Thank you!

Last year Kris won the Michigan Farm Bureau Achievement Award, and part of his prize was free use of a tractor for a year. Our year started today! They delivered our Kubota. Isn't it shiny?!

They also brought along a surprise. They gave us a picture of us standing in front of the tractor with the sponsor at the awards ceremony. And ... it's giant-poster size! Thank you, Kubota, for the tractor. It'll be incredibly useful. And thanks for the picture, too. It's perfect for my giant-size photo album!

Calf care

Today Kris went to a program put on by the MSU extension office called Calf Care School. It was an all-day class that covered everything to do with calves, from feeding to housing to scours.

Speaking of scours, a girl I met this weekend said that as soon as she walks in a barn, she can smell scours. Scours is calf diarrhea caused by viruses or bacteria. If not treated quickly, it causes potentially life-threatening dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. I said, “You can smell scours?” She said, “Once you know the smell, you know it. There’s no mistaking it for anything else.”

The extension agents (we have good ones!) and a vet covered the best ways to raise calves - supported by studies. Kris said it got him thinking about things he might want to do differently in the new calf barn. Instead of milk replacer, we’re going to feed them fresh milk, and we have to handle this differently. They also presented a study that showed you can feed high-quality haylage (chopped up and fermented alfalfa) to calves after weaning. People usually feed them dry hay because it was thought that fermented feed might not be good for a calf because it doesn’t have a fully developed rumen.

Like caring for babies, a lot of it was just reminders on how to raise healthy baby calves. We’re heading into calving season, so we’re gearing up! Hopefully we won’t have to identify scours by smell . . . there’s no class for that kind of skill.

Milking it

Our money really comes from one main source - milk. The milk check! I don't really feel the need to 'sell' milk, because people consider it a sort of staple. Then, even if they don't like milk, most people like at least one dairy product. Preferably sprinkled with crushed Oreos.

But do you know why milk's good for you? Here are some fun facts to pull out the next time you get the gallon from the fridge - which will be in about two minutes for me, when I whip myself up some chocolate pudding. Please visit my guest post: Which cow gives the chocolate milk?

On the way

The tractor we’re buying is going to be ready next week. Why, if we bought a tractor, wasn’t it ready immediately? Well, a farm near Hastings ordered a new tractor from the factory. As soon as their tractor was finished, they wanted to use it.

The dealership wanted to get a jump on selling the old tractor, because it was the winter. Once it’s spring, farmers are busy and don’t have time to research, look for, and test drive tractors. And it’s much better to buy a tractor before you desperately need one, because one’s broken and you have to plant! So much about crops is time and weather-sensitive.

The dealership set the price based on a certain amount of hours. (Hours are how they calculate tractor use, not miles driven.) They guessed at the amount of hours the tractor would have on it by the time the new tractor arrived. If the tractor had more hours on it than what they guessed, then the price would be lower. (They didn’t.)

The tractor is at the dealership now, and they’re getting it ready to come here. Kris told me they’re doing things like changing the fluids, taking care of any known issues, and cleaning it. He also had them order a buddy seat for it.

A buddy seat is that little chair next to the driver’s seat so you can have someone ride in the tractor with you. Kris has had lots of people ride with him. I have, my dad, friends, friends’ kids, and I’m sure to come . . . all five of us will fit in that tractor at once.

Up north

Kris and I went to Traverse City, MI for the final session of his 2010-2011 ProFILE class, which is a leadership class through Farm Bureau.

Kris has been going to the different events for almost two years, but I was just meeting his classmates for the first time.

I met Brian Pridgeon, who is a seventh generation farmer. He and his family currently have about 70,000 pigs. Did you know that pigs are pregnant for 114 days? Did you know that after they wean their piglets, the sows go into heat 5 days later, like clockwork? Did you know that their conception rate (on his farm) is 96%? I didn't.

Another class member has a greenhouse and sells all of the greenhouse's plants to places like Home Depot. As we drove through the vineyards, Kris mentioned that a lot of winery owners were also members of Farm Bureau. We saw some people working, trimming trees in the snow. There were also lots of cherry farms. Fruit growers are everywhere up there.

It's nice having the opportunity to talk to these farmers and learn about their industries, just like I like to talk to dairy farmers and learn more about ours.

We were eating a meal and a woman said, "With sons, it increases your chances one of them might want to take over your farm." The woman (farmer) replied, "I hope not. I hope they shoot for something higher."

Different products, different locations, different farms. Some farmers enjoy farming, some don't. Just like every job, it has its bad days and good days. Thankfully, so far, the good has far outweighed the bad. Can't wait to see milk prices in 2011!

Where does my food come from?

I posted on The Farm Fresh Food Blog again, with an answer to: 'Where does my food come from?'

Can you feel it?

The bikes are ready to ride ...



The asparagus is poking out of the ground ...



The pasture is ready to go ...



under the ice, of course.

I couldn't stop taking pictures of the ice today. Usually it melts off when the sun comes out, but it never melted today. As a result, everything glittered. It was beautiful.

Or as my son said, very (non) poetically, "It looks like everything is covered in tinfoil."