Flat Aggie went all the way to Indiana to visit Sarah from This Farm Family's Life and her family on their farm, here is Flat Aggie's adventure:
Flat Aggie came to visit our beef and grain farm in
Indiana. We took her on all kinds of new adventures while she was here. In fact, I think we may have worn her out!
Her first adventure was taking a ride on the four-wheeler with our daughter B. It was a short ride because we all agreed that Aggie should really be wearing a helmet. Safety first!
We started planting corn a day before Flat Aggie's arrival and she was excited to see how everything worked. She rode in our car to the field. Before we could leave she had to buckle up!
When we got to the field, we showed her the planter that puts the seed in the ground.
Flat Aggie was surprised to see that the corn looked a little different from the corn we eat. Instead of yellow, it is red. To keep the bugs from eating the seed before it has a chance to grow, it is treated with a special ingredient that makes it smell and taste nasty to bugs. If bugs ate all of the seed, we wouldn't have enough corn to feed everyone!
Flat Aggie got to see some pretty big machines while she was with us like this big red tractor...
and this crop sprayer called a Rogator. Just like we have to keep the bugs from eating all the seed, we have to keep the weeds from taking all of the water and nutrients away from our crops. We spray chemicals to kill all the weeds so the corn and soybeans can grow big and strong.
These tall grain bins are where we store all of our grain until it is sold at the grain elevator.
Flat Aggie could not wait to meet the cattle and learn all about them. We raise beef cattle which basically means they produce the meat that you eat, just like dairy cows produce milk that you drink. Beef cattle like to eat hay.
Flat Aggie was amazed at the size of these hay bales.
Flat Aggie saw this in the shed next to the hay bales. It is called a silage mixer. It mixes the silage or chopped corn, with ground corn, hay, and other supplements (vitamins) to make a yummy mixture that the cattle love to eat!
The calves are also given mineral blocks to lick. The blocks are kind of like a big vitamin that you may take every day to keep you healthy!
In the summer, when the corn is tall and green, we chop it. That chopped corn is called silage. The silage is stored in these long white bags. It will last for a whole year until it is time to chop silage again.
We hope that Flat Aggie enjoyed her time on our farm! She is welcome back anytime. Maybe she can come visit us again in the fall when we harvest our crops!
Thanks Sarah! What an adventure she had!
