Quality Animal Care

There are thousands of farmers that spend countless hours providing quality care for the animals they are raising. It can be a very stressful way of life often putting the animals needs before our own.  It is sad when a someone doesn't care for their animals properly but even worse when activists groups use it to promote a lifestyle they have embraced and feel that all others should do the same.  
Here are some links to blogs of people that care for animals for a living:


Heather Koehler talks about the difference between pets and livestock


Around the Farm Blog


Ray Prock discuss these issues and also has compiled a list of other farmers doing the same


Ray-Lin Dairy


Emily Zweber shows how they care for the calves on their farm in a video 


Zweber Family Farm

Third Crop Hay

This photo was taken on 09/22/10. As of 09/28/10 we finished baling hay for the year. We had a late start on hay this spring and are still behind. With the days getting shorter and the nights extremely cooler third crop hay can be hard to get dried down to below 20% moisture needed to bale high quality hay. Usually when baling larger bales it is important to keep the moisture below 16% but we purchased a preservative unit a few years ago that sprays a buffered acid on the hay and allows us to bale with more moisture. We purchase at least one 270 gallon tote every year at the ever increasing price of $2300.

Quality Milk

Superior Quality Milk Award  I was very excited to learn that we have been able to meet the qualifications for 5 consecutive years!! This is a result of many things including, cow health, cow comfort, cow nutrition, cow and equipment cleanliness, good genetics, awesome help, proper milking procedures, quick and proper cooling of milk to 38 degrees, and I am sure there are other things I have overlooked. Even for only 90 cows it requires a team effort to be successful.

Baler School

I have to post something tonight or it may be ten more months before I actually make a post. I had the chance to go to a baler school today at a local implement dealership to learn more about how to keep the baler up and running. Very important to be able to keep baling when the conditions are right for high quality hay. Besides keeping the cows as comfortable as possible feeding the highest quality hay possible is probably the highest priority on our dairy. I did learn about our baler but unfortunately they also taught me about the improvements on the shiny new baler that was parked behind the instructors the entire presentation. I guess the free lunch and instruction had a reason behind it. The balers have become the size of a small house and cost as much as our house did when we built in 1997. I couldn't get over the fact that you can put 30 spools of twine in the baler. For our farm that is almost enough twine to bale the entire year without reloading. You can see the three rows for the spools just in front of the ladder in the picture. And don't forget that the spools sit on an angle to help the twine feed better and the twine box is sealed to keep the dust from building up and causes issues.