An Amazing Week So Far!

Pen 1 (Cows who have had 1-2 calves) enjoys a tasty lunch in the new barn.

We have been having an amazing week so far.  While the mornings have been early and the nights have been late...it's been worth it all. 
On Monday we had our monthly DHIA test, where we learned how the cows have been adapting to their new home.  It was awesome to see how well they are doing!  In all honesty, the past couple months have been a trial for them.  The old barn was over crowded, and the bedding was piling up.  The freedom and space of the new barn, combined with the comfortable stalls and added feeding space has really paid off.  Our #1 cow...Orange Patch Rockette...or you can just call her Rockette, produced a whopping 168 pounds of milk in one day (almost 20 gallons!)!  She's definitely a rockstar in our eyes!  Our #1 heifer (had just 1 calf so far) named Orange Patch Morty Blessing...or Blessing for short...produced an also impressive 120 pounds per day!  Both of these cows, are like so many others in our herd, who are exceeding our expectations, and we are truly blessed with the opportunity to work with them.
On Tuesday we had herd health in the new barn.  We used the headlocks (as seen in the picture above) to "lock" our cows, so our veterinarian could check them out.  Using the headlocks proved to be an enjoyable experience for us humans, but more importantly for the cows!  They really enjoyed being able to eat while we did their check ups, and even after we released them, the cows kept coming back for more attention.  The good news is that we have another 18 cows and 4 heifers ready to have calves in September!  We're really excited about that! The better news was the herd health took less time, but more importantly, was kinder and gentler on the cows! So cool!
Today, was another great experience....we enjoyed visiting with the area high school animal science class.  The 21 students came to our farm this morning with a really good general base of knowledge about dairy farming, thanks to their awesome ag-teacher.  With the knowledge they asked some great questions about the practices we use on our farm.  I can't say enough good things about the importance of ag-education in high schools and the importance of teaching our teens where their food actually comes from!  Overall this was one of the best, if not the best tour group of teens that we've ever had! Just awesome! =)

Sleepy Eye FFA Dairy Juding Team brings home 3rd!!!!

Sleepy Eye FFA Dairy Judging Team 2009

Back Row: Advisor Mary Hoffmann, Assistant Advisor Ben Seifert

Front Row: Angela Sellner, Laura Rosenhammer, Shawn Suess, Chris Seifert

I have AWESOME news tonight! This afternoon, while we were trudging through the mud to feed the dry cows, my father in law came rushing out to the silage bag pad in my mother in law's van...he was so excited! I knew it was good news from the National FFA Convention...and I was right. Steve came to tell us that the Dairy Judging team, which had my youngest sister and Jonathan's little brother (my brother in law) on it....had won 3RD PLACE!!!!! They are the 3rd best dairy judging team in the NATION! To add to our excitement, we found out that Laura placed 3rd overall as an individual, Angela placed 7th, and Chris placed 13th!!!!! These young adults have been working with each other since they were in grade school. They have been judging in 4-H for years, won at the National 4-H Judging contest, earned a trip to Europe-did well there, and now won this contest!

I am so excited for these youth, all 4 active in the dairy industry, each in their own way. They have such bright futures in no matter what they might do. It's amazing to have watched these youth grow and develop into such wonderful young adults in the "vehicle" of the dairy industry. Often children from dairy farms talk about the qualities and traits that they learned from their families and from working on their dairy farms. After watching these kids grow up, I can honestly say that they also learned and lived those qualities. Qualities of leadership, responsibility, respect, determination, honesty, hard work ethic, teamwork, and so many more! Congratulations Laura, Angie, Chris and Shawn! Your hard work and determination has paid off!!!! Congrats for a JOB WELL DONE!!!!!!

Mike Rowe speaks at the National FFA Convention

Mike Rowe, of Dirty Jobs (on the Discovery Channel) spoke at the National FFA Convention this week. How inspiring for those FFA-ers to see and hear Mike Rowe, a man who knows about Dirty Jobs! His speech is awesome...please check this link out and scroll down to the Mike Rowe photo, it's about 35 minutes of audio but WELL worth the listen!!!!

P.S. Sending positive thoughts to the Sleepy Eye FFA who competed today, representing Minnesota, in the Dairy Judging Competition! Hoping for good news tomorrow!

Is God Against Us??

Well, I don't really believe that God is against us, but it seems like this was yet another Sunday where the cows decided to interrupt our day of rest...

Jon and I successfully finished chores this morning just in time to make 11am mass-yep-we're Catholic ;) After mass we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant and then home for a long over due nap. After a nap we hung out at home (first Sunday in months) to watch a movie together, when we got the call....cow down, can't get up. This was the 3rd Sunday in a row that something happened on the farm where we had to cut out "day of rest" short. Jonathan muttered under his breath "God must be against us". While he didn't believe that and I didn't believe that, some days it's hard not to think it. Sunday is suppose to be a day of rest, how could God let these cows get into trouble. So we ended our movie and headed out the farm.

We found cow number 73 in the sick cow pen laid out on her side and moaning. After a quick inspection we decided that 73 had come down with toxic mastitis otherwise known as e-coli. A little info about e-coli...it's environmental mastitis (infection of the udder) and when it infects an udder it produces a toxic poison in the cow's body which can kill if not treated properly. E-coli is everywhere in the environments of cows...pastures, stalls, alleys, etc. The goal of a dairy farmer is to keep cows as clean as possible to prevent e-coli to infect cows. Cleanliness IS next to Godliness! In the case of 73 we are pretty confident that she laid her uddering into a cow pie (manure). As clean as we keep our cows, we can't stop them from laying in manure. Cows in pack barns like ours and on pasture often lay in manure-it happens, we can't stop them. Cows in tie stalls or free stalls often lay in such a way that they don't lay in manure....so there is an advantage to having stalls. Back to 73....

Turns out 73 just rolled over on her side and couldn't get back up. She received a series of IV fluids...2 bottles of calcium for muscle function, 1 bottle of dextrose (sugar) for energy, 2 bottles of saline (water) to rehydrate her, some meds from her fever, and antibiotics for the infection. Without the antibiotics 73 would die....they work to help fight the toxins in her body. After her treatment 73 drank a lot of water--a great sign, and stood up on her own! We were so thrilled!!! She looked so much better by the end of the night, even though she was still sick she was definitely showing signs of improvement! Tomorrow she will get another treatment for mastitis in her udder, and any other fluids she might need to help her feel better-we continue to hope for a full recovery.

In other news, the farm is buzz with preparations for the county fair this week! I am in charge of the dairy show, but my brothers and sister in law all participate in various 4-H and FFA events at the county fair. There are animals getting trained, washed, and clipped. The cattle trailer is getting backed with supplies for the fair, and final touches are being done to 4-H projects. And I don't want to forget my other brother in law Marcus who has been working on finishing up his demolition derby car and truck for this week's grandstand events. I may not be able to blog this week as I will be busy at the fair grounds for the next 5 days, but rest assure I will do a full recap of the week's events!

The Value of Bio security....

Tis County Fair Season in our parts...Southern MN that is. I am the current County Dairy Superintendent for the 4-H, FFA, and Open Class Dairy Shows. In my role, I am responsible for working with youth and parents to make sure we run a fun, successful show, but still safe. When you visit your local county fairs you see the animals, you see the kids and their families working on their animals, caring for them, but there is a LOT of work behind the scenes that is done to make sure that you are safe to visit the animals and we as farmers are safe to bring our animals.

BIO SECURITY....our work to make sure that animals and people are safe from any hazardous organisms. Did you know that each exhibitor at the fair has to pass an on site inspection by a licenced veterinarian? Yep, that's right! Any animals that might have any contagious disease are sent home immediately...for the safety of the other exhibitors. These families and kids put months and years of work into developing their show animals....so we take their health very seriously. We would hate to make animals at the neighbor's farm sick and we would hate to bring home something from the fair and make the rest of our cows sick. Cleanliness is next to Godliness....that's right, we wash our trailers, wash our feed pans and drinking cups...everything to make sure the cows and calves are well taken care of.

Have you been asked to clean your hands BEFORE and AFTER petting an animal at the fair? There is a reason for that...just like we don't want you to get a "germ" from the cow, we also don't want you to give our cows "germs". Example: This spring we did a day care tour, and one of the kids that petted my calf did not wash their hands well. As a result my calf contracted a bacteria with gave it diarrhea. We treated her and she was fine, but if we had not exposed her to the kids she would have never gotten sick. So please remember to wash your hands BEFORE and AFTER petting animals at the fair...it's for your safety as well as theirs.

On the farm, owners and managers often post signs at the front of the farm stating "No One Admitted Past this Point, This is a Bio secure Area". These signs are to warn visitors that they must check in at the office and not go wandering around the farm. Our vets often "wash in" and "wash out". They scrub their boots before treating cows as well as washing before they leave. We use sterile equipment to prevent infection. We sanitize milking equipment to keep our product safe....when it's all said and done on a dairy farm, we are all about BIO SECURITY-for ours and ours :)

Busy Farm Update!

Oh life on the farm never slows down! Good news from the milk inspector...we passed! All of the hard work paid off, but we didn't expect not to pass, so that was good. I had a nice chat with the inspector while he was cleaning his boots before leaving. He complemented us on our upcoming preschool tours, noting that more than a handful of local dairies also host grade school kids in the spring for tours. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HOSTING! Those kids will have memories that will last a lifetime!

Another bit of exciting news comes from the local FFA Chapter. The Sleepy Eye FFA Chapter participated in the 80th Minnesota FFA Convention this past weekend. My brother in law and youngest sister were members of the Dairy Judging Team, and we are PROUD to announce that after much hard work, they won 1st place! And a trip to the National FFA Convention this fall! Congratulations to Chris, Angela, Laura and Shawn for a job WELL DONE! FFA does an excellent job of teaching agriculture to students rural and urban, and we proudly support their work!

Jonathan (my husband) and Steve (my father in law) are leaving tomorrow for another road trip, machinery shopping. This means that I will be solely in charge of the chores and cows tomorrow! I am excited, because driving 10+ hours to Southeast Minnesota and Wisconsin to look at choppers didn't sound like a lot of fun to me. I willingly volunteered to stay home. I will be in charge of morning and evening milking and calf chores as well as feeding the cows and heifers. I am also hoping to get a head start on my dairy princess' schedule for the coming summer promotion season, that is if nothing goes wrong-God willing! I wish the guys the best tomorrow as they pursue a good deal and a new addition to our forage processing fleet. Hopefully I will have pictures of a new harvester soon!