Farm introduction

The farm is really my husband's family farm. My sisters and I have a farm that we rent to other nearby farmers but we do not farm there. We have a herd of approximately 30 hereford and mixed-hereford cattle. We raise corn, soybeans and clover hay. We usually put out a few acres of wheat and bale that when the seed is at the milk stage (the seeds are just beginning to form) and the stalks are still green. We also have an acre that we plant in oats, grass and clover each year. We also bale that when the oat seeds are at the milk stage and the grass and clover have put on some growth. We later bale the grass and clover again. Below are a few pictures of the farm that we took last fall. One shows the farm buildings from a distance, the other shows fields that we work.

My husband has been getting ready to fill our silo in a month or so. We need to wait until the corn has matured enough so there is some drying to the stem and leaves but still some green exists. We feed silage throughout the winter months along with bales of hay that we have harvested throughout the growing season. Some of our hay is in large round bales and some is in smaller square bales. We feed the small bales to the young steers and to the cattle when the weather prevents feeding outside the barn.

We have had two new calves born the first part of August and two other mama cows are expecting any time. Baby calves are always so cute. Earlier we had one mama cow give birth to twin calves. As you can see in the picture, they are cute as a button. They are a little smaller than another calf that was born a few days later and we are waiting to see if they will catch up as they get older.