The Bovine Bugle

Sap buckets ready for next year's sugaring season

Today we tackled the least desirable task of the sugaring season, now that it’s over. We washed the 422 sap buckets that we had put out one month ago. While Karen, Ben, Justin, and Noah picked up the buckets in the woods, I set up the bucket washer and rinsing tubs and ran the garden hose from the milkhouse to the sugarhouse to fill the washer and tubs. We started washing a little after 11 a.m.. with me washing, Karen rinsing, and Justin and Noah stacking the washed buckets on the hay wagon. Ben was picking up the last buckets by himself. We stopped for lunch around 1 p.m. with half of the buckets done. After lunch, we changed the wash and rinse waters and started again. To make the day even more enjoyable it started to rain, but we kept at it. We finished around 3:30, a little damp but happy to have the job done. It makes it even more satisfying working with your family to accomplish something.

While Ben helped my parents finish the afternoon chores, I did a few odd jobs around the barn and bedded the pole barn to make the heifers and steers a little more comfortable in the damp weather.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Personal deliveries of organic beef

We moved a lot of organic beef here at Howmars Farm today. I had two deliveries scheduled from phone orders and another new customer stopped at the farm after a recommendation from a family member.

The customer that stopped at the farm heard of us from his mother. While I filled his order he asked if we sold raw milk. I told him we did, being allowed to under state law. He actually came back later in the afternoon to buy 3 gallons of milk. The deliveries were to a natural food store in St. Albans (Vermont) and to a new customer in Colchester. Rail City Market in St. Albans has been retailing our ground beef for a couple of years now. I deliver beef to Rail City about every 3 weeks. Nancy Houdak, the owner of Rail City, also distributes our beef price lists to her customers. That is where the new customer from Colchester found out about our beef business. She actually called me last week to place an order. When she asked about picking up the beef I told her I would be in Colchester at my son Ben's track meet and that I could meet her at the local high school if that would help her out. She thought that it was really great that I would do that for her. It's nice to have that kind of relationship with your customer, to get the sense of appreciation they have when you go that extra step for them.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Maple syrup making comes to an end

The debate today was whether to gather the sap for the last time and pull the covers off the sap buckets today or wait until tomorrow. Because the weather forecast was rain and wind for tomorrow, my wife, Karen, and I started gathering after an early lunch. We did about half the sugarbush (the stand of sugar maple trees on our property) before I had to stop for the afternoon milking. I had been concerned that we would miss some of the sap run by not waiting to gather until tomorrow, but while gathering I could see that only 1 out of every 5 or 6 taps was still running. Karen's suggestion to gather today had been a good one.

We finished milking and finishing up about 6:30 p.m. Mom watched Justin and Noah, while Karen, Ben, and I finished gathering and pulling covers in the rest of the sugarbush. A little after 8 p.m., we dumped the last pail of sap of the 2004 sugar season. We gathered about 3 tubs of sap. We parked the tractor, pushed the wagon with the gathering tub under cover, picked up the boys from Mom's, and went in for supper.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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

TURNING SAP INTO 128 GALLONS OF SYRUP

The sap had run well Thursday afternoon and Friday and needed to be gathered today. We had a good crew on hand to pick up the sap, but we weren't sure who would do the boiling. Dad boiled for 8 hours yesterday and was feeling a little under the weather. We finished gathering around 2 p.m. I had to start the afternoon milking around 3 p.m., so my brother, Steve; my brother-in-law, Jeff; and my son, Ben, would do the sap boiling. Dad did come up to the sugarhouse to get them started, but after that they were on their own. They did a good job. Ben really enjoyed being in charge of drawing off the syrup and firing the arch. I think it had been at least 10 years since anyone besides Dad had done any of the boiling. We made almost 40 gallons of syrup the past two days. This brings the season total to 128 gallons thus far.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Another cow is born

We were greeted by a flat tire on one of our tractors this morning. After morning chores, my Dad, Howard, took it into St. Albans to be repaired and to do the farm banking. Dad is the bookkeeper here on the farm. I put the repaired tire back on the tractor after he got back and finished the chores I needed the tractor to do. Dad got busy and boiled in the sap we gathered yesterday.

Irma, a cow that was due yesterday, finally had her calf this evening. She had a girl, a heifer. She had her last calf last April, 12 months ago. This would be considered by most dairy farmers as the ideal calving interval. We try to have a cow calve every 12 months. After a cow has her calf, we wait at least 60 days before we try to get her pregnant again. We use artificial insemination to breed our cows and it usually takes 1or 2 tries to get the cow pregnant. A cow’s pregnancy lasts 9 months. We stop milking the cow 50 to 60 days before her due date. This is her "dry" period and gives her mammary system a rest.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Jonathan is a third-generation dairy farmer, whose family owns and runs Howmars certified organic dairy farm.

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

A return of the cold in May means a return of the sap

We decided to gather the sap today and clean out the buckets to get ready for what we hope will be some good syruping runs. The weather forecast is for it to turn colder Sunday afternoon with snowfall up to 6 inches. Because of the mild weather this past week, it will take some pretty cold nights to freeze up the trees to get them to run again. We had a good gathering crew today. Along with Karen, Ben, Justin, Noah, and me, there was my brother, Steve, and his daughters Emily and Maddy, and my sister, Betsy, her husband, Jeff, and their kids, Hanna and Zach. We gathered about 2 1/2 tubs. My dad made 9-10 gallons of syrup. This brings the season's total to about 90 gallons.

Sugarmakers often tell how many "barrels", not gallons, they have made for the season. Barrels used to store syrup hold 30 gallons of syrup. So we could say we have made 3 barrels of syrup so far this season.

The organic cooperative we belong to, CROPP Cooperative, is holding their annual meeting today in LaFarge, Wisconsin. CROPP is a farmer-owned cooperative with a board of directors made up of farmers elected from the general membership. Belonging to CROPP gives us, the farmer, a say in how our cooperative is run and a share in any profits the cooperative has made during the year. We have belonged to CROPP for three years now and we have enjoyed belonging to such a successful cooperative.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Winter returns, sap continues

Last week, winter came back. There were 3 to 4 inches of snow on the ground when I got up one morning! This white stuff will breathe a little more life into the sugaring season. The livestock didn't seem too upset by the snow, but Ben and Justin were disappointed that school wasn't closed. A neighboring school district was closed for the day. It continued snowing pretty good throughout the morning giving us another couple of inches. The snow on top of the mud made for pretty sloppy going while handling round bales and manure this morning.

I was glad that yesterday afternoon I put equipment undercover and bedded the older heifers pole barn before the storm hit. The pole barn gives shelter to the animals wintering outside. I built a bedded pack for the animals to stand and lie on. Instead of scraping out the bedding and manure everyday, like I do in the freestall barn the dairy herd stays in, I just keep adding hay and sawdust to provide a dry, clean area for the animals. By the time the animals stop using it in a few weeks, the bedded pack will be over three feet thick. This material is great for the composting operation.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

MAPLE SYRUP MAKING CONTINUES

Big sugaring day today. The snowstorm earlier in the week brought a change in the weather pattern and ideal conditions for a big sap run. My wife Karen, my brother Steve, and I made up the gathering crew. We had the morning chores done by 8:30, so we were ready to start gathering by 9:30, a nice early start. We gathered 6 1/2 tubs or almost 1,000 gallons of sap. The storage tank inside the sugarhouse holds 800 gallons. We had to put about 80 gallons of sap in a stock tank and the last tub we gathered we just left in the gathering tub. Once my dad starts boiling tomorrow, we will dump the extra sap into the storage tank when there is room. We finished gathering around 2 p.m. The weather for the rest of the week looks very promising and we will probably gather again on Saturday. More of the family will be around on the weekend so we will have lots of help. It's always funny, though, that once gathering is done, nobody wants to go to the barn and milk the cows for two hours. Ha, ha.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

ADMIRATION FOR A LOYAL CUSTOMER

While checking our voice mail this morning (yes, we do have voice mail out here in the backwoods of northern Vermont), we found we had a call last night from one of our beef customers whom we hadn't heard from in awhile. This customer has severe rheumatoid arthritis and is in a wheel chair. She credits a drastic change in her diet with helping her be alive today. A big part of her change included eating organically produced food. I called and got her order, and since I had some errands to run in St. Albans, I told her I would deliver her order of beef, chicken, and eggs. I probably spent 10 to 15 minutes chatting with her. It is very inspiring to see a person with such a challenging disability carry on with their life and accomplish so much. She recently published a children's book, traveled to local libraries to do readings and sign copies, and she visits local nursing homes to cheer up the residents. After spending a little time with her it quickly makes me stop complaining about my problems.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

RAIN MEANS PART OF THE DAY "OFF" ON THE FARM

Today promised to be a rainy day so Karen and I thought we would take a few hours and do some shopping. That's one of the advantages of running a dairy farm. You can take some time off in the middle of the day if you want to. Of course, I did work from 4:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. getting morning chores done before we left, and then from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. getting afternoon chores done once we got back. Daily chores on the farm consists of milking and feeding the cows, cleaning the milking equipment, feeding the calves and heifers, cleaning the free stall and heifer barns, and stacking the compost material. Once the grazing season starts, the amount of time spent feeding the animals and cleaning the barns is greatly reduced. We are as happy as the cows are when the grass starts growing!!

The grain truck came and delivered our bulk order while we were gone. Morrison Custom Feeds is in Barnet, VT, about 2 1/2 hours from here. We have grain delivered every two weeks. Depending on the time of year and how many cows we are milking, we will order from 7 to 10 tons of bulk grain per load. The grain is blown through pipes into bins located on the second floor of the barn. The grain is then augered down into mangers for the cows to eat while they are being milked. We also get poultry grain, calf grain, trace mineral salt, and kelp meal from Morrison's. During the winter we usually feed a ration with a 14% protein level. In the summer we drop that level down to 12% because the lush green grass is very high in protein. This saves us at least $20 per ton.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont