Happy Cows

Calf is sucking my thumb!!!

Just south of Poas Volcano is the town of Poasito where Judy's friend, Ricardo Gurdian has a dairy farm.  He and one of his daughters, Liz,  kindly agreed to show us around.  We started with the calves who were staying in their 'nursery' barn until they grew enough to mingle with the older cows. The calves are fed with bottles, get time to frolic in the nearby field, and receive lots of attention while they grow.

Ricardo showing us the calf barn

Ricardo, Liz and granddaughter Claudia watching the cows come in for milking

Cute calf!

We looked up the hill to see the cows coming down from the pastures for their milking - something they very much want to happen. Cows are not stupid animals and quickly learn the routines. In fact, Ricardo told us that the cows figure out which field they are to graze by noticing the single wire closing the path to the pastures they will not use.  They change pastures twice a day - after each milking.

Here come the cows

Cows having their afternoon 'cocktail' of water before milking

The cows arrive and immediately get to the water trough. Once they drink, they enter the feeding barn where they get to eat their special mix of grains, molasses and vitamins. Then comes the milking.  The herd is typically around 200 cows and with mechanized milking, it takes about 2 hours to milk all of them.

Cows having their dinner before milking. Each one knows their special spot

10 cows getting milked at a time - and they seem to like it

Later, we hopped into the Land Rover to get a tour of the pastureland, and to hear an amazing story about the big earthquake in 2009.  The quake almost destroyed Ricardo's home at the dairy farm, and it tore up the dairy equipment, putting the cows and the milking process in jeopardy.  Lucky for Ricardo, he had an electrician visiting the day of the quake and he stayed at the dairy until they could repair the milking machinery and get the cows back on their schedule.  Meanwhile, Ricardo stayed at the house without water or electricity to keep it and the dairy safe while the country started to recover.
Ricardo showed us where there used to be a small stream. After the quake, the stream disappeared completely.  Several years later, the water exploded from the source of the stream, tearing open the earth, destroying trees and ground that lay in its path as it made its way down the hills narrowly missing the town.  Today,  we saw this path of destruction and tried to comprehend what had happened.

Ricardo and Claudia getting past the cows

At the top of Ricardo's pastures, accessible only via Range Rover or horse - amazing views