Utterly Moovelous Good Time

If you haven't been to Fair Oaks Dairy you HAVE to go. It is an amazing place. Here they have 29,000 heifers that calve 80 calves a day! If a boy cow is born he is sold, they only have the girl ones :) My girls thought that was pretty cool!! They have 19,000 acres of land where they grown their own corn for their feed, the waste from the cows is processed into methane gas with which they power all their own buildings. Some waste is processed into fertilizer for the corn. Nothing goes to waste here. They milk 72 cows at one time on a round rotating table. Each cow (that is giving milk) is milk 3 times day so it is a 24 hour process. Each cow also has a computer chip in her collar with her number. When she gets on the milking wheel the computer checks out how she is doing. It shows how many steps she takes each day! If she is taking less steps than she normally does they take her out of the milking circle and check her health. If she is taking more steps than normal that means she is in heat. So cool! We watched them process some milk for bottling and also had some of their delicious cheese and ice cream. Yum! We saw 3 calves being born, awesome. They have lots of learning and hands on activites as well. Some play areas too. So...you can see we well enjoyed this place. It is $10/adult 13 and older. $7/child 2-12. It is just off I-65 N at exit 220.