Deprecated: Function create_function() is deprecated in /home/mngirlaz/public_html/experiencingparenthood.com/wp-content/plugins/related-posts-by-zemanta/init.php on line 183
Deprecated: Function create_function() is deprecated in /home/mngirlaz/public_html/experiencingparenthood.com/wp-content/plugins/related-posts-by-zemanta/recommendations.php on line 247
Disclaimer: I was provided the opportunity to visit this farm with the Dairy Council of AZ through a campaign with Blended Extended. All opinions are my own.
I don’t know about you, but when I think of Arizona, I think brown, dust, sand, desert, and cacti.
What I do not think is dairy farm; but that’s what we toured a couple weeks ago!
Hubby, B, A, and I joined the Dairy Council of Arizona and some fellow Blended Extended bloggers and headed down to Eloy, Arizona, to visit Caballero Dairy.
Visiting a dairy farm may not seem like a big deal, but let me tell you – hubby and I had a blast.
It was fun; it was educational; and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! (I think the kids did too, but A is too little to really care and B claims he didn’t, but I don’t believe him!)
Interestingly enough, it was shared with us that Arizona is actually a preferred climate for dairy farms because of the dry heat. The cows prefer dry heat and while the summer months can be grueling, Caballero Dairy has multiple fans and overhead hanging to keep the cows cool.
Craig and Heather are the owners of Caballero Dairy.
Craig is a 2nd generation dairy farm of Caballero Dairy and they have been in business for 58 years!
They currently have 8,000 heads of cows/heifers (no male cows) with about a third of their cows/heifers active for milking (which I found to be quite interesting that there are ‘replacement’ cows kept on hand for necessity – which makes sense, but not something I would have thought of!)
Caballero Dairy’s cows get milked using a 72 stall rotater that I have to tell you was probably the coolest thing on the farm!
You can see from the picture below that the cows are led in on one side and let out on the other side.
Once they get on the rotater, there is a man who puts iodine on their teets, another wipes off the iodine, and a third man places the milkers on the cows.
We even had the privilege to go down and stand in the circle below the cows. It was amazing!
One thing I found incredibly amazing is that Caballero Dairy is entirely computerized! They can tell everything from the wave of a wand on their little system, to know what needs to be done with a certain cow.
Seriously, our trip was one that I cannot wait to do again!
And we can’t forget – the fun the kids had!
A is a huge cow fan and loved the Jersey cow who let A pet her and the baby cows who tried to give her kisses!
I am telling you, if you ever get the chance to visit a dairy farm – in Arizona or otherwise – take advantage! It would make a great homeschooling lesson with your kids and if you don’t homeschool, it’s a great lesson for you and your child to learn how we get our dairy products!
Have you ever been to a dairy farm? Which one and where was it? I definitely want to tour more!
We have lots of dairy farms around us but its always fun to visit. We make a point to visit farms in occasion. I feel like it helps reinforce to our kids how important farms are
I love visiting farms. They’re a breath of fresh hair in this era of technology.