Where Did It Go?

Do you remember this picture of Slinky up in the top of the hay mow, trying to stay as far away from Murphy as possible?

That was in October.  This is the east hay mow, and today it looks like this...



Here we are, five months later, and it (the east hay mow) is all but empty of dry hay.  The mow on the west side of the barn is less than half full by now as well.  Last summer we baled less dry hay than usual...however we had about fifty large round bales of balage, which we fed the cows twice per day.  We have three round bales left, and we should have enough dry hay to last until first cutting of hay, which is usually sometime in May, but it will be cutting it closer than some years.  Those cows sure do eat a lot!

(The wooden bin at the left is the bin that holds the toasted corn.  The chute goes down through the barn floor into the stable area, where we fill the cart daily to feed to cows.)

It's hard to believe that in less than two months, we will be mowing and baling hay!  Right now the fields are just beginning to green up.  With the rain we've had, and the warm temps to come, that time will be here before we know it!

Spring is here, and it's just in time!

Photo gallery from the past year...

It's that time of year...we're in our slow mode...and if I don't keep myself motivated, I can waste a lot of time! 

I'd like to think, though, that blogging is NOT a waste of time...so I've compiled a collection of pictures from the past year that I found interesting. 

 Some of them are directly related to farming, some of them are of family, and some of them are just beautiful scenery.  (Some may be repeats from earlier blog posts, but if you see them twice, you know I really like them!)

Enjoy!


2010 began with a bang!  In February we had two major snow storms a week apart, resulting in 40+ inches of snow...

Our neighbor's farm to the west always makes a great photo, no matter the weather...

Several years ago Jim bought a Honda 50 dirtbike like he rode when he was a kid.  Last winter he found a Honda 100, so now the kids each have a dirt bike to ride.  They use them for fun and for work...

Spring arrived, like always, and I was thrilled...

These particular chickens loved to sit on top of the fence around their pen...



Of course there was also work to do...my nephew from Chicago loved gathering eggs...



And Murphy blessed us with nine adorable puppies...but they wore her out!  They were born in June, during one of the hottest weeks of the year...



Our neighbor Joe came over every day to see them...

The laundry never ended...

Some beautiful scenes shot by Jenna...

And then of course there was some more work...baling round bales...Jim drove the tractor while the Amishman who owns the baler rode behind and operated the mechanism that released the bale into the field...

Fun...it doesn't take alot to be entertained...

We just can't seem to get away from those cows!   (photo by Jenna)

More "real" work...Eric unloading hay...



The east hay mow is almost full...



Jim's dad on his old (1950 something) Ferguson 30, just before he sold it...he used to use it for cleaning out pens...

After a dry summer, we had a LONG day of rain...over 8 inches of rain...(I forgot to empty the rain gauge before bed, so we aren't sure just how much we had, but it was a lot!)

We chopped corn the next day, and left no tracks in the field or mud on the driveway!  The ground was thirsty...

And there's our neighbors' farm again...taken out the west barn windows...



We found a little time to play...we spent an afternoon picnicking with friends at a park...

Fall work was upon us...combining corn, and loads of corn fodder waiting to be unloaded...

My dad repaired our cow trailer...he doesn't look 81, does he?!

This is where the dogs hang out while we're milking...right under our feet...

And this is where Slinky the cat hangs out...high above the dogs...

Self-service balage...or so they think!

Me and my next-oldest sister...Look behind us...I just can't get away from those cows!

And I couldn't let this one out.  We all gathered after Christmas to watch my brother in law start his old 1936 John Deere D that he, with some help from my Dad, restored.  It started up, he whooped and hollered, we cheered, and he's still grinning!  This one's for you, Marty!

And to round out the year, here's another picture of the sunrise on New Year's Day 2011...

Thanks for humoring me...do you have any favorites?

Fifth cutting hay

It seems like just yesterday that we were looking ahead to the summer, thinking about all the hay that we would need to bale to keep the ladies fed and happy...and here we are...just yesterday Jim and Eric unloaded the last load of fifth cutting!

Knowing when to mow the hay this summer was a challenge.  Jim likes to have at least three consecutive days (mininmum) of sunshine in order to get the hay dry enough to stack in the mow, and earlier this summer, those forcasts were few and far between.  He ended up wrapping lots of round bales of balage instead of filling the mow with dry hay.  Thankfully, the cows love to eat it, and it seems to do just fine for making milk!

Lately, however, it has been extremely dry, so fifth cutting was a breeze, and the hay turned out to be beautiful! 

It was also about two weeks ahead of schedule...normally we get five cuttings off of some fields, but not all. This year, we could possibly even get six cuttings from some. I don't remember that ever happening before, but I guess there's a first time for everything!

Dairy Farming 101 - Part 2 Keeping the ladies happy...

There’s something you should know about cows. They are food driven animals!  Dogs want to be fussed over and cats want to be treated like royalty. But cows? Just feed them. A lot, and on time…



The specifics of the cows’ feeding program differs from farm to farm, so don’t get excited if this isn’t how your neighbor does it…but this info will be helpful for you to know when you come over to do the feeding next time we need a night off ! (thanks for offering!)


First off…I need to add one item to Dairy Farming 101 – Part 1…


Someone reminded me that I forgot to include Hummies – a PA Dutch term for young calves.  We usually called them this when I was a girl…how could I forget this one?!


Water – cows drink between 23-50 gallons of water each day


Hay – alfalfa is mowed and left to dry; then raked into windrows, baled into small manageable bales, and stored in the hay mow (usually in the upstairs of the barn). This process takes about 3 days from cutting to the mow.  Rain really throw a wrench into this process...that's one reason why you hear farmers talking so much about the weather, and why their ears are glued to the weather radios all summer long!


Balage – alfalfa is mowed and left to partially dry. It is then baled and wrapped in airtight plastic. We bale it into round bales…these are the marshmallows you see lined up along the edge of the field. After the balage has cured for a few weeks, it is fed to the cows. They love this stuff!


Haylage – the same as balage, except instead of baling and wrapping, it is chopped and blown into the silo.


Corn Silage – the entire corn stalk is chopped and stored in the silo. Excess silage is often stored in an ag bag – that white worm that you see sitting out in the field. In the winter, after our silos are emptier we transfer the silage in the ag bag to the silo


Cob Chop– dried ears of corn, ground to a fine texture by a hammer mill. Minerals and molasses are often added.


Toasted Corn – shelled corn, dried and toasted (smells a little bit like peanut butter when the bin is first filled)


Toasted Beans – soybeans, dried and toasted (they’re actually quite tasty!)


Pellets  or Top Dress– a nutritional supplement that looks like overgrown rabbit food! This is the only feed that we regularly buy for our cows. All the rest is grown on the farm.


Calf Starter and Calf Grower – special feed that we buy for feeding young calves; usually several different types of grain flavored with lots of molasses…it gets them used to eating solid food…kind of like giving kids candy!


Silo Unloader – the machine inside the silo that throws silage down the chute via augers and into the cart so that you don’t have to climb up and fork it down by hand!


*Now that you know a little bit about keeping them happy...and are likely bored to tears, let me know what you'd be interested in "learning' in Dairy Farming 101 - Part 3!

Married to the cows?

For a while now, some of you (you know who you are!) have been asking for this!  So here it is...for my friends who are curious about life on a dairy farm, and for those of you who are just...curious...

I make no claims to be a great writer...what you read is how I see it.  So enjoy a slice of life on the farm, and learn a bit about what it's like to be 'married to the cows"!

Farming is a marriage of sorts.  It's a lifestyle, not just an occupation.  We are in it for the duration...on call  24/7/365.  The cows don't take off for birthdays, anniversaries or holidays...so neither can we!

Jim and I have been happily married (to each other) for almost 17 years, and married to our cows for just over 16 years.

We've enjoyed a lot of good times on the farm...high milk prices, healthy cows, good growing seasons, lots of help to throw haybales, eating meals together as a family, working together, the satisfying feeling of falling into bed feeling like we'd earned our sleep, and a few quick weekends away.

We've also endured some rough times...rock bottom milk prices, praying over sick animals, rained on hay, scrambling for help, eating breakfast at noon and supper at 9pm, short tempers, exhaustion, and 2 1/2 years with no time away together as a family.

But just like in a marriage, you take the good along with the not so good, and make it work! 

We enjoy living on the farm and the opportunity to raise our children in the way that we both were raised...enjoying the outdoors, learning the value of hard work, and seeing God at work in many ways...

I hope you enjoy reading occasional posts about our life on the farm and I welcome your comments!