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!

First time

I got a call from Kris.

"We're putting the heifers out on pasture for the first time.  Could you stand in the back corner and try and keep them from running through the fence?"

Putting heifers out on pasture for the first time for the year is a little different than putting them out on pasture for the first time EVER.  First of all, they've never seen an electric fence.  Second, they've never had such a giant area in which to run.  Third, they run as fast as they can toward the fences.

Kris picked Max and me up.  In between calling me and getting me, Kris had discovered that a heifer had gotten excited and gotten out.  She wasn't one of the ones we were moving though - she was at the barn!  

Josh and Mike were taking heifers from the barn on trailers and letting them off into the field.  Kris opened a gate and I said I'd chase her into the pasture.  I started off running and Kris joked, "Put all that training to work!" 

I got behind her and she moved easily into the next pasture.

All I had to do was chase her straight up the fence into the next pasture.  Josh and Mike left, and Kris drove ahead to open the gate.  As soon as they left, she and I moved ahead and ... she got a running start and ran right through the fence again.

I moved her into the corner, hoping she wouldn't run into the road.  She didn't.  She turned around and stood and stared at me.  I stood and stared at her.  

We were at a standstill.  Alone, I couldn't open two gates next to the road to get her to where she was supposed to be.  I didn't want to chase her through a fence, since I didn't WANT her to run through fences.  

So we waited.  For ten minutes, she and I stared at each other.  I talked to her a little, telling her I was just trying to get her back with the herd.  I knew Kris or one of the guys would come back eventually.
  

They all came back at the same time and we moved her into the pasture again.  Then we repeated the freeing of the heifers, the nerve wracking feeling of watching them run toward the fence ... surrounded by open fields ... and hoping they stayed in.  The wayward heifer slowly blended in with the others.

I helped with a few loads until my boys were getting home from school.  We checked again right before dark ... they were all still there! 

I hope they're all still there in the morning ... or it'll be a different kind of training run.

                                         

***

Ryan Bright is a dairy farmer in Tennessee, where he milks about 90 cows.  They raise corn, hay, and wheat.  He is also an author!  He interviewed me about my books Every Other Twin Book is Wrong, Where the Filed Things Are, and Sawyer in the Woods on his blog, Farmer Bright.  

You can read it on his site here.


 

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.

Smithsonian & romantic life on the farm

I was talking to my friend Beth recently and she said, "I used to think about farming as a really sort of romantic thing - you lived on a farm, you worked outside ... but then I met you and you really ruined it!  You talked about all the work and the things that go wrong!"

We all laughed, but it's true - like any other job, once you know more about it, you realize it has its ups and downs.  It IS sort of romantic at times ... and other times it's just real life!  Cattle get sick, things break, stuff doesn't work out, milk prices are low ... etc.  But like everyone else, you just deal with it and move on because it's your job, your life, and your livelihood.

So when I was asked questions by people at the Smithsonian American farmer exhibit, they asked really good questions, like ...

Does farming affect how you make decisions at the grocery store?
Where does your milk go?
Do you have favorite cows?
Who works on the farm?
Do you want your kids to farm?
What is your manure management program?
What are you breeding your cows to now?
Do your cows go out on the pasture at night?
How does the government pricing affect your milk?
Is it made into things other than milk?
What is your opinion on drinking raw milk?
How many acres do you farm?
How many cows do you milk?
What do you do with the male calves?

In the course of answering those questions, I also talked about cow comfort, how there are no antibiotics in any milk (conventional or organic), how there aren't added hormones in milk, about natural bull breeding, and manure as fertilizer.  The people laughed, it was a good discussion, and I think it's a great program!  What a nice way to connect people from all over to a farm.

Meanwhile, back on the farm in real life ... everything is happening.  It's the time of year where Kris is working and organizing and on the phone and super busy.  First of all, we're getting the fields ready to plant.  This means preparing them with fertilizer (manure) and lime, working them up, and planting them.  We contract with a guy to do a lot of the field work so we don't have to own all the equipment, but you're still the one organizing it with him.  Today Kris was also figuring out how we can rock pick the field before it gets planted.  He wanted to get the cattle out on the pasture soon, but said that someone had to check the fences.  I offered to do it, and he said that would be great, but someone would also have to go out there with a chainsaw to cut the dead trees off the fence that had fallen during the winter.

Turns out there were a lot!  I fixed all I could, but some were just too giant to move without a chainsaw

Also, the hoof trimmer was here yesterday, we had to finish up our tax stuff with our accountant, we're getting the machinery ready, we're continuing to dry up cows - and on top of that we needed to take in a car to get fixed and I needed Kris to watch the kids ... basically, Kris and the team are working really hard right now.

That's why historically farmers are not continually communicating about what they do.  They're too busy working.  Due to our partnership, we are able to do both.

It's sometimes romantic, it's sometimes the opposite of romantic, but what it is above all is what we've chosen!  We make our own decisions, our own mistakes ... the crops will grow, the calves will be born, Kris won't get enough sleep, and we'll take some serious satisfaction in a job well done.

And if I still get emotional at times like this?  I can't help it.  I'm a romantic at heart.

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.

Spring fever

I was with some of my city-living friends recently and I mentioned my 'neighbors'.  They laughed and made jokes because my 'neighbors' aren't really that close to my house.

But really, we have the best neighbors - they're also our friends.  I took this picture from our neighbor Ashley's front yard.  Her tree is so beautiful every year, and Ashley and her family love seeing the cattle in the pasture like we do.

Also today our friend and neighbor-down-the-road Sharon posted this on Facebook:

"Friendly Neighbors make for Happy Cows and Exceptionally Cute Calves ---- It's true... just ask me! It's that time of year again. Some of the pregnant moms have been moved right next door! Some of them came up to the fence to say hello, how's the family, etc. Soon I'll be posting pics of cute little calves making their way into the world. LOVE this time of year! Stay tuned."

It's nice that the excitement is all around us!

Today we moved the calves from last year into the pasture for the first time ever in their lives.  I couldn't be there, so my mom took lots of video of them mooing, sprinting, and kicking.  We spent the afternoon watching them, since they're right in my backyard.  They'd tired themselves out and were lying down or butting heads, trying to decide who's boss.

I don't know if you've ever seen cattle do that, but it's just like you see on nature shows with pretty much any animal butting heads.  They just kind of neck-wrestle, then both wander away.  It's hard for me to tell who won.

It'll be a busy day on the farm tomorrow.  We're scouring the calf barn to ready for new calves, hauling manure to the fields, and moving more cattle.

And our neighbors will be around for it all.  Interested?  If you like a real cow moo as an alarm clock, there are a few houses for sale around here.


If you want to know more, you can like my farm page on Facebook, follow @carlashelley on twitter, or get the posts sent to your email by filling out the form on the right. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me! 

The cows are out ... on pasture!

It's so exciting to let the cows out on pasture for the first time in the spring.  I called my mom ... the boys and I went over ... and the cows were super loud in the barn!  They knew.  They'd seen people in the field getting ready all day.  

Part of having the cows out on the field is making sure that they have a close water source.  They drink the equivalent of a bathtub full of water a day.  (Which sounds ridiculous and makes me thirsty.)

Our water tanks are made of cement, and like all cement, sometimes they crack and leak.  Kris was looking at the patching with Ty, and then the boys started trying to fix it right away.  They built rock and dirt dams.  It didn't staunch the flow much, but I liked their attempt.  We're going to look at plastic liners next.

Then it was time!  We opened the gates and the cows came running out!

Kris, do you hear something behind you?

They ran, ran, ran!  All of these are pregnant cows.  They're dried up, which means we're not milking them until they have calves - right out here in the pasture.  (For more on drying up, read here.)

 They stopped as soon as they came down the lane and started eating.

It's so nice to see the cows on pasture.  The green grass, the blue sky, the 70 degree weather - all perfect pasturing and spring weather.

We had another sign of spring, too!  Our team member Adam brought back out the U Mad Bro tank top!  He faithfully wore this shirt all last summer.  His dedication made my boys love that shirt and they all now have one.  I didn't get them - Santa did.

So, it's spring, the cows are out (in the only good way possible), and no one's mad - it's one of the happiest times of year on the farm.


If you want to know more, you can like my farm page on Facebook, follow @carlashelley on twitter, or get the posts sent to your email by filling out the form on the right. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me! 

Then and now

Last year we had a great time attending the National Milk Producers Federation annual meeting.  It's today in Texas, and due to social media, I felt like I really knew what was going on!

But no meeting this year - today was a busy day on the farm.  First, we had the rye planted.  It's in a field where we already harvested, so now we're planting rye for the spring.  It'll be interesting to see how well it grows, since this is a late planting ... due to a late harvest ... due to this late summer!

When I say 'we had the rye planted' it means that we pay a custom planter to do it.  Although we own equipment to do a lot of our field work, it's way easier for farmers to pay people to do it who already have all the (working) equipment.  Lots of farmers use them, so we're all basically sharing the cost of the equipment!  They're busy guys too - trying to coordinate to do all their customers' fields ... all at the same time.

We also unloaded a giant load of hay that we bought.  It looks so big, it doesn't even look like it'd fit on the road!  Of course, we also grow hay, but we buy big square bales to put out for the cattle.

Besides that, another piece of equipment broke, we got a big bill for a machine we had fixed, and we had ... 70 degree weather and sun!  It was like summer!  We spent all evening outside, much of it spent in the pasture behind our house.

Cows are curious.  These heifers see the boys all the time - but they still are so entertained.  There's kicking, running, and a lot of excitement!

    

... for both the cows and the boys.


I'm a finalist for the Faces of Farming & Ranching.  The winners get to go around the country and help educate people about agriculture.  Online voting is 25% of the final score.  You can vote and see a video of our farm here:

http://faces.pgtb.me/w2Sg4d

Thank you!

What? 9 words that have a totally different meaning on a farm

What are they talking about?

1. Feed.

What do you feed a cow?  You feed a cow … feed.  You don’t say, ‘cow food’, like you say ‘dog food.’  It’s ‘cattle feed.’

Our cows are on pasture, but we also feed them a supplemental feed.  (See what I did there?  I can’t get away from it.)  We chop up corn and alfalfa into tiny bits and feed them their feed.  Looking at ‘feed’ repeated so many times is … well, it’s making me hungry. 

Regular use:

“I tried to feed Cujo, but he wasn’t hungry for his dog food.”

 Farm use:

“Everything broke today when I went to push up the cattle feed.”

2. Lagoon.

Ah … a shimmering, azure body of water, tucked away in the Caribbean, the perfect temperature for a dip.

Or, a manure storage system.

Why is it better to have a giant lake of manure instead of having it in pits underground?

Lots of reasons!  The best reason, in my opinion, is that if you fall into a manure pit, you die.  The fumes, which are in a very small, enclosed space, overcome you and kill you.  There are many instances over the years on farms of someone falling in, and a dad, a brother, an uncle, etc. – trying to help and also perishing. 

But!  If you fall into a lagoon, the air isn’t trapped, so you’ll just be really messy.  No real harm done.

There are many other reasons – great engineering, easier way to spread the manure on fields in a timely manner, bigger, and basically everything is easier to work on when it’s out in the open and not under a barn.

You’d think it’d smell really strongly, right?  Amazingly, it doesn’t.  The manure forms a crust on top of it, and it doesn’t smell like you’d think it would.  (I know you’re thinking porta potty at a football game, right before kickoff.  It is only one million times better than that.)

Regular use:

“I’m going to lounge in the lagoon.  You’ll find me by the mermaids.  They’re thinking of making me queen.”

Farm use:

“A cow tried to fall into the lagoon today.  It must just look really inviting.”

3. Combine.

Okay, say that word out loud.  What syllable did you stress - did you say comBINE or COMbine?

If I were reading it, I’d say comBINE, as in to bring two separate pieces together. 

But on a farm, it’s a COMbine, which is a piece of farming equipment used to harvest grain.  It used to be called a combined harvester, and the name was shortened.  But that begs the question … were people pronouncing it the COMbined harVESTer?  And how did the NFL decide on their combine pronunciation?  And which quarterback could best run a combine this fall harvest?  Sports talk radio, I look to you.  I know you have an opinion.

Regular use:

“I wanted to combine my interest in taxidermy with my love of pets, but it just didn’t work out.”

Farm use:

“I wanted to combine my interest in combining with my interest in the combine, but sports talk radio ignored me.”

4. Fresh, freshening, freshen, freshened.

Crisp, bright vegetables, just from the garden!  Waking up bright and rosy-cheeked!  Reapplying perfume and touching up makeup!

Or, a cow that has just had a calf and is giving milk.  After they start giving milk, we refer to them as the ‘fresh cows’.  (Which makes me think of a gang of cattle, sassing their teachers and smoking across from the school.)

Regular use:

“My laundry never smells fresh.  It’s probably because I leave it in the washer for days before I realize I’m out of underwear again.”

Farm use:

“The fresh cows are milking well.” (This does not mean as opposed to the stale ones.)

5. Bagged up.

At the grocery store, a kind gentleman bags up my groceries for me. 

On the farm, it means that the cow’s udder is getting bigger, meaning she’s closer to delivering a calf. 

Kris drives out in the pasture and walks in the barns to see which cows are getting close to calving, so he can keep an eye on them.  They give signals, like getting really big on their right side (cows carry calves more on that side of their bodies.)  Their udders get larger.  They start complaining about their ankles and water retention.  Just kidding!  

Regular use:

“When I bagged up my groceries, I forgot to put in the conditioner.  So I had to cut all the snarls out of my hair before I left the house.”

Farm use:

“A few of them look pretty bagged up, so they’ll probably all have calves when we should be leaving for the football game.” 

6. Deacon.

You’re thinking – religious position.  Here, it’s a term for newborn dairy bull calves that you’re selling.  (If you’re keeping them, or they’re older, they’re just called ‘bulls’.  Isn’t that incredibly specific?  It is not a standard definition in Merriam-Webster, but it is one that we all know. 

Regular use:

“The deacon jumped from the church balcony to save his nephew from drowning.  No, wait, he made that up.”

Farm use:

“I sold three deacons today.” (And after they’re sold, they magically turn into bulls!)

7. Pasture.

When I think of a pasture, I think of a green meadow, full of grass.  That is a pasture!  It’s also used as a verb.  When I say, ‘we pasture our cattle,’ it means that our cattle graze on a pasture.

I think only farmers use it as a verb – but really, who else talks so much about pastures?  Endlessly?  For hours, months, years?  Pasture farmers!

Regular use:

“Do you see that pasture over there?  They’re turning it into a Denny’s.  If it were any other restaurant, I wouldn’t be mad.”

Farm use:

“We pasture our cattle on pasture.  It’s pasture bedtime, young man!”  (Raucous laughter.)

8. Crick.

Sometimes you wake up, and you have a crick - or a painful stiffness - in your neck.  Here, we often have them running through our backyards.  They’re a natural stream of water smaller than a river.

I well remember when I was a little girl, writing my aunt a thank you note.  I wrote, “We’ve been playing in the crick until we get leeches.”  My mom looked at my writing and said, “That’s not how you spell that – it’s C-R-E-E-K.”

Oh, that crazy English language, I thought.  A word sounds like ‘crick’ but is written ‘creek’?  Except I noticed … everyone didn’t call it ‘crick’ that rhymed with ‘brick’.  They called it ‘creek’ that rhymed with ‘seek’ - JUST LIKE IT WAS SPELLED.

Since then, I’ve said ‘creek’ to rhyme with ‘seek’.  But I’d say it’s 50/50 around here.  But everyone knows what everyone else is talking about, so there’s never any confusion. 

Regular use:

“I can’t believe I still have this crick in my neck from headbanging in the ‘90s.  Darn you, Nirvana!”

Farm use:

“I’m soaked, because I had to run through the crick to chase that cow that got out.” (Sometimes causes back cricks.)

9. Scours.

What do you scour – a sink?  A pan?  The internet?

Here, scours is synonymous with calf diarrhea.  (Aren’t you glad you know this?)  Scours isn’t a disease, but it is a symptom of several diseases.  No matter what’s causing it, scours can make the calf dehydrated and lose electrolytes.  Since they’re just delicate little babies, you have to make sure that everything that’s going into them and coming out of them is right.

Regular use:

“I scoured that pan for upwards of five minutes.  Then I just threw it away.  I think I’m actually coming out ahead on time if I just buy a new pan every time I make omelets.”

Farm use:

“Kids, I was just treating that calf with scours, so let me take a shower before I hug you.”

I'm a national finalist for Faces of Farming & Ranching - and you can help select the winner!  See a video of my farm and vote here: http://faces.pgtb.me/w2Sg4d

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.

The view

I know people have all sorts of views out their windows - oceans, mountains, spectacular sunsets - but I love our view of cows in the pasture.

We had so much rain last week that after we had the cows out, we had to put them back into the barn again for a few days.  It was so muddy out there that if they walked all over it, they'd completely ruin the pasture and it would be just a giant mud hole.  (Yes, they can do it that quickly!  Think Woodstock.)  So we put them back in again, it dried up enough, and they're back outside!

Now that it's spring there are a million things going on at once - we finally got our new mixer wagon delivered.  It's 50% bigger than the last one, so feeding all the cattle won't take as long.  We put in new cement and a new driveway on the calf barn.  Machines have been breaking - like always, and some have been returned, fixed.

But aside from all that, it's just nice to be out in the pasture again.  The cows and the boys agree.

Faces of Agriculture

Elizabeth Martin and Jamie Rhoades started a new blog called 'Faces of Agriculture.'  They aim to show "the human side of farming and ranching beyond the machines and science." 

They started two weeks ago and already have great stories and pictures from two different ranches in Texas, a ranch in South Dakota, and now us!

You can check out the feature here: Truth or Dairy with Kris and Carla Wardin. 

Funny thing ... they asked me to submit pictures of us on our farm.  I have seven million of Kris and the boys, but could not find even one of me on the farm.  But now, my sons are so old (five last week) they can take pictures!  Here is Cole's first photo contribution to the blog. 

Eating

When Kris isn't watching MSU win a big game, he's spending a lot of time monitoring how much the cattle are eating. 

It's always hard to feed cattle on pasture this time of year.  Why?  Because it's such a variable season!  Each day, each weather change, and each paddock is different.  So he's always trying to guess how much grass they're getting.

Heifers - He wants to make sure the heifers are getting enough grass, because that's what they're eating.  He checks their condition and their pastures a lot. 

Cows - He feeds the cows supplemental feed.  After he feeds them he checks the bunks.  If you feed them too much, there's food left in the bunk.  You don't want to pile feed on top of it - you want them to eat what was put there originally.  But you don't want their eating schedule to be off.  He also checks the milk production numbers.        

So, grass quality, feed quantity, and a nice break from it all for a few hours on a perfect football Saturday. 

New

I went out to the pasture with my dad and Kris. They picked up this newborn calf - one of 8 born today.



What is there to know about calves?

- They're really wet when they're born. Their mothers have to lick them off to stimulate them and get the fluid off of them. If they don't, another more-experienced cow does it, or Kris towels them off.

- They can walk within an hour of birth.

- Once they're in the barn, Kris treats their bellybuttons with iodine to help prevent infection.

- Iodine is used to make meth, so it's not as readily available as it used to be. (So I hear.)

New home

Today we moved 107 heifers on pasture for the first time. These are the calves that were born last summer. We take them from their outdoor barn and put them on trailers, drive them a half a mile down the road, and put them out. Then they dance and frolic across the pasture ... and run into the fences.

This is their first exposure to pasture and high tensile wire. It's stretchy wire. That means when the cattle run into it, it doesn't break. It's strung in three places - high, medium, and low. It's also electric.

Most people are familiar with barbed wire - birthplace DeKalb, IL, where we used to live! We don't use that, because electricity is basically the 'barb' of this wire.

So the heifers tried out the pasture, checked out the woods, ran around, and ran into the fence. Kris said that one heifer had it stretched about 20 feet before it snapped back. One ran through it, and then ran the other direction back through it. But once they understand their boundaries, they never really touch it again.

Kris did say, however, that he didn't see even one of them eating grass. He said they just don't get it yet.

It doesn't take them long though. They soon tire of running around and get down to eating. In a few days they'll have to move them on to the next paddock. They'll be here until the grass stops growing and we move them to a pasture next to the barn, where we can supplement their feed through the winter.

Welcome to pasture, little heifers! Eat, run, and watch out for those fences. I really, really don't want to get the dreaded 3:00am call and chase you back in tonight. High tensile wire is great, but it can't beat teen-heifer excitement.

Pasture

Some people like to look out on the ocean. Some people prefer a mountain view. While I think those are beautiful landscapes, I also enjoy mine - cattle grazing in the field! Today we put the cattle out on pasture!

They're standing in knee deep grass, eating to their heart's content.

This also makes less work for Kris, since he doesn't have to feed all of them the chopped up food from the feed pile. (He's still feeding the milk cows a supplemental feed, and feeding the one-year-old calves, and feeding the new baby calves - but still, a little less!)

Have you ever seen cattle go out on pasture? They're always so excited. They frolic. They kick up their heels. They check out the fence line to see how far they can go. They eat and eat. When it's quiet, you can hear them tearing off the plants and chewing. It's not a setting on any sound machine I know of, but it's just as peaceful as hearing waves crash on the sand.

Tasty

I have a favorite condiment, salad dressing, and spice. It’s salt. (Don’t worry. I don’t use much and have very low blood pressure.)

Just like humans need salt to function normally, cows need salt, too.

Some vitamins and minerals are in what they already eat, but not everything. Most cattle producers add what’s called trace mineral salt to their feed. It can be mixed in with other feeds or can be given alone free choice. If we can mix it with their feed, we do. If they’re on pasture, we give it to them free choice. That means we get it in a bag and pour it into a salt feeder. It can also be given in salt blocks. (Yes, it’s a big block of salt and they lick them down to nothing.)

We’re going to try a different salt mix for the dry cows this year that has more vitamins in it that are beneficial for pregnant cows to keep them healthy through calving. It’s like a prenatal vitamin for cows.

You can buy all types – from generic mixes at the local store to custom mixes created by a nutritionist. As with anything, we’re just trying to give them the healthiest mix to meet their nutritional needs.

And taste . . . I didn’t even mention taste. I don’t know about you, but every vegetable I’ve ever eaten has been improved by salting it. When your diet includes a lot of pasture, probably the cows would agree.