Herd Health Day

We have been busy at Orange Patch Dairy today. We welcomed yet another bull calf to our farm. We have been birthing about 2 bulls calves to every 1 heifer calf. These calves will end up at our neighbor's farm where they will be raised to be beef animals. We had to move the new mother to the new barn as well. After taking care of baby and mother, we had our monthly scheduled visit with our herd vet.

We call this day "Herd Health Day". Our vet worked today to do post-calving check ups on all of the cows that have had babies (calves) in the last month. We had 15 cows to check. We had an awesome result, as all cows are of excellent health. These cows were also vaccinated for various cow-diseases, much like how we vaccinate humans for human diseases. We also did pregnancy checks for those cows that we bred 35 days ago. We checked 7 cows and 4 of them were pregnant. The remaining 3 that are not pregnant will be watched in the coming weeks for estrus (heat) and bred again. Try, try again...we want all of our cows to have calves and continue their lactations. After checking over the cows we moved to the calf barn.

Here we vaccinated our calves with a vaccine that is similar to what the cows got, for the same disease. We work hard to give booster vaccines to all animals on our farm to make sure that our cows are healthy and not sick. Sick cows reduce milk production which reduces our income, but it also costs money to buy drugs to treat them, therefore it is ALWAYS in our BEST interests to have HEALTHY cows! In fact today at the age of 4.5 months, we vaccinated Joey, the calf from our spring day care visits.

After vaccinating the calves we did follow up checks on animals that had surgery in the last few weeks. All in all, it was a great day on the farm-with healthy and happy cows on Orange Patch Dairy!

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!

Dedication...the word of the day.

Before I get to dedication, I would like everyone to know that Yevette is doing much better today! She was up and alert this morning, ready for her bottle. After drinking 2.5 pints of fresh cow's milk, she napped all day! It was so cute! And she's passing manure too! So we are going to keep her on antibiotics for the next few days. We know we are not out of the woods yet, but she's giving us positive signs!

We also started weaning Joey today. Weaning means that we are gradually allowing Joey to eat more dry feed and water instead of being dependent on milk for her food source. We start weaning by providing water in the morning instead of milk, and feed milk only at night for about 5-7 days. We closely monitor how well the calves adjust to water, and when they are ready we transition them to water for both feedings. So far Joey is taking to weaning just fine! She's eating lots of dry feed as well. We switch calves to water at about 45-60 days old. We do this for a couple of reasons: cost, convenience, and the most important reason: dry feed and water help to stimulate and rumen development. Dry grain and water stimulates the papillae in the rumen to grow and develop, therefore growing into a very healthy and efficient stomach to digest forages in the future. Milk is digested in the abomasum, therefore it does not help to develop the rumen. Anything we can do to make healthy future cows!

As for dedication...Dairy farmers are dedicated, more than most consumers would ever know. This week we celebrated our 4th Wedding Anniversary. Most married couples would have went out to for drinks, a romantic dinner, and a stroll by starlight, but not us. Don't get me wrong, we did have plans, plans for dinner and drinks anyways. BUT...the cows had other ideas. We worked hard all day. Even though we could take ALL day off for our anniversary we thought we would take the evening off after milking. We hurried through the tasks for the day and started our chores early in the evening. As hard as we worked to get ahead, the "farm" pushed us back twice as hard. It's frustrating some days, but dairy farmers often learn to deal with it. Dairy farmers' wives have a harder time dealing with it, including me. Even though I understand, it still doesn't change the fact that I am a woman and I like to have my special nights ;)

Nevertheless, we had 2 baby calves born that day. The sprinkler system for the cows was broke and needed to be fixed ASAP. One of the pulsators in the milking parlor was not working, so it needed to be fixed. AND because the weather was so hot and humid we needed to water the cattle and calves multiple times. After all of that it was too late to go on our date. Instead we finished up, headed home after 10pm, had a small supper, and went to bed-romantic huh?

When I was working at the local cooperative I worked with many dairy farmers. Some who had enough cows that they could afford to hire labor to handle the farm so they could go out with their families and wives. Others, who did not have enough cows to afford hiring labor, but still found a way by being flexible. Some dairy farmers have not ever gone on a vacations and others only leave the farm to go to town for parts and Sunday church-and they were proud of this! Dedication. Dedicated to their cows, not because it makes them money, but because they genuinely want the best for their cows. They don't walk away when a cow is calving or sick to be with their families, but tend to their cows first. Vacations take a back seat to making high quality feeds to make healthy cows and quality milk. Often dairy farmers make sacrafices, most of which go unknown to the consumer. So here's to you, Dairy Farmer! For your deidcation, putting your animals first, supporting your family and caring for your farm. You should be in the Webster next to the definition.

Dedication.

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.

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.

Pictures from the Preschool Tour!

I finally got some time to sit down and post some pictures. The preschool tour threw off our schedule at the farm just a little, and now we are working on planning the tour for the High School Ag class coming next Wednesday. I love pictures of kids seeing a dairy farm for the first time...and a picture is worth a million words. Also a HUGE thanks to the Dairy Princesses that came out to spend time with the kids on Monday! I know they had a blast seeing a real life princess in person!

Explaining to the kids that in the summer heat we run sprinklers, which are ALOT like water parks....so fun for cows too!

Kids enjoying snack time, cheese and crackers.

Dairy Princess Angie handing out stickers to the preschoolers-which say "I met a dairy farmer".-Those were awesome stickers!!!

Meeting Baby Joey. Those kids wanted to hug Joey so badly!

Talking about what we feed the cows to the little boys, so curious about the smells that they smelled.

Petting a cow for the first time. They weren't scared at all!

Snack time with cheese and crackers, and their new stickers.

Mmmmm...juice boxes :)

The best group picture we got at the farm!

Mainly, as you can see, 21 preschoolers and a baby calf are all hard to manage and get to stand still, oh well.

Bottle feeding calves with Dairy Princess Val. Kids LOVED this activity!

Bottle feeding with Dairy Princess Angie. Odessa enjoyed all of the extra attention.

HAY RIDE! The boys were huge fans of the hay ride, but we learned that only boys should drive not girls, like me ;)

Loading the hay ride to the calf barn.

They came, they went, they learned!

Whew! What a day! 42 preschoolers later, I am exhausted! It was busy morning getting ready for the preschoolers before they arrived at the farm. Add to that the energy needed to keep up with 42 4 and 5 year olds, and needless to say it took a lot out of us today. The weather was beautiful and the kids were great! So many awesome questions asked. A BIG thanks to our 2 dairy princesses who came with us today for the visit! Some of the funny questions and comments are listed below....and pictures will be coming soon....

• "Is that a boy cow, it only has one earring? Girl cows should have 2 earrings"-pointing at a cow's ear tag.
• "My favorite part was milking the baby calves"-trying to tell us about feeding the calves milk in a bottle.
• "How come they poop on the ground?"-because cows can't be potty trained yet ;)
• "Is she bleeding?"-pointing at the teat dip on the cow's teat, which is dark brown colored.
• "Whoa, she made a mess! Who's going to clean it up?"-when a cow pooped in the parlor.
• "Can we walk in the poop too?"-wanted to walk in the scrape alley with the cows.
• "That feed stinks-how do they eat that?"-pointing at the TMR, smelling like silage.

Preschoolers meet Joey!!!!

Tomorrow (Monday) we will introduce 42 preschoolers to the wonders of a dairy farm. We started doing farm tours last year and have decided with the preschool teachers that this should be an annual event. In addition to leaving a lasting impression about dairy farming we are also having a blast with some great kids!

We have many activities planned for these excited kids. First they get to ride the bus to the farm with a County Dairy Princess. She will lead the kids in fun songs on the way the farm. Once they arrive we will check out the bulk tank and milk house. Our cow "Discovery" will be in the parlor waiting to be milked. I can't wait to see the look on the kids' faces when they pet a real cow! It's so cool! After that we will visit the rest of the herd in the bedded pack barn. Then we will load up on a hay ride to the calf huts. There will be the big surprise.....

These preschoolers will meet "Joey". Joey will be so excited to meet all of the preschoolers! Joey is 10 days old and will be fed by the preschoolers tomorrow. She will be very excited to run around and enjoy the special attention. During the summer we will track Joey's progress as she grows and enjoys life on Orange Patch Dairy. Each week I will try to post information about what Joey has been up to, as well as pictures and video. Our hope is that parents and kids alike will check in and see how Joey is doing. Here's a little background information about Joey:

• Joey is a Holstein calf.
• She is a heifer.
• She was born on April 30th, 2009.
• Her mother is a first calf cow (Joey is her first born).
• Joey's mom is named Judy.
• Judy was born 2 years ago.
• Joey was fed 1 gallon of colostrum for her first feeding after birth.
• Joey was fed milk from Judy for the first 5 feedings (2.5 days) of her life.
• Now Joey is fed milk replacer (dry milk which we add warm water to) twice a day in addition to calf starter (feed containing corn, oats, and protein pellets).
• Joey lives in a calf hut, which is placed in a grove of trees providing shade from the sun and protection from the wind.
• Joey's hut is bedded with chopped soybean straw.

We hope you will check in on Joey often in the coming weeks!