Showing posts with label dairy cows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dairy cows. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Manure for Fertilizer
Removing the Manure from the compost barn-Fall 2009 Check out my latest post to YouTube. While its old it is relevant as we are prepping to plant our first field of corn this year. Learn more about how dairy farmers care about the environment at Dairy Farming Today!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Easter Recap
I hope everyone had a very Happy Easter, including a dinner filled with delicious foods produced by American farmers. We celebrated Easter with our families on Saturday and decided to stay home on Sunday. Turns out that was a wise decision!
On Sunday morning we worked quickly to finish chores, attended Easter Sunday Mass, grabbed a quick lunch and headed back to the farm to mix the 2nd batch of TMR for the afternoon (those cows sure do eat!). Upon returning to the farm, it turns out the Easter Bunny left us a little surprise....a new baby heifer calf!!!! My cow Judas was 5 days over due, which usually means that we will be getting a bull calf (heifers usually come early). Judas was resting contently on the bedded pack of corn straw in the cow yard. Next to her was her very beautiful, dry and clean heifer calf, whom we named "Jelly Beans". She's such a blessing, especially since we had 3 bull calves in a row, as heifer calves are the future of our herd in the next years. Jelly Beans had over 10 pints of colostrum on Sunday, she's got an aggressive appetite!
Today we were blessed with another heifer! Theresa Marie, twin sister to Theresa Ann, delivered another beautiful heifer calf, whom I named Theresa May. Theresa May drank about 8 pints of colostrum within 1 hour of being born, she too has an aggressive appetite. A good appetite helps to develop a good immune system. A fun story about Theresa Marie though....
On the night of May 17th, 2008 our great cow Terry started calving. We finished up chores that night and returned to the dry cow yard to check on Terry. She had successfully delivered a beautiful heifer calf who I named Theresa Ann. We moved Terry to the new barn and we moved the calf to the calf barn. When we got Terry to the barn we put her in the hospital pen, where she had access to feed and water, as well as clean, well bedded pen. We watched her for a little while to make sure that she was doing well-we do this for all fresh cows. We noticed that she was pushing awful hard for just having a calf. We wondered if she was trying to hurt herself, so we chased her out of the pen and into an area where we could better examine her. Jon reached in to find another calf!!!!! We worked quickly to pull the 2nd calf out, she was backwards....as we pulled her out, rear legs first, we knew something wasn't right. Once she was out, we discovered that she was not breathing!!!! Jon immediately started giving her mouth to mouth, while I worked on chest compressions. It's a rough technique, but our version of Cow CPR has worked more than once. We worked for about 20-30 minutes. This calf was struggling to breathe, but with each compression and breath she began to get the "light back into her eyes". Meanwhile Terry was trying to help us by licking her calf off....assisting in stimulating the calf. We administered a shot of steroids to reduce the potential swelling in her brain. I named the calf Theresa Marie, as she was a miracle to be breathing, and over night I prayed that she would still be alive in the morning. We moved Terry and Theresa Marie back into the pen, where Terry continued to lick the calf. In the morning Theresa Marie was ALIVE!!! She was hiding in the corner of the barn behind a tractor!!!! We carry the story of Theresa Marie's miracle with us all of the time, as sometimes Cow CPR works....and the fact that Theresa Marie had a heifer today, makes the miracle almost 2 years ago, all the sweeter! Thank you God for the blessing that is Theresa Marie! =)
On Sunday morning we worked quickly to finish chores, attended Easter Sunday Mass, grabbed a quick lunch and headed back to the farm to mix the 2nd batch of TMR for the afternoon (those cows sure do eat!). Upon returning to the farm, it turns out the Easter Bunny left us a little surprise....a new baby heifer calf!!!! My cow Judas was 5 days over due, which usually means that we will be getting a bull calf (heifers usually come early). Judas was resting contently on the bedded pack of corn straw in the cow yard. Next to her was her very beautiful, dry and clean heifer calf, whom we named "Jelly Beans". She's such a blessing, especially since we had 3 bull calves in a row, as heifer calves are the future of our herd in the next years. Jelly Beans had over 10 pints of colostrum on Sunday, she's got an aggressive appetite!
Today we were blessed with another heifer! Theresa Marie, twin sister to Theresa Ann, delivered another beautiful heifer calf, whom I named Theresa May. Theresa May drank about 8 pints of colostrum within 1 hour of being born, she too has an aggressive appetite. A good appetite helps to develop a good immune system. A fun story about Theresa Marie though....
On the night of May 17th, 2008 our great cow Terry started calving. We finished up chores that night and returned to the dry cow yard to check on Terry. She had successfully delivered a beautiful heifer calf who I named Theresa Ann. We moved Terry to the new barn and we moved the calf to the calf barn. When we got Terry to the barn we put her in the hospital pen, where she had access to feed and water, as well as clean, well bedded pen. We watched her for a little while to make sure that she was doing well-we do this for all fresh cows. We noticed that she was pushing awful hard for just having a calf. We wondered if she was trying to hurt herself, so we chased her out of the pen and into an area where we could better examine her. Jon reached in to find another calf!!!!! We worked quickly to pull the 2nd calf out, she was backwards....as we pulled her out, rear legs first, we knew something wasn't right. Once she was out, we discovered that she was not breathing!!!! Jon immediately started giving her mouth to mouth, while I worked on chest compressions. It's a rough technique, but our version of Cow CPR has worked more than once. We worked for about 20-30 minutes. This calf was struggling to breathe, but with each compression and breath she began to get the "light back into her eyes". Meanwhile Terry was trying to help us by licking her calf off....assisting in stimulating the calf. We administered a shot of steroids to reduce the potential swelling in her brain. I named the calf Theresa Marie, as she was a miracle to be breathing, and over night I prayed that she would still be alive in the morning. We moved Terry and Theresa Marie back into the pen, where Terry continued to lick the calf. In the morning Theresa Marie was ALIVE!!! She was hiding in the corner of the barn behind a tractor!!!! We carry the story of Theresa Marie's miracle with us all of the time, as sometimes Cow CPR works....and the fact that Theresa Marie had a heifer today, makes the miracle almost 2 years ago, all the sweeter! Thank you God for the blessing that is Theresa Marie! =)
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Our Response to ABC story tonight.
Like other proactive dairy farmers, I will also post my opinion about the news story that aired on ABC tonight titled "Got Milk? Animal Rights vs. US Dairy Industry".
First, let me set the story straight, we at Orange Patch Dairy and everyone of our dairy farming neighbors put the welfare and well being of our cows first everyday. We constantly strive to care for our animals, because the better job that we do caring for our cows, the healthier and happier they are. Happy cows make higher quality milk in greater quantities. If you read my blog you know first hand how hard we work to put our cows needs, some days, before our own.
At Orange Patch Dairy, we do not use tail docking as a management practice. Industry research has shown that tail docking, which was originally done to help keep cows clean, neither benefits nor harms cows. Being a null practice, we decided long ago that we would not dock tails to maintain cow cleanliness on our farm, but instead clip the long hair on the end of the tail. The short hair prevents the cow from getting full of manure and covering herself with it. We feel a hair cut is better than losing the aesthetic of a cow tail. The tail, while it looks pretty does have a purpose-swatting flies in the summertime, providing cooling, and something to hit that itch the cow can't reach.
We do however dehorn calves on our farm. I watched this video, and frankly saw only a couple things I would change. Cows with horns actually have a recessive trait, whereas cows naturally without horns (polled) have a dominant trait. The problem in the dairy industry is that the AI (artificial insemination) industry has not been able to produce enough popular polled bulls to help us breed the horn trait out of our traditional dairy cows (we expect this to change shortly). As a result, we have cows with horns. Horns need to be removed for the safety and protection of the animal, the facilities and the people that raise them. Cows with horns have the ability to do serious harm to each other, destroy buildings and fences, and harm the people that work with them. The injuries can be pretty gruesome. Horns can also break resulting in terrible infections or even bleeding to death. For these reasons, we remove our animals' horns.
At 14 days of age we dehorn. At this age the horns are very small and easily removed. The older the animal is, the harder the horn is to remove. We have our vet remove horns, mainly because he owns a gas powered dehorner, and we don't. We could do this but having a vet remove horns assures us that the horns are removed. We halter the calf, pull her out of her hut and make sure that we have her tied securely-so not to hurt ourselves and herself. We do not use a anesthetic at this time. We have discussed this practice with our vet and he believes that the injection would inflict more pain than the actual removal of the horn. We use a gas powered dehorner to cauterize the horn tissue surrounding the horn bud, and after a few seconds of brief pain we can pop the bud out. The calf is untied and returned to her hut. I know that this process causes little to no long term pain or damage, because by the time we walk back to the calf hut my calves are looking to have their ears scratched, neck rubbed and yes, even their head scratched. The benefits of doing this process at a young age is that they will never notice that it even happen. Years ago horns were removed when cattle we much older and they had to be cut out, leaving large wounds that could get infected or even bleed out. Sometimes this method was unsuccessful-and horns would grow back. Cauterizing horns, when done correctly is 100% effective. Days after dehorning calves, all that remains is a small scab, that will shortly fall off...and mainly itches, which means those darn calves come back from extra head scratching.
Dehorning is not a "large dairy" or "factory farm" practice, it is a universal practice amongst ALL dairymen. Dehorning is not cruel, but it is a practice which allows the animal to live a long healthy life-safe from being hurt by other herd mates. I believe that ABC should have done more homework before airing this story. The vast majority of American dairy cattle live the good life-comfortable environments, clean environments, excellent medical care, balanced nutrition, and care beyond their needs. A few isolated incidents do NOT paint an accurate picture of the dairy industry, don't believe me, see my YouTube Channel, my blog, see the blogs of those that I follow-all show dairymen caring for their animals EVERYDAY, 365 days a year.
If you have questions, don't be afraid to ask....I will answer them the best that I can.
First, let me set the story straight, we at Orange Patch Dairy and everyone of our dairy farming neighbors put the welfare and well being of our cows first everyday. We constantly strive to care for our animals, because the better job that we do caring for our cows, the healthier and happier they are. Happy cows make higher quality milk in greater quantities. If you read my blog you know first hand how hard we work to put our cows needs, some days, before our own.
At Orange Patch Dairy, we do not use tail docking as a management practice. Industry research has shown that tail docking, which was originally done to help keep cows clean, neither benefits nor harms cows. Being a null practice, we decided long ago that we would not dock tails to maintain cow cleanliness on our farm, but instead clip the long hair on the end of the tail. The short hair prevents the cow from getting full of manure and covering herself with it. We feel a hair cut is better than losing the aesthetic of a cow tail. The tail, while it looks pretty does have a purpose-swatting flies in the summertime, providing cooling, and something to hit that itch the cow can't reach.
We do however dehorn calves on our farm. I watched this video, and frankly saw only a couple things I would change. Cows with horns actually have a recessive trait, whereas cows naturally without horns (polled) have a dominant trait. The problem in the dairy industry is that the AI (artificial insemination) industry has not been able to produce enough popular polled bulls to help us breed the horn trait out of our traditional dairy cows (we expect this to change shortly). As a result, we have cows with horns. Horns need to be removed for the safety and protection of the animal, the facilities and the people that raise them. Cows with horns have the ability to do serious harm to each other, destroy buildings and fences, and harm the people that work with them. The injuries can be pretty gruesome. Horns can also break resulting in terrible infections or even bleeding to death. For these reasons, we remove our animals' horns.
At 14 days of age we dehorn. At this age the horns are very small and easily removed. The older the animal is, the harder the horn is to remove. We have our vet remove horns, mainly because he owns a gas powered dehorner, and we don't. We could do this but having a vet remove horns assures us that the horns are removed. We halter the calf, pull her out of her hut and make sure that we have her tied securely-so not to hurt ourselves and herself. We do not use a anesthetic at this time. We have discussed this practice with our vet and he believes that the injection would inflict more pain than the actual removal of the horn. We use a gas powered dehorner to cauterize the horn tissue surrounding the horn bud, and after a few seconds of brief pain we can pop the bud out. The calf is untied and returned to her hut. I know that this process causes little to no long term pain or damage, because by the time we walk back to the calf hut my calves are looking to have their ears scratched, neck rubbed and yes, even their head scratched. The benefits of doing this process at a young age is that they will never notice that it even happen. Years ago horns were removed when cattle we much older and they had to be cut out, leaving large wounds that could get infected or even bleed out. Sometimes this method was unsuccessful-and horns would grow back. Cauterizing horns, when done correctly is 100% effective. Days after dehorning calves, all that remains is a small scab, that will shortly fall off...and mainly itches, which means those darn calves come back from extra head scratching.
Dehorning is not a "large dairy" or "factory farm" practice, it is a universal practice amongst ALL dairymen. Dehorning is not cruel, but it is a practice which allows the animal to live a long healthy life-safe from being hurt by other herd mates. I believe that ABC should have done more homework before airing this story. The vast majority of American dairy cattle live the good life-comfortable environments, clean environments, excellent medical care, balanced nutrition, and care beyond their needs. A few isolated incidents do NOT paint an accurate picture of the dairy industry, don't believe me, see my YouTube Channel, my blog, see the blogs of those that I follow-all show dairymen caring for their animals EVERYDAY, 365 days a year.
If you have questions, don't be afraid to ask....I will answer them the best that I can.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Snow storm coming!
Looks like we have a monster of a snow storm coming our way. Sounds like we will receive snow between 12-20 inches over Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. While I love a good snow storm, it gets to be a lot of work on the farm. Today Jonathan and I were "battening down the hatches" trying to prep for the storm, so hopefully we can enjoy a little bit of Christmas with family if possible or with each other. On our list was:
- Bedding in all of the cows
- Bedding all of the calves
- Sealing up the calf huts
- Storing extra bedding for the heifers so we don't have to dig it out of the snow banks
- Feeding all of the cows and heifers extra feed for extra energy to get through the snow
- Fixing and sealing curtains on the milking barn
- Hooking up the snow blower so we can make sure the milk truck can make it to our barn
- Plugging in tractors so we can start them in the morning-to move snow just to milk cows
- Moving cows that are close to calving, so we can watch them more closely and don't have to move them to the milking barn in a blizzard
- Making snow fences to stop blowing snow from drifting in our feed bags
PLANNING, PLANNING, PLANNING....it's going to be a crazy couple of days at the farm! Wishing you and yours a Very Merry Christmas....and a safe one at that....here's hoping we can make it home from the farm to enjoy Christmas here instead of sleeping with the cows.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Late Night Ramblings
Here I am, up at 1:54 in the morning, listening to some rock music, working on e-mails. Why you ask would I be working on e-mails at 1 in the morning? Well, the answer is easy...we didn't get home from the farm until Midnight tonight.
It was a good day at the farm, but a long day. We have been working on a cow, Number 20, who has a mystery illness. She gave birth to twins 3 nights ago, and since then she has not been eating as much feed as we hoped that she would. We had the vet look at her yesterday but he couldn't find anything directly wrong with her, so we assume that it is a couple of different things. As a result we "treated" her twice today. She received a "soup" of yeast, vitamins, minerals, and probiotics to help out her rumen-she drank this. And she got a couple liters of IV fluids. She isn't on antibiotics, because she is not sick from an infection but appears to have a digestive upset. Tonight, it was a night and day difference-she was eating everything in sight, so we hope we are over this hurdle.
We delivered 2 new bulls calves today, so we had to tend to the mothers and the boys. All are bedded in and well fed tonight. We also bedded in all of the heifers, dry cows, and milking cows. We had to fill hay feeders in the dry cow lot and the heifer lots. And then at the end of the night we had to head back to the dry cow lot, to look for cows calving-we have 3 that look to be giving birth before sunrise....which brings me to now-this is why I am up....I will be leaving shortly to drive out the farm and check on them. Making sure that in the case that they do calve tonight someone is there to help them and the new calves. I am hoping for no calves until morning-but Mother Nature always wins this argument. So, of to the farm I go, hopefully 3 news calves and 3 happy mothers will greet me =)
It was a good day at the farm, but a long day. We have been working on a cow, Number 20, who has a mystery illness. She gave birth to twins 3 nights ago, and since then she has not been eating as much feed as we hoped that she would. We had the vet look at her yesterday but he couldn't find anything directly wrong with her, so we assume that it is a couple of different things. As a result we "treated" her twice today. She received a "soup" of yeast, vitamins, minerals, and probiotics to help out her rumen-she drank this. And she got a couple liters of IV fluids. She isn't on antibiotics, because she is not sick from an infection but appears to have a digestive upset. Tonight, it was a night and day difference-she was eating everything in sight, so we hope we are over this hurdle.
We delivered 2 new bulls calves today, so we had to tend to the mothers and the boys. All are bedded in and well fed tonight. We also bedded in all of the heifers, dry cows, and milking cows. We had to fill hay feeders in the dry cow lot and the heifer lots. And then at the end of the night we had to head back to the dry cow lot, to look for cows calving-we have 3 that look to be giving birth before sunrise....which brings me to now-this is why I am up....I will be leaving shortly to drive out the farm and check on them. Making sure that in the case that they do calve tonight someone is there to help them and the new calves. I am hoping for no calves until morning-but Mother Nature always wins this argument. So, of to the farm I go, hopefully 3 news calves and 3 happy mothers will greet me =)
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Another Saturday Night at the Farm
It's Sunday, and I am recovering from another Saturday night at the farm. It was a good day yesterday. We had nice weather, temperatures in the 30's and sunny. The snow melted, and the heifers played. We had 2 heifers calves born in the afternoon, and I had some time to head to town to start my Christmas shopping. I came home to do evening chores. On the last group of cows in the parlor I had a "bad event". I was prepping or cleaning the teats of a new fresh heifer in our barn. She's a little feisty and started to kick at me. But instead of hitting me she hit the mature cow next to her. The mature cow tolerated this kicking for a little while and then she couldn't take it any more, she fired back. The mature cow tried to hit the heifer but misfired and hit me, when I wasn't even looking.
I am fine, but as a result I have a very nice "hoof" shaped bruise on my forehead as well as 2, 4 inch long abrasions on my forehead and eye brow. I was a little shaken up. I did not fight back. Why would I? Contrary to some beliefs, we do not abuse our animals. It was not the cow's fault that she hit me, she was just trying to settle down the heifer next to her that still wasn't used to getting milked in the parlor. Sometime I think a helmet should be mandatory issue for milking cows, but most times the cows hardly ever fuss. We pride ourselves on having nice, calm cows. I work hard to play with the calves and heifers. Some night I can even play a game of "tag"---yes, tag with the cows. When they have to try something new, like milking, well they go back to their basic instincts-fight back as an animal-kick. It happens, very seldom do they hit us, but sometimes they do hit, BUT we NEVER hit back. The moment we hit back we teach them that we will hit them, teaching them pain. Peaceful cows are happy cows!-and they make a lot of milk too =)
I am fine, but as a result I have a very nice "hoof" shaped bruise on my forehead as well as 2, 4 inch long abrasions on my forehead and eye brow. I was a little shaken up. I did not fight back. Why would I? Contrary to some beliefs, we do not abuse our animals. It was not the cow's fault that she hit me, she was just trying to settle down the heifer next to her that still wasn't used to getting milked in the parlor. Sometime I think a helmet should be mandatory issue for milking cows, but most times the cows hardly ever fuss. We pride ourselves on having nice, calm cows. I work hard to play with the calves and heifers. Some night I can even play a game of "tag"---yes, tag with the cows. When they have to try something new, like milking, well they go back to their basic instincts-fight back as an animal-kick. It happens, very seldom do they hit us, but sometimes they do hit, BUT we NEVER hit back. The moment we hit back we teach them that we will hit them, teaching them pain. Peaceful cows are happy cows!-and they make a lot of milk too =)
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Why do you farm?
I went to a great speaker yesterday at the Midwest Dairy Expo. She inspired me to write this post. She posed a very thought provoking question to us in the audience.....
"Why do YOU farm?"
Hmm, I guarantee you that I don't farm because I enjoy working in the winter time. Today we had to wear over 4 layers of clothing just to go outside, shovel the snow before we could get into the barn, move the snow before we could get to the silage bags, and bed in everyone of the animals so they can stay warm and dry all day. Farming is hard. Not everyone can farm, but a number of smart people do farm. These farmers are smart enough that they could be excellent employees for any other company, but they run their own family business instead. When I left my job in January to come home and farm, I had 3 different jobs where I could work a 5 day week, making a sizable salary, but I chose to farm instead. Some would say that this would be an unwise choice, but it was the best choice for me-it just felt right.
I farm because I enjoy working with and in nature. I enjoy working with cows, one of the best creatures that God ever created. I enjoy the satisfaction of learning to do a new task, learning a new idea, starting a new project. I hope that some day that when Jon and I have children that we can use this farm to teach our kids how important life lessons like: respect for the environment, responsibility, strong work ethic, patience and passion. I farm, because at the end of the day I want be proud of the job that I did, the best possible job possible taking care of my cows and producing a tasty, wholesome, nutritious product for my family and yours.
Just so you know.....THAT'S WHY I FARM!
"Why do YOU farm?"
Hmm, I guarantee you that I don't farm because I enjoy working in the winter time. Today we had to wear over 4 layers of clothing just to go outside, shovel the snow before we could get into the barn, move the snow before we could get to the silage bags, and bed in everyone of the animals so they can stay warm and dry all day. Farming is hard. Not everyone can farm, but a number of smart people do farm. These farmers are smart enough that they could be excellent employees for any other company, but they run their own family business instead. When I left my job in January to come home and farm, I had 3 different jobs where I could work a 5 day week, making a sizable salary, but I chose to farm instead. Some would say that this would be an unwise choice, but it was the best choice for me-it just felt right.
I farm because I enjoy working with and in nature. I enjoy working with cows, one of the best creatures that God ever created. I enjoy the satisfaction of learning to do a new task, learning a new idea, starting a new project. I hope that some day that when Jon and I have children that we can use this farm to teach our kids how important life lessons like: respect for the environment, responsibility, strong work ethic, patience and passion. I farm, because at the end of the day I want be proud of the job that I did, the best possible job possible taking care of my cows and producing a tasty, wholesome, nutritious product for my family and yours.
Just so you know.....THAT'S WHY I FARM!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Small break in the calving...
Today we enjoyed a small break in the calving for the week. On Tuesday we had a plethora of calves born...one heifer calf, one set of twins (1 bull and 1 heifer) and one little heifer that didn't make it. We were really sad about the heifer that didn't make it. Her mother was in labor overnight, which is not good for us-we live 7 miles from the farm so we can't check on our cows as much as we would like to. Some farms have closed circuit camera and some have people hired to watch cows calving 24 hours a day, but since we are a small farm we have to rely on our own abilities to check on cows. We missed this cow calving at 2 or 3 am, and she was having problems, the calf was coming out backwards. When we found her calving at morning milking, we rushed to her aid, but it was too late for her little calf. As a woman, I think I always take these moments harder than Jonathan does, but often I do catch a small tear in his eyes as well. It's always heartbreaking to lose an animal on our farm, whether she's young or old, it's hard to watch. That is why we work so hard to make sure that all of our animals have the best care possible and we can't wait to move to the farm when the opportunity arises-to keep a better watch on our girls.
On a happier note, the calf barn is busting with 4 bulls, and 3 heifers, and I am waiting for 4 more cows to calve before Friday. I can't wait for more babies, even though it takes me double the time to do my calf chores every day twice a day, I love caring for the little ones. They are full of discovery and amazement and I think that's what makes the job so fun! Hopefully I have more pictures of little calves, and I hope we don't lose anymore of our blessings.
On a happier note, the calf barn is busting with 4 bulls, and 3 heifers, and I am waiting for 4 more cows to calve before Friday. I can't wait for more babies, even though it takes me double the time to do my calf chores every day twice a day, I love caring for the little ones. They are full of discovery and amazement and I think that's what makes the job so fun! Hopefully I have more pictures of little calves, and I hope we don't lose anymore of our blessings.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Calving Season has Begun!
Calving Season has begun at Orange Patch Dairy. I am so excited to be calving, it's my favorite season. When we purchased our herds of cows almost 5 years ago, we knew that each of the farmers that we bought from focused on calving heavily in the early winter months to allow for more time in the crop seasons. As a result, as the herd has grown, more and more animals are available for calving during the winter months. Last year we had about 30 head to calve between Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day...this year we await the birth of 40 calves!
So far we have 3 bulls calves and one heifer calf. Obviously I am hoping for more heifer calves so I can keep them, but the bulls are great too-a live calf is the best kind, regardless of the gender! I did some counting this morning, and I have about 27 head to have calves in the coming 30 days!!!! That's insane, and about 7 cows due in the next 6 days. This afternoon I induced a cow that is 5 days over due. Being over due increases the chances of a large calf and a difficult birth, so instead of waiting for nature to take it's course, we give it a little "medical" push. I am certain that this cow will be fine and I look forward to seeing her in labor tomorrow afternoon (it usually takes about 24 hours to get the birthing process started).
Today I also delivered a bull calf by myself. This is no easy task. I noticed that the cow was in labor at noon and I moved her inside, where she could enjoy a pen to herself. In about 20 minutes she broke her water (placenta) and was pushing. 5 minutes later I checked on her only to find rear legs sticking out. Calves normally are delivered front legs first, that way their heads come out first and they have the chance to breathe before they umbilical cord breaks. So I rushed to the office to grab some gloves and a chain. Yes, we use chains to pulls calves. It's not painful to the cow or the calf, but instead allows us to have more leverage when trying to help a 1800 pound cow deliver a 120 pound calf. Calves that size can't be delivered by hand, no body I know is that strong. So, nevertheless, I put the chains on the rear feet, tied up a rope, and used my body weight to put some pressure on the chain. Every time that the cow pushed, I pulled....with a lot of teamwork and positive encouragement, we delivered in about 10 minutes a healthy baby bull, and momma cow was in great shape!! Had I not helped her out, she would have strained and struggled for a long time, wearing herself out-causing stress on the calf and more than likely the calf would have been born dead, if she would have been able to get him out-all in all a success! Our cow, Xebe is a great cow-so tame and easy to work with-I am so happy we had success! I am looking forward to the next 27 calves, and hoping that I don't have to "pull" everyone of them ;)
So far we have 3 bulls calves and one heifer calf. Obviously I am hoping for more heifer calves so I can keep them, but the bulls are great too-a live calf is the best kind, regardless of the gender! I did some counting this morning, and I have about 27 head to have calves in the coming 30 days!!!! That's insane, and about 7 cows due in the next 6 days. This afternoon I induced a cow that is 5 days over due. Being over due increases the chances of a large calf and a difficult birth, so instead of waiting for nature to take it's course, we give it a little "medical" push. I am certain that this cow will be fine and I look forward to seeing her in labor tomorrow afternoon (it usually takes about 24 hours to get the birthing process started).
Today I also delivered a bull calf by myself. This is no easy task. I noticed that the cow was in labor at noon and I moved her inside, where she could enjoy a pen to herself. In about 20 minutes she broke her water (placenta) and was pushing. 5 minutes later I checked on her only to find rear legs sticking out. Calves normally are delivered front legs first, that way their heads come out first and they have the chance to breathe before they umbilical cord breaks. So I rushed to the office to grab some gloves and a chain. Yes, we use chains to pulls calves. It's not painful to the cow or the calf, but instead allows us to have more leverage when trying to help a 1800 pound cow deliver a 120 pound calf. Calves that size can't be delivered by hand, no body I know is that strong. So, nevertheless, I put the chains on the rear feet, tied up a rope, and used my body weight to put some pressure on the chain. Every time that the cow pushed, I pulled....with a lot of teamwork and positive encouragement, we delivered in about 10 minutes a healthy baby bull, and momma cow was in great shape!! Had I not helped her out, she would have strained and struggled for a long time, wearing herself out-causing stress on the calf and more than likely the calf would have been born dead, if she would have been able to get him out-all in all a success! Our cow, Xebe is a great cow-so tame and easy to work with-I am so happy we had success! I am looking forward to the next 27 calves, and hoping that I don't have to "pull" everyone of them ;)
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
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:
- 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.
- 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~!
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Got my computer back!
After having my computer down for a couple days, needless to say I missed it. It's not that I missed having internet access to facebook as much as I missed having our computer for all of our farm needs. Agriculture is continuing to be a more technological industry. Technology makes life easier. On our dairy we use the Internet to research the daily activity on the milk market, weather reports, forage results, and new ideas. Jon often searches for new equipment for the farm online. I communicate with other farmers and industry people through e-mail, helping to share ideas and information. It's amazing how such a basic occupation depends so much on technology to make our jobs easier and more efficient.
I didn't even think about all of the excel spreadsheets I use to calculate farm stats and the financial programs that Jon runs to help our banker better understand our business.
It's amazing how a tool so small can do so many important tasks!
I didn't even think about all of the excel spreadsheets I use to calculate farm stats and the financial programs that Jon runs to help our banker better understand our business.
It's amazing how a tool so small can do so many important tasks!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
And the rain continues....
God has blessed us with a handful of dry days this past weekend and early week, however the radar is showing a line of rain/thunderstorms looming to the west and closing in. It's be a difficult growing season this year. We started the spring with cool wet conditions. This summer was also cool, but dry and this fall is also cool and WET! We are definitely making up for the dry summer with all of the rain we are receiving right now. This wet weather is preventing us from getting into the field and bringing in the harvest. Our corn and soybeans are all too wet to combine. We would like our corn to be at least below 20% moisture, but right now it is 31-37% moisture. Without sun and warm temperatures, the drying process is becoming more difficult.
In addition to slowing harvest, we are also postponing some critical fall activities. After combining our soybeans and corn, we return to the fields to harvest the foliage from those plants. We bale the dry soybean plants into round bales for bedding for our heifers. We bale the remaining soybean plants in small square bales to be chopped in the calf barn-making for happy, comfy, dry calves =) We chop the dry corn plants and make them into large stacks. We will take scoops of this bedding to bed in our dry cows and feed some of our heifers and dry cows. Cows love to chew on dry corn stalks! Actually cows like to chew on a lot of things.
After we harvest the bedding we spread manure, lots of manure. Manure from cows, dry cows, heifers and calves. We need to make sure we have clean animals for the winter. Also fall is the best time of the year for manure application. We reduce compaction by hauling in the fall compared to the spring. We are also able to incorporate the manure into the soil through fall tillage (plowing, digging) thereby saving the valuable nutrients in the manure to be used by the 2010 crop! Hauling manure is critical to keeping the cows clean and dry but also critical for our crops. Manure saves us money. If we capture all of the nutrients and organic matter available in manure we are able to save the cost of commercial fertilizer that we would have used. Another added benefit is that manure is great for making good soil! Because manure is natural-worms and soil microbes LOVE manure!
When we finish manure hauling...then we have to do fall tillage. Tillage means plowing some fields (using an implement that flips the soil over so the soil surface is underground). We also dig some other fields with an implement called a DMI. The DMI leaves the soil surface on the top, but digs deep into the soil breaking up compaction, making the soil soft for the spring.
So, Dear God...please make the rain stop, at least until the harvest in is, and we have so much to do before snow season!
In addition to slowing harvest, we are also postponing some critical fall activities. After combining our soybeans and corn, we return to the fields to harvest the foliage from those plants. We bale the dry soybean plants into round bales for bedding for our heifers. We bale the remaining soybean plants in small square bales to be chopped in the calf barn-making for happy, comfy, dry calves =) We chop the dry corn plants and make them into large stacks. We will take scoops of this bedding to bed in our dry cows and feed some of our heifers and dry cows. Cows love to chew on dry corn stalks! Actually cows like to chew on a lot of things.
After we harvest the bedding we spread manure, lots of manure. Manure from cows, dry cows, heifers and calves. We need to make sure we have clean animals for the winter. Also fall is the best time of the year for manure application. We reduce compaction by hauling in the fall compared to the spring. We are also able to incorporate the manure into the soil through fall tillage (plowing, digging) thereby saving the valuable nutrients in the manure to be used by the 2010 crop! Hauling manure is critical to keeping the cows clean and dry but also critical for our crops. Manure saves us money. If we capture all of the nutrients and organic matter available in manure we are able to save the cost of commercial fertilizer that we would have used. Another added benefit is that manure is great for making good soil! Because manure is natural-worms and soil microbes LOVE manure!
When we finish manure hauling...then we have to do fall tillage. Tillage means plowing some fields (using an implement that flips the soil over so the soil surface is underground). We also dig some other fields with an implement called a DMI. The DMI leaves the soil surface on the top, but digs deep into the soil breaking up compaction, making the soil soft for the spring.
So, Dear God...please make the rain stop, at least until the harvest in is, and we have so much to do before snow season!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The joys of dairy farming!
Today was one of those days, where you REALLY have to LOVE your job. It was a day where you really have to ENJOY the JOYS OF DAIRY FARMING....
This morning we dried off 5 cows (time for them to go on a 2 month vacation before they have their next calf). After that we noticed a cow that we gave medication to induce labor had finally started labor. After carefully observing her for a couple hours we decided to intervene, but not before we chased the cow out of the mud holes in the dry cow yard twice. We helped pull the calf, a bull calf, and momma cow was doing so well! After taking care of calf and cow, we moved on to a cow that had gotten herself stuck in the mud. Well, actually she was playing with another cow and it got a little rough. #55 fell down into a thick muddy hole, and couldn't get back out. We rushed to her rescue, using the skid loader to move the mud out the way and lift her out of the mud. Success! #55 was out of the mud, but she was also in shock. SO....we gave her some calcium for muscle tone, dextrose (sugar) for some quick energy, and some pain medication in case she hurt her leg....but one that was safe for her and the calf that she is carrying. We finished that up and got to chase a heifer that needed to be bred through another mud hole in the heifer yard! Seems like all of the cows were looking for those darn mud holes today! We got Lucy into the barn for breeding. We use artificial insemination for breeding, because it is safer for cows and people to NOT use a bull. Plus we get to use genetics from around the world on our farm to improve our cows. We bred Lucy.....next, move fresh cow (cow that calved) to the milking barn....and of course she found the mud on the way to the barn.....yikes! Next we found another cow in the dry cow yard that had an infection in her foot....she got a cut and thanks to all of the mud, she now had an infection....so we moved her to the barn to get a shot of Penicillin.
Sure sounds like we were treating a lot of cows, but we were merely working around the environment that Mother Nature provided us this week. 4.5 inches of rain and cool/cold weather makes for some muddy conditions outside. Cows are unfortunately not smart enough to stay out of said mud, therefore we tend to have cows that get into trouble. We are definitely looking forward to the day that we can put all of the cows inside a barn during the muddy seasons! Once we have the money you can bet that we will be putting up a barn ASAP! In the meantime we are working to keep the cows as dry as possible...
Oh yeah did I mention that Minnesota Winter is here! It's snowing outside as I type this! I can't believe it! 6 months of winter in this darn state! I am beginning to question Global Warming especially since I remember when it was 70 degrees in November just a few short years ago. Oh well, dealing with the cards we are dealt, and enjoying the JOYS OF DAIRY FARMING!
This morning we dried off 5 cows (time for them to go on a 2 month vacation before they have their next calf). After that we noticed a cow that we gave medication to induce labor had finally started labor. After carefully observing her for a couple hours we decided to intervene, but not before we chased the cow out of the mud holes in the dry cow yard twice. We helped pull the calf, a bull calf, and momma cow was doing so well! After taking care of calf and cow, we moved on to a cow that had gotten herself stuck in the mud. Well, actually she was playing with another cow and it got a little rough. #55 fell down into a thick muddy hole, and couldn't get back out. We rushed to her rescue, using the skid loader to move the mud out the way and lift her out of the mud. Success! #55 was out of the mud, but she was also in shock. SO....we gave her some calcium for muscle tone, dextrose (sugar) for some quick energy, and some pain medication in case she hurt her leg....but one that was safe for her and the calf that she is carrying. We finished that up and got to chase a heifer that needed to be bred through another mud hole in the heifer yard! Seems like all of the cows were looking for those darn mud holes today! We got Lucy into the barn for breeding. We use artificial insemination for breeding, because it is safer for cows and people to NOT use a bull. Plus we get to use genetics from around the world on our farm to improve our cows. We bred Lucy.....next, move fresh cow (cow that calved) to the milking barn....and of course she found the mud on the way to the barn.....yikes! Next we found another cow in the dry cow yard that had an infection in her foot....she got a cut and thanks to all of the mud, she now had an infection....so we moved her to the barn to get a shot of Penicillin.
Sure sounds like we were treating a lot of cows, but we were merely working around the environment that Mother Nature provided us this week. 4.5 inches of rain and cool/cold weather makes for some muddy conditions outside. Cows are unfortunately not smart enough to stay out of said mud, therefore we tend to have cows that get into trouble. We are definitely looking forward to the day that we can put all of the cows inside a barn during the muddy seasons! Once we have the money you can bet that we will be putting up a barn ASAP! In the meantime we are working to keep the cows as dry as possible...
Oh yeah did I mention that Minnesota Winter is here! It's snowing outside as I type this! I can't believe it! 6 months of winter in this darn state! I am beginning to question Global Warming especially since I remember when it was 70 degrees in November just a few short years ago. Oh well, dealing with the cards we are dealt, and enjoying the JOYS OF DAIRY FARMING!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
World Dairy Expo Summary
World Dairy Expo was a blast! I am finally taking the time to sit and write about our trip last Tuesday September 29th, 2009, but I have a good excuse....my brother got married this past weekend. We were busy helping with the groom's dinner, the wedding and the clean up. Oh yeah, did I mention that the wedding was almost 3 hours away from home, so we had to hire some very qualified individuals to milk and care for our cows while we were gone (thanks to them for the great job that they did!).
Back to Dairy Expo....what a great trip! Too bad we couldn't stay longer than a day, but it was well worth the 10 hours of driving there and back! Jon and I left on Tuesday morning at 5 am, and arrived on the Expo grounds at 10:30am. We decided to divide and conquer. Jonathan had some booths he wanted to visit and I was on my way to speak at a seminar given by DMI. It was a great seminar filled with other dairy farmers ready and willing to tell their stories. What an up lifting place to be! The excitement of dairy farmers to tell their stories to consumers is truly contagious!!! Thanks!
After an uplifting seminar I met up with Jon for lunch and some more booths! Oh how many great people we saw, dairy farmers and industry people alike. Oh how many great cows we saw!-all well taken care of, sleeping better than the farmers there to show them. Oh how many new technologies we saw. There are some great technologies coming onto the market right now-new choppers, better fuel efficiency equipment, robots for milking cows, robots for pushing up feed, etc....see some of the pictures below of what we saw...
Back to Dairy Expo....what a great trip! Too bad we couldn't stay longer than a day, but it was well worth the 10 hours of driving there and back! Jon and I left on Tuesday morning at 5 am, and arrived on the Expo grounds at 10:30am. We decided to divide and conquer. Jonathan had some booths he wanted to visit and I was on my way to speak at a seminar given by DMI. It was a great seminar filled with other dairy farmers ready and willing to tell their stories. What an up lifting place to be! The excitement of dairy farmers to tell their stories to consumers is truly contagious!!! Thanks!
After an uplifting seminar I met up with Jon for lunch and some more booths! Oh how many great people we saw, dairy farmers and industry people alike. Oh how many great cows we saw!-all well taken care of, sleeping better than the farmers there to show them. Oh how many new technologies we saw. There are some great technologies coming onto the market right now-new choppers, better fuel efficiency equipment, robots for milking cows, robots for pushing up feed, etc....see some of the pictures below of what we saw...
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Shame on YOU PETA!!!!
Apparently PETA can't stop attacking hard working dairy farmers here in the USA. PETA recently released a video that showed dairy cows in deplorable conditions. I can honestly say that cows at OUR FARM are NOT treated like this. We care very deeply for our animals both for personal and economic reasons. Happy cows, are profitable cows on a dairy farm, therefore cows on the PETA video are not producing to the maximum of their ability, nor are they living long productive lives. This is just an example of ONE Bad Apple which PETA is amplifying to represent an entire industry. If you don't believe me....well, stop at your local dairy farms for a visit and ask a few questions. If you do, you will learn VERY quickly how much dairy farmers actually care for their animals.
Please listen to this great video from another advocate for agriculture.
Shame on YOU PETA~! For picking on hard working dairy farmers :(
Please listen to this great video from another advocate for agriculture.
Shame on YOU PETA~! For picking on hard working dairy farmers :(
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Corn Silage Season Part 2
A little night time action at the farm. This video was taken on September 7th, 2009 (Day 1). We finished opening the fields and wanted to get a head start on the long and hectic week ahead. The key to making good silage is to make it quickly as possible at a consistent moisture. Consistent moisture helps to make quality forage which feeds our cows who make safe, wholesome, nutritious milk for you the consumer =) Please enjoy our little video of night time silage chopping at Orange Patch Dairy!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
The Case of the Moldy Hay
As mentioned in some earlier posts we struggled with some issues with sick cows and heifers. We had some cows ill with toxic mastitis and we had a heifer die tragically from a hemorrhage in her intestines all within the same week. As dairy farmers often have to work as investigators, searching to solve a problem for the good of our animals. We have had experiences such as this over the last few years and we have learned from each of these experiences. With the pack barn that we run we allow the cows to sleep on bedding mixed with manure solids-it's clean dry and comfortable, better than the pasture-think Tempurpedic mattresses. As the manure break downs bacteria move in. As long as the cows are healthy and their immune systems are running at full force, the bacteria is harmless....BUT if the cows are under ANY stress these bacteria can now become harmful.
And that's where the investigation starts. Jonathan and I knew immediately that these 3 sick cows meant that something was wrong, and we knew that the only thing that we changed in the past week was the new alfalfa hay that we purchased to feed the cows and heifers. We remembered that in the past we had hay that had mold in it and made the cows sick, very sick, and we caught the mold when it was too late. I am glad to report that we learned from our previous mistakes and immediately stopped feeding that purchased hay to the cows and found some different hay from a neighbor to feed. Almost immediately the cows that were sick got better and the Somatic Cell Count that was rising, came down. These signs told us that it was in fact the hay, so we had it tested for mold. Our local feed representative came out to the farm and pulled cores from the bales and sent them to a lab for testing. After culturing the hay samples for mold we received the results that we expected....the hay was positive for mold, a mold that is very dangerous for cows....Aspergillus. Aspergillus is known to produce a mycotoxin that hinders immune systems, causes internal hemorrhaging, and other bad things.
So you ask yourself, how did the hay get moldy? Well, it's quite easy, alfalfa is cut, dried and baled, but this pile of hay was cut and not allowed to dry to a low enough moisture level to be baled. It was baled, which compressed the wet alfalfa next to each other and allowed an environment perfect for mold to grow. The mold is very small, almost unseen to the human eye, but we did notice it's signature white fuzz on a couple bales after the fact. Thankfully we removed the hay from the cows diets before it could make more of them sick. The importance of HIGH QUALITY feed for cows cannot be stressed enough. The better quality the feed for cows, the better the cows' overall health and production. We work tirelessly to make high quality haylage and corn silage for our cows at Orange Patch Dairy, and we try to buy clean dry hay. The hay grower that we purchased this hay from was not aware that his hay was moldy-and frankly it did look very green and dry, inside the bales it was a different story. After calling our grower, he will move the hay back home to be destroyed and he will refund us the money that we paid.
As a result the cows at Orange Patch Dairy are doing MUCH better, happy healthy, and producing!!!! Yet another example of how dairy farmers continue to look out for the best for their cows....Happy cows are producing cows!
And that's where the investigation starts. Jonathan and I knew immediately that these 3 sick cows meant that something was wrong, and we knew that the only thing that we changed in the past week was the new alfalfa hay that we purchased to feed the cows and heifers. We remembered that in the past we had hay that had mold in it and made the cows sick, very sick, and we caught the mold when it was too late. I am glad to report that we learned from our previous mistakes and immediately stopped feeding that purchased hay to the cows and found some different hay from a neighbor to feed. Almost immediately the cows that were sick got better and the Somatic Cell Count that was rising, came down. These signs told us that it was in fact the hay, so we had it tested for mold. Our local feed representative came out to the farm and pulled cores from the bales and sent them to a lab for testing. After culturing the hay samples for mold we received the results that we expected....the hay was positive for mold, a mold that is very dangerous for cows....Aspergillus. Aspergillus is known to produce a mycotoxin that hinders immune systems, causes internal hemorrhaging, and other bad things.
So you ask yourself, how did the hay get moldy? Well, it's quite easy, alfalfa is cut, dried and baled, but this pile of hay was cut and not allowed to dry to a low enough moisture level to be baled. It was baled, which compressed the wet alfalfa next to each other and allowed an environment perfect for mold to grow. The mold is very small, almost unseen to the human eye, but we did notice it's signature white fuzz on a couple bales after the fact. Thankfully we removed the hay from the cows diets before it could make more of them sick. The importance of HIGH QUALITY feed for cows cannot be stressed enough. The better quality the feed for cows, the better the cows' overall health and production. We work tirelessly to make high quality haylage and corn silage for our cows at Orange Patch Dairy, and we try to buy clean dry hay. The hay grower that we purchased this hay from was not aware that his hay was moldy-and frankly it did look very green and dry, inside the bales it was a different story. After calling our grower, he will move the hay back home to be destroyed and he will refund us the money that we paid.
As a result the cows at Orange Patch Dairy are doing MUCH better, happy healthy, and producing!!!! Yet another example of how dairy farmers continue to look out for the best for their cows....Happy cows are producing cows!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Mother in waiting...
As I am typing this right now, I have enjoyed about 1.5 hours of being inside our home. Today we had 4 calves born from 3 cows and as of right now I am waiting for the delivery of calf number 5 for the day. Mother cow was starting to calve at about 11:30pm tonight. As a result I am staying up to head out and check on her. I am closely monitoring her progress to make sure that she has a safe and successful delivery for both mother and calf. This particular cow was given medication yesterday which has worked to help induce her labor and delivery. Much like in humans, if a cow goes too far her due date the risks of a difficult delivery steadily increase. This cow is 12 days past her due date, which isn't too uncommon with the sire of her calf, but we would rather be safe than sorry. She was given medication yesterday morning, with the hopes that she would have calved this morning, but she decided that she is waiting until tomorrow morning instead...so I wait, hoping for an easy care free delivery from a great cow! Out I go to see how she's doing.....
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
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.
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!
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