Whoa Spring is Here

You know all of those projects you want to work on when spring comes?  Well it is here and it is time to go.  This year in particular is going to be extremely busy as we are going to be hosting the Wisconsin Holstein Association Summer Picnic on August 25th.  So basically our whole Summer is going to be scheduled in reverse from that day.  We can't wait for it to get here, but are not sure how we will get everything done either.  When you invite a group of this size to your place there are so many variables including weather, how many are coming, what will be going on in general and of course what to serve.  So we have a lot to think about.

The first thing we are doing is building new heifer housing.  Currently we use a lot of places on our farm to raise our calves.  Our goal is to streamline this process and have a nice place for those heifers to live where they can grow stress free and develop to their genetic potential.  This requires a lot of planning and, of course, thinking about the future which is really hard because things change all the time.  We want to have a place where are future herd stars can be on display and well cared for and easy viewed by guests on our farm.  I have a vision now on what it should look like thanks to a trip my brother, Marty, and employee Craig Deans, took last week to Synergy Dairy in Pulaski, WI. 

At Synergy, we were met by the owners Jay and Heather Jauquet and Heather's Dad Gary to show us their building.  All I can say is they might be the cleanest, nicest group of calves I have seen in a long time.  The animals are in bedding packs for a month or two and then they go to sand bedded freestalls and stay in the barn until about 4-5 months pregnant.  The common theme perfectly conditioned heifers with an awesome amount of cage.  They eat a diet with a lot of roughage it shows.  Thanks for the insight to the team at Synergy! After leaving there my plan came into to view.  I am working with Phil Ullmer from Fox Cities Builders to design and build our barn. 

They other thing we have to work on is planning how to show our cows to the public while keeping our production schedule running.  This will be discussed later.

Time to go work on growing some of our crops. Talk to ya soon!

Thanksgiving

Hard to believe it is Thanksgiving already.  This year has flown by and we have much to be Thankful about.  I am thankful for my family and friends.  Having just returned from a quick trip to Disney World I am truly thankful for my wife and kids.  Walking what seemed like miles it was always exciting to see  and experience what was up around the river bend (Disney reference LOL).  My two year old son was awe struck by the characters.  I find it interesting how many young kids go on the "scary" rides.  I think the parents want to go so the kids have follow, another example of kids growing up faster in this generation. 

Anyway this Thanksgiving tell your family you love them and be truly thankful for the opportunities we have been given.

  I found something else ironic at Epcot.  While watching a presentation about American History JFK uttered those famous words of "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." So many people have lost this idea and are waiting for the Government to give them something, instead of screaming how unfair you have it think about the starving children in Africa, look in the mirror and tell me again why you have it so bad.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

We picked an Apple

After watching the success of the Goldwyn's and the Apples at World Dairy Expo we decided to venture in to a new area and purchased Apple's March 11 Goldwyn at the Great Northern 30th anniversary sale.  Ms Apples Annesa-ET RC.  The amount of people that have called or inquired about her has already been amazing.  I always feel we have good cows, but because they do not have high numbers it is hard to get people stopping that by embryos, bulls, etc.  In order to get traffic you have to find something unique and promote it.  That is what we plan to do with our shiny black apple. 

In other news Jenny-Lou Planet Tasia-ET is drawing a lot of attention.  She single handed drove people here during Expo.  Her last flush we only got 2 embryos which was disappointing after 10 the first time.  If she can make eggs the demand is really high.  We are not sure how long that window will be open though.

Classifying on Friday I will post results.

World Dairy Expo is just around the corner!

The World Dairy Expo season is upon us and we will soon be welcoming hundreds of visitors from all over the world to our farm.  It is wonderful to interact with these people every year.  Some are on vacation, some are consultants hoping to learn something to take home,  some work in AI and are seeing daughters of bulls they are interested in buying.  Mostly, though, they are farmers from different production systems from all over the world.  We will discuss feeding, breeding, genomics, housing and crops.  Hopefully we will also be able to sell some embryos which helps increase or farm income. Welcome world, we can't wait to meet you.