To find out about Shabbos on the farmyard we spoke to Mr. Shammai Tzur the dairy farm manager at the religious kibbutz Chafetz Chaim in the center of Israel.

MJ: Mr. Tzur can you describe a typical day in the life of a dairy farmer?

ST: My day starts early. I rise at 3:00 a.m. (!) and make my way to the cowsheds. We start to get things ready for the milking process which begins at 4:00 a.m.. Our machines are equipped to milk twenty-eight cows at a time. It takes around three hours to milk the 300 cows on our farm.

MJ: How many times a day do you milk the cows?

ST: Three times a day. At four in the morning twelve midday and eight in the evening.

MJ: Wow that means you spend nine hours a day milking cows. What do you do in between the milking shifts?

ST: Well the milking machines have to be washed thoroughly between one milking and the next. The cows have to be fed of course and the cowsheds cleaned. Each cow is regularly examined and given the appropriate medical care.

MJ: Let’s talk about Shabbos. Are you allowed to milk the cows on Shabbos? Isn’t it a forbidden melachah?

ST: Cows suffer pain if they are not milked on time so not to milk them for an entire Shabbos would be a transgression of tzaar baalei chayim(causing an animal pain). On the other hand milking is indeed a forbidden melachah on Shabbos so it is done through a Shabbos goy. A non-Jewish worker operates the machinery. A Jew observes the milking process so the milk will be chalav Yisrael — milk produced under supervision of a Jew. The milk is muktzeh on Shabbos but after Shabbos it may be sold to Yidden for consumption.

To read the rest of this story please buy this issue of Mishpacha or sign up for a weekly subscription.