Mackinson Dairy Farm

You Won a Tractor?

mtmacki — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 02:50:25 +0000

We are Jesse & Mary Faber, and this is Miss A and Mr. E. They are a big reason we are here, because we want a better world for our kids to grow up in. A world that has a greater understanding of and is better connected to the agriculture industry. Not just because of food security and economic reasons; but for us, even more important, are the values and sense of community that come from an agricultural way of life.

This encompasses why Jesse and I work so hard.

The same work ethic we both learned from our parents and grandparents.

The Excellence in Agriculture Award is for individuals or couples who do not have the majority of his/her income subject to normal production risk. The application required us to discuss our background, agricultural involvement, impact on agriculture, goals and leadership experiences. The largest part of the application asked us to identify and discuss three issues that agriculture needs to address in the next five years. After some discussion and reflecting on what we do every day, we decided to focus on consumer outreach and education, workforce shortage and legislative affairs.

We left home on Friday and the Orlando sunshine felt great when we arrived that evening. After a great dinner with the Young Leaders we put the final touches on our 25 minute presentation. We presented to a panel of judges on Saturday afternoon regarding the content of our application in narrative form along with the judges answering questions. It was then time to relax and wait. Sunday evening, we were announced as being in the Top 10 which meant we got to go on stage the next morning when they would announce the 3 finalists and winner. On Monday (1/11/16); Jesse and I were announced as one of the National Finalists for the Excellence in Agriculture Award at the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Convention in Orlando, Florida. Being named a finalist; we were awarded a Case IH Farmall 50A tractor from Case IH along with a cash prize and gift certificate from Stihl. Thank you to Case IH and Stihl for supporting the AFBF Young Farmer and Ranchers (YF&R) Competition Awards.

This week was been a whirlwind and I am finally sitting down to compose our thoughts on the award. Jesse and I would like to say thank you to several people:

Our Families – without your love and support, we would not be where we are today.
Our Kids – maybe someday you will read this and understand why Mom or Dad are not home every night. Everything we do is for you. As we said in our presentation, what matters the most is not on our resumes—they are the ones we kiss goodnight.
Our Friends – to those of you that edited our application and those who gave us feedback on our presentation.
Young Leaders – in Illinois we call them Young Leaders. J We want to thank the counties we have been involved with (Lee and Kane) and especially the group in Livingston County. In Orlando, we had the opportunity to meet with several members of the Illinois Young Leader Committee and if you are involved with agriculture, this is a great organization to be a part of!
Illinois Farm Bureau Board & Staff – thank you for your support and guidance. Jesse and I were honored to represent Illinois at convention.

The Story of Danza

mtmacki — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 15:25:43 +0000

The cold spring has been reminiscent of warmer times, so I thought I would share with all you the story of Danza. Let’s rewind to June of 2007 – I was a younger women then, working and going to school for my master’s degree. I was one of two co-chairs for the 2008 National Ayrshire Convention that was to be held the next summer in Illinois, and we were heading to Ohio to do some promotional work.

At the Awards Banquet, I was introduced to a fellow Ayrshire breeder from Wisconsin who just so happened to share my birthday. I tend to find that I have a lot in common with fellow livestock folk, and so it’s easy to lose track of time chatting. Before you know it, the 30 pack is empty and the sun is coming up! That morning I attended the National Sale before boarding my flight home. My new friend was insistent that I buy their heifer. Sometimes a little peer pressure is a good thing. Buying the heifer was the easy part though. Mustering up the courage (with the not so subtle effects of a Coors Light hangover, I knew I had to make a phone call and that it might be challenging. The first words out of my brother’s mouth when he answered where:

“What did you buy? And how much did you spend?”

How. Did. He. Know?

I purchased Grand-View Sakic Danza. Danza was an 8 month off-age (born October 8th) heifer. She was a nice heifer that had a great pedigree. The blue ribbons, however, eluded Danza and the judges always said, “she carried a little too much condition (aka she liked to eat)”. In 2009, as a Senior 3 year old, Danza was classified Excellent 90 points making her an 8th generation excellent. Meaning her dam (mom) and 6 “moms” before that were all classified Excellent, a major accomplishment for any dairy cow. That fall, Danza and I got to walk on the colored shavings at World Dairy Expo for the first time (read more about World Dairy Expo here)! She placed 6th place out of 14th and it is a memory that I will never forget!

Danza and I at World Dairy Expo.

While at Expo, we noticed Danza wasn’t milking out of her front left quarter. A trip and an ultrasound at the University of Wisconsin veterinary hospital confirmed that there was scar tissue blocking her teat canal. Danza was not in any pain but there was nothing we could do to fix the problem.

We were crushed.

Just because we couldn’t exhibit her anymore didn’t mean that her days were numbered though. We continued to milk Danza and she entered our embryo transfer program. Trans Ova Genetics defines Embryo Transfer (ET) as an advanced reproductive technology and a progressive tool that can help you produce more offspring from an elite cow and which can extend the impact of outstanding cattle genetics. Through embryo transfer, calves like Devine, and Darcy were born! We are incredibly proud of Darcy (or as we call her, Little D) and her show ring accomplishments, as well as the fact that she is a 9th generation excellent.

On May 28, 2014; we sold Danza. This business decision was made as she was no longer producing any milk and we were unable to get her pregnant. In other words, Danza’s expenses were greater than the revenue that she was generating. Was it an easy decision? Of course not. This was a decision that we had been agonizing over for many months.

Before she left our farm, I went over and told her good-bye and thanked her for the memories.

Looking back, Danza hated attention and going to shows. She was so much happier at the feed bunk bossing around the other cows. (Yes, cows have a pecking order and Danza thought she was the Queen!) Because of Danza, I met and have become friends with her breeder, Tim Busch of Grand-View Ayrshires. Tim and his wife Katie, have a beautiful herd of Ayrshire cattle in Cecil, Wisconsin. Even though Danza no longer lives at Mackinson Dairy, we look forward to watching her daughters and granddaughters develop.

Danza and my Dad

With tears in my eyes and as I type this, it’s easy to for me to say that Danza was more than just a cow. I believe that every farmer has an animal(s) that tugs at their heart strings. If you don’t believe me, read about Beverly Donovan and Francesca. Activists that claim that farmers don’t care, obviously have not met farmers like Lisa, Stephanie, Jenni, Annaliese, Krista or Rebecca (I could go on forever).

In closing, Danza, thank you for all the memories.

~Mary

Danza was even in our Engagement Pictures!

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Our calf barn!

mtmacki — Thu, 04 Dec 2014 19:32:41 +0000

One month ago, we finished our calf barn and I sat down with Matt and picked his brain. I admit, I love it and wanted to share it with all of you! Previously, after a calf was born, we moved it from the maternity barn to it’s own calf hutch. Now it moves from the maternity barn to its own pen in the calf shed. Just like the hutches, the calf will remain in the calf shed for 60-75 days until it is weaned and then moved into group housing. To read more about why were separate the cow and calf, click here.

Before we built the barn, Matt did tons and tons of research…..from deciding to go with a post structure over a fabric cover, dimensions, flooring, stalling, ventilation, etc. After all the research, it’s time to tell you about our barn and share pictures!

Dimensions: The calf shed is 32′ x 72′ and has 29 individual calf pens.

Barn’s ventilation.

Ventilation: The ventilation is the most important part of keeping calves healthy. Our barn is equipped with a positive pressure ventilation system that runs 24/7. It consists of a 19″ diameter tube that is 10′ above the concrete in the center of the barn. The capacity of the fan is about 2500 cfm, the tube has holes cut at 5 and 7 o’clock spaced at 11 inches apart. At this spacing, it will put fresh air that is the same temperature as outside at the front of the stalls and therefore eliminate any draft that could chill the calves. It took some fine tuning but is set now.

Double roll-up curtains.

Walls: The sidewalls are double roll up curtains. The top one is 18″ and the bottom one is 6′. This is crucial because you can open the top curtain to bring in fresh air and once again keep a draft off the calves. Barn temperature isn’t a concern. Our goal is to have fresh air since there are several animals sharing an air space.

Post Structure: I chose to go with a post structure over a fabric cover because it offered more flexibility to be able to hang lights, fans and the ventilation tubes. An advantage of the fabric cover would be more light and research shows that the calves rate of gain is better. The barn was designed, so we can easily add onto the west end if we need too.

18′ concrete center isle.

Floor: There is a 18′ center isle that’s poured concrete, each half slopes 4″ towards the center drains. Under the stalls, we dug down 3′ and put down large rock and the top 6″ is pea gravel to help with drainage and reduce the amount of bedding needed.

Individual stalls: There are tons of companies that make stalls, we went with the Calf-Tel pen for a couple reasons. First they are free standing and don’t require posts to be poured into concrete which allows us to remove stalls and bring the skid steer in to clean them. Second, they are all plastic, which should last longer than steel gates and posts. Third, you can easily pressure wash them. The stalls are attached to the back wall with just a steel rod for easy removal. The wall is covered with poly board that will also pressure wash easily. I purchased the stalls through Animart because they gave me a great price and were easy to work with.

Poly board.

Panoramic view of the north row of pens.

Matt says he has no regrets, and as of now wouldn’t change anything. As for recommendations he says, you can never do too much research. If you have any questions or want more information on our calf barn, please leave us a comment or email us.

Mary

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