City girl on a farm... e-i-e-i-o

Today at 5:00 A.M. Matt and I were up and getting ready to meet his dad at work. The reason we had to get up SO early is because his dad works on a Dairy Farm! He was already there when we arrived and had been so for a good hour. I've never been on a Dairy Farm before and at the moment this farm has about 200 cows only used for milking and 45 calves, two of which had been born just the night before! When we arrived Matt's Dad was mixing the milk for the calves to drink and about 6 cats came out looking for whatever was spilt on the floor. We spent 2 hours with his dad "feeding up" the calves with their milk, water and feed cake which looked like Oat Bran with rasins. The older ones drink their milk out of the bucket and they all Moo like crazy until they are fed, after which they go really quiet and it's time for a nap. The younger ones who have just been born have to drink their milk from a bucket which has a single udder on it to act like a mommy cow. Some of them don't really get what's going on and you have to stick your hand around their mouth and then guide them to it and show them what to do. So you end up with a really sloppy, drooly hand. And if you leave your hand in there they'll just continue sucking cause they thing your a mommy. It's one of the weirdest sensations I've ever come across. You're generally told NOT to stick your hands in animals mouths but since cows only have bottom teeth and cover the bottom ones with their tongues (which are like cat's tongues but more rough and hella long!) it obviously won't hurt, especially since they are only sucking on it, but I don't thing I ever would put my hand in the mouth of a grown cow, which are massive when you are standing right next to one.

Here are a couple of pictures from my morning at the farm.

Favorite calve #1



Favorite calve #1 and #2



Me in my farm regalia!