It is no secret that I have a penchant for baby animals. I mean they are cute and cuddly and sweet and well, what’s not to like? It’s not that I needed and excuse really, but I managed to find one, as a reason to visit Maleny Dairies. I have been here once or twice before (ok, so, I have been here more than that), but each time is like the first time when it comes to feeding the kids (as in baby goats) and calves.
My Local Harvest – Sunshine Coast Regional Food Directory, is about to undergo a major update, upgrade and visual transformation, so I am relocating the Blog on to Pebbles and Pomegranate Seeds. For this reason I thought I would repost some of my favourite blog stories, so that they don’t get ‘lost’. Here is one of them…
Repost from October 7, 2011 – Local Harvest – The Sunshine Coast and Surround’s Regional Food Directory
I grew up on a farm, and every lambing season we would end up with a few orphans for whatever reason, and as a child I took great joy in feeding them and watching them at play. We also raised a number of potty calves, Maxy being the most memorable – he was a gawky dairy calf that no matter how much he ate, he always looked malnourished, I think he was born premature and clung onto life in those early weeks and never really regained the health that most calves would have at birth. It was lucky for him really. Being a boy calf, normally he would have ended up at the markets, if not for prime rib steak (which he was never destined to be), I am sure he would have made fantastic soup bones, however, he was our Maxy, and while pretty much useless (no milk, no meat – he just ate – not a sought after commodity on a farm), he lived a long life on the farm because he was our gawky gangly Maxy.
So going to Maleny Dairies was a bit of a trip down memory lane for me. While they were kids, rather than lambs, they don’t look dissimilar and the calves looked exactly like Maxy, but less gawky. I noticed only one had a name tag (Penny), the other just had a number and I wondered silently what that meant???
Maleny Dairies have tours of the dairy daily (Mon-Sat) at 10:30am and 2:30pm, and part of that tour is feeding the baby animals. I felt compelled to grab one of the bottles and hog the little cuties all to myself, but I managed to restrain myself and let the real children have a go – I remember all too well my own excitement at that age, and with the dozens of babies that we reared, I never tired of it – it was one daily chore that I didn’t need to be asked twice to do – cleaning my room was an entirely different matter.
One other thing that I enjoyed watching was the milking of the cow; Divina, I think her name was. Everyone gathered around, and she quietly put up with the chaos of curious kids and adults. Our host offered everyone a taste of fresh milk straight from the cow. It was kind of amusing as some people jumped at the chance to try the milk (and loved it), while others stood back and almost looked a bit squeamish, and I wondered whether they felt that same way when they drank from the carton from the fridge.
After the feeding I just stood back and watched the playfulness of the kids as they bucked their little frames in their excitement. It was quite cute the interaction between the calves and the kids as well. The kids seemed to look at the calves as some sort of mentor, mimicking them. One of the kids appeared to take the mentoring quite seriously, feeling the need to try and eat the exact blade of grass that the calf was, working away, their noses together. I was waiting for the calf to tire of it and stand his ground, but he seemed to handle it in a way in which was quite endearing. He was even more patient when one of the cheeky kids decided to use him as a mount and climb on his back to get a better vantage point.
Well, I had fun. I had my kiddie and calf fix, and I couldn’t think of a better place to give the kids (as in real children) a chance to connect with the source of their food and have a real life farm experience.
Thank you Maleny Dairies, what a great experience for all.
For more information about tour times and fees, visit:
http://www.malenydairies.com/
Please note: Repost from October 7, 2011 – Local Harvest – The Sunshine Coast and Surround’s Regional Food Directory
