Hugely Successful Iowa Dairy Farm Gives Cows Unusual ‘Food’ Daily

How does Cinnamon Ridge Dairy Farm in Donahue, Iowa, about 30 miles north of the Quad Cities, produce enough milk to be second in milk production in the U.S.? We now know at least one of their secrets. Coffee creamer. Yes, you read that right.

According to John Maxwell, the owner of the farm, "Sugar and all those carbohydrates produce milk." And the cows are getting a lot of both. Maxwell feeds each cow a half-pound of coffee creamer per day. Their diets also consist of large amounts of hay. The recipe works beautifully. According to WQAD, the cows each produce about four pounds of milk every day.

These are some spoiled cows. Before rescuing 2,000 pounds of massive bags of creamer that were on their way to the landfill, Cinnamon Ridge Dairy Farm fed their cattle chocolate cake mix. They do even better on the coffee creamer.

Cinnamon Ridge Dairy Farm is hosting "Lunch on the Farm" Saturday, June 22. The event is from 11 am to 2 pm. It will include grilled cheese and cheese curds produced from the cows at the farm, and the opportunity to learn about agriculture. Sign up is HERE.