Change Requires Doing Something Different

Change requires doing something different. This sounds elementary but I think very few people believe it. It sometimes seems that people shun change. I used to always say I wouldn't become one of these people. Today, I finally realized I was becoming like this. It seems that as farmers, we can sometimes get into our daily routine and stick with it. Now much of that routine, must be routine such as milking, feeding ect. at a certain time but, there are always ways to improve that routine. So, I decided to think about how I do things today, here's a typical day for me.

Sister Milking

I usually get up about 7:00 am. The first thing I do is check on the cows that are going to calve and the ones that are in the hospital pen to make sure they are doing OK. I then help my sister get started milking before our milker lady gets here to help with morning milking.

Once she is here, I check my computer. We installed a program  that tracks our cows activity. It helps us determine if a cow is sick. If she is, she wont move around as much. It also tells us if a cow is in heat (ready to be bred).  After I have got any cow numbers to go and look at, I head out to the free-stall barn again to track them down. There, I visually watch for cows in heat and verify the numbers the computer gave me.  Then, I'll go back to the office with the numbers and begin picking out the bulls to breed the cows to. Each one of our cows is mated to a specific bull. Once I've loaded the AI gun I head back out to the barn and AI the cow.

AI'ing a cow

Once I'm done breeding cows, I check the calving/sick cows again, and then head to my sister's where our heifer barn is to check for heifers in heat. If there are any, my sister or I AI them as well. If I'm really busy, my sister AI's the heifers. By now, its usually about noon. I grab a quick lunch if i have time. Then its back to the office to update cattle records. After this I do any herd health work that is required. This includes things like giving vaccinations/medications, preg-checking cows/heifers, uterine infusions, and pretty much anything else that needs to be done. Once all this is done, I'm free to do other things around the farm. This may include moving cattle from place to place, helping with the other milking shifts, pushing feed up to the cows again, or if its spring, summer, or fall I'll do field work.

So, it gets to be some long days, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. There's no way I could work in a office all day. With that said, I'm glad there are people who like that too, but it wouldn't work for me.  I guess there are always changes from day to day, small ones be it, but the more I think about it, no change works for me.

My free-time  hobby

Our new puppy

March showers

I've always heard April showers bring May flowers, but what about march showers? Usually it would bring a snow storm. But, it was 65 degrees today. The grass is greening up. I saw the first Robin of the season today. Geese are flying North again.

I know one thing this weather brings, happy people. Everyone was in such a cheery mood today at the farm. Even the milk truck driver was very cheerful this morning. He hates snow and slippery roads and driveways, so hes very happy to see Spring too. I think the cattle even know its Spring. The baby calves were happily jumping around in their hutches enjoying the warm rain showers. When I AI'd the cows in heat this morning, I didn't have to put any of them in the headlocks, just stood nice and still and their "tone" was perfect. 

So, if this weather makes everyone happy, whats gonna happen the middle of this week. They are talking mid to upper 70's. Whatever it brings, I'm looking forward to it!!

ICE

Well, we were supposed to be getting a snowstorm right about now. Instead of that, the storm shifted north some. So, now we are getting an ice storm. I don't like snow too much, dislike mud, but I hate ice. It makes getting around pretty much impossible. Its bad enough you can hardly walk, (everyone is walking around like penguins lol). It doesn't affect our milk cows much since they are in the barn this time of year. Our older heifers have a bedded shed to go in, but they come out to eat and drink water from their waterer. There lot was an icy mess tonight. As hard as it is for us humans to walk on ice, its a lot harder for cattle who can easily slip and break a leg, hip or hurt themselves badly. So we sanded there outside yard really good to give them some traction so they can safely get around.  Then it was on to the next problem the ice was causing. Our tractor that is pulling the tmr (feed mixer) also has trouble getting around on ice. It wont hurt it self like the cattle, but it doesn't move to well on it. To fix this, we put chains on the tires. With these on it can go anywhere again. We only needed to put chains on the back tires so far, but I remember a couple years ago we had chains on the back as well as the front wheels it was so bad.

Finally our cattle were fed and safe. Next issue, us humans were having a hard time walking or staying up-right for that matter. As in most cases, we make sure our animals, our livelihood, are taken care of first. To help us get around, my dad spread sand around the buildings. We switched to sand bedding for the cows a couple years ago, so luckily we have a lot of sand around.

The final problem ice sometimes creates is when the trees and power lines get so much on them, they fall down creating power outages. So far, that has not been the case this time luckily. If the power does go out, our farm has a backup generator we can start. I'm really hoping it doesn't get that bad.

Calving Day

Today was a very exciting day on our farm. We had 5 calves born today. This was the result of a group of heifers we synchronized. We actually synched 6 total at this one time, but the other 1 hasn't calved yet but is getting close. Normally when we do this, they calve over the course of a week or so, since cattle gestation can very a few days, just like humans. This time however, five of this group decided today was the day. I noticed the first 2 this morning were really close. They both calved on their own with no assistance from us needed. Our cows calve in a pen bedded with straw. We let the mother lick her calf off then shortly after make sure the baby gets its first milk called colostrum.

About noon I checked on the other mothers to be. One was starting to calve. I watched her from a distance, and soon she too had her baby by herself. I moved her and the calf to a pen by themselves because the other heifers in the pen thought they should try and claim the calf too. While doing this, I noticed another of the heifers keeping to herself in the corner of the pen. She was also starting to "drip" milk from her udder, both tell-tale signs that labor is close. I had to make a run to town for a minute, but called my sister to come keep an eye on her.  On my way back to the farm, my sister called and said the heifer's labor wasn't progressing. So, I told her I was almost there. When I got there, she was washing up the heifer's backside and getting ready to check her and see what the hold up was.  The heifers cervix was fully dilated, the calf was in the right direction, but one of its legs was bent under it. With the calf in this position, it was unable to come out. She was able to reposition it and with a little help the calf was out in no time. We had another healthy heifer calf. Every time a calf is born healthy I say a little than you. So many things can go wrong, and we are very thankful when things turn out well.  So, we helped the new momma clean up her baby, then milked her and fed the calf.

Well, that was 4, and like I said earlier, we still had one to go today to make 5. After milking tonight, I did my barn walk through to check on everyone. The new babies were doing great, and were up and jumping around already. When I walked by the maternity pens, I noticed another heifer was acting strange. She was laying down and pushing, would stand up then lay down again. I was a little suspicious of this, and decided  I'd better check her and make sure the calf was positioned right. I know some people say you shouldn't intervene too early, but I like to check them and at least make sure the calf is positioned right early on. That way, if there is a problem you have some time to figure things out. I went and put on a breeding glove, lubed my hand and went in to check her out. Everything was in the right position, but the calf was pretty big and she was having trouble pushing it out. I put the straps on the calf's front legs and helped the heifer out by pulling while she pushed.  After trying this for a while I decided I needed a little more help, so I attached the calf puller. I also put lube in my gloved hand and put some inside the heifer to make the calf slide easier before I started using the puller. As the heifer pushed, I would jack the puller a little more. Soon the head popped out and the calf was out. I brought the calf up to the heifer and she started licking it right away. Kinda as a last step to the process, I always do a quick check for a twin in the cow. We seem to have a higher percentage of twins on our farm than a normal average. Thus, my dad has always told me to check, even though a heifer with this big of calf is unlikely to have a second calf in there, anything is possible. So, this heifer got one last "exam", but as expected I found no twin.

So, we had a busy day, but as I mentioned earlier, as long as everything turns out OK, we are thankful and don't mind the extra work at all.

Spring Time in Winter?

Springtime in the middle of Winter, well as much as that sounds like a oxymoron (ever since learning that word in 2nd grade I love using it) it does seem like the case this Winter. With the exception of snowmobilers. skiers ect, Most of the people I have talked to like this weather. As far as on the farm, it is nice in some ways. It takes less feed for our cattle because they don't need to eat as much to keep warm. We also have less trouble with pipes, hoses, and equipment freezing up. There is also less time spent plowing snow, leaving us with more time to spend working on equipment for next spring.

 With these points made, there are some downsides to warmer weather in winter too. With warm weather comes mud. Our cattle are not much affected by mud because they are on clean solid surfaces that are well bedded with sand and straw. It does take a lot more bedding to keep there areas clean however when its warmer. Probably the biggest draw-back to this weather is there is more chance of cattle getting sick. When we have these sudden warmups, snow melts quickly. This causes damp humid air, which is not the best environment for cattle (or humans) for that matter. I've found, that cows seem to be the healthiest when the temps are around the 20-30 degree range with lower humidity. Now for us humans, that seems pretty cold to be out in. But, as long as cows are well fed,clean, dry, and out of the wind they do just fine with these temps.  The worst thing that can happen is huge temperature swings. As i'm typing this it is 8 degrees, it was 47 a few days ago. Cattle, like us favor gradual temperature  changes. Respiratory sickness is most common with these sudden temp changes. We have been pretty lucky so far with only a few cases of pneumonia however.

So, as nice as springtime in winter sounds, I'd just as soon have a normal Winter, then spring when it should happen. 

Cow Families

One of my favorite things with farming is cattle genetics. Many of our cow families go back several generations. The ultimate goal is to choose superior bulls for each cow to better the next generation. Most of our dairy herd can be traced back to 5 cows and one bull from the early 1900's when my ancestors began farming on our current farm. I got to thinking about this today when I was selecting which bulls to breed the 2 cows to that were in heat today. The one bull I choose was a bull that died several years ago, but through technology, he still has calves being born. The other bull, was what is called a young sire, meaning his traits are not yet fully proven. We have proofs, which tell us kinda what to expect, but as he has more calves born, these traits can be verified for sure.


On our farm, we have about 75% Holsteins and the remaining 25% are mostly Jerseys. I've always liked the jerseys. Most of the jerseys in our herd our mine. My sister totally dislikes jerseys. She loves the Holsteins. I don't mind them either, but it just seems to be easier to work with the jerseys just because they are not as large compared to Holsteins.

Its been awhile, a long while...

So, I have been a terrible blogger lol. I was reading a few blogs today and thought it was time for me to get going again, surprisingly my account was still active. So, here it goes. Not a lot has changed. I'm still working on my families dairy. We have added some cows, and the big news is I'm now part owner. I'm super excited about this. I still handle the cattle work. My sister has joined the farm as well. She helps me with the breeding and morning milking too. Since we added the extra cows I'm glad to have her help. My brother takes care of feeding and crop work. My mom does pay roll and book keeping. Dad does a little bit of everything (he says hes the ceo lol) so that's where we are at. I'll try to do a blog as often as I can. If anyone has any questions, just ask, I love talking about anything farming!!!

P.S., I'm re-learning blogging, so I may make a few mistakes ( a lot prob lol)