An Amazing Week So Far!

Pen 1 (Cows who have had 1-2 calves) enjoys a tasty lunch in the new barn.

We have been having an amazing week so far.  While the mornings have been early and the nights have been late...it's been worth it all. 
On Monday we had our monthly DHIA test, where we learned how the cows have been adapting to their new home.  It was awesome to see how well they are doing!  In all honesty, the past couple months have been a trial for them.  The old barn was over crowded, and the bedding was piling up.  The freedom and space of the new barn, combined with the comfortable stalls and added feeding space has really paid off.  Our #1 cow...Orange Patch Rockette...or you can just call her Rockette, produced a whopping 168 pounds of milk in one day (almost 20 gallons!)!  She's definitely a rockstar in our eyes!  Our #1 heifer (had just 1 calf so far) named Orange Patch Morty Blessing...or Blessing for short...produced an also impressive 120 pounds per day!  Both of these cows, are like so many others in our herd, who are exceeding our expectations, and we are truly blessed with the opportunity to work with them.
On Tuesday we had herd health in the new barn.  We used the headlocks (as seen in the picture above) to "lock" our cows, so our veterinarian could check them out.  Using the headlocks proved to be an enjoyable experience for us humans, but more importantly for the cows!  They really enjoyed being able to eat while we did their check ups, and even after we released them, the cows kept coming back for more attention.  The good news is that we have another 18 cows and 4 heifers ready to have calves in September!  We're really excited about that! The better news was the herd health took less time, but more importantly, was kinder and gentler on the cows! So cool!
Today, was another great experience....we enjoyed visiting with the area high school animal science class.  The 21 students came to our farm this morning with a really good general base of knowledge about dairy farming, thanks to their awesome ag-teacher.  With the knowledge they asked some great questions about the practices we use on our farm.  I can't say enough good things about the importance of ag-education in high schools and the importance of teaching our teens where their food actually comes from!  Overall this was one of the best, if not the best tour group of teens that we've ever had! Just awesome! =)

Word of the Week: Flexibility

Jon chopping soybean straw at sunset last week. (Check out our Facebook Page for more pictures!)

This week has been all about flexibility.  First, Thursday, we had a full schedule and we fulfilled most of that schedule.  I worked hard to continue washing away the dirt and crud of summer in the milking parlor.  Jon worked to prep the manure spreaders for hauling this weekend.  We finished those tasks, loaded 5 bull calves for the neighbor who buys them and raises them, and bred a heifer that was in heat.  We then found out that we had some unexpected visitors stopping in for a tour in a mere 20 minutes!!  WHOA! That's short notice!  I had left some supper cooking at home and had so many other things to do at home that night, how were we going to find the time to give a tour?!?!  Thankfully, my father in law stepped in to give the tour.  We gave a short demonstration of milking and the milking parlor for our friend from town and his Colombian exchange student.  The student, Juan, had so many great questions about the technology we use to milk cows.  How could I not spend some time with him, talking about how we provide nutritious milk for consumers?  I suppose we spent about 30 minutes with Juan and our friend.  It was great to share with Juan, how we care for our cows and our land as well.  Needless to say I didn't get the rest of my jobs done for the night. 

Then on Friday, Jon and I worked so hard to milk, feed and bed the cows.  Calves and heifers were fed.  I loaded up hay at my parents' house, drove it home and unloaded it.  Jon worked on more prep for the manure spreaders, and then we were finally able to start hauling manure.  We hauled 10 loads to our neighbor's field and had to stop for evening chores.  After completing calves and setting up the milking parlor, we loaded in the cows.  Apparently our cow Judas (named after the band not the apostle) needed to run into the parlor for milking tonight.  But instead of sprinting safely into the parlor, she slipped and fell in the holding pen.  She wasn't the smartest cow in the barn tonight, as she drug herself a few feet into the parlor.  This was a problem, because we wouldn't be able to help lift Judas with our usual equipment.  Jon had to use some special lifts from the farm shop.  While he gathered supplies, I chilled out with Judas, making sure she was comfortable.  Sometimes when cows slip and fall it takes a little time to get them back up, dairy farmers just have to be a little patient with them, and offer them a little help.  30 minutes later, Jon had Judas lifted up, standing on her own, and doing fine.  Our fear when cows fall, is that they may become injured.  Working quickly helps insure that injuries are minimal (sore muscles) instead of serious (broken bones or tore ligaments).  Judas didn't even show signs of a fall after milking tonight.  She felt so good, she tried to come back into the parlor for some more fun!  Silly cow!  Hopefully she learns that she should walk to the parlor instead of running next time.  Nevertheless, we were delayed from finishing milking on time, and since Judas was blocking half of the parlor, we could only milk at 1/2 speed for those 30 minutes.  If we had scheduled plans for our Friday night, we would have cancelled them, but we luckily had no plans. 

So often in the dairy industry flexibility is critical.  Cows need care 24 hours a day.  Sometimes they can handle themselves, but sometimes they need help.  I can remember times growing up at home, when my dad would have to miss a concert, a 4-H show or a church event because he needed to stay at home with a cow that was calving or had a piece of machinery break.  We grew to understand that Dad would have loved to be at our events, but he had a responsibility to his farm and his cows.  Now, I share that responsibility to my farm and my cows.  I know first hand how frustrating it can be to work so hard to finish chores so we can leave to an event, only to have something happen, turning our plans upside down!  But, at the end of the day, our cows come first.  Their care is our priority and our responsibility and we take that VERY seriously.  So....here' hoping that tomorrow will be a little more predicable and a little less random (but I am counting on something random to happen, like a new calf!).

Kids Ask, I Tell...

After last week's preschool tour, I thought I would take this week before we start cutting hay to reflect on their questions, and how I responded to them.  I think even adults wonder about some of the things that they asked, and frankly...if you want to know, JUST ASK US!  I am more than willing to share with you why we do what we do, instead of having false assumptions made about our farm...so here we go....first up!

1. Do your cows go outside?
Seems like a simple question, since we were in a barn at the time when this was asked.  Our milking cows do NOT go outside.  They enjoy life inside our barn with a roof, sidewalls with curtains for natural light and ventilation, and fans and sprinklers for summer heat.  We house our cows inside for a number of reasons, but the main one is that we are protecting them from the environment outside.  Inside our barn they are protected from rain, snow, sun, heat, cold, wind, etc...and they are protected from predators (coyotes are most numerous in our area).  We also have them inside so they stay out of mud.  Those silly cows sure do love their mud!  I can't believe how much mud they make and play in when they are outside.  Mud=dirty, and dirty=increased chance of mastitis (which is painful for the cow and our pocket book-clean cows are healthy cows!). 

We have a pack barn which is basically a big bedded pen, allowing all cows plenty of walking room each day.  They get exercise by walking to and from the parlor, up to the bunk for feed and water and mainly from running around with their herd mates during the day-playing!  Yep! You got it!  Cows play!  You should see them play, it makes Jon and I laugh so often during the day!  I love watching them just have a blast!

Our dry cows DO GO OUTSIDE.  They enjoy a 2 month vacation outside before they have their next calf.  Here they have one job, to eat and relax.  One of the moms on our tour last week thought that sounded nice, since she was expecting a baby in a couple of months ;)  In this pen we strive to keep them clean, but darn it if those cows don't find a mud hole every once in awhile, especially in the summer after a cool rain.  We hope to someday move these cows indoors to also protect them from the weather, but for now they are doing just fine.

2. How come your cows walk in poop?
This one was a great question!  Ever watch a herd of cows walk home from the pasture?  The follow the same path over and over again, until its dirt (hence the term "cow paths").  When it rains this turns to mud, but there is also "poop" there.  Cows poop all of the time.  Cows will poop when they get up to eat, when they lay down, when they leave the parlor, when they come into the parlor, and when they are scared.  We work hard to prevent the last condition-walking through the barn peacefully is a requirement, but with 20+ kids laughing and screaming at the cows...well, let's just say they were scared/nervous.  One very astute child suggested that we take the cows outside the barn, onto the grass and let them poop outside and then bring them back into the barn.  Just like a dog!  What an observation!  BUT....those cows would poop on the way out and on the way back, still making a mess and making a mess of our front lawn.  Unfortunately we have not potty trained our cows, but if someone ever figures out a way to do it I know many dairy farmers that would be interested.  Our cows walk on alleys that are made with concrete.  The cows have grip on these to prevent them from slipping.  We scape these alleys everyday-twice a day to prevent the "poop" from getting too deep.  It's a job that we do when the cows are in the parlor waiting to be milked.  Some farmers have machines that automatically scrape the alleys during the day while the cows are in the barn, but we do not have a system like that.  The "poop" is scraped into a holding pit which is pumped out every few weeks, and hauled to our fields.  Scraping "poop" is critical to making sure that our cows stay clean-the cleaner the cows are, the healthier they are, and we improve the overall quality of the milk that they produce! 

Awesome questions!!!! More to come later this week!!!

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. 

Passed the milk inspection!!!

Well, the milk inspector stopped out today for our surprise inspection and we are certified to sell milk for another 6 months!!!!  We were not worried that we would fail this inspection, as we are always working to have clean equipment and safe, wholesome milk, but every dairy farmer knows that the moment that the milk inspector sets foot on the farm....you just get nervous.  It's a guessing game as to whether or not we will get a violation, and we definitely do not want to have a violation so severe that it would warrent a re-inspection, which we would have to pay a fine for.  Today's good news was that we passed...but Alan did leave us a short list of changes that he thinks we should make before he comes to visit us again in the fall.  Simples stuff like painting a storage box, scrubbing off some hard water spots off of the pipeline in the corner of the parlor, and making sure the milk house door is shut~as Alan showed up when we were cleaning up after treating a cow and we had the door propped open.  It's not that an open door or a storage container with chipping paint are bad for the quality of our milk, but its that if we make these improvements we will continue to have a clean and safe environment to make safe and wholesome milk.  Sometimes it just nice to have another set of eyes to check out the job that you are doing.  In case you're wondering what a milk inspection looks like, check out this video from the Minnesota Department of Ag....and check out this video from http://www.dairyfarmingtoday.org/ about milk quality!

Just a note, I might not be around much in the coming days.  We have a tour group of preschoolers coming to the farm next Monday, and I have a lot of activities to organize beforehand.  Since the sun is shining Jon tells me that we will also be hauling out the dry cow yard's manure and hopefully hitting the fields to plant our first field of corn for silage!  I promise to take lots of pictures in the meantime!  Happy Spring!

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!

Blink and you'll miss it!

I can't believe it, I blinked and I missed it! Which is especially frustrating since I wanted to capture it on video....planting corn that is. I was hoping to capture video of my father in law planting the last field of corn for this year, and I blinked (left the farm to run some errands in town) and I missed it. We had one field of corn left, it rained last night-much needed rain. So I thought that I had plenty of time to go to town. My father in law was eager to finish, and as soon as the field dried off a little, so at 3 pm he went to the field. I am proud to report that we are finished planting the corn crop. We have some more manure to haul and then we can finish planting soybeans and sweet corn. It's nice to know this year we will finish planting before we start cutting our first cutting of alfalfa.

Other than that, nothing new to report from the farm. I am eager to get into the flower beds and work on making the yard "pretty" again. The prep work for the pre-school tour has started and we are also working on scheduling a tour for a local high school Ag class. It's May and very busy at the farm!