The Little Corn That Could

I am jumping ahead a post or two to write about what I am doing presently. I promise to go back and show you more of what happened in March (all the field prepping). Right now, I am writing this post from my phone so it may be a little different but I wanted to share this experience with you today.

I have time to write as I am waiting for Josh to finish 7 passes of a field he is planting to corn and then we are on to another field.

I just helped him refill with seed and fertilizer, so he is set to finish the field. I get to wait in the truck on this nice sunny, but terribly windy day so I can follow him to the next field to fill with seed and fertilizer again. We only have two fields left after this one to plant to corn. Now some folks may be thinking we are getting done early as they are just now starting to plant or won't until next week or so. But really for us, we should be finished right now like in past years. This year, however, we unfortunately have not had much rain and the fields were very dry causing the planter some issues trying to get through the tough ground. Yesterday, we were lucky enough to get a quarter of an inch of rain and that softened the ground enough to hopefully finish these fields. In our fields we did manage to get planted before it got cold, froze again, snowed and then no rain, have precious little corn plants starting to come up and see the world. Here are some pictures of Josh putting the fertilizer and seed into the planter and then the cute little corn plants coming up.

Happy Planting,

The Milkmaid

Bulls, Bulls and the Ladies

The past month a lot has changed in the farm. This first little update is about our new additions to the farm. Right now we are not able to A.I. or Artificially Inseminate all of our cows. While my dad and I are both certified to do so, we don't have enough time and some physical conditions preventing it right now. So we go the old fashion way about it. We use Bulls. 

Meet Red Bull

Clyde

And Wildcat

Our first new addition was Wildcat. He is a registered Black Angus bull, we bought him from Kansas State University during their Annual Legacy Sale. He is in with some heifers right now until we move the cattle to pasture, where he will be placed with a new set of cows. 

Next came along Clyde, he is a purebred registered Jersey bull. Hubs and I left early one morning and traveled to Garnett, Kansas and picked him up. He is a friendly little guy. He is for our heifers and just the right size but has some growing to do still. While we do not have any Jersey cows, we do cross bred for butterfat and smaller calves.

Lastly and off of a whim came Red bull. Red bull has many names but I will only call him that. We had been looking for a Red Holstein bull for some time but everyone that was close had already sold them or did not raise Red Holsteins. Luckily, we got a call from another dairy farmer who was looking to sell him and we took the chance and said we would. He has been a little feisty at times but he is a joy to be around. You can tell from the picture that ladies were quite interested in his funny smells the first day and not sure he would fit in but he has done a good job winning them over.

That is just a little of what all has gone on the farm last month, I will post more soon! 

 Until next time,

The Milkmaid

March-- The Month of Prepping

Hello dear reader friends—sorry it has been a while, seems life has gotten in the way. Between being sick, busy at work, taking some me time from the Facebook, blogging, social media stuff and writer’s block, I am happy to say I am back and it is more than time to get back in the game.

It seems today’s lovely high of 65 and the beautiful sun shining all day has brighten up my day. Minus that time change this morning, which the cows and I agreed was not cool. But while I didn’t like losing an hour of sleep I am done milking and sitting here watching the sunset and enjoying the beautiful weather instead of coming home to a dark house and it being too dark to see anything. I love it and it reminded me of being thankful for everything this year.

Hello Beautiful Sun!

Now, as March has so graciously came from the middle of nowhere… hello spring! Spring is one of the two busiest seasons for us. I like to call March the prepping month because we aren’t the busiest but we are getting ready for it. We have two big things to prep for: Planting and Working Cattle.

Ah, my brother’s favorite time of the year, he is one of those who can get in the tractor at 6 (sometimes even earlier) in the morning and stay in there until 10 or later at night lost in thought and enjoying every minute. He is even crazy to skip meals, but no worries I am around for that job! J I am the go to lady—Pick them up, bring lunch (and I know to make a lunch that is a snack and dinner too… I may go a bit overboard when I feed them but they are working hard and so skinny!), drop off seed, fill the planter boxes, help unload stuff, follow them to fields, pretty much ready to jump to whatever they need when my phone rings… I am there!

So what will the next few weeks consist of?

Planting- Prepping the planter and tractors, getting seed ready and picked up, making sure we know all the fields that will need planted, checking the fields, getting fertilizer and strip tilling done before planting or after depending on the situation and many more smaller tasks. Also, my brother does plots for a company and so we have to have the field worked and ready for the plot and flagged off. Plots take a while to plant and harvest but it is worth every minute to see the data and find out the statistics of that particular variety/seed for the company, us and other farmers. (Another thing my brother loves to do!)

Cattle- one of my favorite times, the moment you really know that spring is here. As you see the cute little calves off with their mommas to pasture, it is just a precious scene! Anyway, we will be ordering vaccines, tags and various small things to prep for the upcoming transition from pens to pasture for our beef cattle. We will have to prep the horn cutters (unfortunately not all of our cattle are polled) and the branding iron is prepped and ready for the day. Along with working all the cattle to get them their yearly vaccinations and prepping to keep them healthy for pastures we will be picking up a new Angus bull that we purchased and getting him adjusted to our farm and ladies. This day is a long working day but worth every minute too. While I am more a dairy girl, I love helping work the beef cattle and seeing all the babies. Look forward to many pictures of the little cuties when the day comes. Also, we will be working our dairy heifers here in the next week or two giving them their vaccinations, tagging and dehorning.

Of course, during these weeks we will still have all of our other work to do. I will still have to milk twice a day, clean the barn and pens, feed all the cattle, grind feed, help deliver babies and take a few naps when I can sneak away. J

Happy almost spring—I sure can’t wait for the warm weather to stay!

The Milkmaid

A.J. spoiling Annabel and Little Pineapple

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  

It's a Trap!

While everyone is talking about getting trapped into marriage before 23 (and yes, for the record, I am one of those trapped in a marriage because I got married at 22 (which to me isn't really a trap)) or trapped into a never ending something rather… I have a little different kind of trap I want to share with you.

The Trapping Season—like you trap animals.

Hubs and his catch one day.

Hub’s is getting big into the trapping thing these days. I use to just listen to him go on and on about just hunting. Now I get to listen to him talk about both. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy listening to him sometimes. 

And even though, I don’t want to admit this, I like learning new things from him. It is his fault I wear camo now and enjoy going out and about hunting with him.

So what is trapping?

Trapping, according to Dictionary.com,

     a contrivance used for catching game or other animals, as a mechanical device that springs shut suddenly.

Trapping Season (at least in Kansas) runs from middle of November until almost the end of February. In order to participate in trapping you must obtain a Fur Harvester License. Which you can get anywhere you buy deer tags, water fowl stamps, hunting licenses etc. Your state regulations may require you to take a test before you can obtain your permit, though. You can easily find your state's law online or in a sporting good store.

Why do we trap?

For hubs, he has two reasons he traps. One, he does it for sport/enjoyment. Just like hunting, he enjoys the thrill and challenge of hunting his game. Two, he likes to help reduce the pest and varmint population.

Let me explain, what some people call “cute” little raccoon's, skunks and opossums can carry many different types of diseases. Rabies, Opossum Disease, and TGE are just a few to be named. Here is a list to more http://www.wildlifedamage.com/index.html (this is specifically for animals found around Denver, but also in Kansas minus a few, but has some good information)

So, how does that affect us? Well, our cows are currently out on milo stalks in the fields with these little critters, not to mention they like to wander up to the farm, bring their little diseases with them and spread them to our cattle and other animals. They could give it to one of our dogs and then to us. You know the whole chain of disease spreading thing, right? The end result sometimes isn't so pretty. Our animals can get very sick or even die. The reason we trap for coyotes specifically around our farm is because they are predators. They attack our cows and calves for their food source and it is extremely important that we protect our animals. Another reason is that these critters can be damaging to properties. For example, we have a silage pit that the raccoons and other critters like to walk on and tear up. This is not good for many reasons because we need our silage to stay packed in order to ferment, not become spoiled and not blow away with that crazy Kansas wind.

What do we use to trap?

Hubs (and his father) could tell you in what may seem like a million different ways to trap. Here is just a few that I have been out with him to set.

The different traps
(From left to right: The Conibear, The Dog Proof, The Snare,  The Foot Trap)

The Foot Trap

A foot trap is effective for trapping all fur bearers, anything from a raccoon to a coyote. The trap holds the critter by the foot until the trapper can dispatch the animal. This kind of trapping does keep the animal alive until the harvester checks his traps (which have to be done within every 24 hours), then one must put the animal down.

The Conibear

A Conibear trap is also known as a “body grip” trap. These traps are used for most fur bearers, usually more effective for the smaller animals, such as badgers, beavers, bobcats, and etc. This trap is designed to capture the animal around the head region and as humanely as possible dispatch them.

The Snare

A Snare is used for trapping all furbearers. This type of trap is a cable with a locking device attached to it that is designed to take the animal around the head region or foot. The animal is alive in this trap until the harvester must dispatch them.

The Dog Proof Trap

This is a Dog Proof Trap set 

This type of trap is used to catch mainly raccoons. It is a type of a foot trap, see above. This is used mostly for raccoons due to their small double jointed hand being able to reach through a small hole that dogs and other non-target animals cannot reach through. These are good for use around farms and houses, as well as other areas.

Where to trap?

A good trapping spot can be picked by scanning different areas usually in a mostly wooded area and away from livestock and non-targeted species. Foot and Conibear traps are used in the pasture next to the milo stalks our cattle are currently grazing as it is a convenience for Hubs to check as he checks fence in the mornings. Also, it keeps the critters away from our cattle and their newborns. Dog Proof Traps are used around the silage pit because it is close to the farm yard and he does not want to catch the farm dogs or cats, but he wants to keep the raccoons off the pile to keep the milkmaid happy. Because as he states, “If the milkmaid is happy, everybody is happy!” Bucket traps (a Conibear trap placed in a bucket) are placed along creek banks and pastures not being used during the winter months.

Hubs setting traps

How to get the animal to the trap?

After we set the traps we must bait them to attract the targeted specie. Bait can be anything from a store bought mixture to a chicken carcass to a marshmallow. Dog Proof traps are often baited with something sweet, such as a marshmallow or molasses. Conibear traps are often placed in a bucket that has some type of meat source in the back of the bucket in which they stick the head region in the trap to eat and then get captured. Foot hold traps are covered with loose dirt in front of a hole made to look like a rodent hole which has a cotton ball covered with store bought paste or meat source in it. A foot hold traps can also be covered with loose dirt in front of an object that has urine from the targeted specie on it.

Conibear trap set and ready 

Removing the trap

So what happens then?

It is important to know that we take all trapping very seriously. We make sure to position them only where trails for our targeted animals occur. We want to make sure no humans or non-targeted animals get into them and that we handle all targeted animals humanely. Trapping can be a very successful endeavor if you educate yourself with many videos that can be find in stores and online and read many forums and blogs about trapping. At the end of the season, we sell all of the fur to a fur buyer and what is profited goes to next year’s season to help control the pest and varmint populations. As for the fur, it then can go on to make coats, jackets, leg warmers, blankets, pelts, pillows, rugs and clothing.

So for all of you other trappers out there, good luck with the rest of your season, and for others we hoped you learned a little bit about trapping. We want you to know that this is just a slight glimpse of the trapping world and there is much more that can be learned about it through numerous other sites and programs and we encourage you to take some time and learn about the trapping seasons and why we do what we do not to harm animals but to help.

Raccoon

Coyote 

Badger

Happy Trapping to You!

The Milkmaid and The Trapper (Hubs)

Hubs and his Badger.
 (It was the first one he has ever trapped!)

The Gift of Giving

Every year we like to give back to our land lords, customers, friends and family. It is important to show how much we appreciate each of them. This is what we do during the holiday season.

The last few years we have just given them some cheese and a Christmas card, but this year I took upon myself to make some goodie bags. In these little goodie bags, I put some chocolate chip cookies and candy. According to hubs, “Everyone will obviously be able to tell there is a woman working on the farm.” Next year, I am going to strive to make some candies and chocolate covered pretzels but this year I had limited time because of my parent’s trip.

Delicious Cookie Dough!

Baking in the Oven

188 cookies later...

Now, I have to tell you all about my love for baking. It all started several years ago, when my grandmother taught me all I know about baking. She was my inspiration for many things, including learning how to play the piano, milking cows and reading Amish books. We spent quite a few hours together in the milk barn when I was in middle school and high school talking about the Amish and our love for learning about them and many other things. She taught me so much about hard work and giving back to others. If you ever need pop or cookies, you can go into the house and if you are there for lunch she always has enough for everyone (including all our friends and workers that may just show up unannounced!). Well, the recipe I made is my grandma’s and I will not lie, she makes them way better than I do and they look neater. But as I was taught by her and my mother, “they were made with love” and that makes them the best.

My love for agriculture, helping feed the world and giving is the love I put into these cookies to share a little holiday spirit with our friends.

Cute little Snowman bags

Candy

Cookies (Which have taken 1st Place
at the State Fair a couple of times :) )

                  It is always important to give back 

and it is always a joy to see it spread a smile on others faces.

Hubs was nice and helped me put the goodie bags together.

My gift of giving every year is giving every day of life to agriculture. Working sun up to sun down, long hours and short hours, hot and cold, wet and dry, morning and night, healthy and sick, whatever it may be. My “love of giving” is helping others be fed, clothed and so much more that you get from agriculture, along with every other farmer. What is your love of giving?

Finished Product along with a card!

Here is to hoping you had a wonderful holiday season,

The Milkmaid

Why see the glass half empty when it is half full?

Sometimes, you just have to admit when you are just having a plain bad week.

How my week really went…

People tend to focus on the negative points in life instead of the positives. I was that way two weeks ago and tend to be a bit pessimistic.  

See, my parents went on vacation leaving the farm to the rest of us and the dairy just to me.

My dad was nice enough to send me pictures while they
were gone.. in HAWAII! 

They were gone a total of 9 days. That is 18 milkings, 9 days of feeding and cleaning alone and 216 hours of 100+ cows/calves to watch. Along with my normal household chores, holiday baking to do and cooking for a very busy weekend that was coming up. To top it all off, SNOW.

Ugh. No thank you.

Well in that time I had all these NEGATIVE things happen.

1.      It was cold

2.      Cows acted up 8 out of 9 days

3.      Snow

4.      Bedding down the barn

5.      Dead calf

6.      Pulling a calf from heifer

7.      1 broke feeder

8.      1 broke milking unit

9.      Cow manure on my face, more times than I want to admit

10.   Losing a loader bucket pin

11.   Trying to unload feed from a dump truck

12.   Staying out late to make sure everything is taken of

13.   Cows kicking me

14.   Leading to multiple bruises

15.   Hitting my head on the milking system motor

16.   Strap on coveralls broke

17.   Not being able to sleep

18.   Backaches all week

19.  Barely any time at home

20.  COLD

The list could go on and on and drag on… if I wanted to pick apart all the little things. By day 4, I wanted to cry a little. Day 7, I wanted to quit and day 9 I was thankful. THANKFUL…. Say what?

Yes, thankful.

Well in that time, really, I had all these POSITIVE things happen.

1.      It was cold- not really I had 4 days of upper 50 and lower 60’s, who can complain about that for the middle of December.

2.      Cows acted up 8 out of 9 days- they were letting me know bad weather was coming. Such smart weather ladies. (Most the time better than the actual meteorologists!)

3.      Snow- it ended up snowing later with just a little ice, we needed the moisture.

4.      Bedding down the barn- the cows need a nice warm place to lay down and they come first, plus they were out of the barn so it made it go faster and easier

5.      Dead calf- while it is never easy to lose a calf, the cow is healthy and alive 

6.      Pulling a calf from heifer- we saved the calf’s life and the cow is still alive also, we could have lost both

7.      1 broke feeder – my grandpa and brother were there to help fix it

8.      1 broke milking unit – we had a spare one and hubs came and fixed it, so I could keep milking

9.      Cow manure on my face, more times than I want to admit – it happens, part of life on the farm, easy to clean up and remember to keep extra paper towels in your pocket!

10.   Losing a loader bucket pin – ha, I really didn’t! I find out it was already missing!

11.   Trying to unload feed from a dump truck – We didn’t have to grind feed at all while my dad was gone, it was really a great thing and saved time.

12.   Staying out late to make sure everything is taken of – that is part of being a farmer. I was still able to get some sleep and wake up for another day.

13.   Cows kicking me- it is a part of the job. Not the first and last time I will ever be kicked. The cows were just warning me of the bad weather again.

14.   Leading to multiple bruises- I bruise easy, once again part of life.  

15.   Hitting my head on the milking system motor- I should probably watch what I am doing.

16.   Strap on coveralls broke- my dad made me a new clip and now no hanging strap. Thanks to baling wire.  Another thing on the farm- baling wire and duct tape fix everything!

17.   Not being able to sleep – part of life being a farmer- you can spend all night thinking of what needs to be done tomorrow or thanking of a cow, you are just watching out for your farm.

18.   Backaches all week- weather.

19.  Barely any time at home- part of working on a farm. I got to spend time with my sister, brother and husband working at the farm and I wouldn’t trade that for the world.

20.  COLD- I am just not a big fan of being cold, but I have sweatshirts, overalls, and heavy duty boots—really I was warmer than most.

I learned how my dad has felt working by himself for the last 33 years. I understand better how THANKFUL he was/is for having help from his parents and children. I learned how to work the calf puller while the cow is laying down from my brother. I learned how it really feels to be a full fledge dairy farmer, not just the milkmaid and helper.

I am THANKFUL for having my grandpa there to feed the calves every morning and night. I am THANKFUL that my brother helped me pull that calf from the heifer or else it could have been ten times worse. I am THANKFUL that my brother or hubs fed the cows their silage every day for me and helped unload the feed. I am THANKFUL after a late night of spreading straw around the barn and waking up late my brother washed the jars and set up the milk system for me. I am THANKFUL for being able to spend time working on our farm website and some new blogs. I am THANKFUL I got to spend an afternoon decorating for our family Christmas with my sister that I don’t get to see very often. I am THANKFUL for having my family there always to help and I am THANKFUL that my parents were able to take a trip of a life time.

Thankful.

One simple word that has more meaning than we take the time to appreciate.

Look past all the bad and negative and see the good and positives in our lives. Life is short, we need to be living it to our fullest trying to enjoy every moment. Not counting up all those negative things that happened during the week, but rather all the good that came from the week.

This next year, I am going to focus on just that.

The Milkmaid

Beautiful Snowy Sunrise