Good morning all! Well, my blog has certainly gotten neglected. Between moving, ending an old job, getting ready for a new job, family vacation and everything else that has happened I’ve been busy. That doesn’t change the fact that I need to post on my blog. For those of you waiting, I will be coming out with a new post shortly. It will be about calves and how we care for them! Get ready, I will be back in a few days.
Where It All Began
To you this picture may simply be a cute girl petting a cow. But to me, this picture has a thousand words and emotions behind it. I see a passion beginning in a four year old girl. I see a loving father who wants to share his knowledge of cows. I see a family’s heritage being passed onto another generation. I could go on forever.
Passing Down a Family’s Heritage
For those of you who do not have a background in agriculture, I’m going to try to give you an inside look at one of the toughest situations in our industry. This exciting, yet challenging decision is to pass the family farm down to the next generation. When you grow up in agriculture either you love it or you hate it. If you love it, it is a part of you. It’s in your blood and there is nothing else you want to do. The 4 am mornings and the 1 am nights are worth every second of the pain.
From the Field to the Bunk, Part 2
My last post showed you half of the harvesting process for haylage and now I’ll finish showing you the process. After we know the hay is in perfect condition for harvesting we will begin the chopping process.
So Much for Knee High by 4th of July
A farmer’s favorite slogan in Michigan is that if corn is knee high by the 4th of July, you will have good corn. Well, this year the corn wasn’t even close to knee high… It was much larger!
Spectators
These young ladies were spectators for the haylage harvest. Their pen is along the driveway the trucks take to drop off their full trailers. They had the perfect view for the entire harvesting process.
From the Field to the Bunk, Part 1
A few months ago I showed how we feed our dairy cows and I promised I would show you how the feed gets into the storage bunker. Here it is, your introduction to harvesting haylage. Before any hay can be harvested, we have to start with a great field. Getting a great field takes a lot of patience, sun, warm weather, rain and a little bit of carefully placed fertilizer.
Kroger Update
A few months ago I told all of you about my family being one of the featured families in a regional grocery chain, Kroger. As an update I thought I would let you all know that the promotional materials have officially made it into the stores. In order to see our picture all you need to do it go to your local Kroger store and check out the dairy case! Kroger is also giving away free milk for a year everyday in June, so hurry, there’s only a few days left to take advantage. Stay tuned for a new blog… Read More
