Spreading Slurry

I finally pumped some stored up agri-byproduct out of the SlurryStore and field applied it to some wheat and oats. In about three hours time, I made 11 trips with the honeywagon and spread probably around 36,000 gallons. I've gotten just over half the field across from the farm covered, and hope to get it finished up this afternoon. Being able to spread the slurry has allowed me to cut back on the amount of N-sol (32-0-0) needed to adequately fertilize it.

70 Pounds +

We measured our cows milk production yesterday, and they broke the 70 pound threshold averaging 71.9 pounds/cow. We also had 19 cows produce over 100 pounds.

The recent surge in production is due to the amount of wheat and oats we've been able to let them graze. It's raining this morning, so that probably means that Friday morning will be the only opportunity this week to graze them and cut back on the TMR.

Milk Mustache Contest

Don't forget our farm's annual milk mustache contest! You can find out more information about how to enter your child...or yourself...from our webpage, www.gilmerdairyfarm.com.

Grazing is Good

We've been able to graze our cows on wheat and oats the last few mornings thanks to the favorable weather. This has allowed us to drop the peanut hay and alfalfa from their daily feeding. We've been able to lower our feed costs a little that way, and the cows are actually moving up in production. That's good on both ends of the checking account.

I have a little less than 20 acres remaining to apply N-sol to, that is until the cows finish grazing the 30 acres they are working on right now. I can already tell a difference on the ryegrass I applied the fertilizer to when I first started. Hopefully we'll have a crop ready to harvest before we run out of corn silage, but I'm afraid it's going to be very, very close.

Speaking of corn silage, we haven't bought anything yet for the approx. 70 acres we'll plant this year. It looks like we have enough Roundup on hand saved from last year to do the job, and our other chemical needs will be dependent on whether or not we break the ground or no-till plant it. We're still probably a month away from planting it, though, so we've got time.

A busy two weeks

The last couple of weeks have been busy, for sure. From applying liquid nitrogen fertilizer to our ryegrass crop to making a trip to Washington, DC last week (press release), there's certainly been no shortage of things that needed to be done...and that's on top of all the daily milking and feeding.

Now that time has changed I'll probably be working a little later into the evenings. There's no point in wasting daylight!