Icy today, gone tomorrow

This was Friday morning - 2 degrees, and icily beautiful:

Later, I was marveling at the heifers.  They have access to the barn, where they're bedded down with dry, soft straw.  But some of them prefer to lie right in the snow:

I think even the other heifers were admiring her.  Or questioning her comfort choices.

I've been doing a couple interviews for the Faces of Farming & Ranching award, and one of the interviewers asked me about how our farm is 'different' than a lot of dairy farms.  I don't really think about it much, but, here are the ways our farm is different than a lot of others.

- We pasture our cattle.

Not every farm has fields right next to their barns, and not everyone had a parent who built an irrigation pivot.  Barns are built for cow comfort ... sand beds, mattresses, even misters in their barn to keep the cows cool in warm weather.  

- We use natural bull breeding.

Many farms use artificial insemination, which is called AI.  We buy bulls from different farms, let them in with the cows, and let nature take its course.  Why the difference?  When people breed cows with AI, they impregnate them with like, the Harvard grads, NFL bodies of bulls.  Also, it takes bull meanness out of the equation.  We rarely have a mean bull, since we have young ones with only one thing on their minds, but it has happened.  We just have to sell them.

- Our cows calve in the pasture.  

Since the cows are in barns, the calves are usually born in maternity pens.  Other farms, due to AI, also know exactly when the calves are due.  Ours are born within a few months, but the exact time is a surprise.  Usually during the night.

- We don't record each cow's milk production.

On some farms, people have monitors on each cow telling how much milk she gives.  Some farms show the milk coming out of the milker so you can check right away:  

We check this just when we're milking them.

But like when I talked to the interviewer, I told him what I think:  there's no 'right way.'  It's like any business - you do what works for you.  What works for our land or operation might not work for another.  So we're all different, and that's what keeps dairy farms - and dairy tours! - endlessly interesting.  If you're a dairy farmer, anyway.

That, and the weather.  The ice is gone and the mud is here.  Wonder what the heifers will be lying in tomorrow?

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The all-consuming chopping!

We chop our alfalfa and sudax (a kind of grass) for our cattle's feed.

To do this, you have to cut it, rake it into rows, and then chop it when it's dry enough - but not too dry!  We want to ensure the best feed for our cattle.

Sometimes it all goes perfectly.  Sometimes ...

It rains on it after it's been cut.
You have to rent a different kind of rake to rake it.
It rains again.  Not much, just enough to ruin your harvest plans.
You have to then buy a rake to rake it when you need to return the other rake.
A tire blows on your chopper.
You have to find the one tire in the area that someone will sell you to put on your chopper.  (Only dairy farmers really have choppers - they're not that common.)
You have to find a guy to come over really early in the morning to remove the rim and put the tire on the chopper.
You chop, find out one field is sort of wet.  Take the feed out and test it, decide it's fine.  Start chopping again.

So!  We got the hay chopped today, finally.  It took a lot of people and a lot of days.

Know what?  None of that matters to the next generation.

Yesterday, all three of the boys rode with Kris in the chopper.  Today they took turns.  (I also saw one of our team member's daughters riding with him in the buddy seat.  Kids just love it.)

My sons started asking about it as soon as we got home from town.  "Dad said we could take turns and each ride an hour with him!  Can we?  Call him!  Is he ready?"

They each eagerly left the pool, one by one, to go and ride with their dad.  They love the machines, they love the excitement of seeing the hawks in the field, a deer with antlers, the guys who work with us ... all of it.

When they're older, they probably won't remember any of the hard parts of farming - just the best parts. The harvest, the machines, and especially hanging out with their dad.

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Pure Michigan Agricultural Tour

Today I went with the Michigan Ag Council as the dairy spokesperson (and blogger) for the first Pure Michigan Agriculture farm tour! 

It was so much fun.  The Ag Council invited bloggers and food writers to learn about Michigan farming and food production. 

First, we visited the Horning Farm in Manchester, MI.  They milk about 500 cows.  Earl Horning was able to answer their many questions - about organic, antibiotics (not in milk!), GMO, feed, raw milk, his favorite calves ... even what he would do with his cattle in the event of a tornado.  It's always so interesting to talk to people about farming and get their different perspectives.

Earl showing off his milking parlor

Letting the milker milk our fingers

We next went to the Michigan Dairy LLC in Livonia.  This is a milk processing and bottling plant owned by Kroger.  We went inside and I said, "It smells like milk in here."  Another blogger, Camille, laughed and said, "Who says that?"  But it did! 

I thought the plant was fascinating.  I love factory tours!  I've been to the milk plant in Ovid, but this one was different - mostly due to the bottling.  We got to see the bottles being made, being moved, being filled, and being moved out - all in two rooms.  We saw the lab, we checked out all the various machines to separate and pasteurize the milk, and we got to talk to really enthusiastic (and proud) employees.  The bloggers asked really good questions and liked the answers.  After hearing about the local milk, the safety principles in place, and the dairy farm practices, Lisa said, "This makes me really want to buy milk at Kroger!"  (Which I of course support because Kroger is a great MMPA customer!)

I also learned something I'd never even thought about - milk goes from the farm to the grocery shelf in about 40 hours.  Or shorter.  Occasionally it'll be longer if a farm does every other day pickup and the grocery store does every other day shelving.  But that's the exception.  MOSTLY, the milk you're buying just came from the farm.  The shipping, bottling, and shelving happens very quickly! 

We weren't allowed to take pictures in the plant, which is too bad, because we were wearing hairnets, helmets, glasses, boots, and coats.  Maybe one will turn up tomorrow!

We then went to Kroger to hear about their Pure Michigan campaign and to have lunch.  First, Dale walked us through the store and showed us the giant signs that featured Michigan farmers that sell their products to Kroger.  I asked if all Krogers had these signs and he told me yes.  I hadn't noticed them at my Kroger - and I even know some of the farmers on the signs! 

Then we came upon our beautiful milk-tasting table. 

Which called for a toast:

Then we walked to the dairy section and were surprised by ... our lunch spread! 

Three beautiful tables, covered with tablecloths, pretty place settings, tulips, and food, right among the shoppers!

Just a normal day in the dairy section

We were waited on and had a fabulous Michigan-made meal.  I'm a super picky eater, and I never expect to eat what's served at a dinner.  But I ate every bite.  (For those who know me personally, yes, this is the first time it's ever happened.)

Portobello mushroom covered in squashes and eggplant, ice cream with warm apples, chocolate milk ... delicious. 

 

Even our tulips had a 'From Michigan, For Michigan' sign 

Good looking and good tasting

And I never let my kids eat in the grocery store ...

Wonderful day, interesting people, fun environment - and a meal I didn't EVEN MAKE.  Hard to beat.

On the way home, I had to buy milk.  I went to my local Kroger.  I checked out the dairy section and - yes!  There were giant signs featuring Michigan farmers.  They've been there all along and I just hadn't noticed.  Learn something new every day, even in my own backyard ... or grocery aisle.   

***

Check out some of the other attendees' sites to get their take on the tour! 

 

Lauren Weber – Mrs. Weber’s Neighborhood

Camille Jamerson – The Super Family 13

Alysia George - Michigal

Regina Sober – The Crazy Nuts Mom

Lisa Nocera – Smart Food and Fit

Lisa Paparelli – Simple Food First

Kara Dykstra – Domestic Endeavors

 

Sap and friends

I got a text message yesterday – “GOOD MORNING! I think this is a PERFECT syrup day!” So we went to visit our friends Annie and Jerry in Alto, MI.

They took us back to their sugar shack. A whole bunch of friends and neighbors and relatives all got together and went in the woods, following a tractor pulling a tank. We took the buckets off the tapped trees, poured them into bigger buckets, and poured them through a filter into the tank. Then they put the sap into a giant boiler, fueled by a wood-burning furnace. When it gets to 219 degrees, a valve opens, and the syrup comes out. You get one gallon of syrup from 35-50 gallons of sap, depending on the day.

Then we feasted on really great pancakes with syrup. I’d never seen a tree tapped, or gathered sap, and I can’t remember the last time I ate maple syrup. It was all great fun.

Before we gathered sap, we toured their big dairy farm. They milk about 1500 cows. I don’t tour a lot of farms so it was especially interesting to me to see their huge barns, parlor, and setup.

When I told a friend about this today, she asked, “So … do you consider a big farm like that your competition? Or is your competition something like soymilk?” Since her family owns a manufacturing business, she added, “Because we would never invite any of our competitors to our factory, and they would certainly never invite us to theirs.”

I said that I don’t really consider organic or soymilk or anything like that to be competition, since there's room for everyone. Our competition would just be people not drinking milk … but thankfully then there’s still ice cream and cheese and butter!

Our friends aren’t in the same co-op either, but it’s not like that. It’s not co-op vs. co-op, or farm vs. farm – mostly I think of it as all of us in it together. There aren’t a ton of dairy farms, and there aren’t a ton of young farmers. There’s the demand, and we’re all supplying it. As a result, there’s a camaraderie.

And really great pancakes with syrup. Did I mention those?



Buckets as far as the eye can see



The sap boiling equipment in the sugar shack



Dive in! Hose off!