there is a local dairy that has a "free" day every year...this year's free day was today. :)
it's really not much...a few games like toss a ball in a tractor tire, a hay maze, etc...but the kids LOVED it.
you can take a little hay ride and they take you around the dairy -point out where the milking house is, who is in what pen (the dry pen with cows 7-8.5 mo. pregnant, the "about to deliver" pen w/cows in the last 2 wks of pregnancy, etc), a basis synopsis of how the dairy operates, etc.
it was a great way to spend a 2 hours of our afternoon-and really educational for the kids
it's really not much...a few games like toss a ball in a tractor tire, a hay maze, etc...but the kids LOVED it.
you can take a little hay ride and they take you around the dairy -point out where the milking house is, who is in what pen (the dry pen with cows 7-8.5 mo. pregnant, the "about to deliver" pen w/cows in the last 2 wks of pregnancy, etc), a basis synopsis of how the dairy operates, etc.
it was a great way to spend a 2 hours of our afternoon-and really educational for the kids
above and below are the cows in the milking area -above, I believe they've already been milked and are waiting to head back to their pen.
Below-cows being milked as we watched. :)
we spent ALOT of time at the "cows about to deliver" pen. :)
these were all mama cows that were to deliver in the next 2 weeks.
this dairy has 4-6 calves born a day right now.
we saw 4 brand new babies today and 1-2 cows in labor.
we were told this one was in labor. she got up not long after I took this shot so it's not like she was writhing in pain. :) but the kids did keep asking me "mama -is she dead?!"
can you see the little one just above the 2nd yellow bar?
this one HAD TO have been brand new. it's hair was still kinda fuzzy and it's legs were SOOOO wobbly.poor baby just stood there trembling for the longest time. it was clearly afraid to move lest it just collapse -it was just precious!
I don't know if you can see it in the above pic -you may need to click on it to enlarge it -but you can still see the umbilical cord hanging down on the calf above
this calf is, I believe, the same one as a few pics above -the one we saw that was just trembling as it stood for the first time.....when we walked by this 2nd time, you could hear it moo-ing just a bit...then it walked a few steps, collapsed, and just laid on the ground resting....hard work for a newborn!
mamas licking their newborns
and just as we were leaving, my sister and her kids were coming in. the kids got a big kick out of seeing their cousins so we had to take a group shot.
6 comments:
That looks like so much fun! There is a HUGE milking farm up near Chicago but in Indiana somewhere that we have been wanting to go to.
"Mama, is she dead?" Cracks me up! Looks like a fun and educational afternoon. It's quite a crew of cousins you all have!
We went in the morning and the kids had a really good time. We actually saw "stuff" coming out of one cow who was laying down in labor. Another one in labor was just mooing and mooing. We walked up probably within minutes of one being born. So cool!
Just wanted to pop over fromt he AZ- ET adopters YG and say hello. So glad you joined. I look forward to following along on your journey.
"Mama, is she dead?" Nope, but I'll bet she's wishing she was at the moment. Heh.
Did you know my husband's grandparents were dairy farmers? Not an easy job, let me tell you.
We've got lots of dairy farms around here, but I'm thinking they are a lot different than what you saw. Smaller, for one thing. I would enjoy that tour; it looks like a lot of fun!
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