A trip to Longkou, Shandong: The scene of 4,000 cows being milked at the same time is spectacular, and the taste of fresh milk is very special

Longkou City in the Yantai region of Shandong Province is a coastal mountain city with a mild climate and fertile soil. Regardless of whether it is planting or breeding, it has unique conditions. Sea cucumbers, shrimps, pears, strawberries, grapes, vermicelli... are all famous representative specialties of Longkou. In addition, the locally produced milk is also very distinctive. Some people may say, if you drink milk every day, what’s so strange about it? To paraphrase an advertising slogan, the answer is "It's different, it's really different."

On the morning of the third day of our self-driving tour in Longkou, Shandong, accompanied by local friends, we drove to Huangshanguan Town in the west of the city. There is a large-scale ecological sightseeing park here that integrates ecological agriculture, natural flowers, aerial breeding and picking and other leisure methods.

The first stop is the Greenford Pastoral Complex. This complex is centered on dairy farming (Gerunfude Ecological Cattle Farm), and extends to a series of leisure agricultural resources such as alfalfa planting, small animal breeding, parent-child tourism, grain planting, and flower picking. At present, the entire ecological park is still in the development process, and there is no charge for tourists. Therefore, many tourists who are interested in "ecological agriculture" have come here recently. Its reputation is also growing, and it can be regarded as a successful success in the local area. A road to revitalization for village enterprise construction.

It was just eight o'clock in the morning when we arrived at Greenford Farm, just in time to catch up with the milking process of the cows. So, under the leadership of the staff, everyone went through the disinfection process, and then went deep into the milking truck to see the milking process of the cows through the large floor-to-ceiling windows. It is said that there are more than 4,000 cows here, all of which are Simmental breeds from Chile. Each cow has its own exclusive health file. It is said that the quality of milk produced by such cows is among the best in the world.

The tour guide said that every day, the cows would listen to music, get massages, eat fresh forage, and enjoy the "cow life" in the park. They only need to cooperate to complete two assembly line milkings a day. Mission accomplished. In this dairy farm, milking does not require manual labor. The 4,000 cows just line up and walk onto the giant turntable in front of us, stand up and wait for the staff to intubate and suck milk.

We call this huge automated milking production line the "Ferris Wheel". The cows only need to make two automatic turns with the giant wheel before the milk is finished. Then when the cow's leg is lifted, the milking machine automatically falls off. The cows will also understand and consciously step down from their stations on the giant wheel, line up to leave, and return to the cowshed to continue enjoying their leisurely life. It's a very interesting process. It is said that the fresh milk that has just been squeezed out does not come into contact with the air, and the fresh milk is directly transported to the storage tank through the pipeline in the center of the large turntable for pasteurization.

While we were tasting the fresh milk that had just been produced, we listened to the introduction from the farm lady. We felt that the taste of the milk was indeed different from other fresh milk in the supermarket: it was sweeter. , the milk flavor is stronger and the taste is slightly thicker. In short, it is not the same as the fresh milk you drink every day.

It is said that the milk produced here has the highest whey protein content among all high-end fresh milk brands in the country. The fresh milk produced by these 4,000 cows is not enough to supply the market. Only some Only through special channels can you see this brand of fresh milk or yogurt products. According to people at the farm, in the next few years, it will be expanded into a base of 10,000 Simmental dairy cows, and by then there may be more fresh milk of this brand on the market.

After coming out of the cow milking workshop, the farm lady specially took us for a drive in the park. Since Greenford Farm is positioned as a "pastoral complex" and focuses on "ecological sightseeing", corresponding leisure resources must keep up. While driving around the park, we not only saw well-growing wheat fields, clean lakes, hundreds of acres of alfalfa flowers (in full bloom in early June), but also a small "field zoo": peacocks, parrots, Ostrich, dog park, black swan... It can be said that whether you are taking your family for leisure, sightseeing as a couple, or taking your children for a self-driving trip, you can spend a whole day here.