MUCH ADO
January is the beginning of calving season. We practice seasonal breeding to align calving and peak milk production to when grass is most abundant. So we like to have most of our cows calve about 100 days before the nice spring grass is in full swing. Thus, although we are a small farm, we must be able to handle as many calvings in three months as a 500 cow operation.
To illustrate the point, January 23 is the due date for 20 heifers to have their first calf. Most likely, no heifers will calve on that date. Some will be early and some will be late. Our job is to be prepared.
This week end we got the action plan in place and prepared the maternity pens and nursery. With help from Andy Moore, a junior at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis and from a farm in NY state, (Andy’s older brother Phil, worked for us in 2002 and now flies fighter jets in the Navy), Ethan Jones, from Jones Family Farm nearby and a junior at Kent County High School, and Abelardo Perez, from Vera Cruz, Mexico and a long time helper at St. Brigid’s Farm, we transformed many of the buildings into comfortable, bedded calving pens and set up the nursery.
A few pictures are to the right and soon we’ll update you on the new arrivals!
January is the beginning of calving season. We practice seasonal breeding to align calving and peak milk production to when grass is most abundant. So we like to have most of our cows calve about 100 days before the nice spring grass is in full swing. Thus, although we are a small farm, we must be able to handle as many calvings in three months as a 500 cow operation.
To illustrate the point, January 23 is the due date for 20 heifers to have their first calf. Most likely, no heifers will calve on that date. Some will be early and some will be late. Our job is to be prepared.
This week end we got the action plan in place and prepared the maternity pens and nursery. With help from Andy Moore, a junior at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis and from a farm in NY state, (Andy’s older brother Phil, worked for us in 2002 and now flies fighter jets in the Navy), Ethan Jones, from Jones Family Farm nearby and a junior at Kent County High School, and Abelardo Perez, from Vera Cruz, Mexico and a long time helper at St. Brigid’s Farm, we transformed many of the buildings into comfortable, bedded calving pens and set up the nursery.
A few pictures are to the right and soon we’ll update you on the new arrivals!
1 comment:
Good luck on your big day!
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