Buckin' Bales

At Double D Dairy, all of the hay we feed our cows and heifers is grown and harvested on the farm. We grow mostly alfalfa hay, but also bale some oats hay and grass hay.  Below is a picture of oat plants.  It makes great hay for growing heifers and dry cows but it sure can be dusty, and the little oats stick to your clothes!

Oat plants

Alfalfa is considered a legume.  Legumes produce seeds that are contained in pods.  Other members of the legume family include peas, beans, lentils, peanuts and locust trees.  Alfalfa is rich in protein, calcium, magnesium, potassium and many vitamins and minerals.  Alfalfa is drought tolerant, it's roots can reach down almost 50 feet into the ground!  It can also be cut over and over again.  A typical alfalfa stand at Double D's is cut five times per year and is active for three years.



Alfalfa plants in bloom

 About a month ago we finished harvesting the first cutting of our alfalfa stands.  Most of the forage went into the silo as haylage.  Once the silo was full, we made what was left into hay.  The trick to making good alfalfa hay is cutting the alfalfa at the perfect stage of maturity, when the nutrient content is highest in the plant.  Another key to making good quality hay is baling it when the moisture content is just right.  If the hay is too wet it will heat up and mold in the barn.  If the hay is too dry the small leaves, which contain the most nutrients, will fall off the stem before they can be picked up by the baler.  If the hay is cut and it rains before we can bale, the quality of the hay will decrease.





An alfalfa field at Double D's, notice the cut plants in the foreground




Needless to say when we cut hay, everybody crosses their fingers.  We pray that it won't rain, there won't be any equipment break downs and that we have enough help to get the hay baled and put in the barn in good time.  Since the purchase of our 1586 tractor and our new baler we are able to make hay much faster than with the old tractor and baler.  This means we need plenty of help in the barn unloading wagons so Rick isn't waiting in the field for empty wagons to fill!

Kim frantically working to keep her hubby happy

Each wagon holds about 115 bales of hay.  When there is an adequate amount of help a load of hay can be unloaded in 15 minutes or less.

The elevator carrying bales up to the mow

A bale of alfalfa hay weighs about 45 pounds.  First cutting is always the toughest because everyone is out of shape from winter!

Jake trying to catch a bale coming off the elevator

Susie giving the thumbs up

Baling hay can be a hot, sweaty, unpleasant job.  At Double D's we always make sure it's a party!

Susie, John, Brett, Kim, and Jake

And of course, we all enjoy a cold one after all the work is done....

Empty beer cases make good kitty houses

What is silage?

Last weekend, Double D's was a busy place.  We were harvesting silage and putting it in our silo.  So what is silage and how is it made?

Silage is a form of feed for cows.  It can be made from many different types of forages, or plants, such as corn, oats, sudan grass, and alfalfa.  At Double D's we usually harvest alfalfa silage.

Alfalfa field ready for harvest at Double D's

Silage can be most closely compared to sauerkraut.  It is anaerobically fermented to preserve the nutritive value and taste of fresh alfalfa.  For anyone that has ever made kraut before, this process of feed harvest and preservation will make perfect sense.  The overall goal of making silage is to encourage certain types of bacteria to digest the silage and produce acidic byproducts.  These byproducts lower the pH of the silage until the pH is so low that no bacteria can survive.  This effectively preserves the silage and provides Double D's cows with nutritious food throughout the year.

The first step in producing high quality silage is mowing the alfalfa just before it is ready to blossom.  At this time the alfalfa is very high in nutrients like protein.




Rob Laibe mowing an alfalfa stand.

The second step is to let the alfalfa dry slightly in the field until it reaches 60-70% moisture content.  The alfalfa looks wilted when it is ready.

We then chop the alfalfa into small pieces using a tractor and chopper.  The chopper blows the chopped alfalfa into a wagon.



Kim running the tractor and chopper.  Notice the chopped alfalfa being blown into the wagon.

When a wagon is full it is shuttled down to the silo where it is blown up in to the silo.  While the silage is being blown up the silo, we sprinkle an inoculant of beneficial bacteria onto it to facilitate the fermentation process.



Katie enjoying the view while shuttling wagons.

Rick and Dewey unloading chopped hay from the wagon. The silage
blower is a giant fan that literally blows the chopped hay up a chute to
the top of the silo.

Once the chopped hay is in the silo, it begins the fermentation process.  The sheer weight of the silage on itself causes so much compression that oxygen quickly disappears.  Fermentation is usually complete after a few weeks and silage can be fed to the cows throughout the year.

Our silo, which is 50 feet tall, can hold 200 tons of silage!

It's milking time!

At Double D Dairy we milk our cows three times a day.  Because cows are constantly making milk, we have to keep the milking times evenly spaced out so the cow (and her udder!) have a predictable schedule.  This reduces stress on the cow and reduces the chance for an udder infection, or mastitis.  Our milking times are 6 a.m., 2 p.m., and 10 p.m.  Rick and Kim do most of the milking, but other people help milk to give them a break.  Brett Spencer, our FFA student employee, and Susie relieve Rick and Kim of their milking duties during the week.

Susie and Brett milking in the parlor

During the weekends, in addition to Brett and Susie, Katie, Rob Laibe, and Jake Flagg also milk the cows.

Jake taking a siesta before the 2 p.m. milking

Katie and Laibe milking

With all these different people milking, Double D's needed a written milking protocol so that every cow gets milked the same way, every time, every day.  Here is how we milk our cows at Double D Dairy:

Step 1)  Keep the cows calm and eating!  A happy cow is a productive cow.  Being mean to our cows is like shooting ourselves in the foot.  Milking is a relaxing time for our cows and they enjoy coming into the parlor and getting treated like queens.

#76 smelling her stall before she decides to walk in

Step 2) Dip the cow's teats with pre-dip solution.  The pre-dip we use has a low level of hydrogen peroxide in it.  The dip must remain on the teat for 30 seconds for it to work.  This kills the bacteria that are on the cow's teat and keeps the milk coming out as clean as possible.

Rick dipping a cow's teats and letting the dip set

Step 3)  After waiting 30 seconds, we wipe the teats off with a clean disposable paper towel until the teat is completely clean and dry.  We then wait another 90 seconds before attaching the milking unit.  This extra time allows the cow to completely let her milk down into her teats.

A milker unit attached to a cow.  The bottom hose is the milk hose.  The top hose is the pulsation hose.  This is responsible for rhythmically shutting the vacuum off to the teat to give the teat a chance to fill with milk again.

Dorkie being milked.  Dorkie gives 90 pounds, or about 10 gallons, of milk a day!

Milk going from the hose to the glass pipeline above.  The glass pipeline then goes to the milk house and to the milk tank where it is immediately cooled to 37 degrees Fahrenheit.

Happy cows= a full milk tank!

Step 4) When the cow is done milking, we carefully take the milker unit off and put the unit on the next cow. We then post-dip the cow's teats. This dip contains iodine, which keeps bacteria from getting through the cow's teat into her udder.

Photo courtesy of GEA Farm Technologies

Once the cow is dipped, she is free to go outside and do as she pleases until it is time to milk again.  A cow's daily activities include...

eating silage... 

eating hay...

relaxing in the barn....



and enjoying their pasture!

The right start; colostrum and dairy calves

As many of you may know, Ohio has recently formed a Livestock Care Standards Board.  This Board was charged with developing standards of care for livestock in Ohio.  You can learn more about the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board here.

In the bovine section of the effective standards, it is mentioned that all calves must be fed colostrum or a colostrum replacer within 24 hours of life.  What is this stuff called "colostrum", and why is it needed within a calf's first 24 hours of life?

Colostrum is a cow's "first milk" that she begins to make a few weeks before she is due to calve.  Colostrum is packed with nutrients to get a newborn calf off to a good start. Below is a chart that shows the difference in colostrum versus milk that the cow produces after she has her calf.

http://cattletoday.com/archive/2009/June/CT1977.shtml

As you can see, colostrum is nature's super milk.  It has high levels of fat and lactose (sugar), which are necessary energy sources for the calf.  Colostrum also has over three times the protein of regular milk, which helps the calf start to grow.  Newborn calves must transition from a protected world in the womb where it is warm and all nourishment is provided by the mother, to the outside where it can be quite cold, not to mention the energy it takes to try and stand for the first time!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerry_lake/4699217860/

But what are these things called immunoglobulins?

Immunoglobulins, also known as antibodies, are small proteins that help our bodies fight off pathogens such as bacteria and viruses.  They act as "red flags" by binding to pathogens so immune cells can recognize and destroy them.   Mothers of some species, such as humans and primates, give their offspring immunoglobulins while they are still in the womb.  However, cows and other farm animals are different.  They must transfer immunoglobulins to their offspring through the calf's ingestion of colostrum, which is packed with immunoglobulins.

http://www.battleforhealth.com/Battle_for_Health/Antibodies.html

This transfer of immunoglobulins is nothing short of a miracle.  Normally proteins, even small ones like immunoglobulins, are broken down into smaller non-functional building blocks and then absorbed in the intestines.  In newborn calves, they have special transporters that allow entire immunoglobulins from colostrum to be absorbed into the blood stream.  These immunoglobulins stay in the calf's blood for several weeks until the calf's immune system begins to make its own immunoglobulins.

When it comes to getting the most use out of colostrum, time is everything.  The minute a cow has her calf the clock starts ticking, and the immunity colostrum can provide to the calf starts to decrease.  This decrease in effectiveness happens for two reasons:

• First, as soon as a cow has her calf she begins to make regular milk.  This starts to dilute the concentrated colostrum and effectively lowers the amount of immunoglobulins the calf is able to ingest (a newborn calf's belly is only so big!).  Below is a graph that shows how the concentration of immunoglobulins in colostrum begins to decline after a cow gives birth:

http://www.volac.com/news/agriculture-news/news176/colostrum-management-for-calves

• Second, once the calf is born its intestines become less and less able to take whole immunoglobulin proteins into the blood.  Because of this, a calf must stand up and nurse within a short amount of time, or risk not having adequate immune protection from diseases.  Here is a graph that demonstrates how rapidly the calf's intestines lose their ability to absorb immunoglobulins after birth:

http://www.thedairysite.com/articles/1729/colostrum-for-the-dairy-calf

A calf that does not absorb enough immunoglobulins is considered immunocompromised.  This means that small otherwise insignificant challenges by bacteria and viruses can quickly become life threatening.  When the calf's immune cells have no "red flags" to help them find pathogens, they cannot stop infections as well.  Calves that did not receive enough colostrum early enough can suffer from pneumonia, joint infections, meningitis, liver infections and bone infections, to name a few.  If these calves do manage to survive the first few weeks without a good immunity, they go on to not be as healthy or produce as much milk as adults (http://www.thedairysite.com/articles/1917/early-life-management-and-longterm-productivity-of-dairy-calves).

As you can see, getting enough colostrum into a calf in good time not only makes that calf more productive later in life, it also ensures the calf is happy and healthy.

"Barcode" and "Baldy", two healthy and happy calves at Double D Dairy

At Double D's, we recognize the importance of getting calves off to a great start.  We do this by milking all cows within six hours of calving and feeding a gallon of colostrum to their calves immediately.  We also give newborn calves a pill that is packed with immunoglobulins to give them an extra boost of immunity.  We also give the cows vaccines against common calf diseases before calving.  When we vaccinate the mother, she makes antibodies against the pathogen in the vaccine and then puts the antibodies into her colostrum, making it that much more valuable to her newborn calf. Sneaky, huh?