When it comes to making a lasting impression, Paisley and Buttercup knew how to work it last week.
The week-old calf and six-year-old Holstein were outside White Rock Library for about an hour July 22 as part of BC Dairy Association's Mobile Dairy Classroom Experience.
The presentation included a milking and feeding demonstration, along with a slew of fun facts – some of which evoked a resounding "ewwwww" from the crowd of fascinated youngsters who turned out for the show.
The first squeamish response followed the fact – shared by presenter Kelsey Epton – that Buttercup uses her foot-long tongue to clean out her nose.
Other more-charming tidbits shared by Epton, who grew up in South Surrey, included that Buttercup – who weighs in at around 1,500 lbs – drinks about 120 litres (a bathtub-full) of water per day, is always itchy, has an almost 360-degree view of her surroundings and has no front top teeth. The latter clears the way for Buttercup's tongue to come out, Epton noted.
Paisley, she said, weighs about 80 lbs, and will drink milk for the first three or four months of her life. A healthy calf will drink at the pace of about one suck per second, she said.
The second "ewwwww" followed word that cows, which have four stomachs, burp up and re-chew their food "over and over."
Following the presentation, children surrounded Paisley's enclosure for a closer look, smiling and giggling at the calf's antics.
Epton and co-presenter Shania Postma told Peace Arch News it is "so fun" taking the mobile classroom to kids around the Lower Mainland.
Last week's itinerary included a stop at Tsawwassen Library.