National Dairy Quality Awards

I'm so excited, because our farm won a National Dairy Quality Award - Gold!

I am so, so proud of Kris and every single one of our team members for their dedication to producing quality milk. 

As the introduction here says, farms were evaluated on quality measures, systems of monitoring udder health, milking routine, protocols for detection and treatment of mastitis, and strategies for overall herd health and welfare. We're also judged on milk components, and these numbers can only be achieved by the amazing work of our team members who are actually in the parlor, every day, three times a day.

Thank you to them, and thanks to you for drinking and eating dairy products!

 

Ended the year with a bang...

We really ended the year with a bang! On December 31, we had an electrical fire in our old tractor.  (Very old ... my dad bought it used in the early 90s.) No one was hurt, and due to the cool head of especially Mike and the guys, plus our fire department, the feed pile, buildings and cows were fine too! It really seemed the perfect way to end 2020!

I talked to Mike about it later, and he said he'd thought about it before - what he would do if a tractor caught fire. Like try to put it out with the fire extinguisher (check), move it away from the buildings and feed and cows (check), and spread sand on the burning diesel fuel (check.) What a guy! 

Now we're into 2021, and we're hoping it's not such a dumpster-tractor-fire of a year. 

Yesterday I got two messages from neighbors that there was a milk truck in the ditch, then they quickly messaged again to tell me it was actually a feed truck. The driver asked Kris to come and pull him out, because that's what happens every time a commercial vehicle around here gets stuck - much faster than a tow. But our tractor wasn't big enough to get him out - so we went to get another one, and another trucker came to pull him out. Good thing, because we are DOWN a tractor!

The builders are working on the barn project, the cows are happy with the relatively mild weather, and it's business as usual for all of us. Oh, except we're dealing with that mass hysteria, so my kids don't have school or sports. More time for sledding, I guess...here's to a shiny new year! May it be as bright as a tractor fire!

Thanks to our team members

 On my farm Facebook page I was going through a series of recognizing people who help us farm.  

There's no one more important than the people who are here every day - our team members. Some have been here longer than we've been here, some just a few years, one babysat me, I taught one to swim, and we're all neighbors! Thank you for farming with us. We appreciate you more than we could ever express.

Farmers and food pantries working together!

 

The United Dairy Industry of Michigan, which is funded by dairy farmers, gave away grants for coolers for food pantries. I asked for suggestions, contacted all the pantries I knew about, and the Roscommon Food Pantry wanted one! (Thank you to Elaine Palm for the suggestion.) Lynda Hogaboom is their delightful director who helped make it happen. Thanks to all involved parties for helping those in need! 

Ten year anniversary of Truth or Dairy

Oh my goodness...ten years ago I said to Kris, "I think I'm going to start a blog." He was supportive of me doing what I wanted, as long as he wasn't the subject. Blogs had been super popular for awhile, I read lots of them, but since I had a two-month-old baby, two three-year-old twins, and just one freelance writing job, I felt like I had some extra time on my hands.

Honestly, I just really wanted to share what was going on. We were three years into farming, and I wanted to share with my family and my community. It's turned into a large community! 

Ten years later, here I still am, and here we still are! I also post a lot on Facebook, Instagram, and even YouTube, if you'd like to check those out.

In these ten years, we've built barns, increased our herd, poured a lot of cement for feed pads, built a lagoon, and also ... done a lot with agricultural organizations, boards, and other farmers. So much! Looking back, it's been a great decade. 

This year was terrible in so many ways, yet on the farm, everything plugged away like mostly-normal. We are so sad about all the awful things going on around us, so many people suffering, and so many businesses being forced to close by uneven policies. We really feel for our fellow business owners. I truly hope that people wake up in 2021. 

This morning I walked over to see the work on the barn project, and Kris was looking at it too. I wanted to take his picture, and he didn't want me to do it. Some things never change.

As always, thank you for reading.

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TruthOrDairy

Instagram - @truthordairyfarm

More pictures

I'm splitting my personal and farm Instagram! If you like cow pictures, and I know you do, on Instagram I just started @truthordairyfarm.

New barn project!

We are so excited! 

Today we started a new project - we're adding a row of free stalls to the outside of the barn to make it 6 rows instead of 4. 

The advantage is to make more beds for cows without building a whole new barn. Our herd is bigger than when we built this barn 7 years ago, and they need more space!

It's rough living in Michigan right now, (ugh), so it's nice to have something to look forward to.