Men's Sausage Dinner: Faith, Food, Fellowship, Farming

German deliciousness! Sauerkraut & Sausages!

This past weekend was our annual church Men’s Sausage Dinner.  There is so much about this event that just brings joy to my heart!  First it is an event that highlights our local German heritage which is focused on a delicious meal that few can really enjoy.  Sauerkraut is amazing!  This particular sauerkraut is made with shredded potatoes, mashed potatoes, pork pulled off the bone, and sauerkraut (fermented cabbage for those who are not familiar with it).  This recipe is a “secret” recipe that only the men of the parish know how to make, some of those men being my brother and my father.  Another trademark of this delicious meal are the locally made sausages.  The meat is from animals which are donated to the church from area farmers.  This year my brother and father donated a couple cows and a few other neighboring dairy farmers did the same.  Area hog farmers donate pigs and together, there is enough meat to feed the hundreds that come to eat at church, purchase take-out meals and extra meat and sauerkraut to sell. 

Starting months in advance men from the church organize who is going to donate animals and from which farms.  Once enough animals are found, a crew goes around to each farm and picks up the animals and delivers them to the butcher.  All of the work for this event from the organizing to the washing of dishes is done by the men from church.  It’s a great event that my dad looks forward to each year.  He and my brother enjoy working with other men from church for a good cause, but also working together in male comradery.  I did chores the morning of the dinner so my dad could help. The night after the dinner, he was just buzzing with stories about how fun it was to work with his friends and neighbors.  My brother was working the day before, pulling the meat off of the bones for the sauerkraut.  He was so dedicated he even went into work at 3am to get the pots of sauerkraut cooking!  While this was a men only event, it did my heart good to milk for my dad so he could help the church and have a great time in the process!  I’m already looking forward to it next year!  A celebration of Faith, Food, Fellowship and Farming!

 

Manure for Fertilizer

Removing the Manure from the compost barn-Fall 2009 Check out my latest post to YouTube.  While its old it is relevant as we are prepping to plant our first field of corn this year.  Learn more about how dairy farmers care about the environment at Dairy Farming Today!

Congrats for surviving this Week of Winter!

Oh I couldn't be more excited for warmer weather than what I am right now! In case you didn't notice, I haven't posted a blog in over a week. There's a GOOD explanation for that-we were taking care of our cows the best that we could in some pretty miserable Minnesota weather. At last count we put in 3 16-hour days, 2 15-hour days, and 3 12-hour days. It's been tough, no lie about that. Our biggest challenge was just making sure that all of our cows, heifers and calves were protected from the wind and snow. Frost bite is just as dangerous to cows as it is to humans....we take the winter very seriously. We bedded in all animals everyday with lots of extra straw, thereby keeping them dry and clean. We moved cows that were due to calve in the coming days, into a heated pen to assure us that any calves born would be warm and frost-free. Accidents do happen, where cows are not smart enough to stay out the wind and decide to have their calves out in the open, in a snow bank, and in the wind-those calves usually die. Knowing this fact-we didn't want to take any chances-we want all live calves, so mothers got moved inside. We used special teat creams/lotions in the milking barn to protect teats on cows and heifers that could be at risk of freezing as well. The temperatures dipped below -30 a couple of times over night, but wind chills were out biggest enemy: -45! Add some fluffy, fresh snow and we had a good mess on our hands. One night we were even unsure if we could make the 7 mile trip from the farm back to our home since most local roads were closed...but we made it.

It's days like those that I really wonder how animal rights activists can accuse us on "not caring" for our cows!?!?! Seriously!?!?!? If I didn't care for my cows, I would have stayed at home, wrapped up on the couch with a warm blanket instead of sporting 5 layers of clothing and a ski mask to care for my animals. Those days were really hard on us mentally. Jon and I asked ourselves often-"Why is it that we are doing this?" We do it because we love our cows, and we strive everyday to give them our very best-they deserve it! Farming is not easy, but we do it because we know how important it is to grow, raise, and produce safe, quality, wholesome food for the world. So, I guess to rest my case....say thanks and congrats to a dairy farmer today....especially if they survived a week of winter like we did.

And, be grateful for the +30 temps coming this week!

Labor Day Celebrations!

As you venture off to your Labor Day celebrations tomorrow, we at Orange Patch Dairy will begin the process we know and love as "Corn Silage Season". Yes, it is time, the corn is dried down enough to be chopped, hauled home, and packed into large 250 foot plastic bags. These bags will store enough feed for all of our cows, heifers, and calves for the coming year. Corn silage is the primary feed in our cow rations, as it makes up about 35% of the total diet (50 pounds per cow each day). We will be making about 2200-2400 ton of corn silage this year, and we hope to finish it by the weekend (5 days start to finish). Therefore I might not be blogging in the coming days but I hope to be gathering some great pictures and video from the farm to show and tell about silage season. But I do have some thoughts on Labor Day I wanted to share....

Dairy farming is a hard labor filled job, but ask any dairy farmer and they would tell you how much they love their jobs. It's a dairy farmer's passion and drive for what they do that helps them through tough years like this year. It is their love of their job, cows, and nature that helps to get them through each day and forces them to wake up each morning only to repeat it over again. Right now we aren't getting paid to milk cows, but in fact we are paying an admission fee to go to work each day. How would you feel if your boss was standing at the door each morning collecting a fee to enter and do your job? It wouldn't feel too good, but for a dairy farmer, there are so many other "gifts" of the job to make it worth while. I wake up each morning looking forward to the next baby calf, the next gain in milk production, a pretty sunrise, fresh cut hay, the next new surprise. It's honestly fun to know that even if the the daily tasks are the same, the days are still filled with a variety of surprises, some better than others. My father, who also dairy farms, often stated "Well I am at least doing this for exercise"...referencing milking cows during low milk prices. I have been doing dairy farming for exercise for a few months now, but I am still not complaining. So as you enjoy your Labor Day, honoring that we all have the ability to work, please think about the people responsible for the food on your table....the farmers, the employees, the processors....they all work hard to ensure that you have safe, wholesome foods for you and your families. It a labor of love....so please make sure that we are not working in vain and enjoy all the great dairy products, meats, vegetables and fruits that you can.

Happy Labor Day!