Dairy Farmer's Thankful Thursday

Once a month for the last twenty plus years, we get what we call a "test"

of each cow milking in the herd.  The test will tell us  how much milk

each cow is producing and a variety of information that is used in  caring 

for and managing the herd. 

My job before the test day is to make sure all the information about each

cow is updated in the computer system so Greg, our test technician,can update 

the system after he collects each sample of milk.

Greg is not just a technician that works for Mid-South Dairy Records.

He is our friend and part of the family. Even though we are both only children, 

we can almost fight like a brother and sister.

For the first time since being diagnosed with kidney disease, 

Greg was too ill to come test this month.

Technician Tiffany, Greg's fill-in, and I worked through our

test day. It wasn't perfect but we managed to get the job done.

I certainly appreciated her patience!

                                    I'm thankful for Greg's love of dairy cows, his phenomenal
                                         memory about dairy cows,  his devotion to his job
                                                         and most of all his friendship.
                                     Hurry and get well Greg--we've got a lot more fighting to do!

Dairy Farm Test Day

Once a month our cows have a test day. I'm pretty sure  it's a lot easier and 

less stressful  being a cow on  test day than it is for students taking final 

exams at the end of the semester!

All our cows have to do is come to the barn and  be milked on their regular schedule.

 The real work for test day  is done by our  MidSouth Dairy Herd Improvement 

Technician Greg. He arrives before milking  to place his measuring meters

 in the barn, organizes his milk vials and  prepares to collect each sample.

When sampling is finished, information is typed into our computer system 

and   the samples will be shipped  to the lab for analysis.

 In  less than a week we will have information at our fingertips via email.

The test results provide us with an analysis of the milk volume and

 components of each cow's milk  and are used  as part of the record keeping 

 system to guide us  in the  management of our dairy herd.

Greg provides dairy herd improvement  service to dairy

 farms in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kentucky.

It's dedicated people like Greg that work with us down on 

the dairy farm to produce high quality milk.