diary farm

hickchic05 · Feb 28, 2005

oops spelled dairy wrong in the subject!!! haha.....anyone live or work on a dairy farm!?!?

rockinmywaypa · Feb 28, 2005

I worked for a dairy equipment dealer for a number of years. Seen my share of farms, Installed anything that was needed from one end of the cow to the other. Built some pretty impressive express parlors with basements etc. Don't miss the hours involved, now I have a job in which I know what time I'am off work at end of shift. That's where I learned to tig stainless to a food grade standard. The last place you'd want pitted surfaces is inside a milk line.

riptides · Mar 1, 2005

I live on one. But it is not a working farm anymore. Has not been since 1934 or so. Back then it was one of the finest in the region. So one of the original owners said. And if you look closely, you can still see the glory days in it.

Anyway, it is undergoing, restoration as we speak. Right now my attention is on the farm house itself. Once that is done we will turn to the outbuildings and barn. I think I posted a pic of the barn somewhere. Look here ->

As you can see I have some painting to do.

The original milk house is still here too, with all the pumps and plumbing, and a few stainless steel vats. The barn still has the original metal for holding and feeding the cows, too.

Not sure what to do with that stuff.

I have a silo too. Maybe I will convert it to a rock climbing wall or a telescope. Not kidding on either of those ideas. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I am hoping to get the neighbors to help me hay it this year while we turn our attention to the buildings.

The place is special, we need to figure out how to bring it back.

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

kensfarm · Mar 1, 2005

My farm use to be a dairy farm too. My neighbor is a dairy farmer.. I've helped him hay, ban young bull calves, dehorn(not fun), load manure, feed calves, haul off & compost dead cows, chase cows, work on equipment, last couple of weekends we ground & bagged 14 tons of corn for feed. I've purchased all 13 of my Holstein steers from him that I've raised from bottle calves. I told him one day we should hang out and do something besides work.. but there is always more to do!

bczoom · Mar 1, 2005

hickchik05,

Welcome to TBN.

I don't live on a dairy farm now, but was born and raised on one many moons ago (1960's and 70's).

A great place to live and grow up.

A tidbit about the farm I grew up on.
Some of our more senior members may remember a company called "Larkin Soap Co.". The company was huge until the 1930's. The farm I grew up on was their show farm where farmers brought holsteins in from all over the country for show.

JDgreen227 · Mar 1, 2005

We reside on 11 acres that has the buildings of what used to be a working dairy farm back from the mid 1930's to about 1960. The original owners of the farm had about 200 acres and at the peak of their business they cared for about 40 cows. The majority of the land was used to grow hay and feed and the dairy barn and milk house are still standing, along with a silo.

There was a larger barn used to house the farm machines but it was destroyed in a windstorm back in the late 1980's after I first moved here. According to the local historian, when the people first began their dairy operation, the residence was a huge two story brick house with a fieldstone foundation. It burnt to the ground back in 1948, and the owners did not have any insurance to rebuild another large house. They constructed a kit house of 900 square feet just in front of the ruins...and when we had the back yard excavated for an addition in mid-2002, guess what came out of the hole?

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

The dairy business gradually faded after 1960 and the owners sold everything in a huge auction late in that decade. Most of the farmland was parceled out to be bought by other farms in the area. The only actual proof that this used to be a working dairy farm is the two glass milk bottles that share a place of honor in my home office:

E.L. RIKER'S
DAIRY
BATH

The bottles are very rare and frightfully expensive to buy if you can even find one. There are so many times I wish I could go back to the years the dairy was in operation to see what it was like.

hickchic05 · Mar 1, 2005

Yeah, I live on a dairy farm that my parents own and operate. We have about 175 acres that we live on, but probably about 500 total that we rent and farm. We milk about 200 cows and but have about 50 dry and about 50 calves...however someone else raises our calves for us from about 6 months to a year at that other farm we have about 100 heifers. I will probably be going to Virginia Tech in the fall to learn more about dairy farming so I will eventually be able to take over the farm w/ my older brother.

kensfarm · Mar 2, 2005

What part of Maryland are you from? Virginia Tech is a very nice shool.. I have several friends go there. It is nicer to be away from home but close.. but if you get a scholarship at those other schools farther away.. it would be hard to turn it down.. college cost have skyrocketed.

hickchic05 · Mar 2, 2005

That's exactly how I feel!!!! Thank God for the in state for VT though.....and I love it there..I visited and absolutely loves it...it's out in the country they got there own little farm goin on there...the Dairy Science is like their own little community with in a big school...gorgeous campus!! wow i love it!!! ...I have to go visit all the schools in Kentucky still....I don't like that it's not w/in a 6 hour drive...VT is like 4 which aint too bad cause I'm away but still can drive home... I'm from Brunswick, MD.....like 15 min. from Frederick, MD or Charles Town, WV

kensfarm · Mar 3, 2005

Yep.. you're just on the other side of Frederick. Have you had any luck w/ any scholarships for ag?

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.