All things Farming

[Barney Google]

Would really enjoy hearing from those on the forum that are farmers and or producers now and or grew up farming. Thinking maybe this would be a GREAT place to swap tales about the trials, tribulations and triumphs of farming here in the Okanagan or elsewhere. Maybe share some of the lifestyle and the ups and downs AND maybe share some advice or insight for folks wanting to get into farming on a small or large scale. Maybe we could also post if we have produce to sell or connections were folks can find farming and farmed things.

[Barney Google]

How's the hay situation looking for those of you with livestock or those who are hay producers? I know some horse people who feed alfalfa cubes and pellets and they tell me the prices have gone up considerably to the point where they can't afford to feed them anymore.

[driveangry]

Not a good year for the in-laws grass/alfalfa hay. Will be buying some this year for the cattle.

[Barney Google]

And hay aint cheap either. It's doubled in some instances and a lot of it is not very good. Good thing though...the price of beef is holding strong.

[driveangry]

Yea he did good at the Armstong auction a while back.

[Barney Google]

We're gonna be hearing a lot of people screaming about the prices of beef at the grocery stores over the next bit. Its really gone up and will just go up further. We didn't raise any cattle this year and I'm now sorry for it. We do have pigs and meat goats but they are being processed before the snow flies. The apples are comin on really early this year...seems like it almost three weeks early for some of them.

[Queen K]

Great idea for a thread.

I wonder how one goes from "hobby farm" to serious whoop-ass gotta pay the expenses and make a living farming though.

I know I call my garden a "downtown farm" but I must admit, I've never had to really make my square patch pay up. Unlike my relatives in Grand Forks with cattle on the range and side income from raising chickens and pigs. Scary stuff right there.

[Barney Google]

Great idea for a thread.

Thanks for suggesting it.

"I wonder how one goes from "hobby farm" to serious whoop-ass gotta pay the expenses and make a living farming though."

Normally I would reply to a question like this that nobody but a damned blamed fool would want to do that...lol

It's just like any other business you gotta have a plan and the wherewithal to see it through.

[GordonH]

Great idea for a thread.

I wonder how one goes from "hobby farm" to serious whoop-ass gotta pay the expenses and make a living farming though.

I know I call my garden a "downtown farm" but I must admit, I've never had to really make my square patch pay up. Unlike my relatives in Grand Forks with cattle on the range and side income from raising chickens and pigs. Scary stuff right there.

I grew up on a dairy farm, its hell of a lot work. Especially if you trying to do it without a lot of help. 16+ hours a day 365 days a year, so good to find good herds person & farm hand.
Just so you can have a break, Family holidays for us was just someday dream.

[Queen K]

My aunt had one cow to milk. One. And it ran the her whole life. Could not be somewhere else when the milk had to be milked.

Can't imagine a whole herd.

I was fortunate enough to have met that Holstein and actually give milking a try: fail. I was five or six years old though.

[GordonH]

My aunt had one cow to milk. One. And it ran the her whole life. Could not be somewhere else when the milk had to be milked.

Can't imagine a whole herd.

I was fortunate enough to have met that Holstein and actually give milking a try: fail. I was five or six years old though.

We milked twice a day (bigger farms today will milk every 8 hours). Worst thing to happen is power goes down & our backup generator is not working.
Then its all hands on deck because all 100 to 115 cows need to be milked by hand.

[Lady tehMa]

Great idea for a thread.

I wonder how one goes from "hobby farm" to serious whoop-ass gotta pay the expenses and make a living farming though.

I know I call my garden a "downtown farm" but I must admit, I've never had to really make my square patch pay up. Unlike my relatives in Grand Forks with cattle on the range and side income from raising chickens and pigs. Scary stuff right there.

I know it can be done, but I haven't either. I think it's because we work outside the home - to really make a home garden pay for itself you have to be there. I know part of my lack of productivity was my accident, and the rest because I just haven't been able to water at the right time etc.

I am interested in learning how, I'm just not sure my body is up to it :/

[Barney Google]

Ya know what Gordon of all the farmers and producers out there I have the most admiration for the dairy folks.
Man, that truly is a life commitment.
When we were young and just starting out we dabbled a bit in milking goats and I thought that was pretty easy so bein' a young smart *bleep* I thought having a milk cow would be a GREAT idea. So off I went and bought the prettiest and sweetest Jersey Guernsey cross cow. The seller sure saw me coming and I'm sure gleefully rubbed his hands together when I pulled up with our horse trailer. She had just freshened and he showed me what she produced that morning ...it was not milk...it was almost like solid cream. Anyway, I had set up our barn and had it all ready for her and for milking. Brought her home and she led like a lamb...I'm thinkin, anyone could lead her and she was just a big ol pet. I was so proud of myself for buying her for what I thought was a screaming good price and having her pretty self follow me around like a dog. I brushed her soft light brown coat and admired those ginormous huge gentle brown eyes with the longest lashes...a woman would be totally envious of. Oh she was so pretty and I was so proud of her.

I'm like, TOTALLY, excited to get her first milking done. Everything brand spankin' sparkly new...everything sterilized and perfectly perfect in every way. So I gather up ol Bessie and put her in the milking stand...she immediately goes to chomping down on her grain ration. Stands there just like a statue to get washed doesn't move a hair or even flick her tail. I'm thinkin oh this is gonna be so much fun...then I commence to milkin.
Hummm...this is the first time I noticed that her teats seem pretty small. Bein' a new Dairy 'expert' I figured maybe its just cause she just freshened and I thought that as she got milked those teats would fill out and be a easier to get my hands around (I was such a *bleep*). Now, I'm not talkin just a little small...I'm talked SMALL...like I'm trying to milk this cow and all I can grab her teats with are two fingers and my thumb. I'm workin as fast as I can and it's taking forever. My hands are starting to cramp and my back is now killing me. Then I notice that the cow has stopped chewing...she's finished her grain and I'm busy tryin my hardest to get her milked cause I'm now at like 45 minutes and the udder is still bursting. All I've got to show for my efforts so far is maybe 2 cups of milk in my bucket. Then my Universe started to 'shift'.
First my sweet beautiful cow throws her head back letting out this deafening ear piercing bawl and then proceeds to *bleep* the longest most liquid projectile *bleep* I have ever seen. Of course it goes EVERYWHERE. In the blink of an eye she then takes her long tail that you know is just soaked with this foul liquid green mess and swipes me across the back of the head with it so hard I see black spots in front of my eyes(possibly in an attempt to knock some sense into it)...not once but TWICE the second time her tail wrapped around my head and I had GREEN all over my face and in my mouth and eyes. She's now getting real antsy and starts stepping around cow kickin at me and I'm still trying to milk her. What I have in the bucket is now tainted so this milking is just to strip the cow at this point cause well...she's got an utter full. So I'm covered in this stinking mess trying to milk this now very enraged cow who has teats smaller than my little finger. My hands are cramped, my back is screaming and this darling lovely female dog of a cow is proceeding to go hog wild. She's now kicking hard at me and she's throwing her head around...long gooey slobbery gobs of drool flying all over the place. My homemade milking stand is starting to bend and creak a little and I'm starting to worry that it's not gonna hold. No sooner did that thought come to mind than the cow, now hell bent for heaven and in a full blown RAGE kicks and pushed and pulls so hard that whole stand is comin loose. Cow is getting some pretty positive results for her efforts and, to this day I have never seen any bovine do this before or since, jumps straight up and out of the stand giving it a good 'double barrel' kick as she's launching herself out of it. Of course you just know the whole thing ended up breaking into tiny little pieces flying all over the place . I've got my arms over the top of my head in an attempt to cover myself from all the flying debris and *bleep* and slobber and milk. I open my eyes to see my beautiful darling cow galloping down the path to the pasture with her udder heavily swinging between her legs. The next morning I was at the Auction Mart buying a day old calf.
Yep, I really admire Dairy Farmers...

[Queen K]

Am I bad because I laughed til tears rolled onto my keyboard?

[Barney Google]

Am I bad because I laughed til tears rolled onto my keyboard?

Back then I had rolling tears too...but I wasn't laughing.

I can now though...looking back it was pretty darned funny.

If someone had been there and seen what when down and laughed...I'm afraid I might have caused

them some physical harm. Now, I can just laugh about it...just like you Queen.

Sadly, 'The Milk Cow Incident' was one of many farm 'ventures' that didn't quite go as planned...but then that's farming.