Our visit to a dairy farm

[Indiana Karen]

Yesterday my Mom, Sister and I went to visit a dairy farm.  It's located 75 miles south of Chicago.  This is two and a half hours from my home.  We saw some beautiful countryside too.

There are ten dairys, each having 3,000 cows that are milked 72 at a time, three times a day, on a rotating carousel.  They have a bus tour that takes you through the cow barns.  The cows load and unload the carousel unassisted.  Also a 3D/4D theater, a cheese factory, ice cream factory and an amazing birthing barn.  They have up to 100 calves born each day.  We were lucky to see two born at the same time.  If all this sounds familiar, you might have seen it on the TV show Dirty Jobs.  

Mom will be 90 years old on June 21.  She loved this place.  Just wanted to share a few pictures.  

Karen

[Julles]

Cool, Karen.

Hmmm... I wonder if all commercial dairy farms are that clean and spacious. 

[Kittyzee]

Great pics Karen!  I saw that operation on I think 'Heartland' a few months ago.  They dairy on a grand scale.  I love it when baby calves are born and I LOVE HOLSTEINS!!!!  Thanks for the pics!   

[EagleEye]

HOLY COW!
That's like a dairy factory. Around here there are family farms, along with a few bigger operations.

Steve

[HOWELL]

The last pic is so cool...I love it....
Thanks for the pics..

[Indiana Karen]

I especially enjoyed this place because we used to raise holsteins.  Before we were married we started buying all the bull calves from the local dairys when they were one day old and bottle raised them.  I was a city girl (actually small town) and my Mom couldn't believe that every afternoon when I got off work at the bank I headed to hubby's parent's house to start mixing calf replacer.  We eventually got married and had them at our home.  I loved every minute of it. 
Every dairy I have been in was very clean, but around here you do see a lot of cows knee deep in mud.  These cows are better off in that respect, but.............they never see grass.    They stay in concrete barns with sand for bedding.  The waste is then put in big digesters and the methane is used to power the whole process.

[Kittyzee]

I love mixing milk replacer and feeding baby calves...   It was so funny when I went on a field trip with my granddaughter last year, we visited a farm that had baby calves.  The kids were putting their hands through the fence and the calves were sucking on them.  That poor teacher was chasing those kids around with anti-bacterial gel -- she was in a total tizzy.     She made them all go into the restrooms and wash their hands before they could eat:  not a bad idea really, but her reaction to those germy calves made me laugh....

Karen, what did you do with the calves--did you band them, raise them as steers and sell them as beef? 

[Indiana Karen]

yep, LuAnn that's exactly what we did.  One time we moved a bunch from in-laws to our place, thought we had good fences, turned them loose and the phone started ringing.............we had cows all over the county. 
That was fun times though, we had friends over last night and got to telling tells about when we had all those calves.....lots of problems too..........don't think we made any money either.  :'(  I had bought a new car when I was young, single and living at home, a 1974 Pontiac Firebird, was I ever proud of it.  Got married and had to park it in the cow lot, cow slobber all over it and a gravel road too.

[Kittyzee]

We live at the corner of two roads: one county, the other township.  The township road has only been paved for 10 years!  I hated hanging clothes on the line and having cars roar down that road and the dust drift over on my clothes during a dry spell!     I sound like Granny Clampett    

We've had a few cows loose over the countryside too Karen!  Had a Fed-Ex guy help me put one back in the pasture--he followed directions really well, didn't spook her, I opened the gate and she walked right in. 

You have to do it because you love doing it, because it's so hard to make money at it these days.  Unless you want to be in hock to the bank and be a 'super farmer', which we don't.  But it has been good to us and hubby just replaces equipment when we need to and we don't farm on a grand scale. 

We've caught kids parking by one of our cattle lots--could never figure out why they would park while the cattle are all lined up watching!   

[Esther]

I just called Pete in and said, "Let's go visit that place." He just kinda stood there and I said, "Really, let's do it." Now I just have to arrange it. Our 26th anniversary is the 21st of this month and the other day he asked me what I wanted to do for our anniversary. So he asked=====right??

We usually had around 30 milks cows and I too loved feeding the calves. We started out with a "sucker" pail until they were old enough to stick their noses in the milk and suck it in that way.

Did you guys ever wonder how we lived to be so old considering all the "germs" we must have ingested or absorbed?? I was always, and still am, barefoot. Rusty nails, dropping buckets on my feet, and getting stepped on by a cow were just some of the feet injuries. Mother would make me soak my foot in Epsom Salts and water so hot I swore it was cooking my flesh. Then she'd slap lard or Bag Balm on it with a bandage and try to make me wear shoes for a few days. Next thing she knew, I'd be coming in and forgot that I took my shoes off outside and meant to put them back on before going in and then I'd be in big trouble. I don't ever remember getting infection and wonder if any of us ever had tetnus shots then. The only time they took me to a doctor was when I'd get poison ivy so terrible and it just wouldn't go away. Finally I could feel bumps inside my mouth and then they took me to the doctor.

That brings up another thought. Do you guys get sick much? I mean like colds and flue type illnesses? Pete is never sick-------NEVER!! Between the germs he was innoculated with on the farm and in the plumbing business, I think he can't catch anything. Even when he cuts himself, on the job, he'd wash it off if he was lucky enough to have a water source, dry it, and rip off a piece of duck tape to put on the cut and take it off 3-4 days later all ragged and filthy and the cut would be fine. I'm not sick much either. My problems are more joint related or blood pressure type. But I'm not sick. I might get a cold once in a while though.

WE had Holsteins too and in 1953, my dad and grandpa had the first "milking parlor" with a milk house and holding tank installed in lower Michigan. The open housing pole barn and holding area were right next to the milk house and parlor. I guess it was pretty innovative then because I remember a group coming to see it from the Ag department of Michigan State U. There were 4 stall type things with a lower area that we stood in so we were on a level that made it easy to put on the milker.

It was my job to give each cow their serving of grain, and wash their udders prior to the milking machine being attached. Oh I remember the young heifers who had just "freshened" and they would be so scared and touchy/kicky and hard to direct into the stalls and then have to wash those swollen body parts with hot water. I had to really watch it to keep from getting kicked in the head.

The cows would all be in the "holding pen" and we would open the door to call them in and there was a particular order we'd call them. Some of the older ones knew when they were to come and we didn't have to even call to them. Most learned their names quickly and would push their way through the herd when it was their turn.

Then when they were done, it was my job to sprinkle some white powder stuff all over, must have been some chemical/soap stuff and then scrub and hose down the walls and floors so they were clean. That was done twice a day.

Milking started around 5 in the morning and again at 3 or so in the afternoon. I didn't have to help in the morning and not always at night as there were always pigs, calves and chickens to take care of too. So a lot of the time the men and my older uncles did the milking because I wasn't strong enough to carry the full buckets of milk up the angled floor and lift them to dump them in the tank. But when it was summer and the men were needed in the fields, they had to put up with me helping with milking.

On one hand I miss that life, but on the other, I'm kinda glad we didn't farm after we were married.

What was the name of that dairy? Do they have a website?

[Indiana Karen]

WooHoo Esther.............you're going to the dairy! 
You will love it.  When you walk in the door they have a row of these huge plastic/fiberglass holsteins.....they are everywhere, the movie theater, the flower beds, etc.  Maybe you can bring one home to put by your swimming pool.   
There is a restaurant............we had grilled cheese sandwiches and ice cream!

Hey LuAnn, you're only a state away also!
It's Fair Oaks Farm:  http://fofarms.com/

I loved hearing your cow stories.  I was only in the "cow business" for a very short time......two or three years, and our farm ground has been rented out for years now.  I can't imagine being so tied down with dairy cows or any farm animals for that matter.  It's certainly not a 9 to 5 job.   Farming has become big business like you said LuAnn, super farmers!  And the equipment has gotten so big.  We have a hard time even finding anyone that wants to mess with planting our little fields.

One time we had goats and the power company truck had been working here.  They left then came back in about ten minutes............the goat had climbed into the back of their truck.  That same goat would climb into the UPS truck every time it got the chance.

[Indiana Karen]

Lots of things for kids to do to.........inside and out.

It was fascinating watching the cows load and unload the carousel.  They knew exactly what to do......cows are smart.

Another shot for Howell of the wind turbines.

[Kittyzee]

Karen that's funny about that goat!   

I love the look of wind turbines also:  and it's a very sore subject around here.  People have moved out here from the city and have told the farmers they don't want wind turbines in the area because of "blade flicker, ice drop, headaches, heart palpitations" it goes on and on.  There is a country club that these people live next to and most of them belong and it would interfere supposedly with their golf games:  you know that blade flicker might get in the way of a good shot!     I've always loved people telling me what I could do on my own property, don't you?  (I'm being sarcastic here). 

Esther, that would be a great trip to make!!  I love listening to other people's farm stories!!  DH just brought 14 new heifers from the stockyard Monday.  They are goofy and very friendly and when I ride my bike down the road they come running over to the fence to see me:  hacking and coughing cuz they've run so hard!   

[Esther]

LOL @ the goat. I bet those guys were REEEEEL surprised. Probably even a little scared..

I was probably 10 and our barn had those huge hand hewn beams. We/I used to walk them all the time, what 20' up maybe. It was how you could get from the straw mow to the hay mow without having to climb down. The new baby kittens were up there.  Well the big old green combine was sitting under a beam and somehow I fell on to the very top of the combine, wasn't hurt, just scared that my folks would kill me if they found out. I didn't tell them and because the top of the combine was so high and that was just kind of a roof over the part where the grain stalks were pulled up into the machine, I don't think they ever noticed it or if they did, they sure wondered how it could get dented way up there.

When my folks had their 50th anniversary at Maranatha Village in Florida, I had to do a little speech being I'm their only kid. I proceded to tell them of the terrible things I had done that they never found out. That was one. The other was when I got kept after school for talking too much (who me?) and managed to figure out a way to get to my friend's house and then went with her family to church that night and met my folks there to go home. I didn't lie to anybody but sure "left out" some stuff. When you are 15, you reason like that.

Pete's got some doozies of stories. Being a boy, and with boy cousins who lived in the other half of their huge farm house, they did some crazy boy stuff. Pete was in the barnyard one time and there was a young bull out there and he began pawing at the ground and snorting. Pete was afraid he didn't have time to get to the fence so picked up a rock (small one) and pitched it at the bull, smacking him right in the forehead. Pete turned and ran and as he was shinnying over the fence, looked back to see the bull hitting the ground,,,OUT COLD!!! Pete says he sat on the fence scared to death that he had killed the new bull. While he sat there sweating, for sure knowing his days were numbered, the bull picked up his head, kinda shook it, and stumbled to his feet/hooves. Unhuh, Pete never told his folks either.

Evidently somebody had an old wreck of a car with no doors sitting out behind a shed. It still ran though. So they took the car out in an open field where there was a tree. The tied a rope on the steering wheel and on the tree and got the car going round the tree so that each time the rope shortened up and the figured they'd jump out of the car and watch the car smash into the tree. I guess they must have done something to keep the gas peddle down a bit. Well wouldn't cha know it, the rope broke and the car took off across the field with the boys trying to catch up and get in. One fell and the car back wheel ran over his leg but the soil was soft enough it didn't break it.  The boys couldn't catch it and eventually it smashed through the barnyard fence and hit the barn. Luckily, no animals or kids were hurt in the making of this mess.

Another thing they did was take the doll heads off Pete's sister's dolls, fill them with gravel, tie a light rope on them and go in the barn at dusk and whip them at the starlings that roosted there. Naughty naughty!!.  Pete told this story at his 40th birthday party and Marcia shreiked, "So that's what happened to my doll heads!!"

City kids just don't have near the fun as farm kids.

[SueSTx]

My MIL and I used to raise bottle calves every summer.  One summer we had 60 on the bottle at the same time.  We'd have pens of 10 each and mix about 30 bottles, put them in the lil wagon with sideboards and go down the line and sling bottles over the fence.  Those were fun times, but I don't miss doing it now.  My kids still talk about never getting to sleep in because they had to go to the farm and feed calves.

The year my daughter was born, we got in a load of calves, there were 4 all white sickly looking ones.  MIL said if those calves survived we'd buy ourselves a microwave.  We lost several of the others, but all 4 of the white ones lived. 

DH decided last fall that he had had enough and quit farming.  He is slowly selling off all his old used up machinery.  We still have a garden out at the farm though.

[Esther]

Farming is a very hard life but nothing better for raising kids.

[Indiana Karen]

Great storys Esther.  Hate to one-up Pete's story but I got one to tell. 
FIL had a steer in the garden, he picked up a rock, smacked it in the head and killed it.  I remember the phone call when hubby called me at work to see if we had room in the freezer for meat!

Sue...........we used to mix up the calf replacer nine bottles at a time, cause thats how many fit in a plastic milk crate.  Then we pulled them in a wagon, two crates at a time, to the barn.  The calves were in pens, nine to a pen.  We hung them backwards on the fence, then flipped as fast as we could to get everyone a bottle!  Good memories, except for the memories of "the scours".   

Eventually, we bought a machine we called the automatic mama.  We ran water and electric to it and dumped in a bag of milk.  It had a little blender and heater in it and mixed one-half gallon at a time.  It was about the size of a washing machine and had a nipple on each side.  It saved a lot of time, but wasn't that great.  Some calves got too much milk and the weak ones not enough.

[SueSTx]

My FIL's job was to move the racks to the next pen while we were mixing the next bastch of milk.

the flies and scours were not fun.

We would use Probios (?) paste after a round of scours...now probiotics are all the rage for us humans.

[Esther]

My dad owned an oil company and one day Bob had to make a delivery out in the country. Along side a pasture, the truck he was driving popped a spark plug so of course the truck stopped. Bob got out to raise the hood and try to see what was wrong with the truck. The next thing he knew, he was being quietly observed by a herd of cattle that had come over to watch what was going on. When Bob got back to the office, he right away was asking my mom about the cows. He was a city boy and was amazed that the cattle showed interest in him like that.