We are enjoying a sunny, dry, and unseasonably mild start to our week here on the farm, a welcome change from the seemingly constant rain that had fallen over the previous several days. Our cows' milk production has been lagging behind where we think it ought to be, but there are signs that maybe they are finally turning the corner. We are currently milking 180 cows after sending 25 to the sale barn over the past month. We have roughly another 55 set to freshen within the next two months, so we'll cull a few more of our lower-producers and will likely give some pregnant cows an extended dry period so as not to exceed our management capacity.
Outside the milking barn, yesterday's activities focused mostly on calf management. We moved 20 weaned calves (Holsteins and Angus-crosses) to a new pasture to make room for 16 more that we weaned and vaccinated that morning. This morning we'll move 20 calves (2-4 weeks old) from single to group pens and repair some fencing around another pasture to prepare it for a group of breeding-aged heifers.
Y'all enjoy this nice weather while it lasts...we're sure gonna try to!
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| Our cows aren't filling up the bulk tank quite yet, but production is starting to climb. |
2 comments:
I thank you for your dedication to dairy farming. The hours are long, and I doubt the monetary compensation is great...I do enjoy dairy products ! AND I like watching
your farm life !
Thanks for your support!
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