April 26, 2004

A calf arrives early

My farmer discussion group was scheduled to meet today. Our discussion group is a group of seven farmers that meet once a month to discuss issues or concerns related to our farms. We take turns hosting the meeting. The host presents the issues for discussion first and then anyone with a topic for discussion can present it to the group. The best part of the meeting is, of course, the potluck lunch we share during the meeting. This idea of discussion groups comes from New Zealand, where graziers started meeting to discuss issues affecting their farms.

I didn't get to attend the meeting because I had a turn to boil in the sap we gathered yesterday. Being the last boiling of the season, the grade of syrup was fairly dark, but the flavor was still okay. This dark syrup is excellent for cooking or for making salad dressings or barbacue sauces. I made about 10 gallons and this brought the season total to 138 gallons, an excellent year for us. I shut down the sugar rig just before three o'clock, just in time to get a cup of coffee and head to the barn for the afternoon milking.

While my Mom was bringing the cows into the holding area for milking, she found a cow that had calved out in the freestall area. This cow wasn't due for 4 or 5 days and hadn't shown any signs of getting ready to calve when we looked at her this morning. The calf, a little heifer, was a little dirty and cold, but we brought her and her mom into a pen and cleaned and dried her off. As soon as we had milked the new mom we brought a bottle of warm colostrum milk in to the new calf. We try to feed a couple of quarts of colostrum to a new calf as soon as we can. The colostrum supplies the newborn calf with antibodies to fight any bacteria or virus that may be present in the barn at that time. We also spray the navel with a 7 percent iodine solution to prevent an infection from entering at that point. We need to get our new babies off to a strong, healthy start so that, in 2 years, that little heifer will be having her first calf and will start producing milk to be used to make Stonyfield Farm yogurt.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Posted by Blogger Chris at April 26, 2004 09:58 AM
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