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.
February 27, 2006
"Moo-vie" news: Milking cows on a frigid morning
Though winter temperatures at Howmars Farm up near the Canadian border haven't been too bad, there was a really cold spell for about a week back in early January. In this video from the farm, Jonathan demonstrates the milking routine he does every morning and every afternoon. On this particular morning, the outside temperature was 15 below zero. The somewhat roaring sound you hear in the background is the kerosene heater used to heat the milking parlor when temperatures dip. The cows never seem to mind. They munch happily as the milking machines and Jonathan do the work. Cows are milked three at a time and while they're milking, another three come in to the other side of the milking parlor and Jonathan swings all the equipment to the opposite side.
To play the video, press the arrow in the center of the screen.
--Jonathan (left), Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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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
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The whole family went out for a ski today. Karen, Ben, Justin, Noah, Yukon, and I had a great time cruising the open pastures, manuvering through the woods, and climbing up and schussing down the hills. It's fun to have all the boys with us, to see how well they ski and to bring back memories of when we started skiing around the farm with Ben when he was about 5 years old.
When we ski past the barnyard the cows always line up along the railing as though longing to join us on our romp around the fields. At the end of our ski today, one of the older heifers being overwintered in the pole barn met us at the gate. She was the same heifer that met Karen and me at the same gate yesterday. You could see her stroll along the fence line to be there at the gate as we came through the meadow. She looked as though she wished that boots and skis came in sets of fours, not twos.
--Jonathan (left), Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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The cross country skiing has been pretty good around the farm. On a few of our outings through the woods we have noticed a lot of snowfleas along the edges of wetter areas along the trail. I'm assuming this is due to the abundant moisture in the ground, the ground not being frozen, and temperatures for the winter being well above the long term average.
Snowfleas, or springtails, are an order of insects that are very primitive. They are soft-bodied, wingless, and hop about when a muscular structure at the tip of the abdomen is arched and released. The species feeds on microscopic fungi and algae, thus helping breakdown decaying masses of leaves and moss. The picture I took was a swarm of the common snowflea, dull black in color and often seen to blanket the snow. Another species seen here in the northeast is the snowmelt springtail, dull red in color and occuring more often in the spring as the snow melts. This must be the species of snowflea old-timers look for the hearld the start of maple sugaring season.
Yukon, our black Lab, loves the snow so much we kidded that we were worried he might come home infested with snowfleas! It's fun to ski through the woods almost every day, not knowing what interesting thing might catch your eye.
--Jonathan (left), Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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Bovine Bugle on break, but we won't leave you out in the cold
To all our loyal readers:
We're trying to make The Bovine Bugle even better! This requires some "down time" on our end. We'll be back to you the minute we're up and running. In the meantime, why not take a moment to scroll through our older posts, by clicking on the month under the "Archive" heading to your left? Or take a second look at these videos of a new calf making her debut at Howmars Farm last August. Life on the farm is never dull!
October 10, 2005 Myrtle's new calf meets the herdmates
Myrtle's new calf, her first, was born a few weeks ago. Farmer Jonathan captured the moment when Myrtle's herdmates decided to come check out the new arrival. Myrtle's doing a lot of bellowing in this video, simply because she's got new-mom jitters--she's just not too sure what she's supposed to be doing with this new little girl. Just press on the big arrow in the center to play the video.
ABOUT THE BOVINE BUGLE Got a question for farmer Jonathan?
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A cold cow gets treatment to prevent frostbite and other problems.
The three-day cold snap really drove the chill into everyone and everything. During sub-zero temperatures like we had the past three mornings, we take extra steps to make sure the cows stay healthy. We feed extra forage to help the cows keep their bodies warm, we make sure the freestalls have plenty of dry sawdust, and we even have a special teat dip we use when we dip the teats after milking.
We normally dip all four teats of the cow after milking with a liquid containing a germicide. This kills bacteria on the teats and helps maintain udder health between milkings. When the temperature drops below 30 degrees F we switch from a liquid dip to a powder dip. This powder contains a germicide, but just as important is the drying action of the powder. It dries all moisture on the teat. When the cow leaves the milking parlor and goes out into the freestalls where the temperature may be well below zero, she won't be in danger of getting frostbite on the ends of her teats. Before the powder became available several years ago, we would have several cases every winter of cows with frostbite on the very ends of their teats. This would make it difficult to milk the cow and almost always ended with the cow having a case of mastitis.
Our open-style barn is great for the health of the cow, and with precautions like the powder dip the cows survive the cold snaps just fine.
--Jonathan (left), Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont ABOUT THE BOVINE BUGLE Got a question for 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.
Frigid Artic air moved in to the area overnight and temperatures this morning were hovering around -20 F. It made for pretty frosty conditions around the farm, but everything started and ran okay. Many of the cows had frosty faces, and where their breath blew against the plywood front of the freestalls they made a ring of frost on the wood. The stalls were a challenge to clean with the manure freezing to the concrete curb.
We broke out the cross country skis a couple of days ago, and this morning after finishing chores Karen, Yukon, and I headed out for a ski. I think Yukon is more excited about going out skiing than we are about it. The conditions aren't too bad, and Ben has been out skiing before school the past two mornings so the trail has been well packed and hardened by the sub-zero weather. The conditions should get even better if we get the snow they are predicting for this weekend. We found one area where beavers had built up an old dam and flooded part of our ski trail. If the temperatures stay cold, the flooded area will hopefully freeze hard enough so that we can ski on it and we can make our usual loop around the farm.
The thermometer doesn't tell lies on a December morning in northern Vermont.
Yesterday we had the first below zero morning of the winter. To prepare the day before, we covered up all the openings in the barns to make sure the cold couldn't get in, we filled heaters with kerosene to have them ready for the morning, and we put both tractors inside the horsebarn so we could plug them in when morning rolled around.
The breath of the cows came out in great puffs of steam as they lounged in the freestalls while we cleaned the stalls this morning. With all the preparations from the night before, everything at the barn went pretty smoothly. Jack Frost had been hard at work on the windows in the milkhouse. The heaters all ran so it was pleasant while milking the cows, no pipes were frozen, and the tractors started easily. It was good preparation for the months of cold weather to come.
Doors to the milk barn, frosted over.
While I scraped the barn, a red-tailed hawk landed in a pine tree just a couple hundred feet from the barnyard. Twice it left its perch, circled near the compost windrow, and then landed back in the pine tree. The third time it swooped I lost sight of it. I spotted it on a fence post part way down the grazing strip, and I think it had a mouse in one of its claws. It then flew off to a snag near the brook that it uses often. The hawk was beautiful circling in the brilliant morning sun. I'm glad it got some breakfast!!
The backyard pool doesn't seem like a good choice today.
It may be cold, but it's pretty!
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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A snowy Thanksgiving for farm creatures great and small (and proud)
The snowfall late yesterday afternoon and evening left us five or six inches of snow on the ground. With more forecast for tomorrow, Thanksgiving, all the skiers and deer hunters are ecstatic. It makes things a little sloppy around the barn with snow on top of the unfrozen ground, but it wasn't too bad this morning feeding round bales and handling the manure.
The animals take the change of weather in stride. The heifers being overwintered outside in the pole barn were munching hay at the round bale feeder while snowflakes from a passing flurry swirled around them.
The chickens surprised us by wanting to come out of their coops and into the snow once the doors were open. The younger hens followed Rooster Cogburn across the lawn and, of course, right to the bird feeder which Karen had filled this morning.
One reluctant older hen spent the night under one of our decks. She must have gotten caught there when the snow started yesterday afternoon, and then didn't want to cross the snow-covered ground to go back to her coop for the night. We'll be sure to get her out from under there today.
Turkey sales have been excellent. One more person is stopping by this afternoon to pick up her bird. That will bring the number of birds sold to about 30. That leaves 18 in the freezer, some of which we may sell at Chistmas time and the rest we will have to use throughout the year. It's nice to think how many families will be celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday by serving one of our turkeys. It's encouraging to see people making a choice for locally grown, organic food for their families because they think it is the right thing to do.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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Draining the watering system before the snow flies
A November sky threatens snow in northern Vermont.
We had some snow flurries go through today, and it motivated me to drain the watering system that feeds the grazing paddocks in the summer time. We have between three and four thousand feet of 3/4" black plastic waterline bringing water to all sections of the grazing system. If we don't drain it before winter really sets in then the water-filled line may freeze and burst.
I took the four-wheeler to save time, and to have light from the headlights since it was getting dark. I went to the end of each line that T's off the main line and opened the faucet so the water would drain. Once this was done, I used the four-wheeler to pull the two large stock tanks, used for watering the cows, back to the barn. These would be rinsed out and stored for the winter.
I'll let the lines drain by gravity overnight, and tomorrow I'll hitch up the air compressor to blow out any remaing water in the line. With that job done, the line will be ready next spring when grazing season starts and I won't have to worry about looking for leaks caused by burst sections in the line.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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The first snowfall of the season started last night, and by morning we had 4-5 inches of heavy wet snow on the ground. With the leaves still on many of the trees because of the extended warm weather, the tree branches held a lot more snow causing many branches,and young trees, to snap off. With it staying so warm into the fall, it seems like we went right from summer to winter.
I was very glad we had spent the last couple of days moving animals around to where they would be for the winter. We put 8 heifers back inside the young stock barn, and the remaining heifers and steers that were outside we moved across the road so they would have access to the pole barn for shelter. This morning with all the snow, all the animals had a dry place for shelter. Dennis has been bringing loads of round bales, so I had plenty of feed to give to the cows and young stock this morning, too. I especially thought of Kathy, the calf I found in the woods, and how fortunate it was that I found her yesterday before this messy storm.
I guess I have to accept that the grazing season is done, and it is time to change into the winter routine here at Howmars Farm. Bringing feed to the animals, hauling bedding to the freestalls and pole barn, and hauling away the manure will be added to the daily routine of milking the cows and doing the young stock chores. I'll put away my "golf bag" of fencing supplies until nex April, and dream of green grass growing again while I plow snow and feed round bales.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
ABOUT THE BOVINE BUGLE Got a question for Jonathan? Send it in using the comment feature below.
Jonathan Gates reports from Howmars Farm in Franklin, Vermont.
To all our loyal readers:
--
I guess I have to accept that the grazing season is done, and it is time to change into the winter routine here at Howmars Farm. Bringing feed to the animals, hauling bedding to the freestalls and pole barn, and hauling away the manure will be added to the daily routine of milking the cows and doing the young stock chores. I'll put away my "golf bag" of fencing supplies until nex April, and dream of green grass growing again while I plow snow and feed round bales.