This week Yaqan Nukiy grade 4/5 class took a trip to visit the cows, pastures, milking parlor, bottling and cheese making facilities at Kootenay Meadows. We took a good look at what it takes to produce local dairy products. We also tasted different kinds of cheeses and milk at the dairy. One of the students said: "This is the best milk I’ve had yet!" We observed how the cheese didn’t have any colour additives, and one of the cheeses has a special yellow cream colour because it is only made from the milk in the spring when the cows are are back on fresh grass again.
Kootenay meadows has 110 milk cows on about 700 acres of pasture. They have a mix of Holstein, Jersey and Swedish Red cows to have a nice blend of milk fat, quality and quantity. On average each cow produces 25L of milk per day.
Kootenay Meadows is a family run business had has taken measures to ensure that the cows are healthy by taking care of their pastures through rotational grazing. They have solar hot water on the roof of the cheese factory which supplies about 75% of their hot water needs. Their milk comes in glass bottles which then can be reused again and again. Their milk is delivered across the Kootenays so that we can enjoy this local food!
A Big Thanks to Erin for taking us on a tour of Kootenay Meadows and answering all our questions about local food!