Wordless Wednesday: Sprinklers!

During the hot summer days (anything over 76 degrees) these sprinklers run, cooling our cows by wetting their backs while they enjoy their meals.  As the temperatures increase, the sprinklers run more often, and as the temperatures decrease they run less often.  Add some fans, and we have an awesome, inexpensive way to keep cows cool all summer long!  Happy June Dairy Month!

Summer Pic from Orange Patch Dairy

Peas ready for harvest on 6/25/10.

My father in law's cows out on pasture.

Fuji the calf, checking out the grass at a local dairy promotion for June Dairy Month.

Jon, adding corn silage to the TMR (Total Mixed Ration) Mixer, making the daily feed for the milking cows.

My view from the corn field on 6/24/10.  Looking good!

One of my cows, being weird, picking her nose...they don't have fingers, so how else should they do it?

For more pictures from our farm, please check out our Facebook page!!!!!

Taking a little break...

So apparently it's been almost 1 week since I last blogged. That was not intentional, but weather related. We cut our hay last Friday, and tried to chop it Saturday and Sunday, but Mother Nature had other ideas. Clouds moved in, heat moved in, sun disappeared, humidity appeared and so did the rain. Rain and humidity make for bad hay making :( As of right now, we have 120 acres of 130 acres of alfalfa chopped and in the silage bags. The remaining 10 acres are laying in the field and have been rained on 4 times already. We are hoping to get it done tomorrow.

Yevette is growing so well now!!! She's gaining weight like a champ. For a calf half the size of a normal calf...she's eating as much as a normal calf would!

Joey is now fully weaned. She is drinking water twice a day and eats calf starter-about 4-5 pounds each day.

It's late though, so off to bed I go...hay to make in the morning!

Uuufda!

Uuufda! A phrase used in Minnesota-kinda like a sigh.

This is the best way to describe the last 2 weeks at the farm. Uuufda! We have been so busy making hay. We thought we were done last week and then the neighbor came over on Monday night to offer his alfalfa to us. We took it, so yesterday we were busy in the fields again, chopping another 30 acres of alfalfa. We have been dealing with the 3rd driest May in history in Minnesota, and a windy one at that. Last week were making hay with 50 mph winds and 97 degrees...this week it was 80 degrees and NO WIND. As a result we cut alfalfa yesterday morning at 8 am, and we were not able to start chopping it until 10 pm. We finished at 2 am this morning. We are finding that 4 hours of sleep is not enough to function well...so nap time was taken today ;) Uuufda! Makes for a long night and an even earlier morning.

We are looking forward to working on some summer time project tomorrow...getting our sprinkler system up and running for the lactating cows and hauling out the last of the calf manure in the calf barn.

Also an update on Joey...she's growing so well! I hope to have pictures up soon....she's eating about 1.5 pounds of calf starter (calf feed which contains corn, oats, and a protein pellet, all coated with mollasses for a special treat) a day.