PEMBERVILLE – The Dan and Shelli Morlock dairy operation is inspected twice a year to be sure it
is in compliance.The milk is tested and inspected with each pick-up.The milkman brings the truck every other
day to collect the Morlock’s milk and take it to Cleveland. There are no holidaysThe Morlocks boast Grade A
milk, or what is called fluid milk.It is thus used for liquid consumption as well as to make other products
including ice cream or yogurt.Grade B is used for some cheeses and pet food.Their milk is packaged as
American Dairymen’s milk and can be purchased at the dairy barn during the Wood County Fair as well as at
Circle K stores year-round, as well as other locations.Shelli says the recent growth of Greek yogurt is
beneficial to dairy farmers as it takes three gallons of raw milk to make one gallon of Greek yogurt for
consumption.The milkman cannot take the milk if it rises above 40 degrees. So if the compressor goes out, or
they run out of Freon, it is a definite crisis.When the milkman picks up a load, it is combined with milk
from other dairies. Thus a sample is taken from each farm and later tested."If our milk is
contaminated, we have to buy the whole truckload," Shelli said.Sometimes a cow will need to be treated
with an antibiotic. Her milk cannot be mixed with the others as it will show.The Morlocks thus keep her milk
separated and feed it to the calves. They will test the milk to make sure "she’s clean" before her
milk is sold off the farm.The health of the cows is paramount."The cows come first," Dan said.The
couple noted how they know when something may be wrong with one of the cows by the way she acts."They
let us know when something is wrong," Shelli said. "They are animals of routine."If one cow
is not behaving normally, they will more closely examine her to determine the issue.A healthy cow will
produce roughly 80 pounds of milk a day. That is the measure used by dairies. If a gallon of milk weighs
eight pounds, that is roughly 10 gallons of milk per day.Most of their cows are artificially inseminated,
however they do sometimes keep the younger bulls born on the farm. They are usually sold as breeding stock
to other farms.Though nationwide, the average age of milking cows is 3, the Morlocks estimate the average
age of their herd is 8. Their oldest cow, Bea, died at the age of 21, not long after giving birth to her
last calf.