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!