A Day at the Farm!

What a blustery day on the farm! Our trip to Shelburne Farms began with rain and a cold wind. Thankfully everyone had rubber boots (thanks to those who sent in extra gear to share) and some sort of rain coat.  It helped keep the water and wind out!  Even so, it was pretty chilly down by the lake at the dairy barn! But we soon got to work on the farm and everyone warmed up...and it stopped raining! We split three classes into four groups so you will see a mixture of children in the pictures, some of whom aren't a part of our class, but today we folded them into our group!

First we met our Shelburne Farms teacher leaders Christie and Megan.  They wanted to get to know our names and what each of us already knew about farms.  It was cold sitting out in the rain, so the group was quiet...very quiet!  Then we headed to the barn where the cows were eating silage.  Cows nudge the silage away as they eat, so the little farmers used brooms, shovels and even their feet to move the silage closer.  You'll see in the pictures that the cows were friendly and everyone had the opportunity to pet a cow!

After that, we walked up to the heifer barn.  This group of cows had been sick but were recovering away from the herd.  They were eating hay, but again the cows had nudged it away and the little farmers pushed the hay back for the cows to keep eating.  There was a small pen of sheep that were momentarily distracting to our little farmers, but the cows needed their feed and the hay flew!

Then it was time to go milk a cow-by hand!  Everyone had a chance to give it a try and I think they'll tell you it was easier than they thought it would be!  When they weren't milking, they were grooming the cow!  What a lucky lady!

Lastly, we went to visit the calves in their own little barn.  Each calf was in a pen of its own.  There was also another small pen of the cutest little lambs!  Some of the calves were only a few days old.  One big building of cuteness!  The kids were in heaven and spent quite a bit of time petting and talking to the calves and lambs!  It was hard to tear them away but it was time to get on the bus to go back to the education barn for lunch.

We had a quiet lunch in the education barn and then headed back out to visit with more farm animals.  But first we saw the cheese making room!  They were in the process of making cheese and we watched through the big window!  Of course there was some cheese to taste!  There is an area for the kids to try "making cheese" of their own and they played for a few minutes.

Then we were on the move again...over to visit the lambs.  This time we stood in a circle and our legs made a "fence" for the lamb in the middle!  It kept trying to escape but kids are quicker!  Then we went to visit the goats...pig...donkeys...horses...and chickens.

All in all it was a great day!  There were some very tired children-and adults-on the bus ride home!