I Hope We All Make It

Last week, while reading my email, I found my latest copy of the Minnesota Milk Producers (MMPA) Newsletter.  MMPA is a group I proudly joined a couple years ago because of their dedication to Minnesota Dairy farmers, specifically in relation to legislation happening in our state that affects the farmers' way of life.  As I was reading this newsletter, I was immediately drawn to an letter in response to Land Stewardship Project (LSP).  A few weeks previous LSP circulated a letter to rural Minnesota citizens, calling them to action against a proposed "factory farm" in Stevens County Minnesota.  I remembered that I had also received that letter and went to the mail pile.  I had actually filed it with all of my junk mail, because while I appreciate the principles that LSP work for I don't appreciate their approach (scare tactics). 
When I opened the envelope and read the contents I was torn between being sick and being angry.  Sick, because I hate the fact that farmers and rural leaders are pitting themselves against other farmers, and angry for the same reasons.  There were examples of facts that were most certainly being exaggerated in addition to emotionally heavy words like "corporate agriculture", "factory farms", "toxic pollution", "environmental nightmare" and many others.  There were also false claims of health and environmental dangers.
If you want to read the scare tactics, you can go to the LSP web site, and if you want to read MMPA's response please see this link.  I think MMPA has a great response to LSP.  As dairy farmers, we're all in this together. We need to focus on educating the public on farming practices from all styles of farming rather than scaring them into believing that a large farm will be the death of their rural economies and environments.
I know first hand the struggles even a small dairy has with environmental regulations.  In our county we were required to notify all land owners within a one mile radius of our farm of any additions to our animal units or manure storage.  We were also required to submit manure management plans each year and expected surprise annual inspections from our county officer.  I'm not going to lie, these regulations were a pain in our butt, however I am glad that we have them in place to keep all farmers honest in their practices....big or small.  I think the key factor all consumers, rural leaders and farmers forget is that we're all in this together.  We share the same resources, we share water, air and soil.  We want and need to farm in a way that is sustainable, but because we share our environment, what we do to our environment will also affect us.  If a large or small dairy pollutes their water, they are also polluting water for their cows, employees and families.  It's not in anyone's best interest to destroy our environment. 
Moreover, the accusation that large dairies will put small dairies out of business is absurd. Having a larger dairy will help to keep local business running, whether that's feed companies, agronomy companies, lumber yards, equipment dealers, banks, hardware stores, trucking companies, manufacturing/processing plants, and so many more.  $1.00 of milk sold from any sized dairy will generate about $3.00 worth of local economic activity!  Smaller dairies also help local communities!  We need farms of all sizes and styles to have a thriving industry.  Why to small dairies sell out?  They can't afford to upgrade, there isn't another generation to take over the farm, the business plan didn't work, there are many reasons, but to point fingers at large dairies is ridiculous.  We need all sizes, we need each other, and at the end of the day, farming is hard enough the way it is.....I hope we all make it! 

Shutting down rumors & stating the facts...

Well it looks like the 'ol Rumor Mill of the local small towns are up and running once again.  As our family enjoyed the area county fair this week, several of us were pulled aside and asked some peculiar questions regarding our dairy farm.  As it turns out, these questions were based on rumors which were started by some confusion regarding a legal notice in the newspapers.  So, let's start with the rumors:

• No, we are not milking 3 times a day, we just have some odd hours of operation, therefore the lights never really shut down.  Also, often times, such as tonight, Jon or I are out in the barn treating or caring for a cow or calf.
• No, we are not currently milking 600 cows...we only have 240 milking cows on site, which are shared between Jon & his dad.
• No, we are not adding cows, and we are especially not adding 600 cows.

So, now for the facts....

• This week we have a meeting with the county commissionors to approve the final stage of our expansion/updating project.  Recall, that last year at this time we were refused a permit to build a lagoon since our proposed lagoon did not meet county regulations, but we were granted a permit to build a new barn.  Now, we are seeking a permit to build a new lagoon, one which will meet the requirements of the county law (providing us 12 months worth of manure storage for our cows).
• But the legal announcement states that we're building for 400 cows.  That is in fact true.  We're building a lagoon that will be large enough to store 12 months of manure for 400 cows.  However, we do not have 400 cows, we only have 240 cows, and plan on staying at that size for several years.  The truth of the matter is that since the permitting process is such a battle, we decided we'd build an oversized lagoon, which allows us the ability to build another barn for additional cows in the future without having to add a "mini" laggon to the proposed lagoon....otherwise we would be adding lagoons over and over again, and that's not practical.  BUT...we want to abide by the law, so we're being up front and honest.

Seems like once the fire got started, it burned way out of proportion!  I am glad that so many neighbors and friends were willing to ask us in person.  We're definitely open to answer questions and addressing concerns.  We're looking forward to this proposed lagoon for several reasons, but the primary one is the environmental issues related to manure.  The county granted us the right to haul manure everyday last year, but this is not practical from a time management stand point nor is it from an environmental stand point.   We're looking forward to being able to better control and manage our manure nutrients, aiding us in growing excellent crops to feed our cows.  We're also looking forward to hauling manure only in the fall, when we can control the field conditions more readily.  So...I hope that cleared the air, stay tuned for more updates.

Following the Rules.....even though they make no sense

Well this week has been quite a week of roller coaster emotions!  Our week started out with a HUGE downer!  On Monday, Jon attended the County Board of Adjustment meeting, to present our plans for our new construction.  As part of that construction, we were hoping to build a lagoon (large lined storage area for manure) to store about 10 months of manure from our milking and dry cows.  The current county law states that farms (all livestock farms) over 300 Animal Units must have 12 months of manure storage if they choose to build manure storage.  Since we are over 300 Animal Units, we needed to appeal to the Board of Adjustment for a variance to allow us to have a smaller sized lagoon.  The reasons for the smaller size were many, the largest one is the fact that a small dairy of our size has a difficult time affording that much of an investment.  We also thought we could appeal to the board, since 10 months of storage is MORE than what we have currently, and would allow us go from weekly manure application to bi-yearly manure application (spring and fall applications).  Unfortunately, after a valiant fight from Jon, we were defeated, 3 votes to 2 votes.  Completely distraught, Jon called me.  "Now what?!?!" We were in despair!  This project was going to make the lives our cows more comfortable, as well as improving our own.  Now those plans came to a crashing halt!
Jon contacted our County Feedlot Inspector to see if we had indeed run out of options.  SUCCESS!  One small loop-hole was found.  If we agreed to build a lagoon for 12 months of manure storage in the next 3 years the County Planning and Zoning Committee would let us build our barn without the lagoon this fall.  Our manure would need to be hauled out to our fields, according to our manure management plan, on a daily basis.  This alone makes no sense to us.  We would have thought it would be better to have 10 months of manure storage, rather than none at all, but apparently our county's law doesn't read that way.  The reasons the Board of Adjustment gave were valid, but we do believe we addressed them.
The Board's primary concern was making sure to not set a precedent for others to come before the board.  We were the first to try for a variance on this law, and it looks like we might be the last.  The other concerns included hazards from hauling manure on county and township roads in the spring and risks of overflowing the lagoon.  Ironically, even though the Board of Adjustment believed we were a risk; neighbors, friends, fellow dairymen, and our suppliers have all expressed support for our previous plans.  It was really touching to have a visit yesterday with our dairy equipment dealer, who stopped specifically to see if there was anything he could do to help us with our hurdle.
So, for now, we have officially finished the financial paperwork for the project, changed and amended the permit applications, and are patiently waiting for next week and we find out if the County Board of Commissioners will give the "go ahead" in addition to the bankers.  So...we wait, hoping for good news instead of roller coasters!

Manure Management Meetings on Friday

It's been a busy weekend, but I wanted to take some time to recap some of the things that we worked on Friday.  We had a BUNCH of meetings on Monday at the farm with the various professional that we work with to help us make good choices for our land and resources.  This year we are planning to grow our 1st crop of corn!  Previously Jonathan and I purchased all of the feed that we feed our cows from my father in law.  Growing our own crops (at least part of our feed needs) will allow us to save money as we can work to grow feed at a lower cost than we can purchase it...not that my father in law ripped us off, but now we can use our own labor instead of paying him and our own manure instead of giving it away to neighbors. 

We work with our local cooperative's agronomy department, which helps us mange our soils and crops. We pulled soil samples a few weeks ago to determine the quality of the soil in our field.  The good news is that with the management of manure in the previous years resulted in some very fertile soils that will only require a small amount of commercial fertilizer to get the corn started.  The remaining nutrients are already in the soil thanks to cow manure from last fall!  Another excellent bonus is that this lower level of commercial fertilizer will not only reduce the total cost of growing corn but increase the biological activity of the soil microbes (bacteria) which break down cow manure and crop residue (leaves and stalks left over from last year).  We were excited to hear this news and even more excited to get into the fields to get that corn planted!

We also work with a private practice agronomist/manure management specialist.  His name is Al, and he helps us keep track of so many things on our farm regarding manure.  Al has been sampling our manure for the past few years, making sure that we don't over or under apply manure to our soils.  This insures that we will always apply our cow manure at the appropriate rate.  We have even calibrated all of our manure spreaders so we know how many pounds/tons of manure we apply per acre.  One project that we have our friend Al working on right now, is recalculating our manure management plan.  Our manure management plan is a document of many pages which accounts for the amount of manure that our cows produce each year and how many acres that are required in order to apply that manure.  A series of manure samples, soil samples, and calculations are included and used to determine those acres.  As our herd has grown this past winter, we have to re-calcualte the manure management plan, making sure yet again that we do not over apply manure. 

Maintaining our soils is our number one goal.  Manure is not a pollutant when used properly, but instead a GREAT fertilizer which grows some of the best corn in the area!  I even use manure to grow my flowers, fruits and vegetables....and I have an amazing crop each year!

Hauling Manure-Day 3, DONE! FINALLY!

A quick look back at what it was like to be finished hauling manure, back in November 2009!  We hauled it out again this spring but instead of being hauled to the field it was stored at a friend's farm where he will spread it this coming fall on his fields.  Spring manure hauling sometimes is tricky with wet soils and spring rains we can have soil compaction, making for poor growing conditions for the crops. 

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!!!

BUSY, BUSY!

Just thought I would leave and let you know that I have not fallen off the face of the earth but instead found tons of jobs to do instead of posting. Rest assured that once I do return I will have LOTS of videos to share with you.

On Sunday night, at 1am we finished hauling out the cow barn. We hauled about 77 loads of manure on about 50 acres of land. We look forward to the great crop of corn this will hopefully yield for next year. On Tuesday we had Herd Health. Our vet came out and checked all of the cows, as usual. He had good news for us....12 cows pregnant and ready to calve in for June and July of next year! We hoped after that good news and finishing tilling in the manure that would have been able to go home that night early, but we found out a pump in our parlor was out of commission. We called the local serviceman (about 40 minutes away) to come and fix it, and after we got it figured out we finally started milking cows at 9pm (2 hours later than usual). We were so grateful to have a serviceman so close! We often try NOT to take our dairy infrastructure for granted-they do so much to make dairying less stressful for the rest of us. Needless to say, the cows were pretty mad at us, but we got them milked and made it up to them the next day by giving them extra treats in their feed.

Yesterday I was at South Dakota State University to speak to the freshmen class of Dairy Science students. It was a great experience to see another excellent group of students excited about the dairy industry and looking forward to a career in it.

Today we will be working on moving some dirt for a winter project and miscellaneous cleaning around the farm....needless to say there's never a dull day.

Rain again...

Yep, it's definitely raining again. Looks like we could get over an half an inch. We enjoyed about 3.5 days of almost perfect weather. Local farmers were able to get into the fields and start harvesting their soybeans and corn. Some tillage has also started. We are still unable to harvest our corn, since it is too wet and the cost of drying it is too high. We are waiting for the custom harvester to come and combine our soybeans, so we found other activities to do....MANURE removal.

My father-in-law and brother-in-law worked on moving our manure from the calf/heifer barn this morning. I worked on hauling out liquid manure from the cow barn and Jonathan worked on cleaning up the dry cows and heifer lots. All in all, a LOT of fertilizer was moved to the fields today. We will work this fertilizer into the soils to make an awesome bed for next year's crops. A "Fall Cleaning" of manure. We were very excited about the dry weather, sad about the rain today and tomorrow, but looking forward to the forecast for next week....cool and DRY.

And the rain continues....

God has blessed us with a handful of dry days this past weekend and early week, however the radar is showing a line of rain/thunderstorms looming to the west and closing in. It's be a difficult growing season this year. We started the spring with cool wet conditions. This summer was also cool, but dry and this fall is also cool and WET! We are definitely making up for the dry summer with all of the rain we are receiving right now. This wet weather is preventing us from getting into the field and bringing in the harvest. Our corn and soybeans are all too wet to combine. We would like our corn to be at least below 20% moisture, but right now it is 31-37% moisture. Without sun and warm temperatures, the drying process is becoming more difficult.

In addition to slowing harvest, we are also postponing some critical fall activities. After combining our soybeans and corn, we return to the fields to harvest the foliage from those plants. We bale the dry soybean plants into round bales for bedding for our heifers. We bale the remaining soybean plants in small square bales to be chopped in the calf barn-making for happy, comfy, dry calves =) We chop the dry corn plants and make them into large stacks. We will take scoops of this bedding to bed in our dry cows and feed some of our heifers and dry cows. Cows love to chew on dry corn stalks! Actually cows like to chew on a lot of things.

After we harvest the bedding we spread manure, lots of manure. Manure from cows, dry cows, heifers and calves. We need to make sure we have clean animals for the winter. Also fall is the best time of the year for manure application. We reduce compaction by hauling in the fall compared to the spring. We are also able to incorporate the manure into the soil through fall tillage (plowing, digging) thereby saving the valuable nutrients in the manure to be used by the 2010 crop! Hauling manure is critical to keeping the cows clean and dry but also critical for our crops. Manure saves us money. If we capture all of the nutrients and organic matter available in manure we are able to save the cost of commercial fertilizer that we would have used. Another added benefit is that manure is great for making good soil! Because manure is natural-worms and soil microbes LOVE manure!

When we finish manure hauling...then we have to do fall tillage. Tillage means plowing some fields (using an implement that flips the soil over so the soil surface is underground). We also dig some other fields with an implement called a DMI. The DMI leaves the soil surface on the top, but digs deep into the soil breaking up compaction, making the soil soft for the spring.

So, Dear God...please make the rain stop, at least until the harvest in is, and we have so much to do before snow season!

Corn planting continues

Corn planting continues at Orange Patch Dairy. My father in law was able to put in about 65 acres of corn in today and yesterday. He was having his usual early season problems with our 8-row John Deere planter yesterday, which slowed him down. The planter was skipping in a couple of rows...making for very uneven rows of corn. SO.....we brought it home, got it in the shop and fixed it. Back to the field. The weather forecast looks good for the coming days, so we are hoping to apply the last little bit of fertilizer, work that in, and finish planting our 250 acres of corn for the year. Since we work with our agronomist on nutrient management, we are able to utilize our natural fertilizer (manure) first for our fields. Our agronomist pulls soil and manure samples to calculate the amount of commercial fertilizer we need to apply each spring. Usually we only need to apply a "pop up" fertilizer. This fertilizer is used to help the corn plants get a good start on the growing season, after that the plants will rely on the organic matter, nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous of our cow manure!

Del Monte Foods delivered the packer for the pea field but no drill yet, so I guess that means that the peas will be planted soon! I love peas from the field! We usually plant about 30-40 acres of peas each year to be harvested sometime in mid-June. This allows us to have an empty field in the summer for manure application. Once the sweet corn is harvested in July/August then we move to applying manure on that field and seed the old pea field in with alfalfa. If we time it just right, we get a good rain in August and the fall seeded alfalfa is off to the races! The beauty of farming is getting the most from each acre without depleting it of nutrients. By rotating our crops and planting different types of crops like alfalfa, peas and sweet corn, we are able to better utilize our soils for our cows and our farm.

Happy Earth from Orange Patch Dairy!

Well, it's technically not Earth Day anymore, since it's past midnight, but after a busy day at the farm, this was the first time I had all day to get my thought out on the keyboard. I am sure all of you heard the buzz words of the day "carbon foot print" "pollution" "protect the environment" "do your part".....I like the last one the best "do your part"....

Dairy farmers have been "doing their part" for many years. Here at Orange Patch Dairy, we have been enjoying some great technologies since we built our new barn to make our dairy more efficient and environmentally friendly. The following are some of those things:

• Plate Cooler: We have a great piece of equipment called a plate cooler. It's job is to pre-cool milk before it reaches the bulk tank to reduce the amount of electricity needed to cool milk from 100 degrees to 40 degrees. The plate cooler works much like a radiator. Cold water runs through the plate cooler, as the milk flows through the "fins" the water cools the milk to about 60-70 degrees. The water is warmed as it flows through the plate cooler and is returned to the cow barn...where the cows enjoy warm water to drink. Interestingly, cow prefer warm water to drink, even in the hot summer months. Cold water will "shock" the bacteria in the rumen of a cow.
• Variable Speed Milk Pump: The pump we use to milk cows has a variable speed drive. This means that as we milk cows and put a load on the pump, it adjusts. As the load lightens, the pump works to save electricity. Our utility bills are much lower as a result!
• Collecting of Wash Water to Reuse: Water we use to wash the milking system out every day twice a day, is collected in the parlor. This water is then used to wash down the floors and walls of the parlor-thereby we use the water twice before it goes down the drain!
• Manure Management Plan: We have been working on and using a manure management plan for years. When we built our new barn 4 years ago we were required by the state to have a Manure Management Plan in place. This plan, in writing, declares the acres that we will use for manure application, based on the amount of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous that will be applies. We use this plan under the advisement of an agronomist, who is always working to help us do what's best for our land.
• Buffer Strips: When we built our barn we also had to update our manure management in our heifer yards. As a result we constructed and planted grass buffer/filter strips that help to capture rain run off from our heifer yards and filter the water BEFORE if reaches the ground water. This method of filtering allows the grass to get nutrients naturally while protecting our ground water for the farm.
• Grazing: We graze our heifers in the summertime. This helps to reduce feed costs while reducing the weeds in the pastures. We also are able to use land that would not have been able to produce row crops like corn, soybeans, or alfalfa.
• Alfalfa: Alfalfa makes a great cover crop, while putting nitrogen back into the ground. Alfalfa also helps to maintain top soils since fields planting in alfalfa will not be tilled for 3 or more years.
• Wildlife Habitats: We have lots of spaces where we host wildlife. Places in the landscape where we can't grow crops but can support wildlife like squirrels, deer, and pheasants.
• Crop Production: By using our soils to produce the most amount of food for our cows per acre helps the environment....thereby reducing the amount of acres we need to feed our cows. Technology such as new seed hybrids, correct use of fertilizers, and weed control all contribute to better production per acre.

Some new technologies that we are looking forward to in the future include the following:

• Plastic Recycling: Right now we have no good way to dispose of the plastic bags that we use to store our feed. We look forward to the addition of an Agricultural Plastic Program in our county, much like ones in other neighboring counties. What a great way to help out the environment!
• Methane Digesters: We have been excited about this technology for years! We love the idea of turning cow manure into a bio gas which can be used to generate electricity for our farm and many more homes in our neighborhood. Digesters help to reduce the odor of manure as well as producing a very good fertilizer which can be used in the fields. What a great renewable energy source!!!! We visited a farm in Minnesota which has been in inspiration for us. Haubenschild Dairy Farm Digester

So as you can see, dairy farms have been working on celebrating Earth Day EVERYDAY of the Year!