Kid s Korne r Susquehanna County Cow To Travel The Count JOYCE BUPP York Co. Correspondent MONTROSE (Susquehanna Co.) A cow has “es caped” from Susquehanna County and is en route on a journey around the country. Along the way, the black-and-white bovine, named “Cassidy,” is expected to visit almost every state in the union, making friends along the way, and generating a host of information for a group of students at the Lath rope Street Elementary School. Cassidy is not your ordinary dairy cow. She’s a large “stuffed” bovine and her journey is the brainchild of the Lathrope Street Elementary School’s media specialist and dairy farmer, Natalie Hawley. A few years ago, Natalie Hawley shipped off a teddy bear alias Ted E. Read whose journey ultimately circled through England, Alaska, Japan, Thailand, Aus tralia and several cities in the United States. With the as sistance of his hosts, the well-traveled teddy sent fascinat ing tales and memorabilia of his stops to help Mrs. Hawley’s students learn about the geography of various areas and how people live around the world. “Why not a cow?” figured the librarian, whose hus band, Louis, and family operate a 75-head, grazing-based dairy farm near Montrose. Cassidy’s assignment for her travels is to keep a jour nal of who and where she visits and interesting things she does and discovers in her stops. Since writing is not natu rally a talent for most cows, Cassidy will be depending on her hosts to help with her tales about her travels. As a base list of host families for the pedigreed and eartagged bovine, Natalie Hawley tapped many of the di rectors and their spouses of the board of Dairy Farmers of America, on which Lou Hawley serves, as well as other dairy family contacts around the country. Cassidy made her traveling debut at a recent dairy meeting in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. From there, she accom panied northern California dairy farmer Harvey Moran da home to his Jersey dairy herd and olive grove for her first farm visit as she crisscrosses the country. Students at the school, under Natalie Hawley’s lead, will track Cassidy’s travels and the adventures she has through notes and postcards her farm hosts will send back. The traveling-cow geography teacher and ambassa dor is expected to be on the road for about a year before making the trip back to the Susquehanna County ele mentary school. Hosts are encouraged to take Cassidy to farm and non farm places and events during her stay with them, any U/ A Ocean Creature No It's not something tiom .1 honoi movie Its an octopus and n tcallv does have eight legs that ate lined with sockets Cheek out some facts about these ocean creatures The octopus • Uses the suckeis on its aims to move on the ocean floor and to capture prey It can have as many as 240 suction cups • Moses by jet piopulsion. which means it sucks walei in then pushes it out the other end • Has a hard beak like a panot s The beak is used to kill and teai flesh from prey • Lives alone on the sea llooi in a den • Ranges in size Irom less than half an inch to moie than 16 leet long The biggest is the Giant Pacific Octopus which can end up weighing almost 600 pounds • Has blue blood • Uses poison to kill prey The poison is pretty weak in most types of octopus and cannot haim humans However the Blue Ringed Octopus bom Austialia has enough poison to paialvze and kill a human • Piotects itself by changing colois to blend m with its suiioundmgs • Sends out a cloud ol puiple-black mk to contuse its enemies Theic aie about 200 known species ol the octopus around the world The laigci ones aie usually found m colder watei activity or location they think the Lathrope School stu dents might enjoy learning about. They may also send the stuffed bovine ambassador with family or friends to inter esting activities, perhaps even along with a local dairy princess on promotional appearances. The school will un derwrite the cost of the postage for shipping Cassidy along to another state, which hosts are encouraged to do after she has been in their care for a week. “Our goal is to learn as much about each state as possi ble from local people, the size of the state, the terrain, the weather. Each part of the country is unique, whether it be a famous city or a small hamlet, and we want to hear about it from local people,” explains Natalie Hawley, Cassidy’s “mom.” The Hawley family has a tradition of pursuing such in teresting angles to their careers. Their dairy operation, which is expanding to about 100 cows, is a seasonal-milk ing one, with calving starting early in March and the whole herd dried off by late December. They also raise extra dairy heifers and maintain a herd of 35 beef cows. About 600 acres included in the operation are fenced in numerous pastures to accommodate the total more than 350 head of cows and young stock. Pastures are planted to mostly grass and some clover, plus occasional innova tions such as cropping turnips for the grazing herd. Hawleys’ herd is milked in a double-ten, swing over parlor they constructed themselves four years ago, a sim ple and efficient facility which holds current milking times to little more than an hour. With their extensive experience in high-tensile fence construction, the Hawleys also do custom fencing for other landowners, as well as operate a custom, wrapped round-bale business during summer months. During his senior year in high school, Hawley milked his then-40-head herd before and after daily classes. He and Natalie met through 4-H and are the parents of three grown sons, two of them working full-time with the fami ly farming operation. Ben, 25, has a special interest in the beef herd, while Nick tends a herd of goats in addition to the farm’s other diverse enterprises. Mike, 23, works for Proctor and Gamble, and shepherds a flock of sheep along with lending a hand part-time with farm chores. The Hawleys, along with the student body at the Lath rope Street school, are eager to hear of the adventures of the cow “escapee.” After her extensive journeys around the country, the traveling Cassidy is expected to return for her retirement at the school and the Hawley family farm. .je Havv v ■N Please note; This only applies to the site listed not to any sites ■ IS that may be linked Web sites change constantly At the time this |v I artlcle was written, this Web address worked The sim may call I I «>r software you do not have You can still look at much of the I s ■ information on the site but you may need the software for I movies If you do need software, be sure to have your parent(s) I read any software agreements before you download it cl