Our cows eat other plants besides grass for a reason.

I have been getting a lot of questions on what and how we feed our cows. Are they 100% grass-fed? Yes, they are on grass, when the grass is available. No, they are not 100% grass-fed.

Insurance Quest

I’m in the infancy stage of trying to find an insurance company that will (1) insure the farm, and (2) cover liability of a herd share. Yes, that means people can own their own cows and drink their own milk, fresh unprocessed whole milk, a.k.a. FUWM.

Even the honeybees are confused!

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It’s Wednesday, January 11, 2012. The weather is sunny and 50+ degrees out. This is not normal weather for this time of year, because even the honeybees are out. The cows were on pasture today as well just for some … Continue reading →

First day of the winter farmer’s market

This was the first day of the winter farmer’s market. Today was a beautiful day, sunny and 40. This is not the normal weather for Michigan in January (not complaining). Fulton Street Farmer’s Market is under construction and not in it’s usual location. We are in the parking lot of the Salvation Army on the southeast corner of Fulton and Fuller. The Salvation Army was kind enough to let us vendors use their lot and for that I’m grateful. My thanks goes out to them. Winter market is every Saturday from 10am to 1pm until April 28, 2012. I’m sure the weather will change so for your convenience you may call or email in orders for quick pickup. That way you are in and out if the weather is bad. Thank you for supporting your local Farmer’s wife! 🙂

3 words that can make a dairy farmer JUMP!

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Life on a farm is never boring but I’m glad yesterday is over. Around 11am yesterday, my husband came in from finishing morning chores. I was standing in the kitchen and happened to look out the front window of the house. I was surprised to see…COWS! Those three little words that make a farmer JUMP are…”COWS ARE OUT!” We couldn’t get out of the house fast enough. We ran for our boots and coats. Yes, it’s cold in Michigan this time of year. The dog and I went out one door to cut them off and my hubby went out the other door to start the snowmobile. The whole milking herd was out of the barn and heading to the neighbors yards and fields. We did round them all up and put them back on pasture. We had to fix the gate they opened. Milk production went down that night. But the cows seemed to be perfectly happy with themselves. Those are three little words I don’t need to say or hear again for another year at least!

“Special” Days don’t matter when you’re a Farmer!

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January 2nd is my husbands birthday, or Today! However, my husband is a farmer. He still has to do chores, cows get milked. Cows, pigs and calves all have to be fed. Today we went up to the other farm to feed the young stock, and this is what we found. A down heifer, she is hard to see in the picture because she was covered in manure and snow. This is how we cared for our down animal. First thing my husband did was check for injury and see if she could stand on her own. She was not injured but was not able to get up on her own. She was wet and shivering, the on set of hypothermia. Our job was to get her inside the barn, dry and warm her. We don’t drag animals. We carry animals. We put the bucket on the tractor and worked on safely getting her into the bucket. This was a dirty challenge, we had to put a halter rope on her head and tie her head to her back leg. This sounds painful I know but its so that she can’t hurt her self when she’s being moved. We then scooped her up into the bucket. The second picture is of her tied and being moved to the barn. This went very well. She was untied by me and gently set down in a pen in the barn. The third picture is of her moving around getting comfy. I was waiting for my husband to carrying in a big bale of straw. I dried her off the best I could, that was a stinky job. We then buried her in straw. Straw is one of the best insulators you can find on the farm. The forth picture is of her buried in straw with water and food in front of her. She is now warm, dry and safe in the barn recovering from her ordeal. Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband farmer. It’s his special day, but it doesn’t matter what the day is when it comes to the farm. He’s a farmer, his farm and animals come first. This applies to all holidays and special days, no matter what!

Knit Wit

This is one of my many projects I have in the works for someone else. It’s a cotton ski hat. Yes, black cotton! When I’m at the farmer’s market I knit or crochet and receive different request from individuals for particular items! Like a black cotton ski hat! I should start asking, why?

An old idea. a new year!

I have played around with the idea of offering herd shares for Fresh Unprocessed Whole Milk a.k.a. Raw Milk or as I like to call it FUWM. It’s very scary to step into the unknown and ask others to support you as a farmer. As it now stands our income comes from a co-op. They market our milk for us. We are at the mercy of the commodity market. What someone pays in the stores for a gallon of milk is not what the farmer gets paid. Shocking I know, but true. It’s time for a change!