Out to Pasture



     Due to the recent rain we have been unable to get into the fields and took advantage of this extra time to put a few pairs out to pasture. We utilize AI (artificial insemination) on many of the cows in the herd and do this prior to sending them our to pasture. We plan on starting to AI in a couple weeks so the cows we sent to pasture today are the ones who most recently calved and will not come in heat(be fertile) by the time we are ready to AI. We also took out to pasture the cows who are of lesser quality and we wouldn't use AI on and just let the herd bull breed them. Here are a few pictures of some cute one's as they waited to go out to pasture.

Snowball, my daughter Mary's favorite cow

Snowman, Snowball's steer calf this year

      With 130 cows and calves all mixed together in a big lot it takes a lot of time and patients to find all the mothers and babies that you are wanting and match them up together. As you can see every animal has an ear tag which has their given number as the bigger one on the bottom of the tag and their mothers number is written on top. My job while sorting the cattle was keeping all the numbers straight, knowing who we had picked out and who we still needed to find. Soring cattle is quite difficult because they are big animals and can move fast, they also will do unwise things when they feel scared or threatened. With experience of working with cattle day after day cattle farmers learn how to read the cows movements and thoughts. You can anticipate what their next move is going to be and use that to your advantage.

 

     Today we had to use the loader tractor to take the trailer to the pastures due the mud from the recent rains. We load the trailer with the cow calf pairs we have picked out. We have to take both the cow and calf in the same load so that they can find each other as soon as they get off the trailer. There is nothing worse than a lost calf or cow. By instinct a calf will try to go back to the last place it saw it's mother and if it is in a new place like a pasture it will run through fences trying to get somewhere familiar.

      Once out at the pasture we back the trailer up and set gates us to funnel the cows and calves in. This is my favorite part where the cows and calves come off of the trailer kicking up their heals so excited to see the green grass and open space. We wait and make sure the pairs are together and no one is left behind and then watch them go running over the hillside. If cows could smile, I think they would have a grin from ear to ear.

I found this group of brothers who do paridy songs about farming.  I think they are great and entertaining.  What great ag promotion in a fun way. This song is one that brings me back to my growing up years on the farm.

Faith and Farm

     Faith is an important part of our life on the farm and today we are proud of our beautiful Mary who took a very important and special step in her faith life. Mary received her First Holy Communion and was all smiles knowing what a big step this is in her life.


A special moment with her dad. Mary's dad gave her a special necklace with the image of Holy Mary on it,
a special keepsake for this special day.

Receiving the Body of Christ, the true nourishment we need in life

Her Grandpa Pat got to give her the Blood of Christ

Because of the rainy weather today, both of the farmer grandpas and Paul were able to spend some extra time with Mary to celebrate.  Sometimes it seems like it rains on days when we need a reminder to take time for family and rest.  Because we both grew up within a few miles of each other, we are fortunate to have our children's grandparents and great-grandparents able to to join us to celebrate this special day.

The glow of having Christ inside of her

A quick family shot

       Faith is what keeps life together. On the farm there are so many things that are out of our control: weather, prices of products, and sometimes health of animals. Faith is needed to know that things may seem to be out of our control but there is a God who always has our best interests in mind and knows the bigger picture in life and is always in control. Every night during prayer time with the kids we pray for favorable weather for the crops, fair prices, and health of the animals. Our children are learning that we need to place our life in God's hands and have faith that he will provide for us. Faith and farming go hand in hand.

Easter New Life



    It was a beautiful Easter. The weather was perfect and the kids had more candy than they needed. I love Easter with the promise of New Life and Resurrection.

Luke is too cute among a pile of eggs

Mary enjoyed some face painting

David is silly excited about his finds

Rose practices her sharing

       With the warmer weather we have been busy getting ready for planing both in the garden and in the fields. The kids have been helping me get the garden ready. We are all excited for the fresh vegetables and working in the soil.

     Paul went from tilling up the garden to working up the field. A little rain today put a slight hold on the planting for now but as soon as the sun starts shining the tractors will be rolling again.

Ag in the Classroom



       Yesterday Paul and I went to our local private school and taught the elementary kids about agriculture. Living in a smaller town in SW MN we consider ourselves a rural community and assume that everyone should have been exposed to agriculture. It is eye opening to see how many of the children and teachers know very little about production agriculture.



         As you can see we had to use the chapel space but it worked out well and animals are part of Gods creation also. We focused our education on animal production in agriculture. We brought along our baby chicks, kittens, and a 3 day old calf from the farm. The kids were very attentive and asked lots of great questions. We were able to talk with about 150 kids and their teachers.

        Holding the baby chicks was a big hit. Many kids said it was the first time they have held a chicken. They were all amazed at how soft they were.We did talk with the kids about why they are different colors because of their different breeds. We also discussed the difference between egg production and meat production chickens.

      We brought a cute 3 day old brindle face heifer calf. She was very well mannered and let the kids pet her. I'm sure this is the closest many of them have every been to a calf. The kids were amazed to learn that in just 14 months a steer calf will grow to 1400lbs and be ready for market. We stressed with the kids that as farmers were are very concerned with our animals safety and health. We care about our animals but they are not our pets. The kids asked if they cows all had names and we told them how each one is given a number but only the very special cows get names.

 

       We also brought our 3 baby kittens and the kids passed them around.  We talked to the kids how the kittens are different from the chickens and calf because cats are pets and we have them for enjoyment but the chickens and calf we raise to produce food. We thanked the kids for helping use on our farm. We told them that their job is to eat food and we will continue to produce safe, nutritious food for them.

     Paul showed them Cow TV on his farm and how we use technology on the farm. The kids thought it was very neat that they could see the cows in the barn out on the farm.  It was a lot of fun to talk with the children and their teachers. Many of the kids and teachers thanked us for coming and said they learned a lot. Paul and I plan on doing this more often and encourage others to share their farm experience with others. The public is interested in learning about agriculture and what we do on our farms.

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