Living Closely with Cow Families

Not an Astronaut offspring, but he could have been

In the comments a good friend mentioned genetics and inheritances in folks. 


Which got me thinking a bit. In well over thirty years of living every single day with generation upon generation of registered Holsteins, a few Jerseys and a handful of milking shorthorns, it has amazed me, how very much of the makeup of a cow, her performance, and especially her silly little quirks are inherited.


Of course anyone who bred registered cows during the right time period remembers the Paclamar Astronaut daughters...they were long and black and sharp and gorgeous....


 However, they were also a little bit, (well maybe even more than a little bit,) on the "nervous" side. 


Flighty even. 


Oh, heck, let's be clear here...the ones we bred were downright psychotic. We had a little black one whose name escapes me***. When you tried to milk her she would kick right over the top of the divider. That is about chest high for those not familiar with stall dividers.


She kicked like that every single day from the first time she was milked until she died calving while the kids and I were at camp one year. She hated everybody with an equal opportunity loathing that was downright impressive.


Other traits also seem to be much more heritable than the sire summaries would have you think. Like eating box elder trees. As members of the maple family box elders have fairly bitter leaves I do believe. Cows will eat them when especially hungry, but they are certainly not high on their menu preferences. Except Balsam's family. Every one of them will climb up on the jersey barriers around the barnyard to prune the trees on the bank. We have seen some feats of bovine gymnastics that would downright amaze you, all in pursuit of low hanging leaves. 


Getting out of fences is another proclivity not measured in the stud books that seems to run in families. Inspecting windowsills on the way out of the barn (although that may be a breed-specific thing as it seems to be mostly Jerseys who find it necessary to stop and check every single windowsill every single day.) Stealing calves. We have had a family since I met the boss that all stole calves....we still have some of them.


You can keep your TPI and your PTA and your daughter averages and all. If the proofs measured everything we noticed running in families in cows there wouldn't be room on the page to list them all.


***Liz looked her up and her name was Apple Crisp...she was crisp enough all right.

Sunny Day

Still having heating issues but the sun is shining, it is really nice outside and not bad inside. The fan motor is in Albany awaiting pick up. Barn chores are done, cows out and eating, stalls bedded for tonight and everything tidied up.

Still awaiting our first calf of the year from Pecan, and as always hoping for a heifer. Pecan is bred to a bull we had years ago, a son of Whittier-Farms Ned Boy named Foxfield Doreigh NB Rex. Besides the Ned Boy he had some Triple Threat back there on the dam's side and threw a lot of black reds. We bought him at an auction when Liz was a baby, and although he is long gone, we still have a unit or two left of him. His daughters were always kind of round-boned more than we like and not the nicest-natured critters on the farm, but they were tough and lasted a long time.


We were all sad to hear of the passing of Gaige Highlight Tamara, a famous New York Holstein, bred and owned by folks the kids have often showed with over the years. In fact her owner let Liz take her in the ring a couple of times at the Cooperstown Junior show when there were more cows going in than there were hands for the halters. She was a spectacularly beautiful animal.


Tamara has sons in AI, 15 EX daughters and was scored 4-E 97 in her own right, about as good as it gets.....truly one of the great ones. So sorry to hear of her passing.




***Very sorry about the old photos. With the death of the desktop most of my photos are hard to get to, so......

Grandma Says

Eat your greens!

Judge Denies Dairy Farmer Suit

You probably have to have a dog in the fight to be interested in what is going on here, but this is pretty big news on the dairy farm scene.

Phone Call

At not quite midnight. "Why are there cows on the lawn?"


"Cows? What cows?" (The cows are all but a couple indoors).


"Well, heifers then, it's dark, I can't see what they are, but they are all over the lawn.


"Must be the heifers off the hill pasture. All right, your dad is still up and dressed and I'll be right down."


Rustle from the bed beside me. "Oh, wait, he's not up after all. I never heard him come upstairs."


Race downstairs...well, gimp and limp...as fast as we can. Throw Jade's Carhartt on over my robe and sweats. (Thanks Jade, it is really warm.) Add rubber boots, umbrella and flashlight. Good to go.


My main contribution was to tell the guys I think there are seven of them to find and hold the flashlight. Actually there are supposed to be eight, but we couldn't really count them in the dark and rain anyhow. 


Thanks to their instinct to stick in a herd, unless we missed the stupid Jerseys, any that didn't get caught in the round up will be standing by the gate waiting to be let in. The two Jerseys are the most Godawful bunch quitters I have ever seen. Whenever I do a head count, there will be the requisite number of black and white ones, two bright red milking shorthorns and no little brown cows.

Anyhow, we are not sorry the boy got laid off for a week and stopped off at his girl friend's place on his way home from Jersey and the Big City. His timing was perfect. The escapees were just heading down the driveway when he arrived and stopped them with his truck. 


***Photos are still from the Friday bird count. We sure are lucky to have such pretty territory to count over.

Nice Christmas News...NOT

So we get a call today that a person, who shall remain nameless (nobody you know) messed up the milk checks and we have to give back some of this month's pay.




 This tiny little clerical error will be nice Christmas news for hundreds of farmers in the region. Some of them make a lot of milk and probably owe back thousands. Which, because of high input costs, is certainly already spent.


 Everyone makes mistakes, but this is a big one.

Van Gogh Skies

Rain coming in. Warmer than it has been but it feels cold. Oh, well.

Talked to my boy last night, which made me feel much better. He has left the farm for a job in the BIG city (yes, that big city) working construction. The dairy economy is ugly and the money is there, not here. I comfort myself knowing that farmers like us feed them all, all those busy, scurrying city folk, crammed together down there, hurrying around.....every pizza, every coffee with half and half, every French Fry or Big Mac....wouldn't be there without the people who work the land. It helps to know.

And so on we go.

New Milkers

Cold and sunny. Much better than normal for December so I won't complain even though I would love to. (Now I know why winter baths were so unpopular back in the day.)

Cows are holding milk production at an even keel. I would prefer that they were going up, but steady is a lot better than down. Can't wait to get Carlene and River in the tank. They are both milking well.

River had a little mastitis problem when she freshened so has been being treated appropriately. Will be off her milk withhold (as in dumped down the drain) pretty soon. Another test to be sure her infection is all cleared up and then she will go in Liz's milking string again.

With Carlene we just have to wait until her colostrum is all gone (it goes to her baby calf, Carolina) and then she will have a test to make sure her milk is clean and good. Then she will be added to my milking string. Which is pleasing indeed.

With some cows you just rejoice when they dry off for their annual six to eight week dry period (vacation from milking while waiting to have a new calf.) Others you can't wait to get back in your line. Carlene is one of the latter.

Stay warm and dry!

It's a Beautiful Morning

Bad news first. Alan built us a nifty heating device, which although it doesn't really warm the house, does allow me to get the chill off a couple of times a day and to dry the place out a little.

The 55-gallon barrel, upon which its function is based, sprang a leak this morning. Not a bad leak so I am going to try to get one more warm up out of it before we drain it so the hoses don't freeze or the pump burn out...he is in NJ so he won't be able to repair it. Frustrating.

Now the good part. It is blissfully sunny and still for a cold December day. Every animal that is outdoors is standing with their sides turned to it, just soaking it in. Cats. Cows. Every single heifer, all just loving the sunshine, among the frosty everything.

Basking.

Reveling in their quiet, comfortable way.

I basked a bit myself while watching a Northern Mockingbird sneak around the yard, thinking I couldn't see his secret self. What a wonderful bird...funny how flamboyant he is in summer time when he is guarding his territory and now so silent and hidden. He would slap his long tail from side to side and peer down at me from various perches, here in the spruce, there in the lilacs. He was sure that I couldn't see him.

Silly critter. I am the same me that he landed right next to all summer, and practically posed for the camera begging to be photographed. What's up with that?

All the other birds are out as well and have been since daybreak when I went out to see to that little stove. At one point geese were flying one way, a clutch of brown-headed cowbirds another, robins everywhere, juncos, titmice, chickadees and a handful of gold finches all hurrying around grabbing breakfast. A few crows were shuttling back and forth and the red-tailed hawk sat fluffed on his feet in the cottonwoods down by the river.

My heart is warm even if my hearth is not. Have a good one everybody.

PS, one of my favorite cows, Carlene, a Duregal Astre Starbuck daughter, had a heifer calf by Leadfield Columbus yesterday. Can't wait until her milk is ready to go in the tank and I can start milking her again.

Update: the boss says it is just frost melting off the barrel. Since it isn't dripping at the moment he may be right. Sure hope so!

Sneak Attack

Sneak attack! Look out!!!! It's a deadly, dangerous, eyes-in-front predator!

Get her!

The cows were all turned out and waiting by the gate to be let up into the field to eat. I was just finishing up pushing up feed to Scotty, who stays in, and the bull and the steers and the big calves, when the dreaded Athena trotted down the barn aisle working hard at rat patrol.

Milwaukee saw her first. A predator! Oh, noes, and right in the barn too.

Big M lowered her head and hooked and snorted at the deadly threat so close before her. Towanda took up the cry, storming and stomping her feet and kicking her heels at the ceiling.

Next Cinnamon, Boondock, Brianna and Bling. Chrome and Lamborghini, Corolla and Pumpkin, all dashing, all dancing, all banging stalls and cupboard doors. Crash! Clatter! Kaboom and kabang.

Athena paused by the big pen and looked back in disgust. She is just an old barn cat and about as dangerous to those silly calves as air .

Meanwhile, they all shook their heads and snorted happily and stood around puffing and blowing. Another enemy vanquished and before breakfast too. Tuff girls one and all.

Shiverish but Sunny

It is. Down into the mid-twenties last night, making it a very pleasant thing to turn on the electric heater this morning. It is tiny and it labors mightily to take the edge off the cold in the kitchen. Just now it is my best friend.

Not much of great interest happening here. We milk the cows. We feed the cows. Then we milk the cows and feed the cows. Somewhere in between the boss cleans the barn and fixes a seemingly never ending string of broken water bowls.

Feeding them with wheelbarrows is getting old fast, but on the other hand it is getting the fat old lady into shape, being wheel-barrower in chief and all.

There is a big wheel barrow. There is a little wheel barrow.

The boss brings down a bucket load of haylage with the skid steer and dumps half into them. He takes the big one and I take the little one and we distribute largess to the ladies.

Then he dumps in the other half of the load and I feed out both while he gets another bucket full.. It is heavy. There are ramps. There are cow heads reaching and slamming and grabbing on all the corners and ramps as everybody wants theirs NOW.

However, I find a very positive side to me doing at least some of the feeding. I actually know all the cows, who is dry, who is milking hard, which are still growing heifers that need a little extra, and I adjust their dinners accordingly.

Scotty gets a great big pile.....

And Lemmie, and Camry, and Blitz and Mandy....Not so much Zinnia, who is almost dry and about the size of a pick up truck. I KNOW that when they get their morning feed outdoors she stomps around and grabs more than her share.

I won't say that this has increased milk production, but they were dropping really fast and now the slide has stopped and they are holding. Works for me.

Conservation Reserve

Has anyone had experience with putting land into the CRP program for wetlands? Any thoughts? Any problems selling property later?

Thanks in advance.

Another Dairy Blog

Happened upon this dairy blog from the land down under and read and read and read. Great stuff!

Powerful Post

Over at John Bunting's blog. He really gets the dilemma of life as a small dairy farmer. Go, read.....

Unsung

But heroes just the same.

The boss just spent a few minutes chatting with our milk truck driver while he was picking up the milk. He, his boss who is the owner of the trucking company, (a really sweet guy), and all the other drivers...and no doubt dozens of guys from other companies...have been going through H-E-Double Hockey Sticks getting to farms to pick up milk.

If the trucks can't get in, even if the farmers have generators and power to milk the cows (not to mention still having barns and cows, which many don't) then the bulk tanks fill up and have to be emptied somehow....usually by dumping milk. Having dumped milk when our market got mixed up a couple years ago, I know how painful that can be. It takes a lot of work to grow and harvest feed and grow cows and then feed the cows to produce the milk. Not much fun to watch the fruit of all that labor swirling down the drain.

Add to that the fact that some of the plants that take milk have closed temporarily due to the flood and you have a nightmare.

The owner of the company that hauls our milk just spent three hours just getting to two close together farms marooned by flood waters. One of his drivers drove all night to get to an alternate plant to offload milk. They have been having trouble even getting home at night when they are done.

Thankfully, these men know every back road, short cut, long way and detour in this part of upstate NY. If there is a way to get where they need to go, they will find it.

My hat is off to them. Thanks, Dale, and John, and all you other guys, you know who you are, who are working so hard to get our product to market. It means a lot.

Foundation for the Future

FFTF-Rainbow Stew for the Dairy Farmer

Is a new dairy pricing program that the National Milk Producer's Federation is foisting on farmers proposing to Congress. It includes monetary assessments on milk checks, some of which will go straight to the Treasury to help lower the deficit, the rest of which will be administered by yet another board. We dairy farmers already have boards reaching into our pockets to fund the Dairy Check Off and CWT among other programs, so of course we should be just delighted to crowd a couple more hands in there. The board will decide what generic milk promotion will get the funds that they take from us. Of course generic milk promotion has been proven not to work...or at least not very well, but why worry about that?

And then there is the whole supply management thing. If the supply management tool kicks in farmers will only be paid for a percentage of their previous three months average milk production. The theory is that they will produce less to avoid that. Since cows don't have on/off switches I wonder how that will be done. Feed less? Kill a few cull some cows? I don't imagine that it will be pretty.

Plus I figure if they lower the amount of milk US farmers are permitted to produce, someone else will step up to the plate...er.....glass...and fill the void. Melamine anyone?

Supposedly farmers are in favor of this new, improved, dairy policy, but really, I have yet to talk to one who is, unless they are on a cooperative board and toeing the company line although I have read a few positive comments on ag media stories. Most folks seem pretty skeptical.

One good thing I can say is that it is planned to decouple prices from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a move that is long overdue.

However this pup, and it is a pup, will probably fly through Congress because it does away with the dairy support price program and milk marketing orders are "simplified".

Most ag publications are talking about FFTF as if it were Rainbow Stew for dairy farmers. Of course it is obvious that they listen to the pundits at NMPF and not so much to actual producers. I don't really think that many cooperatives ask farmers how they feel about things like this....they are more inclined to tell them what to think instead.

Here is some analysis of what is going to happen if this is passed.

Cows Hate Mud

So you can just imagine how they are loving this summer. We pay extra when we buy their grain to have a special kind of zinc included to strengthen and improve their hooves and help them fight lameness. Still a few of them are getting tender feet just from walking in the godawful swamps produced by all the rain.

They also get a fancy (and expensive) mineral pack added to their grain so that every bite they eat helps them stay healthy and do the best they can. Their selenium is the best organically derived kind too. (Meanwhile their valets buy generic vitamins at Wally World).

A balanced diet is so important to them, so we shop for the best grain we can find.

Greek Yogurt

Great stuff! The Fage plant is right up near my folks' house. They use a lot of milk from NY dairy farms and we love their product.It really is great stuff.

Fog 'n' Deers

A cheerful dairy farmer contemplating his machinery

Liz and the BF hit a deer on the way home last night. Jumped right up out of the bushes and tall grass at the edge of the road up by the old dump. They heard from the police officer who answered their call that there have been a lot of them hit by cars up in that area lately.

Maybe the state should break out the state of the art mowers they bought with our tax bucks and mow the roadside so drivers have a chance to actually SEE the deer before they hit them...oh, wait, the state is broke and they want us to know it. Sorry I said anything.

Anyhow they are all right, thankfully, but the truck will need some fixing.

Haven't heard how the deer fared. There are rumors that there are a lot of them running hard into the road because certain folks are hunting them at night, in summer, in total disregard of the game laws. (Now who would ignore game laws, I wonder....). Could certainly be true, but I can't prove it so I won't come right out and say it.

Lots of break downs on the dairy farming front. Bent rod in the chopper. Something snarky with the hydraulics in the John Deere 4430. Case 930 coughed up its cookies yet again. If it ain't something it's another something I guess. Crop reporting appointment for the boss today. Not much to report yet. Just getting dry enough to plant now.

We have been fighting a persistent case of hardware in Liz's good show heifer, Gypsy. We figure it came in in some hay we bought as the Jersey right across from her had a case too. She recovered quickly though with a magnet and some pink pills and probiotics.

Poor Gypsy. I hope she will find her way through it. She is so good about being doctored on...she gets pills and shots and all the green chop she can eat.

Oh, and it is very foggy this morning, first time in a long time. Kinda pretty in a way.

Indoor Cows..they like it that way

Let me i-i-i-i-i-n-n...it's hot out here!!!!

This study on the preferences of dairy cows showed that during summer months, when offered the choice between going out to graze or staying in a free stall barn with access to a total mixed ration, they stayed in the barn over 91% of the time.

Ours show the same preferences. When it is blazing hot and the fans are running or raining or cold or windy or anything but perfect outside they want to stay in. They look pretty on pasture and grass and exercise are good for them, but they aren't dumb. The like fans, and shelter from the weather just as much as we do. So maybe those free stall cows in their confinement housing are happier than our perceptions when we drive by might make them seem.....