One of my favorite sights

Ah ... for the first time this year, the cows are out in the pasture.  There are the 'dry' cows - meaning the cows that we aren't milking because they're two months or closer to having calves.

We planted alfalfa last Tuesday - and thanks to some lovely rain, it's already up!  (One week and one day, which seems amazing.)  My sister Tracy was telling me how excited she was that her grass she planted in her lawn poked up; this is the same excitement farmers feel EVERY YEAR when their crops emerge from the ground.

Can you see them?

We hauled a lot of manure.  We have a lagoon of manure and we need to use it to fertilize our fields. We also take manure samples and send it to a lab where they analyze the nutrients.  Then we can tell how much supplemental fertilizer we need to put on our fields.

This looks like a job for Captain America

Gloves seem like a good idea

Every day is take your kid to work day

I also did an event with CommonGround, the volunteer organization that communicates with people about farming.  (Check out their site if you have any questions - it's great.)  Tera Havard, Barbara Siemen and I talked to Michigan dietitians and nutritionists about farming and food.  People asked about GMOs, local issues, raw milk - but mostly how they get the real information to their patients and clients.  We also had a lot of tour requests from schools, so that was great!

                                     

Kris is headed to our co-op's advisory board meeting tomorrow, we have a community action group meeting for Farm Bureau ... and then we'll start planting corn next week.  The calving will begin, and we'll start the busy season all over again.

And the whole time we'll enjoy the beautiful view of our cows on pasture.  The boys are a nice addition, too.

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Big day - drying up the cows

I've written about drying up the cows before, in 2011 and 2012.  Drying them up means we don't milk them from now until they have a calf.  It gives them a period of rest to get their bodies ready for birthing and producing milk. 

This day is always a big deal around here - we plan for it way ahead of time, we look forward to it, and Kris helps in the milk parlor for both milkings.  It's a long day!

Here's how it works:

First, they push on the right side of a cow's stomach to see if they can feel a calf.  The cows are about seven months pregnant, give or take a few months, so they can normally feel the calf. 

If she's pregnant, they give her an antibiotic shot in each teat of her udder to prevent infection.  (She won't be milked again for at least a month, so the antibiotic will be out of her system long before she is milked again.  For more about how antibiotics are not in your milk at all, read here.)

They finish by putting a sealant called T-HEXX on her teats, which prevents bacteria from entering them.

They mark them (Kris described it as 'coloring on them') with a cow marker on their hind quarter to separate the dry cows from the cows that are still being milked.  (They'll find some that aren't pregnant or are not as far along in their pregnancies, and we'll continue to milk them.)  The vet is coming to check the remaining ones tomorrow. 

I was explaining this to a friend this afternoon and she asked if all farmers were doing this today.  We're a seasonal dairy farm, which means that all our cows have calves at the same time.  Some dairies have calves year round.  So they dry up individual cows on different schedules.

But for us, today's the big day.  So big, that Kris is falling asleep as I read this to him.

Out

Kris got a call today from our neighbor. Our cow was out along our road. Apparently, one of our fences had shorted out because ... it was underwater! Yes, that's how much rain we've had.

Our neighbors (who are dairy farmers also) waited for Kris and talked as they herded her through a gate back into the pasture.

It's so nice knowing your neighbors are watching out for you. No farmer would drive by, see a cow out, and just keep on going. What if it caused an accident?! It would be horrible for everyone - the driver, cow, farmer, and person who didn't call!

When my parents were farming a little calf got out, ran into the road, and was hit by a car. Who was driving? Just by chance ... my mom's boss! He and the car weren't hurt, but it did break the calf's leg. My dad had the vet put a cast on it. (I took a picture and used Snagit to write the boss' name on the cast. He liked it.)

That's the only time we've had one hit, thankfully - but that's in part because of our neighbors helping out. And all of our ever-present cell phones. Hooray!

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Want to learn some more farm terms?

Dry cows - Cows that are about to have a calf. They're in the period where you stop milking them before they calve.

Example: "We moved the dry cows to a new pasture today. Since it's so wet, they just trample the long grass and get it all muddy and won't eat it."

Fresh cows - A cow that has just had a calf.

For instance, Kris just told me, "So far 76 heifers have freshened."

(Try to work that into your next conversation! See how many listeners you lose!)