This all brings back some memories from my childhood😊... Grew up next to a dairy farm in southwestern Ohio in the 40s and 50s... If I may say... you have a good heart... God bless you and all those you hold in that heart❤
Beautiful animals you all have, you can tell they’re so well cared for. I do believe it’s because of your commitment to farming on a small scale that allows you to be so attentive to each animal. Your children are so blessed to have parents that recognize that they’re providing an upbringing that is not only fun, but prepares them for life’s ups and downs like no other experience will. Keep it up
Thanks for showing off the calves & heifers! The first farm I worked on bred their heifers at 2 years old. I've met other people that breed them at 1 year old.
I know farms that breed at 2 also. We like them to be at least 1, but I also like them to either calve in May through October, so sometimes a heifer is closer to 2 before she gets bred. I don't like to have them calve in the winter because I worry about frostbite because they swell. Thank you so much for watching.
I used calf huts year around but once the weather got warm I had to move huts under shade trees or it got so hot you could cook the calf. One year I used a portion of a hay shed that only had a roof to move all huts into that was near the barn. Worked great ! Shade from roof and breeze could blow cross ways thru hay shed.
Tks for sharing. Its so nice to hear and get to see your land scape around the farm and how care you give your animals. Your pouring out a 5 gal bucket? Wow hardly spilled a drop. Nice job...
I am really glad i stumbled on your videos, i love seeing small dairys still exist and are doing well. I work with a guy that had to sell his herd a few months ago due to milk prices being so low for so many years. He milked 70 cows in a tie stall.
We make the same. We keep few males for beef for us. But we rarely can sell the dairy Bulls calves, the most are donated for other Farmers that raise tem for beef. When we sell we receive around U$ 10 for New born calf 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Hug from south Brazilian dairy farmer
I had raised a calf to be a yard calf she had her difficulties also oh my goodness you attached to them well it made it easy on me to feed her in the yard and take care of her name was biboma not me but the boys that came up with that name lol.
First time watching a video such as this one. I enjoyed it so much, and especially I like the way those animals are treated. It’s like they’re in heaven already. Subscribed to your channel and thank you for explaining the process. God bless your family 🙏
love those calves,, so cute!! your fair footage was awsome,, good job you all!! your fair has such good animals. here we are cash crop big acres.. no time for the true farmers that have livestock. you are true farmers as i see it. GOD bless and thank you for your love of GODS creation there!!
Very informative video. We used to do the same trying to group them. In the winter it was harder. We never had enough room. Hope you get rain South central WI we are getting plenty of rain.
Alan was in Dairy Star? What section ? The Dairy Star is located in Sauk Centre MN 24 miles from my former farm in Stearns Cointy. I remember when the editor Mark Klaphake " stuck his neck out" and started that paper up. It sure has grown and definitely is one of the leading farm publications in Minnesota. Be sure to read the article about Matt Herzog and how at age 10 the Herzog kids got interviewed and he said he wanted to be a dairy farmer. Now at age 20 he is farming and milking the cows. ( Herzogs were my neighbors to the west with their land and mine sharing a 1/2 mile property line) Great ,hard working family. Glad Alan got in the paper.
It's good that you are in Minnesota and not in NY like us. Everyone here gets turned in for animal abuse for having them in huts. We are inendated with people who have no clue about farming and think they are doing the right thing by turning in farmers for housing calves in huts. We now keep ours in an old section of our barn out of sight.
@@trinitydairy It's rough for a lot of us upstate NY farmers. It's mostly city people coming up from New York city that have never once stepped foot on a farm and have no idea how farms work or a single thing about a cow. They see calf huts and instantly it's animal cruelty, They see a cow in a pasture with some mud or manure on them it's cruelty, they see a cow that has a slight limp and it's cruelty even though to them the alternative isn't(Hamburger). There's only 10 dairy farms left in our county 4 of us are old school tie stall or stantion barns and cows on pasture but all 10 of us farmers have piles of calf huts along side our barns none of us use them anymore and our calves are raised indoor till they are a year old because we all have been harassed for animal cruelty for having calves in huts. We are working on building a calve barn this year if our milk prices stay where they are and our grain doesn't go any higher. We here are harassed for everything from running our tractors at night doing field work to our farms smell to our cow was in the creek and it's all from people who came from the city and have no clue what farming is and the care us farmers give to our animals but since they don't look like the cows in the shows at the fairs and on tv or in the books it's cruelty.
@@trinitydairy my neighbor went through with his sprayer with the drp tubes on, I assume applying nitrogen. Monday they replanted beans due to slug damage, all notill.
With the drought here we aren't even going to top dress our corn. With no rain I think it's just going to burn up. We're planning on buying baleage for the cows. Planning ahead for worst case scenario that we won't get anymore hay or corn silage.
So in general what happens whit the calves from the big guys ,overhere in the netherlands we got the largest vealindustry of the world.thats were all our bullcalves go to including the leftover heifercalves.its owned by one man who makes the price also but due to the covid19, all the restaurants are closed in whole europe so you quess what the prices are at the moment, anyways thanks for youre explanation, i like youre thinking and caring for the calves ,greetings from a Dutch dairyfarmer
Great video really enjoyed it! The hefier Phoenix or I believe that was her name, she had the tenden problem... is that genetic or because of her position in the womb? And if it is genetic is that something you will try to breed out of your herd? With our beef cows we always breed for easy calving and easy keeping..... thanks and keep the videos coming 👍thanks
Yes Phoenix had the tendon problem. Now don't quote me here, but I do believe it's because of her size and positioning in the womb. We've only had one other calf with this so I don't think it's genetic. With dairy cows they have a calving ease index, but mainly just for Holsteins. Thank you so much for watching!
Phoenix is a pretty little calf. I think Ayrshires are nicest looking dairy breed. I am curious, what happens to your cows when they no longer are profitable?
We've had a lot that go on to be someone's family milk cow. We even had one that was sold as a therapy cow for battered and abused women. Others will go for meat.
Where do you buy those calf hutches. It’s an excellent way to keep them separated when one is Sick with scours. We are losing our Jersey bulls left and right.
@@trinitydairy I love Jersey bull using for breeding heifer cause they deleier small easy give birth. but one thing Jersey cows make the best milk my favor milk taste but yes making lot butter. It saying very good for heart by 100% naturel dairy butter
It's an 18% protein calf grain that our feed mill makes. We've also used a calf feed called amplicalf and liked that too. That's awesome that you want your own cow!
How's the corn look this year? We got some much needed rain last night, about 3/4" still needed more!! We should be doing 2nd cutting about the middle of July. Most of the Dairy farms around us milk between 500/1500 cows not many family dairy farms in southwest mi.
Old video I know, but what brand or where did you buy those black plastic buckets for the feed and water? We used to get them locally through an elevator but quit carrying them. Would like to buy some more.
No, they are so close to the yard that nothing comes that close, except maybe a skunk. I do know a lot of people that have had their beef calves killed by wolves. A friend of ours lost 4 calves this year to wolves!
@@chalenivy0039 yes thank goodness we haven't. We like to keep our close to calving cows nearby because of this, but we haven't seen a wolf around here for a couple years now.
Oh okay I get what you mean. I didn't cover that. We have a liquid nitrogen tank on the farm that stores our semen straws. We have a salesman from a bunch of genetics companies that brings a selection of bulls right to the farm. Mainly we purchase from Alta genetics.
@@trinitydairy Ok but what is the benefit of castrating bull calves ???? i am subscribing UR You tube channel to get knowledge of cattle feed , calves feed & growth .
We castrate our bulls because the main market for them is to be beef steers. We don't need to have any bulls on the farm, and steers finish out nicer than a bull would when butchered at their mature weight. It's also safer to castrate them. Bulls are dangerous, where as steers are much more docile.
As soon as we can see buds normally, but every now and again we miss one. If we miss a calf we wait until fall to dehorn to avoid flys. We use a lot of polled genetics too.
Feeding them a replacer lets us know they are getting a consistent amount of nutrition. We also have a lot of cows that want nothing to do with their calves, or in the case of Phoenix, was unable to walk without physical therapy to correct her legs. It's a safer more sanitary environment too.
