The experienced milkers out in the milking parlor can prepare the cows for milking in 21 seconds. The girls took the challenge to see if they could beat the time. Megan clocked in at 17.9 and Grace's time was 23.7 seconds. 
Leah also tried her hand at milking on the "cow carousel" in the activities center.
Our bus trip out to one of their farms was scheduled for 11:30. On this part of the tour, they take us up the road a mile or so to one of their working farms. 
Fair Oaks transforms the cows' waste into energy by way of anaerobic digesters. By doing that, they reduce their dependency on natural gas and electricity used during the milking and manufacturing processes. Being powered by their own "poo power," F. O. is a self-sufficient operation. These are the tanks where all that poo is stored.
We also saw all the grain used in making their daily TMR (total mixed ratio) for the cows. 
The bus drove right down the middle of one of their free-stall barns. The cows didn't seem to mind it one bit. They went right on eating, even as the bus drove a few feet from their heads!
After the free-stall barn, the bus drove down the center of the calf hotels :) Calves born at any Fair Oaks Farms are kept there until they are 80 days old. Then they are shipped to growers for two years before returning to F. O. to become milk cows. The bull calves are sold. 
Next, the bus dropped us off at the dairy parlor where we saw the "dairy-go-round," an amazing operation! It takes about 8 1/2 minutes for one full turn of the carousel. All 3000 cows (at each facility) are milked three times a day. Daily, they milk for seven hours, clean for one, milk for seven, clean for one, milk for seven, clean for one.
Next, the bus dropped us off at the dairy parlor where we saw the "dairy-go-round," an amazing operation! It takes about 8 1/2 minutes for one full turn of the carousel. All 3000 cows (at each facility) are milked three times a day. Daily, they milk for seven hours, clean for one, milk for seven, clean for one, milk for seven, clean for one. This picture shows where the cows enter the carousel (on the left) and exit (on the right). The waiting area behind the entrance/exit location holds 350 cows and as you can see, it is full.
72 cows can fit on the carousel at one time. Each cow has a monitor on its neck collar that is read as it enters the carousel. This monitor records how many steps they took, the number of the times they have been milked on that day, the amount of milk that particular cow produces, and I'm sure much more information. Rumor has it that the cows love to ride the carousel and occasionally they will try to cheat to gain another ride. There are times, however, that another trip around is necessary due to that cow's milk production. This is all monitored by their neck collar.
The green paint markings on the cows' hips mean that the cow is pregnant. (You can see the markings on the picture below.) Cows are milked throughout their pregnancy up until the cow is seven months along. Then she is "dry" (not milked) for the remaining two months until she delivers. The red markings have to deal with the cow's heat cycle. Fair Oaks uses artificial insemination to impregnate their cows.
Leah is feeling the "warm" pipe with milk coming straight from the cows. The pipe closest to the wall is the "cold" pipe after it's immediately cooled down. The window beyond her showed us where the milk is filtered and the tanks the milk is stored in.
Throughout the day, we made several trips out to the birthing barn. Outside of the barn, they have a stop light to communicate what is happening inside of the barn. Red light means there is nothing happening, yellow means there is a birth progressing, and we never saw the green light, but Megan said it means "You better get over there now!" This picture is taken outside the birthing barn. 
We had some time before our bus tour to check out what was happening in the birthing barn. The two birthing stalls are behind glass with bleacher seating all around. When we walked into the room, this new mama cow was still licking her calf, cleaning her off. This calf was born at 9:54 (she's about an hour old) that morning and was standing when we entered the room. The white cow on the left squeezed her head and neck as far as she could through the gate to also get in on the action. I was surprised the new calf's mama didn't object. An interesting note about this white cow.....She was in the birthing stall for a long time without progressing and was actually replaced with another cow. Apparently, she was bothered by all the onlookers. I guess I can say that I can't blame her! 
Mama is finally standing, too.
Calves born at F. O. are not allowed to nurse, and therefore cannot begin the bonding process. Within a few hours after their birth, they are separated from their mama and placed in the nursery. They are bottle fed with colostrum-rich milk (not necessarily their own mama's milk) for the first few days after birth, and after that with milk replacement.
Leah is feeling the "warm" pipe with milk coming straight from the cows. The pipe closest to the wall is the "cold" pipe after it's immediately cooled down. The window beyond her showed us where the milk is filtered and the tanks the milk is stored in.Throughout the day, we made several trips out to the birthing barn. Outside of the barn, they have a stop light to communicate what is happening inside of the barn. Red light means there is nothing happening, yellow means there is a birth progressing, and we never saw the green light, but Megan said it means "You better get over there now!" This picture is taken outside the birthing barn. We had some time before our bus tour to check out what was happening in the birthing barn. The two birthing stalls are behind glass with bleacher seating all around. When we walked into the room, this new mama cow was still licking her calf, cleaning her off. This calf was born at 9:54 (she's about an hour old) that morning and was standing when we entered the room. The white cow on the left squeezed her head and neck as far as she could through the gate to also get in on the action. I was surprised the new calf's mama didn't object. An interesting note about this white cow.....She was in the birthing stall for a long time without progressing and was actually replaced with another cow. Apparently, she was bothered by all the onlookers. I guess I can say that I can't blame her! Mama is finally standing, too.Calves born at F. O. are not allowed to nurse, and therefore cannot begin the bonding process. Within a few hours after their birth, they are separated from their mama and placed in the nursery. They are bottle fed with colostrum-rich milk (not necessarily their own mama's milk) for the first few days after birth, and after that with milk replacement.That's all we we were able to see before our scheduled bus tour. But upon returning from our bus tour, the tour guide announced that a calf was just born, and another one was progressing. Though we were hungry, we rushed over to the barn to see what we could see. Thinking it was the white cow that occupied the stall just 45 minutes prior to that that had just delivered, we were surprised to see two different mamas. This one with her newly born calf, and the cow in the adjoining stall ready for delivery. This little calf would try to stand, but flopped back down. Poor thing is all sprawled out here.
After watching for several minutes, we decided we had time to go eat lunch. But, probably 15 minutes into our lunch, Julie called me and said, "It won't be long." Five minutes later, another call reported, "She's laying down. You better get over here quick." (When we left the barn, the expectant mama was still standing; they lay down just prior to birth.) We quickly packed up any uneaten food and made a mad dash out to the barn.
When we arrived, all was calm and restful in the stall on the right...
...and labor was progressing in the stall on the left. The front two feet were out, and the calf's snout was at the opening. Mama cow is pushing....
She pushed and pushed. At one point, we wondered what she was doing when she got up on all fours. But then she plopped back down on her other side. Apparently, to get more comfortable. It wasn't long after that that this cow's "midwife" entered the stall and assisted in the delivery. They report that only 5 percent of the births need assistance, and that morning there had already been two assisted births.
Just after delivery.
The assistant pulled the calf back a bit, and the afterbirth was delivered.
Let me introduce to you.....Graycie, born at 12:54 p.m., weighing 83 lbs. She is the resting calf on the right and is getting ready to be transported to the nursery. Her mama was just escorted out and now they are coming in with a wagon to cart her away. She would receive her first bottle in the adjoining nursery.
Before we left the barn, the new mama had gotten up on all fours and started licking her calf.
To wrap up our day at Fair Oaks, we went over to the dairy processing plant to pick up our ice cream cones that were included in our admission fee. Megan, Grace and I enjoyed the mint chocolate chip, while Leah had cookies and cream. Yum!
We just couldn't leave without getting pictures out by the Fair Oaks' sign.
A dairy good time was had by all!
A dairy good time was had by all!~Wee
