Three years ago my husband and I decided we needed a "get rich quick" scheme and became dairy farmers. ;~) Actually, my husband really wanted to farm, and I love farming as well so it seemed like the thing to do. Since we've began farming things have been tough. It probably didn't help that I returned to college at the same time, but that's besides the point. There are always struggles of some kind whether they are financial, crop related, feed related or cow related. Our biggest issue is mud. We've known this since we started and just keep plugging away and trying to adapt things to best suit the muddy conditions. However, the effect the mud has on the cows themselves is not something that we have been able to fix.
Lately my husband and I have been doing a lot of projecting for the future as far as building plans, ideas, projects etc. We do this often and really enjoy it. Yesterday, I was riding to school with my friend Erica and telling her how I thought we needed to build a free-stall barn because it was the only way to fix the mud problem efficiently. Then, last night in the barn I was talking to my husband and he said, "I was thinking today and decided that we should build a free-stall barn". I looked at him very strangely apparently as I had thought about the same thing all day. This conversation led to discussion on the best way to do it, which we both have different opinions on of course. I really thought to myself about how it must be a sign that we both happened to think about the same thing all day. Eric also had some other ideas that were social work related which sparked my interest, but that's another story. For now it looks like more building will be in the future...
What's a free stall barn?
ReplyDeleteI was listening to Talk Radio last weekend and they were talking about "Vision Boards"...creating a vision for each year. I meant to blog about it, then forgot. BUT, your story about you and Eric coincidentally thinking about the same thing and having a similar vision reminded me of this girl who put a picture of two babies she liked on her vision board. She ended up getting pregnant with TWINS last year, a totally unintended "consequence" of her vision board. Not sure what I am saying here, but if you have a vision, post a pic to your fridge. It will come true. [Bruce and I did that with our house.]
ReplyDeleteA free stall barn is a full barn with concrete floors that has individual stalls for each cow usually using baked sand as bedding, that allows the cows their own space to lay in throughout the day, and has a center alley where the feed is spread so the cows can eat there. It keeps them housed and under lower stress conditions which increases milk production, lowers foot issues (which has been a significant problem for us), lowers the amount of feed waste, and is very efficient. Here is a site if you are interested in info or pictures: http://vmthpub.vetmed.wisc.edu/dms/fapm/fapmtools/5house/Update_to_Stall_designAABP.pdf
ReplyDeleteAunt Marcia: We actually have a design of our desired future house that has been hanging on the fridge for some time. I am thinking of drawing the design and posting it as well. We probably will go talk to FSA this spring sometime about our plan and hope to build this summer. We'll see what happens from here! :~)
Do you still milk in the parlor then?
ReplyDeleteYep! This would run parrallel to the milk barn and there would be a breezeway connecting the barns. The cows would walk through it into the catch pen to milk as they do now. They just would be completely enclosed and there would be no mud issues. (Yay!!! :~) A free-stall is simply for housing cows and has a feed alley in it. The back barn would then be used only for grouping calves, heifers and dry cows so this would eliminate the need to build a calf barn. Killing quite a few birds with one stone. It's an expensive stone, but one stone either way. ;~)
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