Jonathan Gates reports from Howmars Farm in Franklin, Vermont. Howmars is a certified organic dairy farm, one of many Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative farmer members who supply the milk that goes into making Stonyfield's yogurts and smoothies. The entire family pitches in on this third-generation farm. Jonathan and his father, Howard, converted the farm from conventional dairy farming to organic 9 years ago. Meet Jonathan. He farms with his wife Karen, sons Benjamin, Justin, and Noah, and Jonathan's parents, Howard and Mary.
Kathy, the newborn Survivor, safe and warm in her pen and nonplussed by her adventure.
I'm still shaking my head in disbelief over what happened Tuesday. It has made me marvel at the strength and hardiness of animals, and it taught me a good lesson in completely checking out a situation before giving up.
Tuesday morning we had our monthly herd clinic with Dr. Steve. The fresh cows were all doing fine, and every cow we pregnancy checked was, indeed, pregnant. The only down side was when Dr. Steve checked a cow that was due to calve. I had found her over in the woods Sunday morning and had wondered if she had calved that day. But, I found no signs of a birth taking place, I searched the immediate area and found no calf, and the cow, Thelma, took off for the barn showing no signs of wanting to hang around because she had a calf nearby. Steve's exam found that Thelma had calved. Needless to say I felt terrible. What had happened to the calf?
I just had to go back to the spot where I had found Thelma and give it one more look. In the afternoon, I took the four-wheeler and drove over to where I had seen Thelma Sunday morning. Again, nothing caught my eye. I crossed over the fence to look further into the woods, pushing pine branches out of the way. As I pushed one branch it broke with a loud snap!, and out jumped a calf from the underbrush. I was stunned. I could not believe a calf born over two days ago was still alive out here. She looked fine. I spoke to her, and when I got close she started nosing at my knee, telling me that she was very hungry.
Back at the barn, we put her in a nice warm calf pen and got her a bottle of warm colostrum from her mother who had just been milked. I had never seen a calf drink a half gallon of milk so fast. We saved a second bottle, and gave that to her later in the evening. I had to hold tight to the bottle so that she wouldn't pull it out of my hands. When I told my wife, Karen, about the calf, she said we should name it Kathy after Kathy O'brien, the Vermont resident who had appeared on the CBS show, "Survivor", twice. We thought that was a great idea. I never would have imagined a newborn calf could survive the elements, and the coyotes, for so long before being found.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
ABOUT THE BOVINE BUGLE Got a question for Jonathan? Send it in using the comment feature below.
I was putting some fence up across the brook when I noticed some white objects in the grass. After finishing the fence, I went back across the brook and over to the corner of the pasture where the white objects were sitting in the grass. I thought that maybe they were pieces of round bale plastic, but as I got closer I knew what they were. There were three giant puffball mushrooms (Calvatia gigantea) growing in the rich muck soil.
The largest of the three I picked and brought up to the house to show everyone.
I had never seen a puffball as large as this one. I put it next to the basketball to take a picture so we'd have some perspective on the size of the mushroom. It wasn't as heavy as it looked, weighing probably between 10 and 15 pounds. These mushrooms are edible but I haven't gotten brave enough to slice one up and saute it. I'm not a huge mushroom fan, anyway. I found some great information on the giant puffballs on this website.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
ABOUT THE BOVINE BUGLE Got a question for Jonathan?
Send it in using the comment feature below.
Back in early September, we finally finished filling the freestalls with sand. The last ten stalls had gone unfilled while we were busy doing other things. But the cows had knocked down the fence in the barnyard that was keeping them out of the remaining sand pile, and they were starting to make a mess of it. This got us motivated to get the rest of the sand into the stalls.
It took about an hour to bring the sand in with the tractor and then shovel it into the stalls. It makes for a good work out on a nice hot day. As soon as the stalls were done, the cows were right there checking out our handywork. In the summer we have just sand in the stalls because it keeps the cows cooler. Once we get into the fall we put sawdust on top of the sand. This helps keep sand in the stalls, helps keep the cows cleaner as their use of the stalls increases, and it helps keep the cows warmer and more comfortable. Unless the stalls are showing a need for sand by early November, we probably won't have to put in sand until next spring. With sawdust so expensive, and hard to get through the winter, keeping the stalls well sanded makes the sawdust supply on the farm go farther.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
ABOUT THE BOVINE BUGLE Got a question for Jonathan?
Send it in using the comment feature below.
This picture is of a milkweed pod that has opened and is dispersing its seeds. Milkweed grows all over the farm. The cows won't graze it, people can eat the very young shoots in the spring, and it is the only thing that Monarch butterfly caterpillars eat. After the clusters of flowers are pollinated, the plant forms pods where the seeds mature. When ready, the pods split open and the seeds float away on stems of down, similar to the dandelions. The empty, dry pods on the stem of the plant make a nice touch when decorating wreaths.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
ABOUT THE BOVINE BUGLE Got a question for Jonathan?
Send it in using the comment feature below.
Saturday, October 8, was the day we processed the 48 turkeys we had been raising since mid-June here at Howmars Farm. The birds were 18 1/2 weeks old and were in great shape from all the organic grain and pasture they had been feeding on. This year we had mobile processing unit come right to the farm to do the birds. This way the turkeys didn't have to be loaded into the back of our pickup and transported for over an hour to an unfamiliar farm to await their fate.
The outfit that came to our place was Cabin View Farm, a poultry farm in Littleton, NH, owned by Ray Garcia. Ray had kindly worked us into his schedule, and he arrived a little after 11 AM to get set up. His operation was very clean, very efficient, and the end product looked great. He was working by himself today, so he put in a long, hard day. The last of the chilled birds was bagged and labeled around 7:30 in the evening. Karen, my dad, my brother, and I tried to help him as much as we could, which wasn't much. It was interesting to hear about his chicken and turkey operation, and about some of his interactions with his customers. Like us, he often has to explain to customers why our products (meat chickens, turkeys, and eggs) are more expensive than coventionally raised products and why they are worth it.
Ray headed out on his 2 1/2 hour ride home, and I checked on the freezers holding the 17-25 pound turkeys, parked the tractor in the barn, checked on the cows, and then headed to the house for supper at around 8:30. Another turkey season had come to a close.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
ABOUT THE BOVINE BUGLE Got a question for Jonathan?
Send it in using the comment feature below.
After we got back from our run/walk this morning, Karen could hear one of the livestock crashing around in the woods behind the house. That isn't where it was supposed to be, so we walked out back to see what was going on. One of the steers had managed to get on the other side of the fence and, of course, was crying because he couldn't figure out how to get back.
I called to the steer as I walked out into the pasture, and he came down off the ledge and headed in the direction of the gate. When I called, all his buddies came running over to the gate, too. I kept them all occupied by shaking some apples off a nearby wild apple tree. While they butted each other around trying to get the apples, I let Guy, the wandering steer, back through the gate.
I can't believe how much the heifers and steers love apples. They will even take them from my hand, just like a horse would. We kid that the livestock are fighting the deer to get to the wild apples first.
With everyone back together, I led them back towards the house and into a fresh paddock of grass and clover. Soon they were all munching contentedly, enjoying the benefits of the warm fall weather.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
ABOUT THE BOVINE BUGLE Got a question for Jonathan?
Send it in using the comment feature below.
"Moo"-vie News: Myrtle's new calf meets the herdmates
Myrtle's new calf, her first, was born a few weeks ago now. Farmer Jonathan captured the moment when Myrtle's herdmates decided to come check out the new arrival. Myrtle's doing a lot of bellowing in this video, simply because she's got new-mom jitters--she's just not too sure what she's supposed to be doing with this new little girl. Just press on the big arrow in the center to play the video.
ABOUT THE BOVINE BUGLE Got a question for Jonathan?
Send it in using the comment feature below.
The calendar reads October 4th, but outside it seems like summer. The daytime highs have been in the upper 70's, and the grass is still growing like crazy out in the grazing paddocks. Everyone you see talks about how wonderful the weather is for this time of year. We sure won't complain knowing what lies ahead.
The soft maple trees that grow in the low lying areas of the farm have started showing some nice color, but most of the other hardwoods haven't really begun to change yet. Because of the extended growing season, the pastures are still providing plenty of forage for the cows so I haven't had to start feeding them any round bales yet. This helps the farm's bottom line in the feed expense catagory. With production costs so high right now, every little bit helps.
The warm weather is great for finishing up projects around the farm and around the house. The compost windrows are ready for spreading, and we'll cover one windrow and save if for use in the spring when local gardeners come looking for some of the rich, black stuff. On the old farmhouse, we've been scraping and painting trim around the windows and getting chimneys cleaned and ready to start burning wood. My forage supplier baled some third-cut round bales today, too. Dad has been keeping an eye on what Dennis has been up to. The feed looks great and the cows should milk really well on it.
Yes, this spell of beautiful weather is truly a blessing. It's giving farmers all a chance to harvest an extra crop of grass, and the warm temperatures are helping to delay having to turn on the furnaces to keep warm.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
ABOUT THE BOVINE BUGLE Got a question for Jonathan?
Send it in using the comment feature below.
Jonathan Gates reports from Howmars Farm in Franklin, Vermont.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm