Picturing!!

Last week, we had photographer Ella Wright come to our farm to picture a couple of our cows and a heifer. The two days before picturing we kept busy with clipping and washing the cows. My older brother kept busy with uddering the cows. Part of this includes spending some time before picture day to see how many hours of milk each cow needs in each quarter to be nicely filled. They depeinding on how many hours they need and what time the cow will approximately be pictured at, he then had to make sure the quarters got milked on time.
Then when Friday came around, all the cows were washed in the morning and were fed so that they had a nice fill. We filled them by feeding them silage, hay, milk cow grain, and soaked beet pulp. Then once Ella showed up, we got the first cow ready and headed outside to get on with the harder part.
When picturing, you have one person on the halter, one person on the left side who takes care of the front left foot, someone on the right side who takes care of the front right foot, and someone behind who moves the back feet and holds the tail in place. Then you have the lucky person who gets to make noise to get the cow to put its ears forward. For us, the back legs seemed to be the most difficult to set up, but we got it done! We pictured a total of 4 cows and i senior calf. When the pictures come in I will definately post for some for you to see!!

Hoof Trimming

Today we had the hoof trimmer out on the farm. Keeping the cows' hooves trimmed is an important part of a cows health. Imagine not cutting your nails for quite a while. They would get very long and dirty and eventually they would just be getting in your way. It really wsouldn't be that great, so that is part of why we trim the cows hooves as well.
Hoof problems are unavoidable. Not taking proper care of your cows feet can lead to many different problems includung the loss of milk production or fertility. Getting the hoof trimmer out is only how you can try to fix hoof problems, but that will not make it preventable. Making sure your herd has proper nutrition can help reduce hoof problems. You wouldn't really think that the feed the cows eat would impact their hooves, but it does. Go out and check your animals feet. Make sure their hooves are being trimmed when they need to be, this will lead to a healthier, happier animal!!!

Achievement Day!

June 10-11, last week Firday through to Saturday, the Lacombe 4-H Dairy Club had its 2011 achievement day! It was an exciting two days with some great competition and great calves!
We all got there around noon to make a bedding pack and to get all the calves washed. We finished washing around 3:00. In the meantime, the peewees had already started clipping for their clipping competition! They all did a great job, especially considering how old they are!! Way to go PeeWees!!! At 4:00 our juniors and intermediates began clipping and finished around 6:00. This is when we seniors were able to begin. Unlike the junios and intermediates, we only got and hour and a half to clip. I clipped a senior yearling so I had to really rush to get her done on time. My calf(actually my little brothers calf) got a little jumpy when I tried to  clip her legs. It got so bad that my dad had to come stand by her. I managed getting a topline on her, but in the end, I didn't want to risk getting hurt, so I just left the bottom of her legs. Well, all in all the top seniors did an awesome job!! Well Done!!
Saturday morning the intermediates and seniors had to be up at 5:00 to begin setting tops. My older brother usually set our tops on show day, but since this is their last year, my sister got me to do a few as well! It was exciting to do that!! I had set many tops before for clipping competitions and such, but never on show day yet. Well, 9:30 rolled aroung and we were all in our whites! We did our little club parade and pledge and then took a few group photos!

After the pictures, we started off the show with the showmanship classes.

Peewee champion was Rueben VanderLinde. Junior champion was Rueben VanderLinde. Intermediate champion was David Verhoef. Senior champion was Metty van de Brake!

After the showmanship classes, the actual calf classes began! There were terrific classes out there including some pretty tough competition!

In the end though, judge Eric Klugkist had to choose his best ones!

Junior Grand was Jaclyn Hunter with her summer yearling! Reserve was Margriet Appel with her junior yearling! And lastly, honourable mention was Metty van de Brake with her senior calf!!

Great set of animals that all looked awesome out there!!

I am already looking forward to finishing off this 4-H year with the Provincial Dairy show in Olds this summer and the Western Canadian Classic which will also take place in Alerta this year! I will keep you updated with dates, times, and places when it in the nearer future!

Championship class line-up

Lastly, I would like to thank all who have supported me in having this blog. I will continue to keep you updated, but this is the date up to which I was to go! Thank-you so much for all you help and support! I couldn't have done this without your help!

THANK-YOU



Cleaver Kids

Cleaver Kids, also known as PeeWees, are children under the age of 9 who are able to be a part of the 4-H program. In our 4-H club, most of the members have a few younger siblings that would fit in the Cleaver Kid category. Most of these younguns end up being at most of the meetings anyhow, so this year, we decided to introduce this program to them. We currently have 5 Cleaver Kids. We have made it mandetory however, that you can only have a child as a Cleaver Kid if you also have an older sibling in 4-H. My mom is the leader of our Cleaver Kids so I always find it very intersting to listen to what the kids have all learnt after a meeting. After one meeting, on our way home, my mom was telling about how they had been going over the parts of the cow and how some of the kids had known what some of the parts were that she hadn't even thought of naming. It is impressive to hear how much these young ones already know. I think the Cleaver Kid Program is an awesome opportunity for younger kids to get involved in 4-H and all the exciting things that are brought with that! This is my 8th year in 4-H and every year I continue to learn more. Every year there are new things that are thrown at you to try out.
My younger sister is 8 and is also a Cleaver Kid. She had to pick out a March calf so my dad let her just go about it on her own. Later that day, she came home with the calf's name and eartag number and wanted to begin training right away. She had often showed as a PeeWee in some of the bigger shows, but had never gotten to train the calf on her own or gotten to walk it on her own. Well, this year it was time to change things. The first day we worked with her calf, I started by showing her how to put on the halter right. From htere we just tied her with her head up for a litle while so that she could get used to the halter. The next day, Kristy wanted to start training the calf 'for real' not just with its head tied up. So I took the calf outside a walked one circle with her, then I let Kristy take the calf on her own. Since then, no one has really helped her train her calf. We have given her pointers but haven't been aloud to take the calf from her. The other day, I was feeding calves milk during milking and I realized a calf was missing. It hadn't occured to me that it was Kristy's so I told my dad. He just laughed and told me to go check behind the barn. I went back there, and there she was.
The Cleaver Kid program is something that I think is a great idea. What is wrong with giving younger kids an opportunity to enjoy the experiences that we get to enjoy!
Here are a few pictures of Kristy training her calf and showing in Leduc.

 

 

Our Cleaver Kids have been allowed to judge and clip and from what I have heard, they are excited to be able to participate in our achievement day this weekend! I love having cleaver kids in our club!!

Dairy Congress

It's good to be home again after a busy week in Leduc last week.

Well, as I told you, my older brother and sister and the exchange students took the eight calves and two cows up to Leduc on Tuesday. They got to set up our stall, make the bedding, and wash the calves. On Wednesday, they didn't have to get up too early, so they started their day around 7:00am. They got the calves washed and by the time I got there around 2:00pm, they had even already begun settling tops for the junior show, which took place that night at 7. For the rest of the afternoon we all busied ourselves getting the rest of the toplines done and filling the calves. At 7:00 the show began and it was judged by Logan Chalack. The show went well and did not end too late. We ended up with only my sister's 2nd place senior calf in the championship class, but all-in-all, we are pretty happy with how the other calves placed.

Congratulations to Katelyn Crest of Skycrest Holsteins who had both the Grand and Reserve Champion and who also won the senior showmanship class!!

On Thursday I had a crazy day. It started with getting up to wash at 5:00am. We finished around 7, so then the three girls first got to go back for a quick shower, and then the two boys got to go after. By the time we were all back in the barn and had eaten breakfast, it was time to get ready for the judging school. Both of my older siblings judged but I led cows and calves in each class. This was finished around noon and so we had just a bit of time to grab a bite to eat before making our way back to the tent to watch the sale. Well, due to being dairy farmers, someone had to head back home to do the afternoon milking. So around 2:30, the two exchange students and I made our way home to milk. We didn't finish milking too late, but of course... when you have plans to leave again, something always has to come up. We ended up not leaving until about 9 because of a heifer who was calving. Well, we made it to the barn in Leduc a little after 10 but then couldn't go back to the trailer until almost 11 due to my brother still being busy with clipping. Well, it was somewhere around 11 that we got to sleep and then we got to start Friday off nice and early by waking up at 1:00 to wash. The show started at 10 so we needed enough time for the calves ti dry and to get toplines set. Well, the show started at 10 and we kept busy with making sure our animals were ready for each class.

Overall, we placed about half way with most of the claves. Of course there were a few at the bottom, but theres got to be someone at the bottom, right?!? Well...here are a few pictures so that you can sort of feel like you shared the experience with me!

Our Intermediate Calves

 

Our Senior Calves

Final line-up for the senior calves

Our Ex 91 - Thornspyc Goldwyn Tena

I am looking forward to letting you know about how our achievement day goes!! It is this coming Friday and Saturday, June 10&11 at the Rimbey Ag grounds. On the 10th, we hope to get settled into the barn and have our clipping competition, and then on the 11th we will have the show. It will start at 9:30 and you are absolutely more than welsome to come check it out! If you have any questions as to more details or directions, please do not hesitate to ask on either here or on my e-mail, at friends_roxs@hotmail.com .

Hope to see you there!!

First Results

As I promised, here are the results of the first show that the calves attended. It went much better than we had actually expected! We had only five calves there and the lowest placing we ended up with was fifth. My senior calf placed 5th and my intermediate calf placed 4th! Metty's senior calf placed 1st and then also became the junior reserve champion!! So that was exciting! Other than that, Metty's intermediate calf was 3rd and my older brother's summer calf was also 3rd. Overall it was very exciting especially since we had no idea how the calves might do! Well, the calves came home late Saturday night and got to rest on Sunday. On Monday we got started right away on clipping the rest of the calves that are at Leduc now and trained the calves for the last time before their next show! The animals and my older brother, sister and our exchange students left this afternoon to get our stall set up and get the calves into the bedding. I hope to head that way tomorrow afternoon to help prepare the calves for the junior show which is tomorrow night at 7:00! Feel free to drop by to check it out!
I look forward to informing you of this weeks show as well!

It's Showtime!!

It is once again that time of year when the Dairy 4-H clubs are getting ready to have their achievement day. The last week has been pretty crazy here. We have been working hard on getting the final touches done in training our calves and have begun clipping them the last two days. Our first show is tomorrow in Lethbridge. I won't be showing there myself due to not wanting to miss too much school in the next few weeks. My dad, sister and the exchange students took 5 calves down to this show. Next week, is the Leduc Dairy Congress in Leduc. My older brother and sister hope to take the calves up on Tuesday and then the Junior show is Wednesday night. I am hoping to make it to Leduc sometime after my first class on Wednesday. It gets a little difficult to be able to make it to all the shows when your still in school. But I just work it out however it can be most easily figured out! Well, Friday we will be kept nice and busy with the open show.
On Saturday we have a bit of time to rest again, but the the following week, we will be working on doing the absolute final touches with our calves of rour 4-H achievement day. We always show up in Rimbey around noon on Friday so that we can have our clipping competition that night. Everyone just camps out at and around the barn and then on Saturday we have the actual show! If you would like to come, feel free to drop by to check out how we do it!! I will let you know the actual times a little closer to the date!
Well, I guess I should probably get back to work. There are still a few calves here that need to be worked with! Let me know if you have any great training ideas or advice!!

Milking!

As most of you know, milking is a very important aspect of dairy farming. There are several different forms of milking. Lets start with the good old milking by hand. This is when you would lierally milk each cow seperately. No milking machines or parlors, all you had was your stool and pail.

Next is the Tandem, which is also known as a side opening parlor. In this set-up you are able to milk each cow and let them go as soon as they are finished. This set-up works well with slow milking cows because you will never have to hold up a whole line just because one cow takes very long. Alsom this parlor often has only one return alley.

The Herringbone, or Fishbone. In this set-up, the cows come in and stand sideways. They get milked from the side and must be let go of all at the same time. Here there is often only one return alley.

The Parallel Parlor. This is the one that we have at the moment. Here the cows come in and then stand side-by-side. You are milking them between their back legs. In our barn we milk in a double 10. We are able to let five go at a time and there are two return alleys.

Next is the Rotary Parlor. This can be either an inside or outside carousel. This is a circular platform that moves around slowly. For an inside rotary, the milker is on the inside. The cows come in and stand side-by-side with their heads towards the wall and you milk between their back legs. Then for an outside rotary, there is most often one person hanging machines and the other is making sure the cows are done before they leave.

                     INSIDE                                                     OUTSIDE

I hope I have been able to expand your knowledge on the different ways of milking! Let me know if there is anything else that you would like to know about!





When Reality Hits

As some of you may know, the National Holstein Convention took place in Halifax just last week. My parents and sister had the privilege of going there which left me to get to run the farm! This was not the first time I had to do it on my own; however, it certainly was the longest I have ever done it on my own for.  I had extra help for the week day morning milking from our friend Mrs. Monda and had help from our Dutch exchange students during the day and during the weekend.  Getting to spend five days alone on the farm definitely opened my eyes to how much there really is to do. We got lucky in not having to do too many extra things, but the day is filled quickly enough with only the everyday chores.  

I began everyday with the morning milking at 3:30. I got up at 3:10 and was able to have the cows in the holding area and the stalls scraped clean by 3:30.  After milking the cows and calves had to be fed silage and hay. On Thursday, Friday, and Monday I had to go to school but was able to come home from 10:30 until a quarter after twelve. This gave me a bit of time to be able to just check around and make sure everything was going good and that nothing was unusual. Our exchange student took care of the usual daily chores like the cleaning with the bobcat. As soon as I got out of school I had to get home to do the afternoon milking. After milking their usually wasn’t too much to do but we were definitely tired and made our evenings pretty short. The lights were out before nine almost every night.  

On Saturday things were a little different. Our morning began as usual with milking and feeding. But then we had to bed all the calves. This included the dry cows and the calves in the hutches. This took up quite a bit of the morning. Due to all the wind the bedding wasn’t quite as easy. However, we got it done!! The night milking went as usual and we were done at a descent time.

 Due to having to make an attempt at getting to school on time and wanting to make sure all the work got done there wasn’t a whole lot of time to catch up on sleep. By the time my parents got home I was pretty tired, but I now definitely have a different view on how much work it really is to run a farm. I think that what really tires you out the most is having to be up so early. Other than that, it was an unforgettable experience that I would love to have the chance to do again any time!!! Let me know if there is anything specific that you would like to know about and I would love to fill you in!

What Something So Small Can Produce

After a very long winter that almost seemed to never end, spring has finally come! Along with the wonderful change of weather also comes the extra field work for the farmers. It is now a bit later than last years, but this morning our corn was planted! When you think further about that, it is amazing how such a small seed can produce such a large corn stalk. Even though the corn was only just planted today, I am already looking forward to seeing how high it will get to be this year!



There are several different crops that farmer’s plant. We as dairy farmers grow barley, alfalfa, and corn. Some other crops that other farmers may plant are canola, and wheat.



Let us begin at the very beginning. Once all the snow has melted and the fields are dry enough to go onto, the farmer goes out and plows the field. If needed, he will also have fertilizer spread on the land. Next the seeder goes and makes even rows that are about 75 cm apart. And then it is time to wait!! For the barley and alfalfa, the first cut is usually done late June. The second cut usually takes place around mid August. Finally, the final cut is done around October and the field is empty for the winter. For corn however, the story is a little different. Once the corn is planted, it just keeps growing until October. When the fields are empty, the farmer goes out once again and harrows and plows the field. At this time the fields will also get a fresh dump of fertilizer. Now all you have to wait for is a little snow, and then for the snow to melt, and then... the cycle begins again!

Betcha you did not know all about that!!! Hope you learned more about what a farmers summer looks like.



What's In It For You?

I pledge

 my head to clearer thinking,

my heart to greater loyalty,

my hands to larger service,

and my health to better living

for my club, my community, and my country.

 

I have been involved in 4-H since I was nine years old and what I have learned since then are things that will stick with me further into the future than I can see! My older sibling who are just four years older than me helped set up the Moo's on the Moo-ve Dairy Club around Barrhead, Alberta. Since they started 4-H, our family has been very actively involved. I have two younger siblings, one who is an intermediate, and the other who was given the privelege of being a cleaver kid this year! As I learn new things from my older siblings and watch the younger ones learn new things, I just keep being so very thankful that I could be involved in 4-H.
When I talk about farming, showing, or just 4-H in general with some of my friends from town, they think I am very odd for my passion for these things. What I have learned to realize is that when you grow up with these things around you and you truly have a passion for them your passion for them grows more and more each day. In 4-H I have defianetly had my days where I have just really not wanted to be involved, but I think everyone has had that. There are those days when your heifer just won't cooperate with you and you become very frusterated. But then there are also those great days when after the meeting or workshop you can't imagine what life would be like without that extra little bit of information!
4-H gives you a wide variety of wonderful chances to do things you would never have done otherwise. Just a few weeks back I was asked to do a clipping and showmanship clinic for a fairly new club. So my sister and I went out and worked with two very enthusiastic junior members. I had never been asked to do a clinic before so it was something very new for me. Even though I had been asked to go out there and teach these younger members, I was also able to teach myself new things. Without 4-H, I would never have ended up there being able to help other members and having been able to give myself a new experience as well.
Another thing that I find is a wonderful thing that 4-H brings out is public speaking. I myself am not fond of speaking infront of crowds, but with the help of 4-H, I have been able to build up my confidence a bit to be able to do this a little more comfortably. It also gives you the chance to bring out topics that people do not really think about. Personally, I find that my speeches even help me out. I have always tried to find topics that people can think about and actually use. I have done speeches on smoking, peer pressure, and even self-confidence. All these topics have helped me out as well.

I honestly do not know what I would do without 4-H in my life. It has given me so many amazing opportunities, too many for me to tell you all about. 4-H is an amzing experience and if you are not a member of a club of any sort, you really should get on that because you are definately missing out. If you have any specific question about 4-H, feel free to ask, I am more than happy to help you out!!!



A Day in the Life of a Farmer

A farmer’s week is filled with days that have similar events happening in them; however, each day brings its own new surprises. The day begins with waking up bright and early usually between 3:00 and 5:00 depending on what time he milks and how many times a day he milks. On our farm the milk pump gets turned on at 3:30. It takes us about 21/2 hours to milk so we are finished milking and cleaning up between 6:00 and 6:30. The next chore is to make sure everything gets fed. All the calves under two months get fed 3 L of pasteurized milk during milking. All the other calves, heifers, and cows have water troughs. All the calves that are not yet at the breeding age get fed hay and for the last 4 months they get silage. All the other animals get fed silage.

Once all the animals have been fed, their pens need to be cleaned. Once every two-three days all the hutches and pens get bedded and clean shavings are brought into the barn for the milk cows. Bedding usually takes about one-two hours depending on the method used. The rest of the afternoon can be used for many other chores. This ranges from needling or breeding cows, cleaning pens (as in taking out all the manure to literally clean it), or even going out to do field work. This all depends on what season you are working in. In the winter you can often get caught up trying to fix frozen water lines or moving snow piles. In the summer however, a large part of a farmer’s day can take place in the field. All-in-all, a farmer is kept busy during the day but is able to keep the farm going!

Did You Know...

• Cows have an acute sense of smell, and can smell something up to six miles away.
• Vanilla is America's favorite ice cream flavor.
• The average cow produces enough milk each day to fill six one-gallon jugs, about 55 pounds of milk.
• It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs, because a cow's knees can't bend properly to walk back down.
• A cow chews her cud (regurgitated, partially digested food) for up to 8 hours each day.
• Cows only have teeth on the bottom.The average dairy cow produces seven gallons of milk a day.
  
• An ear of corn averages 800 kernels in 16 rows.



• Your bacon and egg breakfast, glass of milk at lunch, and hamburger for supper were produced with corn.

Welcome!

Enjoy learning about the exciting adventures of the country life!