A Summer Recap

While vacation is well within our past, Summer is almost behind us as well.  The farm has ticked along as it should with a few hiccups here and there. 

We went into calving season with Carhartts on until April 15th (the last snow) but successfully calved out 150 cows pretty quickly.  We are currently milking 146.

A goal of mine this year was to take first cutting off the pasture first in May, in order to gain a higher quality feed and quicker regrowth on the pasture. We pulled this off and I am happy with the results!  We also have an excellent crop of alfalfa coming up, in which we harvested a cover crop of oatlage off of.  Given it was the third time we seeded that piece of ground, we are exceptionally grateful to see it flourish.

Breeding season is coming to an end and we were once again blessed to have access to some breeding bulls of the highest quality for rotational grazing.  I am excited to add the A2 genetics into our herd over the long haul, possibly opening up an alternative market for our milk.

We have had a shortage of employees this year and are grateful for friends, both old and new, who have helped us along while we hire new team members.  Thanks, friends!

The dairy industry as a whole is still challenging, but we see some light on the horizon.  We continue to strive to be efficient and manage our cash flow as best as we can. We simplify as much as we can in all areas of our lives and we find that brings us additional peace as well. While it seems to be one challenge after another, we have made it through every tough day so far. Thanks be to God!

We've spent the last few weeks finishing up hay.  We will have one more cutting of oats to harvest yet, along with hauling out the compost barn in preparation for winter.

We had the hoof trimmer out for about 50 cows.

We remembered to cut "the hill" this cutting....an ongoing joke. Here, Dad takes over in the tractor while I go home to swap out kids so they get equal tractor time :).

Just like old times! Except the cab was a bit more crowded than I remember! Mowed a few rounds of sorghum with Dad while we set up the discbine for the crop.

We ran into a few rocks. Fortunately Rick had the parts we needed in the shop. It's bittersweet to see his handwriting on some things, sometimes it takes my breath away. But on this day I said out loud "thank you Rick!" He had all but one nut and a special bolt that we needed to make the repairs. 

You save old knives for Sorghum Sudangrass. Just remember that!

The neighbor had an  awesome crop, though. I only had to change out one knife in this field. I'm excited to see what their yield is.

Funny how towards the end of the season, when a sensor goes bad, you are more willing to run the wrapper manually then stop and take the time to fix it. I should write this needed repair down before next year....

Ha! I got this load all the way home without losing a bale. Lets just say the other people who have hauled for me this summer have not been so successful! A little farm banter helps us enjoy our work a little bit more.

As far as a little inspiration for the day, I would like to remind you that if you don't build your own dream, someone will hire you to build theirs. You will never always be motivated, so you must learn to be disciplined. We're learning a lot around here!

The Trip by the Numbers.

As promised in my previous post, I am going to share with you a few details from our trip. Remember friends, a trip is what you take with kids in tow, a vacation is what you reap in......retirement.

I don't share these things to boast that we got a break from home, but hopefully to help others be able to get a break as well.

This year the kids and I went back to Flint, Texas. We spent one week here after Rick left and in that fog completely missed everything that East Texas has to offer. This time around we were able to enjoy the educational opportunities, the history of the area, and the locals at the church we attended and the resort.

Being just the kids and I, none of which can drive yet, I opted for the two day trip down and back, and we spent about two weeks at the villages.  You can learn more about how I find these arrangements in a previous post:You CAN afford a vacation!

One of the reasons I enjoy homeschooling is that we can go on our schedule. It is rewarding to read and study our country's history, then go see the sites in person.

While we had a great time and some growth as a family, it wasn't as relaxing as some envision. The issues with the dairy industry followed us there, along with odds and ends- like the car I had at the mechanics and a few farm issues.  As you picture us basking in the sun, edit that to keeping 5 kids busy during endless days of rain and a lot of cooking, cleaning, laundry and lunch packing.

The kids enjoyed themselves and all the activities that the resort has to offer. We did a lot of hiking and walking of the grounds, card playing and HGTV watching.I can honestly say I have played enough mini golf to last me a few years now. Maybe more.

I tried to do this trip as frugal as I could. I paid for the condo last year. We were given a gift card for eating out at Christmas, which we used for travel down and back, and one time of eating out per week. I packed lunches for the other days if we were not at the condo over lunchtime. The kids paid for their own activities, and we found many free attractions.  Two of my girlfriends gave me a gift card for coffee (thank you!), and also helped with snacks.  Fuel costs could have been better with anything but a F350 passenger van, however there are not many more vehicles that can fit all 6 of us AND our stuff, that would get better than our average of 13.8 mpg.

Below is a snapshot of our costs. Actual out of pocket costs for this trip were about $2,100.00., with most of the lodging paid for in advance. At the end of the day what I gathered from this spreadsheet is that I need to save about $25/person/day of "vacation" that we wish to take.

On the last day there was sun and humidity before the next set of storms rolled in. I was able to sit on the porch with a cup of coffee and watch the kids play in our mostly deserted unit parking lot. The kids played in the pool, we packed most everything up, ate at a place called The Purple Pig, and talked of what they missed from home. I sat on the back deck for the first time that last night.

I can see why other #solomoms wouldn't do these things. It's exhausting. It's hard to watch everyone. In fact, we had to pull #5 out from under water, not once, but twice. He's fine. But there was no swimming on the way home. That was enough of that!

If there was a year to not spend money on a trip, it is this one. But just like most of you get two days per week away from your workplace, we need that time away as well. It's the price of sanity. It's also my effort to do everything that I can to give these kids somewhat of a normal life.  To give them exposure to different cultures, different areas of the US, to stand on ground that was once a POW camp and see what big city life entails. They are still shortchanged in a few areas, but they will not be able to honestly say that I didn't give it my best.

A few snapshots of our trip.....

The "Why" of Seasonal Calving...Even Now

Today we "dried up the cows".

Kid #3 got up bright and early at 4am to help this year! She was in charge of grouping the treatment and teat sealant.

The whole team helped out.  We missed you Felicia and Sam!

At dry off, we milk on one side of the parlor, then prepare each cow for her time spent not milking, while she finalizes growing that calf that we look forward to in the Spring.

Per tradition, we enjoy breakfast together after wards.

Being a "seasonal" producer simply means that our cow's reproduction cycles are all on the same schedule. Instead of calving the same number of cows each month, year around, we have them all on the same schedule, as close together as feasible. In April (most of them) will have their calf.  In July, we will put the bulls in for "breeding season".  Late January or mid February the cows will naturally decrease in milk production, so we "dry them off".  We take 6-8 weeks for parlor maintenance and calving prep, then we do it all over again.

Why you ask?

1.  On a pasture based system, it is common sense to have your cow's peak production time (shortly after calving) line up with the pasture's peak production. Peak grass for peak production.

2.  On a pasture based system, the most expensive time to feed a cow is in the winter.  If you have cows entering into their peak production phase during winter, you also need to meet her needs with high quality feed.  It is less expensive to spend 6-8 weeks providing only dry cow quality hay, and a mineral supplement, instead of milk cow quality hay and grain.

3.  We can manage the herd as one group, all year long.  The only time this differs is during April, May, and the first part of June, when we keep the dry cows separate from the milk cows.

4.  We are not raising calves over the winter.

5.  We get a break from milking and can focus on other aspects of the farm.

But...
What about the milk checks?

Its no secret the status of the dairy industry right now.  If you're a farmer, every other post in your social media news feed is about the price, the problem, the politics, and the people of dairy.

We operate more like a cash crop producer, except we receive income over a longer period of time throughout the year. We have to prepare ahead of time for when the checks don't come.  In normal years, we are able to put enough into our savings account to cover the costs when we are "dry".

It needs to be noted that our expenses are considerably less during this time. We are not running vacuum pumps, tank compressors, lights, etc.  We are not buying cow grain, parlor supplies....

Starting last June, after my trip from New Zealand, we began a very strategic plan of attack for how we were going to deal with the STILL low prices, in preparation for this year.

1.  We got around to selling things we had replaced. Two tractors and a PTO generator.

2.  When it quit raining in July, we supplemented the cows with hay in the pasture, so we wouldn't be spending fuel and time hauling manure from the barn.

3.  We hauled out the pit immediately following the cows.  This way, we had about 20 days of regrowth when we rotated back around, helping reduce how much extra hay we had to feed.

4.  We patched every little hole in the feed trough to reduce grain waste in the parlor.

5.  When we got rain and warm weather in October, and the pasture started to come back, we ran a poly wire off of the home farm onto the rental farm, and took the milk cows down there to graze. They are able to eat more tonnage of forage than we can harvest by machine. And all it cost us was the time spent "babysitting the cows".

6.  We checked the cows for pregnancy in early November instead of the next January. We sold our 8 open cows as soon as we could, so they didn't eat expensive feed and take up barn space when we knew they were not going to have a calf.

7.  We very carefully ordered feed and supplies so we would run the grain bins completely out right before we dried the cows off.  We also ran out of the winter teat dip one milking prior!

8.  We milked into February instead of drying off on January 31st, like the past two seasons.  This will give us a (very small) check in March.

9.  We did not replace or hire anyone additional to fill in for the employees that went back to school or on leave, or quit.  We each just picked up a few more afternoon milkings per week.

10.  We are continuing to look into niche markets, such as expanding the grass fed beef.

None of these are the "magic bullet".  But I do think it helps to be as proactive as we possibly can, and keep an open mind.  Look at things differently.  I have, and will, invest personal money into the business this year if needed, but I hope that later this year things turn around, and in the long run, pay myself back.  I do believe farming is a business and needs to be operated that way.

So now that the cows are dry......

One of our list of tasks to be completed.

The kids and I will take a break away from the farm at some point.  Another aspect of the industry right now is the stress level.  Yes, the co-ops are sending out suicide prevention letters with the milk checks.  That is not a rumor.  One of the downfalls of living where you work is never really being completely "off". Unless you're at a meeting. Does that count as having a day "off"? This break helps us rejuvenate, renew, relax and refocus.  The farm is only as healthy as I am.  And if you know anything about our story you know how important it is that I stay healthy.  A side note-other ways I manage this aspect are taking supplements of D3, Biotin, Turmeric, Emergen C, and a multi-vitamin. I try to exercise when I can, although the past few months have been challenging. I talk to trusted friends and they help me hammer out ideas. And they do a lot of listening!

How can we afford to take a break away from the farm at this point?  How can we not?

Next, I will share with you how we managed to get away. Stay warm, friends.