Cows on Pasture

My favorite day of the year has arrived! And a whole month earlier than last year. Today we let the Ladies back out onto the pasture! It is always so much fun to watch them return back outside to the lush green grass. After a little bit of fun and kicking up their heels they got right down to business grazing and then taking a snooze in the warm sunshine!
We do everything we can to make their winter care the best that it can be. The reason we pull the Ladies into confinement for the winter to protect our ground. The pacific northwest just gets too wet in winter, and if we allowed the cows to stay outside they would make a complete mucky mess of the pasture. This break throughout the winter not only protects the grass, but also allows it to get a wonderful healthy growing start. This in turn helps to provide feed for our cows.
It's all one big circle that dairy farmers care greatly for; we care for the land so it can in turn help care for our Ladies. It is definitely my favorite view to see those gorgeous brown and whites on the lush green Spring grass!

Freckles leads the herd

Bette takes off running!

Bookie and Ramira butting heads

Notice Jolanda jumping for joy in the background?!?

Muzzle deep the grass is lush! Jesusita and Anna are enjoying!

All settled down for a nap!

Brooklyn soaking up the sunshine!

Seriously my favorite day! And it was so warm here today, the sunshine felt amazing! I hope you had an equally great day! Happy Thursday!

Robot Tour

When I throw the word robot out there, dairy farm probably doesn't come to mind first. But that is exactly what I am talking about, robotic milking on the dairy farm. We are excited to be launching into the adventure of transitioning our farm to robotic milking. After much discussion we felt it fit our management style and where we want to take to our herd for the future.

So while our start of date is still a ways away we are currently taking the time to visit as many farms as we can that are currently using robots. We are in the research and development phase of our plan and touring other farms lets us learn from them. Last week on my facebook page I mentioned we were headed on a little adventure; that was to tour 3 farm in Washington that are robotic.

Here you can see the collar the cows wear.  I think they enjoy them as a fashion statement!

On a robot farm the milking is done by a robot that lets the cow visit and be milked as she likes. She enters an individual stall, much like our current parlor, and her information is read from a collar on her neck. That information includes pretty much everything under the sun about each cow, but it gives the robot a map of her udder so she can be prepped and milked. While she's being milked she's eating grains fed according to how much milk she is producing. Each quarter of her udder is on an individual take off, so they come off as she is done giving milk. Once she is completely done she is sprayed with teat dip, the stall opens and she goes back to her day. It's pretty much exactly what we do now, just a robot is doing it. Click here to see a robot in action.

A big part of success in a robot barn is the layout and design of the barn. As the cow is free to come and go as she likes, the flow, as it is called, is very important. The three farms we visited retrofitted their robots into their existing barn, instead of building new like we plan to, but it was still beneficial to see how the cows moved through their designs.

It was also great as all three farms also graze their cows as we do for as many months as the pacific northwest weather allows. Those insights on grazing were very beneficial. Part of grazing success is a sort gate the cows must go through before leaving for the pasture. This gate reads her information on her collar much like the robot and either lets her out to graze and sends her back into the barn as she still needs to be milked.

Graze Gate

One thing completely evident on all three farms is how calm, relaxed and contented the whole herd of cows is. They really enjoy getting to pick their own schedule and that frees up the farmer's flexibility. Since we've announced our plan to move to robotics we've heard lots of people ask what we are going to be doing with all our free time if we aren't milking cows. A farmer doesn't put in a robot to not manage his cows, it's simple another tool we can utilize, I guarantee we won't run out of things to do!

We are all very excited for this adventure. But there is definitely still a lot to learn and decide, it almost all feels very overwhelming at times. Without a doubt though we are excited for this future and what it will bring to our farm, our family and our Ladies!   

Happy Robot Cows!

Healthy Start

Hello February! 

Sometimes it take some healthy determination to make a difference. This month I am determined to carve out a little bit of time for myself! After a few months of just feeling blah by the afternoon, I knew I needed to make a change. It's easy to feel like I just need a break, Mama's need a break, and nap time is my usual down time. But this month I've decided to add in a little movement to help my body feel healthier.

I am not a workout person, and things have to be simple and easy or I won't stick with them. So I am simply trying to move for 20 minutes every day. Yesterday I simply carved out 5 minute intervals in between house clean up. One time I walked our stairs, the next I did a few easy exercises; push ups, plank, lunges and squats and lastly during chores I pushed myself at a little faster pace than usual. Those ten minutes during the afternoon really helped to boost my energy level and clear my head.

So after day one I am sticking to it! One more thing I threw in for fun is drinking more water. I get plenty of water every day, in coffee form, so I'm making a conscious decision to grab a glass every time I think of it.

Small changes, simple baby steps for a healthier and happier ME.
Cause we all need some time for ourselves!

Join me on instagram #30x20challenge, we'll keep each other accountable!

Christmas in the Country Reveal!

Merry Christmas.........Happy New Year..........Oh wait it's the end of the middle of January.......so this will just be a tradition that my Christmas in the Country post is late! This year I didn't have the excuse of having a baby, but I was busy the first half of January getting ready for my littler farmer's first birthday. Yes excuses, excuses! But don't let that diminish my enthusiasm for probably my favorite blog activity of the year again: Christmas in the Country 2014!

This year I sent a taste of my hometown to the lovely Katy of Little House on the Horizon. My gift  was packed full of my favorite things made right here, coffee and everyone's favorite chocolates form our local chocolate shoppe. I also including some homemade jam,. *Note to self for next year, pick lighter items to ship! Hehe, but I truly had so much fun putting Katy's gift together, and even though I haven't heard from her I am hoping she enjoyed and had a wonderful first Christmas in their new home!!

  I was so excited when my package slip arrived on the 23rd, I knew it must be my exchange gift! I couldn't wait till Christmas so I opened it early and found an awesomely packed box of goodness from Danielle of High Heels and Shotgun Shells. She did an awesome job of  "stalking" me to put together a meaningful gift.
First out was a box of Christmas cookies, that I didn't waste any time breaking into! I even shared some with my boys, they loved the ones filled with M&M's and pretzels! I throughly enjoyed a chocolate cookie with my coffee, great combo! We finished them off Christmas morning as we were opening presents.

 Next I spied something lacey! Danielle was SO thoughtful to throw in something girly for me, cause she's right, I am overrun with boys around here! An awesome pair of boot socks!

The rest of the box was filled with awesome pieces from Danielle's new home state Kentucky. BBQ sauces that I can't wait to try out, thinking it will go great on pulled pork sliders! Salsa......mmm Salsa! I kind of have a thing for good Salsa, don't think I've ever admitted that, but chips and Salsa are definitely up there with my favorite snacks. This one did not dissapoint, sweeet, spicy and all around awesome! It was a perfect snack after a long night just the other day. Of course some Kentucky Bluegrass seed, which will some in handy, I have a strip in our yard that is still resisting regrowing after two summers ago pipe work. And lastly, but definitely not least Danielle caught onto the idea that I kind of collect ornaments from trips around the States. So now I have a Kentucky one to proudly hang on my tree!

Didn't waste any time on getting it put on our tree and it looks pretty awesome if you ask me! Enjoying my little piece of Kentcuky that will get to join us every Christmas!

Danielle rocked my present! And I've been having so much fun following along with her on all her channels. She's fun and has great style, go check her out!

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I really enjoyed participating again this year in Christmas in the Country! A huge shout out to our hosts who help make this happen! I am still friends with my gift giver from last year Jenny from The Magic Farmhouse and I think it's an awesome way to connect and make like minded friends from across the country! Looking forward to Christmas in the Country 2015!!

2015 Resolutions

I've never really been one for New Years resolutions, but I seem to always find myself thinking about all the possibilities that seem to be more readily available as the calendar turns over. Why is it that we are more ready to make a change when the date changes? I'm all for motivation, and anything that helps is great, but I find resolutions seems to hang a heavy weight over some heads. So I'm here to encourage you to let go!
If anything that has been my theme for the last year, anyone hear the Frozen song Let it Go playing in the background? In all reality embracing that thought, and only attending to what has to be done, has been liberating. I'll be honest that some areas of my life have suffered greatly from this mantra: my house is literally a disgusting mess, my long lost friends rarely get to see me and my to do list is literally a mile long.
So what have I been doing? Surviving, living, and even sometimes enjoying motherhood with two young boys and a dairy farm. I've embraced the thought that I literally can't do it all and am completely alright with it! Don't get me wrong, it took me a while to get here, and at times it feels like a lonely dark hole that I dug myself. But I find I am so much more happy, less stressed and free. And let's truly be honest, if we don't take care of ourselves, it's really hard to take care of the others in our life.
I am all for making positive changes in your life, just don't be afraid to examine them realistically and be easy on yourself if you don't at first succeed. Above all, take some time for you. Enjoy that extra cup of coffee and chocolate without counting the calories, leave the laundry for tomorrow and play with your child instead, pick up that book you've been meaning to read, go for that run because you want to!
I understand this fast paced crazy life often leaves us with little time for the things we really want to do. Stop longing to do them and make them a priority! 

Above all don't believe that investing in your own happiness is selfish!

 Happy New Year! I hope 2015 is a blessed, healthy, prosperous and HAPPY year for you! ~Darleen

  

Hello 2015!!

Our first calf, a heifer, arrived this afternoon! A great way to Welcome in 2015!

Happy New Year! 

2014 Year End Review: Farm

After I highlighted my efforts in agvocacy in 2014 I thought it would be fun to take a look at what happened on our farm this year!

The biggest change for 2014 was the number of cows in our herd. For the second time ever and in the last two years we opened our closed herd to bring in animals from two Oregon herds that were selling their Guernseys. We used to say the future was near that we might be the only large number Guernsey herd in Oregon, sadly that day arrived. So with mixed emotions we welcomed 16 head from the Bosch family, Kilchona Farm in Tillamook, at the beginning of April. We have never brought that many animals into the herd at once, but the transition went smoothly and the timing could not have been better being out on pasture. Then in November the opportunity to bring 8 cows from the Wil-Rene herd, of the Jansen family from Forest Grove, presented itself. The timing was opposite, but we couldn't say no to these great genetics and again the transition went smoothly. 

Bette & Baja two days after their arrived!

 This brings our milking cows number to consistently over 90 cows and at max for our facility. We wouldn't push our facility if we weren't already planning an expansion into a new robotic facility by 2016, with 120 milking cows. 2015 is going to bring a lot of change, crazy busyness and challenge, but we are so excited to meet this new venture and build the future of our farm!

So let's look at what these lovely Ladies achieved in 2014.

We shipped 1,402,447lbs of milk. That is 163,076 gallons!! 

Received a quality award from our coop for producing milk above the standard requirements for the 2013/2014 fiscal year. 

 We welcomed 80 new calves! 41 Bulls and 39 Heifers. And had a record breaking 5 sets of twins, two sets being born on the same day, which has never happened here before! One set of twin heifers, one set of twin bulls and three sets of heifer and bull.
Welcome to: Jazzelle, Jellato, Regina, Rowdy, RockyRoad, Jentle, Sprout, Babs & Bobbie, Raindrop, Diana, Super, Louisa, Blackcap, Chanelle, Blueheat, Bungalow, Jesstine, Brenna, Fancie, Jorja, Venita, Rainy, Snowdust, Moodini, Minuette, Bessy, Jessandra, Jazarah, Jacket, Spaz, Milan, Jellica, Roana and 5 more newborns awaiting names!

Twin heifers for Babette. Bobbi & Babs

Captured this sweet moment of Velma and her 12th calf!

 A few personal cow achievements. Kicked off the year with one of our favorite young cows Abiqua Acres Martini Jen classifying EX-90. We celebrated Abiqua Acres Goliath Velma's sweet 16th birthday. We also had a successful show season, taking strings to the Oregon State Fair and Northwest National Guernsey Show. We took grand champion with Abiqua Acres Challenge Spirit at Oregon and placed in the top half of all our classes at the Northwest.  Bittersweet this Fall as we lost our favorite show cow Abiqua Acres Aaron Meara, she has been greatly missed!

Grand Champion Challenge Spirit

It's been a good year for the dairy industry. Milk prices were at record highs and feed prices stayed reasonable, meaning we saw a tiny profit this year, which will hopefully hold us through the rough outlook for the year ahead. Just like always most days saw us with ups and downs on the dairy farm. This is the life we love and we wouldn't have it any other way than spending it with the lovely brown and white Ladies we love! So Thank You 2014 and bring it on 2015!