The calm before the storm....literally

We set an alarm last night to check the barn cameras.  Usually I get up and check and Bruce deals with a calf if its here.  He got to bed at 11.  Alarm went off at 2 but I never heard it so he got up and checked and thought he saw a calf so he went out to the barn.  False alarm.  The alarm went off again at 4 and again I didn't hear it.  This time there was a calf so he got dressed and went out to the barn and got it where it needed to be.  Back in bed but the alarm goes off at 6 so it was a very short night.  We had made the decision to sell some cows this week but with the weather forecast "this week" turned into "today" or not til next week.  As a general rule anymore cows leave because we can't get them pregnant.  That was the case with 2 of them and eventually they just don't give enough milk to pay for their feed so its time for them to leave.  The third one that left was the one with the bad attitude that, as a heifer, caused damage to Bruce's shoulder that he still deals with.  The attitude we could deal with but she had stepped on a teat and Bruce decided that was enough....and I am thrilled to have her out of here.  She was a good cow but the milk wasn't worth the increased chance of getting hurt.  With a forecast of potentially 15-20 inches of snow and basically a blizzard on Wednesday Bruce and Ed spent the day filling the feed box and bunk as full as they could.  They also got corn fodder stacks home and bedded the heifer building and the steers here and also the cattle at Ed's. He also dug out the fronts of the hutches and replaced their regular fences with storm fences.  After feeding and supper we bedded the hutch calves and while Bruce was getting bedding down for the cows I realized we didn't have any water.  When it snows and blows sometimes the pressure switch on our well pump gets ice in the contact points and it freezes up.  I started milking and Bruce cleaned out the switch so it worked again.  Eventually we will get to bed.  Already 6 inches of snow in the first storm.  More to come tomorrow night.

Sunday Basics

With plans to travel yesterday the day started out late.  Bruce fed and then had Ed here to explain who and where to feed.  He is familiar with mixing feed for us so thats not a problem.  We milked cows, moved a couple cows to make both feeding and milking simplest and Bruce wrote down the details for the cows that have special needs.  As is usually the case when farmers want to get away, something breaks.  This morning was no exception with a stanchion that broke on the bottom.  A new piece and a couple bolts and we were good to go. We were glad to see that the cow that had twins seems to have expelled what we hope is the rest of the retained placenta.  She is eating well and pooping normally.  The calf with the joint infection continues to do OK.  With the recommendation from our vet Bruce is giving him a second antibiotic in hopes of deterring a secondary infection.  The calves in hutches were switched from bottles to getting their milk and feed in pails and have begun eating their starter.  Starter feed is a grain mix of oats, steam flaked corn, protein pellets, roasted soybeans, vitamins and minerals and something to prevent coccidiosis...the start of them eating solid food.  Bruce took advantage of a fairly warm day and pushed corn fodder bedding in the pens in the back of our barn with the skid steer today. Just when we were finishing milking tonight it became obvious that there is going to be a new calf over night.  We have a camera in the barn that transmits to a television in the laundry room so we can check cows during the night.  Its much nicer to walk in and check cows in your pajamas and then get dressed and go out when you know you need to.  This is especially appreciated in winter : )

Taking a REAL break!

Once again it was a quiet day for the most part.  Feeding, milking, feeding, feeding, feeding, milking, feeding.  We are actually going to take part of a day off tomorrow complete with having someone else feed cows and milk tomorrow night.  In order to do that and make it as simple as possible Bruce spent the day manipulating feeding.  Generally the dry cows get fed at night but got a half batch tonight so Bruce can feed them enough in the morning to make it to Sunday.  He and Ed filled the feed box and bunk so they are good beyond tomorrow. The steers also got 1 1/2 batches of feed today. This is something we can get away with the cold of winter but in summer the feed would heat and start smelling and tasting funny pretty quickly.  The simple math for getting away is do half of tomorrows work today and the other half the next day we are back.  The plan is to milk and feed in the morning and then go visit our son.  He is only 1hr 40 min away but we haven't managed to get that direction since last April.  With all the calves due we figured we better hurry up and get out of here while its relatively quiet.  Bruce hasn't missed a milking since 12/28.  I think I am more excited than he is : )

Not much news....must add pictures : )

Cows eating their TMR.

Milking.  The milk goes up the hoses and into the milk house through stainless steel pipes

Just hanging out relaxing : )

The milk comes into this jar and is then pumped through the pipe into the bulk tank where it cools to 38 degrees.

Feed, milk, feed, milk, done.  That was pretty much the day. The cow that had the new twins hasn't cleaned entirely (hasn't expelled all of the placenta) and is running a slight temp so tonight Bruce is treating her with antibiotics.  Its good timing since her milk is still being kept out of the tank anyway.  As I type these it seems like we have used a bunch of antibiotics lately.  It has been months since we used any so its just a strange streak going on currently.  Twins and winter create their own struggles.

The Basic Wednesday.....

Today is milk check day.  We get what is referred to as a "guess check" for the milk we produced from the 1st to the 15th.  For whatever reason the magical payment day is the 26th of the month.  The price we are paid this time is generally low for how the final payment will come out.  We receive that one on the 17th....another magical date.  At one point it used to be the15th and 31st.  Every check has deductions for our portion of the pick up and trucking of our milk along with mandatory state, national and cwt promotions.  CWT is the program that buys cows for slaughter in an effort to decrease milk output and therefore stabilize the prices that have been extremely volatile the last few years. I really can't say that it has stabilized anything but we get to "donate" anyway.  I do believe this is the saddest check we have gotten in a long time.  Thankfully we are done drying cows up and there are 11 cows due this month so our situation will change quickly as the month goes on.  We took the opportunity to contract some of our milk from February thru September today.  We are able to do this through our milk plant and its an opportunity for us to have some control of  what our income will be.  Already today, if I had waited, we could have contracted for .13 more.  The main point is to have some control over what we get paid and protect us from a much lower price.  Our milk price is based off the class III price.  This is a link that explains how milk is priced.  If anyone reading figures it out I hope they explain it to us : )  http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/ams.fetchTemplateData.do?template=TemplateD&navID=IndustryMarketingandPromotion&leftNav=IndustryMarketingandPromotion&page=MIBPriceDescription&description=Description

Bruce ran to town to pick up oil that was on sale and then came home and continued where he left off yesterday.  He had to scrape down a silo both here and at Ed's again and also filled the feedbox.  The unloader continues to give him problems but thankfully today Ed was there to take care of things on the ground and Bruce could stay in the silo.  Climbing  up and down  40 feet tends to be a little tiring.  The silo unloader will get new augers in spring when its empty.  In the meantime they will have to struggle with it until then.  The heifers at Ed's got bedded after Bruce took the skid steer and dug the stacks out.  The snow had drifted them under so it was time to make a path to them again.  Tonight when he went to feed an elevator had a piece of metal come loose and wrap where it didn't belong.  Another thing to deal with and extend the evening.....

On our creature side, the new twins mom got calcium again this morning.  She still hasn't expelled all of the second placenta so we will need to watch her more closely for awhile.  Her calves are good drinkers so thats all good.  The older bull twin that is on penicillin is doing good.  His "knees" (thats what people would call them) have opened up now and he continues to eat well and have plenty of energy to punch Bruce with his head when he comes in to give him his shot.  With all the pregnancy checks caught up I created a current list of due dates, cows that need to leave and those that need to get bred.  The cow with the injured teat already has mastitis in it.  Thats something that is pretty much expected.  After it heals she will be treated with antibiotics.  In the meantime that quarter gets milked by hand to avoid further injury.

We haven't seen the sun for awhile but I am very much solar powered and already the longer days are noticeable!  I like it : )

Back to the Routine

We had sent 25 blood samples for pregnancy tests the other day at a cost of $2.65 each.  Today we got our results.  We like to do rechecks after the first confirmation and of those, 10 were pregnant and 3 were open.  Nothing we didn't know.  Of the other 12 we had 8 pregnant and 4 open, a couple of which confirmed what we suspected so basically no surprises and information we can move on with.  Bruce came in for supper and announced we had a new calf in the barn.  We thought she was due in March but she had been bred twice.  As it turns out, the second time must have been a false heat which caused the due date confusion.  Thankfully she had been dried up early so its not a crisis.  Arriving at the barn after supper to find she had twins was a bit of a surprise though.  Another bull/heifer set.  Given the fact that in 2010 we only had 3 sets of twins (all bull/heifer combinations)  I am hoping this is not a trend that will continue.  This time the cow got calcium under the skin as usual but also got warm water delivered to her to drink since her belly looked really sunk in.  She managed to drink 25 gallons and then was content!  We will have a new adventure to deal with when we milk tomorrow since we have a cow that managed to step on or pinch a teat and cut it.  We have had them do much worse damage than this one but no one in the barn has a worse attitude.  She is big, strong, fast and mean. Depending on how she behaves she may end up leaving.  She has already hurt Bruce once when she was a new heifer and won't get a second chance.

Its Always Something

Today I called to see what happened with our heifer that had struggled with the stanchion.  We knew prior to the stanchion issues she had always been thinner than she should be and that she had delivered a stillborn calf.  What surprised us was that she had been condemned by the Department of Agriculture, food safety inspection for a condition they call "lumpy jaw".  Evidently it starts as a bacterial infection through a skin break in the mouth.  It causes pain and difficulty eating.  She obviously had more issues than we realized but after all these years its a surprise to still have "firsts" like this.

Its my intention to post something here daily but the last couple days I had the opportunity to spend time with some friends away from the farm.  While Bruce grew up with this life and is a farmer to his core, the 7 day a week, 365 day a year grind really gets to me.  To keep my sanity I try to get away a few times a year.  Thankfully Bruce understands so I take my sanity breaks when I have opportunity.  Our last milking off was 12/29.  Bruce chooses to do the work himself when I am gone so his days are even longer than the normal craziness of this life.  He reports that all went well while I was gone.  The weather has improved with temps in the mid 20's which helps everything.

Last summer we had a 14 year old interested in working on our farm.  He was great help and fun to have around.  One day he asked us if things "slowed down" in winter.  We laughed because winter is just different daily challenges.  Now, in the dead of winter we have realized that things really do "slow down".  Bruce goes from a warm bed to a feed room that can easily be 0 so he gets up slower.  The silage is frozen so the unloaders are slower so feeding is slower. The barn cleaner chain is frozen down and has to be chopped loose so cleaning barns are slower.  Getting between buildings can be slower with snow to trudge through.  Dealing with things like frozen pipes slows down the day.  A snow event takes 4-5 hours to clean up and open driveways which slows down the rest of the things that need doing.  Cold weather means the tractors and skid steer need block heaters to heat the coolant so they will start.  Forgetting to plug them in slows everything down while we wait for them to warm.  We have so many more clothes on to stay warm that just us moving around is slower.  We are that much older....and slower : )

Bruce just informed me that he is stuck in the cow yard and needs to be pulled.  He was bedding the steers and managed to get on top of a frozen lump of manure with the skid steer so all 4 wheels are off the ground.  Guess the fun just never ends sometimes : )

Everyone is hungry

Today was once again a cold but quiet day.  Cows are cooperating, goats are cooperating and even the calf on penicillin is showing great progress and doing well. If we could only speed up the feeding process Bruce would be a happy camper.  It takes twice as long as it should to run the feed out of the silo's these days because its frozen.   The cows are fed a TMR (total mixed ration) twice a day.  The largest ingredient in the batch is haylage, followed by corn silage.  Both of these come out of the silo's and is delivered to a large mixer by an elevator. Their mix
also has shelled corn in it that comes out of a harvestore silo and is delivered by auger to a bin that holds enough corn for about 1 days mixing.  This silo has a different type of unloader and is very quick.  When corn is needed its run through a hammermill which grinds it into the consistancy of corn meal you buy in the store.  Its dumped into a cart that is taken and delivered to an auger that puts that in the mixer.  Another auger attached to a bin delivers the protein mix which consists of soybean meal, roasted soybeans, corn distillers grain, fat, and vitamins. Once everything is in the mixer its stirred for about 5 minutes.  We have an electric feed cart that is used to put the feed in front of the cows.  The dry cows get fed their specific mix once a day.  The same is true for the steers that are on full feed.  The calves in the back of the barn have a mix specific to their needs and with the cold weather can be fed every couple days.  Today happens to be a long feeding day because everyone needs to be fed.  Some days you get by with just cows and steers which of course makes the day shorter.  We have a nutritionist that visits monthly and checks the cows to make sure they aren't too fat or too skinny.  She also takes note of how much milk they are producing  and how our breeding program is doing.  Feed samples are taken and sent to a lab for analysis.  This information is used to balance each mix based on the groups needs. The quality of our first crop alfalfa harvest directly effects our feed costs for the year.  Poor feed quality is balanced with the protein mix, which is very expensive.  I thought I would attach pictures of the calves in their coats and hutches.  The less energy calves use to keep warm the faster they grow.  During the winter, our healthiest animals are always the ones outside : )

Real Winter Today

When we headed to the barn this morning the thermometer said -18.  Guess its winter in Wisconsin!  Drinking cups in the back of the barn needed thawing and the silo unloader was really SLOW since it is chewing loose the frozen silage. The bull twin has been put on penicillin with signs of an infection in his joints.  He is bright and eats like crazy so he should do fine yet.  I increased the milk the calves in the hutches were getting about 25% each feeding today.  Normally they get 2 qts twice a day but with the cold they can handle more.  Before we left the barn we did the rest of the blood draws for pregnancy checks.  We started doing checks that way nearly 2 years ago.  Currently the vets charge $28 to arrive at our farm and $100/hr once they are here.  While we realize they probably have business expenses to justify their charges we just can't justify calling them for things we are able to do ourselves. Drawing blood is done with the same equipment that is used on people but its taken from a vein under the tail.  We have timed how long it takes and Bruce can draw nearly 1/minute so its pretty quick.  We send these samples to a clinic in Minnesota and 24 hours after they receive them we get an email with all the results.  Bruce had an appointment in town today so it was a "date" day : )  When we got home Bruce headed to the barn to start the evening routine and when he went to haul the manure the tractor wouldn't start.  He thought he had the block heater plugged in correctly but he rechecked that and put the battery charger on it.  Needless to say, the day once again got extended with that and silo unloaders that are still slow.  As soon as we got milking done I sent Bruce on his way to try the tractor and thaw drinking cups again.  THANKFULLY the tractor started this time.  Plan B was for me to pull it out of where it was so we could switch tractors and I find doing that just a bit stressful!  I finished the milkhouse and misc. evening chores and at 10 Bruce headed out to haul manure.  We can already feel the air moving from the south so the plan is to shut the water off to the back area over night.  No real difference between the water being off or frozen but it eliminates the potential broken pipe mess. Bruce is back at 10:25.  The day is done : )  Current temp -4.  Bruce announced this morning "3 months til grass"!

Brr...

Yesterday was a quiet day.  After morning milking and calves it was a bookkeeping day for me and then milking etc again.  Bruce actually had a bit of  "free time" and fixed a drinking cup that had been leaking.  He also managed to do some internet searches for things he is looking for.  Feeding was done early and we were done milking by 9!!!  The weather forecast the next few days is cold and windy so after breakfast Bruce again filled the feed box....or tried to anyway.  The augers in the unloader are worn and the haylage is long so the unloader just doesn't throw the feed out like it should.  Before he had the first pile on he had to go up and unplug the top where it gets hung up.  He called and had me come over to watch the unloader and let it down while he stayed up on top.  It wasn't long before the wind started blowing.  The unloader continued to give him grief.  He had to climb down every time the feedbox needed moving because it was in a tight spot and hooked to the skid steer...having me move it would probably just create more work repairing what I destroyed!  For awhile he stood on the load to block the wind a bit and eventually called it good.  It wasn't nearly as full as he usually does it but there was enough in it to last a couple days, enough to get past this really cold weather anyway.  After all that he got a stack and bedded the building below.  Its getting really deep since we haven't had a thaw since Christmas when we were gone and unable to clean anything.  The cattle always enjoy the cornstalk bedding, sometimes as much to eat as lay on.  Its -4 and supposed to be windy over night so they will enjoy using it. We got our check for the 4 steers we sold today.  I don't believe we have ever gotten a higher price, which is nice since this is the start of our expensive time of year.  Still no check for the heifer who couldn't handle the stanchion.  We are wondering if there was more wrong than meets the eye since she also had a stillborn calf.  Tonight we were also done milking by 9.  It helps that all the cultures are now back so we can just milk straight up the row.  No new staph aureus : )   This morning while we were milking the goat kids were hilarious.  I didn't have my camera but we did manage to get video pictures yesterday.  With the help of a friend, hopefully they will be attached......

Time for a picture update : )

Warmed Smallest Newborn

I over slept this morning so I assumed when I got to the barn Bruce would already be milking.  Turned out he had barely started mixing feed because he had to do some work in the silo he hadn't planned on.  The silage freezes on the walls of the silo in winter and when the temperature is right it either falls off in big slabs (thats what happened this morning) or it makes the unloader hang up so it won't go around and throw silage.  Before he could mix feed he ended up scraping down the walls so the unloader would work.  I started milking myself and eventually he was able to help.  After breakfast he used the tractor and snow blower to open the driveways.   He also spent a bunch of time scraping down the walls in two silos and letting the door down in 1 so now he is ready for another stretch of cold weather.  Otherwise the day was a non event....a good thing.  Here is a picture update....at 2 weeks old : )

2 weeks old and still the smallest

Brown triplet newborn

2 week old brown triplet showing off her new skill

Winter : )

Started our day with a winter snowstorm that came sideways.  The wind was from the south/southeast which is our coldest side.  By the time the day was over we had about 6 inches of snow and a frozen drinking cup in the back of the barn that blew the plug out.  The good news is a .75 plug is way better than breaking a $75. drinking cup but the mess is still the same with water running down the feed alley and into the cow feed alley.  Lots of sweeping and a general mess.  Thankfully the wind has died down and the barn has had a chance to warm up so all drinking cups are in working order again.  Gotta love winter : )   Today during all that snowing and blowing Tony came and we butchered one of our steers.  We really like having him come and do it here because there is no stress on the animal from trucking and strange yards.  The lack of stress really does make better meat.  He does the actual processing in his shop and ours was his 5th animal today. This particular animal will be divided 3 ways.  Generally we sell to individuals by the half but we were 1 person short and couldn't just do 2 animals today so this will work. Bruce has decided to make some kopfwurst this time so he spent the afternoon cutting up meat to be cooked tomorrow.  Should be an interesting project since its been a few years since we have made any.  I spent the day doing the secretarial part of farming  by paying bills and processing all the year end forms like W-2's.  I think I have everything ready to go in envelopes, a good job done!  I am glad to report that all the animals on the farm are behaving today.  The calves are doing well in their hutches and no one has gotten sick.  Bruce went through with the skid steer and made a path to get to the barn for now.  Some of the drifts are hip high on me.  The dog thinks this is perfect weather!

Wins & Losses

Bruce got to the barn this morning and decided he would help feed the pneumonia goat again by milking the doe and feeding it with a syringe.  Its was still on antibiotics and doing ok but the jury was still out whether we would keep it going.  He fed it, played with it, put it back in its fence and then proceeded to mix feed for the cows.  The next time he came by the kid had managed to catch its foot in the fence and fall with its head tucked under....and suffocated.  Frustrated and disappointed doesn't even put a dent in how crappy Bruce felt about it. Now we have a distraught doe wondering why we don't bring her kid back.  Its one of those things that happens and puts a knot in your stomach.  Bruce is convinced that sometimes thats just God's way of stepping in and providing food for the coyote's and eagles.  Bummer regardless from our perspective.  We have a weather forecast this week of 3-5 inches of snow and lots of wind so Bruce decided to take advantage of a very still day and fill the feed box again.  Our son Jim came home and took the time to help me attach a welded wire fence inside the cattle panels that create the goat yard.  There are a few that stick their heads through the way it is now and get their horns stuck.  Bruce has had to rescue someone a couple times a day so now thats taken care of.  The cow that had twins once again needed calcium.  Transitioning from twins is sometimes a struggle.  She did pass her drug test so all the cows are now being milked into the tank.  It sure helps streamline milking when we get back to that point. This morning I put calf coats on the heifer twin and 2 bull calves and moved them outside into the hutches.  I like hutches.  The calves do great, especially in winter because they stay dry and have the desire to eat, much like the difference in peoples appetites in winter and summer.  The complaints about hutches are they tend not to be very friendly to the feeder.  I am lucky that mine are just across the driveway from where I get their feed ready and its just over the hill so the wind is blocked some.  I kept the pneumonia heifer in just because she had just been stressed with sickness and didn't need to handle a move this soon.  I also kept the bull twin in.  He is bright and aggressive when he eats but still not breathing normally.

(Filling the feed box.  While he does this there are a bunch of gates open so the cattle get locked behind the bunk until he is done.  There is a conveyor in the bunk that spreads feed and then the cattle can eat on both sides)

Nothing exciting today and that is a good thing : )

Good news for today.  We got to the barn last night and the cow that had twins had cold ears, a sign of being low on calcium.  Bruce ran  another bottle under her skin.  She had delivered the first placenta in the morning and we were glad to see that the second one was out by evening.  She is bright and eating well.  Twins are just harder on cows than a single calf but all signs are good.  Both calves are drinking better by tonight.  The bull is breathing harder than he should but we are just watching him for now.  Perhaps he is fighting with fluid from delivery.  All our pneumonia creatures are snapping back. If we manage to diagnose and treat them early its hardly a stumble for them.  Last night should have been an official date night for us but we could see my mid afternoon we weren't going to make it to our night out playing cards with friends.  It was another late night but we managed to get a couple hour nap today.  Bruce's back is feeling the abuse from yesterdays events so we took it relatively easy today.  Bruce did manage to dig our calf hutches out of the snow with the skid steer and get them bedded.  We had a blizzard in Dec. that buried them and until this point we didn't need them.  We were wishing we had a video camera tonight to record the goat kids.  Watching them you would swear they are on something.  Totally hilarious!  Tonight we were both in by 10!!!  

A Crazy Busy Day

Woke up again to the phone ringing and a new calf.  Turns out it was a set of twins, a bull and heifer to be exact.  One unusual thing in cattle is if a set of twins is mixed, the heifer is infertile with reproductive parts either deformed or missing.  The rest of the day was spent doing a bunch of miscellaneous catch up--
*one heifer calf is sick & treated for pneumonia
*dry cow has diarrhea which is a sign of fever.  104 temp (101 normal), suspect pneumonia also and treated *sorted animals in the lower building after worming them and giving a V9 shot--smaller ones will be taken to Ed's to eat at the bunk.--larger ones were taped (a measurement around their chest estimates weights) and a new list of heifers to breed was created. --steers were identified and will go into the barn and get started on a transition finishing ration soon
*blood samples were drawn on all heifers for pregnancy rechecks
*mastitis goat has dried up that side but the kids are eating ok on 1

Working with cattle in the outside buildings is a challenge these days.  They are full and frozen and lumpy.  Its hard for the cattle to get around and can be a dangerous challenge for us working amongst them.  Hopefully we will get some warmer weather and thawing soon.

Today is Bruce's dads 80th birthday.  He still likes to come to the barn twice a day and sets up the milkhouse, carries the milkers out to where we start  & scrapes the alley.  He also runs the barn cleaner around and cleans up the feed alleys.  We have a lawn chair available so he can rest when he feels like it.  A few years ago Bruce did a health assessment that takes into account exercise, nutrition, blood numbers, weight, etc.  He was very excited to announce that he is expected to live to be 102 year old and could possibly get 3/4 of his "to do" list done!  I am sure that list will include doing what he can in the barn too!.

This n that : )

As usual,  we started the day with milking cows after Bruce fed.  Opportunity 2 to feed the new calf went much better for both of us.  I got to deal with a dry fuzzy calf instead of  a wet slimy stubborn one and the calf had mastered the fine art of standing on 4 legs so he could concentrate on drinking.  It was all good.  Bruce had called to sell 4-5 fed cattle so after milking we sorted out the biggest ones and decided we would actually like to sell 6 today.  The trucker was having a bad day and running late but finally arrived here about noon.  As it turned out he only had room for 4 animals so we sorted 2 back for another time.  Our fed cattle are the prime type meats  generally available at good restaurants.  They are fed a diet of rolled corn, haylage and mineral.  No growth hormones needed.  Rumor has it there is a good price for beef these days so we are hoping this is true.  Corn is extremely high if you are buying it right now so feed lots aren't full.  This also causes the bull calf market to collapse so the effects go on for a couple years.  Today was another day of running but before we left we contracted our diesel fuel for this year.  Last year we contracted at $2.37 gal.  This year we contracted 1500 gallons at $2.99.  Like everyone, we wish it was cheaper.   Our farm incorporated in 1976 as a means to transfer the farm business over to Bruce slowly.  As a corporation we are required to have an annual meeting, which we do with our lawyer yearly.  With the business entity now owned by Bruce and I the meeting today was really a review of the officers, directors and any new laws that may effect how we do things. We made a couple stops in town but had to get home and feed so we could start milking on time.  Tonight we tested milk.  A technician comes and we connect a calibrated meter between the milker and pipeline.  He then measures the milk, records it on the computer and takes a sample that is sent for analysis.  Within a few days we get a print out with information like pounds milked, lactation to date, projected lactation total, fat test, protein test, somatic cell count.....and much more.  This information is really just a cow report card and is used for all our herd management decisions.  

Dry Cow Basics

Ideally cows don't milk for 6 weeks to 2 months before they have another calf.  During this this time they are fed a lower protein, lower energy, higher fiber diet in order to maintain their body weight but keep them from getting fat.  The fiber keeps the muscles in their rumen (cows have 4 stomachs, this stomach is the one that processes fibers from plants) healthy and strong.  Its basically a maintenance diet, balanced with minerals to grow the calf in the last trimester (gestation is 9 mo) and to get the cow primed and ready to go back into milk for the next lactation.  In our barn we are constantly moving cattle around in order to create dry cow groups to feed.  When a cow has her calf we give her 23% calcium under the skin.  Putting it under the skin allows it to be absorbed slowly into her system and  helps her maintain muscle tone in this transition phase from dry to milking.  Since the uterus is a muscle it assists in the expelling of the placenta and helps eliminate the problems with uterine infections that are created when this doesn't happen.  When a cow freshens, the onset of milk production draws calcium from their system initially.  Providing this extra boost of calcium helps cows balance this draw until their system kicks into gear and they retrieve that calcium from their bone mass.  Just like people, the healthier the start the faster they get back to routine business, which in this case is eating well and making milk : )

Hmmmm

Another day of bookkeeping brain strain.  Bruce had another silo out of door and the feed box to fill again out of Ed's silo.  It was nice that Ed had time to fill it so Bruce could do other things.  Animals have alot of time to create trouble so today Bruce built a fence to keep the goats from going around their warming box and moving it around.  In the process of that he realized that the goat that had twins eating on one side now has mastitis.  The original plan for today was to sell some fed cattle.  Alot of our days start with "the original plan was".  The gates used to sort cattle are now frozen down so extra gates have to be carried down and secured so we can use them.  Cattle sales postponed until tomorrow.  Bruce got to the barn to feed tonight and a cow was having her calf.  Large bull this time.  He gave it its oral rota coronavirus vaccine and went on to feed cows.  We discovered we had this virus on our farm probably 20 years ago.  Untreated, calves will seem perfectly normal for 7-10 days and will be dead the next morning.  This simple vaccine eliminates this problem but its ideally given to calves immediately after birth before they eat anything.  Feeding cattle was followed by feeding us and then heading out to milk.  We are still waiting for culture results so in addition to the extra work involved there, Bruce ran a bottle of 23% calcium solution under the fresh cows skin.  I started milking the other cows myself and when the regular milking was done Bruce milked the fresh cow.  I tried to feed the new calf with a bottle but he seemed to think fighting me was more important than eating.  Its ideal to get 1 gallon of colostrum in a calf for its first feeding so I used a stomach tube to get the job done.  Needless to say, the calf wasn't really any more impressed with that idea either but he got fed and I wasn't as beat up.  A win for both of us.  I walked into the house at 10:30.  Its now 11:25 and Bruce is done feeding cattle and is now trying to feed a couple of very hungry goat twins.  One thing I know, 6 a.m. alarms come too soon.

Farmer dates : )

We arrived in the barn this morning and made the decision that the heifer that was having trouble dealing with the stanchion had to leave.  Tethering legs can break them of the habit of sticking their legs in front of them or laying  so far ahead that they can't get up, but nothing will break them when they decide to stick their leg out to the side.  If it were summer she may have been able to go out in the pasture and figure out the fine art of laying down and getting up but its winter and we have no where else for her to go.  We came to the conclusion long ago that cows don't read the manual! We have a stanchion barn with wide stalls and kraeberg mattresses bedded with straw or corn fodder.  More current state of the art buildings to house cattle have free stalls with sand bedding.  For every situation there is an animal to screw up the plan.  When we put our cows out on pasture we had some leave the herd because they struggled and didn't figure that out!!!  The disappointment is she was to provide income in our business.  Had we sold her as a heifer she would have been worth about $1200.  We will be lucky if we get $500 selling her today but the other option was eventually having to put her down and pay $50 for someone to pick her up.

Once the truck picked up the cow we headed out on a "farmer date".  Basically this translates into a trip to town with a farm list of things to do and we take the opportunity to go out for dinner.  We dropped off the samples for milk cultures and another drug sample for the fresh cow.  We ate dinner and went to Farm Fleet.  Bruce is farmer to the core and perfectly content not leaving here for weeks at a time. It is nice to get out and do something different, even if its just a lunch.  We arrived home in time for him to feed cows, eat supper and milk again.  Farmer dates are nice but they really do just extend the evening.  Feeding that didn't get done during the daytime just gets postponed until after milking. On the bright side, the drug sample passed this time so everyones milk is going in the tank.  Time for more calves to start the process over again : )

Catching up to yesterday : )

I am a part time bookkeeper, so yesterday my farming day consisted of milking etc on both ends of the day.  Beyond that, my brain was pretty much fried with the details of year end.  Bruce, on the other hand, had a really good day. The temperature had gone up into the upper 20's so he took the opportunity to clean the pens in the back of the barn and get everyone bedded.  This manure/bedding combination gets spread out on the fields that will grow corn next year.  In a perfect world we would do that on the last frost in spring but in reality we don't have anywhere to store it until then and investing easily $50,000+ to create such a place is just not financially feasible on a farm this size.  The other part of the equation is if you pile it now, you have to load and haul it in spring, doubling the labor, fuel and wear and tear on equipment.  There is enough to do in a small window in spring.  With cropping, timing is everything.  What we do now we don't have to do later.  Bruce was also able to get milk cultures taken on our fresh cows.  We freeze these samples and then the vet clinic does cultures, looking for any types of infections they might have.  There is a staph aureus mastitis that is contagious and nearly impossible to cure so if any samples show up positive, those cows get moved in the barn to be milked last.  In the meantime they are in a sort of milking limbo and we have to sanitize the milkers with bleach water before they go on other cows.  Doing this for 1 isn't a big deal but having many more gets rather complicated so the sooner we have that information the better. Generally we have culture information back in 48 hrs.  By the way, pasteurizing kills all of these pathogens.  We drank raw milk and raised our kids on it until this mastitis showed up in the herd.  We believe it came in via our vets but of course, once its here thats irrelevant and we have to deal with it.  Its spread a number of ways but the most uncontrollable way is flies.  Bruce also had opportunity to talk to a vet and found that the drug information we found on the internet for our pneumonia goat was the drug of choice for our vet/sheep farmer.  The tricky thing is we need to treat for her at least 7 if not 10 days.  I do know she will be one spoiled goat with all that attention!  In the feeding process the silo "ran out of door" so Bruce had to take care of that also.  Hopefully at some point that can be explained but for this purpose running out of door just adds about 15-20 minutes to feeding.  He shouldn't have to do it again for few weeks.  We also do milk drug tests on every cow when she freshens before we ship her milk.  We do that as routine, regardless of whether we think  she was treated or not, just in case we have forgotten.  The sample sent in yesterday came back positive on a cow we are sure had not had drugs.  Either its a false positive or there was a sample mix up.  In any case, we hold her and run another sample to be sure.

Score!

Since it was Sunday, the initial plan for the day was to actually do some projects in the house during the afternoon.  First the feed box needed to be filled out of the silo at Ed's since it was really still out today.  We live on a hill and the wind is always blowing.  At times getting feed in the box instead of it blowing to the neighbors can be a trick.  Perfect day to get it done.  Bruce took the skid steer, hooked onto the feed box, the dog hopped in front and off they went.  The trouble with the plan is the silage is really hard and frozen this time of year so, in this case, it took 2 hours to fill it!  The dog was along to herd the cattle behind the gate so Bruce could back in where he needed to be.  After that he was free to snoop through the buildings and disturb every cat he could find.  Good day for the dog : )  Good day for the farmer, not counting the fact that it took so darned long.  Not such a restful day for the cats!

There was a new calf this morning.  Thankfully it was a bull.  I say this because his mom has the worst attitude of any animal on the place.  No bad attitude passed on to future milking generations : )  More milk in the tank soon : )

The goat kid with pneumonia is still breathing hard but has been nursing today so we are hoping she is on the mend.  Time will tell.  You never know when they are that small. This morning Bruce's dad was laughing at the families in the pen.  One of the kids crossed the imaginary line and a doe grabbed it by the tail and threw it in the air!  Needless to say the kid wasn't impressed!   In order to make room for the bull calf we had to shuffle goats.  We took one family down to the building and introduced the kids to the "cooker".  As usual there was a bunch of head banging amongst the does.  We moved the doe with the adopted triplet in with the other family.  We had worried that the kid wasn't getting enough to eat but tonight, in her large new accommodations, she spent the time practicing her prancing, hopping and spinning.  All we could do was laugh!  Bruce fed the goats tonight and all the kids were in where they should be.  We walked into the house at 10 again.

Tomorrow is Monday, the beginning of the "work" week.  LOL

Pretty Quiet Today

Got to the barn this morning and Bruce announced that all the goat kids were in the "cooker"!  The two new ones yesterday were having trouble remembering to go to the heat lamp so Bruce was out making sure they were ok.  Once again it was 11:15 when he came in but he was happy everyone seemed to be safe.  This morning we noticed one of the does with twins had one side that was big and red and warm.  The kids had both been eating on one side so the other got engorged, and then sore so she wouldn't let them eat, and from there it just continues because she won't hold still.  After getting kicked a few times I guess I can't blame the kids either, they just stick to what works. Our assistance with the problem was  I got to hold the horns and Bruce milked out that side so she would feel better and hopefully they will figure out they have 2 options.  Bruce milked 1 1/2 cups of milk off....I was surprised there was that much in a small goat.  A single kid was breathing hard so she got an antibiotics shot last night and this morning.  We don't think she has eaten, and has perhaps forgotten how.  Again we have a doe  who is swollen and warm so Bruce milked both sides on her tonight.  I never knew a goat had that much milk!  No wonder the little buggers grow so fast!  We force fed her kid 24cc of milk with a syringe in hopes that she would start nursing.  She looks much brighter tonight so she got another shot and we will see.  Once a little one goes downhill there is nothing much for us to do.  I don't think the moms had initial appreciation of our efforts but I am sure they feel better already. We bought a pail of kid replacer (lol formula for goats but it sounds funny) because we were afraid the triplet that was adopted wasn't getting enough to eat.  We still aren't sure but she seems to be holding her own.  Other dairy excitement--we have a heifer that started sticking her legs through the stanchions when we were gone.  Thats all ok if they remember to pull them back before getting up but if they don't they will get banged up.  For years Bruce has just tethered their legs back with dog collars and ropes.  He tethers them far enough back that when they lay down they have lunge space to get up.  More than physically keeping their legs back it retrains them to lay down farther back so they can get up without struggling. This one seems to think she can lay down with her leg straight out, so last night Bruce physically bent it so she remembered she could.  Tonight she seems to be getting up better, atleast she is remembering to bend it under and is getting up easier.    As a general rule they are retrained in a week.  This one seems to be a slow learner : )  Seems like we have one that needs help every couple years.  Thankfully its not routine.  By the looks of things when we left we could have new calves in the morning.  After drying up 5 more cows I am thankful to have some calving soon.  Our milk tank weights have done a serious free fall in the last month.  It will be nice to see it stabilize soon.  The cattle at Ed's got bedded today with corn fodder stacks.  Bruce brought a few stacks home in hopes of bedding the cattle in the back of our barn but its just too cold to open the doors and then take the risk of freezing drinking cups and water lines.  The forecast says it should be warmer in a couple days so they will have to wait til then.

Friday?

Given what is demanding our attention these days you would think we are goat farmers!  While we were milking last night that smallest goat managed to escape her fence and I turned to see her walking around under the cows!  Needless to say, after milking we did some cow rearranging so we could do some goat pen rearranging to keep everyone in over night.  We put 2 moms and 4 kids together across 3 cow stalls.  The kids instantly thought it was neat to have new company but the moms weren't impressed.  This morning we got to the barn and one mom was on one end of the pen with her kids and the other family was on the other end, as though they had claimed their territory.  It will be good practice for them since soon they will all be in the building with the rest.  Our day started with the phone ringing, Bruce's dad letting us know there was a new calf in the barn. He always gets there first, but he is also in bed by 8:30 most nights. The morning also included a call to the electrician, assuming our water heater needed a new heating element.  For whatever reason, all it needed was the reset button pushed.  Never happened before and we have no idea why it did it now.  Time will tell if there is a problem brewing.  We couldn't wash the pipeline until this afternoon and I had to run home for anything I needed to do that required hot water, including warming the milk for the new heifer calf!.  After morning milking Bruce checked the goat building and sure enough, another set of twins.  We do not see any udders now so hopefully the next ones won't come until April.  In the meantime I had them in the house until this afternoon, screaming at the top of their lungs until Bruce got the mom moved and everything in place.  Goat total-15.  There are now 4 males and 11 females.  Hard to believe that only 2 summers ago we had culled down to 13.  We had a new furnace installed in our house today and the men working in the basement thought we had a very dissatisfied baby : )  They went down to watch the goats for a few minutes...you can't see them without smiling.  My girlfriend also brought her Granddaughter over for a baby goat visit.  She didn't offer to take one along but we could probably supply her with one.  We received our notice today that our health insurance is going up in March.  Bruce and I currently pay 1233/mo with deductibles and co-insurance that total 7000 if we have claims.  As of March it goes up to 1566.  I cannot imagine what it would be if we were really unhealthy.  Time to see if we have any other options.  In the meantime it looks like milk will be dropping $2 cwt (we get paid per 100#).  It really is scary out here in the dairy industry but there are a lot of sad situations out there now, and about to unfold in the next year.  One day at a time.  Its currently 10 degrees with the wind blowing like crazy.  The goat kids seem to have their warmer figured out just in time.

No highlights today and thats a good thing : )

When I started a blog I expected days more like today.  We did the normal chores.  Bruce has a new heifer to milk but even she is very calm...a non event.  We did have a few goat events. One of the kids in the barn needed her tail soaked loose since it was stuck down with poop.  I just put her in some warm water and worked it loose, and yes LOL, I did have my milking gloves on : )  Minor trauma for her but a panic for her mom until we got her back.  I also trimmed some cow tails this morning.  When the cows were in the barn full time we docked tails.  Gradually we have more cows with their tails.  Some are good at tucking them up and some drag them in the gutter and then proceed to paint themselves and  their neighbors along with creating general sanitation issues.  They all get long so I just used scissors and trimmed them up to where they should be.  Cows that prefer to "paint" with them get a grate put behind them, basically a series of bars welded together that rest on both sides over the gutter.  Grates keep their tails out of the gutter but the manuer etc can go through between the bars. It doesn't keep their tails clean but it does keep them tolerable.   Bruce made a wamer for the goats in the building out of a leaky rubbermaid tank today by drilling a couple holes in the bottom, put 2 heat lamps in it and cut a access hole in what was the top edge. We have concerns about keeping these little ones warm since its only January.  In the past we have had winter kids but never this many that will need to stay warm with a forecast of 0 the next few nights.  We took the warmer down and put the kids inside.  We thought maybe there should be some vent holes in it so after lunch Bruce took the drill down to do that.  Inside the warmer he found panting goats....it was too warm so he unplugged one of the lamps and drilled 4 vent holes in.  It was working too well!!!  Tonight when he went to the barn to feed he had a goat kid in the cow feed alley and one was missing entirely.  After searching and expecting the worst she was found in the gutter under one of the grates. Bruce hosed her legs off and she is no worse for wear.  Good thing their barn time is temporary.  Goats have a reputation for getting out of almost anything, and at 2 days they are already checking out the territory!

We have never really been the type to chase numbers, but in this season of tax preparation its always interesting to see the totals.  This little dairy has averaged 57 cows in 2010.  They have produced an average of 22,610# of milk each.  Thats pretty much an average amount in the scheme of dairy in general but exciting for a rotational grazing herd that is still learning so we were pretty excited about that.  In lay peoples terms, our cows each produced about 2,708 gallons of milk each last year!  Our income breaks down as 83% from milk, 8% from fed holstein steers, 4% from cull cows, 2% from crop sales and also patronage and 1% from a variety of government programs.  The last few years have devastated the dairy industry so we are also excited that our loss is only 22% of last years!  We have the unique ability to find a bright side in things, even if we have to twist it a bit : )   It keeps us sane!

The only other excitement for the day here is we each got a 1 hour nap!!!  Whoohoo!

Thankfully Just a Quiet Day : )

No goat kids today!  Bruce did a serious inventory of the goats and there is only 1 obvious udder. We have more goats to come but not for a few days anyway.  The total of winter kids-13, 10 of which are female and 11 of them came over 24 hours.  They are all doing great today.  We have 4 pens in the dairy barn with families in each, in addition to those that are already in the goat building we use for those with newborn kids.  We went from 26 goats to 36 in the blink of an eye.  There are a few things that are neat about this whole thing.  We managed to get two does, both of whom had their kids die, accept someone elses kids. Goats will rarely tolerate any other kids (we have seen them take their nose and throw kids three feet into the air) but these both showed an interest and, to our advantage, these kids hadn't eaten yet.  Now a set of twins are singles and the triplets are twins and a single.  The single kids really grow with no one to compete with for food.  At 32 hours, the twin that had been found cold and stiff yesterday morning, was trying to jump and throw her head around and play.  There is no way to see these little guys and not smile.  It will be helpful in spring to have kids ready to eat when the grass is growing.  Generally by the time they are ready to harvest our pastures are slowing down. The major theme otherwise for the day was being tired.  Bruce announced during morning milking that there would be napping this afternoon.  For those who know Bruce know that would be unusual and by noon his list had erased that possibility.  Before breakfast was done we had a heifer have her first calf, a female that happened to be stillborn.  Always frustrating but the reality is if you have livestock you will eventually have dead stock. Once we asked our vet Marc "why" and he said "if you can explain why 99.9% are perfect then I will explain why .1% aren't".  Really, any live birth is a pretty amazing thing and especially in nature, I am in awe of the instinct of survival. Other adventures of the day were filling a feed box with haylage out of the silo we rent at Ed's.  Other than the dairy barn itself, we have cattle in a building here and also in a yard we rent from Ed.  The heifers here get fed in a feed box and at Ed's there is a silo that has a bunk where the cattle eat. I am excited to have added my first pictures!!!  They were supposed to be at the bottom  and not the top but they are there and I am ok with that : )  The first 2 pictures are of twins.  The one we found stiff and cold was standing in the tote 2 hours later.  Bruce is also holding her.  Perhaps his pocket would be good reference for size. She is the smallest, even smaller than any of the triplets!  The triplets are in the last picture, taken before I rubbed them down and they had a chance to warm up. The brown one has the  new mom.  Today they are all fluffy with pudgy bellies!  Hoping for an uneventful evening and an early bedtime : )

Reproductive Mis-Management

We have goats.  This habit was started by Jim, about 10 years ago, when he was in middle school.  He decided to get 4 boer meat goats.  Goats have kids that are hilarious.  Goats mow lawn where people prefer not to go which is helpful in keeping us looking respectable.  In fall, goats ignore fences so the dog has a great time getting them in routinely.  Then there is the term "horney old goat", which is where this story starts.  Last summer the goat males (bucks) were left in the herd too long with all those special parts still operational.  The gestation for female goats is 5 mo., so when we got back from our Christmas vacation we heard that Jim had found a set of goat twins that had been born.  Hmmm, shouldn't be a surprise...definately a warning sign of things to come. He moved them to a different building, hung the heat lamp and all was good. The next morning there was another single kid.  Generally kids are to be born in May when the weather is warmer.  This little one was flat out, cold, actually stiff and barely breathing.  What is amazing is you can bring in a barely breathing goat kid, warm them in a pail of warm water for 10 minutes, dry them and lay them on a zip lock bag of warm water and 2 hrs later they are chasing down their mom to eat. That was it until last night at about 6 when Bruce checked the barn.  Sure enough, another set of twins.  These had just arrived so he grabbed them and put them in our recycling tote in the bathroom to dry and warm up while we milked.  Two hours later we return to screaming goats looking for mom.  Put them together again in the smaller building with heat lamps.  Sure enough, when Bruce went down to get that mom there was another set of twins! Sunday a goat had kidded outside while we were gone and of course that one died.  That goat  instantly started taking care of the first kid as though it was hers, so after bringing them in to warm, Bruce gave her one and the actual mom one.  It was midnight before Bruce got to bed but all the goats were warm and eating well.  This morning Bruce again checked the barn.  TWINS again!  He grabbed them and they came in to be warmed.  The smallest one was stiff so she got put in warm water etc, and then put in the tote and both were covered with towels.  We return 2 hrs later and they are standing in the tote screaming like goat kids do.  Because one of these twins is so small we decide to put them in an empty stall in our barn where the temperature is a little warmer and they won't be crowded out from under a heat lamp.  Bruce put a fence in, I took the kids out and when Bruce went to get the mom, sure enough, there was yet ANOTHER set of twins!  Since it was warmer today and they were large and strong they went straight under a heat lamp in a separate pen so the mom could do the day care.  Bruce just left. The barn hasn't been checked since 11 because Bruce was a speaker at the beginning grazing class at the local technical college this afternoon.  So far, so good.  Eventually I will know how to add pictures but at this point I will add some fun goat facts.  Twins are very common if the doe's are healthy and have good nutrition.  We have had a couple sets of triplets over the years.  That gets a little trickier since goats only have 2 teats but good moms do just fine.  A 3 day old goat is already jumping and trying to spin.  They are also riding each other as if they are breeding. You can feel the horn buds within days of birth.  The moms know which kids are theirs by the smell of their butts and poop!  OH GOOD GRIEF....Bruce just called. Triplets!!!!  To be continued tomorrow.......  

The Basics

Jan. 3, 2011 Monday-Today was a day of the basics.  Bruce is paying the price for all the skid steer pounding on Saturday.  Randomly frozen areas and chains on the tires ride kind of rough.  Chiropractor for him today.  The basics are feeding and milking.  Basically a 5 hr farming day for him and 3 hrs of milking for me.  We have lots of dry cows currently and a bunch that will be drying up in the next few months.  Basic math is less cows=less milk=less time in the barn.  Milk checks get pretty sad for a few months.  The process of pasturing has given us a 68% first breeding conception rate (industry average is about 30%).  It has also headed us towards a more seasonal calving schedule.  Once you wrap your head around your milk checks dropping significantly for a few months, its all good.

Swimming for New Years ; (

Dec 31, 2010-Saturday
We've had people mention a few times that we should start a blog about the daily life on a dairy farm.  The challenge for us will be remembering that what is routine to us may actually be interesting to others.  My husband is the 5th generation to operate this farm which started in 1881.  We have a traditional 70 cow stanchion barn where we milk.  We do rotational grazing in summer, more of which can be covered as the year goes on.  In the meantime, Bruce says "less than 4 months til grass".  Makes the winter seem shorter already.  Bruce spent today scraping and piling the cattle yards which had turned more into lakes than a place for cattle with the warm weather and rain.  He piled it for a couple reasons, the days are just not long enough to get everything done and with the warmth the fields are muddy and the water is running everywhere.  He also hauled home corn fodder stacks to cover them, hopefully to keep them from freezing, until he gets a chance to haul.  We have late Christmas plans tomorrow but temperatures heading for 0 over the next few nights.