Check out Cows n' Crowns!

Hey All!  I've been busy lately, devoting time to my new blog Cows n' Crowns a tribute to the 50 years of Brown County Dairy Princesses.  If you get a chance, please check it out, we are currenlty featuring princesses from the 1960's.  It's been a blast collecting information from these lovely ladies!  More to come in the next weeks.
As for the farm, well today was moving day for the calves.  I usually move calves all at the same time when I have a group of 4 ready to move to group housing from the calf huts.  Today was moving day for Theresa Joy and Theresa May.  They have been growing so nicely.  Both calves have gained about 50 pounds a piece, they have been dehorned, check by a vet and they are ready to be in a group pen.  In this pen they will join 4 other calves, teaching them about social interaction, preventing them being over whelmed by new friends.  We will move this group of 6 calves together for the rest of their lives as heifers (animals that have not had calves) until they freshen (have a calf).  Theresa Joy and Theresa May were so easy to move with the halter.  All of the attention from the preschool kids on our farm tour definitely helped to mellow them.  It's amazing how much attention and care from humans helps to calm a calf, developing a future animal that will be easy to handle, trusting of humans.  So I moved the calves inside, moved the previous calves in the smaller pen into a larger pen, the calves from the larger pen (about 12 head) were moved to the outside lot...where they will stay until they are comfirmed pregnant.  Of course all of the calves were moved into pens that were freshly bedded, clean and dry.

Other than moving calves, Jonathan has been working on getting our hay equipment ready to go.  We have about 7 days until we have to cut down 2nd cutting of alfalfa.  So our clock is ticking ;)

Rainy Day Projects

Cool rain falling outside meant that I could clean the parlor today.  Now that I have a working power washer I thought I would take advantage of a rainy day.  Once I have the parlor spotless, I like to keep it that way.  Success!  So far it's been clean, because you never know who might stop by.  2 years ago a young couple who work for one of the local pig farms stopped in to find out about dairy farms.  We definitely let the enjoy the visit, but obviously we would have liked a call first =)  They learned so much that night about how we care each day for our cows.

Theresa May and Theresa Joy met the vet last week...they are now dehorned.  Our vet and I restrained them, and we used a horn burner to "pop" the horn buds off.  Honestly, I don't think they even know that it happened, as they went back to running around in their huts and have been growing quickly ever since.  As you may recall we dehorn calves at a young age at our farm, to make sure the pain is minimal.  Dehorning is needed for the safety of animals and for the people that work with them.  Horns can break off and get infected and they can damage barns.  Silly calves feel great now...and we excellent patients!

Pictures from our Preschool Tours!

We had a GREAT time introducing these kids to Theresa May and Theresa Joy, as well as all of the cows in the barn.  They had a great day learning about dairy and all that it has to offer.

For more pictures check out our Face Book Page. 

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!!!!!

Spring Update!

Spring at the farm! Just thought I would add some pictures to the blog and update you on the cows and calves at the farm. Below is Theresa Ann. She's doing better now. She's a spirited little heifer. We have to use some restraints to milk her. New heifers are always a challenge, since they have never been milked before, but Theresa Ann is worse than others. The key to training heifers is good care, gentle and kind. We work hard not to raise our voices at the animals, and work carefully around and with them. Sometimes our tempers do get to us and we do yell, but those occasions are rare. Working with animals requires calm and quiet.... so milking becomes a more desirable activity and not something that is scary. Theresa Ann is slowly getting better each time she gets milked. Theresa Ann and Disturbed, chilling out in the pack barn.

Below is Theresa Joy. She's been a riot to feed! She's always waiting for me, excited for milk and a good scratching behind the ears. Theresa Joy is already drinking from a pail and nibbling on calf starter (dry protein pellets, corn and oats).

Theresa Joy, resting in her straw.

Just some cows, eating in the sun shine!!!!


Signs of spring...crocuses blooming in the garden!!!!!

Update on Theresa Joy....

I just thought I would post a quick update....Theresa Joy, our bundle of "joy" that was born late the other night is doing well! She drank her 1 gallon of colostrum milk yesterday and so far today has consumed another 2 quarts of milk. She will be fed tonight, where I assume she will drink another 2 quarts. She had a little bit of swelling in her navel this morning and showed some soreness, so I administered a shot of Penicillin. These symptoms are the result of a navel infection, so we treat quickly to make sure the calf doesn't "go backwards". Navel infections happen if the navel is ripped off in birth (which happened to Theresa Joy) and others happen because of unsanitary conditions. Because I acted quickly, after 3 more shots I expect Theresa Joy to be just great! and swelling free!! If left untreated a calf will get a temperature and become very ill, and losing weight.

Theresa Ann is doing well too. She's milking a lot and she is eating very well!!! Pictures coming soon....

March Midnight Madness

I just got out of the shower after a wild night and with all of the adrenaline flowing through my blood right I just can't sleep....so I thought I would share the cause of my late night/early morning insomnia.

At 10:45pm, Jonathan and I finished up our chores for the night and headed over to the old barn to check on the dry cows. It's our usual nightly chore, making sure no new babies are born over night, unsupervised. This afternoon, both Jonathan and I had noticed that one of our heifers was acting uncomfortable (pacing the line fence, standing alone, and raising her tail). Knowing this I commented to Jonathan on the way over to the barn that she looked like she might be calving soon, early in fact, since her due was April 5th. Jonathan agreed that he saw the same signs. We got out of the car and walked through the dry cow pen, and what did we see???? Yep, Theresa Ann was in the corner of the pen, starting to calve! At 10:45pm, neither one of us wanted to stay at the farm and wait hours for her to calve to we decided to drive back to town (home) and I would come back to check on her in a couple hours. Heifers always take longer than cows to have their calves, so I knew since she was just getting started I had some time. I checked my e-mail, did some dishes and at 12:45am I headed back out to the farm. I walked back to the pen and found Theresa Ann still in the corner and no baby calf, in fact she had not made any progress since I left her 2 hours ago. Something was wrong!

I rushed into the barn and got some sterile gloves (the ones that go all the way to the shoulder). I proceeded to go in to "feel" for the calf and I found one leg, but not the other leg, and the calf was coming backwards! Calves are "usually" born front feet first followed by the head, to make sure that the calf is out and breathing once the umbilical cord breaks, however this calf was coming backwards....butt first! To make matters worse I could only find one leg! The other leg was pinned up against the hip bone of the cow and with each contraction the leg pushed against the hip, instead of coming out. Sometimes cows can successfully deliver calves backwards but Theresa Ann needed help and she needed it now! I tried to push and pull the calf so I could get the 2nd leg moved out, but it would not budge for me. In fact I don't think I was strong enough to get it to start with. That uterus is a strong muscle. I tried to call Jonathan on the cell phone. He was sleeping and turned his phone off....now what to do???? If I call a vet it would take them too long to get there to help and they cost money. So I decided to rush back into town and wake Jonathan in person.

I drove as fast as I could, and thankfully there were no deer or cops. What is usually a 10 minute drive was more like 5....I scared the life out of Jonathan, yelling for him to come and help. He threw his clothes and boots on as fast as he could and we were back on the way to the farm. We ran to the dry cow pen, 15 minutes after I left, Theresa Ann was still in the corner trying to have that darn calf. Jonathan got down on his knees and when in to find the 2nd leg. He strained and struggled, but after some really hard work he got it freed!!!!!! We hooked up the rope and pulled the calf as fast, but as carefully as we could. We had to pull quickly since the calf could not stay in the birth canal, it could not breathe there and we had to pull carefully so we did not tear Theresa Ann. Swiftly we worked and with the help of Theresa Ann's powerful pushes we delivered a LIVE heifer calf!!!!! Oh how great it was to see that after all of that rushing and stress we were able to deliver a healthy heifer calf at 1:52am!!!!!!!

Theresa Ann got up immediately and started to lick off her calf. We proceeded to clip the calf's navel (to prevent infection) and make sure that Theresa Ann drank some water. Since it was so late at night we decided to leave baby Theresa Joy and her mother Theresa Ann together until morning. Theresa Joy was tired from the delivery and Theresa Ann was enjoying her success. Not every story ends like this, but it seems that this family of cows has happy endings....I hope Theresa Ann's twin sister Theresa Marie can do the same thing on her due date April 6th =)

Well...it's now 2:25am....time for bed....Good night everyone!