Don't Mess with the Bull!

As I was planting canna lilly bulbs around our now empty bull pen the other night, I was humming the tune from the old country song "Gettin' Down on the Farm".  We got a lesson a few weeks ago in why the bull pen is built like it is.

The now empty bull pen

Built with 2' square concrete posts & 2" steel piping.....
this pen is meant to control a big, large animal!

As a farm kid, you are taught at a young age to not mess with the bull, boar, ram, etc.  It was something we kept a close eye on when Brent's cousins visit - "Don't play with, tease, or try to pet the big black cow in the pen by itself" in a very stern voice.  I remember going over a fence headfirst as a teenager from a boar that seemed upset with me - I really think he just wanted more feed, but regardless, I went over the fence faster than he could catch me because I wasn't going to find out!  Normally, virtually all dairy cows are bred via AI (artificial insemination).  This allows us to use some of the best genetics available and use multiple bulls, not just the one bull we may have on the farm at the time.  Beef producers also use AI, but most of them also keep bulls on pasture with the cows most of the summer as well.  Maybe its the fact that we are working with the cows everyday with milking, maybe it is just the dairy genes, but dairy bulls are notorious for being just plain mean.  Not playing, mean!  I remember a friend in college that got beat up pretty badly working on the dairy farm on campus - you do NOT mess with a dairy bull!  In the last few years, we've started keeping a bull around the dairy to help get cows bred.  Most of these bulls used for breeding are born on the farm, raised in the pens just like the rest of the heifers, and so are used to all of us and being around people.  Overall, they are usually pretty docile, but at some point, we do need to keep them separated from certain groups of cows or heifers that they aren't allowed to breed.  This can tend to lead to them being put into the bull pen, which usually means they are by themselves, or they get put there when they show the first signs of acting like a bull.  3M (our previous herd bull) was a perfectly behaved bull.....until one day, Brent & I went into the pen that 3M was also in to sort cows.  He never bothered me, but the minute we walked into the pen, the bull made a beeline for Brent - so to town he went.  (We hypothesized that 3M liked to "fight" with the big round bales of hay when the skidloader brought them into the pen, and Brent always drove the skidloader, and that he recognized him, thinking he could fight the bale, except this time, there was no bale or skidloader!)  Kahlua, our current herd bull,  has acted more "bully" at a younger age than most of our previous herd bulls, so we had made a point of locking him up in headlocks before we even went into the pen, but overall, he hadn't been bad enough that we thought we had to get rid of him, or at least we were willing to deal with it until we used him to get a few more problem cows bred (as there are no younger bulls growing up on the farm right now).  That was until one morning Brent & his dad came out to milking to having found Kahlua out & about the farm having cleared the gate that was shorter than the rest of his iron/cement pen, but it was still chained, not bent or looking like he even nicked it when he cleared it (and the pen is only about 20' long, so he can't get much of a running start at it).  It took them nearly half an hour to get him back in the pen, after Brent got stranded on the top of a piece of equipment while Kahlua dared him to get off - pawing at him.  So, Kahlua is now gone, the bull pen is now empty, and we've had our share of messing with the bull, for awhile anyway.  

Kahlua before he left.  The pipe gate behind him that is sitting at an angle is what he cleared to get out.  It got put at an odd angle to prevent him from doing it again.

What Happens When the "Frig" Goes Out?

What does happen when the 'frig goes out?  At the house, it typically means either the throwing away of a lot of food, or an emergency run to the appliance store, or both, depending on the timing of discovery.  I got a comment on my last post of "Does our milkhouse smell because the milk has gone rotten?", which is a very good question.  And, since we've spent more time & effort on keeping this from happening over the last few weeks than we have in probably the last few years, I thought this an excellent opportunity to explain how we keep milk cold on the farm. 
First & foremost, milk that you buy in the grocery store is NEVER allowed to get above 40 degrees from the time it leaves the cow to when you buy it and put it in your cart (that is when your responsibility to put it away in your frig kicks in).  The milk supply is always kept refrigerated, and if it should get out of temperature range (due to "frig" malfunction or power outage), it is dumped/removed from the food supply, and the tank sanitized before new milk goes in.  In addition, milk comes out of the cow at roughly her body temperature (somewhere near 100 degrees), and it needs to be cooled to below 40 degrees within a certain timeframe.  We have several things that help us do that. 
First, is a plate cooler.  This is process where the warm milk from the cow passes through metal pipes right next to cool water.  If you think back to science class, the heat molecules will pass from the warm milk to the cool water, making cool milk and warm water.  We reuse the water to provide fresh water to the cows, and the milk starts out cooler when it reaches the bulk tank (our massive "frig"), and requires less energy to get cooled down the rest of the way.  The bulk tank has a paddle that swirls the milk to keep cool milk from sitting on the bottom and hot milk on top, so that it cools evenly as it is added to the tank during milk (it also keeps the milk from separating into the cream at the top), and then the compressor (and several other items in relation to that whose names I only know because they have been noted on the numerous bills that have come in recently due to their necessary repair) work to cool the milk in the tank, just like a refrigerator or freezer in your house.  We replaced our bulk tank recently to get one with a better cooling system and it's bigger to keep up with the higher volume of milk are cows are (and will be) producing!

I've gotten into more of a habit as of late when I do the last feed push-up & maternity check to not only see if the "light is on", but also to check the temperature gauge on the bulk tank, just to make sure it is cooling like it should.  And, there are people "on call" 24/7 at our service company to come and help diagnose and fix any problems that we can't handle ourselves.  (which I'm sure they loved the 9 PM trip last Sunday night, but it saved a load of milk!)

The "light is on", which means that the cooler on the bulk tank is on.  I can tell when I push up feed at night, or when we drive home after dark, that at least it's on!

The milkhouse & old bulk tank

The new bulk tank on the trailer

The side cut off the milkhouse, as the new bulk tank is too big to go through the doors

A very strange looking empty milkhouse until the new tank was installed.

When the milk truck picks up each morning, the driver first checks the temperature and for any smells or odors that tell them that something isn't right.  If they suspect issues, they call in the producer and our cooperative before they will load it on the truck (and thus, potentially contaminate any neighbor's milk that might already be loaded).  Any suspect loads are dumped, which as a producer, isn't a whole lot of fun for us (no milk = no paycheck), but it is MUCH more important that safe food arrive at your dinner table (and mine). 

So, no smells of rotten milk on the farm, and you can rest assured of all the work that goes into getting you a COLD glass of milk!

What to Expect....

Ok, this blog has been in "draft" form for almost 4 months, so I apologize now for the rant you are about to receive.
The Pollard Family is expanding.  That's right, Brent & I are expecting in early September.  So, like many other 1st time expectant mothers, I went out, got "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and proceeded to read my way through 200 pages in the 1st weekend.  At about pg. 115, I got a little frustrated.  I already drink plenty of milk, eat meat for iron, and I knew I needed to do a better job of eating more fruits and vegetables (and my friends will be VERY impressed that I am down to one diet pop a day), but I got upset when I read the sidebar on "Think Organic".  There is no nutritional or safety difference between an organic glass of milk and a "conventional" glass of milk (or meat or anything else).

None, zip, zero, nada

The particular statement that frustrated me was that I should be eating organic food because of the "hormones and antibiotics" in non-organic foods. 
#1 - Hormones.  Virtually all products you eat contain hormones.  That includes the steak I had last night, the glass of milk I drank with it, and the lettuce in the side salad I had alongside.  These foods are derived from a living organism.  Organisms produce hormones in their bodies/cells, and so, it would reason that eating foods from them would also have hormones in them.  Now, there are some products that allow us as farmers to give the animals additional hormones that their body already produces.  At this time, these products are available (meaning:  licensed, tested, cleared for use in) for dairy cows (known as rbst) & beef cattle (known as implants).  First, let me be clear, I will NOT give any product to any animal that I don't feel is safe for that animal, and for anyone that eats it.  (Remember, my freezer is full of beef from our farm, and pork from my parent's, and I work to buy "my" milk.)
In dairy cows, this hormone is already naturally produced by cows, and is naturally-occuring at higher levels in cows that have just given birth.  Giving them additional hormone (only after their initial milk production has dropped off, and only if they are in the right condition to do so, so not every cow is treated), simply recreates this early lactation production.  For some cows, I equate it to "turning on the light bulb".  The cows thinks "Oh, I'm supposed to make milk, well ok", and you can turn a fat, lazy cow that can't produce enough to pay her feed bill, into a productive animal.  This is healthier for the cow.  Oh, and the glass of milk from a treated cow has absolutely no more bst in it than a glass of milk from a cow that has not been treated.  (That is why the labels have to say something like "our farmers pledge not to use rbst" or "from cows not treated with rbst", NOT "bst-free" because all milk contains bst.)  And, please don't go running away from all milk as a result of reading this.  Milk from all mammals contains bst (so, if you were breastfed as a child, you've ingested bst).

#2 - Antibiotics:  There are no antibiotics in meat, milk or eggs that you eat.  Period. 
None, zip, zero, nada.....None
So, every piece of meat you buy in the store could be labeled "Antibiotic-free".  Why is that?
Yes, occasionally, my animals become sick, and occasionally, one of the things I use to treat them with is antibiotics.  We'll try other remedies were possible,  (Who knew powdered sugar is a great remedy to treat pinkeye!) but sometimes, I need medicine to do what is right for the animal in my care.  However, I have to remove a cow's milk from the system when I have treated her, and I can't put it back into the milk supply until she has tested free of antibiotics (we have an at-home tester that allows us to test a cow's milk and know before the next milking whether or not she is clean of antibiotics) .  The same process works for meat animals (including the cows I sell for hamburger).  Each antibiotic has undergone thorough testing to see the length of time the product remains in the animal's body.  This length of time is known as the withdrawal, and is the time that an animal may not be sent for processing.  Meat processing plants check this routinely, and they track animals back to their source (after pulling the meat or batch) and address the concern with the producer.  If a producer gets on the repeat violator list, they aren't allowed to sell food products anymore.  Makes sense to me!
So, rest assured; you shouldn't have to worry about antibiotics in your food. 

With hundreds of sources of information on what I should or should not be doing right now, it's nice to know that I can put these things into the "don't have to worry about" column, and be happy that him/her is doing well at the mid-way ultrasound!

The Little Things....

Sometimes, it is the little things in life that make your day.  My "little thing" this week:  a drying rack for the bottles we use to feed milk to the baby calves.  There are lots of big things going on at the farm right now:  makeover for the parlor, the calf nursery, and my house in various stages of being painted.  Whenever the digital camera uses the legs it has sprouted recently to come back to us, I'll show you all these big things....for now, you'll have to make due with slightly blurry cell phone pics!

The things we bring in our houses....

As farmers, we bring a multitude of things into our garages, houses, basements.  It is nothing for me to clean used needles (caps on - that is a rule!) out of the folds of the washing machine, along with nuts & bolts, the occasional wrench, and whatever else may not have gotten completely cleaned out of coat pockets!  This week, I've been working in the garage on reinforcing heifer bunks from our wean calf barn.  As the heifers get older, they have begun a habit of standing in the feed bunk. 

Partially done with reinforcing the bottom

Adding top rail supports

The sheet of plywood on the bottom just wasn't quite enough to support them, and they've been cracking the plywood & pushing out the reinforcing 2x4. (they always think they are starving, when they are actually fed quite well.  If we fed them what they wanted, we would end up with a bunch of fat, unhealthy heifers).  So, I've had one side of our garage occupied with a feed bunk for the last 2 weeks, and I slowly, but surely, have been reinforcing & retrofitting to prevent their future destruction.

While my woodworking will never pass as quality enough that I would build furniture or other things for our house, it is "barn-worthy", and so I use the skills my dad taught me to drive a nail straight, drill, saw, and whatever is needed to work through the never-ending "Farm Improvement List".  I'm one of the few women in America that receives circular saws, drills, & grinders as birthday presents, and is genuinely happy about it.  (And they are MY tools...believe me, I have thought about spray-painting them pink to illustrate this point on more than 1 occasion!) 

A Farmer's Toolbox...

This assortment of objects may look like I took it in a doctor's or veterinarian's office, but instead it is the tools occupying a lot of Brent's days.  (And, may I just say, I had written this post before my husband bought the toolbox to organize it all - bless him!)  While we greatly appreciate (and use) the advice and knowledge of our vets, they can't be at the farm all the time (and certainly not available to everyone all the time), and let's face it, they aren't necessarily cheap.  So, we, as farmers, have to learn to do some diagnostic tests and treatments on our own.   Nowhere, am I finding this more true than with dairy cows, and especially fresh (or recently calved) cows.  Coming from a background of pigs & beef cattle, I was shocked at the difference when I moved to the dairy.  I came to realize that a dairy cow resting in an "unusual" spot (freestalls are like church pews - the cows all kind of have their "assigned" spot; another post on that later) could mean that she is sick, a funny look (from the cow to me) could mean she's in heat, and that also sometimes the bellering of the bull really means absolutely nothing!
Calving is a stressful time in a cow's life, and so we are closely monitoring each cow for signs of distress.  We do what we can, with what we have to keep each cow in proper health.  Sometimes that means absolutely nothing - she's doing just fine, and we are just checking.  Sometimes, it is energy tubes, full of nutrients to keep all her systems functioning at top performance.  And, yes, sometimes that does include antibiotics when necessary to clear any infections.  (Pushing a 100# baby out doesn't come without some potential issues)
When that happens, we use red duct tape to mark the cow's legs and pull her milk from the milk supply until everything has cleared her system.  We have an on-farm tester that allows us to do the testing ourselves. 
We are checking all the fresh cows every day for the first 2 weeks after calving, or until we think they are on a solid plan for success.  Cows that start off well, will reward us later with not only more milk, but a healthier system that will make her ready for another calf in another year.

New Babies....

2 live heifers, 1 live bull, 1 dead heifer, 1 dead bull.....at least we're improving.  10 cows in maternity right now so staying plenty busy.

You just gotta love the things baby animals do!