Milking, the Organic Way

 Milking, the Organic Way

Putting in some elbow grease during my visit.

My trip to Wangsgard Willow Dairy in the west Logan area was definitely what I needed to help me decompress before finals.  Steve Wangsgard is the owner and operator/farmer of this wonderfully run establishment.  I went to his dairy on a cloudy afternoon and was sort of dreading the trip.  I wasn't dreading learning about a dairy because they have fascinated me ever since I was a kid, but I was dreading spending so much of my day on a farm.  This trip turned out to be just what I needed.  I grew up on a farm around cattle, but we raised beef cattle and the major source of income was from alfalfa so I hadn't been around the dairy scene.  Steve was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about his organic dairy farm and organic farming in general.  He is a graduate of Utah State University with a degree in agriculture education and a minor in business.  He runs a very smooth operation.  I will try to summarize all of my knowledge I sponged up that day, but it was an overwhelming amount of information.

One of several watering troughs on the property.

     Let's start by discussing the grazing procedure.  Mr. Wangsgard has over 200 acres on his property that are available for grazing.  Depending on the weather, the cows here typically graze from  April through October.  He has his field sectioned off using electric fences and every time the cows are milked, they are released onto a fresh piece of land.  The cows that are being milked take top priority so they are always first to graze the field.  Steve explained this type of grazing system as being called "intensive rotational grazing". The cows that are pregnant or "drying up" finish up the grass behind the milking cows.  Approximately 2 months before a cow has it's calf, they "dry them up" meaning they stop milking them.  Allowing cows these two months gives their bodies a chance to recover before milking resumes after birthing the calf.  Steve strategically tries to keep a majority of the cattle "drying up" during the months of December 15-February 15.  Why would he do this, you wonder?  Well, if the cows are drying up, then they aren't producing any milk, also known to a dairy farmer as money.  During the winter months there isn't any pasture for the cows which means that the cost to feed them is much higher than the months they can be pasture-fed, so in turn, it is more beneficial to have them out of production during this time.  However, the company Wangsgard sells to, Organic Valley, offers a $3 premium for the milk during this time which is incentive to produce milk.       

     The watering system on the Wangsgard property is also very well thought out.  There is an artesian well located in the corner of the property.  There is a trough placed in each grazing section so that the cows always have access to water.  The artesian well is hooked up to each trough, so there is always free flowing water.  If you look closely you can see a black floating device.  When the water gets low enough, the floater turns on the well and the trough is filled up.  Nice system, right?  I was really impressed at how organized the feeding schedule was.  

15,000 gallon collecting tank for milk.    

     I also discussed with Steve the food that is required for the cows.  He specifically picks out the types of grasses and legumes he has in certain areas.  For example, he grows a type of grass called fescue grass, which holds up to cows hooves very well.  Of course, with everything there is an up and a down side.  The positive aspect of fescue grass is that it can be tromped to death by cattle and still grow back.  The down side is that the cows only like the grass when it is young and tender.  He also plants rye grasses which the cows love because they are full of sugar, but the down side to this grass is that it is fragile and dies fairly easily if it gets trodden.  Steve talked about how the cows are constantly needing energy, which comes in the form of sugar so he definitely keeps that in mind as he plants his fields.  Some other grasses he uses include alfalfa, clover and tree foil.  

     Enough about the food, lets get to the milk of the matter.  Steve runs approximately 150 head of cattle.  The average cow produces 45 pounds of milk per day.  The highest producer is a cow that produces about 120 pounds of milk.  Can you imagine?  One gallon of milk weighs 8.6 pounds, so if I did the math correctly then this high producing cow makes almost 14 gallons of milk per day.  That is insane to think about.  Cows reach their peak production about 60-90 days after they birth their calf.  The milk is collected every other day and 11-12,000 pounds of milk is usually picked up and hauled off.  Approximately 4,900 gallons of organic milk is produced by the Wangsgard Willow farm alone in a single week.  

Cow being tested for mastitis.

It must be 3:30.  Cows are lining
up for milking.

     The cows are milked every twelve hours.  The first milking is done at 3:30 a.m. and the second milking is done at 3:30 p.m.  The Wansgard family takes care of most of the milking, however, they do have a girl come help them.  Normal milking takes about 4 hours, but Steve anticipates that time speeding up once their remodel is complete.  When the cows are first brought into the shed, they are tested for mastitis.  Mastitis occurs occasionally in any cow that is producing milk.  Essentially what happens is the nipple gets infected causing the milk to sour.  If mastitis appears in the milk sample, then the milk from that cow will go into a bucket used to feed the baby calves instead of being put into the milk tank for human consumption.  After each cow is tested, their nipples are sprayed with an iodine solution and their tits are wiped clean before the milking machine is hooked up.  The milking machine essentially has four "mouths" which mimic a calf and suck the milk out.  I forgot to time it, but it seemed to take about 20 minutes from the first drop of milk to the last.  

Meter for tracking milk.  (This was just being installed,
so the information on the screen probably isn't accurate,
but you getthe idea.  

     The milking barn holds 8 cows at a time.  I mentioned earlier that they are doing some remodeling.  They are putting in a computerized system that will read and keep track of each cow.  The system is called "Team Viewer" and once they have this system up and running it will provide several benefits.  Each of the cows will wear a collar which will record their milk production, their movement, when to feed, how much to feed, will signal cows with mastitis, alert if there is any broken equipment and also how many times each cow chews.  The reason that it tracks movement is that this can be a sign of illness if their movement slows down or a sign of them being in heat if they are detected moving a lot more than normal.  Chewing may also be an indication of illness.  Before Steve installed this system everything was being recorded by hand.  We all know that humans make errors.  Steve told me that sometimes the milk production or necessary health information would not get written down and, therefore, their records would be inaccurate.  With this new system, everything can be accessed with the touch of a few buttons.  Steve is also able to view this information remotely, so when the day comes that this hard worker takes a day off, he is still able to check in on production and activity of the cows.  

Milking in progress.

    Now that I have explained in very brief detail the process of feeding and milking the cows, let's discuss this "organic business".  Wansgard Willow Dairy has been certified organic since 2006.  Steve co-bought the dairy along with his father.  The farm was already set up to run dairy cows at the time the Wansgards purchased the property.  When they decided to become certified, Steve states that it really wasn't too hard and only had to make a few adjustments in the way things were ran.  One thing that needed to be eliminated was the use of antibiotics.  For example, they now use an all natural substance called Crystal Creek-Calf Shield which helps protect their calves from getting scours.  Mr. Wangsgard stated that the number of calves with scours reduced dramatically using this all-natural healer as compared to using chemicals in the form of medication to try and cure them.  Steve admits to going into the organic business for the money, but as he has grown, he has seen tremendous benefits for the cows, as well as his land, when everything is grown organically.  

This cow has 1.5 times the amount
of nipples than a "normal" cow. 

     A very fascinating thing about this dairy is that almost everything is recycled.  For example, the manure that is cleaned from the shed every day is used as fertilizer on the field, since they can't use commercial fertilizers.  The milk that can't be used for human consumption is used to feed the calves who need it.  The steers are raised to be 1,200-1,300 pounds and then are sold as organic beef.  The female calves are raised and kept to replace older cows who are beyond production age. It really was a pretty mind boggling experience for me.  There are so many variables to dairy farming and Steve orchestrates each variable with grace.  

     Of course I couldn't be serious the entire blog post, so here are a couple of fun facts.  If you are familiar with a cow, you know that the normal cow has 4 tits.  Well, there is a cow at Wangsgard's dairy that has 6, fully-functional, nipples.  I didn't believe it until I saw it.  I also figured that you, as the reader, might not believe it either so, of course, I came home with evidence.  I also let a few calves suck my fingers.  For those of you who have never had this experience, you must.  It is so dang cute, although probably very disappointing to the calves when milk doesn't come out of my fingertips.  The Wangsgard family is pretty involved in the community.  They give pony rides at the Cache County Fair.  They are having a farm field day in May where they will educate and entertain around 600-second graders.  Steve said that there are always opportunities to get involved.  The Wangsgard family stays plenty busy keeping their farm in smooth running condition.  Steve really seems to enjoy what he does.  He said he didn't anticipate running a dairy for a living, but is really happy that he does.  He loves the outdoors and the sense of accomplishment that he gets at the end of the day.  

     Everything we learned about the benefits of farming and agriculture in this class were experienced on this field trip.  I drove to the dairy anxious and up-tight thinking about the hundreds of other things I needed to get done.  Four hours later, I drove away decompressed, relaxed and smelling like a dairy.  Mr. Wangsgard has been warned that he may find me out pitching hay during the middle of finals week just to alleviate some stress.

     Steve Wangsgard was an exceptional host.  He was full of information and more than willing to talk about the dairy.  I asked several questions and was blown away by the detailed knowledge Steve provided.  I told him a few of my stories of growing up on a farm and how much it means to me now.  I was taught to work hard and I appreciate that trait as an adult.  I told him about the times my grandpa used to be sitting on an old milking T milking Besty, his old milk cow, and would squirt us kids with milk as we walked by.  A special thanks goes to Steve Wangsgard for taking the time to show me the tricks of his trade and allow me to remember go back to my roots for a few hours!

        

My little buddy is just looking for a bottle.

Citation

Wangsgard, Steve.  Personal interview.  18 April 2017.

“Sharpie”, the first pig I raised as a child.

Review of A Day No Pigs Would Die

By Robert Newton Peck (1972)

            Robert Peck, a 12-year-old boy, had the urgency and determination from the very opening scene that is needed from that of a farmer.  Sometimes the health and safety of the animals on the farm must be put before the farmer which is exactly what this little boy did.  He immediately set his tasks of schooling aside and did what he could to help his neighbor’s cow deliver her calves, even if it meant stripping down to his underwear in order to use his pant legs as some sort of a calf puller.  Once the calves had been delivered, another obstacle became very apparent.  The mother couldn’t breathe and Robert knew he had to do something.  Without much time to assess the situation he decided to reach inside the cow’s mouth and pull out whatever it was that was obstructing her airway.  This turned into quite the rodeo as he was badly beaten and bruised from the task.  An average kid would probably begin a fanfaronade about what a heroic act they had just accomplished and begin telling their parents about the praise that they deserved.  Robert did no boasting whatsoever.  As a farmer, there is usually nobody there to pat you on the back for a job well done.  The recognition often received is the yield of a good crop or an adequate amount of food on the table to feed your family, not an award, congratulations, or even a high five.

            I find it very interesting that Robert’s father is a man of absolute zero questioning as to how things are done.  On the other hand, Robert seems to question everything.    There are several times that Robert asks his father, Haven, why something is done the way it is done, not because he is trying to defy the ways of his papa, but simply because Robert is trying to make sense of everything about agriculture and life in general.  Not surprisingly, Haven’s reasoning usually had something to do with his Quaker beliefs.  He doesn’t put the pigs with the cows because it will spoil the milk of the cow.  He doesn’t buy clothes from the local mart.  He doesn’t allow Robert to go to baseball games because that is considered frivolous.  Despite Haven’s repeated reply of the Quaker law, these answers didn’t suffice little Robert. 

            Robert constantly tried to seek his father’s approval, which seemed like an extremely elusive task.  Perhaps he wanted Robert to have a sense of impending inadequacy of his work so that he will be in a constant state of improvement.  I can’t help but to think that the world of agriculture, especially at that time, was in desperate need of people like Robert.  I believe that it is because of people like him that we have seen such a dramatic change in the efficiency and advancements of agriculture throughout the last few decades.  Imagine if every farmer lived according to the Quaker law.  I would venture to guess that we would still be using oxen to plow the fields.  Thank goodness for people like Robert who question the ways in which tasks are completed and his efforts to seek approval from someone when there was no approval in sight.

            I can’t review this book and not talk about Pinky.  Pinky was a pig given as a gift to Robert by Mr. Tanner for his courageous act of delivering Mr. Tanners’ calves and saving his cow.   There aren’t very many 12-year-old boys who would see something like this happening and not only try to find a possible solution on his own, but to have the courage to put his life in danger in order to save the lives of these animals.  Robert was ecstatic about his new four-legged friend.  Pinky quickly become Robert’s best friend following him anywhere and everywhere Robert would allow him to.  Mr. Tanner wanted to show off his oxen, Bob and Bib, at the fair.  Bob and Bib were the calves that Robert so bravely delivered.  In fact, Bob was named after little Robert.  Mr. Tanner asked that Robert be the one to show off these calves at the fair, giving him the opportunity to show his prized Pinky as well.  Pinky came home with a blue ribbon.  As Mr. Tanner brought Robert back to his parents’ home he made mention that Robert deserved a blue ribbon as well for the best behaved boy.  Haven made little acknowledgement of such an accomplishment.    I am sure by this point in life, Robert had become accustomed to the lack of praise that came from his father.  Just another example of Robert seeking acknowledgement without receiving it.

            As the year grew on, the Peck family came up against some hard times.  Haven had made the decision to slaughter Pinky in order to feed his family.  I can’t even imagine the heartache this caused Robert as his papa made him participate in the killing.  What a hard lesson this must have been for Robert.  A lesson that the family must always come first.  A lesson that sometimes we have to do hard things.  A lesson that, as the man of the household, you must do what needs to be done regardless of how pain-staking the chore may be. 

            Soon after Pinky was gone, Haven told his son that he was not going to make it another year and that Robert was going to be left in charge of the farm, as well as caring for his mom and aunt.  It makes me wonder if Haven knew, long before he made mention of it to Robert, that he was sick.  I can’t help but be a bit skeptical to the idea that all of Haven’s harshness and lack of approval was only to help his boy quickly become a man.  Haven passed away in May of that year.  It quickly became apparent in the way that Robert handled his papa’s death and funeral that he was ready for the challenges that lie ahead.  Robert had proved his maturity time and time again and now that the day had come, he faced this challenge head on.  His challenge to make sure needs were met without recognition for his work began on the day no pigs would die.  

Visual Rhetoric: Where Greed meets the Field

Where Greed meets the Field

Beth Smith, End of the Road, December 11 2011.  Oil on Canvas.  Fineartamerica.com.

I was very intrigued by the oil painting of Beth Smith titled, “End of the Road.”  I searched a few web pages and found the meaning she was trying to portray through this piece of work, which was essentially the global financial meltdown.  If you look closely at the leaves of corn you will notice that different currencies are written on the plants.  I find it interesting that she used corn as the vegetation in this artwork because if you look back on history, corn has been the staple in many different cultures throughout the world.  In Beth’s description of her art she states, “At the end of a day, at the end of a prayer, at the end of the road there is only you, hands, elbows deep in empty pockets, in search of a raven…and God (Smith 2011).”

The great thing about art is that it can be interpreted in very different ways depending on whose eyes are looking at it.  Through my eyes I see the dream of every man.  I see the dream of having road running through our lives paved in gold.  I see the road melting away at Wall Street, the center of financial stability in our nation.  No matter where the people of the United States come from, when we choose to move to America, our financial comfort and assurance is sort of dictated by Wall Street.

 I see the doom and gloom in the clouds which can mean two different things depending on the stage of our crops or life at that given time.  If our crop is planted and still growing a farmer looks at these clouds as a chance for more growth and a better yield that season.  Rain can be mother nature’s way of giving a farmer some free nutrition for the crops that their livelihood depends on.  However, on the flip side, if the crops have been cut and are laying in the field, the sign of rain means that thousands of dollars are going to be lost during that storm.  Mother nature can be both a blessing and an enemy depending on the day she chooses to grant us with her presence. 

As I look at the scarecrow, I see desperation.  The scarecrow is meant to scare away those things that can cause utter damage to a crop.  I find it interesting that the scarecrow is placed right where the yellow brick road seems to melt away.  It seems to me that the scarecrow is the farmers’ last ditch effort to have some financial security in knowing that their crop will not be damaged by nature.  As a farmer, we are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure a good yield.  As silly as a scarecrow may look, if it helps keep away just one flock of birds from the field, it is worth being there. 

Whether it be euros, pesos, or dollars, one thing is for certain and that is with each seed that is planted, with each day that is spent working we all hope that we will be paid for our endeavors.  We all go through life trying to pave our own yellow brick road.  We all hope that when we see a dark sky ahead that it is only a sign of a better and brighter tomorrow!

Citation

Smith, Beth.  15 December 2011.  End of the Road.  Fine Art America.  Retrieved from http://fineartamerica.com/featured/end-of-the-road-beth-smith.html

Farm Progression in My Lifespan Thus Far

                It seizes to amaze me how much farming has progressed in my short span of life.  I grew up on a rural 160-acre farm in South-Central Colorado.  My ancestors were sent to the San Luis Valley by a church leader, Brigham Young, in order to teach the Mexicans that resided in that valley how to farm more efficiently.  I often think back to how we farmed the land when I was a kid as compared to how it is done today.  I’d like to take you on a journey of farming through my eyes.

                As I would sit on the lawn as a child and watch my older sibling run the tractor, I was envious.  When would my turn come?  When would I be able to finally drive a tractor?  It looked so fun.  I can remember clear as day, the summer of 1991 at the age of 11 when my dad decided I was old enough to begin farming.  He put me on the tractor to rake.  For those of you who don’t know what raking is, you are basically turning the hay over so that it can dry efficiently and also putting two windrows into one so that the balers had to make one pass through the field for every two windrows.  I had raked for maybe a couple of hours, but in reality it could have very well just been thirty minutes.  I was done.  It wasn’t fun.  I was ready to go back to the yard and watch farming from a distance.  It appeared much more enjoyable from there.  Much to my demise, I was stuck on the tractor.  The tractor I ran didn’t have a cab.  I would begin raking around 3 or 4 in the morning so that the dew was still on the alfalfa.  The mornings in Colorado, even in the summertime, are quite cold.  I froze.  I would slow the tractor down when the wind was blowing against me because the exhaust from the engine would warm me up.  Once I turned the other direction I would go as fast as the tractor would allow because I was freezing and couldn’t wait to once again feel the warmth of the exhaust. 

                As I got older we moved a bit up in the farming world and got a few tractors with a cab.  There were two luxurious things about having a cab.  The first and foremost was a heater.  The second being a bit of quiet because you were slightly insulated from the noise of the roaring engine.  In my mind, this was a great step forward in agriculture.  I had an AM/FM radio that could pick up maybe one or two channels, but it was luxury at its finest. 

                Quickly jumping to today’s advancement in agriculture, I speak with my dad occasionally during the summer and he is sitting in an air conditioned cab and can watch movies while he is farming.  What?  The John Deere cab he spends most of his long hours in has a temperature controlled climate, cup holders and is navigated by a GPS system so there is no need, for the most part, to pay attention to where you are going and in the end the fields are perfectly groomed.  Fields appears as though the world’s biggest perfectionist was behind the wheel.  There are so many uses for using GPS in farming from planning out a newly developing field, precise use of pesticides, etc. (GPS.gov:Agriculture.  12 Oct. 2016,  http://www.gps.gov/applications/agriculture/  Accessed: January 17, 2016).  Fertilizer is being used in only the spots of the field that need it, irrigation can be adjusted according to the soil conditions and so on.  It allows farmers to sort of micromanage their fields if that makes sense. 

                It is simply amazing to me to see how far agriculture has advanced since I was a little girl.  I never would have guessed in a million years that one could enjoy a matinee while driving through the fields, not to mention the money that is being saved due to a much more efficient way of farming.  I am excited to see what advancements will be made in the up and coming years as our technology becomes more and more advance.  Cheers to a less back breaking way of life in agriculture!

My Roots

I am a country girl through and through.  I began driving a tractor at the age of eleven and will forever be grateful for the lessons I learned on the farm.  I'd like to make this blog about the advances of farming from the early settlers to what we know as farming today.
     When I began farming, heat on a tractor was when you were driving in such a direction that the warmth from the engine blew in your face and air conditioning was driving in any other direction than that.  My grandpa, Jerome Johnson, used to tell me as we arrived to the field each day, "Let's make it look sick."  After our day was done and we would drive home for the night he'd tell me, "We'll give it heck tomorrow."  These words echo in the back of my mind as I tackle each day.  I will forever be...Makin' It Look Sick.