The Bovine Bugle

While the farmer's away, the cow has her say

Dairy Farmer and Blogger Jonathan Gates is off duty this week, taking a much-needed family vacation to Maine. In his absence, we thought we'd remind his readers of Stonyfield's "Have a Cow" program. For $3, you or someone you love can sponsor a cow and learn about life on the farm through quarterly newsletters and updates on the sponsored cow's adventures. Here's a sample of a Cow Biography that comes with Have A Cow sponsorship. This letter is from Glenwood Dana, who just happens to live on Jonathan's farm:

Hello from Howmars Farm,

I'm a tall, reddish-brown Jersey cow with white patches. I was born in Vermont on January 3, 1995 and my name is Howmars Glenwood Dena. I freshened with my first calf, a bull, on June 25, 1997 and I have been producing about five gallons of milk a day since then.

I go out to the pasture with the rest of the registered Jerseys between mid-May and mid-October. Here we dine on nutritious grasses and legumes which, in turn, help us make milk. My real owner, Jonathan Gates, uses an intensive rotational grazing system. With portable fiberglass posts and electrified wire, he divides the pasture acreage into smaller sections called paddocks. Each day, the 70 members of the milking herd clip and nibble the "greens" from a fresh paddock.

After we've eaten our fill, the 35 dry cows and heifer calves finish up what's left. Then the paddock is allowed to regrow for three or four weeks. With this sustainable grazing system, the soil does not become compacted or eroded by our hooves, and we get to eat the grasses when they're nutritionally at their peak.

Since Howmars Farm has only 45 tillable acres of land, careful management of its resources is essential. Jonathan has always spread manure to increase soil fertility, but since we've become a certified organic milk supplier, even closer attention is given to the pastures. As Jonathan notes, "It all begins with the land and how we treat it."

First, a certification team inspected our farm and farm records. Then, soil samples from all sections of the pasture were tested to determine what supplements were needed to improve its quality. The nutrient level of our soil tested high; all our fields required was some lime (the crushed mineral, not the fruit!)-a common need for New England farmland. These results demonstrated that Howmars Farm already was using ecological soil management techniques.

The grass that grows from the soil feeds our herd in the warmer months, and we, in turn, feed the soil with our manure. From such earthy beginnings is good milk made!

Sign up for Have A Cow, now!

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WHAT’S UP WITH THE COWS DOWN ON THE FARM?

It seems rather obvious to say this, but Stonyfield Farm yogurts wouldn’t be possible without cows and the farmers who tend them. Stonyfield Farm believes that family farms are a better alternative because the farmers tend to live on the land that they are stewarding and, therefore, are much more careful about the inputs to the land and their animals. Certainly certified organic family farms are better for the planet, for the cows and for you. Here at the Bovine Bugle Blog we want to introduce you to the everyday challenges facing a family trying to make an organic dairy farm work. Our farmer “reporter” Jonathan Gates will give us the daily news from Howmars Farm in Franklin, Vermont. We want you, wherever you are, to come here to visit the farms we get to visit, and to ask a lot of questions. And we hope you’ll get to know the cows.