Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Our cows enjoy a balanced nutritious diet every day. 

It's one of the most important ways we take care of our dairy cows 

everyday and in return, they provide us with nutritious milk.

This was one of the messages I shared during this past week 

with a small group of children making their first visit to a dairy farm.

Touring the feed barn and watching the cows eat is one 

of my favorite stops on the tour.

I consider it a privilege  to be able to share with children and adults 

 how we care for our dairy cattle  everyday

 during  a farm tour.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to provide 

the perfect show and tell for all ages!

                                             
                               

                                         
                                               

Milk Lover's Spring Break

What do I  love about spring break?

The opportunity to share what life is all about down on the dairy farm!

 My spring break happened today,

 on just an ordinary day down on the dairy farm,

  with  two young families wanting

  to know more about where their milk comes from.

All farm visits include watching the cows eat. It may not be the most exciting

place to visit but it's my favorite spot to explain how

 the cows eat a balanced,nutritious diet everyday  to produce high-quality milk. 

Spring break gave me  the opportunity to share how we care for our dairy cows

 everyday from the milking parlor to the feed barn and all the chores in between

 that are required to care for our land and the animals but most of all,

 I've got new friends that share my love for milk!

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Feeding our dairy cows a nutritious diet is an everyday activity--regardless of the weather conditions. 

Even though these cows had already eaten in the feed barn after being milked, the snow seemed to create an exciting experience as the feed wagons were pulled into the field  as usual.

On their way to the feed wagons, the cows were running and kicking up their hooves just like kids on a sled at the top of a snowy hill.

I'm thankful for the fun these cows seemed to be having on their snow day down  on the dairy farm!

Happy Harvest

A lot happens from the beginning of harvest until the last load of chopped sorghum  crop is on the way to the silo. Weather changes  and mechanical challenges are constant  reminders of the need for a dairy  farmer to find his happy button and bucket of patience.  Weather conditions definitely stood out on Saturday afternoon as the last round was made by the chopper for  the 2014  harvest season. 

 When we began harvest, the days were longer and much warmer--at least 40 degrees warmer!

Although freezing temperatures over the last couple of weeks   changed the sorghum from green to brown, 

it will still make great nutritional silage for our dairy cows to enjoy this winter.

With the prediction of snow and colder temperatures, 

I'm pretty sure the chopper is happy to head to the shed 

 and settle in for a long winter's nap!

Happy Harvest from down on the Arkansas  dairy farm!

Dairy Squares

               If baling hay is done best on a hot August afternoon in Arkansas, yesterday was perfect!

Most of our hay is baled into large round bales to feed our dairy and beef cows  but we always need small bales to feed our young calves as they grow and mature.  

Ryan and Cody worked all afternoon  raking,baling and hauling  these dairy squares from the field  to the barn for stacking.

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They also found that sometimes those square bales don't stay stacked!

Re-stacking dairy squares  was pretty simple with a 

little farmer muscle and his assistant with the  hay moving equipment.

So simple, in fact, that I made my way back to the house before getting put to work!

Dairy Farm Snow Days

                           Snow days, like everyday  on the dairy farm, are filled with activities
                                           that focus on caring for our cows by making sure

 

they have plenty of nutritious food to eat,

 

 

fresh water to drink,

 

windbreaks for protection,

 

and

hay to lay on instead of snow.

 

Sunshine and warmer temperatures  were a welcome sight today for both farmers and cows!

 

Dairy Cow Approved Weather

It was a Dairy Cow Approved Weather Day  and I'm going to recommend a bonus for the  weatherman's perfect prediction of today's cold weather in Northwest Arkansas.  As I waddled out the back door this morning  all bundled in my warm coveralls, hoodie, coat and gloves--I wasn't too stylish looking but I was    prepared for that cold north wind!

 

Our dairy cows actually seem to thrive on colder  temperatures.  They embrace and enjoy  the cold weather  by eating more hay.

 

 

 
 From now till spring, one of our daily tasks will be  making sure hay is in the manger to provide good nutrition during cold weather   for these pregnant cows.

 

As I watched the cows enjoying their bale of hay, I couldn't help but think

 we're a lot like cows--eating is the natural thing to do when the weather gets chilly!

 

 

Nutritious dairy products--- always in style and perfect for any weather!

                                                           

                                                       ---Dairymom Approved Statement

 

 

Harvest Harmony Down on the Dairy Farm

Watching the boys chop the silage for our dairy cows when everything goes well  is much like listening to three part harmony--it's harmonious!

 

Harvest harmony includes:

 

 

Crisp,cool October weather,

 

 

No machinery breakdowns,

 

Perfect delivery!

 

Three part harvest harmony results in high quality milk!

Dairy Cow's August Treat

In the middle of last year's drought, we would never have believed  August 2013 would have more rain days than dry days! Even though the weather man was predicting possible showers through the next week, it  was  decided that Saturday  was the day  to begin the 'green chop' routine. Our dairy cows love this green energy and protein filled  treat and show their appreciation by giving more milk!

Our typical green chop routine is  to  mow enough of the sorghum Sudan grass to dry for a day before chopping it  and feeding to the dairy cows with their other feed ingredients. Our cows' diet   is formulated by our dairy nutritionist. Anytime a change is made to the diet, like adding 'green chop',  we consult with our nutritionist to make sure it continues to be  a balanced nutritious diet.

 In trying to think ahead of the possible rainy weather,  we managed to chop enough for two days of feed. We were on schedule until it rained...
                                                                   

 

It may take a few days of sunshine before we can get back to mowing and chopping in this very wet field, but  our cows are still eating a balanced and nutritious diet--it just doesn't have the nutritious cow  candy!

Dairy Recycling Fights Drought

Even though winter isn't over yet in Arkansas,   it's easy to feel a touch of spring fever when I look across the lush green rye grass that our cows will be enjoying in a few weeks as part of their nutritious balanced diet. This crop is extremely important to our dairy farm's sustainability as we work to recover from last year's devastating drought.

 Dairy recycling is managed year round on our farm by a  plan designed specifically for the amount of cow manure produced on our farm. By utilizing the cow manure produced on our dairy farm to fertilize crop lands, the water holding capacity of the soil is increased,   the groundwater is protected  by   the crop absorbing  the manure  nutrients and  the amount of commercial fertilizer that would be needed is decreased.

    Our commitment to producing high-quality milk means taking good care of our cows and the land!

Fantastic Fescue Survives Drought

 

Fescue is a common cool season grass found in pastures and hay fields  across the United States. It was planted in mass in Arkansas in the early 1940's to increase grass for livestock and soil conservation. Fescue is usually baled and fed as dry hay but in this year of extreme drought that has created a shortage of forage feed, we are harvesting fescue  after frost to add to our dairy cow's diet.   Even though many fields of fescue in Northwest Arkansas  have died due to the drought, we are fortunate to have a few fields of mixed grass and fescue that are being harvested and hauled to the silo.

 

 

A sample of the chopped feed will be analyzed by  a forage testing lab to provide  our dairy nutritionist with information in  designing  the nutritious diet for our cows. High-quality milk begins with taking good care of our dairy cows by making sure they eat a balanced, healthy diet.   Efficient use of every feed ingredient is even more important in a drought  year when  feed availability  is limited.

 

 

We added some of the "green chop" fescue with the other feed ingredients and the cows are enjoying every bite! 

Dairy Farmer's Pantry

Our dairy cows rely on us to provide plenty of good feed every day so they can produce high quality milk. Because feed costs are the largest expense on the dairy farm, we're always carefully shopping for the best deals in grain and hay purchases. We rely on grain farmers,hay farmers,feed companies and the trucking industry to help us feed our dairy cows. When we receive grain or grain products, it is unloaded into the farm's kitchen pantry known as the commodity storage shed.

We rely on our dairy nutritionist to formulate a balanced and nutritious diet with the combination of grain and hay that we have availiable. Each of our cows will eat approximately 90 pounds of hay and grain that is mixed together for what is known as a total mixed ration. Providing a balanced diet is important to the cow's health and producing high-quality milk. Watching the cows eat in the feed barn is one of my favorite places on the farm. I love to see them bury their nose in the feed,take a bite,and then lift their head as though they were just coming to the surface after a dive in the pool!


Since 1944, improvements in dairy cattle nutrition and dairy science have played an important role in reducing the environmental impact of a gallon of milk that has resulted in:

• 90 percent less cropland
• 75 percent less manure
• 65 percent less water
• 63 percent less carbon

You can find more facts and  information about dairy production or dairy sustainability  at http://www.midwestdairy.com or http://www.dairyfarmingtoday.org.



                                                                         

Dairymom's Power Skills

Just put me in charge of a power button and see what happens! Even though I was the last person left to ask for help late Friday afternoon, I actually felt pretty important when asked to help finish getting the last thirty wheat bales silage wrapped.  Son Casey gave me two tasks which required me to stand at the power control box.My instructions were simple--push the power button to stop the machine if necessary and push the lever to change the direction of the front tires when instructed by farmer sign language. After I passed the practice test of my skills in pushing the power button and the one lever, our job began. It was amazing to have all that power at my fingertips!

I love watching this machine wrap bales. Each bale is placed on the machine and pushed into the adjoining bale as the wrapper brings silage plastic around each bale. The wrapping machine gives us a choice in how we can harvest and store a crop and our dairy cows love the silage feed that comes from these bales.

We finished the wrapping job with no mechanical problems and I handled all that power without one mistake! Technology and dairymom's power skills ---it's all in a day's work to provide nutritious feed for our dairy cattle that will produce a great dairy product for my family and yours!

Routine Transitions Provide Quality Milk

Planning for transition is part of our dairy farm routine. Preparing a dairy cow for the birth of a calf includes a two month rest period before she gives birth. On the farm we call this transition the "dry period". During this sixty day dry period the cow will rest in the pasture and be fed a specially designed low energy diet that provides adequate protein,vitamins and mineral to maintain body condition . The inputs of good nutrition and health care during the dry period will be returned by a more productive and healthy cow after giving birth.

We had three cows this week that needed to begin their sixty day dry period. After the morning milking, each cow was dry treated. Because cows are most susceptible to environmental mastitis infections during this rest period,dry treating a cow includes treating all four quarters with an approved long-lasting antibiotic product. When the cow calves and returns to the milking herd, the milk is thrown away until it is tested by our dairy cooperative lab and shown to be free of antibiotic because any milk that tests positive for antibiotics cannot be sold to the public.

After dry treatment was completed with a prescribed vitamin shot and wormer, Cody loaded the cows into the trailer and moved them to the dry pasture located a couple of miles from the dairy to begin their days of rest and rejuvenation. These cows will be fed and monitored daily. Two weeks before they are expected to give birth, we will move them to the pasture by our house. Since we have calves born through out the year, we are basically on pasture call twenty four hours a day,seven days a week!

It's a fact--healthy cows produce more milk. Our commitment to providing high-quality milk begins with taking good care of our cows everyday--24/7!

Dairy Farm Full of Transitions

As I walked across the pasture tonight to check on our dairy cows that are due to calve any day, I heard the loud chorus of the crickets proclaiming the end of summer. It seems like life around us right now is full of transitions--school starting,seasons changing,county fair finished,both sons home on the farm for the first time in four years. Even the cows are in transition! These cows that I'm checking tonight have been moved close to the house within the last two weeks so that we can monitor them frequently and provide assistance with calving if needed.

Dairy cows experience a transition period from sixty days prior to calving until forty days after calving. During this transition period, known as the dry period, the cows are removed from the milking herd and allowed to rest in the pasture until they give birth. A carefully managed dry cow diet that contains adequate protein,vitamins and minerals, medium quality forage, and a small amount of grain will prepare the cow for a smooth transition into the milking herd, provide optimum milk production in early lactation and reduce the incidence of metabolic disorders.

Caring for our cows during this important transition time in the cow's life leads to high quality, wholesome milk. Tomorrow we have three more cows that will begin their transition into the dry period and be removed from the milking herd. One thing is constant in life and on the dairy farm--transition!

Hay Dates with the Dairy Farmer

Providing a balanced diet for our dairy cows assures that our cows will be healthy and provide good quality milk. Hay is one of the important ingredients in our cow's diet. We purchase alfalfa and orchard grass hay from a farmer in Missouri who is located about 45 miles from our farm.


On our return from visiting a friend at St. John's hospital in Joplin this afternoon, Ryan and I had a hay date to sample the hay that our hay farmer baled last week. Hay sampling will provide information about the quality and nutritional value of the hay. This hay is wrapped in plastic to help preserve the nutrients. Ryan used a hay probe to sample six different bales from each row of wrapped hay. My involvement on this hay date was to follow behind the farmer and cover the entry site of the probe with Gorilla tape. A farmer's wife will do anything to spend a little quality time with the farmer!


The six samples from each row will be mixed in a bag , labeled with information about the hay and mailed tomorrow to the lab for analysis. The hay analysis will contain a long list of information about hay nutrients such as the moisture content, the percentage of dry matter and protein. All of the results from this sample will provide important nutritional information for our dairy nutritionist to use in formulating a perfect diet for our dairy cows.


Hay dates with the dairy farmer provide good nutrition for our cows and quality milk for all consumers!