Wordless Wednesday-better late than never ;)



Lunch time on the Patio!  Summertime has been a great time for the cows to enjoy our new patio!



2011 Projects-Phase 2: The Patio!

Arrival of the feed bunks! Another muddy day!

So much rain meant Jon had to work in the rain a lot! Dedicated to get the job done!

Finished project!  Happy Cows! Success!

Since late March, we have been working diligently to start and finish our second project for 2011.  We wanted to do this project last November, but thanks to our lovely Minnesota winters, we were greeting with snow a little too early.  Late March we started moving dirt, poured concrete in April, laid the bunks in place in April, welded gates & fencing in April and let the cows out for their first night on the patio just before May began!  Our patio was inspired by a visit at a fellow dairy farmer's farm, Laura Daniels of Wisconsin.  Laura had a patio on her farm for her Jersey cows to roam out to, which allowed her to add more eating space for her cows.  BRILLIANT IDEA!  We saw this idea in October, and wanted to add it immediately, but there were some hoops to jump through...all dairy farmers have to do some serious planning before a project, even a smaller one like this.

First we started to lay out the "floor plan".  We then contacted the local county office to visit with our County Feedlot Inspector.  Our inspector came to the farm for a visit in November to check the site, overview our plans and give the "go-ahead" to start.  The primary concern for the county, with outdoor feeding, is manure run off.  We designed the patio with curbs and bumpers which keep the manure from running away, even in a heavy rain storm.  Next we contacted local contractors to bid the project and worked with our banker to secure financing.  So...why did we add this patio?!?!?! 

Easy!  We have more heifers calving each month, and we have a very low cull rate (percent of cows removed from the herd via sale), therefore each month our herd grows with additional cows-the result of excellent animal care!  Our growing herd had plenty of space in our bedded pack barn for laying down, resting and sleeping, but as we add cows the amount of feed bunk space got lower and lower.  We managed around this by pushing up feed frequently each day, as well as feeding twice a day.  The cows never ran out of feed, but the competition for feed increased.  Research recommends 24 inches of space per cow...so we added the patio.  The patio also allowed the cows to go outside to enjoy the sun and get a little exercise.  They enjoy the sun shining in on the south side of our curtain barn, but this was an added bonus!  Even on a rainy day, there's at least a couple standing out there!  Check out the pictures of the progress that got us to our final goal!  Ultimately, the new Patio allows us to continue the excellent care our cows get everyday!

Corn Silage 2010

Well I know it's been a long time since I blogged, but I am hoping now that a majority of our forage harvesting for the year I will have more time to devote to this blog.  Since we were busy chopping corn silage last week, taking about 4.5 days to chop over 2800 tons of corn silage for our cows from about 135 acres of corn, I thought I would do a short/long/informative recap of the week's events.

A little information about corn silage first though.  We strive to feed our cows a high forage diet (a diet composed mainly of fiber/forage instead of grain, which promotes excellent rumen & cow health).  The vast majority of our diet's forage comes from corn silage.  We like corn silage because it not only provides valuable fiber material for our cows but also highly available energy in the form of corn grain.  The corn grain in corn silage has been processed (crushed so that rumen bacteria can digest the corn starch to make proteins to feed the cow) and the corn is also wet-also making it more digestible.  Our cows eat over 100 pounds of feed each day, and over 50 pounds of that is corn silage.  As such a large portion of our cows' daily diets, corn silage quality becomes very critical. 

Excellent cow health on our farm starts with excellent nutrition.  We harvest our corn at 65-69% moisture.  A normal corn plant is about 75% moisture, but after the corn grain is mature, with the onset of fall, corn plants begin to dry down and lose moisture.  With the warm temperatures this summer and excellent growing conditions, we had an earlier than expected harvest of silage.  We also had to work faster than expected to beat the weather.  With temperatures in the 90's and strong southerly winds, the clock was ticking.  Usually corn will lose about .5% of moisture each day in normal temperatures, but with the increased temperatures we were losing more moisture than expected.  We pushed even harder to finish the harvest, and thanks to an awesome friend of the family (who donated his time and his tractor) and an awesome brother in law...we were able to reach our goals.  On Sunday night/Monday morning we ran the last load of corn silage into the bag, celebrated with a beer and "hit the hay".  Monday we sealed silage bags, and boy did they smell amazing!  I LOVE the smell of freshly fermenting corn silage.  It's comforting to know we have most of our feed for our cows for the upcoming year in bags.   We have been truly blessed!  Please feel free to check out the pictures below from the week's events as well as a new video I added to YouTube.

Rows of delicious feed for our cows this coming year.

Chopping corn silage in "our" corn field.

Filling the bagger (the machine with packs the corn silage into the long silage bags).

My brother in law and our friend showing off, as they are side winding corn silage into the 2nd silage box so that the chopper doesn't have to stop chopping.

Thanks to the dry and warm weather we had a fair amount of dust on our field roads coming into the farm.

Tall rows of corn, green and full of nutrients for our cows!

Last load of the night!  It was a hard one to get in, thanks to some break downs, but we got it done!

Caught with Our Pants Down

I guess I could say that we gave been "caught with our pants down", at the farm.  Typically spring doesn't officially arrive in our part of MN until early May.  This year we have been treated with some awesome temperatures (in the 70's) for more than a couple days!  These warm days have really pushed the plants along.  Our alfalfa fields are currently on track to need harvesting almost 2 weeks earlier than scheduled.  Our neighbors have been planting corn all week.  Last year (2009) we would have been laughing at them, since we still had snow in some fields at this time!  (last spring was abnormally cold and wet)  Today I had to start mowing the lawn around the dairy barn~which I normally don't do until May 1st, but the grass REALLY needed.  I love the smell of cut grass though, it was amazing!  Since it appears that we have lost 2 weeks of time we are "caught with our pants down". 

We would have used those 2 weeks to do some many other tasks.  I have so much trash to pick up in the ditch that goes past our farm...apparently people have yet to learn NOT to litter!  Makes me so mad, when we work so hard to have a nice farm site and take care of our environment and others just throw their trash in our ditches.  Oh well...I will get to trash later in the coming weeks.  I need to pick up the AgBag (plastic that we use to store our silages) plastic that blew away during the winter storms and hid in the snow drifts.  We need to finish up last minute touches in the parlor before the milk inspector comes~I am almost there but not quite.  I have also been working on doing some much needed fixing in the parlor on the milking equipment.  It works just fine, but there are some parts that need to be replaced.  New works just a little bit better than used.  We have a couple of lots with manure in that need to be hauled out quick before the corn and beans go into the soil...and  FINALLY we have fields to work also to get started planting our own corn....phew I am getting tired just thinking about it.  So...here we go, trying to fit in 2 extra weeks of work into as few of days as possible....one thing you learn on the farm is to always be "flexible"!!!!

Steaming Manure?

A short video from November 2009, explaining why our compost pack barn manure is steaming and other fun facts!

Warm March Weather

Oh this Sunday was wonderful. Even though it was cloudy, foggy and rainy...the snow is melting and the temperatures are rising.

This morning we were greeted with a cow in labor. #97, who is 6 years old was in the process of calving, we decided that since she started before we found her that she may need some help. We assisted her labor and delivered a beautiful baby heifer calf. We named her Tracy. Within an hour Tracy was up and running around. We quickly milked #97, fed Tracy, and made sure that #97 was eating her morning meal of TMR (total mixed ration). Seems like we only get heifers on Sunday mornings, which make us late for church, but at least we have an excellent excuse.

We got to church, went out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant, and returned to the farm to finish feeding the rest of the cows and heifers. Rest assured no animals ran out of feed, since we usually feed extra on Saturdays to make sure that the milking cows, heifers and dry cows have enough feed to let us enjoy church and a nice "day date". After swiftly feeding the animals, we went home and enjoyed a lovely walk outside. Though brisk, the 35 degree temperatures feel like a tropical paradise compared to a few short weeks ago when it was 35 below zero instead.

This weather is giving me the "itch" to play in the dirt. I am eagerly looking forward to planting my garden and planting our first field of corn. Spring-like weather also gives me the energy to tackle last minute projects at home, before I would rather spend my time outside in the garden. I managed to fully clean the kitchen this weekend and living room. I don't know how much more I will accomplish since we have a busy week scheduled on the farm, but we will see, with this new energy I may still find time. And I am so thankful to have my computer back!

Dear March

Dear March:

I was wondering if you could bring back a couple of my favorite things these coming days. Please bring back sunshine-we miss its warm rays to melt the snow. Please bring back mud, yes I said mud, because at least I don't have to move mud on a daily basis if the wind blows. Please bring back the rain-I love how it smells, snow doesn't really smell, and rain doesn't need to be moved. Please bring back dirt....I forgot how wonderful it smells after a warm rain and once its freshly tilled. Please bring back temperatures over 35 degrees, I forgot how freeing it can be to walk around without our almost 10 layers of clothing on, every day. I yearn to wear only a light sweatshirt and jeans once again.

You can kindly take back the 2 feet of snow that still blankets the ground, we don't need it anymore, Christmas was done months ago. You can take back the wind chills, we got it, it's cold in Canada...they can keep it. You can send back the clouds, unless they bring warm rains, since we really need the sun to dry out the ground.

We are looking forward to flowers (please see the picture attached below for reference), spring tillage, planting peas, and watching the alfalfa start to grow. And yes I am even looking forward to hay season.

If you could kindly meet my requests, I would greatly appreciate it,
Thanks,

One VERY Tired Dairy Farmer in Minnesota

Mourning the loss of a special cow...

Orange Patch Maxie Discovery #604

November 7, 2004-February 18, 2010

Discovery passed away on February 18, 2010, after a hard fought battle against an infection, but ultimately suffered heart failure. Discovery was born at Orange Patch Dairy on November 7th, 2004. She earned her namesake after birth, when she ran away from her mother to the newly constructed barn on Orange Patch Dairy-making her the 1st animal to spend a night in there. Discovery was found the morning after her birth (my birthday). Discovery lived a full life. She enjoyed eating, like no other. She spent her days relaxing with friends (the herd) and her owners (us) and producing a wholesome nutritious product for growing children and moms. She also spent countless hours teaching preschoolers about milk production and dairy farming. Discovery is survived by her mother #332; 3 daughters: Dimples, Dominique, & Dasher; 1 son; 2 granddaughters: Danica & Diva; 1 grandson; 2 sisters: Flurries & Slipknot; and 1 niece: Snow Flakes. Discovery will be remembered for her bright eyes, calm personality, and her morning greetings-where she had to have her head scratched. Discovery's friends will remember her leadership to the parlor and her kindness to others. Rest in Peace Discovery-you will NOT be forgotten, and you will ALWAYS be loved.

Today was a difficult and sad day at Orange Patch Dairy. We lost a very special cow, one that will never be forgotten, therefore I thought I would blog about her. She was the first cow to greet me each morning, when I brought cows into the barn. She was always looking for a good head scratching, and we always gave in. Discovery also served as an ambassador for our farm on our annual preschool visits. She loved the extra attention the kids gave her in the parlor. Her bright eyes never dimmed, until she passed away. That made it all the more difficult to say good bye. We do our BEST every day to keep our cows healthy, but sometimes, in rare events, the environment wins. No matter how hard we work to treat and care for a sick cow, sometimes its just their time to go to "Cow Heaven". I prayed all week for a quick recovery, but Discovery was not able to pull through. Today I cried for a good 20 minutes after she passed and teared up as I erased her name from our roster....I still feel so sad about her leaving us. I look forward to the futures that her daughters and granddaughters will have in our herd...and hope that we can continue to IMPROVE our farming practices to even further reduce the number of days like today. I just hate watching cows suffer illnesses.

Rest in Peace Discovery, I will miss you every morning I go to bring in cows :(

Frosty Pics from the Farm

Purple cone flowers that made it through the winter.

Pretty vines on the trees in the grove.

Frosted round bales of grass hay.

Winter view of the heifer lot.

Dry cows, relaxing in the dry cow lot on this frosty winter day.

Meet AC/DC, our heifer who is 16 months old and expecting her first calf this fall.

Yevette!!! (our preemie calf from this summer) She's doing so well! She loves it outside, even if it's frosty. She's almost as tall as the other calves her age, but has so much more attitude.

Kittens like to snuggle up with the bulls calves in the calf barn.

Frosty trees in the yard.

Silver Bells, checking out the frost covered shrubs in front of her calf hut.

Our Dairy Barn, almost 5 years old already. View from the road.

Komanche, our heifer, checking out the birds in the tree out in the yard.

It's so cold, but we have such a pretty view outside!

Which one of these doesn't belong? Yep, it's Glencoe, she was our "day care" calf this summer, who visited area day cares. She thinks she needs to be spoiled and is completely immune to electric fences-she goes where she wants to and we just let her.

What a great view from the dairy barn!

Cows eating in a very foggy barn. Yummy! TMR! (total mixed ration-containing alfalfa, corn silage and so many other great feeds!)

Congrats for surviving this Week of Winter!

Oh I couldn't be more excited for warmer weather than what I am right now! In case you didn't notice, I haven't posted a blog in over a week. There's a GOOD explanation for that-we were taking care of our cows the best that we could in some pretty miserable Minnesota weather. At last count we put in 3 16-hour days, 2 15-hour days, and 3 12-hour days. It's been tough, no lie about that. Our biggest challenge was just making sure that all of our cows, heifers and calves were protected from the wind and snow. Frost bite is just as dangerous to cows as it is to humans....we take the winter very seriously. We bedded in all animals everyday with lots of extra straw, thereby keeping them dry and clean. We moved cows that were due to calve in the coming days, into a heated pen to assure us that any calves born would be warm and frost-free. Accidents do happen, where cows are not smart enough to stay out the wind and decide to have their calves out in the open, in a snow bank, and in the wind-those calves usually die. Knowing this fact-we didn't want to take any chances-we want all live calves, so mothers got moved inside. We used special teat creams/lotions in the milking barn to protect teats on cows and heifers that could be at risk of freezing as well. The temperatures dipped below -30 a couple of times over night, but wind chills were out biggest enemy: -45! Add some fluffy, fresh snow and we had a good mess on our hands. One night we were even unsure if we could make the 7 mile trip from the farm back to our home since most local roads were closed...but we made it.

It's days like those that I really wonder how animal rights activists can accuse us on "not caring" for our cows!?!?! Seriously!?!?!? If I didn't care for my cows, I would have stayed at home, wrapped up on the couch with a warm blanket instead of sporting 5 layers of clothing and a ski mask to care for my animals. Those days were really hard on us mentally. Jon and I asked ourselves often-"Why is it that we are doing this?" We do it because we love our cows, and we strive everyday to give them our very best-they deserve it! Farming is not easy, but we do it because we know how important it is to grow, raise, and produce safe, quality, wholesome food for the world. So, I guess to rest my case....say thanks and congrats to a dairy farmer today....especially if they survived a week of winter like we did.

And, be grateful for the +30 temps coming this week!

Things we are Thankful for...

Every year I try to sit down and reflect on the things that we (Jonathan and I) are most thankfull for in our lives and in the past year. So since I started blogging, I thought it would be a great idea to post our list:

1. God: Thankful that we have a deep faith in God and that no matter what life brings our way, we can depend on him to help us through it. On a farm this may be a daily event, so faith in God is critical.
2. Each other: It's especially nice to be able to depend on each other. When we have bad days and yell at each other, it's nice to know that we will always be able to make up and move on with life, with each other. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have Jon-he's been my best friend for almost 10 years already~!
3. Family: we are so thankful that we have a family that loves us and supports us, and even though they can be a little annoying from time to time, we know that they are always there and in our corner.
4. Our Farm: We are truly grateful to be able to live on a farm. What a great future we can provide out kids someday! A farm is an awesome place to see all of the wonders that our Lord can provide as well as a great school to teach some of life's best lessons.
5. Our Cows: Yes, we sure are thankful for those darn cows! How could we not be thankful for them? With great love, we care for them and we know that the better job we do caring for our cows the greater their care for us. It's a priviledge to be blessed with the care of one of God's great creature....each with their own indearing personalitites.
6. Fellow Farmers: Without the friendship of our neighbors and fellow farmers, some days would be unbearable. We are truly thankful for them and the good work that they do as well. As less than 2% of the nation's people are farmers, we know we are part of a small group of people that feed the world...we are thankful for their hard work and the food that they provide.
7. Our Consumers: Thank you for your support of our products. Thank you for serving your kids 3 servings of Dairy each day to provide them their daily requirement of calcium. Thank you for enjoying cheese, milk and yogurt as nutritious snacks! We are very grateful for your support and hope to continue to supply you with safe, quality, wholesome products this coming year.
8. Our Leaders: Without leaders, we could have no followers....thanks to those who are leaders in government, religion and in the ag community...your leadership is inspiration to the rest of us, working hard each day!

So many things to be thankful for! Make sure as you gather with your family and friends tomorrow to say a couple prayers for those who worked so hard this past year to help put food on your plate. It's not an easy job, but we do it every day to feed our consumers like you!

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving from Orange Patch Dairy!

Shannon and Jonathan

Raise Your Hand for Chocolate Milk

Please show your support for Chocolate Milk!!!! Chocolate milk is at risk of being removed from schools. Please help us make sure that all kids get all of the Calcium, Vitamin D, and Potassium that they need for strong bones and good health. Replacing sodas with chocolate milk is a great way to start a healthy habit for a healthy diet!

Please sign the Petition for Chocolate Milk! Join the Moo-vement! See the link below to sign.
http://www.raiseyourhand4milk.com

Rain again...

Yep, it's definitely raining again. Looks like we could get over an half an inch. We enjoyed about 3.5 days of almost perfect weather. Local farmers were able to get into the fields and start harvesting their soybeans and corn. Some tillage has also started. We are still unable to harvest our corn, since it is too wet and the cost of drying it is too high. We are waiting for the custom harvester to come and combine our soybeans, so we found other activities to do....MANURE removal.

My father-in-law and brother-in-law worked on moving our manure from the calf/heifer barn this morning. I worked on hauling out liquid manure from the cow barn and Jonathan worked on cleaning up the dry cows and heifer lots. All in all, a LOT of fertilizer was moved to the fields today. We will work this fertilizer into the soils to make an awesome bed for next year's crops. A "Fall Cleaning" of manure. We were very excited about the dry weather, sad about the rain today and tomorrow, but looking forward to the forecast for next week....cool and DRY.

Kids not getting enough Calcium in their diets

YEAH! They got something right! Shocking that only 5% of girls and 25% of boys between the ages of 9-13 get the daily calcium that they need! Please feed your children low fat dairy products for strong bones and teeth!-try yogurt, yogurt smoothies,... flavored milks, and low fat cheeses for awesome snacks for kids! 3-A-Day all the way! Read More

Busy, busy, busy...

It's been awhile since I posted any info, and there's a good reason for that. It's graduation time for my little sister....well youngest sister. She's not little any more. She graduated on the 31st, but we have been working to prep for her party/reception all week. Clean at Mom's house as well as lots of baking and cooking! Nothing like delicious homemade food for a great party. Dairy/beef/pork products were plentiful...shredded beef for sandwiches, as well as ham. We had potato salad, ham/cucumber salad, and an awesome pineapple salad with cream cheese. We have punch with sherbet in it, as well as ice cream and cake...yummy! So every evening, when I would normally post on my blog I was baking instead. It was all worth it, so Congrats Angie on making it through high school and starting the next chapter of your life!---South Dakota State University!

Quick update on the farm...Joey is doing wonderfully! She's growing well. In about 2 weeks we will start weaning her from milk replacer and over to water full time, as her only liquid and calf starter as her food source. She's an active calf and we love to have her around. I am hoping to record some video of her this coming week. Other than that we are grateful for some much needed rain. We are well over 4 inches of rain, behind where we should be for the year. Today we received .75 inches, and the crops already look SO MUCH BETTER! Thanks God for the blessing of this rain...with more coming tomorrow I say thanks ahead of time...gentle rains are more than we could ask for.