ideal dairy farms“A family tradition of passion for our cows, our team, community and the land.”

Summer 2018Join us at the

Washington County Fair to witness the

miracle of life!

A select group of our lovely ladies will travel

to the dairy judging tent at the fair to give birth for all fairgoers to see!

Saturday & Sunday August 25th & 26th

10 AM - 10 PMWe hope to see you

there!

We hope this newsletter finds you well and enjoying the summer weather with lots of time for friends and family! Summer is a busy time for everyone and life on the farm is no differ-ent. This week we are excited to be heading to the fair with 12 heifers and lots of kids! Come and visit us in Barn 3, to meet our show crew!

How does our garden grow?Spring, summer and fall on the farm are very much about preparing, planting, growing and harvesting our crops. During this time our crop crew covers about 4,000 acres, ultimately harvesting enough tons of forage to feed our cows for the year ahead. Forage is fermented corn or hay that is able to keep for long peri-ods of time and provides a large portion of the nutrients our cows need to remain healthy and produce lots of quality, nutrient-packed milk. Caring for and growing crops on our fields is a lot of work, and it is important that we do it in an environmentally responsible way. To do this we follow a very specific process.

A Well Laid Plan.Tracking and managing our nutrients is an ongoing and continuous process, but the majority of crop-ping activity begins in April. Every year, in March, we sit down with our NYS certified environmental planner to discus our intentions before we enter our fields. Our planner uses soil samples, soil type map-ping, and manure nutrient sample data to help us determine how each field we farm should be treated over the coming months. On a field by field basis we look at the existing nutrients in the soil, what crop we hope to plant on it, and what type of nutrients that crop will need to reach full potential. While we always hope that all things will go according to plan much of what we do relies on the weather. If weather

conditions are unfavorable we may have to adjust our plans. For example, although our soil sampling and crop plan may tell us we should spread manure on a field because it is in need of phosphorus, ni-trogen and potash, if we have a wet spring and are unable to get onto the field because our equipment may get stuck and make detrimental ruts, we may have to wait until later in the spring and utilize com-mercial fertilizer instead. We may intend to plant a field to corn, but if the spring is very wet we may not be able to plant as many acres as we hoped, and therefor our crop plan will change with some fields remaining hay another year. If we make changes we notify our crop planner and they adjust their recom-mendations when necessary.

Hi Neighbors!

Above: 5” Binder containing our Nutrient Management Plan.Below: This tool is used to inject manure into the soil. The manure flows through a pipe connected to the back of the implement.

Preparing the Soil - Fertilizing & tillage.Following the recommendations of our crop planner we will fer-tilize our fields using manure whenever possible. In addition to producing milk, our cows also produce lots of nutrient dense manure. The nutrients in our manure are a perfect renewable resource for us to utilize to re-plenish the nutrients in our fields. Our preference is always to pump manure through a series of hard and soft lines rather than truck it over the road. Pumping is not only a more efficient way to move ma-nure but it is much safer, and less intrusive to our neighbors com-pared to trucking it over the road. We are able to use the same soft line connected to an applicator tool, pulled by a tractor, to apply the manure to our fields. When applying manure to corn ground

we inject the manure directly into the soil mitigating the odor and eliminating the need for excessive tillage, thus aiding in the promo-tion of good soil health. Because corn grows through the summer and is harvested only once in the fall, we only spread manure on corn ground once before the corn is planted. On hay fields, it is beneficial to spread manure on the grass stubble after it has been cut and removed once or twice a year. In most cases we only spread on hay fields once a year, but if the crop plan rec-ommends that the field requires more nutrients, then we will occasionally spread on fields an additional time. Hay fields are much like a lawn. If the field was hay the previous year, there is no need to plant another seed, it will continue to grow and be available for harvest. So, beyond fertilizing

and harvesting, our hay fields do not require any other preparation or care. Corn fields are a little different. After nutrients have been restored to the soil, we need to prepare the soil to receive the corn seed. Much like tilling the soil in a garden we also till our fields, but with slight-ly larger tools. Always mindful of soil health, whenever possible we try to keep our passes over the soil with heavy equipment minimal, reduc-ing compaction. When necessary we use plows, and/or discs, to loosen and smooth the soil, cre-ating an optimal environment for strong root growth. Planting the Seed.On the first year that a field is rotated from corn to hay we need to plant the field with seed. Using our Seed Drill we drill the grass seed into the soil. Usually, if

Grandson, Aiden, helping Papa fill the

Seed Drill

weather and time permit, we do this in the fall after we have harvested the corn; otherwise, they will be seeded down sometime the following summer. It is preferable, for soil health, to plant seed in the fall so it will begin to grow and provide minimal biologic activity all winter long. Once a field has been planted to hay the grass will regrow year after year until we rotate it back to corn.Although soil type and field conditions sometimes require tillage prior to planting, in many instances we can “drill” seeds directly into the soil and don’t need to use any till-age. This is called “no-till” and is a best case scenario with respect to soil health and efficiency. Every spring all fields that are planned to grow corn must be planted with corn seed. The Spring is always very busy

on the farm because before we can plant fields to corn we must fertilize them with manure and prepare the soil with tillage when necessary. By the time we are ready to plant corn in May/June we also need to be harvesting our fist cutting of haylage from our hay fields. Spreading manure, tilling, harvesting 1st cutting and plant-ing corn all at virtually the same time is always a challenge, even if the weather cooperates. If the spring is wet and we can’t get on the fields for fear of getting stuck, everything gets pushed back. For-tunately, innovative plant breeding technology can help us manage at least a portion of these issues. When we are selecting which corn seed varieties to plant we are able to choose from a menagerie of traits beneficial to our soil type, and field conditions. For example, we can choose seed varieties that are resistant to drought, or too wet conditions. We can select varieties that mature quickly or more slowly, so that when it is time to harvest our corn it is not all ready to chop at once. The quality and digestibility of the feed we harvest is dependent on harvesting it at the correct time, so it is important to vary the maturity

length so we logistically have time to harvest at the optimal time for feed quality. You can also plant seed varieties resistant to certain pests. This year we planted a field that had been infested with cut-worm and whole sections of the field were eaten. We quickly dis-covered this issue and replanted it with a variety that was resistant to cutworm, allowing us to still grow a corn crop there, despite the presence of invasive pests. Depending on the weather plant-ing our corn fields will take 1-2 months. We use Precision Planting technology to plant our fields, meaning the fields are GPS mapped and we have GPS data on where the seeds are planted, what variety, and what the concen-tration of seed is in a particular location. In fields and soil types with higher yield potential we can choose to space the seeds closer together in order to get more crop on the same amount of acres. With limited resources we are always trying to do more with less and modern technology has been a significant factor in allowing us to be more efficient and use our resources wisely. Harvest TimeOnce our fields have been planted to corn they typically require no more care throughout their grow-ing period. We will still “scout” on occasion checking their growth and looking for signs of stress caused by excess heat, weed pres-sure, or pests.

When it is time to harvest the corn, beginning usually in Septem-ber, we often cover a lot of ground very quickly. Using our Chopper with the Corn Head attached we drive through the corn fields chopping row after row into tee-ny tiny pieces and blowing it into dump trucks or tractor trailers. These trucks haul it back to the farm and dump it at the Trench where large tractors spread it in thin layers over a giant pile of feed. They drive over it for hours pushing out all the air that might otherwise cause it to spoil as it is stored over the coming months.

Once all the corn is packing into this giant pile, we cover it with plastic and tires to keep it from spoiling until it is time to be fed to

our cows. Our hay fields are typically har-vested four times a year. Com-pared to corn harvest, hay is slightly more involved. We start by mowing the fields to cut all the grass and lay it down across the field. Sunshine is very important to haying as the grass must dry-out for a period of time before we chop it. Harvesting hay too wet will cause it to ferment in a way that is detrimental to the health of our cows, so it is important that we wait until it is dry enough to chop; however, if it is too dry that also has negative effects on the nutritional quality, so its mois-ture content must be just right for harvest. When it is of optimal moisture levels we merge the cut grass into windrows, combining several rows into larger rows so the chopper has fewer passes to make through the field. When the hay has been merged the chopper drives through, with the hay head attached, chopping the hay into lots of little pieces and blowing it into a truck the same way we do for corn. The packing and storage process is also the same to keep the haylage from spoiling. Although they may not look like much to the passers-by, for us, these mammoth piles of feed represent the culmination of a long season of hard work, and the bounty of mother nature that will allow us to keep our cows well-fed and healthy for the year to come.

Freshly mowed field. Not yet merged.

Merging the hay into several long strips, or windrows in

preparation for the chopper.The Chopper - chopping into

a dump truck to haul the Haylage back to the farm.

Above: Mowing the

hay.Left: Our

large piles of feed are

covered with plastic and

tires to keep from spoil-

ing.

239 Vaughn Rd.Hudson Falls, NY 12839

idealdairyfarms.com Local Postal Customer

PRSRT STDECRWSS

U.S. POSTAGEPAID

EDDM RETAIL

NUTRITIOUS DAIRY FACT!All milk is anti-biotic free and 97% produced in the US by fami-ly owned farms, like ours! Drink milk folks! It’s good for you!

For the past few years we have had the plea-sure of sharing a select group of our adorable baby calves with Hudson Falls UPK students and their teachers. With this program each class “adopts” one of our babies and learns about what life is like for a baby calf growing up on our farm. They are introduced to their calf in March when it is just a couple weeks old. Each class adopts their own calf and they receive a photo of the calf identifying its name, date of birth, and the names of its parents. Throughout the next 6 weeks they receive periodic letters and videos updating the stu-dents on what is new in the life of their baby calf. The letter contains information on what they are eating, where they are living, and how much they have grown. The program culmi-nates in June when the children come to the farm to meet their calves! While we include

some other stops on the tour (usually the Chopper, a calf nutritionist, and a veterinari-an), the most exciting stop is when they get to meet their calf in person. The calf is naturally much larger than when it was born as they grow so quickly. The smiles and giggles are priceless as the calves explore these new little people paying them so much attention. The calves are often shy and a bit nervous at first but often relax quickly and enjoy licking the children and sucking on their fingers. Having school aged children ourselves, our family enjoys the opportunity to share our farm with classmates and teachers alike. Community and sharing the knowledge of where food comes from is important to us; we hope to provide an experience for the younger members of our community that will remain with them for years to come!

Adopt a Calf

Mrs. Britten’s Class meeting their calf “Luvella”. “Luvella” at 2 weeks old.

A Cow has 4 stomach compartments allowing her to digest fermented feed.

These students are getting a close look at the largest compartment, the Rumen.