February 2016 On The Farm

We love when Bourdeau has their customer appreciation days and cook us breakfast! 😃

Feb. 13 - It is chilly here in the North Country this weekend!
While this is nothing new for Vermont, single digits (with wind that takes my breath away) is not fun.
No matter what, every farmer, including my family, have been & will be out in the cold feeding, bedding & generally caring for our animals.
My dad will be sending up a prayer that the skidsteer & tractors will start; Mom will be checking water tubs for frozen pipes.
Farmers put our animals' needs & comfort above our own every single day because we them.

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"When all the other girls wanted to be a princess she wanted to be a farmer." (Of Kids and Cow's)

This is very near & dear to my heart, having been born & raised on our family's farm.

This is why I agvocate - to keep kids on the farm.

Some people (including a very well known politician) think that farming & manual labor are child abuse...

Farms & hard work are the backbone of this country.

Learning to work & how to work is an extremely important life skill.

Where would we be if no one worked?

Where will we be if the farms go away because the next generation doesn't catch the fire, doesn't feel the passion?

Until my last breath I will fight to keep my family's dream & other families' dreams alive.

We need farms.

We need farm kids.

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Valentine's Day was hubby's & my day to milk this month.
This is one of our top producing ladies, num 584 or Trudy as she was just named by a friend.
This girl gives an average of 54.3 lbs of milk per shift (we milk twice a day - morning & afternoon).
That means that in one day, Trudy produces a little over 12.6 gallons of milk!

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Feb. 23 - Mom and I attended the Vermont Dairy Producers' Conference in South Burlington. Farmers are always learning and continually working to improve our farms every day. We listened and spoke with experts from all areas of agriculture - genetics and breeding, crops and fields, feed and nutrition...just to name a few.

One of the speakers talked about calves and how the are arguably the most important part of a farm - well-cared for calves will make the best milkers. I love my babies! :-D

Steve Nelson from the New England Patriots made an appearance to share how the Fuel Up To Play 60 program is going.

Feb. 25 - Welcome "little" ladies! These two cuties are not only twins, they are also the first calves of 2016 on our farm!!! :-D