Dairy farmers work hard every day to bring you fresh, great tasting, wholesome milk products. Learn about the day-to-day operations of a modern dairy farm through the Dairy Diary written by Marilyn Hershey, who farms with her family in southeastern Pennsylvania.

For a virtual farm tour, visit www.dairyfarmingtoday.org.

August 13, 2010

There is a craze in the younger generation that concerns me. Nutrition doesn’t seem to matter much to teenagers.

I know, I remember back when I was a teenager, and I can honestly say that I was not counting the calories that I put into my body, but my options were also limited.

Today, there are so many beverage options for us that choice has to matter.

I’m talking about energy drinks. Every time I stop at a convenience store, a young person is waiting in line with some sort of “quick-pick-me-up.” The sizes range from tiny bottles that promise hours of energy to large 32-ounce cans that guarantee the recipient to turn into a monster.

Aside from the short-term side effects these drinks may deliver, I am concerned about the long-term effects of these “energy” choices. Caffeine (often delivered in doses considered too high for teens) and sugar (a substance health experts are recommending that all Americans lower their consumption of) can have negative effects on bone health as well as body weight, especially fat versus muscle.

They don’t currently see it, but 10, 20 or 30 years from now, the lack of bone development and poor body composition can have a direct impact on their health.

Milk is not the drink that will keep you up for hours on end, and it is not the drink that spins your head in a whirlwind. But it is the drink that will provide positive benefits for years and years to come.

Milk packs the vitamins, minerals and nutrients that your body needs, no matter what your age. Milk is good for cardiovascular health, builds up muscle tissue, and strengthens bones. Those quick fix drinks don’t do any of that; in fact, they can do just the opposite.

It’s out of my comfort zone, but one of these days when I am standing in line, I am going to try and gather enough courage to encourage a youth to rethink the drink he or she is choosing and realize how it will affect his or her health in the future.

July 22, 2010

Ahh! We recently got back from a vacation. Duane and I don’t usually have the opportunity to get away during the summer months. Farm life is just too busy to leave the farm for an extended amount of time.

When I say “leave the farm,” I mean go far enough away that Duane can’t jump in the truck and head back home to fix a problem. When our family goes to the Chesapeake Bay, we are only 45 minutes from home and more times than not, Duane sneaks back a few times to fix things that have broken.

As luck would have it, we had a thunderstorm the night before we left and our power was blown out. When our power goes out, we have to run a huge generator so our cows can still get water, the milking machines still run, and our fans and sprinklers are still keeping the cows cool. The generator runs on propane, and we have plenty of propane in the tank to keep the electric current running on our farm. If we had been visiting the bay or heading to the mountains, Duane would’ve most likely stayed home. But not this vacation.

This time, he wasn’t escaping because we flew to Colorado to see our son, Kelby.

Kelby is stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado Springs, and we were able to spend a long weekend with him.

Colorado is a beautiful state, and I loved hiking in the mountains, seeing the beautiful waterfalls, and spending time with our son. It was a wonderful weekend, and we had times of relaxation as well as playing tourist.

There is two-hour time difference and, of course, my internal alarm clock was waking me up at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time, even though it was 3:30 a.m. Colorado time. Thankfully, there weren’t any calves to feed in Colorado so I could go right back to sleep. Some habits are hard to break.

Duane didn’t have any trouble in breaking his habit of sneaking away during vacation. He had an entire weekend of fun, family and relaxation.

We needed that break!

July 16, 2010

We are going green at Ar-Joy Farms. A few weeks ago, we started something new – separating our plastics, cardboards and recyclable containers that are used in the barn.

I’ve recycled our household items for a long time, but I never took that philosophy out to the barn. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before; I wasn’t aware of the huge opportunity to do our part for the environment.

Thankfully, our employees have embraced the idea and are helping me tremendously. They soon caught on that all the water bottles, glass bottles and farm containers go in a certain bin in the milking parlor.

In less than one week, a huge drum was filled to the top with recyclables and we soon had to get a second drum. Until I had a chance to take the drums to the recycling center, I had two of them full of plastic and glass.

I never paid attention to how much plastic we were throwing out until I was challenged by our waste management representative to give this a try. I am amazed how much plastic is thrown out on our farm in a week’s time.

The majority of our dairy and farm supplies come in plastic or glass containers, and most of them are packaged in a cardboard box. The box is also recyclable.

Hopefully, this trend will only get bigger on our farm. I have plans to put a recycle container in every room that has a trash bin, and I’m calling to get a bid on a container to sit right beside our dumpster. Maybe we can become so green that the recycle bin is overflowing and the trash dumpster can be reduced to a smaller size.

We like to recycle everything we can when it relates to our cows. We use recycled bedding, we use manure as fertilizer for the fields, and we recycle our flushing water in the free stall area. It’s time we become responsible for ourselves as well.

July 12, 2010

A group of kids from the local YMCA visited the farm last week. I had a great time telling them about the cows, what they like to eat, how we keep them cool, and the many great things about milk.

There were nearly a dozen kids that came on the tour. They are enrolled in a summer camp program at the YMCA that is focusing on animals. Each of the kids is interested in animals and possibly becoming a veterinarian.

Most times when we do farm tours, we don’t get a group of kids who are specifically interested in animals. I enjoyed showing these kids around the farm. They asked a lot of hard questions.

They wanted to know how the computers work in the milking parlor. Why is it important to keep the milk so cold? Why do we use sand in the cows’ stalls? How long do we feed calves milk? And do they really eat this stuff?

Most of the kids live within 30 minutes of my farm, and some had never been on a farm before. It was good for me to realize the importance of educating my neighbors and my nearby community.

I enjoy talking about my cows – showing off my favorite one – and giving a tour of our farm. I’m hopeful the kids left the farm with more knowledge about cows and a better understanding of how we care for them.

It’s always good to end a tour with a dairy treat. Since it was record-breaking hot outside, I decided the best type of treat would be an ice cream sandwich. After watching them eat the ice cream, I think they agreed.

June 21, 2010

More than a month ago, we planted our corn. And it has been nearly that long since we got any rain. Farmers on all sides of us got sporadic storms over the past few weeks, some of them severe. However, the storms went around us as though there were an imaginary umbrella hanging over our farm, protecting us from the rain.

At this point, though, it doesn’t feel like protection. I know it is good for all the ballgames being played, graduation parties going on, and various summertime activities. But for farmers who are counting on harvesting crops in the fall, the dry spell is a concern.

Luckily for us, our fields were in great condition before we put the seeds in the ground. The soil had the proper amount of manure applied, raising the nutrient level of the ground and, thus, making it more tolerant during a stress-time like this.

Our soil analyst told Duane the other day that if we “are going to have a drought, this is a good stage of the corn’s cycle to have that drought.” There is a time of the corn’s development that rain is extremely critical. I guess this time is not one of them and the corn can actually withstand some dryness. Because our soil is in good condition, the corn is rooting into the ground rather than growing tall at a fast pace, which it would do if we were getting rain.

Our cows are counting on eating through next winter, and if we are going to have a substantial quantity of forages, we will need to have rain in the next few weeks.

The weather is one of those things I can’t control. I try really hard not to worry about things I know I can’t change, but I’ll feel a ton better after a good, solid rain storm finally hits us.

June 9, 2010

June, more than any other month, makes me crave ice cream. Maybe it’s because it’s usually the first month that consistently feels like summer. The sun is bright and beating down hot rays, and we are working hard doing various outside tasks. Putting in all those extra hours warrants a reward after the sun goes down.

That reward usually comes in the form of a bowl of ice cream. Since I reached the age of, well, let’s just say I’m at an age that doesn’t allow me to eat ice cream at will; I have to be careful about how many calories I inhale. Most months I stick to yogurt, frozen yogurt or light dairy products, but during the summer months – and more particularly during June – it’s all about the real deal.

My favorite is chocolate. I’m also a big fan of “extras” like peanut butter, hot fudge syrup or caramel. YUM!

However, I’m not picky when it comes to flavors. I will pretty much eat any kind of ice cream with any kind of topping.

When I was younger, my mother would make us homemade ice cream during certain fruit seasons. We would have strawberry during strawberry season and peach ice cream during peach season. I remember sitting on the front step of our farmhouse and eating rich and creamy peach ice cream until I could barely move.

June is Dairy Month and on Wednesday, June 9, we celebrate dairy in our state Capitol by creating a tremendous ice cream sundae. This year, that includes 90 gallons of ice cream followed with awesome toppings and whipped cream.

My husband, Duane, is going to be there as there are other dairy events going on at the Capitol Building that day. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend the gigantic ice cream social. No worries, I will kick off June as Dairy Month in the comfort of my home. Tomorrow at noon, I am making myself a delicious ice cream sundae. Maybe you can join me. Cheers to the summer of 2010!

May 25, 2010

May is the busiest month of the year. At least that’s what it feels like right now.

Each morning, Duane gets up and has lots of different directions in which to go. Maybe it’s a day he hauls manure or harvests our spring forages. Or maybe he jumps on the tractor and gets the soil ready for planting corn. Most times, he tries to do all of these chores in one day.

Thankfully, Duane doesn’t do any of those things without other people to help him, but he still needs to manage these chores.

Getting our manure out is one of the biggest springtime jobs. Last fall, we hauled a lot of manure to our fields, right before we planted triticale. Triticale is a grass seed that we plant in the fall and harvest in the spring.

There are some fields that, because of their location, got more manure than other fields. This spring, it was evident that this was the case, with some fields getting more nutrients from the manure than others. The triticale was taller, greener and much thicker in those spots than on the soil that had limited manure.

Spring grasses like triticale, oats and rye are great for farms that have an abundance of manure because the grasses naturally pull out excess phosphorus and nitrogen out of the ground.

We hire a soil specialist to look at each field, test the soil, and give us a report on the condition of each one. Duane looks at those reports so he knows what fields need more manure to keep the nutrients balanced.

I bet you didn’t know that hauling manure is a science!

There are days that between dodging spring storms and deciding to cut forages or plant corn, May feels like a never-ending science project. But I know from past years that is not the case. Every kernel of corn seed is eventually in the ground…and June is just around the corner.

May 7, 2010

Last week I had the unique opportunity to give a milk toast at an amazing event in center city Philadelphia. It was a long drive and a ton more traffic than runs through my country town, but it was worth every minute.

Fuel Up to Play 60 is a national campaign against childhood obesity. The National Dairy Council and the National Football League have partnered to encourage kids across America to “fuel up” by making wise food choices and to “play 60” by being active for at least 60 minutes a day.

In our part of the country, Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association, the local dairy checkoff program, partnered with The Food Trust in Philadelphia to make sure Fuel up to Play 60 was carried out in 10 middle schools in The School District of Philadelphia as part of a pilot program.

The Food Trust is an organization that is already established in the School District or Philadelphia. Established in 1992, The Food Trust “works to improve the health of children and adults, promote good nutrition, increase access to nutritious foods, and advocate for better public policy.”

Glenn Devitt and Betty Ann Creighton with the office of Health, Safety and Physical Education for the school district were also key people in getting Fuel Up to Play 60 off the ground and into the students’ hands.

The awards ceremony to celebrate the students’ success in achieving their health and fitness goals was exciting. I was so energized by the children, as nearly 200 participating students, parents, teachers, administrators, Food Trust representatives and Mid-Atlantic Dairy staff attended the awards banquet.

After a delicious and nutritious meal and a milk toast (my first milk toast ever!), we sat back and watched a great video of the past year’s activities and presented awards to the participating schools. The video gave a snapshot of the students’ efforts throughout the year to those of us who were not directly involved.

The awards were priceless. The kids were obviously so proud of their work. Each of the schools in the program focused on a unique idea to encourage healthy eating and physical activity. Examples include starting a dance class, increasing breakfast participation three-fold, organizing a walking club, increasing and promoting healthy snacks throughout the school, and conducting a school wide poster contest.

A highlight of my evening was meeting Nikki Adeli. Nikki, 13 years old, was selected to be a national spokesperson for Fuel Up to Play 60 through the National Dairy Council. In this role, she has traveled to Chicago for media training, visited the NBC-TV studios in New York City, attended a teen-focused summit in Washington, D.C., and met numerous celebrities. She also was featured in a special edition of Newsweek magazine that focused on childhood obesity and Fuel Up to Play 60.

This seventh grader’s life has taken a unique and wonderful twist, and Nikki is out to tell the world about the importance of good nutrition. Meeting her was a special addition to an already special evening.

So once again, I am going to raise my glass (or carton as it was that evening) of milk to:

• The 553,000 dairy cows in Pennsylvania for the great product they give us every day.
• The dairy farmers who work so hard to take good care of their cows.
• The parents, administrators and teachers who helped with the Fuel Up to Play 60 campaign in The School District of Philadelphia.
• And a special toast to each one of the participants in this awesome program.  May you FUEL UP TO PLAY 60 for many years.

April 15, 2010

This past week was full of technical problems.  I’m not the smartest techie around, but I am the one on the farm that hooks up the computers so I usually get called when they stop working.

It seems that when one computer quits, they all want to jump on board and stop working.  The problem all started with the computer at the house.  This computer is used for all the bookwork on the farm.  The accounting program is backed up frequently and backed up two different ways so I felt confident that I wouldn’t lose any important information.  I learned the hard way how valuable it is to back up accounting programs.

After running a virus scan through twice and knocking out several viruses, deleting old programs, and getting rid of a faulty usb connection, the computer is back to its normal pace.

About the time things started running smoothly down at the house, the barn computer started acting up.

Our cows are high tech.  They wear computer chips around their necks.  As they walk through the parlor to be milked, the chip is read, and the milk weights they accumulate for that milking are automatically downloaded into our barn office computer.

For some reason, the milk weights were not entering our computer correctly.  After troubleshooting to my technically ability, I decided to call the head office.  It used to be that when there was a problem, the folks at the head office would talk me through the steps over the phone.  But now, all I have to do is go to a certain program and give them the password.  They sign onto the computer and fix the problem. 

Unfortunately, this problem wasn’t an easy one to fix, and it took several programmers from North Carolina and Wisconsin to get the cows’ milk weights tabulating correctly in our computer.

Now that the milk weights are going into our program correctly, Duane can make sure our cows are milking their potential. And I can get start doing something I’m really comfortable with – pulling weeds in the flower beds.

April 8, 2010

There is an organization in Pennsylvania called the Center for Dairy Excellence. CDE, as it is better known, is an awesome resource for dairy farmers, providing educational events, conference calls and programs that farmers can utilize to better their farm. It’s like a bridge between the farm and the business world.

One of the programs that CDE developed is called Profit Teams. Having a Profit Team on the farm is like having a board of directors. Several key people on the farm serve on our Profit Team. We have our veterinarian, Megan; our nutritionist, Bob (yes, the cows really have a dietitian who makes sure everything they eat is balanced); our financial consultant, Mike; a county extension agent, Ken; and a fellow producer, Walt. Of course, Duane and I are both on the team.

We went through a period in which our Profit Team did not meet. It was a difficult time overall and, looking back, we should have been meeting more often, not less. But that is behind us and we are back to meeting every four to six weeks.

This past month, our meeting took a new twist. At the direction of CDE, we decided to add a retired businessman to our Profit Team. He is a member of SCORE, a national mentoring program for small businesses. This businessman is retired from several successful ventures and is looking for ways to give back to younger business owners. Mentoring is just one of those ways. He does not have a farming background, but he understands how to operate a business. I would imagine that our learning curve will lean both ways: He will learn about dairy farming, and we will learn about the business world.

I can truly say that this past meeting was one of the most beneficial. It remained positive, and we discussed many different aspects of the farm.

Some of the areas we talked about were our milking procedures, our financial status and the outlook for milk prices, the quality of feed that is going into the cows’ diet, and the health of our calves, heifers and cows.

There are things that the team suggested we work on. We are going to put more minerals into the heifers’ feed ration so they have a stronger concentration of minerals and vitamins going into the spring and summer (these seasons are tough for animals because of the heat and flies). The team also gave some good points on when to chop our grasses this spring. Last year we were a little late on chopping because of the weather, and the protein level wasn’t as high as it should have been.

Many days we are so busy farming that we forget to slow down and take a business look at the operation. I’m just thankful that we have the CDE and our Profit Team to help us focus on parts of the farm that need more attention.

March 19, 2010

After a winter like we just had, this week of beautiful weather couldn’t have come soon enough. I don’t know what I want to do first: Work in the flower beds? Get caught up on the calf work I’ve let go all winter? Or just take a walk?

Whatever I do, it needs to be outside so I can soak up this sunshine. I think all of our neighbors are thinking the same thing. Yesterday afternoon when I was working outside, nearly a dozen people either walked or rode their bikes past the farm.

Duane is spinning in circles, too. He is trying to get as much manure spread as possible. We had several weeks where we couldn’t get manure out of the storage pits, and now we are behind in that department. Duane is hoping this nice weather continues long enough to get caught up on manure hauling. Spring field work is around the corner and spreading manure is always first on the “to-do” list.

Another chore on Duane’s list is to make sure all the fences are working properly. We have electric fences on our farm and before we let the cows out to pasture for the summer, we need to go around the fences, make sure all the winter foliage is cleared off of the wires, and cut down the weeds that took over last fall. If there is any debris lying on the wires, the electric current is shorted and for some reason the cows instantly have that figured out and are jumping through fences so they can run through the fields.

Chasing cows across the field is one of my least favorite jobs, so I am glad when Duane takes the time to make sure the fence is working properly. Then again, today is so beautiful I might not complain if I had to chase the cows, as long as it was under the sunshine.

This weather is a sign that we made it through the winter, and spring flowers, sunshine, and springtime are just around the corner.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to check on the calves and make sure they are enjoying the sunshine!

March 12, 2010

Exercise seems to be on everyone’s mind this time of year. Coming off of the holidays and heading into the summer, a lot of people are thinking about losing weight.

I am no exception to that bandwagon. Last year, I took up running and reached my goal of getting back to a certain weight and running a 5K.

Since the snow season started, running took a back seat and I lost all that tone and endurance. This week, I decided it’s time to start thinking about exercise again.

I was really excited when I was reading through the most recent issue of Runner’s World magazine (April 2010), which included an article highlighting certain foods that are important while working through an exercise program.

Milk was on that list of most important foods. The article said that milk is an important part of our diet when exercising because it reduces the risk of stress fractures and adds vitamins to our bodies. Sometimes, when we are involved in an intense exercise program, we deprive our body of the vitamins and minerals we need to keep us going.

The article also talked about the importance of yogurt and how it gives our bodies the digestible fat that we need to break down those bad fat cells.

Growing up in the dairy industry, I already knew about milk’s health benefits, but I was thrilled to see that good knowledge getting out into the exercising public. I was so excited that I decided to pass that information on to you – just in case you’re thinking like I am and decide to start an exercise program.

March 1, 2010

Duane and I enjoyed the past few days in Pittsburgh at the Pennsylvania Holstein Convention.

My non-farm friends laugh at me: “You mean you have COW conventions?”

Yes, we have cow conventions and they are a blast. We have meetings about what’s happening on the national level and business reports from the state office. We have a lot of fun with friends that we only see a few times a year.

There are also banquets, awards, farm tours and entertainment. This year, the farm tours were cancelled because of the snowstorm, so we spent most of the day hanging out with friends.

That was special.Spending the day visiting is not a pace that you typically see farmers enjoy, and it was good to change our pace and relax for the day.

A group of us decided to go out for lunch and then realized we were close to The Springhouse in Eighty Four, Pa. The Springhouse is a small dairy store and restaurant. Owners Sam and Bev Minor have a small dairy farm that supplies their own processed milk for the store. They also make all of their own desserts, salads and several hot food options.

Coming from a background in dairy, it is obvious the Minors care about the pure ingredients that go into their desserts, salads and sandwiches. It was also obvious when I tasted my tomato soup – the food was delicious!

It was a highlight of the week! Of course, it was much more fun because the time was spent with good friends.

I love going to cow conventions. I feel reenergized to go back to my farm, having learned new ideas to be a more efficient farmer and catching up with awesome friends.

February 19, 2010

I said in the last blog that I would explain how it is that we get the milk to the plant during snowstorms.

This past storm was the most challenging we have had in a long time. I remember years ago when Duane drove a tractor to town and the milk truck followed his tracks back through narrow and snow filled roads to our farm. But it has been many years since we had a storm of this magnitude that stopped milk trucks from getting to farms.

Duane called the dispatcher in the middle of the most recent storm and wanted to know if he could wait until the next day to deliver our truck load of milk. The dispatcher was very clear; they needed the milk at the plant. The milk plant needed to meet its quota for the day and was already behind schedule from the snowstorm a few days earlier. So our milk truck driver started out for the plant and to make sure he didn’t run into trouble, Duane followed behind him in our large SUV.

The trip to the plant usually takes 45 minutes, but with the storm, it took several hours. They left the farm at 10 a.m. and did not get back until 6 p.m.! They did have chains wrapped around the tires of the milk truck, which helped to keep it from sliding.

Duane was glad that he ventured out the day that he did. The snowfall was much greater than anticipated, and the roads were closed most of the following day. It would have been more difficult to get our milk to the plant.

When I was a child, I remember storms that stopped the milk truck from getting to the farm. Those were scary times for my dad. If the milk truck couldn’t get to the farm and it was time for the cows to be milked again, we had to dump the milk. That is a heart wrenching experience for dairy farmers. It is a lot of hard work and profit down the drain.

With larger equipment around our farm, such a scenario is very unlikely to happen to us today. We have a large pay loader that spends most minutes of the snowstorm scooping and moving snow from the roads.

In fact, we got a call the other day from a neighboring farmer who needed to get the milk truck back to his farm. The drifts were too high for his tractor and it was almost time for the next milking. There were several pay loaders working on the road, and they finally got the truck through.

February 17, 2010

Wow! Again I say WOW!

That’s a lot of snow. Some are saying we’ve had record snowfalls in our area. I don’t know if it broke a record for the century, but it broke a record for me. That was the deepest snow I have ever trudged through.

Some of the drifts were waist deep. The first morning was the worst because the path to the calf hutches wasn’t plowed and it was feeding time. We usually pull a wagon full of bottles to the calf hutches, but that morning we had to carry the bottles.

It took four trips with two of us carrying crates of bottles, but the calves were very happy to see us. We only had to carry bottles three more feedings and, thankfully, we are now back to using the wagon.

I thought about our calf feeding times, and I can honestly say that our calves have never missed a meal. There have been days when the pasteurizer was broke and feeding time was delayed for a few hours, but the calves were eventually taken care of.

Even during extreme temperatures our animals are well cared for. We just put on another layer of warm winter gear and head for the barn. Feeding our animals, making sure every animal has a warm and dry place to lie down, digging paths in the snow, and getting the milk truck to the plant are the most important jobs during snowstorms.

Getting the milk truck out to the main roads is a blog all its own. More on that later; it’s almost feeding time and the calves don’t like it when I am late!

February 5, 2010

For farmers, the winter months can be viewed as down time. Other than hauling manure when the weather allows, there isn’t much time spent in the fields.

During spring, summer and fall, the tractors are kept busy cultivating, planting and harvesting crops. But during the winter, the fields lay barren and the tractors are in the shed.

During these months, we spend a lot of time attending meetings, servicing equipment, and repairing buildings.

Farm meetings have changed over the past years. When I was a child, I remember my father attending farm meetings at the local fire hall or a nearby restaurant. He would go to the meeting and hear about new regulations, the latest and greatest equipment, and new technology that would help him farm more efficiently.

Farm meetings still have the same focus, but the way it is presented has come a long way.

Thanks to the Internet, we can now have meetings via Webinar, conference calls and Skype.

The Center for Dairy Excellence is an organization in Pennsylvania that focuses on helping farmers become more efficient in the industry. The Center has been an excellent avenue for dairy farmers this winter by providing several conference calls with outstanding dairy representatives from across the country.

In a few weeks, the Center will host a Webinar that will focus on budgeting. I don’t care what business you operate, after 2009, budgeting is at the top of everyone’s list. I won’t be missing this one.

I’m hopeful that more farming organizations will catch on to using this means of communication in the industry. We need to continue our education so that we remain efficient and become better farmers, just like we have for many years.

February 1, 2010

I was disheartened to see ABC TV’s recent news clip about the dairy industry. The video clips were graphic and uncommon for 99.9 percent of the dairy farmers in the country.

I have met people that consider our dairy a factory farm because we milk more than 500 cows. False accusations like that and undercover video clips like the one ABC portrayed on its “Nightline” broadcast infuriate me. How dare they make such accusations without finding out the truth?

That is not how we run our dairy farm. And that is not how other dairy farmers I know treat their animals.

Our cows are important to us. Each one at each age. I take great pride in how we care for our animals.

We have standards regarding proper animal care, and our employees need to understand how they are to treat animals and respect each other. If that doesn’t happen, they don’t fit on our farm.

The “Nightline” story also touched on tail docking and dehorning. We don’t do tail docking on our farm, so I can’t speak on that practice. However, I have always understood it to be done much the same as is done on certain breeds of dogs, like Dobermans and boxers.

However, we do dehorn on our farm. Cows use their heads to socialize. When cows are in large groups, you often see them push each other around using their heads. It’s their way to communicate with each other. If they were to have sharp horns, they would gore each other.

One of my favorite cows is named Feliz, and she likes it when I go up to her and scratch her head and neck. She loves the extra attention, but I wouldn’t be able to get near her if she had horns because she also loves to shove me around with her head. It is her way of giving attention back to me.

That is the reason why we dehorn our cattle – safety for the cows and safety for ourselves. But the practice itself can be lessoned. Local anesthesia can be injected so the site is numb, and the animals can be tied in a position so they are comfortable.

Those are common and humane practices that are used on most farms.

The ill treatment that ABC displayed is rare and wrong. We love our animals. They are our livelihood. Part of that livelihood is taking proper care of them with respect.

This whole experience makes me wonder about the freedom of speech, the lack of integrity, and the inaccuracy behind news clips that we see every day. If I have a question, I have vowed to find out the truth before believing the few clips I see.

January 27, 2010

January is the start of a new year, but not before we close out the previous year.

When it relates to the bookwork on the farm, it seems that I spend most of the first month calculating, tabulating and rechecking stuff that happened in the past year than focusing on the upcoming year.

We have approximately 15 employees and several people that we hire to do custom work. We don’t own the equipment that we need to plant the corn or harvest the forages, so we hire other businesses to do that work. Each one of our employees and each one of the custom operators needs their proper tax documents by the end of January.

There are lots of days I would rather be out in the barn, feeding the calves or taking care of newborns. However, this is an important and necessary part of the business, so I spend a lot of time in front of the computer during this month.

One nice part about office work is that I am on the inside looking out. On days when the weather is anything but sunny and pleasant, it is an advantage to be working on W-2 forms!

My saving grace is our accountant. If you have an accountant for your business, you are probably amazed at their expertise, like I am. Accountants love numbers and calculating like I love words and writing. Thankfully, we have an accountant that helps me understand what I am doing and keeps me on the straight and narrow year-end-path. And thankfully, February is around the corner!

January 8, 2010

A friend told me the other day that 2010 is the year of the cow. I have a good idea that theory was of her own making and nothing profound. But I found it amusing just the same.

I think she was saying that she is anxious to put 2009 behind us.

There’s something exciting about closing out a year and starting a new year fresh.

2009 was quite the year for dairy farmers, and we were no exception to the chaos. Like so many businesses, dairy farming took a nasty hit with the broken economy, and it seems we spent most of the year digging out of a huge financial hole.

Every farmer I know is excited to start the New Year.

One step in that process is to close out the file cabinet and get my file drawers ready for the New Year. By the end of December, my little file cabinet was stuffed so full of receipts and invoices that I could barely cram another paper in the folders.

On December 31, I spent the day exchanging files. It’s a good feeling to be finished with that year-end job. I took the 2009 files out of the file cabinet and placed them in file boxes, made new folders for the file drawers, and now the office is ready for 2010 to begin.

Starting January with a fresh set of empty folders is refreshing!

Let the year of the cow begin!

January 4, 2010

The blizzard that hit us in mid-December was amazing! It has been several years since we had that much snow accumulation on the farm. I was already on the schedule to work that snowy Saturday, which was good because our other calf-feeding employees were snowed in at their houses.

As beautiful as the snow is, it does cause quite a ruckus on the farm. For one thing, none of the chores are normal. They all take twice the time to complete because it takes so long to get to the calves and walk around the hutches. And pulling the wagon of milk is next to impossible.

Somehow, that snowy Saturday eventually came to an end. I was anxious for Sunday. A new day, hopefully more employees will get to work, and the chore load will be lightened.

As the sun rose over the snowy fields, my heart melted. The landscape was breathtaking. Glistening snow covered our farm like I haven’t seen in many years.

Evidently the calves were also taken with the change. As I made my way out to the hutches, I noticed that one was empty. At some time during the night, the calf escaped from the pen and found refuge in an empty hutch. It wasn’t hard to see how she got away, she just walked out of her hutch, up the snow bank and out over the fence.

And when her neighbor saw how easy it was, she decided to take a morning stroll through the snow, too.

Her stroll turned into a morning rodeo. She ran through the snow, kicking up her heels, tail straight up in the air, fluffy snow flying everywhere. Once she got a taste of running through the snow, there was no going back for that baby.

It didn’t seem to matter how hard I tried to coax her back into her hutch, she enjoyed her freedom.

I finally decided that she was fine running through the snow. I made sure she had access to an empty pen, let her roam, and got on with my chores.

As far as I know she’s stayed in her pen since the snow melted, but from what I understand there is more on the way. I’m sure she’ll be excited.

Dairy Diary Archive

2009

January 2009 · March 2009 · May 2009 · June 2009 · July 2009 · September 2009 · October 2009 · November 2009 · December 2009

2008

February 2008 · March 2008 · April 2008 · May 2008 · June 2008 · July 2008 · August 2008 · September 2008 · October 2008 · November 2008 · December 2008

2007

July 2007 · August 2007 · September 2007

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