Flat Aggie's Winter Adventures in New York

     My first view of the barn at Freedom Ranch-they really know how to do winter in Central New York! 

Freedom Ranch is a diversified livestock operation.  Scott and Sharon custom raise a variety of animals in a pasture-based setting for private sale.  When I visited there were meat and dairy goats, chickens, ducks, steers and a horse living there!  In the spring and summer there will also be pigs on pasture. 

They put me right to work, unloading the week’s grain. 

Since the ground is still snow-covered, the goats, chickens and even the steers get supplemented with grain and locally grown hay.  Once the grass starts to grow they won’t need grain or hay. 

Every morning Sharon milks her 3 dairy goats.  They are wonderful producers of rich milk, each producing between 1-2 gallons per day!  Sharon will use this milk in her home to drink and makes award-winning cheeses and yogurt. 

  

The kids (that’s what baby goats are called) drink their mothers milk during the day, and then the moms get the night off-duty and share their milk with Sharon on the morning.  I claimed to be an expert milker, but didn’t realize just how much milk Haley, her 7 year old Saanen doe, made!  I managed to milk 9.2 lbs. from her though.

Throughout my week at Freedom Ranch I was amazed at how cold hardy the animals are.  Scott taught me that if you can see snow on an animal’s back, that indicates their coat of fur is trapping their body heat in and keeping them toasty warm.  Who would think that these patient steers are really quite cozy?

 Even the does (female goats) and Levi prefer to eat their breakfast outside on a bright, crisp morning.  The meat herd consists of does that are boer/kiko crosses and are quite hardy.   However,  Levi (the horse) must think he lives somewhere tropical and did not grow a winter coat, so he requires a blanket to stay warm!

 

The chickens have a cozy coop area inside the barn where they spend the winter.  Chickens do not like the snow, as their feet get cold in it! 

I enjoyed checking in on the hens each day and collecting the wonderful eggs they lay. 

Did you know eggs come in a variety of colors?  I found pink, light brown, dark brown and even blue eggs! 

 

There were a few freshenings (or kiddings, as goat births are called) while I was visiting.  Ramona had triplets, which is not unusual.  Scott, Sharon and I worked together to help the does dry the kids off and dipped their umbilical cords in iodine to prevent infection.

There is a corner of the birthing stall with a heat lamp to allow the newborns to stay cozy for a few days after being born.  I quickly realized why the kids love cuddling up in there!  The lamp emits a red light so the kids can get some sleep without having a bright white light keeping them awake. 

 

  Sharon also loves sharing her knowledge with students at the local school, Hamilton Central.  She spent a few hours one afternoon teaching the ag students about the basic principles of cheesemaking.  The students got to make three different ricotta cheeses and taste the results too! 

Happy trails…until we meet again after my next adventure!!

Flat Aggie Visits Barbland Dairy Farm

We were so excited to have Flat Aggie visit Barbland Dairy Farm, LLC! We are located in
Fabius, NY, which is about 30 minutes South of Syracuse, in the middle of New York State.
Living in upstate New York, means that we get to enjoy all four seasons. Our 5 year old
daughter, Brynley, showed Aggie all around the farm today and they had a great time getting
to know each other!

(Pictured above: our farm sign at Barbland Dairy and an aerial view from on top of our gain
bins overlooking our farm!)

At Barbland Dairy farm, we milk 1,800 dairy cows three times a day! Our cows produce an average of 10 gallons of milk per day. 10 gallons is about 170 glasses of milk per day. How cool is that!?

(Picture above: Brynley was excited to show Aggie the milking parlor! This is where the
cows come three times a day to give milk. It only takes 5 minutes to get milked each time.
The rest of the day, our cows are back in the freestall relaxing.)

The milk from our dairy farm goes to several different processing plants, including:

1. Chobani, to be processed into yogurt.
2. Garelick Farms, to be processed into fluid milk.
3. Kraft Heinz Foods, to be processed into cottage cheese and sour cream.

(Pictured above: we haul our milk to the processing plants. These are the trucks and milk
tankers that haul our cow’s milk to the processing plant. Everyday we ship two full tanker’s
of milk!)

With 9 essential nutrients in every glass, milk is a super-food! Kids’ growing bodies need
protein foods, like milk which delivers natural, high-quality protein, because from muscles
to hair, bones to teeth, the body requires protein to be healthy and strong. In addition,
protein impacts many different functions, including building lean muscle and maintaining
bone health.

There are 6-10 calves born each and everyday at our farm, 365 days a year! A cows gives
birth for the first time at about two years of age. A cow is pregnant for 9 months, and the
average weights of a calf when they are born is 90 pounds! A cow must give birth in order
to be able to produce milk. Dairy cows generally have one calf at a time, but every once in
awhile we do have a set of twins born on the farm. Female calves are called heifers and
male calves are called bulls. A female is not considered a “cow” until she has had her first
calf. Special care is taken of both calves and cows after birth to ensure that each get off to
the best start possible!

(Picture above: Aggie was able to see this adorable calf born while she was visiting our farm today! Newborn calves lay in straw to keep them warm and dry.)

Holsteins are the breed of dairy cows that we have at our farm. Holsteins are easily
recognizable because of their black and white spots. Did you know that Holstein's spots
are like fingerprints, and no two cows have the same spots? They are also the largest
breed of dairy cattle, with cows averaging around 1,500 pounds and standing up to (and
sometimes over) 60 inches tall!

(Pictured above: Brynley toured Aggie through the freestall barn to show her our Holstein
cows. Did you know that Holsteins can be either black and white OR red and white!?)

We work 5,000 acres of cropland to feed our cows throughout the year. The crops that we
raise primarily include: grass, alfalfa and corn. A cow will eat over 120 pounds of food and
will drink a bathtub full of water everyday!

(Pictured above: Aggie had fun checking out the food our cows eat. A cows food is mixed
well so that every bite they take is the same. The picture on the right is a picture of us
planting our corn in the Spring time.)

Our cows stay in barns called “freestall barns” because they are free to walk around, eat,
drink and lay down whenever they want.  In the barns they get to lay on sand, just like being
at the beach!

(Pictured above: Aggie had fun checking out the sand bedding that our cows enjoy. She said
it felt just like being at the beach!)

Visit All About Dairy for some classroom resources and ideas.

Flat Aggie's January Travels

Flat Aggie had a busy late December and January traveling from Wisconsin to Illinois and on to Western Kansas learning about pigs, dairy goats and how a farm newpapers gets published!  Here are the reports, farmer math and additional information pages.  Illinois Farm Girl and I would love it if you forwarded these on to your kids, grandkids, teacher friends and home school friends.  If they would like these delivered straight to their inbox each month, please have them email me or send a private message with their email address to the Flat Aggie Facebook Page.

 Illinois Pig Farm

Pasture Pig Farmer Math  
               (This post includes links to other Pig Farmer Math questions if these aren't hard enough)

All About Pigs

 

Wisconsin Dairy Goat Farm 

Dairy Goat Farmer Math 
               (Also, has a second Goat Farmer Math post included in the post)

All About Goats

High Plains Journal Magazine Publisher Video

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. 

Dairy Farmer Math

In an effort to make math more interesting for kids and to make my kids understand that math really is important.  Farmer Math questions go along with the Flat Aggie reports or can be used separately.  These are patterned after the blog Bedtime Math.  Some of the questions are easy enough for pre-schoolers and sometimes I come up with some to even challenge high school seniors.

These questions follow the report  Flat Aggie's Trip to Weigel Dairy.  Additional educational materials can be found in the post All About Dairy Cows.  There is also an additional Dairy Farmer Math available.

1.   A human baby usually eats 2 ounces of milk for its first meal.  A baby dairy calf gets one gallon of milk (colostrum).  How many more ounces does a calf eat than a baby? (Hint: 1 gallon=128 ounces)

2.  A cow is pregnant for 283 days.  Approximately, how many months is a cow pregnant. (Round to the nearest whole number.

3.  A dairy cow has an infection in her udder and the veterinarian recommends treating her with an antibiotic.  The cow weighs 1200 pounds and the correct dosage in 1.1 ml per 100 pounds of body weight.  How many milliliters does the farmer need to give the cow?

4.  If he treats her with the antibiotic on February 12, and he has to dump her milk for 14 days, when is the first day that the milk can be safely consumed by people again?

5.  How much feed will a dairy cow eat each day, if she can eat 3% of her body weight assuming she weighs 1200 pounds?

ANSWERS:  1.) 126 ounces more  2.)  9 months  3.)  13.2 ml  4.) February 27  5.)  36 pounds

If you are a teacher or homeschooler that would like more information to go with the Flat Aggie reports, send me a message on my contact form.  Along with the report and the Farmer Math questions, we send each teacher an additional page of activities, crossword puzzles and sometimes a few hands on activities.

-A Kansas Farm Mom