my princess adventures:)

Just today it really hit me how much the dairy princess program has helped me. I have met so many amazing people that I never would have had the opportunity to know had it not been for this amazing experience. I learned how to talk to the media, got tips on how to do an interview (which will be very helpful when getting a "real" job roles around,) and got to improve my speaking skills. I got endless hugs from Corrine and constant encouragement from those around me.

And I got to have my head carved in butter!!! How many people can say that? Actually around 530 women in the state of Minnesota can. But this was the most amazing experience ever! I have been dreaming about it ever since I was a little girl and got my first malt from the dairy goodness bar. It wasn't quite as cold as I was expecting, but growing up in Minnesota winter's did prepare me for it and the wonderful jacket I was given by the dairy farmers of Minnesota. I will be keeping my beautiful butterhead for at least a year and then if I am not too attached, I will have a community corn feed:)

This program has changed my life for the better and I could not be grateful enough to everyone who has helped me get to this point. My parents for raising me around cows, my grandparents for instilling the love of animals in me, for Bruce and Cheryl for letting me start my career on their farm, for Cindy and Ray for teaching me more than I could have dreamed of, and for my sisters, Peggy and Jerry and everyone else who has encouraged me along the way. I thank you all for everything.

FEATURED COW OF THE WEEK: LOUISE

Boy have I been crazy busy lately with the county fair, and now getting ready for the Princess Kay competition and packing for college.

Louise, I'm pretty sure she was a gift from heaven to make my county fair great. She was born on March 3 of 2012 and I showed her as a spring calf. Because she was so young and I had 3 yearlings to train as well, I only worked with her twice before the county fair. But immediately, I fell in love with her. She was just the sweetest little thing.

When Tuesday of the fair rolled around, it was show time, and she did a great job in the ring and she got an Award of Excellence (my first ever in dairy.) And her net merit was 967, earning Grand Champion Genetics (my first ever dairy champion plaque.) Then when showmanship came, I had a hard decision to make, I had four heifers there. My oldest one, Beatrice, threw me to the ground in the ring so I was for sure not going to take her. And then Bobbie Jo has trouble standing still, so I was not going to take her either. So it was down to Vanessa or Louise, I had used Vanessa in showmanship the day before for open, but she had gotten tired and stopped walking half-way through. So I figured Louise was small enough that if she misbehaved I could handle it. Much to my surprise, she was perfect!!! And we placed 3rd out of 19, (the best I have even done in county dairy showmanship!)

Louise and I with the Champion Ribbon.

She is just a born show cow that made my fair a great one.

Louise and I with our Award of Excellence along with Wishing and Laura and their Blue Ribbon.

FEATURED COW OF THE WEEK: GRANDMA

At the ripe old age of 12, grandma cow just had her 10th calf, and her first heifer, and that is why she is my featured cow of the week. In her lifetime, she has produced 232,153 lbs of milk with 7,767 lbs of fat and 6,453 lbs of protein. She is the oldest cow on the farm, but doesn't show it. Her udder still is not the lowest on the farm and she moves pretty good for a cow of her age. The only thing is she moves a little slower because she knows we will let her go nice and slow.

A cow living to 12 is becoming more and more rare. But grandma cow is still doing well. Her ear tag number is 93, and we have heifers coming into the barn now after their first calf at 370s. And she still produces well, her last lactation produced 28,847 and she peaked at 117. Her average milked produced in a day is 81 pounds since she was 2 years old.

Her sire is Convincer and the sire to her newest calf is Toy Story. We were so happy when we found out that she had a heifer, having a cow with such great longevity is a fantastic grate.

FEATURED COW OF THE WEEK: THE BEAST

If you are active in the twitter world, you might know of the hashtag beast mode. This is a phrased used for when one is always at the top of their game, cannot be stopped, and draws the attention of everyone around them. This describes 106, "the beast," in our barn. She is a big girl and one of the oldest cows on the farm. She produces 109 pounds per day and is always in beast mode.

When this cow walks into the barn you cannot miss her; she commands the attention of everyone in the room. She has her spot, and NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE, can go in her spot. If someone does manage to sneak into that spot, she will wait patiently for you to move them out, then she will saunter into the spot with grace and ease. She will get this spot no matter what and will not even think of going anywhere else. She's a big girl with an attitude and that is why she is my featured cow of the week.

FEATURED COW OF THE WEEK: OUR BULLS

This weeks featured cow of the week is going to be all the bulls that help out with our farm.

We usually use AI, artificial insemination, on our farm. We do this for many reasons. One is because of its convenience. All we have to do is have a tank to hold the semen straws, and then when a cow is in heat (aka ovulating) we will AI her with the bull that fits her best. Another reason is to prevent in-breeding. Because we only need to semen straw, we could breed our cows with bulls from all over the world. Where if you only have a couple bulls, you may need to worry about crossing breeding lines. A third reason is safety. Bulls are dangerous animals, especially Holstein bulls are known for their aggression. If we use AI, no bulls will be needed on the farm. One of Cindy's favorite bulls is Jeeves, from ABS.



Jeeves

We do also have a herd bull. We use him to help breed the heifers that we could not get with AI, it can be hard to get some heifers bred with AI because it is only done once and there is always room for human error. We will put her out with the herd bull and he will do the job. To help keep our farm safe, we only have a young bull, usually sell them by at least 4 years of age, we also keep the nicest one.

FEATURED COW OF THE WEEK: SUGAR BELL

This weeks featured cow of the week is Sugar Bell. Her story is also a unique one on the farm. She was originally a cow on Cindy and Ray's daughter's farm, but for right now, Katie gave Sugar Bell to her mom and dad. She showed up as a dry cow (a cow that is not milking because she is on her two month break between lactations,) with a bell on her neck, hence her name Sugar Bell.

Here is a close up on her bell.

Sugar Bell had a calf on June 18th, a beautiful little bull calf, who Cindy is thinking about keeping for the herd bull (a bull who we keep on the farm to breed the cows that we cannot with AI, I will go more in depth about herd bulls next week.)

I now get the opportunity to milk her everyday. She is a very nice cow, enjoys a good petting, and she even can be led on a halter. Soon you will be able to see more pictures of her because Sugar Bell will be the cow I will take a picture with for my top 12 Princess Kay of the Milky Way article in the Agrinews.

FEATURED COW OF THE WEEK: PATCH

Patch hanging out in the barn.

I knew Patch produced a lot of milk, but when gathering information for this blog post, I figured out just how much she produces, A TON OF MILK! Meet Patch the best producing cow on the farm. She is six years of age and this will most likely be her best lactation, but it'll be tough to beat her last one, which was 38,468, having 1,435 in fat and 1,196 in protein.

In one milking, Patch produces almost as much milk as the average cow. In one day, Patch gives 160 LBS!!! Thats 70 lbs more than the average cow. She is ranked 115 in the herd index, anything over 100 is good. Patch not only produces the most milk in the herd, she is also one of the tallest cows in the herd and has very unique 'patches' of black hair all over her mostly white body.

This week Patch is the cow of the week not because she is the friendlist cow, or a farm favorite, but because she works extremely hard every single day to give the most milk that she possibly can. She is smart about balancing her time between eating, drinking, sleeping, getting in some good exercise, and socializing with other cows. Patch is a perfect example for all of us, if we eat the right foods (especially dairy products), get enough sleep, get outside and be active and still hang out with friends and family, we can give our all at everything just like Patch does.

FEATURED COW OF THE WEEK: LUNA LIGHTNING

I have been doing Holsteins the whole time for my blog, but I do live on a beef farm where I personally raise Herefords and my sisters have black and red Angus. This weeks featured cow of the week is Luna Lightning. She was born this morning around 4 AM, right in time for a thunderstorm. Her mom had the choice of having her in the barn but decided outside would be better. In Luna's first half hour of life, she saw rain and lightning, therefore giving her the name Luna Lightning.

Luna's grand dam (her grandma) is the first cow of my herd, her name is Maybelle and I purchased her with my own money in 2008. Luna's dam (mom) is Maya. This is Maya's second calf. Luna's sire (dad) is Revolution.

Luna will grow up on our farm to be like her mom and spend days eating out in the pasture with the rest of our red and black herd. Then once a year she will have a calf. The calf will be with her for about four to six months, then he or she will go to another pen to grow up and Luna will get to spend her time with just her friends.

FEATURED COW OF THE WEEK: DANCE.



Dance eating with her friends outside on a beautiful day.

Dance's story is a remarkable one. When others had given up on her, she stayed strong. She kept getting pneumonia and this time she'd been down and not milking for two weeks. She wasn't the only one fighting for her life, the local vet didn't want to give up on Dance, so he gave Ray and Cindy a visit explaining Dance's situation and that besides her sickness, she was a beautiful cow. Cindy said they would gladly take her.

The first day Dance came to Ray and Cindy's farm, she gave only 5 lbs of milk. Although Dance was very ill, she never gave up and made it through. Then on April 28th, 2011, she gave birth to a beautiful heifer, named Bobby Jo. Dance now produces about 87 lbs per day. This lactation she has produced 36,370 lbs.

Bobby Jo, Dance's daughter.



Dance is a great cow. "She's always in it for the 'Dance'" Cindy likes to say. She is one tough cookie. And thanks to Cindy's hard work of making sure she is outside during the night and inside the cool barn during those hot days, she has been pneumonia free for a year now!





*If you would like to meet Bobby Jo, she will be at the beginning of the Dakota County Fair this year in August.



FEATURED COW OF THE WEEK: HOT DOG

Hot Dog with Rachel Schroder after receiving Reserve Champion at the regional show when she was just a heifer.

She received 4th place at the state fair our of 40 calves, she milks about 109 pounds per day, and her name is Hot Dog. Hot Dog's registered name is CinRay Toy Story Party Girl, but as a calf she had a wiener belly and the name Hot Dog stuck. She actually responds to her name when called. Hot Dog has been milking for 49 days this lactation (one lactation is the 9 or 10 months that a cow milks, then after she has another calf she starts another lactation.) This is her third lactation and she is expected to produce 27,101 pounds!!

Hot Dog looking up from her morning snack for a picture.

Hot Dog had a heifer calf (a girl) on March 28th of this year. Her name is CinRay Armitage Adell. Adell is being apart of a Genomic Test. A hair sample was taken from her and is being tested to see her value. We rarely do this on the farm, but Adell's mother is such a good cow that Cindy and Ray decided to do it.

Adell posing for the camera.

Hot Dog also has another daughter named Velvet (CinRay Jetstream Velvet) and she is going to have her first calf soon this year. She was bred to Mayfield, a very popular bull right now.



Hot Dog is a favorite on the farm. She loves a good petting whenever anyone walks by. And you can't miss that almost heart on her forehead, making her even easier to love.

FEATURED COW OF THE WEEK: LEXI

Black and white, black and white, all over our barn it is just black and white cows, but then you get to one of two milking Red Holsteins, Lexi! Lexi is this weeks featured cow of the week! Her full name is Gordies Advent Lexi. Lexi lives on the farm where I milk. Her owners are Ray and Cindy Deutsch. She used to live on a neighboring farm, but they were selling their cows and Cindy couldn't let this beautiful cow go to another farm, so she bought her in August of this year. In September, Cindy bred her to Satchel, a red bull.

Lexi smiling for the camera!

On May 22, exactly a week ago, Lexi had a beautiful heifer (a young female), she was named Fireside. Her full name is CinRay Satchel Fireside. Fireside is now the fourth Red Holstein in the herd.



Lexi's baby girl Fireside.

Lexi is not just a pretty face, she works hard too! She milks about 80 pounds of milk, every single day (with a two month vacation before she has her calf.) When she is not milking, she enjoys eating TMR (total mixed ration, which has all the nutrients she needs and tastes good too,) napping in the barn at night and also outside during the day, she likes drinking lots of water and hanging out with her friends.



Cindy and Lexi

The Yummy bars were a success:)

This weekend my mom and I made the Strawberry Frozen Yogurt Squares. The only thing is we did a gram cracker crust instead. It was very good and well liked at our Memorial Day gathering. Next time I think I am going to add some whip cream on top though.

Yummy:) a great summer treat with dairy and strawberries!

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt Squares!
This sounds so good! I will be making it this weekend for my family! hope you all can try it as well to get a yummy serving of dairy in!

Servings: 9
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5-10 minutes

Ingredients

1 can (14 ounces) fat-free sweetened condensed milk, divided
Non-stick cooking spray
1 cup Post Grape-Nuts™ or similar cereal
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch ground cloves
1 package (10 ounces) frozen strawberries (about 2 1/2 cups)
3 cups fat-free strawberry yogurt

Preparation

Measure 1 cup of sweetened condensed milk; set aside. Line 8x8-inch baking pan with foil; spray with non-stick cooking spray. In medium bowl, combine cereal, cinnamon, cloves and remainder of sweetened condensed milk. Spread cereal mixture evenly on bottom of pan, place in freezer.

Place strawberries and yogurt in a blender; cover and blend. Add 1 cup sweetened condensed milk; blend until smooth. Pour mixture over cereal, smoothing to edges of pan. Cover with foil (or plastic wrap) and freeze 8 hours or until firm.

Use edges of foil to loosen and remove from pan; let recipe thaw for 5 to 10 minutes. Cut into squares and serve.

I found this recipe on midwestdairy.com along with other great treats and meals!http://www.midwestdairy.com/0p28r35/strawberry-frozen-yogurt-squares/

FEATURED COW OF THE WEEK: BESSIE

Bessie at the County Fair.

FEATURED COW OF THE WEEK: BESSIE

Bessie and I at the Minnesota State Fair.

Bessie was born on July 28th, 2010, Therefore she is almost two years of age. Her mom's herd number is 331, but her name is Sweety. Her dad is Satire. She is pregnant, due to have a calf on July 29th of this year.

Bessie spends her days eating grass in the pasture and her nights eating hay by the barn.

She is a show cow, so in the summer she and I get to work together everyday on how to walk like she's beautiful and how to stand like any proper lady should. It take lots of time and effort from her to be a good enough show cow to go to the Minnesota State Fair.

Why I love cows.

I love cows because they are beautiful, extremely efficent creatures. They work very hard each day to produce a high-quality product, milk. Their lives consist of eating and drinking as much as they want, hanging out with friends in perfect temperatures in the barn, and taking naps when they’re tired; they love their jobs, just like their farmers do. If you keep reading this blog I will go more in depth on these great animals and their owners, like myself!