About the Farm:
The ISU Dairy Farm is located on 27 acres at 52470 260th St. in Ames, three miles south of central campus. There are close to 400 dairy cows and another 400 heifers and around 35 students are employed to help operate the farm.
The dairy farm opened in the fall of 2007 and currently ship 29,000 lbs of milk each day to Prairie Farms. The milk can be found in your local Midwest grocery store. Sustainable farming is practiced at all of our farms. This starts at the dairy farm with the manure handling system. The manure handling system separates the solids which are used for animal bedding and compost used on campus, and the liquid portion is stored in a 2 million gallon tank that is emptied a couple times a year. The contents are used as fertilizer for ISU farms.
Notice on tours:
For questions or to schedule a tour, please contact Mary Healey at mhhealey@iastate.edu or Rusty Burgett at rburgett@iastate.edu.
Iowa State Dairy Farm - May Stats
The Iowa State University Dairy Farm milks 2 times per day at 6 am and 6 pm. There are currently 364 heifers and 456 cows, with 405 cows in milk.
Cows by Breed:
- Holstein: 365 (90.1%)
- Jersey: 34 (8.4%)
- Ho-Je: 6 (1.5%)
Lab Test Results:
- 78.5 lbs/cow (9.13 gal/cow or 34.55 liter/cow)
- 4.4% fat
- 3.4% protein
- 81.1 std 150d milk
Rolling Herd Average:
- 24,235 lbs milk (2818.0 gallons)
- 1109 lbs fat
- 833 lbs protein
Reproduction:
- 1.8 spc
- 121 days open
- 13.2 month calving interval
Location
52470 260th Street, Ames, Iowa 50014
Additional Information
Click here for more information on our dairy facilities (pdf)