Dairy Farmer Math

In an effort to make math more interesting for kids and to make my kids understand that math really is important, I have started a series of Farmer Math questions to go along with the Flat Aggie reports.  These are patterned after the blog Bedtime Math.  Some of the questions are easy enough for pre-schoolers and sometimes I come up with some to even challenge high school seniors.

These questions follow the report Keriel Dairy.  Additional educational materials can be found on All About Dairy.

1. Keriel Dairy milks 100 cows 2 times each day.  How many times do they put milking units on in a day?

2.  Keriel Dairy is a small family farm with 11 people who work on the farm (including the kids and retired parents).  Assuming they all work equally in the milk parlor, how many times would each person put on the milking units in a year, remembering there is never a day off?   (Rounded to the nearest 1)

3.  One cup of milk has the same amount of calcium as eight cups of spinach.  If you don't like milk how many cups of spinach would you have to eat to get the same amount of calcium in 3 cups of milk?


4.  If the average dairy cow gives 9 gallons of milk each day, how much milk would 100 cows give in one day?  How much would they give in one week?

5.  100 pounds of feed is fed to each cow every day.  How much feed is fed to 100 cows each day in pounds?  How much feed is that in tons?  How many tons of feed are needed to feed 100 cows for one year?

If you are a teacher or homeschooler that would like more information to go with the Flat Aggie reports, send me a message on my contact form.  Along with the report and the Farmer Math questions, we send each teacher an additional page of activities, crossword puzzles and sometimes a few hands on activities.

ANSWERS:  1.) 200 times  2.)  6636 times  3.) 24 cups  4.)  900 gallons; 6300 gallons  5.) 10,000 pounds; 5 tons; 1825 tons

-A Kansas Farm Mom