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! 

Feedlot Inspection Time

Just like when we get inspected by the milk inspector, it is time for us to have our feedlot inspection.  You may ask, "What is a feedlot inspection?" Well...it's a good thing!  Since we operate a farm that has over 300 Animal Units, we are required by county and state laws to have an inspection every couple of years.  Animal Units is a unit of measure of manure output from livestock.  1 Holstein cows = 1.4 Animal Units, therefore our 200 cows are equal to 280 animal units, but our additional heifers and calves add to that total. 

Tomorrow we have our County Feedlot Office scheduled to visit us.  As part of her inspection, she will be touring all accepts of our farm.  We will present to her records of where our manure has been hauled, how much was applied, and what nutrients were in the manure for the past 3 years.  She will inspect our heifer and dry cow lots to determine if we manage our runoff (making sure there is no runoff).  She will be inspecting our manure storage for our lactating cows, to determine if we have adequate storage, as well as checking ground water (making sure it is free of contamination).  Since we are over 300 Animal Units, we work hard to maintain our farm and have a nutrient plan. 

Odor is another concern that our officer will be checking.  We work hard to control odor through covers on our pits and hauling manure when the wind is blowing away from the neighbors, but there are a couple times during the year that the farm does smell....cow poop does happen on a dairy farm.  We try to be as kind to our neighbors as possible.

Part of the purpose of this visit is also to make sure a new project that we have planned for this winter, can still be constructed.  We are working to make some changes to our buildings for the betterment of our cows....so stay tuned for pictures and updates on what we have up our sleeves ;)