Goodbye to 2021

I wrote an article for Progressive Dairy that's going to be published in January 2022, and it really sums up our year on the farm. I'll share that when it comes out! 

When I started this blog in 2010, Max was two months old, and Ty and Cole were three years old. I've always been a writer, and I wanted to share with everyone about our farm life. On the side, I wrote books, freelanced, and worked on contract. I also started sharing about the farm much more frequently on Facebook and Instagram, because those are much easier to do quickly and while I'm outside.

This year I took a full time job as a writer for an agricultural lender. It seemed the time was right, because my kids are older and it's remote. It makes me really happy that I've been able to make my entire career doing what I want to do. (Take heart, English majors!)

I love running into people who have read the blog over the years, and they are always so kind. So as I enter the 13th year of writing this, I just want to say - thank you for reading over all these years. I'll continue sharing about dairy and our life on the farm as long as people are reading it! 

As with most years, this year has had some positives and negatives, but as an optimistic person, I always focus on the best parts! The biggest changes this year to our operation - custom harvesting, manure management, and adding free stalls. The biggest change in our lives - me working full time, and our kids starting middle school and high school. 

Our team came over for our Christmas party last night, and I just want to reflect on how incredibly fortunate we are to have such great people here with us. My parents came too, and I'm grateful to them for bringing in the families that worked with them long before we came along! We couldn't do this without such great, hardworking, and nice people.

Merry Christmas, happy new year, and may your 2022 be the best yet!   

  

  

Black and white...but not

It's the last day of November. We had our first snow...and then more snow...and the world is beautiful.

Of course, it makes everything take longer, and we have to plow snow, and we have to make sure the cattle are comfortable, but the beauty of it makes it all worth it. 

Everything changes day by day, nothing is for certain, and we are thankful for yet another great fall as we head into winter. 

Thanks for sharing the road

 

This week we're hauling manure out of the lagoon. As I took this picture as they went by me on the road, I wanted to thank everyone for moving over and going slow for our equipment.

I know it's hard to be patient, so thank you today and every day!

Michigan State University class tour

Today Michigan State University animal science professor Miriam Weber Nielsen brought her class out for a tour! She's brought many classes in the past, but it has been a few years now, and so it was so wonderful having them back.

Kris and I talked about our farm, how we do it, things that might be different than other farms they have been to (like cattle on pasture and natural bull breeding), and the economics of dairy farming. We walked through the calf barn, then went to the dairy barns, manure lagoon, and showed them the expansion on the free stall barn - the stalls and the maternity section.

Points:

- I love giving tours of the farm. Many of these students had been on a dairy farm before, but there are always questions you have never gotten before. 

Today, my favorite question came from Tony, who said, "I've been to farms, and I have to ask - why the Toyota Sienna? Why do you all have one?" 

My answer was immediate. "Farmers usually have a lot of kids, they get great gas mileage, and if things really got bad and we lost everything, we could put down the seats and sleep five in the back of it."

Ha! I didn't even know other farmers had Siennas! 

- The students were talking about how they had a presentation from the United Dairy Industry of Michigan last week, and Ryan said, "I bought a gallon of milk after hearing that presentation. I've been drinking a glass a day." That warmed my dairy-loving heart.

- I encouraged all the students to find a favorite calf and take pictures with it, and they played along. Of course, animal science people are usually animal lovers. No one took me up on my offer to take a kitten or a tire home. (I was kidding about the kittens, but I was not kidding about the tires. Everyone - come and take a tire!)

- The students were talkative and enjoyable, and Miriam was great as always. We have an open door policy - come and visit anytime! I'll even give you a spin in my farm Sienna.

Thank you Miriam, and thank you students!

I post much more frequently at https://www.facebook.com/TruthOrDairy and https://www.instagram.com/truthordairyfarm/ - come and join me!

Sudax in ten days

We put our cattle out in our sudax field to eat it instead of chopping it - it all ends up in the same place! (Sudax is a sorghum and sudangrass hybrid that looks similar to corn, but without the ears. It grows fast and cattle love it.)

Our neighbors are so great...we had four of them contact us to ask if the cattle were supposed to be in that field. Isn't it nice they're watching out for us?

Kris and I were guessing how long it would take them to eat it, and all the leaves were gone, with most of the stalks chewed, after ten days. Ten days in one field! It was so interesting. First you couldn't see the cattle, then you could see some, and then you could eventually see them all.

Before

 

After

We have new Team Chocolate Milk gear, and I love it! I had a half marathon in Lansing this month, and it went great. I love this picture the race photographer took, because it captures how happy I am when I run.

I spend a lot of time working my full time job, driving the kids around, helping with homework, and hanging out with my friends and family. Kris spends a lot of time working, working with our team, and spending time with our friends and family. I run into strangers from time to time who read the blog, and I appreciate every single one of you. Thanks!

Harvest

Our friends really came through during the harvest. My friend Andrea was having a party, and a week before she said casually, and then we'll all just come over to Carla's house first to do tires.

I didn't actually know it if would work, because harvest depends on so many factors - weather, timing, equipment, other people - but I said sure. 

And it DID work! The timing was perfect. 

The boys and I were standing on a giant pile of harvested corn. It was as big as our barn. We started putting tires on, and our friends weren't there yet, and I thought ... this is going to take us FOREVER. I put on Facebook, 'Starting to cover the pile!' and lo and behold ... two strong, young, fantastic neighbors showed up and started slinging tires like it was their job! (Thanks Thums!) Their mom, plus wife and kids came, too! 

Then all our friends showed up ... Chip brought a speaker, and since we were then working to music, it was a PARTY! I am so thankful for their help. I couldn't be more grateful.

I've been doing a little 'did you know' series on Facebook. (You can follow me there or on Instagram if you want more frequent posts!) This one is about ear tags. We have new ones now, where the tag with the number and the RFID tag circle were separate, but we bought ones that are two in one. Did you know ... all cattle are tagged with an RFID tag they have for life? This tracks them wherever they go, even to other farms. Each tag and chip have the same unique number—one for visual identification and one to use with an electronic reader.

And, did you know that feed for young calves looks a lot like cat or dog food? Max has tasted it a few times, and he says it's not bad.

We have 80 more acres to go of corn, which means we're covering the pile one more time. Happy first day of fall! I hope all your chores are also being turned into parties!

On the farm

Jon Adamy from Michigan Farm Bureau worked with Samana Sheikh at WLNS to do some 'On the Farm' segments about dairy farming. You can watch the videos here.

It's been a whirlwind of a month! My brother, sister, and their families came, my cousin, his wife, and their three kids visited, we camped and canoed, we had people over for pool parties and wiffle ball, we did our third cutting of alfalfa, and Kris' sister, her husband and kids are coming today! 

(We also had two family reunions. My brother Gage and I won the Anderson cornhole tournament, and Kris and I won the Wardin cornhole tournament! These are my greatest athletic achievements.)

On the farm, it's busy all the time. Calves everywhere, things breaking and getting them fixed, getting bulls from other farms, milking, chopping alfalfa, and making sure everything is getting covered, from machine maintenance to calf care and everything in between.

We were fortunate that our team member Dave and his wife Lisa sold us my grandparents' house back, so now our other team members could move closer. 

I'm also working full time now, from home most days but also going into the office, and it's been going great. I'm a marketing communications specialist (which means writer) at an ag lending co-op. It's wonderful being able to combine my love of writing with my love of agriculture!

I hope your August is going well, too. The cicadas and crickets are loud at night, there's a chill in the night air, and I'll be wearing a winter coat before I know it. But until then ... it's swimming every day until school starts!

And last but not least ... my Uncle Stuart took this video, my cousin Marilyn Cotton had it digitized, and my cousin Pat Fitzpatrick put it on YouTube. It is precious to me. It shows my great-great grandma in my house, my great-grandparents having fun, my grandparents young, my aunts and uncles, and my dad as a baby! 

But...what might be interesting to you is the vintage farming footage! How did they not lose all their limbs and fingers? Go to 8:45 and check out my great-grandpa and grandpa farming. My great-grandpa is the one with the horses and my grandpa is the guy laughing. My Uncle Dave is the little boy on the wagon.  

Watch it here.

What a weekend

On Friday we were supposed to go to our friends' house for fireworks with a bunch of other friends. I was talking to them in the morning and said we were going to go, but I didn't know what time we'd be there because we had to cover the pile of alfalfa we were chopping that day.

I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but six families came to help us cover the pile! 

Of course, it's impossible to time when it's going to happen, so we thought it was going to be 5:00 p.m., but then the chopper had some trouble, so then it was 6:00 p.m. ... so my parents went and picked up the pizza and we ate at our house BEFORE covering the pile - and the kids swam - and then finally it was time! 

With all of our wonderful friends helping, it took 27 minutes to cover it, and then we all went for fireworks. What a great night! 

(I think they are still our friends.) 

Also ...

Kris high on the 4th of July!

Also knee high by the 4th of July!

Field one - planted April 28. 

Field two - planted June 4 after we cut alfalfa off of it.   

I hope you're having a great July!

Last day of June

Kris was interviewed by Nicole Heslip about the dairy outlook for the summer.

It's nice owning a business with someone who is so positive! 

Happy last day of dairy month! (July is ice cream month, so we'll keep the celebration going!)

Listen to the interview here.

Throwing wrenches, mending fences

The wonderful Sarah Zastrow has a podcast called Throwing Wrenches, Mending Fences, and she interviewed me on it  - Listen here! 

Sarah teaches people to manage stress with podcasts, coaching, and speaking. She is a delightful, positive person.

The next week I visited her and Sara Reisinger at Leaman's Green Applebarn, and my friend Hailey and I did goat yoga, led by Sarah!

It was all very adorable. I hesitate to do this with calves because 1) calves are bigger, 2) their manure is bigger. But if you want to come and do yoga in my barn after signing a waiver, you're welcome to it!

Me, Hailey, Sarah

Goat with adorable name like Sprinkle Donut or something similar

Tour with Olympian Lindsay Tarpley

 

That milk is glowing!

She loved, loved the calves.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Lindsay Tarpley came to our dairy farm today for a tour that was streamed to 3700 students! She and her kids were delightful, and thank you to United Dairy Industry of Michigan for helping share about dairy farms and nutrition!

The video is here:

https://youtu.be/QA8MyRI9xuQ

It was so much fun! Thank you to our moderator Jolene and everyone behind the scenes. There was so much planning involved - many cameras, headsets, Dan running all the mics from another city ... plus working on all the questions, coordinating everything with Lindsay ... there were five UDIM staff members alone here doing it all! (Plus, this was their second visit here - we had one to check all of the technology a month ago.)

We met Lindsay once before in 2018 when she spoke at our kids' school. That story is here. She really is a delight. She brought her kids, and they were so inquisitive and interested, and I liked them so much! It was great showing them around. Lindsay is also a fantastic speaker and advocate for dairy nutrition!

Ty and Cole left school to come to it, but Max wanted to stay, and today his class watched the video. He said they thought the calves were cute - a good review! 

I love showing people the farm, and the fact that we were able to show it to 3,700 people at the same time really makes me happy. Thanks to everyone involved!

The corn popped up!

 

The corn popped up!

My entire youth I said I would never have a job that depended on the weather, because my family spent so much time hoping it would rain or stop raining. I particularly remember sitting on the porch swing with my mom, willing the clouds to open up. So now... raindrops on the window woke me up Saturday night, and since we really, really needed rain, it was great. I definitely didn't follow through on that weather-related goal, but the risk is worth the reward!

Stalls are free, feeder is in, manure is hauled, corn is planted

What a busy, busy month on our farm.

Yesterday we were at dinner with friends and one said, "I have no idea what it's like on a modern farm."

Kris and I started to explain a little bit, and one part I wanted to emphasize that I normally don't is this:

There is continual activity here. Milk truck, feed truck, electricians, builders, vets, salesmen, plus all our regular team members. There is always someone coming and going. It's a beehive of activity and people and vehicles.

Free stalls

We added 140 free stalls overall to our barn. We had to do this to make room for the additional heifers we're keeping. To explain this, our cows have a calf every year, and about half of them are heifers. If we keep every heifer, then our herd grows, because obviously we don't cull half our cows every year. (We still have to sell heifers, but this helps.) This was a giant project that required tons of work, which was done by our building company, and it lasted from December until now.

Feeder

This was another project that lasted from December until now, due to parts and timing and everything else that happens with multiple companies working on projects! We would have put in a system like our new barn, where you just put feed on the cement in front of them, instead of this feeder system that is mechanized and can break, but we have manure pits under the barn. As a result, the floor wouldn't be able to support our tractors and wagons. So! We put in a feeder that we hope lasts the rest of our CAREER. It also speeds up the feeding process, which everyone is happy about!

Manure

We use a company to haul our manure, and now we have so many cows that we have to do it multiple times a year. They got even bigger equipment, and in two days they hauled 2.5 million gallons of manure out of our lagoon and spread it on our field. I think back to when we had one tiny manure hauler and it took weeks. Of course, we had fewer cattle then, but this is still a nice time savings, especially when the weather doesn't always cooperate.

Corn planting

The corn is halfway in as of yesterday, and the rest is going in today! It is warm but very dry, and already everyone is worried, because that's all you can do about weather. It is a universal trait about farming. Check the weather, worry about the weather, talk about the weather ... despite my vow that I would never have a job that depended on the weather ... I do! Of course, I also work from home as a writer, so that has never depended on the weather, so it partly came true. 

On to May and more and more and more activity!

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March on

It's construction season! We're still adding free stalls on to the barn - now the other side - fixing the driveway, and making a new feeder. These are huge changes for us. We have people in and out all the time. It's been happening through the snow, ice, mud, and rain, and now ... it's spring and it feels fantastic!

A friend sent me this post from REAL Seal Dairy of my tiny boys. They were four years old here. 

And here they are yesterday, doing calf chores! They are so helpful. I rode with Cole while he drove the 4-wheeler - also called a quad, but we always called it a 4-wheeler, and he is a good driver. 

Kris and I have been running a lot, and we even started a Run Club in St Johns that is SO FUN!

My friend Annie Link, also a dairy farmer, is holding a race at her farm on May 8. It even goes through her barns! We're excited to run it, and you can sign up here:

Dairy Discovery Road and Trail 5k and 15k

I post many more pictures (and much more frequently) on Facebook and Instagram, and you can follow both of those here:

https://www.facebook.com/TruthOrDairy

https://www.instagram.com/truthordairyfarm/

Detroit Mom and Domino's Pizza tour!

Last fall blogger Elizabeth Lewis of Detroit Mom came on a visit arranged by UDIM! 

It was a fun, two-part visit - one, go to Domino's and make our own pizzas with owner Eric Arntson and his family. We focused heavily on cheese and how it got there in the first place, since most farming boils down to food. 

Two, the bloggers, their friends, their families, and the Arntsons came to tour our farm! So we all took the entire journey from the beginning - calves, feed, raising healthy heifers, cows, milking routine - to the end, cheese on your delicious pizza. 

THINGS FROM THE TOUR

1. Eric loves showing people how to make pizza, and he and his daughter Abby were really good at it. It was so fun to go behind the counter and do it ourselves. Our kids - all of them there - really loved it, too. Kris made his own cheese bread, which he orders all the time from Domino's.

2. We are Domino's lovers already. They are the only pizza place that will deliver to our farm, and we buy a lot of it for our family and for our team. A LOT. I mean, we have the app and are frequent buyers and we all know our order by heart. Eric and his family also live in St Johns, and we're happy they're part of our community! 

3. We talked about nutrition and safety and all of the important things people should know about milk and cheese, but we also talked about the wonderful taste.

4. My boys each had their own pizza to themselves, and THAT does not happen. 

5. Domino's has a great relationship with dairy farmers! Order extra cheese!

Then on the farm ...

1. During my tour, I told them there's no party without dairy. Pizza party! Ice cream party! We're there. It's hard to party without us.

2. Elizabeth's son Nolan really jumped in and did all the things that my farm boys did. Get in the pen with the calves? Climb up the side of the barn? Run in the pasture among them? Yep. He was all in, and we loved it.

3. Christina of Socially Chrissy was there with her daughter Eden, and she really made me laugh. She also has a fierce love of dairy, and it's so great hearing that!

4. Elizabeth loves cows in a serious way, and will travel any distance to see them. It's always heartwarming to have people on the farm who feel that way about animals.

5. Katie Jones of Lansing Mom came with her kids, and she was my kids' friends' parent's student teacher! You find me a person, I'll find a connection!  

Honestly, showing people around our farm, going through the end product of the milk, talking about the ins and outs and benefits and consumer fears - it's all so wonderful, productive, and fun. You're all welcome! I'll bring the ice cream, and Eric's bringing the pizza - it's a party!

Domino's Tour with Detroit Mom

Wardin Family Farm Tour with Detroit Mom

I assure you, they ate these like someone might try to take them away.

Kris is loyal to these jalepeno cheesy breadsticks.

Welcome to our farm! And windblown hair! I need a hat.

Katie, her son, and a giant cow

Detroit Mom, Lansing Mom, St Johns mom lowercase : ) 

The whole farmy gang

Christina feeding a calf a bottle

Nolan COMPLETELY at home

Maryn, Eden, and Nolan climbing the wall in the background

Is there anything cuter? No.

We love milk and our friend Jolene!