John Deere Factory and Fair Oaks Dairy Sept. 10,11, 2012

Mon. 10th  248 Miles

We went to Waterloo, Ia. to the John Deere Tractor Factory, they put us on a trolley that took an hour to tour the factory. We got to see the painting of the tractors by a robot, the mouse would move the parts around the factory where ever they were to be next for assembly. We also found out if the "John Deere" label was on the back window, the tractor had a heated seat and a wrapped steering wheel.  If you wanted they could put a boom box in the cab. This is for the poor farmer...HaHa
It was very interesting, every tractor being assembled was already sold

Tues. 11th  203 Miles.

We are now at the Fair Oaks Dairy, they milk 10,000 cows on this merry go around at this barn. They have 10 barns. We did the tour of the grounds: they make their own ice cream and cheese,  they break down the poop and make power for the dairy surprisingly enough there was no smell, the housing of the cows, they are like a controlled dairy and the cows lay on sand, its easier on their joints, we also went thru the birthing barn. They had 3 girls born today. One of the girls was born just a few minutes before we made it to the barn. They take the babies away from the moms and put them in a little pen of their own. The grounds are beautiful, we spent the night in the parking lot we had green grass, trees and flowers at our door.