A Cow’s Salad Bar

Ever wonder what the Hansen dairy cows eat to produce such great tasting milk and dairy products?

To keep our cows healthy and help them produce high quality, great-tasting milk, they are fed a meticulously calculated mixture of dried cracked corn, distiller’s grain, linseed meal, corn silage, alfalfa haylage and vitamins and minerals. Our cows have more balanced diets than most people!

Let’s take a closer look at these ingredients.

• Dried Cracked Corn:  These dried corn kernels broken into small, coarse pieces are high in carbohydrates and starch.

• Dry Distillers Grain:  As ethanol production uses only starch from the corn kernel, the remaining protein, fat, minerals, and vitamins make distillers grain. Instead of throwing the kernel away, the cows make use of the remaining nutritional value. It’s like eating the chicken after you’ve used its feathers to stuff your pillow!

• Linseed Meal:  A byproduct of extracting the oil from flaxseed, linseed meal is high in protein and fiber.

• Corn Silage: The entire corn plant – stalk, leaves, cob, and kernels – is chopped into small pieces, resulting in a feed that is loaded with fiber, thiamin and carbohydrates.

• Alfalfa Haylage: A grass crop that is cut and fermented, alfalfa haylage is a roughage material that provides protein, calcium and carbohydrates.

• Vitamins and Minerals: To round out the cow’s diet, they are given 1.5 lbs of vitamins and minerals including calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur and sodium bicarbonate.