Days gone by

Since I was a child, I have seen dairy farms slowly disappear. I did not grow up on a dairy farm but knew many friends who lived on farms and also had neighbors who milked cows. If I was riding my bike past the farm when it was calf feeding time, I would ride in by the calf hutches to watch Mrs. Baumeister putting in pails of milk and grain. I was mesmerized and would ask questions. Why are they mooing so much? How old is this calf? Why is it so aggressive when it is drinking from the bottle? How do you know which calf is which?

She was very patient with my questions and answered them matter of factly. She would have me hold a bottle while she was busy putting in fresh straw and top off their grain pails. As I got older, I went to a bigger school, with more farm kids. I was able to help out at my friend’s farms. I knew enough from Mrs. Baumeister, that I didn’t have to ask questions that would seem silly or feel dumb with my friends. Having that knowledge gave me confidence when hanging with the farm kids, even though I was not truly a farm kid. Those experiences as a child and teenager have made me into the person I am today.

That was in the 1970s when there were around 648,000 dairy farms throughout the United States. As time has ticked by, more and more dairy farms have left milking cows, and the latest number I have found was that in 2022, there were only 24,094 dairy farms with even fewer today. The number of farms lost, means less and less people know and understand what it takes to make a living dairy farming. Generations have grown up without a connection to calves, milking cows, growing corn for silage, making hay and straw. Life changing are the days in July, putting up hay and straw in the mow. Those experiences are lost. Some of my visitors are often two or three generations off the farms, or city people who have never had any family farming. It is either some knowledge or not at all, so I help them learn as much as possible in a couple of hours. I will be discussing what some of the families refer to as old times on the farm or days gone by.

Retired farmers, adults who grew up on a farm, are many of the people who reach out to share our farm with their families. Teachers want their students to understand where milk comes from and what delicious dairy products can come from the milk from cows. Others just want to learn and see where their food comes from and make a special day trip to the country to spend a few hours with dairy cows, calves and a bunch of other animals. Once in a while, I will have requests that come from groups that need to know more about agriculture. This farm tour will make their work easier and give them valuable knowledge to use when talking to others who have a farming background.

While on the farm they are learning about the difference between a heifer and a cow, a bull calf and a steer or a bull. I explain about rumination, feed quality and quantity that a cow will eat every day. I love to use the great saying, “What goes in must come out.” Poop is talked about and giggled about, but it is a very valuable conversation. Nutrients, and managing them, plus all of the other practices that are used for the conservation of resources is a valuable topic. Knowledge of these terms makes our visitors comfortable to ask questions. From little kids to older adults, the questions answered are gratifying and keep them looking forward to more amazing facts about cows and farming.

I have a group of adults who are insurance agents who come to visit our farm every two or three months. Every visit different agents are new to the insurance company. The supervisor has set up this visit to help the agents get comfortable with the terms that farmers use about their cattle and their barns and feed storage in bunkers, upright silos and grain bins. These agents will be meeting with farmers to help them insure their farms, barns, shops and equipment. Knowing what to call the animals will make a difference to the farmer, and will help the agents discuss the plans that will work best for each farm situation.

On our farm we have many different buildings that are great examples for the new agents to see and understand how to make measurements to calculate the size of a building, bunker, silo or bin. These are real examples of a pole frame, post and beam, ring and bolt, and metal frame construction. The things for them to look for are concrete floor, dirt floor, insulated and heated building. Opening the door to see what is stored in the building matters whether it is hay, straw, machinery, old cars and tractors, fancy signs or live animals. Is it animal housing that is a free stall, loafing shed, tie stall, parlor, rotary or robotic? The agents will be learning with real examples to help them be more professional.

On the last visit with the insurance agents, I shared with them a story that I heard a while ago. I think about this story every single time I am feeding calves or simply using a hose. It was about a friend of a friend who is in the business of owning a boarding stable. He and his wife had many horses that were boarded in their barn and they worked very hard to keep everything looking nice. One afternoon the man was in the barn grinding a bolt that could have injured a horse, and while he proceeded to grind it off a spark caught some dust, shavings, or hay and started a fire. He ran to get the hose and after returning with the hose, there was no water. He pulled and pulled but the hose was kinked. He had to decide as the fire was getting bigger, to go find the kink or get the horses out. He chose to get the horses out, and he lost his barn to the fire. They didn’t have a fire extinguisher in the barn.

We talked about it and how valuable a non-kink hose is, but also the importance of having a fire extinguisher in every building. That was another thing that was mentioned early in the tour while looking around in all of our barns. Are there fire extinguishers? Are they full? It is near a door and easily reachable in an emergency? 

After all the walking, talking and discussing, the conclusion was that fire extinguishers make great gifts for farmers and should be items that are donated to raffles for prizes. Every one of those gifts would be put in a good place in a barn, office, shed or even on a tractor.

Tina Hinchley, her husband Duane and daughter Anna milk 240 registered Holsteins with robots. They also farm 2,300 acres near Cambridge, Wisconsin. The Hinchleys have been hosting farm tours for over 25 years.