Happy 100th to Michigan Milk Producers Association!

Today Michigan Milk Producers (our milk co-op) held its 100th annual meeting.  A farmer greeted us when we got there, saying, "Good morning!  I'm looking forward to the next 100!"  I loved the optimism from the start.

All the speakers went for optimism in these days of rough times for dairy farmers.  Our governor Rick Snyder talked the business part of it, plus how he shares the milk in his cereal with his dog (we don't care who's drinking it!), and his eternal quest for the perfect blueberry ice cream.  He finished with a heartfelt talk about how we can make sure that this business is here for our kids for the next 100 years.  He said he knows it's not about the money, it's about the quality of life, what we respect, and what's important to us.  He said he knows we will continue to evolve to get the best benefits for our families and farms.   

Later in the program we heard from Dr. Phillip Knight from the Food Bank Council of Michigan.  He thanked us for our milk donations, and then he quoted Edmund Burke, who said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."  He said that the biggest mistake people make is to choose to do nothing because we believe we can only do a little.  He said that all donations make a difference to a hungry person someone, somewhere.  He said he would continue to give his life for providing for people, and thanked us for our part in it.

Then MMPA's president Ken Nobis came up and announced that we were donating 100 gallons of milk a day for a year. 

Guys, Dr. Knight cried!  Then I cried!  He spoke again and was all choked up.  It was moving ... I didn't expect to feel like this during a regular meeting.

Farmers are optimists at heart.  We think the weather will improve, our crops will grow, our cattle will thrive, and prices will rebound.  We think our families will like this lifestyle, we'll continue providing food for everyone, and that we'll be able to keep doing it for generations to come.  Hearing speakers like this and talking to everyone today makes me think about how we're all in this together.

So, happy birthday, MMPA!  100 is huge.  Cheers with milk, whether it's in your glass or your dog's bowl!

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Sloppy milk

Kris and I had the local MMPA meeting, and the big topic of discussion is … why is it bad, when is it going to get better?

We’re talking milk prices, and it all boils down to one main principle – supply and demand.  We all know how it works!  Supply is up, price is down, supply is down, price is up.

There are different reasons every time it happens, and every time we have to wait it out.

One reason we were talking about in the meeting is this: when Russia invaded the Ukraine, they had sanctions placed against them.  Before that, they were purchasing a lot of dairy products. After that, they purchased none.

It’s interesting to think about.  Everything that happens in this world has a direct effect on the rest of us.  Putin’s choices have a DIRECT EFFECT on our milk check, which affects our farm purchases, which affects the local economy, which affects the tax base, which affects the schools, which means that my kids’ school is buying paper milk cartons because they’re cheaper and none of the kids like it, so thanks, Russia.

Another reason MMPA President Ken Nobis talked about is this: China was buying their factory workers lunch, which included dairy choices.  Now the factories are not buying their workers lunch.  Obviously, based on the number of people we’re dealing with, this makes a huge difference.  (See?  The reasons are varied and interesting!)

If we only had a domestic market, it’d be much more stable.  However, there would also be not much chance for growth.  We’re supplying the places that can’t support their dairy needs, too.

As a result, the co-ops have to find places for the milk to go.  (At the meeting Ken referred to it as ‘sloppy milk.’)  When the milk processing plants are full and there’s no one to purchase the milk, where does it go?  It’s like a complicated game of Tetris, and sometimes we lose.

So, we wait it out, hoping for better times.  In the meantime, we just keep doing what we’re doing. We milk cows, we take care of our farm, and we encourage the kids at school to drink out of milk cartons with a straw.  It tastes way better that way, no matter where you live.

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Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day!  From our herd to yours.

A couple of weeks ago Allison from Michigan Milk Producers Association came out to take pictures of cattle in the pasture for an article, and she also suggested that my boys pose for the picture above. Believe it or not, they're used to having their picture taken ...

We have 79 heifer calves going into the holiday, including another set of heifer twins!  One side of the barn is completely filled, and now we've started on the other one.

The oldest have ear tags now, which have their number and birth dates.  Isn't she pretty?

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Farm and off

While I was gone, Kris hosted some people from New Zealand.  They were looking at joining Cooperative Research farms and wanted to know what Michigan dairies are doing.  I was sorry to miss them, but remembered while they were there that I wanted a picture.  I texted Kris and asked him ... then, knowing he wouldn't look at his phone during a tour, I texted Aaron, our nutritionist that brought them.  He does look at his phone!  

Booties?  Check.

We also had some work done on the barn.  Since the cattle are out on pasture or in the barns, we didn't have anywhere to treat them except when they're in the parlor.  (For instance, the other day I watched Kris treat a hoof on a cow while she was standing in a freestall.  It works, but it's not the easiest way.)

So these are called headlocks.  After leaving the parlor, if a cow needs to be 'sorted' into the pen, you just herd her into here.  Kris cited the specific instance that if you need a cow to pee on a stick to check for ketosis, doing it here instead of in the parlor is much easier.  I know what you're thinking - cows are peeing on sticks?  Answer - sometimes, yes.

Last week I also had a Dairy Communicators meeting through our milk co-op, Michigan Milk Producers Association.

Many of us were recognized for various year-milestones of holding the position.  I hit five years (and got a lovely and fitting ice cream scoop) and just was thinking back to when I went to my first meeting.  I had a million questions - how to get into schools, how to get dairy promotional items, etc. Now, just five years later, it's a regular part of the schedule!

Also there were interesting people there ...

Katelyn just graduated college and went back to her family farm.  She said she's most interested in the health aspect of cows, and right now she's working on that ... as well as what her dad doesn't want to do.

Leona Daniels did a great lesson on how best to do a dairy lesson in classrooms and at other events.

And I sat with these friends, who have great farming blogs!  Check them out -

Farm Barbie - Barbara

Messy Kennedy - Ashley

One of my favorite moments of the meeting was when we all got up and introduced ourselves.  A friend at my table stood up and gestured to the newborn she was cradling in her arms under a blanket. She said, "This is Oliver nursing under here, and he's three weeks old."

Is there a more fitting place to introduce yourself while nursing a baby than at a Dairy Communicator meeting?!  Only the Le Leche League.



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Farm tour and milk plant tour with young cooperators

We got together with the young cooperators from our co-op for a conference.  We toured our MMPA president’s farm (Ken Nobis, who farms with brother Larry and son Kerry) and checked out their manure sand separator.

General Manager of MMPA Joe Diglio pretends this is a candid picture with Ken Nobis

Larry Nobis starts the tour

There are a variety of ways to bed down cattle.  The Nobis family has been using sand bedding since 1974.  When you use sand bedding (like a beach!) you can reuse the sand by using a separator.  

That way, you don’t have to buy new sand, but can squeeze and move the water and manure out of the sand you already used.

The sand separator has, as one of the guys put it, “a lot of moving parts.”  Sand and manure are super for lubrication, obviously!  But they’ve been using it for a long time and are loving the results and ultimate cost savings.

Sand separator 

We also saw their udder gun.  (It doesn’t sound like what it is.)  It cleans the cow teats before milking with two air motor driven brushes that turn.  It’s like an electric toothbrush for cow teats, but it also has the cleaning fluid in it.  It stimulates and cleans.  Here’s Kerry showing it off:  

Then we went on a tour of our Michigan Milk Producers Association plant in Ovid.  Talk about moving parts!  I visited a few years ago, but it’s bigger and better than even then.  One of the new machines we have is a butter churn.  I wasn’t allowed to take pictures in there for fear I’d steal my own co-op’s secrets and use them against myself (I get it, just kidding) but here's one from when I went last time.  This room was still the most amazing to me.

This is one of many amazing rooms

The butter churn is now totally automated.  When I went last time, there were still people involved in cutting the butter.  No more.  Now (even gloved) human hands don’t touch the butter at all.

The sanitary restrictions are in place, too.  At one point we had to climb over a stainless steel wall, cupboard level high, to enter a room where we had to wash our hands and then use sanitizer.  There was no good way to climb over this.  My pregnant friend was more graceful than I was.  She sat, swung her legs around, and stood up on the other side.  I thought maybe I could just step over it, but it was so wide that I reeeeeeeealy had to stretch.  Just another level of cleanliness – no sneaking in there!

Maternity wear, by my friend Chriss

A farmer in front of his barns, a farmer in front of his milk plant

It was really hard to tell us apart. Not kdding

I was impressed with all of it – the room full of milk powder, ready to be shipped, the technical machinery, the efficiency.

We went back and played a trivia game, via phones, with the rest of the young co-op members.  It was a blast – lots of laughs – and our team was doing super well, until our team member’s phone died.  As a result, we didn't get to play for the next two questions.

Looks like there’s always room for improvement, machines.

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Meeting it up

I loved this view outside our meeting.  We have Amish and Mennonite members.

Happy first day of spring!  So happy to greet the new season.  (And that's not just because we're farmers.  It's like a collective sigh of relief here!)

While it's still meeting season, we had our annual Michigan Milk Producers Association meeting, where we hear reports from our president and general manager, give awards, and my favorite - recognize the 35-year members.

Senator Judy Emmons, 35-year MMPA member and dairy farmer

Why is it my favorite?  Because each person - and there are a lot of them - are offered the microphone to say a little something, and it's always funny or touching or both!  I started taking notes during it of little snippets ...

- I'm glad there are a lot of younger people here, because the older I get, the more stubborn I get.

- This is the youngest group of old people I've ever seen.  Go Spartans!

- This is the fifth general manager that I've had since I've been a member.  Everyone here looks pretty old, and I guess I fit in.  As for milk prices, my grandpa always said that nobody can throw a stone high enough it won't come down.

- There's nothing better than raising children on a farm.

- I used to think when I was sitting there, God, what a bunch of old people.  Now I'm up here.

- It's a privilege to be able to be home with my family.

- Please keep sending true farmers to the legislature, because no one understands it like people who have done it.

- My husband has been gone for three years now, and we worked side by side all those years.  I sure miss him a lot.  But my name's on the contract now!

There were funny slides, like our general manager Joe Diglio (I really like him), showing his magazine photo from the 90s when he saved the co-op money by acting as a model to sell MMPA attire.  As we all had a good-natured laugh about it, Kris leaned over to me and whispered, "We still sell that denim shirt!"          

And lunch always ends with one of my most favorite foods in the world:

We did all the important business - like resolutions, elections, and discussions - and we even got to hang out with our far-away friends afterward.  Back to the farm ... 

We dried up ten cows.  That means that ten of them are at the end of their lactation periods and will calve in June.  Not all of them give milk for the same amount of time after calving, and it depends on when they gave birth last year.

So, we've stopped milking ten of them so they can prepare their bodies to have calves.  Over time, we'll dry them all up, and the calving will begin.  Get ready, get set ... it's going to get cute around here.



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Technology and brackets

Yesterday Kris and I helped host the Michigan Milk Producer Association's Young Cooperator Conference.  For part of it, we went on a farm tour at Daybreak Dairy in Zeeland, where they use automatic calf feeders.

They're not new to the farming world, but I haven't seen them before.  So they're new to me!

All farmers have to decide how many times a day they're going to feed their calves, and then they have to decide how long they're going to drink out of bottles before they move to buckets.  

With an automatic feeder, you don't decide those things, because they eat all the time. 

The machine reads their ear tags, and can tell when they've eaten and how much, and when they meet their maximum in a certain amount of time.  If the calf hasn't eaten enough, it tells you that, so you go and chase it up and encourage it to drink.

So they're hanging out here:

And they walk up to the feeder:

This is a view from the top. You can see the top of the bottle sticking out.

And here's the machine indoors.  The door is open so we could see the inner workings.

This is the milk powder mixing with the water.  It smelled exactly like human formula.

It was fun seeing something new, and as always, talking farm talk with other young farmers.

I always enjoy this conference and the tours, but this marked the first time that I didn't fight sleep on the way back.  This time, thanks to my friend Alex, I was able to avoid the dreaded head jerk.

The conference featured reports from our co-op staff, Gordie Jones speaking about cow comfort, a panel on business planning, and a tailgate party!  We even had a cornhole (beanbag) tournament, with a bracket and everything.  Kris and I came in second place, even though my throw - I was horrified to see when I looked at my pictures - looks like this:

(Can you believe we beat many teams with this toss?  I even obviously step with the wrong foot!)

We had a great time with our planning committee, and we look forward to returning next year!  Who knows what will be new on the farm we visit, what I'll learn at the meeting, or what other terrible discoveries I'll make when I look back at my pictures.   

Milking a pretend cow

 

It's hard bringing a real, live cow into schools.  So dairy people - in this case, Debbie Kubacki - have built these nifty pretend cows so that kids can get an idea of what milking one is like.

 

For this event, dairy farmers Heather Wing, Evelyn Minnis, and I went to the Health and Fitness Day at Hilton Elementary School in Brighton.  We taught them all about dairy - the health aspect, about dairy products, the journey from the cow to the store, and how to milk!

 

Alex Schnabelrauch, who works for MMPA, organized it all.  We had dairy cootie catchers, cow fact sewing, free milk and Gogurts, gift bags ... one kid said it was the best day of his life.  (To be fair, he has only lived six years.)

 

The entire school had a chance to milk the cow and ask questions.  It was so much fun talking to them, as few of them had ever milked a cow or even met a farmer.

 

An udder made of a water tank and calf bottle tips

I told them to pretend they were machines or it was the olden days, since modern farmers don't milk by hand.

 



She has a map of Michigan painted into her spots too.  She was wildly popular.



Questions I was asked:

- "Are all farmers fat?"

He explained that farmers are always fat in cartoons. That was good, because he asked that right after I explained that I was a farmer. This also made me laugh because a friend recently asked me, "Are all male farmers good looking?"

- "Aren't their gutters really in the middle of their stomachs?"

He meant udders - kids commonly make that switch - and he thought that because in some cartoon drawings the udders are in the center of the cow.

- "How does the milk get to be chocolate?"

The boy was staring at his drink and just really wanted to understand how it all worked. You could almost see the gears turning in his head.

- "Do other mammals give milk? Like ... people?"

Yes. Ask your parents.

 

 

Tis the season

 

Tis the season ... but not the holiday season.  It's meeting season!  Today we went to the Michigan Milk Producer's Association Leader's Conference. 

 

One of the speakers showed the picture above on her last slide while she took questions.  I whispered to Kris, "That doesn't look like one of our cows."  (She's much burlier than ours.)  Kris said, "Because none of ours have maps?"  I looked again and saw she had the world map photoshopped onto her!  I hadn't noticed.  One of the audience members made a joke about it to the speaker and she did a double-take and said, "I never noticed that before! I've been using that slide forever!"  I was glad I wasn't the only one.

 

Other notes from the meeting:

 

A company wanted to sell milk in China and made it very Chinese - label in Chinese, Chinese-type marketing, everything.  And it flopped.  Apparently the Chinese public wants American and European dairy products with a Chinese label slapped over the other languages.  That way, they know that it's coming from another country.  Buy local isn't popular everywhere.  Glad it is here. 

 

Our general manager was going through sales slides and pointed out that Hurricane Sandy will affect dairy prices this upcoming season.  Due to the displaced people, fewer people will be buying cheese, butter, and milk for holiday gatherings.  No hurricane here in little Michigan, but we're all affected. 

 

A fellow farmer introduced himself to me and said, "I know you worked off the farm first ... why did you want to farm?"  I told him about how we wanted to own our own business, we liked the lifestyle, and we wanted to raise our children somewhere we'd see them all the time.  He agreed, and said he loved his life on the farm for all those same reasons.  The only difference is that we've seen both sides and got to make a choice.  A lot of people farm because their parents farmed and they know it's what they want to do from the beginning.  Both of the ways of life would have been nice, but we just picked.  So far, it's been a good pick.

 

Remember the Pure Michigan gift bag?  The winner, Meghan, sent me a picture of herself wearing/eating/displaying all the gifts at the same time.  PURE MICHIGAN!  Even though she lives in Texas.

 

 

911 and OYDC

After a lifetime of never calling 911, I've now called it twice in two days.

The first time was on the way home from Illinois.  We saw a truck pulling a cattle trailer full of straw, and the straw was on fire!  The driver and the passenger had stopped the vehicle and were pulling the burning straw out of the trailer.  It was obvious it had just started.  I called 911 and the operator answered, "Are you calling about a truck on fire on the highway?"

That was fast!  Everyone driving by must have called.  Poor farmer!

Tonight I did it at a township board meeting when a participant had a medical emergency.  It was very scary and the ambulance came and took him away.  It actually took 15 minutes for it to arrive.  Note - only have a medical emergency in an urban area.

***

On a happier note - Kris and I were selected as the state winning 2012 MMPA Outstanding Young Dairy Cooperators (OYDC) in August.  Alex Schnabelrauch came out to our farm to interview us and wrote a really nice article.  If you'd like to see it, that issue of the Michigan Milk Messenger is now online. 

Headquarters

We went with a group of young farmers to tour the Michigan Milk Producers Association headquarters in Novi, MI.  MMPA is our member-owned cooperative.

It was fascinating!  Our tour started in the lab with Patti Huttula.  She explained everything that the three lab technicians were doing and how the machines worked. 

Every day, every farm gets an online report on their milk's components - butterfat, protein, somatic cell count, and other solids. 

While I realized this, and knew that the milk was tested, I loved seeing how it actually happens. 

Huge, intricate, well-oiled machines.

Look at those insides!

I asked Patti that if the machines needed configuring, could they do it, or did someone come in to fix it?  She kind of laughed and said that the guy who fixes the machine is actually her fiance.  She said she knew exactly which day they installed the machine because that's the day she met him.

We moved on to the office area, where Joe Diglio, director of finance, talked about how much he loved accounting.

Have you ever seen anyone look so excited about accounting before?  He wasn't faking.

He took us around to meet more staff members, and they were all so cheerful and positive.  It was obvious that they took pride in their work.

MMPA President Ken Nobis talked in part about the political aspect of our milk price.  GM Clay Galarneau detailed how the calculations for the milk check work and why.  Dean Letter, director of member services, talked about milk quality issues.

When I was in high school I was active in student council and drama.  I knew that there was a lot of work to be done before any school event or play.  I could never again go to any production without thinking about how someone ordered the linens, and someone painted that set piece, and someone designed posters, printed them, and put them up to get me there in the first place.

While I knew in general that our co-op did the behind-the-scenes work, it was great to see it in specific.  One of the benefits of belonging to a co-op is that while we're involved in milk production every day, there's a whole network of people involved in testing, marketing, and selling that milk.

And when they seem to like it ... and throw in a romantic story?  All the better.

Capitol in the capital

We had the 96th annual state delegate meeting for MMPA yesterday - that's Michigan Milk Producers Association, the co-op where we sell our milk.  It was in downtown Lansing, so when I left the meeting, I was greeted with this view:

Doesn't it look like a postcard? Meetings are usually in the crummy season when you don't want to be outside ... not true right now.

Some interesting things I jotted down during the meeting:

- When there's a surplus of milk, the co-op has to find something to do with it. There's no long-term storage for it like a lot of other foods, since it has a short shelf life.

- Due to the mild winter and spring, cows in the US have been giving a lot of milk.

- One of the speakers made a joke that "It's like picking up rocks. It's a never ending job." This made me laugh, because a joke about picking rocks out of a field can only work for select audiences.

- Kris' uncle was also there, from his part of the state. A farmer at our table said that his 9-year-old left open a gate and the cows got out. Kris' uncle said, "I have a 30-year-old that does that." We all laughed. That joke would work for any audience.

I spent the afternoon outside (hooray!) and happened to go back to the same city block at night to see some friends. This was my evening view:

Much easier to be inside this way.

Local meeting

We had our milk co-op local meeting today.  It was definitely the most exciting meeting I've been to in the three years since I moved here!

- There was a lot of discussion about voting, delegate numbers, and board decisions.  At the very basic level, people just want to make sure that their voices are being heard. 

- The president, Ken Nobis, was talking about some new programs.  One of the things he said was, "We have to do what the consumer wants."  It's true.  A farm is a business, and you need customers who want what you're peddling.

- Kris and I are applying to be part of the Outstanding Young Dairy Cooperative conference.  It's been held annually for the past 61 years. 

- According to MMPA, Kris and I are considered 'young' for EIGHT more years.  That was even more exciting than the meeting.

Behind the scenes

Today Kris went to the MMPA (Michigan Milk Producers Association) 95th annual delegate meeting. He’s a voting delegate for our district.

It was an all-day meeting, including a retirement recognition for Velmar Green, who was on the board for 42 years. (He has a huge farm in our district – Green Meadows. He always says really nice things to me about Kris’ grandpa Wiff Wardin, who I never got to meet, but he knew well.)

Then they went over the resolutions, which are initiatives the co-op tries to implement. To name a few to give you an idea - working with Michigan State University to support the College of Ag and Natural Resources, enforce labeling claims on dairy products, and encouraging political efforts to help make Michigan bovine tuberculosis-free.

They awarded everyone who’d been a member for 35 years and they all said a little something. Kris said one woman said she was a city girl. The first time she drove up to the farm her husband-to-be and his brother were standing by the MMPA sign and she thought to herself, “I wonder what that stands for? Manly men potentially available?”

I was looking over the annual report and just thinking about everything that goes into a co-op. Resolutions, marketing, the board … I was in student council every year in school. As a result, the rest of my life, I could never look at a dance or a pep rally or an event without thinking about all the work that someone did to put it on. After you’re involved in the planning and organization - of anything - you always look behind the scenes.

So our farm is much larger than just our farm. We’re a business, but a co-op is a business in and of itself.

But on the small scale, today my oldest son said, “Look! That black and white one is my favorite.”

Big farm, big business, all working together with the little things that make you happy. And full of manly men, pointing out their favorite cow.