43 farms across Manitoba invited the general public to visit this past Sunday for Open Farm Day to learn about the origins of their food.

One participating farm near Niverville, called Trehane Holsteins, was opened to tours for five hours letting anyone come in and see how a modern dairy farm operates. 

Momentary tour-guide and manager at Trehane Holsteins Jake Stephens says his family-owned, fully robotic farm houses approximately 500 cows who are all fed and milked automatically. He explains why Open Farm Day is important to his family: “We just feel it's good for us to actually meet the consumers on the farm, and show them what a dairy farm is all about and how we do things.”

Stephens notes that over 170 people from as far as Ontario came to look at the milk cows, the machinery, and especially the calves. He indicates that many people are simply curious as to how farms work and it is great to have an avenue for them to learn.

Concludes Stephens: “There’s a lot of farms in Manitoba and I would love to encourage others to open up their farms: it’s a good day”.

Dairy Cows eating robot-fed hay