Spring Show 2011

The Michigan spring show is coming up and we started getting ready. So far we have washed 6 of the cows that we are taking (I believe that we are taking 10 or 11). We also brought one of our cows home to try to slim her down and milk her on our own. If you're confused here is why. We own a "hobby farm" so we just raise our animals and don't milk them. So back to the show. We have been tying up all our animals to get them broke to lead. We've also been leading them around to practice for showmanship and to get them to lead.

My dad is actually milking the cow right now and I just got done feeding. We also raise chickens but we haven't grown any meat chickens in a while, but we have gotten a lot of eggs. So thats what is new on our farm and I can't wait for the spring show.

--Eric

Dairy Days

I'm really excited to do Dairy Days again this year. I'm doing a lot this year.

I'm going to..

1. Help at the Great Dairy Adventure
2. Judge Cows
3. Quiz Bowl
4. and Show the cows

--Eric

Summer

Summer, its fun and very busy. I've already gone to 2 different camps and it's only June!! We already went camping, and my brother, Lucas, is going into high school!! So Lucas has a lot of practices for sports this year.

We've been catching and washing the heifers all week and have more to do to get ready for Dairy Days.. We are going to the Dairy Days at the MSU pavilion in July. Then we have our county fair 2 weeks after that. We clearly have a lot to do between halter breaking them, washing, and clipping the cows.

--Eric

Getting Ready

Today is a big day because it is one week from the show! Right now my brother, Lucas, and my dad are at a friends farm washing Luke's cow for the sale. I just finished making our signs for this year and I'm waiting for them to get back. I'm also excited because I get to go to an inside pool with come of my friends from Taekwondo it's going to be awesome!!

--Eric

Preparation

This past week we have been catching our cows and washing all the ones who will be going to the show next week. Today we washed two animals and trimming toe nails. We're also clipping the cows to trim off all of their winter fur. I have been working with my calf a lot because we have been trying to get her used to wearing a halter we had to untie her because she almost hung herself. I'm really excited for the show and I can't wait to show my Jersey calf and my Holstein.

--Eric

De-horning Calves

I hate de-horning calves for 2 reasons:

1. It smells horrible
2. I hate watching it

Well, at least I didn't have to watch it this time because I didn't know my dad had done it.

--Eric

Judging and World Dairy Expo

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I know its been a while since I've blogged, but now I am going to blog more. I'm so excited because my jersey cow had her calf!!!!!!!!! Also tomorrow I have dairy judging practice at MSU.

I also had a lot of fun at World Dairy Expo last month. It was my first time going and it was really fun. It was even more fun because my cousins were there and I got to wander more since I'm older now. If you didn't go this year the theme was Legendary.

Happy Thanksgiving,

--Eric

Fair time coming up

We are now busy getting ready for the county fair that begins next week. Thankfully the cows are still looking pretty good so not much work needed there. Eric and Anna have art projects and cooking to bring in the next couple of days. Lucas is going to try showing chickens this year --should be an experience. The first trick will be giving them a bath. Not to sure about that one. How do you give a chicken a bath??? I will let you know next week.

Next week will not be as busy as Dairy Days so the kids will get more time to hang out with friends. Because we live in a rural area, there will be a lot of kids from their school at the fair so it will be a good time to catch up with everyone.

We will keep you posted.

Laura 

Dairy day 3,4 and 5!

I kind of lost steam after the first few days on the blogging! So here is a quick wrap-up of our week:

Wednesday brought the Great Dairy Adventure and thousands of local kids to the pavilion to learn about cows and milk and farming, etc. The dairy kids in the barn get a kick out of talking about what they do. Several volunteers work different stations each telling a different part about dairy farming. It is always enlightening to realize how little people know about where there food comes from -- which is why they can be easily swayed with the wrong information about modern farming practices. (I won't get on my soapbox about this now...maybe later!)

Wednesday night the Junior Holstein kids hosted a "party barn" with games and food. It is good for the kids to take a break from all the work and competition to just hang out together. For a lot of them they don't have many friends at home that understand their love of cows -- so it is good for these kids to have the time to get to know each other. I am sure some long-time friendships are being made this week.

Thursday was another early day with the Holstein and Jersey shows starting at 8:00. Lucas and Eric both had a better day then they did on Tuesday. Lucas had one animal named All-Michigan and one Res. Jr All-Michigan and Eric's Jersey was honorable mention Jr Champion of the Junior Show. In the afternoon they both had showmanship contests and Anna was in the pee-wee show. Her calf had come in heat the day before so she had to use one of Lucas' calves. She was a good sport about it considering she was really counting on showing Tammy.

Thursday night was the 4-H awards banquet. Eric did not do as well as he had last year so that was disappointing for him. But the Junior Team with Lucas and his friends did really well - first place in judging and third in quiz bowl.

Friday was an easy day since we were all done showing. The boys hung around to watch and help others and start tearing everything down. They were all back home by that evening.

It is a whirlwind week for sure -- but it builds memories for these kids that will last forever. We have one week home and then we are at the fair!

Laura