An Adventure of a Lifetime- Ireland

Hello All,

I know it has been a while since I have updated my blog, life has been busy with work around the farm but we did take some time for family. As most farmers know, it is very important to spend time with family and sometimes we are fortunate enough to take a vacation.

I have always wanted to go to Ireland for my Irish roots and just because everyone says it is beautiful. Well it is! Here are some pictures from our adventures to Ireland in August. We definitely will never forget this special trip!

Enjoy,

The Milkmaid

Round straw bales, we did get to see one field being combined
but I wasn't fast enough to take a picture. There was so much
agricultural on all of our adventures. Great place to go for an
Ag Tour.

Picking up and loading on trucks

Cattle

Large squares

Kilkenny 

Kilkenny Castle- one of the many we visited

It was always so green and beautiful every where we drove! 

Waterford Crystal- a must do while in Ireland!

Beautiful!

Dairy Cattle on top of the hill, there was many dairy farms along
our drives and we enjoyed seeing so many!

Tractor driving, everyone was very friendly to farm vehicles!

Beautiful Coastline drive

Sheep

Tractor driving on what we would consider highways.. crazy! 

Blarney Castle- and yes hubs kissed the stone!

Limerick

One of the many churches we visited

Cliffs of Moher

They were breath-taking!

Rock fences- I do not know how they keep the animals in!

Galway 

An Irish performer along the streets in Galway

Dublin- From the top tower at Guiness

Dairy Cattle!!

Beef Cattle

Narrow Roads! 

April Showers Bring May Flowers- Or Grass We Hope!

Ah, April.

Such a pretty month one of my favorites really. Spring is showing up, the grass is green, trees are getting their leaves and the temperature (while it goes up and down and changes every 15 minutes it seems, it is Kansas you know?) is nicer than winters but cooler than summer. Ahh. Spring. My favorite time of the year.

Spring brings new life. New life is important to any farmer. Whether it is a new baby calf, horse, sheep, goat or pig-- you choose your fancy, or seeing your wheat green and growing, corn once it is planted sprout or whatever plant you raise in the ground ready to come up and produce. It is a time for many housewives or househusbands, single ladies and gents to get their gardens started and flowers planted and to start the mowing season. Ah Spring.

Many people do not understand why agriculturists like ourselves have to burn our pastures and fields. There are many benefits to doing this for our type of work. As for many ranchers and farmers it is to keep the nutrients needed to help our animals grow and to keep weed and tree problems low.

Here are a few good posts explaining pasture burning:

• From The Pioneer Woman: Why We Burn Our Pastures
• From Rain Cow Ranch: Why Would A Grass Farmer Burn Pasture?
• From Backyard Ranch: Pasture Burning

All of these blogs describe why pasture burning is a necessity for farming operations. I understand that many are concerned for the environment and general safety of the public. But I can assure you that we work with EPA and the regulations in agriculture every day and we obtain our burn permits with our local fire stations and counties to help better your food. Plain and simple. We have to do things to help produce enough food for all of us to eat and these are just some of the ways we can effectively do just that. Every year the amount of food needing produced raises and even if you are a vegan or vegetarian, someone still has to produce your food and a lot of it. So next time you are eating whatever it may be, please do not just criticize us for how we do it and how you believe it is wrong. Take some time to find a farmer/rancher ask them questions and get the real advice from the person working every day to grow that meal for you to consume.  Many of you would be surprised to find out the #truth behind what really goes and on and why we burn pastures or use certain chemicals (that never reach you or I) in order to produce enough wholesome great tasting food for both of us to enjoy.

We have been blessed with some rain showers already and we were lucky enough to have all of our corn in the ground for that rain as well. A few of the pastures that were burned in our area are already turning green and beautiful with new fresh lush grass- and I can't wait to watch ours join them and the corn to sprout!

Sorry for all those that have those nasty allergies-- I know you hate spring, but as for me-- I'm getting my camera out and loving this time. Happy Spring!



The Milkmaid 


(P.S.- This is all from the beginning of April-- sorry for the late upload!)

Farming is Dangerous-- And It Can Hurt.

The other night, I was going to write this but I just could not manage too. I had a horrible headache, felt dizzy, a little nauseated and just wanted to go to sleep. So I did.

Here is the real life of being a farmer. You get hurt. And it happens-- most days in some way.

Usually it is a small wound, no doctor needed and you either just ignore it or you give in to your wife/sister/daughter telling you to go inside, clean it up and bandage it. Thankfully, we have never had to many major injuries on our farm-- but there is a HUGE chance every day. I know there is a risk at every job but folks lets be honest-- I know way to many other farmers that can tell you about personal injuries or even death of a family member from working on the farm. Did you know that in 2012 there was 374 farmers/farm workers that died according to the CDC (link here). Many more injuries and accidents occur every day-- this is a serious deal.

(Here is a good article about farm accidents and how serious they are on Modern Farmer: Death on the Farm.)

Today, I am thankful that I am alive. I was very lucky to not get more seriously hurt the other night and that I walked away with just a slight concussion. I was opening the gates into the holding pen to let the cows in for the evening milking. I tapped a cow with the gate to get her to move out of the way so that I could hook it in front of the alley way-- well apparently she did NOT like that. She kicked the gate and before I knew it this heavy metal gate went straight to my head. Right above my temple. Thank the Good Lord that it did not hit any harder or any lower and I may not be here to write this blog or spend another day alive.

However, me being me, I did not go to the doctor, I iced it for a bit made sure it was not cut opened and after 15 minutes of so went back out (lucky me, my sister is a nurse and happened to be there when this happened so she checked it over) and did the whole milking and the milking the next morning before taking the night off. I still have a few minor headaches but it could be the weather. The moral of the story is-- in the matter of seconds everything could change and it is a dangerous world. I am thankful for being alive and that it was not worse. Be thankful-- for every one and every thing.

I had thought that from my morning milking that things would go ten times better that day. I had already slipped and fell, causing a huge bruise on my hip and then a cow kicked my hand up in the panel and cut it open in two places. Minor injuries to what would happen that night. Let's just say my new nickname on the farm is proving itself more and more. "Cow Boom" started because of my many small injuries and because I started a tractor on fire-- yeah that was a fun night! (no worries the tractor is fine and running still) here is too hoping nothing worse happens!

Be thankful my friends-- you never know what will happen tomorrow!



The Milkmaid 

Here is some pictures I took-- doesn't really do it
justice but still the best I could get!
And sorry for the faces-- I didn't exactly
feel the best.

Luckily for me-- it is just black and blue now
minus the headaches

The Good Ole V-Day...Bull.

By now all the Valentine’s Day candy has been ate, the flowers have died and life is back to the grind. Another holiday down and I could not be more thankful. I am not one of those big holiday people. I do not enjoy Valentine's Day at all. Even though I have one, my heart goes out to those that do not and I can remember when I was that single girl and hated the holiday even more. Luckily for me, the whole love thing grows in my heart every time a new calf is born cause who can’t resist the sweet face of a little baby calf? It just got me thinking about the change that came that first Valentine’s Day with my hubs. The one where I asked that we do not celebrate it cause shouldn’t we celebrate our love every day? Yeah. I asked him to keep it pretty simple. So we did and still do very minimal celebrating goes on for the love day but we still show it every day and take the time to go out on "dates" when we can.

Now....

This is my love. Finding a new baby calf early in the morning and showering it with love and care. Meet Miss Little Red (for now, until I think of a good name anyway) 

I found her not long after she had been born, her momma #19 did a good job and cleaned her up for the most part but had her in a bad spot. She was shivering cold and needed dried off a bit more. So for the first time in over a year (usually hubs or dad are around for this part, but it was just me this morning) I picked her up and carried her into our bulk tank room. There I placed her in front of the heater and on some used feed sacks so the concrete wouldn't be so cold. I took some towels and rubbed her down and used a hair dryer to warm her up and dry her off. She was a good calf and just laid there for me after having bawled as I carried her causing every cow to become momma cow and follow me up to the barn bawling back... Quite the chatter this morning! 

Finally she was cleaned up for the most part and by then my dad had showed up to help me with the milking. I placed a calf coat on her and went back to milking. I milked her momma to get her that nice good colostrum that every baby needs. She was a happy camper for sure and I was happy for her but had to go on and finish my chores instead of just sitting there and playing with her all morning. Work must be finished and my other R&Ws would probably get pretty jealous of me not paying attention to them. 

My dad and I were thrilled to see she was a Red and White Holstein. We purchased a R&W bull last spring and hoped we would get some out of him even though we don't have many R&W cows. Well #19 is not a R&W, she is black and white so we were beyond thrilled to see Little Red. I, however, do not like Red Bull. He is a typical Holstein bull. If you have never been warned here it is, stay clear of Holstein bulls as much as possible. I don't know why but they get pretty feisty and are not so friendly after a while. Now that is not true of all Holstein bulls, we have had bulls that we can pet and our just little sweeties. Red Bull and I have a day to day relationship. Some days he just watches me and leaves me alone to get the cows in and other days he is kicking up dirt, hollering and following me or stirring up the cows and being a pain in the bull. My dad usually gets to get the cows in on those days cause he just doesn't mess with the man in charge. Men. Hmmph. 

Unfortunately, dealing with cold calves and feisty bulls are just part of the job description. A job I wouldn't change for anything. Just sometimes you wish others could understand all that goes into being any type of farmer and how big our hearts are full of love. 

My love for my cows and job goes on twice a day every day. My cows see love every time they are milked, fed or just go out to check on them. My favorite part of the day is petting my cows Annabel and Pineapple. They are my red and whites, my prize and joy, and now this sweet little girl... Even though she looks too much like the bull! 

Until next time,

The Milkmaid

P.S. - no sweet resolution update 50 days strong! 100 more to go! 

Goin' Visiting!

Last weekend, we got to go on a little trip to the south and to the east to visit some good friends. It was a great time with some good laughs and learning more about where they live and plan on returning for another visit hopefully sooner rather than later but they understand how farming goes.

I was especially excited to go visit Kodie's dairy farm. I met Kodie through my husband because they took many college classes together and then since this world is so "small" she was marrying the son of my father's good childhood friend, who also had a dairy at one time. Funny how you all get connected together at some point! 

Kodie had the chance to visit our farm twice before I got to go hers and she told me her barn was set up very different than mine, boy, she was right! I love when I get to experience seeing how other dairies work. It is exciting and I always love getting tips on how to improve my dairy. 

Here are a few differences

-she milks twice as many cows as me

-she does not have weigh jars

-she has more milking units than me, but the same number of cows in a group

-she has a parallel like me but her cows slide into set position unlike my free moving ladies 

-her cows are on pasture year round vs my cows have a little outside pen but have a barn to go into whenever they want 

-her calves are in individual huts vs mine which have pens inside the barn and usually two to a pen 

-she wakes up and milks way earlier than me! 

-her cows exit out of the side they were milked on (two exit doors) vs my one exit door both sides exit out of (we can change it to be a two door exit) 

Here are a few similarities:

-we both feed in the barn

-we have high line milk lines 

-we use the same supply guy, Phil

-we both feed, silage to our cows and hay (but we feed Alfalfa too and she does not) 

-both barns are well aged and have seen many cows (Kodies was built in 1972 and ours in 1980)

-we both work for our dads 

-most of all, we love our ladies!! 

Those are just a few things, each dairy farm is unique in their own way. It is so thrilling to me to see other dairies and yes I am one of those that when I go on vacation and if I can go see a dairy farm I will stop if we can! Hubs and I just last year in January went to Fair Oaks Farms in Fair Oaks, IN. A very large dairy (which is an under statement) has interactive tours and is great to take kids too for a hands on learning and experience, check them out! 

Another goal of mine would be to visit a dairy in every state! So if you are another dairy farmer in some other state than Kansas (or even a KS farmer) I would love to be able to come visit your dairy! Luckily dairy judging practices on our way to contests have gave me a chance to see many dairies in other states. I would also love to visit an organic dairy farm and learn how your process works verse how mine does and really understand an "organic" perspective. 

If you would like to follow Kodie's blog, www.thosemccollumgirls.blogspot.com 

 Here is to good friends and dairy farmers! 

The Milkmaid

A General Overview of the Dairy-Good Life

So, what does a milkmaid do all day? Well, this blog is dedicated just to that very thing, at least a general idea of how I spend my day, anyway.

It all begins nice and early in the morning. I try to wake up at 6 a.m. every morning, I am not going to lie, that does not always happen. Especially in the winters when it is cold and dark, no thank you! Now, this is different on all farms, I know of numerous dairy farms that are sometimes almost done milking when I am just getting up, but we are a small dairy and we have a little more room to be flexible. Plus, our milk isn’t picked up by the milkman until noonish. There are mornings when I wake up at 5 a.m. and that is Sunday or when we have somewhere we have to be in the morning.

I feel lazy compared to some dairy farmers,
but I love my sleep!

Sundays are a special day on our farm. We still believe that Sundays are a day of rest as the Bible says. We milk our cows and feed them of course, but we don’t work on tractors, no planting, no harvest… EVER. Sundays we milk early so we are done in time to attend church and spend the day thanking our Lord for the wonderful life He gave us. Yay, a few hours of free time away from the farm. (It is the only day we can classify as a day off!)

A.J. and Lucy goose hunting on a
Sunday afternoon

That is what I wish it was always like, but being the dedicated farmers we are, sometimes duty calls and we have to be with a cow going into labor or need to grind feed.

Our Holstein Themed feed bin that has to be
filled every 5-6 milkings

Once I get to the farm, I wash the jars with a sanitize solution to make sure that all the detergent, acid and any other foreign material is cleaned out of the system before milking. Then I set up the milk system, go into the parlor open the doors, move the switches on the collect jars, so the milk flows properly, and let down the feed into the feeders. Then it is milking time and I am off to get the ladies!

This shows our collection jar and bulk tank, along with the
washing sinks.

My lovely Moo Ladies!

We currently milk 64 cows (we are small, small, small compared to many!) If I milk by myself it will take me almost 2 hours but if I have help for most of the time it will only take 1 ½ hours. Sometimes it still takes 2 hours because we like to have fun in the barn. Fun to us is making jokes, listening to music or talking about more serious things going on around the farm or in life in general. Sometimes, we are lucky and have visitors so that cuts into milking time, too.  Our barn is a double-six herringbone parlor and we only have 6 units so we move side to side. (Look for a future blog of all the different types of milk barns).

This shows the right side of the barn, you can see the collection
jars, units, feeding bunk and a little of the feeders.

After milking is complete, it is clean up time and feeding time.  The jars must be cleaned with a detergent and then an acid rinse. My dad usually feeds the cows their silage and I will take a bale of hay out to them. Then it is one of my favorite times of all, cleaning the barn. Now I am not joking when I say this. It is fun to me I guess because I am a neat clean freak. I wash the milking parlor getting rid of any manure or filth that needs to be gone. Along with washing the floors, I scrub the equipment and walls. Then it is nice and shiny clean! Next, the holding pen and the barn get cleaned. We scrape those with the skid loader, believe me, it is a lot easier! The cows usually go out to the pasture during this time.

Dirty Holding Pen

Clean (well cleaner) Holding Pen

By time, all the cleaning is done and finished it is lunch time. After lunch, my afternoon usually is different every day. Sometimes, you may find me in the field spreading fertilizer, running to town for parts, swathing hay or being the taxi cab. I go wherever the guys need me to go or fill in. And then there are the really nice days… where my dad lets me stay home. I love love love those days. I usually nap, do household chores, bake or read a good book. The guys usually get pretty jealous that I get the afternoons off but they can get over it! However, sometimes those days are cut short because the cows need bedded down, calves need taken care of or a cow is having a calf. Then before I know it is 4:30 and I am back to the farm to milk again and go home for the night afterwards! Unless something breaks, a cow needs assistance or one of the guys needs me to do something. Rule No. 1- Everything to do with farming all depends on the weather!

Lovely view of the beef cattle on the Milo stalks

Have a dairy-good day!

The Milkmaid

P.S. – This is only one of my daily dairy products- yum!