Dairy Farmer's Thankful Thursday

I returned from a trip to Little Rock just in time

to check on the calves during their afternoon feeding.

It was a dreary,rain threatening afternoon and already getting

dark when I made my way to the hutches.

The calves were already finished with their afternoon milk

and were enjoying the grain that had been added to their feed

bucket.  With the threat of rain, I was glad to see that 

each calf  had their head down in the feed bucket.

I'm not quite adjusted to the  Daylight Savings time change that 

occurred this past Sunday but 

I'm thankful that our calves don't seem to be bothered at all.

Their  growth and development goes right on

as long as we provide milk and grain twice daily and monitor 

closely for any illness.

                                                 
                                                   
                                                 

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Happy Halloween!

I hope your day was filled with more treats than tricks.

Other than our crazy cold last day of October weather,

the treats down on the dairy farm far outweighed the tricks.

I'm thankful for the healthy new calf that was born this morning

and

for the smiles brought to us by 

 the cutest Goldilocks and little Baby Bear. 

Dairy Farmer's Thankful Thursday

School nutrition is serious business.

I saw it first hand   last weekend when I was invited to 

attend the Missouri School Nutrition Conference  as part of a

presentation with Midwest Dairy and Domino Pizza.

Before our "My Plate,My Pizza,My Farmer"  presentation, I was awed by the food 

trade show that included a wide variety of available 

foods that schools can choose to serve.

The trick is to choose foods that fit the requirements for dietary 

guidelines, stay within the school budget and most importantly, that  the 

students will eat.

As a dairy farmer, I'm proud of the nutritious milk 

and dairy foods that we produce and for the support of

 companies like Domino's that not only love our product

 but have developed a food that meets dietary guidelines

 and tastes good. Domino's Smart Slice Pizza  is made 

fresh where local franchise stores participate in

 providing it for schools.

I had my own slice of Smart Slice and it was delicious!

I'm thankful for the support Domino's has shown to dairy farmers,

for the opportunity to share how we work on the dairy to produce 

high-quality milk, and 

for the convenience of foods that make life a little easier

when the dairy farmer takes a day off from the farm 

and a day out of  the kitchen!

Dairy Farmer's Thankful Thursday

                                                     
                                           
                                        What's prettier than a new Holstein mother and baby ?
                            The answer is a beautiful red Ayrshire with a black and white calf.

                             This was an expected outcome when you use a Holstein bull for
                                    breeding the herd of cows but it's always exciting to find
                                                              a "new " look in the field!
                            The Ayrshire cattle in our milking herd  were added by our son Cody
                                                during his 4-H dairy project years and continue
                                                                to add beauty to the herd.
                       
                              Ayrshire cattle originated from Scotland and are known for low
                            somatic cell counts, ability to convert grass into milk efficiently,
                             and hardiness. The breed is known for easy calving and longevity.
                             

This new baby was born the week of our two terrific lightening and storm 

events that brought a lot of rain and destruction.

I'm thankful that we had no loss of life, human or animal, during these

storm events and for the life lesson to put no faith in surge protectors!

Dairy Farmer's Thankful Thursday

 Saturday afternoon was the perfect example of farmer flexibility.

You can have all kinds of plans but when the neighbor calls

to report a wandering heifer  running down the road, all plans change.

We jumped in the truck and drove up and down the road looking

for the same heifer that has been out of the pasture more than once.

After she was located in the neighbor's yard, Cody arrived with the

4-wheeler and we drove her back to the pasture. 

Of course,the heifer had no thought of going through 

the gate we had opened.She ran back to the spot where the fence

 was down and jumped over it with the grace of a deer. 

It certainly made it easy to find where the tree had

 fallen on the fence that   needed repair!

While Cody and Ryan fixed fence, all of the curious 

heifers moved in to check things out.

I loved seeing this group of bred heifers gather around 

through the timber. Each of these beauties have been raised by us

 and will give birth to their first calf in a few months.

I'm thankful that there was only one heifer that found the

way out, for our neighbors that  care enough to call

when a cow or heifer may be found wandering in the neighborhood

and for the dedicated dairy farmers committed to taking good care 

of their cows and heifers.

Dairy Farmer's Thankful Thursday

It's corn  chopping time!

You may not get all excited when you see this picture but

to the family farmers and our dairy cows, harvest of this 

corn crop is  a real celebration.

  Raising a crop that  both  utilizes manure produced by the cows and 

  feeds our cows is part of the sustainability of our farming operation. 

The chopped corn is being trucked to the pit silo where it will 

ferment  for a few weeks and change into corn silage.

 Corn silage is a welcome addition to the cows' diet plan.

               
                                      I'm thankful for the cooperation of the weather this week,
                             for no major mechanical problems, and the safety of the trucks and
                                                           drivers on the trips to the silo.

October Treat

Even though we can buy apples year round, there's just something special when given apples from a friend's own tree.  We don't know the name of the apple but I would describe them as a mild Granny Smith--slightly tart but perfect for baking in cake or pie.  Kicking off October with a new cake recipe that filled the kitchen with smells of cinnamon and apples seemed the perfect way to celebrate the gift of fall apples. I read through a lot of recipes posted on line and even though many were very similar to the one I chose, I trusted my old cookbook,Sassafras!

The recipe was easy to make and the brown sugar icing was finger lickin' good!
I'm pretty sure this cake will be a family favorite especially when you add a dip or two
of vanilla ice cream sprinkled with cinnamon.


Alley Spring Apple Cake

                                                              Ingredients:

1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, well beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4  teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups peeled, chopped apples
1 cup chopped pecans

Brown Sugar Icing:
 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
 1/2 cup butter
 1/4 cup evaporated milk
 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a bundt pan. In a large bowl, mix oil, sugar and eggs.
Add vanilla. Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, soda and salt.
Blend into oil mixture. Fold in apples and pecans. Pour into prepared pan and bake 55 to 60 minutes.
Remove cake from pan and cool. To prepare icing, bring brown sugar, butter and milk to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Beat with a spoon until icing is cool. Drizzle over cake. Serves 12 to 15.


                                                        Happy October!