The farm tour is advertised as a 'drive-it-yourself' tour of six farms. Eight hardy bicyclists had a treat of Barb's peanut butter cookies and cider at the bike shop before heading out to the first farm. The temperatures were in the low 50's with a strong, cold wind out of the north. Our first stop was north of Oxford, right into the wind... 
At the first stop, Green Prairie Turf, Inc., we saw a $180,000 harvester that cuts, rolls, and places the sod on a pallet. We had the opportunity to watch it in action! 
The ride to the second stop was a little less windy. This is the Study Dairy Farm. There were horses for the youngsters to ride and pens with goats, pigs and sheep. And a multitude of cats... 
This is the outside of a large stable with room for up to 75 horses at Tincher's Quarter Horses. We stood in the warm sun, relishing being out of the wind for a short time. 
Indian Creek Simmentals 
The Simmental breed of cattle produces a lot of milk for their young. The cows are known for being good mothers, so the calves grow very rapidly. 
The sun was warm and, finally, we had a tail wind that blew us back to Oxford. Never mind the steep hill we climbed to get out of the Indian Creek Valley! 
We drove to the Saurber Family Sheep Farm as the road to this farm had too much traffic for safe bicycling. 
There were sheep shearing and spinning demonstrations. In spite of the strong head wind at the beginning of the ride, we all enjoyed our visit to the farms.
# posted by Martha @ 7:20 PM
