Golden kernels

October has arrived with a buzz of excitement. This year, we volunteered to host collegiate dairy judging teams to practice for World Dairy Expo. Phil and Richard put together four strings to judge and had a good turnout. Students hung around after to visit and network and enjoyed some cookies and milk. We then hosted various organizations through the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and international travel groups to tour our farm. Our tours highlighted our dairy facility, environmental sustainability, feeding practices and general everyday operations. All these groups also got to enjoy cookies and milk.

Also mixed into the first week, we had some first graders from a school in Madison. They were off the buses and into the shed in a flash, patiently listening to directions on farm safety, keeping their ears open to listen for running and moving tractors and where the bathrooms are located. The most important part of the conversation is about what not to touch or pick up. Since all farm animals poop on the ground, we don’t want any children picking up rocks or feathers. We stress the importance of sanitizer and hand washing throughout the farm visit.

This day on the farm started off with Daisy greeting the kids as they left the shed. She is a very sweet farm cat who can steal the attention away from any conversation. She laid flat out while the kids got to pet her just twice, otherwise we would not see anything else on the farm. Like I said before, she can steal away attention even from the baby calves.

Walking over by the loafing shed, the children were amazed to see two white turkey hens and a bronze hen walking up to see them. The hens said, “Tuck, tuck, tuck,” and the two white males followed behind strutting and making their gobble sounds. These are full-grown broad-breasted turkeys and are about chest high to most of these students. I was so impressed that the kids thought it was great and didn’t feel threatened as they followed us past the heifers and over to the milk house. Eventually, the kids were each able to shuck kernels off of their own cob of corn to feed the turkeys. The turkeys had been anticipating this treat.

It is hard work for little fingers to push or pull off the kernels, so a cob will last for many animals. Many of the kids peeled the kernels and put them in their hoody pockets so they could feed the next animals faster. The chickens were waiting for the brave kid to hold out a handful for them to peck off their palm. The others tossed in two or three kernels at a time, working their way through the chicken barn that has seven pens. The feeding stopped to gather eggs, but then it was back to work to feed more chickens. The turkeys were waiting outside to have a snack.

Up next, the pigs were snorting and pushing up against the wire panels to receive kernels and in some cases, the kids threw in their whole corn cob. The pigs love this and can work the kernels off the cob with their teeth much faster than the children can shuck. This is usually where the kids use up the rest of their corn. But in some cases, kids will make their cobs last and carry them into the calf barn where they leave a trail of golden kernels from their busy fingers to mark where they have walked. After four classes of kids leaving corn trails in the calf barn, it becomes quite a littered mess, which I find satisfying to sweep up at the end of the day.

After the calf barn, we took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch to pick a sugar pie pumpkin and milk a cow in the dairy barn. By the time we got done with all of that it had been two hours and the children were ravenous. We headed to the tour shed to wash our hands like farmers, which is washing our hands in a bucket of warm water and antibacterial soap. We all sat down in the tour shed to enjoy our lunch before loading up the bus with pumpkins in tow. Daisy said goodbye and tempted the kids to pet her one last time while she was trying to sneak on the bus with them. The kids were counted on the bus and waving farewell as they pulled out of the driveway. Anna and I look, smirking, at each other as we wave them off knowing that the floor of the bus is going to be covered in golden corn kernels.

Tina Hinchley, her husband Duane and daughter Anna milk 240 registered Holsteins with robots. They also farm 2,300 acres near Cambridge, Wisconsin. The Hinchleys have been hosting farm tours for over 25 years.