Anyway, I knew the university had a dairy and we love going to watch them make ice cream and the cookies and cream is literally the best I've ever had, but I had no idea that there was a cattle center on campus! As we were walking over the bridge Claire asked, "What's that SMELL Mom?" -Cows. The gent that did our tour was so great with our littles. We had a handful of 2-3 year olds and then Claire got to come today, too. We started in a lobby area where we slipped on some shoe covers which are meant to protect the cows more than anything. He talked to us about the different cows and buildings and gave us lots of general information before we started the tour. None of us moms came from an agricultural background so we were clueless.
We walked in to where the cows are weighed when they arrived. All of the little girls liked running on the ramp. Then we got to see the cows. The University actually has 80 cows on campus. There are 700 cows in total, but most are kept at other study locations. Tiegan LOVES cows. She was so excited and squealed a lot. He talked to us for a while in front of the cows, but I can't remember what he said. I was too busy trying to keep my children from playing in their food.
Then we went and saw where they get the food and he talked about that for a while. It was super fascinating. He told us about food and it turns out the preparation has a big effect on how much milk the cows will provide. (Grinding vs. chopping) The cows are milked twice a day, and each gives off about 10 gallons of milk per day.(80-90 POUNDS of milk.) One of the gals gives 22 gallons per day.
Then we got to walk past the cows again and into another room where some of the cows are involved in different studies. And then we got to see where and how the cows get milked. You can actually come in at 4:30 to watch the cows get milked. They have a great viewing area, and since you aren't walking around the cows you don't need booties. They get milked from 4:30-5. He talked to us about the milking process and the system that scans their chips and will tell the students how much they weigh, how much milk they'll give, and how long it will take to milk to ensure the cow isn't over or under milked. He said it takes anywhere from 5-8 minutes to milk a cow.
We were a little short on time, our guide had a meeting right away, but usually he lets kids stick their hands into a cow's stomach and talks about the anatomy and how their stomachs work. I doubt any of the girls would have done it anyway. Maybe Aoife.
At one point during the tour, I thought Claire was sucking her thumb and I told her to stop. Turns out she was plugging her nose and whined a little when she stopped. "But mom, it's kind of stinky!"
It's so cool that the University has so much for kids and is so willing to give tours and show us all of the cool things! They didn't have any baby calves at the time, but he gave out his card so we'll be checking in and will definitely be back with those little babes arrive!
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