GEDDES — An idea from the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition’s former executive director became one of the most popular attractions at the New York State Fair.
The Dairy Cow Birthing Center is celebrating its 10th anniversary at the fairgrounds. The exhibit, which opened in 2013, pulls back the curtain on what happens every day on dairy farms across New York.
The center is operated by the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition, a group that aims to educate the public about farming. Jessica Ziehm, who served as the coalition’s executive director until 2019, got the idea for the Dairy Cow Birthing Center from when she attended Virginia Tech and saw a birthing exhibit.
Eileen Jensen, who now serves as executive director of the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition, told The Citizen that Ziehm pitched the idea to the group’s board of directors, many of whom are farmers.
“They believed in the mission, they believed in the vision of this exhibit and so they stood behind it,” Jensen said. “They all took a risk and 10 years later, they are still right here supporting us.”
In weighing the pros and cons, farmers decided to participate. Cows from six dairy farms, all of which are part of the Cayuga Marketing cooperative that owns Cayuga Milk Ingredients in Aurelius, were featured at the center in its first year.
“It could be hard to do, but it’s something we really need to do,” Palladino said. “Right from the first year when we did it, and it was hard, but you could see the reactions we were getting from people and the questions that we were getting asked. It was like, we just need to keep doing this. It’s such a great way to reach the public and tell our story so they know a little bit more about what we do and know that we’re doing what we can to care for the animal.”
More than 330 calves have been delivered at the Dairy Cow Birthing Center over a 10-year period, with more expected by the end of this year’s fair. But one of the most memorable moments at the center involved the loss of a calf from Palladino’s farm.
In 2014, Palladino’s second year at the exhibit, one of his cows started calving. When there wasn’t any progress, he checked the cow and realized the calf was badly deformed.
“There was no way that the cow was going to have the calf without a C-section,” he said.
The veterinarian provided details about the procedure and Palladino, along with Ziehm, relayed those to the crowd.
“It was so quiet in here and people were just in awe,” Palladino recalled. “The surgery was on the other side so they couldn’t actually see it. We were talking through it.”
When the surgery was completed and the dead calf was removed, the crowd gave them a standing ovation. Even though it wasn’t the outcome anyone wanted, it reinforced for Palladino the need for farms to tell their stories.
“This stuff happens to people in real life and it happens here and they can see how much we care for the animal,” he said. “I know it was a worthwhile experience for everybody.”
Education is at the core of the center’s work. The space was smaller in its early years, but it has since expanded on the west end of the fairgrounds with more information about cows and dairy farms. This year, one panel marks the 10th anniversary of the exhibit.
To educate the public, transparency is important. What happened with Palladino’s cow nearly a decade ago is an example.
“What you see here is exactly what you see back home on the farm,” Jensen said. “That’s one thing that hasn’t changed over 10 years.”
She continued, “We want people to come here to see the miracle of life, but we want them to talk to our volunteers. Our volunteers are farmers, they are nutritionists, they are veterinarians. They work with farmers every day. That is the most exciting part is we are making connections between consumers of dairy products and the farmers that are producing them.”
The interest from fairgoers over 10 years has been maintained, Jensen said. Although many people are aware of the Dairy Cow Birthing Center, there are newcomers who didn’t know about the exhibit.
Cows from more than 30 farms across New York have been featured in the center since its formation in 2013. This year, four of the six participating farms — Patterson Farms in Aurelius, Pine Hollow Dairy in Genoa, Twin Birch Dairy in Skaneateles and Walnut Ridge — were part of the first group of farms 10 years ago.
The center has been around long enough that a cow born at the fair in 2013 delivered a calf at the exhibit Tuesday morning, according to Jensen.
“It’s really fun to see this come full circle in a matter of 10 years,” she said.
