What's Happening on the Farm?

We been experiencing beautiful weather all week. The sunshine allowed lots of field work and corn planting. It's a great start to June Dairy Month! In honor of celebrating dairy, here's a glimpse of what's happening at the farm. . .

The calves come to greet me when I enter their pen

Heifers relax in their open air barn

Content cows

A newborn calf with her mom in the maternity pen

The milk truck taking milk to the processing plant where it will become cheese

Fixing a tractor; busy field work = equipment repairs & flat tires

I love this picture of my husband, Lad, & sons, Jack and Garrett

Filling the planter with corn seed

Heading out to the field to continue corn planting

The vat pasteurizer; equipment installation continues in the new milk processing plant

A group of Kindergartners had fun at the farm during their tour

There is lots of activity at the farm. It's busy but rewarding. Help us celebrate June Dairy Month by enjoying delicious dairy products!

Dry Spring Days = Perfect Farming Conditions

The last week has been dry and warm which is great weather for farming. This spring has been wet in Northeast Ohio, so there hasn’t been much field work happening until about a week ago.

When the weather provides a window of opportunity, it’s necessary to spend longer hours than normal at the farm. Over the last week, many hours have been spent mowing & raking rye grass, hauling manure, plowing, disking, cultimulching, repairing equipment, and planting corn.

Taylor rakes rye grass that will be baled and fed to the cows and heifers

Lad plowing where the rye grass was harvested

Jack checking the mounds of freshly plowed soil

Plowing another field

My boys, Jack and Garrett, playing in the grass lining the fields

Josue disking

Lad, Taylor and Josue repairing the disk

Jack watches the men work

The disk is fixed and back in the field

Taylor cultimulching

The cultimulcher is a finishing tool used just prior to planting

Thanks to fellow motorists who are understanding of farm equipment on the road

Lad planting our first field of corn for the season!

Lad and Jack check for the corn seed as my Dad waits for the report

Lad measures the depth the corn seeds being planted

Planting corn

My dedicated, hard working husband Lad

Thanks to Taylor, Josue and Dave who work long hours daily to make sure the crops get in the ground. Also to my dad, Tony, who helps keep all the equipment working. Growing good crops is vital to provide our cows with the feed they need to thrive.

Spring Scenes at the Dairy

Spring is an eventful time on our dairy farm. We're always happy to welcome to the warm weather and longer days spring delivers. Here are some scenes from our farm this month.
 
My oldest son, Garrett, is excited about his first year in the Geauga Dairyman 4-H club. He recently picked out a beautiful March calf to show at the county fair this fall.

Garrett with his 4-H calf, Lucy

Garrett, Jack and Lad all participated in the calf selection process

Jack found a sweet calf he liked too

Lad with the truck he drives to pick up feed for our cows

Jack with one of the new kitties at the farm

In addition to the regular work of milking, feeding and caring for cows and calves, it's time to get crops in the ground. In the spring, we're preparing the fields to plant corn and Sudan grass. This requires long hours and enlisting the help of family to get everything done.

Josue taking manure from our dairy to the field where it fertilizes the soil

Dad disking a field in preparation for planting

Planting corn

We harvested the rye grass that was planted last fall. 

Garrett in the rye grass field

Taylor mowing the rye grass

Jack running up and down the rows of mowed grass

Chopping the grass and blowing it into the truck that will deliver it to the dairy

Taylor and Lad talk strategy

When you're working with equipment and pushing it to the limit, it can break. My Dad keeps the shop going to make sure the equipment is working. 

Dad and Josue making a repair

Other things happening around the farm.

The heifers spend some time outside

These heifers are curious about Garrett

Jack pets a farm cat while a curious cow watches

Jack showing his Dad what he can do on the tire mountain

We've also had several tours groups at our farm and look forward to more throughout the year.

As you can see from the pictures, spring comes with many weather swings. We've had some warm days in the mid-80's and some chilly days in the 40's. That's spring in Northeast Ohio!

It’s Planting Corn Time

It’s planting season. The process of preparing the fields for planting started back in March. The first step is applying liquid manure, a natural nutrient, to the farm ground. Then the manure is incorporated into the soil using a chisel plow or disc. 

Discing the field

Another necessary part of this process is picking up large stones that are in the fields. When working the fields, stones emerge and need to be removed. This is done by hand.

Throughout this process, we depend on dry weather. If fields are too wet, tractors and equipment can’t move through them without getting stuck. Another variable is equipment repairs, when machinery works hard, things break and need to be repaired. This year, we’ve been fortunate to have great weather. Much different than last year when it wouldn’t stop raining!

Lad, Kevin and Taylor take care of all the farming along with their daily work at the dairy which results in very long hours. When there is a window of opportunity to work in the field, it is taken because you never know what the weather will be tomorrow.

The tractor pulls the corn planter through the field

We hire someone to custom plant our corn

Jack follows the planter

Each small yellow box is filled with corn seed

Jack and Garrett explore around the field

Jack finds a soft spot to take a rest

Garrett, Lad and Jack chat

The planter drops the corn seed into the soil

The corn planter

Jack and Lad check the seeds

After the fields are prepared, it’s time to plant corn. We use a corn seed that is made specifically to produce high quality corn silage for our cows. This seed is herbicide tolerant which means the herbicide applied to the crop will kill the weeds without damaging the corn plant therefore producing higher yields. We use herbicide because we don’t want the corn plants competing with weeds for water and nutrients. Producing more on less land using fewer resources is a good thing.

This is the seed we used

Three corn seeds

Last year, we planted our final field of corn on July 3rd. This year, we’ll be done planting before the end of May.