Dairy/Cow Tour – Fair Oaks Farms: for C&C of course...

[IzzieK]

1 This was what greeted us when we got out of our car --- a gazillion of people already there waiting at the doors of the Admission Building (actually called The Dairy Building) to open up for the first tour (and more coming as we ourselves waited for the door to open up for the day.) The silo-like structure at the right side is where the executives have their own little offices, nothing fancy, brightly lit inside and a little window on each side of each offices. The whole areas in this facility are powered by the fuels that came from cow poops which I will show later..



2 Chapman E. "Gene" Dunham – A federal milk administrator who spent his life on a dairy farm. He was appointed as Milk Administrator in Texas that consisted of 6 milk markets. This plaque was dedicated to him near the front door of the Admission Building, which also serves as the start of the Dairy Tour. Light direction wasn't in my favour here...



3 The Dairy/Cow bus that took us for our Tour : we have to wait awhile for the bus to take us for the tour because there were a lot of people that came in with us including noisy children. We did not see those kids in any of our tours at all. I think they were taken to another place…There were only six of us in the bus which was good, free of kid's noise actually and room to move around the bus if we want.



4 After driving down the road a little bit we came to the Dairy Farm area which consisted of over 1300+ acres and about 9 farms. These are milking cows. When they are not being milked they stay in one of the shelters like this one where they are allowed to feed and roam free or just relaxed. The ground they stay on are mostly sand, which is plentiful in that area. On this area, their poops are washed and collected underneath which goes to another area in the next image…



5 The poops are processed in different grades until they reach the right consistency for fuel making.



and Poop Management/Containment area



6 This is one of the best graded poops storage where every bit of oxygen and all goodies are kept and later transforms into fuel that generates diesel and regular gas for farm equipments and also fuels for generators that runs the electricity of the whole farming facility. There are a lot of them in this area. The building on the right where the 4 tanks are located is where the processing takes place.



7 This is the rotary where the cows are milked three times a day, 24/7. Their teats are cleans and the contraption for milking them are connected to their teats which goes to the tubes in the middle. See next image.



8 This is where the milk goes and processed and trucks line up outside the building to take them away for distribution on rotation 24/7.



This is the best I can explain in layman's language how this facility works. It is a very interesting process but it was hard work photographing these as we were separated to the process by glass windows and not really allowed to get off the bus on all the open areas of the farm. All the people that works in the whole farm takes a bubble shower to be able to get to the cows. We can only watch from behind the scenes and reflections in the image has been really a PITA removing them from the shot. I would have been nice to have a circular polarizer but I can't have it in my lens without spending an extra $200 for the luxury.

Thank you all for looking and appreciate your comments and critiques...

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured series and you've totally impressed with the poop lingo.

[IzzieK]

Thanks John...I was totally impressed that a big place can be totally free from using so much electricity and fuel to operate on its own without depending on the grid...and only using poop technology. Of course they have BP and Coca-cola to support them in their efforts plus a few other companies dying to put their name besides Fair Oaks Farm...Thank you for coming in and commenting. 'Appreciate it very much...

[John 2]

A massive (by UK standards) undertaking and a really interesting series Izzie. I never thought that Poop could be the answer to so many problems.

[Acorn]

An interesting set of pictures. I would like to have known how many cows are based at this farm. Or have I missed it.

[Stagecoach]

Interesting place Izzie, and well documented.

I wonder how the value per gallon differs between a cows milk and fuel output

[Rita]

A nice documentary set Izzie. I am just wondering if you have tried to crop #4 to exclude the inside of the bus?

[IzzieK]

A massive (by UK standards) undertaking and a really interesting series Izzie. I never thought that Poop could be the answer to so many problems.

It was touted to be a better alternative to fuel especially in farm conditions like this...but I will explain later in other response to this post...thanks for commenting...'appreciate it very much..

[IzzieK]

An interesting set of pictures. I would like to have known how many cows are based at this farm. Or have I missed it.

I thought I had mentioned it above but now I can't find it...If I did, I was wrong...the whole farm is 36,000 acres own and operated by 9 families. They have a collective 3000 cows in that property alone. That generates a lot of poops enough for them to collect and generate the fuel and electricity for the whole acreage of their areas 24/7.

Thank you for your comment and thoughts...Appreciate it very much...

[IzzieK]

Interesting place Izzie, and well documented.

I wonder how the value per gallon differs between a cows milk and fuel output

I wouldn't have a clue to your question though I thought I heard it in the commentary by the guide at the rotary...at entrance of the main site where the buildings I photograph are located, there is a BP station. The fuel there is much more expensive by $0.29/gallon than near the hotel where we stayed at about 5 miles away from the farm...so before we went home, we decided to pass by that gasoline station instead of fueling at Fair Oaks Farm...

The milk is also more expensive at their Market or at their restaurant Cowfe (variation of the word Coffee) because it does not cause any allergic reactions to those who are lactose intolerant... I know I am not answering your question here but by my comparison it must be profitable for them or the farm will not run by usual standards.

Thanks for taking the time for me to comment on this post. 'Appreciate your input.

[IzzieK]

A nice documentary set Izzie. I am just wondering if you have tried to crop #4 to exclude the inside of the bus?

I have thought of that Rita...but I decided not to towards the end even though it looks sloping because of the position of the bus on that sandy dirt... Then I remembered I have almost this same kind of file, but the inside car front that I sometimes use in my children's animation series (when I get down to it...) that looking from the inside of the vehicle is one way to go...I have some that frames the side of the vehicle too but it was painful to remove the reflections so I let those ones go and only chose a few to show here...

I still have the pig tour to process so I do not know how much I am going to get out of that...my limit is a 9 shot submission for my storied posts but it may not even reach that...I'll tell you what, when I get used to this lens, it will be my favourite one. I haven't taken it off my FF camera yet...everyone I think should have one of this...it is a good way to learn manual operation...meaning no autofocus. So addictive so confusing...

Thanks for passing by and commenting...and the suggestion...I do appreciate it very much...

[NorthernFocus]

What a fascinating complex. Considering the conditions you had to work with I'd say you did pretty good with these shots. That's a lot of cow poop

[IzzieK]

What a fascinating complex. Considering the conditions you had to work with I'd say you did pretty good with these shots. That's a lot of cow poop

Thanks Dan...it is truly interesting. I've been planning on going there for nearly three years but other things get in the way...now we are a little bit free-er we decided to go. What I was wondering is how stinky it is in the cow area...because the commentator said (in this case here, our driver and a pre-prepared audio) told us that in the processing area, it does not stink at all. And the meat of the slaughtered cows are free from radicals and smell, just like the pork they produced from the same facility. I wouldn't go as far as eating it raw as was suggested in the pork area but that is what they say...I did not buy a sample to bring home so I do not know...Since I order our meat from a butcher in Kansas who cut and flash freeze the cuts for us, I might try their meat next year...if I do not forget.

Thank you for commenting. I do appreciate your dropping by my post.

[Rebel]

Nice series Izzie, love the cow/bus shot!

[IzzieK]

Nice series Izzie, love the cow/bus shot!

Thanks Matt...'appreciate your preference...I only have one shot of that...

[bnnrcn]

Nice series Isabel

[IzzieK]

Thanks Binnur...we had a wonderful time there. Not a photographer's paradise but only for the knowledge of how some type of alternatvive fuel works...'appreciate your comment.