A Visit to the Lepeska Dairy Farm

This week we learned about farms! The kids had fun learning facts about their favorite farm animals! Did you know that some paint brushes are made with pig hair or that they roll in the mud to stay cool? Or some sheep can have 2, 4 or even 6 horns?

We wrapped up the week with a visit to the Lepeska Dairy Farm. When we arrived, we were greeted by my dad (Jim), brother (Ryan), sister (Erika), niece (Cadence), nephew (Zach) and even my cousin (Ann) from London! (She is the film director’s mom, if any of you were following the movie.  The kids loved hearing her accent and she had a wonderful time seeing 60 kindergarteners on a farm!)

First we split into two groups. Mrs. Mayne’s and Ms. Fenstermann’s group went to see the cows and calves first. Mrs. Otte’s and our class went with Ryan to learn about what the cows eat and the tractors and machinery.

We saw all the different things that Ryan mixes into a cows food- the hay, vitamins, minerals, corn, cotton seed, etc. We also got to see how much a cow eats in a day! Whoa! 

Then we saw some machinery. We saw the big mixer that mixes all the feed together, the manure tank that sucks up the manure out of the pit and sprays in on the field, a skid steer and a corn chopper. 

We also got to see a silage bag, a HUGE white bag that holds all the silage the cows will eat for a year.

When we switched and went with Erika, we saw the cows being milked by the robots! If you would like to see a video on what it looks like, you can visit this site (Robotic Milkers). (You can begin watching at 1:20 and stop at around 4:18.)

Then Erika showed us a pill that they give cows if they get sick. She called it a “yogurt pill,” and it was huge! Next we got to see the calves and saw what they eat and drink. The kids thought the calves were 4 or 5 years old and they were only a day or two. They were shocked that they were that big and could already walk! 

Sunny, the farm dog, escaped from the office during this time and she was so excited to see all the kids! Some of the kids said that she was their favorite part of the whole trip! We also got to see the silos and calf huts.

Here we are dressed like farmers.

If you returned your Book-it calendars for the month of October, your child will receive a pizza coupon. Watch for it to be taped to your child’s folder this week.

Ubaldo and Drake celebrated their birthdays this week!

Next week we will be learning about The Little Red Hen!