Another one of our favorite excursions was calling up Frank (whom we’d been hiking with a few days earlier) to see if we could stop by and visit him on his farm. He was more than happy to oblige and had us meet him at the end of his long drive way, so that he could take us into the pastures where he takes care of his dairy cows. It was a long and muddy road that only a 4 wheel drive truck could get through.
Some pictures we took on our way to Franks farm.
Here is a shot of the road Frank took us down to get to his pastures. See those trees in the far back? Our car was parked just on the other side of them.
It is hard to tell in these pictures, but some of those mud holes were 2-3 feet deep! Crazy! Adam and I were bouncing around all over the place in the back of the truck. It was so much fun! I was giggling the whole time. đ
Eventually we made it to the farm though where Frank unloaded feed for his calves out of the back of his truck. He is one tough guy to carry all that he does! Those bags were heavy!
The calves get fed first and know Frank well. Frank has given them all names and hasn’t had a single calf pass away from illness or otherwise because of his good care.
Then after the calves are fed, he goes to check on the Mommy cows!
His method for feeding them is quite different seeing as they also all need to be milked. Frank milks his Mommy cows once a day during the colder months and twice a day in warmer temps (if I’m remembering right). I think he said he had 35 or 40 cows.
The pasture he had them on was just gorgeous! His Dad started the farm years and years ago and has since retired and given it to Frank who runs it completely on his own! Wow!
He had a 2nd pasture with just baby calves.
One of the mamma’s was quite protective when I tried to get close to her baby calve to take a picture.
It was obvious most of the cows were super ready to be milked!
This white cow was especially concerned about her baby and was mooing away most of our time out on the farm.
Frank had told us earlier (when we’d gone hiking) that he owned a lamborghini. I thought he was kidding! Who knew tractors were also lamborghini’s! ha ha!
This is one of Franks “Super Cows” as he likes to call them. Apparently she and one other cow produce like 3 or 4 times more milk than the others! She is what he likes to call a super producer! And she is different than all the other cows in the way that she has zebra stripes! So cool!
Frank says he has a system when it comes to feeding. The older more experienced cows go first and come when he calls their name. He then milks 5 at a time while they eat, and then shoo’s them out and calls in the next 5. He always ends with his most immature and unpredictable cows as they sometimes get a little antsy and like to test boundaries, and sometimes kick and knock off the milk pumping machinery which can contaminate the milk. So he does those cows last so that he doesn’t end up having to throw out good milk if the inexperienced cows get restless.
This is what it looks like when the cow is all hooked up and getting milked. Frank said he used to hand milk his cows and that his forearms were awesome back in the day when he did that. He says he now has a hard time just doing one!
Sure was an awesome experience getting to learn about dairy cows and what their lives are like. Thank you Frank for sharing your farm and talents with us! What an amazing experience!