10 reasons to love dairy

10. Ice cream. It's June. It's hot. The kids are cranky. You're sweating. What puts smiles on your face and theirs every-single-time? Ice cream. 

To quote the Staples commercial, "That was easy." 

9. Healthy cows are contented cows. High-quality milk comes from healthy cows, and my farmer works hard to make sure his girls eat well, drink well, sleep well, walk well . . . ok, that they do everything well! 

8. Dairies = jobs. Grandpa milked his five cows by hand each day, but today's dairies allow for more people to get involved in getting milk safely to your house. Whether it's mixing feed rations, cultivating the crops, paying the bills or herding cows into the milk parlor, where milk goes, jobs are right behind! 

7. That Greek yogurt you smothered in granola for breakfast? Dairy. 

6. Milk. Here in Missouri, the average dairy cow produces about 4.7 gallons of milk per day. That's more than 1,705 gallons of milk over the course of a typical year. Somebody give those girls a high five!


5. And not just milk, but safe milk! Our dairy gets inspected more often than a Panera kitchen. In fact, milk and dairy food undergo about 17 government-required (or voluntary industry) safety checks from the time the cows are milked to when the bottle arrived on your table. Read more here. 

4. And not just safe milk, but a protein powerhouse! (Ok, I'll stop now.) We've been hearing for years how milk is a great source of calcium, but it's packed with protein too.  It's good for your muscles after a work out, toughens up your immune system and keeps your metabolism in line as you age. 


3. Dairy can be a source of great jokes. Q: Why should you never tell a cow a secret? A: It will just go in one ear and out the udder.

One more? Ok, you twisted my arm. 

Q: What do cows do online? A: They instant moo-sage each other. 

2. We love farming. Ok, so maybe this is one that my farmer and I are partial to, but we love farm life. We love sitting on our porch and hearing heifers chewing grass in the pasture. We love watching newborn calves try out their legs for the first time. And we love that it all has a purpose: putting a healthy milk on your table so that your Cheerios don't have to go it alone in the morning. 

1. Chocolate milk. Could there be any other number 1? I think not. Have you tried chocolate milk? It's like dessert in a bottle! Aaaaand it's got nine essential nutrients to boot. Where I come from--ok, Iowa--we call that a win-win. 

And Blackjack agrees. 

The reasons to love dairy don't end here. Check out more reasons to show dairy some love from Midwest Dairy Association.