What a crazy week it has been! Just a quick recap: I spent a morning learning how to run the RFID scanners for vet checks, cleaned the separators (Tuesdays are my day), spread fly bait, cut foot wraps, and spent 3 days just working on misters and soakers.
With a few days this week being over 100 degrees F it was incredibly important to keep the cows cool and laying down as much as possible. There are times, however, when the cows will get up and stand around or eat. When they do this we have automatic water systems that spray a mist of water onto the cows. On Yosemite we have two kinds: misters and soakers.
The misters and soakers work really well when they are clean but out here we pump a lot of sand through with our water because sand is everywhere! There is no way around it and then the mister and soaker heads get plugged and don't spray water like they're supposed to. That's where I came in this week. I went through the pens that were having the most problems and cleaned the parts out. I got really really wet and the feed guys were all laughing at me when they drove by, but I was having a good time because I wasn't dying in the heat. Finally, after 3 days of pulling things apart and getting my mouth full of sand and who-knows-what-else, I had nearly all of the things working. Now the job is to stay on top of keeping them clean and not letting them be ignored for a couple of weeks like last time.
So that was my big job for the week. I've been meeting more people who work here on Yosemite and at Clauss Dairy as well this week. Yesterday I met one of the feeders. The first thing he said to me when he came over to talk to me was "So I heard that you're Portuguese?" I've got an idea of where that rumor started but I don't know for sure yet. I then had to clarify to him that I wasn't Portuguese, I was the intern at Yosemite and I am Dutch (mostly) and I'm from South Dakota, not Portugal. It made me laugh to think that people over at Clauss Dairy think I'm Portuguese. I don't really think that I look like it but whatever I guess.
Another highlight of my week happened today. My manager told me that one of the heifers that I had halter broken and taught to be led on a halter had impressed a lot of people at the recent National Heifer Sale in Wisconsin. It kinda made my day.
Tonight was another fun night with Brenda. We made plans throughout the week but we didn't make any decisions until tonight. We went out and ate at Hilmar Cheese Company (the BLTT on a Pretzel Roll is very good!) then we went and checked out the Hilmar Dairy Festival. After seeing that and watching a bit of the Little Milkmaid and Milkman Contest we headed to Turlock to see a movie. However, when we got to the movie theater the movie we wanted to see was sold out so we improvised and explored Turlock until we found a Coldstone. We stopped and had ice cream then headed back home to watch the fireworks display from the back of my work truck parked outside one of the barns. It was a beautiful, barefoot blue jean night outside and perfect weather to watch fireworks.
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