| 1) pasture 2) breed 3) cattle 4) herd 5) silage 6) nutrients | a) animal feed that can be stored during winter; b) vitamins, minerals, and natural chemicals that living things need to grow and be healthy; c) a large area of fenced-in land for grazing animals; d) a type of animal that is different from the rest of its kind, and passes these unique characteristics on to its offspring; e) number of animals (esp. cattle) feeding or going about together; f) cows and bulls that are kept as farm animals for their milk or meat |
Use the words below to fill in the gaps.
| milk pastures nutrients | crops herds breeds | milking machines cheese, butter, yogurt |
1) Cattle are often raised in _____.
2) Cattle often graze on _____.
3) Many farmers grow _____ to feed their cows.
4) Dairy farms are farms where cows of certain _____ are raised to make _____.
5) Milk can be processed into products like _____.
6) Many farmers add extra _____ (vitamins and minerals) to the cows feed.
7) Farmers milk their cows with _____.
READING AND speaking
Match the verbs with their Ukrainian equivalents.
| 1) to manage 2) to pasteurize 3) to homogenize 4) to refrigerate 5) to process 6) to affect | a) b) c) d) e) f) |
Read the text.
Modern Farm
Tony Clark is a farmer. He owns a cattle farm where he raises dairy cows. Tony has been in business for forty years and has many satisfied customers. His dairy farm is a family farm and the whole family work there. There are about sixty cows on the farm. Tony manages his herd to get a high quality product for his customers.
The Clarks milk their cows twice a day with the milking machines. The milk never touches the air in the barn. It is drawn through glass pipes into a large refrigerated tank in the milk house. Every other day, a tractor trailer comes to pick up the milk and take it to the processing plant. At the processing plant, the milk is pasteurized, homogenized and packaged, or processed in different dairy products like butter, cheese, cream or yogurt.
Each of Tonys cows gives about fifty to sixty pounds of milk a day. Tony needs to know when a cow will give birth, because that affects milk production. A cow produces the most milk about four months after giving birth. Then she produces less and less until the milk stops six weeks or so before her next calf is born. A cow can live to be ten years old and may have seven or eight calves in her lifetime.
The family stay busy in many ways. Milking equipment, the barn and the cows must be maintained and kept very clean. Visitors from the health department make visits to the farm to ensure that the farms milking system and milk meet the high quality standards.
Tony Clark raises corn, red clover and alfalfa hay for his herd to eat. It helps him save some money. The farmer feeds livestock with grazing and giving them feed. When he feeds his cows, he tries very hard to feed them things that help them grow. He adds vitamins, minerals, and protein so that the animals stay healthy and produce larger amounts of good quality milk.
|
|
|
A cows health is watched more closely than the health of most people. The veterinarian visits the farm monthly to check the herd.
As one can see farming is a full-time job. Farmers cannot just leave for a vacation and have someone else take up their responsibilities. Tony says, I don't think that we've had a good vacation for at least two or three years. We've only had a few days here and there - but just get up and go somewhere different.
Answer the questions.
1) What is Clarks business?
2) How many cows are there in the herd?
3) How does Tony Clark manage his herd?
4) How often do they milk their cows?
5) What do they do with the milk?
6) How much milk does each cow give?
7) Why is it important to know when a cow will give birth?
8) In what way does the calfs birth affect milk production?
9) Why is cleanliness very important to dairy farmers?
10) What does Tony feed his cows with?
11) How often does the veterinarian visit Tonys cows?
12) Does dairy farming take much time?
9. Find in the text the words and word combinations which mean:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , .
10. Read the list of dairy farmers activities and describe a typical day on the farm.
ü getting out to the barn as early as 4:30 AM;
ü cleaning and sanitizing of milking machines and equipment;
ü milking the cows;
ü feeding the cows;
ü taking the cows out to the exercise yard and cleaning their stalls;
ü taking care of the animals: checking bruises, wounds, hooves;
ü feeding and taking care of the young calves: bottle feeding for the new ones, a bucket of milk for the older ones;
ü taking care of the crops in the fields.
11. Where do we get milk from? How does it get from the farm to our table? What happens along the way? Use the illustration From Field to Jug: Milk Story and describe milks journey from the cow to the store.
