Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Twenty six degrees this morning  seemed like a heat wave after the two days of single digit temperatures. Warmer temperatures brought a lot more smiles to  all of us as we worked to care for our calves and cows.

I am thankful for our employees, who not only work extremely hard every day, but bring a sense of humor to help us get through the tough weather  days down on the dairy farm.

 

 

The cows didn't even notice the blue Ferbie in the field!

Dairy Farm Snow Day

Even though my toes were cold and I was looking forward to warming by the fire after late afternoon chores, I had to pull out my phone for a snapshot of this evening's sunset.  Snow brightened the background around the cows as they gathered around the feed wagons for a late afternoon snack before returning to the milk barn for the evening milking.

Snow days on the dairy farm are a lot different than a school day snow day!

 

With plenty of feed and water available, the cows don't seem to find the cold temperatures or  snow to be a problem.

For their comfort, large round hay bales have been unrolled   for them to rest on  while they are in the pasture.

 

 

Extreme cold weather presents a lot of challenges when trying to do the everyday chores on a dairy farm. Machines and vehicles  just don't work good at below  zero degrees!

The best part of our snow day is when all the animals are cared for and we can rest and prepare ourselves for tomorrow's challenges with the hope of warmer weather for us and the cows.

 

 

Winter Storm Refueling Snack

We've been working to prepare for the predicted winter storm with a week of frigid temperatures  but hoping it won't be as bad as it sounds!  Tractors and trucks are fueled, we've got plenty of feed for the animals, the generator at the barn has been started on a test run just in case we lose power and the wood pile was restocked for house heat. I've also made  sure there is plenty of food in the pantry for refueling the farmers!





Cold weather always brings the hungry farmers to the kitchen for a refueling snack. The last of the holiday banana stockpile was begging to be baked into something that would be good with a glass of milk or a cup of hot chocolate!  Banana Snack Cake  from Jim Graham's Farm Family Cookbook for City Folks is easy to prepare and perfect for winter storm snacking.







Banana Snack Cake

1 cup butter,softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup (2 medium) bananas,mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 cup quick rolled oats
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 6-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, and eggs, and mix well.
Stir in buttermilk, bananas, and vanilla; blend thoroughly. Lightly spoon flour into a measuring cup and level off. Stir in flour, oats, soda, and salt; mix well. Stir in chips. Spread batter in 9x13-inch greased pan. (Optional: Sprinkle nuts evenly over the top.)  Bake 30 to 35 minutes.

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

It was a  surprise  plan formulated by Cody   that involved the entire family...

 

a formal proposal of marriage in the middle of a pasture, surrounded by parents, siblings, grandmothers, and a lot of curious beef cows.

 

 

 

She said: "YES!"

 

 

                           I'm thankful for this moment in our family  life down on the dairy farm
                                                 and such a great way to begin  2014!

New Year Dairy Dippin'

Did you  receive any new kitchen gadgets for Christmas?  I did!

 A few weeks before Christmas, after making the statement that I did not want to receive any appliance gift, my twenty plus year old hand- me- down  food processor died. Thanks to the Dairy Farmers in my family,   I'll be ringing in the New Year in kitchen gadget style  with Roasted Red Pepper Yogurt Dip--thanks  to my new shiny silver  Cuisinart Food Processor!


Roasted Red Pepper Yogurt Dip

Ingredients:

1 (12ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained
2 (8ounce) containers low-fat plain yogurt
1 can (4 ounce) chopped green chilies, drained
1 garlic clove, minced

Preparation:

Puree red peppers in food processor or blender; drain again. Add remaining ingredients; mix until blended and refrigerate. Serve with assorted cut vegetables or pita wedges.






                          You can find other tasty and nutritious dairy recipes at Dairy Makes Sense.

 

HAPPY  NEW YEAR!

Wrapping Up 2013

It's never to late to harvest hay in Arkansas if you plan it between ice and snow storms! How fitting it seemed on  Saturday afternoon to be wrapping up the last of 2013 's hay crop before beginning the New Year.  Our original plan was to cut, bale and wrap this field of fescue hay soon after the first frost but rain ,ice  and snow delayed that plan. Wrapping allows the hay to turn into silage--the young heifers and beef cows love it like candy!

 

Whether you're baling hay in June or December, it's not a good sign when you see pieces of the baler and the farmer standing beside it...

 

 

With no parts store open on Saturday afternoon, we were thankful for the loan of our friend's baler that made it possible to  harvest the hay.

 

 

It's easy to be frustrated when everything doesn't go as planned but

wrapping up 2013 with breathtaking sunsets isn't all bad,

 

 

and

 

                                 working by tractor lights is better than hoeing with a lantern!

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

 

Although I love the beauty of snow, it brings new challenges when you are caring for dairy cows and calves. I wasn't too sad when the last of this snow disappeared.

 

 

 

I'm thankful that we were able to care for our dairy cattle and get all of our chores done in warmer temperatures and sunshine so we could enjoy more  time together celebrating Christmas!

 

These calves were thankful too!