Calving

 

It’s calving season at Blue Hill Farm. We’ve had 6 calves so far this month and we’re expecting 3 more before the end of it.

While the calves are almost too adorable, our awe and amazement are toned down by the significant increase in daily workload. We are now milking twice a day rather than once. We’re at the barn at 5 am (this means setting the alarm for 3:45 am!) and 3:30 pm. In addition to milking everyone we are also feeding rambunctious and strong little calves who can nearly knock me over.

And with all this extra life and work comes lots more milk! So we are starting to experiment a little more in the kitchen. Today we made mozzarella cheese and we are also trying out sour cream. The mozzarella is specifically meant to top Derek’s famous homemade pizza. You should make a trip to the Berkshires to try it!

Annabelle's Vacation

The year for a dairy cow on a small farm is usually fairly predictable. Most of the cows calve in March or April, get milked for ten months, and then get a well-deserved two month break. This break allows them to devote their energy to producing a healthy calf while also getting themselves in peak condition for the coming year.

Annabelle just began her two months off, but she still comes into the milking barn every morning. By keeping her in the habit of coming into the barn each day, it will make it a lot easier to get her into the barn when she calves and is ready to be milked again. She has no complaints about this arrangement because the best hay gets fed out in the barn. Here she is chowing down:

Most of the other cows were bred earlier than Annabelle, so they are nearing the end of their break. Their break comes to an abrupt end when they calve and start producing milk again. Within a few weeks, the barn will be filled with calves, and who doesn’t love coming to work when it means being surrounded by lil’ baby cows who enjoy a good neck scratch? It also means that there will be a lot more milk to sell which is great news since we sell out almost immediately every time we bottle!

Here’s Lesley cleaning Peaches to get her ready for milking:

Pigs Keeping Warm

It’s been cold this winter at North Plain Farm, and, while the pigs seem to enjoy rooting around in the snow from time to time, they definitely like spending most winter days keeping warm and dry. Since the pigs have access to a greenhouse and a large outdoor paddock, they can get the best of both worlds on any given day.

Every few days we bring the pigs a fresh round bale of hay and spread it out for them in the greenhouse, and, for them it is an event that is not to be missed. Every pig runs inside while we roll it out and for the next few hours, they dig around to find all the good parts they want to eat. After they’ve tired themselves out with that, they curl up and take a nice nap in the warm greenhouse.

We've Moved!

After completing our first full-year apprenticeship in December, we’ve moved to Massachusetts to apprentice on two great farms for the year: North Plain Farm & Blue Hill Farm.

One of the things that we’re most excited about is working with the dairy cows at Blue Hill Farm and learning what it takes to run a small dairy that sells raw milk. We’ve only been here a few weeks, but it’s hard to imagine that watching the sun come up while milking the cows will ever get old.

The two farms focus primarily on livestock, so, in addition to milking the cows everyday, we’ll be gaining more experience working with beef cows, pigs, layers (egg-laying chickens), broilers (meat chickens), and meat goats.