Fun on the Farm

We spent a morning while at home visiting Tom and Gin Kestell's farm. Erik thinks this is Papa's farm! I thought Erik would be frightened of the cows but he loved them. He fed a calf a bottle and ran up and down the barn giving the calves their feed. He even let one eat out of his hands. I remember doing this as a little girl so I enjoyed watching Erik have a fun time on the farm too.

The calf below was only 12 hours old. We got to get in the pen and pet it.

Below are the level 2 calves. Out of the calf barn but not in with the milking cows yet.
The Kestell's milk about 80-90 cows but have 400 cows on on their farm.
I believe the cows have their first calf when they are approximately 2 years old. They produce milk after the calf is born. Cows are milked 3 times a day. I believe they get about a 1 year "break" between pregnancies. They produce milk from time the first calf is born throughout the next pregnancy until the farmer weans them. Tom said he tries to wean/dry the cows up during the last 2 months of their subsequent pregnancy to give them a break from milking. I believe a cow starts the pregnancy/ milking cycle around age 18 months to 2 years of age and doesn't "retire" until age seven or eight.

Erik feeding the cows corn and grain.

Meet Elaina's namesake! Yep -- Gin Kestell named a cow after our daughter.
Lainey slept through our trip to the farm. Below is a photo of Elaina and Elaina. :)

Erik liked the big tractors on the farm as well but was a bit to intimidated to actually climb on one.

Thanks for taking us to the farm Dad. We had a great time!