Reintroducing the "MooTube Minute"

I created a YouTube channel for my farm shortly after purchasing my first smartphone in the Summer of 2009. After getting a little bit of attention for my "Water 'n Poo" song, I decided to to start uploading a series of short farm updates called "MooTube Minutes" every few days to keep people up-to-date with what was happening on our dairy farm.

These videos where originally shot and with a smartphone, but I eventually upgraded to a tripod-mounted FlipCam that allowed me to merge different clips together and upload a higher quality video from my desktop. I posted these updates fairly regularly for a couple of years, but several weeks would go by between episodes by the time I recorded my last one in May 2014.

But now, the "MooTube Minute" is back.

I've been using other apps to share farm video over the past couple of years, including a few different live-streaming services. I started doing a daily live stream on Periscope recapping the day's farm work a couple of weeks ago and have decided to begin uploading at least some of them to YouTube. These new MooTube Minutes are generally going to be a little longer than the originals (3-5min) and will more often than not be shot "selfie style."

If you would like to interact with me while I stream/record, I encourage you to download the Periscope app and set a notification for when I go live. If you simply want to watch, you can do so live or later via Periscope and Twitter, or you can watch the ones I upload to YouTube without the live comments popping up on the screen.

My Periscope channel: www.pscp.tv/gilmerdairy/follow
My YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/gilmerdairy

A Five Year Anniversary on Throwback Thursday

I uploaded my first farm videos to YouTube five years ago this week. I filmed and uploaded them from my very first "smartphone", a Nokia e71x, while harvesting hay. And while the video quality has definitely improved over the years, my goofiness and singing voice are still around the same level of awfulness as they always have been. 

So on this Throwback Thursday, I present my first YouTube videos. Try to enjoy!

Weekend Farm Update

Another busy week on the farm is coming to an end, and the next one could be even busier. But before I look ahead, let me quickly catch you up on what's been happening on and off the farm since I last blogged a couple of weeks ago:

National AgDay: As I mentioned in my last posting, I participated in a USFRA-sponsored panel discussion entitled "The Next Generation of America’s Farmers and Ranchers" during National AgDay in Washington, DC (recap/audio). I was afforded the opportunity the next evening to attend a special screening of Farmland, a documentary in which six young farmers/ranchers from across America talk about their passion for agriculture. I know documentaries aren't the genre most people watch when they go to a movie theater, but I strongly encourage you to see this one. And speaking of watching something, check out the MooTube Minute I filmed in front of the Capitol while I was in DC.

at the Farmland screening with film subjects Brad Bellah & Leighton Cooley on the left,
fellow USFRA panelists Kate Danner, Seth Pratt, & Joel Mathiowetz on the right

Lamar County Cattle Drives: Back on the farm, we've held pretty steady at 210 cows in milk. We're still grazing them every day, which sometimes requires what I call a Lamar County Cattle Drive. Almost all of the land we strip-graze our cows on in the Spring is across the road from our dairy barn and their primary pasture/feeding area. Most of the acreage is accessible to them by simply crossing the two lanes of County Road 36, but grazing the furthest paddocks requires a road trip. Several times we've walked our herd down 1500' of CR-36 and into their paddocks in the morning and then back to the dairy barn in the afternoon. We have only needed to stop a few cars during the cattle drives, and none of those drivers seemed to be too put-off by the five minute delay. I've posted several pictures and short videos on Instagram and my various other social media channels, so be sure to check those out if you haven't already.

Baseball: My family will soon begin claiming the Vernon City Park as our secondary residence. Both the kids are playing baseball this year, and I'm a volunteer assistant on my son's coach-pitch team. Having games or practices three nights of the week has cut into my "crash on the couch" time in the evenings, which has in turn really made me put a priority on taking naps during my breakfast and lunch breaks. And though I'm not getting as much rest as I need and our lawn and landscaping have become woefully neglected, we are all having fun with it. Now if only my son's team could get that elusive first win...

our little ball players

She's having a baby: Our local veterinarian was on the farm this past week to check 62 cows for pregnancies. It was a good result as 54 of the cows checked out positive, giving us a total of 127 pregnant milking cows. We still have quite a few to breed over the next few weeks, and need to do so before hot weather and heat stress wreak havoc on the conception rate.

Dr. Hidalgo preg-checking a group of cows

Looking ahead, we expect to plant silage corn in the very near future. Rain is in the forecast for Monday, but hopefully it will be dry enough to get in the field by mid-week. If so, we're targeting 40 acres of our "hill ground" to fertilize and plant by the end of the week.

GDF Vocowbulary: "Teat Dip"

Teat dip is an essential tool we use on every cow every time they come into the milking barn. So what is it (note- for what it is NOT, search my 3/8/13 twitter timeline for #teatdip)?  Teat dip is bacteria-fighting substance applied to a cow before and after milking. There are several different brands and formulations, but most that I am aware of use low levels of iodine as the active ingredient. Using teat dip helps to prevent mammary infections, thereby promoting good udder health and high-quality milk.

applying teat dip to a cow after she has been milked

As you'll see in the video below, "pre-dip" is applied and wiped off before a cow is milked. The pre-dip kills bacteria on the outside of the cow's teat. If left unchecked, that bacteria could work its way up into the teat during the milking process and cause an infection. An infection could then lead to lower milk quality, a decrease in milk production, health issues for the cow, and the potential need to combat the infection with antibiotics (at which point the milk would be "dumped" for several days). When the cow is finished milking, we apply a "post-dip". The post-dip accomplishes two things: 1) it fights-off bacteria until the cow's teat-end orifices can seal themselves off, and 2) it contains skin conditioners that help keep the cow's teats soft and supple.

I hope you enjoy this edition of GDF Vocowbulary, and maybe you will learn a little something about teat dip!

A MooTube Minute recapping February on the farm

Hey, folks! I'd like to apologize for the lack of blog activity over the last couple of weeks, and hopefully this MooTube Minute will catch you up to speed on what's been happening on our dairy farm lately.

GDF MooTube Minute - 1/30/13

Here's a brief video of me recapping the past month's activities on the farm:

Weekend Farm Recap

I'm just got in from the milking barn on Saturday morning and thought I'd share a little bit about what's been going on this past week. 

thumbs-up to more milk

We've had two dry cows and two heifers give birth this week, running our total number of cows in our active milking herd up to 177. They have been slowly inching up on milk production and should bump up a little more once cold weather sets in. Their TMR diet currently consists of corn silage, bermudagrass hay, wet brewers grains, and a custom mix of ground corn, soy products, dried distillers grains, etc. that we purchase from a feed mill.

Weather-wise, we've had damp and mild conditions most of the week. The wet conditions have prevented us from planting any ryegrass this week, but the wheat and rye we've already planted is really benefiting from the moisture and the temperature. And since we couldn't do anything in the field, we turned our attention Thursday morning to our beaver problem. Beavers have built dams all up and down a small creek that runs through our farm, causing water to back up into and flood one of our pastures. We busted four dams and "let the water off", but we still have at least three more to tear out.

On to the links:

• The Tuscaloosa News ran a story in their Sunday edition's Business section about me being named a finalist in the USFRA's "Faces of Farming & Ranching" contest. Read the story here, and don't forget to vote for me every day through December 15!

• My dad and I left the farm in the hands of our farmhands during the first part of the week so we could attend the Alabama Farmers Federation's Annual Meeting in Montgomery. You can watch this nice wrap-up video to hear from our organization's new president, meet our new Outstanding Young Farm Family, and learn how much money was raised for the Foundation for Agriculture.

• Speaking of videos, I have followed up 2009's "The Gilmer Dairy Farm Christmas Song" with a new one entitled "Have a Dairy, Merry Christmas" and I hope you like it. If you do, be sure to hit the "like" button on YouTube. It's been entered into Proud to Dairy's holiday song contest, and the video with the most "likes", G+'s, & "favorites" wins. And remember, sharing any of my crazy videos with your friends is sure to bring them holiday cheer!

Have a "dairy" good weekend, y'all!