The Farmer In Concert

Pupils strained against the darkness as all eyes fixated on the door. Nervous hooves crunching straw made the only sound. Their patience was finally rewarded with the sudden opening of the door and the brilliance of the lights flashing down on them.  The calf barn erupted with moos for milk!

The Farmer smiled and gave a big thumbs up to the rows of calves. Their chanting continued as he prepared his instruments of powdered milk, water, grain, and milk buckets. The powder splashing the bottom of the bucket began his song. Warm water spraying and mixing with the milk was an opening solo for the hungry calves. He hung two buckets up for the calves in the first row and they were at once speechless and began drinking.

The Farmer worked in the rhythm of the song with the grain in his scoop rattling into each trough like maracas punctuating the beat. Verse after verse it continued until every calf had been fed. He finished to a standing ovation.

The Farmer performs twice daily and 365 days a year exclusively in the calf barn.

Feed That Calf: The New Game Show

Good morning and welcome to Feed That Calf, America's new favorite game show where the contestants have to feed a new calf. I'm your host, Handsome Dairy Dave. Let's go meet our three new calves for today's show.

Are they not just adorable? These three holstein bulls are just a few days old. I have been assured by my producer that these calves have only nursed their mothers and they are guaranteed to have gotten the full amount of colostrum they needed on day one.

Our contestant for today is Farmer Bright. Tell us a little about yourself and what your game plan is this morning.

Well, I grew up on a dairy farm and have fed calves my whole life. I hope to go out there and do my best to get them off to a great start.

Farmer Bright, I've noticed your boots are a little dirty this morning.

Yes, that's because your water hose was frozen up outside the studio calf barn.

Okay, moving right along.  Farmer Bright have you chosen which calf you intend to feed for the competition this morning?

Yes, I'll feed the one on the left.

Great! Let's begin!

Farmer Bright has mixed up a bucket of warm water and milk powder. From the way he handles a bucket I can tell he wasn't lying when he mentioned he had done this before. Now he's approaching the first calf. Will he go the traditional route of "going to the calf" or will he make a power move of "hanging the bucket" and letting the calf come to him. Ladies and gentlemen, he has hung the bucket! A daring move, but it just might pay off. The calf is coming toward the bucket and is actually licking it. Farmer Bright is slowly moving in, taking the calf by the mouth and squeezing it once, twice, three times on the bucket. The calf is sucking on his own.

Farmer Bright has done it! We have a winner! Today's prize is the knowledge of knowing this calf has had a healthy breakfast! We'll see you again next time on Feed That Calf!

Are There Snow Days on Dairy Farms?

There's just one reason that my kids perk up and want to actually watch the news.  It is when they hear the magic word: snow. Or as they say in White Christmas:



So when the news of possible snow arriving tonight was mentioned they have been very excited about the chance of missing school. I'm sure they'll use their guaranteed method of wearing their pajamas inside out to make sure they get some of the white stuff on the ground.

But what about dear old dad?  No, there's no snow days for dairy farmers.  The cows have to be fed and milked just like any other day.  Bad weather of any kind just makes our chores a little harder.  We usually have to cut back on any extra things we might want to do in order for us to have time to make sure the cows and calves have plenty of water and feed.  We have a generator in case the power goes out so we can still milk the cows twice a day and feed.

Here's a video from a few years ago where we were out feeding a round bale of hay to our pregnant cows after a small snow.

From Moo to You: Baby Calves

We take much care in raising our calves.  By getting the calves off to a good start we make sure that we will have a good herd of cows in the future.  The best cows always begin life as healthy calves.

When they are born we let the calf nurse the cow for a few days.  Sometimes we have to help the calf find the cow's udder to nurse.  Occasionally the calf will refuse or the cow will not stand still.  When this happens we will milk the cow and feed the calf her milk with a bucket or bottle.  It is extremely important for the calf to get the first milk the cow gives which is called colostrum.  It not only nourishes the calf, but it also provides antibodies to make their immune system strong.

The calves are then moved to the calf barn where we try to provide a healthy environment.  Each calf has a stall to themselves that we keep bedded with straw.  This will help cut down on spreading sickness.  They have access to fresh water and good, green hay.

Twice daily we feed the calves milk and an easy to digest grain mix.  The milk comes as a powder that we mix with warm water.  When the calves are at least a month old we will begin the weaning process by feeding them milk only once a day.  After doing this for about a week we will move them out to another barn where they will have a much larger pen and be in a group of around five calves.



Keeping a good eye on baby calves and making sure they eat well and don't get sick is very important.  When calves are not well taken care of early in their life they can easily fail to reach their potential.  The way we raise calves is not perfect and may not be exactly like other farms.  It does, however, work well for us. Calves are the future of every farm.