Holy Cow!

Here's a little bit of a sidebar from the house project. Since I work for the Southeast Dairy Association, I was invited to the annual University of Georgia Dairy Heifer Show at the Agriculture Exposition Center just off the UGA campus in Athens.

Grace had often told me how much she wanted to see some of the cows that I get to see all of the time through work, so I felt like this was the perfect opportunity.

She would get to see a TON of the best dairy young dairy cows in the state before they started giving milk, plus she'd get to see a bunch of children her age and a bit older who are showing the cows.

She got to meet a young girl from up in North Georgia, who was 9 and in her first ever show with her red Holstein heifer named Junie B, from the Junie B. Jones books. It takes a lot of discipline and love for the animals to do what these kids do, and they take it very seriously.

Later in the day, we were invited to visit the UGA teaching dairy which is out on the southeast outskirts of Athens.

We got a chance to see the baby calves, the young heifers, the brand new Jerseys with their award-winning genetics and of course, the working girls themselves - the full grown milking cows, some of them weighing as much as 1,800 pounds. That's a lot of milk!

Grace had a blast and got to see some of the newest calves born just this year. She was enamored with them and enjoyed letting them suck on her fingers.

I'll be back to posting more house pictures next week. I just thought you'd enjoy a brief interlude with Grace and the wonderful cows who produce the milk and other dairy products that we enjoy her in the U.S.
Cheers,
Flip