COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Waterman Diary Facility at The Ohio State University Extension in Columbus is set to receive roughly $900,000 in upgrades.

What You Need To Know

  • Upgrades include robotic milkers, feeders and cleaners

  • Grade A milk is produced from a herd of 100 registered Jersey cows

  • The farm consists of 122 acres of crop and 45 acres of pasture
​John Lemmermen is farm manager.
 

"I grew up on a dairy farm and I love helping animals. I thought about becoming a teacher, so here I get to work with a lot of  students, teach a lot of students and get to work with the animals every day and advance the heard and develop a good herd here," he said.

The cows are milked twice a day by students and researchers at 4 a.m. and 4 p.m with each cow producing close to seven gallons of milk in that time. According to Lemmermen, the dairy produced here, may end up on your plate.

"We sell all of our milk to Smith's Dairy. It's on a pasture-based load. We get all of our cattle out to pasture as often as possible. Jersey milk is high in fat content and protein, so it goes out to the solid market, so ours goes out to Jeni's Ice Cream and Chipotle and some of those types of restaurants that will pay a little bit more for the pasture-based product," he said.

The Waterman Dairy Facility is certified by the National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management agency.

The facility is located at 2433 Carmack Road and also offers tours.