Wordless Wednesday

I think we can all agree....it is time for a new roof!

And they are getting it, more pictures to follow of demolition.....

Candyland

Ever been in a real need of a sugar craving.....I was really feeling that yesterday, when I was knee deep in candy!  Yes, candy!  Farmers will use whatever is available to them to feed their animals, and in this case, the "candy", or more technically-termed "sugar by-product", can also be really good for the cows. 

You can see some of the candy sprinkles in the "Sugar By-Product".  Brent also thinks there is a lot of powdered drink mix, as it soaks up water from the air, and is really sticky!  I'm pretty sure I saw some pieces of malted milk eggs in the pile too....

Just like in humans, animals need some sugar/fat in their diet.  It allows nutrients & vitamins to be better absorbed in the body (remember, some of the key nutrients you need everyday are fat-soluble, meaning they need a little fat!).  In this case, we are feeding the sugar to the little living microbes in the cow's gut that work on her food to break it down.  By giving the microbes a little more energy, they work harder to break down the fiber (hay, silage, forage) that the cow eats, allowing her to wring the last bit of nutrients out of that fiber.  Feeding these alternatives as we call them allow us as the farmers to do as good, if not better, job of feeding our animals, while spending less on other feed sources.  In this case, the factories where candy sprinkles, drink mix, or whatever else might be powdered up in there, scrape the "bottom of the barrell" so to speak and use the broken or partial pieces to go into this by-product.  Our neighbors buy this product by the semi load, and are kind enough to let us buy a wagon load from them as we need it (since we don't have as nice of a place to store it & since it does wick up so much water it does need to stay inside).

May the next few days bring us an end to the monsoons we've been having as of late!  We all (cows, pigs, crops & humans) need to dry out for a little while.

Our Kay's....

I've been waiting a couple of days to post this, just to make sure we didn't jinx it.  Our heifer, Po-Cop Lauden (Loud 'n) Klear had a baby heifer Thursday, Krystal Klear.  This makes 8 members of the Kay family that are still alive at the farm, and 3 generations of those are in the milking string!

I am many times asked, "How old do cows live to be?".  The answer is as long as they want, but typically most dairy cows have ceased to produce milk by the time they are 8 or 9.  Remember, an animal doesn't begin producing milk until they've had a calf, at about the age of 2.  If they are a good cow, they will have a calf about every 12-14 months, and so if they live to be 8, they typically have had ~5 lactations.  Brent's goal is to have over 50% of our herd reach this age.  Why do dairy cows not live longer, you might ask?  Well, they can.  I have seen cows that are 19 or 20 years old, but they are no longer productive cows.  The rule at our farm is that a cow needs to produce enough milk to pay her feed bill.  If not, she needs to be sold to become beef.  This does NOT mean that we don't care about that cow.  We strive to give every cow great care, all the time.  However, from time to time, a cow becomes ill, lame, or has some other problem that leads her to stop producing milk, and we need to cull her from the herd.  This isn't heartless or cruel, it is simply the nature of things.  Believe me, I'm not happy when we have to sell a cow, but if we kept cows that didn't produce enough to at least pay their feed bill, the cows would soon find themselves without a home, and we would too, as we would be broke!

Anyway, back to my 3 generations story......
Shortly after we got married, Brent took me to a farm in Wisconsin, the Hoesly farm, where we bought several groups of bred heifers in order to improve & grow our herd.  I absolutely loved going to that farm, and listening to the owner, Todd, be able to talk about his cows, and the multiple generations that were still there on his farm.  I was so jealous!  At the time, we were lucky to have dam & daughter (mom & daughter) to both be in the milking herd at the same time, let alone 3 or 4 generations of a single family.  On the way home from our visit to Hoesly's, I told Brent that I had a new goal, to have 3 generations of cows all milking at the same time.  I finally got it last year (from cows descended from the Hoesly herd), but I'm even more proud of this group of cows, as they are also some of our top milk producers, and they were all born on our farm!  I nearly had this 3 years ago, as Kay (the matriach and mother to Kaydence) & Kaydence were both milking, and Kaliedoscope was due to calve, but we lost Kay tragically to a DA, from which she wasn't able to recover.

Kay (white) & Kaydence (black) the matriachs of the Kay Family

This was taken 3 years ago, after Kay scored EX & Kaydence scored VG as a 2 yr old!

The Kay Family consists of:
Kaydence, who has daughters:  Kaliedoscope, Kalliope, & Kalypso
Kaliedoscope has calves; Klear & we are keeping her most recent bull (only the 2nd boy to be born to this family), "Shot of Kahlua", to be our future herd bull
Kalliope gave birth to Grand Kayman last spring
& now Klear has Krystal Klear

Kalliope & Kalypso are both due to calve later this summer, so here is hoping that the Kay's at Po-Cop keep growing!

Where There Is a Cow......So Must There Be a Pig!

Wherever there is cow "stuff", then there must also be pig "stuff".  That is simply the way it goes in our house.  The car has both Pork & Dairy window clings.  Last Christmas, my parents got us both cow & pig lighted blow-up displays (you'll see those on this blog once the snow flies!).  We have enough pig & cow ornaments to adorn a Christmas tree by themselves.  I remember when we got married; a friend of mine said, "You're going to have pigs on your farm, right?".  When I said "no", he was in complete shock...."But, you're Carrie, you have to have pigs.  It just won't be right if you don't have pigs!"

I moved a lot of my pig stuff to work, but I still keep a few pieces.  I found these in a catalog last week, and gave in (they were only $6, which probably means they are going to bust in the first good wind, but until then I'll enjoy them)!

Cow & Pig Hanging Flower Baskets.....it even has a curly tail!

After we finished the bunker at noon on Saturday,

Nearly done!!

I spent the rest of the weekend playing with my flowers.  This is strange as in my high school Horticulture class, I couldn't even keep marigolds alive!  As long as it is outside, and Mother Nature takes care of most of the watering, I seem to be ok.  I keep working on trying to keep the weeds down.  The "pasture" dirt that I steal from the cow's pasture is great stuff for growing plants (as it has a little of that great cow fertilizer mixed in), but the weeds also love it too!

"Hostaville"  

 We'll stay busy in the next few weeks, as we are expecting several new calves, the wind storm is going to require a new roof on the parlor, and we continue to prep & get ready for the teardown, followed by the construction of a new freestall barn for our cows, which they desperately need!

Finally.....Down to 145!

Today the USDA finally, after months & years of research & waiting for them to do so, lowered the recommended cooking temperature for pork.  Until today, USDA still recommended that pork be cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees.  This usually resulted in overcooked pork that tastes more like rubber than pork.  USDA revised their cooking guidelines after much research that proved that pork can still be safe when cooked to an internal temperature of 145.  I've been doing this with for years, and it results in a slightly pink center, and the pork is tender & juicy!  The trick is to let the meat rest for a few minutes after you take it out of the oven.  Thicker pieces of meat, like chops, loins & tenderloins, will continue to heat even after you take it out of the oven.  If you wait until the internal temperature is 160, it will continue to cook another 5-10 degrees, causing the pork to be extremely chewy.  Removing loins at 145 will result in pork that is slightly pink in the center.  Don't worry....it is still safe to eat, and you'll enjoy the improved eating quality that you'll get with a more juicy, tender pork meal.
So, try out the new guidelines this Memorial Day weekend on the grill!  Recipes are available at www.porkbeinspired.com
I highly recommend pre-marinated center cut loins from Hormel.  I enjoy the parmesan-crusted version, but most any variety is good.  Here's to happy grilling!

                                                    

Rain, Rain, Go Away.....

....it did.....we got LOTS done.....and now it's back!
Ok, so the last time I sat down to start writing a post was 3 weeks ago, and it had this title.  I never actually finished it, because that was the last time we really got serious rain until today.
 In that 3 weeks, Warren got all of the corn & beans planted, Brent sowed alfalfa, which will make hay for our cows in the future, and we made over 30 acres of haylage (or chopped hay)....whew!  All while milking cows twice a day, and making sure they are cared for while we get busy in the fields.
You have to "Make Hay While the Sun Shines", and no truer was that than this week.  Brent mowed hay on Tuesday, and then it took nearly 2 days for it to dry enough that we could run it through our chopping equipment.  Thursday afternoon we started, just in time for Gail & I to milk while Brent & Warren got the beginning of the year bugs worked out of the equipment.  Friday we made good progress, finishing all of the hay we had mowed, and then we finished up the last 5 loads today.  We've still got some equipment kinks to work out, but it looks like we've got a week of on & off rain ahead to get caught up on those projects.

This is what the bunker looks like before we start....we put plastic down the sides & secure it at the bottom (that way water can't weep down the sides when it rains & spoil the hay next to the sides.  

Then, slowly, but surely, we keep adding to the pile.  This wagon is nice, as it allows us to use the hydraulics on the tractor to open up the rear door, and the silage falls out the back.  Brent then uses the skidsteer (with metal tracks for added traction) to pack the hay that will be the feed for the cows next year.

Our bunker is about 150' long & 30' wide & 6' tall, and we will nearly fill it with just the 1st cutting of hay (there are usually 4 "cuttings"), assuming we can get to the last big field in good time.

Once the pile is full, we take the plastic & cover the pile, and let the haylage "ferment" a little bit, and then we'll start incorporating it into the cow's ration.
This is only the 2nd year since Brent & I have been married that we have made hay before Memorial Day (hopefully, the weather will break later this week, and I can say we got all the hay done, and not just some of it).  Making hay is serious business.  You have to guess what the weather is going to do, and this time of year, you never know when showers will pop up.  Hay can make really good feed for the cows, that they will then turn into milk....the "better" (more nutrients, energy) the feed, the more milk they will make, and the better off we will all be.  The better our hay is, the less we have to supplement the cows diets with corn to make up the missing energy.
I'll have some pictures of the rainstorm damage tommorrow.....it really did a number on the trees in the yard, and the cows were NOT happy when a big "red cell" went over us at about 7 pm tonite, but all is well!

The Last Ones....

I got a chance to go home this weekend to the Bertelsen Farm for Easter.  It was a little bittersweet when I had to open all 3 doors to the farrowing rooms before I finally found the one that still had pigs in it.  The Bertelsen's are getting out of the pig business.  My Mom & Dad have worked a long time to build their farm, and they have earned some much-needed and much-deserved R&R.  Therefore, they chose to voluntarily exit the business.  This is pretty sad for me, as I spend my days surrounded by pigs, and the reason I have become such a "pig person" is because of what I learned while growing up in the hog barns, especially with my Mom.  The last sow farrowed this week, and so once all these little pigs grow up and go to market (about 5-6 months from now), there will be no more pigs on the farm at all.

These are some of the last pigs to be born at the Bertelsen Farm

One of the main reasons why the pigs are leaving is because we have had a particularly difficult time finding someone to replace our long-time, full-time employee who was injured in a motorcycle accident last summer. This is why farmers tend to specialize, and "Go Big, or Go Home!".  Working on farms isn't easy work, and at times, it is not especially enjoyable.  (I personally think that the good times outnumber the bad, but that is just me!)  It is much easier to find someone to work on the farm who can specialize in one area, such as crop production, machinery, or livestock production.  Therefore, farms many times need to jump from 50 sows or cows (or a size when most work can be done with family labor) to 500 sows or cows (or a size when the farm can hire 4-5 workers that can specialize in the different areas around the farm).

The Bertelsen's are not nearly done farming though....there are still nearly 1000 acres of corn and beans to fertilize, plant, spray & harvest, as well as several years worth of projects that have been put off because we have been too busy taking care of all of those pigs for all of those years.