The Bovine Bugle

Preparing the maternity ward at the farm

Today I got a few things done in the barn in anticipation of being busy with sugaring the rest of the week. The freestalls were in need of bedding so I tackled that job first. We have 40 freestalls. The stalls have a tire and sand base with dry sawdust on top. I load our dump trailer with sawdust, haul it into the barn, and then shovel the sawdust into the individual stalls. We bed the stalls every 10-14 days. Our sawdust that we use, like most of the farmers in this area, comes out of Canada. This past winter there was a severe shortage of dry sawdust and we had to wait nearly two months for a bulk load. While we waited for that load we used bagged shavings and some straw. I think this summer we will purchase a load of baled straw to store above the heifer barn. Then if we have trouble getting sawdust next winter we will have an alternate bedding source to use. Plus, the straw would be great for our compost.

I also cleaned one of the pens in the "maternity" room. This is a room directly off the milking parlor that has two large pens. We use these pens for animals about to calve, hence the name "maternity" room. Since we have a cow with a due date of April 8th, I wanted to have a clean pen ready for her when she went into labor.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont