Year 3, October 19th, 2018: Flashback Thursday: Kelsay Dairy Farm

Well, it's a Friday, but I wanted to flashback to Thursday so I could share the pictures of our field trip to Kelsay Dairy Farm in Whitestown, IN.  I posted a few pictures from my phone on the blog post from last week as a tease.  I also explained that it didn't go as well as I had hoped because I woke up with vertigo and just wasn't at my best.  Therefore the kids' behavior wasn't tolerated well by me.  But, I want to journal about what did go well and share the fun that we did have and the things we did learn.  So, here goes.

We started off on the big hay bale mountain while we waited for our tour to start.  It was chilly, but warmed up later.  We paid the school rate of $8 per person, and it's normally $10 for their fall festival type stuff.  I think when we came with MOPS it was just a few dollars, if that, and they only had the corn crib and cows/goat to pet because it was not during their fall festival time.  However, either price is a GREAT price for all the activities you can do!  We barely got through them all in the 4 hours we were there.  Very impressive!  Plus they had pumpkins and gourds to pose with and buy. 

Abishai desperately wanted to keep up with the big kids but the hay bales were too tall for them.  There were tunnels and gaps, too, which the big kids jumped over to get from one side to the other.  I think it was one of the highlights of the day for them.

These puzzle type attractions were cool and kept the kids occupied.  We couldn't figure it out though.

We found a bucket of toy farm equipment for Abishai to play with but then our tour was called.  Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to go back and play with them again.  They had two huge boards painted with farm scenes he could have played on like a train table.

Here's the room where we talked about how many gallons a day a cow makes, where the milk goes, how it's processed, etc.  One cow can produce 8 gallons per day, and they are milked twice a day in a matter of minutes.  Then the tank can hold 8,000 gallons or something (we can only see part of it here).  A truck takes the milk every other day to the processing plant.  Nothing is done to the raw milk until it gets there.  It's kept at 37 degrees at all times.  Then they skim off the cream/fat from the top and add it back in to make the skim, 1%, 2%, and whole milks.  They also homogenize it and "clean" it, and of course bottling it.  It takes about 48 hrs to go from cow to store shelf.  Crazy!  Kelsay sells their milk to Dean's foods, which I believe is located near Louisville, KY.  Someone asked if they sell or can you drink raw milk.  The answer is no, it's illegal to sell raw milk in Indiana.  I piped in and said, it's not recommended but you can drink raw milk.  The woman also explained the different parts and process of the machines in the milking parlor, from cleaning the udder to milking the cow.

Here's one barn that the cows live in, 100 cows per barn.  They keep the windows open most of the time and cows love the cold weather and produce more in the winter.  They have 4 barns, so 400 cows are milked twice a day.  They have a total of 1100 cows (maybe bulls, too? and calves?)  in their herd, but the other cows are later in their pregancies or resting.  A cow produces milk for 4-5 months of the year.  Each cow has an electronic device on one of their leg that is programmed with a number.  When they walk into the milking parlor, the computer recognizes that number and then associates the amount of milk that is given and how long it took, etc, which then puts it into a spreadsheet.  Pretty cool! 

There's a device in the barn that scrapes the poop down the aisle to a dump pile at the end.  The cows also have airbeds to lay down on.  They are fed a mixture of alfalfa and all parts of corn plants mixed with vitamins and minerals.  Oh, and adding hormones is now banned because consumers were concerned about it.  The lady said it was the same hormone(s) the cows already have in their systems, but they were just giving them a boost.  Ok,   Maybe so, and we can debate that for awhile but I didn't out of respect for their livelihood.  She said that they have half a dozen regular employees, including some family members.  They also grow crops.

Baby moos that are 11 days old!  The farm will raise the bulls and sell them for meat, and when the cows are done giving milk at age 6-8 yrs old, they also will be butchered and made into ground beef.  Circle of life, right?

But for now, we'll just ooohhh and aaahhh over their cuteness.

Learning about dairy products.  We went with our homeschool field trip group and of course the kids had lots of questions.  And this lady couldn't convince them that cows give brown (chocolate milk).  She did share that some brands make banana milk and oreos milk, as well as white, chocolate, strawberry, and mint chocolate chip.  Crazy!  Then we got a snack of string cheese!  She didn't realize into recently that packaged cool whip is actually made from vegetable oil.  She wasn't impressed when we told her we would make real whipped cream by hand from heavy cream.  Oh well.

You don't see me!

Now you see me!  What a cutie in his favorite jacket with the floppy ears!  It's almost too small for him, but he loves it!

They allowed you to bring in your own lunches and also had a few food items to purchase (they probably have more on the weekend/evening).  I love these cute child sized picnic tables!

We quickly ate lunch and got our papers, erasers, and pencils from being on the tour.  It was chilly and there was just too much fun stuff left to do!

Like this moo train ride!  They were able to go around twice!

One of the cow barns there behind the pumpkins and gourds.

Milking parlor on the left.

The moo train taking off down the hill.  They weren't on the road but close by it.  Thankfully it's a quiet country road.  However, their property butts up to the highway and there's an exit less than a mile away which makes it convenient.

Huge hay mountain!

Tada!

Wait for me!

Help me, sister, help me!

Ooo, can't wait to see inside!

Lots of tunnels!

Peek a boo!

I can't get up!

Finishing the cheese from his cheese and crackers snack.  I was tired of holding it and trying to take pictures so I made him sit down and finish it.

Hi, Justin!

Huge jumping pillow which reminded me of the one at Canoe Cove Christian Camp on PEI.  They loved running back and forth on it.

Awesome play area for toddlers and preschoolers, complete with their own bounce house, milking station, climbing structures, ride on toys, etc.

The eating area and education area are under those tents.

Ready, set, go!

Wait for me!

Ker-plop!  But he didn't cry.

He got up and finished the race!

Favorite ride on ever!  A truck! And he kept filling it up with gas at the gas station.  Too cute!

Tractor time.

Playhouse.

Sissy help me!

Then we went into the corn crib where we probably stayed for an hour maybe? They kids couldn't get enough of the gigantic corn sensory bin.  Who knew that 13, 10, and 3 yr olds would love the same thing?

Just like sand but even better!  But don't come in here if you are allergic to corn because it's all corn and there's a ton of dust, too.

Makes sense.

Woah!

Yup, although one of the amusement parks in Indiana has the tagline "proving there's more than corn in Indiana."

The 13 yr old couldn't get enough.  And then he wouldn't leave when I told him, too, resulting in his screen time being taken away.  It was hard to hear my voice but he completely ignored me.

Her too, but she played hard as well.

Goats.

The best stuff to be buried in because it doesn't stick to you.  Although, I found corn in Abishai's pull up and in the folds of everyone's clothes that had made it through the washer and the dryer!  It was everywhere!

Dump truck and tractors, what more do you want?

Baby toes in a pile of corn.

This is the life!

Cows still just chilling between milking sessions.  They happen from 8am-12pm and 8pm to 12am.

Abishai loving on the goats.

Dukes of Hazard goats and car.

Nice big machinery on display.  There weren't a lot of employees around, so there was a lot of trust that we wouldn't cross the line to touch the vehicles.  I'm glad they had some signs explaining different things though.

An example of the airbeds the animals can lay down on.

Good night!

No, me do it!

Moo!

We were allowed to go into just a little part of the barn.  Abishai wasn't scared of the cows at all.

Naptime for baby calves.

Another logic puuzzle.  Can you step in the right pattern to go from point a to point b?

Abishai didn't care about the pattern and just marched from one pad to the next.

Human "moosball" foosball!  It was really hard to do, but at least they gave it a try!

Peek a boo Abishai (check out my other post from that week to see some pics and videos I took).

 https://melinda-j.blogspot.com/2018/10/year-3-october-9th-12th-2018-on-funny.html

Everly and Nora have one of these, too.  I'm wondering if it might be something that would work well in our backyard because the kids love to hang upside down.  Abishai is too small for it yet though.  Oh and there's another tractor with a sign back there, too.

Sweet older tractor.

We were exhausted by the time we got to the wonderful corn maze.  I should have had them do this first, because it was a nightmare.  I couldn't carry Abishai and Keturah couldn't keep up with the group and started panicking. I had been so excited to do a really big maze, one of the ones you can see a pattern from the sky using a drone.  So we just followed the group and ended up not doing the whole thing.  I was pretty disappointed, but now we've learned our lesson.  We do the most important things first.  Oh well.

At least the paths were wide enough.

The closest I could come to getting a group picture.  We were all disgusted with one another and just wanted to go home.  Plus we needed to go pick up Benaiah at home and take him to the movie theater to meet up with a friend.  Jared was also out of town.  I gave them a lecture on the way home about obedience and they were silent the whole way.  We need to get back to some character training and I need to start back on some meds.  With God's help, we will be more loving to one another in the near future.

So, lots of good memories that I hope will outweigh the bad.  I think we'll have to come again in a year or two.  If you are looking for a great place to go for fall activities, Kelsay Dairy Farm is a great place to be!  I don't know how busy they are in the evening/weekend, but it was very quiet that afternoon.  I think they are open from 12pm-6pm during the week.  I would definitely recommend them!