The Dairy

Ajay's first grade class went on their field trip a week ago.  I was very happy to learn they would be going to a functioning dairy farm, as opposed to going to the zoo again.  Alex and Aren and I tagged along.  Ready for some photos?

The pig races were first.  Lady Hog-ga won most of the races.  Here is Ajay's class sitting on a trailer.  The rest of the first grade  classes (4 total, I believe) were sitting on bleachers next to the trailer.

Once Alex spotted where Ajay was sitting, he shimmied up (forget using the stairs!) to sit next to brother.

After the pig races we were taken over to an area where they have a cow milking demonstration.  They showed how they clean the teats with iodine, give a starter squeeze on all four, then hook up the pumping machine.  The milk flows into that clear-ish vessel with the blue rimmed bottom.  The cows get milked every 12 hours. 

The farmer showed everyone this calf's teeth - they only get teeth on the bottom, not the top.  Ajay's teacher got to feed this little one a bottle of the freshly pumped milk.

We were then split into groups.  One group watched a video while our group got to play on the playground.  There was a lot of noise on that thar playground!!

After the playground romp and after our turn with the video it was time to have lunch in the grass.  The dairy farm owners even had chocolate covered vanilla ice cream (on a stick) for everyone!  Aren enjoyed feeling the grass.

Once lunch was over it was time to check out some animals - close up.  Here, the farmer's wife is offering a duck, a chick and a gosling up for a little petting. 

 All the kiddos got to take a bucket of ground up corn stalk to the trough to feed the cows.

Another mom graciously took our photo for us.

I ended up with a little burn.  See where the neck of my shirt is down in a V shape?  It was pulled and held by my little passenger.  He really likes shirt necks.  So I got a little V shaped burn.  And I'm pretty sure Aren got just a touch of pink across his nose and cheeks.  Surprised me, as neither Ajay nor Alex have ever burned. 

A very fun day, indeed.