Spring's Celebrations

Spring has sprung down on the farm!

Just the day before the calendar claims that spring has begun

we were blessed to celebrate my Mother's 92nd birthday.

As you can see, it's a family tradition to help in the 

candle blowing ceremony!

Even the beef cows are celebrating the warmer days

of spring  and didn't seem to mind posing for 

a picture while hanging around the hay manger.

Spring finds us celebrating the birth of new calves.

Although most beef cows have plenty of milk for their 

babies, we do have an occasional calf that may need a 

little help when Momma doesn't have any milk or the baby 

is not trying to nurse for whatever reason.

That's when the farmer instinct takes over  and he  feeds the baby.

Celebrating spring with a farmer always brings

a smile on my face as you see the passion 

he feels for his farm and family!

Happy Spring!

 

Dairy Farmer's Thankful Thursday

Have you ever thought about the variety in a cow's diet?

Today we started chopping a field of hay grazer grass that was 

planted late this spring.

We're adding it to the milking cow's daily feed ration that has been 

formulated by our dairy nutritionist.

I call this green chop " cow candy" because it's obvious by the 

increased milk production it is benefiting both cow and farmer. 

There is much beauty in every farm activity.

As I look across the field at the farmers working together

to harvest the crop,

I'm thankful for my family of farmers 

and the crop to feed our cows.

Dairy Farmer Olympics

It's a race to the finish when you are raising a crop that will be fed to your dairy cows. 

The cows are counting on us! 

Each phase of crop production

--soil preparation,planting,harvesting-- 

is part of the relay race.

We began the harvest relay of our corn crop yesterday. 

It's being chopped and hauled to the silo so that it can ferment and

 be fed to our dairy cows  as corn silage.

  Sometimes the farmer  loses the race for 

no fault of his own because of  uncontrollable  factors like weather but  

like the Olympians we've been watching this week, 

farmers don't quit till the end of the race.

                                         My dairy farm Olympics experience tells me that we
                                          will have a few slow starts during  the harvest relay
                                                                 but like true Olympians,
                                    we can enjoy the rewards of hard work at the end of the race.
                                         

Marketing Farming

Benton County Farm Bureau provided a little bit of fun and information about Benton County agriculture to   hundreds of people at the Bentonville Farmer's Market this past Saturday. 

Basically, we were marketing farming.

Consumers of all ages enjoyed the beauty of this antique tractor and a lot of 

tractor talking from Benton County farmer Bob Shofner,

milking the cow that never goes dry,

and

petting the  chicks.

It's not a hard job to market farming because 

we have a great story to communicate at every opportunity.

 It's obvious that the look of the family farm and the technologies

have changed but we have the same values of caring for the land 

and the animals to provide safe,healthy food for America's consumers.

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Last week I was invited to give an update on county government issues to the Bentonville Early Riser  Rotary Club. Since it's June Dairy Month, it seemed only natural to include a little dairy info,too! 

Rex introduced me to the group and explained that our  friendship  began when I worked for him in the drug store during my high school years. It was the first time I had the opportunity to give Rex his proper thank-you for being the reason I became a dairy farmer. If I hadn't worked for him in high school, Ryan's mother would never have given me a chance with her dairy farmer son! 

I'm thankful for all the members in my Bentonville community that mentored me  in serving others  such as my piano teacher,Araminta, my Girl Scout leader,Marilyn, that led us   from 2nd grade till I graduated, and for Rex, the local pharmacist, that taught me that the customer is always right !

I'm thankful to be Arkansas Grown!