It has been a a while since I have posted what is going on, sorry! Since getting back from our holiday away things have gotten busy on the farm once again. Mating season started this past Tuesday. This means that we will be pulling out cows from the herd every morning that will be getting Artificially Inseminated for the next five weeks (six total). One person sits in the milk shed in the morning during milking and checks to see which cows are in heat that day. It is very important to catch when they are in heat because if we miss it that means next season they will calve later and won't be milked as long as they could have been, hence lost income.
I am in charge of my own herd on the farm right now. This means that I make sure they are fed right, and that I decide which paddocks they are going to eat. I calculate how much area they get for the day and night so they get fed twice a day. I do this by knowing how much grass they need to produce the milk they should be producing per cow and then measuring how much grass is available for them to eat in the paddock.
We have had really good weather for growing grass lately and this has given us excess grass on the farm. In order to use the grass up we cut some of it for hay this week, along with some other land that we use across the road from the farm. In all we cut about 55 acres of hay on the farm and 240 acres off the farm. This hay is what will be used for feeding in the fall, winter, and early spring. We also have killed off about 60 acres of paddocks (in grass) on the farm too. These paddocks were killed off because they were old and needed to be replanted. They should be back in production sometime in December.
We have also been in the process of weaning all the heifer calves off milk and onto grass. Brittany did a great job rearing them so they are transitioning very well at very good weights. This has been going on over the last two weeks and the last ones should be weaned by the end of this week.
As you can see a lot has been going on, but it is a great time of year to learn about. The weather is getting nicer and the daylight last much longer!
I am in charge of my own herd on the farm right now. This means that I make sure they are fed right, and that I decide which paddocks they are going to eat. I calculate how much area they get for the day and night so they get fed twice a day. I do this by knowing how much grass they need to produce the milk they should be producing per cow and then measuring how much grass is available for them to eat in the paddock.
We have had really good weather for growing grass lately and this has given us excess grass on the farm. In order to use the grass up we cut some of it for hay this week, along with some other land that we use across the road from the farm. In all we cut about 55 acres of hay on the farm and 240 acres off the farm. This hay is what will be used for feeding in the fall, winter, and early spring. We also have killed off about 60 acres of paddocks (in grass) on the farm too. These paddocks were killed off because they were old and needed to be replanted. They should be back in production sometime in December.
We have also been in the process of weaning all the heifer calves off milk and onto grass. Brittany did a great job rearing them so they are transitioning very well at very good weights. This has been going on over the last two weeks and the last ones should be weaned by the end of this week.
As you can see a lot has been going on, but it is a great time of year to learn about. The weather is getting nicer and the daylight last much longer!
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