The Bovine Bugle

Planting season begins and demand for compost starts

The sunny, dry weather had given a jump start to spring around here. Everywhere you went farmers were actually starting some field work, and homeowners were out raking and picking up their lawns. Planting season for trees, shrubs, and perennial plants was starting, too.

We had a call for compost from one of last year's customers. He was planting fruit trees and asparagus and wanted compost to mix in with the soil while setting out the plants. We had a full windrow of finished compost under a compost cover all winter. I brought some up from the windrow with the manure spreader and piled near the road for easy loading. The compost looked great, and Jacob seemed happy with it. Two bucketloads filled the back of his pickup and he was off to start planting.

We're coming closer to composting all of our dairy manure. Seeing the transformation of the raw material of hay and manure into a rich brown/black compost is very satisfying. We love having this rich material to put back on our pastures, and to sell to people who want to feed their plants and gardens with something really good. I plug my nose when I drive by farms spreading liquid manure, but I love to smell sweet, earthy compost.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Bringing new meaning to the term "bucket brigade"

Today was a beautiful, sunny, warm day. A perfect day to have off from school, and a perfect day to wash sap buckets. After morning chores, we set up the bucket washer, rinsing tubs, and pulled the hay wagon in place to stack the washed buckets on to dry. We had an early lunch and then started in washing the buckets.

Karen, Ben, Justin, Noah, and I were the wash crew working on the buckets. Ben and I took turns at the bucket washer, holding the buckets on the large brush that was turned by the electric motor. After 10-15 seconds on the brush, the scrubbed bucket was rinsed twice and then stacked on the wagon to dry. Three and a half hours and two wash&rinse water changes later, all 427 buckets were washed and stacked on the wagon. Tomorrow, after the buckets are nice and dry, we will stack up the buckets and put them in the sugarhouse all ready for next season.

The boys were great, helping all the way through with this not-so-fun job. While we did the buckets, Mom was scrubbing the front pan and had that cleaned up before we were done. That leaves only the gathering tub to wash and clean-up of the sugaring operation should be about done.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Taking down the sap buckets

With the sap boiling done for the season, the clean up of the sugaring operation began. The past two days Karen and I spent a couple hours each afternoon taking down the sap buckets and pulling spouts. We made stacks of buckets and covers along the woods road to be picked up later. After two afternoons, we had all but 70 or 80 buckets down and ready for pick up.

Today, Ben and I went over by the Christmas trees and finished taking down the rest of the buckets. We loaded these buckets right into the wagon, and then we went through the rest of the sugarbush to pick up the buckets Karen and I had taken down. By noontime all the buckets were stacked on the lawn in front of the sugarhouse awaiting their "turn" on the bucket washer, the covers were stacked under the bench in the sugarhouse, and the sap spouts were in two buckets of hot, chlorinated water to soak overnight before being dried in the sun and put away, ready for next year.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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A welcome sight after a winter using expensive bagged sawdust

Much to my delight, we had a load of bulk sawdust delivered to the farm today. We had been waiting since last November for a load. Yesterday I had made a bunch of phone calls including one to my sawdust supplier to make sure he hadn't forgotten us. About six weeks ago when I called he had said maybe 2-3 weeks. So when the truck pulled into the yard the day after I called I was really surprised.

The truck holds about 2,000 cubic feet of dry sawdust. The price today was $750, almost $100 dollars more than the last load. The stronger Canadian dollar and high fuel prices contributed to the higher price of the sawdust. It took the driver about half an hour to unload the sawdust, stopping twice for me to push what he had unloaded into the storage bay. Once the driver was on his way back to Quebec, I finished pushing in the sawdust, rinsed the dust out of my mouth and eyes, and headed back to where Karen was still working on a section of fence we were fixing when the sawdust truck arrived.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Another maple sugaring season comes to an end

Above: Samples of the syrup produced at each boiling throughout the sugaring season on Howmars Farm. The dark one is the syrup that was made at the last boiling, over this past weekend.

Ben and Dad boiled for the last time today. The sap we gathered yesterday didn't look too great, but there was quite a bit--600 gallons! The first syrup they drew off from the sap that had been sitting in the pans for the last 10 days was Grade A dark amber. I put that in cans while Dad and Ben fired the arch and kept a watch on the pans.

As the sap from yesterday's gathering made its way through the back pan and into the front pan, the bubbles of the boiling sap got darker and darker and the maple aroma got stronger. The next syrup they drew off had dropped two grades to the lowest grade, Grade C. We knew that meant this would probably be the last boiling. By the time they were done, Dad and Ben had made another 14 gallons bringing the season total to 88 gallons. This was about 2/3's of what we should have made, and that seems to be about the norm this year.

With the boiling all done, this just leaves the fun jobs of pulling and washing buckets, emptying and washing the syrup pans and storage tank, and closing up the sugarhouse for the season. Let's see...the boys are on vacation from school in a few days. I guess we'll have plenty of help!!

Below left: Ben and his grandfather struggle to get more wood into the sugaring house for the last boil of the season. Right: Ben stokes the fire under the raw sap.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Bess & Bonny are in the sick ward

Bonny has a wary eye for the vet.

After having two more cows calve on Monday, we won't have the next cow calving for a few weeks. We had eight calves born in seven days-- 3 heifers and 5 bulls. Most of the moms, and the calves we kept to raise, are doing fine. Two of the fresh animals (ones who just gave birth) aren't doing too well and we are doing all that we can to get them well.

Bess, a 6-year-old cow, and Bonny, a 2-year-old first-time mom, were visited by the vet on Tuesday. Dr. Taraska, a woman in the veterinary practice I use, pulled into the barn driveway around 1:30 in the afternoon. Both cows were off-feed (not eating), droopy looking, and Bonny was battling mastitis.

After examining the two animals, Dr. Taraska had a diagnosis for each one. Bonny had pneumonia, and Bess had a displaced abomasum, a twist in the last part of her four-part stomach. Bonny we would treat with aspirin, garlic tincture, herbal tea, and aloe vera juice. Bess, however, would require surgery.

Surgery for Bess lasted about an hour. After clipping and disinfecting an area on her right side, Dr. Taraska made an 8-inch incision. She found the twist in the abomasum, drained the built up gas, undid the twist, and then sutured part of the abomasum to the inside of the abdominal wall. Then she sutured up the incision. With her rumen functioning normally again, Bess' appetite should return and she should return to normal health.

Left: Bess displays her stitches, feeling better.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Got a question for Jonathan? Use the comment box below. We'll call him in from the barn to give you an answer.

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The sweet sap run is slowing down in northern Vermont

A sap gathering bin goes out onto the muddy paths in search of buckets filling up.

The snow and the sugaring season are going fast. It has been a week since we gathered last, and the lingering question is do we leave the buckets up in case there is one last run or do we take them down and clean things up. After yesterday's sunny, warm 60+ degree weather, you wonder if it will get below freezing again.

From the last gathering we made 17 gallons of medium amber syrup, and this brings the season total to about 75 gallons. This is about 60% of the volume we should make based on the number of buckets we have out. Historically, for every 3 sap buckets, or "taps", we put out we usually make a gallon of syrup. With 425 buckets out, we should make 140 gallons or so of syrup.

The sap has been very sweet this year, with the average sugar content of the sap running about 3%. The higher the sugar content of the sap, the less sap it takes to make a gallon of syrup. We use a sap hydrometer to measure the sugar content of the sap. We fill a tall stainless steel cup with sap and float the hydrometer in the sap. The hydrometer is graduated, and we read the graduation at the top of the liquid. The sweetness of the sap from different areas of our sugarbush has ranged this year from 2.6% to 3.9%. The rockier areas tend to run lower, and the trees growing on deep soil tend to run higher in sweetness.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Cold ears? In new mom cows, it could mean milk fever

After a recent blog about treating some fresh cows for milk fever, my blog editor thought a brief explanation of the illness and of the treatment used for it might be beneficial to you, the readers. The information I will give you is from the book, The Treatment of Cattle by Homoeopathy, by George Macleod.

Milk fever, or parturient hypocalcaemia, is an illness that can occur at the onset of lactation in dairy cows (when a calf is born). The cause is a reduction in the level of calcium in the cow's system. This drop in the level of calcium is often due to the demands made on the cow's reserves by the sudden onset of milk production after calving. The onset of symptoms usually occurs within 72 hours after calving. Common symptoms are restlessness, loss of appetite, unsteadiness, cold ears, and finally becoming unable to stand up. Untreated, the cow may go into a coma and die.

The age of the cow, the time of year the cow calves, how heavy a producer the cow is, and the quality of the feed the cow is getting are all factors in determining if a cow is at risk of having milk fever. On our farm, the cows that calve in early spring and late in the fall are more apt to have milk fever than our cows that calve during the summer. Also, older cows are more prone to the illness than younger cows. And Jerseys, the breed of cows we have on our farm, are more apt to have milk fever than other breeds of dairy cows.

The treatment is usually very simple. I will give a cow an intravenous or subcutaneous injection of calcium or calcium and minerals. This alleviates the symptoms, makes the cow feel better, and gets her eating and drinking normally. Calcium gluconate and calcium with dextrose, magnesium, phosphorous, and potassium are the two products I use for injections. They are both approved for use on organic dairy farms. I will usually give 1-2 500ml bottles to an animal at time. I do the treatments myself since the illness is easy to diagnose, and if I do it the cost is about $5-$10 per treatment. If I had a vet come and do it, it would cost me $50-60 at least.

Along with the traditional treatment of the illness, addition of selected homeopathic remedies can reduce the risk of relapse and prevent complications of the nervous system. Weekly administration of two remedies for several weeks prior to calving can also help prevent cows from getting milk fever.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Got pancakes? 56 gallons of syrup ready to go

Last Wednesday, Dad finished boiling in the sap that Karen, Steve, our nephew, Jason, and I had gathered. Dad and Ben boiled yesterday until the canning unit was full (it holds 15 gallons) and then they shut down the rig. We gathered almost 5 tubs of sap, and when they shut down, Dad probably had 200-250 gallons of sap left to boil in.

The canning unit is a stainless steel box with a spigot and thermometer built in. The box sits on a frame with a propane burner to use to keep the syrup at the proper temperature for canning, 185 degrees or higher. A moveable shelf on the front legs of the stand can be adjusted depending on what size can you are filling. We can gallons, half gallons, quarts, pints, and sometimes half pints. Today Dad put the 11 gallons he had just made into 44 quart cans. That brings the season's total to 56 gallons of syrup so far. It sounds like we may get a good freeze, and if it "comes off" right tomorrow we will have another good run.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Got a question about maple sugaring? Drop Jonathan a line here, using the comment box below. He'll be sure to answer, when he's not out gathering sap or taking care of the cows.

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Maternity wards get cleaned up for the busy season

Mom and baby check out their maternity pen.

Earlier this week, son Ben was off from school, so while I ran some errands in St. Albans. my mom and Ben cleaned the two maternity pens where our cows calve this time of year.

The pens are about 10' X 10', with one of the pens having two stanchions at one end in case we need to restrain an animal. We wanted to clean all the dried manure, etc. off the walls before cows started calving here again. It's important to have as clean an environment as possible, so as not to put the newborn calf or the new mom at risk of picking up some illness from a dirty pen.

Ben ran a hose from the milkhouse to the pens. They used plenty of steaming hot water and soap to scrub the walls and gates to get them nice and clean. The room has a drain in the center so all the wash water was swept easily down the drain and out of the room. Once the floor dries, fresh sawdust will be put down on the concrete floors to give the cows a comfortable, clean place to have their calf. With several cows already born this week, we got the work done just in time!

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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