During Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Visit The Farm Day, guests had the opportunity to tour the facilities, see cows being milked and explore the day-to-day process of dairy farming. The farm is owned by Bruce Kidder, and Shaun and Tera Cotter, and is located on Nutt Road.

The farm has about 450 milk cows and 450 “dairy replacements,” or hefers, which are cows that will replace current cows when they no longer produce milk, according to Lisa Kempisty, Cornell Cooperative Extension community educator for the dairy and livestock program. This isn’t the first time the public has been invited to visit the farm, Kempisty said.

“We were here in 2007 and 2011,” she said. “It’s been a little bit of a break in between. We actually were at two other farms over the last four years. We were in Frewsburg last year, and the year before that, we had a Visit The Farm Day in Dewittville, so we’re trying to move it around the county.”

Kempisty said funding was provided by the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation while other agricultural businesses and local businesses have helped out to make the event possible. Depending on how successful the event was this year, Kempisty said it’s possible there will be another event next year. However, generally, Visit The Farm Day is held every other year.

P-J file photo

By mid-day Saturday, about 600 people visited the farm.

Farming is an important part of Chautauqua County, according to data from Cornell Cooperative Extension. There are 1,515 farms in the county, making it the No. 1 county for farms in the state.

Bruce Kidder, co-owner of Oak View Dairy, said he bought into the farm in 1968.

“(I’ve been doing this) for a long time,” Kidder said.

He said events such as Visit The Farm Day allow community members to understand where their food comes from. Only 2 percent of the population is involved in farming these days, so 98 percent of the population may not be aware of how a farm functions, Kidder said.

Daily, the dairy produces a little over 4,000 of milk gallons a day, he said. Cows are milked by machines. The milk then travels through a stainless steel pipeline, flowing into a stainless steel milk tank. In the tank the milk is cooled from 100 degrees down to 38 degrees in about 20 minutes.

“It cools real fast,” Kidder said. “Once a day, a truck comes and picks (the milk) up. Most of our milk goes to Cuba Cheese down on Interstate 86. Occasionally, it’ll go to Meadow Brook over in Erie, Pa. to make bottled milk.”

He said farming is “an important part of American heritage.” Over the years, if a country cannot feed itself, it can be put at the mercy of other countries, Kidder said.

“So, I think we’ve been lucky that America has been able to feed itself,” he said.

Katie Hill, event volunteer, offered explanations about the milking process throughout the event for families and individuals taking the tours. Hill said she is from a dairy farm in Cattaraugus County where they milk 150 brown Swiss cows.

“The public has a lot of questions about farming and about where their every day items such as food comes from,” she said. “I think it’s important to give them some kind of education because what they see on the internet and T.V. isn’t always correct.”