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.
And, of course, the cows.
April 24, 2006
Artificial Insemination is the norm for heifers at Howmars Farm
Farmer Jonathan is taking a break from writing this week. Back in March, he wrote us this review about farm visits from his artificial insemination technician:
Bob Cole, our AI (artificial insemination) technician, stopped at the farm this morning to service one of our cows. I had noticed Loonette, an 8-year-old cow, in heat last evening and had called in for Bob to stop this morning.
We have all our cows and heifers artificially inseminated. We have never kept a bull on the farm, for several reasons. The two main reasons are safety and genetic gain. Bulls can be very dangerous and every year you hear about someone being attacked by one. By using AI sires, I can choose bulls that are genetically superior and will give me daughters that will have the characteristics I am looking for in my animals.
Bob works for Genex, a partner in CRI, and has been coming to our farm for over 15 years. He does a great job for us, and is an important member of the "team" I rely on to make our farm a success.
The bull semen is stored in a tank filled with liquid nitrogen, and the straws containing the semen are immersed in the -273 F liquid. Bob pulled the straw of the bull I wanted to use on Loonette, did his paperwork, got what he needed out of his equipment box, and we headed out to the freestalls to find the cow that was in heat. After palpating the cow to make sure where to place the semen, Bob inserted the breeding gun and released the semen near the cervix of the cow. Hopefully, in about nine months, Loonette will be giving us a nice heifer calf.
After packing away his gear, Bob does a sanitary boot wash to make sure not to spread anything between any of the various farms he visits. Our dog, Yukon, loves it when Bob visits because he always carries special treats in his truck--treats Yukon gets just before Bob leaves the property!
I want to answer a few questions we have gotten in regards to some of the entries we have done lately here in the Bovine Bugle. We always appreciate it when our readers send it questions.
Karen wanted to know what ketosis is and what is a "drench" (see the Bovine Bugle entry for March 22, 2006). Ketosis is a condition most often seen in bovines at calving time. At calving, often the cow simply eats less. This happens at a time when the energy demand on her body is at its highest. If her intake of feed is not meeting the energy demands, she will then start burning stored body fat. This body fat is sent to the liver and is converted into a temporary energy supply called ketones. If the level of ketones becomes too high, the cow will lose her appetite, thus compounding the problem further and possibly leading to a host of other problems.
We treat cows with ketosis by giving them dextrose intravenously, and by drenching with a product called Keto-aid, which contains propylene glycol and niacin. In drenching, we simply put about 300ml (10 ozs) in a drench bottle and pour it down the cow's throat. Sometimes a cow doesn't appreciate this, and I end up getting drenched. Anyone familiar with the Atkins diet might recognize the terminology in regards to burning fat and producing ketones. When I heard this, I thought, "Wow, when this is happening to my cows it's a bad thing. Can it really be good for people?"
Three times the lady...St. Pat's week brings new calfs
After the rush of getting out the sap buckets over the weekend, the weather turned very cold and the trees and the sugar rig are frozen. We did manage to gather two tubs of sap on Tuesday, but it wasn't quite enough to produce any new maple syrup from the evaporator pans so we'll have to wait until things warm up again. Meanwhile, things in the maternity room are buzzing along.
Last week, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday saw a new arrival born each day! The luck of the Irish must have been with us, because all three calves were heifers (girls). It had been three months since the last calf was born, and almost 4 months since the last heifer calf. We were pretty excited with our good fortune. All the moms and babies came through the births just fine. The first two calves were from first-time moms, or, as we would say, first-calf heifers. The last calf was the third for Dandee, a 5-year old cow.
I am treating the two first-calf heifers with a drench to give them extra energy and niacin. Because they were a little over-conditioned at the time of calving, they would be prone to having ketosis. The 10 ozs. of drench I give them every day for the next 5-7 days will get them over the most stressful period, and keep them eating and functioning normally as their bodies get used to producing milk every day for the next ten months.
--Jonathan (left), Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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The little lost calf, not so little or lost anymore
Walking through the barn one morning last week I saw Thelma, the mother of Kathy, the calf that was lost in the woods for two days. [Use the archives, left, to see October 28, 2005 entry: "The Next 'Survivor' Contestant Is..."]I just thought I'd send a picture and let you know how they are doing.
Kathy, the "Survivor", never missed a beat and has had no ill effects from the ordeal. She is now 4 months old, eating hay and grain, and is keeping pace with her herdmates. By the time May rolls around she will be ready to go out on pasture with a bunch of her buddies. One of the organic standards we have to follow is that animals over 6 months of age must be out on pasture during the growing season. This means from May to October all our stock over 6 months must be outside and have access to adequate pasture.
Thelma, the Mom, is doing great, too. Our breeding technician, Bob Cole, artificially inseminated her several weeks ago. At our next monthly clinic with Dr. Steve, I think she will be far enough along to pregnancy check. If she is pregnant, she will be having another calf about the same time as last year, late October. Hopefully her third delivery will not be quite so stressful as the one last year.
--Jonathan (left), Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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"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.
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I just wanted to send a couple of shots of the cow who was in the process of calving when the Stonyfield group was here visiting the other day. The cow's name is Zita, and she delivered her calf around 2 in the afternoon. I went down around 4 with the four-wheeler to bring mom and her calf up to the barn. Yukon, our Black Lab, was with me and you can bet Zita was not taking her eyes off the dog as we got close to her and her calf.
Zita followed me all the way to the maternity pen in the barn, as I held the new bull calf on my lap. I suspected she would have a bull since she was 4 days over her due date. Usually, when a cow calves earlier than her due date she has a heifer, and when she calves later than her due date she has a bull. This bull was lucky because one of the technicians who breeds cows here on the farm wants some Jersey bulls to raise for beef. I called her to let her know I had a calf for her, and she said she would be by to pick it up in a couple of days. So Zita's boy will be around for at least a couple of years instead of just a few days.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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Above: Stonyfield's CE-Yo Gary Hirshberg helps Jonathan move some fencing while out on a tour of the farm
with Stonyfielders and some representatives from our advertising agency.
Yesterday we hosted a farm tour for people from Stonyfield Farm and for people who work at the advertising agency that Stonyfield uses. Altogether, we had about a dozen in the group. We led them through the farm, showing them the facilities, the animals, and the pastures, and telling them what a typical day entailed for us. The group asked some great questions, and some really good dialog took place between everyone.
Gary, from Stonyfield, helped lead many of the discussions during the tour. He even gave me a hand in moving fence for the cows when we went down to the pasture to see the cows and talk about intensive grazing management. The group almost got to see a cow having her calf, but she didn't deliver until about half an hour after everyone left.
I think get-togethers like this are so important. The people visiting the farm get a much better understanding of what it takes us to produce the raw product for their dairy products. And we, as farmers, get a better understanding of what it takes to make and market these products so that we can be paid for our milk. Communication like this helps everyone involved in the process.
It may look like this cow is just taking it easy
on a nice summer's day, but she's actually
in labor and about to give birth!
The yellow chain around her neck indicates
that she's been taken out of the milking rotation
(saving her milk for the calf-to-come).
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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Here's the comment: "I love to read about your farm as I am sitting on the 47th floor of my Midtown Manhattan office building. It gives me a little break in the day and reminds me that there is more to life than spreadsheets and Starbucks! Thank you for taking the time to share your interesting life. By the way... I had Stonyfield yogurt for breakfast!!"
Awhile back Michelle sent in a question on a blog I did about pregnant cows. She wondered what happens to the calves after they are born. What happens to the calf depends on whether it is a heifer (girl) or a bull (boy).
We raise all of our heifer calves that are born each year. Our girl-to-boy ratio is usually close to 50:50, so each year we will have 25 or so heifers born. We will keep about half of these heifers for replacements in our own herd, and the rest will be sold to other farmers, either in-state or sometimes out-of-state. We are able to sell some of our replacements because our cows live longer than on most farms, so we don't need to replace them as often.
The bull calves' fate is usually not as good as the heifers. Because we do all our breeding with artificial insemination, we don't keep any bulls on the farm for breeding. We do keep some bull calves to steer for our beef production. We raise them for at least two years before they are processed. Once in awhile we sell a bull calf to another farmer who will raise it to use for breeding on their farm. Most of the time we sell the bull calves at a commission sale a few days after they are born.
Got a question about adding to the farm, or any other topics related to organic farming? Write me here and I'll answer as best I can!
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
Check out today's Special Report in our blog, Creating Healthy Kids! We've gone to the X Games in Los Angeles to participate in a fun environmental initiative, complete with mini-"moo"vies you can watch on your computer.
The cows, coming home, through the deep green fields of Vermont.
The folks at Stonyfield had a question sent to them asking if the milk they use in their yogurt production comes from pregnant or non-pregnant cows. The answer to that question is, both. The cows we milk here at Howmars Farm can be not pregnant, because they probably just had their calf within the last two months, or pregnant.
This is usually how the cycle goes in a year of the life of a cow here at our farm. We begin milking the cow at the time she gives birth to her calf. The first three months after a cow calves is when her milk production is the highest. During these three months the cow is usually not pregnant, either. Somewhere between 60 and 90 days we will have the cow artificially inseminated, at the right time during estrus, to hopefully get her pregnant. We will continue to milk the cow, now pregnant, until 50 days before her due date for her next calf. At this time we stop milking the cow to give her body and mammary system a much needed break. Once the cow calves again, the whole cycle starts over again.
Ideally the whole cycle, or lactation, takes 12-14 months. The cow calves, produces milk for 10-12 months, and then is "dry" or not producing milk for about two months. This cycle works well to keep the cows producing at a good rate, to provide us with replacements for animals that have to leave the herd, and keeps a steady supply of milk for our cooperative, CROPP/Organic Valley. By feeding them well and taking good care of them, our cows are able to maintain this cycle and stay healthy and productive for up to 12 years here at our farm.
Got a question about pregnant cows, or anything else on an organic dairy farm? Use the comment box below and I'll try to get you an answer here in the blog very soon.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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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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This morning when I arrived at the barn one of the first things I did was check on the heifer we had in one of the maternity pens. We had been keeping Sunflower in the past couple of nights since her due date was the 17th of December, and we didn't want to risk her having the calf out in the freestalls during the night. I was delighted to find a wobbly, still wet heifer calf in the pen with her mom! It's good that mom and baby were inside. The temperature outside was -14 degrees F.
Sunflower's heifer calf was the last calf to be born until next March. For the last few years we have stopped breeding our cows from March 1 to mid-June so that we don't have any cows calving from early December until late March. We did this mainly for two reasons. One, it puts a lot of stress on the cow calving during the winter months. She is more apt to have problems after calving. Two, it is harder to get a calf off to a healthy start druring the winter months, too. By not calving during these months, it makes life easier on EVERYBODY!!
Now we just have to think of a name for the baby girl. Noel might be nice in honor of the season. Or maybe Frosty because she was born on such a cold morning. Her nose is not red enough to be called Rudolph.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
Learn about other organic dairy farmers and the Organic Valley family of farms.
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Jonathan Gates reports from Howmars Farm in Franklin, Vermont.
Bob Cole, our AI (artificial insemination) technician, stopped at the farm this morning to service one of our cows. I had noticed Loonette, an 8-year-old cow, in heat last evening and had called in for Bob to stop this morning. 
Gary, from Stonyfield, helped lead many of the discussions during the tour. He even gave me a hand in moving fence for the cows when we went down to the pasture to see the cows and talk about intensive grazing management. The group almost got to see a cow having her calf, but she didn't deliver until about half an hour after everyone left. 
Check out today's Special Report in our blog, 
Got a question about pregnant cows, or anything else on an organic dairy farm? Use the comment box below and I'll try to get you an answer here in the blog very soon.