So, what's life like for the cows of Lazy Crazy Acres?

The Short Version:

• We milk approximately 35-40 cows.
• There are approximately 30+ young stock (little girls who are not of milking age yet).
• The cows graze out on pasture for as long as the grass is growing.
• During the winter months the herd lives in a 5,000 sq. ft. open space barn where they can move about freely. Our cows are never chained up or locked in and always have access to outdoor space throughout the wintery months (see photo of the coverall above). We occasionally have to close up the winter barn when the weather is so threatening that the health/safety of the herd becomes a real concern.
• Throughout the winter the cows eat hay made by us.
• All of the pastures on our farm are fertilized with compost made on the farm from the winter “bedded pack." We do not use chemical fertilizer on the farmstead.
• We are, and always have been, bovine growth hormone (rGBH) free.
• Our milk is shipped to Worcester Creamery in Roxbury, NY where it is packaged under the Mountainside Farms label. Mountainside Farms milk is hormone and antibiotic free.  www.MountainsideFarms.com

The Lengthier Version: 

Ok... so you know that pretty farm picture you've got in your mind? The one with the red barn, the old farm house, chickens roaming around pecking the ground for something to eat and pretty green pastures with cows lazily munching on grass? Well, that's Lazy Crazy Acres. Seriously!

Our cows live outside and move from pasture to pasture grazing on a variety of clovers and grasses. We keep a watchful eye on our pastures as they are ready to be grazed at different times. While one pasture is being used by the cows, another will be growing. Grazing is the healthiest and most humane way to raise dairy cows, beef cattle and most other farm animals.

The ladies of Lazy Crazy Acres only see the inside of the barn twice a day during milking. They come down from the pastures, often on their own in a single file line, and then they walk into the "holding area" of the barn. This is essentially the waiting room... where they wait for their
turn to be milked.

We have what is known as a "swing parlor" in our barn. The cows are let in to milk five at a time. We stand in a "pit" that is around 4 ft deep. This means we can easily reach under the cow to milk her. Our swing parlor has 5 units which allow us to milk 5 cows at a time. We generally spend 2 hours in the milking process. This includes set up, milking and clean up. Our cows are
milked at 8am and at 7pm daily.

During the winter months the herd utilizes our "bedded pack" system. In the photo above, you can see our 5,000 square foot coverall barn. When the grass is gone and the snow arrives the cows move into the bright, airy and warm coverall. Here they can roam around, eat hay, drink water from the continual waterer and be very comfortable. On sunny winter days the herd wanders outside, at their leisure, to an area designated for them to hang out in the sunshine.

Every other day we spread new straw on the bedded pack floor. The new straw becomes a fresh layer on top of the manure covered, trampled floor. The cows walk and lay on the bedded pack all winter long as the bed becomes compacted. The smell is minimal due to all the straw. What you see in the photo is generally what it looks like as well. The floor continually rises with each new layer. By the time spring rolls around the floor has risen approximately 5.5 feet.

When the pastures are ready to be grazed again the herd heads back outside to the grassy hillsides. This is when we start working on "cleaning out" the coverall. Just imagine 5,000 square feet of floor space that has risen with 5.5 feet of compacted straw and manure! It's a big job to clear that out... but a job well worth the efforts. The bedded pack is taken out to a designated composting pasture where it is placed in long, low rows. These rows will be turned over several times as the mixture composts. Once it is composted it is then used as fertilizer on our pastures.

To read published articles about our bedded pack and coverall please see our "links page."

Lazy Crazy Acres is a great place to be a cow. We treat our herd humanely, feed them a healthy diet, use homeopathic and rational remedies for health care and allow them to have a happy, healthy and content life on the farm.

We invite you to email or call us with any questions you may have. We are also happy to give scheduled tours, so please give us a call to set up a tour if you'd like to come out to the farm!