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.   

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.

Want to marry a farmer?

My friend called me today and said, "I walked into the room and Jim was watching TV ... and I thought it was a Saturday Night Live skit. But it was NOT. Have you seen the commercial for FarmersOnly.com?"

I watched the commercial, and yes, it's bad. It's terrible. It's hilarious.




Then I went on the site. Really, they need better marketing, because I was totally won over.

I think online dating is a great idea. I know tons of married couples that met online. This is just even MORE specific!

I'm friends with some very eligible bachelors ... most of them farmers or in farm-related industries. (Hi, guys!)

When I try to think of girls they can date, you always have to take the lifestyle into consideration. Would the girl want to live on a farm? Would she like to live in the country?

These girls do!

Yesterday a neighbor and I were talking and she said it was hard for her son to find girls to date, now that he was back on the farm. (That's the same concept the commercial is trying to get at. You know, through the talking animals. Also, why do they have clown voices?)

Another one of my farmer friends commented that he loves going to sporting events, because he is surrounded by girls his age - which just doesn't happen on his farm. And a different farmer friend said that when you date a girl with marriage in mind, she has to know - and accept - the lifestyle she's going to marry into.

So the site is obviously meeting a demand. It's not meeting good commercial standards ... but then again, I'm talking about it, aren't I? But I'm using a normal voice, not like those creepy farm animals.

#yfr12

We're home from the American Farm Bureau Young Farmers & Ranchers conference!  About 1000 young farmers (and people involved in ag) from all over the country got together to learn and talk policy.  Today they hosted a lot of tours around Michigan to different farms.

It was so fun!  The farmers who go are outgoing and like to talk.  They purposely seat you to mingle at meals, so you meet interesting people.

For instance, I met:

- A seventh generation rice and soybean farmer from Arkansas.  He farms 4000 acres.  I'd never met a rice farmer before and had a million questions.

- A rancher/writer/photographer from Wyoming.  (Heather blogs here.)  When I asked, "Where is your farm?"  She said, "We don't farm - there's no water where we are.  We have a ranch."  Which is why the name of the national organization is Farmers & Ranchers.  I clarified it with her - to her, a farm is a place where you grow crops.  She has cattle on tons of acres, which to me is definitely a ranch!

- Tons of cash crop farmers from sea to shining sea.  Whenever I said we had a dairy, they'd say, "I've met a ton of dairy farmers!"  Which is because there were tons of Michigan people there, and Michigan has a lot of dairy farms.

One of the big topics of discussion - as it frequently is - is how to reach our customers through social media.  I watched the collegiate discussion meet and the final question concerned that.  One student said that getting internet access to farms was a problem.  (Really?  Where?!)  Another said that you couldn't trust farmers to say what they're supposed to say, because they would 'shoot from the hip' and needed intense training.  (This kid had a low opinion of farmers.)  Another finished her conclusion with, "Hashtag, yfr12."  I liked that, because she was citing the twitter symbol and keyword of the conference.  (Justin Bieber and Ashton Kutcher were also mentioned in the discussion.  Can you get more youthful than that?)

It was exciting - a convention center full of people who love their jobs and like to talk about it.  Blogs, Facebook, and twitter are fantastic, but there's nothing better than laughing with people in person.  No hashtag required.

Current

Several readers sent me this article: 

More Young People See Opportunity in Farming

We're just the latest trendy thing! 

A friend of mine who worked for TechSmith (even longer than I did) just decided to leave to run his wife's parents' winery.  My witty former boss told him he was "this year's Carla."  Farming - it's all the rage.

The Latest DIY Craze?  Say Cheese (and Other Dairy Products)

This article from today's Wall Street Journal was entertaining as well.  Though Kris has made cheese before, I haven't, but I encourage all do-it-yourself-ers to give it a shot! 

Kris said that these cheeses they mention in the article are the easy ones to make - but they still look like a lot of steps to me.  I said I much prefer baking, especially desserts like ... pie.  Thus, the phrase 'easy as pie.'  No one says, 'Easy as a temperature-controlled with lots of steps cheese.'

Panel

Kris was part of a producer panel for a MSU extension program today. Also on the panel were our neighbors who graze exclusively, a professor from MSU, and a professor from Iowa State.

Since my dad started pasturing our cattle in 1990, grazing to us doesn't seem that new. But it is still considered different - and a way for new farmers to start an operation.

The professors explained how a beginning farmer can graze cows with very little capital investment. The MSU extension agent, Faith Cullens, told me that there were a lot of young people that attended.

When we were at the Farm Bureau meeting, a speaker said that a woman told him, "I didn't know there were even young farmers anymore!"

It's nice that there are, that there are programs like this to assist young people, and that Kris got to brush off his old Power Point skills for today's meeting.

Make hay while ... it rains every night

It rained again last night - almost another inch! As a result, the hay that was down is too wet after being rained on multiple times. It was never dry enough to bale or wet enough to chop (it has to be a little wet in order for the chopper to chop well.) So we're going to chop it back onto the field so the alfalfa can grow for the next cutting.

It's frustrating, but that's the way the weather works. Sometimes the rain and dry are perfect for a cutting, sometimes it's not. Ah well, if everything went perfectly, we'd have nothing to strive for, right? RIGHT?!

&&&&

Amanda Sumerix interviewed me for the August Young Farmer Newsletter. Kris just told me the cut off to be a young farmer is age 35. Good thing I got in - only one year left! Click here (and scroll down) to read her kind article, Agvocate and Author.

It's a small, windy world

I’m not going to complain that it was snowing this morning. Or that it’s only 40 degrees right now. I’m not even going to complain that it’s incredibly, wildly windy. I just saw the damage the tornadoes did in the south - so at least we’re not having those! (If we have some later today, just assume the roof came off, because that’s what it sounds like is going to happen.)

&&&

We went to a party last night and I met a girl who was from the same town as one of my college roommates. Sure enough, she knew her. It somehow came up that she grew up on a dairy farm. She said her brother now milks about 1500 cows. I didn’t know him, and Kris didn’t know him either. We were all a little surprised. She said, “There aren’t that many young people going into farming!”

Kris and I talked about it later – there are lots of farms around here. You’d think that we’d know them all, but we don’t! With all the organizations we’re in, all the meetings we go to, and all the people our parents know, there are still farms we’ve never heard of. Big farms!

But there’s another one down. Later, when I hear the name of that farm, I can say I know his sister . . . plus bring up that college roommate.