And now for something completely different: Solanco's elementary school students have named a calf that was born at Graywood Farms in Peach Bottom. The idea was a collaborative effort between Quarryville Elementary principal Rebecca Gajecki and the Graybeal family of Graywood Farms. Dairy farmer Byron Graybeal is a school board member, and his wife, Carol, is one of the district's school psychologists.
According to Gajecki, the Graybeals suggested the idea of a contest to name the calf. The elementary administrative team, which in addition to Gajecki includes the other elementary principals, Billie Corbin, Providence; Sandra Haines, Bart-Colerain; and Chris Zander, Clermont, approved of the idea.
"(We) felt this would be a way to add something lighthearted to a difficult time period," Gajecki said.
"With all the kids at home, (the princpals) wanted to keep their interest up. This is something (students) can get excited about," Byron added.
The principals asked their students to suggest names, and a total of 43 unique monikers were submitted. From that list, five were selected for the slate: Butterscotch, Brownie, My Corona, Coco, and Butterfly. Gajecki created a survey used for voting, and after all 527 votes were counted, "Coco" was the resounding winner.
Coco the calf was officially tagged and named on April 22, nearly a month after her birthday of March 28. Coco now has a tag on each ear: one with her name and the other with her birthday and the number 18. Coco is the 18th brown Swiss heifer to be born at Graywood Farms.
Byron explained that while most of the 750 adult cows that produce milk on his farm are black-and-white Holsteins, the herd includes a few brown Swiss cows too. The price that farmers receive for their milk is based on a complicated formula that factors in the components of the milk and what they are used for. Simply put, higher-fat, higher-protein milk can command a relatively higher price, so adding the richer brown Swiss milk to the greater volume Holstein milk ups the farm's income.
Brown Swiss cows also have an intangible benefit as compared to Holsteins. "The colored breeds have more personality," Byron remarked.
Byron has been providing photos and updates that have been posted on the district's social media pages. Coco drinks two gallons of milk a day and also receives some grain. Calves are born with teeth on their bottom jaw, and those teeth remain through adulthood; they never grow teeth on their upper jaw. After two months, Coco will be moved from the large hutch where she is living with four other calves and put into a bigger pen with a greater number of calves. There, she will be switched to a diet of grain and hay. When Coco is about 13 or 14 months old, she will be bred. If all goes well, Coco will have her first calf about 10 months later. She will then join the rest of the adult cows that are milked.
Byron said he is open to taking Coco to visit the elementary schools when it is safe to do so in the fall. She might make other public appearances, too.
"We'd love it if, eventually, Coco could be at the Solanco Fair and the public could interact directly with her," Gajecki said. "We aren't sure if this will be a possibility, but we continue to remain hopeful."
Gajecki also said she wants to offer a "Questions and Answers With Coco" opportunity in which students can submit queries that are answered from Coco's point of view.
"At Solanco, our mission statement is 'Connecting. Inspiring. Empowering.' As an elementary team, we felt this project would allow our students to feel connected to our schools and to have something to (anticipate) as they looked for updated videos and pictures," Gajecki said. "It has been challenging not reporting to the school buildings each day, so the use of social media has allowed us to create small projects for families to be engaged."
Social media users who would like to see updates from Coco and other school projects may follow "Solanco School District" on Facebook and @SolancoSchlDist on Twitter and Instagram.
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