Christmas Shopping for Kids? Check Out This Great Author- Dahlov Ipcar!

Once upon a time, I lived in the rural town town of Freeland, Maryland, which to this day does not contain a stop light, and there stood a church called Middletown United Methodist Church.  My great-grandmother, Lizetta Norris Bedgar, donated the land for that church to be built and eventually my parents were married there.  Years passed and the congregation dwindled, until the doors were closed.  At that time, my Mom was able to get the copy of "One Horse Farm" by Dahlov Ipcar that was in the nursery.

Source of photos: www.islandportpress.com
 

Mom sent it to me here in North Dakota. The pages are tattered and the binding is taped together, but it is a treasure to my little family and one of our favorite bedtime stories.

In fact, I can barely read it without getting choked up, because it parallels the evolution of my family's dairy farm- from horse power to tractor power so closely and I imagine some of the men in my family, some whom have passed on and are dearly missed, having similar conversations.

I recently discovered that the book's author, Dahlov Ipcar, has MANY other WONDERFUL works as well!

My children will be receiving "The Cat at Night" and "Hardscrabble Harvest" this year.

 

 "The Cat at Night" tells of the adventures of a farm cat, while the farm animals (and the farmer) are fast asleep.

 Hardscrabble Harvest is a funny, yet realistic telling of raising a garden, and all the critters that can cause trouble on the farm.

I was also excited to find the board book versions of her Farm Alphabet and Wild Animal Alphabet for my 18 month old son.

The Island Port Press has re-released her books at:

http://www.dahlovipcar.com/

Dahlov's biography is so interesting as well.  She was born in 1917 in Vermont and went on to farm with her husband in Maine.  She is such an intriguing and talented individual, I wish that I could meet her.

Her essay "My Family, My Life, My Art" is a very enjoyable read.  She wrote "Everything about farming was beautiful in my eyes. I loved the Jersey cows with their softly shaded coats more like deer than cows -- their wrinkled white stockings, and their eyes that looked as if they had been outlined with black mascara." 

Ah, she and I have that opinion of Jersey cows in common. FYI- I spent a year serving as a Jersey Cattle Queen :)

Hope you find this helpful as you do some last minute shopping for the youngins' on your list.
Sarah :)

Contest: Name the Triplet Calves, Win a Dairy Good Prize Package!

What an exciting day July 14th was!

TRIPLET calves arrived at the neighboring dairy farm, Entzminger Dairy!

We partner with Entzminger Dairy on our farm.  In the spring and fall, they bring a group of cattle over to graze on some of our land.

The Entzminger family and the employees on their farm take EXCELLENT care of their cattle and we're proud to work with them. Not only are healthy dairy products for my family made with the milk they produce, but their cattle also help keep our soil fertile to grow better crops.

Pretty great recycling program!

Entzminger Dairy also hosts many local school children each year on farm tours. 

So what are the chances of triplet Holstein calves? According to Holstein World, 1 in 105,000!

You can imagine how excited everyone at the dairy was when these little ones arrived!

My friend, Bobbi Entzminger, notified me on Facebook of this incredible birth and sent along some photos to share!

There are two heifers (girls), numbers 200 and 201.  At the dairy, cattle are individually identified with eartags so they can get the best treatment possible.

There was also a bull calf (male), as seen in the foreground.  Looks like one of his sisters has a case of the wiggles! Word spread pretty quickly about these wee ones and the dairy employees, including Armondo in the photo above, shared in the joy of their arrival! 

Cow number 931 (owned by Mitch Entzminger) is the dam (mother) and the sire (father) is bull 187691 Cobra from the Genex Cooperative.
That's a whole lot of calf to have carried for 9 months! They're so new in these two photos that they're just learning how to hold themselves up.  Pretty impressive that within minutes of being born, calves can stand up.

Here little 201 gets a check-up, while 200 looks on from her comfortable spot in the straw.  Each calf at the dairy (except these special little gals who get to hang out together) gets an individual pen with a bucket of fresh water every day. Over their first two months they will transition from being bottle fed milk to eating grain from a bucket.

To celebrate this special arrival, together with the Entzminger dairy family, I'm hosting a Calf Naming Contest. 


In the comment section below, leave your suggestions for the names of these calves (remember: two girls and a boy) and on August 6th, the Entzmingers will choose the winner of this MOOVELOUS prize package which has been so graciously donated by the Midwest Dairy Association!

Here is what is included, from left to right:

Dairy Makes Sense potholder, Chocolate Milk Sports Fuel information, Dairy Makes Sense lunch bag, Dairy Makes Sense pizza cutter, Recipe Cards (Pumpkin Pie Squares, Pulled Pork Tacos, Mozzarella Pepper Salsa, Blues Buster Smoothie, Pumpkin Pancakes, and Peanut Butter & Banana Breakfast Shake), 2 samples of Whey Protein, Whey protein informational pamphlet, Cow pen, Whey protein recipe cards and a Dairy Makes Sense blender bottle.

GOOD LUCK, CONTESTANTS!!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Sarah :)

p.s You may also be interested in this poem, by dairy manager, Terry Entzminger:

http://farmeronamission.blogspot.com/2010/05/may-our-farmers-stand-with-pride.html

Moovelous Monday: Cow Teeth

In the spring and fall, lovely four legged ladies come over from a neighboring dairy farm to visit the Wilson Farm.  They will graze our cover crops and crop residue (what's left over after we harvest), but there is one very important tool that they each require to do so: teeth.


I know, I know, you might be thinking...this lady wrote an entire blog post on cow teeth? BORING! Well, hang with me here, you might be surprised by some of the fun facts about cow teeth.

I took this picture while coaching a Dairy Challenge team at a competition in Pennsylvania.

She apparently had something very important to say :)

Did you know that cows, along with all other 192 species of ruminants (animals that chew their cud) do not have top front teeth? Instead they have a "dental pad".  This allows them to wrap their tongue around grass and pull it into their mouth.  Then they use their BIG molars to chew.

See...no upper front teeth, but plenty of molars to grind grass and feed...

(Source: Cow/Cattle Breeding & Raising)

Did you know you can tell the age of a cow from it's teeth? 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_age_determination

This steer, "Casper", was one of the animals that was part of my graduate research.  Here he is drooling contentedly on one of my fellow students, Maciej :)

Casper had the most interesting bovine teeth I have ever seen. He never lost his "baby teeth".  I guess you can call Casper the "Peter Pan" of the bovine world...he just didn't want to grow up!

Close-ups of Casper's "double teeth", wherre his "adult" teeth had grown in, but his "baby" teeth hadn't fallen out.

If you asked my four year old daughter, C.W., who is obsessed with sharks, she would say Casper must be a part shark, because he has multiple rows of teeth :)

Did you know? Bovine teeth can also be used as substitutes for human teeth in dental studies.

Want to know more?

I also found this article about cow teeth very interesting:

http://www.wonderquest.com/cows-teeth-mirrors.htm

Want to know if cows can bite? Visit the Zweber Farm to find out!

So why do I care so much about cow teeth?  Well, a cow's got to eat to make milk and the better she can eat, the more milk she can make.  Since I LOVE cheese, ice cream, etc, I think cow teeth are pretty important.

What's next for Moovelous Monday?  Maybe a lesson on cow tongues? They're pretty cool too!

For more facts on cows in general, check out:

USDA Animal Improvement Laboratory "Facts About Cows":
http://aipl.arsusda.gov/kc/cowfacts.html

THANKS for stopping by!
Sarah :)

Schmiedhof Dairy and Tobacco Farm in Germany

Mr. Roland Bellaire, owner of Schmiedhof Farm explaining how a large section of his farmland will be taken by the government for flood control for the Rhine river. A difficult situation indeed.

Govt. issue eartags on a Fleckvieh calf at Schmiedhof Farm. Required by law as soon as the calf is born. There is a hefty fee for lost tags. Inspectors can drop by the farm anytime to check eartags, without notice.

The main freestall barn where the herd of 70 Fleckvieh cows are kept.

Dominik and his daughter who would rather have him play with her than lead a farm tour. She kept saying "Papa...Papa....". I miss hearing my girls saying Papa. Oh but these three weeks are flying by.


Okay, back to business....

We toured the Schmiedhof Farm in Neupotz, Germany. The farm is owned by Mr. Roland Bellaire and his son, Dominik. They have 412 acres of tillable land, including 62 acres of hay, 55 acres of tobacco, 13.75 acres of parsley, and also some mustard.

Here our host, Dirk Gerling, right, discusses the stats of the Wilson Farm and a small photo book I brought along with Dominik Bellaire. The size of our family's farm, at over 3,000 acres, although just an average farm in North Dakota, seems to be a pretty hot topic here, where farms tend to be much smaller due to the large population base and many more forested areas.

The Bellaire's milk 70 head of Fleckvieh cows. 140 total head of cattle with young stock included.

Average milk production per lactation (each time a cow has a calf she lactates) is 8,500 Liters. Average lactation lasts 370 days. Milkfat percentage is 4.3. Protein percentage in milk is 3.8%

They currently milk in a double four tandem parlor where the cows are lined up head to tail in individual stalls, but they hope to upgrade to a robotic milker in the future.

Roland is currently the chairperson of the county farmer's association.

A gadget is installed on their tractor to change the tire pressure from inside the cab when they go from driving in the field to on the road and vice versa.

Every tractor here is required to have a license plate.

Certainly many differences between how we farm in the U.S. and how they do things here in Germany, but we have a lot of common ground as well. Very grateful to the Bellaire family for taking time out of their busy schedules to show us around their well-run operation.