Daily Care Provides Quality Milk

After feeding baby calves this morning, I went back to look at each calf that has been born since the beginning of September.  We have added twenty to our group so far and about eighty more to be born! Although we will have calves born through the year, we usually have a group of heifers to calve in the fall.  We will have a total of thirty heifers this fall.  Adding heifers to the milking herd is important to the future of our farm.  It's one of my daily jobs to feed and monitor the health of each calf when brought to the calf hutch area.  For the first eight weeks, each calf is raised in an individual hutch, fed milk and grain twice a day and monitored closely for any illness.

 

While I was checking calves, Casey was in the pasture checking on the cows and heifers that will be calving today and in the next two weeks.  Next to the calves in hutches is a group of babies that we weaned last week.  As I looked at each group, I  thought about this full cycle of growth and development of our dairy cattle.   Everyday on the farm we are taking care of our animals  through every phase of their growth by providing nutritious food, appropriate medical care and comfortable surroundings.  Caring for our animals is how we provide quality milk!

Celebrating Arkansas Rice Month on the Dairy Farm

Arkansas farmers have faced extreme weather conditions in every season this year.  Although our crops and animals have been stressed with the extreme drought and heat, we are thankful that fall is evidenced by the cooler weather and harvest time. While we are beginning to harvest our hay and corn silage crop in Northwest Arkansas, our farmer friends on the east side of the state are beginning rice harvesting.  Here are a few Arkansas rice facts:

• Arkansas ranks #1 in rice production in the United States.
• Rice is planted on 1.3 million acres in Arkansas.
• The Arkansas rice industry contributes one billion dollars to our state's economy.
• Managed rice fields and natural wetlands provide wintering habitat for migratory and wintering waterfowl.

Last week Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe declared September as Arkansas Rice Month. I'm celebrating the rice harvest  and supporting Arkansas rice farmers by trying a few new rice recipes this month.  I found Taco Ricos in a recipe booklet produced by USA Rice Federation.

Taco Ricos
1 lb lean ground beef or turkey
1 16 oz. jar prepared chunky salsa
11/2 cups precooked rice, uncooked
11/2 cups water
1 11oz. can corn,drained
1 cup (4oz.) shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
18 flour or corn tortillas,warmed

Brown beef or turkey in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; drain fat and liquid, if necessary. Stir in salsa,rice,water,corn. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low,cover and simmer 5 minutes or until rice is tender and no liquid remains. Spoon 1/3 cup mixture in each tortilla, top with about 1 tbsp. cheese; roll up and serve.

You can find other recipes and great information about rice at http://www.usarice.com/. Do you have a favorite rice recipe  for Arkansas Rice Month?

Remembering 9-11-2001

                                                        On God, my salvation and my glory rest;
                                                        The rock of my strength,my refuge is in God.
                                                        Trust in Him at all times,O people;
                                                         Pour out your heart before Him;
                                                         God is a refuge for us.
                                                                                  Psalm 62:7-8

                            May we never forget the sacrifices made by fellow citizens on 9-11-2001. 
                                                          God Bless America!


                                                                        

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!

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Before receiving three inches of rain just a month ago, it looked like we would have no hay to harvest.  Today I am very thankful that we cut,baled and wrapped  139 large bales of haygrazer to feed our dairy and beef cows through the fall and winter.

Perfect Dairy Project for Drought

Instead of making hay while the sun shines, we've been digging in the lagoon during the dry weather.  Our lagoon is basically a large pond that sits at the end of the dairy cow feed barn.  Its purpose is to provide protection for our land and water quality by capturing any water or manure from the feed barn.  Since being built in 1988, the lagoon has never been completely emptied or cleaned out.  Drought conditions this summer made this the perfect time for cleaning out the lagoon and refurbishing the banks under the technical guidance of the Conservation District. 

Because milking the cows and caring for our dairy animals takes priority, it has taken several weeks to complete this project. The project began in July with pumping the water and progressed to scooping out the solids in the bottom. Labor Day weekend was the grand finale of the lagoon cleaning with a bulldozer operator sculpting the sides of the lagoon bank to allow us an easier angle for mowing and maintainence.

Caring for our natural resources is a responsibility that we take seriously because we live and work on our land.  The lagoon is an important part of our manure management system that meets the requirements of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and allows us to recycle the water and manure that is produced on our farm to fertilize the soil for  our crops and pastures while protecting the  land and water for us and our neighbors.

We celebrated the completion of this project with a steak dinner, a tall glass of milk,   and a big sigh of relief.
Now--let it rain,let it rain,let it rain!

Labor Day Resolution for Encouragement

After the extreme heat and drought of this summer, the cooler fifty degree temperature this morning brought smiles to my family as we finished breakfast,dressed in jeans and sweatshirts instead of shorts and sleeveless shirts and went outside to feed baby calves and bring cows to the barn to be milked. As I returned to the house after feeding baby calves, even the flowers in the yard seemed to be breathing a sigh of relief! Although resolutions are usually made at the beginning  of the New Year, today I feel like Labor Day is a time of renewal and refreshment as we begin our harvest season for our corn and hay crops.

Making a plan and setting priorities is important to the success of any accomplishment. My list of resolutions includes a mixture of personal goals and home and garden chores that often end at the bottom of every list. At the top of the list is to be more attentive to the time I spend in prayer and Bible study.  It is so easy for me to become discouraged and think negatively when faced with challenges that are beyond our control like the weather and the input costs of farming.  Labor Day and all my other days will be successful and I will be encouraged if I remember Proverbs 3:5-6:
               " Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
                 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

Do you have a resolution for Labor Day?