Dairy Farm

Since it's Spencer's Spring break I thought it would be fun to take a special trip to Fair Oaks Dairy Farm.  (A large dairy farm about an hour north of us.)  We went with our good friends the Souths, because everything is more fun when the Souths are involved!  (Plus we like the looks of amazement/amusement/disbelief when people see us with five active and loud little boys in tow.)

The weather was just beautiful, so we started with a picnic outside.  Then we headed inside to learn all about cows!  Here are a few of the fun facts we learned:

- Cows can drink 30 gallons of water, eat 100 pounds of food, and produce 10 gallons of milk every day.

- Getting a picture of five little boys all looking at the camera at the same time while standing in front of a large fiberglass cow is impossible. Impossible.

- Did you know that there are such things as alpha cows?  The largest and strongest cows are usually 'in charge' of the herd.

- Cole is not impressed with large fiberglass cows.  (He prefers chewing on his socks.)

- Cows have four stomachs.

- Little boys think it's grand to go on the cow bus for the cow tour.  But that does not mean that the three year olds will behave themselves or smile for pictures.  (I don't think anything could guarantee that three year olds would behave themselves!)

- A calf is born front hooves first, then head, then the rest of the body.  They are on average between 80 and 100 pounds.

- Little boys will actually stop running around and being loud while a baby cow is being born.  Amazing.  But that does not mean they will look at the camera when we try to take a picture of them with the calves.

- Cows can give milk 10 months of the year.  The two month 'dry period' occurs during their last two months of pregnancy.

- A slide is much more fun when it's in the shape of an ice cream cone!

- A happy and content cow is a cud-chewing cow.

- Ice cream tastes its best when eaten at a dairy with friends.  (It took Dominic a while to stop fussing about the flavor his mom got him - hence the back to the camera.)

- A cow releases about 125 gallons of gas per day.  (Fair Oaks actually uses the gases from the cows' waste to power their farm.  Awesome.)

- Chocolate ice cream is best worn all over the face.

- Dairy farm visits are fun!