This is always an exciting time of year on the farm! In the last two weeks we have gone from near drought conditions and a gradual start to grazing, to explosive grass growth and the best milk production we've had in years.
This year we have rented a pasture from a nearby organic farmer. This pasture has not been grazed for about ten years, so we had to cut a lot of trees and brush out of the fence and fix the fence before we could move animals there. The milking herd has to be within walking distance of the milking parlor, so we moved some heifers and dry cows (cows that are not being milked toward the end of their pregnancy).
It's a beautiful pasture, with a meandering stream running through a valley, hills rising up on either side. There is some brush, but the cattle have developed a taste for browsing some of the leaves. There are also trees for shade.
After the first night, three of the youngest heifers had escaped. After a stay in the farmer's barn for the afternoon while I repaired the fence, we got them back to the pasture. They have all stayed in since then. We check on them every day, and are using temporary fence to move them to a new area within this pasture about every five days.
After the first night, three of the youngest heifers had escaped. After a stay in the farmer's barn for the afternoon while I repaired the fence, we got them back to the pasture. They have all stayed in since then. We check on them every day, and are using temporary fence to move them to a new area within this pasture about every five days.
We have also had three new calves!
Our relief milker Josh found this little cutie on Tuesday morning when he went to bring the cows in for milking. Mama Kuh is clearly a very good mother. This is her fourth calf, so she's a pro.
This young fella was born later the same day. He's a real firecracker! He is Inga's fifth calf (all boys!).
Yesterday morning (Sunday) I came out to this pleasant surprise. Ola has now had three heifer calves in a row! She's working on building her own dynasty. Her first heifer (but second calf) Orsola is due to have a calf at the end of June, so I'm pretty excited to see how she does as a milk cow.
(Gamila and Gunhild's nose in the background)
Cheers for now!
-Kevin
(Gamila and Gunhild's nose in the background)
Cheers for now!
-Kevin