Category Archives: Dairy Cattle

Meet the 2016 Fall Festival at Richlands Dairy Farm.

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For the past two Octobers, the Jones family has hosted a weekend series of fall activities at their Dinwiddie County farm. However, the rest of the year, they are busy running their full-time dairy operation, which we covered in a previous story. We also wrote about their very first pumpkin patch in 2014.

As they enter their third annual on-farm Fall Festival, the Jones family is offering an array of family-friendly weekend activities including a pumpkin patch, a corn maze, a play zone with activities for children, farm tours, hay rides, a petting zoo, and concessions. The farm will host tour groups on weekdays throughout the month, and on selected evenings after dark, visitors can brave the farm’s haunted corn maze. Visitors can also spot Hermione, Ron, and Harry—a set of triplet Holsteins that achieved viral fame when they were born on the farm last fall.

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In anticipation of the farm’s October 8th Fall Festival opening day, I met with Coley Drinkwater, TR Jones, and Brittany Jones on a busy Tuesday afternoon in between farm chores to find out what the family has learned, what has changed, and what is in store for agritourism this October at Richlands Dairy Farm.

Laura: So, you’ve been growing pumpkins for three years—what does it take to get a pumpkin patch ready between spring and October?

TR: Well, the first thing we’re trying to do is decide the size we want them to grow, so we’re basing that on the past fall.

Brittany: We purchase treated seeds. We keep moving planting dates back every year later and later, because they are ready so fast—faster than when they say they are supposed to be ready.

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TR: In April we’ll start to disc and plow a field, and then two weeks later, we’ll disc it again, then make the mounds. We’re still hand-planting the pumpkins…which is getting worse and worse every year. [Everyone laughs] From the first year to this year, we’re planting about five times as many pumpkins. We jumped to three times as many this year just so we could start spraying them with the sprayer instead of the hand sprayer, because that’s just time consuming.

Brittany: Yeah, that’s terrible.

TR: And then hopefully it rains. We’ve had to water them every year. We didn’t water them a lot this year, since it’s finally started raining again. Then, it’s just getting them cut off the vine when they’re turning orange.

Brittany: Which is a chore. A huge chore, because you have to go in and find them, and then cut them.

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TR: Yeah, and the first year, we planted them in June, June the tenth, and they were done so early. First week of September they were done. Last year we waited until July fourth, and this year we waited until July tenth—we planted about a third, and we planted the last two-thirds around the twentieth.

Brittany: We try to make them last longer for the customers so they’re not sitting in the field.

Laura: How much did you all plant this year?

TR: We planted about five acres. It’s by far the most diverse—this year we added white pumpkins, the warty-looking ones.

Brittany: Yes, warted pumpkins, and we added white gourds.

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Laura: You’re embarking on your third year of farm activities. What are you offering this year? What have you added or changed?

Brittany: Well, Coley has added a bunch of stuff for the kids’ area.

Coley: Yes, because we’re finding that this is definitely family-centered. People are looking for some place to take their kids, so we’re trying to keep the kids’ area evolving, adding new things or sticking with things….the cottonseed pit is a big hit. We can never do away with the cottonseed pit. [Laughs] But my overall goal, I think, for the kids area is to do a different theme each weekend next year, so do a soil and water theme, get the soil tunnel in, maybe some vermiculture…really focus on soil. Maybe one we could do is what we grow in Virginia….One weekend, maybe do what we raise, so really focusing on the animals in Virginia, and then maybe do a weekend where we have a popup farmers market, so we’d feature Dinwiddie County, or Dinwiddie-Nottoway, and things that you can actually buy, and meet farmers—that would be pretty cool. I think I’m seeing the fall festival as more of a look at agriculture as whole, with a look at the dairy, but maybe start focusing on dairy more with spring tours in May and June, and really start to promote those. And June is our June Dairy Month Family and Farm Day, and really we really focus on dairy.

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TR: I guess the question too is “What did you do different from this year?” so what are you all doing this year that is different?

Brittany: Well, we have the round bales, the fish game…

Coley: We have tic-tac-toe and the tires.

TR: And I imagine that stuff will stay consistent from year to year.

Coley: I will give a shout out to Farm Credit—this year they gave us three iPads to download the My American Farm games for kids to come in and play—it’s basically SOL learning-based games, so I’ve got a tent set up for kids to come in and do that. And then Brittany added the picture board this year and the “How tall this fall?” painting.

Brittany: We added a friendly red-and-white, and we added ducks and turkeys and some poults that I think we’re going to get this afternoon for the petting farm this year.

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Laura: Are you doing many tours this year?

Coley: We are booked. This is the first year, starting this coming Monday through October, that we are booked, so we’ve grown a lot with our farm tours since the first year.

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Laura: What types of groups come out for those?

Coley: Pre-K, kindergarten, church groups, and then homeschool, is mostly what we get.

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Laura: Do you all have any commentary on what it’s like to run a full-time dairy and do this on the side?

[Everyone laughs]

TR: I haven’t made it home before 8:30 this week.

Brittany: It’s perpetually exhausting.

TR: From my side, it’s been backed up because it was so dry I couldn’t get in the field to do anything, and then it got so wet I couldn’t get in the field to do anything, so now I can finally get in the field, but I’m also supposed to be getting ready entirely for this, so now I just have too many things all at once.

Coley: It’s a lot of work.

TR: The weather didn’t cooperate. If the weather kinda spaced itself out, I’d be in pretty good shape. Now I’m sitting here doing audio commentary. [Laughs]

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Brittany: Also this month, none of us get a single day off for the whole month, at all.

TR: Even on your weekend off. But I enjoy it on my weekend off. It’s basically like getting to go to a pumpkin patch on your weekend off. On your weekend to work, it’s rough, but on your weekend off, it’s not that bad.

Coley: But I think we’re all good about—even if it’s your weekend off, I’m going to go help Brittany do calves when we’re done, you know, because it’s a lot of work. I think this also creates a unique opportunity for people who come on the tours—like, we’re not done setting up today, and when the tour group got here, I told them that. I was very honest with them that the rain last week just really messed us up, we’re not done setting up, and we are also a working farm, so we have got to get the work done on the dairy farm. That’s got to get done first, then we work on pumpkin patch and corn maze stuff. I think that’s important for people to realize.

TR: For what’s going to open this Saturday, we started setting up not this past Monday, but the Monday before.

Coley: But then, lining up tours, I’ve been working on that since mid-August, kids’ zone stuff since mid-August—we may not be able to physically set it up because of the rain, but there was stuff in the works.

TR: Planning starts, gosh, all the way back in June—what we’re going to have, what we’re going to add…

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Maze image courtesy of Richlands Dairy Farm

Laura: So tell me, what does it take to create a corn maze?

TR: People are very surprised that we still cut it with a lawnmower. You see so many articles now about how the precision planters will just—you know, you put it in, then you go and plant, and when it comes up, you have a corn maze.

Brittany: That is not how we do it. [Laughs]

TR: We actually have a 30” row planter, so we plant the field once, then we go back and plant it again so we get 15” rows, and then we just sit down and talk about design, and we basically turn it into a grid.

Brittany: And then TR takes his poly posts and marks his grid.

TR: I get some reference points, you know—so this year is an ice cream cone and says “Richlands Creamery 2017,” so basically, I did the bottom of the cone, the top of the ice cream, the top left of the letter R, the bottom right of the Y, and so then I know I have to have “Richlands” spelled by this point, I have to have “Creamery” spelled by this point, and I know how tall it is, then it’s just looking at the thing and saying “This cube equals 10 feet, so I need to take ten steps to get to this next point.”

Brittany: And then Hugh cuts it with the lawnmower behind you.

TR: And then Hugh follows me with the lawnmower, and then afterwards I’m like “God, I hope this is right,” and we get someone to come take a pictures, and so far every year, we’ve been like, “Oh, it’s not bad!” Letters are easy.

Coley: You count down and over.

TR: Yeah, it’s idiot blocks. But the ice cream cone, with swirls and stuff, that’s a little more. The first year, we did the cow faces, and that was—

Brittany: Rough. [Laughs]

TR: That’s a whole lot of just squiggling around. When we got done, they took a picture, and I thought “The first two look exactly right, the third one’s kinda….ehhhh, the fourth one isn’t bad, it has weird ears.” The other thing is there are no do-overs because you’re mowing the corn. And so we did a milk bottle last year and it was supposed to say “Milk the Good Life.” “The” was three letters so it fit easily, and when we did the “good,” we realized we’d scaled it a little bit wrong, and so we had the GOOD life—it was smashed in there! [Laughs] But you don’t get a chance to do it again, it’s a one-time thing

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Laura: What’s been your biggest challenge with all of this?

Coley: Balancing the two—just the time commitment.

Brittany: Finding that sweet balance where you’re not neglecting anything on the farm but you’re also not neglecting anything on the pumpkin patch because they’re both our businesses and both need to be treated accordingly.

Coley: I would agree.

Laura: What’s been your greatest success or the thing that makes you the most proud?

Coley: For me, it’s the tours, where you’re actually sharing the dairy and what you do with people. So many people don’t realize what goes on at a dairy farm, so for me, that’s very satisfying, when people walk away with, “Oh that was really cool, I learned so much,”…So just being able to share that in general.

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Brittany: Mine is the complete opposite. Mine is when we’re all said and done, we get to buy something we wouldn’t normally be able to buy. So I think this year we are buying a pasteurizer, right?

Coley: [Laughs] Okay, yes. Are we getting cow brushes?

Brittany: Yeah, a cow brush is essentially a luxury item, but because we did so well with the pumpkin patch last year, we can buy a cow brush, and this year, there’s been talk of getting a pasteurizer, and it’s things that make the farm every day easier and better.

Laura: That’s a cool side to consider because people don’t think of it like a business. They just think “Oh, they just do this pumpkin patch.”

TR: And it rolls back into the business. The thing that’s most challenging to me once this gets going—because it’s also harvest time—is getting home super late and not getting to see Hazel [Brittany and TR’s daughter] very much. Like the last ten days, I just haven’t seen her very much. And I like that—you know, I like that two hours of playtime before she goes to bed.  So that’s the challenge for me, getting through the day without being able to spend much time with family. But the thing I like, the biggest reward for me when it’s all set up, is that Hazel gets to go to the pumpkin patch every day for a month.

Coley: Yeah, she has the best playground in her front yard right now. [Laughs]

TR: We don’t get to go anywhere on the weekend, we don’t have time off, but we’re all also spending time together, and at the end of the day we’re tired, but we’re usually smiling about it.

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Coley: I will say on a day to day basis, that’s my favorite. On that kill time between the pumpkin patch and corn maze and the haunted maze where we’re kind of cleaning up, finishing the barn stuff, getting ready for the next day, we kind of seem to congregate at concession or the kids’ area and there’s a few moments of “Ahhh.”

TR: And we share what was cool about it, you know, “Hey, did you all see the kid who was just over the top about whatever—the cows or the petting zoo?” Or you know, “We had a person on the tour who asked this question, which was a really great question.” Some people ask questions that you don’t think about and you have to answer for, and then for the next tour you have to roll them into your presentation because you think “People should know that!”

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Creamery announcement and farm information: Richlands Dairy Farm is excited to announce that they are looking to add a creamery to pasteurize their own milk and to direct-market fluid milk and ice cream locally beginning in late 2017 into spring of 2018. Coley notes that the biggest challenge associated with the creamery is finding a location to build it. The family is working to raise 250,000 of the 1.5 million required to build the creamery.  For details about the upcoming creamery, the fall activity schedule, and farm updates, go to http://www.richlandsdairyfarm.com/https://www.gofundme.com/298acbdk , or https://www.facebook.com/richlands.dairyfarm/

I also caught up with Mike Parrish, Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Agent in Dinwiddie County, to discuss trends in agritourism in the area and the public value of operations like Richlands.

Laura: Why is agritourism important in this area? Are you seeing growth or changes in interest here?

Mike: It’s just getting off the ground here. It’s important because we’ve got a high urban area around here, so we see the potential to attract that urban population into Dinwiddie to take advantage of some agritourism opportunities….We have people moving into the community, because we are a bedroom community for Richmond and the surrounding area, and so we have people coming in with ideas—they bought a piece of property, and they ask “What can we do with it?”, and they’re looking to be profitable, so agritourism is easier for some of the part-time people to get involved with….As far as new trends go, the biggest thing is that we’ve got some artisans making things like soaps, getting their feet wet in the farmer’s market, and looking at expanding from the farmer’s markets. So the farmer’s markets have the advantage of teaching them a lot—helping them learn how to get in the business and how to market their product, and then they’ll expand. We’ve got a couple that are ready to expand and they’re looking to the county to help…I think some of the proposals by the board of supervisors in the past have made conditions more friendly for agricultural development and business development—that has helped. So Dinwiddie’s really a good cooperator—their administration is really positive about agritourism.

Laura: So in this area, we’ve got operations like Richlands Dairy Farm doing pumpkin patches, farm tours, things of that nature. What benefits do you see for the farms engaging in those types of agritourism efforts, and what are the benefits for people who visit?

Mike: I look at it two-fold. One, it’s profitable for the operation, like Richlands—they’re such a good tight-knit family, and they show how families run farms, and they show a positive image of agriculture and the benefits of having it. And those doing this….they have a good reputation, and they share a good image for the agriculture community, which I see as very positive, and then they’re teaching at the same time, believe it or not. They’re telling what they’re doing. People take some of those practices back to their home gardens—it’s harder for them to replicate it, but I think it spawns interest in agriculture, especially the places that draw the kids out. The kids get to see that kind of career, so I think agritourism does a lot more than just bring money to the county. It helps share the positive image of agriculture.

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Laura: How does Extension factor into this equation locally?

Mike: We get a lot of calls in the office each year, so it’s good that we’ve got resources in Extension that we can go to. Of course due to all our other responsibilities I can’t focus on agritourism by myself as a sole job, and you can’t either, but it’s nice that we’ve got people like Martha Walker [Extension Specialist—Community Viability], and Martha’s got her connections, so we have these go-to people and we have other agents around who have even more agritourism in their communities that we can call and talk to……so I think Extension—our network of resources—is a benefit to producers, and if they see the big farmers working with us, then the little ones want to work with us too and see the benefits. We’re all going for that same goal of staying profitable and using the land for ag. Within Dinwiddie, we’ve had meetings jointly—we’ve held a couple agritourism programs with the county and tried to encourage it, and we advertise all the neighboring start-up business programs, like efforts with Virginia State University, so we try to be a partner as much as possible.

Laura: Any parting advice for people who might be considering an endeavor in agritourism?

Mike: Niche agriculture and agritourism still face the same challenges that row crop production does. It’s not going to be peachy every year, so they need to build in the type of management structure that can handle environmental issues with the weather, or seasonal changes. It’s not like having a business that can be open 24/7 or run 9-5 all the time, so I think that’s an eye-opener for some of the people that get into it. It’s farming. It might be just a pumpkin patch to you, but to get to a pumpkin patch, it’s farming. It’s not just a business that pops up all of the sudden, and that’s what I think a lot of people who come out to agritourism operations don’t understand—how much work it took to get to that point. It’s actual farming. It might not be huge farming, but it’s farming.

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Additional Resources for Readers:

SOVA Agricultural Experience (agritourism directory)

Virginia Cooperative Extension Agritourism Resources

My American Farm app and games

Meet Ameva Farm.

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Jimmy and Donna Kerr stand in their freestall barn where the milking herd lives. The barn is built for cow comfort: fans and sprinklers keep cows cool, and the cows can rest on sand bedding, socialize, or get up to eat as they please.

Jimmy and Donna Kerr run the Amelia County dairy operation today, but it was originally established several generations ago as a crop and tobacco farm. In 1948, Jimmy’s grandfather drove to Wisconsin and returned with thirteen registered Guernseys, the start of the first dairy herd at the operation. The herd soon moved across the road, where a milking facility and barns were constructed.

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The dairy herd at Ameva Farm was founded with Guernseys, but today it consists of black-and-white Holsteins. Holsteins are a highly productive dairy breed and are used on most milking herds in the U.S.

Several decades after his grandfather set the foundation for the dairy farm and the herd eventually shifted in favor of Holsteins, Jimmy went to study at Virginia Tech and met his wife Donna in the Dairy Science program. After graduating in 1982 and returning to the farm to start a family, they helped their son Alex and their daughter Jamie develop a passion for showing dairy animals at a young age. Donna recounts the story of Jamie watching her big brother prepare calves for shows and earnestly anticipating her turn to be old enough to participate, only to fall off of a gate the day before the show. She was determined to have her turn in the show ring despite the setback. “She broke her arm, but the next day she was showing!” Donna and Jimmy remark. Both Jamie and Alex continued to raise and show cattle throughout their youth and remained active in the Virginia Junior Holstein Association for a number of years. Today, Alex helps manage the operation alongside his father.

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Ameva Farm operates much like other family dairy farms in the state. The 200-head milking herd goes to the parlor twice each day, once at 3:30 in the morning and again at 2:00 in the afternoon. Farm employees Homer Neese and Lane Staten help Jimmy with milking. When they are not being milked, the cows live in a freestall barn where they can come and go from feed to sand bedding as they please. Keeping the cows content and comfortable requires someone willing to mix feed, bed up the barn, and scrape manure out of the aisles daily. “These cows are our livelihood,” Donna says, noting that cow welfare directly affects the farm’s bottom line. “If they are not in good health and well fed, we don’t make money.” To help with the chores, Jimmy and Donna enlist the help of assistant herdsman Chief Moore, Joel Linthicum and part-time help John Sloan and Tommy Glover. Chief’s wife Donna also helps feed calves. “It takes a village to raise a cow,” Donna jokes.

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The calves on the farm require special care of their own. Like any newborns, they can become sick if they are stressed or malnourished, so they are fed four doses of colostrum in the first two days after birth to ensure good transfer of disease immunity from their dams. The calves are then fed a milk replacer which functions akin to baby formula to provide calves with the nutrition they need. Calves are kept in a special barn to protect them from contact with diseases, and as they grow older, they are put in a larger group to help them learn to socialize with a herd.

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Calves at Ameva Farm receive special care after birth to ensure a good start. As they grow older, they learn to eat pelleted feed and hay.

Throughout their time in the calf barn, calves have access to a pelleted feed. As calves grow, they choose to consume more of this feed in preparation for weaning at seven weeks of age. Older calves become heifers—the teenagers of the cattle world—and when they approach maturity, they are bred and eventually enter the milking herd. Cows in the milking herd give birth to calves, produce milk for several months, and enjoy a “dry period” of rest before the next calf arrives.

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Like most dairy farmers, the Kerrs grow much of their feed right on the farm including small grains and corn for silage and grain. They also grow brown midrib sudangrass which turns into an easily-digestible silage for the cows after it is chopped and stored. Jimmy uses modern soil conservation practices on his farm for his crop production program. “My grandfather was big into soil conservation. We carried those practices on,” he says. “Conservation is a big thing for us.” On Ameva, improved practices include contour strips and no-till farming to promote healthy soil. “You can’t buy topsoil at Wal-Mart,” Donna notes.

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The Kerrs grow most of their feed right on the farm. Some of their crops are grown for silage and some are used for grain. Small grains grow in the fall through spring. Corn and sudgangrass grow during the spring and summer. Both can be chopped and ensiled at harvest time and fed to the milking herd.

Jimmy’s son Alex helps with the field work and crop management, which occurs year-round since small grains grow in the fall through spring and corn grows in the summer. And, of course, the cows need to be milked and fed year-round.

The Kerr family dedicates a considerable amount of each day to farm work. “We have 9-10 hour days, and that’s typical,” Donna says. “Milking cows is almost an 8-hour day, and that’s just milking.” Nonetheless, Jimmy and Donna place a high value on taking time to educate others about agriculture. Donna recounts one particular youth education program years ago that motivated her to take action. “My first question to the kids was, ‘Where does milk come from?’ I kept hearing, ‘The grocery store! The grocery store!’” she says. “I came home and said, ‘We have to do something!’ These are our future regulators and legislators.”

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Agricultural education has been a keystone of the farm since the day the Kerrs first hosted schoolchildren on a field trip when their son Alex entered kindergarten. “We’ve had lots of different tour groups from boy scouts to school children,” Jimmy says. In recent years, schools like Spring Run Elementary have chosen to return annually. Donna notes that well over half of the U.S. population is three or more generations removed from farming, so naturally many children and adults have misunderstandings about how their food is produced. The tours and question-and-answer sessions seem to have made an impact over the years. “Sometimes there’s a lightbulb moment for them,” Jimmy says.

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Cows are brought to the milking parlor twice each day. Each cow is milked for several minutes, and afterwards, she is able to return to the barn to eat, rest, or socialize. Meanwhile, the Kerrs and their employees clean and sanitize the parlor equipment after every milking.

Donna and Jimmy’s roles in the community have given them ample opportunities to share their farm with adults, too. They have given dairy tours to representatives of several government agencies. Donna also believes that the teachers who tour the farm with their classes can go home armed with knowledge to teach many more children about farming.

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Not all students and adults have the opportunity to visit the operation in Amelia, but that does not deter Donna from sharing her message outside of the farm, especially to the state’s decision-makers. In her role as past President of Amelia County Farm Bureau and her time serving on the state Forestry and Natural Resources Committee, Donna has developed rapport with legislators and their aides who sometimes contact her to ask questions about agricultural issues raised by the public. “You never know who you can affect,” Donna says.

When they are not busy on the farm or performing agricultural outreach, Jimmy and Donna still find time to engage with industry groups. Donna is on the board of the Piedmont Soil and Water Conservation District and was an advisor to the Virginia Junior Holstein Association for too many years to count. Meanwhile, Jimmy is the president of Cooperative Milk Producers and was also involved with the Virginia Holstein Association.

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Back at Ameva Farm, Jimmy and Donna want consumers to know that they raise a product that they believe in. Even though farm life is busy, they are happy to help others learn about their occupation. To instill confidence in the dairy industry as she tells her farm story, Donna relates that her family is committed to their own product. “We’re consumers too. I think people forget that perspective. We believe in dealing with our customers,” she says. To the Kerrs, producing a good product and sharing it with others is not simply a business—it is a lifelong passion.

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Additional Resources for Readers:

Learn about Dairy Farming from Virginia Cooperative Extension

National Dairy Council

Virginia State Dairymen’s Association

Virginia Holstein Association

 

 

Meet Maple Dell Farm.

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Introduction: We normally feature Virginia farms, but rules can be broken! I recently visited my hometown and met with the Patrick family at their nearby farm. I also have a bit of a personal connection to their story—Caitlin and Derek Patrick were in the same 4-H program that I was, and I saw the family at the Howard County Fair each year where we all exhibited our livestock.–Laura Siegle

The 160-cow dairy, a fixture in the Howard County farm landscape, is one of the last of its kind in Howard County, Maryland. Nonetheless, a typical day on the farm for the Patrick family at Maple Dell is much like life on any of the many family-run dairies scattered across the state. The cows walk to the milking parlor twice each day, and each cow’s udder is cleaned and milked over the course of several minutes.

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Unlike cows, who eat a mixed ration, calves on dairies like Maple Dell drink milk or milk replacer and are slowly transitioned to a diet of “calf starter” and hay as they grow so that they can develop healthy rumens.

In between trips to the parlor and judicious equipment cleanup after each milking, there is no shortage of chores. Each day, the family must blend a ration consisting of farm-grown silage, hay, grain, and minerals and deliver it to the barns. This dairy ration, calculated with precision according to the needs of the cows and the nutrient makeup of each ingredient, consists largely of forages like hay and silage to keep each cow’s digestive tract and rumen microbes healthy.

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Manure is cleaned out of the barn regularly to create a clean, comfortable environment for the milking herd. In fact, in one barn, the cows have free access to enter and leave a set of “free stalls” bedded deeply with sand. In another barn, the “pack barn,” cows can lie down as they please on a thick layer of shavings. The Patrick family knows that good housing that enhances “cow comfort,” as the industry calls it, leads to happy, healthy, and productive cows.

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Like most dairies, the Patrick family raises their calves in hutches that provide shelter and enable individualized feeding and monitoring of each animal. Heifer calves which have been weaned live together as they grow to breeding and calving age. Aside from caring for the animals, the family also must manage the crops they grow which include corn, soybeans, barley, wheat, triticale, alfalfa, timothy hay, and orchard grass hay.

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Maple Dell certainly looks a typical dairy in its day-to-day functions, but its tradition of exhibiting top-notch cattle and supporting the Howard County 4-H program is rather extraordinary. Although most of the herd consists of Holsteins, one of the most common dairy breeds, one third of the cattle are red-and-white Ayrshires. The family exhibits both breeds. In fact, the Patrick family has been showing cattle for the past seventy years ever since David and James Patrick began taking their Ayrshires to fairs. Most recently, Maple Dell cattle have gone locally to the Howard County Fair, the Maryland Spring Show, and the Maryland State Fair. At the State Fair, the family has brought the Holstein Senior Best Three Females for two years in a row.

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The Patricks have also traveled to the prestigious All-American Dairy Show and the World Dairy Expo. Their cattle have undergone the “classification” process which objectively appraises animals for a variety of traits on a 1-100 point scale. The outstanding EX-95 classification that has been assigned to three Holsteins and one Ayrshire bred by Maple Dell is a testament to the quality of the cattle the family produces.

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Calf hutches provide shelter during cold winter weather.

It would be remiss to look at the farm’s breeding and showing achievements without acknowledging its contribution to the county’s 4-H program. The 4-H program in Howard County has long been a standout opportunity for youth to gain skills ranging from robotics to livestock judging. Farms in the county have dwindled and dairy farms are far more rare, but thanks to the Patrick family, youth with or without farming backgrounds have the opportunity to lease dairy heifers and exhibit them in the Howard County Fair, an event where the 4-H program shines and youth showcase their skills and projects over the course of a week in front of thousands of attendees from the community.

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This cow and her herd mates are lying down on a bed of sand. Cows can enter and exit these bedded “free stalls” as they please to go eat, drink, or socialize.

For many years the Patricks have organized a dairy club education and showing program. Youth who join can keep their leased heifer at the farm if they do not have their own facilities. Twenty or thirty heifers from Maple Dell are leased out to children through this program each year. 4-H members who lease a heifer must keep detailed “project records” on their animal, including notes on care and reports on expenditures, and preparing the heifers for the fair is certainly is nothing short of a project. Heifers must first learn to be handled and walk quietly when led. They must also be brushed, bathed, and clipped, among other tasks. The process instills responsibility, confidence, and character in youth who participate in the process from start to finish.

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The Patrick family is deeply rooted in their passion for excelling in their business, serving the industry, and engaging youth in agricultural production. This tradition was built by the dedication of parents and grandparents who had high expectations for their cattle and appreciated the value of 4-H programs, and today, the Patrick children and grandchildren carry on the tradition. Walk through the Howard County Fair in August, and you just might spot a barn aisle full of Maple Dell calves napping in the straw after a bath and waiting on their turn in the show ring.

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Additional Resources for Readers:

Article about the 4-H leasing program at Maple Dell here

Article about Ayrshires at Maple Dell here

Dairy cattle resource from Virginia Cooperative Extension here

University of Maryland 4-H Program here

 

Meet Richlands Dairy Farm.

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Like many farmers in Southside Virginia, the Jones family had been growing tobacco since the 1700s, but all of that changed three generations ago when Ray Jones came back to the farm after spending some time in Tazewell, Virginia. He renamed the farm “Richlands” after a town in that county and decided that dairy farming was the future of the family. Ray still lives and works on the farm with his wife, Shirley. Today, he is joined by his son Hugh and daughter-in-law Tracey, along with his granddaughter Coley, grandson Thomas who graduated from Virginia Tech’s Dairy Science program alongside his wife Brittany, and several other members of the Jones family.

IMG_1060 (1024x683)Located in Blackstone right along the county line between Dinwiddie and Nottoway, the farm is one of few remaining in the region. Most of Virginia’s dairy production takes places in the Shenandoah Valley, west towards Franklin County, or down in Southwest Virginia. 

Nonetheless, Richlands shares some common traits with dairies in these more distant areas. The milking herd consists of about Holstein 230 cows. The farm now milks twice a day like most other producers, although at one time the cows were milked three times per day.

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Cow line up to get milked on both raised sides of the parlor; the milking staff stands at eye level with the machines while they are on the cow (above). Unlike most parlors, some of the milking system is housed in a basement below the parlor (below). The milk is cooled and stored temporarily in a bulk tank before pickup (bottom).

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Unlike most dairies, parts of the parlor’s milking system are housed in a basement below the parlor, making for a much quieter milking experience for the cows and farm staff working upstairs. Cows that are brought in for milking only spend ten minutes or less with the machine attached before milking is completed and they are able to walk back to the barn to eat, drink, rest, or socialize.

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Cows may freely choose to walk to this end of the barn to eat the ration that is delivered to them.

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IMG_1101 (1024x683)The barn for the milking herd at Richlands is also rather unique. In contrast to a traditional barn which is usually long with open sides with one or two long feed alleys and a middle row of raised stalls with dividers where cows can lie down, the “pack barn” at the farm consists of a high, light roof and a large, open, rectangular bedded area where cows can lie down to rest wherever they please instead of choosing an individual stall. The cows are walked from the barn to the adjacent parlor area at milking time. To eat, the cows walk to the feed aisle, stick their heads through an opening, and eat a mixture of silage, hay, grain, and other feeds that is specially formulated with the help of a dairy nutrition consultant. Ration formulation for milk cows requires precision and a deep understanding of digestive physiology and animal nutrition. Too much or two little of certain nutrients can cause the cow to drop in milk production, lose weight, or get sick; too many unnecessary ingredients can drive up costs.

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This handful of “TMR,” or “total mixed ration” for the cows, primarily contains forages such as corn silage and hay. Grain and other feeds may be added to create a balanced diet that meets the nutritional demands of a lactating cow.

IMG_1143 (1024x684)The consultant helps the farm keep the ration in balance while juggling changing ingredient availability and costs. Main ingredients like corn silage, hay, and triticale are grown on the farm. Sometimes the ration can contain ingredients like soybean meal, beet pulp, or brewers grains, which result when raw grains and other items are processed for other purposes, but these “by-product feeds” are excellent sources of nutrition for cattle and have the added benefit of preventing waste. Contrary to the belief that milk cows are only fed grain, cows require a high level of forage in their diets, some of which they obtain from corn silage and hay in their feed and some of which they eat when they are let out to graze on available pasture. The growing heifers, which will join the cows after they are old enough to have calves, spend nearly all of their time grazing, as do the “dry cows.” Each cow at Richlands is given a “dry” period of about two months during which she is not milked. This gives her udder a chance to recover and rebuild and allows her to rest as she prepares to have her next calf so that milk production begins again.

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IMG_1127 (1024x683)When a calf is born at Richlands, caretakers ensure that it receives colostrum, the first milk containing antibodies from the cow, within a few hours. Although some farms opt to keep calves in stalls or hutches with individual exercise areas, Richlands uses a group housing system where all of the calves eat, rest, and socialize together in large pens. The calf barn is kept clean and freshly bedded to reduce the chances of disease. Calves are very curious and quickly learn to recognize that humans are the bearers of milk. As they grow larger, they learn to eat forages and grains and eventually transition to a new area of the farm where they are able to graze with other older heifers. To increase efficiency and enhance the effectiveness of their calf nutrition program, the Jones family is considering the possibility of using an automatic feeder in the calf barn that tracks and regulates each calf’s consumption and allows them to drink multiple times throughout the day.

IMG_1123 (1024x683)IMG_1070 (598x1024)In a region of Virginia dominated by soybean, wheat, barley, beef cattle, and tobacco production, dairying has become rare. It is even rarer to find a dairy that has adapted to changing times and changing technologies like Richlands has. The family has also willingly become a knowledge resource to the community in recent years by allowing students to visit for field trips and loaning out calves for agricultural education events in the area, and the farm employs some local teenagers who are able to gain valuable work skills.

Ray’s original dream for his family when he returned to the Virginia farm was right on track. Dairy really was—and is—the future for the Jones family, and anyone who has met them can see the legacy they are creating. But even to passing drivers on 460 who will never meet Ray, Shirley, Hugh, or anyone else from the farm, the cutout wooden farm sign in the shape of Holstein cows on the end of the driveway serves as a reminder that the food in the grocery store comes from families across the state who have a lifelong passion for farming.

IMG_1156 (1024x683)IMG_1144 (1024x684)IMG_1083 (1024x683)Additional Resources for Readers:

Virginia Tech Department of Dairy Science

VT Dairy-home of the dairy Extension program

Answers to Common Questions about Dairy Farming

Dairy Farming Today-FAQs about dairy farming

Virtual Dairy Farm for kids

Meet Jennifer Ligon, Low-Stress Cattle Handler.

100_0966 (1024x768)Jennifer is more commonly known as the agriculture agent for Virginia Cooperative Extension in Buckingham County and has become a leader in animal science and cattle industry programs both within her county and across the state. However, she has taken on a particularly important role as a proponent of low-stress cattle handling methods that improve animal welfare and prevent losses associated with poor handling practices. Virginia is home to many top-notch cattle producers. Some have innate cow-reading skills and have unwittingly practiced low-stress methods for years; some have learned and adopted low-stress methods later in life. The rest employ conventional methods, which is where Jennifer’s work comes in.

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100_0972 (1024x768)Because cattle are prey animals, they choose to maintain a large area of personal space. When a person enters this “flight zone,” animals feel pressure to move and restore their personal space. A skittish or untrained animal may have a flight zone extending several hundred feet out from its body. Over time, after repeated positive experiences with humans, this zone will become smaller and animals will tolerate closer distances to humans. The reverse is true if they encounter negative experiences. The dairy cow presents an example of an animal with a very small flight zone. Because she is handled daily and usually in a positive manner, her flight zone may only extend a few feet from her body. Some dairy cows may even allow themselves to be touched. Nonetheless, when a person steps into the flight zone of a beef animal, they apply pressure that causes the animal to move. When they step out of the flight zone, they release the pressure on the animal and it may no longer feel the need to move away.

100_0968 (1024x768)As a rule, brood cows and their calves in Virginia spend their days enjoying pasture and hay. This production system for cow-calf operations is highly cost-effective and makes use of the state’s abundant forage. Producers are nearby daily to check on the herd, move the animals to fresh pasture, or bring in feed or hay. Cattle become accustomed to these routines. However, calves and cows occasionally need to be brought into direct proximity to humans in order to receive routine care such as vaccinations, parasite controls, tagging, reproductive soundness exams, pregnancy checks, and ultimately weaning, the primary cause of stress in a cow-calf operation. The only way to perform these activities safely is to bring the cattle into a handling facility, creating opportunities for stress if the cattle are moved too quickly or exposed to loud noises, fast-moving objects, or people encroaching too quickly or aggressively on the “flight zone.”100_0969 (1024x746)

Conventional handlers tend to rely on vocal encouragement, arm-waving, and applying pressure from the back of the group in order to move animals from one pen to another or from a pen to the chute, where cattle are restrained briefly for treatment. Low-stress handling methods employ minimal noise, movement, and arm-waving. Handling methods matter during tasks such as emptying pens, where startled or stressed herds may continually circle past an open gate and frustrate handlers who wish to push them forward through it. A low-stress handler can accomplish this task more quickly by working from the front of the herd and briefly training animals to walk calmly or stop moving using pressure-and-release movements into and out of the flight zone. Once animals understand that the handler will remove the flight zone pressure when they step in the right direction, the handler can stand in one place off to the side of the group and direct animals through the gate calmly and efficiently. The same applies to moving cattle from a pen to an aisle or chute; a worked-up herd will feel forced when pushed towards narrow space. A calm animal may willingly choose to enter an aisle or alley when pressure is applied appropriately and the animal naturally chooses to step away from the pressure.

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100_0962 (1024x768)Over the past decade, low-stress handling has gained popularity and farmers throughout Virginia have attended educational sessions to become more adept at working with cattle in accordance with their instincts. Two 2013 events sponsored by Virginia Cooperative Extension featuring nationally-recognized cattle handling experts drew several hundred attendees. Virginia producers who become certified in the “Beef Quality Assurance” industry program attend educational recertification courses which emphasize low-stress handling as a key component of high-quality beef cattle production.  Extension agents, university specialists, and veterinarians across the state support and facilitate these efforts. In particular, Jennifer Ligon has undertaken research to quantify the benefits of low-stress handling in comparison to conventional handling methods on cow-calf operations. In several locations, she compares the behavior of animals that encounter both handling methods during various tasks.  She plans to evaluate impacts of stress, including weight loss during the weaning process. Jennifer also works closely with local cattlemen and organizes educational efforts that demonstrate low-stress handling methods. 100_0958 (1024x768)

Many consumers are concerned with the practices that are used to produce food. They can rest assured that low-stress handling methods promote calmer, happier cattle that are treated responsibly at all times.  Low-stress handling has the potential to benefit cows, raise consumer confidence, keep handlers safe, and cut losses to improve profitability across Virginia’s cattle operations. With the help of industry leaders and agents like Jennifer, more producers are adopting these practices and reaping the benefits.

100_0935 (1024x768)Additional Resources for Readers:

Getting Started in the Cattle Business in VA

Cattle Handling Pointers

Low-Stress Cattle Handling: The Basics

Meet the Alexanders.

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They operate Avery’s Branch Farms, a dairy, pork, and poultry operation in Amelia County. The Alexanders started their farm business about six years ago and moved to their current location in 2009. They are primarily milk producers who interact with local consumers via a cow shareholding system, but they also raise poultry and pigs in order to offer chicken, turkey, pork, and eggs for sale. The family has made it their goal to feed their milking herd a pasture-based diet and to build healthy soil that can sustain pasture plants. Tim, his wife Joy, and their children run the operation together.

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The Avery’s Branch milking herd is composed of about fifty head of Jerseys and crossbred animals. Why Jerseys? This breed does not produce the same volume of milk per day as the Holstein does, but Jersey milk tends to be high in butterfat and protein and is excellent for making cheese. Jersey cattle also perform well in the outdoor conditions on grazing operations and are widely used in many parts of the country. 100_0753 - Copy (1024x768)

The milking herd relies primarily on forages to meet their needs. The cows receive a small amount of grain to meet their remaining nutritional requirements because lactating animals naturally require a high-energy diet in order to produce milk.

Like any grazing operation, Avery’s Branch strives to manage their pastures in such a way that forage is available for the majority of the year. Any farmer who runs out of pasture by the winter or faces a slump during a hot summer must resort to feeding hay, which can become costly. To reduce the number of hay-feeding days per year on the farm, Tim utilizes a diverse mix of annual and perennial forages in his pasture. Some of his pasture consists of tall fescue and clover, both of which are cool-season grasses that thrive in fall and spring and can be “stockpiled,” or saved up in the fall for grazing during the winter. The clover also “fixes” nitrogen from the air and adds it back into the soil, making it available for plants to use.  Since cool-season grasses typically do not grow well during the hottest months, Tim plants warm-season annuals such as sudangrass, sorghum-sudangrass, and crabgrass, all of which thrive during the summer months when cool-season grasses have gone dormant. Keeping crabgrass as a desirable pasture plant may come as a surprise to people who despise seeing it in their lawns and gardens, but crabgrass is actually a higher-quality forage than many of its warm-season counterparts and contains about 15% crude protein and 60% total digestible energy when it is grown in fertile soil.  The Alexanders have also planted winter annuals like ryegrass and oats to help get through the coming months.

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Weeds, weather, and soil factors all play a role in the quality of the forages that are available to the cows. This year, wet weather has allowed cool-season forages like tall fescue to keep on growing all summer long. Weeds are also a concern on the farm, as they are for all producers, but the Alexanders combat them by clipping them to weaken them and rotating animals between pastures. Pasture rotation reduces the stress on desirable plants and allows them to recover quickly and choke out undesirable plants.

100_0786 (1024x768)The Alexanders have continued to grow their farm to further meet the needs of their customers and shareholders. Their willingness to try new practices and evaluate their successes and failures objectively has allowed them to take their farming operation from an idea to a real-life success.   

100_0756 - Copy (1024x768)Additional Resources for Readers:

Warm-Season Annual Grass For Summer Forage

Forage Establishment: Getting Off to a Good Start

Information about Direct Marketing for Farm Products

Avery’s Branch Farms Website