CALIFORNIA ADVENTURES

Dave and I just got back from a week long trip to California.  It was a combined trip that included a variety of activities and meetings.  
The first place we went was Sacramento where our niece was competing in a gymnastics meet.  It was fun to watch her perform.

She did great. She got first in the parallel bars and second place over all.
​  We decided while we were in Sacramento we we would check out the railroad museum we had heard so much about.

It was an interesting museum.  Well worth the visit.  
​We looked around old town Sacramento a bit then headed to Palo Alto to stay a night with Dave's sister.

We took this picture for our daughter Kori who loves Christmas.

After our visit to Palo Alto we drove to Madera CA where we met up with the rest of the Producer's board members.

The Board members went to their meeting while one of the other wives and I toured a few of the local wineries. I am not sure why I have no pictures of that.   
After the meeting we toured a local calf ranch.  

Here they raise the calves from many local dairies.  Above are calf hutches.  

I know the hutches are tiny and it seems sad to keep the calves locked in like this, but it is just for a short time to allow them to get the milk they need and to learn to eat and drink.  Then they are moved to larger pens.  In the hutches the calves are able to be watched more closely and not have to compete with the other calves for food.  They are monitored  for any sickness and get well cared for. 

These calves did not seem too sad to me.

Once they are strong and healthy and eating well, the calves are moved to larger pens.

The calves stay in the feedlot until they are ready to go back to the dairies as replacement heifers or to slaughter if they are steers.  

These are all the bottles being filled for all the calves. The tractors full of bottles just kept coming in one after another, trading empty bottles for full ones.  

The next day we toured some range land up in the hills.

It wasn't lush green like you would expect of California.  They have been short on water, but also it was October. 

It was beautiful country.  
We visited one ranch up in the hills.  We had to get an early start that morning so the sun was just coming up.

Next we toured several dairies in the area.  

In this dairy the cows were loaded onto a carousel.  It held fifty cows at a time.  The cows marched in, took the six minute ride around and backed out.  What smart cows.  On occasion a cow may not get all the way milked out in the six minutes, so a chain was put behind her so the milker placing the machine on knows to let her go around again. Of course the time is adjusted to the age group and milk production of the cows going on.

Of course I found this all fascinating and when they asked if anyone wanted to try I jumped at the chance.

They showed me how to hook up the machine and start it milking.

Of course I was a natural. haha.  I do need to work on my speed.  These milkers were fast.

The cows seemed to happily go round and round.  Even the bulls got to go for the ride.  I wouldn't want to mistakingly put the milker on him.. 

We learned about processing the milk and were shown the storage tanks. 

We went to the calving pen.  And just like home, it doesn't always go as planned.  This mamma needed a little help.

What a face.

This is a pasteurizer for the colostrum.  The guy explained how they process and use the colostrum from their own cows and feed it within one hour to the calves.  They measure the antibodies in the colostrum and feed the calves the highest antibody colostrum  to get them going and help keep them healthy.

GOT MILK?
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We toured more farm ground, orchards and dairies.  This is a very productive area. It was amazing.

This was a dairy.  I am not sure why they had all the zoo animals. 

After the zoo,  haha I mean dairy tours, we went to the feedlot of one of the board members.

The day was coming to an end and the sun was setting over the coastal mountains.
​

The kids were working so dad could give a tour.  

They work in the dust just like we do.

This area also produces a lot of cotton.  

This is a cotton module.  
After our Ag tour some of us drove to Monterey.  

We couldn't be that close to the ocean and not visit it.

My vacation home.. haha

My new pet.

Harbor Seals.

They were cute but very stinky.

This bird loved Dave.  They became fast friends.

We walked down Cannery Row.

We visited Clint Eastwood's "ranch" in Carmel.

We planned on meeting Clint for lunch, but we were too busy.. 

We topped off our Monterey experience with a sail boat ride on the bay.

We headed for home the next day.  Stopping for a minute on the Sierras and  Lake Tahoe.  Then a short visit with my brother Chad.  Then headed home.  What a great trip.