FARM
Milking Cows
We milk our cow’s three times a day. The milking shifts start at 4.00 am, 12 pm and 8 pm and takes approximately 2 hours to complete. Having enough staff is necessary to get the job done each day and it’s better for the overall health of each cow.During milking we prep the cow’s by cleaning the teats with paper towels, then pre-dipping and then hanging the units. After milking each teat is dipped in
iodine. All milk weights are recorded and each cow is identified. Detailed information about each cow’s production is available in our customized software we created for our farming business.Approximately 10 times a year we have a dairy herd improvement testing. Each individual cowget tested on its milk components and somatic cell count.
Feeding the Cows
We feed our cow’s corn silage and green fodder. Our milk cow’s are fed twice a day.Diets are balanced and meticulously made by a nutritionist our nutritionist. Dry matters get tested on a regular basis so we can feed the cow’s as precisely as possible. The diet for our young stock consists of hay, straw, silage and minerals. The silage is stored in concrete silage bunks.
Raising Calves
We loved raising our calves with the individual cage system. It worked very well for us for a long time, but with the farm growing rapidly in size, we realized that there was too much labor required to maintain this system.When a calf is born it stays in the main cow barn for the first 3-4 days, and is placed in an individual cage, where we make sure it is fed the right amounts of high quality colostrum. The calf will be vaccinated and he/or she will be tagged with the
appropriate herd & registration numbers.We monitor the amounts of milk each calf takes in, and when we determine the calf is ready, she is moved to the calf barn.
Growing and Harvesting Crops
We produce wheat as grain crops. Corn silage and alfalfa for our silage crops. These crops are all rotated to maintain soil health and quality. Soil samples are taken every spring. Based on those results we add fertilizer. All of the seeding and combining is done by custom farmers.
