This past week at the daycare, the kids in my class were introduced to the world of dairy agriculture. While a dairy farm is just a small part of the agriculture world, it was the first time that many of the kids had been on a operating farm. We were able to visit my grandpa's dairy farm. The farm milks around 650 cows three times a day and fills a milk truck every day.
We got there around 1:30 (later than we wanted, but kids will be kids and take their sweet time). My grandpa met us outside our fifteen passenger vans and after a not-so-quick bathroom stop, we were off. The first place we headed was the milking parlor. What we didn't know was that one of our little girls was terrified of cows. We barely got her into the parlor because she was so scared. The next place we went was the bulk tank room. There the kids saw the two bulk tanks, each big enough to fill a semi trailer.
Well, next we headed to see the calves. We went to the maternity barn and found two calves in the holding pen. My grandpa went and brought one out for the kids to pet. When one little girl asked what her name was, my grandpa looked at the ear tag and replied "5196." The little girl got a skeptical look on her face and asked, "What kind of a name is that?!" Grandpa smiled and replied, "You can name her if you want to." The little girl smiled widely and said "Betsy!" Well, then everyone wanted to see more calves, so we went around the outside of the barn and saw one that was laying right by the gate that led to the outside alleyway. This one had been born a few hours before, so there was still afterbirth nearby. Well, the kids were curious and asked about it, to which I replied that that comes when any baby creature is born. Some found more interest in that than they did in the newborn calf.
From there we headed into one of the barns. The kids saw what the cows eat and where they sleep. This was interesting, so we went outside to the open side of the barn where the kids could get really close to the cows and see into the pen without having to look through the head locks. Well, the little girl that I mentioned earlier overcame her fear at this point and didn't want to leave. It was time to go to have a snack and get some coloring books and info. packets and then we returned to the daycare.
While it was a quick trip, it was a good one. I was asked as soon as I walked into work this morning if we could go to the dairy farm again. I have to say that it made me smile to know that these kids had such a good experience and I hope that it paves the way for these kids to have a positive outlook on agriculture. In a country where the contact that kids are having with agriculture is dwindling down to nothing, I'm so glad that I get to experience this introduction firsthand and see the world of agriculture through a child's eyes.
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