Dairy Farmers = Dedication to the Fullest

John B. · Dec 22, 2008

Those of you who have dairy cattle and other livestock my hat's off to all of you. I grew up on a small farm in Illinois. But this cold weather the last few days is unbareable. I'm only 49 and like the out doors but I wouldn't want to have to work in it like you folks do.
My one brother in law and his 3 brothers with a lot of other hired hands milk over 500 cattle twice every day. He has to get up at 1am to go out and do some feeding, then he gets up and meets his brothers at 4am to start milking. They milk 20 cattle on each side of their new milking parlor it is capapable of milking 24 on each side but 4 stalls on each side are saved for treated cattle. Before their new parlor was built 5 years ago they could only milk 8 on each side and still milked over 500 head. The tractor trailer picks up their milk twice every day. They are cabable of holding 3 days worth of milking I believe.

My one uncle told me years ago that where every you work take a look at the foreman and they will usually always have an agricultural background. How true that is!!

Anonymous-0 · Dec 22, 2008

Yeah, we got smart and quit milking last July. Still have the beef herd and it is plenty of work when you have a wind chill of -40! I think you can only hold milk for 48 hours, at least that is what we were told.

BLinWMI · Dec 22, 2008

I forgot exactly where you were at, I was thinking north central Ind? I get down there alot for work in the summer. I take all the back roads I can to see the country side. Hate to see the milk cows leave the farms. Family forced me out back in 2000 and I think part of me died to see that last load of cows walk out the barn door.

gitrib · Dec 22, 2008

I am at the point in life where all I have of dairying is memories. I milked in Iowa in a tie style barn. It was always a pleasure to open up the barn door in the morning and see the girls all get up to be fed and milked. I have never in all of my years figured out this darn early getting up to milk. Just so you keep them on a time schedule be it 1:00 to 1:00 or 6:00 to 6:00.
I do know part of it is the milk hauler timing. girib

Anonymous-0 · Dec 22, 2008

I work on a dairy farm and raise steers with dad at home. Seems like keeping the waters going at home is half the chores anymore. The boss at the dairy told me today not to bother due to the cold---nice to have a little compassion on the really bad days, but you still need the $$$ at the end of the day. Oh well, the nap felt good this afternoon

IaGary · Dec 23, 2008

I helped my uncle as a kid milk cows.

So as a kid I saw how dedicated to the cows they had to be.

I am married to my wife only, and don't want to be married to no cows.

Dairy farmers earn every dollar they make and do not get enough dollars most of the time.

Gary

Anonymous-0 · Dec 23, 2008

Good memory! Located in South Bend area which is about 15 miles south of the MI border. Just about centered in the state. Like I said we still have a heck of a beef herd. It just got too laborsome to milk and bale 300 acres of hay with just the three of us. Plus the milk inspectors were getting on us all the time about little things with the parlor which was built in '69. Price of springers and good milkers was up, we had a silo cable come off the unloader and the Amish fella who fixed it wanted to buy the whole herd. Was a win/win deal for the both of us. I hate to see the family farms go too but we aren't going anywhere for a long time, just not milking anymore.

billonthefarm · Dec 23, 2008

Luckily I am a generation removed from a herd of registered Brown Swiss cows. On those cold horrible days I think what is must have been like. Great grandad had lots of stories about the good ole days.
He lived a mile and a half from here where I live. This was the home place, his dad lived here and the dairy cows were here. He remebered many times, the hired man and himself having to ride horse back over to this farm to help his dad milk because they couldnt get here in a vehicle because of snow. He talked about having sometimes having to go a different route when the snow was to deep for the horses making the trip almost twice as long. How would you like to start your day like that!
bill

1936 · Dec 23, 2008

The Jewel Food chain in Chicago area stores usually has 1.99 gal. milk as a lost leader. Long hours, but honest work.

The new sec. of ag as I know him is not a farmer and from Mt Pleasant, IA.

True story from Iowa state partol. His wife when he was gov would run in the 80's MPH range and each time she was stopped she would tell the officer she would have his job if ticketed.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 23, 2008

If we want to take a long weekend (between March and November), we just put out round bails, fill the 400 gal water tank on the pasture, and have a neighbor make a loop twice a day to make sure the horses are in the fence and OK. Surrounded by beef, hog, and dairy farmers (all small compared to you folks, but hungry animals just the same). Beef and pork farmers get to see a little daylight cause any idiot can fill a feed trough, but the dairy farmers go to church and not much farther. It can get cold here, but nothing like some of you folks deal with.

Dave

Anonymous-0 · Dec 23, 2008

seems to me it would be easier to give up milk, if humans were meant to drink cows milk we would suck it right out of the cow, we are the only animals that drink milk as adults, also all the processing it goes through just so we can drink it whereas the calf drinks it straight from the tap. think about it.

fixerupper · Dec 23, 2008

When I was growing up dad milked one shorthorn for our family use. I was so bored when I had to crank the butter churn but the reward was the sweet buttermilk. Dad never let me crank the seperator cause I cranked it too fast. Never did like the homemade cottage cheese. Then there was the hand cranked ice cream. The ice came from the creek. This was through the fifties and into the mid-sixties when everyone else was going modern buying their dairy products in town. Now today when I look back I'm glad I had to do those chores.

My wife acquired her strong work ethic from having to milk 90 cows every day before and after school when she was growing up. Jim

Anonymous-0 · Dec 23, 2008

it takes a special type of person to enjoy getting smacked in the face with a tail full of manure at 2 or 4 in the morning depending on the number being milked.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 23, 2008

the earlier you start the earlier you finish . having a evening to attend a childs school function is good memories also.

msb · Dec 23, 2008

Enjoyed reading this thread. Brought back a lot of memories, but the best was finally getting the outside chores done and the hay thrown down so I could go in the warm cow barn and feed and bed the cows. Do you suppose those nurses that come in and get you up at the wee hours in the hospital were raised on a dairy farm ? lol.

BLinWMI · Dec 23, 2008

OK, I was thinking that area but wasn't sure. I know the area pretty well, my companys home office is in Mishawaka on Edison Lakes Parkway. There aren't many cattle farms in St Joseph county anymore, at least till you get down towards Bremen or over to Elkhart. I cover an area from Benten Harlem/St Joe to Michigan city to Plymouth/Lapaz to Warsaw to Decatur to Angola and back to Goshen. I love stopping by the dairys between Goshen and Bremen, not huge farms but nice family operations. I have to pacify myself by watching others play with the cows till I get my heifers raised up and can start shipping milk again.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 23, 2008

Yeah, one of my neighbors gets up at 1 AM to start the day.

That's what it was back in the 50s/60s when his dad (grandfather?) had a milk route and needed to milk the cows, process the milk, and head out to deliver it. Talk about fresh milk, though!

Even though they bulk ship the milk, they still keep the same hours.

Leaky Boot · Dec 23, 2008

More Dairymen needed. May end up a better way to make a living than trying to sell knickknacks made in china to people who don't need them in the firstplace then having a hard time when they won't buy them. I been milking cows for over 20 yrs and don't plan to stop of my own accord. Here in MO we could use some tough folks to produce the milk we are having to ship in. LB

rrlund · Dec 23, 2008

My dairy cattle have been gone for exactly 5 years and one month today. The only time since then that I've even thought about that warm dairy barn was last Friday morning when I was outside feeding cattle in a blizzard. Didn't take long for me to put it right out of my mind though. It was twice a day,seven days a week and I still had to go outside to feed the heifers and dry cows after I milked. I've got twice as many cattle around now as I had when I was milking,but the chores don't take more than an hour and a half to two hours a day. I can still handle that. Like a neighbor said after he quit milking,"there's life after milking cows.

Kelly C · Dec 23, 2008

You guys that do that for a living sure do get and earn my respect.
Milking cows is a life not a job. I could not see my wife putting up with that. You guys must have some supportive wifes for that life.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 23, 2008

Grew up on a dairy farm, ran our own for 30 years, quit 7 years ago. People I'm married to say I'm easier to get along with now. We haven't missed it yet. Our kids have a good work ethic. Sure is nice to sit in the house during a blizzard. Been able to travel some, and next June the better half retires from teaching. We averaged about one day off per year when we milked. Gonna make up for that.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 23, 2008

Yeah, lets give up milk. In fact, lets give up anything that our ancestors didn't consume on the African savanna because it's just not natural.

Frankly, you can have block of cheese when you pry it from my cold dead hands.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 23, 2008

I grew up milking cows and have a lot of good memories from it, however, I did not have the responsibility of running the operation, my dad did. I don't think I would want that buck to stop on my desk. Dairying is a lot of work and dedication, my hat is off to those who still do it.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 23, 2008

of course it's not natural ... would you find drinking breast milk from dogs to be natural? ... or how about humans who continue to nurse from their mothers as adults? ... would that be natural?

have you ever looked at a cow with swollen udders and thought how tasty they look? ... of course not.

because it's NOT natural. it's an entirely learned behavior.

cow's milk causes type 1 & 2 diabetes, breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer and many other degenerative diseases ... why? ... because it's NOT natural ...

osduck5 · Dec 23, 2008

I am very thankful that I was able to experience watching my greatgrandmother milk a cow by hand and help her with churning by the fireplace and making homemade butter. Those were the days! I started milking cows for a farmer a few miles down the road when I was in high school, twice a day everyday. Milking, cleaning out barn, feeding calves with bottle, chopping silage, I absolutely loved every minute of working on the dairy. That was my big dream in life, until I realized the expenses it would take to either buy existing dairy or start from scratch. I will forever cherish those days! Hats off to all farmers!

John B. · Dec 23, 2008

Don't know if some of them were raised on a dairy farm but I wouldn't mind trying to milk some of them that I've seen while I was laid up in the hospital.

I shouldn't of said that!!

BLinWMI · Dec 23, 2008

That statement is such BS, I can't believe anyone short of a politician would have said it. Do you have any idea what Diabetes is? It is when the pancreas is either not able to produce glucose, or not able to regulate its production compared to the bodies needs. Ok, now tell me how cows milk has any correlation with diabetes. It doesn't, no more than pure milk has any relationship to any cancer. Cancer is caused by a cell or group of cells getting their DNA replication twisted so that a cell is created that is a different than the parent cell. Now tell me how pure dairy milk does this. Fact is, it doesn't, cancer is caused by elements that can change the structure of the DNA, such as chemicals or radiation. Nothing in milk has the ability to change the DNA structure of cells. The only time I am aware of that milk caused any type of cancerous growth was in the PBB situation back 30 some years ago. And the only reason it did then was because that milk was laced with a chemical fire retardent. Pure milk does not one of the thing you imply.
If you are so stuck on how unnatural it is, I guess you must eat your hamburgers raw? Or to be accurate, don't eat meat at all, because killing something to then eat its flesh is not "natural". Let alone to cook that meat, if you want to be a natural freak, eat it raw like any other mammal in the world does.
Your logic is so flawed it is embarresing to read.

1936 · Dec 23, 2008

fordy you have listened to Rush L. toooo long. Stick with your bud lights warm!

Dairy Farmers = Dedication to the Fullest

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