Indiana

We left Niagara Falls and started heading West.  We went back through Michigan and into Indiana.  Our first stop was in Shipshewana where we met up with Pat & Morrie (from Illinois) who were camped there with friends.  

It is in an Amish community...can you tell?  Man is that one extreme to the other.

 We did a little shopping on Friday.  This meat & cheese place is supposed to be the place to go.  On Saturday we had to take a ride through the country side.

Farms around here are amazing.  Lot's of grass.  I think they must mow it every other day.  It is so well manicured.  I guess that must be what happens when you have water... unlike California.  :(

Clothes on the line.... not my idea of fun!

Horses at work everywhere... just like the people. 

 Corn saved up & dried out to feed the cows.

 The ten commandments on your barn... not such a bad idea.

Seems like a very hard working group of people!  
I say this as I am sitting in my MH, on my computer ,with the lights on & the clothes in my washer & dryer.  Hmmmm.... probably not really a way of life for me but I do admire them.

Next stop was Nappanee, Indiana.

This is where our motor home was made so we took the factory tour.  It was pretty cool but we couldn't take any pictures.

 They would only let us go through the finished product at the end of the line that were not quite out the door.  They said the reason for this is they do not spec any out.  They only build what is already sold. They were all specked by dealers or dealers clients.  They are paid for before they leave the factory.  Right now they have 9 a day going out the door.   They have 900+ employees.  This is up from 300+ just a few years ago.  Now I know why it has been so difficult to find a place to stay.  Everyone is buying RVs!
Their top of the line is the King Aire that retails for about $950,000+.   Just think you can get two of these for the price of one Prevo from Marathon.  What a deal! 

  

Then Donald and I checked out the Nappanee Apple Festival.  I'm not sure why they have an apple festival since I've seen no apple trees anywhere.... just corn, corn, & more corn.

We listened to this band for a little while.  She was a really good singer... I wonder if we can get them to come play at the point??

We left the Oaklake Family Campground in Fair Oaks the next morning and stopped to visit the Fair Oaks Dairy.  There was plenty of room to park in their parking lot.  (One good reason to visit these places at this time of year.)

It was an amazing place!!!

Oooops!  Maybe that should say South Dakota!

We started our tour on a bus that took us from the visitor center out to one of the milking barns.  They have a total of 10 farms spread over 19,000 acres.  There are 3000 cows in each barn. We were put in and out of the bus inside a building and the doors are closed behind the bus.  They call it a bio-secure bus and facility.  It's all to protect the cattle and the equipment from germs.

  

Now I know where all those soy  beans and corn go!  It is all pulverized into these mounds that they mix together to feed the cows.  Learn something new everyday!

 They drove us through one of the barns where the cows are held.

Then we got to go see the rotating milking carousel.  

 One of the coolest things I've ever seen.  Not to mention ingenious!
They are trained to walk on to the carousel that holds 72.  Then someone hooks them up to these computerized milkers.  One rotation takes 8 1/2 minutes.  Each cow has a chip that the computer reads and tells them how much milk they get from each cow.  Usually 3-4 gallons is average.  Once around and they back themselves off and go back to eat & rest up till the next round.  They are milked 3 times a day so they get approximately 10 gallons per cow per day.  That amounts to 250,000+ gallons per day.  That's a lot of milk!  They are one of the top 10 dairies in the nation.

If they don't produce they are checked out to see why.  The markings on their backs indicate if they are pregnant or just inseminated.  Each cow is usually good for milking for 5-7 years. The entire facility runs on methane gas from the cow manure & I'm sure they have plenty.

The milk comes out at 101 degrees and is cooled down to 35 degrees  immediately and put into these containers.  It is sold and taken to pasteurization in refrigerated tankers.

 I'm not too sure these guys could do the job.

Then we went to the birthing barn.

 There is a stop sign outside.  Red means nothing going on.  Hooves means baby is coming and greens means baby is here!

Yep... hooves are here!

I know that look! 

 And here he is!

 There are 80-100 calfs born per day.  They bring 2 into the birth barn for visitors to watch.

We watched for quite a while.  I have never seen a calf being born.  I thought it was very cool!

 The calves are bottle fed right away.

 And each put in their own little pen.

As soon as they are big enough... the cycle begins again.

Fair Oaks has now added a 110,000 sq. ft. Pig barn.

 I don't think so!

  I pose with big fake animals why not big fake corn?

Especially if Tim & Gary are smoking them!  YUMMY!

Lots of little piggies being born.

 We saw this little guy right after he was born.  

He was not too happy about it either.  

Now I know why they say squealing like a pig.

Her job is reaching in there & getting any stubborn guys who don't really want to come into this world.  Somebody's gotta do it.

This area they eat & hang out till it's time to either get artificially inseminated or give birth.  They are taught to go thru those feeders with the red tops.  The feeder reads their chip & knows if they have eaten everything they are supposed to every day.  If not they gather them up & find out why.

At 21 days old they are snapped up from their mom & given their shots & put in separate pens where they wait to be shipped out to another farm somewhere & fattened up for you know what.

 The ones in the little pens are lined up for insemination.

There are 2400 breeding sows in the building and there are 250 pigs born each day.  None of these will stay here to breed.  They will all be sold.  They sell 80,000+ a year.  That's a lot of Bacon!

They keep a couple of big old hogs around to spread the pheromones  so the girls are ready to get pregnant.   
 What a life he has.  Men! 
Well that was our day at the farm.   It was one of the most interesting things we have seen so far.  I recommend it as long as  you are not a vegetarian.  Sorry Dawn, & Mandy!