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.
The cross country skiing has been pretty good around the farm. On a few of our outings through the woods we have noticed a lot of snowfleas along the edges of wetter areas along the trail. I'm assuming this is due to the abundant moisture in the ground, the ground not being frozen, and temperatures for the winter being well above the long term average.
Snowfleas, or springtails, are an order of insects that are very primitive. They are soft-bodied, wingless, and hop about when a muscular structure at the tip of the abdomen is arched and released. The species feeds on microscopic fungi and algae, thus helping breakdown decaying masses of leaves and moss. The picture I took was a swarm of the common snowflea, dull black in color and often seen to blanket the snow. Another species seen here in the northeast is the snowmelt springtail, dull red in color and occuring more often in the spring as the snow melts. This must be the species of snowflea old-timers look for the hearld the start of maple sugaring season.
Yukon, our black Lab, loves the snow so much we kidded that we were worried he might come home infested with snowfleas! It's fun to ski through the woods almost every day, not knowing what interesting thing might catch your eye.
--Jonathan (left), Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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The last couple of weeks we have been battling some type of conjunctivitis that has infected 8 cows in the milking herd. If it were the middle of summer you would think we were having pink eye, but not in the middle of winter. We've seen this before at this time of year, and we think it is caused by moldy feed.
The first sign that a cow has it is an eye that is watering
excessively, then she starts squinting with the same eye because of the discomfort. The eye will then cloud over and possibly become swollen. This is the peak of the disease, and then the swelling will go down, the eye will clear, and everything is back to normal.
This time around the infections seemed a little more severe. We even had one cow that had both eyes infected, something we had never seen before. The ages of the infected animals ranged from two years to almost 10 years, so no one age group was affected by the problem. I did contact Dr. Steve Woodward in Waterbury, a vet who uses many alternative medicines in his practice, and after discussing what was going on with the cows he mailed me several homeopathic remedies to try on the cows. I also use Dr. Paul's wound spray to drench the infected eyes. The spray, with active ingredients like garlic and comfrey, was okay to use on mucous membranes.
We haven't had any new cases for three weeks, and some of the animals I treated early with the spray and remedies didn't have such severe symptoms as the first few cows that contracted the disease. On a conventional farm, antibiotics would have been used to control the problem, but with some well-prescribed remedies and some "TLC" our cows came through this bump in the road just fine without using what would be considered the conventional treatment. --
Jonathan (left), Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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**A note about the Bovine Bugle: We've been gone for a while trying to fix some internal, technical problems. We're sorry that you won't be able to leave comments for Jonathan here until further notice. You can, however, use our "Ask a question" feature above and we'll make sure Jonathan gets it!
Bovine Bugle on break, but we won't leave you out in the cold
To all our loyal readers:
We're trying to make The Bovine Bugle even better! This requires some "down time" on our end. We'll be back to you the minute we're up and running. In the meantime, why not take a moment to scroll through our older posts, by clicking on the month under the "Archive" heading to your left? Or take a second look at these videos of a new calf making her debut at Howmars Farm last August. Life on the farm is never dull!
October 10, 2005 Myrtle's new calf meets the herdmates
Myrtle's new calf, her first, was born a few weeks ago. 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 farmer Jonathan?
Click here and your question will be answered in an email back to you, plus it will appear on this site for all to see. You can even send your answer in by using voice mail, if your computer is appropriately equipped.
Jonathan Gates reports from Howmars Farm in Franklin, Vermont.
To all our loyal readers: