Clouds hung in the sky as we began our ride in 50 degree temperatures today. A cool wind accompanied us as we headed out of the woods and towards Dighton. The red winged black birds sang their "conk-a ree," as we rode past the marsh, 2 canadian geese fed by the side of a small pond and cows stared at us as we passed by.
The self milking barn is mostly done. Like hay stacks, big piles of dirt line the area around the barn and on any day, but Sunday, there is still many cars and trucks parked across the road . Not sure when it will be completely done and free of workmen.
A few weeks ago a cattle drive took place and 200 cows were herded from their home at Gingrich Meadows, to the new barn, about a mile down the road. There are no pastures surrounding the fancy, new, self milking, barn, which leads me to believe it is going to be a zero grazing facility. Perhaps the cows are used to zero grazing, up until now, I had never heard of such a thing. Zero grazing is just a polite way to say the cows are confined to the barn, for life. This is not due to some crime they committed, but simply to make life easier for the dairy farmer. To me it seems equal to a sentence of life in prison. Some would probably say it is actually better for the animal, etc, and maybe it is. I am not well informed on the subject, but my soft heart, says it seems cruel to deprive the cows of sunshine and the pleasure of grazing. It will bother every time I go past that barn, and it makes me glad that we have very limited dairy products in our diet. I don't want to financially support such confinement of cows. If things change down the road, and I hope they do, I long to see cows grazing around the barn, I will update this blog, so you can all celebrate the freedom of these animals, with me.
We went through Dighton, stopping at the church for a break, then it was onto 20 Mile Rd., which is 6 miles of roller coaster hills. Our top speed down hill was 43 MPH, I'm not sure how accurate it was, since our computer isn't working right, but I know it was faster than we have ever gone before. Rollin was steady to the task, not wavering to the right or the left.
Rode past Center Lake Bible Camp, a beautiful christian camp on Center Lake. We are blessed to have so much beauty in the area we live in and blessed again to see it used to bring people to the Lord and to help them grow spiritually.
And of course, we pedaled past a barn, my camera, jumped out and took this picture. It knows what happens when we pass a barn.
Going through Tustin, we picked up the trail and headed onto LeRoy, stopping for a break at Pibbs.
When we rode past the Amish farm, there was an Amish girl, in her brown dress, white apron, and white hat. She was probably about 8. By her side was her brother, in his blue suspender pants, and light blue shirt. Together they were pushing the lawn mower up a hill. Lying behind the apple tree, in hiding, was the older brother, his straw hat, in the grass. This boy wasn't the least bit interested in helping with the task.
A new brown pony was tied up by the oblong building on the Amish property. He looked us over as we went by. The roosters and chickens were in the bushes, but gave us no greeting.
We rode 22 miles today, all but 5 of them were hills. Our legs will thank us later.
No comments:
Post a Comment