Monday, October 27, 2014

Then and now



Last year we had a great time attending the National Milk Producers Federation annual meeting.  It's today in Texas, and due to social media, I felt like I really knew what was going on!

But no meeting this year - today was a busy day on the farm.  First, we had the rye planted.  It's in a field where we already harvested, so now we're planting rye for the spring.  It'll be interesting to see how well it grows, since this is a late planting ... due to a late harvest ... due to this late summer!

When I say 'we had the rye planted' it means that we pay a custom planter to do it.  Although we own equipment to do a lot of our field work, it's way easier for farmers to pay people to do it who already have all the (working) equipment.  Lots of farmers use them, so we're all basically sharing the cost of the equipment!  They're busy guys too - trying to coordinate to do all their customers' fields ... all at the same time.

We also unloaded a giant load of hay that we bought.  It looks so big, it doesn't even look like it'd fit on the road!  Of course, we also grow hay, but we buy big square bales to put out for the cattle.


Besides that, another piece of equipment broke, we got a big bill for a machine we had fixed, and we had ... 70 degree weather and sun!  It was like summer!  We spent all evening outside, much of it spent in the pasture behind our house.

Cows are curious.  These heifers see the boys all the time - but they still are so entertained.  There's kicking, running, and a lot of excitement!


    

... for both the cows and the boys.


I'm a finalist for the Faces of Farming & Ranching.  The winners get to go around the country and help educate people about agriculture.  Online voting is 25% of the final score.  You can vote and see a video of our farm here:

http://faces.pgtb.me/w2Sg4d

Thank you!

2 comments:

The Dairy Mom said...

I had the opportunity to attend the NMPF/DMI dairy meeting in Texas this year. There were many good speakers and several attendees were tweeting memorable quotes.

Reading your post is like reviewing what's happening on our dairy farm in Ohio. We share a lot in common!

Good luck in your bid to be one of the Faces of Farming and Ranching. You would do a great job!

Carla said...

Thank you, Brenda! I've read your blog before - you do a fantastic job, plus your site looks great! I'm glad you had a good time at the meeting. I really enjoyed our year there ... it was so much fun being with all those dairy farmers at the same time. : ) Thanks for reading!