National Dairy Month was originally known as “National Milk Month.” It was meant to recognize and honor the dairy industry. It was started by milk distributors in 1937 and it is now led by the National Dairy Council.
This year, due to the pandemic, most of the activities planned for National Dairy Month have gone virtual, but they’re still interesting. In fact, they are more accessible now to everyone than when they were actual local or regional events.
To celebrate the dairy industry, we decided to present some info and links to info we could find about it:
Images:
This image comes from Dairy MAX, a non-profit dairy council representing more than 900 dairy farm families across eight states. Dairy MAX is campaigning to provide school kids with food while their cafeterias are closed – click here. It is also conducting their annual Passion For Pints Blood Drive which they have every year in June – click here.
Farm Flavor is a website with hundreds of recipes, links to articles and information about the agricultural situation in every state (map below).
As mentioned above, at Farm Flavor you can click on any state for a summary description of the agriculture there.
National Today offers this broad timeline in an article about National Dairy Month.
June is an opportunity for many online magazines to feature articles about small dairy farmers like this one about the Meyer family in Oklahoma – click here
Videos:
Most of the videos on YouTube about National Dairy Month are short, superficial “puff pieces” produced by TV stations. We found one which has some substance, including a few minutes about cheesemaking – How Dairy Farming Impacts the Community.
We do like this little 44 second video showing a fire department in Wisconsin handing out free milk and cheese curds during the pandemic. Carr Valley Cheese and Sassy Cow Creamery contributed the food:
Recipes:
There are literally millions of recipes featured during National Milk Month. We found at least a thousand good ones at milkmeansmore.org. Here’s a simple, healthy one:
Greek Yogurt Bark
Recipe by Jenn Fillenworth, MS, RDN of Jenny With the Good Eats (http://www.jennywiththegoodeats.com)
Ingredients:
• 3 cups plain non-fat Greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup honey, plus additional for drizzling if desired
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions:
Combine Greek yogurt, honey and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl.
On a parchment-lined baking sheet, spread out Greek yogurt mixture to 1/4-inch thickness. Freeze for a minimum of 3 hours.
Remove from freezer and break into pieces. Drizzle with honey, if desired. Enjoy immediately.
If you want to take it to a higher level, there is also a recipe for Chocolate and Strawberry Greek Yogurt Bark.
Fun Facts
More people drink goat milk rather than cow milk. It is estimated that 65 percent of the milk consumption worldwide is of goat milk.
Fresh milk will stay fresher longer if you add a pinch of salt to each quart.
If you put cottage cheese up side down in your refrigerator, it will last much longer.
The earliest butter would have been from sheep or goat’s milk; cattle are not thought to have been domesticated for another thousand years.
In all, about a third of the world’s milk production is devoted to making butter.
The most yogurt eaten in one minute is 3.71 lbs, achieved by Andre Ortolf (Germany) in 2017.
It takes approximately 50 licks to finish a single scoop of ice cream in an ice cream cone.
The country that consumes the most ice cream is the US, followed by Australia then Norway.
Ice cream headaches or “brain freeze” is the result of the nerve endings in the roof of your mouth sending a message to your brain of the loss of heat.
Humans, cows and sheep have 32 teeth.
The first cow in America arrived in the Jamestown colony in 1611. Until the 1850s, nearly every family had its own cow.
A Holstein’s spots are like fingerprints—no two cows have exactly the
same pattern of black and white spots.
Cows are red-green color blind, which means they cannot see red.
Cows have almost total 360° panoramic vision.
Cows are pregnant for 9 months, just like people.
Cows have an acute sense of smell—they can smell up to 6 miles away!
Cows can walk upstairs but not down because a cow’s knees are unable to bend the way that is needed to walk downstairs.
Raising sheep is the oldest organized industry.
If you see a sheep on its back, lend a hand! A sheep can’t get up from
that position. If left on its back too long, it will eventually die.
For Kids:
The Dairy Alliance offers a lot of great information including these activity sheets for kids:
About National Months:
National Months are listed at nationaldaycalendar.com. There are a lot of them!
Here’s the list for June alone:
JUNE NATIONAL MONTHS
National Give a Bunch of Balloons Month
National DJ Month
African-American Music Appreciation Month
National Zoo and Aquarium Month
LGBTQIA Pride Month
Men’s Health Month
National Accordion Awareness Month
National Adopt a Cat Month
National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month
National Candy Month
National Camping Month
National Caribbean American Month
National Country Cooking Month
National Dairy Month
National Great Outdoors Month
National Homeownership Month
National Iced Tea Month
National Papaya Month
National Pollinators Month
National PTSD Awareness Month
National Safety Month
National Soul Food Month
Rose Month
Turkey Lovers Month
