Flat Aggie visits Lorenz Farms in Nebraska

January 2019

In January Flat Aggie visited the Lorenz Farms near Broken Bow, Nebraska which is
owned by myself (Bobbi) and my husband Mark.  We have a son named Isaak who
will turn 6 years old in February. He is in Kindergarten at SEM (Sumner Eddyville,
Miller) School located the small town of Sumner, Nebraska.  His school is 3 towns
combined and is Pre-Kindergarten through High School (12th grade) all in 1 large
building.   

Our farm grows corn and hay, which we feed to cattle we raise and custom care of
for a feedlot.  We own about 100 head of cows which we raise calves to sell to a
feedlot and we work for a large feedlot that is about 20 miles away from us taking
care of some of their calves.  The feedlot uses smaller farmers like us to grow
young calves (called feeder calves) to prepare them to spend 4-6 months in the
big feedlot before they are harvested into high quality, nutritious beef.  We can hold
three semi loads of calves, which transport 70-100 calves each depending on how
big the calves are. Right now, we have 267 head of feeder calves in three different
pens from the feedlot. Calves will come to us weighing between 500 and 700
pounds.  They will gain approximately 300 pounds while they are here for 70-100
days. Our job is to vaccinate them when they arrive, get them use to eating fresh
feed daily from a bunk, and monitor their health daily.

Flat Aggie had get up early in the morning so she could ride along with Mark while
he did the morning chores and fed all the cattle.  She got to help Mark load the feed
ingredients into our feed wagon which mixes all the ingredients into a balanced diet
containing all the nutrients they need to grow and stay healthy.  We feed a mixture of
hay, corn, wet distillers grain (co-product from the ethanol industry), and a mixture of
vitamins and minerals. Mark and Aggie checked each of the groups of calves to
make sure every one looked healthy and came to the bunk to get their breakfast.  

This time of year our cows are grazing corn fields.  They eat the left over corn plants
after the grain has been harvested in the fall.  After Aggie and Mark got done feeding
the calvesthey drove to the field to check the cows.  They made sure the water tank
was full and free of ice, checked the salt and mineral feeder to make sure it was not
empty and drove around the cows to make sure they were all healthy and getting
enough feed.  Our cows will begin calving (having their babies) around March 1st. We
will bring them all back to the fields and pastures around our house and barns in mid
February so we can check them and their new calves every 2-3 hours through out
the day and night.  

We brought the first calf heifers (2 year old cows that will have their 1st baby this
year) home the 1st of January.  They are scheduled to start calving Feb 4th.  They
have their babies earlier than the cows so that we can keep an even closer eye on
them to make sure both the heifer and new born calves are healthy and the new
mommies learn how to be good moms.  We keep the heifers in a small pen by the
barn where we can keep them out of the winter weather better and have good
lighting to see what is happening at night. Every night when we do our 10 pm check
we put the heifers in the barn for better protection from the colder night time
temperatures.  We use technology to help us monitor the birthing process without
having to make the heifer nervous with us being out in the pen or barn all the time.
We have cameras installed in the barn that are wirelessly connected to a computer
screen in our living room. These cameras allow us to see what is happening out in
the barn without disturbing the heifers.  We still walkthrough the heifers every 2
hours but we use the camera to help monitor between checks. We were hoping
Aggie would get to see a new calf before she headed out for her next adventure but
the heifers did not cooperate to give her the opportunity to see a new born.

We enjoyed showing Flat Aggie around our farm and sharing with her how we raise
beef.  

Riding along while loading the feed in the feed wagon to mix.  The loader bucket

has ground hay in it.

Tractor and feed wagon are loaded, feed is mixed together, and ready to deliver
it to the calves.  

Feed has been delivered to the calves.  They were not very sure about getting their
picture taken.  These calves weighed 585 pounds when they arrived around and
will be leaving in the next week or two.

Mark, Isaak and Aggie checking the cows.  The cow with the green ear tags

#691 is one of Isaak’s cows.  We use a numbering system on our cows. The

1st number is the last number in the year that they were born, #691 was born

in 2016, this spring she will turn 3 years old.  The last two numbers are their

unique ID number. Every cow has her own number.

Filling the mineral feeder with salt and mineral.  The cows will lift the lid on the

feeders with their heads and lick the mineral and salt.  It was a pretty cold and

frosty day and the cows had some frost on their backs. It is actually a good sign

when there is snow or frost on the cows.  Cows with plenty of insulation (good

clean fluffy hair, and plenty of fat under their skin) stay warm on the inside even

though they may look cold on the outside.

This is the computer screen that shows the barn cameras.  We have two cameras

set up so we can see 2 different pens that are in the barn.  The heifers are moved

into the barn at night so we can keep a closer eye on them as well as keep them in

where it is warmer during these cold winter days.  During the day they are out in a

pen in front of the barn but they have the option to come in
if the weather is really bad. 

For additional class resources we recommend visiting: Beef Farmer Math and All About Beef.

Thank You Nebraska Wheatie!

When my friend Laurie from Country Linked said she was helping co-host of Christmas in the Country Blogger & friends gift exchange, I first thought oh how fun and then I thought about everything going on in our lives and wondered if I had time to look for yet another gift.  I am so glad I did take time to put together a gift, but I will admit that the gift I sent was NOTHING like the gift I received from Tracy of Nebraska Wheatie.

My youngest loves this cute little snowman that Tracy made herself from burlap.  If fits right into my country decor and will probably hang out on the kitchen counter after the Christmas decorations are packed away.

 What girl doesn't love  chocolate?  These Chocolate Meltaways are made in Nebraska and are awesome.  Yes, I still have some, because my boys haven't figured out they are chocolate yet.  ;) 

The really fun thing about them is that you can select your flavor.  The bag gives you the key to the wrapper code.  This is much better than the big box of chocolate with a "map" of what flavor is where.  I highly recommend these chocolates!

 Everyone that I know that works outside in the winter battles dry cracked hands.  This hand cream is one of the best I have found and I may very well be placing an order with Tammy's Soap Shack to get the whole family through the rest of this winter.

 Oh, Tracy knows me so well!  Yes!  A Cookbook was just the ticket for a great gift for me especially one full of quick and easy meal prep.  I have a lot of new recipes to try out.  When it was icy last week, we tried several and were not disappointed.

 I LOVE this egg.  I have no idea how they made it (I am trying to figure it out).  I hope Tracy will share with us where or how it was made.  The picture does not do it justice.

 The crowning piece of my gift was a photo taken my Tracy.  If you know how our fall has been with our family and how a farmers life changes constantly, then you know this is perfect.  It hangs in my kitchen where I can see it everyday. 

Thank you to Country Linked and This Unchartered Rhoade for hosting and I look forward to next year.  In fact, I am going to keep a list of locally made products just for this project.  Be sure to check out the other participants in the Christmas in the Country exchange.  And don't forget to check out the Nebraska Wheatie blog and learn all about a Custom Harvester family from Nebraska.

-A Kansas Farm Mom

Flat Aggie travels back to Nebraska for Corn Harvest

Last Spring, my friends Aaron and Liz hosted Flat Aggie and explained soil testing, EM Sleds, and how we all can be farmers.  This time around, they talk about harvest and planting cover crops complete with a couple of videos.  I feel so lucky to have great farming friends that want to share their farms with school kids through this virtual tour.-KFM

Where: Eastern Nebraska

Average Temperature for mid-October: High 66, Low 39

Average Annual Precipitation: about 30”

Soil Type: Ranges from sandy to sandy-loam to clay-loam

In the past couple weeks, we have enjoyed showing Flat Aggie our farm operation and the surrounding area. Our farm is located in eastern Nebraska near a small town named Mead about 45 miles north of Lincoln, NE, which is the state’s capital. Here, we grow corn and soybeans. Most farmers in Nebraska grow rotation crops.  (Rotation crops involve growing a different crop than the previous year on the same piece of land.) For example, a common rotation crop in eastern Nebraska is corn followed by soybeans the next year. Did you know there are different types of corn plants? Some corn is raised specifically to use as popcorn, while other corn is grown to feed cattle, pigs and chickens. The corn your mom or dad buys at the grocery store is called sweet corn and is picked when the stalks are still green.

Flat Aggie arrived at an excellent time, just as we were beginning to harvest corn and soybeans. It’s a good thing he wore some good work boots because we had a lot of work to do in the fields. Every morning work begins around 7:30 when the sun comes up and usually ends well after dark. The guys stay in the field all day until they decide to rest for the night. 

 We start harvesting soybeans first.

 

Once we combine the soybeans we transfer them to the semi.   

  

  Next we take the soybeans to our local coop.  The big silver cylinder is called a grain bin and can hold over 500,000 bushels of soybeans (or corn). With each truckload, we deliver about 1,000 bushels of soybeans. Many farmers will bring truckload after truckload of grain to fill up these grain bins. Later, the coop will move the grain onto a train and send it out for delivery.

  At the coop we empty our semi and then head back to the field.   

We just started harvesting corn.

Here is a video of how we store the corn on our farm.

 In the last few weeks, we have had to take some days off because of rain.  When it rains we need to wait for the soil to dry out for a few days so we won’t compact the soil.  The tractors and the combine that we drive in the field are so heavy, if we drive in the field when it is wet, the soil will begin to be very hard almost like cement.  When the soil gets compacted, the plant’s roots won’t grow through it.

  

Another job that we are doing on the farm right now is planting cover crops. 

We plant the cover crop as soon as the field gets harvested so that the seeds can germinate and grow as much as possible before the weather gets too cold that the plants stop growing. (Some of the cover crop will start growing again in the spring after the ground warms up a bit.)  

Here is a picture of some of the seeds that we are planting this year.    

The cover crop we planted this year is a mix of several types of plants. Each type has a “job” or “task” to accomplish. 

 

All of the plants that grow will help improve our soils so that we can do a better job growing our rotation crop next year. Cover crops work together to produce more nutrients in the soil, create more beneficial microorganisms, encourage earth worms, reduce soil erosion and improve water infiltration. Sometimes we can fence in cattle to eat some of the cover too. Eventually, we will have to kill the cover crop so that we can plant the corn or soybeans in the field. 

Here is a picture of our cover crop that has had the most time to grow - about one month now.

 

Sometimes we break down and have to spend some time fixing our equipment.

  

The crops in our area are very slow to be harvested this year due to the weather.  Since we plant our wheat after we harvest our corn and soybeans, our wheat has been slow to get planted.  Our wheat hasn’t sprouted out of the ground yet, so we included a picture of some wheat from one of our farmer friends in Southwest Nebraska, about a 5 hour drive west of us. The wheat is beginning to poke through the ground. This wheat was planted into the corn that was harvested last year. (Photo courtesy of Julie, www.smalltownnebraska.wordpress.com)

 We had a great time showing Flat Aggie around our farm and we have to say we are very excited about the next farm he went to from here.

Thanks for letting us show Flat Aggie around,

Aaron and Liz

Farmer Math:

1.  Flat Aggie helped harvest 2 fields of soybeans and 3 fields of corn.  How many fields did they harvest in all during the visit?

2.   If they harvest 2 fields in one day each 40 acres, how many acres did they harvest?

3.   If we have an 80 acre field and we have harvested 62 acres, how many acres are left to harvest.

4.   If a semi truck can carry 56000 pounds of soybeans and a bushel of soybeans weighs 60 pounds, how many bushels of soybeans are on a semi truck?

5.   Flat Aggie is helping cut soybeans.  The combine is harvesting 10 acres per hour.  Assuming the combine does not stop of break down, how long will it take to harvest a 130 acre field?

6.    Flat Aggie helped harvest a 100 acre field.  It produced 5,600 bushels.  Can you figure the average yield of the field in bushels per acre?

1.  5 fields   2.  80 acres   3.  18 acres   4.  933.33 bushels   5. 13 hours   6. 56 bushels per acre