diary farm

hickchic05 · Mar 3, 2005

Not yet /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif I've only applied to one so farm...

bczoom · Mar 3, 2005

( Not yet /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif I've only applied to one so farm... )

That line right there should get you into anywhere you want. "Only applied to one so FARM". I'd say you're truly dedicated to the industry. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Poppa · Mar 3, 2005

I have quite a few cousins with dairys in southern and central California. When I was younger I went and worked on one for three months. Found out I was a city boy. Lot's of work. Gives the original definition to 24/7. After three months I went home and told Dad that I wasn't going to work or own a dairy but I was going to go to college and study geology because Rocks don't run away and rocks don't get sick and rocks sure as heck don't decide to have a difficult birth at two in the morning when the rest of the herd is leaving through a gate someone accidentally left open.

I wish you the best and admire anyone willing to work that hard.

Mike

hickchic05 · Mar 3, 2005

so far*** oops was thinking about something on the farm....can't really help it..i have to be dedicated i live on a fairly large one for the area that i live in!!

yeah it is definately hard work...my dad works from 2am until about 8pm...depending on the day sometimes he decides to come home early some come later...he's always up at either 2 or 3 though. i'm definately all country girl. i hate the city, hate driving on high ways and crowded streets. the work load is in my blood. i hated it when i was younger, but now that i've gotten older learned to appreciate it i love it..but yes it's extremely hard and thank you!! there aint ever a slow day on the farm there's always something you can find to do

SPIKER · Mar 3, 2005

hickchick said it right, while I didn't grow up n a working dairy (or diary for that matter /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif ) farm I did work on one for a summer as a 14yr old and my older bro did for years for a farmer who is relative of sorts and still runs several hundred head here in ohio. "northeast of wooster oh." I mostly did hay & feed/cleaning while the more experainced help took care of the heard & milking. raising the calfs was ok but sure got wet feet and flattened ones too /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif anyhow the hours didn't fit me too well. not to mention I got too interested in 4 wheels instead of 4 legs /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif and don't think about those other hay burners not a fan of them either even though much of the family still raise/ride em. my woman I'm with now worked for 3 yrs doing the morning milking and hearding/feeding then worked a garbage rout after they were put out 4 the day. she said they ran 20+ head wiht a 3 stall automilker of some type. place I worked milked close to a 100 but like I said I wasn't in there often mostly out running I caring for the calves & mommas to be. sure did a lot of pen cleaning too /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif also didn't care for the late summer barn work of hay bale stacking... I have alerges bad ever since then. yet I don't seem to recal have them prior? anyhow long post stating not a lot /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

MarkM

riptides · Mar 3, 2005

( but now that i've gotten older learned to appreciate it i love it..but yes it's extremely hard and thank you!! there aint ever a slow day on the farm there's always something you can find to do )

gotten older. heheh... sometime people never see what they have until it is gone. Good for you on finding something special at an "early" age.

Another part of finding that special thing in ones life....
take a minute to enjoy it! Cherish it. Try and make it last as long as you can.

Wow. Think I'll go to the farm this w/e. I don't have to milk or mow... think I'll go sit for a while... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Taylortractornut · Mar 4, 2005

Im helping a friend of mine get a dairy operation started now. He and I desgned a few helper sytems to help with cleaning the feed barnsstalls and other tasks. Next weeken I mtaking the excavator and a backhoe down there to start on an old fashioned type silage ditch to teproraily hold his silage till the new concrete ones are done. We are building an in the floor manure conveyor to carry the beeding sand and manure out of the barns and pile up outside to wait for removale by truck or garden use. My friend is gonna expirement with wheat straw bedding on one side and sand bedding on the other. I think hes starting off with about 50 head and work from there as time goes on.

hickchic05 · Mar 5, 2005

wow that's really cool!! a lot of technological stuff!!! we just built a new parallel milking parlor in the fall...holds 12 on each side it's very nice....however it was **** the first week gettin our cows to switch from a heiringbone to parallel...from personal experience sand bedding is the best..that is what we use now...we just started to use it in the summer in our new stall barn. this winter we converted our old barn to all sand as well. the sand has definately cut back the number of cows with mastitis and ecoli. we we up to 30 before we converted our old barn into sand. now we are down to only 4!!! we have done every kind of bedding...started with straw, then to dry wall chips, then to saw dust, now to sand and by far sand has been the best!

Taylortractornut · Mar 5, 2005

Thanks for the info I like sand the best to as its easy to get and we may try river bed silt to as its free and TVA can deliver it to this location free. How do yall apply it? We used my backhoe to tote and spread it. I also put it in my friends lime spreader truck but it sprays it all over with on the last stall but it gets it more evenly spread. THis is the first new dairy farm in about 35 years some folks say Ive torn down several over the last 3 years. Hopefully we will make a low budget all powered chores in it. It will still have to be run and done by a person though just less strain on the back.

hickchic05 · Mar 6, 2005

We spread it using a skid loader and a special bucket made for putting out bedding...it's called the side shooter...it's pretty nice. not hard at all. It's just like a big bucket with holes on the sides that shoots the sand out of it.