In a Beit Dagan barn, some 230 dairy cows are part of a project seeking to produce milk efficiently and develop new techniques for the Israeli dairy farming industry. Dr. Joshua Miron of the Department of Ruminants Science at the Volcani Center Institute of Animal Science says Israeli cows of the Holstein-Frizyan variety are efficient because of their light weight which leads to higher milk production. Israel's dry climate requires importing 30 percent of cow feed ingredients from abroad to enable it to produce milk efficiently. Currently the cows participating in the program produce approximately 12,000 kilograms of milk annually, Miron says. Miron and his staff make sure the cows are comfortable in their quarters, check they are lying down up to nine hours a day, and dedicate 200 minutes to eating and five hours ruminating their food, he says.
