We know that we are part of a very dangerous industry. In fact, farming is number four on the list behind fishermen, loggers and pilots. There were 300 farm related fatalities in the US in 2010. While we take great measures to make sure everyone of us is safe, after this week, we also are more prepared should something happen.
On Wednesday, 11 of our family members and key employees from each shift participated in First Aid and CPR training right at the farm. We packed into our conference room and with instruction from Tammy of Valders Ambulance Service and Judy of Holy Family Hospital, we all obtained certification for Adult and Infant CPR and First Aid. While we sure hope we never have to use it, we all feel better prepared should something happen either at the farm or with our families. Several of those in attendance have young children and all felt better knowing the proper way to handle choking - no it's not a smack on the back.
Here are some pictures of us working on our CPR:
CPR and First Aid are offered at most Red Cross locations, hospitals and many churches. I encourage everyone to find time to take a course. Someday you may be glad you did!!!
Twice each year, every cow at Soaring Eagle Dairy gets her hooves trimmed by a specialist. Don Vosters of Vosters Hoof Care comes to the farm three times monthly, each time seeing 55 - 85 cows and trimming their hooves to provide the cow with proper balance and weight distribution on those feet and legs. The attached video shows the process.
The tool that Don is using is a special grinding wheel and while it is very loud, it's really not a lot different than the Dremel type tool that is used at the spa on ladies who get their finger or toe nails done. While human trips to the spa for this type of work is mostly driven by vanity, for the cows taking good care of their feet is extremely important in maintaining her overall health. You see if a cow has a sore foot, she will not spend the time she should at the feed bunk or the water tank, meaning she will not be meeting her energy and nutrient requirements.
Here's another video with some close up shots of the work that's done.
Perhaps we could start painting those hooves with OPI polish in colors like "Moolishus Mocha" or "Udderly Orange"!!
Last month I had the opportunity for the third time to travel to Fair Oaks, Indiana to visit the Fairy Oaks Dairy Adventure Center. For anyone looking for something to do for entertainment as well as to have all your questions about dairy farming today answered, I highly recommend a trip there. You can find out more at www.fofarms.com. The following is a brief description of what we all did and saw.
The Dairy Tour
Upon entering the Dairy Adventure Center, visitors quickly come to a school bus like this to take a tour of one of the dairies 3000 cow farms. The tour bus drives you through one of the cow barns, past the feed center and new babies (below).
This is the front of the milking center which houses the 72 cow carousal parlor. Along side this building is the specially built garage which the bus pulls in and visitors can then proceed up one floor to the observation deck and watch the milking in the parlor.
Once inside, you not only get to watch the cows being milked, but you also learn a lot from the video which tells you about the milking process. Click on the picture below to watch the video. Turn your speakers up - the narrative on the video is hard to hear, but the subtitles have lots of information.
The Education Center
For me the highlight of the education center was the 4D video that we watched. Very informative and entertaining. Just watch out when the cow sneezes!! Below are other parts of the center.
The above is an exhibit that contrasts farming back in the "old days" to farming today which uses technology to improve cow comfort as well as improve milk quality and production.
This is a merry-go-round of Holsteins
At this station visitors can time themselves prepping a cow and attaching the milk machine.
This is a fun and interactive climbing wall for kids.
Hall of Holsteins, each of which has some great facts to learn more about cows and dairy.
The Birthing Barn
Located just outside this barn is a stop and go light. A red light means there's not much happening inside, but a yellow light means a cow is in labor and a green light means the calf is on it's way.
On the day of our visit, we just missed the first calf on the right being born, but we able to watch the delivery of the calf on the left.
The Visitor Center
As if all the above wasn't enough, they also have a visitor center with souvenirs, a cheese store, a deli and ice cream shop. We had soup and a sandwich along with milk shakes that were the best! I brought home some of the Fair Oaks brand 5 year Cheddar which was amazing too! This is a must see and a dream of mine is to build something like this in Manitowoc County. I'm happy to report a group is working right now to determine the feasibility of something similar in our state! That will take time, so again, if you are looking for a nice getaway, I highly recommend a trip to Indiana!
When a group of cows goes up to the parlor for milking, at the start of the group there are about 125 cows in the area we call the holding area. Each time a side of cows leaves the parlor another 16 cows proceed from the holding area into the parlor and so the amount of space these cows need to be held in is constantly getting smaller and smaller. To manage this area, we use a crowd gate which slides on rails along this area, gradually decreasing in size the holding area and moving the cows up toward the parlor.
Well after 15 years, the crowd gate had begun to cause us a lot of troubles and we decided that it was time to replace it. No big deal, right? We just write a check, take the old one out and put the new one in. Sounds simple - oh but it was far from simple. The 3 days it took us to get this done each started by 7 am and we quit about 6:30 pm each night. You see what makes this less than simple is the fact we need to keep milking cows and since each shift takes 7 hours and 45 minutes from start to clean up, there isn't a lot of time to work without having to manage around the cows. Here are some pictures of our project:
This is our old crowd gate which at one point we had to work on about 8 different times in a period of 6 weeks - it was really time to make this upgrade!!
The new crowd gate was loaded from a trailer that we had to back it into the barns about 700 feet to the holding area. We used this skid steer with forks to lift the frame off the trailer and then assemble it up on the tracks. We did most of the work on the new gate in the back end of the holding area to allow us to continue to used the old gate in the area up by the parlor.
The skid steer holding the frame in place while being attached to the brackets that ride along the track.
Work being done to replace the rails while cows are still being milked. It sure would have been nice if the rails that the gate rides on would have worked for the new gate. Replacing these took lots of time and lots of grinding and welding, neither of which the cows are really comfortable with.
Removal of the old gate. This was tricky because the gate itself was wider than the holding area. We had to lift it, shift it slightly so it was crooked. And then maneuver it to the back of the holding area and take it out on the trailer like we brought ht new gate in.
Temporarilyhow we moved cows, yes I WAS the crowd gate for a few days!!
The new crowd gate in operation!! Like most thing in life, it was a challenging three days but oh so worth it in the end.
Christmas Day at Soaring Eagle in many ways is just like every other day. Since it feel on a Sunday this year, it meant that there weren't a ton of scheduled chores needing to be done and for me the day went from 4 am - 10:30 am. Just enough morning left to clean up and get to Christmas Dinner!!
Here are some videos of what Brittany and I were taking care of this morning. This first video shows us cleaning the dry cow pen. We clean the beds, scrape the alleys and then sort out any of the moms we think will have their calves in the next day or two.
Here's an up close look at the two moms delivering calves this morning.
Two Christmas bull calves were born during our shift.
Merry Christmas Everyone!! Enjoy the holidays with family and friends and God Bless all for 2012!!
Thank You to Merck Animal Health for putting together this video. It does a great job showing how todays dairy farmers are "Doing More with Less". Please click on the link below and Enjoy!
This winter, I plan to spend more time posting video and information on cows and what my sisters and I do on a daily basis in the barns. Please keep checking back and if you want to see something particular or just like what you see, feel free to comment.
It is that time of year again for us to take pause and be grateful for all the Good Lord has blessed us with. Family and friends top my list and I always try to ask for help being responsible with all God's blessings. I hope you have the opportunity to enjoy a Thanksgiving Feast with family.
If you have moment, I ask that you read something I recently came across in one of my farm magazines, Progressive Forage Grower. The author is Baxter Black, an American cowboy, poet, philosopher, former large-animal veterinarian, and radio commentator. His works include writing a column titled On the Edge of Common Sense and I found this writing fits that bill. Here goes:
Baxter Black: Thanksgiving thoughts
Not everyone has a car, owns a home, carries a cell phone, can swim, knows the 18th president and can hum “Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain.”
But everyone in this country — rich or homeless, conservative, liberal, gray, green, black, white, brown or yellow — eats what we in agriculture produce; everyone, no exceptions.
Do those of you who farm and ranch think about the lives you touch? Steve Jobs invented Apple computers, Oprah Winfrey had a talk show that reached 7.4 million people five days a week, J.K. Rowling sold 450 million Harry Potter books, and 111 million watched Superbowl XLV. Talk about reaching out.
But every day, every person eats something you produce. Your contribution to their well being exceeds Hollywood, the Nobel Prize or their psychiatrist. The public’s dependence on your ability to keep them fed is deeper than their need to text, jog, work, play golf or go to school.
You are more essential to their lives than their bookie, their broker, their drug dealer, their teacher, their boss or even their best friend.
This week we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s still a real holiday — you can tell because most of the work force gets the day off. I think of it as a time when we thank God for the blessings we have been given. Usually the Thanksgiving table is covered with food — food that we in agriculture produced.
Even the needy in soup kitchens, home-alone bachelors, single mothers, on-duty soldiers and orbiting astronauts will eat something we grew; a piece of ham, canned peas, a drumstick, a Happy Meal or pumpkin pie. Regardless of what is on their plate, it started in some farmer’s pasture or plowed field.
I don’t mean to be boastful. I don’t even expect the average urban Thanksgiving diner to remember the farmer’s contribution to their day. Many praises will fall upon the one who cooked the meal.
That is due, but without mentioning the farmers who grow it is like praising the painter of the bridge while the man who designed and constructed it, stands in the shadows.
It is common to hear that farming is a “noble calling.” That is flattering but its importance is much more profound. I agree that what we who work the land do is noble, but more, it is as vital to their lives as air and water.
What they eat is the gift of our labors, and somewhere down deep as they sit down to Thanksgiving dinner Thursday, they might conjure up a picture of a farmer leaning on a hoe or a cowboy on a horse. That thought might just be the connection that helps them understand where their food comes from: real people.
Happy Thanksgiving to all! May the tryptophan in the turkey not cause you to dose off while the Packers are beating the Lions on their way to 11-0! Go Pack Go!!
