T & K Dairy

Better With Dairy is an initiative by Dairy MAX, a Texas-based affiliate of Dairy Management Inc. and the National Dairy Council. They represent family farms who have been turning milk into culinary concoctions for thousands of years, focusing on healthy cows and a healthy planet for their businesses to survive and thrive. The farms are family-owned, emphasizing dedicated care for their resources and efficient practices to ensure sustainability for future generations. They prioritize cow health, environmental stewardship, and the production of nutritious dairy products, believing in the goodness of real dairy for bodies, the future, and flavor. They also compost and package fertilizer for plant nurseries, and recycle water, using it to cool milk, for cow drinking, and for barn washing before it goes back on crops as fertilizer. They also mention that the US dairy industry's land use was down 21% as of 2017 and water use was down 30% as of 2017. They also mention that cows spend up to eight hours a day eating, with constant access to food and clean water, and that they get fresh bedding daily. They also mention that cows get regular vet checkups and daily checks from farmers, and that they get hoof trimming for health. They also mention that cows are milked two or three times a day, or by robotic milkers that let each cow decide when she wants to be milked. They also mention that cows eat up to 100 pounds a day of a mix of plants chosen by a nutritionist and specialized for each cow's time of life, including forage, grain, mineral supplements, and protein-rich feeds like soybean meal. They also mention that forage includes high-fiber plants like hay and types of grasses, and silage (grass that's chopped and fermented to lock in nutrients) for the winter. They also mention that cows turn stuff that humans can't eat into milk and queso. They also mention that they store poo water in lagoons, which are man-made ponds, cased in concrete and heavy plastic liners, where a