Today was a beautiful (but chilly!) day for a field trip to a local organic dairy farm. Abby, Dave’s sister, and I joined a group of ECFE families for the field trip, and had a great time! Abby told me tonight that her favorite part was riding the bus (a quick 5 minute ride each way), but the farm had many highlights for her as well. We were excited that Abby’s buddy Alex and his mom were along for the trip as well. For the first part of the trip, we were taken on a hayride into the cow pasture. They stopped the ride, and the cows came up and surrounded the wagon. Abby and Alex were excited at first, but once the cows started eating their hay seats they had been sitting/standing on, they weren’t so sure about things. It was definitely a unique experience! Alex’s seat was pretty well demolished by the time the tractor took off again.
We stopped at a hen house, where Abby got to see some hens laying eggs and attempt to pet some of the roaming hens. Unfortunately, most were too scared off by all of the preschoolers to let anyone pet them.
Back at the barn, we toured the area where the milking takes place, and Abby got to peek in a large steel bin where some milk was stored. Abby also got to see some pigs, kittens, and two dogs.
We followed one of the farmers up to the area where the calves were, and the kids got to feed the calves water from bottles. This was definitely a highlight for Abby.
She also enjoyed heading back to the shed to get her goody bag and treat (organic chocolate milk and string cheese). All in all, a great trip!
