Apologies for this entry being out of order.
Day 21, June 20, 2019
Day 21: Generally restful night at the campground, although Linda and Jeff Polzin had encounters with 2 aggressive raccoons who would not take no for an answer at about 11 pm. One of them managed to score a Little Debbie snack that Jeff was hoping to save for breakfast. Linda threw shoes at her raccoon, who was not fazed. The critters finally decided no more handouts were forthcoming, and moved on. Daybreak was sunny and promising. For our a 25 mile ride into Rochester, MN to get breakfast, we had to traverse about a dozen undulating hills surrounded by scenic Minnesota farmland. The corn is on schedule to be "knee-high by the 4th of July". Rochester is a company town, and Mayo Clinic is boss. After breakfast, we did a mini-circuit of the town's running and bike shops to find some orthotics for Linda and Tim, who were experiencing intermittent hotspots. As we left Rochester, it started to rain lightly, but the drizzle gradually increased in intensity. By the time we arrived at West Concord, we were soaked. We were glad the day's ride was a little shorter than average. Norman and Judy Mett were our hosts tonight. They had the fireplace well-stoked already when we arrived. Norman is another of Tim's high school friends, and is a "retired" large animal vet - he still does some work from time to time, when the need arises. Judy is a retired Mayo transcriptionist. We were treated to a fabulous T-bone and sirloin steak dinner, with perfectly prepared potatoes and homegrown asparagus. We listened to nostalgic stories of Tim and Norman working on a farm, and also for Giant Foods, during high school and college summers.
After dinner, Norman took us to Balzer Dairy Farm, where Scott Balzer gave us a fascinating tour of a modern robotic milking operation with 113 cows and 2 milking machines. The milking is all computerized and automated, and goes on 24 hours a day. Each cow is tagged, and the computer recognizes which cow is there to be milked. The computer also knows the shape of each cow's udder, and how many and where the teats are located on each udder. A laser gently guides the milking device into place over each teat. Most cows are milked 3 times a day, and each cow produces an average of 11+ gallons of milk per day. It takes about 6.5 minutes from the time the cows walk into the milking station, to the time they walk out. Very efficient. The process demonstrates the power of positive reinforcement; the cows are enticed to voluntarily go to the milking station because they will be fed a healthy treat automatically by the machine. The machine first determines if the cow's udder is full enough to milk. If not, the cow is gently guided out, and does not get a treat. So the cows learn pretty quickly to not go to the machine unless their udders are full. The cows are housed in clean and very humane temperature-controlled conditions.
Day 21, June 20, 2019
Day 21: Generally restful night at the campground, although Linda and Jeff Polzin had encounters with 2 aggressive raccoons who would not take no for an answer at about 11 pm. One of them managed to score a Little Debbie snack that Jeff was hoping to save for breakfast. Linda threw shoes at her raccoon, who was not fazed. The critters finally decided no more handouts were forthcoming, and moved on. Daybreak was sunny and promising. For our a 25 mile ride into Rochester, MN to get breakfast, we had to traverse about a dozen undulating hills surrounded by scenic Minnesota farmland. The corn is on schedule to be "knee-high by the 4th of July". Rochester is a company town, and Mayo Clinic is boss. After breakfast, we did a mini-circuit of the town's running and bike shops to find some orthotics for Linda and Tim, who were experiencing intermittent hotspots. As we left Rochester, it started to rain lightly, but the drizzle gradually increased in intensity. By the time we arrived at West Concord, we were soaked. We were glad the day's ride was a little shorter than average. Norman and Judy Mett were our hosts tonight. They had the fireplace well-stoked already when we arrived. Norman is another of Tim's high school friends, and is a "retired" large animal vet - he still does some work from time to time, when the need arises. Judy is a retired Mayo transcriptionist. We were treated to a fabulous T-bone and sirloin steak dinner, with perfectly prepared potatoes and homegrown asparagus. We listened to nostalgic stories of Tim and Norman working on a farm, and also for Giant Foods, during high school and college summers.
After dinner, Norman took us to Balzer Dairy Farm, where Scott Balzer gave us a fascinating tour of a modern robotic milking operation with 113 cows and 2 milking machines. The milking is all computerized and automated, and goes on 24 hours a day. Each cow is tagged, and the computer recognizes which cow is there to be milked. The computer also knows the shape of each cow's udder, and how many and where the teats are located on each udder. A laser gently guides the milking device into place over each teat. Most cows are milked 3 times a day, and each cow produces an average of 11+ gallons of milk per day. It takes about 6.5 minutes from the time the cows walk into the milking station, to the time they walk out. Very efficient. The process demonstrates the power of positive reinforcement; the cows are enticed to voluntarily go to the milking station because they will be fed a healthy treat automatically by the machine. The machine first determines if the cow's udder is full enough to milk. If not, the cow is gently guided out, and does not get a treat. So the cows learn pretty quickly to not go to the machine unless their udders are full. The cows are housed in clean and very humane temperature-controlled conditions.
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| Approaching Rochester. Guess what most of the buildings are for? |
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| The Plummer Building, the original Mayo Clinic building from 1928. |
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| Norm and Judy Mett were our hosts |
Maps of today's ride:
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