Welcome Gateway Elementary fourth grades!

                                   

Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Berkhousen's fourth grade classes from Gateway Elementary (plus many adults) came to visit our farm today! 

We are the class farmers for fourth grade at the ag-focused Gateway, which was recently featured in the article - Connecting the classroom to the farm improves mathematics test scores: St. Johns Schools-CMU partnership focuses on Ag-STEM.

I've been to their classrooms, as well as answered many questions by email.  But today was the big day - the day they came to see the calf barn, the free stall barn, and the milking parlor!  

As usual, the calves were adorable, the cows were curious, and everyone had lots of good questions.

A new question I got was: "Does it always smell like this?"  I said yes, but told him to wait a few minutes and he wouldn't be able to smell it any more.  (Like magic, this olfactory sense!)

A new statement was: "I would like to be born from a cow, but still look like this."  We all agreed that would be really interesting to see.

I told them part of the reason we do this is to enjoy delicious dairy products, so we ended with GoGurts.

Thanks to Gateway, their teachers, the parents, Stacey, my mom, and everyone who is helping teach these kids about where all their food comes from.  It may be smelly, but wow, does it provide some good food.

Want to know more about the farm?  Like the page on Facebook, on Twitter @carlashelley, or sign up to get the blog by email - the form is on the right side of the page.

Sand sand sand

The first barn is done - all sand bedding! See them lying down? Beachy.

We moved on to changing over the second (built in 1972) barn and found a great surprise! After removing the mattresses and cutting away the cement we found an old curb - no need to pour a new curb in this section!

This picture shows the sand that was already there as a base under the cement. It's been a major effort by everyone on the team.

This is now completed, and there's a small section on the opposite side to do.  But before that happens ... it's time to cut hay.  Everyone likes a little variety in their jobs, right?

When Kris isn't working on the farm, he is helping the boys with their 4-H calves.  

The boys are juuuuust slightly stronger than the calves.  We'll see if that's still true in July!

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Half of one barn has sand bedding

One side of the barn is done!  Due to a lot of work by our team members, of course Kris, and even our little family ...

We removed and replaced the free stalls and mattresses ...



We got a sand shooter bucket.  You scoop up the sand from the pile, move it to the barn, and it shoots it into the free stalls.



We smoothed out the sand to make it level.




















I am sure this is the only time they will be crawling in here.



And today, we got to let the cows try it out!  They seemed to like their new sand.  Now just the other half to do ... and the other barn!



Kris did take a short break this weekend to watch us run a 15.5 mile (25K) Fifth Third River Bank Run in Grand Rapids.  I ran with Team Chocolate Milk, Annie Link is a fellow dairy farmer, and of course we were both happy to drink it at the end!





We just got a message from our neighbor Sharon Brock that she sees a new calf in the pasture along her yard.  Never a dull moment in the spring!

Want to know more about the farm?  Like the page on Facebook, on Twitter @carlashelley, or sign up to get the blog by email - the form is on the right side of the page.

A million things to do

Things are going a million miles an hour.  We're trying to do our part of the barn as fast as possible.  Here's Kris compacting the sand that will go under the mattresses.  Then we'll bolt them down and they'll serve as a base for the sand the cows lie on.

(I love how the boys are standing here.)




They're out on pasture!  This requires using the trailer, sorting them, taking them down the road in multiple trips, and then getting them back in before they learn to stay inside the fence.

And in the midst of all of this, our corn is being planted (we pay a custom planter to do it) and ... we had our first calf!

The cows were especially excited when moving across the creek.  They were louder than I've ever heard them.

Now they're across the road from my house, so I can see one of my favorite sights ... again!  May really is the best month.  Not from a work-until-you-drop-from-exhaustion angle like Kris, but when this is out your window, how can you not smile?  (And then take a million pictures?)

Want to know more about the farm?  Like the page on Facebook, on Twitter @carlashelley, or sign up to get the blog by email - the form is on the right side of the page.

Converting to sand bedding

We're doing a big project - changing the barn to sand bedding! (It is a popular choice due to cleanliness and cow comfort.) This means we have to remove the free stalls and mattresses, cut the concrete, remove sections of concrete, pour a concrete curb, replace mattresses ... plus many other steps. Beach for cows, coming up.

It was a lot of work for our team to remove the free stalls and mattresses - and to be careful with them because we're going to reuse them.  Then we brought in a local company to do the cement work.  This was yesterday:











And 24 hours later, the cement is removed, and the curb is halfway done.









We're doing half of the barn at a time.  They are moving quickly.  And ...



It's not bad outside, either.

Also, Kris and Jake were putting the calves from last year out on pasture while I was running by.  Three ran through the fence and I ran to help get them back in.  Running after cattle is so different than running on the road.  First, sprint to the right spot.  Second, crawl under a fence.  Third, race a heifer so she doesn't go into the woods to be lost forever.  Fourth, hop a stream to herd them in the right direction.  Fifth, get manure (or mud) on your shoes.  It's hard to tell without smelling them. Repeat steps 1-5. Sixth, ask Kris for a ride home because after all of that, you're late!

Want to know more about the farm?  Like the page on Facebook, on Twitter @carlashelley, or sign up to get the blog by email - the form is on the right side of the page.