The first stop of the morning was Shatto Milk Company. They produce regular milks, flavored milks, ice cream, cheese curds, and butter. My favorite flavored milk of theirs is Cookies N’ Cream. The runner up was their traditional chocolate milk. Some of the other milk flavors included banana, coffee, cotton candy, root beer, and chocolate peanut butter. They milk about 300 cows per day. The calves are weened immediately and are bottle fed. They also mentioned an interesting technique they utilize when the calves are separated from the heard. A bucket of oats is kept in their pen for them to become familiar with and play with until they are actually ready to eat oats and leave the bottle feeding. I’m not as knowledgeable about the dairy industry so I found that to be an interesting practice. We toured their facilities and we’re given the opportunity to get a closer look at their barn where the heard is kept when not being milked. We also had the chance to ask the farmer questions about their operation, which was separate from the traditional tour the public gets.

The last stop of the day was at Schweizer Orchard. They own orchards for commercial production of produce and vegetables as well as 400 acres of U-Pick production. It was interesting to get the Missouri perspective on a U-Pick operation since they are not nearly as common as they are in Oregon. They mainly grew apples (quite a large variety), but also grew peaches, berries, pumpkins, squash, and a few other produce items. The owner mentioned that the insurance liabilities for a U-Pick establishment is insane. And the amount of lawsuits per year on their land almost makes him want to close down the U-Lick portion of their orchards. I enjoyed being able to tour their U-Pick orchard and taste their native Apple, the Jonathan. It was delicious!