New York State Fair 'One Thing' Series -- Today's Feature, Dairy Cattle

A dairy cow looks pretty at the camera at the State Fair.

Today is Dairy Day at the New York State Fair.

We get all that great milk from the various dairy breeds that are raised throughout New York state. The most popular breed is the Holstein, which is the ever-common black and white cows that dot the countryside across the state.

Other popular breeds in New York state are Jersey, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Red and White Holsteins, Ayrshires, Milking Shorthorns and Dutch Belted.

Two dairy cows relax at the NYS Fair

Some of the delicious items made from New York state dairy milk include cheese, yogurt and ice cream.

New York state has recently been named the yogurt capital of the United States, with three large yogurt plants (Chobani, Fage and Muller) up and running in the state. 

I caught up with Pat Lundy, a dairy farmer from Granville, Washington County, in the dairy cattle building at the State Fair and asked him what 'One Thing' he would like the public to know about dairy cattle and dairy farming:

"I want the public to know they can't judge all of us on the one-half percent of farmers you see hte animal rights people talking about," Lundy said. "99.5 percent of us live our lives to take good care of our animals."

In 2012, there were 610,000 dairy cattle in New York state, the same as in 2011. The cows produced 21,633 pounds of milk each on average and the total production of milk in the state in 2012 was 13.2 billion pounds, up from 12.8 billion pounds in 2011. One hundred pounds of milk equals 11.6 gallons of milk.

Happy Dairy Day! Enjoy and be sure to visit the Dairy Products Buildings to have some cheese, ice cream or a cup of that delicious cold white or chocolate milk at the Dairy Bar.