FacebookRssYouTubeXPinterest

Farm

Farm Cows in Winter: How to Take Care of Your Farm Cows

Discover expert tips and tricks on ensuring the well-being of your farm cows during the chilly winter months. Learn about shelter, nutrition, and other essential aspects to keep your bovine buddies happy and healthy! Winter can be a tough time for everyone, including our beloved farm cows. These gentle giants provide us with milk, meat, and companionship year-round, and it's our responsibility to make sure they stay warm, well-fed, and content during the frosty season. So, "How to take care of Farm Cows in the winter?" you ask? Fear not, because we've got you covered! In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into the nitty-gritty details of ensuring the comfort and health of your cows when the snow starts falling. From shelter to nutrition, we've got all the answers! The Importance of Proper Winter Care Before we dive into the specifics of cow care during winter, let's understand why it's crucial. Just like us, cows can be affected by the cold weather, and neglecting their needs during this season can have serious consequences: Reduced Milk Production: Cows may produce less milk if they're uncomfortable or stressed due to extreme cold. Weight Loss: Cold weather requires cows to burn more energy to stay warm, potentially leading to weight loss. Frostbite and Illness: Cows are susceptible to frostbite, respiratory issues, and other health problems if not properly cared for. Now that we're clear on the why, let's get into the how! Providing Adequate Shelter A Cozy Barn One of the first steps in ensuring your cows' well-being during winter is to provide them with a warm and cozy barn. Here's how to make their shelter top-notch: Insulation is Key: Make sure your barn is well-insulated to keep the cold out. Proper insulation helps maintain a comfortable temperature inside. Ventilation Matters: While insulation is crucial, don't forget about ventilation. Proper airflow prevents moisture buildup, which can lead to respiratory issues. Dry Bedding: Ensure the cows have a clean, dry bedding area. Straw or hay works wonders for insulation and comfort. Space Consideration: Make sure there's enough space for each cow to lie down comfortably without crowding. Windbreaks and Shades In addition to the barn, consider installing windbreaks and shades in the outdoor areas. These protect your cows from biting winds and provide some respite from the winter sun. Keeping Them Well-Fed Adjusting the Diet Cow nutrition is essential year-round, but during winter, their dietary needs change. Here's what you should keep in mind: Increase Calories: Cows need more calories to [...]

By |2024-01-15T10:46:34+00:00January 6th, 2024|Cows, Farm|0 Comments
Read More

Consider Farming? Consider Chickens?

Farming for Beginners: How to Decide Between Livestock and Plants? Farming, it may seem complicated at first, but is in fact a simple process, the only question is it right for you. Some may think of farming as sitting back and watching over plants or livestock, but unless you can afford to pay people to work your land you will have to participate in the harvest and up keep. Now you may be thinking how you will be able to afford the land and provide other needed items that you are not producing. Well that is quite simple, while you may not be able to mass produce food like the large companies, you can produce more than your family needs to survive. With your extra food you can sell it at a farmers market or to friends. Now with all of the logistics out of the way an interesting topic looms: Will you farm livestock or fruits and vegetables? If your a vegetarian your answer is simple, you will grow fruits and vegetables, however if you are not you still have a difficult decision. While both livestock and fruits and vegetables can yield a profit - livestock can do this with less work for you. The kinds of livestock farming that you could participate in are raising them for sale or raising them and selling their meat and other products. Raising livestock for sale may be another solution for a person who does not want to consume animal products, but selling the meat and other products of the animals is potentially more profitable. The kinds of livestock that you could chose to farm are cattle, pigs, sheep, turkey, and chickens. Each of these animals have reasons both for and against farming them. The cattle can be butchered and milked, both of which could be sold. The sheep’s wool can be harvested as well as mutton. Chickens produce both eggs and meat. Pigs and turkeys however only produce meat. No matter what animal you choose to farm you need to be able to provide some basic necessities like a clean shelter, clean water, and nutritious feed. The shelter needs to be clean of mud and manure, as well as providing enough space for the livestock to be comfortable, this includes ventilation that does not create drafts and proper bedding material, which will need to be changed often to prevent sickness. The clean water is necessary as it helps regulate the body temperature of the animals, and clean [...]

By |2024-01-12T00:36:47+00:00March 4th, 2018|Farm, Animals, Chickens, Poultry|0 Comments
Read More

Artificial Intelligence on Farms

Artificial Intelligence on Farms, Now it’s making practical Advances A long time ago, back in kindergarten or grade one, each student might have been given a tiny little flower pot, a tablespoon or so of soil, and a seed of some description.  It became their job to grow a plant. The teacher helped them put soil in the pot, put the seed at the right depth, and then they would put their names of the pots and water them each day until something grew.  Bean sprouts are fast, edible, and give satisfaction to kids.  Most people experienced something like this at some point and it dwells in their mind as “how food is grown”.  That is changing now. The World By the year 2050 our population might be over 9 billion people.  Back in the year 1600 C.E. the population of the entire world was just a little over 0.5 billion.  It wasn’t until 1800 C.E. that we probably broke through the billion barrier.  That was the first time we probably heard the cry “Earth cannot sustain any more people.  We can’t grow food for a billion mouths!” Obviously that was not true, since we have continued to grow to our current 7.6 billion—and there has never been a shortage of food.  Yes, people have starved to death all over our planet, but never because there wasn’t enough food—we have always had a problem of distribution, getting excess production in one area to somewhere else with a severe lack. At every turn where we thought we had reached a limit, we found new ways of growing more food, with fewer resources, and even less human-powered interaction.  We are unlikely to ever be defeated on that front.  Long before we run out of the capability to produce sufficient food we will become smart enough to reduce our population to appropriate levels. Artificial Intelligence on Farms When people think of artificial intelligence nowadays they probably imagine C3PO and R2D2.  Those movie creations were portrayed as considerably more advanced than what we have currently achieved.  Nevertheless we’ve made some terrific progress. A company called BOWERY has moved farming indoors.  Their crops are stacked one atop the other, lighted, fed, monitored, and diagnosed by sophisticated computer programs.  Their crops are largely grown hydroponically, without soil, in trays that travel throughout the complex by conveyor.  The sterile facility requires no pesticides to maintain the health of their plants. Faster than a human could ever do so, the Artificial Intelligence program is learning [...]

By |2024-03-04T03:50:21+00:00October 21st, 2017|Artificial Intelligence, Cattle, Cows, Farm, Food, Garden|0 Comments
Read More

Farm Power, The Cash Crop

The Operating Profit Margin Ratio (OPMR) for farms is probably the best or fairest way to compare different farms, of different sizes, with equipment of different ages and conditions, and a thousand other variables. One case study of a West Central Indiana farm shows the average OPMR for the five years between 2010 and 2014 to be 0.2449, or about 25%. In the very next year (2015), because of very wet conditions, corn production was considerably lower. Combined with lower crop value at market, the OPMR was into negative territory (-0.0356), or a loss just over 3½%. In 2016 it was expected to be on the plus side by 4.61%. A New Strategy - How to Turn Your Farm Power into a Cash Crop With a little thoughtful planning and investment, you could decrease the costs of operating your farm by eliminating your need for electrical power from the grid. This amounts to better profit in good years and lower losses in the bad years. There’s even a way to do this for free. All along the northern edge of your property, or any space where shadows are not a problem, you could contract with the local electrical facility (or an agent) to place their frame mounted solar panels where they won’t shade your crops. They can produce “green power” for the utility, which can then be exchanged for valuable carbon credits. (David Suzuki. et al, 2008) This depends on the net metering (Polaris, 2017) rules where you live which are supported by 43 states, Washington, D.C., and 4 territories currently (SEIA, 2017). Some states inexplicably forbid selling power back to the utility. Speak to your local political representative to get this changes if your state still hasn’t joined the 21st century. . In many cases, carbon credits are so highly valued that the utility often pays more per “green” kilowatt than they charge their customers!  If that’s true for you, you have a cash crop which requires no planting, no fertilizing, no harvesting, and no maintenance. Even without the bonus payment, you still get “utility rates” for your excess energy, which is provided as a credit towards your overall use, or acts as a bank where you can withdraw it for free if or when you need it yourself. The money is generated by energy users (corporations or household users) that that elect to pay slightly more for their power to demonstrate environmental responsibility, to feel better about themselves, or to help promote more green energy production.  Many [...]

By |2024-01-12T11:35:48+00:00July 31st, 2017|Farm, Solar, Thermal, Trenching, Water Furnace|0 Comments
Read More

Large Government Hand Outs for Corporate Mega Farms.

This is the fiscal cliff bill and it is part of balancing the federal budget. The House of Representatives is trying to cut subsidies to the largest and most profitable farm business. This would be the best way to relive budget pressure that threatens organic and local farming, conservation and anti-hunger aid. A lot of today's industrial commodity farms are seeing large profits. These big agricultural farms are trying to get more government hand outs. "Dollars wasted on bloated subsidy payments will not be available to grow more organic food and protect vital nutrition programs for unemployed and low-income Americans" Tell Congress to say NO to this. Go here and email your congressperson.

By |2016-10-23T11:34:36+00:00December 11th, 2012|Farm|0 Comments
Read More

What about the FFA?

What is the FFA? At one time it was an organization just for farmers. Listen to me as I interview with Riley Branch, National FFA Organization, Western Region Vice President. About what the FFA is and what it does today. NOTE: the podcast is about this convention October 21 National FFA Convention, Indianapolis, State Fairgrounds West, Toyota Blue Ribbon, Champions, Pioneer Our Land & Northwest Pavilions, Toyota Exposition Hall, Ag/Hort Building & Grand Hall Information: Jim Armbruster (317) 802-4334 Convention 2015 takes place in Louisville, Kentucky

By |2019-04-27T23:40:07+00:00September 27th, 2009|Farm, Event, Indiana|0 Comments
Read More
Go to Top