Soto al Cruz Dairy Farm
What is the Soto al Cruz Dairy Farm
One of the coolest dairy farms in the world, is located on the hillside of the small Italian alps town of Lavarone. Lavarone is a town made up of hamlets, which was once right on the Austrian side of the border before the Treaty of Versailles. The dairy farm in Lavarone is so cool not just because it location with a spectacular view. But also because of how the owner runs her business. The owner tries to be the most sustainable that she can be. She treats all of her animals with respect and tried her best to make sure that all of them have the best lives that they can live.
How are the animals treated with respect?
One way the animals are treated with respect is during the summer months the younger cows that are not yet ready to be milked are brought up to the higher alpine pastures so that they can freely graze. This called cow summer camp and one such summer camp can be seen in the photo above, this is not where the Soto al Cruz cows go though. This allows the cows to have a better life by roaming freely in an open pasture. The cows are also able to get better grass that has more nutritious value which is good for producing dairy.
Another way that the animals are treated with respect is that each animal is named and allowed to roam freely in their pen. None of the animals are closed off from other animals which allows them to make friends and live better. The animals that I would say are having the best lives on the farm are the goats.
The goats as seen in the photograph above, can wander the farm and go anywhere they chose. Though they do not wander far because they get fed. We got to fed the goats! We even got to feed the full grown dairy cows! As well as give water to the youngest baby cows!
Pictured above is me giving water to the baby cow.
The cows are also treated well, because of how much attention the owner gives to the health of each individual cow. There are two way that she helps to monitor their health. The first is with a cow ankle monitor that is essentially a pedometer and tracks their steps. This monitor then can signal the grain silo how much grain to give to that individual cow based on their health level. This allows the cows to get the correct amount of grain so they can have the most nutrients. The second way that the cows health is monitored is with a Moocall with is another device that goes on the tail of a pregnant cow. The device signals the owner when there are contractions and allows her to get ready for the birth of the cow. This allows the cow to give birth more smoothly.
All of these ways are to make the cows happy and to get great sustainable milk! Yay happy cows! In the picture above are some of the happy cows eating.