Field Trip

Summer is in full swing. We have had a lot of things going on the past few weeks.  Chloe's last day of school was 2 weeks ago.  A few days before that, 2nd grade went on a field trip to a dairy farm and I went along. It was leaps and bounds better than the 1st grade field trip to the desert botanical garden, also known as Hell during the month of May.  Luckily this May has been unbelievable pleasant.  I feel like I can get through the summer because it really hasn't even been very hot yet.  It was a beautiful day to visit the milk cows and to see where our milk comes from, and to successfully turn me into a vegetarian for a week after.  I am sad to say that Chloe did not choose to sit next to me on the bus, to or from the dairy farm. She sat with her friends instead.  I died a little inside. Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun.  We took a tractor ride to see where the cows live.  And I learned an unfortunate piece of information about cows that I wish I could erase from my memory.  Probably every other person that has watched documentaries on food knows this, but I purposefully like to remain ignorant on these things, because I look food, A LOT, and I don't want to know about the cows or chickens that I eat.  Anyway,  Cows produce milk after having a baby, (duh! For some reason I just thought cows produced milk just for the fun of it. I probably shouldn't admit that).  Within 3 hours of birth the calf is taken away from their mother for forever.  FOREVER.  They do this because if they wait any longer it will be more traumatic for the cows (information that did not make me feel any better.) I was told the calves need to separated because they have poor immunity and being with the herd makes them susceptible to illness and death. The skeptic in me says that sounds a lot better than saying they take them away so they can get more milk out of the Mom cow. But I am not a farmer so I what do I know.  And I also really enjoy the fruits of those farmer's labors so again...what do I know.  All I know is that I feel sorry for cows.  I asked the tour guide if the cows were very motherly, hoping that she she would tell me, "no, cows are too stupid to care," instead she told me , "Oh yes! If their calf dies in birth, they will try to go steal another cow's baby as their own." Again, information that did not make me feel any better.  I prefer to believe my animal products are in actuality plants, and they never belonged to something with a face.  

 The kids all got to pick a flavor of milk, which of course they all thought was disgusting because they were flavors they had not tried before. I think Chloe played it safe and got a chocolate milk. They also had ice cream sundaes.  Chloe wore her "field trip outfit" from last year.

 I found it amusing pairing moms with their kids.  Kids dress exactly like their Moms. Go figure.  And then I looked and myself and laughed.  My daughter of course wore a dress to the farm. Because that's what we do.  And lace socks.

 See, I wasn't invited to sit by them.  : (