Dairy Farmer's Thankful Thursday

It's beginning to look a lot more like spring with sprigs of green grass and weeds,

 new calves and daylight savings time!

Just the mention of daylight savings time brings smiles

to the farmers because it allows them to work so much later

as we begin spring and swing into summer.

After all these years on the farm, I still need at least a 

week to adjust to the dark mornings and the attitude adjustment

that comes with giving up that hour of sleep!

I've had a few friends ask how the cows adjust to daylight savings time.

Honestly, the cows are champions of adaptation!

 Over the years,

we have tried different ways to adapt to the time change and none

have seemed to really make a difference in how the cows adjust in their daily

activities of eating and producing milk.

If you get down to the real rub, it's probably a bigger

 adjustment for the humans on the farm!

Calves don't even consider daylight savings time when

it's time to be born!

I'm thankful for the joy I see from the farmers with the time change 

that begins  the new season of spring activities down on the dairy farm.

Dairy Time

As the sun was setting this afternoon, the dairy cows  were resting and 

 enjoying their leisure time in the pasture.  

It was obvious that even though we changed the milking times  

 to accommodate the time change, the cows didn't seem to notice that

 Daylight Savings Time ended today.

I'm afraid it will take me a couple of days to adjust to the schedule 

changes in chore times even though I did get that extra hour of sleep!

We live on dairy time regardless of the 

beginning or end of Daylight Savings Time.

                             
                       
                                                 

Signs of the Season

I'm not quite ready to believe that spring  has arrived in the

 first week of March but ready or not, I'm seeing the signs of the season...

 getting ready for spring plowing and planting,

 heifers are quickly approaching the birth of their first calf,

and

  daylight savings time begins this Sunday.

The cows don't seem to notice the time change but losing that 

hour of sleep is the farmer's kick-off for spring down on the dairy farm!

Cows and Clocks

 Our dairy  cows don't have to worry about  how to change the clock when Daylight Savings Time starts or stops because regardless if we're springing forward or falling back, they always have plenty of feed to eat, water to drink and a dairy farmer checking to make sure they are comfortable.

 It's the dairy farmers that have to adjust to the time change in scheduling chores and making sure everyone else  on the farm  understands the schedule!

                      One thing for sure,  cows don't need clocks to know when it's time to have a calf !
                                       That was obvious today--we had three new calves born.

What better way to celebrate the end of Daylight Savings Time--

3 new babies and an extra hour of sleep for the farmer!

Dairy Bull Shares Daylight Savings Attitude

Even though Daylight Savings Time reminds us that spring is just around the corner, I must admit I really hate to give up my hour of sleep! It will take me a few days to get adjusted to the change and I will be the first to admit, my attitude for a few days is a lot  like the dairy farm  bull--mean and ornery!

 

 

 

Although we use artificial insemination for breeding dairy heifers and cows, we still keep registered Holstein bulls on the farm to assist our breeding program. Holstein bulls are known for having bad attitudes and must be treated with respect. Even if they act friendly, we handle them with great care for everyone's safety.  This particular bull enjoys standing by the fence anytime we are near, pawing at the ground and loudly bellowing.



 

                                      Looking on the bright  side of Daylight Savings Time,
                                my attitude  will eventually  improve  but  the bull's never does!       

Hope Rains

For the first time in two years, Sunday morning  we saw water standing in the pastures, running down the road and bringing ponds to overflowing levels after receiving just a little more than two inches of rain during the night. It seemed like magic--I wondered if it happened in that magical  Daylight Savings Time hour when the clock springs forward.

After this year's drought, we are looking forward to spring and the hope that our pastures and ponds will be revived by adequate moisture and good growing conditions. We have alot of work ahead of us in restoring drought damaged fields and pastures but....

 

the rain does give us hope for the possibility for our farm's sustainability.

 

 After losing my hour of sleep to meet the Daylight Savings Time schedule, receiving rain was the perfect attitude adjuster for me. I didn't even mind putting on my rain suit and rubber boots to face the wind and rain to feed calves!

Cows and Clocks

Thank goodness we don't have to explain Daylight Savings time to the cows ! As long as we keep to the consistent routine of making sure our dairy cows are fed and milked twice each day of the year--they're happy!





Our cows are milked every day at 7:30 in the morning and 7:30 each night. While most farmers may start and finish at earlier hours, we have found that this schedule works best for us in getting the daily chores done on our farm. Our commitment to providing high-quality milk begins with taking good care of our cows by providing consistent and regular milking schedule that allows time for the cows to eat a nutritious diet and rest between each milking time.

 

Through the years, we've found it more challenging to make sure that the humans on the farm get to work at the right time and understand which direction to move the clock for Daylight Savings time than to get the cows to the barn!

 

I'm glad we don't have to explain to the cows: "Spring forward and Fall Back"!

Dairy Cows and Clocks

Farmers love daylight savings time! It means more daylight hours to work at the many tasks on the farm and begin work in the fields planting the crops that we raise to feed our dairy cows. Turning the clocks back is the easy part of this change to daylight savings time on the farm. Dairy cows are creatures of habit and even though they don't wear watches or look at clocks to know what time it is, they know when it is time to come to the milk barn to be milked. The day before we change our clocks, we talk to all of our employees about how we will gradually change the milking time for the cows. Changes in our milk schedule will often change the cow's milk production. We know this from when we have the unexpected breakdown of equipment or loss of power in the milk barn. Milking too early or too late not only affects production but can also have an impact on cow comfort. The cows look forward to coming to the barn to be milked! Yesterday, the first day of daylight savings time,we started each milking at 8a.m. and 8p.m. , which is thirty minutes later than our regular milking time. Today we started milking at 7:30. We have found after many years of the time change that this gradual change in schedule works well with the cows' clock. The cows adjust much better than I do to this change. In about thirty days, I will quit whining and complaining about getting up in the dark and I will enjoy the warm spring days as I work outside. Thank goodness the cows' clock adjusts quicker than mine!