Got Milk?

Did you know... that a dairy farm has absolutely NO male cows?! ... that fresh milk from a cow has an average temp of 111 degrees?! ... that it takes 1200 head of dairy cows to serve 4 Meijer stores?! ... or that baby dairy cows are not permitted to nurse from their mothers for fear of contamination?! Well, neither did I (Jason) until Micah and I recently visited Dairy Discovery at a local dairy farm on his last (my first) field trip of his pre-school year!


With less than a month to go in his school year, I chaperoned a field trip a few weeks ago, and I'm not sure who learned more!! It was so fascinating! Honestly, I was ready to sign up to work the farm that day. Who knew the dairy farm had adventure, thrills, spills, and yes, even some chills on a daily basis? On this particular day, we packed about thirty 4/5 year-olds and approx 15 adults into a big yellow bus and experienced it for ourselves. See some highs (& lows) from this mooooving adventure below! (sorry, had to put at least one moo in there...)

Micah & I with our cheesy grins down on the farm!

Some of our new friends... these girls can put down the grub! It helps when they have to produce 45+ pounds of milk per milking! (which, by the way, is THREE times a day, 365 days/year!)

These two seem to be inseparable! Micah and his friend Ian have had a great preschool experience this year. He will be missed this summer, I'm sure!

Here it is, the one you've all been waiting for, I know! The 'milking parlor.' The guys who work here are amazingly brave every time they come to work... just ask Micah! If you haven't noticed, the majority of pics include Micah wearing only a white t-shirt. Micah was so excited to see the cows, he ran to the front of the line, and within seconds Elsie decided to visit the powder room! Yes, Micah got peed on by a cow!!!! Some sort of christening, perhaps? Anyway, he had the pee-soaked shirt off the second we left the parlor! This just goes to show you that dairy farmers can move a whole lot faster than 5-year old preschoolers!

Micah doing his best to hang on to this bottle of water as a 3 week old cow did her best to pull it from his grip! This 1/2 gallon of water was gone in about 2 minutes!

This is probably THE most amazing scene of the day! This 6 year old cow gave birth to twin girls just minutes before this shot. They were standing within an hour, and will both get to stay on the farm!! (You can only guess what happens male calves! They're a little too 'beefy' for the dairy farm!)

The whole gang. What a great year for these kids at Northpointe Christian! Hmm... can you spot our Micah?!

Next year, perhaps I'll learn about bacon? Thanks for reading!