[lenjan]

The Powers That Be had the brilliant idea of making a bunch of us do "day in the life" stories. One of the other reporters got to spend the day at a chocolate factory. I got to spend a day on a dairy farm. (Trust me, it smelled a lot worse than a chocolate factory!)

But, if you want to see what life is like around here, you can check out a photo slideshow here and my story here .

If you like having milk for your cereal in the morning, grilled cheese sandwiches when it's cold and ice cream when it's hot, it's not a bad idea to learn about life on a dairy farm.

CB

PS: The baby cow being hand-fed in the pictures was a day old!! I don't think cow mamas get epidurals, poor girls. OUCH!

[Perna]

Oh, smellervision! Ugh!

Good story, Candy!

[SweetSunshine]

I can understand how they feel in a way. We used to raise hogs here. My husband did alot of the work. We had room in the barn so his brother ( who had the actual business) asked if he could put some in there. They are cute as heck when they are little .. but become very rowdy and you dont dare slip on the slop they left.. they will come at you like vultures. Especially if they smell any blood. I tried to help" entertain" ( snort with them lol)them on the outside of the barn so my husband could clean the inside and get their feed in teh feeders. I have a picture in the gallery of one time when I wwas snorting and they all came running to me lol. But yeah working with animals is very tedious work.

I can appreciate the effort these two men put into their job. But I can see why they woulndt mind not having it go on too. Great story Candy. TY for sharing it!!

[SeptemberMorn]

Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!! Memories! The size of cows always did intimidate me so when we moved to the farm, goats became our source of milk products. By the end of life on the farm, I was ready to invest in milking machines, but in the beginning and in the middle... and even now, I can say that there's nothing quite like milking as the sun comes up. Everything is so quiet, then the birds start waking up, including the rooster . I'd cuddle up to a warm goat just out of her bed of hay, nuzzled in to the hollow between her ribs and her hips and squeezing gently, listening to the steady swish, swish of the milk hitting the milk pail. My 18 cats, sometimes one by one, sometimes 2 and 3 at a time, would file in and get their morning appetizer of a squirt of milk in or near their mouth. Then the next goat and the next until all 12 were milked.

I sure miss it! Even the smells. Of course, goats poop berries not pies... and it's not nearly as smelly. I don't miss the clean up, either.

[lenjan]

LOL I love goats!!! They're so cuddly and just-right sized.

The smell was....a bit much, yeah. It clung to my notebook for a couple of days, which made my officemate really happy! NOT!

[SeptemberMorn]

Another memory... Some years ago, some of my cousins visited their brother in the LA area and we went down to visit. I got in a hurry and forgo to change the tennis shoes I work while working outside.

When we got to my cousin's house, I got a distinct odor of ammonia and ... uh ... a little bit more. Suddenly I realized I was still wearing my work shoes! I ran outside and took them off. This cousin is gay and an IMMACULATE house keeper. Can you imagine what he thought and how his carpet smelled after we left??

Nobody ever said anything to me. It's surprising his sisters didn't either. One of them was always on my case about one thing or another no matter how old I got. Maybe she didn't smell it? LOL Fat chance!

[sabby]

Ahhhhh the sweet smell of .... cow dung!!! On a hot August afternoon.....you just can't beat it!

My gram lived on a farm when I was a youngster. I loved fetching the morning eggs, helping with the milking, the haying (not that I could do much being so little).

Loved your article ((((( candybear ))))). Awesome job as usual


sabby