Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Had a dentist appt for routine cleaning, then came back, got a bucket of grain and went by the pasture. All came down, the bwf cow last, but she did come. I have to take the samples up to the local business where UPS picks up daily late in the day, and will take a sq bale of hay up to them,. Grass is getting short, their teeth are shorter and they aren't going to get what they need. Especially her, as she is thinner than the rest. So, for the next couple of days, I will feed 2 buckets of grain so she gets a good share, and some hay, and by this weekend should be able to get them moved out. Then we have to go to the other pasture with the 10 c/cf pairs and get them moved. Then, get the cows with new calves at the barn, tagged and worked through the chute and out to the winter pasture with the others and a bull in there so they start getting bred back.

It is rainy, showers/sprinkles, but warmer than I expected. Supposed to get colder and possible snow flurries or even a light 1-2" accumulation. Luckily it is not supposed to stay around with temps getting back into the 40's + plus. Pretty dreary out there though.

 

[Baymule]

I’m glad the cow finally decided to come in the pen for something to eat. That’s a victory. It seems farming is a series of victories. Loading them all up will be a bigger victory.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Miss @farmerjan,

I haven't been on the forum since Sunday so just caught up. I'm glad that you got the cow to come into the pen. And I am sorry that things didn't work out for your son, but it is probably good that it didn't, as it sounds like she wasn't sure. I really hope you can get your car repaired before your surgery so that you will have something to drive once you get home. You work so hard, even through the pain you deal with, and it is time something finally worked out for you.

I stumbled across this YouTube video about family owned dairy farms and thought of you as I watched it:

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[farmerjan]

@Senile_Texas_Aggie . Thanks for the well wishes. We try to believe that it will get better. The car is being worked on, and my son has talked to the company we got the engine(s) from and have worked out a solution..... we hope. Taking parts off the first engine that had the bad heads, to put on the second one that had the hole in the oil pan; hoping that we will wind up with one good one. The warranty will be good, and we are supposed to get paid back for all the costs/labor/ fluids/parts that we have had to put into it. I sure hope it all goes as has been stated. I understand that Jason has gotten it in enough to start it and it sounds good.... still has more to do, but at least there doesn't seem to be any weird things so far. Of course my son can't do anything to help being on crutches.

I hope everyone on here, and indeed thousands of people that watch You tube...... see this video. It is so EXACT to what is happening. I shed a few tears because I see it every day here. NY state has the added burden of the weather...... all the snow, a shorter growing season, and the taxes in NY state are a real b$#@h...... There are a couple of farmers right in this area that came from upstate NY because of the better weather conditions here, and the much more friendly tax structure.

The guy who left the shoe industry and built the new facility, with all the robotic milkers and feeders, had money to put into it from somewhere else. 250,000 per robotic milker, a feeding system with the robots and such can cost millions. I have one farm that did just that and he has nearly 6 million in debt. The farm was basically debt free except for normal yearly operating expenses; but every year they were making less and less so thought that by going fully "automatic, and milking more cows", they could make up for it by spreading the costs over a bigger base. I don't know if they are going to be able to survive.
That is what many "new farmers" have done, taken money from somewhere else and put it into farming. But there are many of them that have also gone out in the past several years. What they said was so right. Getting 14.50 per 100 lbs of milk when it is costing 17.00 to make it is just a losing proposition. The lows always last longer than the ups, so you never get caught up. And it is very true. Dairy farmers are getting the same as they were getting in the 80's, and costs are 4 x times what they were. We can only tighten our belts so far. We are losing our genetic diversity, we are losing things like longevity in cattle. The average dairy cow lasts less than 2 lactations (2 milking years) on most farms nowadays. The concrete and "push" to make more and more milk per lactation, takes it's toll on cows. They get feet and leg problems.... like me..... they have more breeding problems...... they are pushed hard to stay at the very top "edge" all the time, and it just takes it all out of the cows. There is no "allowance" for things like stretched out breeding times, longer dry periods because they are not calving every year (12 months), a bout with mastitis, or a problem with digestion that throws off their whole system and therefore their production...... With the surplus of cows and available ready to calve heifers, and historically low prices for them because of the surplus, you just ship the cow and get another one to replace her.

I don't know the answer. But the small farmer is losing out, and then the support industries lose out, then the smaller towns lose out, and the communities just dry up and blow away like in the great depression. All the small hobby farmers, like most on here, have other income that helps to float their farming industry....... and are retired, and when they want to quit, will just quit. Who is going to take the place and fill the shoes..... and the knowledge, that is being lost? And is everyone so ready to just let us be fed by foreign entities that can then one day "grab us by the balls" and say, okay, no more food til you do what we want you to do? It really is coming to that and so many cannot see the forest for the trees.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Miss @farmerjan,

I haven't been on the forum since Sunday so just caught up. I'm glad that you got the cow to come into the pen. And I am sorry that things didn't work out for your son, but it is probably good that it didn't, as it sounds like she wasn't sure. I really hope you can get your car repaired before your surgery so that you will have something to drive once you get home. You work so hard, even through the pain you deal with, and it is time something finally worked out for you.

I stumbled across this YouTube video about family owned dairy farms and thought of you as I watched it:

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Mini Horses]

I watched. Sadly it is so true. Same with food farmers and big industry. While most of us on here do a few sales of "something" to help offset the actual costs, rather than their living income, it's always nice to make a profit. LOL Food quality is a bigger game for most. I mean, the food we grow is so far superior to most in the store.

On the drive home from work yesterday--where I had been stocking sections of meds, vitamin & supplements -- I was thinking about those and the expansion I have seen over the last few years into more "natural" supplements, etc. Plus, the many articles I read about health in various countries. Finally they are putting things in perspective as to why some countries have little to no issues with things like Alzheimer, ADHD, autism, cancer, diabetes, heart problems, liver & kidney failure, asthma, obesity, etc. It most often goes back to food, in some way. Type, quantity, ratio, spices, etc. Mostly, these things have been know for years but, it has been swept under the rug -- big Pharm? Maybe the Melleniums have pushed this??

The USA is surely on a downslide with the health of this nation's people. Having "more" is not always best.

 

[Mike CHS]

I'm not sure how a small farmer can make it if they don't have other income. Our animals pay for themselves with some profit but we couldn't live on what they bring in. They pay for themselves and I don't spend half my time cutting grass so it's a win for us but there again we don't depend on our animals for a living.

 

[Mini Horses]

Small farmers can rarely "make a living". Often, as in the video, the processors won't buy as it isn't "enough" for them to stop in.

If an area where they can market their own to others, maybe a poor $ living but, you sure can eat well! LOL Times are so tough.

 

[Bruce]

Makes me think about the farm I get my whole non homogenized milk from (only 1/2 gallon a week and from the local family owned grocery store). I don't know how many cows they have but it can't be a big operation based on their location. I doubt there are any dairies in the state that come even close to the size of the huge ones in the midwest.

Dairies closing here as well, just lost one this fall that I drive by frequently. They had their cows out on pasture every day, loved seeing the cows out in the field. Don't know who bought the farm land or if they will do something agricultural or it will sadly be turned into yet more housing. There is another dairy on the same road that has all the cows in the barn 24x7.

I wonder if Senator Gillibrand will actually do something about the way milk is priced since she seemed so concerned about the state of the dairy industry in New York.

 

[farmerjan]

The Senator in NY cannot "do anything" about the price of milk except to push for the FEDERAL GOV'T to change the way that milk is priced. It is a complicated process, but all the milk prices are based on the Federal Milk Marketing orders. Several "areas" , to split the country into sections.... but it is federal that all the "milk buying" companies follow.

Unless and until the people in this country get hungry, there will be little done to change it because the milk companies have the farmers in a death grip. What I can't understand is that they are cutting their own throats; in the east at least; except that they can just get milk from the BIG farms, so why bother with the little farms.

You saw where that young man lost his milk market for 9 months and dumped his milk down the drain, before finding another company/processor to buy it. Do you realize that with say 75 cows, he was dumping around 4,000 lbs of milk a DAY....down the drain. That is somewhere in the neighborhood of 475 GALLONS a day, at least. 6 gallons per cow per day. That's not a big amount either. Most of my farmers are averaging 65-70 lbs per cow per day.....or about 8 + gallons a day Those cows didn't stop eating..... By then he was behind the 8 ball, and the handwriting was on the wall. Milking cows is a thankless job and you have to love it to do it as the principle worker. Or you get big and hire the milking done.