12 days of Christmas

On social media I did a 12 Days of Christmas of past farm pictures. Enjoy, and merry Christmas!

This is my favorite view from our backyard. The sunset in the summer is right in the middle of our view. Every night I'm home I go outside to watch the sunset, and if someone is home, I pull him out with me.

I've seen a lot of beautiful sights, I've been to national parks and all 50 states and many countries, and I love traveling. But this view is the reason I won't ever really leave.

In 2017, we decided to space out our calving, so our summer help went back to college, and my mom Cherie Anderson volunteered to do calf chores for months. She made a binder complete with pictures outlining exactly how to do it.

This is just one of the millions of ways she worked with my dad on the farm in the past, feeding, watching cattle on a camera to see who was in heat, drawing them for records, as well as working on off the farm. And then today as she mows at the houses (including mine!) and barns every week, landscapes them, plants flowers, and makes everything look nice, as well as supporting us in every way possible.

When I told her in 2006 that Kris and I were contemplating moving back and buying the farm, she said, "Oh, we'll have so much fun!" She was right!

I love this picture from when we brought Kris lunch in the field yesterday. Wait, 11 years ago. : )

We're going way back in the vault to a picture I remember my mom taking when I was 6 years old, going out to feed our 4-H calves in our backyard. This swingset, the bin, the wagons, the Guernsey calves, the bare feet on gravel...such a farmy shot.

Here are little Cole and Ty being funny with giant pieces of grass in their mouths. I love the looks on their faces. Look! Someone is wearing shoes!

Here's my dad Jack Anderson talking to Max in the barn. My dad stayed on a year after we moved back to Michigan from Connecticut to work with Kris on the farm, and then he went off to get his pilot's license and fly around. But...he never stopped helping, giving advice, fixing things, and supporting us, and now our kids! That's an every day job.

These could be any little farm kids in any year on any farm. But these are mine, and I loved these little boys who liked climbing things then and now!

Babies and cows, am I right?! I love seeing the cows on pasture, and they always welcome us when we join them.

Here's when my twins sort of looked like twins.

It's two cuties in a corn field...there are so many things I love about this picture. The way Kris is looking at Max, and the way Max is looking at the camera. The difference in skin between people who work outdoors and babies. Kris' Caterpillar hat and how tall the corn is. The fact that this picture is over a decade old, but it seems like yesterday!

When Kris and I decided to farm, one of the reasons we thought it would be fun is because our kids would grow up like we did. And they have! I feel it's captured in this picture with the swimsuit, the boots, and the calves in the barn.

.A few years ago we were having a party, we all went out to the pasture, and my friend took this picture. It's got the land we first bought when we moved here, the cows, the pasture across from our house, and the guy I've been married to for almost 21 years!

 

What a year!

What a year! Let's look back...

Jan 

We started the year visiting my Uncle Al, Aunt Delia, cousin Cass, wife Dorie, and daughters in New Mexico on their dairy farm! Dairy farmers love to visit other dairy farms, especially when they are owned by much-loved family members. We got up to do chores with them, and it was so fun seeing how other people do things.

Feb

Kris' grandma turned 90 and attributes her long and healthy life to raw milk. Since it's not always legal to drink raw milk, just go for pasteurized, I say.

March

Cole milked for the first time. The next in a long line of milkers!

April 

Kris and the boys repaired the landscaping around our centennial farm sign. We're now up to 144 years in 2023, which means in 2029 we'll have a big 150th birthday party - a sesquicentennial, so I can practice spelling it now.

May 

Eighteen friends (plus my dad!) volunteered to help us cover the pile of alfalfa on Memorial Day weekend. We felt so lucky! Look, they come in all sizes.

June

We did tours with college students, elementary students, news reporters, and playgroups. The kids asked adorable questions, and one kindergartner told me it was the best day of her life. I don't care if she says that every day. I'll take it. 

July

Our families visited, and I love being on the farm with all our little nieces and nephews!

August

Rock picking is one of my favorite chores on the farm, since I feel like it's also a great workout. Don't say we don't have fun family activities. Harvest continued.

September

We chopped the corn! It stopped raining for quite some time this summer, (insert stress and worry here), so the corn was shorter than usual, but still not a bad harvest overall!

October

We hauled manure again, which totals about four times a year, and Kris and I attended the National Milk Producers meeting in Colorado. You could spot a dairy farmer from 100 yards in the hotel, and if there's one characteristic dairy farmers have in common, it's friendliness. Everyone just talked. We talked farming, of course. 

November

We started a construction project, making a management rail, a trimming area, an office, and some storage.

December

We like to reflect on the year. It was a really good one for us, and we're fortunate to have a great team with us, including my parents, our employees, and all the companies and individuals who support us. We're talking manure haulers, builders, dairy supply, nutritionist, vets, suppliers, equipment dealers, milk haulers, our co-op...the list goes on an on, and I don't want to miss anyone. We appreciate you this year and every year!

Here's to a great 2022, and cheers to the upcoming new year. As always, thanks for reading!

#Pilkandcookies

I saw a news story about a video made by Pepsi about mixing Pepsi and milk. The hashtag was #pilkandcookies. I posted about it on Facebook, and a lot of people told me that they drank it in Laverne and Shirley, and this was an old idea resurfacing. However! We hadn't heard of it before, so we started some experiments.

First - Pepsi and milk! 

Positive reviews all around.

Cole - Tastes like carbonized milk with a little Pepsi taste. I like it. The consistency is weird. Sure, I'd drink it again.

Max - It tastes like Pepsi with the texture of milk.

Ty - Pretty good! Blends the taste. Pepsi tastes like metal and this doesn't.

For me, if I closed my eyes, I would just think I was drinking Pepsi. So it's like a ... nutritional glass of Pepsi! 

Next up - Diet Mountain Dew and whipped cream.

All of us looked askance at this combo, but...you can't deny the results!

Cole, Max l, and I liked it better than Pepsi and milk, while Ty stayed in the Pilk camp. 

Mostly this made mornings before school more fun!

 

Next a suggestion - orange pop and milk

TrueMoo sells an orange-flavored milk at Halloween called Orange Scream, and we've gotten it and liked it. 

Max - It tastes exactly like that TrueMoo orange milk. I think they're just putting pop in it.

Kris - It's pretty good. It tastes like an orange pushup.

Me - Delicious.

Cole and Ty practically in unison - Orange popsicle. 

Several friends suggested a Boston Cooler - Vernors and vanilla ice cream mixed in a blender. This is actually a Michigan drink. 

Although we had all had a Vernors float, none of us had tried it in a blender.

Kris & Ty said the exact same thing at different times - "Best one yet."

Cole - "Good to me."

Me - "Better than a float."

Max - "Weird, good ice cream."

~

What have we learned? It's all fine. No one has asked for a repeat. We drink milk every day without pop in it, and that's probably good enough for us. But I love trying them, and I love the marketing. What should we try next?!

Eat butter - WLNS news story

Nate Salazar from WLNS, organized by Jon Adamy at Michigan Farm Bureau, came out to talk about inflation and the effects on farms. Thanks to them for a good story!

The video is here.

New construction!

New construction!

We're building a management rail (also called a palpation rail) where we can take care of cows. We're also putting in a dedicated area to trim their hooves, which we do on a regular schedule.

It will all be controlled with an electronic sort gate which is run off the RFID tags in our cattle's ears. This way, it's easier for them to know where to go, since the gates will open automatically to guide them to the correct area. This is less disruptive for them.

This includes an office where the computer running the sort gate will be housed in half, and the other half will store pallets of minerals and supplemental feed. 

We're excited!

~

Check out this old blog on hoof trimming ... Josh Salisbury, once our longtime employee, is our trimmer now, (Sheldon moved away), but it's the same idea! Click here: Hoof trimming.

First snow

Does everything take longer and require more prep? It is also worth it for the beauty? Yes!

Winter came a little early this year, as we usually don't have snow until the last week of November...but it's been the most lovely fall all around. Just last week it was 74 degrees! Lots of people took the time to put out their Christmas lights. I used the time to finish cleaning leaves out of our yard. It was wonderful to be doing it in shorts instead of a coat.

On the farm - our farm truck died. It really did a great job for us. It has been through a lot, and it looks like it. We were patching it together with hope. We're replacing it with something smaller, since trucks are not the most fun item to purchase right now.

We are doing a lot of construction down at the barn, and that will make work even easier...coming up! 

 

Brownfield ag article

Michigan dairy farmers are working to increase access to milk and dairy foods at local food pantries.

Kris Wardin serves on the United Dairy Industry of Michigan board of directors.

“It is one of the most requested food bank items, we just haven’t had necessarily the logistics to be able to get it there, but that has really changed over the past several years,” he says.

The St. Johns dairy farmer tells Brownfield new check-off funded grant programs allow food pantries to purchase dairy foods and also improve their distribution process.

“It’s really a program I think our dairy farmers can feel very proud of, they can feel really good about it, and I think from our feedback from our partners at the food bank, they’re so very appreciative of it,” he shares.

The program has placed more than 60 coolers in local food pantries and awarded 10 infrastructure grants and 25 dairy food grants over the past two years.

Wardin says other food security projects have provided six of the seven major food banks in the state with dedicated refrigerated trucks to help distribute dairy.

He also points to milk drives with partner organizations like Busch’s Fresh Market and Spartan Nash stores to help increase milk donations to pantries.

Listen here.

Running

Alice Murphy sent me this clip yesterday. I've seen it before, but not in a long time. This is my grandma Caroline Anderson, who had five children, then taught elementary school to put her children through college, all while dairy farming with my grandpa, Dale. 

I was lucky enough to have my grandma until I was 15 years old, and since she lived so close, she was part of my daily life. I can't say enough good things about her, since she came to everything we did, was funny and nice, did the hula dance at an event and taught me too, always was delighted to spend time with us, and made my childhood pretty magical. 

A salute to one of the people that made our farm what it is today!

Corn is done!

Breathe a sigh of relief...the corn silage is done! 

We hire Eric Miles and his team to do our chopping now. Eric very kindly sent me a video from the seat of the chopper, because I do miss riding with Kris (plus the boys) and watching it all happen! I don't miss owning a chopper and wagons. Eric and his team do an awesome job.

Our team also was great as always, and our supplementary team of our neighbors (not pictured) and friends (most but not all pictured) who helped us cover the piles!

This is such a big deal every year. All the eagerness to plant, all the hoping for rain, all the concern about it all summer long...then the payoff of a (hopefully) good harvest to feed our cattle!

It didn't rain much here, so our corn crop was not quite as good as some years, so we're buying some beet pulp we also will store on the cement pad.

End of summer

Don't you think it's interesting when a child follows in a parent's footsteps?

Obviously this happens a lot in agriculture. Although we are on my family's farm, Kris also comes from a long line of farmers. Here he is with his dad Mike, who delivered bales this week.

I like asking people who I think have great jobs if they would recommend it to their kids...and often the answer is no.

Do you want your kids to follow in your career footsteps?

(Zero of my kids seem inclined to be either farmers OR marketing writers. But there's time!)

~

Also - there's the beauty of the cows and pasture...and the beauty of technology and machinery! 

1. Manure haulers to fertilize our fields, this week after we chopped alfalfa. Thanks guys!

2. This keeps algae and residue from clogging up the irrigation pipe. We used to have to clean it out by hand once or twice a day. 

3. The irrigation system that keeps our pastures and crops hydrated during this pretty dry summer!

We're getting ready for harvesting corn. It's kind of short due to the lack of rain, but it still looks good. The kids are back in school, I'm working, and we're all readying (and honestly, ready) for cold weather! 

Down on the farm

Ah, it's been an exciting summer on the farm. Good things, bad things, in between things. Lots of tours, friends, family, employees, parties, meetings, and work. Kris is on two boards and he really enjoys going to their meetings, the other people, and being involved. Our employees are wonderful, and we're fortunate they work here. I've been spending a lot of time at my computer at my job, which is currently in a different industry, which is why I haven't been posting any dairy articles!

The new alfalfa just started peeking out of the ground, and we're getting ramped up for corn harvest. Get ready for a tire party!  

Now wheat!

My mom, Cherie Anderson, has done it again!  This time it's on wheat. We don't grow wheat on our farm, but we do buy a lot of it to bed down our cattle. I love looking at it when it's growing and when it's in bales in the field. It's just so beautiful. A friend of mine just had her niece's senior pictures taken in Greece, and in them she's standing in front of ... wheat! Beautiful in any country! Here's what my mom wrote:

~

The farmers around here have been harvesting their wheat for about the past week. Wheat is a cereal grain in the grass family. Most of the wheat planted around here is winter wheat and it’s planted about the first week of October. When it comes up, it looks like a field of grass and is a very pretty color of green. When the cold comes, the wheat just sits there and it survives all through the winter weather. In fact, it’s desirable to have snow cover the crop as insulation. In the spring, it begins to grow again and as it ripens in July, it turns a beautiful golden color. You know, “amber waves of grain”.  

Wheat is harvested with a combine. The combine cuts the plants off and separates the kernels of wheat from the chaff. The last photos show what comes out and is put into the truck or wagon. 

Wheat is almost like two crops in one, as the combine can shoot all the stems of the wheat out onto the ground and then the farmer can bale all of that straw up. If he doesn’t have livestock, he can sell all the straw to farmers who do. It is used for nice, soft, clean bedding for the animals. The straw can be baled  into big square bales, small square bales, or big round bales, just like hay is. 

Wheat is a cash crop, not generally raised for animal feed. The farmer can harvest the wheat and sell it that day for the current market price; he can store it and sell it when he wants to; or many farmers sign a contract ahead of time for a certain number of bushels at a certain price. This happens to be a good year to have wheat to sell!

Alfalfa - the process!

A beautiful field of aflalfa

My mom Cherie Anderson wrote this on her Facebook page, and since she described it so well, I'm going to use it here! She also took all the pictures. Even though I grew up here, I didn't really pay attention until we started farming here ourselves. Growing and harvesting alfalfa to feed our cattle is a summer-long process with rewarding results! 

~

It’s haying time in Michigan. Everyone knows what hay is, but maybe not everyone knows the process. This is a field of alfalfa. Alfalfa is planted in late summer or early fall to use the following spring. It’s a high protein food for cattle. It’s a legume and has deep roots. A field will be good for three to five years, or even longer, depending on the weather and soil. 

When the alfalfa is at the right maturity and there’s no rain imminent, the farmer mows it and the machine lays it in rows. Then a rake or merger will put those rows together into larger swaths, or windrows. Then a chopper will scoop up those rows, cutting the alfalfa into smaller pieces and shooting it into a wagon or truck which is driving alongside. It’s trucked to a cement pad, dumped out, and another tractor pushes it into a pile and drives over it, compacting the pile. When it’s all done, the pile is covered with plastic. The alfalfa ferments, does not rot or spoil, and makes nutritious, delicious feed for cows for later on. It’s called haylage. 

You can also bale alfalfa into round or square bales. In that case, it has to be much drier than chopped alfalfa. You can’t bale wet hay. It can actually spontaneously combust, as crazy as that sounds. 

Alfalfa is mixed with corn sileage and other feeds and fed to cattle. Hay for horses is generally not purely alfalfa - it is either grass hay or a mixture of alfalfa and grass. Alfalfa is harder for horses to digest. They only have one stomach, unlike a cow which has four. 

The last picture shows the field when all the chopping is done. The cool thing is that the alfalfa will grow back and the farmer can get three, sometimes four, cuttings every summer!  Of course, at that point you WANT rain, unlike when you’ve got hay on the ground. 

Oh, and it smells wonderful when it’s freshly cut!

Alfalfa close up

Cut

Merged

Chopper chopping it

Dumping onto feed pile

Tractor driving on continually to form file and compress it 

The alfalfa field afterward

Ready to grow...in just 28ish days we do it again!