Tour.”
Mechel Wall of Pea Ridge watches a cow exit the milking parlor Tuesday at Anglin Dairy in Bentonville during the “Moms on the Farm Tour.”

A dripping sound echoed through the tank room at the Anglin Dairy in Bentonville.

“That’s milk,” owner Susan Anglin told a group of visitors.

Tuesday’s “Moms on the Farm Tour” took about 30 women and some of their children to a dairy, a chicken farm and a cattle ranch.

“What better way to find out about how [your food] is produced than by getting on the farm and seeing it firsthand,” said organizer and University of Arkansas at Fayetteville meat science professor Janeal Yancey.

The free program is sponsored by the UA Division of Agriculture and the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. The tour provides an opportunity for participants to learn about the farms that supply the grocers in their areas.

After leaving the tank room, which was the first stop on the tour, visitors were separated into two groups to go into the milking parlor where cows were aligned herringbone style. Dairy workers sprayed the cows’ udders with disinfectant, which Anglin said helps stop the potential spread of infection such as mastitis, an inflation of the teat. Afterward, milking pumps were attached to the udders, and milk began to hiss through the lines that lead to the tank room.

Stacey Ausherman of Siloam Springs said she was intrigued by the milking process and felt that the tour provided a good field-trip opportunity for her home-schooled daughter, Eryn, 14. “We learned a lot - where it comes from - I mean, the cycle of how and where it goes,” Ausherman said.

However, learning about milk wasn’t Eryn’s favorite part of the tour. Her favorite part was when a 3-day-old calf suckled her fingers.

The milk produced at Anglin Dairy is taken to Fayetteville, where it is bottled and sold to Hiland Dairy Foods and several other dairy providers, Anglin said.

The next stop on the tour was Buena Vista Farms in Decatur, where every visitor was provided with a jumpsuit, boot covers and a hairnet.

“Bio-security is a priority here,” said Kirk Houtchens , a contract farmer for George’s, a Springdale-based poultry processor.

After everyone was suited up, Houtchens and neighbor Danny Alsup began the tour of chicken houses.

The first stop was the control room in the houses. Digital controls allow Houtchens to regulate the temperature, change lighting, monitor sensors and regulate water to his birds. “If anything happens, we lose power, it’s too hot or too cold, or it’s close to running out of water, I get an text alert,” he said.

Once inside the chicken house, standing among hundreds of 2-week-old birds, Houtchens explained how the lighting can affect the flock.

“In each of the seven houses we have LED lights that use little electricity,” he said. “We can lower the lights to keep them calm so they don’t run around a lot, spar, or play. The low light lowers their stress, and they are less likely to pick on each other.”

The use of lights surprised Ausherman.

“I took a survey at the beginning of the day that asked what I expected at each location. I thought the chicken houses would be dark, but that wasn’t the case,” she said. “I didn’t realize the progression with the lights, but it makes a lot of sense.”

After the group shed their bio-secure garb, they loaded onto a bus and headed for the final tour stop: Blossom Hill Ranch in Gravette, owned by Alsup’s uncle, Gomer Alsup.

Danny Alsup spoke about the cattle herd’s pedigree, meat quality and reproduction.

“The beef cattle farm was interesting,” Ausherman said. “When I heard about artificial insemination, I thought it was solely based on the bull, but to find out they use surrogate mothers was something I didn’t know before.”

At the tour’s end, the Arkansas Cattlewomen Association sponsored a luncheon at the Benton County Extension Office.

Even the association’s existence surprised some tour participants.

“I am a hobby farmer, and I joined the association today,” said Mechel Wall of Pea Ridge. “I wouldn’t have found out about it if I hadn’t gone today.”

Business, Pages 27 on 04/30/2014

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