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Mackinson Dairy Farm https://mackinsondairy.com A family farm Tue, 06 Aug 2019 19:14:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.5.14 What’s in a name? https://mackinsondairy.com/whats-in-a-name/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=whats-in-a-name Wed, 26 Sep 2018 19:55:01 +0000 https://mackinsondairy.com/?p=2970 Donkey. Is that really her name? Yes. Is she, you know, a donkey? No, she’s dairy cow more specifically an Ayrshire. How did you come up with THAT name? Let me tell you. Winnie the Pooh has always been my favorite collection of stories and I received my first Winnie the Pooh stuffed bear when […]

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Donkey.

Is that really her name? Yes.

Is she, you know, a donkey? No, she’s dairy cow more specifically an Ayrshire.

How did you come up with THAT name?

Let me tell you.

Winnie the Pooh has always been my favorite collection of stories and I received my first Winnie the Pooh stuffed bear when I was only a few weeks old. When I was pregnant with our first, my husband went to Minneapolis on a work trip. Wanting to get our unborn baby a souvenir, he found himself in the Disney Store. He picked out a stuffed Eeyore. We introduced Eeyore to Ava shortly after she was born and he has been her favorite ever since. When she started to talk, it was easier for her to say Donkey and the name stuck. Donkey resides in her bed and is her favorite stuffed animal. He always goes with her on overnight trips, went to pre-school show and tell and has even been to the calf barn!

During the winter of 2014; we had a uniquely marked Ayrshire heifer calf born out of one of our favorite cows, Darcy. On our farm, we name our Ayrshire’s. The name on their registration paper and on their ear tag, starts with the first letter of their dam’s (mother) name. Matt asked Ava what this calf should be named and they both agreed on the name, Donkey. They were instant best friends. I still remember taking a then two-year-old Ava to the calf barn to see her Donkey. She runs to her pen and she was gone.

Tears.

Explaining to a toddler that her favorite calf, who was only 2.5 months old, was merely moved from her individual pen to a different pen in another barn because she had been weaned was not working. The tears turned to hysterics. I knew she was not hearing a word I was saying, I had to show her. I picked her up and we walked, what seemed like miles, to another calf shed. Once we got there, she got to see for herself that because her Donkey was growing, she needed to be moved into a group pen. She was now housed with a handful of other calves who were the same age as her.

It worked and the tears turned into a big smile.

Spring arrived and everyone was growing (calf and toddler). A local 4-H family leased a few of our heifers, one of them being Donkey. Donkey went to live at their farm for a few weeks, another difficult conversation for a toddler to grasp. Donkey was entered and shown in the Winter Calf class at our County 4-H fair where she participated. She did not catch the judge’s eye that particular day. The dairy show also offers a Peewee Class for those children not old enough to show at the fair. On July 20, 2015; Ava and Donkey made their show ring debut!

Each kid earned a ribbon and Ava picked out a pink one because it is her favorite color!  

In order for a dairy cow to give milk, she must have a calf and Donkey did just that in the Spring of 2017.  She had a bull calf (read more about bull calves here) but she looked great and more importantly was producing a nutrient-rich product (milk) which my family and yours can enjoy. Donkey found her way back to the show ring but due to conflicting schedules, Ava was not able to watch Donkey as she got 2nd place in her class at the Illinois State Fair. Over the winter, Donkey transitioned from a milking cow to a dry cow. This is a period of time where she was not giving any milk in preparation for her having her second calf.

 
She blessed us with another bull calf, much to Ava’s disappointment but looked excellent!

While making entries for Donkey in the Open Ayrshire Show, I found out the Illinois State Fair offered a pee-wee class. I asked my kids if this was something they were interested in doing. Both kids were incredible excited and it only took a few seconds (if that long) for Ava to decide who she would show. Donkey headed south to the Illinois State Fair and got 1st Place in her class but she had one more class on her agenda. On August 18, 2018; Ava and Donkey entered the show ring together. Ava is incredible shy. She loves to hide behind my leg in new situations or when there is a crowd of people. That morning, she proudly answered the emcee’s questions about what breed and how old she and her cow were. Sadly, the emcee did not ask her cow’s name. Ava and Donkey earned another ribbon, this time a blue one which she proudly displays in her room.   

Donkey is not the most outgoing cow on our farm but is growing more comfortable around the little girl who is so incredible fond of her. She will take a break from eating if Ava shouts “Donkey” as we drive by the feed bunk. She is getting use to Ava finding her in the barnyard so she can scratch her nose. Someday, Ava hopes Donkey will give birth to a heifer calf as her first two calves have been bulls. It has been awesome to watch these two grow up together. Looking forward to the future only makes me smile proudly.

We are truly blessed so say that dairy cattle are present at some of the most special moments of our life.

 

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Our Favorite Bedtime Stories https://mackinsondairy.com/bedtime-stories/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bedtime-stories Wed, 19 Sep 2018 20:55:43 +0000 https://mackinsondairy.com/?p=2958 Guilty. I know the importance of reading to our kids but guess what, I am not very good at regularly reading stories to our kids, especially before bedtime. Life happens and I have enough excuses on why I don’t read to them daily to fill this entire page. But I decided enough was enough. Nightly […]

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Guilty. I know the importance of reading to our kids but guess what, I am not very good at regularly reading stories to our kids, especially before bedtime. Life happens and I have enough excuses on why I don’t read to them daily to fill this entire page.

But I decided enough was enough. Nightly bedtime story-time was a habit I needed to do. No more excuses.

Therefore, I decided to compile a few of our favorite farm related stories which you need to have in your library! Disclaimer – This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase an item below. I may receive a small commission at no cost to you.

Farm Nursery Songs

By: Jessica Peters – a real legit dairy farmer from Pennsylvania. Jess takes the nursery rhymes we all know and does a fun agriculture / dairy related twist on them. The book includes real photos of little brown cows and tractors from Spruce Row Farm. Before you know it, you are singing.

 

 

 

 

 

Meet Pete

By: Jennifer Campbell – such a great story about how a young girl adopts a newborn calf who needs such special attention. Jennifer (the author) is a grain, pig and cattle farmer from Indiana. Not only is she an author, she is an amazing cook and her recipes can be found at Farm Wife Feeds

 

 

 

 

 

I Can Be a Farm Vet (Barbie)

There really is not anything Barbie cannot do. Spend the day with her as she takes care of numerous farm animals. A great book showing young girls, they truly can do anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Night Tractor

A perfect book for toddlers. After you read it to them a few times, it won’t be long before they read it to you. If you youngster prefer construction equipment, make sure you also purchase Good Night Digger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlie the Ranch Dog

By: Ree Drummond

Yes, I may idolize Ree Drummond but for very good reason. I could read Charlie the Ranch Dog every night and not get tired of it. Charlie is the most loveable Bassett Hound who lives on his family’s cattle ranch in Oklahoma.  You may also like: Charlie Goes to School, Charlie and the New Baby, Charlie Plays Ball, Charlie and the Christmas Kitty or Little Ree.

 

Have I forgotten any of your favorites? If so, leave them in the comments below! 

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What do dairy cows eat at our family farm? https://mackinsondairy.com/your-cows-eat-what/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=your-cows-eat-what Thu, 26 Oct 2017 14:18:44 +0000 https://mackinsondairy.com/?p=2613 I recently saw this meme floating around Facebook.  Sitting here eating my super tasty Prairie Farms roasted red pepper dip with some crackers, I pondered this question: Nanny – Nah. We have a pretty amazing babysitter who cares for our kids daily from 7-5. Personal shopper – I’ll pass. I truly do not mind grocery […]

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I recently saw this meme floating around Facebook.  Sitting here eating my super tasty Prairie Farms roasted red pepper dip with some crackers, I pondered this question:

  • Nanny – Nah. We have a pretty amazing babysitter who cares for our kids daily from 7-5.
  • Personal shopper – I’ll pass. I truly do not mind grocery shopping and for everything else, there’s Amazon.   
  • Maid – Well… we already have one who comes every other Tuesday.
  • Personal chef – This is one I could get behind.  I truly enjoy cooking but my frustration, is what we should eat when. I dread the question, “what’s for dinner?”.  In a perfect world, it would be really nice to have someone who knew my family’s likes/dislikes and then prepare a balanced and healthy diet for us.  If my cows can have this, why cannot I?

 

Your cows have a personal chef? 

Yes, and they have their own nutritionist! 

Seriously?   

 Yes.

On our farm, we work extremely close with our nutritionist, Richard Mensendike from Vita Plus.  Together, we regularly review every aspect of our operation, from the forages we grow to the calves all the way up to the milking herd. 

On our farm, right after a calf is born they receive colostrum.

Colostrum intake is critical for the newborn calf, as its immune system is not fully developed when born.  The colostrum contains antibodies or immunoglobulins (essential proteins) necessary to provide the calf with protection from disease.  After the colostrum, the calves get fed milk replacer twice a day.  Milk replacer is very comparable to baby formula.  The milk replacer is mixed with hot water and it provides the newborn calf with complete nutrition for healthy growing.  {To learn more about milk replacer, click here}.  We also provide the calves with calf starter which helps rumen development.  The calves remain on this diet until they are weaned at around 2-3 months of age. 

After the calves are weaned, they are moved from individual pens to groups.  Their diet now consists of dry hay and calf starter for a few weeks.  When the heifers are about 4 months of age. they start receiving a total mixed ration (TMR).  TMR is a way of feeding cows that combines all forages, grains, protein feeds, minerals, vitamins and feed additives formulated to a specified nutrient concentration into a single feed mix.  All of the ingredients are mixed together and fed at once, like a casserole.   With TMR, a cow eats a nutrient balanced ration in every bite or mouthful she consumes. 

If only it was this easy for humans!

Unfortunately, it is not this easy because we are not ruminants. 

Cows are ruminants, which are cud chewing mammal who have 4 digestive compartments in their stomach. 

  1. Rumen holds up to 50 gallons of partially digested food. This is where cud comes from.  Good bacteria in the rumen helps digest the cow’s food and provides protein for the cow.
  2. Reticulum is called the hardware stomach because if cows accidentally eat hardware (like a piece of a pop can – please do not litter), it will often lodge here causing no further damage.
  3. Omasum is sort of like a filter.
  4. Abomasum which is like our stomach.

On our farm, we grow around 75% of our milk cow’s ration.  The remaining 25% of the ration, or the ingredients of corn gluten (a by-product of the wet corn milling industry that manufactures starch, sweeteners, syrup, and oil from corn) and protein are purchased locally. 

In order for our cows to produce a high-quality product (milk), we must grow high quality alfalfa and corn on our farm. 

The ingredients in our cow casserole we grow include: 

Corn silage – this is where we take the entire corn plant (stalk, cob, husk and kernels) and chomp it into tiny particles.  Corn silage is a popular forage for cows because it is high in energy and easily digested. 

High moisture corn – we combine the corn at a high moisture (around 25%) and store only the corn kernel in our silo.  The kernel is then hammered into very fine pieces almost like a dust and added to the ration.  The starch is easily digestible. 

Dry Hay – The alfalfa is allowed to dry and baled at a low moisture (18-20%). The alfalfa hay is baled and are 3’x3’8’ and weigh around 800 pounds.    

Haylage – Alfalfa is chomped at a higher-moisture (50 – 60%) and stored in our silo where the forage ferments and is preserved. Dry hay and haylage are both fed for protein and fiber.  Since the cows are ruminants, they are very efficient at digesting fiber.    

Each group of cows has a specific ration which they are fed daily by Chef Donald (my Dad). 

  • The heifers eat between 10-30 pounds (depending on their size) of high-moisture corn, alfalfa and pellets.
  • The dry cows consume around 50 pounds of wheat straw, grass hay, corn gluten, corn silage and mineral. The mineral changes as they closer (within a few weeks of calving).   
  • The milk cows eat around 100-110 pounds of feed daily. Their ration includes dry hay, corn gluten, corn silage, protein, high moisture corn and corn silage.    

Free choice water is always available to all of our animals, regardless of age.  A cow producing 100 pounds of milk will drink about 30 gallons of water and produce 45 pounds of urine and 120 pounds of manure.

It takes a village to raise a child and it takes an amazing team of professionals to manage a successful dairy farm from generation to generation. 

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