I didn't realize it had been so long....my apologies to all my loyal followers...all 12 of you!
My family just bought a camper so I'm sure there are going to be many posts in the future. However, in the meantime, I thought I would entertain you with the details of a recent field trip I attended with my 3rd grade son.
The past few years, the 3rd graders have traveled to northern Indiana to a dairy farm. When the field trip information sheets came home, my son was very excited that I would get to chaperone. I saw that you could get freshly made ice cream and I was sold. The sheet also said that a calf was born every 15 minutes on the dairy farm and there was a good chance we would get to see one. I didn't think too much about it and was more worried about mentally preparing for the kids that I may have in my group.
Yesterday we were up bright and early and traveled the two hours to Fair Oaks Farm for our Dairy Adventure. Yes, I said Dairy Adventure. That's what they call it. I was skeptical. But pulling up to the dairy farm, I was quickly impressed. It was more along the lines of a cow spa. These heifers have it good...from sand beds for maximum utter comfort to getting a ride on the "dairy go round" to be milked, they are living the good life. Plus, when they get off the dairy go round, they are 15-20 pounds lighter! It's basically a colonic for cows but in return, we get milk and ice cream.
To sum it up, I was pretty impressed with this place. A family could definitely spend the entire day there. The actual cows are kept about a mile down the road (which is part of the tour on a cow spotted bus) so you really don't have that farm smell! Be sure to check it out.
Anyway, part of the tour was to go to the birthing barn. There's actually a stop light that lets you know where the cow is in the birthing process. When we were in that area, the light was yellow and said "hooves" so we quickly headed in. When you walk in, it's similar to an auditorium in a semi circle. We took our seats in the stands and behind the glass were two mamas in the labor. Luckily, the glass was thick so we couldn't hear anything. And when the stop light says hooves, it means that the hooves are sticking out....myself, along with 20 3rd graders, were not really prepared for that.
We quietly took our seats and watched. I was so impressed with our group of kiddos. I don't know if they were in awe or completely grossed out or maybe a mix of both but they were so quiet and just watched. Personally, I felt bad for the mama cows. I wanted to climb in there, stroke her brow and offer her ice chips or an epidural. They both were troopers and just kept pushing and changing positions to get comfortable. At one point, my son said "I think she's just gonna push and it's gonna fly out and hit the glass". I assured him that wasn't going to happen and I think he was a little disappointed.
The worker went in and broke the water/sac on one of the cows. The other just kept pushing those hooves out. They quickly decided that the one mama needed some help. Two workers went in, strapped some belt type ropes to the hooves and pulled. And pulled. And pulled. Kids started to cover their eyes. One boy got very pale. And then the calf came out and there was a loud collective "Awwwwwww". The worker announced it was a boy.
As I took in this miracle, the other mama was still laboring. By this point, she had stood up and her rear end was pointed right at us. She had her tail hiked up and we had a pretty good view. I glanced over at my son ready for questions and he was just in awe. I thought he would be grossed out and he was a little bit. Luckily, from our seats and with all the straw, you couldn't really see any blood which would have been his undoing. He watched on and the mama cow continued to push. His eyes were big as saucers. I was so happy I was sharing this moment with him. Then he leans over and I think he's going to say something fabulous like how he wants to be a vet or how the miracle of life is awesome or how he's so sorry that he put me through something similar and totally appreciates me. None of that happened.
He leans over and whispers "Mom, I can see the baby's face!" I asked him what he meant because at this point all you could see was the hooves coming out. He points at the mama's behind and says "See, right about the hooves...there's that circle and it keeps moving and pulsing...that's that baby's lips and it's breathing!!" I just look...and look some more and figure out what he's talking about. I leaned over and whispered "Buddy, that's the cow's butthole." It was hilarious and he was mortified. And then the question of "but I thought babies came out of your butt" started and I said "we will talk about it later" and luckily, later hasn't happened!
After that he was ready to move on to the ice cream eating. The 2nd calf was also a boy but by then, the miracle of life had lost his interest. I laugh every time I think about it so of course, I had to share.
If you get a chance to go to Fair Oaks Farm, I highly recommend the Dairy Adventure. Just be prepared for the questions that may come!
