The Cupertino Courier

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Nose to snout with a real live cow

By ERIN HUSSEY

"Is that a cow?" a kid in a red ball cap asked his mom, looking back over his shoulder as she pulled him by the hand into the Cupertino Whole Foods Market.

Yes, on Sept. 28 amongst the cars and parked grocery carts stood a 1,600-pound black and white milk cow named Pennie and a calf named Robert.

"There are less and less people that grow up on farms," Pennie's owner Jolynn Mendoza said, "so it's important to teach them that milk comes from a cow, not from a carton."

Eisenhower Elementary School's second-grade class took advantage of the unique learning opportunity and loaded more than 120 students onto a school bus for a short morning field trip.

Second-grade teacher Diane Selby said studying milk production from cow to table is in the class' social studies lesson.

"This makes that come to life and is very exciting for them," said Selby. After each student had the opportunity to pet and take a photo with Pennie, dairy field manager Mike Griffin invited the kids to watch him milk.

Pennie is part of the herd at Clover Stornetta Farms, a three-generation family-owned and operated dairy processing plant in Petaluma. It works closely with 19 family farms. In 2000 it became the first of only three dairies in the United States to be certified by the American Humane Association for its animal welfare program that allows cows to range free.

Observing Pennie, Griffin told the assembled children, "She has a real small bag right now. She's almost done milking, and we won't milk her any more when she has the baby."

"It looks easy," one Eisenhower student remarked.

"It can be easy because she likes people," Griffin acknowledged, "but she's used to being with her girlfriends out in the pasture, not in this corral."

Pennie, seven months pregnant, is due sometime in late November or early December. She was chosen for the event because she's been to fairs, is familiar with large crowds and, Griffin said, she's "personable."