thecowlocale

No intro needed…just watch…

“The best thing about the farm is being able to get up everyday and do something that I love doing.”

– Trent Bown, 5th generation dairyman

Check out Trent’s blog at www.usfarmguys.com

Follow him @bowndairyman

Two years ago, Kimball Holt and his 3 brothers took some of his family’s potato cropland and built a dairy farm. Take a look at what it takes to build a dairy…

While he enjoyed his job in Salt Lake, opening the dairy enabled Kimball and his wife Shelley to get back to their roots and back to the family business of farming. And after just two years, the Holt Dairy is home for over 3,000 cows and employer to 40 people in the small town of Newcastle.

The Holt Dairy Barn

Newcastle - Home to Holt Dairy

Follow Kimball and his wife Shelley as they blog about life, the farm, and the joys of raising their two children.

This site isn’t called “The Cow Locale” for nothin’…it’s time we introduce you to:

“The Big 6″ – that is to say the most popular breeds of dairy cattle

Holstein

Holsteins hail from Holland and first made it to the US (not on their own steam of course), in 1621. They are black and white, weigh 1500lbs at maturity and, on average, produce the most milk of the dairy breeds.

Jersey

Jerseys are the smallest of the dairy breeds weighing in at about 900lbs, but they produce milk with the highest protein and fat content – great for making cheese. They come from the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel. Most commonly fawn in color, they may have white markings (and on rare occasions can be mostly white).

Ayrshire

Ayrshires came to the US from Scotland in 1822. Their color varies from light to deep cherry red, mahogany, brown or a combination. Most have some white markings, and some are all white. They weigh about 1200lbs when mature.

Brown Swiss

Brown Swiss don a silvery-brown coat that varies from light to dark. They come from Switzerland and equal in size and weight to Holsteins.

Guernsey

Guernseys also come from an island in the English Channel off the coast of France. Their milk, like their coloring, is distinctively golden and they weigh just over 1100lbs.

Shorthorn

This breed originated in Northeastern England and arrived in the US in 1783. These cattle are a combination of red and white. Mature Shorthorns weigh 1400lbs

But Daniel McKee has a different favorite. He has always had an interest in cow breeds and his family’s herd of dairy cattle in Tridell, UT is made up of Holsteins, Brown Swiss, Normande, and Dutch Belted. His goal is to have 80 head of Dutch Belted cattle in the coming years. Though they produce slightly less milk than a Holstein, he feels that their eating habits, longevity, hardiness, and milk quality is a key advantage. Daniel says that the smaller fat globules seem to make digestion easier on some people.

The Characteristic Stripe of Dutch Belted Cattle

Crossroads Dairy, Delta UT

On his family’s dairy just outside of Delta, UT, Anthony Cabral breeds and raises Miniature Cattle. Yep…little cows! To be classified as a true miniature, the full grown cow or bull must measure under 42″ at maturity (typically by age 3), and, depending on the breed and the size, the full-grown miniature ranges anywhere from 200-800 pounds. Anthony got into raising miniatures when he was just 15 years old. Having grown up on his family’s dairy – Crossroads Dairy – he had always been interested in taking care of the animals and the breeding process. He came across mini cows on the internet and drove to New York to buy his first 4. What started off as just a hobby has taken off and become a side business. Currently on the farm, Anthony has about 70 mini cows. Numbers fluctuate based on customer demand and economic considerations, but for the past several years, he has had both semen and stock available for sale.

So why raise a mini-cow?

As it turns out, there are a lot of reasons...

Anthony next to a fully mature Dexter bull. Courtesy of http://minicattlepros.com/why.html

1. Backyard Pets & Personalized Milkers: The really small breeds serve as great pets and double as a food source. With a smaller animal, the idea of a backyard milking cow is more of a reality for many families. Miniature cattle can live comfortably on a just 1/2 acre of land.
2. Mini Rodeo Bulls: The increasing popularity of bull riding means that kids are getting into the mix at younger and younger ages. Because of their lighter frame, smaller breeds like the Miniature Zebus is a safer option.
3. Home-Raised Beef: There is a growing trend of backyard agriculture and a desire to get back to the farm. Miniature beef breeds include Lowline Angus, miniature Herfords, Galloways, and Dexters. Raising an animal for food can be a great learning experience for kids and a great, healthy way to put food on the table.
4. Efficiency & Safety: Miniature breeds eat about 1/3 the feed as traditionally-sized cattle. Though they produce less milk and/or meat, for personal use, their size is a great advantage. Miniatures are also safer. Most breeds are more docile, making them easier for small children to feed and handle.

Photo Courtesy of: http://minicattlepros.com/

Head to the Minicattlepros website for some great shots of the miniatures in action and for more information on how to purchase one of your own.

Crossroads Dairy

A Running Farmer

Daniel McKee is a dairy farmer. Along with his immediate family, he farms with his Brother, Father, and Uncle in Tridell UT. (In case you aren’t familiar with Tridell, it is in the eastern part of Utah, just outside Vernal, and IT GETS CHILLY!) On the morning of Debbie’s visit in early December, temps hovered in the single digits. But the cold doesn’t stop Daniel. In addition to milking 550 cows, raising 200 head of beef cattle, and growing alfalfa, corn silage, barley, and grass hay in the spring, summer, and fall, Daniel is a runner.  Armed with his GPS watch, Daniel trains “up hills and over dales” in the beautiful area surrounding his farm. Daniel keeps track of his training metrics – date, speed, elevation, distance – as he trains for marathons, half marathons, and now triathlons. As a fellow runner, it was fun listening to Daniel talk about how much he enjoys getting out for a run and other runners will understand the paradoxical thrill of a pounding heart, peaceful scenery, and some sore legs.

Running Scenery

Up Hills and Over Dales

What A View - Robert's Dairy Beaver, UT

David, Don and their father Gordon are partners, and together they farm Roberts Dairy, Inc. In 1970, Gordon started the dairy with just 60 cows. Time, growth and improvements mean that its time for a facelift, and the family is in the process of remodeling their milking parlor. The milk parlor is structured to milk cows in a double 12-Harringbone fashion, which means that the cows line up in a V-shape side-by-side facing away from each other. This parlor-style is popular in the US due to the cows’ position and the ease of milking for the farmer.

Source: Reinemann, 2003 http://milkquality.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/milking-parlor-types.pdf

The new parlor will keep this arrangement but update the look and feel of the barn, making it more comfortable for the cows. The Roberts have enjoyed working with the land and the animals on their farm in Beaver, UT and David says,

“Dairying has been a great experience.

It is rewarding to grow and expand and improve genetics.” 

Home, Home on the Range

Just gettin' a drink

900 Towels/day = 328,500 towels/year

On Brown’s Dairy

300 registered holsteins are milked 3 times per day

After each milking, each cow is wiped with a fresh, clean, microfiber towel

That towel gets thrown into the wash.

3 milkings per day, means 3 loads of towels are run each day

900 towels

Wow!

Microfiber Towel

Jaylene Andersen is Marjorie and Art’s daughter-in-law, and together with her husband Jim, they operate the multi-generational Wits End Dairy. Jaylene describes their spot in Cache Valley as “Our own little corner of the world.” and their little corner has some interesting history.

Wits End Dairy

Back in 1859, Jim Andersen’s Great Grandparents (“or was it great, great…it was a long time ago,” as Jaylene recalls) made their way across the country on a wagon train. Margaret Ellis and Edmond Rees, originally hailing from Wales, moved out west for Edmond to continue work as a coal miner, and 1859 the journey from the East Coast to Utah wasn’t an easy one. When Margaret showed up with her cow, the wagon master shook his head and gave her a ‘you-have -got-to-be-kidding-me’ look, arguing that the cow would never make it through the stress of the journey. But Margaret wasn’t about to give up her Jersey cow and insisted that she join the family on their trek westward. The wagon master had no choice, so along came the cow. Not only did the family’s cow survive the trip, but her milk helped hungry babies survive the rugged journey. Settling in Coalville, Utah, Margaret and Edmond kept their cow and added a couple more to the herd. The family has raised and milked jersey cows ever since.

As the farm evolved and the family grew, the farm moved from Coalville to Cache Valley. Marjorie Anderson is a direct descendent of Edmond Rees and continues to live on the farm. She says that her family has always milked Jersey cows, even when they weren’t such a popular breed and remembers a common taunt of Jersey dairymen, “your too proud to milk a goat and too poor to milk a cow.” But that never deterred her family and eventually Jerseys became popular – the high protein content of their milk and the higher butterfat is ideal for making cheese. (See Jerseys vs. Holsteins)

Marjorie's Jerseys

Jerseys are the pride of their farm and right now the dairy has two almost all white cows, Snowball and Snowflake – perfect for the winter.

This memory, shared by Ellissa Clark of Clark Family Dairy in Morgan, UT, is an unbelievably touching account of the true meaning of this season.

When I was 4 years old, my dad became a dairy farmer.  I was in heaven!  Riding horses, playing in the cotton seed, petting the calves, and swimming in the ditch became my favorite pastimes.  As I grew older, my carefree life on the dairy farm took a sharp turn.  I remember the day that the reality of dairy life really sunk in.  It was December, and Christmas was getting closer.  Of course, the cows have to be milked on Christmas morning, just like any other day, and we want our employees to be home with their families so we handle all the milking that day.  The first few years that our family owned the farm, my siblings and I weren’t old enough to milk cows. Fortunately, there were older cousins and an uncle who lived near the farm who would help us milk that morning.  But, in my dad’s opinion, my brother and I had officially reached the age  that we could handle the Christmas morning milking on our own.  This was a tough situation for my brother and me because Christmas morning has always been such a special morning spent with cousins and family.  At the house where my mom grew up, Christmas morning came very early, about the same time that milking cows starts – but at her house they didn’t have cows on their minds.  There were presents to open, games to play, and candy to eat.  She will admit that the thought of sending her 12 and 10 year olds to the farm in the cold and snow for several hours of work made her sad.  However, it didn’t seem to faze my dad at all.  So on Christmas morning my mom woke us up and tried to put on her “perky mom” face.  “Hey kids, it’s time to go milk the cows – hurry and go get it done.  I promise we won’t open any presents, or play any games, or eat any candy until you get home.”  We put on our coats and boots and headed out the door with dad – Ethan was not too upset, but I was distraught and acting very upset.

At the farm, things weren’t going too well.  My brother and I were young and not very experienced with milking cows – I was crying, my brother was frustrated, and the milking was taking longer than usual.  After a couple hours my dad decided to give me a break (or maybe himself a break) by sending me out to feed the horses.  I had always liked the horses, so I walked across the barnyard to the horse corral to pitch some hay to them.   The hay is stored in a covered area to protect it from the snow.  I stood in that covered area and used a pitch fork to throw hay over the fence into the feeder on the other side.  As I finished the job, I was again overcome with sadness and I threw the pitch fork down and collapsed in the hay and began to cry.  I cried and cried wondering why I had to be born into a dairy farm family.  Then something remarkable happened.  As the morning sun came up over the mountains I realized that it was Christmas morning, and I was lying in the hay.  My mind was turned to another Christmas morning, the first Christmas morning, and another child who had lain in the hay.  At that moment, everything changed. I gathered myself together and returned to the barn to finish milking with my dad and brother. I learned that morning that Christmas is not about the candy, decorations, lights, or even the presents. The real reason for the season is the little babe of Bethlehem who was born in the hay.

~ Ellissa Clark – Morgan, UT