Earlier this month, Utah State University held an annual cow-milking competition at Caine Dairy in Wellsville.
Volunteers from USU's College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences (CAAS) set up a stage with a trailer at its center. On one side were the Holstein cows used for the competition, and on the opposite side were Jersey cows that people could use as “test cows” to practice. Students and families participated to see who could milk the most for a chance at first, second, or third place, with a coveted gift card as the prize.
"You guys can come up and milk a cow for 30 seconds," said a CAAS representative, explaining the competition's rules. "We'll tell you when to start and when to stop. You will milk into these buckets. Once the timer is done, you will bring your bucket of milk over to this table and we will weigh your milk."
If you’ve never milked a cow before, you might think the strategy is to just “grab and pull.” But first-time milker Aleah milked 2 ounces after being given some advice from the CAAS volunteers.
“They told me not to pull,” she said. “You have to grab and then use your fingers and work the milk out downward, but you just kind of like massage it out.”
Others had a tough time getting any milk due to bad luck or feisty cows. Seasoned veteran milker Elenor Hall only got .8 ounces.
“So my grandma,” Hall said, “she has her own farm, and I was kind of raised milking goats so I thought I was going to do way better than I did. But sorry, Grandma, if you're listening.”
Fielding Mumford took third place with 7.0 ounces of milk.
“I was actually talking to my dad,” Mumford said. “We have a dairy farm in Idaho, and he threatened me that if I didn't get first, second, or third I wouldn't be able to come home on the weekends.”
Second place went to Kendra Stoddard with 9.8 ounces. She could not be reached for comment.
Chance Manhart took first with a total of 11.3 ounces of milk. He credits the victory to having proper milking technique.
“So everyone says, squeeze and pull, right?” Manhart said. But it's not, you just go index finger, middle finger, down the line, over and over again, You just don't want to hurt the cow."
However, the festivities did not end when the bovine bowed out. The crowd “shake and baked it” to the other side of the Caine Dairy and watched Talladega Nights in classic drive-in movie fashion with popcorn and soda to boot.
