Best Dairy Memory!

Our June Dairy Month Dairy Memory contest has concluded. Who had the best entry? With two fabulous displays of dairyness our judges have had a very hard time. They found them both equally good and found but one solution: saw the chocolate milk flash drive in half so that each could have it.

Fortunately, with wisdom like Solomon, I stepped in with a better plan. But first let us review the entries:

Tammy:  My favorite dairy-inspired memory is from my first (and so far only) trip to a dairy farm. I was 30 and living in another country. It was a long walk away from my home but worth it.

The kind woman who ran the farm realized that visitors want to pet a cow, but most of her ladies wanted nothing to do with all those hands not bringing food. To combat this, she kept on several photogenic and friendly former milkers in a small field where people came in, so they could get that experience. 

The tour was fascinating - seeing the milking machines, hearing about how they made their cheese, and also how much food those ladies eat each day!

It was definitely a memorable experience ... and my favorite part was petting the cows!

Val:  My favorite dairy memory is probably just meeting dairy farmers in college. I grew up in an area with no dairy farms and when I went to college I got to know a lot of dairy science majors and in general became friends with people that grew up on dairy farms. I give props to dairy farmers - it is one of the hardest jobs I know and I love how it is such a family affair!

And I'm a huge fan of ice cream, milk, cottage cheese, string cheese, fresh cheese curds - the list really goes on and on...

These are both fabulous dairy memories and I only want to encourage them to make more. Therefore I am awarding not one chocolate milk flashdrive, but two! Congratulations to Tammy and Val! We will be contacting you soon!

Agent 101, reporting from the Udder Side.

Favorite Dairy Memory Contest

How would you like to win the secrets of the Udder Side? Fat chance, that! Like we would actually give away our secrets. You can have them when you pull them from our cold, dead hooves. Instead how would you like to win a really cool looking chocolate milk jug usb flashdrive we swiped from The Farmer's desk?

Chocolate Milk USB Drive

It is of unknown capacity and has the cool SUDIA dairy association logo on it from where he got it. I know, you are already antsy and wondering what you have to do to get your hands/hooves on it.

Here's the deal:

It is June Dairy Month and this is a June Dairy Month Contest. So, on the back side of a two ounce cottage cheese lid we'd like you to write a five hundred word essay on your favorite dairy-. On second thought, tell us your favorite dairy memory, you know like a really cool memory that you'd store on a chocolate milk flashdrive. It could be about visiting a dairy farm or how your Grandma always poured chocolate syrup out the metal can into your milk. You could talk about how you shared a decadent chocolate milkshake with two straws with that special someone and how you both sighed and looked deeply into each other's eyes when the glass was empty and the straws made that funny slurping sound. Or you could just say that "I remember that chocolate milk rocks," you know, 'cause it does.

I have a special team of agents that will judge the entries. Spelling is not important. Scratch that, spelling is very important, but we will not penalize you for mistakes. How's that? Okay, a few more rules. Entries must be in by the end of milking time on June 22. The winner will be announced on June 24.

How to enter? Leave a comment below in the comment box. Special bonus points may be awarded to those that tweet the contest using the hashtag #dairymemory. Points will be taken away if you tweet it, like more than a dozen times because that's just annoying, right?

Good luck, happy June Dairy Month, and as a nice lady once said, "do dairy daily".

Agent 101, reporting from the Udder Side.

2013 Bovine Stakes

While horses get most of the glory when it comes to animal racing, there is a more civilized animal you could be watching going down the track. I'm talking about cows, dairy cows like me. As part of the June Dairy Month festivities the first annual Bovine Stakes race was held this weekend.

Palace Malice was no where to be found at this race. The favored dairy cow to win was Better Than Bacon. Other top contenders included Milkaholic, Three-A-Day, and You Go Yogurt. You can watch the complete coverage below.


We're proud of the winner of the 2013 Bovine Stakes! Raise a glass of milk and celebrate! Three cheers for dairy cows! Three cheers for June Dairy Month!

Agent 101, reporting from the Udder Side.

Cows Review Farmer's Book No Signal

No Signal

2 1/2 Moo's out of 5

So The Farmer finally published his rural detective book, No Signal, and we took it upon ourselves to review it. The plot is about a dairy farmer that ends up dead and the private investigator that takes the case. Doesn't sound like he had to work real hard to come up with that idea, right? Anyway the case revolves around the question of was it an accidental death or was it.. dum dum dum: murder! Hey, it is a detective/mystery story, what do you expect?

Was it any good? Did I personally like it? As his first short story, or maybe novella considering the length, I'd say it kept my interest. I like farms, I like the country life, and it had both of these. But did it have enough cows? Dairy cows? I really felt shortchanged by the fact that no dairy cow was in a leading role. Seriously, this is 2013 and you think even The Farmer would recognize that we live in a brave new world. A world with dairy cows in serious roles! Maybe in his next book.....

Want to read it? Go to Amazon and have it instantly. Cheapskates can go to Smashwords for a free download for practically any ereader device.

Agent 101, reporting from the Udder Side.

TN June Dairy Month Kickoff

Cow Disguise

 June Dairy Month is already underway. Last Friday I sneaked into Tennessee's June Dairy Month Kickoff. While I was the only cow there, I was not the only one pretending to be a cow.

Randy Davis

Randy Davis, dairy farmer and Tennessee Dairy Association President, kicked off the meeting and reminded everyone about how milk is so great! As a cow, I couldn't agree more.

Poster Contest

In attendance were 4-Her's competing in the "Dairy Packs Power" poster contest, dairy quiz bowl contest, and all the June Dairy Month chairmen from around the state. I could feel the dairy love in the room, and I'm not just saying that because of all the chocolate milk people were drinking.



The speaker was Rick Bryd, the coach of Belmont College. He led off by telling a conversation he had with his wife about speaking to a dairy group.



He continued to speak on how you cannot get ahead in life by forgetting your principles. He said you need to live your life with integrity, and while that may not grant you instant fame or gratification, it is what matters in the long run of life's race. Perhaps he was speaking to the young 4-Her's in the room, but he also described what it takes to be a dairy farmer. You cannot take short cuts in your cows or land and expect to be successful. Caring, diligence, hard work; these are the things that make a farm last. I'm sure The Farmer was listening.

Happy June Dairy Month!

Agent 101, reporting from the Udder Side.