|
|
 Expert
Posts: 4121
 
Location: SE Louisiana | I used to be night manager on a 7,000 cow dairy in Idaho, scattered out over 4 farms. My duties were many. I would start on #1 at the close-up pens. Those were 7 pens of cows that were getting close to calving. After this was done I would go over to the main barn and set the wash on the 90,000 pound milk silo. In the course of doing this I was required to check the other silo (We had two of them here) and make sure the plate-cooler was on and the the milk in the silo was as cold as it should be. I would then check to make sure all the milkers had shown up to work in the double 34 milk barn and then go start pushing the silage at the feed bunks closer so the cows could reach it.The bunks on dairy #1 were almost 1/4 mile long.
Then I would head over to dairy #2.
I would do pretty much the same thing there but we only had one big silo to milk into. The other tank was a smaller, older tank like you see on most small farms. It might hold 25,000 pounds and sat inside the milk house. This is the one they would be milking into while I set the silo up to wash. The silo would have just been emptied by a milk hauler a few hours before and would need to be clean when the next hauler showed up in a few hours to pick up from the smaller tank.
These farms milked 3 times/day and they worked 2, 12-hour milking shifts, so they always had to have a tank to milk into while one was being drained and washed. Now,when you walk into the tank-room the very first thing you see is the huge tank in the middle of the room. The wash control boxes to both tanks hang on the wall to the right of the tank. After hooking the wash apparatus to the silo I would go to the wash control box. This box has two screw-on jars hanging under it. One for the soap, and the other for the rinse acid. I would take the soap jar and walk into the supply room just to the left of the wash-control boxes. In there we stored lots of things from the soap, to the towels we used to clean the cows, to the vacuum pumps we had to have to operate the milkers and on and on and on...
But we didn't have room for the 55-gal. drums the acid came in. Those were on the other side of the tank in the main room. After filling the soap jar and returning it to it's place I would take the acid jar and walk around the tank to the barrel it was stored in. This barrel had a hand pump with a short spout on it. The spout was too short to use conveniently so a 6 inch piece of pulsater hose was stuck onto the spout to make things easier. While filling the jar, I had made it a habit to look up at the main control box to the tank to check that it was both on, and that the temperature of the milk was within desired parameters. After starting the wash I would go out and check the 3 pens of close-ups and push the feed up and continue over to dairy #3. Over there I would do pretty much the same thing except when all the outside work was done I had to milk the hospital cows. These were all the cows from dairies #2 and #3 that had drugs in the milk. (dairy #1 having it's own hospital barn which I would have to attend to on my next trip over there.)
..and so it went through the rest of the 9 hour night shift......
I had worked on other dairies in the area and had eventually returned to Missouri, only to be summoned back for this job because I was known for two things. I had received my original dairy training on small farms where every life counted. I was also known to be able to solve problems without needing help. Both of these things were much sought after on this place because before I got there, virtually every night, the night guy had to wake a day-person up to have help for something... and because they were getting lots of dead calves they thought should not have been dead. (I'll tell you more about this some other time)
One night after having been here for almost 5 months I was in my first round and had arrived at dairy #2. I went into the barn and started my usual routine and when I went around to fill the acid jar... I pulled the handle up on the pump to start filling the jar and the hose popped off, spraying dairy acid all over my hand. Well... I set the jar down on the tank and went over to rinse it off and went back, picked the hose up, pushed it back on and tried it again.... and the hose pops off.... I screwed with this for a few minutes, finally cutting the end of the hose off, heating it up with a lighter to soften it up to go over the slightly wider spout, only to have it pop off again,when I decided it needed a clamp. I knew I had a few very small radiator type clamps in my truck, so I set everything down, went out to the farm-truck I was using and went to get one. When I got back and tightened the clamp over the offending hose and filled the acid jar. I breathed a sigh of relief and went on with my work....
Well folks....... In the whole year I worked there, This was the only time I forgot to look up at the control box to the tank that was being milked into to check that it was both ON and the milk was cold, while I pumped acid.... and wouldn't you know it, This was the only time it had NOT been turned on.
In the end it was decided that I was only accountable for a few thousand of the 20,000 pounds that had to be dumped because that's all that had been milked into the tank by the time I made my next round to #2 and the milk hauler flagged me down to explain the problem. The final conclusion was the rest of the milk had already been spoiled when I made my 1st round. In all the years I worked on dairies this was one of my biggest screw-ups and it taught me the dangers of falling into a routine and never stopping to double check yourself.
Someone implied a few weeks ago that I didn't know as much as they did about cows.... I accept that challenge and have many stories to tell about time spent on this farm and others before it.
Edited by komet. 2015-03-04 4:11 AM
|
|
| |
|
 Expert
Posts: 1343
 
Location: Oklahoma |  |
|
| |
|
 The BHW Book Worm
Posts: 1768
| That after reading all that I feel very stressed out lol |
|
| |
|
 Peecans
| You sure get your panties waded when sombody does to you what you do to others..... |
|
| |
|
 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | Pretty interesting stuff!! |
|
| |
|
 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6437
Location: Montana | Pretty interesting...of course I don't know the first thing about running a dairy...except that milk comes from cows. :) |
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 742
| I don't know a thing about dairy cows either but when I watch the Dr. Pol show those dairies he visits seem kinda dirty or all the way gross. Is that normal? |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 1314
Location: North Central Iowa Land of white frozen grass | Komet I have the utmost respect for you for doing this job. We milked up to 1977 at our family farm. It is the last thing that I would ever do farm. We went into stock cows after that. |
|
| |
|
 Ones with the Hotties
Posts: 1451
Location: Centerburg, OH | I grew up on a small dairy and milked for to others. These huge dairys blow my mind. I would lovto visit one. But I can't imagine how everything ever gets done. So many cows and so many things to go wrong. Now I'm stressed |
|
| |
|
  Angel in a Sorrel Coat
Posts: 16030
Location: In a happy place |  |
|
| |
|
 BHW Resident Surgeon
Posts: 25351
Location: Bastrop, Texas | I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift.
There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift". |
|
| |
|
 Expert
Posts: 2604
Location: Texas | I also grew up on a small dairy farm. Us kids were left to the operations numerous times. But there was one time in particular that I forgot to turn on the milk tank agitator/cooler. Fortunately we caught it before the milk spoiled. The work on a dairy farm is endless and holds so much responsibility both for the animals in your care and the lively hood of many. I admire you Komet! |
|
| |
|
 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift".
My husband grew up on their family Dary and it was the largest in the Rio Grand Valley and Scott your very right on about the stress that it puts on the family when its their only income. |
|
| |
|
Location: USA | Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift". Very well stated, Scott! My husband is the herdsman/everything man at a small (they milk 180 cows) family operation. My husband works anywhere from 12-18 hours a day, 7 days a week, as does his boss, who, before my husband worked there,never left the farm. The extent of his responsibilities is astounding. His knowledge in regards to farming, cattle, markets etc is amazing to me. But he is looked down upon by "educated" folks who don't EVEN know where milk comes from! (I have seriously had this discussion with many a college grad who have admitted not knowing this!) I have helped milk and worked on this farm and all the steps involved in ONE milking is extensive and a crucial step is easily forgotten and can results in wasting an entire days milk. The things we take for granted in our daily lives, that "other" people do, and makes our everyday lives mundane, is what makes other people world go round.
I enjoyed Komets story, as a person who is somewhat privy to the dairy industry, it is mind boggling to think of a dairy of that magnitude. It also makes me sad that the small, family farm my husband works at, is almost extinct.
Edited by BLM 2015-03-02 9:46 AM
|
|
| |
|
Location: USA | Southtxponygirl - 2015-03-02 8:55 AM Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift". My husband grew up on their family Dary and it was the largest in the Rio Grand Valley and Scott your very right on about the stress that it puts on the family when its their only income.
It is funny this topic came up today. I was just looking at our milk check right before I logged on. Milk prices have dropped dramatically. Todays check is almost 1000 dollars less then Novembers check. After I pay my mortgage and a couple of bills, his check will be gone. Luckily my slow time is over in the horse training,lessons world, because we would be without groceries for the next 2 weeks, if not for my training horses. Ugh.
|
|
| |
|
 Semper Fi
Location: North Texas | Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift".
Truth be told: In Dairy Farming there are No Seasons or Shifts! 24/7/365! |
|
| |
|
Semper Fi
Location: North Texas | BLM - 2015-03-02 9:37 AM Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift". Very well stated, Scott! My husband is the herdsman/everything man at a small (they milk 180 cows) family operation. My husband works anywhere from 12-18 hours a day, 7 days a week, as does his boss, who, before my husband worked there,never left the farm. The extent of his responsibilities is astounding. His knowledge in regards to farming, cattle, markets etc is amazing to me. But he is looked down upon by "educated" folks who don't EVEN know where milk comes from! (I have seriously had this discussion with many a college grad who have admitted not knowing this!) I have helped milk and worked on this farm and all the steps involved in ONE milking is extensive and a crucial step is easily forgotten and can results in wasting an entire days milk. The things we take for granted in our daily lives, that "other" people do, and makes our everyday lives mundane, is what makes other people world go round.
I enjoyed Komets story, as a person who is somewhat privy to the dairy industry, it is mind boggling to think of a dairy of that magnitude. It also makes me sad that the small, family farm my husband works at, is almost extinct.
'I' have come to the conclusion that Many College Graduates are actually educated beyond Their Intelligence. Hence the term 'College Educated Idiot(s)'.
|
|
| |
|
 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9991
Location: Kansas | |
|
| |
|
Semper Fi
Location: North Texas | Reckon Komet is a 'College Graduate'? snicker snort 
|
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 39
Location: Texarkana | I call BS.. How long did it take to research for your story |
|
| |
|
Semper Fi
Location: North Texas | notwhouthink - 2015-03-02 11:20 AM I call BS.. How long did it take to research for your story
What?! Are You saying Komet/Huey is tellin' tales? (Again). |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM
I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift.
There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift".
You are quite right Scott... The first 7 years I spent on cattle dairies were in Missouri on small 100-250 cow farms where, as I said above, every life counted. The life of every cow, the life of every calf born mattered to the farmer trying to raise a family on his farm income. In in fact, I was coaxed out to Idaho by a big farmer in Idaho that used to come to our area every year to buy new springers. (bred heifers) I worked 6 day weeks on those farms and did both milkings, freeing up the farmer to do the rest of the work like feeding and crop-work, A.I. work on most farms was done by those farmers but the first man I worked for sent me to a Select Sires 3-day class to learn to do this and I've done some since. Part of my job on most of those places was to sit and watch the cows twice a day to spot the cows in heat so they could be bred in a timely fashion.
My first boss told me my most important job was to keep the state health inspector off his back. This entailed keeping the bacteria and the somatic cell counts down.as well as keeping the barn nice and clean.
The somatic cell count in a tank usually starts coming up when cows with mastitis are milked into the tank so I had to watch close for those cows and pull them out to be treated. It was sometimes hard to keep it down tho because any sick cow would send it up, so I had to learn to spot sick animals just by looking at them. (not hard to do once you learn what to look for) But any undue stress would send a count up as well. We got into a heat wave once that sent the counts through the roof but those never brought the inspector out because everyone else was having the same problem. Also, cows late or very early in their lactation would jump the count too.
My boss told me to avoid the inspector when he would show up but I had other ideas .His name was Stanley Wilson and he had a large area to cover. He was a by-the-book sort of person and was not very popular among the farmers. After a few of his visits where we got poor reviews (even tho our counts were within guidelines, he thought them to be too high) I caught him one day and told him I was new to this and asked if he had any ideas on ways to lower the counts. He seemed quite taken aback but he began to walk me through the barn pointing out little things that needed to be taken apart and hand cleaned on a regular basis.
I started doing everything he advised and his next visit was to find out why our counts had dropped into the negative range suddenly. This was something he had only seen when farmers started pouring chlorine into the tank to kill bacteria. I told him I was simply doing what he had advised but I don't think he believed me because he kept coming back and pulling samples at random times and sniffing the inside of the tank, trying to catch the odor of chlorine. Finally he stopped showing up. I guess he finally decided to believe me because after I moved on to another farm and the bacteria counts dropped into the negative range he showed up and was checking things out when I walked into the barn. He spotted me and smiled and asked if I was working there now. I said yes. He never came back.
So yes.... Small farms like that are where I got my training. Every life counted!!
Edited by komet. 2015-03-02 12:06 PM
|
|
| |
|
 Queen Boobie 2
Posts: 7521
| Actually Komet has referenced his dairy farm employment in Idaho and Missouri many times in the past on here.
I believe him when he says he has worked on dairy farms. Previous postings support it.
Do I think he knows everything about ALL cows. Nope. There are lots of people on here who own and operate dairy farms, commercial cow calf operations, stocker operations and registered operations. They are all knowledgeable and as owner operators, probably have a little more 'skin in the game'.
|
|
| |
|
Semper Fi
Location: North Texas | komet. - 2015-03-02 12:03 PM Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift". You are quite right Scott... The first 7 years I spent on cattle dairies were in Missouri on small 100-250 cow farms where, as I said above, every life counted. The life of every cow, the life of every calf born mattered to the farmer trying to raise a family on his farm income. In in fact, I was coaxed out to Idaho by a big farmer in Idaho that used to come to our area every year to buy new springers. (bred heifers ) I worked 6 day weeks on those farms and did both milkings, freeing up the farmer to do the rest of the work like feeding and crop-work, A.I. work on most farms was done by those farmers but the first man I worked for sent me to a Select Sires 3-day class to learn to do this and I've done some since. Part of my job on most of those places was to sit and watch the cows twice a day to spot the cows in heat so they could be bred in a timely fashion. My first boss told me my most important job was to keep the state health inspector off his back. This entailed keeping the bacteria and the somatic cell counts down.as well as keeping the barn nice and clean. The somatic cell count in a tank usually starts coming up when cows with mastitis are milked into the tank so I had to watch close for those cows and pull them out to be treated. It was sometimes hard to keep it down tho because any sick cow would send it up, so I had to learn to spot sick animals just by looking at them. (not hard to do once you learn what to look for ) But any undue stress would send a count up as well. We got into a heat wave once that sent the counts through the roof but those never brought the inspector out because everyone else was having the same problem. Also, cows late or very early in their lactation would jump the count too. My boss told me to avoid the inspector when he would show up but I had other ideas .His name was Stanley Wilson and he had a large area to cover. He was a by-the-book sort of person and was not very popular among the farmers. After a few of his visits where we got poor reviews (even tho our counts were within guidelines, he thought them to be too high ) I caught him one day and told him I was new to this and asked if he had any ideas on ways to lower the counts. He seemed quite taken aback but he began to walk me through the barn pointing out little things that needed to be taken apart and hand cleaned on a regular basis. I started doing everything he advised and his next visit was to find out why our counts had dropped into the negative range suddenly. This was something he had only seen when farmers started pouring chlorine into the tank to kill bacteria. I told him I was simply doing what he had advised but I don't think he believed me because he kept coming back and pulling samples at random times and sniffing the inside of the tank, trying to catch the odor of chlorine. Finally he stopped showing up. I guess he finally decided to believe me because after I moved on to another farm and the bacteria counts dropped into the negative range he showed up and was checking things out when I walked into the barn. He spotted me and smiled and asked if I was working there now. I said yes. He never came back. So yes.... Small farms like that are where I got my training. Every life counted!!
Was all this working you are describing in between, before or after Your Self Admitted Cocaine & Drug Abuse?   |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | notwhouthink - 2015-03-02 11:20 AM
I call BS.. How long did it take to research for your story
I spent 12 years working on cattle dairies and 25 before that on a goat dairy, tho the last 2 years on cattle dairies I was a milk tester so I didn't actually get to work hands-on with the cows much, except 2 times when cows went down in milk parlors to milk fever and nobody was around to I.V. them to get them back up. I still carried a kit and could do it. Still have the kit in my truck behind the drivers seat, come to think of it. That's all the research I needed to fall back on. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:09 PM
komet. - 2015-03-02 12:03 PM Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift". You are quite right Scott... The first 7 years I spent on cattle dairies were in Missouri on small 100-250 cow farms where, as I said above, every life counted. The life of every cow, the life of every calf born mattered to the farmer trying to raise a family on his farm income. In in fact, I was coaxed out to Idaho by a big farmer in Idaho that used to come to our area every year to buy new springers. (bred heifers ) I worked 6 day weeks on those farms and did both milkings, freeing up the farmer to do the rest of the work like feeding and crop-work, A.I. work on most farms was done by those farmers but the first man I worked for sent me to a Select Sires 3-day class to learn to do this and I've done some since. Part of my job on most of those places was to sit and watch the cows twice a day to spot the cows in heat so they could be bred in a timely fashion. My first boss told me my most important job was to keep the state health inspector off his back. This entailed keeping the bacteria and the somatic cell counts down.as well as keeping the barn nice and clean. The somatic cell count in a tank usually starts coming up when cows with mastitis are milked into the tank so I had to watch close for those cows and pull them out to be treated. It was sometimes hard to keep it down tho because any sick cow would send it up, so I had to learn to spot sick animals just by looking at them. (not hard to do once you learn what to look for ) But any undue stress would send a count up as well. We got into a heat wave once that sent the counts through the roof but those never brought the inspector out because everyone else was having the same problem. Also, cows late or very early in their lactation would jump the count too. My boss told me to avoid the inspector when he would show up but I had other ideas .His name was Stanley Wilson and he had a large area to cover. He was a by-the-book sort of person and was not very popular among the farmers. After a few of his visits where we got poor reviews (even tho our counts were within guidelines, he thought them to be too high ) I caught him one day and told him I was new to this and asked if he had any ideas on ways to lower the counts. He seemed quite taken aback but he began to walk me through the barn pointing out little things that needed to be taken apart and hand cleaned on a regular basis. I started doing everything he advised and his next visit was to find out why our counts had dropped into the negative range suddenly. This was something he had only seen when farmers started pouring chlorine into the tank to kill bacteria. I told him I was simply doing what he had advised but I don't think he believed me because he kept coming back and pulling samples at random times and sniffing the inside of the tank, trying to catch the odor of chlorine. Finally he stopped showing up. I guess he finally decided to believe me because after I moved on to another farm and the bacteria counts dropped into the negative range he showed up and was checking things out when I walked into the barn. He spotted me and smiled and asked if I was working there now. I said yes. He never came back. So yes.... Small farms like that are where I got my training. Every life counted!!
Technically I guess it was during. I smoked weed but the coke only lasted 3 years and that was in between the small farms and the big ones in Idaho.
Edited by komet. 2015-03-02 12:17 PM
|
|
| |
|
Semper Fi
Location: North Texas | komet. - 2015-03-02 12:14 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:09 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 12:03 PM Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift". You are quite right Scott... The first 7 years I spent on cattle dairies were in Missouri on small 100-250 cow farms where, as I said above, every life counted. The life of every cow, the life of every calf born mattered to the farmer trying to raise a family on his farm income. In in fact, I was coaxed out to Idaho by a big farmer in Idaho that used to come to our area every year to buy new springers. (bred heifers ) I worked 6 day weeks on those farms and did both milkings, freeing up the farmer to do the rest of the work like feeding and crop-work, A.I. work on most farms was done by those farmers but the first man I worked for sent me to a Select Sires 3-day class to learn to do this and I've done some since. Part of my job on most of those places was to sit and watch the cows twice a day to spot the cows in heat so they could be bred in a timely fashion. My first boss told me my most important job was to keep the state health inspector off his back. This entailed keeping the bacteria and the somatic cell counts down.as well as keeping the barn nice and clean. The somatic cell count in a tank usually starts coming up when cows with mastitis are milked into the tank so I had to watch close for those cows and pull them out to be treated. It was sometimes hard to keep it down tho because any sick cow would send it up, so I had to learn to spot sick animals just by looking at them. (not hard to do once you learn what to look for ) But any undue stress would send a count up as well. We got into a heat wave once that sent the counts through the roof but those never brought the inspector out because everyone else was having the same problem. Also, cows late or very early in their lactation would jump the count too. My boss told me to avoid the inspector when he would show up but I had other ideas .His name was Stanley Wilson and he had a large area to cover. He was a by-the-book sort of person and was not very popular among the farmers. After a few of his visits where we got poor reviews (even tho our counts were within guidelines, he thought them to be too high ) I caught him one day and told him I was new to this and asked if he had any ideas on ways to lower the counts. He seemed quite taken aback but he began to walk me through the barn pointing out little things that needed to be taken apart and hand cleaned on a regular basis. I started doing everything he advised and his next visit was to find out why our counts had dropped into the negative range suddenly. This was something he had only seen when farmers started pouring chlorine into the tank to kill bacteria. I told him I was simply doing what he had advised but I don't think he believed me because he kept coming back and pulling samples at random times and sniffing the inside of the tank, trying to catch the odor of chlorine. Finally he stopped showing up. I guess he finally decided to believe me because after I moved on to another farm and the bacteria counts dropped into the negative range he showed up and was checking things out when I walked into the barn. He spotted me and smiled and asked if I was working there now. I said yes. He never came back. So yes.... Small farms like that are where I got my training. Every life counted!! Technically I guess it was during. I smoked weed but the coke only lasted 3 years and that was in between the small farms and the big ones in Idaho.
So via Your Admission, You were mentally impaired during this time, were you not?
Since per Your Admission, then there is no way in the world I would want you around any operation I had a hand in nor is there any reason to believe that Your is not fabricated.
|
|
| |
|
Queen Boobie 2
Posts: 7521
| foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:24 PM
komet. - 2015-03-02 12:14 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:09 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 12:03 PM Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift". You are quite right Scott... The first 7 years I spent on cattle dairies were in Missouri on small 100-250 cow farms where, as I said above, every life counted. The life of every cow, the life of every calf born mattered to the farmer trying to raise a family on his farm income. In in fact, I was coaxed out to Idaho by a big farmer in Idaho that used to come to our area every year to buy new springers. (bred heifers ) I worked 6 day weeks on those farms and did both milkings, freeing up the farmer to do the rest of the work like feeding and crop-work, A.I. work on most farms was done by those farmers but the first man I worked for sent me to a Select Sires 3-day class to learn to do this and I've done some since. Part of my job on most of those places was to sit and watch the cows twice a day to spot the cows in heat so they could be bred in a timely fashion. My first boss told me my most important job was to keep the state health inspector off his back. This entailed keeping the bacteria and the somatic cell counts down.as well as keeping the barn nice and clean. The somatic cell count in a tank usually starts coming up when cows with mastitis are milked into the tank so I had to watch close for those cows and pull them out to be treated. It was sometimes hard to keep it down tho because any sick cow would send it up, so I had to learn to spot sick animals just by looking at them. (not hard to do once you learn what to look for ) But any undue stress would send a count up as well. We got into a heat wave once that sent the counts through the roof but those never brought the inspector out because everyone else was having the same problem. Also, cows late or very early in their lactation would jump the count too. My boss told me to avoid the inspector when he would show up but I had other ideas .His name was Stanley Wilson and he had a large area to cover. He was a by-the-book sort of person and was not very popular among the farmers. After a few of his visits where we got poor reviews (even tho our counts were within guidelines, he thought them to be too high ) I caught him one day and told him I was new to this and asked if he had any ideas on ways to lower the counts. He seemed quite taken aback but he began to walk me through the barn pointing out little things that needed to be taken apart and hand cleaned on a regular basis. I started doing everything he advised and his next visit was to find out why our counts had dropped into the negative range suddenly. This was something he had only seen when farmers started pouring chlorine into the tank to kill bacteria. I told him I was simply doing what he had advised but I don't think he believed me because he kept coming back and pulling samples at random times and sniffing the inside of the tank, trying to catch the odor of chlorine. Finally he stopped showing up. I guess he finally decided to believe me because after I moved on to another farm and the bacteria counts dropped into the negative range he showed up and was checking things out when I walked into the barn. He spotted me and smiled and asked if I was working there now. I said yes. He never came back. So yes.... Small farms like that are where I got my training. Every life counted!! Technically I guess it was during. I smoked weed but the coke only lasted 3 years and that was in between the small farms and the big ones in Idaho.
Since per Your Admission, then there is no way in the world I would want you around any operation I had a hand in nor is there any reason to believe that Your is not fabricated.
I am not an advocate for any kind of drug use and have not tried it myself. But, do you have any idea the number of people, successful and not who either do now or have in the past smoked pot in their spare time? You might be astounded. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | bennie1 - 2015-03-02 12:27 PM
foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:24 PM
komet. - 2015-03-02 12:14 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:09 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 12:03 PM Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift". You are quite right Scott... The first 7 years I spent on cattle dairies were in Missouri on small 100-250 cow farms where, as I said above, every life counted. The life of every cow, the life of every calf born mattered to the farmer trying to raise a family on his farm income. In in fact, I was coaxed out to Idaho by a big farmer in Idaho that used to come to our area every year to buy new springers. (bred heifers ) I worked 6 day weeks on those farms and did both milkings, freeing up the farmer to do the rest of the work like feeding and crop-work, A.I. work on most farms was done by those farmers but the first man I worked for sent me to a Select Sires 3-day class to learn to do this and I've done some since. Part of my job on most of those places was to sit and watch the cows twice a day to spot the cows in heat so they could be bred in a timely fashion. My first boss told me my most important job was to keep the state health inspector off his back. This entailed keeping the bacteria and the somatic cell counts down.as well as keeping the barn nice and clean. The somatic cell count in a tank usually starts coming up when cows with mastitis are milked into the tank so I had to watch close for those cows and pull them out to be treated. It was sometimes hard to keep it down tho because any sick cow would send it up, so I had to learn to spot sick animals just by looking at them. (not hard to do once you learn what to look for ) But any undue stress would send a count up as well. We got into a heat wave once that sent the counts through the roof but those never brought the inspector out because everyone else was having the same problem. Also, cows late or very early in their lactation would jump the count too. My boss told me to avoid the inspector when he would show up but I had other ideas .His name was Stanley Wilson and he had a large area to cover. He was a by-the-book sort of person and was not very popular among the farmers. After a few of his visits where we got poor reviews (even tho our counts were within guidelines, he thought them to be too high ) I caught him one day and told him I was new to this and asked if he had any ideas on ways to lower the counts. He seemed quite taken aback but he began to walk me through the barn pointing out little things that needed to be taken apart and hand cleaned on a regular basis. I started doing everything he advised and his next visit was to find out why our counts had dropped into the negative range suddenly. This was something he had only seen when farmers started pouring chlorine into the tank to kill bacteria. I told him I was simply doing what he had advised but I don't think he believed me because he kept coming back and pulling samples at random times and sniffing the inside of the tank, trying to catch the odor of chlorine. Finally he stopped showing up. I guess he finally decided to believe me because after I moved on to another farm and the bacteria counts dropped into the negative range he showed up and was checking things out when I walked into the barn. He spotted me and smiled and asked if I was working there now. I said yes. He never came back. So yes.... Small farms like that are where I got my training. Every life counted!! Technically I guess it was during. I smoked weed but the coke only lasted 3 years and that was in between the small farms and the big ones in Idaho.
Since per Your Admission, then there is no way in the world I would want you around any operation I had a hand in nor is there any reason to believe that Your is not fabricated.
I am not an advocate for any kind of drug use and have not tried it myself. But, do you have any idea the number of people, successful and not who either do now or have in the past smoked pot in their spare time? You might be astounded.
No. In his total ignorance he does not. |
|
| |
|
Semper Fi
Location: North Texas | bennie1 - 2015-03-02 12:27 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:24 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 12:14 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:09 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 12:03 PM Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift". You are quite right Scott... The first 7 years I spent on cattle dairies were in Missouri on small 100-250 cow farms where, as I said above, every life counted. The life of every cow, the life of every calf born mattered to the farmer trying to raise a family on his farm income. In in fact, I was coaxed out to Idaho by a big farmer in Idaho that used to come to our area every year to buy new springers. (bred heifers ) I worked 6 day weeks on those farms and did both milkings, freeing up the farmer to do the rest of the work like feeding and crop-work, A.I. work on most farms was done by those farmers but the first man I worked for sent me to a Select Sires 3-day class to learn to do this and I've done some since. Part of my job on most of those places was to sit and watch the cows twice a day to spot the cows in heat so they could be bred in a timely fashion. My first boss told me my most important job was to keep the state health inspector off his back. This entailed keeping the bacteria and the somatic cell counts down.as well as keeping the barn nice and clean. The somatic cell count in a tank usually starts coming up when cows with mastitis are milked into the tank so I had to watch close for those cows and pull them out to be treated. It was sometimes hard to keep it down tho because any sick cow would send it up, so I had to learn to spot sick animals just by looking at them. (not hard to do once you learn what to look for ) But any undue stress would send a count up as well. We got into a heat wave once that sent the counts through the roof but those never brought the inspector out because everyone else was having the same problem. Also, cows late or very early in their lactation would jump the count too. My boss told me to avoid the inspector when he would show up but I had other ideas .His name was Stanley Wilson and he had a large area to cover. He was a by-the-book sort of person and was not very popular among the farmers. After a few of his visits where we got poor reviews (even tho our counts were within guidelines, he thought them to be too high ) I caught him one day and told him I was new to this and asked if he had any ideas on ways to lower the counts. He seemed quite taken aback but he began to walk me through the barn pointing out little things that needed to be taken apart and hand cleaned on a regular basis. I started doing everything he advised and his next visit was to find out why our counts had dropped into the negative range suddenly. This was something he had only seen when farmers started pouring chlorine into the tank to kill bacteria. I told him I was simply doing what he had advised but I don't think he believed me because he kept coming back and pulling samples at random times and sniffing the inside of the tank, trying to catch the odor of chlorine. Finally he stopped showing up. I guess he finally decided to believe me because after I moved on to another farm and the bacteria counts dropped into the negative range he showed up and was checking things out when I walked into the barn. He spotted me and smiled and asked if I was working there now. I said yes. He never came back. So yes.... Small farms like that are where I got my training. Every life counted!! Technically I guess it was during. I smoked weed but the coke only lasted 3 years and that was in between the small farms and the big ones in Idaho.
Since per Your Admission, then there is no way in the world I would want you around any operation I had a hand in nor is there any reason to believe that Your is not fabricated.
I am not an advocate for any kind of drug use and have not tried it myself. But, do you have any idea the number of people, successful and not who either do now or have in the past smoked pot in their spare time? You might be astounded.
Perhaps I might be. But not in a safety sensitive position is there any margin for error due to drug abuse. And Food Handling is a Safety Sensitive position. |
|
| |
|
 BHW's Lance Armstrong 
Posts: 11134
Location: Somewhere between S@%&# stirrer and Saint | mtcanchazer - 2015-03-01 8:28 PM Pretty interesting...of course I don't know the first thing about running a dairy...except that milk comes from cows. :)
I thought milk came from a plastic jug or carton! |
|
| |
|
 Bit O Holic
Posts: 6448
Location: hot, humid and dry...Gulf coast East of Houston.. | Douglas J Gordon - 2015-03-02 12:39 PM mtcanchazer - 2015-03-01 8:28 PM Pretty interesting...of course I don't know the first thing about running a dairy...except that milk comes from cows. :) I thought milk came from a plastic jug or carton!
Well, you know more than me... I thought the grocery store made it.. with my hamburger meat too.. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:24 PM
komet. - 2015-03-02 12:14 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:09 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 12:03 PM Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift". You are quite right Scott... The first 7 years I spent on cattle dairies were in Missouri on small 100-250 cow farms where, as I said above, every life counted. The life of every cow, the life of every calf born mattered to the farmer trying to raise a family on his farm income. In in fact, I was coaxed out to Idaho by a big farmer in Idaho that used to come to our area every year to buy new springers. (bred heifers ) I worked 6 day weeks on those farms and did both milkings, freeing up the farmer to do the rest of the work like feeding and crop-work, A.I. work on most farms was done by those farmers but the first man I worked for sent me to a Select Sires 3-day class to learn to do this and I've done some since. Part of my job on most of those places was to sit and watch the cows twice a day to spot the cows in heat so they could be bred in a timely fashion. My first boss told me my most important job was to keep the state health inspector off his back. This entailed keeping the bacteria and the somatic cell counts down.as well as keeping the barn nice and clean. The somatic cell count in a tank usually starts coming up when cows with mastitis are milked into the tank so I had to watch close for those cows and pull them out to be treated. It was sometimes hard to keep it down tho because any sick cow would send it up, so I had to learn to spot sick animals just by looking at them. (not hard to do once you learn what to look for ) But any undue stress would send a count up as well. We got into a heat wave once that sent the counts through the roof but those never brought the inspector out because everyone else was having the same problem. Also, cows late or very early in their lactation would jump the count too. My boss told me to avoid the inspector when he would show up but I had other ideas .His name was Stanley Wilson and he had a large area to cover. He was a by-the-book sort of person and was not very popular among the farmers. After a few of his visits where we got poor reviews (even tho our counts were within guidelines, he thought them to be too high ) I caught him one day and told him I was new to this and asked if he had any ideas on ways to lower the counts. He seemed quite taken aback but he began to walk me through the barn pointing out little things that needed to be taken apart and hand cleaned on a regular basis. I started doing everything he advised and his next visit was to find out why our counts had dropped into the negative range suddenly. This was something he had only seen when farmers started pouring chlorine into the tank to kill bacteria. I told him I was simply doing what he had advised but I don't think he believed me because he kept coming back and pulling samples at random times and sniffing the inside of the tank, trying to catch the odor of chlorine. Finally he stopped showing up. I guess he finally decided to believe me because after I moved on to another farm and the bacteria counts dropped into the negative range he showed up and was checking things out when I walked into the barn. He spotted me and smiled and asked if I was working there now. I said yes. He never came back. So yes.... Small farms like that are where I got my training. Every life counted!! Technically I guess it was during. I smoked weed but the coke only lasted 3 years and that was in between the small farms and the big ones in Idaho.
Since per Your Admission, then there is no way in the world I would want you around any operation I had a hand in nor is there any reason to believe that Your is not fabricated.
You brave man, sit there behind your keyboard and call me a lair. Ya know, I used to have a teacher that liked to quote truisms. One of his favorites was "The guilty are ever suspicious."
Edited by komet. 2015-03-02 12:45 PM
|
|
| |
|
Queen Boobie 2
Posts: 7521
| foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:33 PM
bennie1 - 2015-03-02 12:27 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:24 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 12:14 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:09 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 12:03 PM Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift". You are quite right Scott... The first 7 years I spent on cattle dairies were in Missouri on small 100-250 cow farms where, as I said above, every life counted. The life of every cow, the life of every calf born mattered to the farmer trying to raise a family on his farm income. In in fact, I was coaxed out to Idaho by a big farmer in Idaho that used to come to our area every year to buy new springers. (bred heifers ) I worked 6 day weeks on those farms and did both milkings, freeing up the farmer to do the rest of the work like feeding and crop-work, A.I. work on most farms was done by those farmers but the first man I worked for sent me to a Select Sires 3-day class to learn to do this and I've done some since. Part of my job on most of those places was to sit and watch the cows twice a day to spot the cows in heat so they could be bred in a timely fashion. My first boss told me my most important job was to keep the state health inspector off his back. This entailed keeping the bacteria and the somatic cell counts down.as well as keeping the barn nice and clean. The somatic cell count in a tank usually starts coming up when cows with mastitis are milked into the tank so I had to watch close for those cows and pull them out to be treated. It was sometimes hard to keep it down tho because any sick cow would send it up, so I had to learn to spot sick animals just by looking at them. (not hard to do once you learn what to look for ) But any undue stress would send a count up as well. We got into a heat wave once that sent the counts through the roof but those never brought the inspector out because everyone else was having the same problem. Also, cows late or very early in their lactation would jump the count too. My boss told me to avoid the inspector when he would show up but I had other ideas .His name was Stanley Wilson and he had a large area to cover. He was a by-the-book sort of person and was not very popular among the farmers. After a few of his visits where we got poor reviews (even tho our counts were within guidelines, he thought them to be too high ) I caught him one day and told him I was new to this and asked if he had any ideas on ways to lower the counts. He seemed quite taken aback but he began to walk me through the barn pointing out little things that needed to be taken apart and hand cleaned on a regular basis. I started doing everything he advised and his next visit was to find out why our counts had dropped into the negative range suddenly. This was something he had only seen when farmers started pouring chlorine into the tank to kill bacteria. I told him I was simply doing what he had advised but I don't think he believed me because he kept coming back and pulling samples at random times and sniffing the inside of the tank, trying to catch the odor of chlorine. Finally he stopped showing up. I guess he finally decided to believe me because after I moved on to another farm and the bacteria counts dropped into the negative range he showed up and was checking things out when I walked into the barn. He spotted me and smiled and asked if I was working there now. I said yes. He never came back. So yes.... Small farms like that are where I got my training. Every life counted!! Technically I guess it was during. I smoked weed but the coke only lasted 3 years and that was in between the small farms and the big ones in Idaho.
Since per Your Admission, then there is no way in the world I would want you around any operation I had a hand in nor is there any reason to believe that Your is not fabricated.
I am not an advocate for any kind of drug use and have not tried it myself. But, do you have any idea the number of people, successful and not who either do now or have in the past smoked pot in their spare time? You might be astounded.
Every single load of milk from a dairy farm is tested for antibiotics and other contaminants before being unloaded into a silo at the plant. I'm not saying safe handling at the farm level isn't important, it is. You may be surprised at the people routinely responsible for the handling of milk at the farm level.
As in every facet of life, there is good and not quite as good. |
|
| |
|
 I am Woman hear me Roar
Posts: 3395
Location: Choctaw, Oklahoma | shellyh1971 - 2015-03-02 12:41 PM
Douglas J Gordon - 2015-03-02 12:39 PM mtcanchazer - 2015-03-01 8:28 PM Pretty interesting...of course I don't know the first thing about running a dairy...except that milk comes from cows. :) I thought milk came from a plastic jug or carton!
My life is now ruined, and I can no longer consume either. Thanks guys!! |
|
| |
|
Semper Fi
Location: North Texas | komet. - 2015-03-02 12:42 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:24 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 12:14 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:09 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 12:03 PM Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift". You are quite right Scott... The first 7 years I spent on cattle dairies were in Missouri on small 100-250 cow farms where, as I said above, every life counted. The life of every cow, the life of every calf born mattered to the farmer trying to raise a family on his farm income. In in fact, I was coaxed out to Idaho by a big farmer in Idaho that used to come to our area every year to buy new springers. (bred heifers ) I worked 6 day weeks on those farms and did both milkings, freeing up the farmer to do the rest of the work like feeding and crop-work, A.I. work on most farms was done by those farmers but the first man I worked for sent me to a Select Sires 3-day class to learn to do this and I've done some since. Part of my job on most of those places was to sit and watch the cows twice a day to spot the cows in heat so they could be bred in a timely fashion. My first boss told me my most important job was to keep the state health inspector off his back. This entailed keeping the bacteria and the somatic cell counts down.as well as keeping the barn nice and clean. The somatic cell count in a tank usually starts coming up when cows with mastitis are milked into the tank so I had to watch close for those cows and pull them out to be treated. It was sometimes hard to keep it down tho because any sick cow would send it up, so I had to learn to spot sick animals just by looking at them. (not hard to do once you learn what to look for ) But any undue stress would send a count up as well. We got into a heat wave once that sent the counts through the roof but those never brought the inspector out because everyone else was having the same problem. Also, cows late or very early in their lactation would jump the count too. My boss told me to avoid the inspector when he would show up but I had other ideas .His name was Stanley Wilson and he had a large area to cover. He was a by-the-book sort of person and was not very popular among the farmers. After a few of his visits where we got poor reviews (even tho our counts were within guidelines, he thought them to be too high ) I caught him one day and told him I was new to this and asked if he had any ideas on ways to lower the counts. He seemed quite taken aback but he began to walk me through the barn pointing out little things that needed to be taken apart and hand cleaned on a regular basis. I started doing everything he advised and his next visit was to find out why our counts had dropped into the negative range suddenly. This was something he had only seen when farmers started pouring chlorine into the tank to kill bacteria. I told him I was simply doing what he had advised but I don't think he believed me because he kept coming back and pulling samples at random times and sniffing the inside of the tank, trying to catch the odor of chlorine. Finally he stopped showing up. I guess he finally decided to believe me because after I moved on to another farm and the bacteria counts dropped into the negative range he showed up and was checking things out when I walked into the barn. He spotted me and smiled and asked if I was working there now. I said yes. He never came back. So yes.... Small farms like that are where I got my training. Every life counted!! Technically I guess it was during. I smoked weed but the coke only lasted 3 years and that was in between the small farms and the big ones in Idaho.
Since per Your Admission, then there is no way in the world I would want you around any operation I had a hand in nor is there any reason to believe that Your is not fabricated.
You brave man, sit there behind your keyboard and call me a lair. Ya know, I used to have a teacher that liked to quite truisms. One of his favorites was "The guilty are ever suspicious."
I will call You a Liar to Your Face in Real Life. And I am prepared to deal with whatever comes of it. Are You? You have admitted to being a Liar, Drug Addict and Free Loader! Not me Sir, I am just making sure Folks know your History in regards to this thread. You landed in South Lousiana during Hurrican Katrina broke and needing help. Guess where You got it? The Matterns who own and run this Website! Your mouth has been extremely loose in your past on here and I am making **** good and sure your mouth is catching up with you! So YES! I would say ALL this to Your Face in Person! And like I have already stated I am ready to deal with anything I have said!
|
|
| |
|
BHW's Lance Armstrong
Posts: 11134
Location: Somewhere between S@%&# stirrer and Saint | All I know about dairy farms is that you don't drink from the tap/water line that has water and clorox in it. I learned the hard way by a practical joke but I got the better end of the joke a week later with another kid. Funny thing is he smoked so he didn't taste it as soon as I did and he swallowed some and it was funny watching him gag and puke. |
|
| |
|
Semper Fi
Location: North Texas | bennie1 - 2015-03-02 12:44 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:33 PM bennie1 - 2015-03-02 12:27 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:24 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 12:14 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:09 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 12:03 PM Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift". You are quite right Scott... The first 7 years I spent on cattle dairies were in Missouri on small 100-250 cow farms where, as I said above, every life counted. The life of every cow, the life of every calf born mattered to the farmer trying to raise a family on his farm income. In in fact, I was coaxed out to Idaho by a big farmer in Idaho that used to come to our area every year to buy new springers. (bred heifers ) I worked 6 day weeks on those farms and did both milkings, freeing up the farmer to do the rest of the work like feeding and crop-work, A.I. work on most farms was done by those farmers but the first man I worked for sent me to a Select Sires 3-day class to learn to do this and I've done some since. Part of my job on most of those places was to sit and watch the cows twice a day to spot the cows in heat so they could be bred in a timely fashion. My first boss told me my most important job was to keep the state health inspector off his back. This entailed keeping the bacteria and the somatic cell counts down.as well as keeping the barn nice and clean. The somatic cell count in a tank usually starts coming up when cows with mastitis are milked into the tank so I had to watch close for those cows and pull them out to be treated. It was sometimes hard to keep it down tho because any sick cow would send it up, so I had to learn to spot sick animals just by looking at them. (not hard to do once you learn what to look for ) But any undue stress would send a count up as well. We got into a heat wave once that sent the counts through the roof but those never brought the inspector out because everyone else was having the same problem. Also, cows late or very early in their lactation would jump the count too. My boss told me to avoid the inspector when he would show up but I had other ideas .His name was Stanley Wilson and he had a large area to cover. He was a by-the-book sort of person and was not very popular among the farmers. After a few of his visits where we got poor reviews (even tho our counts were within guidelines, he thought them to be too high ) I caught him one day and told him I was new to this and asked if he had any ideas on ways to lower the counts. He seemed quite taken aback but he began to walk me through the barn pointing out little things that needed to be taken apart and hand cleaned on a regular basis. I started doing everything he advised and his next visit was to find out why our counts had dropped into the negative range suddenly. This was something he had only seen when farmers started pouring chlorine into the tank to kill bacteria. I told him I was simply doing what he had advised but I don't think he believed me because he kept coming back and pulling samples at random times and sniffing the inside of the tank, trying to catch the odor of chlorine. Finally he stopped showing up. I guess he finally decided to believe me because after I moved on to another farm and the bacteria counts dropped into the negative range he showed up and was checking things out when I walked into the barn. He spotted me and smiled and asked if I was working there now. I said yes. He never came back. So yes.... Small farms like that are where I got my training. Every life counted!! Technically I guess it was during. I smoked weed but the coke only lasted 3 years and that was in between the small farms and the big ones in Idaho.
Since per Your Admission, then there is no way in the world I would want you around any operation I had a hand in nor is there any reason to believe that Your is not fabricated.
I am not an advocate for any kind of drug use and have not tried it myself. But, do you have any idea the number of people, successful and not who either do now or have in the past smoked pot in their spare time? You might be astounded. Every single load of milk from a dairy farm is tested for antibiotics and other contaminants before being unloaded into a silo at the plant. I'm not saying safe handling at the farm level isn't important, it is. You may be surprised at the people routinely responsible for the handling of milk at the farm level. As in every facet of life, there is good and not quite as good.
I am and will continue to emphasize that Drug Abuse has absolutely no place in a Safety Sensitive Job. And Food Handling is Safety Senstitive. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:49 PM
bennie1 - 2015-03-02 12:44 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:33 PM bennie1 - 2015-03-02 12:27 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:24 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 12:14 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:09 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 12:03 PM Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift". You are quite right Scott... The first 7 years I spent on cattle dairies were in Missouri on small 100-250 cow farms where, as I said above, every life counted. The life of every cow, the life of every calf born mattered to the farmer trying to raise a family on his farm income. In in fact, I was coaxed out to Idaho by a big farmer in Idaho that used to come to our area every year to buy new springers. (bred heifers ) I worked 6 day weeks on those farms and did both milkings, freeing up the farmer to do the rest of the work like feeding and crop-work, A.I. work on most farms was done by those farmers but the first man I worked for sent me to a Select Sires 3-day class to learn to do this and I've done some since. Part of my job on most of those places was to sit and watch the cows twice a day to spot the cows in heat so they could be bred in a timely fashion. My first boss told me my most important job was to keep the state health inspector off his back. This entailed keeping the bacteria and the somatic cell counts down.as well as keeping the barn nice and clean. The somatic cell count in a tank usually starts coming up when cows with mastitis are milked into the tank so I had to watch close for those cows and pull them out to be treated. It was sometimes hard to keep it down tho because any sick cow would send it up, so I had to learn to spot sick animals just by looking at them. (not hard to do once you learn what to look for ) But any undue stress would send a count up as well. We got into a heat wave once that sent the counts through the roof but those never brought the inspector out because everyone else was having the same problem. Also, cows late or very early in their lactation would jump the count too. My boss told me to avoid the inspector when he would show up but I had other ideas .His name was Stanley Wilson and he had a large area to cover. He was a by-the-book sort of person and was not very popular among the farmers. After a few of his visits where we got poor reviews (even tho our counts were within guidelines, he thought them to be too high ) I caught him one day and told him I was new to this and asked if he had any ideas on ways to lower the counts. He seemed quite taken aback but he began to walk me through the barn pointing out little things that needed to be taken apart and hand cleaned on a regular basis. I started doing everything he advised and his next visit was to find out why our counts had dropped into the negative range suddenly. This was something he had only seen when farmers started pouring chlorine into the tank to kill bacteria. I told him I was simply doing what he had advised but I don't think he believed me because he kept coming back and pulling samples at random times and sniffing the inside of the tank, trying to catch the odor of chlorine. Finally he stopped showing up. I guess he finally decided to believe me because after I moved on to another farm and the bacteria counts dropped into the negative range he showed up and was checking things out when I walked into the barn. He spotted me and smiled and asked if I was working there now. I said yes. He never came back. So yes.... Small farms like that are where I got my training. Every life counted!! Technically I guess it was during. I smoked weed but the coke only lasted 3 years and that was in between the small farms and the big ones in Idaho.
Since per Your Admission, then there is no way in the world I would want you around any operation I had a hand in nor is there any reason to believe that Your is not fabricated.
I am not an advocate for any kind of drug use and have not tried it myself. But, do you have any idea the number of people, successful and not who either do now or have in the past smoked pot in their spare time? You might be astounded. Every single load of milk from a dairy farm is tested for antibiotics and other contaminants before being unloaded into a silo at the plant. I'm not saying safe handling at the farm level isn't important, it is. You may be surprised at the people routinely responsible for the handling of milk at the farm level. As in every facet of life, there is good and not quite as good.
I agree... That's why I never worked stoned. |
|
| |
|
 Shipwrecked and Flat Out Zapped
Posts: 16390
Location: DUMPING CATS AND PIGS IN TEXAS :) | Ummmm, what are we talking about?
 |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | LRQHS - 2015-03-02 12:58 PM
Ummmm, what are we talking about?
I was telling a few stories about my work on dairy farms and mister holier-than-thou decided to bash me and call me a lair. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:47 PM
komet. - 2015-03-02 12:42 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:24 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 12:14 PM foundation horse - 2015-03-02 12:09 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 12:03 PM Bear - 2015-03-02 8:49 AM I obviously don't know the first thing about dairy farming, except that it's notoriously demanding. You worked 9 hour shifts and they were obviously stressful, but the thought that crossed my mind was, just imagine the kind of stress that smaller dairy farmers must endure. For them it's their life, their net worth, and their entire family security. They have roller coaster markets, over which they have no control, along with a narrow profit margin, and oftentimes a substantial amount of debt obligations. For many of them, their life exists in a virtual house of cards. Not meaning to belittle the stresses you had to experience, but at least you could usually walk away at the end of your shift. There's no such thing as a "shift" for many dairy farmers. Their entire life is one big huge "shift". You are quite right Scott... The first 7 years I spent on cattle dairies were in Missouri on small 100-250 cow farms where, as I said above, every life counted. The life of every cow, the life of every calf born mattered to the farmer trying to raise a family on his farm income. In in fact, I was coaxed out to Idaho by a big farmer in Idaho that used to come to our area every year to buy new springers. (bred heifers ) I worked 6 day weeks on those farms and did both milkings, freeing up the farmer to do the rest of the work like feeding and crop-work, A.I. work on most farms was done by those farmers but the first man I worked for sent me to a Select Sires 3-day class to learn to do this and I've done some since. Part of my job on most of those places was to sit and watch the cows twice a day to spot the cows in heat so they could be bred in a timely fashion. My first boss told me my most important job was to keep the state health inspector off his back. This entailed keeping the bacteria and the somatic cell counts down.as well as keeping the barn nice and clean. The somatic cell count in a tank usually starts coming up when cows with mastitis are milked into the tank so I had to watch close for those cows and pull them out to be treated. It was sometimes hard to keep it down tho because any sick cow would send it up, so I had to learn to spot sick animals just by looking at them. (not hard to do once you learn what to look for ) But any undue stress would send a count up as well. We got into a heat wave once that sent the counts through the roof but those never brought the inspector out because everyone else was having the same problem. Also, cows late or very early in their lactation would jump the count too. My boss told me to avoid the inspector when he would show up but I had other ideas .His name was Stanley Wilson and he had a large area to cover. He was a by-the-book sort of person and was not very popular among the farmers. After a few of his visits where we got poor reviews (even tho our counts were within guidelines, he thought them to be too high ) I caught him one day and told him I was new to this and asked if he had any ideas on ways to lower the counts. He seemed quite taken aback but he began to walk me through the barn pointing out little things that needed to be taken apart and hand cleaned on a regular basis. I started doing everything he advised and his next visit was to find out why our counts had dropped into the negative range suddenly. This was something he had only seen when farmers started pouring chlorine into the tank to kill bacteria. I told him I was simply doing what he had advised but I don't think he believed me because he kept coming back and pulling samples at random times and sniffing the inside of the tank, trying to catch the odor of chlorine. Finally he stopped showing up. I guess he finally decided to believe me because after I moved on to another farm and the bacteria counts dropped into the negative range he showed up and was checking things out when I walked into the barn. He spotted me and smiled and asked if I was working there now. I said yes. He never came back. So yes.... Small farms like that are where I got my training. Every life counted!! Technically I guess it was during. I smoked weed but the coke only lasted 3 years and that was in between the small farms and the big ones in Idaho.
Since per Your Admission, then there is no way in the world I would want you around any operation I had a hand in nor is there any reason to believe that Your is not fabricated.
You brave man, sit there behind your keyboard and call me a lair. Ya know, I used to have a teacher that liked to quite truisms. One of his favorites was "The guilty are ever suspicious."
I have never admitted to being a liar and while I did accept some money from Gail I never would have if I'd have known it would be thrown back in my face every chance people got!! Accepting money one time hardly makes me a freeloader.
Edited by komet. 2015-03-02 2:17 PM
|
|
| |
|
BHW's Lance Armstrong
Posts: 11134
Location: Somewhere between S@%&# stirrer and Saint | OK this is how it can all be settled. Name the dairy. I am from the Twin Falls area and just called a dairy and the average is 4500 cows but some with a high of 10,000 cows.  |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana |
It's in the Wendell area and it's Jack Verbree dairies.
Oh, and the 10,000 (now 20,000) cow dairy is Luis Bettencourt. I used to test there every month. Also in the Wendell area.
Edited by komet. 2015-03-02 1:11 PM
|
|
| |
|
BHW's Lance Armstrong
Posts: 11134
Location: Somewhere between S@%&# stirrer and Saint | Just be kind to one another! The tittle says "Let me tell you a story" |
|
| |
|
Shipwrecked and Flat Out Zapped
Posts: 16390
Location: DUMPING CATS AND PIGS IN TEXAS :) | Soooo, is the milk safe to drink? |
|
| |
|
BHW's Lance Armstrong
Posts: 11134
Location: Somewhere between S@%&# stirrer and Saint | komet. - 2015-03-02 1:08 PM It's in the Wendell area and it's Jack Verbree dairies.
See very simple and the doubters can get on the phone and call the dairy! |
|
| |
|
BHW's Lance Armstrong
Posts: 11134
Location: Somewhere between S@%&# stirrer and Saint | LRQHS - 2015-03-02 1:10 PM
Soooo, is the milk safe to drink?
Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free! |
|
| |
|
Shipwrecked and Flat Out Zapped
Posts: 16390
Location: DUMPING CATS AND PIGS IN TEXAS :) | Douglas J Gordon - 2015-03-02 1:10 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 1:08 PM It's in the Wendell area and it's Jack Verbree dairies.
You have the phone number, Dougie? Maybe, you could call and report back???
I really didn't read the whole thread. I just wanted the Cliff Notes. |
|
| |
|
 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 421
Location: Texas!! | Komet worked while on acid!!
oops, I mean with acid on his hand......... |
|
| |
|
BHW's Lance Armstrong
Posts: 11134
Location: Somewhere between S@%&# stirrer and Saint | Jack Verbree Dairies1574 East 2900 South Wendell, ID 83355 - View MapPhone: (208 ) 536-5608 Business Information Location TypeUnknown State of IncorporationIdaho Year Established1989 Annual Revenue Estimate$20 to 50 million Employees100 to 249 SIC Code0241, Dairy Farms NAICS Code11212001, Dairy Cattle & Milk Production Business Categories |
|
| |
|
BHW's Lance Armstrong
Posts: 11134
Location: Somewhere between S@%&# stirrer and Saint | rodeodelux - 2015-03-02 1:17 PM Komet worked while on acid!! oops, I mean with acid on his hand.........
Out of this entire story I am just shocked to learn that Komet is a man. I assumed most on here are women! |
|
| |
|
Bit O Holic
Posts: 6448
Location: hot, humid and dry...Gulf coast East of Houston.. | LRQHS - 2015-03-02 1:12 PM Douglas J Gordon - 2015-03-02 1:10 PM komet. - 2015-03-02 1:08 PM It's in the Wendell area and it's Jack Verbree dairies.
I really didn't read the whole thread. I just wanted the Cliff Notes.
Its a good thing you are here LRQHS.. I dont know what we would do without your comic relief |
|
| |
|
Shipwrecked and Flat Out Zapped
Posts: 16390
Location: DUMPING CATS AND PIGS IN TEXAS :) | Douglas Gordon! Haven't we talked about your stalking problem before? |
|
| |
|
BHW's Lance Armstrong
Posts: 11134
Location: Somewhere between S@%&# stirrer and Saint | Later peeps, I am going out to milk the steers! |
|
| |
|
Bit O Holic
Posts: 6448
Location: hot, humid and dry...Gulf coast East of Houston.. | Douglas J Gordon - 2015-03-02 1:17 PM
Jack Verbree Dairies
1574 East 2900 South
Wendell, ID 83355 - View MapPhone: (208 ) 536-5608
Business Information
Location TypeUnknown
State of IncorporationIdaho
Year Established1989
Annual Revenue Estimate$20 to 50 million
Employees100 to 249
SIC Code0241, Dairy Farms
NAICS Code11212001, Dairy Cattle & Milk Production
Business Categories
So... are you going to call and ask if Komet worked there? They would probably laugh and say yes, along with Dasher and Dancer too |
|
| |
|
Bit O Holic
Posts: 6448
Location: hot, humid and dry...Gulf coast East of Houston.. |
|
|
| |
|
BHW's Lance Armstrong
Posts: 11134
Location: Somewhere between S@%&# stirrer and Saint |
Ahhhh whats one more to the list! Can't help it! It is an addiction! |
|
| |
|
 Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | 
m |
|
| |
|
Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9991
Location: Kansas | well this thread went to poop |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 421
Location: Texas!! | Douglas J Gordon - 2015-03-02 1:20 PM
Later peeps, I am going out to milk the steers!
And I'm going to gather eggs from my cats......
|
|
| |
|
 Expert
Posts: 2128
| LRQHS - 2015-03-02 12:58 PM
Ummmm, what are we talking about?
Cocain and dairy farming apparently LOL |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | shellyh1971 - 2015-03-02 1:20 PM
Douglas J Gordon - 2015-03-02 1:17 PM
Jack Verbree Dairies
1574 East 2900 South
Wendell, ID 83355 - View MapPhone: (208 ) 536-5608
Business Information
Location TypeUnknown
State of IncorporationIdaho
Year Established1989
Annual Revenue Estimate$20 to 50 million
Employees100 to 249
SIC Code0241, Dairy Farms
NAICS Code11212001, Dairy Cattle & Milk Production
Business Categories
Just call and ask about Huey... Jack will remember me and if the general manager Don is still there he will too. This was back in 99 or 2000 so most of the people prolly have not been there that long. |
|
| |
|
Shipwrecked and Flat Out Zapped
Posts: 16390
Location: DUMPING CATS AND PIGS IN TEXAS :) | rodeodelux - 2015-03-02 1:24 PM Douglas J Gordon - 2015-03-02 1:20 PM Later peeps, I am going out to milk the steers! And I'm going to gather eggs from my cats......
I'd like to buy some of those cat eggs...... |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | LRQHS - 2015-03-02 1:28 PM
rodeodelux - 2015-03-02 1:24 PM Douglas J Gordon - 2015-03-02 1:20 PM Later peeps, I am going out to milk the steers! And I'm going to gather eggs from my cats......
How many would you like?
 (cat_sitting_on_eggs.jpg)
Attachments
----------------
 cat_sitting_on_eggs.jpg (42KB - 134 downloads)
|
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 421
Location: Texas!! | LRQHS - 2015-03-02 1:28 PM
rodeodelux - 2015-03-02 1:24 PM Douglas J Gordon - 2015-03-02 1:20 PM Later peeps, I am going out to milk the steers! And I'm going to gather eggs from my cats......
I've got plenty!! They got dropped off..... I think they fell out of a truck with LA plates!! |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 421
Location: Texas!! | Komet, where did you get the picture of my cat!! LOL |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | rodeodelux - 2015-03-02 1:36 PM
Komet, where did you get the picture of my cat!! LOL
GOOGLE!!!  |
|
| |
|
 Voice of Reason
Location: NOT at Wal Mart | This place hasnt changed a bit......... |
|
| |
|
A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Gezzzzz , all Komet was doing was sharing a bit of his life with us and then got kicked in the butt for it, now lets all have a group hug and get over it, Pleaseeee |
|
| |
|
Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9991
Location: Kansas | you know I had a cow once.......coolest little thing ever. Thought my mare was her momma, she lived in my college apartment with me....and the neighbors hated her because she mooed so much LOL.
I miss that little red mooing machine. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 2128
| Agree. Do we really care so much to call this Dairy up to validate Komets story? Cmon guys lets be nice  |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | hoofs_in_motion - 2015-03-02 2:03 PM
you know I had a cow once.......coolest little thing ever. Thought my mare was her momma, she lived in my college apartment with me....and the neighbors hated her because she mooed so much LOL.
I miss that little red mooing machine.
You won't believe how many different ways a cow can say moo. I'll tell you a story about that another time.
Did anyone here ever have a time when they SEALED a job down? I mentioned before I was hired here for two things. ALL lives mattered and I can deal with stuff.
It was my 4th or 5th day here on my new job and I was running late. I was running 45 minutes over my time to clock out and still on dairy #3. My boss (Don) walks up with his 3 day guys in tow and I'm laying on the ground with my arm inside a cow trying to pull a leg around to deliver a calf... And I'd been screwing with this for a long time and was tired... He asked me what the problem was and in between breaths I told him.... Just then I managed to wrap my fingers around the leg, worked my way down to the hoof to cup it in my hand to pull it around and get it done. I had finally managed to produce an acceptable presentation of two feet and a nose.
My long standing beef with the days guys he had in tow was they never left the calf chains where they were supposed to be. So usually I had to use twine to pull a calf. This was before Hercules. I'll tell you about that later too.
So Don could see I was worn out and after I looped the twine around the feet he had the day guys pull it for me. Well.... I could see something was wrong. This was a 2nd or 3rd calf cow and this calf was only 65 or 70 pounds. So I got back down and reached inside the cow again. My boss asked me what I was doing and I said "Looking for another one"... and just about that time my hand hit something solid... To make a long story short I produced live twin bull calves right under my bosses nose. I heard from other people later That was when he knew he'd made the right call when he paid my way back there from Missouri.
As far as solving problems on my own. There were two times in a year I had to wake someone from the day shift for help. I'll tell you about the first time. I feel kind of bad about this because the guy got fired the next day.
It was well into winter and I was making my first round on dairy #3. The day guys had been doing what they could to make my life hard because all the other workers were Latino and I was not. So it was not a surprise when I got there and the gate to the hospital pen was open and cows were wandering around. This happened about 3 times a week in these days. So I set the gates in the alley-ways and start going about herding everyone back into the pen when one miscreant heifer got by me. She had had a calf and was in the transition from colostrum to useable milk. She ran along the back-side of the loafing shed to the hospital pen and when the shed ended she turned toward the pen. from there to the fence around the pen was about 75 feet. She was now in a little 3 sided cubbyhole about 75x100 feet. On the other side was the hospital barn itself. In the middle of all this was the lagoon that everything from the barn drained into. Well, the temp was about zero/F and there was ice over the lagoon. Well... It looked solid enough to her and she tried to run across it. She got right to the middle and fell through the ice.
So here I am. Standing there looking at this heifer treading water in sub-freezing temps in the middle of a hole of water about 50 feet across. The first thing that crosses my mind is just a few months ago I watched them dig the silt out of this hole and the backhoe they used could reach down 13 feet.
The next thing I thought about was I was alone. I had a plan in mind already but I wanted someone else there just in case things turned ugly. So I run for the truck and hightail it back toward dairy #1. On the way I stop at the home of my counterpart on the day shift. His name was Frank. He is Portagee. It used to be he had to come out 3 or 4 times a week to help the night guy... But he's had several months of sleeping in while I was there. I pounded on the door and he finally shows up and I tell him I need his help. Well,this is Sunday morning and it's his day off.... so no, he refused to help.
By this time I was in a panic. I didn't know how long this heifer could tread water that cold so I decided to go ahead with my plan alone. I just didn't have time to look for anyone else. I sped over to the feed shed on dairy #1 and jump into one of the articulating loaders they use to mix feed. I get it started and jump out to unplug the block heater and I head over to the office building.There I stop and get a 10x20' extendable ladder and throw it over the top of the loader.I also pick up several pieces of chain and throw them in the bucket... Then I head over to diary#3. Well.... these things have LOTS of power but they ain't very fast. Top speed is maybe 10mph. and I've got 1/2 a mile to go.
I get over there and breathe a sigh of relief when I see her still treading water... I got the loader into position and jump out, grab the ladder and extend it over the ice. I get one piece of chain and hook one end to the bucket and the other to the end of the ladder. I grab a long section of chain and start crawling out onto ladder extended over the ice. I got there, wrapped the chain around her neck, crawl back, pull the ladder in, hook the chain to the bucket, get in and pull her out. Well, by this time she is in shock. Across the drive is a barn we used to store straw.... I go over there and drag 2 bales over and break them up and scatter it over and around her.While I was in the barn I noticed a large piece of old carpet so I go drag that over and cover her up.
....and this is just the start of my shift... I told my boss what to look for the next day because on my last check she had not gotten up yet. And I told him and what had happened. Frank was fired that day. I caught crap for it but I didn't care.... I'd saved another life.... |
|
| |
|
Total Germophobe
Posts: 6437
Location: Montana | Pretty interesting stories. My dad, as a young man, worked for a rancher, and calving was always a prettty big deal because here cows seem to only be able to calve on the coldest nights of the year. So, I've heard stories about the good times, and the falling through the ice times too, but no cows were involved that I know of (although it was their own fault...they decided to rope a moose...seriously, LOL). My dad has some stories he could share I bet you all would bust out laughing from. Thanks komet.
Edited by mtcanchazer 2015-03-02 10:18 PM
|
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | mtcanchazer - 2015-03-02 10:13 PM
Pretty interesting stories. My dad, as a young man, worked for a rancher, and calving was always a prettty big deal because here cows seem to only be able to calve on the coldest nights of the year. So, I've heard stories about the good times, and the falling through the ice times too, but no cows were involved that I know of (although it was their own fault...they decided to rope a moose...seriously, LOL). My dad has some stories he could share I bet you all would bust out laughing from. Thanks komet.
The great thing about that job was every night was different. My easiest night I had one calf. The hardest night I had 21, 18 of those alive. Over 70% of the calves were born on my shift and the three days guys still had more dead calves than I did. |
|
| |
|
 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | komet. - 2015-03-02 10:37 PM
mtcanchazer - 2015-03-02 10:13 PM
Pretty interesting stories. My dad, as a young man, worked for a rancher, and calving was always a prettty big deal because here cows seem to only be able to calve on the coldest nights of the year. So, I've heard stories about the good times, and the falling through the ice times too, but no cows were involved that I know of (although it was their own fault...they decided to rope a moose...seriously, LOL). My dad has some stories he could share I bet you all would bust out laughing from. Thanks komet.
The great thing about that job was every night was different. My easiest night I had one calf. The hardest night I had 21, 18 of those alive. Over 70% of the calves were born on my shift and the three days guys still had more dead calves than I did.
I enjoyed the stories---thanks for sharing |
|
| |
|
Angel in a Sorrel Coat
Posts: 16030
Location: In a happy place | Good stories. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 1314
Location: North Central Iowa Land of white frozen grass | Thanks Komet.
Until you have worked with livestock most will never believe all the trouble that they can get into. |
|
| |
|
A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | BS Hauler - 2015-03-03 10:53 AM Thanks Komet. Until you have worked with livestock most will never believe all the trouble that they can get into.
LOL, boy you hit the nail on the head.  |
|
| |
|
 Googly Goo
Posts: 7053
| Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. Komet. |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 421
Location: Texas!! | Now I want to know about Hercules!! When you get time, of course! |
|
| |
|
 Expert
Posts: 3815
Location: The best kept secret in TX | LOL I feel like every post that is OT the OP is guilty of lying until proven Innocent and truthful by most other posters...
Since when did we all move to DC and become government officials BAHAHA
but seriously.... |
|
| |
|
 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | Komet..I give you a lot of credit with staying focused and continuing telling your story. Not many could have done that.
|
|
| |
|
 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| Hercules and I go way back. Of course, we're talking about OUR calf puller, not yours. But still, the gist is the same, and what a phenomenal invention they are! You've made me really nostalgic with the post, my Dad is night calving every night until the end of April. I used to be his right hand, and so many babies we've helped into the world. I grew up on my family's small cow/calf beef operation. I can still hear, smell, and SEE everything in my mind. Oh, how I miss it! It's pretty easy to live your entire life for cows during spring calving, and it makes me a little bit teary eyed to be typing this and thinking about home!
Thanks for sharing. |
|
| |
|
BHW's Simon Cowell
Location: The Saudia Arabia of Wind Energy, Western Oklahoma | Of course he is lying about his work experience with dairy cows. I mean really, it is such a glamorous job. LOL |
|
| |
|
 Hawty & Nawty
Posts: 20424
| ksjackofalltrades - 2015-03-04 1:58 PM Of course he is lying about his work experience with dairy cows. I mean really, it is such a glamorous job. LOL
Took the words right out of my mouth. Too funny! |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 3815
Location: The best kept secret in TX | ksjackofalltrades - 2015-03-03 3:58 PM Of course he is lying about his work experience with dairy cows. I mean really, it is such a glamorous job. LOL
 |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | classicpotatochip - 2015-03-03 3:49 PM
Hercules and I go way back. Of course, we're talking about OUR calf puller, not yours. But still, the gist is the same, and what a phenomenal invention they are! You've made me really nostalgic with the post, my Dad is night calving every night until the end of April. I used to be his right hand, and so many babies we've helped into the world. I grew up on my family's small cow/calf beef operation. I can still hear, smell, and SEE everything in my mind. Oh, how I miss it! It's pretty easy to live your entire life for cows during spring calving, and it makes me a little bit teary eyed to be typing this and thinking about home!
Thanks for sharing.
Well I had never seen one before... Never even heard of one. I was still pretty early on in my job here but I knew one thing for sure. I had NOT expected to get so many newborn calves. At this point I had pulled a lot of calves using a 2 ton come-a-long... Most of them with the cow in a head-gate. Or just using my meager muscles to get it done. I was never a very strong person so it wore me out to it without tools of some kind.
I don't remember how long I'd been doing this job when I hit a snag over on dairy#2 one night. I had a cow trying to calve and she was not making any headway. About my third trip around I decided to run her into the head-gate and check the situation out. I found the passageway blocked. I could feel what I thought to be a neck sideways in the canal and try as I might... I could not push it back far enough to reach past it. I decided to call the vet out. He showed up and seemed to be quite surprised to be called here to help with a calving. He quickly decided on the best way to deal with it and went to his truck, grabbed the end of a piece of cable sticking out of a box and pulled out a length of what he called "piano Wire"..He cut it off and used it to saw the head off the calf. When he got all the pieces of the calf out he reached back in and fished around and produced 2 more legs. A twin. That's why I couldn't push the first one back at all. Lesson learned. He then went back to his truck and pulled out 2 pieces of what looked like some kind of pipe and a big 'Y' shaped thing. He threaded all this stuff together to make one unit, grabbed a set of calf chains and proceed to use this thing to pull the calf. All by himself... with no effort.... When he got done I stood there with 2 dead bull calves on the ground but all I could do was stare at this...... thing.....
"what is that?" I asked him... "It's a Hercules Calf Puller" he told me.....
"Where do I get one?" I asked.... He told me the supply truck that comes around every week has them.
Folks, the next time that truck hit our place I was standing there waiting for it. I didn't know how much it would cost but I had $800 cash in hand and was prepared to pay that much. Turns out it was only $200 for the puller and $10 each for 2 calf chains.... BEST MONEY I EVER SPENT IN MY LIFE!!!!!!
That thing saved me SO many hours of back-breaking work over the next several months, not to mention the lives of both calves and cows saved. I never could figure out why an operation that size only provided us with a come-a-long.
Edited by komet. 2015-03-04 4:08 AM
|
|
| |
|
Total Germophobe
Posts: 6437
Location: Montana | Wow...I don't know what to say other than that. I think it would have scared the $h!t out of me to have a cow with twin calves and cutting the one in pieces to get them out. |
|
| |
|
BHW's Lance Armstrong
Posts: 11134
Location: Somewhere between S@%&# stirrer and Saint | I have worked on farms stacking hay, branding and casterating calves. Why do calves need to be pulled so much? I have seen it done several times. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | Douglas J Gordon - 2015-03-03 10:19 PM
I have worked on farms stacking hay, branding and casterating calves. Why do calves need to be pulled so much? I have seen it done several times.
Not sure I can answer that one. I know it happens a lot more with dairy animals than it does with beef. I know I've walked around behind beef cows that were close to calving and been honestly amazed the calf hadn't just fallen out on it's own. Those things are HUGE in the hind-end. I never could figure out what was holding the calf in there!! Dairy cows are ..... ummm.. smaller back there...
I was pulling them because it was easier on the cow and calf both... Better to have it over quick than allow the cow to go through several hours of labor (which they can easily do) and risk losing the calf or sending the cow into milk fever by allowing her to wear herself out then milking her dry. Ideally you don't take all the milk on the first few milkings so the cow DOESN'T have a sudden, dramatic depletion of calcium, sending her into milk fever. (which can kill pretty quick) But with hired milkers you never know if they are paying attention. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | kramerica - 2015-03-01 11:42 PM
I don't know a thing about dairy cows either but when I watch the Dr. Pol show those dairies he visits seem kinda dirty or all the way gross. Is that normal?
I'm not familiar with this show but I would say that yes, it is normal. The farmers pump a lot of high octane food through the cows and it has to come out somewhere, usually in large volumes and usually splattering when it hits the ground. It can be hard to keep up with in dry times but when you start adding rain into the picture it becomes a REAL mess. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | TBone - 2015-03-02 8:54 AM
I also grew up on a small dairy farm. Us kids were left to the operations numerous times. But there was one time in particular that I forgot to turn on the milk tank agitator/cooler. Fortunately we caught it before the milk spoiled. The work on a dairy farm is endless and holds so much responsibility both for the animals in your care and the lively hood of many. I admire you Komet!
Fortunately that problem was spotted and fixed. Now the agitators are timed to run 2 or three times an hour automatically and they run full time when the cooling system itself is on and running. Milk can be allowed to take as long as 2 hours to cool below desired temps without causing problems, but once it's been cooled bacteria will form pretty quick if it is warmed up again because you are pumping warm milk on top of cold and the agitators are not on. |
|
| |
|
I'm a Cry Baby
Posts: 3780
Location: n.c. | A lot of times calves are pulled when it's a first time momma. And lots of times the bull servicing the cows have a head that's too big. That normally gets passed on to the calf. Hubby pulls alot of calves around here still for some of the older farmers and once he enlightens them on how to prevent it, all is good. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | runningk - 2015-03-04 4:33 AM
A lot of times calves are pulled when it's a first time momma. And lots of times the bull servicing the cows have a head that's too big. That normally gets passed on to the calf. Hubby pulls alot of calves around here still for some of the older farmers and once he enlightens them on how to prevent it, all is good.
True here. I know all the companies that sell semen for A.I.ing cows have a gradient for "Calving Ease" on every bull. |
|
| |
|
Queen Boobie 2
Posts: 7521
| komet. - 2015-03-04 4:48 AM
runningk - 2015-03-04 4:33 AM
A lot of times calves are pulled when it's a first time momma. And lots of times the bull servicing the cows have a head that's too big. That normally gets passed on to the calf. Hubby pulls alot of calves around here still for some of the older farmers and once he enlightens them on how to prevent it, all is good.
True here. I know all the companies that sell semen for A.I.ing cows have a gradient for "Calving Ease" on every bull.
Big heads and big shoulders, or just big darn calves ;)
The rating for bulls is called an EPD (Expected Progeny Difference) within the breed.
EPD figures are assigned for many heritable traits, calving ease, birthweight, weaning weight and others. If I have some first calf heifers, I am going to look at bulls with favorable calving ease EPD's.
If I have a bunch of great big cows that have had a few calves, I might look more for favorable weaning weight EPDs to get a heavier calf to market. |
|
| |
|
A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | When we bought replacment spring heifer's they were bred to a Longhorn bull so that they would have smaller calfs their first time out. But some time's the dairy bulls still threw to big of calfs for the older heifers and some still had to be pulled. |
|
| |
|
Queen Boobie 2
Posts: 7521
| Southtxponygirl - 2015-03-04 11:25 AM
When we bought replacment spring heifer's they were bred to a Longhorn bull so that they would have smaller calfs their first time out. But some time's the dairy bulls still threw to big of calfs for the older heifers and some still had to be pulled.
Calves from longhorn or corriente bulls typically shoot out and are no bigger than a tomcat ;)
Just teasing LOL, they are easy calving, though. |
|
| |
|
BHW's Lance Armstrong
Posts: 11134
Location: Somewhere between S@%&# stirrer and Saint | Thanks Komet. I have learned about milk fever and pulling dairy calves. I once helped pull a Limosine calf. |
|
| |
|
 Party Gal
Posts: 3432
Location: fun meter pegged OK | The only reason to pull a calf should be because you have to not because you don't have the time to wait. Just because a cow goes into labor does not mean she is fully dilated and pulling to soon can cause damage to the cow and stress the calf. There are cattle breeds that are known for throwing those big calves and having to put them in hip lifters because of the nerve damage is not fun. Most of the time you end up having to put them down.
The industry has come along way when dealing with registered stock of affording us with the luxury of selecting calving ease bulls. We run Angus and our heifers are always exposed to what we call 1st calf heifer bulls (BEPD of 1.0 or less) whereas; our mature cows we run bulls of BEPD of 2.5+ |
|
| |
|
 Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | My family breeds heifer bulls. We specifically are breeding for bulls with birthweights below 60 lbs. |
|
| |
|
Party Gal
Posts: 3432
Location: fun meter pegged OK | oija - 2015-03-04 1:54 PM My family breeds heifer bulls. We specifically are breeding for bulls with birthweights below 60 lbs.
It is so much nicer when you don't have to pull. The last time we had to (knock on wood) was when the neighbors Beefmaster Bull jumped the fence and got in with our replacement heifers. He managed to breed one that night and 8mos later a 90# dead calf and a 1st calf heifer that took 4 hours to get her hips back up under her.
Thanks for raising those bulls that when your look out inn the pasture you don't know if it's a calf on the ground or a "cow patty".
|
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | yankeeredneck - 2015-03-04 1:26 PM
The only reason to pull a calf should be because you have to not because you don't have the time to wait. Just because a cow goes into labor does not mean she is fully dilated and pulling to soon can cause damage to the cow and stress the calf. There are cattle breeds that are known for throwing those big calves and having to put them in hip lifters because of the nerve damage is not fun. Most of the time you end up having to put them down.
The industry has come along way when dealing with registered stock of affording us with the luxury of selecting calving ease bulls. We run Angus and our heifers are always exposed to what we call 1st calf heifer bulls (BEPD of 1.0 or less) whereas; our mature cows we run bulls of BEPD of 2.5+
Oh trust me I know about hip lifters. Every dairy I ever worked on had a set. I don't know about the beef breeds but among the dairy breeds it's not so much about big heads, tho those do occur. It's the calf's hips that get locked up. This brings me to the second time I woke up one of the day guys.
When I started there we had 3 dairies working about 5500 cows.After being there for 6 or 7 months the owner bought out another dairy that was close by. This became dairy#4 and added about another 1500 animals. They moved all the milking stock to barns 1-3 and went to work converting the double 12 herringbone to a double 22 in-line. When this was done they shuffled all the animals around and dairy #4 became the heifer farm. This was where all the springers and milking heifers went. They hired some crack-jack young man to oversee it and I could see right off the bat we were not going to get along. I was getting word he was not happy with my work. In order to accommodate him I had rearranged my scheduled to clock in and drive over to dairy #4 to start my shift.
It was about my third week of this when I got there only to find in the middle of the calving barn, a dead heifer with a dead calf sticking out of her. Locked at the hips. It was below freezing so I inserted my hand into the cow to see how far I had to reach to feel any heat. I got in about 14 inches before my fingertips felt any. Well, I knew two things right away. This hotshot was sposed to make his last check at 8PM and this cow had been dead longer than two hours.WAY longer. I knew This was one of those times I needed to cover my a$$.
Among the day guys there was: Don... General manager... and Frances, his right hand man. Frances did the building, pen and other maintenance on all the farms and made rounds with Don every morning... and he was one of the people I'd been told I could call upon for help if I needed it. So I went and woke him up and told him he needed to see something over on #4. I took him right to the cow, pointed out the time and asked him to see how far he had to reach into the heifer to feel any heat. Well as soon as he did he knew the same thing I did and he nodded his head at me and I took him home...
I heard the next day when Don and Frances got over to dairy #4 and asked about that dead heifer the hotshot over there started blaming it on me... Well Frances had already told Don about the night before and he put a stop to that nonsense right there... I didn't hear about any more complaints from that fella the rest of the time I was there.
So like I was saying, I don't know about beef breeds, but in dairy breeds the hips are the trouble point. I'd learned long before, the hips are wider than the head, so if I had a problem getting the head out the best thing to do was turn the rest of the calf 90 degrees so the calf's hips didn't clash with the cow's. I don't ever recall having a cow that could not get up after I'd pulled the calf but I saw of lot of cows that didn't get help or didn't get help until they had been at it for several hours that never stood up again. My theory was if I could present two feet and a nose at the exit point, it was ready to come out
Edited by komet. 2015-03-04 6:46 PM
|
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 421
Location: Texas!! | Wow! I'm really enjoying reading these stories!! |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | BS Hauler - 2015-03-03 10:53 AM
Thanks Komet.
Until you have worked with livestock most will never believe all the trouble that they can get into.
This is SO true!! I remember on this farm in one of the close-up pens on Dairy #1 they had a hay ring and people were smart enough to remove the twine from the big round bales... but the closest place to put it while they did other things was to hang it over the closest fence.... After a while there became a whole nest of it there...
One night I was making my first round and I found a heifer that had been nosing around this nest of twine and got some of it caught around her neck.. It was ugly enough not to describe here but she managed to strangle herself and was dead when I got there..
But......... on to something else..... I mentioned before there are many different ways a cow can say moo....
When I was a kid I took piano lessons... All my teachers told me I had an ear for sounds... I have discovered this is true. I can hear a sour note from across the street. It just grates on my nerves to hear one. But, while I could play my a$$ off with my right hand.. and do the same with my left hand... I lacked the coordination to use them both together. So that never went anywhere except to leave me with a deep love for piano music and music in general... But anyway.... I still had this ear for sounds..... and believe it or not...... well...... Most won't..... I'm not even sure I want to go here...... But... I think I can start with some common ground that everyone here that knows cows can agree with... There is a universal moo that extends across all breeds...
That moo a mama cow uses to address a newborn calf... It's almost a hummm.... Now from this point it's not hard to extrapolate a moo for "I'm hungry".. a moo from "I'm thirsty"... a moo for "I'm bullin'"... a moo for "I'm not a happy cow..."... and so on....
Well... One night I was making my my first round on dairy #3.... and we'd had a problem with the float on the water tank in this pen... It would stick once in a while and overflow..... the downhill path it would take would pool the water at a low spot about 15 feet from the back fence. So.. we had a mud-hole there... In those days it was always there... The ground consisted of volcanic clay, and water just didn't sink in.
Now I forgot to mention something... Body Language....
I learned about body language from cows long before I found out about the extensive body language horses have. I knew every time I was among cows they would have an eye on me... along with a corresponding ear.... So here I am checking around the hospital pen on dairy #3. I carried a 5D-cell flashlight to be able to see everything, and I'm walking along the lower end of this pen and I see a cow... looking a that old mud puddle.... and as I walk by her I check her back end..... (bloody)... Normal for this pen.... and I keep going.....about 15 steps.... when.... I realize.... she didn't flick an ear toward me...
So. I stopped and looked at her again... There she was, staring daggers at this mud puddle... ears perked at it... ignoring me and everything else around her... So, because I was curious at something this odd I walk over to her....Nothing.... she never twitched an ear at me.... I play the light over the mud puddle and see nothing but mud.... I walked around to the other side and look from that angle... nothing but mud.... I looked up at her and asked.. (OK I talk to animals when we are alone)... "WTH are you looking at?"... and she "hummmmed"... Well... I knew what that meant.... I dropped to my knees and set the flashlight aside and reached into the mud and found a calf that had been born next to this puddle... and while trying to gain it's feet had staggered into it and not could not stand up in that slick clay. I pulled it out and the poor thing was just one big mud clot... I knew the mom would go to work cleaning it off just as soon as I moved away but I could not leave her with this mess so I dragged it up to the water tank and splashed water over it, rubbed it down.. repeat, repeat, repeat until I decided I had enough of the mud off it to pull it aside and leave it to the ministrations of it's mom..
From this point, because of other things I'd had to do just to get here it was time for my first break of the night. So I take the truck back to the office building and walk past dry pens 1-5, climb the fence to DP 6 on my way across to the other side and my home just over the fence.. I'd put a foot on the first rail on the other fence when I heard..... another moo you cow people will know.... the moo of a cow in labor.... Well.. more of a grunt than a moo.. but anyway.... I knew what it was and decided as long as I was there I may as well have a look... So I walked down to where I thought the sound had come from and there was a cow that had expelled a calf.. still in an unbroken sack... S***!!! I dropped to my knees and ripped the sack open and.... it wasn't breathing.. well duhh!!! I honestly don't remember if I'd heard about this or read about it somewhere... But in the back of my mind I knew this was someone else's idea.. I reached over and grabbed a piece of straw, bent it in half and stuck it up the calf's nose and twirled it... There was a sudden explosive PFUTT!!! and a pool of liquid appeared on the ground under it's nose and it started to cough and breathe..
Hey... Score another one for me...
Edited by komet. 2015-03-06 11:42 PM
|
|
| |
|
My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | You should write a book! |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | Chandler's Mom - 2015-03-07 1:05 AM
You should write a book!
My dad keeps telling me the same thing... Pftt... I didn't pay enough attention in English class to accomplish something like that. |
|
| |
|
My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | Ghost writer!!! |
|
| |
|
 Namesless in BHW
Posts: 10368
Location: At the race track with Ah Dee Ohs | I am loving these stories Komet! Kudos to you |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | Chandler's Mom - 2015-03-07 1:40 AM
Ghost writer!!!
The only person I know that I would trust with that is Ridenfly... and I don't think she likes me very much..
I used to wonder about the intelligence level of cows. And I can tell you when I started thinking about that.
It was on the very first cow dairy I worked on.
Now... The signs were there... I just didn't see them... Before I started gathering the cows to milk in the morning, I had to walk through the dry cow pen... Usually the fresh cows would have the newborn calves at their side. But sometimes..... They would hide them..... in a ten acre lot... now, at first I used to spend hours looking for a calf I knew had been born.. Finally I wised up and just pulled the fresh cow out of the pen and waited for the calf to get hungry and come looking for it's mom..
I started working there in April... Come January we hit a super cold snap.. I remember when it started. I was watching the Super Bowl with my boss and at half time I happened to glance out the window and saw snow flurries coming down...Well.. they had been forecast... What was NOT forecast... was 3 days of constant flurries that stopped when we had 15 inches of snow on the ground....
that was followed by sub-zero temps. Well, we only had about 10 or 12 cows in the dry cow pen at this time so my boss kicked them into the milking herd, trusting me to be able to spot them and not milk them by accident.
Now remember... I used to have to HUNT for newborn calves...
One morning during this cold spell I could not get my van to start up so I could drive to work... I always started my day early, so after screwing with it for about 30 minutes I decided to walk the mile and a half to work. Now... I always got to work at 7am to start milking at 8am.... This day I got there at 7:30... I set up the barn and walked out back..... to find two cows had laid down and had calves right in front of the gate to the holding pen... at the same time... about a half an hour ago... now.. it's about 20 below zero... and both calves were in hyporthermic convulsions. Well.. one at a time I dragged them into the tank room and the upshot was one lived and one didn't. But that got me started thinking... And I thought about it for years...
Now on my job on that big dairy.... we had a super cold spell.. and I was running my butt off trying to keep up with the calves being born.... It was too cold to just leave them outside.... So I would grab them up and dump them into the floorboard of the farm truck I was using and haul them over the the pump-room on dairy#1.. Now.. the vacuum pumps in barn #1 were modified jet engines... They ran on electricity but they kicked out a lot of heat... so the room, even in this weather was about 60 degrees. I was making a circle on diary #1 and I spotted a heifer in D4 (dry pen #4) that had a calf on the ground, and the calf was in hyporthermic convulsions.... I got out of the truck and stepped through the feed bunk.... and stood up to see something that stopped me in my tracks... This first calf heifer laid down behind her calf and draped her neck over the baby trying to keep it warm.... Well... at this point I stopped wondering about the intelligence level of cows. I had my answer.... |
|
| |
|
My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | komet. - 2015-03-08 10:37 PM
Chandler's Mom - 2015-03-07 1:40 AM
Ghost writer!!!
The only person I know that I would trust with that is Ridenfly... and I don't think she likes me very much..
I used to wonder about the intelligence level of cows. And I can tell you when I started thinking about that.
It was on the very first cow dairy I worked on.
Now... The signs were there... I just didn't see them... Before I started gathering the cows to milk in the morning, I had to walk through the dry cow pen... Usually the fresh cows would have the newborn calves at their side. But sometimes..... They would hide them..... in a ten acre lot... now, at first I used to spend hours looking for a calf I knew had been born.. Finally I wised up and just pulled the fresh cow out of the pen and waited for the calf to get hungry and come looking for it's mom..
I started working there in April... Come January we hit a super cold snap.. I remember when it started. I was watching the Super Bowl with my boss and at half time I happened to glance out the window and saw snow flurries coming down...Well.. they had been forecast... What was NOT forecast... was 3 days of constant flurries that stopped when we had 15 inches of snow on the ground....
that was followed by sub-zero temps. Well, we only had about 10 or 12 cows in the dry cow pen at this time so my boss kicked them into the milking herd, trusting me to be able to spot them and not milk them by accident.
Now remember... I used to have to HUNT for newborn calves...
One morning during this cold spell I could not get my van to start up so I could drive to work... I always started my day early, so after screwing with it for about 30 minutes I decided to walk the mile and a half to work. Now... I always got to work at 7am to start milking at 8am.... This day I got there at 7:30... I set up the barn and walked out back..... to find two cows had laid down and had calves right in front of the gate to the holding pen... at the same time... about a half an hour ago... now.. it's about 20 below zero... and both calves were in hyporthermic convulsions. Well.. one at a time I dragged them into the tank room and the upshot was one lived and one didn't. But that got me started thinking... And I thought about it for years...
Now on my job on that big dairy.... we had a super cold spell.. and I was running my butt off trying to keep up with the calves being born.... It was too cold to just leave them outside.... So I would grab them up and dump them into the floorboard of the farm truck I was using and haul them over the the pump-room on dairy#1.. Now.. the vacuum pumps in barn #1 were modified jet engines... They ran on electricity but they kicked out a lot of heat... so the room, even in this weather was about 60 degrees. I was making a circle on diary #1 and I spotted a heifer in D4 (dry pen #4 ) that had a calf on the ground, and the calf was in hyporthermic convulsions.... I got out of the truck and stepped through the feed bunk.... and stood up to see something that stopped me in my tracks... This first calf heifer laid down behind her calf and draped her neck over the baby trying to keep it warm.... Well... at this point I stopped wondering about the intelligence level of cows. I had my answer....
Never discount the instincts of a mother |
|
| |
|
 Chicken Chick
Posts: 3562
Location: Texas | Chandler's Mom - 2015-03-09 12:16 AM komet. - 2015-03-08 10:37 PM Chandler's Mom - 2015-03-07 1:40 AM Ghost writer!!! The only person I know that I would trust with that is Ridenfly... and I don't think she likes me very much.. I used to wonder about the intelligence level of cows. And I can tell you when I started thinking about that. It was on the very first cow dairy I worked on. Now... The signs were there... I just didn't see them... Before I started gathering the cows to milk in the morning, I had to walk through the dry cow pen... Usually the fresh cows would have the newborn calves at their side. But sometimes..... They would hide them..... in a ten acre lot... now, at first I used to spend hours looking for a calf I knew had been born.. Finally I wised up and just pulled the fresh cow out of the pen and waited for the calf to get hungry and come looking for it's mom.. I started working there in April... Come January we hit a super cold snap.. I remember when it started. I was watching the Super Bowl with my boss and at half time I happened to glance out the window and saw snow flurries coming down...Well.. they had been forecast... What was NOT forecast... was 3 days of constant flurries that stopped when we had 15 inches of snow on the ground.... that was followed by sub-zero temps. Well, we only had about 10 or 12 cows in the dry cow pen at this time so my boss kicked them into the milking herd, trusting me to be able to spot them and not milk them by accident. Now remember... I used to have to HUNT for newborn calves... One morning during this cold spell I could not get my van to start up so I could drive to work... I always started my day early, so after screwing with it for about 30 minutes I decided to walk the mile and a half to work. Now... I always got to work at 7am to start milking at 8am.... This day I got there at 7:30... I set up the barn and walked out back..... to find two cows had laid down and had calves right in front of the gate to the holding pen... at the same time... about a half an hour ago... now.. it's about 20 below zero... and both calves were in hyporthermic convulsions. Well.. one at a time I dragged them into the tank room and the upshot was one lived and one didn't. But that got me started thinking... And I thought about it for years... Now on my job on that big dairy.... we had a super cold spell.. and I was running my butt off trying to keep up with the calves being born.... It was too cold to just leave them outside.... So I would grab them up and dump them into the floorboard of the farm truck I was using and haul them over the the pump-room on dairy#1.. Now.. the vacuum pumps in barn #1 were modified jet engines... They ran on electricity but they kicked out a lot of heat... so the room, even in this weather was about 60 degrees. I was making a circle on diary #1 and I spotted a heifer in D4 (dry pen #4 ) that had a calf on the ground, and the calf was in hyporthermic convulsions.... I got out of the truck and stepped through the feed bunk.... and stood up to see something that stopped me in my tracks... This first calf heifer laid down behind her calf and draped her neck over the baby trying to keep it warm.... Well... at this point I stopped wondering about the intelligence level of cows. I had my answer.... Never discount the instincts of a mother
Well... most of them anyway. |
|
| |
|
 Expert
Posts: 1210
Location: Kansas | Six pages later and I still can't tell if this is all just stories of cows or if there's hidden meaning behind it all. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | HarlanLivesOn - 2015-03-09 12:15 PM
Six pages later and I still can't tell if this is all just stories of cows or if there's hidden meaning behind it all.
Maybe you watched 'The Life Of Pi' one too many times... |
|
| |
|
A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Komet sence you know quite a bit about the Dairy business why dont you try to get hired on as a dairy hand again? Seems you have enought experince |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | Southtxponygirl - 2015-03-12 6:52 PM
Komet sence you know quite a bit about the Dairy business why dont you try to get hired on as a dairy hand again? Seems you have enought experince
I'd want to go back to a small dairy.... Even tho the larger ones have conveniences like wash-type holding pens and automatic take-offs, I doubt I could stand working on another industrial farm.
Edited by komet. 2015-03-12 7:01 PM
|
|
| |
|
A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | komet. - 2015-03-12 7:00 PM
Southtxponygirl - 2015-03-12 6:52 PM
Komet sence you know quite a bit about the Dairy business why dont you try to get hired on as a dairy hand again? Seems you have enought experince
I'd want to go back to a small dairy.... Even tho the larger ones have conveniences like wash-type holding pens and automatic take-offs, I doubt I could stand working on another industrial farm.
I'm sure the newer dairys are pretty different now adays, but I would look into a smaller dairy thats not so up to date on things. Back 15 years ago we had all the conveniences, but of course it was a big farm, but maybe a small farm like a mom and pop farm that needs someone to come in and help out. |
|
| |
