Tour of the OSU Dairy

I am a TA (teacher's assistant) for OSU's intro to animal science class.  My job is to teach the labs that correspond to the area of agriculture that they are learning about that week.  Lots of students from different backgrounds take this class to fulfill their science requirement so we have people that grew up on farms and then people like me that have only read about them in books (until coming to OSU).  I love teaching these labs!  I get to show the students all the different animal facilities we have on campus and teach them about some of the basics of agriculture.  It's like I'm a tour guide... and I LOVE tours.  I also love telling people how cows have four stomachs and watching their faces squish up in contemplation.  I love telling them about animal welfare and clearing up questions they have about the different industries.  Basically, I have fallen in love with the agricultural world and want everyone else to know about my new world view.

This week we got to go to the OSU Dairy.   I just finished taking a course all about dairies so I was supper excited about teaching this particular lab.

Cows love to suck on things and this Holstein calve is loving sucking on my finger... there was a LOT of slobber left on my hand when she was done... it grossed out my students. 

This is a sweet little Jersey calve.  

The cows stay in these little huts for the first 2 weeks of their life while they build up their immune systems and then they get to move up with the other cows after those two weeks. 

This face makes me want to have a Dairy of my own.

I wana COW!  I'm sure my landlord would love a cow living in his basement apartment. 

Did you know that most dairies have Holstein and Jersey cattle because the Holsteins produce a high volume of milk and the Jerseys produce milk with high fat and protein content?  Together, they make the best milk.

If I had been on the ball I would have taken pictures of the milking parlor and the older girls who actually get milked, but I was so distracted by the babies I forgot.