By Jonah Brandhandler, Rosh Eidah of Tzofim

How much fun could a tour of a dairy farm really be? Admittedly, I was the biggest skeptic coming into the day. It seemed like a good chance to break away from the routine of camp for a bit and try something new, but ultimately I wasn’t quite sold on how much excitement the day would hold.

I was wrong. Very wrong. Our tiyul (trip) was AMAZING!

After arriving at the farm, we split up into three groups so that we could have smaller tours from a few very knowledgeable and hardworking farmers (their day starts before 4 am!) My group started off by learning about a cow’s body, and how it differs from a human body. The farmer explained what it meant for cows to chew their cud, why they do it, and also how it relates to Judaism and kashrut laws. Not only was the day fun and educational, but we were also able to relate it back to our limud theme of teva (nature)! Everyone then had the chance to milk one of the cows, a first for most chanichim, madrichim, and segel as well. There were many highlights throughout the day, but it’s hard to beat seeing the baby calves. We were taken to the nursery where the calves live until they are 3 months old, and they were super friendly and fun to play with.

After we had our fun with the cows, my group went outside to feed the goats and the sheep. In Tzofim, we have 3 baby goats and 2 sheep, so it was exciting to see familiar animals but on a much larger scale, both in size and in numbers. We walked around a bit more where saw some turkeys, ducks, and pigs among many other animals that live on the farm. Following that we took a tractor ride to the outskirts of the farm where we learned about the process of growing corn, and also saw how all the hay gets made and stored for the cows to eat.

Finally, we went to the chicken house. More importantly, we got to see the baby chicks and hold them. The smallest ones were a little bigger than the size of a golf ball and they were so adorable that we decided we need to bring a few back to camp to take care of! Kibbutz HaTzofim is now home to 3 baby chicks, a lot of great stories from the farm, and a deeper knowledge of understanding of teva. The day was a huge success and we can’t wait to use this great momentum swing to finish off the session strong.