Situated on 220 acres of Abbotsford farmland, Birchwood Dairy is a family-owned dairy farm, processing plant, country store, and ice cream parlour. Fresh dairy products for the local Fraser Valley, Vancouver, Whistler and Okanagan, including 50 flavours of ice cream and frozen yogurt, are processed on site.
When we arrived, we hadn’t pre-booked a tour, so we did a self-guided walk around the facilities, making it to the barnyard where the cows and calves are kept. Had we visited in the afternoon from 3pm to 5pm, we would have seen the cows being milked.
Being a city-girl, it’s always interesting for me to get up close and interact with farm animals. Here are some cow facts from a fact sheet we received at the farm!
Cow Facts (courtesy of Birchwood Dairy Farm)
- A cow weighs 1,400 to 1,600lb, the size of a small car.
- A cow cannot give milk until she has had her first calf.
- It takes 340 squirts of milk to fill an average milk pail.
- A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.
- Cows spend 6 to 7 hours per day eating.
- Cows drink 30 gallons of water a day.
- A cow has 4 stomaches.
- A cow has about 207 bones in its body.
- You can lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs, because a cow’s knees cannot bend properly to walk back down.
See photos of Birchwood Dairy & Farm Market:
For more information, visit: birchwooddairy.com, or visit in-person at: 1154 Fadden Road in Abbotsford, BC.
