Farm Update

The joke goes: There were only ever two good years in farming, ya know. 1955 and next year.

Well, the proverbial next year is here, and we are ready. We are at a low point now, milking only 47 cows, with six cows dry. That is the only bad news I can think of. The good news is this: In the next 5 months, we have 29 cows due, including 11 first calf heifers. June and July there are no cows due, and then there are 38 cows bred for August, September, and October, including 9 first calf heifers. After that there are an additional 17 first calf heifers who will be bred to calve by April of 2007. That totals to 37 first calf heifers who will enter the herd in the next 16 months! So by April of 2007 we have the potential for 90 cows. Of course, some cows will "leave" the herd, but we could cull 15 cows in the next 16 months and still be at 75 cows. So there will be steady, inexorable growth from this point, with growth in milk volume outpacing growth in costs and debt service by a wide margin. Yahoo!

Speaking of cows leaving, they are very excited about "Welch's". They hear of it every now and then, and they want to know more. If you've never heard a cow talk, they have a falsetto voice, much like Mr. Bill, but not so frantic. They think welch's sounds like fun and they always want to know more and ask many questions. I just tell them it's a big secret and they'll find out soon enough.

And speaking of growth, we shipped more than twice as much milk in 2005 as we did in 2001. And that's almost 100% internal growth, meaning that it has been accomplished with cows that were bred and raised here, not purchased cows. In 2006, we will ship twice as much as we did in 2002.

In Christmas Contest news, we have used 223 bales, an average of 15 a day. (That's just heifer hay, BTW, the cows eat another 30-35 a day.) The pile is holding up well, so my money stays on the entrants who made the higher guesses.

Drink milk and eat meat. Give a cow a reason to live.