Of all the things on the farm, the first thing Presleigh spots is a kitten. She chased that poor kitten around the farm for a good 30 minutes, her and about 15 other kids. Poor cat, I'm sure he/she was hoping someone would chase him right on out into the street. This could have been the whole field trip and she'd been just fine with that.
We later lined up and headed over to the petting farm. There were baby chicks, little pigs, baby calf's, a couple donkeys, and some goats. We gather around in the barn as the "tour guide" tells us a little bit about the animals. I could not focus on a thing she was saying because A) It smelled incredibly bad and B) There was this one calf who kept stretching it's tongue out from the cage and licking the woman's pants in front of me-back to that in a minute. I didn't expect to be bothered by the smell after having two babies and all their funkiness, but this kind of smell should have came with a warning. I literally found myself gagging on several occasions and at one point even thought I might have to excuse myself before I threw up. If it wasn't for the calf who I thought for sure was going to eat through the Mom's pants in front of me, i would have. I was laughing and gagging at the same time. That calf was out of control and that Mom's poor pants were soaked YUCK! The little tour guide kept saying " Oh, they're doing that because they are still nursing and taking bottles, they're looking for a bottle" No, this calf was not looking for a bottle, it wanted something more than what it produces, it wanted something of some substance. No wonder they were so skinny, its STARVING! Although they stunk up to high heaven, they were really cute and we did get to see one take a bottle, which Presleigh thought was so cool. However, completely unfair to the other 6 who got NADA. After the little lesson, we walked through and fed the goats and donkey's and watched the little pigs live up to their names. Presleigh's favorite part about the petting farm was feeding the goats and watching the calf nuzzle the bottle when the milk would stop coming out. She'd just giggle and giggle- to her the only thing that drinks a bottle are babies.
Loads of hand sanitizer later, we lined up for the hayride. This was the mac daddy of all hay rides. It was a huge trailer that was covered, had a bench for parents right down the middle, stuffed with hay in each aisle, and wired for a PA system. We hopped on, parents on the inside, kids on the outside. As we rode along we got to hear all about the farm and its history.
Here are some fun facts:
-The farm had been around since 1914 and became a dairy farm in 1946
-They have 35 cows, who they milk 2x a day. Once at 430am and again at 430pm
-None of the cows are fed anything other than hay, grass, and minimal grain- truly organic. No antibiotics or hormones ( hence the skinnyness from my previous comment ) we have this idea that cows should be huge and fat, but really that's not the case.
-It is illegal in the state of GA to sell the milk they produce in grocery stores. Funny how that works. The healthiest of milk is illegal to sell. It has to be bottled and sold as pet milk on the farm.
-A baby calf weighs 85lbs at birth. Most cows only have 1 calf at a time and in 2 yrs that calf will be ready to reproduce.
-This farm had a cow 2 yrs ago who had triplets, seen once every 170k+ births
After getting schooled on the dairy farming business, the hayride came to a complete stop in the middle of the pasture. Why you ask, it was cow feedin' time. As soon as the tractor stopped the cows came running right up to the sides of the trailer, hence the hay in the floor on both aisles. I don't know if you've ever fed a large cow before, but if you have the chance, beware of the tongue. Holy Cow-creeped me out the first time it touched me! I can't even describe it. Take the texture of a cats tongue x20, add about 7inches to the length and to the thickness and that might do it justice. Presleigh loved it! She'd talk to them, pet them, feed them, the whole nine-she was not phased by the size of their big ol' heads or tongues. I on the other hand was a little nervous. I felt that at any second a cow was going to get aggressive over hay or there would be a stampede. As we finished up and rode away there was one black cow who chased us all the way to the gate. Come to find out, she was due to have her baby in about a week and was extra hungry. We hooked her up and threw her some extra hay under the table :)
Heavy hand washing was next and then we headed to have a snack-yummy huh?! After that was over we snapped some class pictures, sang a couple songs, and then headed to the play ground. There was a huge pipe slide that was a good 25ft off the ground that the kids absolutely loved. Presleigh would go down backwards, head first and on her tummy, yelling the whole way down. I had to bribe her with icecream just to get her to leave.
What a great day for us and what a great little place it was with a cool history behind it too. I don't know who had more fun, me or Presleigh. I actually learned quite a bit about dairy farming on this field trip too and now have a new found respect for those who do this kind of work daily. Outside of the stench that radiated throughout the farm, the hours are grueling-430am to milk a cow, no thank you! I'll take my 8-5 any day ( okay 8-4pm :)
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