The Jersey Barnyard

We took a trip to LaGrange, Texas today - almost 2 hours away. Ray C. wanted to go on an adventure, as usual. So, we found a suggestion in our Day Trips from Houston book. We visited The Jersey Barnyard - home of Belle, the actual Blue Bell Ice Cream mascot who is pictured on the cartons! The real one, yeah!! It was so much fun! We all enjoyed it!
We were the only ones there at the time. So, we got a private guided tour. We fed the goats grain. We pet the donkey and some of the barnyard animals! The kids had a so much fun! Daddy made an awesome choice! I wish they were closer because they do birthday parties, and it would be so much fun to have more kids out there!
This is the only thing we could get Thomas to do. He just really didn't want to touch the animals. He had fun - but at a distance! We actually fed the baby calves milk from bottles. It was so nice. They drank the entire bottle in about a minute - and I had to nurse my kids for 40 minutes to get that much milk! Sometimes I just don't understand the way God works, but that's okay because He's God and I'm not!
This is now Bill the duck. Names are very important to the kids, and they were disturbed that the duck did not have a name. So, Allison, our 13 year old guide, let us name the duck. After many suggestions such as turkey, chicken, cowie, and quacker, we decided on Bill only because he has a bill. I mean what do you name a duck? Allison was wonderful. She is the daughter of the people who run the farm now. So, she is with the animals all the time. Chase loved her! What is his deal? He didn't even want me! He wanted Allison to hold him everywhere we went!
I got to milk a cow! GROSS! After a few squirts I told them I couldn't do any more. It is just wrong! Any mom who has nursed babies understands the sensitivity of the subject. I remember going to a dairy with several other nursing moms a few years ago, and it was very difficult to see the cows hooked up to machines! I mean that is true violation! We all know what it is like to be hooked up to a machine, and most of us have been likened to a milking cow during that time, but to see the cows hooked up, drained, and sent on their way was just demoralizing. And to bring it even closer to home, they talked about the possibility of the cows getting infections like MASTITIS - you moms know what I'm talking about! YIKES!! At the dairy we went to a few years ago, they said most of the cows constantly have mastitis. I seriously considered giving up milk to give these poor heifers a break, but chocolate chip cookies just aren't the same without milk! Sorry girls!

By the way, we also learned that brown spotted cows do not make chocolate milk. We were certain they did, but the dairy farmers proved us wrong. We saw it with our own eyes! It is WHITE!! Nesquick still has a place on the shelf.