A tour of the milking process & a first rodeo

As part of being a representative for USFRA, they invite me to write features for their site.  This month's feature is A Tour of the Milking Process.  Enjoy!

That is obviously an older picture ... no one is wearing short sleeves right now.

This past week Kris and I took the boys to visit Kris' family in Texas.  We had the chance to go to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, and it was educational and fun!  (Just as promised!)  

That's bigger in Texas.

Giant barn filled with livestock

There were a million schools on field trips there, and we did all the activities right along with them.

The show is giant!  We saw a cow being milked, sows nursing piglets, turkeys, chickens, bee hives ... along with farm machines.  Besides all of the educational parts, it is an actual show.  People were readying their animals to be shown and judged.  

Milking

Buy your feed here!

Livestock washing area

Longhorn

Brahman, a cattle breed.  So interesting to see!  Long ears and a hump.

Along with all that, there's a carnival, music, and the rodeo events.

During the day, they also have mutton bustin'.  (That's right!  No 'g'.)  This is an event where children of a certain weight range can mount a sheep and hold on for dear life.  

This is what was my favorite - you can just do it!  It's like going on a ride!  Sign a waiver, put on a vest and a helmet, and away you go!

Our son Ty met the weight requirements, and had a fun time doing it ...

Clearly, this is a life skill for farming.  My ancestors used to have sheep, but we never have ... if we did, they could practice this daily!

Meanwhile, back on the farm ... all is well.  We're all pretty used to the cold weather and all looking forward to the warmer weather on the horizon.  The cows are pregnant, healthy, eating well, and we're only two weeks from spring!  March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb ... that you're trying to ride.



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First day of spring

We spent the last week in Texas, visiting Kris' family.  His sister and brother-in-law live in Houston, where we went to the rodeo! 

The rodeo is HUGE.  Huge as in there were 74,900 people there, watching bull riding, barrel racing, and mutton busting.  Have you ever seen this?  Five-year-old kids rode on sheep.  The kids were clinging to the sheep, faces buried in them.  The sheep were ambling across the arena.  Slowly, the kids would fall off.  I laughed so hard.  Then they had indoor fireworks, a concert ... and everyone was dressed like cowboys!  The boots!  The hats!  The rhinestones!  It was so fun and so different than what I normally see.

We went to a country dancing bar that weekend.  We were waiting in line.  A woman working there was trying to move the line along quicker and said, "Do y'all have your ids?"  Yes, we did.  "Are any of y'all wearing spurs?"

Spurs?!  Spurs!  I've never been asked that in my life, that's for sure.  We were not. 

Inside, everyone was also in costume.  (I realize it's not, but when you're not from cowboy country ...)  Often a song would start and everyone would stop two-stepping and start THE SAME line dance.  They all knew which songs went with which dances.  It was like stumbling into a musical!

When we go to Farm Bureau events, the ranchers often wear cowboy boots.  Kris' grandma (who is incredibly stylish) left some boots at Kris' parents' house that didn't fit her.  I wore them out one night, pretending I was a rancher instead of a farmer.

On the plane I talked to the guy sitting next to me, also from Michigan.  When I said I was a dairy farmer, he said, "Well, now I have to ask THE question.  ... Which cow gives the chocolate milk?"  We laughed together, and then he said, "Really.  Where do they put it in?  How does that work?"  I was happy to explain it.  You never know unless you ask!   

Everything was different when I returned.  It's the first day of spring!  It's been in the 80s all week, today too.  The barn roof was recoated.  It's a little different color and looks fresh.  The road commission cut down the dead tree.  And the daffodils are all in bloom.

Goodbye, Texas.  Hello, Michigan!  I left my boots there for next time. Here, I go barefoot.