Cynthia Morgan looks baCk on 30-plus years in ... - InMaricopa.com

fer each item to the mixing truck. Each cow
consumes 80 to 100 pounds of feed every
day and drinks about 30 gallons of water.
When it’s time to “work,” the cows walk
to the dairy barn, where they are washed
down and special care is taken to clean and
sanitize their udders before the milking
equipment is connected to their teats.
On a floor below the barn, white tile
and fluorescent lights shine on the transparent
plastic hoses and gleaming stainless
steel plumbing as it collects and transports
the whole milk to one of three large
tanks, where the milk is kept cool until
it’s transferred to a truck. There are eleven
truckloads of milk leaving the farm for
Phoenix every day.
Visitors need not worry about bulls
running around the farm, since Shamrock
Farms — like most commercial operations
of this size — uses artificial insemination. A
dairy cow that has given birth usually lactates
for 70 days or so, and Boyce says they
remain milkers for as long as they can give
birth. “One of our cows is 17 years old.”
A cow’s gestation period is the same as
a human’s, and the farm’s calves are kept in
a separate barn and fed by bottle for a few
days until they are able to drink milk from
tubs. When they are mature, the young
heifers are inseminated and “trained” to
live among the other milk-producing stock.
Guernseys — once the standard for
dairy operations — have been replaced by
the more productive Holsteins at Shamrock
Farms. A look at the familiar Shamrock
Farms packaging shows that homage is
being paid to the Holsteins breed. “Roxie”
is the brand’s “spokescow,” and she appears
on each package.
Founded in Tucson in 1922 by Irish
immigrants, W. T. McClelland and his
wife, Winifred, the operation is now run by
their son, Norman McClelland. Shamrock
Farms is the leading milk processor and
distributor in the Southwest, and the
firm’s products can be found in stores and
vending machines throughout the nation.
Once a major milk-consuming nation,
the U.S. today ranks 16 th worldwide.
Countries in Europe and Asia generally
account for much more per capita
consumption than a typical American’s
22 gallons a year. “But our production
continues to increase,” Boyce says, “because
the population is still increasing.”
Roxie, no doubt, isn’t worried about
retirement.
ShamrockFarms.net
Photo courtesy of Shamrock Farms
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ESTIMATES
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520-709-1847
mclandscape@qwest.net
ROC #233852
NOTE: Prices and packages subject to change.
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$50 Per Ton
One Ton Covers 120 sq. ft.
Half Inch Arizona Gold
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Vol. 5 Issue 3 | InMaricopa.com 31