Flat Aggie on a Goat Dairy in Wisconsin

Flat Aggie here reporting to you about my adventure here at Paradise Found Farms. Located in the beautiful rolling hills of Wisconsin, is a small 180 acre beef and dairy goat farm. The Bradley family consists of Cyrus, Brenda, and their three young children. Cyrus began the adventure of milking goats in 2009.

 

When I arrived,it was very calm and peaceful with not much happening but that all changed. I got to spend a large amount of time delivering lots of kids. (That's what baby goats are call.) 

In my short visit with the Bradley family, they have over 60 babies born.

They said it's very normal for goats to have twins. Once the babies are born, they are bottle fed milk replacer for 8 weeks.

The Bradley family breeds their goats seasonally and kid them in during some of the coldest weather. Their milking herd of 100 consist of Alpine, LaMancha, Saanen (pronounced "saw-nun"), Toggenburg, and a little Nubian. The Bradley's milk is sent to Belmont, WI, where it is made in to many different types of goat cheese.

In the summer months, the goats are rotationally grazed. They have 10 different paddocks set up. Each paddock is divided by electric fences. During the winter, the goats are fed free choice hay and also get some grain.

In March, they will be start calving. They just started a small herd of beef cattle last year. Their beef cows raise a calf until fall when they sell the calf. They also raise a few dairy steers, but have yet to get any this year.

The Bradley family has a Facebook farm page called Paradise Found Farms LLC. 

Farmer's Wife-Guest Post

Today I have a guest post for you from Amy Brandemuehl.  I do not know Amy, but we are both members of a Facebook page called the Farm Wives Support Group.  She posted this awhile back and I asked if I could share it with all of you.  She wrote it in response to a situation a friend was going through and I think she perfectly described the life of a farm wife.  Enjoy! -A Kansas Farm Mom  

Farmer's Wife
By Amy Brandemuehl
January 6, 2015

It takes a lot of patience and perseverance to be a farmer/rancher's wife. It is one of the hardest, loneliest, saddest, rewarding, fulfilling, satisfying, educating jobs out there, and yes, it is a job, it is a career, and it is a choice. You choose to be a farmer's wife when you chose the farmer to be your life mate.

 

Is it easy? No, but anything worthwhile rarely is. Is it a 9-5 job 5 days a week? HECK NO!

It is planning your wedding for after planting but before haying starts, and your anniversary is usually doing one of those two activities. It is all hours of the day and night in all kinds of weather. It is freezing temperatures, thawing the water tank when it is 30 below wind chill, and sweltering heat,working cattle through the chute, breaking you down.

 

It is rarely having the ability to commit to some activity in the future as something usually happens to delay or cause you to miss the activity. It is going to weddings and parties by yourself during certain times of the year due to fieldwork, calving, or just break-downs in general.

Vacations are a luxury that some farmers have to plan a year in advance so that there are no cows to milk, calves to feed, grain to plant or harvest. And even then hard to get away because something may happen at the last minute. Holidays like Christmas happen, but only after chores are done.

Dates are usually few and far between, and usually consist of a picnic lunch in a tractor out in some field while cutting or baling hay. Even when the work is all done and life slows down for the winter, going out seems like more work than it is worth, due to it being so cold out, and after fighting it all day, your husband is grateful to be sitting in his chair in a nice warm house. It is a treat not to have to make one meal once in a while, but more of a treat to have them in the house on time to sit down as a family for a home cooked meal.

A farmer's wife holds many jobs in which she does not draw a salary, she is a chef, preparing foods that will hold her family over until the next meal, a driver, of anything with 4 wheels or more, a gopher, go for parts or helping move machinery from farm to farm, a plumber when laying waterlines for new hydrant or thawing out a water tank, a cowgirl to ride the pastures on horseback to check or move the herd, a laborer helping pick up and stack wood for the winter, and a mud runner when the cattle fall out of the trailer in town on a warm winter day.

She has to be a peacemaker to smooth some of the rough edges, some of our farmers have, yet be strong enough to put her foot down when our farmer thinks he needs to buy that new machinery when what he has will work a bit longer. She must have the patience to put up with dinner ready at 6 and not eaten till 9. She has to be self reliant because when the dishwasher breaks, she better have her computer handy to find a YouTube video on how to fix it.

Be willing to forgo a date night in order to save a half frozen calf. Know that she can't be superwoman and do it all, but also not be afraid to shed some tears when a calf she has worked hard to keep alive, loses the battle.

She must multitask taking care of her home, children, chores, finances, and husband before she finds time for herself.

A farmer's wife rarely comes first, but that isn't always so bad. To see smiling, healthy children, healthy livestock, abundant crops, sometimes the farm wife has to look at the whole picture, not the day to day struggle.

A farmer's wife is not born that way, it is a learning experience that is never ending. A woman could be born and raised on a farm and still have many things to learn. To become a farmer's wife and have rarely experienced farm life growing up is even harder.

I give a lot of credit to my mother who was raised in a metropolitan area who met and married my dad who was both a surgeon and a farmer. This year they will be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary on the farm where they raised us six kids to be independent self reliant adults.

 

Adults that can drive just about anything with 4 wheels or more, help bring a newborn animal into the world, and have the ability to effectively manage finances.

 

We didn't always have a lot of material items growing up, but we all knew we were loved and we respected our roots and grew to be some pretty awesome adults with the tools we need to pass that wisdom on to our children.

I am proud to be a farmer's wife. My life is complete. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I won't lie and say every day is wonderful, but the good days outnumber the bad. I want to be that woman that my farmer comes home to, that shares in his triumphs and helps him through his loses.

 

I may grumble when woken in the dead of the night to rescue him when he is broken down on the side of the road, but I would rather be the person who helps him than some stranger that could do him harm.

Life is what you make of it, if you go into it with a positive attitude, you are more likely to have a positive outcome, so if you can't handle the heat, stay out of the fire.

This can also apply to those strong women who farm on their own due to many different circumstances. They have my utmost respect because they don't always have someone to share their burdens with.

My husband and I will be celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary the end of this May, I have a feeling it will be in a field somewhere, but that is OK, I am just thankful for every day that I can call myself a farmer's wife.

Another note from KFM:  I wonder if all the girls on the Bachelor know what being the wife of a farmer really means.  Should we send this to them and see if they are willing to share their house with a half frozen calf?

A Visit to Dairy Carrie's Farm and more!

We are getting ready for the Kansas State Fair this weekend and I just realized that I have not shared our trip to Wisconsin and their state fair.

The boys were very excited for our trip, because we were going to visit Dairy Carrie's farm.  If you aren't already following Dairy Carrie, you really should especially if you love pictures of cute baby calves in your newsfeed!  In case you don't know, the boys and Carrie have had a close bond ever since this cow experience brought the 3 of them together.

When in Wisconsin you have to buy cheese.  We stopped at the Alp and Dell Cheese factory and store in Monroe.  If you are looking for a great selection of cheeses, Tony will not disappoint you.  The Chipotle Gouda makes the most amazing nachos!

Of course when we got to the dairy we had to meet the girls.

 

We always try to make sure we eat just like the locals and apparently at the Wisconsin State Fair a Grilled Cheese is a must.

I mean people were waiting in line for a grilled cheese and there were 10 people manning grills making at least 8 sandwiches at a time.  They really LOVE their Grilled Cheese Sandwiches in Wisconsin.

I was told that having a Cream Puff was absolutely necessary by more than one person, so of course we had to go to the Cream Puff Pavilion.  That's right there is an entire building dedicated to the Cream Puff at the Wisconsin State Fair!

You can walk by the windows where they cut pastries all day long.

And the window into the room that must be chilly where they are filling the pastries with yummy filling.

Don't they look yummy?

My youngest thought they were the best breakfast food ever with the best Strawberry Milk ever in his opinion.  Apparently, he thought since we were surrounded by dairy cows that the milk had to be better in Wisconsin.  :)

I loved all the educational displays around the fair.  This was in the middle of all the 4-H dairy heifer stalls.  That my friends is a dried cow stomach.  Did you know that a cow stomach has 4 compartments?  Each compartment is totally different.  We could look into the cut out holes to look inside and see the differences.

 

The Natural Resources area was really cool with archery practice, education about the Emerald Ash Borer, Watersheds, Smoky Bear School and so much more.  We loved it!

Of course after the fair we had to go back to the dairy and work, well only one of us was really into becoming a dairy farmer.

Before we arrived Carrie told me that she was waiting on a calf to be born and the boys were quick to think that it could ride home in the back seat with them.  We quickly shot down that idea.  The boys and Carrie kept checking on the progress in the maternity pen.  While the farmer and I were packing the truck the boys went to check in the barn and she had finally had her new baby.  A Normandy bull calf and if you don't know about Normandy's you should be following Carrie this week has she visits the home of Normandy cattle.

We didn't go empty handed.  Here is about half of our hostess gift that we took to Carrie, Patrick (aka Mr. Dairy Carrie and his parents.  Our gardens were producing like crazy and it had been so cool in Wisconsin that they are just now getting an abundance of produce.

If you notice most of the pictures are of our younger son, the oldest son had an ear infection that started when we were leaving Iowa.  We definitely will have to go back to visit again as he is more of the cow lover.

We are working on our list of must have eats at the Kansas State Fair and I am considering opening a Cream Puff Booth when my kids are done showing out there...they still a few years ahead of them, so I can work on my business plan.  LOL

Be sure to follow along on Facebook as we graze our way across the fair and hopefully win a blue ribbon, too!

A Kansas Farm Mom