Our cows don’t go out on pasture – and that’s okay! Every dairy farm is unique. Take a peek at ours!

Spring is here – I think. And soon your feed will be filled with all sorts of dairy farmers letting their cows out on pasture for the first time this spring, but here’s the deal – our cows don’t go out on pasture. And that’s okay.

Every farm is different. Some farms are big. Some farms are small. Some farms have Holsteins. Some farms have Jerseys. One thing we all have in common is that we care for our animals and our land. 

We house all of our cattle in a free-stall barn. They don’t go out on pasture. It’s just what works best for us and our facilities and what we have to work with. 

A free-stall barn is basically a big barn where the animals are free to move about. There’s a stall for every cow, fans and sprinklers for when it’s hot in the summertime. Curtains, a roof, insulation and more to keep them warm in the wintertime. It works really well for us and our cows seem to enjoy it. 

Springtime fit check? NO BIBS GUYS! Hopefully, we don’t need them anymore. Tom didn’t really want to give us a ‘fit check, but man those zip-tied bibs on him are niiiiice. 

I vaccinated calves today and checked on the maternity pen. All of the cows in the maternity pen are due to calve in the next week or two. They recently got new bedding and they seem pretty happy to me. Lots of cud chewing going on!

In other news, we made a new friend. Sage named her Elsa because she’s white like winter. 

If there’s one thing I hope you learned today it’s that farms come in all shapes and sizes. No matter how they operate, as long as they have the best interest of the animal at heart, they are a good farm.