03/29/08

Sorry for not posting yesterday. By the time we got home from our adventure, it was later than I thought and I had a few other things to do.

See that smile on Wesley's face... it was there for a reason...



Yesterday Daddy and I took the kids to a real working dairy farm. It is on the border of Wake and Durham counties and it opened up in 2004, I believe Daddy told me. It was something I kept from Wesley and Mikayla to let them be totally surprised... especially Wesley.

The farm looked totally different from ours, of course. It didn't look like the "family farms" from when I grew up, but it still had the same basic way of doing things. We went into their "holding" area for all of the milk cows first. Apparently, after they are milked in the morning they go to this area and stay until they are milked again in the afternoon. Our cows used to go out after the milkings so they could eat in the pasture. (I believe I remember that correctly... I'll have to remember to ask Daddy!) Anyway, we were there too early in the afternoon to get to watch them milk, but it was wonderful to walk around. The cows were quite tame and Daddy said you could tell they had been "broken" so they wouldn't jump or be scared around people. Lots of school children come out there for field trips like they used to do at our farm. This was where they ate and relaxed. We enjoyed watching them eat the hay, too. lol Wesley and Mikayla fed some of them and they loved it. They also had music playing constantly around them. Daddy said that is to get the cows used to all different kinds of voices and noises. Helps keep them calmer. I remember Daddy having his radio on all of the time in the barn, but I thought it was just to have music on as he worked. See, I am still learning.

Wesley experienced big cows in a big way. lol They sniffed us and checked us out wondering who in the world we were. The setup of this farm is really nice. It is amazing how much even dairy farming has changed in the last 20+ years!!!

Wesley also loved seeing the tractors, of course. We found that instead of a feed auger with feed coming out of a silo, there is a man who mixes the grain into this wagon type of equipment and actually pours it out of this wagon. It was the neatest thing to watch! I must say, I missed seeing silos, though.

We enjoyed seeing the cows do their thing. Wesley was not understanding why the teats on the cows were green. Daddy explained that was the liquid they put on the teats before they could milk them because it would act as a sanitizer. I remember how Daddy used to do that with our cows. I had forgotten just how big Holstein cows are! They are the biggest milking cow and it is proof as to why they are the number one cow for dairy farmers. This farm had some BEAUTIFUL Holsteins. One cow tried to get really up close to me. lol She stuck out her tongue to check me out right when I had my lens at her nose! Thankfully, she didn't lick my lens or that would have been funny but a sticky mess. Instead, I got this shot of her nose. lol (I actually took a few because she kept on coming at me to "check me out.")

When we went into the milking parlor, boy, that brought back a flood of memories and a flood of unexpected emotions for me! The milking parlor looked different from ours, but a great deal the same. I was not expecting that, actually. When we walked down into the "pit" I began to have memories flood my mind of being the kids' age and running around the farm. I remember having to help change the teat cups that go in the milkers (the plastic parts..I hated that job lol), watching Daddy put the milkers in place, and all that went with the milking. I was shocked at myself when I began to tear up just looking at the milkers! They looked SO MUCH like the milkers we had and even the lines and everything connected with them looked like ours used to look. I touched them just to see if they even "felt" the same and they did. I just cannot describe to you the feelings that welled up inside of me. I wonder if Daddy felt the same. I know this may not mean very much to those of you reading, but it was wonderful for me.

We left the milking parlor area and walked to where the tank held the milk. The tank they had was a bit bigger than the one we had. The kids got to go up the ladder and look in to see the milk! They were so excited to look down onto all of that milk!! (It is a good thing they like milk... makes Daddy proud because Kevin and I never cared for milk that much growing up and we were Dairy Farmer's kids!! LOL) I got up there, too, and took a picture of the milk. It was dark in there so it didn't come out very crisp, but you get the point. lol

We had to leave all too soon. I was really hoping to be able to watch them milk, but they weren't going to start that for another hour and a half and we needed to get going to a farm call Daddy had to do. Daddy said we would go back soon to see them milk and to see the other parts of the farm we didn't get to see. I'll be excited for that! Wesley soaked all of that in and was so excited when he realized what he really saw. I think it would have "clicked" even more if he could have watched them milk the cows yesterday, but he was in awe. Daddy was actually in awe as well. He said in order to start a new dairy farm today it would probably take around 5 million dollars. That is a chunk of change....

After we left there, we went to Zebulon, NC to help Daddy with a sick beef cow. She had been sick, then that caused her to lose her calf and now she was doing really poorly. It was AWESOME to watch my Daddy "in action" in that way again. I remember him going out into the fields or to take care of cows in the barns like he did yesterday. He may not have gone to Vet school but my Daddy knows how to take care of animals. He learned through EXPERIENCE. Many of the doctors at the Vet hospital ask Daddy what to do! He tells them often that all of the books in the world can't teach you what experience can! I helped Daddy the best I knew how. I was shocked at some of the things I did. lol I couldn't take pictures of what I helped with because I needed to put my camera back in the truck! These couple of pictures show Daddy getting the medicine ready and some of the equipment he had to use. I helped fill a couple of more syringes with medicine and also helped pour some type of medication/bacteria helping "stuff" down the cows throat. Now, I poured it into a funnel which Daddy had connected to piping that was inserted in another tube to get it immediately into the cows stomach. Basically, it was a cow form of "tubing." LOL Daddy told me he was proud of me and asked me why I didn't do that when I was younger! lol I told him maturity and age helps in those matters. :)

Let's just say that it was an awesome day. I don't think I could type out all we experienced or what all I felt, but it was wonderful. It was also wonderful just spending the afternoon with Daddy again. A perfect way to end our break. (I hate I just had to type that last line....)

Well, I have been on here entirely too long, but these memories were worth it. Hope you enjoyed a walk down my memory lane. Simple pleasures of life...