Self-guided tour of the Irene Farm

Free of charge

Spend the afternoon exploring and learning more about the history and the workings of Irene Farm. Use the visitor map guide featured on this page to guide you around the farm and all of it’s interesting facts – click here for the Irene Farm map…

CLICK FOR VISITOR MAP

Watch the cows being milked daily from our viewing gallery and learn more about how this process was done back in the day. Herewith some fun cow facts to guide you:

Maternity ward

• Cows are pregnant for 275 days.
• When they reach the last 2 months of their pregnancy, they are moved to the maternity ward where they are closely observed.
• They give birth in the maternity ward and spend the first 4 days with their calf there before the calf is moved to the baby calf pens.
• During this time the calf drinks much needed colostrum from its mom.

Baby calf pens

• 4 Days after birth, around the time that the cow stops producing colostrum, the calves are put into the baby calf designated pens.
• This is the safest place for them to be as they are well looked after and separated so they don’t get ill.
• They receive 5l of milk per day – 2.5l in the morning and 2.5l in the afternoon – which is all they need until their stomachs have matured at around 100kgs in weight.
• Once they reach 100kgs they are then moved to the fields behind the pens with their group (calves born around the same time) until they are 2 years old.

Young cows

• Once the calves reach around 2 years old they are moved to a back field where they continue to graze and grow until they are mature enough for insemination.
• A cow will only start producing milk once it has calved.

Milking process

• The cows are herded into the building next to the viewing gallery twice a day where they are fed before heading off to be milked.
• Here they are checked for illness and inseminated.
• They are also washed before going in to the milking process.
• Once inside, they are all milked and then herded off to the fields where they are able to feed again.
• The milk is cooled down asap and bottled.