Casa Grande Gourd Show, February 2013

We went to the 6th Annual Wertz Farm Gourd Show on February 3.  It is held at the Pinal County Fairgrounds and has outside displays, food vendors, gourd supplies, booths where finished gourds are for sale, and a large building showcasing the gourd competition.  Most of these pictures are from the competition.  We could hardly believe the talent and the huge variety of gourd creations.

A colorful welcoming display.

These large wire bins hold gourds for sale.  They come in every possible size and shape and are sold by the size.  These show the "before" gourds.  The following pictures show the "after" gourds.  Gourds are carved, wood burned, painted, beaded, made into bowls, purses, decorative items, etc.

Gourd nativity set.

Two turtles.  A little hard to see, but the one on the left has a saddle and cowboy hat on - very Western.

Not so scary witch.

Cinderella's coach and the next picture is a closeup of the mouse in front of the coach.

Picture those bumpy gourds you get at the grocery store to put on the Thanksgiving table.

A beaded gourd, of course!

This was the people's choice winner and took the artist 3 months to complete.  This globe depiction shows just one side of the gourd - it was decorated on all sides and was really beautiful.

This is an example of a gourd mask. The gourd is cut in half and is hung on a wall as a decoration.

An outside display called Gourds for all Seasons.  The little building named Kindergourden is full of fun information about gourds and how they are grown, harvested, etc.

We didn't  put our faces through the holes in this display, but we should have.  It was just so cute this way.

Grandma and Grandpa by the Shetland Ponies.  Notice the riders on the ponies are made from gourds.

Gourdbye!

We were welcomed to our Shamrock Farms tour by Roxie, their spokescow!  She is quite the diva and has 10,000 of her live friends living on the farm.  You might think ewwwww the smell from 10,000 cows, but you can hardly imagine that it is virtually smell free.  Amazing.

In the lobby, there were three of these big cows to welcome us.  This one is signed by all the employees.  One is plain and the other one is covered in brightly colored hand prints of the 4th and 5th graders at the local school.  Unfortunately, our picture of that cow did not turn out.

We mooooooved onto our tram all painted like a dairy cow and there was even a dog in the tram front seat.

Our tour started at 1:00 pm and there had been 13 calves born on site since midnight of that day.  There are approximately 30 calves born every day.  Young calves are each kept in a separate "crib" so they can be carefully monitored for growth and health.  At 3-6 months of age, the calves are put into groups of about 25.  This is called dairy cow kindergarten and they learn how to fit their heads into small stanchions and do all the things they will have to do later.  They will remain in this same group for 6 or 7 years - the whole time they will be at the farm.  Somehow the cows pick the leader of their group and when they start giving milk, in about 2 years, that leader is always the cow that  leads her group into the milking barn.

In this row of cows entering the milking area, the 6 or so black bodies you see in front are already in their places.  The white cows beyond them are still filing into place.  The leader comes in first and puts her head through the first stanchion.  That releases the second stanchion and the second cow files in.  They know exactly where they going and it works like clockwork.  They have received a bath (from underneath, not from the top) and their udders are cleaned and sanitized with iodine.  Then the milking begins.  When each cow is done, the milking machine automatically disconnects and when the whole row is done, the complete row of stanchions lifts up and all the cows file out.  The cows are milked twice a day.  Can you imagine milking 10,000 cows twice a day.  Whew.

The milk comes out at 102 degrees and it is cooled to 36 degrees within 5 minutes.  There were two horizontal stainless steel pipes to demonstrate this with the top one at the temperature of the milk after milking and the bottom pipe at 36 degrees.  A very effective demonstration.

The packaging plant was not located on the farm, but there was a very good (and comical) film about how the bottles and packages are made, filled, stored and shipped.

We learned that each day each cow eats 100 pounds of feed, drinks 35 gallons of water, produces 30  pounds of waste, and gives 8.5 gallons of milk.  While the cows are being milked, the wet waste material is removed from their pens and dried waste is brought in.  This keeps the smell down greatly and gives the cows a dry place to live.

We stopped at a very nice play area where kids on the tour can run around, climb a big milk bottle, go through a maze, climb on this vehicle and we all got to put our fingers in a "milking machine" to feel what the cows feel when they are milked.  It is just a gentle pulling motion.

My favorite part was getting to feed and pet a 6-week old calf.  There were people from Wisconsin and other dairy states on the tour that had seen so many calves they had no interest in this part, but for me, a city girl, it was lots of fun.  You might notice I am wearing gloves.  Everything on the farm is so clean and they wanted to keep these little girls healthy.

All the cows have "earrings," tags that show their age, health history, how much milk they give, etc.  This little cow was born on December 14, 2012, as  you can see from her tag.

Back in the main building, we received free milk and ice cream.  While waiting in line, we were entertained by this cute homey setting with an old fashioned bathtub, bed and dining table, all done in bright colors and black and white cow print accents.  Very cute.

Just a few of the Shamrock Farms Products.  There were many informative displays including a timeline of the company and some important events.  My favorite item on the timeline was in 1912 - it said "Oreo cookies introduced - let the dunking begin!"

There was a fun gift shop with all kinds of cow-type gifts, even footballs painted to look like cows. 

It was a fun, informative afternoon and well worth the $8 it cost us to get in.  As we left, the tour guide said "raise your hooves if you had a good time" and we all did!