December 2013 Our Time in Casa Grande Part 2

In the early part of December I ordered a replacement lens for my camera from eBay.  Once I received it, I took a stroll through the park, putting that lens to use.

Getting ready to plant:

This cacti is right outside the park, next to the back wall:

One of our remaining saguaros in the park – cute arms:

Flowering cacti:

As lots come available, leasees have first choice in moving to the new lot before it is offered to the lot list.  This season, there have been a few that changed hands and many of the new owners personalize their new lot.  Here is an old shed being hauled away to make room for a newer shed:

This year we decided to decorate our motorhome and lot.  We went all out and looked pretty gaudy during the day but it was beautiful at night.  We even won third place in the decorating contest.

Storm coming:

Dedication to those SKPs who have passed:

More flowers:

What more can I saw but I love the new/replacement lens –

The kitties were very intent on watching this rabbit:

There are many dairy farms in the area so on December 8th, Andy and I took the tour of Shamrock Farms.

Shamrock Farms is the largest family owned and operated dairies in the United States.  It was started by W.T. McClelland in 1922 with only 20 cows, a Model T delivery truck and one route man delivering fresh milk to the doorsteps of local customers.

Today they have over 10,000 milking cows that are treated like family.  The cows are showered twice a day before each milking.  Their living quarters are maintained below 75 degrees with a high pressure misting system and they are fed a specially formulated, nutritionally balance diet with no growth hormones.  They also have their own nursery for baby cows.  Each cow gets a birth certificate and their own calf-crib.  By raising their own calves from their herd, they can ensure the highest quality dairy stock.  They also keep a closed herd without introducing new cows to the farm. 

All of those 10,000 cows are descendants of the original 20 cows – interesting.

The visitor barn:

As of 11 AM that morning, there were 13 calves born.

Our trolley to take us on the tour:

Cows, Cows, and more cows:

Trying my hand at milking:

The milking facility:

We were all told about how the cows come in, then showered then milked.  They do 200 cows at a time – 4 rows of 50.  Each cow is milked twice a day – WOW!

There are leader cows that bring each row in the facility.  Those leader cows are identified early in their lives.

One of the many pens:

One of the babies:

The babies are kept in individual pens when they are very young and then slowly moved in to larger and larger pens with more and more cows as they get older.

They also took us through the maternity ward and sick bay – this is quite an operation.

What a great tour and we learned a lot too.

Afterwards we took a ride around Maricopa and the west side of Casa Grande.  It was nice checking out new roads –

That’s it for Part 2, stay tuned for Part 3 and enjoy today.