BiO-Lancut*r Farming, Saturday, Juna 4, 1994
iV
School Kids Have
GAY N. BROWNLEE
Somerset Co. Correspondent
SOMERSET (Somerset Co.)
Second grade kids from the Maple
Ridge Elementary School were
just like frisky colts in the spring
time at the Walker Grove Farm.
They romped and rolled over the
giant yard. They were thrilled to
find a big farm pond nearby.
Although their host, Kurt Walker
was kept busy chasing them back
from the water’s edge.
Kurt, his wife, Cindy, their son
Daniel, aged three, and grandpa
rents Ray and Ann Walker all live
on Walker Grove Farm. It’s a
pretty place and just the right dis
tance from traffic on four-lane
Route 219.
For three days each spring, the
Walkers have school children visit
their farm. The Walkers give them
milk, soft-freeze, and cheese from
the Allied Milk Producer’s
Cooperative, Inc. and tell them
about the dairy farm. Some of the
kids are also from the Sipesville
Elementary School.
The big yellow bus pulled in at
noontime. Each person had a
packed lunch. They sat on hay
bales and on the grass to eat before
the tours began.
Grandpa Ray got into a conver
sation with the bus driver. Grand
ma Anna and Cindy bustled
around serving white and choco
late milk to everybody. Hurt was
like the watchdog, making sure
the kids didn’t wander away to
explore anything unsafe. And
little Daniel had his own interests,
strolling around and chatting to
himslcf, sort of ignoring the group
as a whole.
Lewis and Naomi Shaffer
helped, 100. They are Daniel’s
other grandgarents.
Then one section of kids, with
teacher and chaperones prepared
for a hayride. Each stepped on a
bale then kurt would assist them
into the wagon. Cozy blankets
were there to cuddle into because
the wind got really strong in some
areas.
Before starting the tractor Kurt
gave instructions. “Don’t put your
hands or heads out of the wagon,”
he said. “And don’t stand while
the wagon is moving.” Then he
showed the fluorescent orange
warning triangle that is used when
farmers take their machinery on
the roads. That way drivers of
other vehicles can slow down
when they see the triangle.
Every so often Kurt would stop
the tractor to explain about
machinery or seeds and crops. He
talked about the com planter and
plows. He passed around jars of
com and alfalfa seeds which make
the crops to feed the cows all year.
And then what did Kurt do but
pull out fists full of fresh alfalfa at
one field. He passed it around,
telling the kids that it was okay for
them to sample it themselves. One
little girl liked it so much she
decided to take a bunch along
home. “I like it,” she said. “It’s
good.”
Most of the others didn’t care
for it that much.
“We make alfalfa into hayl
age,” said Kurt.
The kids got excited to leam
that Walker Grove Farm is a
neighbor to their school princi
pal’s home. In fact Kurt took the
hayride tractor there to turn
around.
Later Kurt said, “We keep our
machines a long time because they
cost a good bit.” He said, “You
could buy three or four new cars
for what we pay for one machine.”
Then he used that word “recy
cle.” “Everything the cows don’t
use to make milk, we recycle back
into the field and spread it with the
manure.”
The bam tour was Cindy’s job.
Just outside the bam sat a row of
buckets. In them was water, feed,
and manure.
Cindy explained that each cow
ate and drank that much food and
water to produce its milk and so
much manure every day. “Cows
have four stomachs,” she said.
Four, wow!
“Are we going to smell manure
in the bam?” asked some kids.
“Sure,” answered Cindy.
She told them what happens
when a cow gets sick and needs
medicine. The milk from that cow
goes into a separate container so
good milk from other cows isn’t
contaminated.
The sick cow’s medicine will
be in the milk she gives.
Every one of the Walker’s cows
has a name. If one is getting medi
cine a red band is put around her
leg.
Cindy said that if some of the
contaminated milk would get to
the dairy that buys it from the far
mer, the farmer could be in trou
ble. He might have to pay lots of
money for the ruined milk of other
farmers because milk from many
farms is mixed in the big tank of
the hauling truck.
The truck driver has a little
sample of each farm’s milk that is
kept for testing. That’s how the
dairy folks know which farm has
contaminated milk.
Cindy warned the kids to be
quiet in the bam because the cows
weren’t used to a commotion. It
didn’t work. The kids forgot
everything she said the instant
they saw the big black and white
Holstein cows. They tried to pet
them but jumped a lot when the
cows moved their heads.
She showed them the electric
feeding cart where com, com sil
age, and haylage are mixed to feed
the cows. Then she demonstrated
how the cow’s manure is carried
away automatically by switching
on the system.
Seeing the kids’ reaction.
Grandma Anna said, “That’s what
fascinates them more than any
thing, when cows go to the
bathroom.”
Cindy pointed overhead to the
glass pipeline system which car
ries milk from the cow to the big
1,000 gallon, refrigerated holding
lank. She told the kids how the
cow’s teats are always cleaned
before she is milked. She said that
inspectors come sometimes to
make sure everything is sanitary.
Milk is so important for people’s
health, that’s why it must be kept
clean, from the cow to our home
refrigerator.
At least one boy thought he
would like to be a farmer and
Blast At Walker Grove Farm
work with the cows. with help from his brother Scott, cro P» l^en alfalfa, oats and other
Anna took the children to see whose wife is Sally. There are 60 grains are raised on the remainder,
the steer bam. Ray, Lewis and the milking cows and about 30 steers. . “Come back and see me,”
bus driver kept right on talking. The farm has 500 acres but 300 invited Grandma Anna, as the kids
Kurt and Cindy run the farm are used for crops. Com is the big returned to their school bus.
>g. ;rs are gt ig. sc. >ol bus ai g Anna .
hay bales In the yard where they will eat packed lunches. The kids are guests at Walk
er Grove Farm near Somerset.
Kurt Walker of Walker Grove Farm near Somerset explains the corn planter to kids
on the haywagon. He also showed them seeds of crops planted at the farm.
A hay bale throw Isn’t as easy as It looks, as kids from the Maple Ridge Elementary
School discovered on a field trip to the Walker Grove Farm near Somerset.
Kids couldn't resist going near Walker Grove Farm's pond while their classes were
visiting on a school field trip.