The Bovine Bugle

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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What's hot, when the weather is not

A few weeks ago the temperature was about 15 below zero, but despite the subzero conditions the compost material in the barnyard was steaming away. On warm days, and we've had a lot of them lately, I can't put the manure and hay from the barn into the compost windrow. It's just too soupy. So, I pile the hay and manure from the barnyard on one side of the barnyard instead of mixing it with the manure in the barn. At some point I move the pile from the barnyard to the compost windrow.

I had noticed the pile in the barnyard steaming the other day, so this morning I grabbed the two-foot long thermometer on my way out of the barn. I put the thermometer in the pile and let it do its thing while I scraped the barn. When I checked it 15 minutes later it was registering a temperature of almost 130 degrees! It always amazes me to see how a mixture of hay, manure, and a little moisture can created so much heat, even in the middle of winter. Of course the cows looked at me as if to say, "What are you doing climbing around on the top of that pile? Get down here and feed us some hay". They weren't bothered in the least by the cold temperatures. With plenty of good feed, their shaggy, warm winter coats, and the barn for a windbreak they do fine all winter.

I put my thermometer away, fed the cows, and emptied the dump trailer down at the compost windrow. Once the tractor was parked, I headed into the farmhouse to warm up by the brightly burning woodstove.

--Jonathan (left), Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

ABOUT THE BOVINE BUGLE
Tune in Monday when we'll have more "Moo-vie" news from Jonathan's farm.

If you wish to subscribe, send an email with "Bovine Bugle" in the subject heading to chalvorson@stonyfield.com

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Cows eyes are recovered; we answer your questions

We had several questions and comments here on the blog about the eye infections that some of our milk cows had a few weeks ago. (See January 31, 2006 entry):

Robert, from Pennsylvania, wondered if the wound spray containing garlic would be painful in the eye. The spray is mainly aloe vera, with tinctures of garlic and comfrey. The antibiotic nature of garlic helps heal the infections. I am going to try a few drops in my eye to see how it feels, sometime.

Iris, from New Zealand, wrote about using colloidal silver to control eye problems in bovines. When I get a chance, I'll talk to some other organic farmers and some vets about this possible treatment and I'll report back here in the future.

And Muff, from Iceland, wanted to know what homeopathic remedies Dr. Woodard had suggested I use in treating the cows. For early stages of infection, he suggested trying hypericum, aconitumn, or euphrasia. If swelling had started, apis was a good choice. The aforementioned remedies were all at a 30c potency. And for the advanced cases, he recommended silica at a 200c potency.

All eight of the cows are completely healed now, with nice, clear eyes once again. The next time we have that problem, I should be better prepared to tackle the outbreak and prevent the infections from getting too severe.

--Jonathan (left), Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

ABOUT THE BOVINE BUGLE
If you wish to subscribe, send an email with "Bovine Bugle" in the subject heading to chalvorson@stonyfield.com

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.

Cows eyes are recovered; we answer your questions

We had several questions and comments here on the blog about the eye infections that some of our milk cows had a few weeks ago. (See January 31, 2006 entry):

Robert, from Pennsylvania, wondered if the wound spray containing garlic would be painful in the eye. The spray is mainly aloe vera, with tinctures of garlic and comfrey. The antibiotic nature of garlic helps heal the infections. I am going to try a few drops in my eye to see how it feels, sometime.

Iris, from New Zealand, wrote about using colloidal silver to control eye problems in bovines. When I get a chance, I'll talk to some other organic farmers and some vets about this possible treatment and I'll report back here in the future.

And Muff, from Iceland, wanted to know what homeopathic remedies Dr. Woodard had suggested I use in treating the cows. For early stages of infection, he suggested trying hypericum, aconitumn, or euphrasia. If swelling had started, apis was a good choice. The aforementioned remedies were all at a 30c potency. And for the advanced cases, he recommended silica at a 200c potency.

All eight of the cows are completely healed now, with nice, clear eyes once again. The next time we have that problem, I should be better prepared to tackle the outbreak and prevent the infections from getting too severe.

--Jonathan (left), Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

ABOUT THE BOVINE BUGLE
If you wish to subscribe, send an email with "Bovine Bugle" in the subject heading to chalvorson@stonyfield.com

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.

Ask the cows! Inquiring minds want to know

We know that lots of our Bovine Bugle readers have a keen interest in farming, dairy farming and organic food production. That's why we've just added "Ask the Farmer" to this site.

If you have a question you've been dying to have answered, just 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.

We'll get your question to farmer Jonathan, the cows, an expert at Stonyfield Farm, or someone in the field of organics.

Dear readers, please take our short poll

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Think of the farmers when you think of Katrina

At Stonyfield Farm today we were alerted to some aid groups specifically helping farmers and fishermen affected by Hurricane Katrina. The Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group has put together a list of links to organizations providing disaster relief assistance to agricultural communities. Won't you pay them a visit?

Look for more Bovine Bugle news, including a new video, from organic dairy farmer Jonathan Gates next week!

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Care about healthy kids?

The green, green grass of Vermont in late summer

Son Noah came along with me to give the cows a new paddock after the evening milking. The cows followed us down the lane, and waited impatiently while we took down the cross piece that would let them into the fresh, lush grass. As soon as the first few feet of fence were wound up, the cows poured through the opening and began looking for the best patch of grass. If there was any clover in the paddock, that is what the cows would want to eat first.

The grazing over the past few weeks has been the best I've seen in a few years. The grass is so lush, so thick, that I swear you could catch your foot in it and trip. I tried to capture the lushness with a few pictures, but the camera just doesn't do it justice.

And in the morning, when the grass is awash with dew, it looks so good that I want to take a bite. I may sound like a broken record, but it is such a joy to see the cows out grazing, enjoying the grass and the sunshine, lazing in the late summer sun chewing their cud contentedly. And then I think of the cows in confinement dairies that never get to enjoy any of these things. I know if I was a consumer, which cows I would want my milk and dairy products to come from.

As consumers, your purchasing choice in the end determines how well our organic dairy farms fare financially. Hopefully by telling you how we run our farm and take care of the land and the animals, you will appreciate what we do to produce a wholesome product and will chose to support our family farms by purchasing the milk and dairy products made from our milk.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Care about healthy kids?

Finding out what makes the grass grow

Last week I attended a pasture walk at Forgues family farm in Alburg, VT. The Forgues' have been working with Bill Murphy, author and professor emeritus of agronomy at UVM, on an organic fertilization and irrigation trial over the last three years. I've managed to make it to the walks the past two years, and didn't want to miss the one today. Their findings have been very interesting.

Of all the different soil amendments they have used during the field trial, compost has made the biggest difference in amount of feed produced per acre. Other amendments, such as fish/seaweed fertilizer, crab shell, and chilean nitrate, did not affect growth as well as the compost. This, of course, makes me feel pretty good considering our composting operation here on the farm. Instead of spending money buying fertilizers to put on our land, we can use what we produce right here on the farm to keep our soils and fields healthy and productive.

After walking the pastures and visiting the field trial site, it was time to share a meal, visit with old friends, and make some new aquaintences. It's always great to share with each other what's happening on each other's farms. You never know what tidbit of information you might hear that you can take back to your farm to make improvements in your operation. Too soon it was time to head back to the farm, but these pasture walks always seem to get you excited again about farming, grazing, and organic production.

Got a question about soil amendments, 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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Don't you get enough exercise working on the farm??!!

Left to right: Team members Jonathan, Ben, Derek, Jamie, and Jeremy.

Today was race day as our relay team headed to the Key Bank Vermont City Marathon. This was the second year in a row that we managed to get a team entry in the race. Our five-member team competed in the mixed-team open relay, with each member of the team running a leg of the race ranging in distance from 3.1 miles to 6.5 miles.

I was up at 4:15 AM to get the next grazing paddock ready for the cows and to do a few odd jobs in the barn before Ben and I headed out. We left the house a little before 6, picked up my niece, Jamie, and her boyfriend, Jeremy, in Highgate, and headed down the interstate to Burlington. We met our 5th team member, Derek, at Battery Park where the race started. The race went great. About 3500 runners were at the start, and almost 7000 total runners participated in the full marathon or on a relay team. Our team finished in 3:21:37, good enough for 33 place out of 421 mixed-relay teams.

The funniest moment for me was on the way to the park for the start of the race. As we waited to cross a street, I looked over and saw a man that looked exactly like someone who comes to the farm to buy milk. I knew it wasn't Ricki, so it had to be his identical twin, Randy, whom I had never met. I introduced myself, and we chatted on our way to the park. Randy, who is also a dairy farmer, was there with his son who was running on a youth team. Out of the thousands of people who were there for the race that day, it was amazing that I would run into someone like Randy.

Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Out on the grass, finally, the cows are in hog heaven

Today was the day we had been looking forward to since last fall, when the cows went on a full ration of round bale forage. The cows were turned out on pasture this morning. We had hoped to turn them out a week ago, but the 3 1/2 inches of rain over the last two weeks had made things a little muddy around here. Since Tuesday afternoon we really haven't had any rain and things have dried up a bit.

We had been working on mending fences the past several days, and finally this morning after milking I plugged the electric fencer in and opened the gate to let the cows out of the barnyard. They were off like a shot, running and jumping out into the meadow. Even the oldest cows acted like youngsters as they ran here and there, sniffing and snorting. When we see our cows celebrating like this, out in the sunshine and fresh air, I feel sorry for all the cows kept on farms where they never even get to leave the barn.

There isn't a lot of grass right now, but the sunshine and warm temperatures that we will be getting over the next few days will make the grass take off. Then we will have the wonderful challenge of moving the cows through the grazing rotation to have them eat the grass before it gets too tall. The people here at Howmars Farm enjoy the grazing season just as much as the cows.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Into every farmer's life a little grain must fall

We took a delivery of grain from Morrison's Custom Feeds today. The truck that came today was a tandem axle truck that can carry up to 18 tons of grain. Sometimes their tractor trailer rig makes the delivery. I think it can carry between 25 and 30 tons on a load.

Today we took delivery of 12 tons of grain. We started getting this size load a few months ago because we get a discount on the price per ton if we take a 12 ton load or larger. The price of organic grain is high right now, so if we can lower the price we pay by taking a larger load less often, we will do it. Since late last summer the price we pay for our grain has risen almost $100 per ton. Morrison's field man, Mike Thresher, attributes much of the price rise on the increase in demand of organic grains for human consumption. I'm glad to hear that consumers are changing their eating habits and using more organically raised grains, but I wish it didn't mean an increase in my production costs.

It took Ethan, the grain truck driver, about 45 minutes to blow the grain into the four grain bins located inside our barns. After filling the bins and unloading the bags of chicken grain, kelp meal, and trace mineral salt that he brought along on his truck for us, Ethan picked up his flexible grain pipes and headed back to the grain mill 2 1/2 hours away. Once the grass is growing well, we will be able to feed less grain, and a lower protein grain, to the cows to help lower our production costs through the grazing season.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Why small eggs are small eggs

In our last Bovine Bugle entry, we talked about the difference in size between the eggs from a very young hen and from older hens. Eggs from the younger hens are smaller, as the hen's body gets used to producing. In the photo above, the egg on the left is from a younger hen, a pullet egg. (Son Noah holds the eggs for the photograph.)

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Visit our other daily dairies at Stonyfield.com for all the news:
On environmental issues: The Dairy Planet
Get junk food out of schools: Creating Healthy Kids
Daily life and challenges at Stonyfield Farm: The Daily Scoop
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The farm help goes back to school

Tuesday was back-to-school day for all the boys. Son Ben is a sophmore, Justin is a 4th grader, and now Noah's in kindergarten,and they're all off to school!This means a big change in our daily routine here at the farm. All summer the boys were pitching in to help with the chores morning and afternoon, but now that will happen only on weekends, vacations, and after school, when there isn't practice for something.

Karen and I will pick up most of the slack, taking care of the fencing for the cows and the feeding and watering of the turkeys and chickens. Ben took care of those things almost every day through the summer. In the morning it will mean we will get done 30-45 minutes later than what we had been. It makes us appreciate the help our boys give us. My herd clinic vet, Dr. Steve, has had farmer clients that he felt almost went through a period of depression at the start of school when their sons or daughters went back to school leaving them with more work to do. While we get used to the back-to-school routine, I just keep reminding myself not to get too worked up about what needs to be done around the farm. I try to prioritize what needs to be done first, knowing that everything will get done and situations will always work themselves out.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Compost makes the grass grow best

Today I attended a field day at the Fourges' family dairy farm in Alburg, Vermont. Travis and Henry are also Organic Valley farmers, and they started shipping organic milk the very same day we did, October 1, 1997. The past two summers, they have been working with Bill Murphy, a University of Vermont professor, author, and grazing expert, on experimenting with different soil amendments and with irrigation to see what would give them the best grass production on their farm.

Their test plot was divided into at least 8 different plots, with one plot a control where nothing was applied to the land. On the other plots they applied such things as compost, fish-based fertilizer, fish-and-kelp-based fertilizer, crab meal, and a balanced N-P-K fertilizer. I was very happy to see that the plots yielding the highest tons-per-acre were the plots that had only compost applied to them. This means a lot since compost can be generated right on the farm at a low cost to the farmer, compared to buying these other soil amendments that can be quite expensive per acre to buy and apply. I hope Mr. Murphy will be publishing his findings so that I could post them here at some point.

It was nice to visit someone else's farm to see what they are doing different from us, and it was nice to see some familiar faces and hear what is going on in their lives. I even managed to make a deal with one of the folks at the meeting to trade some turkeys for half a pig to put in our freezer. Pork is the one thing we don't raise here at Howmars Farm....yet. On September 15, another field day discussing soil and forage fertilization will be held at a couple of farms just miles from our place. I'll have to go to that one to hear what those farmers use on their fields and to put up Professor Murphy's findings for discussion. A little controversy is always interesting.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Bales of hay--round or square?

Judy, from Chester County, Pennsylvania, had a question on yesterday's blog entry about putting up square hay bales here on the farm. She sees a lot of round hay bales where she lives and wondered why we put up square (rectangle) bales. Actually, the majority of the hay we feed here on the farm is put up as large round bales.

We put up 1600-1800 square bales to feed primarily in the young stock barn. The younger animals get started better on the second-cut dry square bales, and they are easier to handle bringing into the young stock barn. For the milking herd and the older heifers/steers outside, we bring in 700 wrapped round bales. One round bale is equal to 15-20 square bales. The round bales work well for feeding the older animals. The feed is good quality, because they are wrapped in plastic we can store them anywhere, and handling them with the tractor takes less manpower than storing and feeding all round bales.

So, here at Howmars Farm we feed both types of bales. But sometimes I wish we were still feeding all square bales. There is just something nice about going to the barn on a cold January night to give the cows another feed of hay before going to bed. You climb the ladder to the haymow and throw down a dozen bales. The cows poke their heads through the uprights of the feed bunk in anticipation of fresh hay, their breath coming out in puffs of steam from their nostrils. You take each bale, place your jacknife under the twine strings, and cut the bale open, freeing the hay that has been compacted for the last 5 months. As you finish, you walk back along the front of the cows listening to them munch contentedly on the hay. Wrapped round bales are nice, but, as usual, the old way of dry square bales just seems nicer.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Finally, dry weather makes for good haying

This past week was the one we have been waiting for since late July. Up to this point we had not had enough sunny, warm days in a row to make dry hay into square bales. We need at least 3 nice days in a row to dry the hay enough so that it won't mold and spoil once it is baled. The "square bales" (actually they are rectangular) are about 3 1/2 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 1 1/2 feet thick and weigh 30 to 40 pounds. We use these bales to feed the younger animals that are kept in the young stock barn.

Dennis Demar, our forage supplier, mowed the hay on Monday and it was ready to bale on Thursday. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon Dad pulled in with the first wagonload of bales. Dad trucked the wagons back and forth between our farm and Dennis', about 5 miles away. The unloading crew was comprised of Karen, Ben, Justin, Noah, me, and my brother, Steve, who graciously came home from work early to give us a hand. Over the next 2 1/2 to 3 hours we unloaded 5 loads of hay for a total of 700 bales. Each bale was placed on a conveyor sitting on the wagon, taken off the end of the conveyor inside the barn, tossed to a waiting pair of hands, and then carefully stacked into the growing criss-cross pile of bales in the haymow. After the extremely wet summer we have been suffering through, we were extremely happy to have these precious bales safely inside our barn.

Of course, there was still the evening milking and chores to do. We finished around 9 p.m., tired but satisfied with a day's work well done.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Cow Power--large dairies generating their own electricity

In a recent Mark Trail comic strip in the Sunday funnies, Mark Trail was talking about methane production from cows and what some people think it is doing to the environment. There is some concern that methane from the ruminating cows is contributing to global warming. A few days later in the same paper, The Burlington Free Press, they ran an article about a large dairy in central Vermont that is going to take the methane produced by decomposing manure and use it to generate electricity.

The project on the 1,500-cow dairy farm will cost $1.2 million and will produce enough electricity to supply 300 homes for a year. The manure is placed in a large tank called a digester. As the manure breaks down, methane is produced and is piped to the generator. The methane is burned to power the generator and produce electricity. The electricity will enter the power grid right from the farm. The farm currently has an electric bill of $70,000 per year and hopes to take in two or three times that figure.

There are several benefits to this project. One, the project provides another generation source for electricity. Two, it provides another source of income for the farm. Three, removing the methane from the manure reduces the odor by 90 percent. And four, the cooked and dried manure can be sold as compost, used as bedding, or used as fertilizer on the farm. However, to make a project like this work, it takes a farm with at least 300 cows to generate enough methane gas. Needless to say, there won't be any organic farms here in Vermont (organic farms being small operations) putting in a system like this.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

The controversial tale of cattle tail-docking

We subscribe to several dairy publications to provide us with information to help us run our farm better. One of those publications is Hoard's Dairyman, started in 1885. In the August 10, 2004 issue, there was a brief announcement from the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) regarding tail-docking of cattle. For those of you who don't know what tail docking is, it is the removal of all but 6-8 inches of the animal's tail. This is routinely done to cows on many farms.

This practice was touted as a way to keep animals cleaner, and to reduce the risk of mastitis infection in cows. Farmers jumped on the bandwagon and many started removing the tails of their cows. I was not impressed with the idea, and since transitioning to organic production 7 years ago, I am even less supportive of doing this to cows. I felt all along that it was mainly something farmers did for their comfort, not for the benefit of the cows. For example, in the new parlors on the large commercial dairies the cows are milked from behind, not from the side. In these parlors there are troughs behind the cows to catch the manure and urine. By removing most of the cow's tail, it keeps the tail from swishing in the trough and keeps everything cleaner for the person doing the milking.

I must say I was overjoyed when the AVMA's Animal Welfare Committee stated it's position on tail docking by releasing the statement, "The AVMA opposes routine tail docking of cattle. Current scientific literature indicates that routine tail docking provides no benefit to the animal and that tail docking can lead to distress during fly season." It made me very sad to drive by a farm in the summertime and see cows outside with no tails to swish the flies off their backs. I applaud the committee for taking the stance they did on this issue.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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The merits of manure composting--better for everybody!

Back in May, Jonathan wrote about how he uses manure on his organic dairy farm. We thought it ws worth repeating here, for our new Bovine Bugle readers:

Now that we are composting most of our dairy manure, we sell some for another source of income for the farm. We are doing more composting of our manure because we feel the compost is better for our soils than raw manure or even manure that has been stacked for awhile.

More and more organic farmers are composting their manure for the same reason. The majority of conventional dairy farmers store their manure in pits and add enough water to make it liquid. This makes it easy to pump it into big liquid manure spreaders, and to handle high volumes of the liquid manure. Many organic farmers feel this liquid manure is very harsh on the soil and, more importantly, on the organisms living in the soil. Compost is a very gentle product and feeds and nurtures the organisms in the soil. Composting usually requires more time and effort than a liquid manure system but organic farmers feel its worth it.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

A heifer gives birth to a calf

We had noticed an animal hanging back from the rest of the milking herd out in the grazing paddock. I was sure it was one of the heifers due soon that we had put in with the cows to get them acclimated to the barn, the milking facility, and the milking herd. Maybe she was getting ready to calve. When it was time for the afternoon milking, I walked down the lane to let the cows up to the barn. There was a new calf, and the mother was one of the heifers, Oriana, in with the milking herd.

I talked about Oriana in a blog I did on May 4. That day she wasn't too well, but she came through that setback fine. She calved 8 days before her due date, not unusual for a heifer calving for the first time. The calf, a heifer, was smaller than normal but otherwise okay. I wonder if the calf was small due to the setback Oriana had in May. Oriana followed me and her calf all the way up the lane, through the gate, and into the barn. After milking, we gave her calf some nice, warm colostrum and she sucked it all down.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

A cool day to cut wood for spring's maple sugaring

Son Benjamin helps split the wood.

A change in the weather brought us a nice, cool, sunny day... a perfect day to split and stack firewood for our maple sugaring operation. We burn 6-8 cords of wood each sugaring season (March-early April). During the summer we try to fill up the sugarhouse woodshed so that we will have a good supply of dry firewood come next March.

We had a few rows of 3-foot-long wood that needed splitting. We use a hydraulic woodsplitter run off a tractor PTO (power take off) to split the hardwood/softwood pieces that are too large for the firebox of the arch. I had the splitter hitched on, and had split a couple loader bucket-loads, before Ben came along to give me a hand. He stacked the wood in the bucket and then dumped and stacked the wood in the woodshed while I continued splitting the large pieces. In a couple of hours, we had the rows of wood all taken care of, and we had another 2 1/2 cords of wood ready for next spring. We did all the splitting under the watchful eye of a snake sunning itself on a section of the woodpile.

We use wood in our sugaring operation for several reasons. It's a renewable resource, we have an ample supply of hardwood and softwood on the farm, it's the traditional fuel that sugarmakers first used to boil the maple sap, and we think it makes our syrup taste better. Many of the sugarmakers now use fuel oil to run their sugar rigs, taking away some of the tradition that makes sugarmaking so special.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

** Tell me what you would like to know about organic dairy farming in northern Vermont and I will write about those things in the near future! Just fill out the comment box below.

Clinic day reveals two surprise pregnancies!

My herd clinic vet, Steve Wadsworth, was at the farm this morning to do some paperwork on a project he is doing with several farmers in the area. Noah came in and talked with Dr. Steve about the lariat Steve let him try a couple of clinics ago. That reminded me of what we used the lariat for that day.

Our monthly herd clinic was moved up a day this month. Dr. Steve was participating in a charity golf tournament tomorrow, our regular clinic day, so he came this morning to do the regular monthly pregnancy and post-calving checks, vaccinations, and whatever else we needed looking at. Today we checked 8-10 cows and heifers that we would soon be breeding to make sure their reproductive systems were fine and functioning normally. We had a nice surprise when we checked two heifers that I thought were not pregnant, but we found out they were both almost 3 months pregnant.

The biggest challenge today was to catch Scooter, a 6-month old Angus bull that had been outside with its mother since he was born last November. Scooter needed to be steered and we needed to catch him, which would be a challenge since we had never handled him before. All our bulls that we raise for beef production are steered or "fixed" for two main reasons. The first reason is for saftey. Bulls can become aggressive as they mature and we don't want anyone getting hurt here on the farm from a bull charging. Every year we hear of some farmer in the area being attackd by a bull on their farm. The second reason is we don't want any of our heifers being bred by a bull in our beef operation.

We managed to get Scooter and several other animals in the corral. Using Dr. Steve's lariat--yes, a real cowboy lariat--we snagged Scooter and snubbed him up to a post. We then also put a good, rugged halter on him and then Dr. Steve went to work. The process is very humane, not involving surgery, and we thought Scooter was a very good patient. I think we had a harder time letting Scooter go. Once we started loosening the restraints, he really started jumping around, but we turned him loose without incident. Noah, who loves playing a cowboy, was helping all through clinic that morning and tried twirling Dr. Steve's lariat once we were done with it.

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Can't make hay when the sun don't shine

The farmer we buy our winter feed from, Dennis Demar, has been done with the first cutting of hay long enough to be thinking of trying to do the second cutting. Dennis puts all the first cutting of hay into large round bales that he bales wet and wraps in several layers of plastic so that the hay ferments. Because the grass is baled wet, he can mow the grass one day and bale it the next. The second crop of hay is put up mostly as dry square bales and this is posing a problem for Dennis so far this summer.

To make dry hay usually takes at least 3 sunny, warm days. During those 3 days you use machinery to spread the hay out and fluff it up to help it dry. With the weather patterns we've had lately, we have been lucky to have 2 nice days in a row. I'm getting concerned because we are almost out of square bales, which we use to feed the young heifers still in the heifer barn. And if Dennis doesn't get the second crop off soon he might be able to take a third cutting from the fields. The weather forecast for the end of the week is looking a little better. With a little luck, we'll be mowing away hay this weekend.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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It's blueberry-picking time in northern Vermont!

We were coming home from church in nearby Enosburg when we noticed a sign for blueberries at the local orchard in Franklin. Vallaincourt's Orchard is mainly in the apple business, but for several years now they have had pick-your-own blueberries. We stopped in to pick a few pounds and to see how the crop was shaping up. Chris said because of all the rain the crop was excellent, and after picking a gallon bucketful in no time at all, we had to agree.

Karen, Justin, Noah, and I headed back to the orchard a few days later to pick enough blueberries to freeze for use through the fall and winter. Karen likes to freeze blueberries on cookie sheets and store them in plastic tubs. This way she can easily take out just what she needs for whatever she needs them for (I root for blueberry pie). The picking was even better today. We picked almost 20 pounds of blueberries in the same amount of time it took us to pick 6 pounds the other day. Justin did a great job picking, and Noah, well, he picked for a little while and then took refuge in the shade of a large blueberry bush.

Picking blueberries was a fun break from the chores on the farm, and it's nice to do business with another local farmer in our town. I like to support local businesses whenever possible, hoping people in the area will do the same for me. I know people who drive across the border into Quebec to pick blueberries because it is cheaper, but I would rather support someone right in my hometown even if I have to spend a little more to do it.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Check out Stonyfield's recipe for Blueberry Scones, using yogurt as a healthy substitute for fat!

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The grass is green and growing fast

The cows are starting their fourth rotation through the grazing paddocks and the grass is the best it's been all grazing season. The recent rainfall and hot, humid weather has really speeded up the growth of the grass. Through much of May, June, and early July the rain was plentiful, but the day and nightime temperatures were below normal. The cows will have plenty of feed through this rotation, and there will be plenty of "leftovers" for the dry cows following along behind.

With all the lush growth, we've seen a jump in the milk production of the cows. The better the quality and amount of the grass, the less we need to spend on grain to supplement the cow's diet. With better grass quality we can feed a lower protein grain, which lowers the cost of the grain. And with more grass volume, the cows eat less grain so we buy less. This is why grass farmers make milk for less money during the grazing season, and why some farmers have "seasonal" herds. Seasonal means that farmers have all their cows calve in the spring to take full advantage of the grazing season, and then have the whole herd dry during the two to three months of the winter when it is most expensive to produce milk.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Should junk food vending machines be banned in U.S. public schools?
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On environmental issues: The Dairy Planet
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People travel from miles around just to find the farm!

This afternoon we had one of those surprise visits at the farm that just made me grin. It was just after lunch and I was heading down to the barn to check on some things when an RV pulled into the dooryard. I wasn't expecting anyone so I went out to see what was going on. An older couple got out of the RV and introduced themselves as Ed and Vera from Colebrook, NH. Vera had found information about our farm on the internet and they had decided to find our farm and buy some of our organic meat.

I was flabberghasted that someone would go to all that trouble to find our little farm. We had a nice visit, Ed and Vera bought a couple packages of hamburg (Note to Non-New Englanders: "Hamburg" is considered the correct term for ground beef in New England.), a package of steak, and a small chicken, and we had a good chuckle when Vera mistook the small red gas can on the edge of the garden for a colorful bird. I gave them some road directions to head them in the direction they wanted to go and they were off on the road back to New Hampshire. "Out of the blue" visits like this make life interesting here on the farm. I'm amazed at how small the world has become, and I'm proud of the way how we chose to operate our farm is making a difference to people we meet.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Visit our other blogs and join the discussion:
On enviromental issues: The Dairy Planet
Get junk food out of schools: Creating Healthy Kids
Daily life and challenges at Stonyfield Farm: The Daily Scoop
Learn stress-busting, fitness and advocacy tips: Strong Women Daily News

Our own Paul Bunyons go to work

About this time of year for the past few years we cut a couple loads of firewood for a relative that camps at the lake all summer. Our relative uses a short length of wood in her camp stove so we usually take some wood we have stacked and dried and cut it in half or thirds to have it the right length for her.

I ran the chainsaw, cutting the 3-foot lengths of hardwood into 1-foot pieces. Ben picked up the cut pieces and threw them into the back of the pickup. Some of the pieces were too big, and Ben split them with a splitting ax. Justin and Noah then stacked the wood in the back of the truck. It took us about an hour to finish the load. After lunch, Justin, Noah, and I delivered the wood to camp while Ben clipped some of the heifer grazing strips. The boys spent more time visiting with Meri Lee and playing in the lake than unloading wood, but that was okay. The part the boys like best about doing firewood for Meri Lee is that they all get a share of the pay for the firewood.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Logs become lumber right on the farm

We've been in the lumber business the last couple of days. A man who lives here in Franklin, Lloyd Richard, has a portable sawmill that he brings right to the farm to saw our logs. He has been here 5 or 6 times over the last 15 years or so, and several of the buildings here on the farm have been built with lumber he has sawn. It gives me a little more satisfaction seeing a building built from lumber that came from logs we cut and hauled from our woods.

Lloyd was sawing white pine into 3-inch wide boards to use as batten on the utility farm building we built a little over a year ago. The narrow boards will cover up the spaces between the wide pine boards we used to side the building. I could watch Lloyd mill logs all day. It's just so interesting watching the logs being milled into just the lumber you need for the project you are working on. As Lloyd sawed the logs, I "tailed the saw," pulling the fresh cut boards off the saw rig and loading them onto the wagon. We ended up sawing a little over a thousand board feet. We call the farm building the boards are meant for the "Horsebarn" because it replaces one of the original farm buildings that collapsed a few years ago due to heavy snow. We called that building the "Horsebarn" because it housed the horses when they were used to do the fieldwork here at Howmars Farm. Cowboy Noah (my son) really thinks we should get a horse so that we could keep it in the new "Horsebarn".

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

A new calf goes four-wheeling

I was mowing the lawn after dinner last night when Dad came up the road and asked me if I knew a cow had calved out in the pasture. I knew a cow was due to calve today so I assumed it was her. I told Dad once Ben got back from cross-country practice we would go down and get the cow and calf. Of course the cow was at the furthest point from the barn.

Ben had a quick bite when he got home and then we headed down to the pasture on the four-wheeler. It was one of those really warm, calm July evenings and a crescent moon was hanging low in the western sky. As we drove down the pasture lane the air was heavy with the scent of the flowering plants lining the sides of the lane. All the dry cows were crowded around the new mom and calf. The cow was the one due today, Queenie. We were very happy to see that the new calf was a heifer. We placed the calf in the basket on the back of the four-wheeler. As Ben drove the four-wheeler back to the barn I walked behind holding the frisky heifer in the basket. Queenie followed along right at our heels, not letting her calf out of her sight. When we got to the pasture gate I had to drive a couple of the other very "maternal feeling" dry cows back down the lane.

Queenie followed us right up to the front of the barn, and when Ben scooped up the calf in his arms and went through the barn door, Queenie followed them right in to the pen. We made sure Queenie had fresh water, hay, and grain before parking the four-wheeler.and heading to the house. Before going to bed, I went down to check on the new mom and her baby. They were all set for the night.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Nine weeks later, chicks become chickens

It's hard to believe that 9 weeks have passed since the meat bird chicks arrived here at the farm. They have grown from fuzzy little yellow balls that you could hold in the palm of your hand to 6- to 10-pound birds that you can hardly hold onto with two hands. I had made arrangements with Dave and Judy Adams at Adams Turkey Farm in Westford, Vermont to process the meat chickens. They raise several thousand turkeys and have a state-inspected poultry processing facility. I have been bringing our turkeys and meat chickens to them for several years for processing because they do such a wonderful job.

Ben, Karen, and I loaded the 60 chickens into the back of the pickup truck for the 35-mile ride to the Adams' farm. Noah and Justin rode along with me to give me a hand unloading the birds. The trip down was fine, although we did eat some sawdust and feathers as we crawled around in the back of the truck catching the chickens. Dave and Judy were already hard at work on some of the other 150 chickens they had to do that day. I told Dave we would be back to pick up the processed birds after the evening milking, hopefully around 6:30. Noah, Justin, and I headed back to Franklin, with a quick stop for a doughnut to reward my helpers for their good work.

--Read more about a visit with the poultry processors tomorrow.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

The laying hens get a new summer house

Today I was working on the laying hen's summer house. I made a set of laying boxes that would attach on the inside of the uprights of the shelter so that we wouldn't have to take the layer boxes out every time we moved the shelter. We move the shelter every 2-3 days to a fresh spot in the pasture. This keeps the hens clean and gives them fresh grass to eat and fresh ground to scratch.

I was working on the lawn so I had a view of the meadow where Scooter and his herdmates were grazing. Scooter had been a little stand-offish since last Thursday's procedure and we hoped he wasn't having any ill effects. As I worked, I could see Scooter and his mom. At one point, Scooter started jumping around as if he was getting excited about something. Then I spotted one of the older Angus steers walking into the grazing strip where Scooter was standing. Scooter ran up to the older steer and started butting heads with him. They played and wrestled around for several minutes, all under the watchful eye of Scooter’s mom. It was interesting to witness the social dynamics of these animals. Because we always separate our animals, we rarely have several age groups of animals interacting together. I wonder if it makes the animals happier in a group with animals of all ages?

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

A new fence means a new paddock for the cows

After chores this morning my brother-in-law, Marty, wanted to know what he could help me tackle. He had worked pretty hard for me yesterday, tearing down old barbed wire fence and doing some mowing in the Christmas trees. I said let's rebuild that fence so that the older heifers and steers would have some fresh pasture, and then we could finish in the Christmas trees.

We ran a second strand of barbed wire on the posts where Marty and Steve worked yesterday, and then tightened up both strands. By the time we were done, Marty was a pretty well-trained fence builder. We opened up the gate to the new paddock and the happy heifers and steers ran in and started munching happily.

With the fencing done, we headed to the Christmas trees to finish mowing the grass growing between the rows of trees. We chose several years ago, even before becoming organic dairy producers, to stop using herbicides to control the grass growing around the Christmas trees. This means we have to be a little more diligent with our mowing and we have to do hand trimming with a hand sickle up close to the young trees. This keeps the grasses, goldenrod, and vetch from smothering the young trees and killing them. Marty and I took turns running the DR Fieldmower that we use to mow between the trees. Even though the mower is self-propelled and has several forward gears, it still gives you a good work out walking up and down between the rows and manuevering it around the trees. It does look nice once the mowing is done. The trees are beautiful this time of year with all the new, lush growth.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

The cows get moo-ving to new quarters

It was a rainy day today--a good day to do some inside work in the heifer barn. The heifer barn is where our young stock are kept until they are old enough to go outside. We have two rows of tie stanchions in the heifer barn, one row sized for younger animals and the other row sized for older, larger animals. The heifers on the small animal side were getting too big for that side, so we moved 12 of them over to the now empty big animal side. Before moving the animals we had to fix several leaky water bowls and a couple of chain ties on the big animal side. Once that was done, we shuffled the heifers and a couple of Angus steers across the gutters and alley to their more spacious confines.

We then moved the remaining four heifers on the small animal side to the far end of that side, and then moved four calves out of the calf pens and onto the small animal side. These calves are two months old, the age we normally move them out of the calf pens. At 2 months of age, they are eating hay and grain well and are ready to be weaned off milk. With these calves out of the pens we could then clean those four pens, bed them with fresh sawdust, and move the remaining three calves in to the clean pens. This left the last three pens to be cleaned tomorrow to be ready for the two heifer calves born the other day. All together we moved 23 animals around in the heifer barn this afternoon. Whew!!!

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

It’s June. Think Christmas.

With all the cows, heifers, and steers out grazing with their needs met for a few days, and with the baby chicks well-situated, it looked liked a good time to plant our balsam fir transplants. The weather looked good for today and tomorrow so I headed off to the rental place to get an earth auger. We use the auger with an 8" tip to make the holes to plant the trees. It took me two hours to auger 110 or so 16" deep holes. I always do a few more holes than I have seedlings just in case I lose count while I'm making the holes.

The planting goes pretty fast with the holes already prepared. Son Noah kept my Mom company while wife Karen and I headed over to plant the trees. We brought a bucket load of compost, the trees, a wheelbarrow, a round-pointed shovel, and plenty of insect repellant with us. In each hole we put a shovelful of compost to mix with the soil that was augered out of the hole. Then the transplant is planted, taking care to arrange the root mass in the hole and to pack the soil/compost firmly around the tree. It took us about two hours and 3 wheelbarrow loads of compost to plant 100 trees. There is something very calming about working with plants/seedlings and the soil. While you plant that tree, you are thinking about how it will grow, and how you will shear it and shape it into a beautiful tree for some family to enjoy during some future holiday season.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Extra farm hands volunteer for the weekend

We had some extra help over the weekend. Saturday, son Ben had his buddy Seth Erno over for the day to help us catch up on some chores. My sister, Patty, and her husband, Marty, arrived in the afternoon and stayed until early Sunday evening and they gave us a hand with some things, too. With my mom recovering well from her surgery and my dad spending time taking care of her, Karen, the boys, and I have more work to do around the farm. It's nice when an extra hand shows up. My brother-in-law, Marty, helped Ben and Seth put sawdust in half of the freestalls Saturday afternoon, and he helped me milk Saturday night and both milkings Sunday. He really impressed me Sunday morning, showing up at the barn at 5 a.m. just as I was starting to milk the cows. No one had been up that early in the morning to help me in quite a while! He really lifted my spirits, going out of his way to help me when he could have been snoozing in bed.

Marty's pitching in and helping me was a great of example of what happens on a family farm. When there is a special project going on here, or it’s a busy sugaring weekend, or its time to put in a couple thousand square bales of hay, or when some one is laid up or hurting, someone always shows up to give us a hand. And we always return the favor when we can. That's why small family farms built such strong communities and why the large factory farms are tearing apart this sense of community in towns all across this country.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

A cow with an upset stomach

Brault's Slaughterhouse called early this morning to say they would be at the farm around 9 to pick up animals we were shipping for our beef business. We shipped an Angus steer and a Jersey cow we wanted to cull from the herd. We cull or remove a cow from the herd when her milk production is poor or when we can't get her pregnant again.

In the afternoon, Karen noticed that one of the older bred heifers was standing off by herself and not looking very well. We brought the heifer, Oriana, into the maternity room and put her into a freshly-bedded pen. Her temperature was okay, but she seemed a little bloated and uncomfortable. Sometimes in the spring when the animals first start grazing they might eat a plant that upsets their digestive system. I thought this was probably what was happening to the heifer. We gave her aspirin and an Epsom salt drench. Epsom salts is a magnesium salt and acts as a mild laxative to help relieve digestive upsets. When I checked on Oriana before going to bed she was looking much better and had drunk some water and eaten a little hay.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Lush, nutritious grass keeps the cows happy

This morning I needed to head over to Doug Flack's for some electrical fencing supplies. Doug sold me my first supplies that started me in rotational grazing 17 years ago. Grazing is so important on our farm, as it is on all organic farms. The majority of conventional farms does not graze at all and often do not let their cows out of the barn at all. This boggles my mind when you have a cow that is designed and made to go out to eat grass and farmers keep them shut up in a barn, haul the feed in, haul the manure out, and they call that progress!

Rotational grazing is a system designed by Andre Voisin, a French biologist, chemist, and farmer. The system takes into account the needs of both the plant and the animal, not the animal alone. The Voisin system divides the pastures into small areas (paddocks) and rotates animals through them. The system provides the cows with lush, nutritious grass, and then allows the plants time to regrow before they are grazed again. With the electric fencing system we use, we have great flexibility to take the 45 acres of grazing land we have and divide it into paddocks for our milking cows, heifers, beef animals, and poultry.

Grazing our animals with the Voisin system provides our animals with the very best forage possible, keeps our animals healthy by giving them exercise and sunshine, and give us--the farmers--a break by reducing the amount of labor needed to care for the cows. After a long, hard winter we love to see the cows go out to pasture!!

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Preparing to set the cows out to graze

With the grass greening up and some very warm weather in the forecast, I thought I'd better get ready to do some fencing. I headed to the woods around mid-morning to cut some northern white cedar for fence posts. We're fortunate to have a fair amount of this tree species growing on the farm. We cut the cedar trees into 6' lengths to use for posts, and if the trees are fairly big in diameter we may split the 6' section into 2 or 4 posts. We also cut longer cedar poles 10 to 12 feet in length to use for corner braces. By 1 o'clock, I had 25 to 30 posts cut! This supply of cedar, along with the insultimber electric fence posts I buy, should repair most of the fence on the farm. I'm planning to go to Doug Flack's tomorrow to buy the rest of the fencing supplies, to get the pastures ready for grazing. Doug sells Gallager Fencing Equipment, a New Zealand-based company. Many of the techniques we use for fencing and grazing here in the U.S. have come from New Zealand.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Grain vs. grass--How they feed the cows

Recently, one of our readers posted a question after reading one of my blogs regarding our organic beef. The question was: "Are our beef and dairy animals all grass-fed or do we also feed them grain?"

Here at Howmars Farm, all our animals receive some grain on a daily basis. We introduce grain, in small amounts, to calves when they are a couple weeks old. By the time the calves are weaned they are eating a few pounds a day. From the age of about four months until calving (for females) or slaughter (for steers) the animals receive 5-6 pounds of grain per day. Once the heifers calve and begin milking we increase their grain intake gradually to 16-18 pounds per day. During the cow's dry period they do not get any grain.

Why the debate over feeding or not feeding grain to dairy and beef animals?

Mainly its the nutrional difference of dairy products and beef produced with or without a diet including grain. For instance, studies have shown that dairy and beef products produced without grain have a much higher level of CLA's (conjugated linoleic acid) than those products produced using grain in the diet. There is an excellent website, www.eatwild.com, that has information regarding how good meat and dairy from grass-based animals is for us.

Why do we feed grain here on our farm? We feel because of the genetics of our registered Jeseys they would not do well without grain in their diet. Our cows are high producers and we feel their health and production would suffer without grain. The other reason is that there is no premium that we could receive for producing milk without grain. To make changes in our genetic program or our feed program would result in lower production from our cows. Like any business, if our production is going to be lower we would hope our price paid per unit for our product would go up to maintain our income level.

Thanks for the question--and send more using the comment feature below!

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

VITAMINS AND MINERALS FOR A NEW MOTHER

Irma and her newborn calf are doing great! I had given Irma a homeopathic remedy, calcarea carbonica, the last few days prior to calving to help her system handle the demand for milk production. Calcarea carbonica is made from the middle layer of the oyster shell, and is used as a prophylactic remedy to prevent milk fever in fresh cows. After calving I added electrolytes to her drinking water to help her with stress of calving. The electrolytes are in granular form in an 8 ounce container. I add half a container to 5 gallons of water. The electrolytes are essential minerals the cow needs but may become deficient in during times of stress or when feed intake is reduced. The product I used contains potassium, calcium, and magnesium. I can't be sure if these pre- and post-natal therapies are the reason Irma is doing so well, but she is doing much better than the last few cows that calved. Cows calving during the winter months and older cows calving are more apt to have metabolic problems such as a lack of calcium or magnesium. The cow then loses her appetite, and her condition can worsen. By giving the cow homeopathic remedies or electrolytes we can alleviate these problems and keep the cow eating and feeling good.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

The merits of manure composting

When I came in from chores this morning, Karen had two phone messages from people wanting to get some compost today. One person was a new customer from a couple towns over who would come with her pickup for a little over a yard of compost. She eventually wants 6 yards or so. The other call was from an organic vegetable grower right here in Franklin. He has been buying compost from us for the last 3 years. He wanted two dump trailer loads (7 yards) . It's only two miles into the village so I delivered it right to his garden with my tractor and dump trailer.

Now that we are composting most of our dairy manure, we sell some for another source of income for the farm. We are doing more composting of our manure because we feel the compost is better for our soils than raw
manure or even manure that has been stacked for awhile. More and more organic farmers are composting their manure for the same reason. The majority of conventional dairy farmers store their manure in pits and add enough water to make it liquid. This makes it easy to pump it into big liquid manure spreaders, and to handle high volumes of the liquid manure. Many
organic farmers feel this liquid manure is very harsh on the soil and, more importantly, on the organisms living in the soil. Compost is a very gentle product
and feeds and nurtures the organisms in the soil. Composting usually requires more time and effort than a liquid manure system but organic farmers feel its
worth it.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Analyzing the grain and hay needs for spring

I was getting ready to go to the barn when Mike Thresher, the grain salesman from Morrison's Custom Feeds, pulled into the dooryard. Mike stops by every few weeks to see how things on the farm are going and if we have any questions or needs. Mike also takes forage samples of our hay to be analyzed to make sure our grain ration fills in any nutritional gaps left from the forages. Today we mostly discussed changes we will make in the grain once the cows begin grazing the first grass of the season. After Mike left, the man we buy our hay from, Dennis Demar, pulled in with a wagon load of round bales. We had a lively discussion on the national organic standard regarding replacement animals for organic dairies. Dennis would like to raise some heifers using organic feed and then sell these heifers to organic dairy farmers. He wanted to know who he would have to buy the calves from in order for them (the calves) to qualify for organic certification when they are ready to be sold as springing heifers. Under the National Organic Standards (205.236 origin of livestock), the wording is rather ambiguous and people are interpretinginterperting it in two different ways as to where replacement animals can come from. Because of this I couldn't really give Dennis a clear answer. I suggested he talk with the people at the NOFA-VT office to get their opinion on the subject.

--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

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

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

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

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