Corn Silage coming fast!!!!

I thought I would have time on Sunday to post BUT we are looking at chopping corn silage very soon!!!! As a result we have a LOT of prep work to do. This weekend we worked on hooking up the chopper, greasing, lubing, airing up tires, etc. We need to make 8 silage bags of corn, each 250ft. long, holding about 375 ton or 750,000 pounds of silage. That silage will feed about 200 cows for an entire year at our farm. Making it correctly is critical for us to make good milk for the coming year. So if I am missing I am sorry I am busy working on silage, and I will have a full report once we complete the job, hopefully in about 1 week.

Chopper shopping update...

Jonathan wanted me to clarify something. Even though we are currently looking for a new chopper, we can't really afford it. Milk prices have put additional stress on our family. We were able to save a little money last year when the milk prices were higher, and we plan on using that to help us update our equipment. One thing that is critical when we are making forages is making sure that ALL of our equipment is ready to run. After the 2008 Forage Season we are not entirely sure that our 1991 model chopper can make it through another 100 acres of alfalfa and 100 acres of corn. Knowing this, we NEED to replace this chopper. Our herd's future production depends on the quality of the feed we make. There's nothing worse than a broken chopper with 100 acres of alfalfa laying in the sun, drying and getting drier or.....raining coming in hours. Dry alfalfa makes terrible feed and rain often causes forages to mold, therefore timing is CRITICAL and equipment NEEDS to be ready to run.

We still haven't found the "right one", but we have found a couple "good ones" according to Jonathan. Jonathan continues to search online for other choppers he might have missed, looking for something a little closer to our price range. He was also talking about leaving for another road trip to Wisconsin next week. We shall see if he does leave, especially since we are FINALLY able to start planting corn this afternoon! We will keep you up to date!

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!