A slightly ridiculous story in the Star Press about cows and Daylight Saving Time. The premise is that the changing of the clocks is hard on the dairy cows because they have to hold their milk longer.
One of the folks interviewed in the story gets the laws of nature correct:
“I don’t think in general it has much significant affect to agriculture,” Clamme said of daylight-saving time. “The cows still get the same amount of daylight. The cornstalk still has the same amount of daylight. There’s still going to be 12 to 13 hours of sunlight in the middle of summertime.”
The difficulty comes when trying to synchronize milking with a particular time on the clock.
Anyway, Daylight Saving Time starts tonight. Glad I got to enjoy a bit of morning sunlight today. I don’t think sunrise comes until after 8 a.m. tomorrow.
Uh… these cows only follow a 30 minute adjustment on DST? Makes about as much sense as being on Eastern time, I guess.
We need to hear from more people who actually milk cows. I worked on a farm in Wisconsin in high school and dealt with cattle and hogs,but cow milking was a specialized job and I was gladly never asked to help.
But it was true cows had to be milked the same time every day or they got ‘cranky’ That’s maybe why Wisconsin observed year round CST until late 50s or so.I don’t remember exactly when very unpopular DST was imposed,but there was considerable opposition. But I remember those 4 am sunrises very well. After DST they just turned the machines on so milking time remained set from the cows’ point of view. We had no automatic,self-adjusting milking machines at that time.We just turned them on and off.
There is one given about farming and it probably still is that way: if it’s light outside you’re outside working and if it’s dark outside you’re inside,but still may be working.
oh… ok… I get it, 15 minutes earlier each milking… duh… I just looked at the early morning times. Ok, ignore me.
Actually, Lou, we need to hear more cow opinions. I’d like to know if they thought Christian Siriano deserved his win on “Project Runway.”
Matt Brown,
I rather relate cows and TZ because when I drive the Indiana tollroad as I enter St Joe County from Chicago, there’s sign on right indicating entering ETZ, and on left there’s a huge dairy farm with dairy cows walking around in a pasture periously close to the TZ boundary ,so I wonder if the cows step over the line and get shocked by the new sudden time change and the milk somehow gets compromised.
Hey Lou, I know the people that operate the farm in question. They stay on centraltime ,because of the school system. They also milk three times per day and adjust gradually when DST arrives,but since they have been operating on central since the sixties they have not had much of a problem. Plus at around 150 cows they are not a huge dairy farm!!
Larry,
Thanks so much for the comment on the dairy farm on the tollway.I’ve been aware of that farm for a long time because I worked on a farm in my high school days.The barn always looked so big,so maybe that’s why I posted ‘large dairy farm’. But I really appreciate your personal comment on this farm and I always anticipate passing by,and note where the cows are,and whether they are outside.
Okay, I don’t get it. I reallllly don’t get it.
Why do the cows have to have the time of their milking changed because of DST? Let’s assume that there’s a thing called Cow Standard Time. In the winter, Cow Standard Time matches with Eastern Daylight. They are milked at 7am.
But oh now!! Here comes the Daylight Savings Time Boogeyman!! (The DSTBoogeyman also attacks drive in movie theaters, children waiting for school buses, and sweet little old ladies.) Now Eastern daylight is 8am when it’s 7am Cow Standard Time.
Why can’t the FARMERS adjust instead of the COWS? Just because the clock says 7am EDT doesn’t mean you can’t wait until 7am Cow Standard Time to milk them.
Right?
Am I missing something here?
Jesus. I just don’t get all the “DST is evilll why change? CHANGE BAAAAD” stuff. Setting aside the debate on DST as a national policy, when every state around you and every state but Arizona uses it, it’s bass-ackwards for Indiana not to.
It’s the only thing Daniels has done that I actually approve of. ALthough I didn’t mind seeing that issue help some Dems in Statehouse districts.
Jason,
Yes, you are missing something here. Some farmers do continue to milk their cows at the same time, the rooster crows at the same time.
HOWEVER, everyone that the farmer has to work with that isn’t a farmer is now out of sync with the sun. Want to go see your grandchildren’s play / birthday party? Too bad, their clock is two hours off from the sun.
Still doesn’t address my main argument towards the end: that being iconoclastic is not a sound policy. Yes, DST may or may not have the merits people say it does. That doesnt’ change the fact that every state around us and everyone but Arizona uses it.
Because of that it’s, frankly, incredibly stupid not to. You know what, somehow the top two dairy states in the country manage just fine. So either time behaves differently in Indiana (quick, someone get Stephen Hawking on the phone), Indiana dairy farmers are dumber than those from Wisconsin and California, or this is the weakest of straws to grasp in opposing DST.
I’m guessing it’s the last of those options.
I have agreed with Indiana supporting DST, for the reasons you suggest.
However, I see no reason for the national support for it.
It wastes energy. It has been proven. Golf isn’t a reason to change a nation’s time. Why does the USA follow DST?
Jason,
Being in the extreme eastern part of CST in Indiana, my argument is why do we follow Standard Time? Especially now tha CST starts the first week in November and ends the second week in March. I mean, think about it–we move the clocks back about six/seven weeks before the winter solstice. At least three of those weeks all the kids are on vacation and not waiting for school buses in the dark. We all know it is dark in the morning…hello…it’s winter!
What real purpose does standard time serve?
If I’m ever elected president…I’m running on the platform that we all fall back 1/2 hour in the fall and then leave the clocks alone forever. Maybe splitting the difference would solve the time issue.
That sounds like one of the best arguments I’ve heard. We’ll do away with standard time, but Central time seems to suit Indiana best. So let’s see, how about Central Daylight Time all year long? Oh wait, that’s what we had before… Only we called it Eastern Standard Time. Who cares what you call it. Pick a time that makes sense and stick with it all year long. If that means a one-time 1/2 hour shift then great!! Just stop messing up my sleep schedule.
And if all of the other states around us want to change their clocks then let them. We’re not the fools here. They are.