A Day at the Dairy

                                         Amber and Taylor with Cinnamon Ridge owner,
                                         John Maxwell

This past week, my team and I were fortunate enough to be invited to Cinnamon Ridge Farm in Donahue, Iowa. Cinnamon Ridge is owned by John and Joan Maxwell and is a fully functional robotic dairy farm. They manage a herd of around 1,000 Jersey cows. Cinnamon Ridge gets its name from the light cinnamon color of their cattle.

After a quick stop at McDonalds for coffee and Natanial's six hash browns, no that is not a typo he really ate six, we were on our way. The day started with a tour of the main barn. Directly inside the door is a cheese making station. Through the Plexiglas we could see a working cutting up curds and packaging them for sale in their on-the-farm store.

The store is unique in that it is ran strictly on the honor system. People can purchase fresh beef, hand made cheese, farm fresh eggs, and a variety of baked goods. Once you make your selections, you place your money inside a slot that goes into a locked box. John tells us this system has worked for years and that people in the community are quite respectful of the system.

Back in the barn, John takes us to see the milking system. Each cow has an id tag that is unique to her. Inside the tag is a computer chip containing data about the cow such as how many pounds a day she is producing and how much feed she is consuming. Cows come into the milkers on their own and are milked by an automatic milker. The number of times they are milked per day depends on how much they are producing. Grain is given to the cow when she comes in for milking. If she has not waited the appropriate amount of time between milkings, her tag will be read and she will be issued out the front without any feed.

Next it was upstairs for an overview of the barn. Through the windows were could see the milking operation and what the other cows were doing. Most of them were lounging in the stalls, some were up eating hay on the far side. Down the center of each aisle was an automatic manure scraper. It moved up and down the barn, cleaning out manure and bits of sand.

Inside the barn is a conference room where Amber and Taylor sat down and talked to John. Interview complete, we gathered together to ask questions and talk cattle. Joan came up to find us and let us know that it was time for lunch. Lunch was in the Maxwell's house. Joining us were executives from John Deere's Russian plant.

After a delicious lunch, complete with Whitey's ice cream, we watched a video overview of the farm and had a chance to ask more questions. The guests from Russia did not speak English and it was interesting to watch John and the translator work together. We then returned to the barn for photos and it was time to head home.

Everyone agreed that touring is far preferable to having a Skype interview, but with some of our long distance conversations, this isn't possible. To learn more about the Maxwell's and their robotic dairy check out the CAC Podcast page on our website. We will be posting the interview later this week!

J

Starbucks In Boots

Living in the middle of nowhere has its benefits. Minimal traffic, no houses in any direction, and most importantly, plenty of space for cattle.

The downside; however is that Starbucks is at least 35 minutes away. I am not a coffee drinker by nature, but I do enjoy Starbucks. The fact that I do not get it very often makes it an even bigger treat.

The last time I was in Davenport, I was passing through on my way to a cattle sale. The line at the drive up was awful, so I went inside to order.

I do not wear boots to the cities much and I was certainly conscious of them that morning. You would think I had walked out of a comic book the way people starred. Apparently, boots and bling are out of style in this area of Iowa. Caramel chai in hand, I headed out the door and back to the safety of my gravel covered car. 

Looking back on the experience, I am still amazed at the rift that separates us from them. Even though cornfields surround the Quad Cities, the gap between farm and city is getting wider. Part of me is sad at this, but the other part looks at it as a conversation point. As an agriculturalist, it is my duty to find a way to bridge this gap. It is a personal goal that I have over the course of the next year. Keep reading to follow my progress!

Monday Morning Bliss

While bliss is not usually the word I use to describe my Monday mornings, having the day off makes me more inclined to be kind the beginning of the work week, especially when it involves working cattle.

For as long as I can remember, working cattle has been one of the activities that I adore on the farm. I think this stems back to my childhood when we conducted a good old fashioned round-up every fall, complete with horses and Iowa cowboys (no, that is not an oxymoron, we do have a few!). In the early years, I was not allowed to ride with the guys, but after enough whining, dad finally allowed me to watch some obscure gate at the back of pasture. Of course, no cattle came my way, but it did not matter. I was on my horse and I was helping!

Since then, my help has evolved from watching obscure gates to working the chute, which is exactly where I was on this particular Monday. I still marvel at how much technology has evolved even if the process we use is much the same. The chute we were using had a slide gate behind it that locks into place behind the cow or calf. While this might seem trivial to some readers, if you have worked cattle using a wooden board or a metal pipe (I raise my hand for both), I assure you, a sliding door is a treat!

With three of us, the process moved rather quickly. I kept syringes stocked, ear tags ready, and ran the pour-on gun, while Duane ministered the injections and Scott keep things moving from the holding pen. Once each pair made it through the chute, we loaded them on the trailer and hauled them to the pasture.

There is something truly special about watching a cow and her calf wade into a pasture of thick, green grass that brings a smile to any stockwoman’s face. It is one of those moments in life that reaffirms the choices we have made; a moment that separates those on the outside into them and us. Sure I can pull on a pair of high heels and go shopping in the city, but at the end of the day, a cow on green pasture will look better to me than anything I pull out of a shopping bag, unless maybe they are new boots I picked up yesterday.
While some may think that working cattle on Labor Day goes against the meaning of the holiday, it doesn't really. Owning livestock is a labor of love, and yes there are days where it is stressful, but through the years, the routine has become a comfort; a simple pleasure that I look forward to at the end of each day. 

"She's a City Girl, in a Farming World"

While helping out at the local 4-H and FFA judging contest was fun, my favorite part of the fair this year was introducing another teacher from our school to the country life. K grew up in the city, living both on the east coast and in Chicago, but has called Iowa her home for the past sixteen years.

The afternoon started with a text message. “Can I wear sandals?” Immediately, my mind balked. This was the day of the steer show at county fair, which is arguably more important than prom. It calls for your best Miss Me jeans, your good boots, and a cute new tank. No one would dare wear sandals! Eventually though, I looked at it from her point of view. It was hot and she wanted to be comfortable. “Yes,” I said, “as long as you are careful where you walk!”

When we arrived at the grounds, the first order of business was the 4-H exhibit hall. We saw our student’s paintings, photography, woodworking, and more. She even watched the baby chicks in the incubator.

After the indoor exhibits, we headed to my favorite place on the fairgrounds, the cattle barns. The cattle barns have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I started showing on my own when I was eight, but spent every summer before that helping my older brother groom his heifers. Stepping into the dimly lit interior, I take a deep breath. The smell of Pink Oil, Kleen Sheen, and wood chips always makes me think the same thing. Home. There is nowhere on earth I feel more at home than moving through the aisles of a barn. It is my favorite place to be and never ceases to make me smile.

One of our students was leading her heifer back to the stall and she stopped so K could touch it. Years of working with show cattle had me verbally protesting as she swiped her hand backwards over the hair.  “Forward!” I cried, cringing. “You are going to ruin it!” My student smiled and nodded appreciatively. Not seeing a scotch comb in reach, I ran my fingers through the heifer’s fine black hair and tried to re-fluff the spot. It didn’t matter that she was already done showing for the day and was headed back to lay down. My OCD wasn’t having it! I simply could not send that poor animal to her stall with an imperfect style. What would all of the other cattle think!

We continued our travels to the rabbit and sheep barn, finally heading to the farrowing display at the hog barn. K was wide-eyed at the baby piglets and snapped pictures of them on her phone. Continuing on, met another student who was showing swine and K got to pet her first pig. She was amazed that it had such coarse hair, actually she was amazed that it had hair at all! After chatting with the students lounging in the stalls, it was time for the big moment. The steer show was due to start at 2:00.

Squeezing into seats near the holding pens, I tried to explain the basics of what the judge was looking for. Muscle, eye appeal, and finish. While I sat in rapt attention, mentally measuring my choices against those of the judge, K was getting more nervous by the second. The fence between us and the holding pen is only about waist high and K was terrified that one of the steers was going to get loose.

“We will be fine,” I told her. “There are plenty of guys around to catch it if one gets loose.” K wasn’t convinced, but we managed to make it to the end of the show without any catastrophes.

Talking about the adventure with the students the following day at lunch, they wondered how anyone could live in small town Iowa and have never touched a pig. One of the mom’s spoke up and said, “I guess we take it for granted that everyone in the area has been around the farm." 

While K and I come from opposite walks of life, it was fun for her to see her students in a different light and fun for me to watch her experience this life that I am blessed to be able to take for granted. She even managed to keep her fresh pedicure cow pie free! A great day all around. 

Making the Cut

Over the summer, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work at a youth livestock judging contest. If you have never judged livestock, the premise is simple. Select the best breeding and market animal from the four presented in the ring and circle the order on your card. Sounds easy, right? It really is that easy, except, it is not. Here is why.

The classes presented at the contest were broken down into categories of breeding animals and market animals. Each animal had a class in both of these categories. For example, heifers showed under breeding, while steers showed under market. The same held true for the swine and the sheep. Where it becomes complicated is when the judges introduced their cuts.

If you are not familiar with this term, do not be alarmed, several of the youngsters did not know what it meant either. Cuts essentially help calculate scores by giving a numerical difference between where the animals in the class are placed. I have included a link below from the University of Nebraska's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources to further explain how scores are calculated.
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In the end, our 4-H and FFA members did an outstanding job and it was fun to watch our judges, one a former student and the other a 4-H member from Scott County work the ring and give their reasons. It is a true testament to the power of the industry that our youth not only build their careers around it, but they respect it enough to want to teach the next generation to make informed decisions on quality and marketability.