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

Working Hard and Hardly Working- And counting our Blessings.

It seems as though there is always some new project going on at the farm. Whether it is fixing fence or equipment or building something to help something else. March was busy with many different activities. We had some fun, we gave back and we worked hard.

A few things that went on during good ol' March. We sprayed numerous fields, dealt with many sprayer issues (frustrating and annoying is all I have to say about that darn sprayer), moved some corn and built a few things. But we also took some time off and gave back to the community.

At the beginning of March, Josh sold his corn that we stored in the new bin on the farm, so we got to test out the unload system to empty the bin. The guys hauled several loads of corn to a local feedlot.

Inside of the bin with the sweep auger moving through the corn

Coming from the sweep auger into the other auger bottom

And finally into the semi trailer

I was so lucky to help sweep the last bit of corn into piles for the sweep auger to carry out for the last load. At least farm work has some health benefits of making you sweat and keep in shape!

We got a new sprayer, I have nothing nice to say about it. I don't like it. It makes me frustrated therefore I am not going to blog anymore about that darn thing!!! However, it did give Handyman a good excuse to get out his welder and make a stand for the shuttles so that it is easier to unload the shuttles and switch them in and out when needed.

AJ welding in our garage the new shuttle holder thing

The finished product holding shuttles

Handyman really likes welding and wants to teach me but  I always tell him, "It can wait" I will learn some day but I kind of have a motto when it comes to certain things. If I learn it and no one else is around then I have to do it and well if I don't know how to do it, I guess one of the guys has too! -- I will just stick to milking cows, managing cows and breeding cows-- that's more my thing!


Those were just a couple of the things going on during March on the farm. Off of the farm, we went to Oklahoma with hubs parents and we went Spoonbill fishing. It was my first time ever catching that big of a fish! It was a lot of fun and was well worth the trip down there! I was lucky enough (and it was on St. Patricks Day! Luck of the Irish!) to catch the first fish. It only weighed 29 pounds so I threw it back and kept trolling on. I caught the second fish and it was a beauty! I kept this big fish weighing in at 62 pounds! After that I just enjoyed riding on the boat watching hubs and my father in law fish. They had a lot of fun and the best catch of the day was my father in law got a whole whooping 5 pounder! Boy, was it cute!! Overall, it was a great trip and nice to take a small break from working for some fun.

AJ and I with our catches

My father in law with one of his fish

Lastly and one of the most important days of March came where we, as a family, donated $2500, to the St. Anthony's Family Shelter in Wichita. It was a true blessing. My grandfather had his name entered into a Monsanto Grant Program where they generously give a $2500 grant in different family farms name to a place the family chooses. He was selected for Sedgwick county and my grandparents chose to give the money to a family homeless shelter. It was a privilege to be there as they presented the check and we got to tour the facilities. We are so proud that we can help others in need and it is very important for our family to give back to the community.

This program helps many families in their time of need and get back on their feet after so many different situations. I encourage you to go to your local homeless shelter or any other organization- ask for a tour, volunteer or just give back in any way possible. It is truly life changing experience helping others in their time of need. I know one of my many goals for this year is to do more volunteer work and I can't wait to get started with another program that I found in Wichita.

Many blessings to you and your family, we hope your March was a great as ours!


The Milkmaid

The Scandalous Cow and The Tale of Two Calves

Boy, do I have a story for YOU.

We had quite the uproar a couple weeks ago on the farm. Before milking my dad went out to check on the cows before we brought them up into the holding pen. Well while I was finishing up washing the equipment he showed back up with some news.

He simply said, “Deanna, we may have a problem… “

Meet Three Teat.

Three Teat got her name because she only has three functioning teats. She does have all four teats but a few lactation's ago she had a bad case of Mastitis and unfortunately it took over her whole front right quarter and we could never recover it. However, we were fortunate enough to be able to keep her since it did not take over the whole udder.

Miss Three Teat had been a dry cow for the past couple months and we were keeping a close watch on her since she was due any day. And she was HUGE.  

Back to my original story here, my dad finished that statement with, “Three Teat had her calf but there are two calves out there and only Three Teat seems to have had the calf.” I am thinking to myself, “So what? We had twins, awesome!” Until he told me one was black and one was Holstein. UHHHH? WHAT?!

Now meet Deany and Jenny.

Aren't they the cutest little babies?!?

Deany and Jenny were named by my sweet little 4 year old niece for us the day they were born. The all black calf is Deany and the Holstein calf is Jenny. How lucky are you to get two calves on the same day? 

Well for us very lucky since we only have 66 cows milking right now, we do not get a calf every day like the larger dairy farms.

So, we have one cow that calved and two calves. My immediate thoughts are they must be cross bred calves no big deal. But they are NOT. The Holstein calf is a pure bred Holstein and the black calve is a Holstein/Angus cross.

How in the world did this happen?!?!?!

This was a big first on our farm. It appears that Three Teat was a bit scandalous nine months ago (283 days is the average gestation period). At the time we were running a Holstein bull and the Angus bull with our Dairy Cows. She had been bred by both bulls. You would assume whoever’s specimen got to her ovulated egg would win the race, but she had a unique pregnancy. Three Teat cycled two eggs during her ovulation period, during that time each bull successfully implanted an egg each. During the growing period, each calf grew in the opposite uterine horns. They did not share the same fluids and placentas that we could tell anyway.

Deany

Some of you may know about Free Martin Heifers. This is when you have a set of twins one is a bull and one is a heifer. This unfortunately makes the heifer infertile and given the name of a Free Martin heifer. We do not believe this is the case for our new set of twins. Since they did not share the same fluids and such the heifer should be fertile since it was as though Three Teat carried the calves separately, yet together.  A great article here about Free-Martin heifers if you would like to know more!

Jenny

We were all skeptical at first that the all black calf really was that way until we looked closely at to see if they were polled or not. Polled is a term for if they have horns or not. Jenny has some bumps on her head and is not polled, while Deany is smooth and a polled calf. We know for sure that they do not share the same father because of this simple trait because the Polled trait is the dominant trait. Therefore, if both bulls would have been polled each calf would have been too. However, the Holstein bull is not a polled bull (I wish he was though!). Crazy huh?

Even crazier, the twins were not born premature and both weighed around the normal weight for a newborn calf. I was not kidding when I said she was HUGE, when she exited the milkbarn she could barely fit through the doors.

The twins are doing well and making great progress for twin calves. Momma is doing well and back in the herd working full time again and everyone had a good time telling friends and family about our little scandal! J

It really was a once in a life time experience and I have only read one other story about it happening, somewhat like our story! 

Here is to you having an interesting day of your own!

The Milkmaid