Dairy Farmer's Party

 

A birthday down on the dairy farm is always a celebration.

These new calves represent the growth of our dairy herd

and the future production of high quality milk.

My daily job is caring for these new babies.

It truly is a celebration when you witness a calf that is

 born and raised on the farm give birth to her own calf.

It's one of the labors of  dairy farmer love to watch 

this process over a two and a half year process.

It's our own brand of dairy farmer party!

 

                              

                                      We're also finding the fun in farm family birthdays

                                              with the expert candle blowers.

                                Hattie and Breck definitely bring more fun to the party!

Sheath Cake is one of our family favorite birthday

requests. It's not so pretty but if you love

chocolate cake with a big dip of vanilla ice cream,

this is perfect!

Sheath Cake

Ingredients:

1 stick butter

1/2 cup shortening

4 Tablespoons Cocoa

1 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

1/2 cup buttermilk

 1 teaspoon soda

2 eggs,slightly beaten

Bring margarine, shortening, cocoa and water to a rapid boil.

Pour over the sugar and flour,beat well.

Add buttermilk and soda, vanilla and eggs.

Beat, then bake at 400 degrees F. for 20 minutes.

Cover with the following.

Icing:

1 stick butter

4 Tablespoons cocoa 

3 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar

6 Tablespoons milk

1 cup pecans (optional)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Bring butter, cocoa and milk to a boil.

Add powdered sugar, vanilla and pecans.

Beat well, pour over cake while hot.

Dairy Farmers of America Party

One of my favorite meetings to attend as a member of Dairy Farmers of America cooperative is the Summer Information Meeting held in Springfield, Missouri. As we left the farm this morning headed to the meeting,  it was drizzling rain  and overcast--perfect conditions for a farmer to leave the farm and not feel guilty about what we could be doing if it were hot and sunny!

This meeting is a mixture of fun and business with lots of children attending with their families, information booths filled with dairy farm specific information and the availability of all the milk and ice cream bars you can eat before, during and after the meeting. It's always a place of reunion with old dairy farmer friends that may or may not still be in the business.

We're proud to be one of more than 8,000 farm family members of Dairy Farmers of America Cooperative. Here are some facts about our cooperative:

• We represent 1/3 of the total United States milk production.
• 61 billion pounds of milk are produced annually by cooperative members.
• We own 31 diversified  manufacturing facilities that include dairy products, food components, and ingredients.
• High-quality milk  is produced on all sizes of farms across America.
• We are a leader in formulating and packaging shelf stable products.

After being filled with information and  a delicious lunch , we   topped off the party  with  M&M ice cream cookies and in a glorious rainy day in July,   headed to  the Ozark Empire Fair with our complimentary tickets to continue our party.

That's my kind of farmer  party!