On Saturday, Billy first gave us a tour of the Michigan State farms and the dairy where he conducted research. We first visited the horse unit – beautiful barns and adorable babies!
One of Billy’s role with his research and work at the dairy was to help create the ration for the cows. I was happy to hear that around 30% of the ration was corn co-products. :)
Gotta love the Sparty-Cow!
We also checked out the beef cow-calf unit and feedlot.
Next we headed to Somerset – south of Lansing about an hour. Somerset is where the farm that Grandpa Pope grew up on for most of his childhood. We first visited Joyce Foster, Grandpa’s neighbor that knew him very well. When Ronny visited Michigan as a child, he slept on Joyce’s screened-in porch on this swing. He wouldn’t fit on it too well today!
Here is the farm house that Grandpa lived in. There was a big windstorm a few days prior that knocked down some trees.
We drove past the house down this lane that Great Grandpa Pope would take with his horses and plow to work the ground on the back of the property.
This is the view to the south of the farm.
This area is very wooded and the “tunnel” that we drove through was pretty narrow! In the wooded area is a small grave of one of Grandpa Pope’s dogs.
The field beyond Billy and Ronny is where the Pope’s would farm or keep livestock on.
We stopped in Somerset to look at the beautiful church that Grandpa went to. We also saw where Great Grandpa and Grandpa Pope were buried.
We left the farm and found a great restaurant in Manitou Beach near Devil’s Lake. I loved the ceiling of doors!
On the way back to Lansing, we checked out two wineries. One was in an old schoolhouse and the other was owned by a small plane enthusiast.
That evening, we got back and hung out by the pool and ate pizza. It was really a great trip and we thank Billy for taking the time to host us! We drove the 12 hours back on Sunday and made it back with a new friend!
1 comment:
Looks like a totally fun trip with lots of family history!
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