Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

In just a few days, dairy farm families will be celebrating June Dairy Month at the annual 4-State Dairy Days cattle show in our county. I'm thankful for events like this that teach our children so many life lessons and give opportunity to develop long lasting friendships with other dairy farm families!

June Dairy Month Cheesy Pleasing Recipe

You can't celebrate June Dairy Month without cheese! Well, I guess you can but why would you want to?

Celebrate June Dairy Month with this easy pleasing recipe!

Cheesy Chicken Cruncher

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour

4 egg whites

1/2 cup reduced-fat milk

1 1/2 cups cornflakes

1 cup reduced-fat ,shredded Cheddar cheese

6 chicken breast filets;cut into strips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Set up three bowls with the following: 1)flour;2)an egg-wash;made by beating the eggs and milk together; 3)cornflakes mixed with cheese.

Coat a 13x9 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Dip chicken pieces in flour, then into egg-wash,then roll in the cheesy-flakes mixture, coating the entire piece of chicken, and place on the baking pan. Discard any unused cornflake mixture after coating chicken. Bake fro 25 minutes, turning halfway through to ensure even browning. Serve with ketchup or BBQ sauce if desired.

This recipe was created by Chef Jon Ashton of Orlando Florida and featured in the 30 Days of Dairy fact sheet from http://www.nationaldairycouncil.org/ and recipe section of http://www.midwestdairy.com/.

Dairy Tools of the Trade

Keeping up with information about our dairy cows is an important part of our dairy farming operation to insure healthy dairy cows and quality milk. One of our best tools for managing our herd information is through Mid-South Dairy Herd Improvement Association. This association is a complete professional testing,management and reporting system for dairy farmers.

Once a month, Greg, our Mid-south Dairy Herd Improvement technician, will come to the dairy farm to collect milk samples from each dairy cow during the morning milking. Each sample will give us information about the individual cow's milk production and qualities of the milk that include butterfat,protein, and somatic cell counts. Before Greg comes to the farm for this testing, I will have recorded all herd health information, breeding and calving records into the computer system. After each cow is sampled, Greg will enter the milk weight information on our computer system , transmit all of our records to the Mid-South office in Springfield,Missouri and send the milk samples to the lab for analysis. A few days after the test day, we will receive paper copies of the test information and be able to download the test information to our computer system.

Managing our dairy herd with information that we obtain from tools like our dairy herd improvement records assists us every day in making sure that our healthy herd is producing quality milk.

June Dairy Month--it's all about healthy cows,quality milk, and the dairy farm families that work everyday to produce a great product!

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Serving ice cream cones to bank customers was one of our many June Dairy Month activities
and fun experiences while members of the Benton County 4-H Udder Club.
Watching these three dairy farm boys dip the ice cream was a memorable experience! I am thankful for all the fun we have promoting the dairy products we are proud to produce.

Dairy Farmers Party

Dairy farmers have been partying in June since the first National Milk Month in 1937. That first celebration of milk was sponsored by chain stores to help stabilize dairy demand during periods of peak production. It's been called "June Dairy Month" since 1939. You can learn more about the history of June Dairy Month at http://www.midwestdairy.com/. Dairy farm families are now celebrating in a variety of ways to share how we work everyday to produce a wholesome, nutritious product. Offering samples of the many products produced from milk is the fun part of the party!



June Dairy Month really starts on the farm with every dairy farm family. Ninety eight percent of all U.S. dairy farms are family owned.


Each dairy farm family has their own unique story about their family farm. Farming with our family is not only a business, it is our way of life. The family makes the farm! Our farm began in the early 1920's when Ryan's Grandfather purchased the farm where we live. He produced apples,pigs, chickens, and milked a few cows. Ryan's parents raised broiler chickens, milked a few cows and had a beef herd. In 1972, Ryan started milking 17 cows and has grown the dairy to 300 milking cows. Our two sons are the fourth generation to live and work on our farm. In 1972 when Ryan began dairy farming, there were over 300 dairies in Benton County. In 1985 there were 119 and today we are one of 18 dairies remaining.


We take great pride in working to provide wholesome and nutritious milk for all consumers. June Dairy Month gives us a perfect opportunity to promote our product and celebrate what we do everyday. I hope you will party with us by enjoying your favorite dairy products this month!

Strawberries,Ice Cream and Cake

Vanilla ice cream is a great treat anytime but it goes very well with fresh strawberries and this pound cake recipe that I enjoy baking for my family. Hope you have a great Memorial Day holiday with your family and friends!







Crusty Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Ingredients
1 cup butter,softened
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
1 8oz pkg cream cheese,softened
3 cups sifted flour
6 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Cream butter and shortening; gradually add sugar,beating well at medium speed of electric mixer. Add cream cheese,beating well until light and fluffy. Alternately add flour and eggs, begining and ending with flour. Stir in vanilla.

Pour batter into greased and floured 10 inch tube pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until pick comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan and let cool completely on wire rack.

Serving suggestions: strawberries or blueberries with large scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream

Farmers,Angels and Tornados

As I have watched the news this week about Joplin, I keep thinking about the many people that are working to assist fellow citizens during this tragedy. Last Sunday afternoon before the tornado struck, Ryan and I made a visit to our 86 year old farmer friend,Bob, who was a patient at St.John's hospital in Joplin recovering from surgery for a broken leg. Bob's room was on the sixth floor of this eight story structure. We left Joplin at 4:30p.m. When we arrived home at 6 p.m., we learned that Joplin had been struck by the tornado and St. John's hospital took a direct hit. It was early Monday morning before we found out that our friend had made it through the storm and was transferred to a hospital in Pittsburg,Kansas. On Tuesday he was transferred to a rehab facility in Cassville, Missouri to be closer to his home and family.

Ryan went to visit Bob yesterday and listened to his account of how he survived the storm. Bob stated that just minutes before the tornado struck the hospital, the charge nurse ran into his room, threw a blanket and pillow to him and told him to hold onto the chair he was sitting in so she could roll him out into the hall. As she was pushing him toward the door, the pressure from the storm pushed the nurse into Bob as they entered the hallway. Reaching the hallway, Bob grabbed the hand rail on the wall, the nurse and Bob locked arms together and she held her other hand on the rail. The nurse laid over on Bob to shield him as they held on for dear life. As soon as the tornado was gone, emergency workers began to arrive to help assess the situation and begin moving patients to the ground floor. Bob stated that the actions of the nurse saved his life. Two firemen appeared on the sixth floor and carried Bob down six flights of stairs without stopping. Within 30 minutes from the time the storm hit, Bob was on the ground floor waiting to be transferred to the hospital in Pittsburg.

Countless stories are being reported about how people survived this storm. Although we are saddened by those people that lost their lives in this tragic disaster, we appreciate the quick thinking and actions of this young nurse taking care of our friend and the many others just like her that saved many lives. I am very thankful for every person that is assisting the victims and their families in Joplin. Our own community in Arkansas is reaching out and providing assistance through donations of needed items. Many companies such as Walmart and Tyson are donating time,food and personnel to feed emergency workers and victims of the storm and our own dairy cooperative is looking to donate dairy products.

One way you can assist with this disaster is to text "REDCROSS" to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the Red Cross, or visit the special Missouri Tornado and Flood Relief site to donate online. Most of all--pray for all of the communities who have experienced great loss of loved ones and homes and for all those who are assisting these families in a time of great need.