A Collection of Misfits...

Today was herd health day at the farm.  Every 3-4 weeks the vet shows up to check the health of our new fresh cows, vaccinate cows and heifers, dehorn calves, pregnancy check cows that were bred, and check any cows that we need to have examined.  Today was an excellent herd health! We had a a good report on our fresh cows, vaccinations went well and most importantly we had a number of cows that were confirmed pregnant!  When looking over the list of cows that were pregnant, I decided that we had a small collection of misfits.  It was interesting reading each name and thinking about that cow's life history.

Cows varied in ages, but each was a misfit in their own right.  First we had a 12 year old cow, Terry, who is the oldest cow in our herd.  She has had numerous calves, and again, is pregnant and due in July. Terry isn't the prettiest cow in the barn but she milks well and has calves...she stays healthy.  We love her a lot.  Second on the list was Zhilgen.  She's a special heifer because she beat the odds.  As a heifer she had a serious surgery.  The vets told us that she wouldn't be able to have a calf someday, but we bred her anyways, got her pregnant and she successfully delivered a heifer calf.  After that, we were told that she couldn't have another calf, but after a couple tries, we are successful!  Third and fourth on the list were 2 cows that delivered calves months ago, but due to their high milk production they were not able to become pregnant.  After many tries we finally got them to conceive, even one with twins!  Fifth and sixth on the list were heifers that had many  tries as well, but we got them pregnant.  Finally, was Yevette!  Yevette was a heifer that was born 33 days premature, and against all odds she survived!  With a lot of TLC from Jon and I we nursed her, got her to grow, and now....she's pregnant with her first calf, due in July!  We are so proud of Yvette and how well she is thriving!

After Herd Health, I walked through the calf barn and saw another misfit!  On Thanksgiving Day we welcomed 2 new heifer calves.  These girls were very fortunate that we had our Thanksgiving Dinner at Grandma's house, which is next to the dry cow lot.  We were able to rescue them from the frigid weather, preventing frost bite.  The first calf, Izzy did great from the get-go, however, the second calf, Thankful, wasn't doing so great.  Thankful wasn't able to stand up, her legs were deformed, her ligaments were weak and unable to support weight.  We nursed her and nurtured her.  And finally today....6 days after her birth....she stood for the first time!!!!  I was so proud of my little calf, I gave her a hug!!!  Thankful was also a misfit, but with a little dairy farmer care she thrives.  Dairy farming is all about saving the misfits....they are worth the time and effort.

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! =)

Honoring an Excellent Cow of Longevity!

Today was the County DHIA (Dairy Herd Information Association) meeting. While Jon and I did not attend, my in-laws did and brought home our information. Above is our cow Terry. She was honored as the county's 7th highest Lifetime producing cow. She is an amazing cow, and in fact is the mother of Theresa Ann, who I just blogged about yesterday. Terry has had an amazing journey to get to our farm and a great life along the way. Let start at the beginning:

Terry was born as #196 at our neighbor's farm over 11 years ago. She was raised in a nice calf barn then moved to lush pastures to grow into a great heifer. She delivered her first calf at this farm, a bull, milked in a nice, neat tie stall barn. The she was sold to a neighbor who milked her in a free stall barn, bred her back...and named her Terry. She lived at the 2nd neighbor's farm for about 2 years, then she was sold back to the original owner. It was from the original owner we purchased Terry. We brought her to Orange Patch Dairy 5 years ago. While at Orange Patch Dairy, Terry has delivered 2 bulls calves, 1 set of twin heifer calves, and one single heifer calf. Those heifers are all at our farm yet: named Terry II, Theresa Ann and Theresa Marie. Terry II has a daughter named Terry III and is due in July with another calf. Theresa Ann just gave birth to Theresa Joy last week and Theresa Marie is due next week. In fact Terry is due to calve again in July. At the age of 11 years 8 months, Terry has had 10 calves total and 8 lactations. Terry has produced over 220,000 pounds (over 25,600 gallons) of milk in her lifetime.

She's not the prettiest cow in the barn, she's showing her age, but she continues to be in good health, produce lots of milk (currently milking 100 pounds of milk each day=11.62 gallons), and produces nice calves. Did we push Terry to produce this much milk?-absolutely NOT! We keep Terry comfortable, housed in our pack barn. She is able to relax for over 15 hours each day on a comfortable and dry surface of bedding. She is milked twice each day and eats a completely balanced TMR ration that supplies her all of her daily needs. She is older than her herd mates and has special needs-we make sure that she has excellent health care and hoof trimming. Terry is a happy cow. She never kicks, always waits for her daily head scratching and is a pleasure to work with. We are so proud of her accomplishments and are truly amazed at how well she has aged. She continues to impress us each day. She's shorter and smaller than other cows, but with her maturity she pushes her "own weight" around. I know that she may have had rBST at other farms, but I assure you at our farm, she has NOT received any rBST as we do not use it. We firmly believe that if you care for your cows to the best of your ability and also provide them the best feeds possible, they will preform to the best of their genetic capabilities, and Terry proves this theory every day. So.....CONGRATULATIONS TERRY! WE SALUTE YOUR GREAT WORK PRODUCING A DELICIOUS PRODUCT FOR SO MANY YEARS!!!!!