2 days ago Jon and I made the trek to Central Plains Dairy Expo, in Sioux Falls South Dakota. We usually try to head out every year for this expo. For me, its like a class reunion, as most of my college classmates are either working on dairies or working for dairy companies in the dairy industry. For Jon, its a chance to meet with different companies that could be potential suppliers for future investments for the health and well being of our cows. Overall it's a great experience!
I attended a seminar where I met with other dairy producers who are also interested in telling the stories of their farms, families, and cows. How uplifting it was to hear those farmers tell about sharing through speaking events, online encounters, and social media. All sharing the honest truth about their farms: they care for their cows, they care for the environment and land, and they care about the consumers who choose dairy~! I am really looking forward to hearing more dairy farmers share their stories, consumers want to know where their food comes from and we should not be afraid to tell them how hard we work and how much we CARE for they food they eat.
Another interesting part of the trip was the amount of field work going on. Last year we encountered a snow storm on the way to South Dakota, but this time it was 70+ degrees, sunny and breezy. It's been an amazing week of weather here! When we left MN we saw farmers in our area digging fields and sowing in their wheat, oats, and alfalfa crops. When we got closer to South Dakota we saw farmers combining 2009 corn that they had to leave in the fields thanks to our soggy fall and early winter snows. Those same farmers were also taking advantage of the warm dry weather, they were baling up dried corn straw/stalks to be used on their cattle farms as bedding. It was really a tale of 2 season....Fall 2009 and Spring 2010. I know that this warm weather has been a real blessing for each of those seasons and we are truly grateful!!
At Orange Patch Dairy, we received a short shower of rain today, and it was as though God himself took a crayon and colored the grass and alfalfa fields green in minutes....EVERYTHING is green and beautiful! Spring is officially here!!!!!
Showing posts with label green grass. Show all posts
Showing posts with label green grass. Show all posts
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Spring is in the air!
The concert was AWESOME! I can't wait to post some videos of Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan, but no time tonight. Oh Spring is in the air at the farm! I know spring is right around the corner for many different reasons....
New Ulm Farm Show: This weekend is the Farm Show. Farmers and businessmen alike were wandering around the show floor today with a "spring" in their step: planning purchases for seed for the coming crop season, planning new building projects as soon as the mud disappears, and planning "warm" weather projects. Everyone had smiles on their faces even though the fog and mist smothered out the sunshine.
Disppearing Snow Drifts: 2 weeks ago we had over 18 inches of snow at the farm, now, thanks to some major temperature changes we have only 6 inches left and a lot of mud! It's a nessesary evil when it comes to season changes in Minnesota. Snow melts...mud comes. Heifers LOVE the mud! Silly heifers always run in the mud-making themselves dirty and disgusting. If PETA drove by they would probably want to film those darn heifers, covered in mud, and put it on ABC news, but even though they are muddy-it's only temporary. Once the sun comes out and the mud dries up, those heifers go back to being clean and beautiful, almost picture perfect. Heifers and cows are independent animals and even if they were in the "wild" they would be muddy and dirty this time of year. Ironically it's their choice to be muddy. They're healthy even if they are temporarily dirty.
Thunderstorms: Yes, we had our first thunderstorm of the year on Thursday morning. It was amazing to see lightning and hear thunder again! The rain (almost 1 inch) was warm and wonderful...but also made the mud that was the result of the melting snow even more "muddy". We moved a new fresh cow during this thunderstorm, I was soaking wet, but I enjoyed feeling rain instead of snow.
Flooding: Yes, we have flooding now. Rapidly melting snow with added rain makes for a LARGE volume of water that needs to go somewhere. The frost layer (layer in the soil where the ground is frozen) prevents the water from soaking in...so there is run off. The water runs off into the streams, ponds, slouges, and into the fields. Our fields are all home to small lakes. Thanks to the work that we do with our local NRCS (National Resources Conservation Service) we have built filter strips (sections of grass that we planted to filter run off water) and drainage ditches (grass filled ditches that store and filter water, in addition to move it away from the farm and feedlots). We have taken steps to make sure that we protect our natural resources (land, water, air). We need to have these resources for our generation and the generations to come.
Frost Layer is Coming Out: That darn frost layer, which had been there all winter is now thawing. This means that we can no longer take tractors out into the field. Tractors can cause compaction, which is bad for the soil. Compaction is terrible for crops-they can't develop good root systems. Tractors also get stuck. Mud without frost underneath means those darn tractors will sink right through-making for an even bigger mess. So what do we do with our manure?...we stack it. We have a section of land where we pile manure until the fields are safe to be in again (hopefully soon). We are hoping to build a larger storage area for manure, which means we can haul manure less often during the year and not have to stack it. Hopefully milk prices increase soon so we can make this wish a reality.
Robins and Green Grass: Yep, we sure did see our first robin this week! I was so excited to see that red chested bird! The grass is also greening up under the snow, which makes me hopeful that the long range forecast is correct and warmer weather is on the way!
Wishing you a Happy Spring!!!
New Ulm Farm Show: This weekend is the Farm Show. Farmers and businessmen alike were wandering around the show floor today with a "spring" in their step: planning purchases for seed for the coming crop season, planning new building projects as soon as the mud disappears, and planning "warm" weather projects. Everyone had smiles on their faces even though the fog and mist smothered out the sunshine.
Disppearing Snow Drifts: 2 weeks ago we had over 18 inches of snow at the farm, now, thanks to some major temperature changes we have only 6 inches left and a lot of mud! It's a nessesary evil when it comes to season changes in Minnesota. Snow melts...mud comes. Heifers LOVE the mud! Silly heifers always run in the mud-making themselves dirty and disgusting. If PETA drove by they would probably want to film those darn heifers, covered in mud, and put it on ABC news, but even though they are muddy-it's only temporary. Once the sun comes out and the mud dries up, those heifers go back to being clean and beautiful, almost picture perfect. Heifers and cows are independent animals and even if they were in the "wild" they would be muddy and dirty this time of year. Ironically it's their choice to be muddy. They're healthy even if they are temporarily dirty.
Thunderstorms: Yes, we had our first thunderstorm of the year on Thursday morning. It was amazing to see lightning and hear thunder again! The rain (almost 1 inch) was warm and wonderful...but also made the mud that was the result of the melting snow even more "muddy". We moved a new fresh cow during this thunderstorm, I was soaking wet, but I enjoyed feeling rain instead of snow.
Flooding: Yes, we have flooding now. Rapidly melting snow with added rain makes for a LARGE volume of water that needs to go somewhere. The frost layer (layer in the soil where the ground is frozen) prevents the water from soaking in...so there is run off. The water runs off into the streams, ponds, slouges, and into the fields. Our fields are all home to small lakes. Thanks to the work that we do with our local NRCS (National Resources Conservation Service) we have built filter strips (sections of grass that we planted to filter run off water) and drainage ditches (grass filled ditches that store and filter water, in addition to move it away from the farm and feedlots). We have taken steps to make sure that we protect our natural resources (land, water, air). We need to have these resources for our generation and the generations to come.
Frost Layer is Coming Out: That darn frost layer, which had been there all winter is now thawing. This means that we can no longer take tractors out into the field. Tractors can cause compaction, which is bad for the soil. Compaction is terrible for crops-they can't develop good root systems. Tractors also get stuck. Mud without frost underneath means those darn tractors will sink right through-making for an even bigger mess. So what do we do with our manure?...we stack it. We have a section of land where we pile manure until the fields are safe to be in again (hopefully soon). We are hoping to build a larger storage area for manure, which means we can haul manure less often during the year and not have to stack it. Hopefully milk prices increase soon so we can make this wish a reality.
Robins and Green Grass: Yep, we sure did see our first robin this week! I was so excited to see that red chested bird! The grass is also greening up under the snow, which makes me hopeful that the long range forecast is correct and warmer weather is on the way!
Wishing you a Happy Spring!!!
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