There Goes the Neighborhood.

Years ago, the university I attend was the farm school of the UC system. That meant it wasn't part of the UC proper; it wasn't even a college or university. It was only one small department, more or less, sort of the training ground for California farmers, and the major food producer for the rest of the UCs. Even though a lot has changed since then, the university's agriculture programs are still top-notch in a variety of fields.

This interesting history has produced an even more interesting, and slightly repugnant, situation. You see, the university's campus is quite large, 5,300 acres, in fact. A considerable portion of this space is taken up by agricultural fields and animal pastures. The university is situated on the southwest corner of town. The city's downtown is directly to the east; its major old-money suburbs are to the north; and the freeway is to the south. So as you might expect, most of the aforementioned fields and pastures extend into the west from the main block of campus. I am sure this was an ideal arrangment when the university was a small farm school. The campus office buildings were conveniently close to the city and housing, and the livestock and pesticides were distant and isolated. But as the university has grown, its needs have grown as well. Consequently, it constructed a large number of dorm buildings, cafeterias, a recreation center, an enormous swimming pool, and a football stadium. Can you guess where these structures went? That's right, on the west side of campus. It was the only available space. But some of the farm structures remained where they were. So now there is this odd combination of dorm buildings and dairy barns. Maybe you can see where I am going.

Since Darling Wife and I first moved here, I have found it somewhat amusing and somewhat distressing that this does not seem to be a problem for anyone. The freshmen are literally kept with the cattle! Now you know my feelings about undergraduates, but seriously, have you ever been near a dairy? I grew up with cows, but they were beef cattle with wide pastures to roam in. Dairy cattle, and dairys, are entirely different animals from those I know. Instead of thirty head of cattle on 70 acres, you have fifty head of cattle in one acre. Some days the stench is absolutely unbearable. I cannot understand why they don't just move the dairy. I, for one, would not want to live and eat next door to the pungent and noxious aroma of bovine neighbors, and there is no way I'd go for a swim or watch a football game with those harmful zephyrs perfuming the air. I can only guess what the visiting teams must think.