Our Last Full Day at the FARM!

Today I fed the new baby calf a bottle.  He was born the day we arrived (March 26th).  He was so sloppy, he kept getting milk all over me!  Did you notice the blanket on him?  He looks warm, but sometimes he gets cold.  After we touch the heifers, we can't touch the babies.  This is so we don't expose them to germs and they don't get sick.  I had so much fun feeding the baby calf because he's so cute.  Sometimes he even sucks on the bars of his pen, which is funny.  I love it here in Vermont.  I never want to go home.  -- Eileen

The cow udders felt like wrinkly earlobes or a slightly deflated water balloon with pressure on it.  After awhile the milk came out really, really fast and you got used to the feel of the udders.  The trip to this farm is really, really, really fun!  This is a really good experience and my favorite parts have been taking care of a calf and milking a cow.  As city kids we've been able to experience what it's like to be on a farm instead of having everyone do everything for us.  -- Henry

I made a new friend -- a calf named Natasha.  She is a very enthusiastic calf.  She is very nice, likes to suck on people's hands, and she likes it when I go up to her and scratch her chin.  She is my favorite.  -- Julian

Today I milked a cow.  It felt like the soft spot on your ear.  The cow I milked was at the end of barn and her name is Butters.  Also, my favorite cow is Winter.  Winter is aggressive cow and she stands up for herself.  She can also be nice, especially to kids.  My favorite part of the week was feeding the newborn calf named Basher.  Basher was one of my favorites because he was born on the day we got here.  -- Ivan

This afternoon we played Farm Jeopardy and we had to answer questions about each farm topic.  First, a person from each team would go up to the chairs.  Then Chris or Molly would ask a question and we had to ring the bell and then answer the question.  Whoever got the question right, they got to pick a topic and a number.  One time they asked us which side a rooster lays an egg on, but roosters don't lay any eggs!  I said left, and it was wrong.  I think I got tricked because I thought roosters could lay eggs, but they don't.  I kind of got excited and then I got tricked.  I think I'll always remember now!

Today I got to feed the calves and hold a chick.  The calf I fed was named Jemini.  I used some math I'd learned in school today when I was helping take care of the calves.  I used fractions when I was measuring the food for the calves.  We had to add fractions to figure out how much food to order.   I also noticed that there were themes in the way that they named the animals.  For example, Happy and Joy are related and they both are named after feelings.  Also, Winter and Frostbite and related, and they have to do with the seasons.  The goats are named Eva and Rory and they're named after Walt Disney characters.  Rory is having two babies very soon.  She had two babies before, and they were named Zack and Cody.

I don't want to leave this place ever.  -- Desiree

Today was my first time meeting Jinger.  She is very awesome, but sometimes she can be scared.  This is my last time to see her.  That makes me feel sad.  I had fun feeding her milk because she liked to grab the bucket with her chin and then drink it and splash it everywhere.  Even though I spilled a little, she drank the rest.  When I was cleaning Jinger's manure, she would grab the handle and push it the way I needed the rake to go.  I hope someday I can come back here.  When I'm here I feel happy and excited that we do chores and that we can be with the animals.  When I go back to school I'm going to remember to listen more and not to have attitude.  I've learned that Ms. Van really likes animals and that she will try to do any work, so we tried to help her.  -- Destiny

This is a picture of me and Astrid.  Astrid is a calf who is very shy because during the first month of her life there weren't any kids around her.  To take care of Astrid I had to giver her milk replacer and more grain.  I also had to put more sawdust inside her pen and clean out the manure.  I liked Astrid because she friendly.  While I've been on the farm I've learned more about Astrid and how to take care of her.  -- Amanda

I am milking a cow named Butters.  At first it was kind of hard to start milking cow, because you have to get used to the sensation of squeezing the teats.  You'd be surprised how fine the jet is that squirts out from them.  They're like little hoses.  It's takes half an hour to milk one cow by hand and it takes six to seven minutes to milk a cow by machine.  By hand you can do at most two teats at a time, but by machine you can do four teats at a time and it's faster.  As Chris, the dairy barn instructor said, the teats feel like earlobes, but slightly hollow.  Before you milk the cow, you have to put a pre-cleanser on the teats to protect the teats from disease and the milk from bad bacteria.  Then you milk the cow, and afterward you put something on it that's kind of like Elmer's glue because it dries on the teat, therefore protecting it from disease because the muscles became relaxed while milking.  I'm glad I'm not squeamish, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to milk this cow.  -- Helen

Ivan and me Pedro drinking fresh milk out of the cow. Today we were going to the dairy barn for the first chores and we had to rake up cow manure.  Then we had to put it in the machine.  Once it went through the machine it went into the dumpster.  Then we learned about the how cows make milk and where the milk goes afterwards.  Then we got to milk the cows and drink raw milk.  I learned a lot about cows today!   -- Pedro