A Day in the Life

Come on! It’s time to take a walk—so put on some comfortable shoes. We’re going to be hanging out on a dairy farm!

Once a month, one of our DFA dairy kids will show you what it’s like to be on the dairy farm from sunup to sundown. So let’s get a MOOve on—we’ve got a lot to do in just one day!

Never a dull moment
By Jessica Downing

I open one eye to check the clock. The other eye is still closed due to a late UNO marathon last night. Its 6:30 and my first thought is, “What day is it?” and then I remember that it’s Saturday. Great, no school! Then I hear the newborn calves calling for me. Hurriedly, I dress in barn clothes and try to find boots that match. Then I’m on my way across the road to the dairy barn.

I go into the barn and check with the herdsman about any new four-legged additions to my black and white nursery members. “Nope,” he says, no calves were born last night, but one's on the way this morning. “You need to check on her when you get through feeding the calves.” “Okay,” I tell him. Next I gather bottles, nipples, buckets of milk and feed onto the golf cart and head to the calf barn.

Like an automatic machine, I fill bottles and dispense them to each calf. I visually check for signs of illness and have to give number 472 a couple of scour pills. This morning no one needed a shot. Good! Then it’s back to the barn to wash the bottles.

By now a couple of hours have passed and I ride to the field where the springing cows are kept. Thankfully, number 800 has calved and is the proud mother of a heifer calf. I go back to the barn and come back with iodine to dip the navel of the calf and I give the calf a pill to prevent sickness. The mom seems to be very alert and eagerly cleaning up her baby. Back at the barn I inform our herdsman of the calf and record this information on the barn calendar.

I then go home and grab some breakfast before going to help feed up heifers. In order to get heifer feed, I have to back up the barn pick up truck to the feed mill and then I help fill up the feed buckets. Then we drive to several heifer pens and put out the feed. I must be careful feeding the heifers because they like to lick and butt me in a playful way.

Back at the barn it’s about time for me to get up the herd for milking. I help herd them up on my golf cart. I stop along the way and love on Violet, my big black three-year-old baby. Then I am on my way back to the barn.

I need some supplies, so my cousin and I go to the local feed store, where farmers are gathered on a bench drinking coffee and talking. I get what I need and it’s back home we go. Once home, I must bring the fresh cow and her heifer calf up to the barn for milking. The calf is put into a pen at the calf barn. I make sure to get the mom's milk for the calf.

Around 5:30 that afternoon the calf feeding routine is repeated. Then after one last check on the springing cows, I head to the house to feed the goat, dogs, and cats. After one last look around, I find everyone satisfied and full. Then I hear the phone ringing—it’s for me I gotta go!