10 Years & 5 Kids Later

10 years ago today we turned on the parlor and milked on this farm for the first time in almost 30 years.

My Grandpa bought this farm in 1969 and milked here until 1974.  He then went into partnership with my parents on their farm.  My parents bought this farm from him in 1990, then we purchased it from them in 2002.  So it has been in our family for 44 years.  One of our sons is determined to get one of those centennial farm signs celebrating 100 years of ownership in the same family. When that happens, he'll be 64, and if I'm blessed I'll be 88.   I might get to see that happen!

Rick and I both worked day jobs on other farms, and worked on building the parlor at night.  We were expecting our first baby, due anytime around May 20th.  The goal was to have the parlor finished in time for calving season at the beginning of April.  Needless to say, that didn't happen, but we were close.  Near the end of April we were ready to milk cows, but what we weren't ready for was the baby!

I had stopped working for the neighbor on the 23rd.  Rick and I had literally NOTHING ready for the baby except the gifts we got from the baby shower.  We had been so busy working and building the parlor, and we really thought we had time-like 4 weeks worth-not 3 days worth!

I had made a list of the things we needed, and on the 26th went to every garage sale in Krepps road area, to only find a part of what we needed.  I got home around noon, and started to put that brand-new-stroller-still-in-the-box-for-$25 together (what a find! We still use it!).  Then...things started to happen....and at 6:44 that night we had our first boy.

The memory that everyone recalls is this one, though.  Although the parlor was ready, I was not.  I said there was no way those milk pumps would turn on for the first time while I was in the hospital.  I wasn't going to miss the monumental time in our lives.  So we waited another 3 days.

On the 29th we put the baby in the laundry basket and headed out to the barn.  The cows that had already freshened (calved) had been trucked back from my folk's place earlier that day.  My mom took pictures, my Dad, Rick, Dennis and I put the cows through the parlor.  Our equipment dealer was on hand to make sure all the equipment ran smoothly.

At that moment we defeated all the nay-sayers.  Through our whole start up process, our support system was the bank, our families, and our former bosses (from PA) who knew both Rick and I well enough to know that we would make it a "go".  At that moment everyone that looked us in the eyes and said "you'll never make it" or "grazing doesn't work" was proved wrong.  Although it was the first milking, it was the hardest one to get to.  It was the one that gave us (like I've always said) " a foot in the door and a check in the mailbox".

Here are some pictures from that day:



Dad, Rick & Dennis move the cows to the holding pen.  Now, this area has a concrete lane leading up to the holding pen.




Dad helps attach the milking units.  For safety measures, we have since added a second bar behind the cow's legs.




In the beginning we used 5 gallon pails to bucket the grain into the trough.   After the morning milking each day we would "fill trough".  We filled it to the top, and the cows ate all they could (like a buffet) while they were being milked.  You had to be sure to milk fast enough so there was enough grain for the next milking.   With a collaboration of used (blessings from Dave Forgey) and new equipment we were able to install an automated grains system in 2007.




Our milking equipment dealer took this picture of us on this special day.  He took many, many pictures of the barn during building and construction, and we are very grateful to have those pictures.

 -Terri