After a little time off to work on various other projects for the upcoming county fair, I thought I would just let everyone know I am still alive and kicking. It's be crazy at the farm right now. It's been raining about every 2-4 days and we are trying to make 4th cutting alfalfa in between showers/storms. Our corn is loving this weather though, as it thrives with heat and moisture. The cows are hanging in there with the heat. Milk production has come down about 2-3 pounds per cow and their feed intake is down. I wouldn't want to eat in this heat either. Thank goodness for sprinklers and fans, those things have paid for themselves 10 times over already! I know that the cows will be fine as long as we have sprinklers on them.
Other than that we have the county fair this week, which means I will be busy with the princesses, the anniversary for the princesses, the dairy show and well....hopefully a demolition derby or two! Stay tuned for pictures and more stories!
Showing posts with label county fair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label county fair. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Sleep needed!
Just thought I would let you know I am still alive, just that sleep is needed. After surviving the county fair with about 5 hours of sleep a night, we moved right into 4th cutting of alfalfa hay. Yesterday (Monday) we started cutting our 100 acres of hay, and today we finished cutting and chopped it all. 100 acres of 4th cutting hay should have filled at least 7/8 of a silage bag, but since we have been SO DRY it only filled about 1/3 of a bag. This means we will have to make more corn silage for the cows in order to have enough feed to feed the cows this winter. Corn silage will be starting in a few short weeks, so we will have to do some planning before then. Our alfalfa was beautiful, but so dry....so we hope for rain for a better 5th cutting of alfalfa in September. I will add more info from the fair hopefully tomorrow ;)
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Congratulations Marcus!
While we were milking tonight, we got amazing news from the county fair....in tonight's grandstand event the demolition derby, my brother in law Marcus won 2nd place in the truck derby! Way to go TEAM SEIFERT!!!!!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Just a brief...
Just a brief:
Cow 73 is doing so much better! She's eating and chewing her cud, while she is still receiving antibiotics for her mastitis and her milk is not being used for sale, but instead it's dumped....she's getting better everyday!
The fair animals are getting their finishing touches...tomorrow they move to the fair grounds for the next 5 days. Straw. hay, and feed are all loaded into the trailer. Show boxes and extra clothes are in the truck. It should be a great fair!
Cow 73 is doing so much better! She's eating and chewing her cud, while she is still receiving antibiotics for her mastitis and her milk is not being used for sale, but instead it's dumped....she's getting better everyday!
The fair animals are getting their finishing touches...tomorrow they move to the fair grounds for the next 5 days. Straw. hay, and feed are all loaded into the trailer. Show boxes and extra clothes are in the truck. It should be a great fair!
Monday, August 10, 2009
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!
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!
Friday, August 7, 2009
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 :)
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 :)
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