How Far Can Dairy Judging Take You?

Earlier this summer I had the opportunity to take the trip of a lifetime.  Traveling with a group of 4-H and FFA kids, coaches and chaperons, I spent 12 nights in the United Kingdom.  During a mix of farm visits, international competitions, sight-seeing, and a lot of eating we created too many memories to count.  I made new friends and industry contacts from around the country, perhaps a few international, and our 8 member group from VA will forever be our own little family.

So how does a trip like this result from Dairy Judging?  For me it started with a few friends talking me into trying out for the team at Virginia Tech.  I was hesitant at first but decided to give it a shot.  The next 2 years of competing took me to several states I had never visited before and large regional and national dairy shows including the World Dairy Expo in WI for the first time.  Due to my participation on those teams and in those contest I have judged about 3 shows a year since graduating in  6 different states. 

The next big step for me was becoming the coach of our neighbor county team 5 years ago.  While serving as the coach of Goochland 4-H team I have also become the head coach of VA 4-H state team for the last 3 years.  Over these 3 years our team has placed 6th, 3rd, and 7th nationally while competing against states with much larger dairy youth programs.  It is the result of hard working kids and lots of generous parents and local coaches who volunteer all or part of their time and expertise for the cause.  Very much a group effort!   Placing 3rd at the national contest earned us the invite for this summer's trip which we were able to fund raise enough money to cover nearly all of our expenses.  As always the dairy industry stepped up to donate and support the 4-H program.

Not every kid or coach who decides to get involved in dairy judging will get to take a trip to Europe but I assure you those that do won't regret their time spent with it.  You will make new friends and/or become closer with some you already have as you share a very unique and rewarding experience.  Not all will decide to have a future in the dairy industry but it will always be something they remember.  For those that do, the contacts and connections you make are endless. 

Whether you are from a farm or not, you can become involved in this unique experience.  If you'd like more information feel free to contact me on Facebook or twitter @dairymatt, or comment on this post.  If you're not sure, it's a chance worth taking.

The many values of "Cow Comfort"

Among dairy farmers the term "Cow Comfort" is one you'll hear often.  It means exactly what it says it just encompasses many areas within a dairy operation.  The first and most obvious benefit of making cows more comfortable is having happier and more healthy cows.  No different than some of you giving in to your dog and letting it sleep on the bed with you, dairy farmers want to make their cows happy. No, we don't let them sleep in our beds.  We have however designed several types of cow beds that range from compressed rubber to water bed mattresses for the cows to lie on.  Other popular choices for "bedding" as we refer to what they lie on, are sand and sawdust.
 
Another benefit to keeping cows more comfortable is the overall economic benefit it can have for a farmer.  I'm sure if money was not an object we would all stay in five-star hotels every time we traveled, but for most of us money is a major factor.  Well it's the same for dairy farmers.  We all have to find what amount of money we can spend on making the cows most comfortable.  The great thing about the research done of cow comfort over the past 20 years is that we now know it is worth it to spend more money.  At our farm over the past ten years we have seen the benefit of tripling the number of fans used during the summer time for keeping the cows cooler.  We also installed rubber flooring over the concrete where the cows wait their turn to be milked and where they stand to eat their feed.  Now don't any of you tell them I said this, but our cows weigh a lot.  On average our cows weigh about 1500 lbs. and the rubber reduces the stress on their joints. 

There have been many other new designs and practices used in the dairy industry in recent years.  New barns are built with higher roofs to improve air flow.  Plastic curtains that can easily be opened and closed depending on the weather have been put on the sides of barns.  Sprinklers and misters are used to cool down the cows during summer heat.  There are even automated back scratchers that spin a big brush whenever a cow stands under it.  We don't have on of those at Eastview so my favorites rely on me for the back scratching.  The result of all these advances is cows that have less incidents of illness, cows that eat more meaning they grow better and milk more, and cows that live longer. 

Now it's not all about the moms on a dairy farm.  Cow comfort refers to the babies too.  At Eastview I'm the primary calf feeder and keeping them comfortable is very important to me.  Seen in this picture here is Tickle wearing her calf coat this past weekend.  We've had a very mild winter in Va. so far this year but this weekend was a cold one.  Research has shown that when the temperature is below 50 degrees calves begin to spend energy on maintaining warmth instead their growth and development.  To prevent this we put on their coats as well as making increases in the energy of their diet.  The other thing we do all the time is change or add bedding to keep them clean and dry.  Tickle is just 3 days old in this pic wanted to look at me the whole time I was trying to take her picture.  It was just before feeding time so who can blame her for not being interested in posing for my pic.

There are many of large investments on dairy farms from barns to tractors to land but every dairy farmer knows their most valuable resources are the cows and calves.  Keeping them comfortable is not only good business but simply our top priority.  Happy cows lead to happy farmers.

98% of U. S. dairy farms are family owned and operated

While dairy farms today may not be the same as your parents or grandparents may have told you about, 98% are still family owned and operated.  The trend over recent years is for the total number of dairy cows to hold relatively steady while the number of farms decreases.  Though the average size of the dairy farm has increased the same values of caring for the animals and land still exist.  In fact, technology and research have enabled us to do a better job of these.

Those of you familiar with operating a small business know it can be difficult to have children join the family business.  The modernization and increased size of farms has made this possible in the dairy industry.  With current land values and availability, expanding operations is often the only way for younger generations to be a part of the production side of the dairy industry.  Adding younger generations is important to the long-term existence of dairy farms in the United States which is critical to the future safety and affordability of dairy products.

An advantage larger farms can offer is specialization.  Many farms today either purchase more of their feed for the cows or hire other farmers to plant, fertilize, and harvest their crops for them.  This gives farm managers more time to for the care and nourishment of the animals.  A developing technology is to convert cow waste into electricity with what is a called a methane digestor.  Digestors are wonderful but cost millions of dollars and cannot be afforded by smaller farms.

A major topic in the dairy industry for many years now is "Cow Comfort".  I'll tell you more about that in my next blog.

All Milk is Antibiotic Free

As it is the most frequent topic brought up to me while I'm out showing off one of our beautiful cows, I figure antibiotics in milk would be the ideal topic for me to start my blog.  When you visit the dairy section of the grocery store these days you'll see many different varieties to choose from.  One of the options that is available is organic milk.  Everyone I speak to has a clear understanding that organic milk doesn't have antibiotics in it.  Not everyone I speak to realizes that traditional milk is also completely free of antibiotics, when in fact it is.

The difference in organic versus traditional milk is not antibiotics in the milk, but whether or not antibiotics are used to treat cows on the farm.  Traditional milk comes from dairy farms that use antibiotics to treat a cow if she becomes sick.  Cows are very similar to people in that they can get sick with many different types of infections.  As with people different medicines are used to treat different illnesses.  Which medicine is used is determined by a licensed veterinarian with a prescription.

When a cow becomes sick and she is treated with an antibiotic she is clearly identified and often separated from the rest of the herd (At our farm we tie a piece of bright blue plastic around a rear leg).  While a cow is being treated her milk is sorted into a separate bucket and dumped down the drain.  Every medicine is labelled with how long after her last treatment her milk is to be dumped out.  Before a cow's milk is put into the main tank with the rest of the cows' milk it is sampled and tested to make sure there isn't any antibiotics in it.

"But what if someone makes a mistake?!"  We're all human and mistakes eventually will happen.  This is why a sample is taken of every tank of milk from every farm before it goes onto the milk truck so it can again be tested for antibiotics.  Another sample is taken from the truck before it unloads at the milk plant and if any of these samples are positive for antibiotics, all the milk is dumped out.

As I get a little more savvy with this I plan to bring photos and maybe even videos from our farm but until next time remember, ALL MILK IS ANTIBIOTIC FREE!