CowPots Tour (Freund’s Farm)

One of the most intriguing and educational moments from this internship for me was taking a virtual tour of the CowPots Farm. In short, CowPots are gardening pots that are made from waste materials from cows. The farm itself is extremely sustainable, as they have many practices in place that make it environmentally friendly. Some of these include no-till corn fields, a methane digester, solar panels, and the cowpots themselves. All of these drastically reduce their carbon footprint, as well as keep the soil healthy. They are able to reuse so many of the resources that would normally be wasted, which sets them apart from so many other farms,

They also have incredible systems in their barns that directly help the cows. One of the many impressive aspects of this area is the autonomous milker the cows can go through. Each time a cow has to be milked, it goes over to a machine, which milks it. During this process, she is fed grain based on information given to the machine prior. This machine monitors each individual cow’s habits and routines, and then bases the amount of grain given off of the information. It can track many other aspects of the cow, which allows for even less human direct human interaction. They also have a machine that pushes the cow’s food towards them, encouraging them to have healthy eating habits while minimizing the waste of food.

The tour of this farm in particular was extremely unique, as the technology and systems they used were unlike anything I had seen prior. The measures they take to improve sustainability and soil health are absolutely incredible, as they are able to reuse so many of their materials and resources.