Here, the dairy production staff checks cows to determine how close they are to being ready to breed. Each barn holds approximately 1,500 cows.
Fair Oaks Farm is the largest dairy operation in the U.S. It has turned its cow and pig facilities into an educational tourist attraction, with tours of confined animal breeding and feeding facilities, plus a farm education center, along with a store, restaurant, and gas station. They have 37,000 cows in 11 feeding centers and 3,000 sows producing 85-90,000 pigs per year. The farm began in 1998 and opened to the public in 2004.
Less than 2% of the U.S. population is employed by farming, and many think that food simply comes from the supermarket. The owners of Fair Oaks have taken the unusual step of opening up animal operations to the general public to educate the public on current methods of food production.
