This is the time of year where I look at the calendar and can't believe what day it is!! It's also seems to be our busiest time (after hay season) of the summer. This is when we get the heifers and cows ready for fair! So maybe not for another month, but I promise my poor neglected blog will be back to life in the near future! And I have some great posts in the works, just need time to finish them!
Wish us luck at the Oregon State Fair and also a first time for myself in taking cows to a national show! Looking forward to ending the summer with fair fun!!
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
{Wordless Wednesday}
I was hoping for some pretty evening shots of the Ladies tonight. Instead I got a cow mob!
Monday, July 15, 2013
Cow Appreciation Day
National Cow Appreciation Day is today! I know I posted on Facebook about this Friday as some had declared that the day, but I'm hearing again that it's today. And hey who doesn't like appreciating cows, so might as well do it again today!!
Honestly where would we be without dairy? I personally, and not just because I am a dairy farmer love dairy products! Where would we be without milk for our cereal, coffee, for baking? Or delicious products like ice cream, yogurt and cheese? I really can't imagine a world without ice cream, really think about that for a minute! And all that goodness is thanks to the hard working bovine Ladies that call dairy farms their home! These homes where their every need is met and exceeded and every day is Cow Appreciation Day!
While we can all appreciate the goodness that all dairy Ladies give us, I wanted to spend today's post appreciating the special and unique qualities of the brown and white Guernsey Ladies that call our farm home! So here's my favorites of why I appreciate the Guernsey Cow:
Guernseys milk is appropriately called Golden Guernsey milk due to an exceptionally high content of beta carotene, which gives it a rich golden yellow color. I need to get a picture of the milk sometime when the milk tank is full, Guernsey milk really does have a beautiful golden hue to it! Beta carotene is also a great source of vitamin A, which has been touted to help reduce the risks of certain cancers.
Guernseys milk is also high in butterfat and protein, putting Guernseys as one of the component breeds. On average our herd's milk is at about 4.5% fat and 3.3% protein.
To continue with the special and unique qualities of the milk, Guernseys are known to be the highest percentage producers of A2 milk of any breed. A2 refers to the type of beta-casein protein. All cows produce either A1 or A2 (or a combination) beta-casein protein in their milk. All cows (going way back to domestication) used to only produce A2 beta-casein milk and the newer A1 beta-casein protein is what is believed to be linked to dairy intolerance issues. This is relatively new information to the consumer and dairy farmer, and most hype has followed the release of Keith Woodford's Devil in the Milk, in 2007. But as a breed Guernseys are almost 90% A2 producers. The A2 discussion is definitely something we are watching for future developments, especially from a marketability standpoint as Australia, New Zealand and the UK are currently selling a2 milk. If this is of interest to you I encourage you to ask questions and explore the topic more!
Combine these three qualities of Guernsey milk and you can see why we enjoy and are proud of being a 100% Guernsey herd!
To really be literal, I appreciate Guernseys being brown and white! I mean come one, who wants to go color blind looking at black and white cows all day when you can enjoy all the shades from fawn and tan to red and mahogany brown. Just look at how pretty they look out there in the green grass!
I also love their beauitful brown eyes and gorgeous eyelashes! Seriously women out there if you want to be jealous of anybodies eyelashes, we should all be jealous of cows!
And their pink noses. Guernseys are known for predominately having pink noses, most other breeds sport black noses. Jellacy here kind of has a combo with some super cute spots!
More then anything I enjoy their disposition. As a whole Guernseys are known for being the most laid back and easily manageable of the cow breeds. Mellow and easy going, I can definitely attest to that, and would even go to say our herd is lazy! Everyone just wants a pet or scratch whenever you go to move them anywhere. Makes the simplest tasks take that much longer to make sure everyone gets their love!
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| Guernseys have been a part of our family for 60 years now! |
Guernseys milk is appropriately called Golden Guernsey milk due to an exceptionally high content of beta carotene, which gives it a rich golden yellow color. I need to get a picture of the milk sometime when the milk tank is full, Guernsey milk really does have a beautiful golden hue to it! Beta carotene is also a great source of vitamin A, which has been touted to help reduce the risks of certain cancers.
Guernseys milk is also high in butterfat and protein, putting Guernseys as one of the component breeds. On average our herd's milk is at about 4.5% fat and 3.3% protein.
To continue with the special and unique qualities of the milk, Guernseys are known to be the highest percentage producers of A2 milk of any breed. A2 refers to the type of beta-casein protein. All cows produce either A1 or A2 (or a combination) beta-casein protein in their milk. All cows (going way back to domestication) used to only produce A2 beta-casein milk and the newer A1 beta-casein protein is what is believed to be linked to dairy intolerance issues. This is relatively new information to the consumer and dairy farmer, and most hype has followed the release of Keith Woodford's Devil in the Milk, in 2007. But as a breed Guernseys are almost 90% A2 producers. The A2 discussion is definitely something we are watching for future developments, especially from a marketability standpoint as Australia, New Zealand and the UK are currently selling a2 milk. If this is of interest to you I encourage you to ask questions and explore the topic more!
Combine these three qualities of Guernsey milk and you can see why we enjoy and are proud of being a 100% Guernsey herd!
To really be literal, I appreciate Guernseys being brown and white! I mean come one, who wants to go color blind looking at black and white cows all day when you can enjoy all the shades from fawn and tan to red and mahogany brown. Just look at how pretty they look out there in the green grass!
I also love their beauitful brown eyes and gorgeous eyelashes! Seriously women out there if you want to be jealous of anybodies eyelashes, we should all be jealous of cows!
And their pink noses. Guernseys are known for predominately having pink noses, most other breeds sport black noses. Jellacy here kind of has a combo with some super cute spots!
More then anything I enjoy their disposition. As a whole Guernseys are known for being the most laid back and easily manageable of the cow breeds. Mellow and easy going, I can definitely attest to that, and would even go to say our herd is lazy! Everyone just wants a pet or scratch whenever you go to move them anywhere. Makes the simplest tasks take that much longer to make sure everyone gets their love!
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| I appreciate Jesusita, because she's my favorite!! Don't tell the others! |
So have an extra glass of milk, scoop of ice cream or slice of cheese today and show your appreciation for the dairy cow!
Friday, July 12, 2013
Blah!
Who gets sick in the summer time? Our whole family apparently! And Yuck, being sick in the summer time is the worst. This wasn't any easy bug either! So we've been spending the last week with a box of Kleenexes handy for all of us! Irritating! It's so much easier to be sick when it's not perfect outside! So while I was fighting a fever and blowing my nose every five seconds yesterday, I did something I hadn't done in quite a while; I just sat outside. No distractions, nothing else going on, just sitting. It was nice, refreshing and I realized something I need to do more often. Something we should all do more often!
So when was the last time you just sat and took it all in? Try it sometime!
So when was the last time you just sat and took it all in? Try it sometime!
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| Every once in a while I am on the other end of the camera! |
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
{Wordless Wednesday}
July, how in the heck is it already July! That seems to be my theme for this year, wondering where the time has gone! But this brings about my favorite Holiday; 4th of July!! Kicking off the celebrations tonight hometown style with some great music and fireworks! Hope you all enjoy some fun festivities at well!
Here's a couple little shots of our summer, as it finally arrived in Oregon this week with some hot temperatures!!
Saturday, June 22, 2013
This has to Stop, Now! Band together Women!
I'm not a big celebrity follower. But when this story popped up on my Facebook feed, I couldn't help but be intrigued! I didn't follow Kate Middleton's journey to becoming a Princess, didn't even watch the wedding, although they picked a great day, my birthday! ;-) But really isn't that every little girls thought at one point, what it would be like to become a Princess? I definitely don't envy the spotlight, the attention of the media, I've never wanted to be famous for that reason. I can't imagine warding off paparazzi and having your every move printed!
I am delighted to hear Kate's plans for a natural birth for her baby. Which seems to include, a family support system, hynobirthing methods and a birth pool. Sounds great to me, go for it Kate!
But of course her choices are drawing the naysayers out of the woodwork, come to attack her, just like every other woman who makes plans like this seems to be attacked. Why can't we as women come together to support each other in our greatest moment of being a female? Birth is what our bodies were created for. How we've come so far from what our bodies know how to do is beyond me. Birth is an amazing feat for a woman, it's not easy and everyone's journey is different. But it's the first step in becoming a mother. What's more awesome then that? What's more empowering and feminine? Why.......why, why, why can't we support each other in what ever hope we have for birth?!?!?
I feel it's our duty as women! I guess blame our culture for the spirit of judgement, but in this instance I feel it's unacceptable! We live in a day and age where as women we have so many choices to us for child birth, and the freedom to decide which route we want to take! As women we need to support each others decisions to birth in a hospital, with as much or as little help as we feel necessary. Or the woman who wants to birth at home without any pain medication. Or any combination on the spectrum of choices. IT IS OUR CHOICE!
I feel you Kate, and every other woman who has met this kind of criticism. I certainly heard enough of it when I told people my plans for a home birth.
So enough, is enough Ladies. Next time you hear someone talk about their impending birth, embrace them, their plan their vision and then support them in this greatest act of feminism. I hope and I pray for each of you on this journey that you get the birth you envision and crave. Women deserve it.
I am delighted to hear Kate's plans for a natural birth for her baby. Which seems to include, a family support system, hynobirthing methods and a birth pool. Sounds great to me, go for it Kate!
But of course her choices are drawing the naysayers out of the woodwork, come to attack her, just like every other woman who makes plans like this seems to be attacked. Why can't we as women come together to support each other in our greatest moment of being a female? Birth is what our bodies were created for. How we've come so far from what our bodies know how to do is beyond me. Birth is an amazing feat for a woman, it's not easy and everyone's journey is different. But it's the first step in becoming a mother. What's more awesome then that? What's more empowering and feminine? Why.......why, why, why can't we support each other in what ever hope we have for birth?!?!?
I feel it's our duty as women! I guess blame our culture for the spirit of judgement, but in this instance I feel it's unacceptable! We live in a day and age where as women we have so many choices to us for child birth, and the freedom to decide which route we want to take! As women we need to support each others decisions to birth in a hospital, with as much or as little help as we feel necessary. Or the woman who wants to birth at home without any pain medication. Or any combination on the spectrum of choices. IT IS OUR CHOICE!
I feel you Kate, and every other woman who has met this kind of criticism. I certainly heard enough of it when I told people my plans for a home birth.
So enough, is enough Ladies. Next time you hear someone talk about their impending birth, embrace them, their plan their vision and then support them in this greatest act of feminism. I hope and I pray for each of you on this journey that you get the birth you envision and crave. Women deserve it.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
When S#*T Happens.....You can't make this stuff up!
I enjoy a good fictional book, honestly I LOVE to read, kind of book worm. There's just something about disappearing into a different world for a little while. I recently started reading the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris, they are great fun and just and easy read. (And no I haven't started watching Trueblood, the HBO show based on these books) Sometimes it's easy to laugh at the situations and perils that fictional characters find themselves in. Sometimes I can sympathize with them and the fact that their author is really putting them through the ringer. But when real life feels more like it should belong in a fictional book, it's not fun at all.
We all have those weeks in any profession I suppose, that just totally kick us while we are down. And really make us contemplate our job choice. We had a week like this, and of course it started on Monday.
When your dealing with mortal beings, some elements are just out of your hands. Cows are not invincible, they are mortal, breakable and sometimes just down right frustrating. Monday morning my heifer Myra calved with a dead heifer calf. It happens, just like with humans, birth can be perilous. No matter how you try to beat yourself up for it, or analyze what you could have done different, sometimes it just can't be helped. It's life, dairy farm life. But still frustrating, a dead heifer calf is a huge loss of investment for a dairy farmer. Not just that, also personal, and every loss is felt. The icing on the cake for this situation was of course the fact that the calf was out of a young sire, making the loss feel even greater.
Tuesday morning as my husband is bringing in the cows from the field for the morning milking an over excited Lady in heat manages to knock one of our best cows, Ramona, down. She doesn't get back up. My farmer gets the rest of the Ladies into the holding pen and returns with help for Ramona. The good news, she was able to get up on her own. The bad, she's not putting any weight on the leg. We are assuming it's broken, cows don't recover from broken legs. They manage to encourage her to hobble into our special care pen. By Wednesday it's obvious that her leg isn't broken, just dislocated, but badly. She's still managing to get up and down and we even manage to get her to the parlor to be milked. We were a little bit optimistic, but certainly not holding our breath.
Thursday was a shining moment in this week, and badly needed. We felt our luck was turning around, when during Vet check we discovered that both of our embryos from our favorite old cow Velma had stuck. The recipients, a beef cow Shadow and a Guernsey heifer Snowshine, were pregnant! We couldn't have been more excited, especially about Snowshine, since there are only herself and one other cow from the Snow line of the S's left. You never know what your going to get with ET work and have these two be successful was great news!
Friday morning, we find Snowshine dead.
Very funny right, kind of like a bad joke? I know I didn't believe my husband when he told me. Less then 24 hours after we discover she's pregnant with Velma's embryo, she's dead. Timing is everything, she could have died the day before and yes we would have been upset, but not knowing if she was pregnant or not with the embryo would have been better then feeling the loss of that important calf as well. Snowshine died in a freak accident that we certainly have never had happen before. Probably with a little help from a herd mate, her head became stuck in the stanchions and she suffocated. There's a safety on the stanchions that protects a cow if she happens to go down while her head is in them. Somehow her nose got tipped back behind the bar so it couldn't swing into the safety release position. We are guessing someone hit her just right as she was pulling her head back.
But really what are the chances of that happening? It won't ever happen again and the timing was unbelievable. You really can't make this stuff up.
So why not end the week on a good note? Nope, Ramona didn't recover and we had to put her down.
How is your week going?
We all have those weeks in any profession I suppose, that just totally kick us while we are down. And really make us contemplate our job choice. We had a week like this, and of course it started on Monday.
When your dealing with mortal beings, some elements are just out of your hands. Cows are not invincible, they are mortal, breakable and sometimes just down right frustrating. Monday morning my heifer Myra calved with a dead heifer calf. It happens, just like with humans, birth can be perilous. No matter how you try to beat yourself up for it, or analyze what you could have done different, sometimes it just can't be helped. It's life, dairy farm life. But still frustrating, a dead heifer calf is a huge loss of investment for a dairy farmer. Not just that, also personal, and every loss is felt. The icing on the cake for this situation was of course the fact that the calf was out of a young sire, making the loss feel even greater.
Tuesday morning as my husband is bringing in the cows from the field for the morning milking an over excited Lady in heat manages to knock one of our best cows, Ramona, down. She doesn't get back up. My farmer gets the rest of the Ladies into the holding pen and returns with help for Ramona. The good news, she was able to get up on her own. The bad, she's not putting any weight on the leg. We are assuming it's broken, cows don't recover from broken legs. They manage to encourage her to hobble into our special care pen. By Wednesday it's obvious that her leg isn't broken, just dislocated, but badly. She's still managing to get up and down and we even manage to get her to the parlor to be milked. We were a little bit optimistic, but certainly not holding our breath.
Thursday was a shining moment in this week, and badly needed. We felt our luck was turning around, when during Vet check we discovered that both of our embryos from our favorite old cow Velma had stuck. The recipients, a beef cow Shadow and a Guernsey heifer Snowshine, were pregnant! We couldn't have been more excited, especially about Snowshine, since there are only herself and one other cow from the Snow line of the S's left. You never know what your going to get with ET work and have these two be successful was great news!
Friday morning, we find Snowshine dead.
Very funny right, kind of like a bad joke? I know I didn't believe my husband when he told me. Less then 24 hours after we discover she's pregnant with Velma's embryo, she's dead. Timing is everything, she could have died the day before and yes we would have been upset, but not knowing if she was pregnant or not with the embryo would have been better then feeling the loss of that important calf as well. Snowshine died in a freak accident that we certainly have never had happen before. Probably with a little help from a herd mate, her head became stuck in the stanchions and she suffocated. There's a safety on the stanchions that protects a cow if she happens to go down while her head is in them. Somehow her nose got tipped back behind the bar so it couldn't swing into the safety release position. We are guessing someone hit her just right as she was pulling her head back.
But really what are the chances of that happening? It won't ever happen again and the timing was unbelievable. You really can't make this stuff up.
So why not end the week on a good note? Nope, Ramona didn't recover and we had to put her down.
How is your week going?
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