Farm Update - July 7, 2018

Hey, folks! It's been a few months since I've given y'all a farm update, so I figured I'd take a few minutes to get you caught up while I'm waiting on my post-milking coffee to finish brewing.

We're in the midst of another hot, humid Alabama summer. Thankfully, though, we've only had one or two "dry spells" over the last couple of months. Timely rains have kept our corn and hay fields green and growing, and it's looking like we might finish the season with a pretty good crop of each. Our first cutting of hay wasn't that great, but we'll be harvesting for the second time next week or as soon as the forecast says we can string together three days with low rain chances. The second cutting is usually our best, and we could also get a strong third cutting (and a fair fourth) if everything "hits" right. Our earliest planted corn will be ready to chop in 2-3 weeks, and so far it's passing the eyeball test. I won't be sure how the yield and quality compares to last year until we have it in the bunker, but I am optimistic it will turn out pretty good.

Cows heading from the milking barn to their feed trough around sunrise.

On the cow front, we currently have 170 coming through the barn each day. We've been drying off pregnant cows fairly regularly over the last six weeks, and we still have a good many more to send out over the next few months. We will have a handful calve toward the end of the month, and then it will start picking up steadily around mid-August. Milk production is down as it always is this time of year, and likely won't start ticking up until September.

Our long-term prospects for staying in dairy still aren't very good. The price we are paid for our milk has inched up a little bit but we're not expecting any kind of big bump in the foreseeable future. And regardless of price, our regional infrastructure is deteriorating at such a rate it just doesn't seem like staying in is a smart/safe course of action. That said, we are hopeful we can continue on for a couple more years and "milk" as much out of the next positive price cycle as possible. Ultimately, though, it looks like a transition away from dairy will be the most sustainable thing for our family farm. 

With that in mind, please keep us and our fellow dairy farm families in your thoughts and prayers in the coming weeks and months. Times are tough, and we're all facing difficult decisions over our farms' futures. While we are hopeful that we can make a strategic farm transition on our own timetable, many are finding themselves with no option but to sell their cows and equipment as soon as possible. It's a sad state of affairs, but we each have to play the cards we've been dealt.

To close this out on a more upbeat note, I want to take just a moment to brag on my son. We told our two farmhands to take a three-day holiday this past week, and LG was really helpful lending a hand in their absence. He's still about a year away from being a full-fledged milk hand, but he can do enough to make a noticeable difference when there's only one adult in the parlor. I'm hopeful that I can provide enough farm work (dairy or otherwise) in the coming years for him and my daughter to earn a few dollars and...more importantly...establish a strong work ethic that will serve them well in whatever career they ultimately choose for themselves.

Thanks for taking a few minutes to read, and have a "dairy" good day!

Rocking into July

Move over fidget spinners, there's a new fad in town: rock hunting.

According to a Facebook Group called "205 Rocks!," people are painting rocks and hiding them in parks, near businesses, around churches, and in other public areas in our local communities. Once these rocks are found, they can be kept as souvenirs or re-hidden for someone else to find. These rocks come in all shapes and sizes and the artwork on them is just as varied.

my kids hid five special "prize" rocks in Lamar County

Activities like this offer golden opportunities for business promotion, and a few local businesses have hidden "prize" rocks that can be redeemed for anything from trinkets to t-shirts. My daughter decided we should get in on that act, so Saturday night she and her brother hid five black and white "Gilmer Dairy Farm" rocks between Vernon and Sulligent. My wife posted a photo of them on the 205 Rocks! group page with the instructions that anyone who found one could stop by our milking barn one afternoon and swap the rock for a prize package.

Two kids stopped by while we were milking on Sunday afternoon to claim their prize. Two more of the rocks have been found according to photos posted on the Facebook page, and the status of the fifth is still a mystery. I'm not sure how long the interest in rock hunting will last (or how many prize packages we will give away), but it is a neat little activity to help keep kids active this summer.

Happy hunting, and have a "dairy" good day!

my daughter holds the first rock redeemed for a dairy-themed prize package

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.

Good clothes in the milking barn?

staying clean = boring

My wife dropped my son off at the dairy after school dismissed this afternoon, but she didn't bring a change of clothes for him. So there he was, wearing good jeans, a white shirt (white!), and his tennis shoes.  In an effort to keep him as clean as possible, I brought a short bucket into the parlor and told him to sit on it. We were going to be milking cows for another hour-and-a-half once he got there, and I knew there was no way he would stay on that bucket for that long. But, the longer he stayed seated the less chance he would have of returning home with a greenish-brown manure stain on his clothes.

Two mintues later he was up roaming all around the parlor. Predictably, he was sporting manure splatters on his clothes in no time. Did it bother him? Of course not...he's just a typical farm kid! He enjoyed "helping" us in the barn without a care about the foreign materials that occasionally landed on him.

Now that the day is over, one question remains: who gets to do the laundry?

Mustache Time

Ever year in celebration of June Dairy Month we hold a Milk Mustache contest. We'll take entries throughout the spring then select three finalists in early June. We named this year's finalists yesterday.

Making the selection was very tough due to the many quality entries, but, just like good cream, these three rose to the top. Anyone who "likes" our farm's Facebook page can help us pick a winner by simply clicking "like" under the photo you think is the best. Fan voting is open through Sunday, June 13, and we'll announce our 2010 winner on the 14th.

Click here to vote!

Visiting Vernon 1st Graders

This past Friday I had the opportunity to read "Oh Say Can You Seed" to the first graders at Vernon Elementary. The original plan was just to read to my wife's class, but as she told the other teachers about it they wanted in on the deal. I was happy to oblige.

I'll have to admit, having 90 six-year-olds sitting in the floor looking up at you can be a little unnerving because you don't exactly know what to expect. But the kids were very attentive and interested in the book and asked several good questions about my farm afterwards.

I don't think I could stress enough how important it is to directly engage the public, especially kids, about agriculture. With so few having a direct connection to the day-in, day-out activities on the farm, it's no surprise that so many people are falling prey to the misinformation and dangerous ideology touted by groups and individuals who want modern agriculture to fail. And even though most of my "advocate" hours and activities are spent on the internet, nothing can replace the value of telling your story in person. Seeing the kids take a genuine interest in what I was talking about made my week, and I would encourage all farmers to take the time to visit a local classroom. It's a win-win-win-win propostion...for the kids, for the farmer, and for agriculture, and for America.

Another year older...but another year wiser?

I celebrated my 30th birthday here on God's Earth this morning at 5:18 as I was putting the feed out for my milk cows. I have lived a life truly blessed and have had some great opportunities thanks to the support of my family and friends.

But looking ahead, this coming year could very well be the most difficult of my life so far.

The dairy economy is terrible right now. While our milk price may have been a little lower a few years ago, expenses are much higher than they were during our last down cycle. Things will rebound in a few months, and the key for any dairy will be to just hold on and try to weather the storm. Many will not be able to, and that is what will ultimately lead to our prices improving in a few months. We just have to make sure we're still around to see better days! Luckily we don't carry the big debt load that many large dairies do, but we are staring down the barrel of making some very expensive capital improvements that are really going to make things tight for a while. Add in today's political climate where it seems like regulations can come out of nowhere to force major changes in our operation and you're talking about a very dicey situation. It's going to take good planning, longer hours, sacrifice, sharp financial management, and a whole lot of prayer to make it through these difficult times and come out better on the other side.

But despite the gloomy business outlook, this coming year could also be the best one yet!

About a month from now we'll have our first daughter, something that we're very excited about. And my son is getting old enough to spend more time with me around the farm this summer. I have the opportunity to do some traveling and meet a whole new set of friends this year as well. I'm finding new ways in which to hone my skills and utilize my talents. I have my health, I have my sanity (somehow), and I have the comfort of knowing that I'm at the place in my life where God must want me to be.

Through the good times and the unavoidable rough times, I can say with certainty that this coming year won't be boring.

Busted by a 3 year old

A few minutes past 5pm, a little girl knocked on our front door. I was expecting to get hit up to buy some Girl Scout cookies, but instead her parents had sent her up to my door to let me know that we had cows out.

I loaded Linton, my 3 year old son, into the truck, called and told my dad the news, and started heading down the road. Dad and I met up, found a set of tracks, and headed in different directions. A couple of minutes later, I saw two rogue heifers walk out onto the road from a cut-over. I got around them and started steering them down the road towards the nearest pasture gate, when "A Good Hearted Woman" started playing on my phone. It was my wife calling to ask me about purchasing a new baby stroller for our upcoming family addition. Somewhat exasperated, I told her we were chasing cows and just do what she wanted to do. As we were saying goodbye, the heifers did a 180 and turned back in the other direction. As I hung up the phone, I mumbled something under my breath that sounded a lot like "crammit". My little backseat passenger said, "Daddy, that's a bad word! You have to use good manners with the cows! You have to say 'Sook, sook, sook'. The cows want good manners, not bad words."

I had been busted, and over the next five minutes Linton lectured me on good manners.

I managed to get the heifers headed down a different road and back towards the pasture they were supposed to be in while he was correcting me. Dad met up with us and soon the heifers were back where they belong.

We're back at home now, and I'm about to make our supper. I'm hoping Linton doesn't tattle-tale on me when Joni gets home or else I'll get the lecture a second time.

Feeding Calves

My son Linton loves riding in the tractor with me when I'm putting out the TMR for our milking herd. So, I figured I would let him "drive" his tractor into the calf pasture behind our house and give them some hay. Kind of in keeping with what we did last year, we decided to use this picture on the Christmas cards we're sending out. Unfortunately, I couldn't get him to wear the Santa hat again.

An interesting Friday

Today's been interesting, but not really until about 5:30 this evening.

Work today was pretty straightforward. We fed heifers and put hay out in the pastures and cleaned up around the place this morning, then just milked and fed the cows this afternoon.

About 5:30, I was halfway finished with my supper when the phone rang. Heifers out!

So, I ride over to the farm in a drizzling rain and see right away that about 40 heifers were in a field between the milking barn and the pasture they were supposed to be in. So, I park the truck, jump on the 4-wheeler, and take off. By this time, it was pitch black, the rain was coming down heavier, and I had grabbed the visor-less helmet. After about 10 minutes I managed to get them all (or so I think) back where they needed to be.

Once I got back home, my wife informed me that our son had just vomited a little. This sent up a red flag since a stomach bug has been running rampant locally the week. But, he didn't act like he felt bad so we hoped for the best. A half-hour later, more vomit. So, we've got a sick young'un and won't be going to visit my sister and brother-in-law this weekend like we'd planned.

Here's hoping the rest of the evening returns to normal, which would mean I'll be asleep on the couch in about twenty minutes.