Glo-Mo Dairy is a family run farm that sits on 182 acres in Poplarville.
April Harris is a third generation dairy farmer. Her grandfather owns the farm, and has been in the dairy business more than 60 years.
Today, Scott and Terri Lynn Anderson, Harris’s aunt and uncle, operate the farm.
The cows are milked twice a day, with the first milking taking place between 4 and 5 a.m. and the second milking taking place at 3 p.m.
There are two types of barns used in the dairy business, a parlor barn and a flat stanchion barn. In a parlor barn, the cows are above the farmer who walks into the lower part of the barn, which is called the pit, to milk them. In a flat stanchion barn, the type used on Harris’s farm, the cows walk into the barn and their heads are latched into stanchions.
“I like this type of barn better, because it enables you to see every part of the cow,” said Harris.
Harris makes cleanliness a priority in the barn.
“The tankers and milkers are washed and sanitized after every milking and then they are washed and sanitized again before the next milking,” said Harris.
Harris’s farm is a Class A dairy, which means all the milk stays fluid. Every load of milk is sampled by the state to make sure it contains no antibiotics. The farm is also inspected by the state once a month and undergoes a federal inspection twice a year. During these inspections, the dairy barn is checked, as well as, the milk tanks and the pipe lines. Once the milk leaves the farm it is shipped to Dairy Farmers of America.
Harris and her family not only love what they do, but they take pride in their business.
“We do everything we can to make sure our cows are healthy,” said Harris.