Thursday, May 19, 2011
#2 Crisp, Clean, Air... all of the time!
This morning I really noticed that amazing feeling you get when you take a deep breath of fresh air. It rained all of last night and the clean smell and refreshing burst of air entering your lungs is always invigorating. Lets face it, your lungs deserve the best. Escape the parking garage, forget the fast food fumes, and run away from that photocopying daze in the office. When you get way out in the open, when you’re out in the country, its always crisp. Just sit back and take a breath because it's just awesome outside of the cities and towns where nature has control and the haze of smog can't reach you!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Some Awesome Ag
It is now about halfway through the month of May and it seems as though it may never end. As always in the life of this farm boy, a lot of things pick up in the spring months until summer when school is out and I can finally take a breath and relax for a moment. Round about the end of April/ start of May, I pick up the old glove and start playing fastball for a local minor ball league. After a practice or two and a few games the teams are all starting to get the hang of it and the play is really picking up. On top of that this Wednesday I began playing rugby for the David Thompson Voyageurs (my school team). It's kind of an amazing thing to do for our school as we hardly have enough players to put a team together and after some slight injuries I just happen to be starting. It turns out to be a blast yet at the same time, just another way of taking up precious time. And just when I thought my life was about full it turns out finals are just around the corner so of course we step up on some classes to finish in time and review for the tests. So now you know whats happening OUTSIDE of the farm however that doesn't mean when I get home and have a weekend without anything going on I get to relax in fact it's quite the opposite.
We've been calving out calves for a few weeks now and keeping up with records and tagging is a huge responsibility still. The cows aren't the only things that have to be watched during the spring though because it's time that we think about getting back behind the wheel of the tractors and heading out to the fields. The combination of these new tasks as well as the everyday chores that have to be completed have left very little time to stop and smell the flowers so to speak. Because of this I would like to introduce a new segment to the blog called Awesome Ag which is literally just that, some awesome things about agriculture. So without further ado I give you the first thing that you might take for granted in the everyday farm life.#1 Limitless Boundaries
On a farm there are no boundaries and nothing is off limits, whether it is climbing on bales or going down to the creek you are free to explore and be yourself at all times and it feels great!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
The Real Ideal
To many people the life of a farmer has been thought of as the simple life, carefree and without worries. I only have one thing to say to those people... I wish. The constant monitoring and management that goes into a cattle herd is anything but easy. It truly does take dedication and perseverance to successfully take care of a few cows, let alone a few hundred. Lucky for me then that I currently only have a very small amount to deal with. I own a total of 5 cows, 1 steer and 1/2 bull(shared between my sister and I) and at times I still struggle to find the time necessary to do everything needed to continue my herd.
When I first started the herd I had an idea of owning just purebred shorthorns and showing them like crazy at every and any event possible. For a few years that's exactly what I did, buying a Shorthorn heifer and breeding the previously bought cow through a process known as artificial insemination (AI) and taking these animals to summer shows in 4-H. Since then the plan has changed slightly but the objective is still to win a few shows a year. This year I purchased something a little different both my steer and my heifer are Maine Anjou cross out of steer bulls. I did this for a couple of reasons, first it was because lately I've made little, actually no success in the show ring with my Shorthorns. This is mostly my fault as the breeding program has fallen behind schedule so when it comes time to show, my cows just aren't properly conditioned and therefore can't compete! Second before this spring I had no way of ensuring that the Shorthorns were actually bred to a Shorthorn bull.
So earlier this fall I went out and bought a few Maines because they were born earlier in the year allowing me some time to feed them and let them fill out as well as not have to worry about trying to keep a purebred operation on the go. The fact that these two animals were closer to the ideal was a plus as well. Now you may be wondering what the ideal may be and to some degree it varies from person to person and definitely from heifer to steer. I personally am prone to an animal with more length, combined with depth and width and this will give you a decent steer or heifer. You also would like to have a strong topline that is parallel to the underline of the animal. In a heifer these things will often mean easier calving when it comes time and the genetics will be passed down. In a steer, basically the larger they are the more meat you will get from them later in life which is exactly what you want, more production. There are many other things to take into account when choosing an animal but these are some of the basics.
When I first started the herd I had an idea of owning just purebred shorthorns and showing them like crazy at every and any event possible. For a few years that's exactly what I did, buying a Shorthorn heifer and breeding the previously bought cow through a process known as artificial insemination (AI) and taking these animals to summer shows in 4-H. Since then the plan has changed slightly but the objective is still to win a few shows a year. This year I purchased something a little different both my steer and my heifer are Maine Anjou cross out of steer bulls. I did this for a couple of reasons, first it was because lately I've made little, actually no success in the show ring with my Shorthorns. This is mostly my fault as the breeding program has fallen behind schedule so when it comes time to show, my cows just aren't properly conditioned and therefore can't compete! Second before this spring I had no way of ensuring that the Shorthorns were actually bred to a Shorthorn bull.
So earlier this fall I went out and bought a few Maines because they were born earlier in the year allowing me some time to feed them and let them fill out as well as not have to worry about trying to keep a purebred operation on the go. The fact that these two animals were closer to the ideal was a plus as well. Now you may be wondering what the ideal may be and to some degree it varies from person to person and definitely from heifer to steer. I personally am prone to an animal with more length, combined with depth and width and this will give you a decent steer or heifer. You also would like to have a strong topline that is parallel to the underline of the animal. In a heifer these things will often mean easier calving when it comes time and the genetics will be passed down. In a steer, basically the larger they are the more meat you will get from them later in life which is exactly what you want, more production. There are many other things to take into account when choosing an animal but these are some of the basics.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Welcome
Welcome all to the agricultural blog, Howlin' At The Moon. First off, I want to explain a little bit about why I began this blog and the importance and impact of agriculture on my life.
My family and I own a dairy farm of about 50 Holstein cows with a cow/calf operation on the side. Growing up on the farm I engaged in the competitive circuit of showing cattle through a youth program known as 4-H. I have been a member of the Gilby Beef Club for 8 years now and attended both club shows and the provincial show for a few years however just recently, a program known as Summer Synergy has affiliated with the Provincial Beef Heifer Show and thus is the reason for this blog. You see as a marketing competition it was asked of competitors to create an "agvocacy" blog to help educate the general public of the life on a ranch or farm and help consumers to understand exactly where their food comes from. That's just a quick explanation of an overall theme of the competition. To understand more you can do a few things, visit the summer synergy website http://www.summersynergy.ca/, or just ask me personally and I will answer you asap! So seeing as how the blog is more literally about the food I think it's fitting that the type of posts most commonly found will be those about my personal herd, and 4-H animals. I hope you find it enjoyable!
My family and I own a dairy farm of about 50 Holstein cows with a cow/calf operation on the side. Growing up on the farm I engaged in the competitive circuit of showing cattle through a youth program known as 4-H. I have been a member of the Gilby Beef Club for 8 years now and attended both club shows and the provincial show for a few years however just recently, a program known as Summer Synergy has affiliated with the Provincial Beef Heifer Show and thus is the reason for this blog. You see as a marketing competition it was asked of competitors to create an "agvocacy" blog to help educate the general public of the life on a ranch or farm and help consumers to understand exactly where their food comes from. That's just a quick explanation of an overall theme of the competition. To understand more you can do a few things, visit the summer synergy website http://www.summersynergy.ca/, or just ask me personally and I will answer you asap! So seeing as how the blog is more literally about the food I think it's fitting that the type of posts most commonly found will be those about my personal herd, and 4-H animals. I hope you find it enjoyable!
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