Radio interview & farm news

On Friday Nicole Heslip of Michigan Farm Radio Network interviewed me about being a finalist in the Faces of Farming & Ranching nationwide search.  It was fun going into the radio studio - it's in a beautiful old house turned office in Lansing.  There's even a bathroom with an old claw foot tub! (Getting it out would be harder than leaving it there, I'm sure.)  Nicole has four years with Michigan Farm Radio, is from a farm, and was a pleasure to talk to about all things farming.

You can hear the interview here!  Ag Focus on Michigan Farm Radio Network.

(Those of you who've asked about the USFRA Faces of Farming & Ranching competition - the voting starts on Friday and I'll post the details then.)

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Meanwhile, back on the farm ... the hot water heater went out!  What does that mean?  We use hot water for washing, and we need A LOT of hot water at once, so we have two larger-than-for-a-house-size water heaters at the dairy barn.  We've kind of outgrown those, too, because it's barely enough water to wash everything before the next milking.  (The water has to run through all of the pipes, tank, and milkers between milkings.)

Last week we ordered a new one that runs off of propane, (right now they run off electricity), but it won't be here for another week.  We ordered it before this one broke!  But not soon enough.  In the meantime, we are taking a hot water heater from the old barn and using it at the dairy barn.  Thank goodness for old barns with their spare parts.

We also dug a new well.  We didn't have enough water capacity for the peak times (again, for washing) so, we have two wells to help.  Plus, if one goes down, we aren't going to be left without water.  

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Tomorrow we're starting a new milking routine to improve the amount and quality of the milk the cows are giving.  We have a great milking team, and we're looking forward to seeing the improvements!

There are so many elements that have to come together to get milk ... the harvest, the water pumps, the procedures.  Sure, I could talk about it forever, but the radio show only lasts half an hour.

   
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