BAZETTA — Jessamyn Moon of Warren says that having grown up in the farming areas of Johnston and Green townships in northern Trumbull County has given her an appreciation for the hard-working people and the ways that farm products such as milk are produced.

For the past two years, she has brought her niece, Marlena Sullivan, now 6, of Niles, to the milking parlor at the Trumbull County Fair to pass on some of her knowledge. They were there Saturday as three cows walked into a sort of “stage,” where the cows’ owners sterilized the cows’ udders and attached milking cups that vacuum the milk into a hose that carries the milk into a large, clear holding chamber so that the public can see the milk collect.

“She lives in the city and had never been exposed to it,” Moon said of her niece. “I want her to be exposed to it. It’s fascinating.”

She said she thinks everyone should understand where farm products such as milk come from so that they don’t take such products “for granted. They don’t realize the work that goes into it.”

She said last year, the two of them spent hours watching and talking, with Moon telling Marlena of the amount of people who had to be involved before the milk ended in her jug or carton of milk.

Moon said she also will give Marlena age-appropriate information about where meat comes from.

One of the people leading cows into the milking parlor Saturday was Joe Turon, owner of a family dairy farm in West Farmington and previous fair board member.

Turon said it appears the part of the milking parlor that is of the most interest to onlookers is seeing the clear container fill up with milk, knowing it came from the cow’s udders.

But the parlor setup being shown only represents one type of milking parlor, and technology has provided dairy farmers with interesting but expensive options that allow milking to be done with robots that can milk a cow without any human being directly involved.

There are several farms in Trumbull, Ashtabula and Columbiana counties that use robots, but most are using the types of equipment Turon and fellow Lordstown dairy farmer Gary Kibler Jr. use.

Turon said at his farm, he milks his cows twice a day, but a robotic system allows a cow to be “milked whenever she wants, so whenever her udder gets a little more pressure to it, she’s going to go to the (milking) parlor, so she may go to the parlor four times a day.”

He said it’s more healthy for the cow because it puts less stress and strain on the cow’s body and on the udder. The cow is going to produce 10 percent to 15 percent more milk on a robotic system.

He said there are times when a cow attempts to get milked but the system does not allow it to. Turon said the system gives a grain “treat” to the cow when it gives milk. But the cow could try to enter the milking stall again right away, but because the cow has a chip attached to its ear, the robot knows the cow should not give milk again that soon.

Kibler said the “parlor” system he uses has 12 stalls on two sides of the barn, and he brings his approximately 310 cows into the stalls three times per day, 24 cows at a time.

Two workers clean the udders and then attach the milking equipment, and then the amount of milk produced is weighed, Kibler said. When all 24 cows are done, the apparatus rises and all 12 cows walk out.

Kibler said the milking parlor at the fair is “old school” compared to what his farm uses, but it still educates the public.

Nicole Kampfer of North Benton in Mahoning County said its safe to say that there is probably very little hand-milking of cows today, like people have have seen in the movies, such as “A League of Their Own.”

She and he family are showing dairy cows at the Trumbull County Fair this year with her son, 15, and daughter, 4. She also has nieces and nephews who live near her who also participate in the family’s dairy farm. But all of the family members involved with the farm also have jobs outside of the farm.

The family has 25 to 30 head of cows, and they do very little crop farming, she said.

Kampfer said her family, including her, her brother and father, agreed to show their dairy cows at the Trumbull County Fair because farmers asked her. The reason is because they show two kinds of somewhat rare dairy cattle called Ayrshire and Milking Shorthorn. With the cows the Kampfer family show, there are about six types of dairy cow shown at the Trumbull County Fair, she said.

Her son and a cousin are involved with the family farm but also play soccer, in addition to their school work and participating in other businesses the family runs. With all of that to do, “the kids don’t play a lot of video games,” she said.

Work on the farm is good for children in the family in many ways, like learning responsibility, but it also makes them physically stronger. “They throw a lot of straw bales and hay bales,” she said.