Dairy Farmer's Field of Dreams

 

Dairy farmers often have a different perspective. You may just see a field of cows but I see the dairy farmer's field of dreams...

 

                                                                                
                   it's a field full of pregnant heifers that will soon produce  a new spring  calf crop,
                                            the  potential milking cows for our family  dairy farm.
                                                              A dairy farmer's dream!

Dairy Delivers Commitment 24/7

Although the calendar says it is still summer, it's got the feel of fall with the cool eighty degree days and fifty degree nights in Northwest Arkansas.  On the farm, fall means time for harvesting. Fall harvesting for us includes chopping corn for silage to feed the cows, baling and wrapping hay and closely watching our dairy cows and heifers give birth to a new crop of baby calves.  We have brought both cows and heifers that are due to calve in the next two weeks to the pasture next to our house for closer monitoring during the day and night.  It is our hope that each cow or heifer will calve in the field without assistance but if assistance is needed, we can quickly move the animal to our maternity ward  which is a small open barn with three clean stalls filled with sawdust bedding for the cows to lie on and access to water.

Fall calving has begun! Yesterday we had four new calves born. Two calves were born in the field during the day and two at midnight. When the two cows at midnight were not progressing in their labor it was decided that assistance was needed. Both cows were walked to the maternity barn, put in seperate stalls and examined for progress. Delivery assistance was needed for both cows because the calves were coming backwards (feet first). Close observation and delivery assistance saved both calves.  From our dairy farming experience  it's obvious  that dairy cows and heifers do not check the clock for convenient delivery times!

You can find more information about dairy farming at http://www.dairyfarmingtoday.org/.  Our commitment to providing high quality milk begins with taking good care of our dairy heifers,cows and calves.  It's a 24/7, 365 day commitment!

Cow Candy

Before I married the dairy farmer, quite a few of my first summer time dates were spent riding on the tractor with the dairy farmer as he chopped green hay grazer grass to feed the dairy cows. Late this afternoon just before the sun was setting, Ryan and I jumped into the truck and went on a farmer date to drive to the field and check on the hay grazer crop that was planted several weeks ago.

Even though we have only received about an inch of rain since this seed was planted several weeks ago, it has grown waist high--perfect cow candy time! This grass can be harvested by green chopping or baling. When it is green chopped, it is actually chopped up and blown into a truck or wagon that will transport it to the dairy and be fed fresh. If it is baled, it is mowed and baled like hay. Either way it is harvested, the cows love this cow candy! Our dairy nutritionist will formulate a diet that adds cow candy with all the other feed ingredients to make sure that the cows are receiving a completely balanced diet. With the drought that we are experiencing, we are grateful for any crop that we will harvest.

Cow candy and dates with the farmer are all about how we work everyday on the dairy farm to care for our animals and produce quality milk!

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Using a no-till method to plant this crop of haygrazer for our dairy cows to eat later this summer is just one of the ways we protect the environment and reduce energy use. With so many jobs on the farm to get accomplished in June, I'm thankful for a tractor ride with my dairy farmer husband!

Fall Calf Crop

Most of the time when we use the word "crop" it seems we are talking about plants that we grow to feed our cattle but since the first of September, I have been increasingly busy with our fall calf crop. We will have new calves born all through the year but usually in the spring and fall, a group of heifers will give birth to their first calf. These forty two first calf heifers were also babies I raised from birth two years ago. Each heifer is identified with a number name that I assign to them at birth. As the heifer matures, we will use her number name to record her indiviual genetic,health and milk production information. Waiting for these heifers to calve requires close observation and sometimes requires very late in the night or wee morning hour assistance from the dairy farmer and family assistants(that would sometimes be me). During this past month, it has been common for us to have two or more babies born per day. As this heifer group finishes calving, we can breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate the beginning milk production of the heifer that we have raised from birth. Watching our cows grow from babies to mature cows brings a great sense of pride and accomplishment. These cows are not only part of the herd but part of our family!